A Theoretical Perspective on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts

This article develops an economic model of human trafficking and migration-debt contracts. A key feature of the theoretical model is the payment of additional sums beyond the initial contracted price to alter the trafficker's queue order. These bribes are shown to be related to the level of effort applied by the trafficker. The types of data needed to rigorously test the model are discussed, together with policy implications.     

Consumption,savings and investment by social class in Bangladesh: Does the rural sector support the Urban sector?

This article employs input‐output analysis and information from a social accounting matrix and the concept of net savings to examine savings, consumption and investment behaviour by various social classes in Bangladesh in urban and rural areas. Considerable differences between social classes can be identified in all three respects. A majority of the social classes in the rural sector does not appear to generate enough savings to sustain its consumption whereas the urban social classes do. There seems to be little difference in consumption pattern of the rural rich and the urban rich. There is considerable urban‐rural difference in the import intensities of consumption. The findings of this study based on the Hazari model do not establish the existence of urban bias but the problem seems to be one of ‘rich‐bias’ rather than urban‐bias per se. However, the Hazari model cannot capture all possible sources of urban bias and circumstantial evidence indicates concentration of advantages in the urban areas.     

Not domestic violence or cultural tradition: is honour-based violence distinct from domestic violence?

This paper addresses an important conceptual question surrounding the categorisation of honour-based violence (hereafter ‘HBV’) – Is HBV a subspecies of domestic violence (hereafter ‘DV’)? According to academic commentators such as Reddy, Aujla and Gill, HBV falls within the broad spectrum of DV. Utilising data extracted from interviews conducted with 30 key agents, this paper will seek to provide incontrovertible evidence that HBV is different to DV because the characteristics it presents offer some differences. Furthermore, the overall strategies used to investigate HBV by UK law enforcement agencies differ to that of DV. Being this specific about HBV does not necessarily mean that one succumbs to cultural-essentialist assumptions about the prevalence of such violence in particular communities either. Rather, an understanding that HBV can be different will help identify the serious dangers it presents and the strategies needed to support victims.     

Influence of rubber compound and tread pattern of retreaded tyres on vehicle active safety

The aim of the article is to present the results of road tests of original and retreaded tyres, analysed in the aspect of vehicle active safety. The tests covered emergency braking, steady-state circular tests and severe lane-change manoeuvre. The tests were performed in summer and winter conditions. Original Michelin tyres and Michelin tyres retreaded with summer and winter rubber compounds were used. The results of the tests proved that vehicle active safety is affected by retreaded tyres. The differences between braking deceleration of a car with original tyres and braking deceleration of a car with retreaded tyres confirmed the necessity of performing braking tests on the place of accident with the set of tyres with which the vehicle participating in the accident was equipped.     

Analysis of energy consumption and indicators of energy use in Bangladesh

Rapid growth in the demand for commercial energy in Bangladesh poses serious development constraints in recent years. Per capita energy consumption of Bangladesh is one of the lowest in the world (252 kgoe in 2005). This paper undertakes an empirical investigation to find out the trends in energy intensities by comparing the energy consumption per capita and energy consumption per GDP for agriculture, industry, commercial, and transport sectors of Bangladesh and investigate their conditions over the long run. Only 43% of total population has access to electricity facility. Though natural gas provides two-third of the nation’s commercial fossil fuel supply, only 4% households have access to natural gas networks. Biomass fuels are estimated to account for about 73% of the country’s primary energy supply. The daily electricity output totals around 3800 MW against the demand of 6000 MW, leaving a supply crunch of 2200 MW. Natural gas has so far fuelled more than 90% of the power plants of the country. Hydro-electricity contributes only 3% of the total energy supply in Bangladesh. More than 90% of the oil and petroleum products are imported. The country has a substantial potential for coal, most of which has yet to be explored. Overall energy intensity increased approximately twofold from 1980 to 2005. The findings of the study show that change in energy intensity is due to structural effect, while increase in aggregate energy consumption is due to both the activity effect and structural effect. Renewable energy sources will largely mitigate the dire energy crisis in rural areas of Bangladesh. Over 400,000 Solar Home Systems (SHSs) have been installed so far, benefiting over 4 million rural people. More fiscal and other incentives should be included in the recently formulated Renewable Energy Policy to investors for rapid development of clean energy. In addition, regional cooperation should be enhanced specially in case of hydro-power and natural gas. Finally, coal based power plant should be set up as early as possible.     

Mothers’ Attitudes Toward Corporal Punishment of Children in Qazvin-Iran

The aim of this study was to assess mothers’ attitudes toward Corporal Punishment (CP) of children in Iran. A qualitative study was carried out using focus group discussions. Five sessions were held among 42 participants (30 mothers and 12 caregivers). Results indicated that 80% of participants used CP to bring up their children; 70 % did not know the meaning, predisposing factors, and manifestations of child abuse, and more than 50 % did not know the complications resulting from CP and the ways of preventing. Their attitude toward CP was that the use of CP was sometimes necessary to bring up their children while their information about predisposing factors and complications of child abuse might be minimal. The findings have been used in providing an educational package with the topics of parenting skills in order to decrease child abuse that has been resulted by parents.     

Forensic investigation of cross platform massively multiplayer online games: Minecraft as a case study

Minecraft, a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG), has reportedly millions of players from different age groups worldwide. With Minecraft being so popular, particularly with younger audiences, it is no surprise that the interactive nature of Minecraft has facilitated the commission of criminal activities such as denial of service attacks against gamers, cyberbullying, swatting, sexual communication, and online child grooming. In this research, there is a simulated scenario of a typical Minecraft setting, using a Linux Ubuntu 16.04.3 machine (acting as the MMOG server) and Windows client devices running Minecraft. Server and client devices are then examined to reveal the type and extent of evidential artefacts that can be extracted.