Fabric that weaves stories: Pua kumbu and contemporary Iban identity construction in Sarawak,Malaysia

This article examines the process of identity construction among the Iban indigenous people of Sarawak in Malaysia through pua kumbu – their sacred and ritual cloth. Although the Ibans are popularly known for their headhunting practices and longhouse dwellings, these cultural practices are in major decline and therefore pua kumbu is brought to the forefront as a significant means of identity construction. By illustrating the meanings, narratives, and ceremonies associated with pua kumbu, this article demonstrates that pua kumbu is not just a piece of sacred or ritual cloth; rather, it has significant meanings in the everyday life of the Ibans. It connects the Ibans with distinctly eternal meanings of their life and cosmology, past histories, and their connections to the physical environment. It thus helps the process of maintaining a boundary and identity construction of the Ibans by distinguishing between ‘us and them’ – the Ibans and others.     

西南边境民族地区高校大学生思想道德教育研究——基于云南省的实证分析

当前云南边境民族地区高校大学生思想道德素质总体态势良好。但由于社会转型、境外意识形态强势渗透、高校思想政治教育针对性和实效性不强以及大学生自律理性偏弱等,导致了部分学生理想信念缺失、功利性特征明显、道德认知与道德实践明显脱节等问题的出现。坚持用社会主义核心价值体系引领当代大学生、不断完善高校思想政治理论课的教育内容、加大高校德育的实践力度、培养一支立场坚定、愿意扎根边疆的教师队伍以及强化公民教育,塑造责任公民,是现实的客观要求和有效的解决途径。     

Spatio-temporal patterns of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in relation to drinking water salinity at the district level in Bangladesh from 2016 to 2018

Population and Environment - This analysis examines whether salinity in drinking water is associated with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E), a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality....     

Muslim Family Law in Southern Thailand: A Historical Overview

Muslims have long a history of practicing Islamic law where Muslim communities are the minority. In Thailand, past governments have positively included Islamic law as a legitimate source of personal law for Muslims in the southern regions. Consequently, Muslims are governed by two different sets of laws in Thailand, one is Islamic law and the other is the secular law. However, only Islamic law is applicable for Muslims especially in settling their matrimonial disputes and inheritance. Islamic family law has a long history and has been preserved for the betterment and benefits of Muslim citizens especially in the four Muslim provinces of Thailand. This study aims to describe the development of Islamic law through the different periods of governments in southern Thailand. The development of Islamic family law and the application of Islamic law along with its judicial aspects under the administration of Thailand will also be discusssed.     

A New Malaysian Quality of Life Index Based on Fuzzy Sets and Hierarchical Needs

The Malaysian Quality of Life Index (MQLI) released by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), has led authors to search for alternative method of expressing this index. One of the limitations in MQLI computations is the failure to recognise unequal weights for each accounted component. This paper offers a new way of expressing the quality of life index using a mathematical modelling based on fuzzy sets theory and the proposed weights based on Maslow’s theory of hierarchical human needs. The indices of 11 components that were used to compute MQLI, again be gathered as a basis in expressing a new Malaysian Fuzzy Quality of Life Index (MFQLI). The new indices for each component yielded through a normalisation process prior weighting and aggregation to compose a new MFQLI. It was found that a fuzzy sets approach with the inclusion of weights based on human needs yielded a better index of quality of life than the MQLI.     

Evaluating modified generalized information criterion in presence of multicollinearity

When there are many explanatory variables in the regression model, there is a chance that some of these are intercorrelated. This is where the problem of multicollinearity creeps in due to which precision and accuracy of the coefficients is marred, and the quest to find the best model becomes tedious. To tackle such a situation, Model selection criteria are applied for selecting the best model that fits the data. Current study focuses on the evaluation of the four unmodified and four modified versions of generalized information criteria—Akaike Information Criterion, Schwarz's Bayes Information Criteria, Hannan-Quinn Information Criterion, and Akaike Information Criterion corrected for small samples. A simulation study using SAS software was carried out in order to compare the unmodified and modified versions of the generalized information criteria and to discover the best version amongst the four modified model selection criteria, for identifying the best model, when the collinearity assumption is violated. For the proposed simulation, two samples of size 50 and 100, for three explanatory variables X₁, X₂, and X₃, are drawn from Normal distribution. Two situations of collinearity violations between X₁ and X₂ are looked into, first when ρ = 0.6 and second when ρ = 0.8. The outcomes of the simulations are displayed in the tables along with visual representations. The results revealed that modified versions of the generalized information criteria are more sensitive in identifying models marred with high multicollinearity as compared to the unmodified generalized information criteria.     

经济状况、社会保障对居民养老意愿的影响及城乡差异

基于中国综合社会调查(CGSS,2013)数据,分析了经济状况和社会保障对居民养老意愿的影响及城乡差异.研究发现:我国居民养老意愿以自助型及半自助型为主,家庭型次之,社会型最低,农村居民更倾向于家庭型模式;多项Logistic模型的结果显示,经济状况和社会保障因素对居民养老意愿均有显著影响,经济状况和社会保障越好,居民家庭型养老的意愿显著性越低,社会型养老的意愿相对地较高,并且,经济状况和社会保障对城镇居民养老意愿的影响更为显著,对农村居民的影响相对较小.     

The Perceptions of Women’s Roles and Progress: A Study of Malay Women

This study examines the general perceptions of women towards their roles, their interpretation of progress, as well as the facilitating factors and barriers to their progress. Questionnaires were distributed to 1,000 Malay women in Malaysia from rural and urban areas, from various age and income groups. Interviews were also carried out on the selected sample. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods of analyses, the results showed that women were perceived to play a strong, influential, and supportive role in their families. The results also showed how women perceive progress. These findings are discussed in relation to culture, socialization, values and norms of the Malay society.     

数字经济的减贫效应研究

利用中国2011-2018年省份数据,构建面板回归模型和多重中介模型探讨数字经济的减贫效应及影响机理.研究发现:数字经济与农村贫困发生率存在显著负向关系,在考虑城镇化、经济增长等影响贫困因素的基础上,减贫效应依旧显著;数字经济的收入增长效应和收入分配效应显著,即数字经济可通过促进家庭增收和弱化收入差距的渠道影响贫困,但数据资源配置不均带来的数字鸿沟可能会扩大城乡收入差距,加大相对贫困的治理难度.     

论当今大学生网际德性的缺失及培育

互联网的迅猛发展 ,日益影响着大学生的学习、生活及交往方式 ,网络在带来诸多便利和裨益的同时 ,也产生了许多值得关注的伦理问题。如何培育大学生的网际德性 ,已引起了伦理界、教育界和社会各界的普遍关注