American International Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research
Centre for Research on Islamic Banking & Finance and Business
STYLE VARIATION AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL-BASED CHATBOTS
Human social existence relies heavily on pragmatics. Consequently, failure to understand certain communicative features leads to unsuccessful interactions, as interlocutors' communicative needs remain unmet, especially in the digital age, where communication occurs through or with machines. This study, therefore, investigated key pragmatic aspects of the language use of selected LLM-based chatbots, including how they vary their language style across prompts and contexts, the consistency of their politeness strategies, and the influence of prompt genre on stylistic features. Grounded in the Speech Adaptation in Human–Computer Interaction theory, the study employed a comparative qualitative method to analyze 36 purposively stratified screenshots from five notable LLM-based chatbots. The results show that the chatbots differ in sentence length, phrasing, formality, prompt adaptation, humour, human simulation, idioms, and structural signposting, as well as in the frequency of contractions and passive constructions. The study also revealed that the chatbots consistently respond to face-threatening acts with respect, empathy, self-criticism, and willingness to cooperate. Significant findings include: Perplexity has the lowest frequency of contractions and least human simulation; Claude produces the longest responses; only ChatGPT withholds silence, shows the highest adherence to clear prompts, and cannot tell time; Gemini is the least versatile stylistically; and Copilot employs more semiotic devices but cannot generate specific APA 7th edition references using Digital Object Identifiers. JEL Classification Codes: 035, Y80, Z13.
Research Paper/Theoretical Paper/Review Paper/Short Communication Paper
ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, Style Variation
Copyright (c) 2025 Chukwuma Livinus Ndububa, Bibian Ugoala http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
AN ANALYSIS ON THE ROLE OF STOCK BROKERAGE HOUSES IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
This study investigates the role of stock brokerage houses in community development within the context of Bangladesh's capital market. Data and information are sourced from a variety of secondary sources, encompassing financial platforms like the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), credible news websites such as Investing.com, published literature, and official reports from regulatory authorities such as the Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC). Quantitative data spanning the period from 2010 to 2019 are meticulously extracted from stock exchange databases as well as the IMF World Economic Outlook database. These datasets are meticulously structured and analyzed using tables, charts, and graphs. Amidst challenges such as market collapses and the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience and growth of Bangladesh's capital market are evaluated. The results reveal that brokerage houses have a significant impact on community development in Bangladesh. For instance, the total traded volume reached Tk. 2,169,597 million in 2017, marking an 82.08% increase from the previous year. Sector-wise turnover data showed consistent investment trends, particularly in manufacturing, financials, and pharmaceuticals. These investments have led to job creation and infrastructure development, highlighting the role of brokerage houses in fostering employment and socioeconomic advancement. Additionally, the adoption of online trading platforms has driven technological advancement and financial inclusion. The findings of this study suggest that brokerage houses are crucial intermediaries in the capital market, contributing to economic growth, financial inclusion, and community development through their investment activities and corporate social responsibility initiatives. JEL Classification Codes: G20, G23, O16, R51.
Stock Brokerage House, Community Development, Capital Market, Socio-Economic Impact.
Copyright (c) 2024 Tahrima Haque Beg, Taskin Afrina, Miftahul Hridoy, Md. Abir Hossen, Rashel Hossain
DIGITALIZATION OF EDUCATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS: A STUDY OF ACCESS, UTILIZATION, AND IMPACT TOWARD DIGITALIZATION IN BANGLADESH
Digitalizing education in rural areas, particularly in countries like Bangladesh, presents challenges and opportunities. With the increasing availability of technology, there is a growing interest in understanding how digital education can be effectively implemented in rural schools to enhance learning outcomes. This study explores the impact of digital technologies on education in rural schools in Bangladesh, focusing on Access and utilization. Understanding the implications of digitalization for rural schools is important for informed policy-making. This study investigates the current status of digital education and its prospects in rural Bangladesh. It aims to explore the Access, utilization, and impact of digitalization in educational settings, focusing on rural schools. The study uses a mixed-methods approach to assess digitalisation in rural education, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation. It examines Access to digital resources, identifies barriers to integrating technology in learning, and explores the use of digital tools and platforms in teaching and learning from both teacher and student perspectives. This study analyzes the impact of digitalization on education in rural schools in Bangladesh. It aims to uncover the benefits and challenges of digital transformation and assesses the role of government initiatives, educational policies, and community involvement. The findings of this study highlight the need for targeted interventions to address the digital divide in rural education. While digitalization shows promise in enhancing educational experiences, there is a call for comprehensive strategies that consider infrastructure development, teacher training, and curriculum integration to realize its full potential in rural schools. This study sheds light on technology in rural Bangladesh education, providing insights for policymakers and educators. It aims to enhance digital literacy and promote inclusive educational practices. JEL Classification Codes: H75.
Digitalization, Rural schools, Educational Technology, Access, Impact, Bangladesh.
THE IMPACT OF MATERIAL'S PRICE HIKE ON THE PRODUCTION COST: A CASE STUDY OF SUMMIT COMMUNICATIONS LTD.
This research paper examines the impact of material price hikes on the production cost of Summit Communications Ltd, a telecommunications company in Bangladesh. The study aims to analyze the breakdown of production costs, describe the network-building operations, and suggest recommendations based on the findings. The paper includes historical data and trends in material prices and production costs that can aid in budget creation, cost analysis, and audit purposes. The results show that manufacturing has become more expensive over time as a result of rising labor expenses and the cost of purchasing equipment. Materials prices also fluctuate due to the pandemic, going up significantly in 2018, down significantly in 2019, and then back up in 2021. The study looks at the particular products that underwent price hikes, such as fuel, cement, sand, stone, and rod, as well as how the company handled these difficulties. The findings reveal that Summit Communications Ltd. implemented several strategies to mitigate the impact of rising material costs on production, including cost-cutting measures, renegotiating contracts with suppliers, and exploring alternative materials. The company's financial performance was negatively impacted by the material price hikes, but it was able to maintain its position in the market. The study offers valuable insights into how companies can navigate the challenges of rising material costs and maintain their position in the market. JEL Classification Codes: D24, L96, O32, C13.
Material Price Hikes, Production Costs, Network-Building Operations, Summit Communications Ltd.
Copyright (c) 2023 Md Al-Imran, Md Salim Chowdhury, Sadia Arafin, Miftahul Zannat Hridoy, Md. Mostafizur Rahman
SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE ONE BELT ONE ROAD INITIATIVES
The One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR) by China presents a grand vision to the world that aims to foster cooperation among different countries in various fields such as global trade, international relations, infrastructure development, education, and technology. Also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it comprises a network of roads, railways, and sea routes, all geared toward the development of humanity. The purpose of this research is to analyze some of the significant impacts of this massive project in terms of social, economic, and environmental aspects. Through the exchange of culture, sports, education, and international relations on six economic corridors, the BRI has the potential to create substantial economic benefits. The project also prioritizes environmental sustainability through a green BRI approach. All the quantitative and qualitative data are extracted from different research papers/reports, published books, and some online based data portals. It has been shown that the OBOR/BRI seeks to connect the world and foster peace, whilst its implementation may face significant challenges. Nonetheless, it presents new opportunities for people and may usher in a new era of globalization. JEL Classification Codes: D86, F18, F35, F63, K3.
One Belt One Road (OBOR), Globalization, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Global Trading, China.
Copyright (c) 2023 Rajarshi Roy Chowdhury, Debashish Roy, Md Mamunur Rashid, Md Sumon Reza
EXPLORING THE ANTECEDENTS OF PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR OF BANK EMPLOYEES IN AN EMERGING MARKET: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
In this modern era, it needs to maintain an auspicious future for the employees to stay in the competitive market for achieving goals of an organization. The main goal of this study was to seek the influencing factors such as environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, environmental ethics, and green human resource management of the pro-environmental behavior of bank employees in the emerging market. The banks are the credential source of the economy of a nation which assists in the growing economy of a country where the employees are the key asset for operating the organization. In this study, various sources have been used to find out the influencing factors of pro-environmental behavior. Based on the extensive literature environmental commitment, environmental consciousness, green human resource management and environmental ethics have a high impact on the pro-environmental behavior of bank employees nowadays also, this study is descriptive and qualitative in nature. For exploring factors data have been collected from secondary sources like various previously published manuscripts and journals namely, Springer database, Scopus indexing database, ABDC database, Google Scholar, Emerald database, ABS, and the profile of banking activities. Based on the discussion of this study the bank management should focus on green human resource management practices and processes for creating encouragement among the employees in terms of achieving organizational objectives. This study will help the management, and policymakers of an organization to prepare and maintain policies and strategies for the pro-environmental behavior of employees for efficient work in the working place especially in bank industries in Bangladesh. JEL Classification Codes: M120, M1.
Commitment, Employees, Consciousness, Ethics, Green HRM, Behavior.
Copyright (c) 2023 A.R.S. Ibn Ali, Md. Hasanur Rahman, A S M Ahsanul Haque, Shamsun Nahar
INFLUENCING FACTORS OF BANK EMPLOYEES' MOTIVATION AND ITS IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES' PERFORMANCE
In this globalization era, banking institutions are facing competition in the marketplace. The demands of the customers are changing immensely day by day. Integration and globalization have become closer and closer to every firm in the competitive market. The main purpose of this study is to determine the motivational factors of bank employees that are related to employees' performance in the working place. The study was qualitative and was conducted using different sources to find out the motivational factors and their impact on employee performance. The researchers focus on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the employees. For this study, data have been collected from previous studies and different sources like the ABDC database, Scopus database, Emerald database, ABS database, Springer database, and previous banking profiles. The study showed that employee empowerment, job security, emotional intelligence, attractive compensation package, and training and development have a positive and significant impact on creating motivation among the employees, which creates better performance in work. Based on the findings of this study, the organization should provide another attractive motivational factor and change HR policies and procedures to create employee motivation. Recommendations were also made for improvement in a certain area, creating motivation for better performance of bank employees in Bangladesh. JEL Classification Codes: M120, M150.
Motivation, Bank, Employees, Performance, Empowerment, Job Security.
Copyright (c) 2022 A.R.S. Ibn Ali, A S M Ahsanul Haque, Shamsun Nahar
CSR AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: A THEORETICAL MODEL
Nowadays, the market is very competitive due to rapid digitalization and globalization where the sustainability of every business depends on organizational performance. The better performance of the company relies on corporate social responsibility which helps to create goodwill in the fierce market. Corporate social responsibility is a crucial issue for every organization to develop the performance that assists to stay in the aggressive market. Basically, organizational performance depends on the reputation of the organization which moderates the relationship between customers, community, and employees’ in organizational performance. The main objective of this study is to reveal the contributions of corporate social responsibility’s dimension on organizational performance. Data have been collected from different sources like the Scopus database, Google Scholar, Research gate, ABDC, emerald, etc. The major dimensions of CSR are community, customers, employees, organizational commitment, and reputation which have significant and positive impacts on organizational performance. For this study purpose, the dimensions of CSR are adopted from the previous extensive literature review. In this study, the conceptual model has been proposed based on the previous literature. This study could help to corporate managers to maintain organizational performance through corporate social responsibility (CSR). JEL Classification Codes: L25, M14, L32.
Corporate Social Responsibility, Performance, Commitment Customers, Employees, Commitment Reputation.
Copyright (c) 2022 A.R.S. Ibn Ali, Md Jowel Rana, Shamsun Nahar, N Hosna Ara Tesha, Imtiaz Md Shihab Jabir
ISLAMIC MICROFINANCE AS A TOOL FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN BANGLADESH
Bangladesh is now playing a role model in conventional microfinancing programs in the whole world. Though the financial sectors of this country cover both conventional and Islamic modes. There exist some limitations of conventional microfinancing operating by NGOs. The Islamic microfinancing programs are not enhanced in comparing conventional microfinancing due to a lack of proper policy formulation. Most people are practicing Muslims and want to avoid interest. The Islamic financial institutions have emphasized women's empowerment through shariah-based microfinancing and achieving sustainable economic development. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of Islamic microfinance for empowering women and achieving SDGs in Bangladesh. The methodology of this study is based on secondary data including existing relevant literature and annual reports of different financial institutions. The findings of this study show that Islamic microfinance institutions perform a significant role in empowering women as well as attaining SDGs and have a broader scope to flourish more by applying their various investment modes. This study will help to promote shariah-based microfinancing in the future and transmit microfinance systems to other countries of the world. This paper also tries to recommend some strategies and policy options to promote shariah-based microfinancing to reduce the challenges to ensuring women's empowerment and attaining SDGs.
Islamic Microfinance, Women empowerment, SDGs, Bangladesh.
Copyright (c) 2022 Md. Shahbub Alam, Md. Kamal Uddin, Md. Jafor Ali, Md. Nazmul Huda, Abul Bashar Bhuiyan
ANALYZING THE USES OF SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT OF BANK: A STUDY ON A PRIVATE BANK
In the era of globalization, every company is changing their marketing policy due to gradually increasing competitors in the existing market where social marketing is changing and maintaining the behavior of people a society. Nowadays social marketing is not a new concept in Bangladesh, especially in the banking sector. The main objective of this study is to analyze the uses of the societal marketing concept of a private Bank Limited. In this study, the quantitative and qualitative method is followed by the authors. To identify the social marketing concept qualitative and quantitative method is used in this study. A non-probability convenience sampling method has been used for the study purpose. In this study, the targeted population was executives and customers of a private Bank Limited, Jhumjhumpur Branch, Jashore. Both primary and secondary data have been used in this study where primary data was collected from the survey questionnaire and the secondary was collected from different journals, newspapers, books, websites of banks, etc. For the study purpose, 100 sample sizes were taken and the researchers have used the Five-point Likert scale technique as sample scaling where 5=Strongly Disagree, 4=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 2=Agree, 1=Strongly Agree. From the study, the authors suggested that the use of societal marketing is profitable for the marketer because it can easily grasp customers’ attention. JEL Classification Codes: M33, M40.
Social Marketing, Customers, Planning, Behaviors.
Copyright (c) 2022 Navid Jun Nu Rain, Dipu Roy, Mijanur Rahman Molla, Abdullah Al Mamun, Md. Azizul Islam Nayeem
ANALYZING THE USES OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLS OF BANK: A STUDY ON A COMMERCIAL BANK LTD
Nowadays, business activities are drastically changing their services through using technology. Moreover, the banking activities are performed in a digitalized way where the customers get better services through online services. Digital marketing is the medium of the internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other electronic devices to reach consumers. Through using digital technology banks perform billions of transactions to reach the customers in this current competitive market and it helps them to make it easier and shorter and more comfortable. The main objective of the study is to analyze the uses of different types of digital marketing tools of of a private commercial bank limited. This study was quantitative and exploratory in nature. A non-probability convenience sampling method has been used in this study and the employees and experts of private commercial bank limited were the population. Primary data have been used where the primary data were collected from respective respondents through survey questionnaire. The sample size was 100 and Five-point Likert scale has been used where (‘1=strongly agree’ and ‘5= strongly disagree’) in this study. The findings of the research suggests that using digital marketing tools are more effective than any other traditional marketing tools in the bank. JEL Classification Codes: M38.
Copyright (c) 2022 Bani Amin Molla, Mijanur Rahman Molla, Syed Akib Hoque, Autoshi Ray, Md. Medul Mia
ANALYZING THE USE OF DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TECHNIQUES APPLIED BY DARK TOURISM SPOTS TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF DARK TOURISTS: A STUDY ON DIFFERENT SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TECHNIQUES OF BANGABANDHU MEMORIAL MUSEUM IN DHAKA
Nowadays, people rely on social media for advertisements, news, information tourist places promotion, especially on Facebook. For this reason, Bangabandhu memorial museum uses social media marketing techniques to attract tourist attention. Social media marketing can increase tourists and share different information types important for any tourist place. At present, people make a tour by knowing about the site through social media. So, the researcher insists that social media marketing techniques are more effective for Bangabandhu memorial museum. This paper has five steps: the first steps of this project paper have introduction, methodology and literature review. The second step has formatted the conceptual framework. The third steps of this project have some objectives that identified by the researcher that which used for attracting dark tourists for Bangabandhu memorial museum, analyzing the uses of social media marketing for attracting dark tourists which collected from questionnaire survey that was operated by a huge number of executive & employee of Bangabandhu memorial museum and face-to-face interview with the tourists. And the fourth steps show the significant findings of the research paper. The last steps of the project paper are recommending some guidelines for Bangabandhu memorial museum and further research. By this research, researchers identify the uses of Facebook marketing for attracting dark tourists by Bangabandhu memorial museum. Because nowadays, people are more familiar with Facebook and have more potential to promote dark tourism spots through social media. If Bangabandhu memorial museum properly uses Facebook marketing, they can increase tourists. So, promoting these dark tourism spots on Facebook is the most popular social media platform technique. So, Facebook media can increase dark tourists for Bangabandhu memorial museum. JEL Classification Codes: M31.
Dark Tourism, Tourists, Social Media, Bangladesh.
Copyright (c) 2022 Mijanur Rahman Molla, Fahima Sultana Lima, Sk. Md. Hassan Tareq
IRRIGATION DECISIONS AND USE OF GROUNDWATER IN BANGLADESH: PERSPECTIVES ON SOME EVOLVING CRISIS
Groundwater is one of the vital rechargeable natural capitals, which serves as the main water source around the globe. In Bangladesh, about 79% of the cultivated area relies on groundwater irrigation. The perspective piece is intended to scrutinize the irrigation decisions and groundwater use in Bangladesh from published sources. The paper points that the reason behind the excessive groundwater mining is imbedded in the heavy dependence of Bangladesh on irrigated dry season rice to feed its huge populaces. Bangladesh has obtained rice self-sufficiency by foregoing environmental costs. The farming communities as a whole rarely adopted water-saving modern technologies and keep paddy fields abundantly irrigated as the marginal cost of irrigation is near zero. The irrigation water price is commonly pre-negotiated on the basis of per unit area for the whole crop season without considering the volume of water. The perspective suggests that the ignorance about the importance of groundwater and the consequent over-extraction cannot be stopped without thorough policy reforms. Bangladesh should move toward institutionalizing irrigation, design a participatory framework involving all the stakeholders in a water management network and piloting efficient water models across the country.
Dry Season, Environmental Externalities, Rice, Volumetric Payment, Water Pricing.
THE MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN BORROWER’S IN MALAYSIA: AN EMPIRICAL REVIEW
The fundamental aims of this study to construct a new framework between Microfinance Institution’s (MFIs) financial sustainability and social, economic and household women empowerment in Malaysia. The study used both quantitative and qualitative approach. The study used available online empirical recourses by the name of Microfinance Institution’s (MFIs) sustainability and sustainable and social, economic and household women empowerment in different online database sources such as Google Scholars, Springer Link, Wiley, Science Direct, JSTOR, Emerald full text, Scopus, and EBSCO HOST etc. The summary of literature review revealed that it is the unique goal of MFIs for poverty reduction mission through ensuring of financial sustainability while contribution impact in the society. It has also revealed that it is the way the social mission of poverty alleviation through serving the poorest has been overshadowed by profit motive. However, profit orientation of the microfinance industry also emphasis on profit earning. The present study will be recommended for policy considerations for the successful and effective operation of microfinance programs by providing the necessary guidelines for the proper utilization of loan for women borrowers in Malaysia.
Microfinance, Institutional Sustainability, Empowerment, Women Borrower, Malaysia
Copyright (c) 2021 Ali Arshad, Abul Bashar Bhuiyan, Aza Azlina Md Kassim, Md Jafor Ali, Muhammad Saad,
DELVING INTO BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS DATA THROUGH DATA MINING: A STUDY OF MAIZBHANDARI SHAH EMDADIA BLOOD DONORS GROUP TO SELECT VOLUNTEER BLOOD DONORS EFFICIENTLY
The demand for blood transfusion is rising gradually. Therefore, volunteer blood donors are needed to save the lives of patients. There are lot of volunteer donors in every society. But, the main problem people face is finding such donors at the right time. To locate potential blood donors, we collected data from the Maizbhandari Shah Emdadia blood donors’ group, which consists of 700 active volunteer blood donors. This study aims to choose potential volunteer donors efficiently at the emergency time from the Maizbhandari Shah Emdadia blood donors’ group based on their past data. We have developed two models, namely descriptive and predictive models, using data mining techniques. The descriptive model analyzes data patterns and explores the donors’ behaviour. A data mining clustering algorithm was used to develop the descriptive model. The underlying factors of donors' intention to donate blood were identified and evaluated using this descriptive model. These factors were then utilized to develop the predictive model, which in turn assists to predict whether a donor will donate blood or not during an emergency. The findings of these two models will assist the clinical experts in locating potential volunteer blood donors within the shortest period and thus save valuable lives.
Data Mining, Maizbhandar Blood Donation, Clustering, Classification, Prediction Model.
Copyright (c) 2021 Syed Irfanul Hoque, Md. Minhazul Abedin, Mohammad Sohel Chowdhury
Bandwidth Enhancement by Corner Truncation in Rectangular Patch Antenna
A method of improving operating bandwidth of a microstrip patch antenna by simply improving the structural shape, without affecting the size of an antenna is proposed in this paper. Simple calculations proved that Rectangular Microstrip Patch antenna of bandwidth 845.1 MHz can be efficiently transformed into microstrip patch antenna having bandwidth 9147.4 MHz . Two different approaches have been proposed and compared for better results.
Patch Antenna, Bandwidth improvement, RMSA(Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna) ,UWB(Ultrawide Band) ,truncation.
Copyright (c) 2018 M. Ramkumar Prabhu, A.Rajalingam, J.Latha
CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS: A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF SOLID WASTE GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
Several studies have presented solid waste generation and management in urban centres as an engineering and technological concern. These studies neglected culture as the basic determinants of all happenings in human society; hence, the cultural facets of solid waste generation and management were rendered insignificant. As culture provides the context within which all human activities take place, culture was envisaged in this paper as a driving force for public perception, decision making and participation in solid waste generation and management in urban centres. Therefore, this study adopted both meta-analysis and meta-synthesis to pinpoint and discuss some theoretical key cultural factors and social practices influencing municipal solid waste generation and management. It identified trends and relationship between findings from the available empirical and theoretical studies. This paper discovered in the available relevant literature that cultural factors such as customs, belief and attitude of the urbanites that promoted their preference for food packaged with non-biodegradable material and the ways they conducted social practices resulted in solid waste generation. Lastly, methods and the cost of solid waste disposal, individualism and nonchalant attitude of people were found as the factors militating against proper management of solid wastes.
Social Practices, Solid Waste, Urbanites, Belief, Perception.
Copyright (c) 2021 Ajani Oludele Albert , Fakunle Sunday Olutayo
FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH FINANCING IN NIGERIA: AN EMPIRICAL REVIEW
An effective and quality health care service is one of the fundamental visions of every government to its citizenry because it is only the healthy people that can be governed and will value developmental projects. Citizens having access to quality health services translate to significant development in modern society. Therefore, the provision of adequate funds for the sector is essential. However, the Nigeria health care sector is currently confronted with colossal issues that should be surmounted to enhance effective and quality health care delivery to the citizens. This study is rooted in the evidence of appropriate works of literature in the financing of public health care services in Nigeria. From the extant works of the literature surveyed, it was revealed that public health care services in Nigeria are financed by revenue that is accrued from public tax, funding from donors, health insurance, and direct payments made by individuals. Furthermore, public health service is mostly financed by direct payments made by individuals with the government. The most perturbing issues combating public health care financing are direct payments made by individuals, poor government funding, health care policy defects in implementation, and corruption scandals. On this note, the study recommended an effective and robust government funding of public health, implementation of sound health care policies, efficient monitoring of public funds utilization, and discouraging foreign medical trips. JEL Classification Codes: A19, B10, B25, C10, C53.
Health Finance, Challenges, Financing, Nigeria.
Copyright (c) 2021 Oluwadamisi Tayo-Ladega, Taye Mohammed Abdullahi, K. M. Anwarul Islam
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR IN THE FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES, BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO, NIGERIA
The study examines postgraduate student’s information seeking behavior in the faculty of management sciences, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. Information play critical role in human daily activities such as school life, work, marital life and any other kind of scenario. The concept of information seeking behavior has attracted researchers’ attention and has been of great concern to stakeholders in the academia. Academic libraries avail information from different sources and formats. Objectively the study examines postgraduate students’ information seeking behavior in order to understand students’ information seeking behavior and provide guide to improve the quality of education and performance. Survey research design were use and the population consist of the entire postgraduate students in the faculty of management sciences at Bayero University, Kano, due to difficulty to reach all the population, purposive sampling were applied which result to the selection of (200) respondents comprising of (50) respondents from each of the four departments and questionnaire were issued to them. From the findings it is obvious that in the course of carrying out their studies postgraduate students seek information as a result of activities they engage such exam preparation, dissertation/thesis work, updating knowledge, lecture notes update, personal reading and general reading. However, the result implies that majority of the respondents use library for information concerning exam preparation while the lowest is for general reading to improve their knowledge. The study conclude that postgraduate students do engage in information seeking behaviour for various reasons even though these are hinder by some obstacles. The study recommends the need for management to improve service delivery in the aspect of electronic library, researchers should be guided easily and educated so as to facilitate easy collection of library materials, users should also be guided to enhance easy retrieval of information, continuous training of library staff should be given attention in order for them to be friendly and give quality service to information seekers and finally problem of poor electricity supply should be addressed to make the environment conducive for learning.
Information Seeking Behaviour, Postgraduate Students, Libraries, Nigeria.
Copyright (c) 2020 Rabiu Nurudeen Mohammed
ANALYSIS OF HEALTH-SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS IN NIGERIA
Among several forms of infectious diseases, tuberculosis (TB) cannot be exempted. Even though the treatment of TB is free in Nigeria, the costs incurred by most patients do not reveal the significance of free treatment, and this affects the behavioral pattern of TB patients as a result of the numerous visits of patients to the hospital during the treatment of TB which may or may not yield their expected result. The objective of this study is to examine the behavior of TB patients towards seeking help for their health conditions. The study focused on Kwara and Kebbi States, Nigeria. The findings revealed that most of the Tuberculosis patients were more likely to search for treatment and seek medical advice from secondary health facilities, and they sought treatment first at the out-patient services. The out-patient services are among the secondary health facilities. It is therefore recommended that there is a need for health stakeholders (private and public) to ensure primary health coverage for all patients to prevent the exclusion of certain persons from treatment. This is referred to as inclusiveness. JEL Classification Codes: A19, B10, B25, C10, C53.
Tuberculosis (TB), TB Patients, Health Seeking, Behavior.
Copyright (c) 2021 Oluwadamisi Tayo-Ladega, Taye Mohammed Abdullahi
Its goal and intent is to examine the structure of capital adequacy, whether or not regulatory regulation is complied with and how shocks from financial and economic stress can be absorbed by the bank's prescription.
COMPARISON OF IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF COLISTIN WITH CEFTOLOZANE/TAZOBACTAM AGAINST MULTI DRUG RESISTANT PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA “A LAST LINE TREATMENT AGAINST MDR”
Objectives To evaluate and compare in vitro activity of Ceftolazane / Tazobactum and Colistin against Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Methodology After ethical approval this in vitro cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2017 to April 2018. Routine samples of pus, wound swabs, blood, tracheal aspirates and urine were collected and received from the in-patient and out-patient clinics. All the samples were submitted for culture and sensitivity testing at the microbiology laboratory of Ziauddin University Hospital, North Nazimabad campus. All the samples were processed according to the provided microbiological procedures, CLSI Guidelines 2018. Results Forty sample from the out-patient clinics represented pre-dominance of Multi Drug Resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (which was found to be 41.2%). On culture and sensitivity testing, it was observed that 60% of the MDR strains of P. aeruginosa were susceptible to Ceftolazane / Tazobactum which was markedly comparable to the susceptibility shown by Colistin (99%).Statistically, P value was highly significant and was found to be 0.0001. Conclusion Colistin showed superior activity as compared to Ceftolazane / Tazobactum against MDR isolates of P. aeruginosa. Thus, Colistin has proven to be a possible and important alternative against MDR isolates of P. aeruginosa, but due to its narrow therapeutic window and toxicity profile this drug can be used only when there is no working alternative, or the infection is severely debilitating.
Gram-Negative Infection, P. Aeruginosa, Resistant.
Copyright (c) 2020 K. M. Anwarul Islam, Muhammad Aitmaud Uddolah Khan, Sara Azhar, Muhammad Rashid Ahmed, Sumreen Khurram, Hina Masood, Lubna Farooq
An Assessment on the Locational Pattern of Petrol Filling Stations along Lasu-Isheri Road Corridor
This study aimed at assessing the location and spatial distribution of petrol filling stations along LASU/Isheri Road, Ojo, Lagos state. The objectives are to map out all the petrol filling stations in along Lasu/Isheri road; to examine the volume of traffic along the road corridor; to determine the contribution of petrol filling stations to the traffic volume on the road, and to ascertain the road traffic challenges that are caused by the petrol filling stations (PFS). Geographical Positioning System (GPS) was employed to collect primary data; also, questionnaires and traffic count sheets were employed. The study found that the PFS along the road corridor is clustered with a Z-score of -7.34 and NNI of 0.440285. Also, the maximum peak hour volume was estimated to be 4198.6 pcu/hr. The PFS along the corridor are seen to contribute significantly to the traffic volume on the corridor. Finally, the dominant traffic challenges along the corridor include traffic gridlock which sometimes results into road traffic crashes which are triggered by the concentration of PFS in the study area, the proximity of PFS to a road intersection, overflow of the queue into the roadway, and to a minimal extent parking of tankers along the roadway and lack of setback. This study suggests strategies that can be adopted for locating PFS to ensure the free flow of traffic along the road corridor where they are located.
Locational Pattern, Petrol Filling Station, Traffic Volume, Lasu/Isheri, Lagos State.
Copyright (c) 2020 Esther O. Akinsulire, Samson O. Fadare
International Trade and the Economies of Developing Countries
The economic significance and benefits of foreign trade also known as international trade to the economies of developing countries cannot be overemphasized. Its role and contributions to the gross domestic earnings, employment generation, economic development, and poverty reduction in these underdeveloped countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, and others have been too glaring especially in agrarian economies with fertile arable land.The main aim of this paper was to examine in-depth the contributions and relationship between international trade and the economic development of developing African countries. Furthermore, this paper recommended stringent macroeconomic policies that when formulated would encourage and increase the multiplier effect of these (foreign) trades. Part of these policies is targeted towards exchange rates, tariffs, import and export duties, subsidies, and actions that promote international trade.The research further concluded that internationaltradeis a key macroeconomic driver that must be encouraged in developing African countries as its multiplier effects have the potentials of driving the needed development goals of these nations. And for this to be achieved, these nations (developing countries) must formulate workable localized macroeconomic policies that suit and drive their interest as against borrowed economic policies from the developed European and Asian nations. Some of the recommendations proffered include adoption of friendly and pro-active export promotion policies, availability of grants, aids, subsidies, and loans, mechanization of the agrarian sector, adoption of flexible exchange rate, etc.This study made use of time series secondary data obtained from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) of developing African countries for a period between 2000 and 2019. A forecast of 15 years was also initiated using these data to provide a long-term insight into the benefits of these trading activities on the GDP of developing countries.
International Trade, Economic Development, Tariff, Import Duties, Export Duties, Exchange Rate.
Copyright (c) 2020 Nwabueze Prince Okenna, Babatunde Moses Adesanya
Work Place Related Issues in Health Sector: An Empirical Study With Reference To Selected Hospitals
The condition of working women in India as well as in the entire world in general is considered to be very distressing. Working women in general are subject to discrimination at various levels. The problems and difficulties of working women are multi-dimensional, varying from woman to woman at personal level, and section to section at general level and hence need to be analyzed in depth. There are very serious problems of wages, employment, income and standard of living and sexual harassment among working women. They are not able to get any advantage of social security schemes. Due to their ignorance and illiteracy they are not benefited from present welfare schemes. There has indeed been a growing realization that the women workers form an integral part of the process of national development. This has made the government make continuous effort to give women workers a better deal in spheres of work and to recognize their contribution to the socio-economic development of the Country. However, what has been done remains a drop in the ocean and the women worker remain exploited and unprotected working hours, conditions of work, wages, types of job and other situation is still not favorable to women workers. Women workers have many problems and problems of working women are more serious and server. The present study is an attempt to portray the work related issues in selected hospitals (i.e. GEMS, KIMS, RIMS, GMR).
Appearance, Hospitals, Modern Equipment, Working Hours
Copyright (c) 2018 K. Roja, G. D.V.Kusuma, B. Ravi Kumar
Output Commercialization as Three-Way Traffic for Sugarcane Farming Households in Kwara State of Nigeria
The study empirically determined the factors that influenced household sugarcane output commercialization in Kwara State of Nigeria using undated data elicited via structured questionnaires complemented with interview schedule from 105 active sugarcane farmers chosen through multi-stage sampling design during the 2017 production season. The collected data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The empirical findings showed poor extension services, inadequate credit facilities, failure of the farmers to utilize their social capital, lack of scientific storage facilities and health-related issues to be the major factors that affected sugarcane output commercialization the studied area. Therefore, the study recommended that the farmers in the studied area should be advised to pool their social capital together in order to become economically viable thereby maximizing the pecuniary economic advantages of sugarcane value chain in the studied area.
Commercialization; Sugarcane output; Farmers; Kwara State; Nigeria.
Copyright (c) 2018 Sadiq, M.S., Singh, I.P .,Lawal, M3., Yisa, P.B
Role of Forensics in the Cases of Criminal Poisoning
Forensics is a scientific discipline which deals with evidencing of criminal acts, and consists of a series of sub disciplines. One of them is forensic toxicology whose task is to detect the existence of poisons in the human body and existence of poisons in all areas where they should not be. Although rarely happens, the criminal act of Poisoning has to be investigated in accordance with the rules of criminal investigation and, due to the established facts, to raise the indictment and punish the perpetrator.
Poison, Forensics, Forensic Toxicology, Perpetrator.
Chinese scientists won a major victory, by proving that the Majorana fermions – a particle we’ve found tantalizing hints for years – genuinely exists. This discovery has huge implications for quantum computing, and it might change the world. Don Lincoln, a senior physicist at Fermi lab, does research using the Large Hadrons Collider. He is the author of “The Large Hadrons Collider: The Extraordinary Story of the Higgs Boson and Other Stuff That Will Blow Your Mind”, and produces a series of science education videos. To the question: Why is there (in our Universe) something including cancer, rather than nothing? He is giving the simplest scientific answer: We shouldn’t exist at all.
Hybrid, Quantum, Computing, Apocalypse, Multiverse.
Economic Implication of Absence of National Carrier in the Nigeria Aviation Industry
The aim of the study is to access the economic implication of absence of National carrier in the Nigeria aviation industry. The airline industry is the key drive of the travel and tourism industry and also a major contributor to many countries’ overall economy through international tourist arrivals and departures. The study estimate the amount of revenue Nigeria is losing to capital flights for not having a viable national carrier over the past ten years that is from 2007 to 2016.The estimated amount of revenue loss was examined on airlines offering direct flights on Nigeria to London route, in which we have two foreign airlines (British airways and Virgin Atlantic airline)and a Nigeria’s private national carrier which is Med-view airline. The class of tickets and services in each class of ticket being offered by the airlines was examined. The study reveals an estimate of total of over $6 Billion revenue were being lost to hands of foreign competitors over the past ten years with British airways generating closely to $4 billion, while Virgin Atlantic generated over $2.3 billion and Med-view generated over $133 million in the past ten years. The study also reveals that the higher the passenger carried the higher the revenue and vice versa. However, establishing a national carrier by the federal government is imminent which will express Nigeria culture and to better serve passengers especially Nigerians. Finally, banks and other governmental financial institutions should make available enough funds with longer payback period and little interest for both existing airlines to upgrade their services and new entrants to be able to purchase necessary equipment’s to make them competitive in the market.
Copyright (c) 2018 Gbadamosi Kolawole T., Adekunle Emmanuel A.