Adoption of Agricultural Marketing Technologies by Farmers of Northern Bangladesh: A Binary Logistic Analysis to Determine the Factors Influencing Farmers' Decision

Low adoption of agricultural marketing technologies in the field of agricultural commodities marketing is one of the main reasons for profit loss of the farmers in Bangladesh. This paper examines the factors that influence farmers' decision of modern agricultural marketing technologies adoption in Northern Bangladesh. By using questionnaire survey the researcher collect data from 216 farmers in Dinajpur and Naogaon district in Northern Bangladesh and the binary logistic regression model was estimated to find out the factors influence farmers decision. Seven independent variables i.e. age of the farmer, formal education of the farmer, farm size, level of expected benefits, off-farm income generating activities, access to institutional credit and training about use of marketing technologies are statistically significant factors that influence the decision of farmers to adopt modern agricultural marketing technologies in Northern Bangladesh. So it is concluded that the farmers' decision to adopt modern agricultural marketing technologies depends on their socio-economic status and organizational effectiveness. We recommend that such policies should be made so that the positive impact factors on technologies adoption are properly utilized and negative issues are reduced

Effects of Marketing Practices on Farmers Profit in Northern Bangladesh

Agriculture is the main foundation of the economy of Bangladesh. This sector contributes about 17.22% to the country's GDP and accommodates around 45.6% of the labor force. New technologies have increased over the past few decades in Bangladesh's agriculture. As a result, agricultural production in the country has grown tremendously, but due to an inefficient marketing system, farmers do not receive the advantage of the enormous output. Because of some inefficiency in the agricultural marketing system, farmers are deprived of the fair price of their produce. Several factors influence the price received by the farmers for their agricultural commodities. This study thus aims to examine marketing practice and the degree of influence of these practices on farmers' profit in Northern Bangladesh. Two districts, namely Naogaon and Dinajpur, were selected purposively from two divisions in Northern Bangladesh. Two upazillas and two villages were chosen following a simple random sampling (SRS) method for collecting data. The study used a set of questionnaires with five sections to collect data. To serve research objectives, 216 farmers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire with a face-to-face interview, and 32 key informant respondents were interviewed using a checklist. To achieve the goal, a multiple linear regression model was used, considering the farmer's profit as a dependent variable, marketing practices as an independent variable, and financial factors as an independent variable. The multiple linear regression model was estimated. The study found that almost cent percent of farmers sell their produce from farmhouses or to the rural Hat at Bepari. It was found that different types of intermediaries were functioning in agricultural marketing: farmers, Farias, Beparies, Aratders, wholesalers, Millers, cold storage owners, and retailers. Using a multiple linear regression model, it was found that three explanatory variables, i.e., the Sale of an agricultural commodity at a town market, Crop storage status, sell produce to public procurement, positively affects the farmer's profit. The remaining two explanatory variables, i.e., the Sale of agricultural commodities during the harvesting period and receiving a loan from informal sources, negatively affect the farmer's profit. Only one independent variable, i.e., Crop storing status, is a statistically insignificant factor. The rest of the four independent variables are statistically significant factors affecting farmers' profit in Northern Bangladesh

The Nature of Love: Sydney Carton in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

This article makes a comparative study of “A Tale of Two Cities” and “The Great Gatsby” and evaluates the genuine love of Sydney Carton and Jay Gatsby for their beloveds. Sydney Carton and Jay Gatsby are the two main characters in “A Tale of Two Cities” and “The Great Gatsby”. This paper examines their nature of love under certain contexts. In the final analysis, it will be cleared that the authentic love of Sydney Carton and Jay Gatsby to their heroines Lucie Manette and Daisy Buchanan are rare in this modern world. They present passion, responsibility, respect, understanding, desire, liability, love, concern, feelings, etc., to their heroines. Both of them lead a troublesome life as they struggle, survive, and sacrifice for Lucie and Daisy a lot. From this, we can understand that only desire cannot create love. Here, the real meaning and nature of love will be discussed in the view of the two texts. Examining these, we can understand the meaning of love that helps us to differentiate between real love and fake love and the significance of actual love. By this, it can instruct people to become honest in their love by having true feelings which we can call genuine love. The study tries to discover many similarities and dissimilarities between both the characters, Sydney Carton and Jay Gatsby. Indeed, their nature of love and deeds make them extraordinary

Operational and Financial Performance Analysis of Chittagong Port Authority in Comparison with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore

Though the maritime facility plays very important role in business and trade from ancient time but in the last decade, due to enormous upshot of globalization the world economy has experienced a rapid growth in shipping industry and international trade. Bangladesh being a global front-runner in the RMG export uses its largest sea port Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to connect to the whole world. Apart from RMG, Bangladesh’s main export items include leather goods, jute, tea and frozen foods. On the other hand, Bangladesh imports electronic and automotive goods, consumer goods, chemical etc. from many other countries but mostly from China, Japan and India. Maximum 80% of the total import and export of the country is handled through CPA which contributes to 33% of the Bangladesh Government’s total revenue. The need for financial and operational performance analysis arises here for better performance and efficiency thus increasing the total country’s revenue and growth. This study is mainly focused on financial performance analysis of CPA in comparison with MPA (The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore) as well as basic operational KPIs are addressed. The impact of global trade and economy on sea port performance as well as a better understanding of port financials and relation between port operations and financials are demonstrated in this study. Keywords: Financial Performance, Ratio Analysis, Operational Performance, Port Efficiency

Developing Detection Technique of Arrhythmia using Basic ECG Parameters

Arrhythmia is simply known as the irregular or abnormal beating of heart. This paper presents a procedure to extract information from Electrocardiogram (ECG) data and determine types of Arrhythmias. The decisions were achieved by determining different intervals such as PR Interval, RR Interval, Heart Rate (HR) etc. and those intervals were compared with the ideal intervals. During the whole process ECG signals were taken from PhysioBank ATM and Savitzky–Golay filter was used to reduce the noise of the signal. Tachycardias, Bradycardia, Heart Block, Junctional Arrhythmia, Premature Articular  Contraction were detected during this analysis and the results show simplified detection of arrhythmia

Mushroom as a Mechanism to Alleviate Poverty, Unemployment and Malnutrition

Mushroom is the most popular delicious, nutritious and medicinal vegetable in the world. Now it is considered as the most promising concept for crop diversification. It has been regarded as an effective means for poverty alleviation in less developed countries due to its potential for a quick, high return of profit on a small investment. Bangladesh is one of the most suitable countries in the world for Mushroom cultivation due to its favorable climate, cheap raw materials and labor cost and high market price. It is such an income generating concept that can alleviate poverty and eradicate malnutrition. It can also create employment opportunities for landless beggar, educated and uneducated youth, person with disabilities and adolescent men and women respectively. The primary objective of the study is to alleviate poverty, unemployment and malnutrition through cultivating and selling mushroom. The study is analytical and theoretical in nature and based on the secondary data. However, personal interview has been conducted to the mushroom farmers to depict the cost and profitability of Mushroom cultivation. The study finds that Mushroom cultivation can open a new opportunity for landless and unemployed people as it does not require any cultivable land and can be grown in a room by racking vertically. One can earn nearly TK 4-5 thousands a month by investing only TK 10-15 thousands. So, it is possible to make a handsome profit by investing a small amount of capital and labor in Mushroom cultivation

Antinociceptive Activity of Methanol Extract of Areca catechu L. (Arecaceae) Stems and Leaves in Mice

ABSTRACT The antinociceptive effect of crude methanol extracts of stems and leaves of Areca catechu L. (Arecaceae) was evaluated in acetic acid-induced gastric pain writhing model in Swiss albino mice. The methanol extract of Areca catechu stems dose-dependently reduced the number of writhings (constrictions) in mice, when tested at doses of 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg extract administered per kg body weight. Significant reductions in the number of writhings were noted with all administered doses. The percent inhibitions of acetic acid-induced writhings with the four different doses were, respectively, 30.8, 36.6, 40.9 and 59.6. The standard antinociceptive drug, aspirin, when administered at doses of 200 and 400 mg per kg body weight reduced writhings by 42.3 and 55.8%, respectively. A significant dose-dependent inhibition of writhings was also observed with crude methanol extract of Areca catechu leaves, where the extract at doses of 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg per kg body weight significantly inhibited writhings by 55.8, 57.7, 86.5 and 88.5%, respectively. Dose for dose, the leaf extract demonstrated higher antinociceptive activity than the stem extract. At even the lowest dose of 50 mg extract per kg body weight, the antinociceptive activity of leaf extract was comparable to that of 400 mg aspirin per kg body weight. The results suggest that both stem and leaf extract possess good antinociceptive activity, which merits further scientific studies as to isolation of responsible phytochemical component(s)

Unsteady reactive magnetic radiative micropolar flow, heat and mass transfer from an inclined plate with joule heating: a model for magnetic polymer processing

Magnetic polymer materials processing involves many multi-physical and chemical effects. Motivated by such applications, in the present work a theoretical analysis is conducted of combined heat and mass transfer in unsteady mixed convection flow of micropolar fluid over an oscillatory inclined porous plate in a homogenous porous medium with heat source, radiation absorption and Joule dissipation. A first order homogenous chemical reaction model is used. The transformed non-dimensional boundary value problem is solved using a perturbation method and Runge-Kutta fourth order numerical quadrature (shooting technique). The emerging parameters dictating the transport phenomena are shown to be the gyro-viscosity micropolar material parameter, magnetic field parameter, permeability of the porous medium, Prandtl number, Schmidt number, thermal Grashof number, species Grashof number, thermal radiation-conduction parameter, heat absorption parameter, radiation absorption parameter, Eckert number, chemical reaction parameter and Eringen coupling number (vortex viscosity ratio parameter). The impact of these parameters on linear velocity, microrotation (angular velocity), temperature and concentration are evaluated in detail. Results for skin friction coefficient, couple stress coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are also included. Couple stress is observed to be reduced with stronger magnetic field. Verification of solutions is achieved with earlier published analytical results