Asymmetric role of green energy, innovation, and technology in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions: evidence from India

The primary cause of environmental degradation, which poses a danger to the long-term viability of the ecosystem, is the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). For this reason, the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26) established a decarbonization goal in response to this ecological concern, for which all economic players have a responsibility. India is among the participants who have a target set for them to decarbonize their economies by the year 2060 via the use of green energy and the advancement of science and innovation. Nevertheless, the asymmetrical effect of green energy, technology, and innovation on India's decarbonization program was not sufficiently explored in the prior study; hence, this research aims to fill this literature vacuum by considering India's GHG emissions from 1990 to 2020 by leveraging the non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. The findings reveal the asymmetric influences of variables of interest on GHG emissions during the short and long term and under positive and negative shocks. Regarding the positive shock, long-term findings demonstrate that innovation and technical know-how grow GHG emissions and accelerate environmental degradation. However, a negative shock in innovations and technological know-how is opposed to a positive shock and improving environmental conditions. Further, positive shocks in green energy boost environmental effectiveness by reducing GHG secretions in India. In contrast, the negative shock in green energy deteriorates the environment by triggering GHG releases. These factual findings compel the Indian government to prioritize green technologies in addition to green energy generation to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions and meet rising energy demands.

Effects of healthcare spending on public health status: An empirical investigation from Bangladesh

The escalation of healthcare spending in many nations, particularly in emerging countries such as Bangladesh, may be largely attributed to the growing demand for healthcare services. Evidently, there has been a significant expansion in the public funding allocated to the health sector in Bangladesh, intending to enhance health outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of healthcare expenditure on health outcomes, specifically focusing on the reduction in different mortality rates and the transmission of various infectious diseases. A total of 30 years of data (1990-2019) on the health sector of Bangladesh were collected from different national and international sources. The Vector Autoregression with Exogenous Variables (VARX) model was employed to determine the effects of healthcare expenditure on health outcomes. Results revealed that the per capita health expenditure and the number of doctors showed a significant positive impact on life expectancy and maternal and child health. Also, the government's annual budget on the health sector and number of doctors had a significant positive impact on lowering deaths by Diphtheria, Cholera, Tuberculosis, and Malaria diseases. In order to develop a sustainable healthcare system within the nation, it is imperative for the government to prioritize the allocation of sufficient and effective healthcare funding to cater to the needs of the populace.

Green Coffee Bean Extract Assisted Facile Synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide and Its Dye Removal Activity

To discharge the colored effluents from industries there needs to be effective and affordable treatment options. Adsorption using reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as an adsorbent is a prominent one. In this study, green coffee bean extract (GCBE) is utilized as a safe reducing agent for the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) to synthesize rGO. The formation of rGO is confirmed by a new peak in the UV-vis spectra at 275 nm and a diffraction peak in the XRD patterns at 22°. The effective formation of rGO is further substantiated by a change in the GO peak's properties in the FTIR, EDX, and Raman spectra and a weight loss change in TGA. The SEM and TEM analyses demonstrate the effective production of the nano-sheets of rGO having exfoliated and segregated in a few layers. Furthermore, the obtained rGO exhibited outstanding efficacy in wastewater cleanup, effectively adsorbing MB as a prototype organic dye. The kinetics and isotherm study suggested that the adsorption leads by the chemisorption and monolayer formation on the homogeneous surface of rGO. The maximum adsorption capacity is found to be 89.3 mg g-1. This process offers a fresh opportunity for the economical and safe production of rGO for wastewater treatment.

Towards green economy and sustainable development in Bangladesh: assessing the role of social and environmental indicators

The evolution towards a green economy integrating social, economic, and environmental concerns has opened a new window to pursue the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially for emerging nations. Nonetheless, despite being a pressing concern on a global scale, empirical research into the potential for green economy development in the context of Bangladesh has remained notably inadequate. To fill this void, this study is an attempt to evaluate the connection among economic growth, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, education, life expectancy, and technology to conclude the ecological and socio-economic repercussions of a green economy in Bangladesh's framework of achieving SDGs. Considering the statistical features of the annual data from 1990 to 2019, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method has been employed to analyze the connections between the chosen variables. The empirical outcomes show that an upsurge in CO2 is accompanied by a 3.66% increase in GDP over the long term, suggesting a positive and statistically significant relationship between the two variables. In addition, GDP increases by about 4.2% for every 1% increase in life expectancy. However, the relationship between technological innovation and education found an insignificant positive linkage with GDP. The most important takeaway from these findings is that the growth of Bangladesh's economy is occurring at the expense of the environment. Hence, this research recommends that, as a developing nation, Bangladesh should concentrate on environment-friendly alternatives, which can be done through the introduction of a green economy to achieve a sustainably developed economy.

Reinvigorating the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in the context of highly polluted nations: evidence using advanced panel estimation techniques

China, United States, India, Russia, and Japan are regarded as the top five carbon dioxide-emitting nations in the world. These countries altogether account for more than half of the global annual discharges of carbon dioxide. Consequently, impeding the carbon emission-led environmental adversities in these countries is of critical emphasis for establishing environmental sustainability worldwide. In this regard, this study checks how economic progress, energy use intensification, and renewable energy use affect the annual growth rates of per capita carbon dioxide emission in these highly-polluted economies considering the study period from 1990 to 2021. Besides, for analytical purposes, advanced panel data estimation techniques have been utilized for detecting and neutralizing the impacts of cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity-related problems in the data. Overall, the findings endorse that economic progress deteriorates environmental quality both in the short and long run. However, since the long-run unfavorable environmental impacts of economic growth are relatively lower compared with the short-run impacts, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis can be deemed valid. Besides, more intensive use of energy resources is witnessed to impose negative long-run environmental consequences while the adoption of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels is found to improve environmental well-being, both in the short and long run. Furthermore, the results affirm that economic progress and energy use intensification jointly degrade environmental conditions. By contrast, economic progress alongside greater adoption of renewable energy is observed to inflict an environmental quality-improving effect. Considering these findings, a couple of carbon dioxide mitigating policies are suggested to the concerned highly polluted developed and developing nations.

Impact of banking development and renewable energy consumption on environmental sustainability in Germany: Novel findings using the bootstrap ARDL approach

This study examines the effects of banking development, economic growth and consumption of renewable energy on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and load capacity factor (LCF). Previous empirical studies have assessed the interrelationship between banking development and CO2 emissions; however, these studies have ignored supply-side ecological issues. To overcome this issue, this study evaluates the effect of banking development on LCF, which is considered to be one of the most comprehensive ecological proxies to date, including both biocapacity and ecological footprint (EF). Using the bootstrap autoregressive distributed lag model, the study reveals that renewable energy improves ecological quality in Germany. The results of the investigation demonstrate that the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is valid in Germany using CO2 emissions and LCF indicators. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that banking growth and renewable energy in Germany correlate with improved environmental quality. These findings provide policymakers with important insights. In this context, the study advises the banking industry and government authorities to leverage banking expansion to support green energy to achieve the national goal of zero CO2 emissions by 2045.

Animal protein-soybean oil-based broiler diet optimizes net profit at the expense of desirable ω-6 fatty acids from the breast muscle of the broiler chicken

Total 288 Ross-308-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly distributed into six dietary treatment groups in a two-way ANOVA with 2 × 3 factorial arrangements (two factors, i.e., dietary protein and energy having two types of protein, e.g., plant, animal and three different sources of energy, e.g., soybean oil, rice bran oil and sunflower oil) to justify if animal protein-soybean oil based broiler diet optimizes net profit at the expense of desirable ω-6 fatty acids in the breast muscle of the broiler chicken. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), final live weight (FLW), average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency (FE), carcass characteristics, cardio-pulmonary morphometry, fatty acid profile of the breast muscle and cost-benefit analysis were measured. Results indicated that animal protein significantly increased 4.27% FLW, 6.13% ADFI, 4.31% ADG and 2.93% wing weight. Accordingly, soybean oil increased 4.76% FLW, 3.80% ADG and 1.36% dressing percentage at the expense of 12.07% proventriculus weight compared with sunflower oil. The generalized linear model identified no interaction effects of the sources of protein and energy on overall performance of the birds. Replacement of vegetable protein by animal protein decreased 14.01% ∑ω-3, 12.16% ∑ω-6 and 12.21% sum of polyunsaturated fatty acids (∑PUFA) and concomitantly increased 10.82% sum of saturated fatty acids (∑SFAs) in the breast muscle (Pectoralis major). Accordingly, replacement of sunflower oil by soybean oil decreased 29.17% ∑ω-3, 6.71% ∑ω-6, 11.62% sum of monounsaturated fatty acids (∑MUFAs) and 7.33% ∑PUFAs and concurrently increased 18.36% ∑SFAs in the breast muscle of the broiler birds. It was concluded that animal protein-soybean oil-based broiler diet optimized net profit at the expense of desirable ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids in the breast muscle of the broiler chicken.

Does greenwashing obstruct sustainable environmental technologies and green financing from promoting environmental sustainability? Analytical evidence from the Indian economy

This study aims at assessing the impacts of green growth, in the form of adopting sustainable energy technologies and financing green projects, on environmental conditions in India. Thus, this study is important from the point of view of India's efforts in formulating strategies linked with achieving the environmental development targets enlisted under United Nations SDG‐13 declaration. In this regard, it is assumed that strategies targeted at establishing green growth in India can fail in the presence of greenwashing. To test this hypothesis, a newly introduced econometric technique, namely the Augmented‐ARDL techniques of estimation is used. Accordingly, the results obtained firstly suggest the existence of long‐run and cointegrated relationship exists between the variables of choice. Secondly, it is very much striking to find out that the the there is an inverse relationship between use of sustainable environmental technologies and environmental sustainability across India. Hence, this particular finding points to the possibility of stimulating geenwashing in the context of technology adoption in order to improve the state of the environment in India. Lastly, financing of green projects is seen to promote environmental sustainability which, in turn, affirms the absence of greenwashing in the context of green financing initiatives.

Diversification in the tourism sector and economic growth in Australia: a disaggregated analysis

In most countries inclusive of Australia, tourism policies do not only deal with how to diversify tourism markets but also how to diversify tourism activities. Efforts are often made to increase the inflows of tourists from different source markets and to improve arrivals for various tourism activities. However, the existing literature on the economic impact of the diversification of the sector has not dealt with the economic impact of diversification of tourism markets. This study aims to examine the economic impact of diversification of both tourism markets and tourism activities. Using a newly developed tourism diversification index, the focus of the study is on Australia for the period, 1976–2020. Utilizing a dynamic autoregressive lag simulation approach, the results suggest that diversification of tourism markets and activities generated positive economic growth in Australia in line with the notion of tourism‐led growth hypothesis. Empirical results outline that a 1% increase in diversification of tourism markets and activities generated increases in the gross domestic product by 0.010% and 0.070%, respectively. One of the implications of the results is that policies to diversify tourism markets and activities will be beneficial to the economy in Australia.

Decarbonization through sustainable energy technologies: Asymmetric evidence from 20 most innovative nations across the globe

Since the discharge of carbon is one of the main causes for ongoing global warming issue and change in climate, most nations have committed to decarbonizing their economies at the COP26 summit. Thus, this investigation aims to explore the consequences of innovations in sustainable energy technologies on decarbonization in the 20 most innovative nations across the globe. In assessing the cause-and-effect relationship, we have used “Panel Non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (P-NARDL)” technique. The findings demonstrated that the variables have a lasting relationship. The positive asymmetric shock in the innovations in sustainable energy technologies has a positive influence on the decarbonization of these nations, while the negative asymmetric effect is insignificant. According to the findings, clean energy negatively consequence on carbonization whereas growth in economy is favorably and considerably connected with it. The findings demonstrate that there is bidirectional causation between all variables under investigation, with the exception of the unidirectional causality flows from the usage of sustainable energy technology and emissions of CO2. In a global context, this research suggests that government should identify the roles of new sustainable energy technologies by reforming patenting regulations to rectify the environmental damages.

Impact of COVID‐19 on Bangladesh's agriculture sector and the ways forward to recovery: An overview

The COVID‐19 outbreak has left an indelible effect on Bangladesh's agriculture sector, like that of most developing countries. Considering that agriculture is the cornerstone of Bangladesh's economy, we made an effort to compile a detailed scenario of COVID‐19's effect on it through a relevant literature review. Since no significant studies outlined a complete picture of the pandemic's impact on agriculture, our study ventured to reveal the circumstances of each sub‐sector of agriculture. During the early phases of the pandemic, farmers engaged in agriculture production got poor prices, with the majority of them incurring losses. Labor shortages and input scarcity were the most prevailing hindrances across all the sub‐sectors. The export volume seemed to shrink hugely, hurting the country's GDP. The supply chain for agricultural commodities was disrupted as a result of the lockdown and mobility restrictions, which resulted in the elimination of the majority of intermediaries. Unprecedented challenges occurred in the input and output markets, as well as in the agro‐industries, exacerbating the situation. However, while the vegetables and poultry sub‐sectors recovered utterly and the dairy sub‐sector somehow managed to stabilize, other sub‐sectors are still grieving. This study highlighted some policies that can mitigate the miseries of the agriculture sector and overcome further potential threats in Bangladesh and other agriculture‐led developing countries.

Alloreactivity and autoreactivity converge to support B cell epitope targeting in transplant rejection

Antibody (Ab) responses against human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins mismatched between donor and recipient are leading cause of allograft loss in kidney transplantation. However, therapies targeting alloreactive B cell and Ab-secreting cell (ASC) are lacking, motivating the need to understand how to prevent and abrogate these alloresponses. Using molecular, structural, and proteomic techniques, we profiled the B cell response in a kidney transplant recipient with antibody-mediated rejection and graft loss. We found that this response spanned the rejected organ and peripheral blood, stimulated the differentiation of multiple B cell subsets, and produced a high-affinity, donor-specific, anti-HLA response. We found epitopic immunodominance that relied on highly exposed, solvent-accessible mismatched HLA residues as well as structural and biomolecular evidence of autoreactivity against the recipient's self-HLA allele. These alloreactive and autoreactive signatures converged in the recipient's circulating donor-specific Ab repertoire, suggesting that rejection requires both the recognition of non-self and breaches of tolerance to lead to alloinjury and graft loss.

Investigating the nexus between trade policy uncertainty and environmental quality in the USA: empirical evidence from aggregate and disaggregate level analysis

Worldwide, environmental sustainability is a hot topic, particularly in industrialized countries due to their higher emission intensity. Environmental conservation and equitable economic growth have been prioritized in economic debate and policy development. Over the past three decades, the USA's emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂e) have risen exponentially, as trade policy uncertainty (TPU). In this circumstance, this paper aims to contribute to the existing literature by exploring the effect of TPU on environmental quality by controlling the energy consumption, economic growth, and population in the USA over the period 1985M1 to 2022M3 employing the augmented ARDL and NARDL procedures in the presence of structural breaks. From our analysis, the results revealed that TPU affects negatively CO₂e in the residential sector, and negative changes in TPU positively affect CO₂e in the commercial sector both in the long and short run. On the other side, the outcomes show that energy consumption is a crucial key determinant factor in environmental degradation at the aggregate level and in all sectors. Furthermore, our findings clarify that economic growth upsurges the CO₂e at the aggregate level precisely in the industrial and residential sectors. Juxtaposing, in the long run, the results indicate that population growth could make additional pressure on environmental quality at the aggregate level, especially in commercial, power generation, and residential sectors. Accordingly, it is clear from our results that the regulations put in place to encourage Americans to buy locally created goods instead of those imported, especially in light of the high levels of TPU, maybe the best option to decrease the long-term impact of international trade on the environment to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Benchmarking the banking sector of Bangladesh: a comprehensive analysis of performance and efficiency

Purpose

The economic development of Bangladesh is heavily reliant on the banking industry, yet it faces numerous hurdles, including liquidity issues, capital shortages, non-performing loans, inefficiencies and so on. Therefore, this study investigated the performance and efficiency of scheduled banks (state-owned, private commercial, foreign commercial and specialized banks) operating in Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was conducted using secondary data from annual reports of banks. The CAMELS rating system and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods were employed to measure the performance and efficiency of banks, respectively.

Findings

In the overall bank rankings, results revealed that foreign commercial Standard Chartered Bank and state-owned Sonali Bank Limited came in first and last position, respectively. Among the four categories of banks, foreign commercial banks were the best performer, while state-owned banks were the worst. Only two banks, i.e. Citibank NA and HSBC Bank, were scale efficient while the remaining banks were inefficient. In terms of performance and efficiency, state-owned and specialized banks were deemed wanting.

Practical implications

This study proposes recommendations to the policymakers that could lead to more effective tactics for improving the banking industry's performance and efficiency.

Originality/value

As far as the authors are concerned, this study presents empirical evidence on the performance and efficiency of different types of banks and explores comparisons among them, which has never been done to this extent in the country before.

Perception of and adaptation to climate change: the case of wheat farmers in northwest Bangladesh

Climate change's impact on crop production is a global concern. A better understanding of farmers' perceptions of climate change and adaptation strategies will benefit farmers and policymakers in outlining an effective adaptation mechanism to climate change. Therefore, this study assessed wheat farmers' perceptions of climate change, identified major adaptation strategies, factors influencing adaptations, and barriers to effective adaptation by surveying 160 wheat farmers in northwest Bangladesh. The results revealed that farmers experienced more frequent droughts due to higher temperatures, decreased and irregular precipitation, reduced ground and surface water availability, and shorter winter seasons over the last two decades. Key adaptation strategies identified were more irrigation, switching to other crops, and changing fertilizer and insecticide usage. Multinomial logit model results indicate that farming experience, access to climate information and extension services, access to subsidies, farm size, family size, and electricity for irrigation were the significant factors influencing farmers' adaptation decisions. Limited access to climate information, inadequate knowledge of appropriate adaptation measures, and low price of wheat represented major adaptation barriers. The study recommends strengthening agricultural research and extension services to farmers, including education and training, to develop effective adaptation strategies to climate change.

A systematic review of fish adulteration and contamination in Bangladesh: A way forward to food safety

For decades, the world has been plagued by widespread food adulteration, and Bangladesh is no exception. Dishonest business people and fish farmers unlawfully utilize various preservatives to avoid rotting and extend the shelf life of fish. Although previous research has examined the level of formalin use in fish bodies, no studies focusing on all aspects of fish adulteration and contamination in Bangladesh have been carried out. In this context, the aim of this review is to explore the extent and magnitude of illegal fish adulteration and contamination in Bangladesh. Among the 37 reviewed studies, 11 of them highlighted formalin adulteration in fish samples and fish feed. The extent of formalin use varied between local and imported fish, and between large and small fish. Imported and large fish were substantially more formalin‐contaminated. Several investigations have discovered that antibiotic levels in farm water and fish feed exceed the permitted level. Farmers have used growth promoters incautiously. This study also identifies that certain metal substances, such as chromium, lead, arsenic, cadmium, iron, mercury and cobalt, have been frequently found in fish bodies and feed samples. Furthermore, a distinct type of fish adulteration caused by aromatic compounds has emerged recently. The findings and their ramifications are extremely concerning for human lives. However, since each study employed a different testing kit, the results were quite distinct. Thus, the adoption of a precise and sensitive kit is strongly recommended. The government should make it a top priority to solve the problem of fish adulteration by implementing appropriate food safety laws and policies.

Structural changes and economic landscape of the Indian economy: 2000‐2019

This study employs input‐output analysis to determine the extent of structural changes in the Indian economy, as well as how economic sector linkages changed between 2000 and 2019, and identifies the sectors with profound linkages with other sectors.  Furthermore, we use the causative matrix to examine the temporal changes in intersectoral interactions. The analysis shows that manufacturing sectors have stronger intersectoral linkages than sevice sectors, with resource‐intensive and scale‐intensive manufacturing sectors having the most profound linkages. Furthermore, the causative matrix analysis reveals that Indian sectors became more externalized following the global financial crises, while receiving less feedback from other sectors. The results suggest that intersectoral linkages should be taken into account when designing industrial policies, and that investment should be encouraged in India's key economic sectors.

Study on the coupling and coordination degree between urban tourism development and habitat environment in the Yangtze River Delta in China

By constructing the two evaluation systems of urban tourism development (TD) and habitat environment (HE), the dynamic response relationship between the two systems in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration from 2001 to 2020 is explored by using panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model and coupled coordination degree model. The study unearthed four intriguing findings: (1) the level of TD in the study area has been continuously rising from 2001 to 2020, with an initial slow growth rate and then fast. The level of HE is increasing steadily at an average annual rate of 7.05%. There exists a reciprocal response relationship between the two systems, with a strong shock effect in the short term and a synergistic evolution in the long term. (2) The coupling degree between the urban TD and HE has an increasing trend, and the coupling coordination degree of the two systems has an average annual rate of 4.165%, implying the interaction and promotion effect between the two systems is improving. (3) Most of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta gradually realize the evolution from dysfunctional type to coordinated type, but the overall coordination intensity is low. (4) The barrier degrees of TD system indicators show a small annual increasing trend, while the barrier degrees of HE system indicators show a substantial and continuous decreasing trend. In terms of the barrier degree factors, some important factors that restrict the coupled and coordinated development of the two systems are also reported. This research can provide a useful reference for the synergistic improvement of urban tourism economy and habitat environment.

The asymmetric influence of environmental-related technological innovation on climate change mitigation: what role do FDI and renewable energy play?

This study aims to provide a new perspective on environmental studies by examining the influence of environmental-related technological innovation, foreign direct investment, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth on the climate change index (CCI), a novel proxy for environmental quality indicators. From the econometric standpoint, this study employs the "non-linear autoregressive distributed lag" model and spectral causality over the period of 1999-2018 for India. The results show that positive shocks to economic growth have detrimental long- and short-term effects on environmental quality, whereas negative shocks have no effect. While a positive shock has an insignificant impact, a negative shock to environmental technology innovation has a long-term negative impact on environmental quality. This study provides evidence for the pollution halo hypothesis in India. Besides, a long-term negative shock to the usage of renewable energy fosters environmental degradation. Furthermore, in short-, medium-, and long-term frequency, spectral causality demonstrates unidirectional causation from CCI to environmental-related technological innovation. Bidirectional causation is demonstrated between the CCI and renewable energy consumption in the short and medium term. In addition, environmental-related technological innovation and foreign direct investment are demonstrating a bidirectional relationship in the short term. This study has advocated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-centric policy paradigm, which can assist the Indian government in achieving SDG-13 (mitigating climate change) and SDG-7 (clean energy consumption).

COVID-19's effects and adaptation strategies in fisheries and aquaculture sector: An empirical evidence from Bangladesh

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the aquaculture and fisheries sector all around the world, with the impact being exacerbated in developing countries. This study is an endeavor to identify consequences of the COVID-19 on fisheries and aquaculture sectors based on primary data collected from Bangladesh as an empirical case study. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with different supply chain actors while analyzed using descriptive statistics and a problem confrontation index. As results depicted, income and employment across fish farmers, fishers, and traders were severely hurt, with a drastic fall in the market demand, coupled with a severe drop in their fish consumption. As market demand declined, fish farmers must be stocked mature fish for an extra period, and feed costs raised, eventually increasing the overall production cost. Besides, inaccessibility to inputs also made fish production and catch more troublesome. The price of all the major cultured and captured species plunged, leading to a depressing return to farmers, while inputs price underwent a significant increase except for labor and fingerling. However, traders seemed to be the worst sufferers amid striking disruption in fish value chain, which ostracized the preponderance of the traders from the chain. Some of the prime obstacles that constrained the production and trading process were but not limited to higher transportation costs, labor shortage, inability to pay for the wage, and reduced consumer demand across fish farmers, fishers, and traders. Nevertheless, our article further identified a myriad of strategies that the fish farmers, fishers, and traders followed to heal the scar of the fisheries and aquaculture sector with hands-on actions.

Energy mix with technological innovation to abate carbon emission: fresh evidence from Mexico applying wavelet tools and spectral causality

The global warming issue arises from climate change, which draws scientists' attention toward cleaner energy sources. Among clean sources, renewables and nuclear energy are getting immense attention among policymakers. However, the significance of nuclear energy in reducing CO₂ emissions has remained ambiguous, necessitating further research. Therefore, the present study draws impetuous attention to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals-7 (affordable clean energy) & 13 (climate change mitigation) by looking at the relationship between energy mix (fossil fuels, renewables, and nuclear), economic growth, technological innovation, and CO₂ emissions in Mexico from 1980 to 2019 using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. In addition, to assess the direction of causality, this study applied wavelet techniques and spectral causality. The findings affirm that renewable and nuclear energy use and technological innovation tend to curb CO₂ emissions, whereas fossil fuel consumption and economic expansion trigger CO₂ emissions. The study lends support to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon in Mexico. The FMOLS and DOLS tests show that our long-run estimates are reliable. In different time scales, the wavelet coherence result is also consistent. Finally, the results of the spectral causality approach demonstrate a significant causal association between the variables tested at various frequencies. As a result, in order to achieve SDGs 7 and 13 and support an environmentally friendly ecosystem, Mexico's energy mix must be changed to renewables and nuclear.

Spatial price transmission in the onion markets of Bangladesh: An application of NARDL approach

As the price of local onions is greatly impacted by the price of imported onions at these two levels of the supply chain, the goal of this study was to ascertain whether onion prices in Bangladesh are transmitted asymmetrically at the wholesale and retail levels. To analyze asymmetry, the study employed the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model in the short and long run using monthly time series data from January 2006 to December 2020. The NARDL model captures the effects of both positive and negative shocks in the short as well as in the long run. The empirical results from the NARDL indicate that the wholesale price of local onion shares a short-run relationship with the wholesale price of imported onion while the local retail price of onion shares a long-run relationship with the imported retail price of onion. In addition, the short-run impact of local wholesale and imported wholesale prices is asymmetric. Long-run evidence supports the existence of an asymmetric effect between the local and imported retail onion prices. Using the Pairwise Granger causality test, we examined the causal relationships between wholesale and retail prices. The direction of the casual relationship indicates that the wholesale and retail prices of imported onions lead to the wholesale and retail prices of local onions. A clear understanding of the onion market, how prices move between market actors, and its role in determining market price interaction could be gained by analyzing the asymmetric relationship between the local and imported onion prices. As a result, significant policy recommendations could be made to control the onion price in Bangladesh.

Can Renewable Energy and Export Help in Reducing Ecological Footprint of India? Empirical Evidence from Augmented ARDL Co-Integration and Dynamic ARDL Simulations

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of exports, renewable energy, and industrialization on the ecological footprint (EF) of India over the period spanning from 1970–2017 by employing the newly developed augmented ARDL (A-ARDL) co-integration approach and the novel dynamic ARDL (D-ARDL) technique. The empirical results demonstrate that exports and renewable energy consumption reduce the EF, while industrialization intensifies the EF. More precisely, a 1% increase in export (renewable energy consumption) reduces the EF by 0.05% (0.09%). In addition, the short-run elasticity of the GDP is found to be larger than the long-run elasticity indicating the possibility of the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) of the EF for India. The study indicates that the income effect and increased policy focus on renewable energy usage can be expected to reduce India’s per capita EF in the long run. Moreover, India’s export sector has been traditionally less energy intensive, which reflects in our findings of export growth leading to a reduction in EF. Based on the empirical findings, this study recommends some policy insights that may assist India to effectively reduce its ecological footprint.

Fish oil, Azadirachta indica and Curcuma longa improve feed efficiency and meat quality of the broiler chicken.. [DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2074785/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0]

Total 288 Ross-308 male broiler chicks were randomly distributed in a complete block design at 2×3 (Two different phytochemicals, i.e., Azadirachta indica, and Curcuma longa at three different levels, i.e., 0, 0.063, and 0.125% of the basal diet) factorial arrangement. Final live weight (FLW), average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed efficiency (FE), carcass characteristics, cardio-pulmonary morphometry, haemato-biochemical indices, gut morphology, ileal nutrient digestibility, tibia morphometry, meat quality and fatty acid profile were measured. Results indicated that, supplementation of Azadirachta indica leaf meal (AILM) decreased the FLW, ADFI, ADG, gizzard weight, right ventricular diameter and increased the FE, tibia calcium content, left ventricular weight and the ratio of right and left ventricle. The AILM substantially increased the malonaldehyde concentration in the Pectoralis major muscle of the broiler chicken at 7th and day 14th days. The Curcuma longa powder (CLP) decreased the FLW, ADFI and ADG without affecting the FE and increased the weight of right ventricle, left ventricle and tibia length. The AILM and CLP interacted to decrease the ADFI, total saturated fatty acid content and increase the FE, ω-6, ω-9, total unsaturated fatty acids, total poly-unsaturated fatty acids and the ratio of total unsaturated: saturated fatty acid in the breast muscle of the broiler chicken. It was concluded that Azadirachta indica and Curcuma longa in combination with fish oil improved the FE and meat quality of the broiler chicken at the expense of ADFI and ADG.

Willingness to pay for adopting conservation tillage technologies in wheat cultivation: policy options for small-scale farmers

Traditional farming involves intensive tillage causing soil degradation and erosion. On the contrary, conservation tillage technologies are expensive to purchase for small-scale farmers. However, the adoption of these technologies reduces soil tillage costs which lead to reduced overall production costs. In this milieu, this study assessed the willingness to pay (WTP) for adopting conservation tillage technologies in terms of individual and cooperative payment systems using the primary data collected from 320 wheat farmers in Bangladesh. The contingency valuation method (CVM) was followed to estimate their WTP, and factors affecting WTP were identified through the logistic regression model. The results elicited farmers perceived that conservation tillage technologies would facilitate by reducing costs, timely land preparation, seed sowing and planting, appropriate positioning of seed and fertilizers, and higher soil moisture. Nevertheless, most of the farmers wanted to adopt conservation tillage technologies, while about 79% would like to pay for it. Although farmers' average WTP for individual purchases was higher, most were interested in the cooperative systems for adopting conservation tillage machines. Farmers' WTP for both individual and cooperative purchases was influenced by location of wheat production, farming experience, and demonstration plots. Additionally, individual payment system was affected by the amount of wheatland and training while credit affected the cooperative purchase system. Besides, the farmers would like to expand their wheat farms by approximately 73.33% after adopting conservation tillage technologies. The refusal to pay for conservation tillage technologies was mostly due to low-quality spare parts, lack of technical understanding, and unawareness of the technology. This study suggests that providing training among farmers and operators, credit support, and making machines and spare parts available in the nearest markets would support adopting conservation technologies. Besides, cooperative-based payment system should be formed to help small-scale farmers adopt conservation tillage techniques for sustainable agriculture in an environment-friendly way.

Linking shadow economy and CO2 emissions in Nigeria: Exploring the role of financial development and stock market performance. Fresh insight from the novel dynamic ARDL simulation and spectral causality approach

First and foremost, the present study seeks to traverse the informal sector characterized by a shadow economy in the presence of financial development, economic growth, and stock market performance on environmental pollution in Nigeria from 1981 to 2019. The dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) approach was used to measure the short- and long-run elasticities, while spectral causality is applied to categorize the causal directions. Findings from the study revealed that the structural break unit root test revealed that all variables are stationary at first difference. The ARDL bound test confirmed the existence of long-run association among the used variables. The ARDL long-run results reveal that economic growth, financial development, and stock market performance are significantly responsible for carbon emission in Nigeria, while the shadow economy significantly improves environmental quality in Nigeria. Findings from the spectral causality results show a unidirectional causal relationship between financial development, economic growth, trade, stock market performance, and shadow economy to carbon emission in Nigeria. The empirical findings of this study provide some perceptive policy recommendations to overcome the adverse effect of carbon emissions in the environment.

Towards a clean production by exploring the nexus between agricultural ecosystem and environmental degradation using novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach

Agriculture, which serves as a lifeline for us, is unequivocally vital for an agriculture-dependent economy like Bangladesh, not only for its food supply but also because of its significant contribution towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 and 2. However, in a third-world nation like Bangladesh, where farming practices largely circumvent the environmental consequences, raised our concern. In this milieu, this study is a novel attempt to explore the association between agricultural ecosystem and environmental degradation in Bangladesh using a long time spanning from 1972 to 2018. We observed a long-run association between the agroecosystem and CO₂ emission. Further, findings from the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (DARDL) simulation model revealed that the environmental quality of Bangladesh is heavily distorted by total cereal production, total livestock head, enteric methane emissions, N₂O emissions from manure application, and CO₂ equivalent N₂O emissions from synthetic fertilizers in the short and long run, whereas agricultural technology, pesticide use in agriculture, and burned biomass crop residue deteriorated the environmental quality only in the long run. The counterfactual diagram entailed from the DARDL model projected the trend of CO₂ emission in response to positive and negative changes in the analyzed variables. Lastly, this study established a causal relationship between the agroecosystem and environmental degradation using frequency domain causality. Indeed, our study will aid in reshaping agricultural practices in an eco-friendly manner to mitigate environmental degradation and help formulate pragmatic policy actions so that agro-lead nations can thrive in the race of achieving SDGs 1, 2, and 13.

Environmental consequences of foreign direct investment influx and conventional energy consumption: evidence from dynamic ARDL simulation for Turkey

The preponderance of emerging economies confronts significant trade-offs between economic growth and environmental sustainability considerations, and Turkey is no exception. This study draws strength from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs-7,11,12 & 13). To this end, the present study explores the role of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the case of Turkey for annual frequency data from 1970 to 2020. The present study leverages on the novel dynamic autoregressive-distributed lag (DARDL) methodology and Bayer and Hanck combined cointegration test. The combined Bayer and Hanck cointegration test alongside ARDL bounds test traces equilibrium relationship between economic growth, urbanization, FDI, energy use, and CO₂ emission over the investigated period. Empirical results from the DARDL simulation analysis validates the EKC hypothesis. These results suggest that environmental quality is being compromised for economic growth at the earlier stage of economic growth (scale stage). The EKC phenomenon is affirmed as a 1% increase in economic growth increase emission level by 0.1580% and quadratic economic growth decrease emission by 0.1095% in the short and long run, respectively. Similarly, urbanization and energy used in both the short and long run also worsen environmental quality while FDI influx in the long run improves environmental quality in Turkey. These outcomes have far-reaching environment-urbanization growth implications. From a policy lens, the current study subscribed to the environmental stick policies and investment on strategies on a paradigm shift from fossil-fuel energy consumption base to renewables. Further insights are highlighted in the concluding section.

Risk Factor Stratification in Patient with Recurrent Stroke in Bangladesh

Background: Stroke is a non communicable disease of increasing importance. Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the world. Individual who suffered from stroke are at high risk of suffering recurrent stroke. So it is important to establish the risk factor for secondary prevention. The aim of this study is to find out the association of risk factor of recurrent stroke and it helps to take steps to reduce recurrent stroke. Materials and methods: This is a cross sectional observational case control study was conducted at Dhaka Medical College Hospital during 1st January to 31 December 2011. Definition was followed by WHO stroke manual.   Results: In this study two leading risk factors were found hypertension and smoking respectively 78% and 72%. Among risk factors others were diabetes 56%, dyslipidemia 24%, cardiac diseases (AF, IHD, Valvular heart disease) 22%, Mean age of patient 61.09. Ischemic stroke found in 68% and haemorrhagic in 32% of patient. Conclusion: The common risk factors of stroke are also attributed to risk factor of stroke. Noncompliance to drug and life style modification also important cause of recurrent stroke. JCMCTA 2022 ; 33 (1) : 93-96

Breast Arterial Calcification on Mammography and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

Background: Breast arterial calcification (BAC) is generally detected on screening mammography which shows medial calcification of the mammary arteries. On the other hand, CAD is an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. BAC is associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease specially in patients who underwent screening mammography. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional observational study that was conducted at Bangabandhu Sheik Mujib Medical University. Dhaka. Bangladesh during the period of January 2018- December 2022. The sample size for this study was 70. Result: The mean ±SD age of the respondents who underwent mammography was 58± 8 years where who had breast arterial calcification it was 62±7 years. Total cholesterol was 5.1±1.9 and 5.2±2.0, ASSIGN score was in 15±10.8 and 18.1±11.0, coronary artery calcium score was in 0(0,52) and 13 (0, 107), any coronary artery disease on CCTA was in 35(50%) and 7(58.3%), obstructive coronary artery disease on CCTA was in 10(14.3%) and 2(16.7%) cases. Coronary artery calcification 5 was found in TP, 14 was in TN, 3 was in FP, 14 was in FN, 2 was in sensitivity, 7 was in specificity, 6 was in PPV, 5 was in NPV and .545 was in AUC and followed by coronary artery calcification (>400 AU) was in 1, 27, 8, 1, 3, 6, 1, 9 and 0.554, any coronary artery disease on CCTA was in 5, 14, 3, 14, 2, 7, 6, 5 and 0.546, obstructive coronary artery disease on CCTA was in 2, 25, 7, 4, 3, 7, 2, 8 and 0.556. Conclusion: BAC on mammography is a potential woman-specific risk predictor for CAD and is also related to the growth of coronary atherosclerosis proven by CCTA having important clinical implications. BAC is also strongly associated with the development of CAC and CAP.

A Review on Mechanistic Insight of Plant Derived Anticancer Bioactive Phytocompounds and Their Structure Activity Relationship

Cancer is a disorder that rigorously affects the human population worldwide. There is a steady demand for new remedies to both treat and prevent this life-threatening sickness due to toxicities, drug resistance and therapeutic failures in current conventional therapies. Researchers around the world are drawing their attention towards compounds of natural origin. For decades, human beings have been using the flora of the world as a source of cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Currently, clinically approved anticancer compounds are vincristine, vinblastine, taxanes, and podophyllotoxin, all of which come from natural sources. With the triumph of these compounds that have been developed into staple drug products for most cancer therapies, new technologies are now appearing to search for novel biomolecules with anticancer activities. Ellipticine, camptothecin, combretastatin, curcumin, homoharringtonine and others are plant derived bioactive phytocompounds with potential anticancer properties. Researchers have improved the field further through the use of advanced analytical chemistry and computational tools of analysis. The investigation of new strategies for administration such as nanotechnology may enable the development of the phytocompounds as drug products. These technologies have enhanced the anticancer potential of plant-derived drugs with the aim of site-directed drug delivery, enhanced bioavailability, and reduced toxicity. This review discusses mechanistic insights into anticancer compounds of natural origins and their structural activity relationships that make them targets for anticancer treatments.

Does the monetary policy have any short-run and long-run effect on economic growth? A developing and a developed country perspective

Purpose

The study aims to empirically examine the relationship between monetary policy and economic growth, as well as to explore the long-run and the short-run effect of monetary policy on the economic growth of a developing country (Bangladesh) and a developed country (the United Kingdom).

Design/methodology/approach

Depending on data availability, the study employed secondary data covering the period of 1980–2019. The augmented Dickey–Fuller test and the Phillips–Perron test were used for the stationarity test. Further, the F-bounds test was run to justify the long-run relationship between monetary policy and economic growth. Thereafter, long-run coefficients were revealed from the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and short-run coefficients from the error correction model. Furthermore, the vector error correction model (VECM) Granger causality approach was employed to demonstrate the causality of studied variables. Lastly, different diagnostics tests ensured the robustness of the models.

Findings

F-bounds test outcomes suggest that monetary policy has a long-run relationship with economic growth in both countries. Long-run coefficients revealed that money supply has a positive long-run impact on economic growth in both countries. Unlike the UK, the exchange rate exhibits an adverse effect on the economic growth of Bangladesh. The bank rate seems to promote economic growth for the UK. Findings also depict that increase in lending interest rates hurts the economic growth for both countries. Besides, the short-run coefficients portray random effects at different lags in both cases. Lastly, causality among studied variables is revealed using the VECM Granger causality approach.

Originality/value

The novelty of this study lies in consideration of both developing and developed countries in the same study.

Heading towards sustainable environment: exploring the dynamic linkage among selected macroeconomic variables and ecological footprint using a novel dynamic ARDL simulations approach

Ever since the emancipation of a country, its environmental quality has undergone a significant transition during the development phases; Bangladesh is no exception. Bangladesh is facing a serious threat in the age of global warming, and climate change as the country is looking forward in achieving the SDGs by 2030. Yet, there is a dearth of study regarding the relationship among crucial macroeconomic drivers and ecological footprint (a proxy for environmental degradation). Under the circumstances, this study explores the effects of economic growth, capital formation, urbanization, trade openness, energy use, and technological innovation on the ecological footprint by adopting the novel dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) simulations approach for Bangladesh, using annual frequency data from 1972 to 2017. Empirical results from the bounds test ascertained that there exists a long-run equilibrium association among the outlined variables. Furthermore, the novel dynamic ARDL simulation results revealed that Bangladesh is yet to achieve the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. It was observed that the Bangladesh economy is still at the scale stage of its economic trajectory, emphasizing economic growth relative to her environmental status. However, capital formation, urbanization, and energy use seemed to degrade environmental quality, while trade openness and technological innovation upgraded the environmental quality. Putting it more elaborately, a unit escalation in GDP per capita increases the ecological footprint by 0.829% in the long run, while a unit increase in energy consumption upsurges the ecological footprint by 1.074% and 0.761% in the long run and short run, respectively. As regards technology innovation, one unit increase in it cutbacks the ecological footprint by 0.596% in the long run. Furthermore, the frequency domain causality unveiled the long-run feedback effect between economic growth and ecological footprint. The study further presents possible recommendations that can sustainably address environmental issues, keeping the economy buoyant.