The literature gap in microfinance paradox of double bottom line (financial performance vs. outreach) has always been an interesting area of research. This paper proposes a theoretical model most suitable for Islamic Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) which enables Islamic MFIs’ to operate together with the existing financial models compliant with Islamic Shariah Law. This model is based on a distributed verification/decision-making process that might be realized (but not necessary) through blockchain. Among the available distributed verification techniques, blockchain technology is an attractive emerging computing paradigm due to its decentralized, immutable, shared, and secure data structure characteristics. This model proposes three significant propositions. First, sharing information through blockchain will allow a transparent network in MFI operations, which will raise confidence for donors resulting in a causal effect of a relatively lower profit rate to be charged by the MFIs. Second, the consensus mechanism will enable risk-sharing, a character of Islamic finance; thus, the MFIs will operate without any collateral for low-risk firms. Third, the double bottom line of MFIs' long-lasting paradox would be solved. As for practical implication of this proposed model, the causal impact of lower cost investment by the lenders would increase social welfare because of no collateral and no initial wealth requirement. The proposed model proposes a credit rationing approach where profit can be negative. No collateral will be used when calculating the creditworthiness of a borrower.

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Given the shutdown of the schools worldwide thanks to COVID-19 pandemic hit early in 2020, there had been, for a while, a mounting global concern over continuing education and averting children’s learning loss. Paying heed to that concern, many nations across the world transitioned to online education as a wholesale alternative approach to emergency schooling. However, online schooling was no single panacea specially for those developing countries which are hardly able to meet the success conditions of online teaching and learning. This phenomenological case study describes a novel pandemic-time rural schooling activity as an alternative to the wholesale online education commonly adopted globally during the pandemic. We have theoretically based the study on the Activity Theories postulated by Vygotsky and Cole and extended by Engeström. We collected qualitative data by semistructured interviews and by gathering school documents. Following Williams and Moser’s coding method and Miles et al.’s two-cycle coding process, we analyzed the collected data. The novel schooling activity that this study found is “clustered (sub-)schools” made up of the split-ups of the regular school. The findings in detail are discussed and recommendations are made.

This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity for several rice features and their association with yields, as well as to identify genotypes of short-duration rice. The experiment was conducted in the field in a natural environment, and data were collected on several plant parameters for each genotype at various phases of plant development. Twenty genotypes of rice were examined based on their morphological and physiological characteristics. From July through December of 2020, the experiment was conducted at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute's regional station in Shyampur, Rajshahi. There was significant diversity among the twenty rice genotypes for all characteristics tested. The genotype BRRI dhan57 displayed the shortest days to flowering. In terms of days to maturity, the genotype BRRI dhan57 was the earliest, with a maturity time of 107.33 days, followed by BRRI dhan56 and BRRI dhan39. The days to blooming had the highest heritability (99.75%), followed by the days to maturity (99.58%), grain yield (85.30%), thousand grain weight (85.22%), grains per panicle (84.91%), plant height (82.21%), and tillers per hill (21.61%). High heritability scores indicated that the researched qualities were less influenced by the surrounding environment. As a percentage of the mean, the genetic gain was greatest for grain yield (36.33%) and lowest for tillers per hill (6.60%) among the yield-contributing factors. In days to flowering, days to maturity, grains per panicle, and plant height, high heritability and genetic progress were seen. According to the principal component analysis (PCA), the Eigen values of the first four components of the total variance accounted for 89.46% of the total variance, indicating that these components were mostly responsible for the genetic diversity of the current materials. It was the largest cluster, containing seven rice genotypes. Clusters II and V contained five and four genotypes of rice, respectively. Clusters III and IV were the smallest, with only two genotypes apiece. The pattern of distribution of genotypes among various clusters demonstrated the significant genetic variety present in the genotypes, which may be the result of adaptation of these genotypes to certain environmental conditions. The largest value of intercluster distance indicated that cluster III genotypes were extremely distinct from cluster IV genotypes. Negative values in both vectors for tillers per hill suggested that this feature contributed the least to the total diversity. The number of panicles per hill, panicle length, weight per thousand grains, and grain yield were all positive in both directions. According to these statistics, these four characteristics contributed the most to the variety.

The high selection pressure applied to rice breeding since it was domesticated thousands of years ago has initiated a narrowing its genetic variability. Obtaining new rice varieties therefore becomes a major challenge for breeders and the development of techniques to increase genetic variability has attracted the attention of various research groups. Understanding mutations and their application has paved the way for the interpretation of immersion tolerant rice. Creating variability through mutations has therefore become the most important tool for rice improvement. Gamma-rays were able to create genetic variables for abiotic stress tolerance, such as submergence tolerance as well as plant height, number of tillers, shoot and root weight, total biomass, and panicle length. Among the three parents of BRRI dhan52, Guti swarna and Mamun swarna, the highest average yield plant-1 (46.56 g) was produced by Mamun swarna (cont.) and the lowest (18.16 g) by BRRI dhan52. On the other hand, the group of all mutants, Mamun swarna-250 (M3) was more productive (39.30 g) and the maturation was 142.66 days from Guti swarna-300 (M3) (20.20 g) and maturity duration was 151.66 days. The first three principal components studied, including the Eigen value, explained 80.4% of the total variation in 11 rice genotypes for 9 quantitative traits. The gene diversity value of allele across 11 genotypes was 0.469. The value of polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.359 (SC34 / RM23679) and the allele frequency (%) was 62. However, this assessment may be effective in developing reliable mutants for significant submergence stresses in rice.