Women entrepreneurs play a substantial role in the sustainable economic development of various developed as well as developing countries in the world. In Bangladesh, the contribution of women entrepreneurs is still insignificant compared to other entrepreneurship due to a number of barriers to their financial inclusion. The current study tried to find out the problems faced with and the opinion of women entrepreneurs regarding the finance from commercial banks. The study used primary data from a sample survey, Key Informant Interview (KII) and in-depth interviews with the selected women entrepreneurs from Sylhet city of Bangladesh to meet the research objectives. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), the study brings to life the fact that women entrepreneurs are reluctant to take the loan from banks because they have to face a number of problems there. Some of the major problems they faced are-collateral requirements, terms and conditions of bank loan, business characteristics and some other institution-specific problems to get access to bank finance. The findings of the study can aid the commercial banks in formulating their strategic decision about financing women entrepreneurs. In addition, this study indicates the way forward for the authoritative and supporting organizations of women entrepreneurs to formulate their action plans for the development of women entrepreneurship.

The study revisited the existing evidences of India Pakistan and China with updated data on the effect of military expenditure on economic growth. Econometric approaches analyzed the short and long run relationship between GDP growth and Military expenditure. Empirical studies have been done using cointegration analysis and causality test to justify the relationship and causality of the variables. Interestingly, study obtained positive log-run relation, no short run relationship and unidirectional long run causality in every cases, but for different degrees of relationship. Obtained results are robust and passed necessary diagnostic tests significantly.

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Identifying high-risk pregnancies through antenatal care (ANC) is considered the cornerstone to eliminating child deaths and improving maternal health globally. Understanding the factors that influence a healthcare facility’s (HCF) preparedness to provide ANC service is essential for assisting maternal and newborn health system progress. We aimed to evaluate the preparedness of HCFs to offer ANC services among childbearing women in Bangladesh and investigate the facility characteristics linked to the preparedness. The data for this study came from two waves of the Bangladesh Health Facilities Survey (BHFS), conducted in 2014 and 2017 using a stratified random sample of facilities. The study samples were 1,508 and 1,506 HCFs from the 2014 and 2017 BHFS, respectively. The outcome variable "ANC services preparedness" was calculated as an index score using a group of tracer indicators. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to identify the significant correlates of ANC service preparedness. We found that private hospitals had a lower chance of having high preparedness than district and upazila public facilities in 2014 (RRR = 0.04, 95% CI: 0.01–0.22, p-value = <0.001) and 2017 (RRR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.07–0.74, p-value = 0.01), respectively. HCFs from the Khulna division had a 2.84 (RRR = 2.84, CI: 1.25–6.43, p-value = 0.01) and 3.51 (RRR = 3.51, CI: 1.49–8.27, p-value = <0.001) higher likelihood of having medium and high preparedness, respectively, for ANC service compared to the facilities in the Dhaka division in 2017. The facilities that had a medium infection prevention score were 3.10 times (RRR = 3.10, 95% CI: 1.65–5.82; p-value = <0.001) and 1.89 times (RRR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.09–3.26, p-value = 0.02) more likely to have high preparedness compared to those facilities that had a low infection prevention score in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Facilities without visual aids for client education on pregnancy and ANC were less likely to have high (RRR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.16–0.53, p-value = <0.001) and (RRR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.30–0.99, p-value = 0.04) preparedness, respectively, than those with visual aids for client education on pregnancy and ANC in both the surveys. At all two survey time points, facilities that did not maintain individual client cards or records for ANC clients were less likely to have high (RRR = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.31-.92, p-value = 0.02) and (RRR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.25–0.66, p-value = <0.001) preparedness, respectively, compared to their counterparts. We conclude that most facilities lack adequate indicators for ANC service preparedness. To improve the readiness of ANC services, government authorities could focus on union-level facilities, community clinics, private facilities, and administrative divisions. They could also make sure that infection control items are available, maintain individual client cards or records for ANC clients, and also ensure ANC clients have access to visual aids.

The blue economy refers to the economic activity based on maritime resources. The paper aims to explore the current scenario of sea resources of Bangladesh. Using secondary data, the study reveals that Bangladesh can accelerate its economic growth through the sustainable use of the sea resources. Moreover, Bangladesh has 710 km long coastline with 200 Nautical Miles of an exclusive economic zone inside the Bay of Bengal. Marine fisheries contribute 19.4% of the total fish production of the country. Besides, the western coastline of Cox's Bazaar is the longest sea beach in the planet that is visited by on an average, 81% of the international tourists arrive in Bangladesh. However, due to lack of institutional capacity and given the socio-cultural context, the sustainability of the sea resources is now facing critical threats. Apart from studying the present status of sea resources, the paper proposed some way forwards based on existing opportunities and challenges for promoting sustainable development in Bangladesh.

The growing number of internet banking (i-banking) users in Bangladesh requires examining their behavioral intention (BI) to adopt i-banking services. This study aims to investigate the factors that influence the customers’ intention in i-banking adoption encompassing the moderating effect of demographic characteristics. This study uses an expansive approach of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model with customer satisfaction. The structural equation modeling (SEM) has been used to analyze the data collected from the internet banking users of Bangladesh. Findings of the study conclude that the higher the level of performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE) and social influence (SI), the greater the level of customers’ inclination to adopt i-banking. Whereas, facilitating condition negatively affects their BI in i-banking adoption. Moreover, this study finds a positive and significant impact of system, service and information quality and security, privacy and trust (SPT) on customers’ satisfaction, which, in turn, substantially influence their intention toward i-banking adoption. While investigating the moderating effect of demographic characteristics, this study finds that all categories of customers, regardless of their age, gender, experience and education, are influenced by the customers’ satisfaction of services qualities and trust perception in i-banking adoption. Therefore, it is suggested to the policymakers that they should take such initiatives in designing the i-banking system that satisfy the customers’ expectations.

A discontinuous reception (DRX) operation is included in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system to achieve power saving and prolonged battery life of the user equipment. An improvement in DRX power saving usually leads to a potential increase in the packet delay. An optimum DRX configuration depends on the current traffic, which is not easy to estimate accurately, particularly for non‐real‐time applications. In this paper, we propose a novel way to vary the DRX cycle length, avoiding a continuous estimation of the data traffic when only non‐real‐time applications are running with no active real‐time applications. Because a small delay in non‐real‐time traffic does not essentially impact the user's experience adversely, we deliberately allow a limited amount of delay in our proposal to attain a significant improvement in power saving. Our proposal also improves the delay in service resumption after a long period of inactivity. We use a stochastic analysis assuming an M/G/1 queue to validate this improvement.

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