Volume 03, Number 02, 2006

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10361/43

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Now showing 1 - 14 of 14

Health, Nutrition and human resource development: a crucial link
(BRAC University, 2006) Akhter, Sanzida; Wohab, Md. Abdul
Health and nutrition is one of the important components of human resource development. The relationship between health-nutrition and human resource development is reciprocal and takes a cyclical fashion. The first section of this paper endeavors to establish a link between health, nutrition and human resource development. The second section discusses this linkage in the context of Bangladesh and with the particular focus on its health and nutrition policies and programs.
Management accounting development and practices in Bangladesh
(BRAC University, 2006) Sharkar, Mohammad Zakir Hossain; Sobhan, Md. Abdus; Sultana, Shahida
The more the development of the market economy, the more the significance of management accounting. To keep pace with this increasing market economy, it becomes imperative for the organizations to adopt new management accounting tools and techniques. It is also important for the Bangladeshi organizations. This paper seeks to obtain an overview of the management accounting practices in the listed manufacturing companies of Bangladesh. Data has been gathered by a questionnaire survey from eight manufacturing sectors. The analysis has revealed that though there is difference in extent of practices among the sectors, all sectors fail to practice some newly developed techniques. If this trend continues, Bangladeshi organizations will lag behind in the race of global competitiveness and comparative advantages. It is therefore, some policy recommendation has been made to improve and fasten the management accounting practices.
Waste management in Dhaka City-A theoretical marketing model
(BRAC University, 2006) Chowdhury, Tamzid Ahmed; Afza, Syeda Rownak
An escalating quality of life and high rates of resources consumption patterns have had an unintended and negative impact on the urban environment generation of wastes far beyond the handling capacities of urban govt. and agencies. Cities are now grappling with the problems of high volumes of waste, the cost involved, the disposal technology and the impact of wastes on the local and government environment. Therefore, at this moment it is very much needed to make a proper plan for waste management and disposal system it has also been observed that waste can be another source for earning money. So, keeping this objective in mind, this study attempts to develop a proposed marketing model for waste management system in Dhaka city. It can also be considered as a preventive waste management approach, which is focused on changes in lifestyles and in production and consumption patterns. This article also tries to find out the commercial value of waste. Last but not least it is a proposal rather than a conclusive study. It needs a more pragmatic test for its reliability study
Life writing: Straddling fact and fiction
(BRAC University, 2006) Zaman, Tabassum
Traditionally any autobiographic writing is expected to document past in retrospect just like history. But memoirs like Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family and Sheila Ortiz Taylor and Sandra Ortiz Taylor’s Imaginary Parents go against this traditional expectation both in form and content and while doing so they question the traditional idea of autobiographic writing as well as history. Through the atypical way they search for truth these memoirs have made us re consider the traditional expectation from this genre. While reconstructing the respective family history these two books deconstruct the general understanding of documented history as a centripetal, teleological narrative, something that projects absolute, objective reality.
Fostering the practice of communicative competence in ESL classrooms
(BRAC University, 2006) Choudhury, Shaheena
In an attempt to make our students literate in international discourse, to make them compete successfully on a national and international level, the demand to teach communicative English is increasing more and more in Bangladesh. Recognizing the fact that English communication abilities can only be formed when students are taught English by applying the Communicative Language Teaching method in English, most of our educational institutions are following the trend, but with little or no success, since students are failing to develop an acceptable level of English proficiency for communication. This paper begins by exploring a number of theories of communicative competence. It investigates the condition of communicative language teaching in the universities of Bangladesh and discusses the need for teachers' training. It further reviews a survey conducted with participants currently enrolled in the different departments of Brac University, to find some of the major problems encountered by them in ESL classes which affect their speaking abilities. Based on the findings, different ways of promoting oral communication in language classes have been recommended.
Morbidities among older people in Bangladesh: evidence from an ageing survey
(BRAC University, 2006) Kalam, I. M. Shafiqul; Khan, Hafiz T. A.
In recent decades, the population structure in many countries has been reshaping due to combined effect of falling fertility and increased life expectancy. Because of demographic interaction, a trend of increasing proportion for aged 60 years or more has emerged which cause new concerns to academics, researchers and policy makers. Although ageing is relatively a new demographic phenomenon in Bangladesh, demographers however believe that it will have profound impact on the economy, politics and society as a whole. As more people live longer, retirement, pensions and other admissible social benefits tend to extend over longer periods of time. This makes it necessary for social security systems to change substantially in order to remain effective in particular for keeping the elderly in good shape. This paper attempts to explore the types of illness among older people in Bangladesh using data collected from a national survey. It also describes the factors associated with health situation of the elderly in Bangladesh.
Finite volume methods for solving hyperbolic problems on euclidean manifolds without radially symmetric initial condition
(BRAC University, 2006) Rahaman, Moshiour; Azim, Nur Hossain Md. Ariful
Many interesting physical systems are successfully modeled with time-dependant conservation laws on smooth manifolds, M. Examples of such systems include hydrodynamic flows in non-trivial geometry, important in aerodynamic modeling. Though in many applications the manifold is simply Euclidean space;M = ∇3, the curvilinear basis on which computes is non-orthogonal and quite complicated. The finite volume methods have very important property of ensuring that basic quantities such as mass, momentum and energy are conserved at a discrete level. Conservation is satisfied over each control volume, over a group of control volumes and over the entire solutiondomain. The finite volume methods are used to solve conservation laws on Euclidean manifold.
Supplementary cementing materials for high performance concrete
(BRAC University, 2006) Safiuddin, Md.; Zain, M.F.M.
Supplementary cementing material is an important component of high performance concrete. In particular, the incorporation of supplementary cementing material is essential when the high strength and durability become the most desired properties of high performance concrete. The aim of this paper is to present several well known supplementary cementing materials such as silica fume, fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag, rice husk ash and high reactivity metakaolin, which have been used extensively in the production of high performance concrete. This paper points at the sources, and briefly illustrates the physical properties and chemical composition of the aforementioned supplementary cementing materials. This paper also shows the major effects of the abovementioned supplementary cementing materials on fresh and hardened properties, and durability of high performance concretes.
Unified approach of generalized inverse and its applications
(BRAC University, 2006) Ahmed, Mohammad Maruf
This paper deals with Unified Approach of Generalized inverse (g-inverse) and its applications. General approaches of generalized inverses with a special convergence are discussed. Derivation of g-inverse by using minimal polynomial is shown. Mathematica codes are used in these examples. Special derivations of g-inverses using Contour integration are given. G-inverse has been applied in network theory and to optimize problems.
Scaling up: the BRAC experience
(BRAC University, 2006) Ahmed, Salehuddin; French, Micaela
BRAC, a development NGO based in Bangladesh, has demonstrated an extraordinary aptitude for program expansion, or ‘scaling up’. Only thirty-four years old, the organization is today the largest NGO in the world, with programs serving an estimated 110 million people. This paper identifies the seven key principles of scaling up responsible for BRAC’s success: Listening to the People, Vision, Piloting, Training, Down-to-Earth Management, Evaluation and Adaptation, and Advocacy. The expansion of BRAC’s widely imitated Non-Formal Primary Education furnishes concrete examples of these principles in practice. It is our hope that these lessons, accumulated from BRAC’s long experience, will prove useful to other organizations as they endeavor to expand.
A participatory approach to conservation: working with community to save the cultural hertiage of Panamnagar
(BRAC University, 2006) Ahmed, Iftekhar
Panamnagar is a unique township in Sonargaon thana of Narayanganj district of Bangladesh. It is stretched in a single street with street front houses on either side, which are of high architectural and archeological value. Due to lack of proper conservation plans, degradation caused by natural weathering, lack of maintenance and unplanned modification, many of the buildings face serious threat of losing the unique architectural features. Though declared a national heritage site, there is no definite mention about what constitutes the heritage of the area and how it should be conserved. Urban conservation is not about freezing time or even the new development and use. Rather it is best to set stage for the management of incremental changes. As compelling and historically valuable the place may be, it is the people and activities that breathe life in Panamnagar. With absence of any major initiative from the government, a “community-based” conservation process is the only possible solution to save the cultural heritage. This paper suggests the process of integrated public involvement in the conservation management plan for Panamnagar including steps, such as, understanding problems; generating options for response; evaluating the options; and ultimately choosing a roadmap for conservation management.
Strengths and weaknesses of participatory methods for rapid definition of problems and potentials to promote socially just urban intervention
(BRAC University, 2006) Jabeen, Huraera
Urban development and planning, at present, demand an approach that both provides an account of the forces leading to change in the qualities of places in urban regions and offers ideas about the forms and processes of governance. People’s participation is seen as one of the main element of ensuring socially just urban intervention although it is often misdirected, applied in inappropriate ways, or controlled and manipulated on purposes against the interest of the local communities. In most of the urban intervention process, policy decisions are often required quickly, with incomplete data or with limited resources with which to obtain information. One of the main challenges, the urban development practitioners’ faces, is how to find out, evaluate and use relevant information in a timetable dictated by events outside their control. To ensure a socially just intervention the investigators have a need for careful reflection on the enquiry process and a clear sense of their own purpose in undertaking it. This essay tries to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the participatory methods in the rapid definition of potentials and problems for a socially just urban intervention with some suggestions about the justification of using participatory process for urban intervention.
Indian influences: Interpretations in le corbusier's architecture for the tropoical environment
(BRAC University, 2006) Ali, Zainab Faruqui
Tropical architecture of Le Corbusier, one of the masters of modern architecture, has made immense influences worldwide. This paper tries to rediscover the master architect in terms of inputs he obtained from the context while designing for the Indian subcontinent. The nourishment obtained from the nature as well as the culture and society helped shape the work of the western architect to a considerable degree. His expressions were modern and his very own, but fitted well with the climate and the society of the place. Daylight and temperature during different times and seasons, monsoon rain, prevailing breeze, immediate and extended landscape, all were considered by the architect with due respect. The paintings, the music and the poetry of the subcontinent helped Le Corbusier to create visual and mental image of the place. A part of the architect's work was influenced from the studies made during his visits to the built environments - urban and rural. He had turned to the sources of local wisdom in devising environment-modifying features for his subcontinental designs. The paper draws upon resources from the doctoral thesis of the author on the environmental performance of buildings designed by Le Corbusier where an in-depth study was made on the environmental features of both Le Corbusier buildings and traditional buildings of the subcontinent. It highlights the influences of the traditional strategies in the buildings of the master architect in terms of solutions to climatic problems. References are also made to the factors influencing Le Corbusier's design such as social, cultural and political aspects. Thus the paper helps in getting a fuller understanding of how the works of the modern master from the West were integrated with the total context of climate and culture of the subcontinent.
Corporate governance reporting as a voluntary disclosure: A study on the annual reports of Square Group
(BRAC University, 2006) Khan, Md. Habib-uz-Zaman; Ghosh, Suntu Kumar; Akter, Md. Shahriar
Corporate governance refers to the manner in which a corporation is directed, and laws and customs affecting that direction. It includes the laws governing the formations of firms, the by-laws established by the firm itself, the structure of the firm The issue of corporate governance are receiving greater concentration in both developed and developing countries as a result of the increasing recognition that a firm’s corporate governance affects both its economic performance and its ability to access long term, low cost investment capital. The issue has been reinforced in the corporate sectors after the recent accounting scandals for companies like The Enrons, Worldcoms and the other companies. Nevertheless, this issue still remains almost unfamiliar in Bangladesh. The study focuses on a new trend introduced in the annual reports of one of the well-established business groups of Bangladesh. The paper involves empirical study as well as a questionnaire survey. The principal findings are twofold: firstly, we find that SQUARE makes very few disclosures on corporate governance on a voluntary basis. Secondly, we find that SQUARE user groups are in favor of such disclosures. However, the disclosures reported in Bangladesh by Square are not ample in achieving the goals of corporate governance.

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