Ethical business practice and short term earning intensity during the Covid-19 crisis in Bangladesh

Purpose: The central endeavor of this study is to scrutinize the standard of ethical business practice along with the intensity of short term earning on the Covid-19 crisis from a least developed country named Bangladesh. Research Methodology: The research is a concept paper based on the qualitative measurement of secondary sources of data.   Results: The study urges four propositions such as, application of Golden Rule makes the businessmen’s realization regarding the suffering of consumers, Islamic Profit theory may enhance the Islamic morality and education in business practice, Building Ethical Education Curriculum may assist the ethical basement from early childhood to the whole education period which can be applicable in a real-life business career, and Trusteeship theory may rethink the businessmen about the meaning of real ownership in the natural world. Limitations: The paper is a concept paper; thus further studies have been required for practical implications based on the outcomes variables’ proof.   Contribution: All the four propositions may also support the lawmakers to develop a permanent standard of ethical business climate instead of existing punitive system. Keywords: Ethical business practice, Short term earning intensity, COVID-19, Least developed country, Banglades

Role and immunomodulatory profile of histamine receptors by H1 and H2 antagonists

The present study was designed to delineate the immunomodulatory role of histamine receptors (H1- and H2-) on induction of antibody response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC), as well as the antibody generation profile, in rabbit system, systemically. The rabbits in two groups received pheniramine (H1-receptor antagonist) and ranitidine (H2-receptor antagonist), respectively, via intramuscular route and were immunized with SRBC intravenously to evaluate suppression or enhancement of antibody responses in sem. A third, control group, received vehicle and were immunized in a similar manner. Histamine released from effector cells (mast cells and basophils) _in vivo_ during inflammatory reactions could influence a detectable antibody response to SRBC as early as day 7-postimmunization (post-I), which lasted until day 28- post-I. Pheniramine-treated rabbits had significantly (*Pa ≤ 0.05 and **Pa ≤ 0.01) more suppressed total serum antibody (IgM + IgG) to SRBC as compared to ranitidine-treated ad cotrol rabbits, while ranitidine-treated rabbits showed different pattern (suppressed or enhanced) during the whole study period. Ranitidine suppressed total antibody level at days 7- and 14- post-I, and enhanced at days 21- and 28- post-I. IgM suppression at day 7- and enhancement at days 14-, 21- and 28- post-I, while IgG suppression during whole study period, as compared to control group was significant (*Pa ≤ 0.05 and **Pa ≤ 0.01) as assessed by direct hemagglutination assay* ad whole SBC-ELISA method**. Here we report that histamine receptor type 2 (H2R)-antagonists have a dominant role on immunosuppression and in immunoregulation of humoral immune responses. Histamine receptor type 2 (H2R)-antagonists are mainly involved in B cell differentiation and proliferation over histamine receptor type 1 (H1R)-antagonists

Rコンドライトの化学的特徴 : 母天体形成前後の諸過程との関連

To study the compositional trends associated with their systematic variation with petrologic grade and their fractionation, 41 elements (Na, Mg, Al, P, Ca, Sc, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, As, Se, Br, Cd, In, Sb, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Os, Ir, Au Tl, Pb, Bi, Th and U) have been determined in 15 R chondrites (PRE95411, ALH85151, Y793575, Y983270, A881988, MIL07440, LAP03639, Y983720, Y983097, LAP04840, MIL11207, Y980702, Y980703, LAP02238, PCA91002), covering all petrologic types. For the determination of volatile elements (Zn, Pb, Tl, In and Cd), very precise isotope dilution technique coupled with ICP-MS was used followed by solvent extraction and anion exchange column chromatography. Bi was determined by using ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁹Bi ratio. Detailed abundances of rare earth elements (REEs), Th and U were determined by ICP-MS using internal calibration method. ¹⁴⁹Samarium spike was used for recovery calculation. In ICP-MS experiments, necessary isobaric and oxide interferences were corrected. Phosphorus was determined by ICP-AES using Be as internal standard. Other elemental abundances were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis using a research reactor of Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI) and the gamma-counting facilities of KURRI and TMU. Accuracy and precision of all analytical data have been ensured by analyzing the Smithsonian Allende powder repeatedly and comparing their abundances with the literature values. CI-normalized volatile elements abundances (Pb, Bi, Tl, In and Cd) in R chondrites are decreasing with the increasing degree of metamorphism, excluding for the highly weathered MIL11207.8 and Y793575.44. Lead abundances in R chondrites vary from 0.33×CI to 0.64×CI. With a similar trend, Bi (0.15-0.63×CI), In (0.15-0.56×CI), Tl (0.02-0.79×CI) and Cd (0.03-0.81×CI) also change among the petrologic suite of R chondrites of this study. Distinguishing the petrologic type 3 from petrologic type 4 is difficult - only Tl can do so. Similarly, distinguishing the petrologic type 4 from 5/6 is also difficult - only Bi can separate these petrologic types. But petrologic type 3 and 5/6 can be easily distinguished by the CI-normalized volatile elements abundances. For unequilibrated chondrites, CI-normalized Bi, Tl, In and Cd abundances in R chondrites are within the range of ordinary chondrites. But in higher metamorphic grade, CI normalized Bi, Tl, In and Cd abundances in R chondrites are generally higher than those of H, L and LL chondrites with a few exceptions. The higher abundances of volatile elements in equilibrated R chondrites are more prominent for Bi, In and Cd. For Tl, the trend of higher volatile elements abundances in R chondrites is also noticeable (especially for petrologic type 6), but somehow less conspicuous than Bi, In and Cd. For the systematic variation of volatile elements in R chondrites, a plausible explanation can be given; -high temperature early condensates were more depleted in volatile elements whereas low temperature later condensates were comparatively enriched with the volatile elements. If nebular condensation and accretion occurred simultaneously, the high temperature condensates were placed in the inner portion of the parent body followed by the low temperature condensates sequentially at the outer portion of the parent body. If R chondrite parent body possesses the onion-shell model, then the metamorphic heating caused the higher degree of recrystallization at the inner portion compared with that of outer portion. Impact can be responsible to convert the onion-shell parent body to rubble-pile type parent body where the different petrologic types are randomly distributed over the parent body. CI-normalized detailed abundances of REEs in R chondrites shows a faint enrichment of heavy REEs compared with those of light REEs. REEs abundances vary from 1.2×CI to 1.5×CI. Nebular process can be responsible for such small HREE-LREE fractionation in R chondrites. To explain the nebular process in R chondrites, an analogically well explained fractionated pattern of REEs, Th and U abundances in Allende meteorite can be considered. In Allende, HREEs are depleted compared with LREEs. According to condensation calculation, high temperature early condensates (e.g., perovskite, hibonite, corundum etc.) enriched with refractory HREEs could have been removed from the nebular gas, making the remaining gas enriched with less refractory LREEs. It is likely that the Allende parent body must have formed from such later condensates of the remaining gas. In R chondrites, the inclination of CI-normalized REE pattern is opposite to the Allende pattern (except positive Tm anomaly). A simple interpretation is that R chondrites formed in the nebula where early condensates were relatively abundant. Unlike the REE fractionation pattern, Th-U fractionation patterns are the same both in R chondrites and in Allende. In the seven replicate measurements of Allende powder, Th/U ratio is 4.10±0.20 whereas in R chondrites, Th/U ratio is 3.81±0.13. A subtle positive Ce anomaly (5.4±1.5%) is observed in CI-normalized REE abundance pattern of R chondrites. Phosphorus abundances in R chondrites are very close to cosmic abundance (0.9-1.1×CI). Phosphorus abundances show anti-correlation with La, Ce, Er and Yb. In our INAA study, CI, Cr-normalized lithophile abundance pattern in R chondrites are almost flat and are comparable with those of ordinary chondrites. Mean CI-normalized Na and Mn abundances are 1.32±0.07 and 1.21±0.04, respectively, which are comparable with those of ordinary chondrites but much higher than those of carbonaceous and enstatite chondrites. However, CI, Cr-normalized siderophile abundance pattern in R chondrites are intermediate between H and L chondrites. A mean iron content in R chondrites is 24.6±0.7 (%, 1σ, n=15, this study) whereas the mean iron contents in H, L and LL are 27.1±0.7 (%, 1σ, n=22), 21.6±0.5 (%, 1σ, n=20) and 18.4±0.4 (%, 1σ, n=16), respectively. Bulk Ir contents in R chondrites also show the same trend as iron. CI-normalized Ni/Co ratios (〜0.9) in R chondrites are comparable with those of ordinary chondrites. Moderately volatile elements, Zn and Se in R chondrites are more abundant than those in ordinary chondrites. Both of them share the same nebular condensation temperature, but they are fractionated. Enstatite chondrites are the most reduced chondritic meteorites whose Se abundances are comparable with those in R chondrite. But Zn abundances in R chondrite are remarkably higher than those in EL chondrite and comparable with CM chondrite abundances. Higher stability of ZnO in oxidized condition can be a plausible explanation for this Zn enrichment. This study characterizes the R chondrites depending on their bulk chemical compositions. And the bulk chemical composition is implemented to reveal the nebular and the parent body processes.首都大学東

Perception of distance learning in Bangladeshi tertiary education: prospects and obstacles in the Covid-19 era

Purpose: The key purpose of the study is to understand the university students' perception of a sudden distance learning platform from Bangladesh (a least developed countries' perspective). Research methodology: This particular study has employed a qualitative research method with the support of interview and observation methods. The study has selected 20 University students as a sample size based on purposive sampling. Results: The findings provide a vivid outline of the current situation of the universities- that the students have- over the influence of distance learning on education, technology, their university, course instructors, and themselves. Limitations: The data was qualitative in nature and the study only interviewed the university students but not the other stakeholders of that system; in addition, the study did not triangulate the data with more quantitative data. Contribution: The study makes an important contribution to the literature on the least developed countries' university education, which will benefit Higher Education institutions that are also struggling with the prospects and obstacles of distance learning during and in the post-Covid-19 crisis

Spatial orientations of visual word pairs to improve Bag-of-Visual-Words model

International audienceThis paper presents a novel approach to incorporate spatial information in the bag-of-visual-words model for category level and scene classification. In the traditional bag-of-visual-words model, feature vectors are histograms of visual words. This representation is appearance based and does not contain any information regarding the arrangement of the visual words in the 2D image space. In this framework, we present a simple and effi- cient way to infuse spatial information. Particularly, we are interested in explicit global relationships among the spatial positions of visual words. Therefore, we take advantage of the orientation of the segments formed by Pairs of Identical visual Words (PIW). An evenly distributed normalized histogram of angles of PIW is computed. Histograms pro- duced by each word type constitute a powerful description of intra type visual words relationships. Experiments on challenging datasets demonstrate that our method is com- petitive with the concurrent ones. We also show that, our method provides important complementary information to the spatial pyramid matching and can improve the overall performance

Protective effect of Nigella sativa against paracetamol induced hepatic and renal damages

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are very commonly used as an analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and antiplatelet agent. They have significant adverse effect on liver and kidney besides damaging stomach. Their effect on liver and kidney are of serious concern. Hence, we have decided to study the preventive effect of Nigella sativa against paracetamol induced hepatic and renal damages.Methods: Ethanolic and aqueous extracts of N. sativa were prepared with the help of Soxhlet’s apparatus. Totally, 36 wistar albino rats (150-200 g) of either sex were divided into six groups of six each. Group I was administered with distilled water, Group II-VI were treated with paracetamol 750 mg/kg i.p. Group III-VI were test groups also treated with N. sativa aqueous extract (200 and 400 mg/kg p.o) and ethanolic extract (200 and 400 mg/kg p.o), respectively. The treatment was given daily for 7 days and on 8th all the rats were sacrificed and the blood was analyzed for hepatic and renal function tests and tissue was preserved for histopathological examination.Results: Paracetamol administration caused a marked hepatic and renal damage, which is evidenced by the increase in liver and renal function test parameters in the negative control group. N.sativa extracts prevented this damage. The protective was seen maximum in ethanolic extract followed by the aqueous extract in dose-dependent manner.Conclusion: Ethanolic extract showed significant protection against paracetamol-induced and renal damage

Clinical evaluation of efficacy and safety of α-keto analogs of essential amino acids supplementation in patients of chronic kidney disease

Background: The objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of α-keto analogs of essential amino acids (KAA) as a supplement in chronic kidney disease (CKD).Methods: A prospective comparative study was conducted in patients of CKD of a tertiary care center of North India. Patients were randomly divided into two interventional groups. Group I (control) was advised conservative management and placebo while Group II (KAA) given conservative management along with KAA (600 mg, thrice daily) for 12 weeks. Hemogram, renal function tests, lipid profiles were done, and adverse effects were recorded at 0, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment.Results: There was progressive improvement in clinical features in both groups after 12 weeks of treatment, but KAA group showed more marked improvement as compared with the control group. Both groups showed gradual improvement in the biochemical parameters as compared to their pre-treated values, which was more marked in KAA supplemented group. There was a reduction in blood glucose, blood urea, serum creatinine, and 24 h total urine protein. There was an increase in hemoglobin, 24 h total urine volume and glomerular filtration rate. KAA group showed significant (p<0.05) improvement in lipid profiles as compared with the control group. There was no statistical difference in two groups with respect to side-effects (p>0.05).Conclusion: KAA supplementation along with conservative management is efficacious and safe in preventing the progression of disease in patients of CKD

Role of rhubarb and α-keto analogues of essential amino acids supplementation in halting progression of chronic kidney disease

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an emerging chronic disease due to rapidly increasing incidence of diabetes and hypertension worldwide. Newer drugs are being searched which can stop nephron damage and are cost effective. This study was undertaken to compare the efficacy and safety profile of rhubarb and α-keto analogues of essential amino acids supplementation in patients of chronic kidney disease.Methods: A prospective comparative study was conducted in patients of chronic kidney disease attending Renal Clinic of a tertiary care centre. Randomization of patients was done into three interventional groups: conservative management along with placebo was given in first group (Control); conservative management along with Rhubarb capsule (350 mg, thrice daily) was given in second group (Rhubarb) and conservative management along with α-keto analogues of essential amino acids (600 mg, thrice daily) was given in third group (KAA). The treatment was given for 12 weeks. Clinical and biochemical parameters were assessed at 0, 4, 8 and 12 weeks of treatment.Results: Patients of all three groups showed gradual improvement in clinical features and biochemical parameters as compared to their pre-treated values which was more marked in KAA supplemented group. There was reduction in: fasting blood glucose (12.51%, 19.15% and 20.78%), PPBG (14.80%, 19.00% and 20.89%), serum creatinine (25.00%, 30.54% and 39.52%), blood urea (25.55%, 33.64% and 38.09%), and 24-hour total urine protein (TUP) (19.80%, 30.18% and 38.34%) in Group I, II and III respectively. There was increase in: haemoglobin level (12.64%, 14.99% and 19.77%), 24-hour total urine volume (TUV) (19.41%, 28.82% and 33.32%) and GFR (22.6%, 46.5% and 49.2%) in Group I, II and III respectively. Rhubarb and KAA supplementations were safe and well-tolerated.Conclusions: KAA is more effective than Rhubarb as add on therapy with conservative management in patients of chronic kidney disease

Spatial histograms of soft pairwise similar patches to improve the bag-of-visual-words model

International audienceIn the context of category level scene classification, the bag-of-visual-words model (BoVW) is widely used for image representation. This model is appearance based and does not contain any information regarding the arrangement of the visual words in the 2D image space. To overcome this problem, recent approaches try to capture information about either the absolute or the relative spatial location of visual words. In the first category, the so-called Spatial Pyramid Representation (SPR) is very popular thanks to its simplicity and good results. Alternatively, adding information about occurrences of relative spatial configurations of visual words was proven to be effective but at the cost of higher computational complexity, specifically when relative distance and angles are taken into account. In this paper, we introduce a novel way to incorporate both distance and angle information in the BoVW representation. The novelty is first to provide a computationally efficient representation adding relative spatial information between visual words and second to use a soft pairwise voting scheme based on the distance in the descriptor space. Experiments on challenging data sets MSRC-2, 15Scene, Caltech101, Caltech256 and Pascal VOC 2007 demonstrate that our method outperforms or is competitive with concurrent ones. We also show that it provides important complementary information to the spatial pyramid matching and can improve the overall performance

Managing Workforce Diversity in Organization: A Case Study on Aetna Health Care Service

The impact of globalization is nothing new to the business firms. In the last few decades globalization has changed the business strategies of the companies. The current case study has tried to evaluate the Aetna’s diversity approaches named ‘The Aetna Way’ policy along with its complexity of implementation in people management issues. The report is categorized as follows. The first part of the report has discussed about the background of investigation. The following part has analyzed some closely related literatures related to the context. This past basically narrate the theme of recruitment and retention policy along with talent management process and its significance for the company. The third part of the case has assessed the Aetna’s recruitment and retention policies and then tried to compare the Aetna’s policies with close competitors’ and top performing companies’. This part also evaluates Aetna talent management process and policies and also compare with the competitors. After that in fourth part, the study points some recommendations with justification. The study has recommended the Aetna, to change the traditional recruitment policy and give more concentration on employee retention rate. Technology driven talent management practices should be the time worthy policy of the Aetna. Focusing more on LAMP and MCC frameworks would enhance the effectiveness and efficiency in recruitment, retention, and talent management policies for the Aetna