Search results for: Bangladesh

Authors: Monika Saha, A. T. M. Hasan Zobeyer, Nasreen Jahan

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El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the interaction between atmosphere and ocean in tropical Pacific which causes inconsistent warm/cold weather in tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Due to the impact of climate change, ENSO events are becoming stronger in recent times, and therefore it is very important to study the influence of ENSO in climate studies. Bangladesh, being in the low-lying deltaic floodplain, experiences the worst consequences due to flooding every year. To reduce the catastrophe of severe flooding events, non-structural measures such as flood forecasting can be helpful in taking adequate precautions and steps. Forecasting seasonal flood with a longer lead time of several months is a key component of flood damage control and water management. The objective of this research is to identify the possible strength of teleconnection between ENSO and river flow of Surma and examine the potential possibility of long lead flood forecasting in the wet season. Surma is one of the major rivers of Bangladesh and is a part of the Surma-Meghna river system. In this research, sea surface temperature (SST) has been considered as the ENSO index and the lead time is at least a few months which is greater than the basin response time. The teleconnection has been assessed by the correlation analysis between July-August-September (JAS) flow of Surma and SST of Nino 4 region of the corresponding months. Cumulative frequency distribution of standardized JAS flow of Surma has also been determined as part of assessing the possible teleconnection. Discharge data of Surma river from 1975 to 2015 is used in this analysis, and remarkable increased value of correlation coefficient between flow and ENSO has been observed from 1985. From the cumulative frequency distribution of the standardized JAS flow, it has been marked that in any year the JAS flow has approximately 50% probability of exceeding the long-term average JAS flow. During El Nino year (warm episode of ENSO) this probability of exceedance drops to 23% and while in La Nina year (cold episode of ENSO) it increases to 78%. Discriminant analysis which is known as 'Categoric Prediction' has been performed to identify the possibilities of long lead flood forecasting. It has helped to categorize the flow data (high, average and low) based on the classification of predicted SST (warm, normal and cold). From the discriminant analysis, it has been found that for Surma river, the probability of a high flood in the cold period is 75% and the probability of a low flood in the warm period is 33%. A synoptic parameter, forecasting index (FI) has also been calculated here to judge the forecast skill and to compare different forecasts. This study will help the concerned authorities and the stakeholders to take long-term water resources decisions and formulate policies on river basin management which will reduce possible damage of life, agriculture, and property.

Keywords: El Nino-Southern Oscillation, sea surface temperature, surma river, teleconnection, cumulative frequency distribution, discriminant analysis, forecasting index

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Authors: Debasish Nandy

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India’s foreign policy towards all of her neighbor countries is determinate on the basis of multi-dimensional factors. India’s relations with its South Asian neighbor can be classified into three categories. In the first category, there are four countries -Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Afghanistan- whose bilateral relationships have encompassed cooperation, irritants, problems and crisis at different points in time. With Pakistan, the relationship has been perpetually adversarial. The third category includes Bhutan and Maldives whose relations are marked by friendship and cooperation, free of any bilateral problems. It is needless to say that Jawaharlal Nehru emphasized on friendly relations with the neighboring countries. The subsequent Prime Ministers of India especially I.K. Gujral had advocated in making of peaceful and friendly relations with the subcontinental countries. He had given a unique idea to foster bilateral relations with the neighbors. His idea is known as ‘Gujral Doctrine’. A dramatical change has been witnessed in Indian foreign policy since 1991.In the post-Cold War period, India’s national security has been vehemently threatened by terrorism, which originated from Pakistan-Afghanistan and partly Bangladesh. India has required a cooperative security, which can be made by mutual understanding among the South Asian countries. Additionally, the countries of South Asia need to evolve the concept of ‘Cooperative Security’ to explain the underlying logic of regional cooperation. According to C. Rajamohan, ‘cooperative security could be understood, as policies of governments, which see themselves as former adversaries or potential adversaries to shift from or avoid confrontationist policies.’ A cooperative security essentially reflects a policy of dealing peacefully with conflicts, not merely by abstention from violence or threats but by active engagement in negotiation, a search for practical solutions and with a commitment to preventive measures. Cooperative assumes the existence of a condition in which the two sides possess the military capabilities to harm each other. Establishing cooperative security runs into a complex process building confidence. South Asian nations often engaged with hostility to each other. Extra-regional powers have been influencing their powers in this region since a long time. South Asian nations are busy to purchase military equipment. In spite of weakened economic systems, these states are spending a huge amount of money for their security. India is the big power in this region in every aspect. The big states- small states syndrome is a negative factor in this respect. However, India will have to an initiative to extended ‘track II diplomacy’ or soft diplomacy for its security as well as the security of this region.Confidence building measures could help rejuvenate not only SAARC but also build trust and mutual confidence between India and its neighbors in South Asia. In this paper, I will focus on different aspects of India’s policy towards it, South-Asian neighbors. It will also be searched that how India is dealing with these countries by using a mixed type of diplomacy – both idealistic and realistic points of view. Security and cooperation are two major determinants of India’s foreign policy towards its South Asian neighbors.

Keywords: bilateral, diplomacy, infiltration, terrorism

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Authors: Pulakesh Das, Mukunda Dev Behera, Manchiraju Sri Ramachandra Murthy

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Large numbers of people living in and around the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, depends on this diverse mountainous region for ecosystem services. Following the global trend, this region also experiencing rapid population growth, and demand for timber and agriculture land. The eight countries sharing the HKH region have different forest resources utilization and conservation policies that exert varying forces in the forest ecosystem. This created a variable spatial as well altitudinal gradient in rate of deforestation and corresponding forest patch fragmentation. The quantitative relationship between fragmentation and demography has not been established before for HKH vis-à-vis along elevation gradient. This current study was carried out to attribute the overall and different nature in landscape fragmentations along the altitudinal gradient with the demography of each sharing countries. We have used the tree canopy cover data derived from Landsat data to analyze the deforestation and afforestation rate, and corresponding landscape fragmentation observed during 2000 – 2010. Area-weighted mean radius of gyration (AMN radius of gyration) was computed owing to its advantage as spatial indicator of fragmentation over non-spatial fragmentation indices. Using the subtraction method, the change in fragmentation was computed during 2000 – 2010. Using the tree canopy cover data as a surrogate of forest cover, highest forest loss was observed in Myanmar followed by China, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. However, the sequence of fragmentation was different after the maximum fragmentation observed in Myanmar followed by India, China, Bangladesh, and Bhutan; whereas increase in fragmentation was seen following the sequence of as Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Using SRTM-derived DEM, we observed higher rate of fragmentation up to 2400m that corroborated with high human population for the year 2000 and 2010. To derive the nature of fragmentation along the altitudinal gradients, the Statistica software was used, where the user defined function was utilized for regression applying the Gauss-Newton estimation method with 50 iterations. We observed overall logarithmic decrease in fragmentation change (area-weighted mean radius of gyration), forest cover loss and population growth during 2000-2010 along the elevation gradient with very high R2 values (i.e., 0.889, 0.895, 0.944 respectively). The observed negative logarithmic function with the major contribution in the initial elevation gradients suggest to gap filling afforestation in the lower altitudes to enhance the forest patch connectivity. Our finding on the pattern of forest fragmentation and human population across the elevation gradient in HKH region will have policy level implication for different nations and would help in characterizing hotspots of change. Availability of free satellite derived data products on forest cover and DEM, grid-data on demography, and utility of geospatial tools helped in quick evaluation of the forest fragmentation vis-a-vis human impact pattern along the elevation gradient in HKH.

Keywords: area-weighted mean radius of gyration, fragmentation, human impact, tree canopy cover

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Authors: M. F. Miah, A. Chakrabarty

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Two popular and highly valued fish, Stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) and Asian catfish (Clarias batrachus) are considered for observing genetic enhancement. Cross breeding was performed considering wild and farmed fish through inducing agent. Five RAPD markers were used to assess genetic diversity among parents and offspring of these two catfish for evaluating genetic enhancement in F1 generation. Considering different genetic data such as banding pattern of DNA, polymorphic loci, polymorphic information content (PIC), inter individual pair wise similarity, Nei genetic similarity, genetic distance, phylogenetic relationships, allele frequency, genotype frequency, intra locus gene diversity and average gene diversity of parents and offspring of these two fish were analyzed and finally in both cases higher genetic diversity was found in F1 generation than the parents.

Keywords: Heteropneustes fossilis, Clarias batrachus, cross breeding, genetic enhancement

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Authors: M. Khasro Miah, Chowdhury Hossan Golam, Muhammed Siddique Hossain

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Recently, financial institution brand image is turning out to be pretty weak due to the presence of strong local competitors and this in term is affecting their firm performance also. In this study, four major HR practices, namely employee commitment, empowerment, loyalty, and engagement are considered in order to measure its effects on the brand and financial performance of banking organization. This study finds that the banking institutions of Bangladesh are more customer oriented rather than internal employee oriented, which makes it quite obvious that the internal HR practices will have little or no effect on the banks brand performance. Employee Commitment has emerged out to be the most important predictor, followed by employee loyalty and empowerment. The employees are well-empowered, engaged, and shows loyalty towards the organization, but their activities are not well linked with the brand. Firms should concentrate to create a congenial working atmosphere and employees should feel like a part of the organization.

Keywords: HR in bank, employee commitment, empowerment, finance, employee commitment, loyalty and engagement

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Authors: A. B. M. Aftabuzzaman, Md. Mahin Hossain, Md. Ifran Sharif Imthi, Md. Razu Ahmed, A. Z. M. Imran

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The goals of the study are to develop a safety system that is combined with a smart helmet to reduce the likelihood of two-wheeler bike accidents and cases of drunk driving. The smart helmet and the limit switch both verify when a biker is wearing a helmet. The presence of alcohol in the rider's breath is detected using alcohol sensors. The bike remains turned off if the rider is not wearing a helmet or if the rider's breath contains alcohol. The bike will not start until the rider is wearing a helmet and there is no alcoholic substance present, indicating that the bike rider has not consumed alcohol. When the rider faces in an accident, instantly the smart helmet hits the ground and respective sensors detect the movement and tilt of the protective helmet and instantly sending the information about the location of accident to the rider's relatives and the crisis contact numbers which are introduced in the smart helmet respective device. So this project finding will ensure safe bike journey and improve safe commercial bike services in Bangladesh.

Keywords: smart helmet, GSM, GPS, bike, biker accident

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Authors: Naima Nur, Safa Islam, Saeema Islam, Md. Faridul Alam

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Background: The worldwide increase in pediatric presumptive tuberculosis (TB) is the most life-threatening challenge in effectively controlling TB. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of presumptive TB and the factors associated with it. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between March and November 2013 at ICDDR-Bangladesh. Two hundred twelve pulmonary and extra-pulmonary specimens were collected from 84 suspected pediatric patients diagnosed with TB based on their clinical symptoms/radiological findings. Presumptive TB and confirmed TB were considered presumptive TB and non-presumptive TB and were isolated by smear-microscopy, culture, and GeneXpert. Logistic regression was used to analyze associations between outcome and predictor variables. Results: The proportion of presumptive TB was 85.7%, and 14.3% of non-presumptive TB. In presumptive TB, vaccine scars, family TB history, and school-going children were 16.6%, 33.3%, and 56.9%, respectively. In contrast, vaccine scars and family TB history were 8.3%, and school-going children were 58.3% in non-presumptive TB. Significant factors did not appear in the logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Despite the high proportion of presumptive TB, there was no statistically significant between presumptive TB and non-presumptive TB.

Keywords: presumptive tuberculosis, confirmed tuberculosis, patient's characteristics, diagnosis

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Authors: Zainal Abedin

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Introduction: Reproductive health is one of the major priorities of global health and is a fundamental and inalienable part of women’s health due to childbearing, and it is closely associated with nutritional status. Objective: This study was done to assess reproductive health behavior and nutritional status of reproductive-age ethnic women residing in plain land. Method: It was a cross-sectional study conducted among conveniently selected 120 reproductive-aged ethnic women at three Upazila of Rajshahi District. Nutritional status was determined by the WHO cut-off value of BMI for the Asian population. Results: About 88% of respondents noticed that they seek treatment in response to disease, and most of them seek treatment from the pharmacy attendant. Two-thirds of women used contraceptives, and 76% of women received antenatal care visits from Govt health centers, private clinics, and NGO clinics, but 86% of respondents delivered at home. In terms of nutritional status, 70% were normal, 23% underweight, and 7% overweight. Conclusion: Though most of them were normal regarding nutritional status but one-fourth were still underweight. Local pharmacy/quack-dependent treatment should be reduced.

Keywords: reproductive health behavior, nutritional status, plain land, ethnic women

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Authors: Faisal Bin Alam

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Most of the manufacturing entities cause negative footprint to nature that demand due attention. Textile industries have one of the longest supply chains and bear the liability of significant environmental impact to our planet. Issues of environmental safety, scarcity of energy and resources, and demand for eco-friendly products have driven research to search for safe and suitable alternatives in apparel processing. Consumer awareness, increased pressure from fashion brands and actions from local legislative authorities have somewhat been able to improve the practices. Objective of this paper is to reveal the best selection of raw materials and methods of production, taking environmental sustainability into account. Methodology used in this study is exploratory in nature based on personal experience, field visits in the factories of Bangladesh and secondary sources. Findings are limited to exploring better alternatives to conventional operations of a Readymade Garment manufacturing, from fibre selection to final product delivery, therefore showing some ways of achieving greener environment in the supply chain of a clothing industry.

Keywords: textile and apparel, environmental sustainability, supply chain, production, clothing

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Authors: Sultana Razia

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of early therapeutic intervention for the children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were 63 children with autism spectrum disorder from Autism Corner in a selected rehabilitation center of Bangladesh. The hypothesis of the study was that participants would demonstrate significant improvement in social skills, speech and sensory skills following a 3-month intensive therapeutic protocol. This study included children who are at age of 18-month to 36-month and who were taking occupational therapy and speech and language therapy from the autism center. They were primarily screened using M-CHAT; however, children with other physical disability or medical conditions excluded. 3-months interventions of 6 sessions per week are a minimum of 45-minutes long per session, one to one interaction followed by parent-led structured home-based therapy was provided. The results indicated that early intensive therapeutic intervention improve understanding, social skills and sensory skills. It can be concluded that therapeutic early intervention a positive effect on Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Keywords: M-CHAT, ASD, sensory cheeklist, OT

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Authors: S. M. Ashikur Elahee, Md. Zahidur Rahman, Md. Shofiqur Rahman

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This study evaluated the impact of different water interventions under WASH program on access of household's to safe drinking water. Following survey method, the study was carried out in two Upazila of South-west coastal region of Bangladesh namely Koyra from Khulna and Shymnagar from Satkhira district. Being an explanatory study, a total of 200 household's selected applying random sampling technique were interviewed using a structured interview schedule. The predicted probability suggests that around 62 percent household's are out of year-round access to safe drinking water whereby, only 25 percent household's have access at SPHERE standard (913 Liters/per person/per year). Besides, majority (78 percent) of the household's have not accessed at both indicators simultaneously. The distance from household residence to the water source varies from 0 to 25 kilometer with an average distance of 2.03 kilometers. The study also reveals that the increase in monthly income around BDT 1,000 leads to additional 11 liters (coefficient 0.01 at p < 0.1) consumption of safe drinking water for a person/year. As expected, lining up time has significant negative relationship with dependent variables i.e., for higher lining up time, the probability of getting access for both SPHERE standard and year round access variables becomes lower. According to ordinary least square (OLS) regression results, water consumption decreases at 93 liters for per person/year of a household if one member is added to that household. Regarding water consumption intensity, ordered logistic regression (OLR) model shows that one-minute increase of lining up time for water collection tends to reduce water consumption intensity. On the other hand, as per OLS regression results, for one-minute increase of lining up time, the water consumption decreases by around 8 liters. Considering access to Deep Tube Well (DTW) as a reference dummy, in OLR, the household under Pond Sand Filter (PSF), Shallow Tube Well (STW), Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Rainwater Harvester System (RWHS) are respectively 37 percent, 29 percent, 61 percent and 27 percent less likely to ensure year round access of water consumption. In line of health impact, different type of water born diseases like diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid are common among the coastal community caused by microbial impurities i.e., Bacteria, Protozoa. High turbidity and TDS in pond water caused by reduction of water depth, presence of suspended particle and inorganic salt stimulate the growth of bacteria, protozoa, and algae causes affecting health hazard. Meanwhile, excessive growth of Algae in pond water caused by excessive nitrate in drinking water adversely effects on child health. In lieu of ensuring access at SPHERE standard, we need to increase the number of water interventions at reasonable distance, preferably a half kilometer away from the dwelling place, ensuring community peoples involved with its installation process where collectively owned water intervention is found more effective than privately owned. In addition, a demand-responsive approach to supply of piped water should be adopted to allow consumer demand to guide investment in domestic water supply in future.

Keywords: access, impact, safe drinking water, Sphere standard, water interventions

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Authors: A. Drong, K. S. Kerkhoff

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Migration affects women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. This paper reports on the social constructs of gender, and livelihood pursuits as beauty parlours workers amongst the young Garo women in Bangladesh, and studies changes in their accessibility to the healthcare services due to migration and livelihood. The paper is based on in-depth interviews and participant-led group discussions with 30 women working in various beauty parlours across the city. The data indicate that social perceptions of ‘good’, ‘bad’ and ‘respectable’ determine the expression of sexuality, and often dictates sexual and reproductive practices for these women. This study also reveals that unregulated work conditions, and the current cost of local healthcare services, have a strong impact on the women’s accessibility to the healthcare services; thus often limiting their choices to only customary and/or unqualified practitioners for abortions and child-births. Development programmes on migrant indigenous women’s health must, therefore, take the contextual gender norms and livelihood choices into account.

Keywords: gender, indigenous women, reproductive rights, sexual rights, Garo, migration, livelihood, healthcare

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Sadiya S. Silvee

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Generally, the decision of the higher court is binding on its subordinate courts. As provided in Article 111 of the Constitution, 'the law declared by the Appellate Division (AD) shall be binding on the High Court Division (HCD) and the law declared by either division of the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts subordinate to it.' This means the judicial discipline requires the HCD to follow the decision of the AD and that it is necessary for the lower tiers of courts to accept the decision of the higher tiers as a binding precedent. Analyzing the application of Article 111 of the Constitution in the criminal justice system as a sentencing guideline, the paper, by examining whether there is any consistency in decision between one HC Bench and another HC Bench, explores whether HCD can per incuriam its previous decision. In doing so, the Death Reference (DR) Cases are contemplated. Furthermore, the paper shall examine whether the Court of Session follows the decision of the HCD while using their discretion to make the choice between death and imprisonment for life under section 302 of PC. The paper argues due to the absence of any specific direction for sentencing and inconsistency in jurisprudence among the HCD; the subordinate courts are in a dilemma.

Keywords: death reference, sentencing factor, sentencing guideline, criminal justice system and constitution

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Abdullah Nurus Salam Khan, Farhana Karim, Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir Chowdhury, S. Masum Billah, Nabila Zaka, Alexander Manu, Shams El Arifeen

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Globally, pre-eclampsia (PE) and ante-partum haemorrhage (APH) are two major causes of maternal mortality. Prompt identification and management of these conditions depend on competency of the birth attendants. Since these conditions are infrequent to be observed, clinical vignette based assessment could identify the extent of health worker’s competence in managing emergency obstetric care (EmOC). During June-August 2016, competence of 39 medical officers (MO) and 95 nurses working in obstetric ward of 15 government health facilities (3 district hospital, 12 sub-district hospital) was measured using clinical vignettes on PE and APH. The vignettes resulted in three outcome measures: total vignette scores, scores for diagnosis component, and scores for management component. T-test was conducted to compare mean vignette scores and linear regression was conducted to measure the strength and association of vignette scores with different cadres of health workers, facility’s readiness for EmOC and average annual utilization of normal deliveries after adjusting for type of health facility, health workers’ work experience, training status on managing maternal complication. For each of the seven component of EmOC items (administration of injectable antibiotics, oxytocic and anticonvulsant; manual removal of retained placenta, retained products of conception; blood transfusion and caesarean delivery), if any was practised in the facility within last 6 months, a point was added and cumulative EmOC readiness score (range: 0-7) was generated for each facility. The yearly utilization of delivery cases were identified by taking the average of all normal deliveries conducted during three years (2013-2015) preceding the survey. About 31% of MO and all nurses were female. Mean ( ± sd) age of the nurses were higher than the MO (40.0 ± 6.9 vs. 32.2 ± 6.1 years) and also longer mean( ± sd) working experience (8.9 ± 7.9 vs. 1.9 ± 3.9 years). About 80% health workers received any training on managing maternal complication, however, only 7% received any refresher’s training within last 12 months. The overall vignette score was 8.8 (range: 0-19), which was significantly higher among MO than nurses (10.7 vs. 8.1, p < 0.001) and the score was not associated with health facility types, training status and years of experience of the providers. Vignette score for management component (range: 0-9) increased with higher annual average number of deliveries in their respective working facility (adjusted β-coefficient 0.16, CI 0.03-0.28, p=0.01) and increased with each unit increase in EmOC readiness score (adjusted β-coefficient 0.44, CI 0.04-0.8, p=0.03). The diagnosis component of vignette score was not associated with any of the factors except it was higher among the MO than the nurses (adjusted β-coefficient 1.2, CI 0.13-2.18, p=0.03). Lack of competence in diagnosing and managing obstetric complication by the nurses than the MO is of concern especially when majority of normal deliveries are conducted by the nurses. Better EmOC preparedness of the facility and higher utilization of normal deliveries resulted in higher vignette score for the management component; implying the impact of experiential learning through higher case management. Focus should be given on improving the facility readiness for EmOC and providing the health workers periodic refresher’s training to make them more competent in managing obstetric cases.

Keywords: Bangladesh, emergency obstetric care, clinical vignette, competence of health workers

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Authors: Kutub Uddin Chisty, Md. Kamrul Islam, Md. Ashraful Islam

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Growth pattern is an important factor for a city because it can help to predict future growth trend and development of a city. Khagrachari District is one of the three hill tracts districts in Bangladesh. It is bordered by the Indian State of Tripura on the north, Rangamati and Chittagong districts on the south, Rangamati district on the east, Chittagong district and the Indian State of Tripura on the west. Khagrachari Pourashava is surrounded by hills and waterways. The Pourashava area is mostly inhibited by non-tribal population, while tribal population lives in hilly regions within and around the Pourashava area. The hilly area growth is different. Based on questioners and expert opinions survey, growth pattern of Khagrachari is evaluated. Different culture, history, tribal people, non-tribal people enrich the hilly heritages. In our study, we analyse the city growth pattern and identify the prominent factors that influence the city growth. Thus, it can help us to identify growth trend of the city.

Keywords: growth pattern, growth trend, prominent factors, regional development

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Authors: Sharmin Nasrin

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Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh. In Dhaka among other trips, significant percentages of trips comprise education trips. This paper explores significant factors for private university students’ education trip to the University. A paper pencil based survey has been conducted on Asia Pacific University student in Dhaka from May 2016 to July 2016. Participants were chosen randomly for the survey. Exploratory analysis showed that about 50% chose bus, 33% chose Rickshaw, 2% chose car and 15% chose to walk for travel to their University. Results from Multinomial Logit model revealed that travel cost, travel time and comfort are the significant factors for private university students to choose different modes. However, magnitude of coefficient of attribute comfort is significantly higher compared to travel cost and travel time. Result from this paper can be used by policymakers and Government agencies to provide more cost effective, comfortable journey to their University.

Keywords: private university student's education trip, mode choice mode, Dhaka, developing country

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Authors: Orlyn Joyce D. Esquivel

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This study analyzed 50 selected research papers from professional language and linguistic academic journals to portray the differences between Kachru’s (1994) outer circle and expanding circle Englishes. The selected outer circle Englishes include those of Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, and Singapore; and the selected expanding circle Englishes are those of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and Thailand. The researcher built ten corpora (five research papers for each corpus) to represent each variety of Englishes. The corpora were examined under grammatical and lexical features using Modified English TreeTagger in Sketch Engine. Results revealed the distinct grammatical and lexical features through the table and textual analyses, illustrated from the most to least dominant linguistic elements. In addition, comparative analyses were done to distinguish the features of each of the selected Englishes. The Language Change Theory was used as a basis in the discussion. Hence, the findings suggest that the ‘outer circle’ Englishes and ‘expanding circle’ Englishes will continue to drift from International English.

Keywords: applied linguistics, English as a global language, expanding circle Englishes, global Englishes, outer circle Englishes

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Authors: Vijay Kumar, Ron Bird

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The study investigates the effect of bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic variables on the profitability of conventional and Islamic banks. Our sample comprises 1,781 bank-year observations of 205 banks from four countries in the Asian region for the period 2004-2014. Our results suggest that credit quality, cost management and bank size are the keys factors that contribute positively to bank profitability in Asia. The banks with high non-performing loans and high cost-to-income ratio are more likely to be exposed to losses. The impacts of the bank-specific variables are stronger than are the industry-specific and macroeconomic variables. We find that Malaysian banks are the least profitable compared to the banks in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan. There is strong evidence to suggest that conventional banks are more profitable than Islamic banks. Our results suggest that the impact of capital adequacy ratio and bank size and loan to deposit ratio vary across Islamic and conventional banks and across different subsamples.

Keywords: capital adequacy ratio, Islamic banks, non-performing loan ratio, ownership

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Authors: Fouzia Mannan, Deepa Joshi

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Millions of Bangladeshis move from low-income agrarian villages to the country’s urban landscape with the hope to gain from the rapidly-growing middle-income urban, industrial future. However, the economic gains are mostly offset by new forms of extreme depravity, indignity, and inequality. Nonetheless, many scholars report unique gendered gains through migration - the rupture of traditional, entrenched inequalities by gender, providing women not only reliable incomes but also the opportunity to re-negotiate gendered roles, responsibilities and identities. In this study, we present the reflections of ten long-term urban migrant women in Dhaka city: of their gains, their losses as well as their aspirations for the future. Our findings show the incredibly high costs of a migration that is induced by desperate rural poverty. Further, we find that patriarchy persists - within the often 'kutcha' walls of urban low-income homes to the nature of so-called economic opportunities - in the constant intertwining of capitalism, globalization, and patriarchy. Caught in between, women have little choice but to cope with these new vulnerabilities by relying on the very norms and boundaries established by patriarchy and by recreating patriarchy to celebrate the (if) gains from displacement and migration.

Keywords: gender, internal migration, patriarchy, urbanization

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Authors: Qianwei Cheng, A. K. M. Mahbubur Rahman, Anis Sarker, Abu Bakar Siddik Nayem, Ovi Paul, Amin Ahsan Ali, M. Ashraful Amin, Ryosuke Shibasaki, Moinul Zaber

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Thomas Friedman, in his famous book, argued that the world in this 21st century is flat and will continue to be flatter. This is attributed to rapid globalization and the interdependence of humanity that engendered tremendous in-flow of human migration towards the urban spaces. In order to keep the urban environment sustainable, policy makers need to plan based on extensive analysis of the urban environment. With the advent of high definition satellite images, high resolution data, computational methods such as deep neural network analysis, and hardware capable of high-speed analysis; urban planning is seeing a paradigm shift. Legacy data on urban environments are now being complemented with high-volume, high-frequency data. However, the first step of understanding urban space lies in useful categorization of the space that is usable for data collection, analysis, and visualization. In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily usable for machine analysis and show applicability of the methodology on a developing world setting. Categorization to plan sustainable urban spaces should encompass the buildings and their surroundings. However, the state-of-the-art is mostly dominated by classification of building structures, building types, etc. and largely represents the developed world. Hence, these methods and models are not sufficient for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where the surrounding environment is crucial for the categorization. Moreover, these categorizations propose small-scale classifications, which give limited information, have poor scalability and are slow to compute in real time. Our proposed method is divided into two steps-categorization and automation. We categorize the urban area in terms of informal and formal spaces and take the surrounding environment into account. 50 km × 50 km Google Earth image of Dhaka, Bangladesh was visually annotated and categorized by an expert and consequently a map was drawn. The categorization is based broadly on two dimensions-the state of urbanization and the architectural form of urban environment. Consequently, the urban space is divided into four categories: 1) highly informal area; 2) moderately informal area; 3) moderately formal area; and 4) highly formal area. In total, sixteen sub-categories were identified. For semantic segmentation and automatic categorization, Google’s DeeplabV3+ model was used. The model uses Atrous convolution operation to analyze different layers of texture and shape. This allows us to enlarge the field of view of the filters to incorporate larger context. Image encompassing 70% of the urban space was used to train the model, and the remaining 30% was used for testing and validation. The model is able to segment with 75% accuracy and 60% Mean Intersection over Union (mIoU). In this paper, we propose a pragmatic categorization method that is readily applicable for automatic use in both developing and developed world context. The method can be augmented for real-time socio-economic comparative analysis among cities. It can be an essential tool for the policy makers to plan future sustainable urban spaces.

Keywords: semantic segmentation, urban environment, deep learning, urban building, classification

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Authors: Md. Minhazul Islam, Shah Ashisul Abed Nipun, Majharul Islam, Md. Abdur Rakib Rahat, Jonayet Miah, Salsavil Kayyum, Anwar Shadaab, Faiz Al Faisal

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The target of this research is to predict Myocardial Infarction using unsupervised Machine Learning algorithms. Myocardial Infarction Prediction related to heart disease is a challenging factor faced by doctors & hospitals. In this prediction, accuracy of the heart disease plays a vital role. From this concern, the authors have analyzed on a myocardial dataset to predict myocardial infarction using some popular Machine Learning algorithms K-Means and Hierarchical Clustering. This research includes a collection of data and the classification of data using Machine Learning Algorithms. The authors collected 345 instances along with 26 attributes from different hospitals in Bangladesh. This data have been collected from patients suffering from myocardial infarction along with other symptoms. This model would be able to find and mine hidden facts from historical Myocardial Infarction cases. The aim of this study is to analyze the accuracy level to predict Myocardial Infarction by using Machine Learning techniques.

Keywords: Machine Learning, K-means, Hierarchical Clustering, Myocardial Infarction, Heart Disease

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Authors: Arup Kumar Sarma, Rohan Kar

Abstract:

The development of physical model of River like Brahmaputra, which finds its origin in the Chema Yundung glacier of Tibet and flows through India and Bangladesh, is always expensive and very much time consuming. With the advancement of computational technique, mathematical modeling has found wide application. MIKE 21C is one such commercial software, developed by Danish Hydraulic Institute (DHI), with the depth-averaged approach and a two-dimensional curvilinear finite-difference model, which is capable of modeling hydrodynamic and morphological processes with some limitations. The main purpose of this study are to generate bathymetry of the River Brahmaputra starting from “Sadia” at upstream to “Dhubri,” at downstream stretching a distance of approximately 695 km, for four different years: 1957, 1971, 1977, and 1981 over the grid generated in the MIKE 21C and to carry out the hydrodynamic simulation for these years to analyze the effect of bathymetry change on the surface water elevation. The study has established that bathymetric change can influence the flood level significantly in some of the river reaches and therefore the modification or updating of regular bathymetry is very much essential for the reliable flood routing in alluvial rivers.

Keywords: bathymetry, brahmaputra river, hydrodynamic model, surface water elevation

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Authors: Abu Saleh Mohammad Sowad

Abstract:

Back in history, muscular and strong male body has always been used to promulgate masculinity; for physically representing supreme manliness there were not many other options. This idealized male figure was proliferated mainly for spreading the notion of male superiority in relation to power and to give a strong base to the social construction of masculinity. This study targets to disclose the perception about the attributes masculinities among the male students of Dhaka city regarding male beautification. It is an attempt to unveil young men’s perspectives regarding their masculinities and beauty. Till the very recent past, beauty was always seen as sole feminine trait in Bangladeshi society. From history we can see men have always been assumed as the ambassador of roughness but in recent time the emergence of fashion-conscious men can be seen, who are slowly occupying a handsome position in the society. Concerning study attempts to bring out the way in which such changing trend of male beauty is perceived among the male students of Dhaka city. What could be the ideologies of these young men who are being involved with it? What is influencing them to be part of such arena which, to a great extent, is still considered as female domain? Is their perception about construction of masculinity is shifting from the so called idealized masculinity? The study tries to find out the answers.

Keywords: masculinity, male beauty, Bangladesh, identity, body

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Authors: Apurba Kanti Chowdhury, Taslima Zahan

Abstract:

The inclusion of mungbean in a cropping pattern not only increases the cropping intensity but also enriches soil health as well as ensures nutrition for the fast-growing population of Bangladesh. A study was conducted in the farmers’ field during 2013-14 and 2014-15 to observe the performance of four-crop based improve cropping pattern Potato-Mungbean-Jute -t.aman rice against the existing cropping pattern Potato-Jute -t.aman rice at Domar, Nilphamari followed by randomized complete block design with three replications. Two years study revealed that inclusion of mungbean and better management practices in improved cropping pattern provided higher economic benefit over the existing pattern by 73.1%. Moreover, the average yield of potato increased in the improved pattern by 64.3% compared to the existing pattern; however yield of jute and t.aman rice in improved pattern declined by 5.6% and 10.7% than the existing pattern, respectively. Nevertheless, the additional yield of mungbean in the improved pattern helped to increase rice equivalent yield of the whole pattern by 38.7% over the existing pattern. Thus, the addition of mungbean in the existing pattern Potato-Jute -t.aman rice seems to be profitable for the farmers and also might be sustainable if the market channel of mungbean developed.

Keywords: crop diversity, food nutrition, production efficiency, yield improvement

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Authors: Umang Prajapati

Abstract:

Elected prime minister of India Narendra Modi has very largely focused on improving ties with the neighbors since day one of his regime. This was the most significant initiative to focus on major Asian powers also emphasizing on the two decades old look east policy. The “neighborhood first policy” as termed by the media has been a corner stone in improving ties with the immediate neighbors of the country through several bilateral talks with the nations individually. However, the announcement of demonetisation policy in India, ceasing the usage of 500 and 1000 rupee notes has rattled countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar who encourage Indian currency parallel to theirs. According to the ministry of commerce and industry (MCI), India’s total trade with neighboring countries stood at US$21.6 in the fiscal year 2015-16, India has good surplus trade surplus with its neighbors and has a strong interest in ensuring smooth trade flows. India might have this benefit, but yet this policy can create issues between India and neighboring countries. The demonetisation policy might benefit in the long run, but in the short run, this might create border issues. While there would be more countries affected by this policy, this paper will emphasize on the problems faced by the countries and the impact of demonetisation on all other neighboring countries.

Keywords: bilateral trades, demonetization, neighborhood policy, value of rupee

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Authors: Fahmida Nusrat, Sumaia Nasrin, Pinak Sarker

Abstract:

Biharis as an urban refugee are a significant urban dweller in Dhaka since their forced migration on the partition of 1947. There are many such refugee settlements in Bangladesh, particularly in Dhaka where they often live in dire conditions, facing discrimination from mainstream society. Their camps have become slums. Housing for urban refugee is still not a strategic concern for overall housing policy of Dhaka. The study has been conducted in a significant refugee settlement located in Mirpur-11, Dhaka, to observe their way of living in these camps to understand the socio-cultural aspects that are shaping their settlement morphology, hence to identify the key issues of their built environment to suggest an inclusive and sustainable housing solution for improving their life in urban environment. The methods included first-hand data collection on their household spaces and community spaces accompanied with the overall spatial organization of the settlement pattern which later on followed by a semi-structured interview with randomly selected samples from the camp dwellers to get users’ feedback on the research aspects. The outcome of the study will help initiating housing strategies as well as formulating design issues for this case specific inhabitants of urban Dhaka.

Keywords: Bihari camp, Dhaka, housing strategy, the way of living, urban refugee

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Authors: Sri Mahan Borah

Abstract:

The issue of migration and displacement is considered so sensitive that states have often linked it with their sovereignty, independence and even existence. Therefor, even in the era of globalisation no nation-state is ready to compromise with its territorial boundaries. The problem of migration and displacement has generated a range of socio-political, economic, ethnic, and communal tensions in India in general and northeastern States in particular. In such situation it becomes unpreventable to look over the issue so that a viable elucidation may emerge. The present paper is an attempt to understand the impact of Bangladeshi and Nepali migration to North-Eastern states of India through historical and analytical methods. In this course it will look into the emergence of the migration and displacement problem, its causes, impacts on security and other issues of national interest especially when the migration is illegal and poses multi-layered challenges to the Indian state. The nature of migration from these countries to India has been dissimilar. This is because of their different historical backgrounds, geographical variants, ethno-religious affinities, political systems and bilateral arrangements with India. It concludes inter alia that, India’s borders with Bangladesh and Nepal must be regulated and that resident migrants need to be strategically dealt with, keeping in mind age-old relationships with these countries and, more importantly, the nature and construct of our geography.

Keywords: migration, displacement, North-East, India

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Authors: Ramachandra Pradhan, Sandeep Singh Rama, Sabyasachi Mishra

Abstract:

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) in its tender form is consumed as a vegetable and popular for its flavour, colour and meat like texture. In South Asian countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Indonesia the market value for tender jackfruit is very high. However, due to lack of technology the marketing and transportation of the fruit is a challenge. The processing activities like washing, sorting, peeling and cutting enhances oxidative stress in fresh cut jackfruit. It is also having the ill effects on quality of fresh cut tender jackfruit by an increase in microbial contaminations, excessive tissue softening, and depletion of phytochemicals and browning. Hence, this study was conducted as a solution to the above problem. Fresh cut tender Jackfruit slices were processed by using the independent parameters such as concentration of CaCl2 (2-5%), concentration of citric acid (1-2.5%) and treatment time (4-10 min.) and the depended variables were Browning index (BI), colour change (ΔE), Firmness (F) and Overall all acceptability (OAA) after the treatment. From the response variables the best combination of independent variables was resulted as 3% concentration of CaCl2 and 2% concentration of citric acid for 6 minutes. At these optimised processing treatments, the browning can be prevented for fresh cut tender jackfruit. This technology can be used by the researcher, scientists, industries, etc. for further processing of tender jackfruit.

Keywords: tender jackfruit, browning index, firmness, texture

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Authors: Swapna Begum, Higano Yoshiro

Abstract:

Dhaka is the capital city of Bangladesh. It is considered as one of the traffic congested cities in the world. The growth of the population of this city is increasing day by day. The land use pattern and the increased socio-economic characteristics increase the motor vehicle ownership of this city. The rapid unplanned urbanization and poor transportation planning have deteriorated the transport environment of this city. Also, the huge travel demand with non-motorized traffics on streets is accounted for enormous traffic congestion in this city. The land transport sector in Dhaka is mainly dependent on road transport comprised of both motorized and non-motorized modes of travel. This improper modal mix and the un-integrated system have resulted in huge traffic congestion in this city. Moreover, this city has no well-organized public transport system and any Mass Transit System to cope with this ever increasing demand. Traffic congestion causes serious air pollution and adverse impact on the economy by deteriorating the accessibility, level of service, safety, comfort and operational efficiency. Therefore, there is an imperative need to introduce a well-organized, properly scheduled mass transit system like (Bus Rapid Transit) BRT minimizing the existing problems.

Keywords: air pollution, BRT, mass transit, traffic congestion

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Authors: Marzia Hoque Tania, Oishy Roy, ASW Kurny, Fahmida Gulshan

Abstract:

This paper presents results of the investigation on the characterization of silica sand of northern region of Bangladesh on the basis of material composition, particle shape, and size, density, transportation, crystallinity, etc. before and after upgradation. The raw sand samples collected from Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat district were studied and compared for the prospect silica as a high valued commodity rather than heavy minerals. The raw sand particles were colorful in appearance with varying particle size distribution. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed uniformity in grain size and mineralogical composition. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis indicated the silica content of the as-received sample to be 75%. Thermogravimetric and Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) did not detect the presence of any organic material. These tests revealed the sample to be alpha-quartz. Samples were washed with organic and inorganic acid with a combination of varying rotation speed, concentration, solid-liquid ratio. Experiments showed the silica content could be enhanced to more than 85% by washing with 15% sulphuric acid in room temperature. Beneficiation can be improved in further work considering the effect of varying temperature or advanced technology.

Keywords: beneficiation, characterization, commercial grade sand, glass sand, silica, upgradation

Procedia PDF Downloads 117