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This paper presents a comprehensive statistical research on the effect of construction cost estimating software’s features towards estimating job performance. The objectives of this study are identification of cost estimating software features, analyzing the significant relation of cost estimating software’s features towards job performance, Explore the problem faced during the implementation and lastly propose a plan to improve the cost estimating software usage among contractors in Malaysia. The study statistically reveals four features of cost estimating software that significantly impact towards changes in cost estimating job performance. These features were refined by performing interview to focus group of respondent to observe the actual possible problems during the implementation. Eventually, the proposed improvement plan was validated by the focus group of respondents to enhance the cost estimating software implementation among contractors in Malaysia.

Ethnic enclaves exist in many countries as a manifestation of the immigrants’ identity and the connection to their homeland. This research investigates on the tangible and intangible attributes of an ethnic enclave. The study was conducted on Little India, Penang and ‘Little India’ of Klang through observations and interviews, with literature review, to form the research framework. The data obtained were matched against Part X Clause 67 (1) and (2) of the National Heritage Act 2005. Though not listed as National Heritage, it was found that both sites possess significant physical and cultural attributes which could be used as a basis for conservation framework of ethnic enclave while maintaining its authenticity.

Background: Within a setting without organised breast cancer screening, the characteristics and survival of very early breast cancer were determined.Methods: All 4930 women diagnosed with breast cancer in University Malaya Medical Center, Malaysia from 1993 to 2011 were included. Factors associated with very early presentation (stage I) at diagnosis were identified. Tumour characteristics, management patterns, and survival of very early breast cancer were described, and where appropriate, compared with other settings.Results: Proportion of women presenting with stage I breast cancer significantly increased from 15.2% to 25.2% over two decades. Factors associated with very early presentation were Chinese ethnicity, positive family history of breast cancer, and recent period of diagnosis. Within stage I breast cancers, median tumour size at presentation was 1.5 cm. A majority of stage I breast cancer patients received mastectomy, which was associated with older age, Chinese ethnicity, postmenopausal status, and larger tumours. Chemotherapy was administered in 36% of patients. Five-year age-adjusted relative survival for women with stage I breast cancer was 99.1% (95% CI: 97.6-99.6%).Conclusions: The proportion of women presenting with very early breast cancer in this setting without organised screening is increasing. These women seem to survive just as well as their counterparts from affluent settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Predict Tool is a free online prognostic calculator that aids patient counselling and clinical decision making in the management of women with early breast cancer. We validated its prognostic performance in an Asian setting. Methods: Within the University Malaya Hospital-Based Breast Cancer Registry, we identified 1676 patients who were diagnosed with non-metastatic disease from 1998 to 2006. Calibration of Predict Tool was done by comparing the predicted 5-year and 10-year overall survival (OS) with patients' actual 5-year and 10-year survival. Discrimination of the model was tested by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Findings: In the whole cohort, Predict Tool predicted 5-year OS accurately: 79.5% compared with observed survival of 79.9% (difference of -0.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.4 to 1.6). However, it did not perform well in women younger than 40years: 5-year OS was overestimated by 10.2% (95% CI 4.1-16.3). Predict Tool was also overoptimistic in predicting long-term survival; predicted 10-year OS was 70.6% compared with observed 10-year OS of 65.6% (difference of 5.0%, 95% CI 0.9-9.1). In terms of discrimination, Predict Tool performed fairly with an area under ROC curve of 0.77 (95% CI 0.75-0.80) for 5-year OS and 0.78 (95% CI 0.73-0.83) for 10-year OS. Interpretation: Although Predict Tool performs well in predicting 5-year OS in this cohort of multiethnic Asian women, it was overoptimistic for predicting long-term survival. 10-year OS might be affected by systematic differences in background mortality risk between the population in which the model was developed (UK) and the Malaysian population. Predict Tool will be useful in aiding decision making related to systemic therapy in resource-limited Asian settings where microarray-based prognostication is economically unfeasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]