Economic and social impacts of Integrated Aquaculture-Agriculture technologies in Bangladesh

This study estimated the adoption rate of integrated aquaculture-agriculture (IAA) technologies in Bangladesh and their impact on poverty and fish and food consumption in adopting households. We used a novel, simulation-based approach to impact assessment called Tradeoff Analysis for Multi-Dimensional Impact Assessment (TOA-MD). We used the TOA-MD model to demonstrate how it is possible to use available data to estimate adoption rates in relevant populations, and to quantify impacts on distributional outcomes such as poverty and food security, thus demonstrating ex ante the potential for further investment in technology dissemination. The analysis used baseline and end-of-project survey data from WorldFish-implemented Development of Sustainable Aquaculture Project (DSAP), promoting IAA. This dataset was used to simulate adoption and assess its impacts on poverty and food security in the target population. We found that, if adopted, IAA had a significant positive impact on reducing poverty and improving food security and income

Flux Expulsion - Field Evolution in Neutron Stars

Models for the evolution of magnetic fields of neutron stars are constructed, assuming the field is embedded in the proton superconducting core of the star. The rate of expulsion of the magnetic flux out of the core, or equivalently the velocity of outward motion of flux-carrying proton-vortices is determined from a solution of the Magnus equation of motion for these vortices. A force due to the pinning interaction between the proton-vortices and the neutron-superfluid vortices is also taken into account in addition to the other more conventional forces acting on the proton-vortices. Alternative models for the field evolution are considered based on the different possibilities discussed for the effective values of the various forces. The coupled spin and magnetic evolution of single pulsars as well as those processed in low-mass binary systems are computed, for each of the models. The predicted lifetimes of active pulsars, field strengths of the very old neutron stars, and distribution of the magnetic fields versus orbital periods in low-mass binary pulsars are used to test the adopted field decay models. Contrary to the earlier claims, the buoyancy is argued to be the dominant driving cause of the flux expulsion, for the single as well as the binary neutron stars. However, the pinning is also found to play a crucial role which is necessary to account for the observed low field binary and millisecond pulsars.Comment: 23 pages, + 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Welfare Impacts and Transaction Costs of Fisheries Co-Management at the Oxbow Lakes (BAORS) in Bangladesh

Fisheries co-management starts with the premise that stakeholders have the innate capacity to improve resource conditions as well as the welfare of the society. Recent investigations have shown that the co-management approach for governing natural resources can result in higher levels of productivity, and lower administration and enforcement costs than the national and centralized management approach. This suggests a need for rapid and substantial evaluation of fisheries management institutions. The main purpose of this study was to examine the economic performance of the fisheries co-management institution in the Oxbow Lake fisheries of Bangladesh. Firstly, this study examined net welfare change to society as a result of the introduction of a co-management system. Secondly. the resource rent and transaction costs analyses were used to evaluate the efficiency of the co-managed institution compared to the centralized management institution. The simultaneous equation model consisting of supply, demand and identity equations were estimated and Marshallian surplus measurement was used to estimate the welfare change with and without the co-management system. A cross-sectional heteroskedastic and time wise autoregressive model proposed by Kmenta (1986) was utilized for the estimation. The analysis showed that the co-management program had caused a welfare gain to society amounting to 1805186 Tk (USD 38989) from the original situation. Both consumers and producers gained by the project intervention, however, consumer welfare gain was bigger valued at 1762399 Tk (USD 38065) than that of producers valued at 42787 Tk (USD 924). The Oxbow Lake co-management system had also resulted in higher rent of 19802 Tk/ha (USD 427 per ha), compared to the rent in government managed Lakes of 5652 Tk/ha (USD 122 per ha). The results also showed that return to capital and labor was also high in most of the co-managed Lakes compared to the government-managed Lakes. Static and dynamic processes were utilized in this study to measure the transaction costs of fisheries management. The results presented in this thesis showed that transaction costs of managing the fisheries were lower under a c0- management arrangement i.e. 2938 Tk/ha (USD 63 per ha) than the centralized management system of 4707 Tk/ha (USD 102 per ha). The results from the analysis showed a better performance for the co-managed Lakes compared to the government-managed Lakes. The findings revealed that the lower transaction costs and higher resource rents are the result of the increased legitimacy inherent in the co-management system. This increased legitimacy encouraged fishers to develop cooperative approaches for effective management of the Oxbow Lakes

Instability of Stable Matching: A Dynamic Trust Approach

Matching is of one of the essential problems in computer science and finding the stable matching is often difficult. For example, matching the medical students to hospitals where each student has its own preferences as well as each hospital has its own category in order to select the interns it can be difficult. Therefore there are many constraints that one needs to look at before solving matching problems. There are some algorithms which ensure that is possible to find a stable matching solution of this type of problems if any exists. In this paper, the instability of stable matching algorithm in dynamic environment has been demonstrated. The approach consists in mapping a specific stable matching problem (stable marriage problem) which has a stable solution into a dynamic environment where the instability is shown by using dynamic trust model

The Wood-Water-Formaldehyde System

The physical interactions of the wood-water-formaldehyde system are reviewed.Swelling data at 20 and 40 C (68 and 104 F) are presented which show that Douglas-fir and red alder wood shrink relative to pure water in low concentration water-formaldehyde solutions, and swell in higher concentration solutions ultimately to 18% by volume for a 24% (weight) solution of formaldehyde at 40 C (104 F).The composite sorption isotherms of the wood-water-formaldehyde system are complex. There is seen, however, an initial relative increase in water concentration of the sorbed phase, followed by a general decrease of water concentration for most of the other concentrations studied. The reasons for this are not known

Review of aquaculture and fish consumption in Bangladesh

Fish play a crucial role in the Bangladeshi diet, providing more than 60% of animal source food, representing a crucial source of micro-nutrients, and possessing an extremely strong cultural attachment. Fish (including shrimp and prawn) is the second most valuable agricultural crop, and its production contributes to the livelihoods and employment of millions. The culture and consumption of fish therefore has important implications for national food and nutrition security, poverty and growth. This review examines the current state of knowledge on the aquaculture sector and fish consumption in Bangladesh, based on extensive analysis of secondary sources (including unpublished data unavailable elsewhere), consultation with various experts and specially conducted surveys. The review is comprised of three sections. Section 1 describes the main systems of aquaculture production in terms of their technical and social characteristics and outputs. Section 2 addresses issues relating to seed and feed. The final section analyses fish consumption patterns and demand, and attempts to estimate the volumes of fish produced from a range of sources.Food fish, Aquaculture, Food consumption, Fish consumption, Pond culture, Rice field aquaculture, Bangladesh,

Increasing cropping intensity in saline coastal zone soils of Bangladesh: The challenges of fitting maize between wet soils at establishment and saline, dry soils after silking

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Communication strategies for managing coastal fisheries conflicts in Bangladesh

Fisheries management involves balancing the competing demands of different users of fishery resources.Conflicts among fisheries stakeholders arise due to differences in power, interests, values, priorities, and manner of resource exploitation.Conflicts also emanate from institutional failures in managing fisheries and enforcing laws and regulations.Effective targeted communication has a key role to play in managing conflicts between fisheries stakeholders.This paper assesses a fisheries conflict communication framework called FishCom, a tool for developing plans and strategies for managing conflicts in coastal fisheries in Bangladesh. FishCom is a structured participatory process intended for use by policymakers and fishery managers.The results show that effective communication plans can play a significant role in eliminating conflicts

Short-term Effects of Transcranial Near-Infrared Photobiomodulation on Motor Performance in Healthy Human Subjects: An Experimental Single-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: Transcranial near-infrared photobiomodulation (NIR-PBM) is a new noninvasive procedure which transcranially applies a near-infrared wavelength to the scalp with a laser or a light-emitting diode (LED) source. Improvement in the neurological or psychological symptoms has been reported following light irradiation. However, to our knowledge, there is no study to investigate the effects of transcranial NIR-PBM on motor performance directly. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the short-term effects of transcranial NIR-PBM on motor performance in healthy human subjects.Methods: In this experimental single-blind randomized clinical trial study, 56 right-handed healthy participants, whose ages ranged from 18 to 30, were randomly assigned to (1) Real transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group (n=14), (2) Sham transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group (n=14), (3) Real transcranial NIR-PBMC4 group (n=14), and (4) Sham transcranial NIR-PBMC4 group (n=14). We applied the 808 nm laser with irradiation energy density of 60 J/cm2 and power density of 200 mw/cm2 to the C3 or C4 points of the scalp. The number of finger taps as an indicator of motor performance was assessed by the finger-tapping test (FTT) before and after irradiation of transcranial NIR-PBM on the corresponding points of the scalp for 5 minutes.Results: The results showed that the number of finger taps in both right and left hands following the use of transcranial NIR-PBM in the real transcranial NIR-PBMC3 group significantly increased (P < 0.05).Conclusion: We concluded that using transcranial NIR-PBM with a laser source on C3 point of the motor cortex in right-handed healthy people can increase the number of finger taps in both hands as an indicator of motor performance improvement