Bangladesh Apparels Export to the US Market - An Examination of Her Competitiveness vis-à-vis China

The rise of China has major repercussions for a country such as Bangladesh which has emerged as an important player in the global apparels market. True, the global pie in apparels trade is expected to expand considerably in view of the increase in demand, and also on account of the envisaged closure of large number of apparels/textile unit in the developed countries (mostly lower-end apparels/textile segment which were likely to become a sunset sector) and there will be space for more than one player. Evidently, impact and implications of competition from China will have to be examined and scrutinized at country level and for disaggregated items of apparels (since the impact for particular countries will be felt only at the disaggregated product level). It needs to be mentioned here that an earlier paper by the CPD has looked into the possible implications of Chinas rise in the context of the EU market. This particular paper will try to analyse the aforesaid issues as they relate to the US market.Bangladesh, Apparels Exports, Competetiveness, China, US market

Bangladesh Apparels Export to the US Market: An Examination of Her Competitiveness vis-à-vis China

The paper tries to focus whether China's ascendancy will have any tangible impact on Bangladesh's export oriented RMG sector and identifies some of the apparel categories in which both the countries have common interests in the US market by analyzing the RCA index and recent performance of both the countries in view of the recent US-China MoU. The paper tries to assess the impact of China's accession to the WTO on Bangladesh's export oriented apparels sector by undertaking an indepth examination of the relative competitiveness correlates of Bangladesh and China in the US market and study their implications for Bangladesh's apparels export to the US market. Towards this, the study investigates the export performance of Bangladesh and China in the US market and price dynamics, and identifies the sources of strengths and weaknesses of Bangladesh vis-à-vis China.Apparels, Export, US market, China, Bangladesh

Fault Aware Soft Restart of an Islanded Microgrid Using an Inverter Coupled Energy Storage System

This research developed a method for autonomous operation of an inverter-coupled energy storage system for safe islanding- re-energization - and reconnection of the facility-island or microgrid to the utility / distribution circuit in a seamless manner in the event of a fault. This enables the energy storage system to function as an autonomous source within the utility power distribution system without the need to re-engineer the existing protection coordination in the distribution system. Fault detection based on voltage measurements from the inverter terminals are used to detect a fault and isolate the energy storage-powered facility with negligible power feed into the fault. The voltage-frequency modulation capability of the inverter is used to effect a controlled power restoration to the islanded facility which limits the motor starting inrush or the load pickup current to a predefined value. A subsequent reconnection to the main source / utility takes place when the islanded network is phase- and voltage-matched with the utility grid or the main source generator. The method is termed as Fault-Aware-Soft-Restart and is shown to be completed within a time period which can be as low as 0.5 s and is able to limit the inrush current to 150% of the nominal value. The controlled energization and synchronous reconnection of the energy storage-powered island, inherently avoids breaker reclosing transients and consequent false trips which degrades equipment reliability and lifetime. Voltage dips experienced by nearby customers and delayed-voltage-recovery effect caused by motor starting inrush resulting from generally practiced restoration procedures in industrial plants are also avoided. Decreasing cost of microsources such as microturbines, photovoltaics, and fuel cells combined with the growing demand for electrically powered commodities, against the limited capacity of centralized power generation has caused increased number of installations of distributed energy resources. Large scale (utility) battery energy storages up to 50 MW capable of providing - area power quality regulation to service reliability (UPS), are already installed and are reported in recent literatures. To prevent relay desensitization due to current infeed, and asynchronous reclosing, operational restrictions are imposed which offset the benefits of these energy storage systems. This work shows that by embedding appropriate controls into the energy storage inverter, both the major problems of unwanted fault-feeding and service restoration of dead circuits can be avoided. This innovation is the key toward enabling a plug‐and‐play environment in which many micro sources can operate harmoniously with one another with a minimum of expensive, custom site engineering. Effectiveness of this method is proved for an industrial power network which suffers large financial losses caused by power interruptions. The method ensures personnel safety, and has the potential to avoid costs due to process downtime, motor startup and additional charges due to power quality problems during across-the-line starts. The test scenarios also include a shipboard MVAC power system in which the method is shown to provide a safe, fast and robust service restoration to a load zone. The method is shown to be very effective for such autonomous offshore power system, where improving system reliability and survivability with limited resources is much more challenging. The dissertation also shows a method to model the electrical characteristics of a distributed generation power system during the different stages of service restoration using the soft-restart method. Assortment of load types in a facility, their startup current behavior during different stages of restoration and their diversity factors are taken into account for the model. Design parameters such as: energy requirement, location and inverter-size, as well as the power quality indices for the distributed generation system can be estimated from the model to devise the appropriate operating algorithm for the energy storage system module

Modeling Information Anxiety

This paper traces the historical developments using selected literature related to ‘library anxiety’, ‘information seeking anxiety’ and ‘information anxiety’. These concepts existed independently and parallelly and attracted much attention from the researchers of their respective fields. The existing literature lacked a study establishing a relationship among these three concepts which led to the idea of a general model of information anxiety to inform researchers as well as professionals dealing with policy and practice. This model represents information anxiety as the general and broader concept nesting information seeking anxiety as its sub-set and library anxiety as a further sub-set. It highlights the development of library anxiety, information seeking anxiety, and information anxiety over time. It also outlines the theoretical and practical implications of information anxiety for information services, especially information literacy (IL) instruction, as previous research reported it as a potential determinant of lower levels of information anxiety. The researchers emphasize the necessity for a need-based IL curriculum for the alleviation of users’ anxiety related to information related tasks. The future directions for research on the proposed area considering the contemporary information environment have been discussed towards the end

A review of Australian information privacy laws and standards for secure digital ecosystems

Information privacy is mainly concerned with protection of personally identifiable information. Information privacy is an arduous task, in particular, in the context of complex adaptive and multi-party heterogeneous digital ecosystems. There is a need to identify and understand the relevant privacy laws and standards for designing the secure digital ecosystems. This paper presents the results of our information privacy research in digital ecosystems through the lens of Australian privacy regulations and standards. The research results indicate that information privacy is a critical phenomenon; however, it is not adequately addressed in the context of end-to-end digital ecosystem. It is recommended that a multi-layered approach is required by reviewing and mapping Australian information privacy laws and standards at different layers to design secure digital ecosystems

Evidence on Psychometric Properties of Scales Assessing Information Related Anxieties: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examined the evidence of psychometric properties of scales available in studies reporting surveys measuring information related anxieties such as library anxiety, information seeking anxiety, and information anxiety. A systematic search in four databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, LISA, and LISTA was carried out using the keywords \u27library anxiety\u27, \u27information anxiety\u27, \u27information seeking anxiety\u27, and \u27information seeking\u27 AND \u27anxiety\u27. This review included those studies reporting the use of any scale measuring information related anxiety published in the English language and included all type of documents (e.g. journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, theses/dissertations, research reports). The screening process resulted in 45 studies meeting the eligibility criterion. The extracted data included author names, year of publication, type of scale used, scale title, background, type of construct assessed, number of items in the scale, scale origin, studies reporting use, studies contributing psychometric information, scale availability, and psychometric properties reported. The results indicated nine instruments assessing information-related anxieties. The classical test theory was applied for eight instruments. No psychometric properties were reported for a single instrument. Most psychometric instruments were developed in the United States. Face/Content validity through experts, construct validity through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and internal consistency reliability through Cronbach alpha was the most commonly used psychometric analysis. None of these studies applied the Rasch model of modern item response theory for psychometric examination. This review has serious implications on the inferences drawn by the practitioners and researchers based on the earlier assessment of information related anxieties. It suggests the development of standards for not only designing new psychometric tests but also for the use and reporting of such tests. This study contributes to the existing research on information-related anxieties by systematic reviewing the evidence of psychometric properties as no such study available so far

HUBUNGAN GAYA BELAJAR DAN MOTIVASI BELAJAR DENGAN PRESTASI BELAJAR MATA DIKLAT MENGAPLIKASIKAN RANGKAIAN LISTRIK SISWA SMKN 2 DEPOK SLEMAN

HUBUNGAN GAYA BELAJAR DAN MOTIVASI BELAJAR DENGAN PRESTASI BELAJAR MATA DIKLAT MENGAPLIKASIKAN RANGKAIAN LISTRIK SISWA SMKN 2 DEPOK SLEMAN Oleh: Asif Khairul Anwar NIM. 06501241023 ABSTRAK Tujuan pembuatan laporan tugas akhir skripsi ini adalah (1) Mengetahui hubungan antara gaya belajar dengan prestasi belajar mata diklat Mengaplikasikan Rangkaian Listrik Siswa Kelas X Program Keahlian Teknik Otomasi Industri SMKN 2 Depok Tahun Ajaran 2010/2011 (2) Untuk mengetahui hubungan antara motivasi belajar dengan prestasi belajar mata diklat mengaplikasikan rangkaian listrik. (3) Untuk Mengetahui hubungan antara gaya belajar dan motivasi belajar dengan prestasi belajar mata diklat Mengaplikasikan Rangkaian Listrik Siswa Kelas X Program Keahlian Teknik Otomasi Industri SMKN 2 Depok Tahun Ajaran 2010/2011. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode korelasional dan ex-post facto. Populasi dan sampel dalam penelitian ini yaitu siswa kelas X Jurusan Teknik Otomasi Industri SMKN 2 Depok yang berjumlah 32 siswa. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan dengan menggunakan angket dan dokumentasi. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis adalah teknik korelasi product moment dan analisis korelasi ganda dengan menggunakan variabel gaya belajar (X1), motivasi belajar (X2) sebagai prediktor dan variabel terikat adalah prestasi belajar (Y). Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa (1) Terdapat hubungan yang positif dan signifikan antara gaya belajar dengan prestasi belajar Mengaplikasikan Rangkaian Listrik, dimana rhitung sebesar 0,522, sedangkan rtabel dengan N=32 pada taraf signifikansi 5% sebesar 0,349, jadi rhitung lebih besar dari rtabel (0,522 > 0,349). (2) Terdapat hubungan yang positif dan signifikan antara motivasi belajar dengan prestasi belajar Mengaplikasikan Rangkaian Listrik, dimana rhitung sebesar 0,443, sedangkan rtabel dengan N=32 pada taraf signifikansi 5% sebesar 0,349, jadi rhitung lebih besar dari rtabel (0,443 > 0,349). (3) Terdapat hubungan yang positif dan signifikan antara gaya belajar dan motivasi belajar dengan prestasi belajar Mengaplikasikan Rangkaian Listrik, dimana Fhitung sebesar 5,637, sedangkan Ftabel dengan N=32 pada taraf signifikansi 5% sebesar 3,33, jadi Fhitung lebih besar dari Ftabel (5,637 < 3,33). Kata Kunci : gaya belajar, motivasi belajar, prestasi belaja

Secure big data ecosystem architecture : challenges and solutions

Big data ecosystems are complex data-intensive, digital–physical systems. Data-intensive ecosystems offer a number of benefits; however, they present challenges as well. One major challenge is related to the privacy and security. A number of privacy and security models, techniques and algorithms have been proposed over a period of time. The limitation is that these solutions are primarily focused on an individual or on an isolated organizational context. There is a need to study and provide complete end-to-end solutions that ensure security and privacy throughout the data lifecycle across the ecosystem beyond the boundary of an individual system or organizational context. The results of current study provide a review of the existing privacy and security challenges and solutions using the systematic literature review (SLR) approach. Based on the SLR approach, 79 applicable articles were selected and analyzed. The information from these articles was extracted to compile a catalogue of security and privacy challenges in big data ecosystems and to highlight their interdependencies. The results were categorized from theoretical viewpoint using adaptive enterprise architecture and practical viewpoint using DAMA framework as guiding lens. The findings of this research will help to identify the research gaps and draw novel research directions in the context of privacy and security in big data-intensive ecosystems. © 2021, The Author(s)

Primary repair of an esophageal rupture using pleural flap

Esophageal perforation remains an important thoracic emergency. Aggressive operative therapy remains the mainstay for treatment. A case of esophageal perforation, consequent upon impacted food bolus, is presented. An 80 years old female, with multiple comorbidities, presented with dysphagia and right sided chest pain, who had a distal esophageal tear, secondary to accidental meat ball ingestion. Rigid esophagoscopy showed complete occlusion of the distal esophagus with a meat ball. Right thoracotomy was performed, which showed perforated esophagus with large meat ball protruding from it. Endoscopic removal of the food particles was done, and the rupture was repaired using a pleural flap. The entire postoperative stay was uneventful and the patient was discharged on the ninth post-operative day

Financial Inclusion and Determinants in South Asian Countries

Financial inclusion is considered an essential mediator to achieve economic growth in recent years. The main focus of this study is to construct the financial inclusion index and to explore the determinants of financial inclusion in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. Data is collected from InterMedia's financial inclusion insights datasets 2016 that are collected through random sampling. The financial inclusion index is used as a dependent variable that is calculated using levels of access and usage of financial services. Age, gender, education, financial situation, working type and use of mobile phones are used as independent variables. Results of multinomial logistic regression reveals that in South Asian countries educated, male, relatively older, rich and regular employees have a better chance to be financially included. Mobile phone users also prefer high financial inclusion. Developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India can attain inclusive growth by increasing the contribution of weaker sections of the population with the mainstream. If weaker sections of the population have easy access to financial services, the economic growth of a country can be enlarged. So policymakers should focus on the financial sector's structural problems and pay attention to create modern financial institutes both in the banking sector and in financial markets