Parametric tests for partly interval-censored failure time data under Weibull distribution via multiple imputation

The statistical problem considered in this article is the parametric treatment comparison when partly interval-censored failure time data exist. Partly interval-censored failure time data are composed of exact observations and interval-censored observations. This phenomenon often occurs in clinical trials and health studies that require periodic following up with patients. The authors constructed a score test and likelihood ratio test for this type of failure time data under Weibull distributions using multiple imputation technique. A simulation study and a modified secondary data set from breast cancer study are used to assess the proposed test and illustrate the differences between the two tests. The results indicate that the presented procedure works well for both tests, but the likelihood ratio test is better than the score test in certain situations

Oral communication apprehension in English among Jordanian postgraduate students in Universiti Utara Malaysia

This research investigated oral communication apprehension among the Jordanian postgraduate students studying in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). It was directed by two main objectives: (1) to investigate the levels of Communication Apprehension among the Jordanian postgraduate students when communicating in English in UUM and (2) to investigate the relationship between programme, age and socioeconomic status and Communication Apprehension. The sampling of this study consisted of seventy Jordanian postgraduate students in UUM. The researcher used McCroskey‟s (1981) questionnaire, Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) to measure communication apprehension levels in four different situations (groups, meetings, dyads and public speaking). The results of this study showed that the Jordanian postgraduate students had high levels of communication apprehension and there was a positive relationship between communication apprehension and age, programme, and socio-economic status

M-Learning: A New Paradigm of Learning Mathematics in Malaysia

M-Learning is a new learning paradigm of the new social structure with mobile and wireless technologies.Smart school is one of the four flagship applications for Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) under Malaysian government initiative to improve education standard in the country. With the advances of mobile devices technologies, mobile learning could help the government in realizing the initiative. This paper discusses the prospect of implementing mobile learning for primary school students. It indicates significant and challenges and analysis of user perceptions on potential mobile applications through a survey done in primary school context. The authors propose the m-Learning for mathematics by allowing the extension of technology in the traditional classroom in term of learning and teaching.Comment: Wireless technology, teaching mathematics, flexible learning, m-Learnin

Assessing the quality of trust features on website content of top hospitals for medical tourism consumers

Searching for health information online is one of the most common activities on the internet; therefore, continuous evaluation of the quality of information provided in these health websites is indeed important. In the context of medical tourism, trust is a particularly important feature of quality information. This becomes even more significant online as customers have to trust the information on the website, since tourism products are characterized by high intangibility before consumption. Although trust plays an essential role among health care providers and individuals who are seeking health care information; there is a question about what happens to trust once health information goes online. One possible reason is that people who seek information from web sites figure a sense of trust in the web sites they visited. As such, this research will assess the quality of trust features of the top 10 medical tourism website. Findings of the research showed variation in the level of quality of trust features on the web site with Gleneagles Hospital fulfilling the highest score of trust features, while the Asklepios Klinik Barmbek website scored the least. The findings of this study have significant implications for web site developers and medical tourism consumers

Issues on waqf land registration process in Malaysia and improvement proposals

Religious aspect of charity is connected closely with Islamic endowment (waqf plural awqaf) and becomes a key Islamic institution within the Muslim world for more than a millennium. Globally including Malaysia, waqf widely relates to land and buildings. Under Islamic Law the land or any property declared by individuals to become waqf is considered binding and valid as soon as the donor implies or expresses the intention clearly. There are 5 valid elements (rukn) of waqf declaration under Islamic Law. However, under Malaysian Land Law, waqf properties need to be registered at Land Office after a waqf declaration at State Islamic Religious Council (SIRC). The rational is to ensure land indefeasible ownership under National Land Code (NLC) 1965. However, there are few issues in the procedure existed. Therefore, this paper highlights nine issues from organisation and the donors involved in registration process of waqf land and suggesting nine improvement proposals by State Islamic Religious Council Johor. The approach adopted is ‘Content Analyses and ‘System Approach’

Design of combined robust controller for a pneumatic servo actuator system with uncertainty

In this paper the position control design of a pneumatic servo actuator system using a combined H-inf /QFT technique is presented. First, an H-inf controller is designed to assure robust stability for the system. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to tune the weighting functions. This method is used to find the optimal values of weighting functions parameters that lead to obtain an optimal H-inf-controller by minimizing the infinity norm of the transfer function of the nominal closed loop system. The quantitative feedback theory (QFT) is used to enhance the closed loop system performance. A multiplicative unstructured model extracted from the parametric uncertainty is used for control design. Finally, the simulation results are presented and compared with previous work

Functional extreme rainfall data in Petaling Jaya

This research implements two important main fields of the study which is functional data analysis and extreme value theory. The aims of this study are to convert the extreme rainfall data into functions and to propose method development for functional data analysis in extreme value theory. Functional data analysis is one of the techniques to convert or transform discrete observations into functions or curves. The daily rainfall data in Petaling Jaya from 1974 to 2003 will be tested on extreme value theory approach which is block maxima in order to practice the functional data analysis technique. The least squares and akaike criteria information method are used to smooth the fourier basis of the functional data analysis. A descriptive statistics which represents the behavior of a rainfall data for Petaling Jaya is analyzed and illustrated by a smooth curve from functional data analysis. This study indicates that there is an increase in rates of the rainfall in Petaling Jaya for the recent period compared to the last 30 years data both in the mean and standard deviation values

Levels of Apelin, Endoglin, and Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 in Iraqi Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common causes of infertility in women of reproductive age. The aim of the study was to determine the level of apelin, insulin resistance (IR), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), and endoglin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Fifty PCOS patients and 40 non-PCOS infertile patients were recruited. The fasting serum levels of folliclestimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone (T), prolactin, fasting blood glucose, insulin, and apelin at the early follicular phase were measured. Levels of apelin, LH, LH/FSH, T, and fasting insulin, as well as homeostatic model assessment of IR (HOMA-IR) in PCOS patients, were significantly higher than in the control group. Correlation analysis showed that apelin level was positively correlated with body mass index and HOMA-IR. Apelin levels and TGF-β1 were significantly increased in PCOS patients while show decrease levels of endoglin

Iklim sekolah dan komitmen guru di Sekolah Agama Bantuan Kerajaan (SABK) negeri Kelantan

Program Pendaftaran Sekolah Agama Rakyat (SAR) dan Sekolah Agama Negeri (SAN) adalah satu usaha murni kerajaan untuk membantu dan memperkasakan sekolah-sekolah agama di Malaysia.Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui tahap iklim sekolah dan komitmen guru Sekolah Agama Bantuan Kerajaan (SABK) di negeri Kelantan.Artikel ini penting kerana kedua-dua variabel terlibat adalah merupakan aset utama danterkandung dalam anjakan keempat PPPM 2013-2025. Sebanyak 9 buah sekolah telah dipilih secara rawak dari 3 daerah iaitu daerah Kota Bharu, Pasir Mas, dan Tanah Merah.Seramai 217 responden terlibat dalam menjawab soal selidik yang diedarkan, dari jumlah populasi seramai 497 orang. Penganalisaan data dilakukan dengan menggunakan beberapa kaedah analisis yang terdapat dalam program Statistical Package For The Social Sciences (SPSS).Instrumen yang digunakan dalam artikel ini adalah instrumen iklim sekolah, School level environment Questionnaire (SLEQ) yang dibina oleh Johnson, Steven & Zvoch (2007) manakala instrumen komitmen guru ini telah dibuat adaptasi oleh Lei Mee, Thien, Nordin dan Ramayah (2014). Dapatan artikel ini menunjukkan tahap komitmen dan iklim sekolah berada pada tahap yang tinggi serta terdapatnya hubungan yang kuat antara iklim sekolah dengan komitmen guru SABK di negeri Kelantan.Adalah diharapkan hasil artikel ini dapat digunakan sebagai rujukan khususnya kepada para pentadbir sekolah ke arah meningkatkan pencapaian, keberkesanan pentadbiran dan pengurusan sekolah. Kualiti pentadbiran dan pengurusan sekolah perlu sentiasa dikaji, diteliti dan ditingkatkan demi merealisasikan hasrat Kementerian Pendidikan untuk menjadikan sistem pendidikan di Malaysia bertaraf dunia

Slice sampling technique in Bayesian extreme of gold price modelling

In this paper, a simulation study of Bayesian extreme values by using Markov Chain Monte Carlo via slice sampling algorithm is implemented. We compared the accuracy of slice sampling with other methods for a Gumbel model. This study revealed that slice sampling algorithm offers more accurate and closer estimates with less RMSE than other methods. Finally we successfully employed this procedure to estimate the parameters of Malaysia extreme gold price from 2000 to 2011