Joint determination of the choice of growing season and economic efficiency of maize in Bangladesh

The paper jointly evaluates the determinants of the choice of maize growing season (winter vs. summer maize) and economic efficiency of individual producers in Bangladesh using a sample selection framework applied to stochastic frontier models. Model diagnostics reveal that sample selection bias is significant, thereby justifying the use of this approach. Probit results reveal that the probability to choose winter maize are influenced positively by gross return, subsistence pressure and soil suitability, whereas extension contact influences choice negatively. Stochastic cost frontier results reveal that a rise in input prices and output level increases production cost as expected. Among the variables representing the production environment, soil suitability and stability of mean temperature reduce cost, whereas precipitation increases cost. The mean level of economic efficiency is estimated at 0.91, implying that scope still exists to reduce cost further by jointly eliminating technical and allocative inefficiency. Policy implications include measures to improve soil suitability, development of temperature-resistant varieties and price policies to check input price rise while boosting maize price, which will synergistically increase adoption rate as well as profitability of winter maize cultivation in Bangladesh

Lower Erythrocyte GST activity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) patients compared to normal controls

Glutathione S-transferases (GST) are antioxidant enzymes that play an important role in the cellular detoxification and excretion of environmental pollutants including heavy metals. GST mu (GSTM1) and G theta (GSTT1) are known to be highly polymorphic and homozygous deletions of these genes result in the lack of enzyme activity and when combined with decreased levels of antioxidants, they have been associated with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This preliminary study was performed to investigate the role of GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms as risk factors of ASD associated with GST activity and phenotype expression. Fifty one ASD patients and 45 controls were recruited for GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotyping while 6 ASD patients and 8 controls were assessed for GST activity. The results showed no significant differences in frequencies of GSTM1 null, GSTT1 null and combination both genotype between ASD patients and controls. However the mean erythrocyte GST activity in ASD is significantly decreased compared with controls (p = 0.043). The mean erythrocyte GST activity is lower in the severely autistic group compare to the mild to moderately autistic group, although it was not statistically significant. Further investigations are needed with a bigger sample size, analyzing multiple GST genes and GST activity determination to find out the gene susceptibility of ASD and factors that contribute to the phenotype expression of ASD

Screening for HLA-B*1502 Polymorphism in Febrile Seizure Predicted Lead to Epilepsy

Mutation in neuronal sodium channel -1-subunit gene (SCN1A) and neuronal sodium channel -1-subunit gene (SCN1B) has been linked with forms of generalized epilepsy with febrile seizure plus (GEFS+) and epileptic infantile syndrome like severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI) (Mulley et al., 2005; Scheffer et al., 2007). Since this idiopathic epilepsy typically begins with prolonged febrile seizures (FS) in the first year of life, therefore febrile seizure patient with mutation in SCN1A has a high risk to develop epilepsy on their later life (Dube et al., 2009). Carbamazepine (CBZ) has been known as the most common anti-epileptic drug which can cause Steven-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) in patients with HLA-B*1502 polymorphism. Since the Javanese population have 16,67% of these allele, studying the presence of these allele in patients predicted epilepsy is important. Furthermore, this study was intended to develop a PCR-based diagnostic protocol to screen HLA-B*1502 polymorphism in epileptic patients to prevent SJS/TEN by carbamazepine. Focusing on epileptic predicted patients, HLA-B*1502 genotyping by sequence specific primer (SSP)-PCR was performed on 31 repeated FS patients with mutation in SCN1A and SCN1A/SCN1B gene. The result show that the HLA-B*1502 polymorphism was detected in 14 (45,2%) individuals including 8 cases related to mutation SCN1A gene and 6 to SCN1A/SCN1B gene. It illustrates that HLA-B*1502 allele is frequent in these patients. It can thus be suggested that detection of this allele should be done before epilepsy treatment. Later, patients with this allele should avoid CBZ to prevent SJS/TEN during drug administration

Drivers to sustainable manufacturing practices and circular economy: A perspective of leather industries in Bangladesh

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Sustainable manufacturing practices and the circular economy have recently received significant attention in academia and within industries to improve supply chain practices. Manufacturing industries have started adopting sustainable manufacturing practices and a circular economy in their supply chain to mitigate environmental concerns, as sustainable manufacturing practices and a circular economy result in the reduction of waste generation and energy and material usage. The leather industry, in spite of it contributing remarkably to a country's economic growth and stability, does not bear a good image because of its role in polluting the environment. Therefore, the leather industries of Bangladesh are trying to implement sustainable manufacturing practices as a part of undertaking green supply chain initiatives to remedy their image with the buyer and to comply with government rules and regulations. The main contribution of this study is to assess, prioritize and rank the drivers of sustainable manufacturing practices in the leather industries of Bangladesh. We have used graph theory and a matrix approach to examine the drivers. The results show that knowledge of the circular economy is paramount to implementing sustainable manufacturing practices in the leather industry of Bangladesh. This study will assist managers of leather companies to formulate strategies for the optimum utilization of available resources, as well as for the reduction of waste in the context of the circular economy

Agro-industrial development and sustainability in Bangladesh-A study

A study was conducted to know the current state of development sustainability of the agroindustrial sector in terms of its product diversity, export volume, export value, destination of the product by region and country. A structured questionnaire was prepared to do the random sampling survey and focused group discussion also held with the relevant stakeholder in agro-industrial sphere. The study revealed that in terms of value, the highest exported agro processed product is spices 21.46 million US$(25$ 70.13 million. In terms of export value, the major destination of Bangladesh agro-processed product is Kingdom of Saudi Arabia(KSA) which amount is 20.2 million US$. In terms of export in weight, the major destination of Bangladesh agro-processed product is India (24372.88 metric ton).Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 5 (2): 37-43, December, 201

In vitro response from cotyledon and hypocotyls explants in tomato by inducing 6-benzylaminopurine

Differential response of tomato was evaluated by hypocotyls and cotyledon explants on 6- benzylaminopurine (BAP) containing MS media. Among the four levels (0, 1, 2 and 4 mg/l) of BAP employed in Murashige and Skoog (MS) media, 2.0 mg/l BAP was found superior in growth traits (number of shoots/explants and shoot length) and cultivars. No significant difference was noticed between cotyledon and hypocotyls explants on media having 2.0 mg/l BAP. In the same treatment, shoot length was significantly different between cotyledon and hypocotyls derived explants. No adventitious shoots was noted in the control and higher concentration of BAP containing media but theexplants turned into callus on media having 4.0 mg/l BAP

Temperature effects on the electrical performance of large area multicrystalline silicon solar cells using the current shunt measuring technique

The temperature effects on the electrical performance of a large area multicrystalline silicon solar cell with back-contact technology have been studied in a desert area under ambient conditions using the current shunt measuring technique. Therefore, most of the problems encountered with traditional measuring techniques are avoided. The temperature dependency of the current shunt from 5ºC up to 50ºC has been investigated. Its temperature coefficient proves to be negligible which means that the temperature dependency of the solar cell is completely independent of the current shunt. The solar module installed in a tilted position at the optimum angle of the location, has been tested in two different seasons (winter and summer). The obtained solar cell short circuit current, open circuit voltage and output power are correlated with the measured incident radiation in both seasons and all results are discussed

An improved design of a fully automated multiple output micropotentiometer

This paper describes in details a new design of a fully automated multiple output micropotentiometer (?pot). A prototype has been built at the National Institute for Standards (NIS), Egypt to establish this highly improved AC voltage source in the millivolt range. The new device offers three different outputs covering a wide frequency range from only one outlet. This valuably supports the precise sourcing ranges of low AC voltage at NIS. The design and the operation theory of this prototype have been discussed in details. An automatic calibration technique has been introduced through specially designed software using the LabVIEW program to enhance the calibration technique and to reduce the uncertainty contributions. Relative small AC-DC differences of our prototype in the three output ranges are fairly verified. The expanded uncertainties of the calibration results for the three output ranges have been faithfully estimated. However, further work is needed to achieve the optimum performance of this new device

A grey approach to predicting healthcare performance

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The success of an organization or a particular activity is evaluated through the measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs). The aim of this paper is to analyze and predict the indicators of healthcare performance using grey systems theory. Recent advancements in science and technology have made the healthcare industry extremely efficient at collecting data using electronic claims systems such as electronic health records. Therefore, collecting field level primary data becomes easier and accumulate them to generate secondary data for research purpose and to get an insight of the organization performance is absolutely necessary. Our research analyzes the KPIs of a hospital based on a secondary data source. Since, secondary data contains uncertainty and sometimes poor information, grey prediction model suits best to make a prediction model in this regard. Conventional grey model has considerable drawbacks while making a rigorous prediction model. For this, we apply an improved grey prediction model to predict the KPIs of the healthcare performance indicators. Several error measures in our model give a best fit of the data and allow prediction of the KPIs. The prediction model gives good estimates of the quantitative indicators and produced error rate within an acceptable range. We observe that the KPIs of bed turnover rate (BTR) and bed occupancy rate (BOR) have an increasing trend, whereas the KPIs of average length of stay (ALOS), hospital death rate (HDR) and hospital infection rate (HIR) show a decreasing trend over time. The main contribution of this research is a grey-based prediction model that can provide managers with the information they need to evaluate and predict the performance of a hospital. The research indicates that managers should give greater priority to the indicators which will result in better patients’ satisfaction and improved profit margin. Healthcare managers striving towards better performance will now have an empirical basis upon which to formulate and adjust their strategies, after analyzing the predicted value

Social impacts of IPM-FFS on urban and peri-urban vegetable producers in Cotonou, Benin

Shifting from scientist-led top-down approaches in agricultural development to participatory approaches putting farmers and their knowledge in the center requires scientists and farmers to play new roles, changing social relationships between them, and among farmers themselves. Using mainly qualitative data and analysis, this paper reports social impacts (social relations, social empowerment and sharing of IPM information, and sustainability and institutionalization of IPM) for vegetable producers in an integrated pest management (IPM) project using farmer field schools (FFS) in Cotonou. Forty-three vegetable producers were chosen for semi-structured interviews. The project led to social empowerment of the vegetable producers and initiated a process of creation and sharing of IPM knowledge and building of social relations within and between the vegetable gardens. The participants realized they were sources of information for each other, and IPM knowledge was shared without the benefit or restriction of social networks. However, this study revealed several factors hindering the development of improved social relations among the vegetable producers and between these and the scientists and steering committee members, which in turn may result in lack of continuation and institutionalization of IPM activities. To overcome these obstacles, this research suggests that similar IPM-FFS projects encourage (1) a transparent selection process, (2) improvement of the Trainer of Trainers’ facilitation skills for better quality FFSs and improved sharing of complex information like agro-ecosystem analysis and  beneficial insects, (3) building trust and confidence between the  participants and scientists, (4) giving the ToT participants, community organizers and farmer organizations ownership of the project by giving them responsibility for creating post project plans to spread and institutionalize IPM of IPM-FFS activities and (5) facilitating the participants during and after the project in improving social relations and accountability. The results also draw lessons on how scientists and vegetable producers have or should have changed their roles to sustain and institutionalize IPM, such as the scientists and project leaders need to focus even more on their interactions with vegetable producers, enhancing their role as facilitators in initiating equitable processes of sustaining and institutionalizing IPM in the vegetable gardens.Key words: IPM-FFS, Empowerment, Relations, Information sharin