Genome-wide association study of body weight in Australian Merino sheep reveals an orthologous region on OAR6 to human and bovine genomic regions affecting height and weight

Al-Mamun, Hawlader A.,Kwan, Paul,Clark, Samuel A.,Ferdosi, Mohammad H.,Tellam, Ross,Gondro, Cedric BioMed Central 2015 Genetics, selection, evolution Vol.47 No.1

<P><B>Background</B></P><P>Body weight (BW) is an important trait for meat production in sheep. Although over the past few years, numerous quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been detected for production traits in cattle, few QTL studies have been reported for sheep, with even fewer on meat production traits. Our objective was to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with the medium-density Illumina Ovine SNP50 BeadChip to identify genomic regions and corresponding haplotypes associated with BW in Australian Merino sheep.</P><P><B>Methods</B></P><P>A total of 1781 Australian Merino sheep were genotyped using the medium-density Illumina Ovine SNP50 BeadChip. Among the 53 862 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on this array, 48 640 were used to perform a GWAS using a linear mixed model approach. Genotypes were phased with <I>hsphase</I>; to estimate SNP haplotype effects, linkage disequilibrium blocks were identified in the detected QTL region.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>Thirty-nine SNPs were associated with BW at a Bonferroni-corrected genome-wide significance threshold of 1 %. One region on sheep (<I>Ovis aries</I>) chromosome 6 (OAR6) between 36.15 and 38.56 Mb, included 13 significant SNPs that were associated with BW; the most significant SNP was OAR6_41936490.1 (<I>P</I> = 2.37 × 10<SUP>−16</SUP>) at 37.69 Mb with an allele substitution effect of 2.12 kg, which corresponds to 0.248 phenotypic standard deviations for BW. The region that surrounds this association signal on OAR6 contains three genes: <I>leucine aminopeptidase 3</I> (<I>LAP3</I>), which is involved in the processing of the oxytocin precursor; <I>NCAPG non-SMC condensin I complex, subunit G</I> (<I>NCAPG)</I>, which is associated with foetal growth and carcass size in cattle; and <I>ligand dependent nuclear receptor corepressor-like</I> (<I>LCORL</I>), which is associated with height in humans and cattle.</P><P><B>Conclusions</B></P><P>The GWAS analysis detected 39 SNPs associated with BW in sheep and a major QTL region was identified on OAR6. In several other mammalian species, regions that are syntenic with this region have been found to be associated with body size traits, which may reflect that the underlying biological mechanisms share a common ancestry. These findings should facilitate the discovery of causative variants for BW and contribute to marker-assisted selection.</P><P><B>Electronic supplementary material</B></P><P>The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12711-015-0142-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.</P>

Experimental Investigation of Chloride Ion Penetration and Reinforcement Corrosion in Reinforced Concrete Member

Al Mamun, Md. Abdullah,Islam, Md. Shafiqul Korea Institute of Construction Engineering and Ma 2017 Journal of construction engineering and project ma Vol.7 No.1

This paper represents the experimental investigation of chloride penetration into plain concretes and reinforced concretes. The main objective of this work is to study the main influencing parameters affecting corrosion of steel in concrete. Plain cement concrete and reinforced cement concrete with different water-cement ratios and different cover depth were subjected to ponding test. Ponding of specimens were done for different periods into 10% NaCl solution. Depth of penetration of chloride solution into specimens was measured after ponding. Specimens were crushed and reinforcements were washed using $HNO_3$ solution and weight loss due to corrosion was calculated accordingly. There was a linear relationship between depth of penetration and water-cement ratio. It was also observed that, corrosion of reinforcing steel increases with chloride ponding period and with water-cement ratio. Corrosion of steel in concrete can be minimized by providing good quality concrete and sufficient concrete cover over the reinforcing bars. Water-cement ratio has to be low enough to slow down the penetration of chloride salts into concrete.

Effects of Plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) Herb and Heat Exposure on Plasma Glucose Metabolism in Sheep

Al-Mamun, M.,Tanaka, C.,Hanai, Y.,Tamura, Y.,Sano, H. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.6

An experiment was conducted using a [6, 6-$^2H$]glucose isotope dilution method to determine the effects of plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) on plasma glucose metabolism in sheep taken from a thermoneutral environment and exposed to a hot environment. The sheep were fed either mixed hay (MH) of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) at a 60:40 ratio or MH and plantain (PL) at a 9:1 ratio in a crossover design for each 23-day period. In both dietary treatments the metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein intake were designed to be isoenergetic and isoproteinous at around maintenance level. The sheep were taken from a thermoneutral environment ($20^{\circ}C$, 70% RH) and exposed to a hot environment ($28-30^{\circ}C$, 70% RH) for 5 days. The isotope dilution method using a single injection of [6, 6-$^2H$]glucose was performed on the $18^{th}$ day of the thermoneutral environment and on the $5^{th}$ day of heat exposure. Plasma glucose pool size was numerically lower (p = 0.26) during heat exposure on both dietary treatments, and numerically higher (p = 0.13) on the MH diet irrespective of environmental temperature. Plasma NEFA concentration (p = 0.01) and glucose turnover rate (p = 0.03) were decreased during heat exposure, but remained similar between diets. It could be concluded that, although no positive impact of plantain on glucose metabolism was found under the present experimental conditions (plantain constituted only 10% of basal diet), plantain herb is an alternative to MH for rearing sheep in both thermoneutral and hot environments.

Landslide Risk Assessment of Cropland and Man-made Infrastructures using Bayesian Predictive Model

Al-Mamun,장동호 한국지형학회 2020 한국지형학회지 Vol.27 No.3

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the risk of cropland and man-made infrastructures in a landslide-prone area using a GIS-based method. To achieve this goal, a landslide inventory map was prepared based on aerial photograph analysis as well as field observations. A total of 550 landslides have been counted in the entire study area. For model analysis and validation, extracted landslides were randomly selected and divided into two groups. The landslide causative factors such as slope, aspect, curvature, topographic wetness index, elevation, forest type, forest crown density, geology, land-use, soil drainage, and soil texture were used in the analysis. Moreover, to identify the correlation between landslides and causative factors, pixels were divided into several classes and frequency ratio was also extracted. A landslide susceptibility map was constructed using a bayesian predictive model (BPM) based on the entire events. In the cross validation process, the landslide susceptibility map as well as observation data were plotted with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve then the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated and tried to extract a success rate curve. The results showed that, the BPM produced 85.8% accuracy. We believed that the model was acceptable for the landslide susceptibility analysis of the study area. In addition, for risk assessment, monetary value (local) and vulnerability scale were added for each social thematic data layers, which were then converted into US dollar considering landslide occurrence time. Moreover, the total number of the study area pixels and predictive landslide affected pixels were considered for making a probability table. Matching with the affected number, 5,000 landslide pixels were assumed to run for final calculation. Based on the result, cropland showed the estimated total risk as US $ 35.4 million and man-made infrastructure risk amounted to US $ 39.3 million.

Effect of hot-casted NiO hole transport layer on the performance of perovskite solar cells

Mamun, Abdullah Al,Ava, Tanzila Tasnim,Abdel-Fattah, Tarek M.,Jeong, Hyeon Jun,Jeong, Mun Seok,Han, Seonhye,Yoon, Hargsoon,Namkoong, Gon Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. 2019 SOLAR ENERGY -PHOENIX ARIZONA THEN NEW YORK- Vol.188 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>NiO is extensively studied as a hole transport layer in perovskite solar cells but syntheses of NiO precursor involves toxic chemicals and time-consuming processes. Moreover, the synthesized NiO contains surface defects acting as trapping sites at the NiO/perovskite interfaces, resulting in poor charge extraction, hysteresis and light soaking. In this manuscript, we developed a non-toxic methodology for NiO precursor solution by using a simple mixture of NiO powder and HCl in an air environment. In addition, a new hot-casting technique was developed to successfully fabricate densely-packed, less defective NiO films. Interestingly, the hot-casting temperature was found to significantly affect morphology, film coverage and surface defects of NiO films. When a hot-casting temperature was below 100 °C, non-uniform NiO films were sparsely formed on the FTO surface and were characterized by defects in the form of hydroxyl groups and water on the surface. Such defective NiO films resulted in severe hysteresis and light soaking effect due to the trapped charges at the defective NiO/perovskite interface of perovskite solar cells. In contrast, when the hot-casting temperature was 120 °C, the NiO film formed densely-packed morphologies, covering the FTO surface. Furthermore, this film exhibited an ordered chemistry with strong Ni-O octahedral bonding and facilitated charge extraction at NiO/perovskite interface, resulting in a negligible hysteresis and light soaking. Finally, this non-toxic and simple method of fabricating NiO film will assist further development of perovskite solar cells.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> A quick, simple, inexpensive, and non-toxic methodology was developed for preparing NiO precursor solution. </LI> <LI> A new hot-casting technique was developed to fabricate densely-packed, less defective NiO films. </LI> <LI> Hot-casted NiO resulted in a negligible hysteresis and light soaking of perovskite solar cells. </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical abstract</B></P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>

Pt and TCO free hybrid bilayer silver nanowire-graphene counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

Al-Mamun, M.,Kim, J.Y.,Sung, Y.E.,Lee, J.J.,Kim, S.R. North Holland ; Elsevier Science Ltd 2013 Chemical physics letters Vol.561 No.-

Here we report a novel transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and Pt free silver nanowire and graphene nanoplatelet (AgNW-GNP) based hybrid counter electrode (CE) for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) having appreciable photovoltaic performances compared to reference Pt-FTO based DSSCs. Simple solution processed bilayer AgNW-GNP hybrid CEs were prepared to investigate its applicability in DSSCs based on their electrocatalytic and charge transport properties. DSSCs prepared with AgNW-GNP hybrid CEs containing the GNP loading of 0.88μg/cm<SUP>2</SUP> showed the photoconversion efficiency of 1.61+/-0.13% which is comparable with that of 1.87+/-0.15% made of standard Pt-FTO CEs.

Comparison of the [$^2H_5$]Phenylalanine Model with the [1-$^{13}C$]Leucine Method to Determine Whole Body Protein Synthesis and Degradation in Sheep Fed at Two Levels

Al-Mamun, M.,Ito, C.,Fujita, T.,Sano, H.,Sato, A. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.10

The [$^2H_5$]phenylalanine model was compared with the [1-$^{13}C$]leucine method to determine whole body protein synthesis (WBPS) and degradation (WBPD) in sheep fed at two levels. The animals were fed either 103 (M-diet) or 151 (H-diet) kcal $ME/kg^{0.75}/day$ once daily in a crossover design for 21 days each. The isotope dilutions were simultaneously conducted as a primed-continuous infusion of [$^2H_5$]phenylalanine, [$^2H_2$]tyrosine and [1-$^{13}C$]leucine on each dietary treatment. The WBPS and WBPD calculated from the [$^2H_5$]phenylalanine model were lower (p = 0.009 and p = 0.003, respectively) than those calculated from the [1-$^{13}C$]leucine method. The WBPS tended to be higher (p = 0.08) and WBPD was numerically higher (p = 0.33) for H-diet than M-diet in the [$^2H_5$]phenylalanine model, whereas the WBPS was numerically higher (p = 0.37) for H-diet and WBPS remained similar (p = 0.79) between diets in the [1-$^{13}C$]leucine method. However, the absolute values and the directions of WBPS as well as WBPD from M-diet to H-diet were comparable between the [$^2H_5$]phenylalanine model and [1-$^{13}C$]leucine method. Moreover, the values vary depending on the use of the respective amino acid contents in the carcass protein when calculating WBPS and WBPD. Therefore, it is concluded that the [$^2H_5$]phenylalanine model could be used as an alternative to the [1-$^{13}C$]leucine method for the determination of WBPS and WBPD in sheep.

Coastal Afforestation Effect on Soil Physiochemical Properties at Sitakunda Coast of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Mamun, Abdullah-Al,Kabir, Md. Humayain,Kader, Mohammed Abdul,Hossain, Mohammed Kamal Institute of Forest Science 2021 Journal of Forest Science Vol.37 No.1

This study was conducted at Sitakunda coastal afforestation range, comprised of four beats- Bansbaria, Bakkhali, Baterkhil and Bogachattar, in Chittagong. Afforestation effects on soil physicochemical properties in comparison to adjacent barren land were analysed. In the study area, an area of 3277.33 ha was planted with Sonneratia apetala, Avecinnia officinalis, Excoecaria agallocha, Bruguiera sexangula, Ceriops decandra from 1968 to 2011. We found positive soil physicochemical changes in plantations in comparison to adjacent barren land. Soil bulk density of plantation was lower than the adjacent barren land. Soil pH and soil salinity were significantly higher in barren land whereas soil organic matter, organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium of plantations were higher in afforested land. Soil texture ranged from clay loam to sandy loam in different depth of these two types of land. However, this study concludes that there is clear evidence that afforestation has positive impacts on all soil properties in different location and soil depths in the study area.

Household Income Dynamics and Wage Inequality In Bangladesh: Evidence From Hies 2010 And 2016

Al Mamun,MD. ARFANUZZAMAN,NUSRAT JAHAN NISHAT 중앙대학교 경제연구소 2023 Journal of Economic Development Vol.48 No.3

The study used the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data from 2010 and 2016 of Bangladesh to examine the effects of human capital (education, experience) and social factors (age, gender, location, economic activity) on income using the OLS and IV (2SLS and GMM) regression methods. The study suggests that both education and experience positively affected income in both rural and urban areas. The gender wage gap, rural-urban wage gap, and industrial and service sector wage gap all climbed to 44.1 percent, 19.4 percent, and 5 percent, respectively, in 2016, much higher than in 2010. It has emerged that both urban males and females earn significantly more than their rural counterparts in both periods. The study found a wage dominance of the service sector over the agricultural and industrial sectors in 2016. Besides, the gap between the agricultural and non-agricultural sector’s wages decreased significantly in 2016, indicating decent wage growth in the agriculture sector. As both human capital and social factors have a remarkable contribution to income, strategic planning, and investment are required to reduce inequality and wage gaps and advance inclusive development in Bangladesh.

Plasmon-induced photothermal cell-killing effect of gold colloidal nanoparticles on epithelial carcinoma cells

Al-Mamun, Md. Abdulla,Kusumoto, Yoshihumi,Mihata, Aki,Islam, Md. Shariful,Ahmmad, Bashir Korean Society of Photoscience 2009 Photochemical & photobiological sciences Vol.8 No.8

Gold colloidal nanoparticles were prepared by the liquid laser ablation of a gold metal plate in water and also by the citrate reduction of $HAuCl_4{\cdot}4H_2O$. The gold colloidal nanoparticles with the plasmonic band strongly absorb light, which is converted to the photothermal energy. This photothermal energy gives a cytotoxic effect on epithelial carcinoma cells. Interestingly, we found that the size and shape of the nanoparticles are changed by light during the photothermal process in vitro. The cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa cell) was incubated with the colloidal gold nanoparticles and then exposed to continuous visible light at 400-600 nm with UV- and heat-cutoff filters. The distinct cell-killing effect was observed by this procedure. In the absence of the gold colloidal nanoparticles, only a small amount of cells were photothermally destroyed.