Impact of Social Safety Net Programs In Seasonal Deprivation

Around the globe, there are varying types of social safety net instruments used by the governments, NGOs, microfinance institutions and private entities. The extent of hardship and welfare of the vulnerable and poor households largely depends on the effectiveness and adequate coverage of these safety net measures. Researchers have found in large number of instances that these instruments are quite useful and have substantial welfare and anti poverty impact on the recipient households. monga is a recurrent case of seasonal deprivation that forces a large number of households in the northern region namely – Greater Rangpur, suffer from occasional starvation, consumption rationing and induces poor households to sell advance labor, crops and assets. The Bangladesh government has been operating a number of social safety net programs – cash or in kind - in this part to reduce the vulnerability of households during monga pledging a long term solution. The study examines the impact of the social safety net programs on the welfare of the poor households during seasonal deprivation –called monga, in the five districts of Greater Rangpur namely Lalmonirhat. Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Rangpur. The study finds that VGD/VGF has strong positive effect in reducing poverty while old age pension has no such contribution. The findings also suggest that highly vulnerable groups such as day laborers, beggars are left out from the benefit of social safety net programs due to their limited coverage and size.Social Safety Net Program, Seasonal deprivation, Vulnerability, Poverty

Cosmology and stellar equilibrium using Newtonian hydrodynamics with general relativistic pressure

We revisit the analysis made by Hwang and Noh [JCAP 1310 (2013)] aiming the construction of a Newtonian set of equations incorporating pressure effects typical of the General Relativity theory. We explicitly derive the Hwang-Noh equations, comparing them with similar computations found in the literature. Then, we investigate $i)$ the cosmological expansion, $ii)$ linear cosmological perturbations theory and $iii)$ stellar equilibrium by using the new set of equations and comparing the results with those coming from the usual Newtonian theory, from the Neo-Newtonian theory and from the General Relativity theory. We show that the predictions for the background evolution of the Universe are deeply changed with respect to the General Relativity theory: the acceleration of the Universe is achieved with positive pressure. On the other hand, the behaviour of small cosmological perturbations reproduces the one found in the relativistic context, even if only at small scales. We argue that this last result may open new possibilities for numerical simulations for structure formation in the Universe. Finally, the properties of neutron stars are qualitatively reproduced by Hwang-Noh equations, but the upper mass limit is at least one order of magnitude higher than the one obtained in General Relativity.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Section 2 greatly extended with a post-Newtonian analysis. Final results strengthe

Towards Real-Time Monitoring of the Hajj

An automated approach to explore the fundamental properties of high-density pedestrian traffic is outlined. The framework operates on video or time lapse images captured from surveillance cameras. For pedestrian velocity extraction, the framework incorporates cross-correlation based Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) techniques. For pedestrian density estimation, the framework relies on the Machine Learning technique of the Boosted Regression Trees. The information collected from images in pixel coordinates are transformed to world coordinates with a pin-hole camera based projective transformation technique. The framework has been tested with high density crowd images acquired during the Muslim religious event, the Hajj. Accuracy and performance of the framework are reported

Dynamics of market share in the microfinance industry in Bangladesh

We discuss evidence that the microcredit industry in Bangladesh has seen emergence of large variations in the size of the microfinance institutions operating in the market-- on the one hand, there are large national-level MFIs, while on the other hand, small localized MFIs operating only within the confines of a small area. Data from a recent survey of Pathrail union in Tangail district, a seasoned place for microcredit, reveals that within the local market competition is becoming more and more intense over time between established national-level MFIs and newly emerging local-level MFIs for market shares in terms of loan amount as well as borrowed members. Data reveals that there is market segmentation where some borrowers and MFIs opt for a package of low interest rates tied with low amount of loan disbursed and some other borrowers and MFIs settle for a package of high interest rates tied with high amount of loan disbursed. A Tobit regression estimation of member market shares in village micro credit market shows that size of the MFI, years of operation in the village, average loan size, deposit interest rates, loan amount disbursed for unique loan purposes (i.e., housing loan) are key determinants in determining MFI shares of a village microcredit market.Microcredit; Market Share; Product and Provider Characteristics of Microcredit

Extracting Crowd Velocities at High Density

Velocity is a fundamental property of foot traffic flow. Monitoring the change of velocity patterns at high pedestrian densities may provide valuable insights on foot traffic dynamics. In this paper, a closer look is taken to explore the capability of the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique on extracting crowd velocities from surveillance camera images. Experiments are performed to report the accuracy of pedestrian velocity extraction with PIV. Quantitative accuracy is reported with manual tracking of pedestrians, surveying correlation misses at different window sizes and compute times. The results indicate that the PIV algorithm can be a good candidate for velocity extraction in real-time

Giant FAZ10 is required for flagellum attachment zone stabilization and furrow positioning in Trypanosoma brucei

The flagellum and flagellum attachment zone (FAZ) are important cytoskeletal structures in trypanosomatids, being required for motility, cell division and cell morphogenesis. Trypanosomatid cytoskeletons contain abundant high molecular mass proteins (HMMPs), but many of their biological functions are still unclear. Here, we report the characterization of the giant FAZ protein, FAZ10, in Trypanosoma brucei, which, using immunoelectron microscopy, we show localizes to the intermembrane staples in the FAZ intracellular domain. Our data show that FAZ10 is a giant cytoskeletal protein essential for normal growth and morphology in both procyclic and bloodstream parasite life cycle stages, with its depletion leading to defects in cell morphogenesis, flagellum attachment, and kinetoplast and nucleus positioning. We show that the flagellum attachment defects are probably brought about by reduced tethering of the proximal domain of the paraflagellar rod to the FAZ filament. Further, FAZ10 depletion also reduces abundance of FAZ flagellum domain protein, ClpGM6. Moreover, ablation of FAZ10 impaired the timing and placement of the cleavage furrow during cytokinesis, resulting in premature or asymmetrical cell division

Seasonal and extreme poverty in Bangladesh : evaluating an ultra-poor microfinance project

Microfinance is often criticized for not adequately addressing seasonality and hard-core poverty. In Bangladesh, a program known as PRIME was introduced in 2006 to address both concerns. Unlike regular microfinance, PRIME introduces a microfinance scheme that offers a flexible repayment schedule and consumption smoothing, as well as production, loans. It targets the ultra-poor, many of whom are also seasonally poor, with a severe inability to smooth consumption during certain months of the year. Besides providing loans, PRIME offers extension and training services. This paper uses a quasi-experimental survey design to evaluate PRIME against regular microfinance programs. The results show that PRIME is more effective than regular microfinance in reaching the ultra-poor, as well as the seasonal poor. PRIME also helps reduce seasonal deprivation and extreme poverty. Although the program has demonstrated its promise, it is too early to conclude whether the accrued benefits are large enough to contain both seasonal and chronic poverty on a sustained basis.Rural Poverty Reduction,Regional Economic Development,Food&Beverage Industry,Debt Markets

Political Economy and Rural Loan Recovery: An Example for Bangladesh

The rural loan recovery problem in developing countries is frequently analyzed from borrowers and institutional perspectives. But a frequently overlooked problem is that borrowers often are discouraged to repay or institutions are not aggressive enough to recover loans because of political interventions of the government into rural financial markets to derive the benefits of getting re-elected. Failure to address this dimension in recovery analysis may lead to an incorrect prescription of policies. This paper provides an empirical analysis of how political interventions affect rural loan recovery in Bangladesh. The government in Bangladesh intervenes into rural loan allocation and recovery indirectly through financial policies - interest exemption, loan targeting, interest rates - and directly through local political leaders and government officials. The intensity of direct intervention is expected to increase during an election period. Four variables - inflation rate, election years, interest exemption years, and bank type - were included in the model. The empirical results showed that election, inflation rate, and bank type affect the loan recovery negatively, and interest exemption positively