Reliability of the Currently Administered Language Tests in Bangladesh: A Case Study

This study aims at investigating the reliability of the language tests presently in use in Bangladesh, taking the Higher Secondary reading and writing tests as sample. To achieve this purpose, the English question papers of the H.S.C examinations of the last few years have been analyzed with a view to determining the extent to which the test formats used can affect candidates’ scores, and involve subjectivity in scoring. Besides, the marking scheme provided to the markers by the education board has been examined in order to find out whether and how far it is able to reduce the element of subjective judgement involved in the assessment of the responses  and thus to ensure inter-marker and intra-marker reliability of the tests. Furthermore, an empirical survey has been carried out in the form of questionnaires among the English language teachers of a few colleges in the country to collect quantitative data on various aspects of reliability of the H.S.C language testing. The study reveals that the Higher Secondary reading and writing tests, as a whole, are far below the satisfactory level in terms of reliability as they have deficiency in both test reliability and scorer reliability. Therefore, the scores produced by these tests cannot be considered reliable indicators of the test takers’ reading and writing abilities. The shortcomings of these tests, as identified in the investigation, include poor test items, inadequate test instruction, ambiguous marking criteria, insufficient marking guideline, etc. On the basis of the findings, some recommendations have been made for the improvement of the overall reliability of the H.S.C reading and writing tests. Key Words: Language test, test reliability, scorer reliability, subjectivity, quantitative, marking criteria

An Understanding of the Islamic Banking Industry from Customers’ Perspective

During the last decade, conventional banks faced stiff competition from Islamic bank. The main purpose of the study is to find out the customers’ perspective on Islamic banking in Bangladesh. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. For collecting primary data, a questionnaire survey was conducted among Islamic banks’ customers. Selection of respondents was based on random sampling as well as the convenient sampling method. Customer opinions were measured by a 5-point Likert scale. Customers’ perspectives have been measured with respect to various aspects (service quality, profit rate, service charge, internet banking, employee proficiency, etc.). Findings of the study reveal that the respondents think positively about almost all aspects of the Islamic bank. JEL Classification Code: G2

An Understanding of the Islamic Banking Industry from Customers’ Perspective

During the last decade, conventional banks faced stiff competition from Islamic bank. The main purpose of the study is to find out the customers’ perspective on Islamic banking in Bangladesh. The study was based on both primary and secondary data. For collecting primary data, a questionnaire survey was conducted among Islamic banks’ customers. Selection of respondents was based on random sampling as well as the convenient sampling method. Customer opinions were measured by a 5-point Likert scale. Customers’ perspectives have been measured with respect to various aspects (service quality, profit rate, service charge, internet banking, employee proficiency, etc.). Findings of the study reveal that the respondents think positively about almost all aspects of the Islamic bank

Bioequivalence evaluation of two capsule formulations of amoxicillin in healthy adult male bangladeshi volunteers: A single-dose, randomized, open-label, two-period crossover study

AbstractBackground: Amoxicillin, a semisynthetic penicillin antibiotic, is widely prescribed in Bangladesh due to its extended spectrum and its rapid and extensive oral absorption with good tolerability. Although a number of generic oral formulations of amoxicillin are available in Bangladesh, a study of the bioequivalence and pharmacokinetic properties of these formulations has not yet been conducted in a Bangladeshi population.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the pharmacokinetic properties and bioequivalence of 2 formulations of amoxicillin 500-mg capsules (test, SK-mox®; reference, Amoxil-Bencard®) using serum data.Methods: This single-dose, randomized, open-label, 2-period crossover study was conducted in healthy male subjects in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and International Conference on Harmonisation guidelines. Subjects were assigned to receive the test or the reference drug as a single-dose, 500-mg capsule under fasting conditions after a 1-week washout period. After oral administration, blood samples were collected and analyzed for amoxicillin concentration using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography method. The pharmacokinetic parameters were determined using a noncompartmental method. The formulations were considered bioequivalent if the natural log-transformed ratios of pharmacokinetic parameters were within the predetermined equivalence range of 80% to 125%, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirement.Results: Twenty-four healthy adult male Bangladeshi volunteers (mean [SD] age, 26.92 [3.37] years; age range, 23–34 years; mean [SD] body mass index, 23.O9 [1.58] kg/m2) participated in the study. Using serum data, the values obtained for the test and reference formulations, respectively, were as follows: Cmax, 9.85 (2.73) and 10.63 (2.12) μg/mL; Tmax, 1.29 (0.58) and 1.33 (0.49) hours; and AUC0–12, 27.09 (7.62) and 28.56 (6.30) μg/mL · h−1. No period, sequence, or formulation effects were observed; however, significant variation was found among subjects with regard to AUC0–12 (P < 0.001), AUC0−∞ (P = 0.002), area under the moment curve (AUMC) from 0 to 12 hours (P < 0.001), and AUMC0−∞ (P = 0.017). All CIs for the parameters measured were within the FDA-accepted limits of 80% to 125%.Conclusion: The present study suggests that the test 500-mg amoxicillin capsule was bioequivalent to the reference 500-mg capsule according to the FDA regulatory definition, in this population of healthy adult male Bangladeshi volunteers

Health Problems and Health Care Seeking Behaviour of Rohingya Refugees

Background: Rohingya refugees are one of the most vulnerable group due to lack of health care system, personal hygiene, shelter, sanitation and violence. Aim: The present study aims to find out the health problems and health care seeking behavior of rohingya refugees, to identify the socio-demographic information for such exposure group in relation to age, sex, occupation, living areas, to explore the patient’s physical, emotional, perceptions, attitudes and environmental health problems and to bring out health care seeking behavior of refugees. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 149 samples were selected conveniently for this study from the refugee camps. Data was collected by using mixed type of questionnaire. Descriptive statistic was used for data analysis which has depicted through tables, pie chart and bar chart. Results: The finding of the study showed that 45.6% participants had multiple problems, followed by 16.8% participants who had other specific problems like musculoskeletal pain, visual problems and peptic ulcer. Urinary tract infection was the leading individual health problem with 11.4% of the sample group having it. 10.7% participants had hypertension, 6% had respiratory tract infection, 3.4% had nutrition deficiency, 4.75% had diabetes mellitus and 1.3% had sanitation &amp; hygiene problems. Among the participants, 68.4% age ranged between 15-59 years. The study showed that, only 16.1% participants were satisfied with the quality of service they received while 37.6% participants said that they needed better services such as more laboratory test, radiological imaging, more medicine and more doctors. Conclusion: It is clear that refugees suffered from a variety of health problems, because their living condition and environmental situation were not similar like an independent nation. Further, basic amenities like medicines and other services were not available

Demography, Diagnosis and Complications of Spinal Cord Injury Patients in a Rehabilitation Center of Bangladesh

Background: Spinal cord injury and its health related complications pose a major impact on the overall morbidity and mortality as well as cause economic constrains. It was aimed at looking into the demographic distribution, diagnosis, as well as complications in patients with spinal cord injury. Methods: The study was conducted at Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) between 2012 and 2013 from 201 respondents with the help of a structured preformed pretested questionnaire by face to face interview. Results: Out of 201 respondents 176 (87.6%) were male and 25 (12.4%) were female; majority of the patients were in their 3rd decade which consisted 28.6%, followed by 27.4% in between 21-30 years and 26.8% in between 41-50. Most of the respondents of this study had traumatic paraplegia (56.5%) and Buttock was found to be the predominant site for developing site pressure sore as evident form 67.5%. Conclusion: Productive males are more prone to spinal cord injury and the most common diagnosis is paraplegia with the most risky area is buttock for developing pressure sore. The findings may add in the way of developing awareness among stakeholders regarding demography, diagnosis and the pattern of the complications in a country like Bangladesh

Arsenic Exposure and Motor Function among Children in Bangladesh

Background: Several reports indicate that drinking water arsenic (WAs) and manganese (WMn) are associated with children’s intellectual function. Very little is known, however, about possible associations with other neurologic outcomes such as motor function

運転者の注視予測と画像変換に基づくデータ拡張のための注意機構を用いた深層学習

博士（工学）創造科学技術大学院静岡大学甲第1256号non

The Relationship between Internal Audit Factors and the Audit Quality: Insights from External Auditors of Bangladesh

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of external auditors regarding internal audit factors on audit quality to ensure the effectiveness of the audit process. This study also measures the influence of different internal and external audit attributes on audit quality. The study is descriptive in nature and both quantitative and qualitative data have been collected and analyzed to examine the insights of external auditors concerning the impact of internal audit competency, objectivity, and work performance on the effectiveness of audit quality. This study considers a convenience sampling method in collecting data and a semi-structured questionnaire referring to possible attributes of auditing has been given to the external auditors and requested to provide their valuable judgments with seven response choices on the level of importance of each indicator for audit quality. The results of the study highlighted that audit attributes like standardization, work performance, timeliness, objectivity, and competency are highly important measures of audit quality. The results also reveal external auditors prefer educational qualifications with professional certification of internal auditors can enhance the competency function while auditors' accountability, freedom to access all financial aspects, and unconstrained communication with management will ensure the objectivity of internal auditing. According to the findings, external auditors believe that proper documentation, adequate staffing, a well-defined audit plan can improve the work performance of internal auditing. The study also recommends that the concerned shareholders and other policymakers of organizations improve the effectiveness of internal auditing for strengthening their decision-making capability to make the financial reporting accurate and error or bias-free. Keywords: Internal auditing, External auditing, Audit quality. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/13-6-08 Publication date:March 31st 202

A Study of the Validity of English Language Testing at the Higher Secondary Level in Bangladesh

Validity is considered to be of paramount importance in language testing, and therefore, remains the central concept to all designs and research activities in the field of testing and assessment. Arguably, all researches in language testing are in some senses about validity and the process of validation. In this regard, it is the intent of the present research to investigate the validity of the English language tests employed at the Higher Secondary level in Bangladesh. The research questions addressed concern finding out whether the tests are valid in terms of content and construct. The tests administered at this level are ‘achievement tests’, designed to measure the extent of learning in a prescribed content domain in accordance with explicitly stated objectives of a learning program. The first objective of the study is, therefore, to examine how far the course objectives are reflected in the contents of the existing tests. Secondly, the study makes an assessment of how well these tests measure the abilities they are intended to measure. The findings reveal a great mismatch between what the tests aim at testing and what they actually test. A wide gap is found between the curriculum goals and the existing test format. The study also finds that the Higher Secondary language tests are largely unable to measure the constructs they are based on. The key recommendations to increase the content and construct validity of these tests  include developing  test specifications and designing syllabus in accordance with  course objectives, using direct tests and authentic tasks, sampling widely and unpredictably, arranging  training programs for the language teachers, etc.