Maximum Likelihood Estimators in Regression Models for Error‐prone Group Testing Data

Since Dorfman's seminal work on the subject, group testing has been widely adopted in epidemiological studies. In Dorfman's context of detecting syphilis, group testing entails pooling blood samples and testing the pools, as opposed to testing individual samples. A negative pool indicates all individuals in the pool free of syphilis antigen, whereas a positive pool suggests one or more individuals carry the antigen. With covariate information collected, researchers have considered regression models that allow one to estimate covariate‐adjusted disease probability. We study maximum likelihood estimators of covariate effects in these regression models when the group testing response is prone to error. We show that, when compared with inference drawn from individual testing data, inference based on group testing data can be more resilient to response misclassification in terms of bias and efficiency. We provide valuable guidance on designing the group composition to alleviate adverse effects of misclassification on statistical inference.     

Formation and negotiation of identity: the case of the Kelantan Kampung Pasir Parit Peranakan Chinese

This article examines the formation and negotiation of identity among the Kampung Pasir Parit Peranakan Chinese, a unique sub-ethnic group of acculturated Chinese in Kelantan. Apart from their original Chinese identity, the Kampung Pasir Parit Peranakan Chinese have also adopted two additional identities, namely Malay and Siamese identities. Intermarriage with Siamese women in the early years is the main reason for the adoption of the Siamese identity, while regular social interactions with the local Malays have led to the adoption of a Malay identity. Thus, the identity of the Kampung Pasir Parit Peranakan Chinese comprises three contrasting components. Given such a complex identity, there is always a need for the Kampung Pasir Parit Peranakan Chinese to negotiate their identities to avoid any identity crisis. This negotiation of identity is at times demonstrated by the co-existence of identities and at times the clear demarcation of identities to fulfil different situational needs.     

Income Dependency on Non-timber Forest Products: An Empirical Evidence of the Indigenous People in Peninsular Malaysia

The indigenous people have been identified to be among the poorest and the most socioeconomically and culturally marginalized people all over the world. The main purpose of the paper is to explore the socioeconomic and demographic factors of indigenous people in Peninsular Malaysia in context of poverty and the role of income dependency of non-timber forest products (NTFP). The data were collected in 2014 and 2015 through primary and secondary sources. Partial least squares (PLS) method was used to analysis the data. PLS is a modeling technique that features multiple regression and principal component analysis. The study shows that still a large number of indigenous households is involved in the NTFP activities. But the communities are moving away from NTFP based income to cash-crop based income because of poor sustainable forest management and lack of forest property rights. However, NTFP have a significant role in the household income and contribute 24% of the average income. Moreover, the analysis shows that location is significant to the poverty. There should be a suitable sustainable forest management system which can teach these indigenous communities about proper way of NTFP gathering and given proper rights to forest land. Furthermore, education is not significant to indigenous people and there is a high rate of school dropout among them. The government should introduce a different education system for indigenous communities which will emphasize the importance of education to them.     

A Child Labour Estimator: A Case of Bahawalpur Division

Social Indicators Research - Child labor is a distressing issue. There have been many attempts to estimate its magnitude. It is attempted here to develop an estimator to assess the magnitude of...     

On the comparison of the pre-test and shrinkage estimators for the univariate normal mean

The estimation of the mean of an univariate normal population with unknown variance is considered when uncertain non-sample prior information is available. Alternative estimators are defined to incorporate both the sample as well as the non-sample information in the estimation process. Some of the important statistical properties of the restricted, preliminary test, and shrinkage estimators are investigated. The performances of the estimators are compared based on the criteria of unbiasedness and mean square error in order to search for a ‘best’ estimator. Both analytical and graphical methods are explored. There is no superior estimator that uniformly dominates the others. However, if the non-sample information regarding the value of the mean is close to its true value, the shrinkage estimator over performs the rest of the estimators. Received: June 19, 1999; revised version: March 23, 2000     

Framing inter-religious dispute: a comparative analysis of Chinese-, English-, and Malay-language newspapers in Peninsular Malaysia

Religious and ethnicity issues in multicultural societies have always been difficult to report. This study aims to conduct a framing analysis of the coverage of the biggest inter-religious dispute in Malaysia to date – the “Allah” dispute. Specifically, the study compares the coverage of Chinese-, English-, and Malay-language newspapers and assesses the factors that lead to differences in frame building. The findings showed that these newspapers reported the dispute with different degrees of intensity and prominence, and they employed different news sources. Although conflict appeared to be the salient frame used by the dailies, the aspects highlighted by them varied. Sin Chew (Chinese-language daily) was the most vocal in its coverage, which reflected a counter-hegemonic discourse. The Star (English-language daily) used a moderate approach, while Utusan (Malay-language daily) strongly supported the status quo. The frames built by The Star and Utusan could be attributed to the fact that these two newspapers were inclined to serve the politically vested interests of their owners.     

Muslim Women in Australia,Britain and the United States: The Role of “Othering” and Biculturalism in Identity Formation

When Muslims migrate to Western countries, they bring their identity and culture with them. As they settle in their host countries, some Muslims encounter structural inequality, which is often revealed through media representation, unequal labour market status and racial profiling. Through the dynamics of structural inequality, some Muslim women remain doubly disadvantaged. Within their ethnic/religious community, Muslim women are expected to follow their cultural traditions and in the wider society their overtly Muslim appearance is often questioned. The discussion of identity formation in this paper is based on interviews with Muslim girls and women in Australia, Britain and the United States, aged between 15 and 30 years. Though the cultural and political contexts of these three countries are different, the practice of “othering” women have been similar. Through their life stories and narratives, I examine the formation of the participants’ identities. It was found that for many of these women their sense of identity shifted from single to multiple identities, thus revealing that identity formation was a flexible process that was affected by a variety of factors, including the relevance and importance of biculturalism in the women’s identity formation.     

孟加拉国人口分布研究

孟加拉国各省、区的人口分布存在着不均衡的特点,采取定量分析的方法,选取人口密度指数、胡佛指数和非均质性指数(index of concentration,Hoover’s index and in-homogeneity index)指标来分析孟加拉国人口分布现有的不平等程度和非均质性。研究结果表明,孟加拉国各省、区的人口集中都存在增加的趋势。同时,通过对斯皮尔曼等级相关系数(Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient)的计算,分析孟加拉国的各地区土地面积和人口密度的关系,发现二者之间存在着较大的负相关关系。     

Spatio-temporal modeling of infectious disease dynamics

A stochastic model, which is well suited to capture space–time dependence of an infectious disease, was employed in this study to describe the underlying spatial and temporal pattern of measles in Barisal Division, Bangladesh. The model has two components: an endemic component and an epidemic component; weights are used in the epidemic component for better accounting of the disease spread into different geographical regions. We illustrate our findings using a data set of monthly measles counts in the six districts of Barisal, from January 2000 to August 2009, collected from the Expanded Program on Immunization, Bangladesh. The negative binomial model with both the seasonal and autoregressive components was found to be suitable for capturing space–time dependence of measles in Barisal. Analyses were done using general optimization routines, which provided the maximum likelihood estimates with the corresponding standard errors.     

Gays,Guys, and Mchicha Mwiba: Same-Sex Relations and Subjectivities in Dar es Salaam

Drawing on 15 months of fieldwork, this article explores ways in which same-sex relations are perceived and performed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. While several different constructions of same-sex sexuality coexist in Dar es Salaam, it is common to conceive of same-sex practicing men as falling into two main categories. Men belonging to each of these differ with respect to the corporeal, gendered, and social positions that are open to them, and typically form dyads across the conceptual boundary of difference that runs between them. The article speaks to the importance of examining sexuality and gender in particular sociocultural settings.