Digital images have become part of everyday life by demonstrating its usability in a variety of fields from education to space research. Confidentiality and security of digital images have grown significantly with increasing trend of information interchange over the public channel. Cryptography can be used as a successful technique to prevent image data from unauthorized access. Keeping the nature of image data in mind, several encryption techniques are presented specifically for digital images, in literature during past few years. These cryptographic algorithms lack a benchmark for evaluation of their performance, cryptographic security and quality analysis of recovered images. In this study, we have designed and developed a benchmark based on all the parameters necessary for a good image encryption scheme. Extensive studies have been made to categories all the parameters used by different researchers to evaluate their algorithms and an optimum benchmark for evaluation is formulated. This benchmark is used to evaluate three image encryption schemes. The results of evaluation have highlighted the specific application areas for these image encryption schemes.

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Despite the use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in a lot of applications including the production of some high-value products for end use, it is still very much an untapped potential. There is an increase in usage of AM technology for the manufacture of end-use products (Rapid Manufacturing (RM)) in recent years, but mass use of the technology in terms of speed, cost and quality, which is acceptable by the general consumer, is still not widely in existence today. The concept of RM as a viable production process is still not understood by many businesses/consumers, with thinking still dominated by the AM technologies for Rapid Prototyping (RP) applications. A key difference between RM and RP is in the supply chain. The RM supply chain is much more complicated than the RP supply chain. This research conducted a Delphi Study to identify the requirements or prerequisites necessary for the use of RM technologies as a viable means to manufacture end used products (RM application of AM) in mass scale. The paper identifies 36 requirements or pre-requisites and classified them into various classes of importance in order to highlight their significance. In addition to supply chain issues, the requirements unearthed are factors or features about RM technology

Non-performing loans has become an important part of commercial banking of a country. This paper empirically tests the macroeconomic and bank-specific covariates of non-performing loans for a panel of 13 commercial banks for period of 2003-2012. Using fixed effects with Driscoll and Kraay standard errors, the influence of macroeconomic and bank-specific covariates is found meaningful. Recommendations include the policy steps to complement the sound financial system with a healthy macroeconomic environment to reduce non-performing loans in commercial banks in Pakistan. Moreover, need is highlighted for a policy approach with emphasis on the apposite credit culture and lending policy designed with pertinent economic and financial factors.

Sustainability is one of the most cornering issues for the current corporate world. Wide realization has been adapted by the major organizations where everybody endorses to do business in a long run, not just to maximizing the profit. Aiming to create better environment for the future generations, several steps has been taken by various local and international associations and bodies. The focus areas that ensure sustainable practice are intellectual capital disclosure, CSR expenditure, infrastructural asset, research and development expenses, corporate governance structure, green banking policy, financial development, environmental effects and many other factors. Firms are aware of maintaining these factors effectively to sustain in the market. Sustainability is a massive subject and various component are related with this major issue. Recently three of the components such as Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Intellectual Capital Disclosure has grabbed the major attention and maintained with an important manner. Private commercial banking sector is one of the most popular and growing sectors in Bangladesh. Due to high competition, to sustain in the market is difficult for those banks. As a turn out various components of sustainability are effectively maintained by the banks. This paper shows how CG, CSR and ICD affect the sustainable practice of the private commercial banking sector in Bangladesh. It also relates various components and shows ways to improve the sustainable practice in our current situation.