English Language Competency and Outsourced Call Centers in Bangladesh

This paper attempts to investigate whether or not the English competency of Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) is hindering the growth and development of outsourced call centers in Bangladesh. It also looks into the problems being faced by call centers in hiring English competent CSRs. A limited appraisal of the English communication training of the CSRs offered by Call Centre Training Institutes is also within the purview of the paper. With this purpose 33 supervisors of different call centers, who are in charge of monitoring the CSRs, have been interviewed with a questionnaire comprised of both close and open ended questions. The result shows there is scarcity of skilled English communicators which is one of the major barriers in the growth and development of the call centers. However, factors like product knowledge, intercultural communication skills, service personality are also crucial as they are integral for successful transaction and addressing them will pave the way for the progress of the industry. The result also implicitly indicates that mainstream education system in Bangladesh is still unable to produce competent English communicators. The findings of the study reveal that the current shortage of skilled manpower can further become more acute when call center industry grows in line with the expectation of the government. It is also revealed that the call center training institutes are incapable of delivering the kind of training required for the aspirant CSRs. This study pinpoints the necessity of future research in several directions to ensure a balance between the demand and supply of native like fluent English communicators for call center Industry in Bangladesh

The Relationship between National Culture and Succession Planning in Malaysian Public Universities

This study investigates the role of national culture in succession planning. Higher education institutions ought to learn from corporate succession planning practices; nevertheless, succession planning principles must be adapted as needed to meet the unique needs of each institution. Studies of the influence of culture on succession planning in higher education institutions have not yet revealed the specific impact of national culture on succession planning. We use Hofstede’s national culture dimensions, which are power distance, collectivism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. Data were gathered from five universities in Malaysia, and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Our findings show that the national culture of university employees influences succession planning. This study contributes to existing understanding of factors affecting succession planning, points towards further research, helps practitioners by demonstrating the importance of taking national culture into account and indicates the importance of implementing succession planning in public universities in Malaysia

FTIR and XRD evaluation of magnesium doped hydroxyapatitesodium alginate powder by precipitation method

Composites material were developed to acquire the desired material properties for biomedical applications in the recovery of defect bone by using Mg-doped HA/SA. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the major constituent and essential component in bone and teeth. The stability of Mg-doped HA/SA is influenced by starting precursor powders, preparation condition and method of preparing the samples for implant materials. The precipitation method was employed to prepare Mg-doped HA/SA powders by varying the composition of Mg at temperature 1300°C. The influence of Mg-doped HA/SA on phase composition, chemical structure and a functional group at various weight percentages (0.5wt%-1.5wt %) were accomplished through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses. Based on the XRD and FTIR analyses, there is the presence of different peaks intensity and adsorption bands which indicates the shifted of peaks due to the doping process and a chemical interaction were observed between the inorganic and organic phase. Furthermore, the transformation of β-TCP due to increase in sintering temperatures are caused by the presence of magnesium ions. The OHstretching bands of HA/SA are traced by FTIR that identified the decomposition of Mg-doped HA/SA

Phylogenetic study of 46 Ancient Mitochondrial Human Genomes

Background: In the third era of ancient DNA field, it has endured the mesmerising modifications, which should be revealed. From side to side period, analysis of mitochondrial DNA permits to determine the evolutionary relationship among the species, to expose the terrestrial roots of the entities, to standardise the molecular clocks and to study the demographic pasts. Methods: In the current study we used bioinformatics tools for prediction of mitochondrial haplogroups and phylogenetic analysis. The ancient complete mitochondrial genomes were retrieved from online resources and were further used for phylogenetic analysis to know the evolutionary position of the ancient populations lived thousands of years ago. Results: We aligned 46 ancient genomes, collected online and estimated trees by using neighbour-joining, maximum parsimony and maximum-likelihood. Support for nodes was assessed with bootstrap replicates. During our analysis a strong bond between genomes of Altai Neanderthal, Motala 12, Motala 1, Loschbour, Ust'-Ishim, LBK, Mezmaiskaya Neanderthal, Denisova, RISE391(ERR844272), Clovis Anzick-1, RISE395(ERR844275) and RISE210(ERR844262) were found. In this context these ancient samples recommended the presence of a mutual earliest genomic signature. Conclusion: A significant population immigrations and alternates, accountable for influencing main parts of current demographic structure together in Europe and Asia is supported by the Bot15 (ERR668415) and RISE family. In the initial bronze period, ancestral similarity among these populations also share the theorised blow-out of Indo-European languages. Mechanisms of pathogen development and alteration for evolving and reappearing toxicities is also explained by this study. We aim that this study will help researchers in understanding the evolutionary position of ancient populations resided around the world.

Estimation of the Healthcare Waste Generation During COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

COVID-19 pandemic-borne wastes imposed a severe threat to human lives as well as the total environment. Improper handling of these wastes increases the possibility of future transmission. Therefore, immediate actions are required from both local and international authorities to mitigate the amount of waste generation and ensure proper disposal of these wastes, especially for low-income and developing countries where solid waste management is challenging. In this study, an attempt is made to estimate healthcare waste generated during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. This study includes infected, ICU, deceased, isolated and quarantined patients as the primary sources of medical waste. Results showed that COVID-19 medical waste from these patients was 658.08 tons in March 2020 and increased to 16164.74 tons in April 2021. A top portion of these wastes was generated from infected and quarantined patients. Based on survey data, approximate daily usage of face masks and hand gloves is also determined. Probable waste generation from COVID-19 confirmatory tests and vaccination has been simulated. Finally, several guidelines are provided to ensure the country\u27s proper disposal and management of COVID-related wastes

Quantitative assessment on remote code execution vulnerability in web apps

With the exponential increasing use of online tools, applications that are being made for day to day purpose by small and large industries, the threat of exploitation is also increasing. Remote Code Execution (RCE) is one of the top most critical and serious web applications vulnerability of this era and one of the major concerns among cyber threats ,which can exploit web servers through their functionalities and using their scripts/files. RCE is an application layer vulnerability caused by careless coding practice which leads to a huge security breach that may bring unwanted resource loss or damages. Attacker may execute malicious code and take complete control of the targeted system with the privileges of an authentic user with this vulnerability. Attackers can attempt to advance their privileges after gaining access to the system. Remote Code Execution can lead to a full compromise of the vulnerable web application as well as the web server. This chapter highlights the concern and risk needed to put under consideration caused by RCE vulnerability of a system. Moreover, this study and its findings will help application developers and its stakeholders to understand the risk of data compromise and unauthorized access of the system. Around 1011 web applications were taken under consideration and experiment was done by following manual double blinded penetration testing strategy. The experiments shows that more than 12% web application were found vulnerable with RCE. This study also explicitly listed down the critical factors of Remote Code Execution vulnerability and improper input handling. The experimental results are promising to motivate developers to focus on security enhancement through proper and safe input handling

A REVIEW ON OPTIMIZATION OF DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

The present review article aims at determining the various possible techniques available to enhance the quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical formulations by exploring most suitable and practically applicable experimental designs and optimization techniques. As we know that pharmaceutical industries are constantly in search of novel ideas to improve quality by various optimization techniques, hence in present review article we shall discuss latest optimization techniques and experimental designs to achieve the best combination of product and process characteristics under the given set of conditions. Experimental designs and optimization techniques are the tools that are simultaneously and systematically used to identify various types of problems that may influence research, development and production of pharmaceutical formulations. These are organized an approach to determine the relationship between the factors affecting a process and the output of that process. The screening methods discussed here include factorial design, fractional factorial designs, full factorial design, mixture designs etc. Recently, different software has been used in implementing optimization techniques in pharmaceutical products to enhance product quality by using most suitable available facilities

Current Scenario of Solar Energy Applications in Bangladesh: Techno-Economic Perspective, Policy Implementation, and Possibility of the Integration of Artificial Intelligence

Bangladesh is blessed with abundant solar resources. Solar power is considered the most desirable energy source to mitigate the high energy demand of this densely populated country. Although various articles deal with solar energy applications in Bangladesh, no detailed review can be found in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we report on the current scenario of renewable energy in Bangladesh and the most significant potential of solar energy’s contribution among multiple renewable energy resources in mitigating energy demand. One main objective of this analysis was to outline the overall view of solar energy applications in Bangladesh to date, as well as the ongoing development of such projects. The technical and theoretical solar energy potential and the technologies available to harvest solar energy were also investigated. A detailed techno-economic design of solar power applications for the garment industry was also simulated to determine the potential of solar energy for this specific scenario. Additionally, renewable energy policies applied in Bangladesh to date are discussed comprehensively, with an emphasis on various ongoing projects undertaken by the government. Moreover, we elaborate global insight into solar power applications and compare Bangladesh’s current solar power scenario with that of other regions worldwide. Furthermore, the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate solar energy enhancement is delineated comprehensively. Therefore, in this study, we determined the national scenarios of solar power implementation in Bangladesh and projected the most promising approaches for large-scale solar energy applications using artificial intelligence approaches

Environmental study on water quality of Mayur River with reference to suitability for irrigation

ABSTRACT The farmers residing in the western fringe of Khulna city in Bangladesh use the sewage-fed water of the Mayur River for irrigation as good quality surface water is not available as well as higher cost in groundwater irrigation. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the suitability of this river water for irrigation during the hot summer months (March to May) since this period is more sensitive to crop agriculture in the study area. A total of 30 water samples, 10 in each month from 10 stations, were collected and analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, major cations (Na, K, Ca, Mg) and anions (Cl, HCO 3 , NO 3 , PO 4 , SO 4 ), Chemical data were used for calculation of SAR, Na%, RSC, PI, KI and MR for better understanding the suitability of river water for irrigation use. Wilcox diagram and USSL diagram were also adopted in the present study to verify the suitability of river water quality for irrigation. The results revealed that water of the Mayur River was alkaline in nature like major world rivers. Sodium was the most dominant cation throughout the sampling period, whereas sulfate was the most dominat anion in March and May, and chloride in April. The river water was found to be safe for irrigation with respect to pH and PI. However, some usual and calculated parameters like EC, TDS, hardness, alkalinity, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, sodium, Na%, SAR, KI, MR and Ca/Mg restricted the Mayr River water for use in irrigation. The RSC values indicated the water to be safe during April and May and permissible to severe in March. The USSL and Wilcox diagrams indicated high salinity in the water with high sodium being unsuitable for irrigation. The findings call for an immediate management plan to protect this invaluable resource

Extraction and Amplification of mtDNA HVR1 from Old and Degraded Samples of Human Skeletal Collected from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

Background: The study of ancient DNA enables the examination of genetic associations between past and present individuals and populations. The recovery and analysis of human DNA from degraded samples precisely has become a central research tool in various scientific fields’ ranges from ancient DNA to forensics and medical sciences. Methods: In the current study, remains of human bones are analyzed that dates back to 1000-1200 BC from different burial sites of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) as a genetic marker was selected. Multiple extractions, qubit assays quantification and cloning of PCR products were performed to get the sequences from the hypervariable region 1 of mtDNA. In this study, we also evaluate the possibility of extracting DNA from degraded human tissues (bones and teeth) such as remains buried in archaeological sites and remains of dead bodies buried for many decades. Results: Mitochondrial DNA HVR1 of 2000 years old degraded bone specimens were successfully determined by analyzing haplotype, defining polymorphisms in the hypervariable region 1. The prominent haplogroup found was eastern European R  (63%) that was also found in present day population by previous studies.Conclusion: The protocol developed in this study could be used for the extraction of DNA from old degraded and ancient bone samples.Keywords: Ancient DNA; Degraded samples; mtDNA; HVS1; Pakistan