The Multi-dimensional Effect of Household Debt on Urban Individual Well-Being in Klang Valley Malaysia

Social Indicators Research - Debt is beneficiary to individuals and households when their consumption can be extended with credit. However, the benefits gained from availability of credit have...     

Household Decision-Making and Expenditure Patterns of Married Men and Women in Malaysia

This study tests two opposing models of household behavior, the income pooling hypothesis and the bargaining model, by examining the final decision-making and expenditure patterns of married men and women in Malaysia. The data used is from the responses of 1,778 married persons obtained from a survey of employed Malaysians. The results show that women are often the final decision-makers on everyday household expenditures while men make the final decisions on large household expenditures, but both men and women practice autonomy in decisions related to financial investments. In spending, variations are observed between men and women in their level and proportion of expenditure of certain categories of goods and services. Relative earning share is a significant factor in decision making as well as consumption expenditure. These results tend to support the bargaining model of household decision-making.     

Barriers to green innovation initiatives among manufacturers: the Malaysian case

This study investigated the internal and external barriers to green innovation initiatives among Malaysian manufacturers. Data was gathered through a survey of 153 manufacturing companies in Malaysia. Data was analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Results indicated that the barriers to green products, processes, and systems innovations are different. Issues of environmental resources, attitude and perception, business practices, government support, and customer demand were found to be the barriers to green product innovations, whereas attitude and perception, business practices, poor external partnerships, insufficient information, lack of customer demand, and environmental commercial benefits were determined to be the factors that negatively affect green process innovations. As regards green system innovation, environmental resources, attitude and perception, business practices, technical barriers, government support, and environmental and commercial benefits presented themselves as the internal and external barriers that need to be addressed. The results have important implications for managers of manufacturers that have plans of promoting green products, processes, and system innovations.     

新中国与阿曼关系的历史与现状

自新中国与阿曼建立外交关系以来,双方在政治、经济和文化等领域的友好合作关系是历史上数千年友好合作关系的延续。通过高层领导人和其他领域的互访,双方增进了各领域交流,在国际和地区事务中持一致或类似观点,珍惜彼此慷慨的援助以及在解决国际事务中的协调和支持。双方通过"中阿合作论坛"和中国与海合会战略对话等机制,在经济、贸易、文化、公共卫生及其他领域的互利合作拥有巨大潜力,使两国关系从传统友谊走向新兴合作伙伴。     

Labour Policy and Determinants of Employment and Wages in a Developing Economy with Labour Shortage

Using data from a sample of 1,099 workers, this paper investigates the determinants of employment and wages for workers in the United Arab Emirates. The paper further examines the wage distribution and the decomposition of the wage gap between the public and the private sectors. Results of the study are consistent with the dual labour market theory and indicate that the labour market in the United Arab Emirates is segmented based on sectors (public versus private) and types of workers (nationals versus non‐nationals). The study concludes with a discussion of the implication of these findings for the effectiveness of labour and economic policy.     

Visualizing Mean,Median, Mean Deviation,and Standard Deviation of a Set of Numbers

We review the existing visualizations of the mean and the median of a given set of numbers. Then we give an alternative visualization of the mean using the empirical cumulative distribution function of the given numbers. Next, we visualize the mean deviation (MD) and the mean square deviation (MSD) of the given numbers from any arbitrary value, including the variance. In light of these new visualizations, we revisit the well-known optimal properties of the MD from the median and the MSD from the mean. We also give a more elementary explanation of why the denominator of the sample variance of a set of numbers is one less than the sample size.     

Estimating Percentiles of Time-to-Failure Distribution Obtained from a Linear Degradation Model Using Kernel Density Method

In this article, we propose a nonparametric estimator for percentiles of the time-to-failure distribution obtained from a linear degradation model using the kernel density method. The properties of the proposed kernel estimator are investigated and compared with well-known maximum likelihood and ordinary least squares estimators via a simulation technique. The mean squared error and the length of the bootstrap confidence interval are used as the basis criteria of the comparisons. The simulation study shows that the performance of the kernel estimator is acceptable as a general estimator. When the distribution of the data is assumed to be known, the maximum likelihood and ordinary least squares estimators perform better than the kernel estimator, while the kernel estimator is superior when the assumption of our knowledge of the data distribution is violated. A comparison among different estimators is achieved using a real data set.     

A Simple Method to Ensure Plausible Multiple Imputation for Continuous Multivariate Data

Multiple Imputation (MI) is an established approach for handling missing values. We show that MI for continuous data under the multivariate normal assumption is susceptible to generating implausible values. Our proposed remedy, is to: (1) transform the observed data into quantiles of the standard normal distribution; (2) obtain a functional relationship between the observed data and it's corresponding standard normal quantiles; (3) undertake MI using the quantiles produced in step 1; and finally, (4) use the functional relationship to transform the imputations into their original domain. In conclusion, our approach safeguards MI from imputing implausible values.     

Computer-Generated Neighbor Designs

Neighbor designs are useful to remove the neighbor effects. In this article, an algorithm is developed and is coded in Visual C + +to generate the initial block for possible first, second,…, and all order neighbor designs. To get the required design, a block (0, 1, 2,…, k ? 1) is then augmented with (v ? 1) blocks obtained by developing the initial block cyclically mod (v ? 1).