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This study aims to analyze the supply chain of potatoes and determine the factors affecting postharvest losses of potatoes at the producer level of Bangladesh. Data were collected through a face-to-face interview schedule from a sample of total 60- 30 farmers, 6 wholesalers, 5 aratdars, 5 retailers, and 14 consumers in Sirajdikhan and Sadar Upazila of Munshiganj district. Descriptive statistics (percentages, frequencies, etc.) and multiple linear regression analysis were used for this study. The result shows that channel 4 is the longest marketing chain in the study area which includes the marketing actors – farmers, aratdars, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. In the supply chain of potatoes, the amount of postharvest loss is 6.6% for the producer’s level, 5.3% for the wholesale level, 1.10% for the aratdar level, and 2.1% for the retailer level in the study area. The regression model reveals that age and amount of production have a significant positive relationship, while experience has a significant negative relationship with the postharvest losses of potatoes. The study also shows that lack of storage facility (48.94%) and poor packaging system (32.73%) are the major reasons for occurring postharvest losses of potatoes. The farmers and intermediaries suggested that it is necessary to identify the maturity stage of potatoes at harvesting time (70%), improve the cold storage facility (56.67%), and improve the loading and unloading system (56.25%), etc. for reducing postharvest losses of potato.

In this research, the development of digital prepaid energy meters for homes and businesses that use GSM technology is discussed. The reduction of billing cost electricity wastage is the primary goal of prototype development. The GSM module is used to receive short messaging service (SMS) from the user's mobile phone, which automatically enables the controller to take any further action, such as to help the consumer save money by using prepaid energy meter systems offered by power generation and distribution companies. Embedded C is used to integrate the system's microcontroller and GSM network interface. The integration was carried out using Easy EDA software. When the balance on the energy meter falls too low, the system sends the consumer an SMS. Consumer research is then lacking, leaving power without. After getting the SMS command, the Consumer then balances his or her investigation. Therefore, each item facilitates the usage of electrical power in homes and businesses. The prepaid energy meter is then turned ON or OFF by the microcontroller unit, which subsequently automatically controls the electrical power to homes and businesses. In other words, it responds to the message it receives by reading it from the cell phone and controlling the equipment accordingly.

This study was carried out to investigate the factors affecting food security status, patterns of food consumption, and changes in consumption behavior. It also evaluated the gender role in food security and consumption practices in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The research was both in quantitative and qualitative in nature. Qualitative research tools such as FGD, KII and Case Study were used to collect the primary data. Data analysis was done by Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Binary Logistic regression model was used to determine the factors affecting in food security status of the selected households. Regression result shows that income, availability of food and food stock were found to be positive and size of household negatively associated with the food security. Rice dominates the food consumption pattern of the rural people. Income, production, education and awareness are causes of change in consumption behaviour of the people of study area. Men have pivotal role in household food security. Male members involve in income, assure of family assets, and on the contrary female have to manage almost all the unproductive household affairs. In the poorer household women have a little contribution in food security due to male dominating. Women contributions were more than that of men in household food consumption. Most of the household related tasks and household works related to food consumption were done by female.

This study analyzed the gender role in agricultural activities with respect to the change of technologies and determine their implications for improvement of household status in Netrokona district. The study followed the simple random sampling technique to select 300 sample respondents for household survey through the semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive analysis such as, number and percentages, was used. Multiple regressions used in order to explore the relationship between the income and other factors. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques were utilized. Women perception index (WPI) was measured using rank ordered approach. The findings showed that there has been significant change occurred with the livestock rearing activities which are 116.79% after adoption in new technology. According to this study, male are involved in decision making in the following activities as reported by the respondents: sale of produce (84%), purchase and repair (78%), weed control (70%), land preparation (76%), spraying (65%) and planting (51%), where women respondents reported that they are mostly involves in harvesting 89%, processing 81%, manuring 48% and weed control 59%. Our research also shows that 78% and 73% of men have owned small equipment and thresher, Ox-plough, and power tiller where women own only 21 percent, 2 percent, and 5 percent respectively. It is evident that the perception regarding farming with adoption of new technology attain highest score and 2nd highest ranked perception is technical training on technology, similarly the 3rd ranked occupied is adoption in HYV where last rank score on use of indigenous technology. It means that most of them prefer modern technology in terms of productivity. The experience on modern technology of respondents has a positive coefficient and it was 0.492. Given these facts, our research has explained what keeps women’s rates of modern agricultural technology adoption low.

This study demonstrates a successful processing and utilization of banana rachis cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) dispersed clay composite filter which is capable of adsorbing dye and heavy metal ions namely Pb(II) and Cr(III) from industrial wastewater. The composite of different compositions was prepared by dispersing the cellulose nanocrystals, obtained by acid hydrolysis of banana rachis fibres, within the tri-ethyl amine treated clay. The CNC and treated clay were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. Industrial wastewater containing a basic yellow2 dye and two heavy metal ions, Pb(II) and Cr(III), was passed through the prepared filters set in a column. The dye and metal ions adsorption capability of the filters were analyzed by determining the dye and metal ions concentration into the water before and after passing through the composite filter. The concentration of dye and metal ions in water was determined by a UV-visible spectrophotometer and an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, respectively. It was found that the dye adsorption capacity of the composite filters was about 50 mg per gram of composite as well as Pb(II) and Cr(III) ions adsorption capacities of the composite filters were ˃10.0 mg and ˃12.4 mg respectively per gram of the composite when CNC content in the composite was ˃30 wt.%. It was also found that the metal ions adsorption capability of the composite filter was improved with increasing CNC content in the composites.

Understanding the evolutionary and genetic underpinnings of susceptibility to pathogens is of fundamental importance across a wide swathe of biology. Much theoretical and empirical effort has focused on genetic variants of large effect, but pathogen susceptibility often appears to be a polygenic complex trait. Here we investigate the quantitative genetics of survival over 120 hours of exposure (“susceptibility”) of C. elegans to three bacterial pathogens of varying virulence, along with the non-pathogenic OP50 strain of E. coli. We compare the genetic (co)variance input by spontaneous mutations accumulated under minimal selection to the standing genetic (co)variance in a set of ∼50 wild isolates. Three conclusions emerge. First, with one exception, mutations increase susceptibility to pathogens, and susceptibility is uncorrelated with fitness in the absence of pathogens. Second, the orientation in trait space of the heritable (co)variance of wild isolates is sufficiently explained by mutation. However, pathogen susceptibility is clearly under purifying, apparently directional, selection of magnitude similar to that of competitive fitness in the MA conditions. The results provide no evidence for fitness tradeoffs between pathogen susceptibility and fitness in the absence of pathogens, nor that balancing selection is important in maintaining genetic variation for susceptibility to these bacterial pathogens.

Device-to-device (D2D) communication is such a paradigm that anticipated to play a cabalistic role for the next-generation cellular networks especially for the 5G cellular network as it promises to extend the network coverage and offload some traffics from the cellular transceiver’s side to the user devices’ side and it may operate in both licensed and unlicensed spectra simultaneously. D2D communication in the unlicensed spectrum may facilitate the purpose of D2D communication as the licensed spectrum almost possessed. Interference is the main drawback of the unlicensed spectrum. In this paper, we propose the request-to-send/clear-to-send (RTS/CTS) mechanism with the free-to-receive (FTR)-MNAV technique to improve the performance of the D2D communication in the unlicensed spectrum. Deployment of the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol can alleviate interference, but collisions occur due to the hidden node problem. The integration of the RTS/CTS mechanism with the CSMA/CA protocol can minimize the hidden node problem, but the blocking and false blocking problems are introduced. The proposed scheme can reduce the blocking and false blocking problems, which improves the performance of the D2D communication in the unlicensed spectrum where neighbor nodes maintain Multiple Network Allocation Vector (MNAV) to resolve the blocking problem and broadcast the FTR control packet to the respective neighbor nodes if the transmission is completed prior to the expiration of the timer or actual communication does not take place due to any reason, thus solving the false blocking problem and improving the performance of the D2D communication in the unlicensed spectrum.

Mungbean is an important indigenous vegetable legume providing protein for the rural and urban poor in South and Southeast Asia. This study was conducted to analyze the value chain, determine the value addition at different levels of value chain of mungbean and identify some constraints of mungbean marketing in Bangladesh. Using a structured questionnaire with face to face interviews, 120 samples were surveyed which were collected from Barisal and Patuakhali district of Bangladesh during the period of 2017-18. The stratified random sampling technique was used in selecting the sample. This study found that the main actors of mungbean marketing were farmer, arathder, wholesaler, retailer and consumer. The study also revealed that mungbean production was found profitable. The study revealed that the cost of mungbean production of a farmer was Tk 40955/ha on full cost basis and Tk. 28055/ha on cash cost basis. The average gross return of a farmer was Tk. 49775/ha and gross margin was found Tk. 8820/ha on full cost basis and Tk. 21720/ha on cash cost basis. Value addition of arathder and wholesaler was Tk 80/maund and Tk 190/maund respectively and value addition of retailer was Tk 410/maund. In the study area farmers and traders mentioned some problems at production and marketing level such as shortage of capital, lack of labour, insecticides, severe attack of insects, dominance of intermediaries, lack of adequate market facility etc. So, government should take proper initiative to solve these problems. [J Bangladesh Agril Univ 2021; 19(4.000): 521-527]

Bangladesh Journal of Medicine, Vol 23 No 2, 2012, Page 62-66 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjmed.v23i2.14986