The Essence of Young Elderly Active Lifestyle: A Phenomenological Approach

Objectives. A quality housing environment reflects a sense of convenience among its residence through physical characteristics such as housing conditions and availability of certain facilities. A housing environment that promotes active lifestyle has become a vital research objective. Methods. We employed a phenomenological research to explore the meaning and essence of having an active lifestyle from the standpoint of 12 young elderly aged 60-75 years residing in two neighbourhoods in Malaysia. The phenomenological data presented description of how these young elderly maintain an active lifestyle. The account provided information about their lived experience of being both physically and socially active and why they valued maintaining an active lifestyle. Results. Findings suggest that gender has no influence on maintaining an active lifestyle; rather the neighbourhood environmental factors fostered their physical and social activity. Young elderly have learned to maintain an active lifestyle by being aware of the importance of being active at an older age. Discussion. The evidence suggests that active lifestyle has positive effects on young elderly health and well-being. The essence of the experience is staying occupied and that staying occupied has the potential to be both physically and socially active. Keywords: Active lifestyle, neighbourhood environmental factors, phenomenology, young elderly

Exploring and Developing Measurements for the Dimension of Contract Governance in Malaysia’s Public-Private Partnership Initiatives

Since 1983, Malaysia has been implementing public-private partnership (PPP) initiatives to acquire public infrastructure and services. These partnerships have been successful in improving public services and reducing public expenditure. Many researches have been conducted on the factors influencing the performance of PPP, including contract governance. However, due to the long duration and contractual obligations of PPP initiatives, there is still a lack of understanding about the influence of contract governance on the performance of these partnerships, highlighting a scarcity of study on contract governance in PPP contexts. Based on mono-method quantitative design, this study aims to develop a survey instrument to measure contract governance in PPP initiatives through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A pilot study has been conducted with 115 respondents and the data been analyzed using the Principal Component with the Rotation extraction technique. The results showed that all five components of contract governance in the study had a Cronbach's alpha greater than 0.70, indicating a high level of consistency and reliability. The results of this research provide significant knowledge on the measurement of contract governance on PPP project performance to the body of literature on partnership performance and contract governance, therefore assisting concessionaires and policymakers. Managers overseeing PPP projects should possess the ability to improve the performance of their projects by comprehending the impact of contract. governance on project performance.

Application of Theory of Constraints in quantity surveying firm

As the construction projects grow in size and complexity, the roles of Quantity Surveying (QS) firms which provide QS services getting more significant. Theory of Constraints (TOC) views every process in a system are linked and constraint needs to be identified and dealt with so that to achieve continuous improvement in the whole operation. Removing constraints are the most effective way to improve the overall system performance. As QS firm did not involve inventory, the TOC application and its impacts might be different. This research focused on how TOC approach could be applied in solving the critical constraint appeared in the QS firm. This study adopted questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews with QS practitioners in Kuala Lumpur, which directly involved in the management of the QS firm. Descriptive and content analysis were adopted to analyse the identified constraint. The TOC methodology used to deal with the constraint, as well as the impacts of TOC to the QS firms. It could be concluded that the most common constraint in the QS firms was the delay of project participants and substandard QS practices. Meanwhile, the concept of TOC could be applied as one of the tools in decision-making process for QS firm, especially when to dealt with constraint of the delay of project participants and providing better quality of QS services

The implementation of life cycle costing towards private client’s investment: the case of Malaysian construction projects

Life-cycle Costing (LCC) is a technique used to estimate the total cost of ownership. It allows comparative cost assessments to be made over a specific period of time, taking into account relevant economic factors both in terms of initial capital costs and future operational and asset replacement cost. The implementation of LCC in construction industry is rapidly increasing. However, in the Malaysian construction industry, LCC has not been implemented extensively. This paper explored LCC implementation in construction projects in Malaysia from the client’s perspective as well as benefits and barriers to implementing LCC. A quantitative approach involving questionnaire survey distributed to private clients in the Malaysian construction industry. More than half of the surveyed respondents indicated they were ready to invest in future costs and about 37% were currently implementing LCC or a similar costing principle. The inability of LCC to meet expectations of organisation in managing costs, lack of familiarity with LCC and the market not requiring the use of LCC were the main reason why organisations who had used LCC in the past discontinued the use of LCC. Influencing future costs in the design stage, greater emphasis on achieving a better ‘value for money’ in projects and improving awareness of total cost of projects were the three major benefits of implementing LCC while lack of a procurement and contract award incentives to use LCC, lack of a standard method of LCC, and clients’ unwillingness to pay for LCC were identified as the main barriers to implementing LCC. Correlation analysis demonstrated that implementation of LCC during ‘investment planning’, ‘scheme/concept design’, ‘detail/final design’, ‘construction and commission’, and ‘operation and maintenance’ stages had statistically significant relationship with ‘quality performance’, while implementing LCC ‘investment planning’, ‘scheme/concept design’, ‘detail/final design’, and ‘operation and maintenance’ stages significantly correlated with ‘overall project performance’. The importance of LCC in various project stages, the study concludes by emphasizing the need to create more awareness and implementation methodology to promote the adoption of LCC in the Malaysian construction industry

Office building maintenance: Cost prediction model

Troškovi održavanja zgrada naglo rastu u slučaju neprimjerenog održavanja u prethodnom razdoblju. U ovom radu određene su karakteristike planiranog održavanja. Ustanovljeno je da karakteristike planiranog održavanja uvijek utječu na troškove te je nužno uspostaviti njihov odnos. Za predviđanje održavanja izrađen je regresijski model, a za prikupljanje podataka usvojen je triangulacijski pristup koji uključuje pregled literature, anketiranje putem upitnika i usmeno anketiranje. Zaključeno je da se uspostavljeni regresijski model može koristiti u praksi.Building maintenance costs are increasing rapidly due to poor maintenance in the past. In this paper, attempts are made to identify the characteristics of scheduled maintenance. It has been established that the characteristics of scheduled maintenance always affect the cost performance. Therefore, this research aims to establish their relationships. Then, regression model is produced for maintenance prediction purposes. The triangulation approach that includes literature review, questionnaire survey, and interviews, has been adopted for data collection. Consequently, the regression model can be adopted by practitioners

An aqueous extract of Citrus mitis possess antioxidative properties and improves plasma lipid profiles in rat induced with high cholesterol diet

The in vitro antioxidant activity of Citrus mitis aqueous extract (CME) and its effects on antioxidative status and lipid profiles of rat fed with high cholesterol diet were examined. The in vitro antioxidant activity was assessed by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), while the total phenolic content was measured as gallic acid equivalent. The antioxidative status in the plasma was further assessed by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay whereas plasma lipid profile was analysed spectrophotometrically. The result showed that both 5 and 10% extracts possessed antioxidant activities in concentration dependent manner in all tested methods which positively correlated with high phenolic content. The supplementation of 5 mg/kg of both 5 and 10% CME respectively reduced plasma total cholesterol (TCHOL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglycerides (TG) levels concomitantly with an increased level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in rat induced hypercholesterolemia (p < 0.05). The lipid parameters were comparable with statin. The atherogenic index (AI) and sdLDL values were found to be lower in CME-treated groups compared to the control (p < 0.05). Microsomal lipid peroxidation indicated with TBARS estimation was found to be lower in both CME-treated groups. The results obtained suggest that C. mitisaqueous extract possesses lipid lowering and antioxidative effect in hypercholesterolemic-induced model and could potentially be used as therapeutic regiment in managing hypercholesterolemia

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p&lt;0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p&lt;0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p&lt;0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP &gt;5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Complexity of statutory requirements: case study of refurbishment projects in Malaysia

The complexity of refurbishment projects is reflected in the difficulty in getting accurate design information during the design process. One of the factors contributing to the complexity in refurbishment projects is building legislation. The changing and updating of some of the building regulations by government has also affected the approval process in refurbishment projects, especially projects related to conservation. The statutory requirements could cause project delays and cost overruns due to adjustments that need to be made to design in order to comply with the regulations. Therefore, the main objectives of this paper are to present the difficulties that contributed to the complexity of building legislation and to show how it affects the overall performance of refurbishment projects. Quantitative research techniques are used, which consists of review of literature and a postal questionnaire survey that involved 234 respondents. From 234 questionnaires sent out, 62 questionnaires were found to be suitable to form a database for analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the data analysis. The results conclude that complexity in refurbishment projects in Malaysia is made worse by complexity of building legislation. The associative test indicates that performance of refurbishment projects suffered from the complexity of building regulations

Design information in managing refurbishment projects in Malaysia

Although design cost makes up a small percent of a total project cost, the performance of refurbishment projects are normally considerably affected by design processes. The lack of information in refurbished designs becomes an obstacle for designers to complete tasks successfully during the initial stage of the design process. The objective of this study is to discuss the sources of design information in refurbishment projects. The study has also been extended to demonstrate how different sources of information can affect the performance of refurbishment design. From the results, it is concluded that a site survey was considered the most important method of obtaining design information followed by the client's brief during the design process of refurbishment projects