Implications of quality deterioration for public foodgrain stock management and consumers in Bangladesh

In the late 1990s, government policy in Bangladesh shifted in favor of increased public foodgrain stocks, setting official minimum stock targets of 1.0 to 1.2 million tons, as compared to operational targets of about 700 to 800 thousand metric tons in the early 1990s. Because no mechanism for stock rotation involving simultaneous buying and selling grain at a wholesale level exists, higher stock levels with no increase in distribution led to an increase in average age of stocks and problems of stock quality deterioration. This paper extends earlier analyses of stock policy by focusing on a key aspect of stock management in Bangladesh: the economic costs of stock quality deterioration in storage, including the implicit costs to recipients of Public Food Distribution System (PFDS) foodgrain. Using market prices to value procurement and distribution of rice and wheat, consumer and producer subsidies accounted for 57.4 and 20.9 percent, respectively, of net outlay in 2000/01. Implicit losses to rice consumers due to quality deterioration were significant in 2000/01: about 1.05 billion Taka (about 19 million dollars), equal to 10.9 percent of total net outlay on rice of the PFDS. Analysis of the costs and benefits of alternative stock targets based on calculations of the minimum age of stock on a monthly basis indicates that moderate increases in the size of stock (e.g. 200 thousand tons), lead to only small net marginal outlays. However, unless procurement and distribution are also raised, the age and quality of the stock for distribution deteriorates, resulting in significant losses to program recipients.Grain production ,Bangladesh ,Food supply ,

ADO-Tutor: Intelligent Tutoring System for leaning ADO.NET

This paper describes an Intelligent Tutoring System for helping users with ADO.NET called ADO-Tutor. The Intelligent Tutoring System was designed and developed using (ITSB) authoring tool for building intelligent educational systems. The user learns through the intelligent tutoring system ADO.NET, the technology used by Microsoft.NET to connect to databases. The material includes lessons, examples, and questions. Through the feedback provided by the intelligent tutoring system, the user's understanding of the material is assessed, and accordingly can be guided to different difficulty level of exercises and/or the lessons. The Intelligent Tutoring System was evaluated by a group of users and the results were more than satisfactory in terms of the quality of the material and the design of the system

Type of Tomato Classification Using Deep Learning

Abstract: Tomatoes are part of the major crops in food security. Tomatoes are plants grown in temperate and hot regions of South American origin from Peru, and then spread to most countries of the world. Tomatoes contain a lot of vitamin C and mineral salts, and are recommended for people with constipation, diabetes and patients with heart and body diseases. Studies and scientific studies have proven the importance of eating tomato juice in reducing the activity of platelets in diabetics, which helps in protecting them from developing deadly blood clots. A tomato classification approach is presented with a data set containing approximately 5,266 images with 7 species belonging to tomatoes. The Neural Network Algorithms (CNN), a deep learning technique applied widely in image recognition, is used for this task

An Intelligent Tutoring System for Teaching the 7 Characteristics for Living Things

Recently, due to the rapid progress of computer technology, researchers develop an effective computer program to enhance the achievement of the student in learning process, which is Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). Science is important because it influences most aspects of everyday life, including food, energy, medicine, leisure activities and more. So learning science subject at school is very useful, but the students face some problem in learning it. So we designed an ITS system to help them understand this subject easily and smoothly by analyzing it and explaining it in a systematic way. In this paper, we describe the design of an Intelligent Tutoring System for teaching science for grade seven to help students know the 7 characteristics for living things smoothly. The system provides all topics of living things and generates some questions for each topic and the students should answer these questions correctly to move to the next level. In the result of an evaluation of the ITS, students like the system and they said that it is very useful for them and for their studies

Adaptive Intelligent Tutoring System for learning Computer Theory

In this paper, we present an intelligent tutoring system developed to help students in learning Computer Theory. The Intelligent tutoring system was built using ITSB authoring tool. The system helps students to learn finite automata, pushdown automata, Turing machines and examines the relationship between these automata and formal languages, deterministic and nondeterministic machines, regular expressions, context free grammars, undecidability, and complexity. During the process the intelligent tutoring system gives assistance and feedback of many types in an intelligent manner according to the behavior of the student. An evaluation of the intelligent tutoring system has revealed reasonably acceptable results in terms of its usability and learning abilities are concerned

Bumper crops, producer incentives and persistent poverty

Food aid has played a useful role in Government of Bangladesh efforts to increase food security in the last three decades, adding to foodgrain availability, supplying wheat for targeted distribution to poor households, and helping to finance development projects and programs. However, sustained increases in domestic production of both rice and wheat have increased the likelihood of disincentive effects arising from continued large inflows of food aid. The analysis shows that if good rice harvests continue so that real rice prices remain at their levels of 2000, and if international wheat prices return to their average 1995-99 levels, then public wheat distribution may need to be cut to levels below the current amount of food aid received (650 thousand tons in 2000/2001) to avoid reducing domestic prices below import parity. However, resources will continue to be required for programs that increase access to food by the poor, contribute to increased utilization of food and result in improved nutritional outcomes, even if the need for food aid to increase availability of foodgrains diminishes.Food relief Bangladesh. ,Food security. ,Development projects. ,Rice Prices Bangladesh. ,Wheat Prices. ,

The Availability of the Resource Standard and Partnership as One of the Possibilities of Excellence in Palestinian Universities According to the European Model

The study aimed to identify the availability of the resource and partnership standard as one of the possibilities of excellence in Palestinian universities according to the European model. The study used the analytical descriptive method. The study was conducted on the university leadership at Al - Azhar and Islamic Universities, where the study population consisted of (282) individuals. The study sample consisted of (135) individuals, (119) of them responded, and the questionnaire was used in collecting the data. The study has reached a number of results, the most important of which is the existence of a high standard of resources and partnership in the Palestinian public universities operating in the southern governorates. The fields of the resource and partnership criteria were as follows: (79.8%) management of internal and external partnerships; management of technical resources (technology) (76.4%), Buildings, equipment and resources (76%), Finance Management (72.8%). The study presented a number of recommendations, the most important of which is: Increasing the interest of universities in applying the criteria of resources and partnership as one of the criteria of excellence, increasing the interest of universities in managing finance and obtaining funding for their various activities, periodic maintenance of buildings and equipment and ensuring their suitability to the requirements of the educational process

Intermediate Role of the Criterion of Focus on the Students Benefiting in the Relationship between Adopting the Criterion of Partnership and Resources and Achieving Community Satisfaction in the Palestinian Universities

The study aimed at identifying the intermediate role of the criterion of emphasis on students and beneficiaries in the relationship between adopting the criterion of partnership and resources and achieving the satisfaction of the society. The study used the analytical descriptive method. The study was conducted on university leadership in Al-Azhar, Islamic and Al-Aqsa Universities. The sample of the study consisted of (200) individuals, 182 of whom responded, and the questionnaire was used in collecting the data. The study reached a number of results, the most important of which were: The level of adoption by the Palestinian universities of the criterion of partnership and resources came to a large extent. The level of adoption by the Palestinian universities of the criterion of emphasis on the beneficiary students was very high. The criterion of partnership and resources to achieve the satisfaction of the community surrounding the Palestinian universities, the existence of a statistically significant impact of the adoption of the criterion of partnership and resources to strengthen the focus on students benefiting in Palestinian universities, The focus on the students benefiting from the satisfaction of the community surrounding the Palestinian universities, the existence of a statistically significant impact on the adoption of the criterion of partnership and resources to achieve the satisfaction of the community surrounding the Palestinian universities, The study presented a number of recommendations, most important of which are: Increase interest in the resource and partnership criterion through enhancing the university's resources and developing internal and external partnerships to serve the university and the society. Increase the focus on students and beneficiaries by providing an appropriate educational environment and academic programs that meet the needs of the labor market. Through the strengthening of existing community service centers and the establishment of new community centers, strengthening the partnership of industrial companies and promoting scientific research for the benefit of universities and society

Potato Classification Using Deep Learning

Abstract: Potatoes are edible tubers, available worldwide and all year long. They are relatively cheap to grow, rich in nutrients, and they can make a delicious treat. The humble potato has fallen in popularity in recent years, due to the interest in low-carb foods. However, the fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals it provides can help ward off disease and benefit human health. They are an important staple food in many countries around the world. There are an estimated 200 varieties of potatoes, which can be classified into a number of categories based on the cooked texture and ingredient functionality. Using a public dataset of 2400 images of potatoes, we trained a deep convolutional neural network to identify 4 types (Red, Red Washed, Sweet, and White).The trained model achieved an accuracy of 99.5% of test set, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach