Vitamin D deficiency is of particular concern among women in many south Asian countries due to low availability of vitamin D-rich foods, dark skin pigmentation, and cultural and religious practices that promote the wearing of concealing clothing. However, information regarding the vitamin D status of many subpopulations in south Asian countries is limited. The current study was conducted to assess the vitamin D status of 147 Bangladeshi women of reproductive age and determine whether vitamin D status influences susceptibility to arsenic-associated skin lesions (75 cases, 72 controls). Serum 25(OH)D3 levels were measured using a radioimmunoassay. The mean serum vitamin D level among the women in the current study was 60.1 nmol/L, which is well below the cut-off value of 75 nmol/L defining optimal vitamin D status. Over 81% of the women were below this cut-off value. Vitamin D status was not influenced by the presence of arsenic-associated skin lesions. Sun exposure and very low egg consumption were factors identified as significant predictors of vitamin D status (p<0.05, p<0.04, respectively). Every additional hour of sun exposure per week during work was associated with a 0.32 nmol/L, on average, increase in serum vitamin D levels. Very low egg consumption corresponded to a 10.85 nmol/L lower serum vitamin D level compared to frequent egg consumption. Public health efforts in Bangladesh should promote increased consumption of food sources rich in vitamin D. Vitamin D fortification or supplementation may also be viable options to improve the vitamin D status of the population.

This thesis explores the role of environmental perceptions and activism in migration decision-making within the context of a country highly vulnerable to climate change. It focuses on a case study of young climate activists in Bangladesh, and their aspirations for staying or moving. The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. For analysis of migration decisions, the study utilizes a theoretical framework of aspirations and capabilities by De Haas (2021), while incorporating concepts of Hirschman’s (1978) “voice” and Robins’(2022) “duty to loyalty”. The study reveals that climate activists are aware of and concerned about environmental changes, but do not perceive them as immediate threat to their current livelihoods. While they face daily challenges and witness the vulnerability of communities, they express hope and actively choose to stay in their country. Activism serves them to voice their concern and help their community. The constant interaction between the environmental perceptions and activism, shapes their capacity to envision a better future and enhances their aspirations for staying in their motherland

This study explores employee welfare and working conditions in relation to ethical HRM practices from the employees’ perspective in the Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector. This research is inspired by the need to understand the challenges that employees face in their practical work settings and the unfair Human Resource Management (HRM) process that they experience in their work. The interpretivist philosophical approach and the qualitative research approach have been adopted in this research study, while the semi-structured interview method has been applied for primary-data collection. A total of 25 semi-structured interviews with General Employees, Informal Representative Leaders, Employees, Middle and Senior Managers have been undertaken in this process. Five focus-group discussions have also been applied to corroborate the data generated from the 25 semi-structured interviews. The case-study strategy has also been implemented as a research strategy and thematic analysis has been applied to the data-analysis process. The findings of this research study show the need for deeper understanding and application of ethical HRM practices in particular national and sectoral contexts, specifically in the Bangladeshi RMG sector. These ethical HRM practices include, but are not limited to, the initiation of rights-based understanding and respect-based perception, the inclusion of welfare facilities, the implementation of a fair payment policy, the equitable recruitment and selection policy, and the initiation and equality of training and development facilities. These new ethical understandings contribute to the field of ethical HRM in the context of the development of employee welfare and decent working conditions in this sector.

This thesis examines how, and the extent to which, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Accord of Bangladesh contributed to transform conflicting relations of the parties, and communities living in the CHT. This case study research has combined two methods: (i) key informant interviews and (ii) consultation of wider secondary literature, reports of accord signing parties, international organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders, newspaper articles, working papers etc. We have developed a process-oriented analytical framework through reviewing eight widely studied peace agreements and their following conflict transformation processes. This theme-based distinctive framework has guided us to conduct a comprehensive analyse of the CHT case. We argue that the 1997 CHT Accord, developed as a part of an internal strategic conflict management and negotiation process, and stipulated for limited territorial power-sharing and localized proportional power-sharing of communities, to a considerable extent helped to transform parties’ conflicting relations, and the conflict itself, despite the Accord’s limited nature and partial implementation. The post-accord immediate implementation of some key provisions helped to build confidence of the parties and engaged them in decision-making process. This restrained them not to return to violence, although an incremental accord implementation process helped to address some complexities but created contradictions and dubious relations between them over some issues. The accord considerably contributed to improve socio-economic conditions of CHT people. Nevertheless, it shifted the dynamics of original conflict towards an intra-ethnic dimension, whereas the inter-community relations remained highly polarized due to inadequate attention paid by relevant stakeholders to bridge their gaps for peace. / Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

No description available.

No description available.

Most of the drinking water supply in rural Bangladesh comes from groundwater collected using shallow tubewells. The tubewells, usually shallow because of the increased cost involved in deeper tubewells, have been installed by local drillers. A Sediment Color Tool was developed, with input from local drillers, that associated the arsenic concentration with specific sediment colors, in order to help the drillers install safe tubewells. This tool was digitized into the phone application, ASMITAS, to reduce subjectivity in sediment color determination due to human error or surrounding conditions, when used with a color sensor. The purpose of this study was to carry out a preliminary assessment of the application performance and usability, and the results provided by the application for color identification. 35 sediments were used and assigned into 4 different data sets to allow for comparison. Two data sets were assigned a Munsell color manually, while two were assigned the Munsell Soil Color (or Red-Green-Blue color) through use of the digital app. The sensor, the Nix Color Sensor Pro 2, was validated through a literature review and is considered accurate in identifying the color of the soil sediments. The data sets were compared based on the Delta E 2000 formula to determine the color difference between the data sets. The most relevant result of this method was between the Red-Green-Blue that the Nix Sensor originally provided to the application versus the closest matching Munsell code that the application could provide. It showed that the library from which the Munsell color was drawn was not yet expansive enough to accurately identify all sediments that may be scanned. Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black color comparisons were made to ascertain which aspects of the color are the most difficult to identify. It was found that both the sensor and the human eye had difficulties in identifying differences in the yellow percentage of several of the samples. The results showed that there may be greater need for distinction of which yellow percentages of Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black belong to which color sediment. Overall, the application appears to have a small number of less prominent features and functions to improve on prior to the publication of the application. At this stage of development, the main goal lies in the improvement and building of the Munsell color code reference library and the library of arsenic concentrations associated with each sediment color within the application, in order to improve the accuracy of the results. / Största delen av dricksvattenförsörjningen i lantlig Bangladesh kommer från grundvatten som samlas in med rörbrunnar. Rörbrunnarna, som vanligtvis är grunda som en följd av kostnaderna, har installerats av lokala borrare. Under 2007 antogs det att färgen på sedimentet i vilket rörbrunnarna placeras ger en indikation på arsenikens koncentration. Därför utvecklades Sediment Color Tool med input från de lokala borrarna. Verktyget vidareutvecklades till en digital app, ASMITAS, för att minska subjektiviteten i markfärgbestämning på grund av mänskliga fel eller omgivande förhållanden. Syftet med denna studie var att utvärdera applikationens prestanda i detta stadie av dess utveckling och färgidentifiering som genomförts av applikationen. 35 sediment användes i första bedömningen och klassificerades fyra gånger i fyra olika datamängder för att möjliggöra jämförelse. Två datamängder tilldelades en Munsell Soil Color manuellt, medan två tilldelades sin färg genom användning av den digitala appen. Sensorn som användes, Nix Color Sensor Pro 2, validerades genom en litteraturöversikt och anses vara korrekt när det gäller att identifiera färgen på sediment. De fyra datamängderna jämfördes visuellt med användning av färgbrickor. De jämfördes baserat på DE2000-formeln för att bestämma färgskillnaden mellan datamängden. Det mest avslöjande resultatet med denna metod var mellan dem två digitalt förvärvade datamängderna. Resultatet föreslår att referensbiblioteket i ASMITAS, från vilket matchen togs, ännu inte var tillräckligt stort för att identifiera alla sedimentprover noggrant för att ej vara märkbar för det mänskliga ögat. Cyan-Magenta-Gul-Svart jämförelser gjordes för att se vilka aspekter av färgen som är svårast att identifiera. Resultaten visade att både sensorn och det mänskliga ögat hade svårigheter att identifiera skillnader i den gula procentandelen av flera av proverna och sedimentfärgerna. Resultaten visade att det kan finnas ett större behov av åtskillnad av vilka gula procentsatser som tillhör vilken färg av sediment (och motsvarande arsenikkoncentration). Det finns ytterligare aspekter och funktioner av appen som är mindre centrala för dess prestanda som bör förbättras innan applikationen publiceras. I detta utvecklingsstadium ligger emellertid huvudmålet i förbättring och uppbyggnad av Munsell- färgkodreferensbiblioteket och biblioteket med arsenik-koncentrationer som är kopplad till varje sedimentfärg i applikationen. Detta för att öka resultatets noggrannhet.

In the present study, a neoclassical general equilibrium model is developed to study the dualistic economic development of a predominantly agrarian economy, Bangladesh. Quantitative analysis is undertaken in order to make assessments of several development strategies within the framework of the model. The linkages between the agricultural (rural) and the manufacturing (urban) sectors via the output and labour markets are incorporated in the model and empirical analysis. In specifying the aggregate relations in the model especially those of the rural sector, the analysis is based on the microeconomic relations of a 'representative peasant household'. The approach is to first estimate the structural parameters of the model (simultaneous system) and then to perform simulation exercises. These simulations permit us to move beyond the restrictions of growth theory, since the direction of influences on different variables and their quantitative dimensions may be assessed. The aim is to determine the differential impact of exogenous investments and related public policy measares on the two sectors, especially on the level of employment, output and wages. Within a disequilibrium growth process which allows for differences in wages in the two sectors, the impact of rural-urban migration of people on the economy of Bangladesh and its policy implications are assessed. The policy simulations suggest that strategies which favour agricultural rather than industrial development have a more positive impact on output, employment, and the reduction of rural-to-urban migration of people. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Dispossession has been playing a central role in capitalist accumulation over the last four-hundred-year history of modern capitalism. This dissertation theorizes how dispossession contributes to producing and reproducing the capitalist mode of production in Bangladesh. To do so, the dissertation empirically examines three interrelated aspects of dispossession in its three analytical chapters. First, it explores how the state and the market work in tandem to organize and control dispossession while grabbing land and expelling peasants from their places. Next, it investigates how dispossession contributes to providing 'potential capitals,' such as grabbed land and dispossessed peasants, to the production sites to be converted into 'constant capital' and 'variable capital' and to creating antagonistic class relations. Finally, it explores how market and non-market actors control those dispossessed peasants-turned-workers inside and outside factories to produce surplus values in order to reproduce the capitalist system locally and globally. These three interactive components of dispossession show three successive phases of capitalist accumulation: land-grabbing by divorcing independent producers from their livelihoods (the initial phase), converting land into capital, peasants into wage workers, and non-capitalists into capitalists (the intermediate phase), and controlling and exploiting those wage workers to produce surpluses or a cycle of new capital (the final phase). This dissertation accordingly advances a full-scale theory of dispossession in its concluding chapter by examining how the starting, intermediate, and ending points of dispossession contribute to capitalist accumulation. The dissertation draws on a wide range of empirical evidence collected from Panthapath, Dhaka, Bangladesh. These include 77 life histories, 50 interviews, a land-use survey of 1,007 structures, and a short survey of 147 slums. It also uses various historical records and archival documents. The three major findings of this dissertation are as follows. First, the dissertation shows that the state acts as a class to organize land grabs, often working in tandem with the private sector, but also in direct competition with the market. Not only does the state monopolize extra-economic means to grab land, but the market also often gains access to extra-economic means. Next, the dissertation shows that dispossession works to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence labor, create antagonistic class relations, and redistribute wealth upward. Finally, the dissertation identifies a new regime of labor control, called social despotism, that dominates and exploits workers in factories to produce surpluses. I conclude this study with policy recommendations designed to address the various dimensions of structural injustice described in this dissertation. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation theorizes how dispossession contributes to producing and reproducing the capitalist mode of production in Bangladesh. In its three analytical chapters, the dissertation empirically examines three interrelated aspects of dispossession. First, it explores how the state and the market work in tandem to organize and control dispossession while grabbing land and expelling peasants from their places. Next, it investigates how dispossession contributes to providing grabbed land and dispossessed peasants to the production sites and to creating various class hierarchies. Finally, it explores how market and non-market actors control peasants-turned-workers inside and outside factories to produce surplus values in order to reproduce the capitalist system. These three interactive components of dispossession show three successive phases of capitalist accumulation: land-grabbing by evicting peasants from their places (phase 1), converting land into capital, peasants into wage workers, and non-capitalists into capitalists (phase 2), and exploiting wage workers to produce surpluses (phase 3). This dissertation accordingly advances a full-scale theory of dispossession in its concluding chapter by examining how the starting, intermediate, and ending points of dispossession contribute to capitalist accumulation. The dissertation draws on a wide range of empirical evidence collected from Panthapath, Dhaka, Bangladesh. These include 77 life histories, 50 interviews, a land-use survey of 1,007 structures, and a short survey of 147 slums. It also uses various historical records and archival documents. Some of the major findings of this dissertation are as follows. First, the dissertation shows that the state acts as a class to organize land grabs, often working in tandem with the private sector, but also in direct competition with the market. Not only does the state monopolize extra-economic means to grab land, but the market also often gains access to extra-economic means. Next, the dissertation shows that dispossession works to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence labor, create exploitative class relations, and redistribute wealth upward. Finally, the dissertation identifies a new regime of labor control, called social despotism, that oppresses and exploits workers in factories to produce surpluses.

Abiotic stresses such as salinity and phosphorous (P) deficiency are major yield-limiting factors for rice, particularly on marginal lands. Marker-aided backcrossing (MAB), enabled by advances in genomics and molecular mapping in recent years, is said to be a more precise, time-saving, and cost-effective way to develop rice varieties that can withstand these abiotic stresses than conventional breeding. The study employs the economic surplus approach to measure the benefits of MAB for salinity tolerance in rice for Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Philippines, and for rice with tolerance to P-deficient soils in Indonesia. At a 5% discount rate, the benefits over 15 years of planting salt-tolerant varieties amount to $226.9 million in the Philippines, $3.666 billion in Bangladesh, $4.848 billion in India, and $895.7 million in Indonesia. The gains from growing varieties that can withstand P deficient soils in Indonesia amount to $2.070 billion. The incremental benefits from completing the salt-tolerant and P-deficient tolerant breeding cycles 2 years earlier are $340.5 million in Bangladesh and $192.1 in Indonesia, respectively. In India, $227.0 million is gained even if MAB develops salt-tolerant varieties just a year earlier. The additional gains from completing the salt-tolerant rice breeding cycle 4 years earlier are $40.3 million in the Philippines and $158.9 in Indonesia. In general, the gains from saline- (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines) and P-deficient (Indonesia) tolerant rice are reduced by 5%, 9%, 14%, and 18% when MAB breeding cycle is delayed by one, two, three, and four years, respectively. In India, there is 3%, 7%, 10%, and 13% loss in benefits from salt-tolerant rice for every additional year of delay in the MAB breeding cycle. / Master of Science