Optimization Based Controlled Evacuation Using Pedestrian Speeddensity Relationship: A Case Study Of Universiti Sains Malaysia

Hubungan kelajuan-ketumpatan merupakan satu kepentingan utama dalam kajian pemindahan kemudahan, kerana ia ada kaitan secara langsung dengan keupayaan laluan untuk mengikuti aliran pilihan pejalan kaki di sepanjang laluannya. The speed-density relationship is a major concern in the study of the evacuation of facilities, as it is linked directly with the capability of a walkway to keep up a preferred flow of pedestrians along its length

Optimization Based Controlled Evacuation Using Pedestrian Speeddensity Relationship: A Case Study Of Universiti Sains Malaysia

Hubungan kelajuan-ketumpatan merupakan satu kepentingan utama dalam kajian pemindahan kemudahan, kerana ia ada kaitan secara langsung dengan keupayaan laluan untuk mengikuti aliran pilihan pejalan kaki di sepanjang laluannya. The speed-density relationship is a major concern in the study of the evacuation of facilities, as it is linked directly with the capability of a walkway to keep up a preferred flow of pedestrians along its length

An Assessment of the Importance of Admission Test for Enrollments in Public Universities of Bangladesh

Public universities in Bangladesh arrange admission test to judge the students’ merit before the enrollment. Academic results of previous examinations (SSC and HSC) are also considered in the admission procedure. There are some disputes regarding the importance of admission test besides the previous academic records. The universities emphasize on the admission test while the government authorities ponder it as a burden for the students. This study has made an attempt to examine the importance of admission test in selection procedure utilizing a particular year admission test database of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST). Univariate and bivariate analyses along with regression models were used to analyze the data. The results indicate that students with higher score in both SSC and HSC examinations had higher possibility to be eligible for enrollment. However, a vital proportion of applicants with maximum GPA 5.00 in both examinations did not qualify in merit and waiting position. The results also show association and moderate positive correlation of admission test score with SSC and HSC results. Finally, regression analysis indicates that though the contributions of the SSC and HSC results on admission test scores are significant, the variation in admission test scores is not much explained by the previous records. Such findings recommend arranging admission test, besides academic qualification, to select the eligible applicants for enrollment in public universities

Disaggregated level child morbidity in Bangladesh:An application of small area estimation method

Acute respiratory infection (ARI) and diarrhoea are two major causes of child morbidity and mortality in Bangladesh. National and regional level prevalence of ARI and diarrhoea are calculated from nationwide surveys; however, prevalence at micro-level administrative units (say, district and sub-district) is not possible due to lack of sufficient data at those levels. In such a case, small area estimation (SAE) methods can be applied by combining survey data with census data. Using an SAE method for the dichotomous response variable, this study aims to estimate the proportions of under-5 children experienced with ARI and diarrhoea separately as well as either ARI or diarrhoea within a period of two-week preceding the survey. The ARI and diarrhoea data extracted from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011 are used to develop a random effect logistic model for each of the indicators, and then the prevalence is estimated adapting the World Bank SAE approach for the dichotomous response variable using a 5% sample of the Census 2011. The estimated prevalence of each indicator significantly varied by district and sub-district (1.4-11.3% for diarrhoea, 2.2-11.8% for ARI and 4.3-16.5% for ARI/diarrhoea at sub-district level). In many sub-districts, the proportions are found double of the national level. District and sub-district levels spatial distributions of the indicators might help the policymakers to identify the vulnerable disaggregated and remote hotspots. Particularly, aid industries can provide effective interventions at the highly vulnerable spots to overcome the gaps between micro and macro level administrative units.</p

The Measures of Efficiency of Power Generation Plants in Sylhet of Bangladesh

This study measures the performance of power generation plants in Sylhet region of Bangladesh considering twenty-four-month monthly dataset during 2013-14. To measure the performance of those plants, gross electricity generation was considered as output for the stochastic frontier model, whereas fuel consumption, lube oil consumption, auxiliary consumption, cost, heat rate, and hours of run were considered as input variables. Based on the log-likelihood hypothesis test, trans-log production model is preferred over Cobb–Douglas (C-D) production model for this study. The average efficiency of the selected plants is above 90 percent, and there is Sylhet Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) which has an efficiency of about 78.6 percent for truncated normal distribution. In the time-variant inefficiency effects model, fuel consumption, cost, square product of lube oil consumption, interaction between fuel consumption and lube oil consumption as well as auxiliary consumption, and hours of run have a significant positive influence on power generation. On the other hand, some input variables such as hours of run and interaction between cost and heat rate have a significant negative influence on power generation. The estimated values of the time-varying inefficiency parameter η are positive for both the truncated and the half-normal distribution. This result indicates that technical efficiency has declined over the reference period of the study