Livelihood and seed mortality related vulnerability of carp seed traders of Bangladesh

Carp seed traders in Bangladesh are considered as one of the poorest, most vulnerable and least studied sub-population. Millions of fingerlings are transported annually to various parts of the country using bus tops and/or truck-beds in open and hand agitated method by the traders and as a result they encounter mass seed mortality. They are the key players in augmenting aquaculture activities by distributing fish fry and fingerlings to the fish farmers. Assessment of the seed sources and the livelihood of the traders are important to identify their point of entry to the aquaculture sector and further improvement. Status of household asset, income profiles, and risks involved were examined using DFID's sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) framework. Tools used to collect data included group discussions (GD), semi-structured and structured household (HH) survey. Samples (n=637) were randomly drawn purposefully from 10% of the carp seed traders within 11 districts. Sampled HH were classified into six land classes

Livelihood and seed mortality related vulnerability of carp seed traders of Bangladesh

Carp seed traders in Bangladesh are considered as one of the poorest, most vulnerable and least studied sub-population. Millions of fingerlings are transported annually to various parts of the country using bus tops and/or truck-beds in open and hand agitated method by the traders and as a result they encounter mass seed mortality. They are the key players in augmenting aquaculture activities by distributing fish fry and fingerlings to the fish farmers. Assessment of the seed sources and the livelihood of the traders are important to identify their point of entry to the aquaculture sector and further improvement. Status of household asset, income profiles, and risks involved were examined using DFID's sustainable livelihood approach (SLA) framework. Tools used to collect data included group discussions (GD), semi-structured and structured household (HH) survey. Samples (n=637) were randomly drawn purposefully from 10% of the carp seed traders within 11 districts. Sampled HH were classified into six land classes

Proposed adaptive overcurrent protective relaying in a reliable micro-grid system

Abstract: A refinement to the way that overcurrent (O/C) protection of Inverse Minimum Time (IDMT) characteristic is applied in order to achieve reliable operation of a power system that contains Distributed Generation (DG) is required. This system is a micro-grid system marred with complexities of bidirectional power flow which the earlier generations of relays were not capable of dealing with. This paper investigates the application of adaptive O/C protection for effective selectivity, proper co-ordination of tripping and generally, proper management of increased fault levels introduced with connection of DG into the grid. Incorrect tripping has always resulted in nuisance tripping of circuit breakers deterring productivity, upsetting end-users and even posing a risk to life. Directional overcurrent protection is applied in Intelligent Electronic Devices (IED’s) and prove through simulations that correct coordination of cascaded breakers in a mesh system is achieved with minimal disruption of supply. Different settings groups are applied to an IED relay and a seamless migration between settings groups is achieved though relay input logic

Possible cost reduction by applying MRP in a transformer manufacturing company of Bangladesh

Local manufacturing industries generally do not pay adequate attention towards applying the state-of-the-art operations management techniques in inventory control, scheduling, material requirements planning (MRP) etc. The main identifiable reasons are lack of exposure to the concurrent techniques and facilities, exorbitantly high price of commercially available software and inadequate indigenous support systems. Moreover, the lack of knowledge about the benefits of using MRP in various aspects hindered its wide spread diffusion. Most of the local firms assume that the procurement of raw materials either in huge quantity at a time or in small amount from period to period without adopting any mathematical approach would not have any remarkable effect on the total inventory cost. Practically the situation is different and it has been found that the procurement of material applying an established algorithm instead of current practice could significantly reduce the total incremental inventory costs. In this respect educational software was used. This paper highlights the salient features of MRP application in a local transformer manufacturing industry and makes a comparison of the total inventory costs determined by following the user-defined approach and the standard lot-sizing approaches

Optimization of product mix in a typical yarn manufacturing industry

In a typical yam manufacturing company different types of yams are produced and usually a schedule of production is prepared and followed for smoother production. However, company's taking decision regarding order receiving and scheduling become tougher when it gets simultaneous orders of different yams. A compromise is required between profit and capacity. An LP model has been formulated for some selected yams and solved and this paper presents an analysis to find the optimum product mix indicating the quantity (tons) of each category of yams to be produced and the duration of machine hours to be allocated. It would also help to identify the abundant or scarce resources. Moreover, through the analysis it is possible to prioritize the expansion of the scarce resources in allocation of additional investment, if required. A sensitivity analysis in this regard provides the information of increment of the scarce resources and maximum change in marginal profi

Computerized value stream system (CVSS) untuk mengurangi limbah pada operasi lean manufaktur

Pembuatan lean adalah methode yang populer untuk meningkatkan efisiensi pada waktu pembuatan/manufaktur. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) merupakan salah satu metode yang dapat digunakan sebagai praktisi untuk pendukung lean. Metode VSM juga merupakan metode yang sering digunakan untuk mengidentifikasi limbah dan menentukan penyebab limbah melalui pengenalan VSM dan memperkenalkan solusi untuk meningkatkan/memperbaiki kondisi tempat kerja. Penelitian ini merupakan upaya untuk mengkomputerisasikan proses VSM yang sebelum ini dilakukan secara manual. Computerize Value Stream System (CVSS) pada dasarnya merupakan metode yang menggunakan sistem jaringan internet yang dikombinasikan dengan konsep tradisional dari metode VSM yang digunakan pada pabrik produksi untuk mengurangi limbah. Jurnal ini merangkum cara untuk pengaplikasian metode terebut di internet, online dan jaringan berbasis CVSS yang efisien untuk meningkatkan nilai operasi dari perusahaan. Jurnal ini membahas tentang desain yang akan menggantikan metode manual dari penggunaan VSM. Sistem ini diuji dalam kondisi pasar secara nyata dan diketahui bahwa sistem ini berhasil diaplikasikan

Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17 : analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), one in ten deaths in children younger than 5 years is attributable to diarrhoea. The substantial between-country variation in both diarrhoea incidence and mortality is attributable to interventions that protect children, prevent infection, and treat disease. Identifying subnational regions with the highest burden and mapping associated risk factors can aid in reducing preventable childhood diarrhoea. Methods We used Bayesian model-based geostatistics and a geolocated dataset comprising 15 072 746 children younger than 5 years from 466 surveys in 94 LMICs, in combination with findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, to estimate posterior distributions of diarrhoea prevalence, incidence, and mortality from 2000 to 2017. From these data, we estimated the burden of diarrhoea at varying subnational levels (termed units) by spatially aggregating draws, and we investigated the drivers of subnational patterns by creating aggregated risk factor estimates. Findings The greatest declines in diarrhoeal mortality were seen in south and southeast Asia and South America, where 54·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 38·1–65·8), 17·4% (7·7–28·4), and 59·5% (34·2–86·9) of units, respectively, recorded decreases in deaths from diarrhoea greater than 10%. Although children in much of Africa remain at high risk of death due to diarrhoea, regions with the most deaths were outside Africa, with the highest mortality units located in Pakistan. Indonesia showed the greatest within-country geographical inequality; some regions had mortality rates nearly four times the average country rate. Reductions in mortality were correlated to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) or reductions in child growth failure (CGF). Similarly, most high-risk areas had poor WASH, high CGF, or low oral rehydration therapy coverage. Interpretation By co-analysing geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden and its key risk factors, we could assess candidate drivers of subnational death reduction. Further, by doing a counterfactual analysis of the remaining disease burden using key risk factors, we identified potential intervention strategies for vulnerable populations. In view of the demands for limited resources in LMICs, accurately quantifying the burden of diarrhoea and its drivers is important for precision public health

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.Peer reviewe

Autoantibodies against type I IFNs in patients with life-threatening COVID-19

Interindividual clinical variability in the course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is vast. We report that at least 101 of 987 patients with life-threatening coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia had neutralizing immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against interferon-w (IFN-w) (13 patients), against the 13 types of IFN-a (36), or against both (52) at the onset of critical disease; a few also had auto-Abs against the other three type I IFNs. The auto-Abs neutralize the ability of the corresponding type I IFNs to block SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. These auto-Abs were not found in 663 individuals with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and were present in only 4 of 1227 healthy individuals. Patients with auto-Abs were aged 25 to 87 years and 95 of the 101 were men. A B cell autoimmune phenocopy of inborn errors of type I IFN immunity accounts for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia in at least 2.6% of women and 12.5% of men