Search

Industrial pollution in Bangladesh has posed a serious threat to human health, economic activity, and the environment. By emphasizing industries that produce major pollutants, substantial improvements can be made to pollution mitigation measures. In countries where primary pollution data is not readily available, the Industrial Pollution Projection System (IPPS) could be used to calculate the pollution load utilizing total industrial output or employment data. IPPS data, which was designed for developed countries like the USA, had been used directly for other countries without any normalization in previously reported studies. The main purpose of this study is to modify the current IPPS approach for any other country by incorporating specific correction factor for a specific country. In this study, a specific correction factor for Bangladesh was determined, taking into account the country's major polluting industries, and used to estimate the pollution scenario for the year 2020. The accuracy of the specific pollution intensities was also evaluated by comparing the data obtained using both gross output and employee number. According to this study, the top three air-polluting industries are structural clay products, cement-lime-plaster industry, and iron and steel industry. Similarly, for water pollution, the food industry, paper and paper product industry, and textile industry are the largest pollutant contributors. The detailed pollution load matrix in terms of air and water pollution is also developed, and can be used to predict both short-term and long-term scenarios of industrial pollution in Bangladesh, which eventually will assist the policy makers to adopt appropriate pollution management approach. Moreover, the methods developed in this study will help to tailor the IPPS data for any country and increase the accuracy of the pollution load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses the importance of cooperative environmental governance (CEG) for efficient waste management and waste-to-energy (WtE) generation in the context of growing urban South Asia. Focusing on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan experiences, the paper reveals that even though much progress has been done in the urbanisation in the selected countries, the process of waste management (mainly municipal solid waste) has not been effective due to low level of local inclusion. As a result, the WtE generation potential has not been realised to its fullest. In addition, it has been argued that institutional and social reforms are extremely important for strengthening the CEG, and it will eventually lead to effective and optimal WtE generation in the urban cities of the selected South Asian countries for green transition and urban sustainability. Finally, an integrated solid waste management framework has been formulated for policy implications in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female labor migration for livelihood is becoming a common phenomenon in migrant-sending countries. Although female workers migrate with a temporary contract for a better livelihood, they are experienced with various exploitations and difficulties while working abroad. Therefore, many female migrants returned to the country from the Middle East, and they faced enormous challenges in reintegration. Thus, this paper critically reviews the role of migration-related NGOs in the reintegration of returned female migrants in Bangladesh. It also explores the critical limitations of the NGO's approach to this reintegration. The paper is qualitative research that includes primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with 27 participants. The paper also employs secondary data from articles, books, and reports of migration-focused NGOs. Based on the findings from data, the paper argues that the migration-focused NGOs in Bangladesh positively impact the reintegration of Bangladeshi returned female migrants by providing economic assistance, social, psychological, and legal support to returned women, entrepreneurship training, social mobilization strategies, and grassroots-level activities. The data also show that the migration-focused NGOs in Bangladesh face challenges in the reintegration of many returned women due to the NGOs' aid dependency, a lack of comprehensive actions, shortage of funds, required resources, lack of coordination, socioeconomic structure, stigma, and religious issues. Finally, the paper includes some policy suggestions that would be helpful for the NGO's approach to reintegrating returned women migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been marked differences between many urban youths and the older generation in practising Islam in Bangladesh. In the contemporary expression of Islam, many urban youths in Bangladesh adopt an approach where they are inclined to explain various Islamic discourses in a modernistic way through adopting an Islamic code of life. Simultaneously negating the traditional idea of the incompatibility of Islam with modernity is also an essential phenomenon in this discourse. 'Self-conscious sense of collective identity' and the concept of belonging to a global Islamic community is motivating many of these contemporary urban youths in Bangladesh to search for the 'pure' form of Islamic practices. These new manifestations eventually affect their urban social sphere while they either reject many traditional Islamic norms or adopt 'more authentic' Islamic norms. Thus, this qualitative paper argues that the expression of Islam among many urban youths has to be seen as an adaptive strategy in an ongoing struggle to make sense of Islamic life in a more complex, modern and Westernised world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic mobility has been predominantly investigated as a resource for career development and progression of individuals or as a contributor to national economic growth and advancement (brain-drain/gain). Yet, despite its significance, the temporal dimensions of academic immobility/mobility remain undertheorized in academic mobility studies. By temporal, I am going beyond clock-time to include any phenomenon tied to making meaning and related to time-related changes. Drawing on Shahjahan et al.'s (2022) notion of shomoyscapes, this paper focuses on Bangladeshi faculty's experiences as an example of how a temporal lens can help illuminate the interrelationships between academic immobility/mobility and temporality to enliven scholarly understandings of such a migration process. It showcases three Bangladeshi scholars' narratives to highlight different temporal rationales, constraints, and agencies of migration among aspiring, returnee, and/or immigrant mobile scholars' experiences, which are often studied separately in academic mobility studies. It argues that a temporal lens showcases how mobility begins and continues temporally in people's lives before and/or after spatial movements (i.e., physical movements from one space to another). Such time work was interconnected with relational entanglements, constituting complex temporal landscapes (i.e., shomoyscapes) encompassing future, present, and past. It concludes with implications of a temporal lens for future academic mobility studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though remittance inflow in Bangladesh is a significant earning source for recipient individuals and one of the vital factors to the development model, its environmental impacts have been ignored in the empirical investigation. To fill this research gap, this article aims to elucidate the asymmetric effectiveness of remittance inflow on environmental degradation in Bangladesh by addressing foreign aid as an additional multiplier in a carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions model, a first for this country. This paper, in doing so, utilizes the newly advanced nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (NARDL) approach. Data examined are yearly observations throughout 1980–2016, and empirically, the results of the NARDL bound test confirm a long-run cointegrated causality between remittance and CO2 emissions via approving the theoretical linkage. The asymmetric findings interpret that the intensity of CO2 emissions raises in the long run relative to the positive shock in remittance, while the elasticity of CO2 emissions is significant and negative due to the negative shock in remittance. The estimation also reveals the presence of a long-run asymmetric association between the variables. In addition, foreign aid is favorable to ameliorate the quality of the environment over a long period. Focusing on the findings, this paper recommends that the government should concentrate on environment favorable projects and also take measures of tax incentives to remittance investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of university teachers regarding plagiarism in Bangladesh. An online questionnaire consisted of 20 knowledge questions, 23 attitude items, and 18 practice questions was created using Google Forms. The link to the questionnaire was sent via email to university teachers. The total correct answers for knowledge and practice questions, and the total attitude score were converted to percentile scores and categorized accordingly as poor (< mean – 1 SD), average (mean ± 1 SD), and good (> mean + 1 SD). Bivariate analyses were conducted to compare the total knowledge, attitude and practice scores based on demographic and academic variables. Multiple linear regressions were used to identify the association between knowledge, attitude and practice scores, and other covariates. The findings revealed an average level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding plagiarism among the majority of university teachers. The knowledge, attitude and practice scores were significantly higher for teachers who attended academic writing workshops compared to those who did not attend such events. Demographic and academic variables did not impact knowledge and attitude scores. However, the number of papers published in the last two years and their indexing in Web of Science (WoS) or Scopus significantly impacted attitude and knowledge scores. The multiple regression analyses showed that the practice score was significantly associated with age, highest education, and knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh is one of the world's most susceptible countries to climate change. Global warming has significantly increased surface temperatures worldwide, including in Bangladesh. According to meteorological observations, the average temperature of the world has risen approximately 1.2 °C to 1.3 °C over the last century. Researchers and decision-makers have recently paid attention into the climate change studies. Climate models are used extensively throughout the nation in studies on global climate change to determine future estimates and uncertainties. This paper outlines a perceptible stacking ensemble learning model to estimate the temperature of a tropical region—Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The next day's temperature, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature are estimated based on the daily weather database collected from the weather station of Cox's Bazar for a period of 20 years between 2001 and 2021. Five machine learning (ML) models, namely linear regression (LR), ridge, support vector regression (SVR), random forest (RF), and light gradient boosting machine (LGBM) are selected out of twelve ML models and combined to integrate the outputs of each model to attain the desired predictive performance. Different statistical schemes based on time-lag values play a significant role in the feature engineering stage. Evaluation metrics like mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and coefficient of determination (R2) are determined to compare the predictive performance of the models. The findings imply that the stacking approach presented in this paper prevails over the standalone models. Specifically, the study reached the highest attainable R2 values (0.925, 0.736, and 0.965) for forecasting temperature, maximum temperature, and minimum temperature. The statistical test and trend analysis provide additional evidence of the excellent performance of the suggested model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is one of the few studies that examine the association of bank-specific determinants and macroeconomic factors with profitability in the banking industry of a developing country. This paper evaluates how bank-specific factors and macroeconomic determinants affect the profitability of commercial banks in Bangladesh. This study demonstrates that bank-specific factors and macroeconomic determinants are crucial catalysts in ensuring financial institutions' continuity and stable performance. The paper uses return on assets (ROA) as a proxy of bank profitability. The study also employs a group of explanatory variables, such as bank-specific determinants, which include capital adequacy (CAD), bank branches, asset management, deposit (DEP), and assets quality. The paper also considers gross domestic product, inflation rate (IF), exchange rate (EXR), and stock traded as macroeconomic variables. Pooled, fixed, and random effects models and unit root tests are employed on panel data for 24 commercial banks listed in Dhaka stock exchange from 2014 to 2020. The study results indicate that all bank-specific factors except CAD and DEP affect ROA statistically significantly. The paper also shows that among the macroeconomic determinants, IF has a significant and positive effect on ROA, while EXRTE significantly negatively impacts bank profitability. The findings of this paper are limited to the banking industry in Bangladesh, and it will provide valuable insights for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dhaka is one of the most populated cities in the world, which means that the occurrence of natural hazards will put the city in a critical situation. A seismic hazard analysis (SHA) is a prerequisite to reduce the risk of an earthquake event in Dhaka. This paper, focusing on the active faults of Bangladesh and the soil condition, represents the calculation of the peak ground acceleration (PGA), spectral acceleration (SA), and amplification factor. The analysis here used an updated seismic catalog (up to 2020), three source models (linear, areal, and smoothed seismicity), and eight attenuation models (selected by ranking techniques). Data from drillings are used to build the soil model, and one-dimensional frequency-domain equivalent-linear analysis is applied to calculate the amplification factor and the acceleration on the surface. The results show that the PGA changes from 0.14 to 0.19 and from 0.33 to 0.46 on bedrock for a return period of 475 and 2475 years, respectively. The worst-case scenario for Dhaka is the movement of the Jamuna Fault (Madhapur section), which can cause a PGA from 0.08 to 0.68 on bedrock. The results also suggest that the soil can amplify the acceleration up to 2.4 times. PGA on the surface for the return period of 475 years varies from 0.18 to 0.41. The design spectra and zonation maps are presented in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large number of people from villages in the India–Bangladesh borderlands are migrants to Indian cities, particularly to the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. Migration from Cooch Behar, an industrially backward district in the northern part of the state of West Bengal in India sharing border with Bangladesh and the Indian state of Assam, has been a regular practice as subsistence agriculture fail to provide the landless agricultural labourers continuous employment and competitive wages. This paper is based on ethnographic study in Delhi NCR and the former 'Chhit Mahals' (as the former border enclaves of Bangladesh and India were called in Bengali) in Cooch Behar district, in the period immediately following their exchange, of historically marginal migrant households whose members work in the construction industry. With the implementation of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh and the finalisation of the India-Bangladesh land boundary, the former Chhit Mahals, that is border enclaves of Bangladesh and India, were exchanged between the two states in August 2015. The former Bangladeshi Chhit Mahals in Cooch Behar are now Indian villages, whose residents had opted for Indian citizenship. This paper explores migration from these former Chhit Mahals with a relational political economy perspective. It analyses both broader socio-cultural, economic, and political processes and interests and the migrants' own feelings which interact with migration to demonstrate how the migrant's labour value is determined at the intersection of identity, affect and the international border, with marginalisation of the migrants from the India–Bangladesh borderlands emerging as a product of layered struggles and a dynamic of continuous cultural reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence and mobility of smartphones make these a widely used tool for environmental health research. However, their potential for determining aggregated air quality index (AQI) based on PM2.5 concentration in specific locations remains largely unexplored in the existing literature. In this paper, we thoroughly examine the challenges associated with predicting location-specific PM2.5 concentration using images taken with smartphone cameras. The focus of our study is on Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, due to its significant air pollution levels and the large population exposed to it. Our research involves the development of a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN), which we train using over a thousand outdoor images taken and annotated. These photos are captured at various locations in Dhaka, and their labels are based on PM2.5 concentration data obtained from the local US consulate, calculated using the NowCast algorithm. Through supervised learning, our model establishes a correlation index during training, enhancing its ability to function as a Picture-based Predictor of PM2.5 Concentration (PPPC). This enables the algorithm to calculate an equivalent daily averaged AQI index from a smartphone image. Unlike, popular overly parameterized models, our model shows resource efficiency since it uses fewer parameters. Furthermore, test results indicate that our model outperforms popular models like ViT and INN, as well as popular CNN-based models such as VGG19, ResNet50, and MobileNetV2, in predicting location-specific PM2.5 concentration. Our dataset is the first publicly available collection that includes atmospheric images and corresponding PM2.5 measurements from Dhaka. Our codes and dataset are available at https://github.com/lepotatoguy/aqi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast-growing economies like Bangladesh are expected to experience high growth in GDP, and in energy use with structural shifts towards digitalization and industrialization in the coming decades. However, given the goal of global net zero carbon growth, energy sector development will need to satisfy multiple sustainability criteria simultaneously. This paper examines empirically the trends in sustainability indicators for Bangladesh's energy sector to assess the current status based on past trend. A long list of 438 indicators is compiled from the literature used in various country contexts for understanding energy sector sustainability but this study identifies a short list of 38 Bangladesh-specific indicators and develops a composite index. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method was used for weighting individual indicators to arrive at the composite index. Results show that Bangladesh is showing marginal progress towards sustainability of the energy sector. While progress in social and economic indicators such as increasing access to cleaner fuel, electrification, productive use of energy, increased diversity of fuel mix has aided in advancing sustainability, the deteriorating environmental indicators over time is pulling down the sustainability status of the energy sector. Among other things, increasing share of fossil fuel in energy mix, lack of adequate improvement in energy efficiency in all sectors, increase in methane emissions need attention and solution to make energy sector sustainable. These steps can also help in reducing overall energy demand and emissions without adversely impacting social and economic growth through deployment of appropriate fuel choice, technologies and infrastructure. For better monitoring of energy sector sustainability, some data gaps for Bangladesh have also been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In settings where complex social decisions are made, information is often aggregated into indices to facilitate decision making. The value added of such composite indices depends, inter alia, on the extent to which decision makers trust and make use of them. This paper presents a randomized experiment on the use of an index designed to inform migrant resettlement decisions, using 410 graduate students in Bangladesh as respondents. Respondents were randomly assigned to control and treatment conditions. In the control group, respondents faced a discrete choice experiment where they were asked to allocate 1000 migrants between two locations described by five attributes (availability of cropland, distance to hospital, distance to school, poverty incidence, frequency of floods, droughts and cyclones). In the treatment group, respondents also had access to the migrant resettlement index for the two locations. Results show that the resettlement index is used by the respondents, and mechanism analyses suggest this is due to perceptions of improved benefits to costs from using the index to make decisions. Results from the control group also suggest that past adverse environmental events are particularly important for resettlement decisions, but less so for respondents who grew up in areas where such events were frequent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-budget placement in June in Bangladesh brings with itself an inundation of various scrutiny and assessment of the most crucial public policy document of the year. However, both ex-ante and ex-post oversight is an area where there has been a gaping hole for years. With analysis drawn from interviewing 52 stakeholders and review of relevant literature, the paper stocktakes the role of Bangladesh Parliament in the nation's budgetary process. The paper elaborates the theoretical basis for selecting global indexes used to evaluate the parliament's capacity of budget oversight. In fine, Jatiya Sangsad is a 'budget-approving' parliament dictated by the executive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern Bangladesh is more vulnerable to climatic variability, flash floods, upstream heavy rainfall, early floods during the pre-monsoon period, two or three times flooding in a certain year, and poverty as well. This paper explicitly focuses on the socio-environmental challenges associated with the 2017 flood disaster in northern Bangladesh. This study is based on mixed methods. Almost data of the study are collected from primary sources (household survey, FGD) and the remaining data are obtained from authorized sources. The devastating floods in 2017 inundated one-third of Bangladesh, destroyed nearly 700,000 homes and damaged 4,680,000 hectares of cropland. In addition, the socio-economic conditions of the 2017 flood victim HHs in northern Bangladesh are sub-standard compared to other regions of Bangladesh. Some sort of variables (geophysical environment and human interventions) make floods vulnerable. Therefore, social and economic security, rebuilding damaged infrastructures and institutions, public awareness, and regional and delta planning are crucial parts of the mitigation of the effects of disastrous floods in northern Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous use of fossil fuels has prompted scientists and researchers to convert to renewable sources for powering water pumps. By converting sunlight into electrical energy, the photovoltaic (PV) panels can drive the water pump or produce electricity through an inverter. Over the past few years, scientists have been working on developing more efficient solar-powered water pumps. A summary of existing research and development activities for developing a dependable and cost-effective solar irrigation system is described in this study. The paper outlines Bangladesh's present irrigation scenario, the problems associated with solar irrigation systems, and government policies and actions promoting solar irrigation. The main objectives and goals of the proposed project are to develop an efficient standalone hybrid solar PV–pyro-oil generator-based water pumping system for the Barind tract and off-grid remote areas. Moreover, the techno-econo-environmental feasibility of the proposed project has also been evaluated. The total life cycle cost and investment payback period of the 20-year project were found to be 14,377.32 dollars and 7.04 years, respectively. Moreover, the project's internal rate of return and CO2 reduction potential were found to be 21% and 197.1 tons, respectively. Therefore, the project is sustainable and feasible, which provides a guideline for researchers and investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a clear need for an understanding of the perceptions of climate change among those whose lives are most affected to inform national discourse and in particular, development and implementation of adaptation strategies. The paper is the outcome of a qualitative study among the local people of Charhajari, Anuliya and Nitpur unions of Bangladesh. The key informant technique, along with in-depth interview, had been exploited for gaining holistic perceptions on climatic scenario in the localities, while focus group discussion and case study were used for mapping out collective social consensus on the subject. The study has elucidated the threats climate change poses to established long-term beliefs, practices and perceptions by instigating erratic changes in weather patterns, shifting seasons, and questioning efficacy and authority of traditional interpretation of local weather. Local inhabitants have their own way of internalization and symbolic interpretation of climate induced debacles. Of the indicators demonstrating the impacts of climate change on local communities, seasonal diversity decline is central for affecting every aspects of socio-economic life including rituals and festivals. Apart from these, inhabitants have explored a number of independent and dependent climatic hazards they are under exposed. The paper concludes that experience of climate change impacts is for most cases ecosystem based but perception appears to be culturally specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper examines the effect of public–private partnerships investment in energy (PPIE) on CO2 emissions while taking economic growth (GDP), foreign direct investment (FDI), and trade openness (TOP) into consideration for Bangladesh from 1997 to 2019. This paper utilizes Bayer and Hanck cointegration approach, fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares, canonical regression, and frequency domain causality technique. The outcome of this paper reveals that (i) the cointegrating association among PPIE, GDP, FDI, TOP, and CO2 emissions is verified; (ii) PPIE, GDP, and TOP affect environmental sustainability negatively; (iii) in the long term, PPIE, FDI, and TOP Granger-cause CO2 emissions in Bangladesh. This research suggests technical development for a greener production procedure and public–private partnership funding in green energy. Therefore, as a policy endorsement, this study proposes to invest in the latest technological advancements to manufacture environmentally sustainable goods via public–private partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of disaster adaptive housing upgrading in informal settlements from social vulnerability perspective. It examines the mode and extent of disaster adaptive upgrading in two South Asian cities—Khulna, Bangladesh and Kathmandu, Nepal. With an exploratory qualitative research approach, it focuses on built-environmental adaptation at household and community levels. Empirical findings reveal that, the apparently vulnerable communities have intrinsic adaptive capacities of upgrading their housing conditions with minimal cost and maximum efficiency. These capacities are shaped by the community's collectivism and mutual help that enable them to survive despite the lack of development induced climatic and non-climatic urban problems. In the process of self-help upgrading, the status of tenure security and scope of alternative livelihood and finance are found to be the most crucial factors shaping the households' perception of vulnerability and the extent of their involvement in adaptation practices. The research outcomes shed light on the issues surrounding vulnerability and adaptive capacity of the informal settlements and recommend policy implications towards strengthening community-led upgrading in an informed manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh has a huge potential for utilizing renewable energy with the availability of sources for solar, wind, hydro, and biogas. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential for renewable energy sources and predicts optimal sites for renewable plant implementation in Bangladesh. A country-wise mapping approach is followed by validation of prediction using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) known as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) which will aid in the planning and execution of Bangladesh's upcoming expansion of renewable farms and will also be a useful tool for policymakers. Moreover, an economic analysis for 50 MW solar and wind power plant has been presented to estimate the levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) of the system and society. This work predicts the enormous potential for the expansion of renewable energy by assessing the appropriate future sites, economic viability, and provides several suggestions on the basis of the analysis from Bangladesh's perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether international migration increases the religious schooling of children in the home country. I find that migration by a household member from Bangladesh to a Muslim-majority country increases the likelihood that a male child in the household is sent to an Islamic school (madrasa). There is no significant impact on the likelihood of a male child's madrasa enrollment if the household sends a member to a non-Muslim-majority country. Sending a household member abroad does not affect the likelihood of the household sending children to school at all; it only leads to reallocation toward Islamic schooling. The results are inconsistent with financial remittances underlying the effect of migration on religious schooling. Learning about the potential benefits of madrasa education may explain the results, but there are several weaknesses in the arguments in favor of this mechanism. A third potential mechanism is an increase in religiosity through migrants transferring religious preferences, but I cannot establish a causal relationship between international migration and migrant-sending households' religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research paper is to investigate the relationship between agricultural development and agricultural energy-driven CO2 emissions. To achieve this purpose, we have taken Bangladesh as the subject of our case study, and appraisal is done by two methods, the Tapio decoupling method, and the logarithmic mean Divisia index method. The result discloses that Bangladesh's agricultural sector was strongly and weakly decoupled from agricultural sector development in most of the periods between 1990 and 2017. The population factor, the agricultural energy intensity factor, and the agricultural economic activity factor are the responsible factors to increase CO2 emissions. On the other hand, the agricultural economic structure factor, the agricultural energy structure factor, and the agricultural emissions factor are accountable for the decrease of CO2 emissions. Finally, this paper provides some policies to create practical strategies for agricultural CO2 emission reduction. This research paper will help Bangladesh's agricultural sector to form sustainable economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 with dengue co-infection using mathematical modeling. In this study, SIR model is developed that explains the trajectory of the epidemic to boost a plan for an effective control strategy for COVID-19 in Bangladesh. The model is extended to optimal control strategies. Pontryagin's Principle is used to establish the appropriate conditions for the existence of optimal control and the optimality system for the co-infection model. Coinfected cases were reduced with control greater than without control. Using Omicron incidence cases from 1st January – 13th April 2022, the maximum likelihood estimate of R0 with a 95% confidence interval is1.89 [ 95% CI: 1.88, 1.91]. The R0 estimated from the exponential growth method is 2.08 [95% CI: 2.07,2.09]and time-dependent estimate is 2.10[95% CI: 1.72,2.58]. The generalized logistic growth model predicted 19, 52,131 cumulative cases on day 103 (April 13, 2022), and a relatively flat curve of cumulative growth of COVID-19 cases implies a declining trend of new cases. The study also found from sensitivity analysis that, R0 is proportional to the mean generation time. This paper attempted to focus on suppressing the COVID-19 co-infections by preventing dengue and COVID-19. The results of the study show that by implementing optimal control spread of dengue and COVID-19 could be minimized. The logistic growth model suggests that the infection rate of COVID-19 is decreasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed at evaluating the validity of the deforestation-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis controlling for the democracy between 1971 and 2018 in Bangladesh. The cointegration results provide statistical evidence of long-run associations between economic growth, deforestation propensities and the quality of democracy. The elasticity estimates certify the validity of the EKC hypothesis for all the three indicators of deforestation used in this paper: forest area coverage, deforestation rate and net forest depletion rate. Moreover, controlling for democracy lowers the threshold level of growth beyond which the marginal impact of growth results in environmental betterment by reducing the deforestation propensities in Bangladesh. Moreover, democracy and economic growth are also seen to exert a combined impact on the growth-deforestation nexus. The estimated growth thresholds are above the current real GDP level of Bangladesh which reasons the nation's deforestation woes. Finally, the causality results also affirm causal associations between economic growth, deforestation and the quality of democracy. Thus, these findings impose key policy implications keeping into cognizance the sustainable economic and environmental development goals of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a critical role in the response to human displacement yet face competing pressures. One ongoing site of displacement is among the 1.1 million Rohingya persons living in refugee camps in Bangladesh. NGOs are party to the ongoing humanitarian response yet operate under competing demands by multiple stakeholders. To what extent do NGOs meet the various expectations among different groups of Rohingya refugee beneficiary stakeholders? We used UNHCR survey data from 31 refugee sites in Cox's Bazar to empirically examine the relationship between demographic and socioeconomic indicators with satisfaction levels of service provision. We find that female refugees and head of household disability (difficulty seeing, hearing, walking, remembering, or communicating) are indicators that present the most significant differences; NGO responses more often overlook the priority needs of females and persons with disabilities when compared to other refugees, a response gap that reduces their satisfaction and potentially heightens these groups' vulnerabilities. Although UNHCR and NGOs face pressures from competing demands within beneficiary populations, they also have opportunities to develop refugee-centered policies and practices that are more responsive to vulnerable groups. Overall, this paper adds dimension to understanding of various refugee stakeholder perspectives within a camp setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper has presented Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)–based soil type and Standard Penetration Test (SPT) N60–based zonation maps in the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) area of Bangladesh. For this purpose, 360 borehole data have been collected from different parts of the DMDP area. The data were analyzed in ArcGIS 10.5 using Ordinary Kriging and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation techniques. The spatial Analyst, Ordinary Kriging method, has demonstrated better results for SPT-N60-based, and IDW has provided superior outcomes of the USCS-based soil type zonation maps. This study has developed 13 SPT-N60-based and USCS soil-type zonation maps for the DMDP area at 1.5 to 19.5 m depth. To assess the reliability of the zonation map, SPT-N60 values and USCS soil classification, acquired through field tests at 10 locations (depths: 1.5 to 19.5 m), were compared with anticipated SPT-N60 values and USCS soil type at exact coordinates in the developed zonation maps. The root mean square error (RMSE) for the SPT-N60 zonation maps was 8.29 blows, and the coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.688. The comparison shows a correlation coefficient of 0.82. For USCS soil-type zonation maps, 55.81% of the field-validated data fully matched the model-anticipated USCS zonation maps data. The generated zonation maps in this research will help to understand the subsurface condition and geotechnical characteristics of soils in the DMDP area. This data will also help engineers to create an initial foundation layout for a new site using the existing data from the nearby locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasutitermes profuscipennis Akhtar is an Oriental nasutiform termite. The species was first described from Bangladesh and later reported from Thailand. In this paper, we report the species for the first time from India. During the study, samples were collected from human settlement and Indian bay leaf plantation areas of Nongkhrah, Nongpoh area of Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya, India. The morphological characters of both the soldier and worker castes of N. profuscipennis are presented in this article along with a note on its geographical distribution. An updated list of species of the genus Nasutitermes is also provided here from India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed socioeconomic vulnerabilities around the world. After fighting the coronavirus for more than 1 and a half years now, the countries are recovering from the epidemic with the help of cutting-edge medical research. The policymakers are implementing stimulus packages for post-pandemic economic recovery. However, sustainable "green recovery" plans are yet to get adequate attention. Sustainable investment in green industries can create green jobs, promote a low-carbon economy, and foster long-lasting economic growth in the post-pandemic world. COVID-19 affected countries with emerging economies call for even more focus on such investments. In Bangladesh, the bicycle industry — a growing low-carbon industry — has been showing promising potential for growth since the beginning of the pandemic. Both the local and global markets of Bangladeshi bicycles have seen substantial growth during the epidemic. In this paper, we analyze the potential of the Bangladeshi bicycle industry as an effective green recovery driver. We conduct semi-structured interviews with relevant experts and professionals, analyze their opinions, and perform a "strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)" analysis. The analysis reveals valuable insights regarding post-pandemic sustainable economic and environmental recovery which will be beneficial to the policymakers of Bangladesh and similar developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate measurements of available water resources play a key role in achieving a sustainable environment of a society. Precise river flow estimation is an essential task for optimal use of hydropower generation, flood forecasting, and best utilization of water resources in river engineering. The current paper presents the development and verification of the prediction abilities of new hybrid extreme learning machine (ELM)-based models coupling with metaheuristic methods, e.g., Particle swarm optimization (PSO), Mayfly optimization algorithm (MOA), Grey wolf optimization (GWO), and simulated annealing (SA) for monthly streamflow prediction. Prediction precision of standalone ELM model was compared with two-phase optimized state-of-the-arts models, e.g., ELM–PSO, ELM–MOA, ELM–PSOGWO, and ELM–SAMOA, respectively. Hydro-meteorological data acquired from Gorai and Padma Hardinge Bridge stations at Padma River Basin, northwestern Bangladesh, were utilized as inputs in this study to employ models in the form of seven different input combinations. The model's performances are appraised using Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, root-mean-square-error (RMSE), mean absolute error, mean absolute percentage error and determination coefficient. The tested results of both stations reported that the ELM–SAMOA and ELM–PSOGWO models offered the best accuracy in the prediction of monthly streamflows compared to ELM–PSO, ELM–MOA, and ELM models. Based on the local data, the ELM–SAMOA reduced the RMSE of ELM, ELM–PSO, ELM–MOA, and ELM–PSOGWO by 31%, 27%, 19%, and 14% for the Gorai station and by 29%, 27%, 19%, and 14% for Padma Hardinge bridge station, in the testing stage, respectively. In contrast, based on external data, ELM–PSOGWO improves in RMSE of ELM, ELM–PSO, ELM–MOA, and ELM–SAMOA by 20%, 5.1%, 6.2%, and 4.6% in the testing stage, respectively. The results confirmed the superiority of two-phase optimized ELM–SAMOA and ELM–PSOGWO models over a single ELM model. The overall results suggest that ELM–SAMOA and ELM–PSOGWO models can be successfully applied in modeling monthly streamflow prediction with either local or external hydro-meteorological datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism geographies of Sylhet region in Bangladesh developing analytical linkages between pandemic and tourism geography. On the basis of in-depth interviews, the study explores micro effects on diverse actors involved in the tourism process of Sylhet division. As one of the emerging tourism hubs, why Sylhet region demands special treatment from local, national and international authorities and policymakers to mitigate the adverse effects of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, has been investigated in this paper. However, the central argument of the study is that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the demand and supply chains, local businesses, transportations, hotels and restaurants, tea industry, corporations, and local professional lives due to the imposed restrictions on human mobility, causing a sharp decline in socio-economic activities of Sylhet's tourism geographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situating in the lap of the Bay of Bengal, the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, plays a significant role in the livelihood of more than three million people and provides shelter to an undetermined number of species. Unfortunately, this United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared world heritage site faces various threats to wildlife and biodiversity due to human interventions in the forest and animal habitats. The present study finds that despite having 150 forest policies to conserve the forest, the forest size is gradually shrinking across the country, particularly in the Sundarbans. However, National Forestry Policy 1979 (amended 2016) aims to protect forests and forest resources, and Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012 (hereafter the Wildlife Act 2012) protects against wildlife crimes. Although National Forestry Policy 2016 endeavours to engage the local communities in the conservation process, no significant improvement was seen in the life of local communities and forest management. This paper assesses the role of international institutions that often support and cooperate with other countries for sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation, like the Sundarbans of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban stormwater runoff is considered as one of the major contributors to nonpoint source that contributes to the pollution of all water resources in the surrounding environment. Pollutant concentrations of urban stormwater runoff are directly or indirectly linked with land use types in a catchment that is quite different in different places, and hence, site-specific studies are necessary, unless otherwise the modelling of runoff quality using modelling tools may not be rationally reflected the actual field scenarios. This paper portrays the influence of land use types on stormwater runoff physicochemical quality in Chattogram city, where land use's demarcation is often complicated due to the different natural and human-induced anthropogenic factors. The stormwater runoff samples were collected from the residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial land use types, in the city of Chattogram, Bangladesh, during the period from July to September 2020. The standard laboratory protocol for elemental concentrations and principal component analysis was performed in addition to basic statistics to identify the influence of urban surface characteristics on the quality of stormwater runoff. In general, pollutant concentrations were identified by analysing key physical and chemical quality parameters including colour, temperature, turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and exhibited 2 to 3 times higher concentrations than reported elsewhere. Furthermore, the present study reported the greater concentrations of few pollutants, such as TSS, BOD5, and EC, derived from the residential land uses compared to other land use types that are surprising; however, it confirmed the distinct complexity of unplanned land use patterns that should not be overlooked rather discussed. The strong correlation between land use types and stormwater runoff quality indicates the site-specific influences of runoff quality. The outcomes of this study would be particularly helpful in calibrating water quality models considering different land use types. Additionally, datasets and information obtained from this research will assist engineers and practitioners in developing decision-making tools for effective stormwater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines a variety of restrictions preventing Bangladeshi youth, particularly Generation Z university students, from becoming involved in entrepreneurship. Moreover, the study examines the influence of Entrepreneurial Attitude (EA), Subjective Entrepreneurial Norms (SEN), Entrepreneurial Perceived Behavioural Control (EPBC), and Entrepreneurial Resilience (ER) on Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) of Bangladeshi Gen Z university students. A systematic literature review methodology following PRISMA procedure was performed to identify the relevant articles. A quantitative method with a positivism philosophy, cross-sectional time horizon and deductive approach was applied to the study. The data of 206 university students from the BBA department of ten universities were collected using convenience sampling and a self-administrated structured questionnaire survey. SPSS 26.0 and Smart PLS 3.0 were used to analyse the data. The output shows a positive and significant association amongst EA, SEN, EPBC, ER, and EI. Various constraints were identified from the literature and ranked based on the respondents' feedback. This research will help entrepreneurs, scholars, policymakers and practitioners to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem and develop young people's understanding of the entrepreneurial decision process and the importance of ER. This paper contributes through empirical investigation to an understanding of the actions that prevent Gen Z students from entrepreneurial activities; decisions are affected by socio-psychological constructions integrating ER with the Theory of Planned behaviour (TPB) model. Triple, Quadruple and Quintuple Helix models are considered supporting theories in this study to shed light on tackling the constraints. To the best knowledge of the researcher, integrating ER with TPB model's constructs is a pioneer scholarly contribution in the context of South-East Asian, specifically Bangladeshi Gen Z students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildlife conservation is a big challenge for a developing country like Bangladesh. The present study claims that Bangladesh still lacks administrative, legislative, and technological capacities to protect and conserve biodiversity. This study finds that a great variety of wild animals and species is now under threat in Bangladesh due to factors like forest land grabbing, habitat destruction, human activities near the forests, human-animal interactions, illegal poaching and trafficking, excluding local communities in conservation process, socio-economic and political issues, and external problems like the refugee crisis and trans-border animal migration. In this paper, it is found that environmental crimes, specifically illicit wildlife crimes, have been increasing in Bangladesh in recent years, despite several legislations, including the prominent Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012 (hereafter Wildlife Act 2012) and many international treaties, agreements, conventions, and protocols. To fully bear its responsibility to protect wildlife and conserve biodiversity, the author analyzes the role of the government through policy-making and implementation and the function of international institutions. Realizing the challenges in protecting wildlife and conserving biodiversity in Bangladesh, the author briefly points out the mitigation policies of the neighboring countries. The study data are based on reviewing existing literature, law and policy and referring to various international treaties and conventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissolved oxygen (DO) forecasting is essential for aquatic managers responsible for maintaining ecosystem health and the management of water bodies affected by water quality parameters. This paper aims to forecast dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration using a multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS) hybrid model coupled with maximum overlap discrete wavelet transformation (MODWT) as a feature decomposition approach for Surma River water using a set of water quality hydro-meteorological variables. The proposed hybrid model is compared with numerous machine learning methods, namely Bayesian ridge regression (BNR), k-nearest neighbourhood (KNN), kernel ridge regression (KRR), random forest (RF), and support vector regression (SVR). The investigational results show that the proposed model of MODWT-MARS has a better prediction than the comparing benchmark models and individual standalone counter parts. The result shows that the hybrid algorithms (i.e. MODWT-MARS) outperformed the other models (r = 0.981, WI = 0.990, RMAE = 2.47%, and MAE = 0.089). This hybrid method may serve to forecast water quality variables with fewer predictor variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes three major cyberbullying incidents that occurred on Facebook between 2019 and 2020 to understand how the practices of patriarchal masculinities are involved in cyberbullying. The research employs the "4I's framework" of UN Women to understand the relationship between cyberbullying and different levels of patriarchal masculinities, the internal, interpersonal, institutional, and ideological. The official Facebook page of the Daily Prothom Alo, one of the most popular newspapers in Bangladesh, has been considered for collecting and analyzing the contents. The reason for selecting the official Facebook page of the newspaper for data collection is the availability of comment threads of Facebook users in the public domain on particular cyberbullying incidents. The paper's significant findings reveal that victim blaming, demeaning women and girls, and institutional steps undertaken to ensure justice for the victims are the main attributes that construct the dominant community opinion online. In this context, ideas and practices of internal and ideological patriarchal masculinities characterized by the misogynist attitudes are the new ways to normalize and legitimize sexual assault, physical assault, and humiliation of women and girls, which ultimately contributes to the escalation of cyberbullying. The research also uncovers positive discourse initiated by social media users aimed at promoting awareness against the practices of patriarchal masculinities which exacerbatetendencies such as—victim blaming, slut-shaming, rape culture, and demeaning women and girls. The study concludes by offering recommendations to protect women and girls from cyberbullying encompassing awareness programs, improvement in reporting and blocking functionalities on social media platforms, and the strengthening of image processing and filtering mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focusses on workers' opinions in regard to welfare policies enacted under the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006. The study investigates two questions: Do labour welfare policies under labour law really matter for workers? If so, to what extent are such welfare policies practised in the global garment supply chain industry in Bangladesh? The Binary Logistic Regression technique has been used to assess the opinions of garment workers as to whether their level of satisfaction increases by workers' welfare facility interventions. The data were collected from compliant and export-oriented factories between July 2021 and August 2021 in three Upazilas-Savar Ashulia (Dhaka District) and Gazipur Sadar (Gazipur District) in Bangladesh. This study demonstrates that overtime facilities, medical facilities, safety measures, restroom facilities, lunchroom facilities, and childcare facilities can play a pivotal role in increasing the satisfaction level of the workers. Given the similar socio-economic and geographical backgrounds, this research can be applied to the garment manufacturing industries of other South Asian countries. It serves as a valuable tool for understanding workers' attitudes and beliefs about welfare provisions. By applying the findings of this study, one can better comprehend the needs of the workers in terms of various labor welfare motivational tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern region of Bangladesh is more unstable than the other part of the country due to massive discharge of heavy sediment through the Meghna estuary. Discussions regarding shoreline representation are critical to regulate the dynamic nature of the coast. This study focuses on measuring the shoreline change, evaluating the LULC (land use & land cover) due to shoreline dynamics utilising multi-dated (1978–2018) satellite images, and changes in the social-economic condition by a direct interview-based questionnaire survey of Nijhum Dwip, Hatiya, Noakhali, Bangladesh. This study assessed shoreline transition through shoreline movement (NSM), endpoint rate (EPR), and prediction based on the EPR rate. 104% of the shore area was increased by -17 m to 86 m annually. Most of the accretion emerged on the Northern and Western sides; erosion only transpired on the Southern side. The shoreline was also projected to increase by 2.2 km, with 644.32 hectares in the study area by 2028. LULC mainly changed due to erosion-accretion activities in the study area. In accreted land, barren land, mudflats, homestead vegetation, and grassland were increased by 15.51 ha, 17.19 ha, 689.68 ha, and 578.17 ha, respectively, where the succession process formed the grassy beach. In contrast, cropland, green, and mangrove vegetation decreased by 12%, 9%, and 0.11%, drastically in its total area, although they had increased in accreted land. It was appraised that the vegetated area will raise 5103.39 hectares by 2028. Thus it was also determined that shoreline change positively impacted migration, economic activities, and tourism. As newly accreted land was cheap or could stay through "Bndobostho." People joined various working fields created in newly accreted land, as farmers increased by 7%. Moreover, about 83% of tourists increased due to shoreline expansion. Finally, this paper intends to contribute several suggestions to the socio-economic development of native people and future strategic management of the reserved coastal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction and demolition waste has a high environmental and socio-economic impact due to its poor management infrastructure. In recent years, Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, experienced significant growth in the real estate sector, which demands substantial construction and demolition activities within the city. Most of the construction and demolition waste finds its way to landfills, roadsides, and unapproved locations with a 2% recycling rate through local scrap vendors and unregulated recyclers. In an effort to assess the waste generation rates from ongoing construction and demolition activities, the current study employed the Site Visit method along with direct and indirect waste quantification methodologies for the investigated demolition and construction projects, respectively. The findings indicate that for per unit area (m2) of demolition and construction, the average WGR was found to be approximately 575.0 kg and 73.9 kg, respectively. Projection reveals that by 2025 and 2030, within Dhaka City, construction and demolition activities will generate roughly 1.15 MT and 1.69 MT of construction and demolition waste if no recycling actions are considered. Additionally, the results highlight the recycling potential of construction and demolition waste with respect to economic benefits through the maximum recycling rates for the relevant materials. Furthermore, to address the future of sustainable construction and demolition waste management infrastructure, this paper presents a detailed overview of the current onsite construction and demolition waste management practices as well as safety protocols for demolition and construction activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the concrete tunnel-sand-pile interaction (TSPI) phenomenon in liquefiable sand considering various relative densities and seismic excitations. The novel shake table test for the TSPI model was performed to evaluate the excess pore pressure ratio (EPPR) surrounding the tunnel body and interactive tunnel and pile moments. The relative densities are taken to be 27, 41, and 55% in the local sand of Bangladesh. Similarly, the peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the Kobe and Loma Prieta earthquakes are considered to be 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 g. The shake table was calibrated based on similar variations of the input and output PGA. The 3D finite element concrete TSPI model has been performed by Plaxis considering the UBC3D-PLM (two yield surfaces consisting of kinematic hardening rules) constitutive model of sand. Therefore, experimental and numerical results vary closely, which may inform the possibility of the application of the concrete TSPI model on a large scale. The maximum SRSS (Square Root Sum of Squares) tunnel moment has been found to be 18.7 kN-m from the experimental results for 27% relative density of the Kobe earthquake with a PGA of 0.15 g. Also, the maximum SRSS moments of front and rear piles vary (0.10–0.14) % of the tunnel moment. So, the tunnel moment always shows a higher value in liquefiable ground based on the experimental results because of the larger volume and stiffness than a series of piles. However, the present study may be enhanced in the future by varying geometric properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road traffic injuries are one of the primary reasons for death, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. Safety in land transport is one of the major concerns for road safety authorities and other policymakers. For this reason, contributory factors identification associated with crashes is necessary for reducing road crashes and ensuring transportation safety. This paper presents an analytical approach to identifying significant contributing factors of Bangladesh road crashes by evaluating the road crash data, considering three different severity levels (non-fetal, severe, and extremely severe). Generally, official crash databases are compiled from police-reported crash records. Though the official datasets are focusing on compiling a wide array of attributes, an assorted number of unreported issues can be observed that demands an alternative source of crash data. Therefore, this proposed approach considers compiling crash data from newspapers in Bangladesh which could be complimentary to the official crash database. To conduct the analysis, first, we filtered the useful features from compiled crash data using three popular feature selection techniques: chi-square, Two-way ANOVA, and Regression analysis. Then, we employed three machine learning classifiers: Decision Tree, Random Forest, and Naïve Bayes over the extracted features. A confusion matrix was considered to evaluate the proposed model, including classification accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The predictive machine learning model, namely, Random Forest using Label Encoder with chi-square and Two-way ANOVA feature selection process, seems the best option for crash severity prediction that provides high prediction accuracy. The resulting model highlights nine out of fourteen independent features as responsible factors. Significant features associated with crash severities include driver characteristics (gender, license type, seat belts), vehicle characteristics (vehicle type), road characteristics (road surface type, road classification), environmental conditions (day of crash occurred, time of crash), and injury localization. This outcome may contribute to improving traffic safety of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods are a common natural hazard in Bangladesh, and climate change is expected to further increase flooding frequency, magnitude and extent. Pregnant women in flood contexts could face challenges in utilisation of maternal healthcare. The aim of this paper is to analyse associations between flood exposure and the use of maternal healthcare (antenatal care visits, birth assisted by skilled birth attendants, and giving birth in a health facility) in Bangladesh for pregnancies/births between 2004 and 2018. Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data from four surveys in the time period 2007–2018 and data on floods from the Emergency Events Database and the Geocoded Disasters Dataset are analysed using multilevel linear probability models. In line with previous results, we find clear bivariate associations between exposure to flooding and maternal healthcare use. These associations are largely confounded by socioeconomic and demographic variables. In general, exposure to flooding — whether measured as exposure to any floods or severe floods — does not affect maternal healthcare use, and we suggest that the lower usage of maternal healthcare in areas exposed to flooding rather relates to the characteristics of the flood-prone areas and their populations, which also relate to lower maternal healthcare use. However, we find negative associations in some supplementary analyses, which suggest that even if there is no effect of floods on average, specific floods may have negative effects on maternal healthcare use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving gender well-being and equality is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. A close examination of female livelihood time allocation can reveal gender inequality in livelihood choices between males and females. Using the feminist political ecology framework, this paper examines how gendered knowledge, roles, and responsibilities influence female livelihood time use in a patriarchal society like Bangladesh. We use a nationally representative household survey data to create Multiple Linear Regression Model to understand the association between economic, cultural, and environmental shocks with the total time allocation toward livelihood activities by women. Our results suggest that use of 'Purdah' by Muslim women acts as a negative detrimental factor towards their livelihood time allocation, thus affirming the complex role of culture and gendered economic activities. Women also allocate less time toward livelihood activities during pregnancy and/or breastfeeding. We find that female livelihood time use also depends on their ability to speak in public, their autonomy in livelihood decision processes, and their ownership in business enterprises. This research suggests creating more robust and gender sensitive policies in Bangladesh that can help achieve the United Nation's goals of Sustainable Development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is the most fundamental need for better yield in agriculture. Worldwide, diesel and electricity are typically used to pump water which contributes to atmospheric pollution. Besides, a power outage affects the irrigation process badly. Without water, the crop may wither away, causing a substantial economic loss. This paper discusses the resilience of a solar PV system during a power outage. HOMER Pro software was used to perform the techno-economic analysis of solar-based irrigation for four major divisions of Bangladesh, while 1-hour power outage was assigned in REopt lite to model the survivability of the system against the grid outage. The simulation outcomes showed that the energy cost is $0.1496/kWh, $0.1502/kWh, $0.1557/kWh, and $0.1576/kWh for Rajshahi, Sylhet, Dhaka, and Chattogram, respectively. About 45% of excess electricity can be stored after fulfilling all requirements. The system is more economical than a microgrid-based water pumping system and a diesel-based system, and the photovoltaic system is technically and economically suitable to pump water if the nearest grid connection is impossible. When connected to the main utility grid, the system can survive without grid power for several hours, subject to daytime outages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of growing research and policy interest are the experiences of people living under conditions of climate change–induced environmental stress, which either are unable to migrate (sometimes described as a 'trapped population') or are seemingly unwilling to do so (sometimes described as the 'voluntarily immobile'). This paper problematises and expands upon these binary categories: examining the complex dimensionality of non-migration as a form of place relations, explored through qualitative study of rural and coastal Bangladeshi communities. Through 60 semi-structured interviews of individuals from four communities in the Kalapara region, the analysis proffers four qualitatively derived and inter-related dimensions of voluntary and involuntary non-migration framed as a form of place relations. These four dimensions concern the following: (1) livelihood opportunities, (2) place obduracy, (3) risk perceptions, and (4) social-structural constraints, with the interplay between these elements explaining diverse non-migratory experiences. In our analysis, 'place obduracy' is introduced as a concept to describe the differential speed of environmental change and socio-cultural adaptation responses to explain non-migratory experiences. Our discussion provides insight into how to best support non-migrant people's adaptive capacity in the face of growing climate emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread rapidly from China to most other countries around the world in early 2020 killing millions of people. To prevent virus spread, world governments implemented a variety of response measures. This paper's objectives were to discuss the country's adopted measures to combat the virus through June 2020, identify gaps in the measures' effectiveness, and offer possible mitigations to those gaps. The measures taken included screening device deployment across international air and land ports, flight suspensions and closures from COVID-19 affected countries, and declaration and extension of a national public holiday (equivalent to lockdowns in other countries). Identified gaps were test kit, PPE, ICU beds, and ventilator shortages, limited public awareness, and insufficient coordination and collaboration among national and international partners. Proper and timely risk mapping, preparedness, communication, coordination, and collaboration among governments and organizations, and public awareness and engagement would have provided sufficient COVID-19 mitigation in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global energy demand is continuously increasing where the pollution and harmful greenhouse gases that originated from the burning of fossil fuels are alarming. Various policies, targets, and strategies are being set to the carbon footprint. Renewable energy penetration into the utility grid, as well as bidirectional power flow between generation and end-users, are also potentials. A microgrid energy system can help distribute energy from intermittent renewable generation centres to load centres more effectively. The microgrid system efficiently utilises electricity from renewable sources, such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass. The potential renewable transition opens up a lot of possibilities for microgrids that are both grid-connected and islanded. Digital technology, specialised energy measurement devices, a fast and efficient communication system, energy storage systems, and dynamic control techniques are all used. The renewable-based microgrid system faces numerous techno-economical vulnerabilities due to the volatile and environmental dependencies of renewable energy. The complex power converter stages, lack of strict regulatory rules, grid operations and management, communications between the centralised and decentralised controllers come into play while investigating the microgrid system. This paper focuses on the prospects of renewable-based microgrid system implementation in Bangladesh. The major challenges and solutions to those challenges are described with all the current breakthroughs across the world to solve some core issues regarding microgrid planning, controlling, maintenance, resilience, and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare is the most important dimension to assess the health quality of people in any region. This paper is devoted to explore the role of Indo-Bangladesh international border to access the healthcare services in the districts of West Bengal which shares its whole eastern boundary with Bangladesh. For this purpose, the study adopted the Penchansky and Thomas's concept of access which includes five dimensions i.e. availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodation and acceptability. The results of the study are pointing towards that inequality is prevailing in each dimensions of access to healthcare services between the Border Adjacent Districts and Border Distant Districts and it is very unfortunate that the districts located far from the border are in a better position to access each dimension of healthcare as comparison with the districts sharing its border with Bangladesh. Finally, the study concludes with the help of composite score of Healthcare Access Index that the Indo-Bangladesh international border adjacent location is more prone to vulnerability and distance from this border makes the location able to enjoy better access to healthcare facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote women empowerment, entrepreneurship provide economic power meant to increase women's access to economic resources in the households. This paper aims to address the effect of entrepreneurship on specific domains of women decision-making power and how it relates to women empowerment. Furthermore, it examines a specific pathway to better understand whether increased access to entrepreneurship translates into empowerment in intra-household decision-making for tribal women of Bangladesh. One hundred and eighty tribal women entrepreneurs interviewed considering two districts of Sylhet division using face to face interview schedules and Focus Group Discussion. The results generally indicate that four socioeconomic factors as education, personal income, training and association with NGOs, were major to becoming entrepreneurs. In some cases the value of decision goes to the husband; in other cases, all goes to the wife alone; in other cases the value of decisions is shared equally husband and wife. Tribal women become more empowered after entrepreneurship and increased their intra-household decision-making from 0.71 to 1.30. It also found that entrepreneurship had a positive and significant impact on women empowerment in the emerging of tribal economies. It was therefore, suggested that Govt. and other relevant organization should take some initiatives as specific enterprise related infrastructure development, accessibility to loans, enterprise based education, and specific market establishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]