Village economies and the structure of extended family networks

This paper documents how the structure of extended family networks in rural Mexico relates to the poverty and inequality of the village of residence. Using the Hispanic naming convention, we construct within-village extended family networks in 504 poor rural villages. Family networks are larger (both in the number of members and as a share of the village population) and out-migration is lower the poorer and the less unequal the village of residence. Our results are consistent with the extended family being a source of informal insurance to its members

Family networks and school enrolment: evidence from a randomized social experiment

We present evidence on whether and how a household’s behavior is influenced by the presence and characteristics of its extended family. Using data from the PROGRESA program in Mexico, we exploit information on the paternal and maternal surnames of heads and spouses in conjunction with the Spanish naming convention to identify the inter and intra generational family links of each household to others in the same village. We then exploit the randomized research design of the PROGRESA evaluation data to identify whether the treatment effects of PROGRESA transfers on secondary school enrolment vary according to the characteristics of extended family. We find PROGRESA only raises secondary enrolment among households that are embedded in a family network. Eligible but isolated households do not respond. The mechanism through which the extended family influences household schooling choices is the redistribution of resources within the family network from eligibles that receive de facto unconditional cash transfers from PROGRESA, towards eligibles on the margin of enrolling children into secondary school

Feasibility Study of a Bi-directional Centrifugal Pump for DBT class 45 CST Gearbox Used in Underground Coal mining Operation

This paper presents a feasibility study of using a bi-directional centrifugal pump into DBT’s Series 45 CST gearbox. The suitability of other pumps for cooling and the design of a new symmetrical centrifugal pump that would be suited to the series 45 CST gearbox have been reviewed with financial versus functionality and usability. The analysis and results of this study indicate that by introducing the newly designed bi-directional pump, DBT may save over $370k in production costs over 10 years. This equates to a savings of$1850 per gearbox which is about a 26% saving on the current set-up, and thus bi-directional pump is reasonably feasible

Consumption and Investment in Resource Pooling Family Networks

This paper examines a novel motive for resource pooling in family networks in rural economies: to relax credit constraints and facilitate investment in non-collateralizeable assets for which credit market imperfections are most binding. We thus complement established literatures examining risk-sharing motives for resource transfers within family networks, as well as motives based on kinship tax obligations. We do so exploiting the Progresa program data, in which family networks can be identified, households are subject to large exogenous resource inflows, and detailed responses on consumption and an array of investments can be tracked in a household panel over five years. We find that for every dollar that accrues to the family network through Progresa transfers, food consumption expenditures increase by around 65c/ for both households eligible for Progresa and ineligible members of the same family network. Hence the marginal propensity of families to invest/save out of every dollar is around .35, and we document how this is channelled towards easing credit constraints poorer network members face in financing non-collateralizable investments into their children's human capital. We show these consumption and investment benefits of being embedded within a family network are sustained five years after households first experience resource transfers from Progresa. Hence the interplay between resource inflows and resource pooling by family networks can place network members on sustained paths out of poverty

Analysis of the Factors that Affect Job Satisfaction: A Case Study on Private Companies Employees of Bangladesh

Job satisfaction is an important aspect for an organization's success. A successful organization is the one with satisfied workers. This research report tried to find out the main factors of job satisfaction and whether they have any impact on the job satisfaction of the employee of private companies. Firstly the factors responsible for job satisfaction were identified through a literature review of various articles related to job satisfaction. A focus group discussion among employees and an exploratory research were also conducted. Nine Factors were found. Then to analyze the effect of these nine factors, a quantitative research was done. The employees were selected through convenience sampling. After conducting pretest the main survey was done. The result indicated that four out of nine factors (Coordination and Leave Facility, Reward & Future Opportunities, Vision of the Company, Work Process, and Health & Insurance Policy) have significant influence on Job satisfaction. The study concluded that an effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation along with coordination among employees and sense of commitment towards achieving the goals and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. Keywords: Job Satisfaction, Coordination, Compensation, Career, Work Process

A Numerical Model of an Electrostatic Precipitator

This paper presents a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for a wire-plate electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The turbulent gas flow and the particle motion under electrostatic forces are modelled using the CFD code FLUENT. Numerical calculations for the gas flow are carried out by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and turbulence is modelled using the k-ε turbulence model. An additional source term is added to the gas flow equation to capture the effect of electric field. This additional source term is obtained by solving a coupled system of the electric field and charge transport equations. The particle phase is simulated by using Discrete Phase Model (DPM). The results of the simulation are presented showing the particle trajectory inside the ESP under the influence of both aerodynamic and electrostatic forces. The simulated results have been validated by the established data. The model developed is useful to gain insight into the particle collection phenomena that takes place inside an industrial ESP

The thermal and auto-ignition performance of a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine fuelled with diethyl ether and ethanol blends

This study aims to numerically investigate the thermal and auto-ignition performance of a Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine fuelled with diethyl ether and ethanol blends at different inlet air temperatures and lambda values. In this study, DEE and DEE/ethanol blends with different volume percentages, such as 85% DEE/15% ethanol (D85E15) and 70% DEE/30% ethanol (D70E30) was used as test fuels. A four-stroke single-cylinder HCCI engine was designed to use reduced fuel chemistry to create a zero-dimensional single-zone model. The single-zone combustion model was developed with the first law of thermodynamics as a differential form. The inlet air temperature ranged from 360 K to 420 K at 15 K intervals, and the lambda ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 at 0.25 intervals to evaluate the combustion control in the HCCI engine. A numerical study was carried out at an engine speed of 1200 rpm. The numerical validation model results were well agreed with reported experimental results, and the significant trends of the combustion phases were varied with a minimum error of 5%. The numerical results show that the in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate are decreased for all test fuels with the increasing lambda. The combustion phase was found to be advanced, and the combustion duration was expanded with increasing inlet air temperature. Increasing the ethanol proportion in the test fuel delayed the start of combustion. For D85E15 and D70E30 at lambda of 2 and inlet air temperature of 420 K, the indicated mean effective pressure was increased by about 12.6% and 6.10 bar. Furthermore, with DEE and D85E15 at a lambda of 2, the indicated thermal efficiency was increased by approximately 11.4% and 49.17%. It is concluded that the combustion and performances characteristics for the HCCI engine are significantly affected by DEE and ethanol fuel blends