217 research outputs found
Replication Data for: Bird’s Decision to Shift the Direction of Migration Path Depends on the Position of Sun as well as Moon: A Directional Statistical Inference
No full textDataset for: Bird’s Decision to Shift the Direction of Migration
Path Depends on the Position of the Sun as well as Moon:
A Directional Statistical Inference
(Author: Prithwish Ghosh, Debashis Chatterjee, Amlan Banerjee
Challenges in conducting qualitative research with people with disabilities in low and middle income countries
No full textDiscrimination against people with disabilities in accessing microfinance Discrimination contre les personnes handicapées dans l'accès à la microfinance
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to explore the state of existing research on microfinance lending discrimination against people with disabilities. It argues that existing literature suggests people with disabilities face notable discrimination in accessing microfinance (Labie et al., 2015). The attitudes of employees within microfinance institutions (MFIs) are one of the principal sources of such discrimination, which has important implications for the lives of people with disabilities (Cramm & Finkenflugel, 2008; Mersland et al., 2009; Labie et al., 2015). Moreover, studies conducted by Beisland & Mersland (2012) and Nuwagaba et al. (2012) found that people with disabilities tend not to apply for microfinance due to the anticipation of such rejection. People with disabilities face both ‘taste-based discrimination’ (prejudice) and ‘statistical discrimination’ (when a decision-maker uses individuals’ observable characteristics as a substitute for unobservable ones). It is reasonable to assume that reducing discrimination in the microfinance market would greatly benefit existing and prospective entrepreneurs with disabilities. However, this requires targeted interventions aimed at inducing systematic institutional reforms, changing the mindsets of employees and people with disabilities, and integrating appropriate accommodations within microfinance operations. In order to implement these changes, I conclude that microfinance regulators must work to identify areas of discrimination that are not correctly covered by existing lending practices
Pressure on Loan Officers in Microfinance Institutions: An Ethical Perspective
No full textLoan officers play diverse and significant role in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). While performing their job, they encounter tremendous pressure. Some of the pressures are meeting deadlines and quotas, powerful hierarchical pressure, reducing Portfolio at Risk (PAR), working more than normal functioning hours in and outside office, structural pressure. These types of pressure reduce productivity, creates dissatisfaction with jobs, lower confidence, hamper relationship, and most importantly, impact personal life. This unrealistic pressure on loan officers is an ethical issue. In this paper, some management consequences will be discussed that arises from the unethical pressures. Besides that, some practical recommendation for the managers of microfinance institutions are suggested to address this issue such as proper implementation of human resource policy and procedures, appropriate planning and promote supportive culture, effective communication and feedback, adequate staff training and mentoring, following bottom-up approach, logistics support. Keywords: Loan Officers/Credit officers, Pressure, Microfinance, Ethics DOI: 10.7176/JESD/4-12-84
Weather Index Insurance for Agriculture in Bangladesh: Significance of Implementation and Some Challenges
No full textFarmers are very poor and vulnerable especially in the developing countries. Farmers face several natural disasters and challenges during the agricultural production. The unavoidable and negative impact of weather could reduce the capacity of production, make farmers unproductive and put farmers into poverty. To face these challenges, weather index insurance could play a significant role but implementing index-based insurance is also challenging. Different stakeholders from insurance companies to government to donor agencies should come forward to protect the agricultural production because agriculture is the main source of food. These stakeholders also need to protect the lives of farmers, and enhance economic growth by implementing weather index insurance. This paper will focus on the present literatures of weather index insurance mainly some basic issues of weather index insurance and the relevance to use this in the context of Bangladesh, the advantages of weather index insurance and the challenges of implementation. Keywords: Weather Index Insurance, Bangladesh, Agriculture, Insurance DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/5-14-74
Microfinance for Disabled People: How is it Contributing?
No full textDisabled people face discrimination and marginalization across the globe. They are affected by extreme poverty and due to this; they have limited livelihood opportunities. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) overlooked the responsibility to include disabled people into their mainstream program. Microfinance is supposed to be for poverty reduction, empowerment of poor and vulnerable people but very few examples shows that microfinance served disabled people. Some MFIs or donor funded projects piloted some experiments around the globe and found that disabled people are economically active, confident, self-employed and appear as the best clients. Disabled people constitute a good market segment for MFIs. However, locating and including disabled people in the conventional microfinance practices is also challenging. Providing credit or savings service is not enough for disabled people but MFIs could offer extended services such as financial literacy, customized training for income generation. MFIs could also recruit disability friendly staff, include disability issue in the training curriculum to change mindset of staff, develop and implement the policies for reaching more disabled people. Beyond these initiatives, MFIs might build strategic partnership with Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs) to get effective information about disabled people to ensure access to financial services. This article would focus on several issues of disability and poverty, forms of discrimination and obstacles that disabled people face to access microfinance, contribution of microfinance on the lives of disabled people, challenges that MFIs face for designing specific program for the financial inclusion of disabled people. Keywords: Microfinance, Poverty, Disability, Discrimination, Contribution. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/4-9-118
Pharmacodynamic Biomarkers for Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
No full textRational and efficient development of new molecular cancer therapeutics requires discovery, validation, and implementation of informative biomarkers. Measurement of molecular target status, pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters of drug exposure, and pharmacodynamic (PD) endpoints of drug effects on target, pathway, and downstream biological processes are extremely important. These can be linked to therapeutic effects in what we term a "pharmacological audit trail." Using biomarkers in preclinical drug discovery and development facilitates optimization of PK, PD, and therapeutic properties so that the best agent is selected for clinical evaluation. Applying biomarkers in early clinical trials helps identify the most appropriate patients; provides proof of concept for target modulation; helps test the underlying hypothesis; informs the rational selection of dose and schedule; aids decision making, including key go/no go questions; and may explain or predict clinical outcomes. Despite many successes such as trastuzumab and imatinib, exemplifying the value of targeting specific cancer defects, only 5% of oncology drugs that enter the clinic make it to marketing approval. Use of biomarkers should reduce this high level of attrition and bring forward key decisions (e.g., "fail fast"), thereby reducing the spiraling costs of drug development and increasing the likelihood of getting innovative and active drugs to cancer patients. In this chapter, we focus primarily on PD endpoints that demonstrate target modulation, including both invasive molecular assays and functional imaging technology. We also discuss related clinical trial design issues. Implementation of biomarkers in trials remains disappointingly low and we emphasize the need for greater cooperation between various stakeholders to improve this
ADI-PEG 20 Plus Best Supportive Care versus Placebo Plus Best Supportive Care in Patients with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma
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