Monday 31 January 2011

Monkey Jack (Lakoocha)/Dewua Fal





Common name : Dewua/ Monkey Jack (Lakoocha).Botanical name :Artocarpus lakoocha/FamilyMoraceae (Mulberry family)Synonyms:Artocarpus lacucha, Artocarpus ficifolius.Dewua/monkey jack fruits are nearly round or irregular, 2 to 5 inches wide, velvety, dull-yellow tinged with pink, with sweet sour pulp which is occasionally eaten raw but mostly made into curries or chutney. A dewua fruit contains 20–30 seeds that are fleshy with thin seed coat. The edible fruit pulp is believed to act as a tonic for the liver.Inside a ripe dewua fruit looks like a mini jackfruit. Dewua tree can be 10 -15 m tall.Its leaves are large, 25-30 cm long, 15-20 cm wide.

Silk Cotton Tree -Shimul Ful/Shimul Tular Gash

The Silk Cotton Tree -Shimul Ful/Shimul Tular Gash(Bombax ceiba) belongs to Bombacaceae family.
The genus name  is  Salmalia malabarica Young trees may have spines on trunk. The woody fruits contain silky floss used in pillows, etc. The large, lobed leaves drop in the winter and at that time masses of large orange/red flowers appear and the tree is then completely void of leaves..

Saturday 29 January 2011

One of the Youtube founder is a Bangladeshi


Jawed Karim

Youtube.com ---- everybody knows about this world's most popular website.Do'nt need to say more about this.
Youtube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload,share and view videos.This website uses Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content,including movie clips,TV clips and music videos,as well as amature content such as video blogging and short original vodeos.Most of the content on Youtube has been uploaded by individuals,although media corporations including CBS,BBC,Vevo and other organizations offer some of their material via this site , as part of the Youtube patrnership program.
Unregistered users may watch videos and tegisterd users may upload an unlimited number of vodeos .Videos that are considered to contain potentially offensive content are avilable only to registerd users 18 and older. In November 2006 ,Youtube LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion ,and now operates as a subsidiary of Google. 
Youtube was founded by Chad Hurley , Steve Chen and Jawed Karim in February 2005.Hurley,Chen and Jawed Karim metas early employees at PayPal ,the payment service sold to eBay in 2002.The three,after leaving PayPal,talked aboyt a start-up of their own,possibly a database venture.Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania,while Chen and Jawed Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illions at Urbana-Champaign.
Beginning of the year 2005 Jawed Karim recalled the difficulty involved in finding and watching videos online of Jennet Jackson accidentally baring her breast during the Super Bowl Show.The same was true with the many amature videos made of that winter's devastating Tsunami.Jawed Karim proposed to Hurley and Chen that they creat a video-sharing site."I thought it was a good idea."Jawed said.
The three agreed within a few days in February 2005,then divided work based on skills :Hurley designed the site's interface and logo.Chen and Jawed Karim spilt technical duties making the site work.They later divided management responsibilities,based on strengths and interests : Hurley became CEO ;Chen chief technology officer.
Jawed Karim already planned to resume computer studies ,so he opted out of management and agreed to take a smaller ownership stake than the other two founders.He continued advising Youtube and a growing number of employees --now 67 --as Hurley and Chen took his "little spark" of an idea and turned it into a fire.
Me at the zoo first youtube video
Youtube's first video,Me at the zoo was uploaded by Jawed Karim on April 23,2005.
Jawed Karim did his master's in computer science from Stanford.He now teaches computer science.He wants to be nothing more than a professor.He simply hopes to follow the footsteps of other Stanford academics who struck fortunes in Silicon Valley and went back to teaching.Jawed's first love , despite his riches and fame ,is an academic career.
Jawed was born in the then East Germany in 1979 .He has a younger brother named Illias ,born in 1989 ,in the then west Germany.His father Naimul Karim is a researcher and his mother Christine Karim is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota.
Jawed Karim's father Naimul Karim was brought up in the DIT quarters at Shiddheswari in Dhaka.He stood first in the combined merit list for Dhaka Division SSC exams in 1972.Naimul Karim got a scholarship and moved to East Germany for higher education .There he met Christine who was also a student of the same university.
Jawed's parents Naimul and Christine
In 1981 ,although the iron curtain was getting fairly rusted ,the Berlin Wall still stood and democracy and freedom did not rule in the DDR(East Germany).While as a Bangladeshi citizen ,Naimul Karim was free to travel anywhere ,the same was not true for Christine and they longed to escape the regimented restrictionsof the Deutsche Demokratische Republik(DDR-East Germany).At the end of the summer ,Naimul Karim bundled Christine and Jawed on to a train for Amsterdam, presumably on their way to visit Bangladesh .The train stopped at Frankfurt ,the Karims got off and they never looked back. Aided by a West German policy that happily welcomed anyone who successfully scaled the wall , albeit figuratively in this case , Naimul Karim and Christine finished their studies , eventually getting their Ph.D.s in chemistry in this little town called Kaiserslautern between Frankfurt and the border with France .
In 1985,Naimul Karim took a job as a product development engineer with 3M in the city of neuss close to Köln .Christine and Jawed joined him six months later . But not before Jawed had spent an entire summer in Dhaka ,Bangladesh with his grandparentsin Uttara.And during that summer , Jawed became a true Bangali .He loved it in Dhaka.In no time at all ,he became fluent in Bangla .And to make matters worse ,he completely forgot his native tounge ,German !
In a telephone conversation with his father's boyhood friend Mr.Tarique Mahmud , Jawed Karim could recall his early life in Bangladesh and told that he did not want to leave Bangladesh at all.They had to put him on the plane kicking and screaming ("Na,jabo na!Ami jabo na!")
"I was crying , I think ," said Jawed Karim one of the Youtube founder.


S : www.tariquemahmud.net; en.wikipedia.org ; ustoday.com(2006-10-11) ; founderbios.com/jawed-karim

Sky Line of Dhaka ,Bangladesh

Bangla New Year(Pohela Boishak)

A daily rural life in Bangladesh

Boat Race(Nouka Baych) in Sylhet ,Bangladesh

Saturday 22 January 2011

Dr.F R Khan -Einstein of Structural Engineering



Legendary architect Dr. F R Khan
Fazlur Rahman Khan born-April 3, 1929 in Dhaka,Bangladesh was a Bangladeshi -American architect and structural engineer . He is a central figure behind the ''Second Chicago School'' of architecture,and is regarded as the "father of tubular design for high-rises''.Khan, "more than any other individual, ushered in a renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second half of the twentieth century."He is also considered to be the''Einstein of structural engineering'' and "the greatest structural engineer of the second half of the 20th century" for his innovative use of structural systems that remain fundamental to modern skyscraper construction. His most famous buildings are the John Hancock Center and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), which was the world's tallest building for several decades.(the world’s tallest building from its completion in 1974 until 1996).
Fazlur Rahman Khan is from the village of Bhandarikandi in Shibchar Upazila,Madaripur District,Dhaka Division,Bangladesh. He was born on 3 April 1929, in Dhaka and died 27 March 1982 in Jeddah,Saudia Arabia at the age of only 52 year old. His father, Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan, BES was ADPI of Bengal and after retirement served as Principal of Jagannath College, Dhaka.
After completing undergraduate coursework at the Bengal Engineering College, University of Calcutta, Fazlur R. Khan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dacca in 1951 while placing first in his class. A Fulbright Scholarship and a Pakistani Government Scholarship subsequently enabled him to travel to the United States in 1952 where he pursued advanced studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana. In three short years Khan earned two masters’ degrees — one in structural engineering and one in theoretical and applied mechanics — and a PhD in structural engineering.
In 1973 he was honored with the top accolade for an engineer in the United States, election to the National Academy of Engineering.
He was cited five times among "Men Who Served the Best Interests of the Construction Industry" by Engineering News-Record (for 1965, 1968, 1970, 1971, and 1979); and in 1972 he was named "Construction's Man of the Year." He was posthumously honored with the International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering and a Distinguished Service Award from the AIA Chicago Chapter (both in 1982). In 1983 the American Institute of Architects recognized Fazlur Khan's contributions with an AIA Institute Honor for Distinguished Achievement.
 

That same year he was honored with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture "for the Structure of the Hajj Terminal, An Outstanding Contribution to Architecture for Muslims," which was completed over the last years of his life.
The Structural Engineers Association of Illinois recognized his achievements with the John Parmer Award in 1987. The SEAOI also commissioned a sculpture in Fazlur Khan’s honor by the Spanish artist Carlos Marinas. The sculpture is located in the lobby of the Sears Tower.In 1998 the city of  Chicago named the intersection of Jackson and Franklin Streets (located at the foot of the Sears Tower) "Fazlur R. Khan Way."
Dr. Fazlur Khan realized that the rigid steel frame structure that had "dominated tall building design and construction so long was not the only system fitting for tall buildings", marking "the beginning of a new era of skyscraper revolution in terms of multiple structural systems. Dr. F R Khan's design innovations significantly improved the construction of high-rise buildings, enabling them to withstand enormous forces generated on these super structures. These new designs opened an economic door for contractors, engineers, architects, and investors, providing vast amounts of real estate space on minimal plots of land.
Dr.Khan with his daughter Yasmin in 1970's
Khan invented a new way of building tall. So F R Khan created the unconventional skyscraper. Reversing the logic of the steel frame, he decided that the building's external envelope could – given enough trussing, framing and bracing – be the structure itself. This made buildings even lighter. The "bundled tube" meant buildings no longer need be boxlike in appearance: they could become sculpture. Khan's amazing insight – he was name-checked by Obama in his Cairo University speech last year – changed both the economics and the morphology of supertall buildings. And it made Burj Khalifa possible: proportionately, Burj employs perhaps half the steel that conservatively supports the Empire State Building. Burj Khalifa is the ultimate expression of his audacious, lightweight design philosophy.
The first sky lobby was also designed by Khan for the John Hancock Center. Later buildings with sky lobbies include the World Trade Center,Petronas Twin Towers and Taipei 101. The 44th-floor sky lobby of the John Hancock Center also features the first high-rise indoorswimming pool, which remains the highest in America.This was the first time that people could have the opportunity to work and live 'in the sky'.


File:Sears Tower and 311 South Wacker.jpg
Sears Tower Building

A Bangladesh Postal Stamp
Even though Dr.F R Khan became an American citizen and spent almost his entire career in the US, he remained a 'Bangali' at heart all his life. Outside of work, Khan enjoyed spending time with his family (wife Liselotte and daughter Yasmin). He enjoyed singing, poetry, and table tennis. He was also heavily involved with creating public opinion and garnering emergency funding for Bengali people during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. He created the Chicago-based organization known as Bangladesh Emergency Welfare Appeal.He also organized a strong lobby in Washington for months to urge the US authority to stop shipment of arms to the junta.

See also this video clip link - in memory on Dr. F R Khan .

S:www.fazlurrkhan.wordpress.com; en.wikipedia.org

Dr.F R Khan -Einstein of Structural Engineering



To know more about this legendary architect please click this link bellow :



Friday 21 January 2011

Jute genome decoded by Bangladeshi scientist Maqsudul Alam


juter fiber origin of specis discovered
Jute plant


Scientist Maqsudul Alam
A consortium of researchers from Dhaka University, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute and Software Company Data Soft Systems Bangladesh Ltd. in collaboration with Centre for Chemical Biology, University of Science Malaysia and University of Hawaii, USA has successfully decoded the Jute Plant Draft Genome. This accomplishment by local scientists and bioinformatics specialists will potentially placed Bangladesh at the forefront of the global jute industry.
Officials and scientists said Bangladesh was the lone country in Asia after Malaysia to carry out such a high level research led by Maqsudul Alam, a professor of the University of Hawaii.
Scientist Maqsudul Alam earlier decoded the genome of papaya in the US and rubber plant in Malaysia, led from the forefront in sequencing the jute genome.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the announcement of Bangladesh's scientific achievement in the parliament on wednesday 16th june 2010 amid cheers and desk thumping by lawmakers.
 Jute genome sequencing initiative began in February, 2008 when Maqsudul started exploring the possibilities with several Bangladeshi scientists and academics. The whole process was kicked off with many long conference calls between Maqsudul and plant molecular biologists, Prof Haseena Khan and Prof Zeba Seraj of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Dhaka University. Then the lead researcher had several meetings with Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury.
Genome sequence represents a valuable shortcut, helping scientists find genes much more easily and quickly. A genome sequence allows scientists identify and understand how genes work together for the plant's different features like growth, development and maintenance as an entire organism. This allows them to manipulate the genes and enhance, reduce or add certain features of the plant.
Jute is the second largest fibre crop in terms of cultivation next to cotton. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest producer of jute, after India, and the world's largest exporter of the fibre.

If cotton is ‘white gold’ for some countries, jute could be ‘fibre gold’ for Bangladesh in the near future. A high value and quality product is what ultimately matters. I believe this will realise a key objective of jute research by the Bangladesh Jute Research Institute - to develop improved varieties of jute with wider adaptability having high quality, finer and stronger fibre.

S:The Daily Star(17th June 2010) ;www.jutegenome.org ;www.sydneybashi-bangla.com-article by Abdul Quader and Facebook Group of scientist Maqsudul Alam - The discover of jute genome sequencing

 

Thursday 20 January 2011

Daye Dhar Deya


Collected from pagebangla.webs.com

Matir Haari





Collected from pagebangla.webs.com

Dheki


Collected from pagebangla.webs.com

Pumpkin(Misti Kumra)


Collected from pagebangla.webs.com

Axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitrol Horin) one of the beautiful animal in Bangladesh


A male Axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin)
A male Chital deer/Axis deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin)


















  
A Axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) fawn suckling















Two male Axis deer or Chital/Cheetal deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin)

















A male Axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) jumping over a trail

















A Axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) fawn suckling
















   A Axis deer/Chital deer (Chitral Horin) with velvet antlers

A female Chital deer/Axis deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin)

Two Axis axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) are fighting

With a strange look two female deer/doe standing in a forest

A group of Axis deer/Chital deer(Chitral Horin) grazing on a field 

With a strange look two female deer/hinds standing in the water

Axis deer/Chital deer(Chitral Horin)-stag with hard antlers eating grass
Fallow Deer | Dama dama photo
A newly born Chital deer/Axis deer or Spotted deer fawn
Chital Deer
A female Chital deer/Axis deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin)
Fallow Deer | Dama dama photo
A Chital deer/Axis deer(Chitral Horin) with velvet antlers taking rest

Two Axis axis deer/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) are fighting
 


A group of Chital/Cheetal deer(Chitral deer) on a river bank to drink water
A female Chital deer/Axis deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) fawn




















Fallow Deer | Dama dama photo
A Axis deer/Chital deer (Chitral Horin) with velvet antlers


With a strange look a stag Chital/Cheetal deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin)



Chital deer or spotted deer is known in Bangladesh as Chitral deer/Chitral Horin. This deer is also known as Axis deer in English. Scientific name of this deer is  Axis axis. This type of deer belongs to Cervidae  family.

The spotted deer or Chital deer (Chitral deer/Horin) is one of the most beautiful animal in Bangladesh. They are mostly found in Sundarbons and in some islands of southern parts of Bangladesh. Besides Bangladesh they are found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. Axis deer has been introduced to Australia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Also the States of California, Texax, Florida and Hawaii of the USA. They have been introduced in the Veliki Brijun Islands of Croatia. Even in 1970’s in the Nijhum Deep(Nijhum Island) of Bangladesh Axis deer has been  introduced and now they are found in large number there.
Chital or spotted deer(Chitral Horin) has a beautiful golden brown coat which is covered with big white spots. Its underparts of the body are white. Male deer (known as stag) have antlers. This could be hard or velvet. Female deer(known as doe or hint) has no antlers. Chital or spotted deer’s(Chitral Horin) antlers sheds annually. Their antlers are usually three pronged and curve in a lyre shape and may extend to 75 cm. It has large nasals. Male deer are between 85-90 cm tall to a shoulder height and weighs in an averages around 85 kg. Does are shorter as well as lighter. They have an average lifespan of about 8-14 years.
Axis /Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) can be easily seen grazing the deciduous or semi evergreen forests and open grass lands. They always prefer dense forests and are intolerant of strong sunlight. They primalily graze on short shrubs and grasses. They prefer to be near water and will drink mornings and evenings in hot weather. In rare cases, they may inhabit thick forests.
Axis/Chital deer or spotted deer(Chitral Horin) is a very introverted as well as reticent animal. They like to live in a small herds comprising of 20 to 30 deer in a group of both sexes. In rare cases, the number of deer in a herd may go upto 100. Large dominant stags with hard antlers stay in the center of the herd and are surrounded by the females and their young. Smaller stags with velvet occupy the boundaries of the herd. Sparring is more common between young stags while older, large stags prefer horning, pawing and marking.
Large stags with hard antlers are more likely to be well spaced out. As male Axis/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) start growing older they become more and more isolated. For Axis/Chital deer don’t have any specified mating season. That is why there are some fertile females at all times of the year. So birth can occur throughout the year. The gestation period is 220 days, after which a single young one is born, rarely two at a time. Hinds and fawns have loose bonds and it is common for them to get separated.
Axis/Chital deer or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) have still not faced too much threat and are far away from risk of extinction. However, they are being hunted at a rapid pace and are even losing their habitat to humans, who are using it for agricultural as well as residential purposes. If this continues, there is a possibility that the population of Bangladeshi Axis/Chital or Spotted deer(Chitral Horin) may become threatened in the future.



Balaka


Collected from pagebangla.webs.com

Currency of Bangladesh


Collected from pagebangla.webs.com

Pharmaceutical Industries Prospect in Bangladesh


In Bangladesh the pharmaceutical sector is one of the most developed hi-tech sectors which is contributing in the country’s economy.

With an annual turnover of about $715 million, Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry is one of the fast growing sectors in Bangladesh.

There are about 231 companies in this sector and the approximate total market size is about $650 million per year of which about 95% of the total requirement of medicines is created by the local companies and the rest 5% is imported. The imported drugs mainly comprise of the cancer drugs, vaccines for viral diseases, hormones etc.
 Among the 49 least developed countries (LDCs), Bangladesh is the only country that is nearly self-sufficient in pharmaceuticals.

Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry now caters to 96 percent of the country's pharmaceutical needs, worth about $700 million.

The remaining 4 percent includes Insulin, vaccines and high-end anti-cancer drugs, the production of which are very capital intensive and therefore not economically feasible for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is basically a branded generic market. The industry's major competence lies in formulation.

In total, more then 230 companies have operations in Bangladesh. About 200 have their own manufacturing facilities, of which five are multinationals.

It is also active in active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Twenty-one different companies now locally manufacture 41 APIs.
Year 1982 brought in a substantial change in the Bangladeshi pharmaceutical scenario. In June of that year, Drug (Control) Ordinance of 1982 was promulgated against the backdrop of the rising cost of medicines, with emphasis on the manufacturing of low-tech products with negligible or doubtful needs.

The ordinance sought to bring down the prices of ``Essential Drugs," discontinue production of pharmaceuticals of doubtful or negligible use and encourage local production of pharmaceuticals.
The professional knowledge, thoughts and innovative ideas of the pharmacists working in this sector are the key factors for this developments.
The export value of pharmaceuticals, though small, is growing every year .Export increased from $8.2 million in 2004 to $28.3 million in 2007 and expanded further in last two of years. The export destinations have now risen from 37 to 72 countries during the period.

Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry has potential to grow and compete in the international market. Its ability to comply otherwise with the guidelines of quality assurance provides it the competitive advantage.
Most companies follow the good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards, set by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO).
Bangladesh can compete with countries like India, China, Brazil and Turkey in the international export market due to its quality compliance. If enjoys the exemption limit until 2016 under the provisions of the World Trade Organisation with regard to generic, patients and other related matters. The ability of the Bangladesh industry is otherwise undisputed about achieving excellence.
The country exports high-tech specialised products like HFA, inhalers, suppositories, hormones, steroids, oncology, immunosuppressant products, nasal sprays, injectibles and IV infusions. The local pull of demand for medicines set the industry in a second footing.
Epidemics like malaria, dengue, cholera and typhoid, no more kill as many people in Bangladesh as they once did. Affordability and availability of medicines contributed to the achievement.
Bangladesh tops South Asia with its average life expectancy of 61 years though per capita consumption of medicines is one of the lowest in the region. Over 50 new factories came up in last three years, of which about two dozen took to aggressive marketing. Out of 230 companies, 200, including five multinationals, have their manufacturing facilities.
At least 21 companies produce 41 active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). To feed the local industry, more API industries are needed. The recent approval, as was reported in a section of the media, to a 30 billion dollar API industrial park in Munshiganj will inject fresh momentum to the pharmaceutical industry. Bangladesh can save at least 70 per cent of expenditure on raw materials when the API part goes into production.
Bangladesh's pharmaceutical industry's progress so far is praiseworthy. It has made the country nearly self-sufficient in pharmaceuticals, became the second largest contributor to the state exchequer, is now a major employer of knowledge-based workers, made pharmaceuticals accessible and affordable to the majority of the population and forayed into export markets with success.


Source : Article by Samson H. Chowdhury,Chairman of Square Pharmaceuticals in The Korea Times(25-03-2008 ) and ''Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry has potential to grow up'' from Gurumia.com