39 research outputs found

    Municipal solid waste recycling in Malaysia: present scenario and future prospects

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    This paper presents a current state-of-the art of municipal solid waste (MSW) management and recycling in Malaysia. It was revealed that mainly four sources were involved in the recycling program, e.g. recycle centers, recycle boxes, waste collectors and paper recyclers (by door to door collection system). On average, paper, aluminum, glass and plastic account for 63, 21, 15 and 1% of the recycled materials, respectively. The total waste generation was estimated to be 144 tons/day in Serdang and Seri Kembangan areas based on the number of collection vehicles, trips per day and vehicle capacity. The total recycled quantity was, however, about 2678 kg/day. Only 1.8% of total generated MSW was recycled, which is deemed to be very low compared to developed countries. Therefore, it is recommended to educate, motivate and encourage the citizens of Malaysia for reusing, recovering and recycling. It requires collaborative and consistent efforts, and technical know-how for a successful recycling program. Finally, some possible means of promoting the recycling program were recommended based on the current practice of developed countries. The first step would be the separation of recyclable items at sources or generation points. The local authorities and recycling organizations can play an important role in educating/motivating general mass through producing and disseminating appropriate guidelines

    Microfinance operations in Bangladesh - an overview

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    This paper reviews the evolution, current status of microfinance in Bangladesh including its performance and past impact studies. The paper is based on the documentary data downloaded from different sources. The review of document analysis revealed that a significant growth was achieved in most of the indicators including loan disbursement, size of loan per borrower, net savings per microfinance institutions (MFI), and loan outstanding per MFI in Bangladesh. Also, the study found that the review of impact study on microcredit has so far focused on rural households in respect to income, consumption, asset building, health and schooling issues

    Microfinance, health seeking behaviour and health service of rural households: evidence from a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh

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    This paper attempts to examine whether participation in microfinance program improves health seeking behaviour and health knowledge of the participants. The study is based on the primary data of 439 households across 20 villages of four different districts in Bangladesh. The data were collected on a field survey. Our results suggest that the overall impact of microfinance operations on the health services and health seeking behaviour of the participants is mostly positive. Microfinance participants’ health related issues as indicated by antenatal care, maternal care, family planning, diarrhoea remedial, immunization provided, malaria/TB treatment, and medicines accessibility improved significantly after joining the microfinance. Further research should aim to figure out whether there is any substantial difference in the health seeking behaviour of the members (treatment) and non-members (control) of microfinance institutions (MFIs)

    Impact of microfinance on household income and consumption in Bangladesh: empirical evidence from a quasi-experimental survey

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    This paper analyses the impact of microfinance programs on income and consumption of households in Bangladesh. Primary data on 439 households across 20 villages in 4 districts were collected using a quasi-experimental survey approach. The sample was designed so that member households of microfinance programs were compared with non-member households of similar characteristics. In our econometric analysis, economic wellbeing is proxied using measures of household income and consumption. The empirical results indicate that despite our survey design effort, microfinance members remain poorer than non-members. But participation in microfinance has positive impacts: one percent increase in the duration of microfinance membership is associated with an increase of income and consumption per adult equivalent by 0.19 and 0.16 percent, respectively. Also, an additional month of participation in microfinance is associated with the lower probability of being poor (using $1.25 PPP per person per day) by 7 Percentage points

    Mitotic phosphorylation activates hepatoma-derived growth factor as a mitogen

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) is a nuclear protein that is a mitogen for a wide variety of cells. Mass spectrometry based methods have identified HDGF as a phosphoprotein without validation or a functional consequence of this post-translational modification.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that HDGF in primary mouse aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) was phosphorylated. Wild type HDGF was phosphorylated in asynchronous cells and substitution of S103, S165 and S202 to alanine each demonstrated a decrease in HDGF phosphorylation. A phospho-S103 HDGF specific antibody was developed and demonstrated mitosis-specific phosphorylation. HDGF-S103A was not mitogenic and FACS analysis demonstrated a G2/M arrest in HDGF-S103A expressing cells, whereas cells expressing HDGF-S103D showed cell cycle progression. Nocodazole arrest increased S103 phosphorylation from 1.6% to 29% (P = 0.037).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Thus, HDGF is a phosphoprotein and phosphorylation of S103 is mitosis related and required for its function as a mitogen. We speculate that cell cycle regulated phosphorylation of HDGF may play an important role in vascular cell proliferation.</p
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