The Relationship between Macro-Economic Variables and Stock Exchange Prices: A Case Study in Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in Bangladesh

Macroeconomic indicators, such as money supply, inflation, exchange rate, trade balance, indicators of industrial production, are the basis for assessing the processes of growth and development of the country. Peculiarities of functioning of the exchange market also play an important role in the analysis of the country's development

Influential Aspects of Women Engagement in Entrepreneurial Activities: A Study on Handicrafts Enterprise in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has been showing tremendous advancement in empowering women in the society although Bangladesh is a male dominated society. Among the total number of entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, above 10% are women. Many women have showed and proved their skills and beat their male counterparts in the small and cottage industries, especially the handicrafts sector; while many audacious entrepreneurs have excelled in Small and Medium Enterprises

Consumers’ Internet Shopping Decision toward Fashion Apparels and Its Impact on Satisfaction in Bangladesh

This paper aims to analyze the consumers’ internet shopping decision toward fashion apparels and its impact on satisfaction in Bangladesh. This paper adopts the quantitative analysis of possible factors that may affect consumers’ internet shopping decision of fashion apparels and its impact on satisfaction

Continuous practice of conservation agriculture for 3–5 years in intensive rice-based cropping patterns reduces soil weed seedbank

When farmers first shift from conventional tillage (CT) to conservation agriculture (CA) practices, the control of weeds may be more difficult, due to the absence of tillage. However, continuous CA, over several years, may alter the weed seedbank. The nature of the weed seedbank changes over time, in intensively cropped rice-based rotations that are typical of the Eastern Gangetic Plain, are not well understood. Two on-farm CA experiments were sampled (in Beluapara after 3 years and Digram after 5 years) in Bangladesh for the effects of strip planting (SP) and bed planting (BP) at both the sites, plus no-tillage (NT) in Beluapara, and increased retention of the residue of previous crops (20% vs. 50%). The conventional tillage (CT) and 20% residue was the control treatment. The weed seedbank in 0–15 cm soil was quantified by assessing the emergence of weeds from soils collected from the field after irrigation, (Boro) rice in Digram and wheat in Beluapara, and they were allowed to emerge in trays in a shade-house experiment. The year-round count of emerged weeds at both the locations revealed the fewest number of weed species (especially broadleaf weeds), and the lowest weed density and biomass in SP, followed by CT, BP, and NT, with 50% crop residue mulch. Relative to CT, the SP, BP, and NT produced relatively more perennials weeds, as follows: Alternanthera denticulata ((R.) Brown.), Cyperus rotundus (L.), Dentella repens (L.), Jussia deccurence (Walt.), Leersia hexandra (L.), and Solanum torvum (Sw.), which was the opposite of CT that was enriched with the following annual weeds: Cyperus iria (L.), Digitaria sanguinalis (L.), Euphorbia parviflora (L.), Fimbristylis miliacea (L.), Lindernia antipoda (L.), L. hyssopifolia (L.), and Monochoria hastata (L.). The soil weed seed bank reduced by 13% in SP, while it increased by 19% and 76% in BP and NT, respectively, compared with CT. The species diversity reduced in SP and NT, by 24% and 11%, respectively, but increased by 2% in BP. In 50% residue, the soil weed seed bank and species diversity reduced by 16% and 14%, respectively, relative to that of 20% residue. The continuous practice of CA, for 3 or more years, in two rice-based crop rotations, decreased the size of the weed seedbank, but increased the relative proliferation of specific perennial weeds

Conservation agriculture for rice-based intensive cropping by smallholders in the Eastern Gangetic Plain

We review the recent development of Conservation Agriculture (CA) for rice-based smallholder farms in the Eastern Gangetic Plain (EGP) and the underpinning research on agronomy, weed control, soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions being tested to accelerate its adoption in Bangladesh. The studies are based mostly on minimum soil disturbance planting in strip planting (SP) mode, using the Versatile Multi-crop Planter (VMP), powered by a two-wheel tractor (2WT). One-pass SP with the VMP decreased fuel costs for crop establishment by up to 85% and labour requirements by up to 50%. We developed strip-based non-puddled rice (Oryza sativa) transplanting (NPT) in minimally-disturbed soil and found that rice grain yield increased (by up to 12%) in longer-term practice of CA. On farms, 75% of NPT crops increased gross margin. For non-rice crops, relative yield increases ranged from 28% for lentil (Lens culinaris) to 6% for wheat (Triticum aestivum) on farms that adopted CA planting. Equivalent profit increases were from 47% for lentil to 560% for mustard (Brassica juncea). Moreover, VMP and CA adopting farms saved 34% of labour costs and lowered total cost by up to 10% for production of lentil, mustard, maize (Zea mays) and wheat. Effective weed control was obtained from the use of a range of pre-emergent and post-emergence herbicides and retention of increased crop residue. In summary, a substantial body of research has demonstrated the benefits of CA and mechanized planting for cost savings, yield increases in many cases, increased profit in most cases and substantial labour saving. Improvement in soil quality has been demonstrated in long-term experiments together with reduced greenhouse gas emissions

Nanostructured Materials: Bioengineering Platforms for Sensing Nucleic Acids

Detection of specific nucleic acid targets is of enormous and increasing interest in molecular biodiagnostics, food analysis, forensic investigation, and environmental monitoring. The advancement of nanotechnology with a myriad of novel and engineered nanomaterials and their hybrids with attractive physiochemical properties has raised hopes for the development of DNA sensors capable of identifying specific nucleic acid sequences with single molecule precision, avoiding the need of skilled personnel or sophisticated machineries. Compared to the traditional sensing platforms, DNA–nanomaterial hybrids provide better sensitivity and multiplexing facility, reducing analysis cost and increasing detection precision by several orders of magnitudes. The biofusion of DNA with nanostructured gold, nanostructured silica, nanogap semiconductors, carbon nanotubes, graphenes, and quantum dots has shown great possibilities to fabricate specialized nanostructured configurations capable of enhancing DNA detection several-fold. Miniaturized devices with embedded DNA of thousands of fingerprints in lab-on-a-chip are no longer a surprise. Here, we describe potential candidate nanomaterials and their molecular binding patterns with DNA to constitute a sensing platform for nucleic acid targets. The future perspectives and challenges of nanotechnology strategies are also outline

COVID-19 and earnings management: A comparison between Chinese family and non-family enterprises

Purpose The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on earnings management practices in China using a sample of family and non-family enterprises. More specifically, this study aims to examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic causes variation in Chinese listed family and non-family enterprises' operations, as reflected in the level of real earnings management (REM). Design/methodology/approach This study uses three standardised REM indicators, namely, the abnormal level of cash flows from operations, the abnormal level of production costs and the abnormal level of discretionary expenses. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions are applied to compare the earnings management of Chinese family and non-family enterprises during the pre-pandemic period (2017–2019) and the pandemic period (2020). Findings The authors find that Chinese listed non-family enterprises tend to participate in more REM activities than family enterprises before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the opposite is true during the pandemic. The authors also find that COVID-19 has increased the involvement of family and non-family enterprises in REM activities. Originality/value The results of previous studies based on REM using Chinese listed firms may not be applicable under the new social background of COVID-19. As the period after the COVID-19 outbreak is relatively recent, Chinese researchers have yet to study it comprehensively. The present study is amongst the first empirical attempts investigating the effect of a pandemic financial reporting by investigating whether and how the burst of the COVID-19 crisis affected financial reporting through the earnings management practices of listed Chinese family and non-family enterprises. Such information is crucial because it can provide analysis for all stakeholders to make better decisions

Devario in Bangladesh: Species diversity, sibling species, and introgression within danionin cyprinids (Teleostei: Cyprinidae: Danioninae)

10.1371/journal.pone.0186895PLoS ONE1211e018689

Ultimate lateral load resistance of laterally loaded pile

Several methods are available for predicting ultimate lateral load resistance of laterally loaded pile. These methods often produce significantly different ultimate lateral resistance. This makes it difficult to select an appropriate method in designing/predicting ultimate lateral resistance of pile. This paper presents a review of two different methods; Meyerhof and Patra & Pise for predicting lateral resistance of pile. Then, the predicted ultimate lateral resistances by these two methods are compared with the experimental results. It is found that Meyerhof’s method gives better prediction for single pile with smaller L/d ratio whereas Patra & Pise method gives better predictions for pile groups with higher L/d. Thus, none of these methods can be applicable universally for all possible conditions. Also the parametric study on ultimate lateral resistance revealed that length to diameter ratio, pile spacing, pile configuration in a pile group are important parameters for prediction of lateral load resistance