Gender and local floodplain management institutions: a case study from Bangladesh

"Floodplain wetlands are the major common pool natural resource in Bangladesh. Mostly men fish, and both men and women collect aquatic plants and snails. Case studies contrast a women-only, men-only, and mixed community based organization (CBO), each of which manages a seasonal floodplain wetland. The two CBOs in which women hold key positions are in Hindu communities where more women use aquatic resources, work for an income, and belong to other local institutions. In the oldest of these CBOs, more women have gradually become office bearers as their recognition in the community has grown. In the Muslim community, only a few women collect aquatic resources and in this community most women do not perceive floodplain natural resource constraints to be very important to them. These women have no role in the CBO and feel that they have no say in decisions about the fishery, unlike many women in the other two sites. The fishery management activities in all three sites are similar and catches and biodiversity appear to have improved, demonstrating that women can play an effective role in community organizations for fishery management. Those who are represented in the CBOs reported significant increases in their participation and influence. Men and women in all three sites recognized that decisionmaking and management of their fisheries had improved, but community support and compliance were higher where both men and women had an active role in this process. Women had a more diverse set of criteria for effective CBOs than men. The men-only CBO saw itself as more of a membership based organization than as representing all of the community." Authors' AbstractGender, Poverty, Collective action, Community participation, Floodplains, Fisheries, Community-based organizations,

Body and Terror: : Women’s Bodies as Victims andPerpetrators of Terror

  Bodies are vulnerable because they are intrinsically linked to death. Bodies are social and they are embedded with meaning. They cannot be extracted from their specific contexts. The nation is also often equated with body politic. As a result individual bodies become the site of security/ insecurity depending on the social location of bodies. Within this discourse, this article tries to locate the bodies of women. It will look at the bodies of women as victims of terror as well as perpetrators of terror. It will try to understand if in these differentiated roles, women are able to break away from stereotypes or are still caught in heteronormative narratives

The role of media and social activists: The new stars on board

Stardom and celebrity status is intrinsically related to the kind of spacemedia provides to the concerned individuals. The coverage of media hasbecome a parameter of measuring stardom. But over time, stardom is nolonger limited only to beautiful film stars and dashing male athletes.Intellect is the new glam quotient. Social activists taking up the cause ofthe downtrodden is getting a lot of space in media. Glamour has givenway to asceticism and simplicity. However, while picking up stories,media has its own concern about which issue to highlight and which tooverride. This paper tries to understand the role of media in creatingstars and promoting stardom of unconventional individuals by takingup coverage of two political movements of contemporary times. Media'streatment for these two social activists - Anna Hazare and Irom SharmilaChanu have been different to such an extent that while one becameheadlines, the other continued to be a mere footnote in the media

Effect of Bi-substitution on Structural Stability and Improved Thermoelectric Performance of p-type Half-Heusler TaSbRu: A First-principles Study

Recently, Fang et al. have predicted a high ZT of 1.54 in TaSbRu alloys at 1200 K from first-principles without considering spin-orbit interaction, accurate electronic structure, details of phonon scattering, and energy-dependent holes relaxation time. Here, we report the details of structural stability and thermoelectric performance of Bi-Substituted p-type TaSbRu from first-principles calculations considering theses important parameters. This indirect bandgap semiconductor (Eg=0.8 eV by TB-mBJ+SOC) has highly dispersive and degenerate valence bands, which lead to a maximum power factor, 3.8 mWm-1K-2 at 300K. As Sb-5p has a small contribution to the bandgap formation, the substitution of Bi on the Sb site does not cause significant change to the electronic structure. Although the Seebeck coefficient increases by Bi due to slight changes in the bandgap, electrical conductivity, and hence, the power factor reduces to ~3 mW m-1K-2 at 300K (50% Bi). On the other side, lattice thermal conductivity drops effectively to 5 from 20 W/m K as Bi introduces a significant contribution in the acoustic phonon region and intensify phonon scattering. Thus, ZT value is improved through Bi-substitution, reaching 1.1 (50% Bi) at 1200 K from 0.45 (pure TaSbRu) only. Therefore, the present study suggests how to improve the TE performance of Sb-based half-Heusler compounds and TaSbRu (with 50% Bi) is a promising material for high-temperature applications

Effects of different application methods of chitosan on growth, yield and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

A pot experiment was conducted to study the effect of different application methods of chitosan on growth, yield and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with four replications and twelve treatments combinations viz., T0= Control, T1= Soil application of chitosan (SAC) @80 ppm, T2= SAC @120 ppm, T3= Foliar spraying of chitosan (FSC) @60 ppm, T4= FSC @80 ppm, T5= FSC @100 ppm, T6= Combination of T1  and T3, T7= Combination of T1 and T4, T8= Combination of T1 and T5, T9= Combination of T2 and T3, T10= Combination of T2   and T4, and T11= Combination of T2 and T5. The study results revealed that there were significant variations among the treatments on number of leaves, numbers of flower cluster, flowering duration, fruit length and yield of tomato (L. esculentum). The highest yield of tomato (L. esculentum) was obtained from the treatment T6, while the lowest was obtained from control treatment. Vitamin-C and lycopene  content of tomato (L. esculentum) fruits varied from 2.19-4.09 and 2.38-3.58 mg 100g-1 sample, respectively. Among the major minerals, the highest amounts of Ca, Mg, Na, K, S and P were obtained from T7 (0.69%), T3 (0.58%), T8 (0.38%), T1 (0.62%), T4 (0.15%) and T6 (0.33%) treatments, respectively. Study results inferred that the treatment T4 was more effective concerning most of the growth and biochemical parameters of tomato (L. esculentum). Finally, the study concluded that foliar application of chitosan alone or in combination with soil has significant effect on growth, yield and biochemical characters of tomato (L. esculentum)

Community Fishery Management: Implications for Food Security and Livelihoods

A partnership project of the Bangladesh Department of Fisheries, five NGOs and ICLARM has introduced community management of inland fisheries in Bangladesh. Management arrangements and outcomes are compared in four waterbodies with different property rights. In the closed lake fishers jointly stock, guard and harvest fish, non-members are excluded. Production and incomes have fluctuated since the power of past fisher leaders has been challenged by more transparent decision making. After government made rivers open access, fishers no-longer had any recognized right to limit fishing there and have failed to develop institutions to limit fishing, effort has increased and increasingly small fish are caught using smaller nets. In two open beels, similar fishery outcomes have emerged from different contexts. One is managed by many diverse fisher groups who have agreed to protect fish and have seen catches and consumption increase. A similar pattern has emerged in a seasonal floodplain on private land managed by a multi-stakeholder committee led by women. Here the existing seasonal common fishing rights for very homogenous villages are maintained and overwintering fish have been protected by consensus. Local decisions and rules that conserve fish in the dry season and early monsoon are feasible for communities but require external facilitation and recognition of longer-term fisher or community use rights if they are to be sustainable.Keywords: community-based management, co-management, access, equity, food security

Simulation of Traffic Flow Model with Traffic Controller Boundary

This paper considers a fluid dynamic traffic flow model appended with a closure linear velocity-density relationship which provides a first order hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE) and is treated as an initial boundary value problem (IBVP). We consider the boundary value in such a way that one side of highway treat like there is a traffic controller at that point. We present the analytic solution of the traffic flow model as a Cauchy problem. A numerical simulation of the traffic flow model (IBVP) is performed based on a finite difference scheme for the model with two sided boundary conditions and a suitable numerical scheme for this is the Lax-Friedrichs scheme. Solution figure from our scheme indicates a desired result that amplitude and frequency of cars density and velocity reduces as time grows. Also at traffic controller point, velocity and density values change as desired manner. In further, we also want to introduce anisotropic behavior of cars(to get more realistic picture) which has not been considered here. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.5.1.25-30 [How to cite this article: Sultana, N., Parvin, M. , Sarker, R., Andallah, L.S. (2013). Simulation of Traffic Flow Model with Traffic Controller Boundary. International Journal of Science and Engineering, 5(1),25-30. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.5.1.25-30

CNOIDAL WAVE SOLUTIONS IN SHALLOW WATER AND SOLITARY WAVE LIMIT

Abstract The remaining boundary conditions are also taken from Navier-Stokes equation of motion. Using these boundary conditions, three nonlinear ordinary differential equations are formulated, which can be solved by using series expansion method. We consider that all variations in X is relatively slow and can be expressed in terms of dimensionless variable , h X α where α is a small quantity and h is the trough depth of fluid. Then approaching on series expansion method, two types of nonlinear ordinary differential equations are formulated. Using Jacobi elliptic function, first and second order cnoidal wave solutions have been derived. Then mean value of Jacobi elliptic function and the solitary wave limit of cnoidal wave solutions are also formulated. SHAHANA PARVIN et al. 6

Adaptation or conflict? Responses to climate change in water management in Bangladesh

The potential of climate change to impact local conflict and cooperation over natural resources has received relatively little attention. Bangladesh floodplains are highly vulnerable to environmental stresses that are worsening with climate change, and community organisations have to respond to water insecurity − seasonally too little or too much. Two case studies based on action research in contrasting water and climate stressed floodplain environments in Bangladesh investigate local conflicts over water management that worsened when water regimes changed. By overcoming conflicts and improving adaptation for all local actors the cases reveal the importance of local knowledge, innovations in institutions, external facilitation, and incentives provided by disadvantaged groups who contribute towards costs in return for a share in decision making power and better adapted water management. The cases show how community organisations diversified their responsibilities and took up the challenge of water management to address local priorities and overcome conflicts. Without a more flexible and enabling approach, public investments in adaptation are likely to focus on strengthening existing water management infrastructure without understanding local social interactions and complexity. This may strengthen elite dominance and local conflicts if there is no comparable investment in developing robust and fair local institutions

Impacts of Aquaculture Extension on Pond Operators and the Rural Community

In 1990-1993 in Kapasia sub-district in central Bangladesh ICLARM introduced low-input aquaculture for pond owners to adapt into their farming systems. Impacts on production, fish consumption and markets were assessed in 1998-1999. The percentage of ponds stocked increased from 1990 to 1998, but did not differ significantly between past participants (increased from 61% to 90%), neighboring pond operators or a control area. In 1992 participants produced 2 t/ha compared with 0.5 t/ha in 1990. In 1997-1998 the previous participants produced significantly more 2.2 t/ha, compared with 1.6 t/ha for other pond operators in Kapasia and 1.3 t/ha in the control area (p<0.001, t-test). Non-participants learnt of aquaculture from neighbors or mass media. Total production from ponds in the project area in 1998 was 4.2 times greater than in 1990. Without that project, production would probably have gradually increased 2.8 times. Local fish markets were surveyed in 1991 and 1999. The volume of fish traded increased 8 times. Carp from local ponds now dominate trade. Consequently the real price of carp has fallen, while that of indigenous fish has increased. Detailed participatory monitoring revealed much higher fish consumption than recall data. Pond owning households consumed 211 kg per household in 1998-1999 (just under 90 g/person/day), about 25% came from their own ponds. Small fish purchased or caught in flooded fields were mainly consumed, pond fish were sold for income.Keywords: aquaculture, impact, consumption, market