Influence of Stakeholders in Developing Green Banking Products in Bangladesh

Environmental concern is trying to control the patterns of consumers’ consumption and behavior of manufacturing industries and business enterprises worldwide since climate change issues has been considered as a global challenge. After so many argumentations in the developed countries, it has become an incessant public endearment in the developing countries like Bangladesh, as the level of environmental deterioration has picked up to the mountains. Many measures have been taken into account while adapting to climate changes, but the actions are inconsistent in many cases especially in the financial sector (most appropriately in the banking sector). This study aims to highlight the supreme benefits, encountering challenges, strategic aspects of Green Banking with two major objectives. First one is to caricature the existing scenario of green banking practice in Bangladesh and the other one is to accentuate how individual and also institutional stakeholder forces such as regulatory, managerial or environmental, that can affect the deliberate environmental behavior of banks performing in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that banks should go green and play a pro-active role to take environmental aspects for functional improvements and changing client habits in banking business. Use of appropriate environmental technologies and management systems will not only be useful for environment, but also provide benefits as greater operational efficiencies. After using both descriptive and inferential statistics analysis, this study also advocacy for the necessity of stakeholder’s influences in green banking practice and recommend some indication for Government, the whole banking sector and for the business community

Experimental Study of Hydroformed Al6061T4 Elliptical Tube Samples under Different Internal Pressures

In order to achieve crack free elliptical shape under controlled conditions, an experimental set-up was designed and fabricated. This setup consists of three hydraulic cylinders, an intensifier, a hydraulic power pack, storage tanks, forming die, and all parts are controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system. The elliptical samples can be achieved through proper control of internal pressure and axial force with proper sealing. Experimental work has been carried out with different magnitudes of internal pressure and constrained conditions of axial force. Initially die of elliptical shape has been designed and modeled in Abaqus to successfully achieve the particular shape of the Al6061T4 tube under different internal pressure. The fabricated tube hydroforming machine set-up is highly effective for forming 0.5 mm-2 mm thick Al6061T4 alloy tube samples. The Experimental test has been carried out at 12.7 mm outer diameter, 175 mm length and 0.5 mm thick Al6061T4 samples. Bulge height parameters measured at different points of regular distance gap on the axial direction of the tube length and corner radius found at different pressures range of the samples are plotted under different internal pressures. Samples having an 18.7 mm major elliptical bulge were achieved during the experiment. The experimental data was validated by simulation results

Research notes: Evaluation of soybean germplasm

Soybean has been called the miracle crop of the twentieth century. It is one of the most nutritious among beans and pulses, having 40% protein and 20% oil. In view of the chronic shortage of protein and oil in India, soybean is a welcome introduction to provide the much needed stability and boost to the production of these two essential items of food

Analysis of Crosstalk Noise for 2π RC Model considering Interconnect Parameters in Deep Submicron VLSI Circuit

As the technology enters into deep sub-micron region, signal integrity is becoming a very crucial parameter. In order to deal with the challenges associated with signal integrity problem, such as, crosstalk noise and delay, estimation and minimizing techniques should be addressed with great importance. Along with this, the peak noise amplitude and noise width values in the sensitive node must be verified and confirmed that they are below the certain threshold levels. Hence, for a particular range of frequency, an accurate and efficient crosstalk noise estimation model is necessary to confirm the signal integrity. Therefore, this work aims to analyse the crosstalk noise between two interconnect lines using 2π RC model, and considering its physical parameters, such as the parasitic capacitance, resistance and inductance and interconnect parameters, specifically the spacing between two interconnects, length, width, thickness, height from substrate in deep sub-micron VLSI circuit. In this paper, analytical expressions for peak noise amplitude and noise width in 2π model with RC interconnects for unit step input were derived, and then it was simulated in MATLAB and HSPICE software platform. The MATLAB based results represent that 2π model possesses less errors, and showed better performance compared to some other popular models by adjusting the interconnecting parameters for any certain range of operating frequency. The HSPICE simulation justifies the accuracy of the approach with full satisfaction

EXPLORING THE ADOPTION OF SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN PRACTICES IN AUSTRALIA: CURRENT PRACTICES AND ADOPTION MOTIVATIONS

Organizations worldwide are developing an awareness of the importance to adopt sustainable practices within their supply chain operations. Many forward looking organizations have even already begun implementing these practices in consultation with their supply chain partners. However, adoption of these practices is not straightforward and is reported to be slower than expected despite the enormous benefits these practices can bring when they are successfully adopted. Currently, there is limited understanding of what motivates organizations adopting SSCM practices and how adoption motivations affect the adoption level and benefits obtained. In this study, we explore the adoption of SSCM practices by selected Australian organizations and investigate their adoption motivations. For the study purpose, we apply the organizational adoption motivation framework discussed in the literature of inter-organizational systems (IOS) and propose a framework that differentiates four SSCM adoption motivation scenarios. Using the proposed framework, we have conducted a series of interviews with four Australian organizations that are currently engaged in SSCM practices. The preliminary study finding highlights the existence of multiple types of SSCM adoption motivation types originating from internal and external sources. This finding helps direct future research efforts in exploring the impacts of adoption motivations on SSCM implementation and benefits

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY MATURITY: FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL EVALUATION

Owing to global importance given to sustainability, commercial and government organizations alike are becoming aware about the need for them to implement sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. These practices are mostly inter-organizational in nature, which introduce complexity du to the need for managing activities and information across the supply chain. However, currently there is still a lack of studies assessing the required organizational capability for implementing SSCM practices. Therefore, in this research-in-progress paper, we propose a SSCM capability maturity framework and provide an initial evaluation of the proposed framework through an in-depth case study with a large Australian city council. The framework together with the supportive empirical evidence represents a contribution to theory and practice. For practice, it helps organizations to understand their current SSCM maturity level and establish an appropriate strategy to progress in their maturity level. For theory, the study contributes to the on-going conceptual development related to SSCM and has clear implications for understanding the roles of IS/IT in building the required SSCM capability

A Taxonomy of IT Usage to Support the Implementation of Environmental Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Sustainability, in recent years, has become a major concern for businesses worldwide. Many forward looking businesses have thus begun implementing sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. Although there exists rich viewpoints and theoretical deliberations on the merits, enablers, and barriers of implementing SSCM practices, little discussion has so far been reported in the scholarly literature on how IT systems can be used to provide support for effective implementation of these practices. In this research-in-progress paper, we propose a taxonomy of IT usage sophistication that businesses may demonstrate towards supporting implementation of their SSCM practices. The taxonomy is built on six distinct dimensions drawn from SSCM literature analysis. Finally, some implications for management are highlighted and the current status of our ongoing research involving the progress we are making in organising interviews with senior level managers chosen from large Australian organisations to evaluate and refine the proposed taxonomy is reported

A prospective study on operative management of displaced fracture of midshaft of clavicle

Background: Clavicle fractures had been traditionally treated non-operatively which resulted in high rates of non-union. The present study has been undertaken to study the role of precontoured locking compression plate in the fixation of mid-third clavicle fractures.Methods: We reviewed the results of 25 cases of displaced middle third clavicle fractures (Robinson type 2B) which were treated with open reduction and internal fixation with pre-contoured locking compression plate at Al-Ameen Medical College and Hospital.Results: Out of 25 patients operated with precontoured LCP, 21 were male and 4 were female patients. One patient had hypertrophic scar, one patient had plate prominence, two patients had delayed union and one patient had implant failure, none of them developed non-union. Constant Murley score was excellent in 19, good in 4 and fair in 1 patient and poor in 1 patient. Conclusions: Precontoured locking compression plate fixation has better functional outcome, immediate pain relief, early return to function and avoids complications of conservative methods

Microstructure and mechanical properties of electron beam welded dissimilar steel to Fe-Al alloy joints

Electron beam welding (EBW) technique was used to perform dissimilar joining of plain carbon steel to Fe-7%Al alloy under three different weld conditions such as with beam oscillation, without beam oscillation and at higher welding speed. The effect of weld parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar joints was studied using optical microscopy, SEM, EBSD, hardness, tensile and erichsen cup tests. Microstructure results show that the application of beam oscillation resulted in uniform and homogeneous microstructure compared to without beam oscillations and higher welding speed. Further, it was observed that weld microstructure changes from equiaxed to columnar grains depending on the weld speed. High weld speed results in columnar grain structure in the weld joint. Erichsen cup test results show that the application of beam oscillation results in excellent formability as compared to high weld speed. Tensile test results show no significant difference in strength properties in all three weld conditions, but the ductility was found to be highest for joints obtained with the application of weld beam oscillation as compared to without beam oscillation and high weld speed. This study shows that the application of beam oscillations plays an important role in improving the weld quality and performance of EBW dissimilar steel to Fe-Al joints