Customers’ Intention towards Purchasing Apartment in Dhaka City, Bangladesh: Offering an Alternative Buying Intention Model

Various models and theories have been proposed to explain customers’ buying attitude, buying intention and behavior. Taking a new approach this study has applied the theory of planned behavior to explain buying intention in context of Real Estate especially on apartment buying behavior. This study has aimed at exploring the antecedents of customers’ buying attitude and investigating the impact of customers’ buying attitude on buying intention. A questionnaire survey method has been used with 275 customers and response rate of 86.18 percent. Initially an Exploratory Factor Analysis has been directed using SPSS (Version 21).We have explored six factors project facilities, environmental issues, location and communication, physical quality, promotion and prices that act as antecedents of customers’ buying attitude. After that, CFA has been carried out to confirm the factors. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been used to test both the proposed model and hypothesized relationships among the constructs. It is found that project facilities, location and communication, physical quality and prices have significant impact on customers’ buying attitude except the environmental issues and promotion. It is also found that buying intention is strongly influenced by buying attitude of the customers. The proposed model also has an acceptable fit to the data. Real Estate developers, marketers, policy makers can use the findings to better understand, segment and satisfy the customers. Therefore the findings of the study will definitely help in building customer based brand equity and customer loyalty particularly in Real Estate (Apartment Market)  to gain competitive advantages as well as achieve sustainable development of the sector. The study may be limited by its focus on a geographic section of the Bangladeshi Real Estate market.  Keywords: Buyers’ attitude, Buying intention, Buying intention model, Real estate, Real estate marketing

Antimicrobial Activity of Nanoparticle Calcium Hydroxide against Enterococcus Faecalis: An In Vitro Study

Introduction: Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) has the ability to invade the dentinal tubules and resist high pH levels. As a result, calcium hydroxide (CH) is not much effective on this bacterium. In theory, nanoparticle calcium hydroxide (NCH) has smaller size and high surface area that enables it to penetrate into the deeper layers of dentin and be more effective on E. faecalis. This in vitro study was designed to compare the antimicrobial activity of NCH and CH against E. faecalis. Methods and Materials: The antimicrobial activity of NCH against E. faecalis was evaluated by two independent tests: the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of intracanal medicament and agar diffusion test (ADT). The efficiency of the medicament in dentinal tubules was evaluated on 23 human tooth blocks that were inoculated with E. faecalis. The tooth blocks were assigned to one control group (saline irrigation) and two experimental groups receiving CH and NCH as intracanal medication. The optical density in each group was assessed with spectrophotometer after collecting samples from dentin depths of 0, 200 and 400 µm. Data were analyzed by SPSS software ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and Dunnett’s test. Results: The MIC for NCH was 1/4 of the MIC for CH. NCH with distilled water (DW) produced the greatest inhibition zone in agar diffusion test. NCH had greater antimicrobial activity in dentin samples from depths of 200 and 400 µm compared to CH. Conclusion: The antimicrobial activity of NCH was superior to CH in culture medium. In dentinal tubules the efficacy of NCH was again better than CH on the 200- and 400-µm samples.

Relationship of Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Chronic Periodontitis

Objectives Many researchers have attempted to link the current concepts of anxiety and depression to periodontal disease. This study aimed to compare the level of anxiety and depression in Iranian patients with chronic periodontitis (CP) and periodontally healthy controls.Methods Fifty CP patients and 50 periodontally healthy controls participated in this study according to our eligibility criteria. Periodontal clinical examination was performed using a Williams probe. The clinical attachment loss (CAL), pocket probing depth (PPD) and bleeding on probing (BOP) were recorded for all teeth except for third molars. In order to psychologically assess the individuals, the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used. The mean scores of BAI and BDI were compared between the two groups using the Student t-test.Results The mean age of participants was 44.86±8.07 years. The mean score of BDI was 13.58±8.35 in periodontally healthy controls and 25.62±13.01 in CP patients. The mean score of BAI was 9.9±5.65 in the control and 21.02±13.63 in the test group. The Student t-test revealed a significant difference between the two groups in total score of BDI and BAI (P<0.000). A significant correlation was noted between the BDI and age (P=0.027) but BAI had no significant correlation with age (P=0.245).Conclusion According to the results of this study, the level of anxiety and depression in CP patients was higher than that in periodontally healthy controls in our study populatio

Conservative Management of Periapical Cementoblastoma: A Case Report

As a rare ectomesenchymal neoplasm, benign cementoblastoma comprises less than 6% of all odontogenic tumors. The typical treatment plan involves surgical excision and extraction of the affected tooth. Limited evidence, however, suggests the conservative management of this condition as the best treatment. This article discusses the case of a 32-year-old man who had benign cementoblastoma and underwent conservative treatment. The diagnosis was established based on clinical and radiological features analyses. Root canal therapy was performed on the tooth, followed by enucleation, curettage, apicoectomy, and guided bone regeneration (GBR) 30 days later. After a year of follow-up, there was no recurrence, and the tooth was in healthy conditions. These findings demonstrated that the tooth affected by cementoblastoma can be saved. It was treated conservatively to preserve the patient’s oral health and masticatory function

Comparison of Apical Microleakage of Canals Filled with Resilon/Epiphany, Thermafil/Adseal and Gutta Percha/Adseal

Objective: Root canal obturation is an important step in endodontic therapy aiming at achieving a complete three-dimensional seal of the canal and preventing microleakage, reentry or growth of microorganisms in the root canal system. Several techniques and materials are available for root canal filling. Achieving an apical seal is among the most important characteristics of filling materials. This study aimed to compare apical microleakage of three different canal obturation techniques of Thermafil/Adseal, lateral condensation with gutta percha/Adseal and lateral condensation with Resilon/Epiphany using dye penetration method.Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 51 anterior single-rooted human teeth. The teeth were sterilized, the crowns were cut and canals were prepared using the crown-down  technique. The teeth were randomly divided into 3 groups of 15 each for the three techniques and 6 teeth were assigned to positive and negative control groups. The first group roots were filled with Thermafil/Adseal, the second group received gutta percha/Adseal with lateral condensation technique and group 3 teeth roots were filled with Resilon/Epiphany using lateral condensation technique. Microleakage was measured using dye penetration technique. Data were statistically analyzed using ANOVA.Results: Gutta percha/Adseal had the lowest (6.46(4.27) mm) and Resilon/Epiphany had the highest (13.47(3.03) mm) apical microleakage. Thermafil/Adseal showed higher mean apical microleakage than gutta percha/Adseal (8.43(4.49) mm). Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in apical microleakage among the three groups (p=0.0001).Conclusion: The results showed that gutta percha/Adseal had the lowest and Resilon/Epiphany had the highest mean apical microleakage. The microleakage of Thermafil/Adseal ranked second

Characterization of Chickpea Germplasm

In plant breeding, genetic diversity is an important component for crop improvement. An experiment was conducted at Ishurdi, Pabna (Bangladesh) to study the diversity and variability within the core germplasm collection of 93 chickpea accessions, and a total of 13 qualitative and 12 quantitative characteristics were studied. Among the qualitative characteristics more significant variations were observed in plant pigmentation, growth habit, flower color, seed color, seed shape, and texture. A total of 93 accessions were divided into eight clusters. The genotypes in Cluster IV and Cluster VIII were crossed with genotypes in Cluster I and Cluster VII for better yield performance. Correlation co-efficient study was done among the 12 quantitative characters with yield performance of the studied chickpea germplasm. Significant and positive correlation was observed among the days to 50% flowering, branches per plant, pods per plant, seeds per pod, straw yield, but significant and negative correlation was observed among the days to maturity, plant height, canopy width and hundred seeds weight within the yield performance of studied chickpea germplasm. Simultaneously, a more distinguished morphological diversity was found in number of pods per plant, grain yield per plant(g), 100-seed weight (g), harvest index and plant canopy height (cm) among the twelve quantitative traits of 93 chickpea accession. The chickpea accessions BD-6051, BD-6058, BD-6557, BD-6214, BD-6221, BD-6235, BD-6460, BD-6461, BD-6470, BD-6471, BD-6472, BD-6473, BD-6478, BD-6480, BD-6481, 6483, BD-6484, BD-6488, BD- 6491, BD-6500, BD-6505, and BD-6513 could be considered for crop improvement through the future breeding program of chickpea

The functionality of entrepreneurial passion and entrepreneurial bricolage on micro-entrepreneur’s wellbeing

This study investigates the relationships between entrepreneurial passion, entrepreneurial bricolage, and subjective wellbeing. A total of 253 usable data were collected from the micro-entrepreneurs in Bangladesh and data were analyzed by SEMPLS3.0 employing structure equation modelling. The results indicate that subjective wellbeing is significantly predicted by entrepreneurial passion and bricolage. Bricolage also found to play a mediating role between passion and wellbeing. The results of the study validate that passionate entrepreneurs who embrace bricolage will achieve wellbeing through their ventures. The paper makes contribution to the knowledge domain by bridging the concept of subjective wellbeing with entrepreneurial passion and bricolage

Distribution of trace metals in channel sediment: a case study in South Atlantic coast of Spain

Recently, Sancti Petri channel on the southwestern (SW) part of Iberian Peninsula has been experiencing urban, industrial, and vehicular expansion. Until recently, there have been only few published reports documenting the pattern of metal accumulation in this estuarine sediment. In the present study, trace metals such as Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, Pb, Co, Cd, As, and Hg concentrations were analyzed from 69 sediment samples collected from 23 sampling sites of the Santi Petri channel. The magnitude of trace metal accumulation found as the following trend: Mn > Zn > Cu > Pb > Ni > Co > As > Cd > Hg. Spatial distribution pattern demonstrated overall decreasing trend of trace metal from Cadiz Bay mouth to the open ocean mouth, clearly correlative to the presence of anthropogenic inputs. Results of the principle component analysis (PCA) revealed that sediment metal chemistry of Sancti Petri channel is mainly regulated by the concentrations of Pb, Cu, Zn, and Ni; possible sources of those were from vehicular-related emissions. Pollution load index (PLI) and geo-accumulation index (I geo ) indicated overall low values. The study will stimulate improvement of our understanding regarding the pattern of accumulation of metals in the coastal sediments, and the recorded values of metals in the present study can be used as suitable reference for future studies