Background Managing menstrual hygiene in the least developed countries represents a significant obstacle for women and girls. Commonly dirty stuffs are used to control the menstrual cycle which causes many diseases, while disposable hygiene-absorbent material during menstruation is an essential requirement. Most local commercial sanitary napkins offer high absorptiveness and flexibility; however, most of them, due to the use of synthetic superabsorbent polymer (SAP) within the core layer, are not biodegradable and harmful to human skin. This research aims to create a sanitized and biodegradable pad in order to replace SAP with environmentally sound biopolymer that give rural poor women competent performance and characteristics. Result For the construction of the model, some of the current sanitary pads from the local market are examined. Six models are designed using various biopolymers such as cotton, viscose, wood pulp, sodium alginate and carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) in different proportions as the core absorbent layer to boost requirements such as absorption, fluid retention strength, coziness and cost reduction. The sanitized pads have gone through various investigations such as antimicrobial activity, wicking ability and water retention capacity to standardize vital features and value. The experimental results show the use of sodium alginate and CMC is a possible replacement for SAP as the best comparable result is observed in template consuming sodium alginate, CMC and cellulosic fibre. Non-woven fabric treated with neem extract forming the outer layer of sanitary napkin serving with antimicrobial activity of more than 90% against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Conclusion Outcomes recommend significant advancement and cost-effectiveness of the newly designed archetype. Sanitary napkins without SAP can be a safe disposal solution and can therefore have a sustainable environmental impact.

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Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is a crucial element for deriving a meaningful scheduling of irrigation for major crops. Thus, precise projection of future ET0 is essential for better management of scarce water resources in many parts of the globe. This study evaluates the potential of a Hierarchical Fuzzy System (HFS) optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm (PSO-HFS) to predict daily ET0. The meteorological variables and estimated ET0 were employed as inputs and outputs, respectively, for the PSO-HFS model. The FAO 56 PM method to ET0 computation was implemented to obtain ET0 values using the climatic variables obtained from two weather stations located in Gazipur Sadar and Ishurdi, Bangladesh. Prediction accuracy of PSO-HFS was compared with that of a FIS, M5 Model Tree, and a Regression Tree (RT) model. Several statistical performance evaluation indices were used to evaluate the performances of the PSO-HFS, FIS, M5 Model Tree, and RT in estimating daily ET0. Ranking of the models was performed using the concept of Shannon’s Entropy that accounts for a set of performance evaluation indices. Results revealed that the PSO-HFS model performed better than the tree-based models. Generalization capabilities of the preposed models were evaluated using the dataset from a test station (Ishurdi station). Results revealed that the models performed equally well with the unseen test dataset, and that the PSO-HFS model provided superior performance over other tree based models. The overall results imply that PSO-HFS model could effectively be utilized to model ET0 values quite efficiently and accurately.