大豆発芽時期におけるグリシニン分解酵素の活性変動

　Changes in glycinin-digesting protease activity during soybean germination have been investigated. The glycinin-digesting protease activities of imbibed or germinated soybean seed were assayed by RP‒HPLC using a tryptic peptide from CM‒glycinin or by SDS‒PAGE using CM‒glycinin as the endogenous substrate. Proteolytic activities of the germinated soybean seeds were found through the whole period of germination, the activities were maintained significantly unchanged during germination for 4 days, and then those specific activities declined slowly. AE‒HPLC analysis of the glycinin-digesting protease in the imbibed or germinated soybean seeds showed unchanged peaks corresponding to glycinin- digesting activity, suggesting that the glycinin-digesting protease was not induced during germination but had already been synthesized during seed maturation.　大豆発芽期におけるグリシニン分解酵素 (98 kDa SBP) の活性変動を解析した．大豆種子を４時間水で膨潤後， 25 ℃ 暗黒下で発芽させた．経時的にサンプリングを行い，2M NaCl を含むトリス緩衝液 (㏗ 7.0) により粗酵素を抽出 後，グリシニン由来のトリプシン分解ペプチドを基質としてグリシニン分解酵素の活性変動を逆相 HPLC により追 跡した．その結果，種子膨潤後４日間比活性はほぼ一定の値を保ち，以後徐々に低下することが分かった．次いで， 粗酵素溶液からイオン交換 HPLC により98 kDa SBP を部分精製するとともに，発芽期における 98 kDa SBP の消長 を解析したところ，98 kDa SBP は乾燥種子及び各発芽段階の種子中全てに認められ，かつグリシン分解活性もグリ シニン由来のトリプシン分解ペプチド基質に対する活性と同様に認められた．以上の結果から，98 kDa SBP は種子 発芽に伴い誘導されるプロテアーゼではなく，種子貯蔵型のプロテアーゼであることが明らかになった

Economics of Thai koi (climbing perch, Anabas testudineus) farming in pond in Bangladesh

With the high growth and productivity, Thai koi has opened up a new horizon of pond culture in Bangladesh. However, its growth varied widely year to year causing fluctuations in production. This study was undertaken to explore the farm insight practices in an economic viewpoint by framing a total of 149 farmers from Mymensingh district in Bangladesh. The study analyzed the farm profitability and other farming practices based on a per hectare basis for the three feed categories and determine the feed contribution to production. Among variables, feed alone experienced 73% of the gross production costs, implies a greater influence of feed on production. Though, the gross cost was higher, hence, the cost of producing per kg fish was the lowest for the floating feed. The farm income also varied with the variation of input costs among the feed brands and the performance of floating feed was found to be outstanding. Furthermore, floating feed yielded the best performances in terms of feed conversion ratio or daily mean weight gain of fish. Although, the initial investment is higher with the floating, feed farmers can earn much additional returns from the extra investment compared to other feed technologies. Generally, with an average revenue of fish was US$1.59 kg-1 and cost of US$ 1.38 kg-1, Thai koi production is considered to be a profitable agri-business. Finally, the outlook for the Thai koi farming could be very optimistic in filling the upcoming demand of fish, thus greatly improved human nutrition and food security by removing the problems and constraints are identified

Stochastic modeling of production risk and technical efficiency of Thai koi (Anabas testudineus)farming in Northern Bangladesh

Thai koi is one of the high commercially valued farm fishes which have expanded tremendously in the northern part of Bangladesh. However, despite its impressive growth in the initial years, output of the industry is highly volatile across different years and farms. This research, following the Just and Pope framework, has made use of Kumbhakar’s (2002) extended stochastic frontier model (SFM) to estimate production risk and technical efficiency (TE) in Thai koi farming. Results show that feed is the most important input significantly influencing production. Zeolite and pesticide appear to be risk-reducing, while fingerlings, labor, feed and salt turn out to be risk-increasing inputs. The inefficiency model indicates that labor and pond area significantly reduce the technical inefficiency. Feed, fingerling and lime also act as TE-improving factors. Education of farmers improves TE, while experience, training and frequency of water change do not impact the TE. The mean TE scores are 0.73 and 0.96 for the flexible risk estimate and conventional SFM estimates, respectively. TE values appear to become exaggerated when production risk is excluded from the model. SFM recognizes that risk is involved in Thai koi farming that causes lower TE

Drying and quality features of selected maize varieties dried in commercial processing complexes

The drying status and quality aspects in terms of physical, nutritional, functional properties and microbial status of three common maize varieties (900M gold, Pioneer 92 and Kavri) dried in different drying complexes in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh are presented in this paper. Total drying varied from18-20 h for drying of freshly harvested maize varieties in the complexes where sun drying method was used. The overall calculation reveled that drying cost in different mills ranged from US$12.12 to US$14.75 per ton of fresh maize (@1US$ equals Tk.80).  The dimensions of the maize varieties as length, width and thickness were found to be ranged from 12.62±0.34 to 14.54±0.32, 10.60±0.35 to 10.24±0.21, 6.38±0.28 to 6.74±0.28 mm, respectively. The 900M gold variety gave the   highest bulk density of 575.84±3.8 kg/m3. The highest crude protein (8.75±0.10%) and water solubility index (1.90±0.02gm/gm of gel) were found in   the dried samples of   900 M gold variety at 14 % moisture content. The highest ash, fat and starch content were 2.01±0.02%, 3.97±0.09 % and 76.33±0.88%, respectively in Pioneer 92 variety .The highest microbial load was found at higher moisture dried grain (14%) than lower moisture dried samples. The variation in moisture content during storage was found to be affected the quality of dried. Maize should be dried at moisture content less than 14% to maintain quality and to keep free from microbial infestation for future safe use as food and fee

Dielectric studies of some oxide materials, nitride ceramics and glasses

This thesis is primarily concerned with the evaluation and comparison of the dielectric behaviour of materials which may find application as substrates in microelectronic high-performance packaging. In the introductory chapter the factors governing the choice of the most suitable dielectric substrate for compatibility with silicon technology are reviewed; it is shown that in addition to good dielectric properties the thermal conductivity is important if high power packages are required together with the ability to obtain good matching of thermal expansion coefficients. This is followed by a survey of the present theories of dielectric behaviour with special emphasis on the Universal law of dielectric response and its applicability to oxide and glass ceramics which exhibit hopping conductivity. The experimental methods for the measurement of dielectric parameters are outlined in Chapter 3 which includes an account of techniques developed for studying materials only available as powders. The three substrate systems studied were aluminium oxide, aluminium nitride and glass-on-molybdenum and in the case of the two former materials a range of both pure and impure specimens were examined both in single crystal and sintered polycrystalline form. The detailed experimental results are presented and discussed in the three succeeding chapters for each of the materials in turn; these results include the values of permittivity and dielectric loss, measured over a frequency range of 5 x 10(^2) Hz to 1 x 10(^7) Hz, the temperature variation of permittivity both in the low temperature (85K to 293k) and high temperature (20ºC to about 600ºC) regions and the d.c. and a.c. conductivity in the high temperature range. In their pure form each of these materials would be suitable as a substrate, having permittivities at room temperature of ϵ ' (_s) = 10.2 for polycrystalline Al(_2)(^0)(_3), ϵ' (_s) = 9.2 for polycrystalline AlN (which has a thermal conductivity of about one-hundred times that of alumina) and ϵ' (_s) - 6.5 for glass-on-molybdenum and dielectric losses in the region of tan δ - 10(^-3). The effect of impurities is shown to be very significant leading in all cases to some increase in permittivity and a much larger increase in dielectric loss. The measurements made on powders are given and discussed in Chapter 7. In the studies on the powders used as starting materials for the manufacture of substrates it was shown that by making measurements at low temperature (77K) the effects of intergranular space charge polarization could be overcome yielding information valuable for quality control of impurity content; measurements made on powders of some high temperature oxide superconducting materials are also given. The final chapter, Chapter 8, summarises the overall conclusions of the research and makes some suggestions for future work

Effektivitet, risiko og forvaltning av fiskerisektoren i Bangladesh

This dissertation consists of an introduction and five independent papers on Bangladesh fisheries sector. The first paper investigates how the fishery sector has developed and identifies the potential problems faced by the fisheries sector. Findings show that both fish production and productivity have increased for aquaculture and capture fisheries. Several problems, possible solutions and future prospects for fisheries sector are discussed in this paper. The second paper estimates the profitability and productivityfarm size relationship in aquaculture and investigates how smallholder farmers can sustain fish farming in the long run. It shows that the inverse profitability-farm size relationship holds but in general large fish farmers are more efficient, productive and profitable compared to small farmers. Access to credit and training are essential to sustain fish farming in the long-run. The third paper determines the production risk of pangas fish farming in Bangladesh. Results reveal that significant production risk exists in pangas farming. The use of large amount of fingerlings has risk increasing effects for all types of farms (small, medium and large farms) but feed usage is found to have a risk-increasing effect on production for large farms only, while the reverse holds in case of small farms. Findings suggest that access to credit and training in the fish farming can reduce production risk for smallholders. The fourth paper is on floodplain aquaculture where the impact on poverty and inequality of community-based aquaculture (CBA) system is investigated. We find that fish income and total household income is significantly and equally distributed after adopting this management system. Moreover, CBA management system can reduce the incidence and depth of poverty in the common resource areas. The fifth and last paper investigates whether excess capacity exists in gill-net fleet in the Bay of Bengal. If it does, then to what extent? And what are the policy alternatives for sustainable marine resource management? Results depict that the high degree of excess capacity exists in both monsoon and nonmonsoon seasons and more than one third of boats can be decommissioned. Licensing restrictions appear to be an effective instrument to eliminate the excess capacity from the fishery. However, this will have large distributional effects that need to be taken into account

Panel Cointegration and Pooled Mean Group Estimations of Energy-Output Dynamics in South Asia

This study employs the panel cointegration and pooled mean group (PMG) techniques to examine the long run relationships between energy consumption and GDP for 5 South Asian countries from 1981 to 2009. Unit root and panel cointegration tests find a long run relationship between energy consumption and GDP after allowing for country-specific effect. Furthermore, we use the PMG technique to identify the magnitude of this relationship. Our results are consistent with the theory that suggests a role of energy use in GDP. On average, a 1% increase in energy consumption leads to a 0.61% increase in the long run GDP in South Asia from 1981 to 2009. Hence, it is apparent that energy is an important component to maintain the economic activities in these countries. These results have important implications for policy makers of South Asian countries which have experienced magnificent growth performance along with a sharp rise in consumption demand for energy in last few decades

Evolution of humanoid robot and contribution of various countries in advancing the research and development of the platform

A human like autonomous robot which is capable to adapt itself with the changing of its environment and continue to reach its goal is considered as Humanoid Robot. These characteristics differs the Android from the other kind of robots. In recent years there has been much progress in the development of Humanoid and still there are a lot of scopes in this field. A number of research groups are interested in this area and trying to design and develop a various platforms of Humanoid based on mechanical and biological concept. Many researchers focus on the designing of lower torso to make the Robot navigating as like as a normal human being do. Designing the lower torso which includes west, hip, knee, ankle and toe, is the more complex and more challenging task. Upper torso design is another complex but interesting task that includes the design of arms and neck. Analysis of walking gait, optimal control of multiple motors or other actuators, controlling the Degree of Freedom (DOF), adaptability control and intelligence are also the challenging tasks to make a Humanoid to behave like a human. Basically research on this field combines a variety of disciplines which make it more thought-provoking area in Mechatronics Engineering. In this paper a various platforms for Humanoid Robot development are identified and described based on the evolutionary research on robotics. The paper also depicts a virtual map of humanoid platform development from the ancient time to present time. It is very important and effective to analyze the development phases of androids because of its Business, Educational and Research value. Basic comparisons between the different designs of Humanoid Structures are also analyzed in this paper. ©ICROS

Is greenness an optimal hedge for sectoral stock indices?

The paper examines the role of green bonds in hedging the risk against industry portfolios and other major asset classes. It mainly focuses on how the greenness of the portfolio reduces the risk of green portfolios containing green bonds and 11 industrial sectors and major financial assets from October 2014 to November 2021. The results show that the risk of green portfolios is lower than that of unhedged (non-green) portfolios. Furthermore, our study provides evidence that the hedging effectiveness of green portfolios improves during the COVID–19 pandemic. Finally, the results show that investors across the risk aversion spectrum gain higher utility after considering the transaction costs while investing in green portfolios. These results are new additions to prior literature that can interest investors, fund managers, and policymakers

Competitiveness and Growth Hindrances of Light Engineering Industry of Bangladesh: A Study on Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (MSME) Owners

Indigenous light engineering talents of Dholaikhal and Jinjira have long been life line for the manufacturing industries and automobile sector of Bangladesh. Recent studies have shown that they are passing through hard times and the Government institutions are not supporting them to face the challenges and capture opportunities of their competitiveness and growth. First generation indigenous light engineering entrepreneurs have passed on the sector to the next generation. Much around them has changed. This study attempts to assess the major hindrances of achieving competitiveness and growth for the light engineering MSMEs in the changed scenario. A qualitative study was conducted through depth interview of the micro, small and medium sized LE enterprise owners, observation and validation workshop method. It looked beyond the words of the interviewees and read between the assembly lines of the factories. Findings show that the major hindrance to their competiveness and growth cultural factors, rather than popular view of resource scarcity. Keywords: Light engineering industry, micro, small and medium enterprises, growth and competitiveness, hindrance, Bangladesh, institutional role, need-delivery gap matrix.