Profitability Analysis of Poultry Farming in Bangladesh: A Case Study on Trishal Upazilla in Mymensingh District

This study aimed to determine the cost, return, and profitability of broiler production in some selected areas of Trishal Upazilla in Mymensing district, Bangladesh. It was mainly based on primary data which were collected through well structured questionnaire from the respondents of poultry production during the month of October, 2014. Selected samples consisted of 80 poultry farm owners selected by using purposive sampling technique. In the selected area maximum people are related with agriculture. The findings revealed that poultry production was a profitable enterprise. The people of this area said that, poultry farming and vegetables cultivation are profitable farm activity in a short run. This study also identified some problems in the production of poultry in the study area. Finally, based on the findings of the study, some recommendations were made for the development of poultry production in Bangladesh. Keywords: Poultry farming, Production, Cost, Return, Profitability

An Analysis of the Production Function of Ready-Made Garments Industry in Bangladesh: A Case of Tex-Town Group Limited

More than 78% of Bangladesh’s export earnings come from the garment industry. The ready-made garments (RMG) sector has a greater potential than any other sector in terms of employment and foreign exchange earnings to reduce poverty and make a contribution to the national economy. In this paper, we attempt an econometric estimation of Cobb-Douglas production function in Bangladesh’s ready-made garments industry and also test the hypothesis that ready-made garments industry is expected to reap better economies of scale in a competitive environment. We try to resolve some econometric issues such as heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation and multicollinearity  in the production function estimates by adopting different solutions and adjustment procedures with a view to obtain reliable parameter estimates. . This study has been used the annually time series data about ready-made garments production, labour wages, and capital of Tex-Town Group Limited from 2002-2013. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method is used to estimate the model. The results show that there is a positive relationship between labour wages, capital and ready-made garments production in Bangladesh. The value of R2 is 0.687. This indicates that about 68.7% of the total variation in the ready-made garments production is explained by the labour wages and capital in Bangladesh. The results are statistically significant at 5% level of significance. This study suggests that increase in labour employment and capital to increase the production of ready-made garments in Bangladesh. Keywords: Ready-made Garments Industry; Production Function; Wage, Capital.

Determinants of Exchange Rate in Bangladesh: A Case Study

The study has been conducted to analyze the determinants of exchange rates in Bangladesh economy for the period of 1990 to 2011 using simple single equation linear regression model (SELRM). Inflation rate, GDP growth rate, interest rate and current account balance is used as explanatory variable. These are the most important determinants of exchange rate, which have major impact on exchange rate. Our conclusion includes that inflation rate, GDP growth rate, interest rate and current account balance has positive impact on exchange rate and the major role played by GDP. Key Words: Exchange rate, Inflation rate, GDP growth rate, Interest rate, Current account balance

Determinants of Unemployment in Bangladesh: A Case Study

A very important issue that plays a crucial role in development of the economies is the underutilization of its human capital i.e. unemployment. This paper investigates macroeconomic determinants of unemployment rate in Bangladesh economy for the period of 2000-2011 using Simple Single Equation Linear Regression Model (SELRM). The variables selected for the study are Unemployment rate, GDP growth rate, Exchange rate and Inflation rate (CPI based). The results of regression analysis showed significant impact of all the variables. Our main finding includes that Inflation rate stimulate unemployment positively and GDP growth rate and Exchange rate has negative impact on unemployment. Keywords: Unemployment rate, GDP growth rate, Exchange rate, Inflation rate

An Econometric Analysis of the Balance of Payments of Bangladesh

Balance of payment plays the most important role in a country’s economy. As a developing country our performances are not satisfactory. The objective of this analysis is to develop some idea about the balance of payments of Bangladesh. Trade liberalization could lead to faster import growth than export growth and hence the supply side benefits may be offset by the unsustainable balance of payment position. This study uses 36 year observation of GDP, import, export and exchange rate of Bangladesh to estimate their effect on trade balance. Our conclusion is that Bangladesh should relax restrictions on imports more slowly than barriers to exports. Keywords: Trade balance, Export, Import, Terms of trade, GDP, Exchange rates

Consumers’ Preferences for the Traceability Information of Seafood Safety

Consumers’ Preferences for the Traceability Information of Seafood SafetyDue to importing food and the perpetual changes from conventional wet markets to supermarkets in emerging markets, consumers have the opportunity to base their buying decisions on traceability systems. Seafood traceability systems involve information on production mode, inspection notes, sustainable sources, and sources of origin to provide consumer protection and help ensure that all seafood is safe to consume. This study aims to explore seafood markets by assessing the demand for traceability information attributes by utilising data from an experimental survey in an emerging market such as Bangladesh. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and a conditional logit model. The results demonstrate that consumers are concerned regarding vitamins, cholesterol, and preservatives, while they are little concerned about microbiological contamination, pesticide residues, genetic modification, and additives or artificial colours. The difference between the mean willingness to pay (WTP) for traditional and sustainable farmed fish is higher than that between the mean WTP for conventional and sustainable wild fish. In a ranked-choice voting system, the ‘production mode’ and ‘claim of safety control (e.g., being formalin-free)’ were the first and second most influential attributes in fish choices. The outcomes of the econometric model revealed that consumers are more likely to prefer traceability information about fish control (e.g., formalin-free), and they want to pay a price premium for this information. Alternatively, consumers are less likely to prefer farmed and imported fish, and their WTP for these fishes are highly inflated. This finding may be because consumers use wild and local origin as a cue for food safety or quality. This study hopes that the effects of such traceability information will optimise the production process and supply chain and help make seafood recall management more effective

Levels and determinants of complementary feeding based on meal frequency among children of 6 to 23 months in Bangladesh

Information concerning complementary feeding (CF) practice during infancy and early childhood is still scarce in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the level of CF among children of 6-23 months and identify individual, household and community level determinants in Bangladesh

Levels and determinants of complementary feeding based on meal frequency among children of 6 to 23 months in Bangladesh

Chowdhury MRK, Rahman MS, Khan MH. Levels and determinants of complementary feeding based on meal frequency among children of 6 to 23 months in Bangladesh. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(1): 944.Background Information concerning complementary feeding (CF) practice during infancy and early childhood is still scarce in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the level of CF among children of 6–23 months and identify individual, household and community level determinants in Bangladesh. Methods Secondary data from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 was used. A total of 2,373 children aged 6–23 months were selected. A simplified index called “dimension index” was used to estimate the level of CF. The score of this index was used either as continuous or categorical dependent variables. The highest score based on dimension index is associated to an adequate CF. Statistical analyses and tests were guided by types of variables. Finally, multivariable logistic regression (binary and multinomial) analyses were performed to identify the significant determinants of CF. Results The overall level of CF among children of 6–23 months was low. More than 90 % of children experienced either no (2.9 %) or inadequate CF (92.7 %). According to bivariable analyses, mean levels of CF as well as percentages of no/inadequate CF were significantly lower among children of the youngest age group, uneducated parents, unemployed/laborer fathers, socio-economically poor families, food insecure families and rural areas. No weekly exposure to mass media (namely watching TV and reading newspapers/magazines) also revealed significant associations with CF. However, only few variables remained significant for adequate CF in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. For example, the likelihood of experiencing adequate CF was significantly lower among children of 6–11 months (OR: 0.22, 95 % CI: 0.10–0.47), children of illiterate fathers (OR: 0.32, 95 % CI: 0.11–0.95) and socio-economically middle-class families (OR: 0.28, 95 % CI: 0.09–0.86) as compared to their reference categories. Conclusion A high level of inadequate CF leading to malnutrition may cause serious health problems among children of 6–23 months in Bangladesh. Vulnerable groups of children (e.g., the children aged 6 to 11 months and children of illiterate fathers), who received low levels of adequate CF, should be targeted by government and other stakeholders while developing strategies and interventions in order to improve overall situation of CF in Bangladesh

Shapes2Toon: Generating Cartoon Characters from Simple Geometric Shapes

Cartoons are an important part of our entertainment culture. Though drawing a cartoon is not for everyone, creating it using an arrangement of basic geometric primitives that approximates that character is a fairly frequent technique in art. The key motivation behind this technique is that human bodies - as well as cartoon figures - can be split down into various basic geometric primitives. Numerous tutorials are available that demonstrate how to draw figures using an appropriate arrangement of fundamental shapes, thus assisting us in creating cartoon characters. This technique is very beneficial for children in terms of teaching them how to draw cartoons. In this paper, we develop a tool - shape2toon - that aims to automate this approach by utilizing a generative adversarial network which combines geometric primitives (i.e. circles) and generate a cartoon figure (i.e. Mickey Mouse) depending on the given approximation. For this purpose, we created a dataset of geometrically represented cartoon characters. We apply an image-to-image translation technique on our dataset and report the results in this paper. The experimental results show that our system can generate cartoon characters from input layout of geometric shapes. In addition, we demonstrate a web-based tool as a practical implication of our work.Comment: Accepted as a full paper in AICCSA2022 (19th ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications

Stability of vitamin C in broccoli at different storage conditions

In this study, the retention of vitamin C in fresh broccoli stored at different temperatures (i.e. chiller, room, cooking, and roasting or baking; 5-120°C) was investigated. The thermal stability of vitamin C in broccoli was analysed at 5, 20, 45, 60, 70, 80, 110, and 120°C. The vitamin C content was measured by the indophenol titration method. Vitamin C was affected negatively at all stored temperatures. The degradation of vitamin C was modelled by first-order reaction kinetics and the reaction rate constants were observed as 9.03×10-8 and 5.65×10-3 s-1 when stored at 5°C and 120°C, respectively. The activation energy was estimated as 74.2 kJ/mol within the temperature range used in this study. The lowest decay of vitamin C was observed during the chilling condition. The data on retention of vitamin C in broccoli could be used to determine their stability, when stored as raw, and when heated at different temperatures