Prevalence and impact of the use of electronic gadgets on the health of children in secondary schools in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Use of technological gadgets has rapidly been increasing among adolescents, which may result in health issues and technology addiction. This study focuses on the prevalence of usage of technological gadgets and health-related complications among secondary school-going children of Bangladesh. METHODS: A total of 1803 secondary school students from 21 different districts of Bangladesh participated in the study. The children were asked questions relating to their access to electronic gadgets, time spent on outdoor activities, and whether they experienced any health-complications as an after-effect of the usage. A binary logistic regression model was adapted considering time spent on gadgets as an independent variable and health problems (physical and mental) as the dependent variable. RESULTS: Among all the gadgets, 67.11% of the participants were reported to use mobile phones on a daily basis. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 24.48% of respondents used electronic gadgets for attending online classes. The participants were reported to use gadgets significantly more (P < .05) in 2020 as compared to 2019. Children showed less tendency to spend time in outdoor activities. More than 50% of the participants spend time doing outdoor activities for less than 1 hour daily. An association between gadget use and health problems like headache, backache, visual disturbance, and sleeping disturbance has been observed in our study. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that different socio-demographic factors have influence on the use of gadgets by children, and this use has greatly been affecting both the physical and mental health of the secondary school-going students of Bangladesh.

Effect of small proportion of butanol additive on the performance, emission, and combustion of Australian native first- and second-generation biodiesel in a diesel engine.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of the addition of 5% alcohol (butanol) with biodiesel-diesel blends on the performance, emissions, and combustion of a naturally aspirated four stroke multi-cylinder diesel engine at different engine speeds (1200 to 2400 rpm) under full load conditions. Three types of local Australian biodiesel, namely macadamia biodiesel (MB), rice bran biodiesel (RB), and waste cooking oil biodiesel (WCB), were used for this study, and the data was compared with results for conventional diesel fuel (B0). Performance results showed that the addition of butanol with diesel-biodiesel blends slightly lowers the engine efficiency. The emission study revealed that the addition of butanol additive with diesel-biodiesel blends lowers the exhaust gas temperature (EGT), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and particulate matter (PM) emissions whereas it increases hydrocarbon (HC) emissions compared to B0. The combustion results indicated that in-cylinder pressure (CP) for additive added fuel is higher (0.45-1.49%), while heat release rate (HRR) was lower (2.60-9.10%) than for B0. Also, additive added fuel lowers the ignition delay (ID) by 23-30% than for B0. Finally, it can be recommended that the addition of 5% butanol with Australian biodiesel-diesel blends can significantly lower the NOx and PM emissions.