Beneficial roles of women in fisheries and aquaculture practices in coastal areas in Bangladesh with some socio cultural confront:

In Bangladesh, women constitute about 50% of the population but comprise only one-fourth of the labor force. Considering women's critical roles in fisheries sector many projects in Bangladesh address both men and women as target groups putting more emphasis on women groups. One such project is "Emergency cyclone Recovery and restoration Project (ECRRP)" in the south and south-east coastal areas which has a wide ranging intervention to support Government of Bangladesh in facilitating recovery from the damage to livelihoods and infrastructure caused by previously occurred natural disasters. This paper analyzes the women's roles that they are already playing in the sector, how they benefit from this involvement and even how their participation is affected by socio cultural norms such as seclusion, segregation and the veiling of women in public etc. Tools used in the study include: Focus Group Discussions; Home visits; key informants; interviews and KAP survey. The project team has brought in some good progressive initiatives to achieve gender equality objectives; such as give selection of 19% women headed household in fish farming, select 25 men and women farmer for Farmer Field School (FFS) etc. As a conclusion, the paper proposes some measures for the improvement of women's contribution and status in this sector for example: integrating gender sensitive objective and indicators in sectoral level policies and program design and formulation.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Fish and Aquaculture Sectors Development, Gender and Developmen

INNOVATION IN FINANCIAL SERVICES: THE CASE OF BANGLADESH

The financial services industry of Bangladesh has achieved phenomenal success and advancing day by day for the growth of technology. Bangladesh has long been considered a role model for financial inclusion, first with the emergence of proliferation and prominence of microfinance institutions, especially in rural areas. This paper examines the financial services innovation in Bangladesh by presenting the changes in the industry over the years. The paper also analyses the comparative picture of Bangladesh’s financial inclusion and world financial inclusion. This study is a descriptive study where quantitative data has been collected from secondary sources. The study reflects a very positive picture of financial innovation in Bangladesh. We expect that the study can be used by concerned business people in decision making for the better implication of financial innovation

Ongoing efforts to improve the management of patients with diabetes in Bangladesh and the implications

Background: Prevalence rates of patients with diabetes are growing across countries, and Bangladesh is no exception. Associated costs are also increasing, driven by costs associated with the complications of diabetes including hypoglycaemia. Long-acting insulin analogues were developed to reduce hypoglycaemia as well as improve patient comfort and adherence. However, they have been appreciably more expensive reducing their affordability and use. Biosimilars offer a way forward. Consequently, there is a need to document current prescribing and dispensing rates for long-acting insulin analogues across Bangladesh, including current prices and differences, as a result of affordability and other issues. Methods: Mixed method approach including surveying prescribing practices in hospitals coupled with dispensing practices and prices among community pharmacies and drug stores across Bangladesh. This method was adopted since public hospitals only dispense insulins such as soluble insulins free-of-charge until funds run out and all long-acting insulin analogues have to be purchased from community stores. Results: There has been growing prescribing and dispensing of long-acting insulins in Bangladesh in recent years, accounting for over 80% of all insulins dispensed in a minority of stores. This has been helped by growing prescribing and dispensing of biosimilar insulin glargine at lower costs that the originator, with this trend likely to continue with envisaged growth in the number of patients. Consequently, Bangladesh can serve as an exemplar to other low- and middle-income countries struggling to fund long-acting insulins for their patients. Conclusions: It was encouraging to see continued growth in the prescribing and dispensing of long-acting insulin analogues in Bangladesh via the increasing availability of biosimilars. This is likely to continue benefitting all key stakeholder groups

Performance of a validated spontaneous preterm delivery predictor in South Asian and Sub-Saharan African women: a nested case control study.

OBJECTIVES: To address the disproportionate burden of preterm birth (PTB) in low- and middle-income countries, this study aimed to (1) verify the performance of the United States-validated spontaneous PTB (sPTB) predictor, comprised of the IBP4/SHBG protein ratio, in subjects from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tanzania enrolled in the Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement (AMANHI) biorepository study, and (2) discover biomarkers that improve performance of IBP4/SHBG in the AMANHI cohort. STUDY DESIGN: The performance of the IBP4/SHBG biomarker was first evaluated in a nested case control validation study, then utilized in a follow-on discovery study performed on the same samples. Levels of serum proteins were measured by targeted mass spectrometry. Differences between the AMANHI and U.S. cohorts were adjusted using body mass index (BMI) and gestational age (GA) at blood draw as covariates. Prediction of sPTB < 37 weeks and < 34 weeks was assessed by area under the receiver operator curve (AUC). In the discovery phase, an artificial intelligence method selected additional protein biomarkers complementary to IBP4/SHBG in the AMANHI cohort. RESULTS: The IBP4/SHBG biomarker significantly predicted sPTB < 37 weeks (n = 88 vs. 171 terms ≥ 37 weeks) after adjusting for BMI and GA at blood draw (AUC= 0.64, 95% CI: 0.57-0.71, p < .001). Performance was similar for sPTB < 34 weeks (n = 17 vs. 184 ≥ 34 weeks): AUC = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.51-0.82, p = .012. The discovery phase of the study showed that the addition of endoglin, prolactin, and tetranectin to the above model resulted in the prediction of sPTB < 37 with an AUC= 0.72 (95% CI: 0.66-0.79, p-value < .001) and prediction of sPTB < 34 with an AUC of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.67-0.90, p < .001). CONCLUSION: A protein biomarker pair developed in the U.S. may have broader application in diverse non-U.S. populations

Burden of severe maternal morbidity and association with adverse birth outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia: protocol for a prospective cohort study

Objectives The AMANHI morbidity study aims to quantify and describe severe maternal morbidities and assess their associations with adverse maternal, fetal and newborn outcomes in predominantly rural areas of nine sites in eight South Asian and sub-Saharan African countries. Methods AMANHI takes advantage of on-going population-based cohort studies covering approximately 2 million women of reproductive age with 1- to 3-monthly pregnancy surveillance to enrol pregnant women. Morbidity information is collected at five follow-up home visits - three during the antenatal period at 24-28 weeks, 32-36 weeks and 37+ weeks of pregnancy and two during the postpartum period at 1-6 days and after 42-60 days after birth. Structured- questionnaires are used to collect self-reported maternal morbidities including hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, infections, difficulty in labor and obstetric fistula, as well as care-seeking for these morbidities and outcomes for mothers and babies. Additionally, structured questionnaires are used to interview birth attendants who attended women's deliveries. All protocols were harmonised across the sites including training, implementation and operationalising definitions for maternal morbidities. Importance of the AMANHI morbidity study Availability of reliable data to synthesize evidence for policy direction, interventions and programmes, remains a crucial step for prioritization and ensuring equitable delivery of maternal health interventions especially in high burden areas. AMANHI is one of the first large harmonized population- based cohort studies being conducted in several rural centres in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and is expected to make substantial contributions to global knowledge on maternal morbidity burden and its implications

Modelling &amp; Forecasting Volatility of Daily Stock Returns Using GARCH Models: Evidence from Dhaka Stock Exchange

Modelling volatility has become increasingly important in recent times for its diverse implications. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of volatility modelling using different models and their forecasting accuracy for the returns of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) under different error distribution assumptions. Using the daily closing price of DSE from the period 27 January 2013 to 06 November 2017, this analysis has been done using Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH), Asymmetric Power Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (APARCH), Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (EGARCH), Threshold Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (TGARCH) and Integrated Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (IGARCH) models under both normal and student’s t error distribution. The study finds that ARMA (1,1)- TGARCH (1,1) is the most appropriate model for in-sample estimation accuracy under student’s t error distribution. The asymmetric effect captured by the parameter of ARMA (1,1) with TGARCH (1,1), APARCH (1,1) and EGARCH (1,1) models shows that negative shocks or bad news create more volatility than positive shocks or good news. The study also provides evidence that student’s t distribution for errors improves forecasting accuracy. With such an error distribution assumption, ARMA (1,1)-IGARCH (1,1) is considered the best for out-of-sample volatility forecasting

Gold Mining Impacts and Corporate Social Responsibility: Corporate, Community and Government Reflection

The implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes in Indonesia still largely involves charity to the community or efforts to earn a good name in the wider sphere. This is most especially the case in gold mining, where both large companies and community mining use hazardous materials such as mercury which cause various types of environmental damage. This study aims to look at a series of CSR activities that have been carried out by the company, whether these activities have successfully completed the impacts caused by mining activities. In-depth interviews with informants from all groups were conducted. The results showed that various CSR activities carried out by the company have not been designed to improve the impact caused by gold mining activities, nor CSR programme has not yet had an impact on increasing the capacity of the community; most CSR activities were still charity or inducements to the community or elite groups. Some facts also show the demonstrable result of the use of mercury which has had an impact on public health as well as disruption to people's livelihoods, due to damage to the previously clean water sources

Synthesis of some dihydropyrans by utilizing crotonoyl cyanides as heterodienes in a very mild condition

377-381The reaction of crotonoyl cyanide 1 and its bromo derivative 2 with trimethylene 3 affords the dihydropyrans 6 and 7, respectively. Similarly the compound 1 on reaction with acrolein dimethyl acetal 4 and acrolein diethyl acetal 5 gave the isomeric products 8a/8b and 9a/9b, respectively; the cis-isomer being the predominant one. On the other hand the bromo derivative 2 on treatment with the compound 5 yields only the cis-isomer 10. BF3.Et2O catalysed epimerisation of 11a gives the other epimer 11b in a mild condition with reasonable yield

The Investigation of Social Studies Prospective Teachers’ Environmental Education Self-Efficacy in Terms of Various Variables

The aim of this study is to investigate prospective teachers' environmental education self-efficacy in terms of various variables. Survey method was applied in the study, and the data were collected in the 2015-2016 academic year. The study group of the paper consisted of 172 prospective teachers from each grade level who are studying in Social Studies Department, Faculty of Education, Afyon Kocatepe University. The data of the study were collected with the environmental education self-efficacy scale developed by Özdemir, Aydın and Akar-Vural. (2009). The 5-point Likert scale consisted of 15 items and had four sub-dimensions. As a result of the analyses, it was concluded that prospective teachers' self-efficacy perceptions of environmental education were moderate and prospective teachers' self-efficacy perception levels did not show a significant difference according to gender and grade level variables