How to make modal shift from road to rail possible in the European transport market, as aspired to in the EU Transport White Paper 2011

The total demand for freight transport in Europe has increased significantly in recent decades, but most of it has been handled by road transport. To fulfil the modal shift targets set in the EU White Paper 2011, it will be necessary to double rail’s market share from today’s 18 %, by 2050. Translating this into reality means rail will have to handle 3 to 4 times the cargo volume it does today. With this in mind, the paper develops a vision of an efficient rail freight system in 2050. Methodology To achieve the above objective, the research applies literature survey and group discussion methodology and applying a system approach. Keeping on board the EU Transport White Paper 2011 modal shift targets, as well as future freight demand and customer requirements, the current research attempts to answer the following three critical questions: -How can rail offer the quality of service that will attract customers and fulfil the targets? - How can rail offer its customers a price that is competitive with road? - How can rail offer the capacity to meet the increased demand from modal shift

Factors Affecting Access to Finance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of Bangladesh

This study addresses the issues that impede SMEs of Bangladesh in obtaining finance from the financial institutions. To accomplish our goals we collected data from a sample of 86 SMEs to investigate the problems and suggest policy recommendations. We collected data by directly interviewing the respondents with the help of a questionnaire for self-guidance. We also used secondary data for this purpose. Findings revealed that the size and age of the firms, education and skills of the owners, and unfavorable credit terms such as high interest rates, lack of collateral security, corruption by bank officials etc. are some of the biggest hurdles that SMEs in Bangladesh face in getting loans from financial institutions. The limitation is that the study has included one city in its sample population. A nationwide study where there are SMEs in large numbers could lead to better results for this kind of study. The implication is that small businesses, as opposed to the larger ones, face funding obstacles and are discriminated by the financial institutions in granting loans. Built on current literatures and research on SMEs, specially in regard to their ability to access finance, this study captures the information relating to problems identified by SMEs in having access to finance and suggesting the ways and means needed for strengthening the SMEs access to finance for their expansion and growth

Structural Strength and Behaviour of Cylindrical Steel Sheet Roofing

The roof does not only protect the building and its occupants from the effects of weather, but it is also an architectural feature that gives the building a desired appearance. Profiled steel sheet zincalume is normally used in roof as covering materials, without any attention paid to its struchiral capability as a self-supporting medium. A self-supporting roofing element is a new; where profiled sheeting roof could run continuous lengths of roof spans without internal support. This roofing system saves material and construction cost by avoiding internal support. The aim of this research work is to study the possibility of using profiled steel sheet as self-supporting roofing elements for affordable housing. An analytical investigation using the finite element method was carried out on the structural strength and behavior of different types of self-supporting roofing elements. Five laboratory tests using 3 m spans, 0.42 mm thickness and different crown heights of 1.5, 1.0, 0.50, 0.25 and 0.125 m specimens were conducted for assessing the structural strength and behavior of roofing elements. Analytical study was camed out on the effect of shape, size, materials and support condition on the structural behaviour of the selected roofing element. The analytical investigation was extended for longer spans to explore the feasibility of using of profiled steel sheet as a self supporting roofing system in housing construction. In the analytical work, finite element models were generated and analyzed by using LUSAS software. The analytical study for the roofing elements showed that parabolic profiled roofing element with crown height 116 of span length was more efficient than others as a self-supporting element. The proposed self-supporting roofing element satisfied geometrical, buckling and material stability. Deflection was found to be the limiting criteria in design for self-supporting roofing element using profiled steel sheet. The presence of corrugation in the steel roofing element resulted in a significant improvement on the roofs structural performance compared to flat sheet element. Good agreement was found between the results from finite element analysis and those obtained experimentally. The FEM models predicted with a reasonable degree of accuracy the structural behavior of different types of roofing elements. It was observed that a parabolic shape roofing element with an optimum crown height could be used as a self- supporting roofing element for about 4 m and 8 m span lengths using 0.42 mm and 1.25 mm thick profiled steel sheet. On the basis of this investigation, parabolic self-supporting roofing elements using profiled steel sheet with optimum crown height could be used in housing construction

Sustainable Agricultural Management Practices and Enterprise Development for Coping with Global Climate Change

This book chapter provides an insight into the synthesis of climate change vulnerabilities across various regions of the globe, recent trends, issues and prospects of climate smart agribusiness, the skill, efficiency and sustainable management practices of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the globe in the context of climate change, addressing the needs of emerging markets, industries and regional trades through a transformation with development in the areas of technology, value chains, management of environmental and social risk in the supply chains, compliance of food quality and safety regulations, market linkages of smallholders, corporate social responsibility and institutional development. There is a growing concern on food safety regulation and certification as part of sustainable management practices that firms and industries should cope. Sustainable management practices in business prove to be more profitable as they tend to adapt and grow with the changing markets, providing a competitive advantage over other firms. This chapter also focused on the challenges in sustainable business practices as well as suggested a number of development options, institutional and policy issues

INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT TRANSPORT MULTIMODAL DEVELOPMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE CASE OF BANGLADESH

An efficient transport system is essential for an efficient supply chain to facilitate international trade. To utilise all cheaper resources, such as labour in Bangladesh, companies receive supplies from one coxintry (e.g. in Hong Kong), produce the products in another country, and sell them in other countries (e.g. European countries). Thus the production and consumption has turned into a global activity with transport filling the gaps among them. To perform the transport function a carrier may require the use of more than one mode, the so-called multimodal transport. Multimodal transport, an integrated systems approach, can be defined as the most cost- and time-effective way of moving goods from shipper to consignee by at least two different modes of transport under a single contract. The system has been operating for more than three decades in developed countries, but in developing countries the transport system is still operating in a conventional fragmented way where modal integration has not been achieved. In particular the inland part of the international transport haul has appeared as a barrier to establishing an integrated multimodal transport system. In general, the transport systems in developing countries have failed to contribute to effective international supply chain. Little research has been conducted in this field in developing countries, including Bangladesh. The present research attempts to fill this gap through a triangulation technique; an in-depth literature review of international freight transport of developing countries particularly Bangladesh and developed countries; two rounds of Delphi study among a Bangladeshi panel; and a quantitative study based on a survey. The research hypothesises that Uhe extent to which a fragmented freight transport system can be transformed into an integrated multimodal transport system depends on the present state of the country'. The validity of the hypothesis was established through triangulation. The research also found that there has been a significant freight transport multimodal development in Bangladesh but it has not been perceived by the stakeholders

Finding the Origin of a Translated Historical Document

Gospels are one type of translated historical document. There are many versions of the same Gospel that have been translated from the original, or from another Gospel that has already been translated into a different language. Nowadays, it is difficult to determine the language of the original Gospel from where these Gospels were translated. In this paper we use a super-vised machine learning technique to determine the origin of a version of the Georgian Gospel

An Investigation on Failure of Embankments in Bangladesh

The study presents the results of case histories on failure of embankments in Bangladesh based on the field visits to the embankments sites, collected data and information on failure of embankments necessary data related to embankments construction practice obtained from available publications and soil conditions of the breached embankments in Bangladesh. Efforts have been made to discuss briefly the causes of embankment failure and its possible remedial measures. Two recent failures of embankments that occurred in the year 2007 are taken into consideration for a detailed study. For each case, embankment failure mechanism, construction method used for the embankments, soil conditions, embankment geometry and water levels are collected and analyses are made for slope stability with and without water storage conditions. Soil samples collected during field visits are analyzed. On the basis of the results of analyses and discussions, it is concluded that the major causes of failure of earlier embankments are identified as breach of the embankment, cutting by public, overflow, erosion, seepage and sliding. Other causes were poor planning, design and faulty construction. The cause of failure of all the flood control embankments in the year 2007 could be attributed to erosion and sliding of embankment materials due to river encroachment and mitigation. Slope stability analyses of the Padma and Jamuna flood control embankments revealed that the country side slopes of both the embankments are not at all stable during the monsoon when the water level is high. The Jamuna flood control embankment is not stable even before and after the monsoon period because the factor of safety calculated for the country side slopes are less than that of the recommended one. Of the two cases studied detailed in this research articles, it is observed that there are substantial differences between the cross sections shown in the actual designs that existed near to the failure locations. A close investigation of the above two cases indicates that no protective measures such as mattressing, stone pitching, concrete layers, artificial or natural reinforcement like grassing, soil-cement layer are made to prevent the embankments from rain splash, water current, waves, storm surges, and other natural calamities and destructive forces. It is recommended that the embankments should be constructed by following the proper design and construction procedure, and be protected by using some forms of reinforcements or surface covering/treatment