Export Response to the Reduction of Anti-Export Bias: Empirics from Bangladesh

The paper assesses the relationship between export growth of Bangladesh and trade liberalisation, the latter being proxied by the reduction of anti-export bias. In the empirical analysis, separate supply equations for total exports, (total) manufacturing exports, and textiles and readymade garment exports have been undertaken using quarterly time series data. The empirical results, based on vector error correction modelling (VECM), show that trade liberalisation has both long run and contemporaneous effects on total exports, manufacturing exports, and textiles and readymade garment exports supply. Besides, domestic price, export price, anti-export bias reduction, the degree of openness and production capacity all have either unidirectional or bi-directional causality between them.

Crystal Symmetry Breaking in Few-Quintuple Bismuth Telluride Films: Applications in Nanometrology of Topological Insulators

We report results of micro-Raman spectroscopy investigation of the "graphene-like" mechanically exfoliated single-crystal bismuth telluride films with the thickness ranging from a few-nm-range to bulk limit. It is found that the optical phonon mode A1u, which is not-Raman active in bulk bismuth telluride crystals, appears in the atomically-thin films due to crystal-symmetry breaking. The intensity ratios of the out-of-plane A1u and A1g modes to the in-plane Eg mode grow with decreasing film thickness. The evolution of Raman signatures with the film thickness can be used for identification of bismuth telluride crystals with the thickness of few-quintuple layers, which are important for topological insulator and thermoelectric applications.Comment: 13 pages, 2 tables, 3 figures; to be presented at MRS Spring Meeting, 201

Gaining Institutional Efficiency in the General Education Assessment for Technology Program Accreditation

This work addresses the need to merge various student learning assessment activities to gain efficiency. Specifically, it discusses a mechanism of institutional assessment efficiency through development of common instruments for general education assessment that can support more than one accreditation requirement

Work-In-Progress Paper: WebXR to support student wellbeing and anxiety

The COVID-19 pandemic social distancing measures had immense evidenced impact on student life in higher education affecting their mental health in many ways. In addition, remote working measures taken by Higher Education organizations to protect students and staff created an additional barrier for students seeking support at a stage they feel the most vulnerable. This paper presents a work-in-progress study that focuses on investigating ways of designing an online system for self-assessment symptoms of anxiety based on which available support is provided in a personalized and emotionally engaging manner. The project builds and compares three prototypes: a conventional web site; a VR immersive environment with a single virtual human playing the role of a student life advisor; and an immersive environment with more than one virtual humans interacting with the user aiming to study which system engages and assists vulnerable students more effectively, contributing to a better user experience. The paper presents that project motivations, its aims and objectives, the proposed research methodology and the expected contributions to knowledge

Individual, communal and institutional responses to climate change by low-income households in Khulna, Bangladesh

The relationship between “coping” and “resilience” increasingly features in academic, policy and practical discussions on adaptation to climate change in urban areas. This paper examines this relationship in the context of households in “extreme poverty” in the city of Khulna, Bangladesh. It draws on a quantitative data set based on 550 household interviews in low-income and informal settlements that identified the extent of the underlying drivers of vulnerability in this setting, including very low income, inadequate shelter, poor nutritional status and limited physical assets. A series of focus groups were used to explore the ways in which physical hazards have interacted with this underlying vulnerability, as a means to understand the potential impacts of climate change on this particular group of urban residents. These outcomes include frequent water-logging, the destruction of houses and disruption to the provision of basic services. The main focus of the paper is on describing the practices of low-income urban residents in responding to climate-related shocks and stresses, placing these in a particular political context, and drawing lessons for urban policies in Bangladesh and elsewhere. A wide range of specific adaptation-related activities can be identified, which can be grouped into three main categories – individual, communal and institutional. The paper examines the extent to which institutional actions are merely “coping” – or whether they create the conditions in which individuals and households can strengthen their own long-term resilience. Similarly, it examines the extent to which individual and communal responses are merely “coping” – or whether they have the potential to generate broader political change that strengthens the position of marginalized groups in the city

Magnetic and transport properties of Pr2Pt3Si5

We have investigated the magnetic and transport properties of a polycrystalline Pr2Pt3Si5 sample through the dc and ac magnetic susceptibilities, electrical resistivity, and specific heat measurements. The Rietveld refinement of the powder X-ray diffraction data reveals that Pr2Pt3Si5 crystallizes in the U2Co3Si5-type orthorhombic structure (space group Ibam). Both the dc and ac magnetic susceptibility data measured at low fields exhibit sharp anomaly near 15 K. In contrast, the specific heat data exhibit only a broad anomaly implying no long range magnetic order down to 2 K. The broad Schottky-type anomaly in low temperature specific heat data is interpreted in terms of crystal electric field (CEF) effect, and a CEF-split singlet ground state is inferred. The absence of the long range order is attributed to the presence of nonmagnetic singlet ground state of the Pr3+ ion. The electrical resistivity data exhibit metallic behavior and are well described by the Bloch-Gr\"uniesen-Mott relation.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Greyhound safety and welfare - A preliminary review of the Angle Park track

Presentation to the GRSA Boar