Review of Green Building Demand Factors for Malaysia

Green building is redefining building practice and Malaysia is poised for early adoption in recognition of the potential economic and environmental benefits that accrue to it. Available reports tend towards the fact that there will be increase in demand for green buildings with the growth in environmental awareness and increase in corporate social responsibility among the companies as well as growing body of evidence demonstrating that green buildings make financial sense. Despite the growing interest, risks of uncertainties still cloud investment in green building. This paper examines Malaysia efforts to spure green building investment and demand with particlualr focus on Green Building Index (GBI) and the enabling green tax incentives. Subsequently the paper reviews potential factors that enhance green building in Malaysia as well as the underlying challenges and barriers. Based on the review, we can infer that the Malaysia green tax incentives for obtaining GBI certification are significant but not outstanding. They are inherent with notable criticisms and may not be sufficiently attractive to potential real estate investors. The review also empower us to hypothesize that the model of green building demand for Malaysia will comprise seven interrelated factors vis-a-avis:- quest for environmental sustainability, quest for increased productivity, quest for improved internal building conditions, quest for higher building value, quest for cost savings, quest for lower risks, and quest for branding and prestige. And that the nature and strength of relationship among the factors will be moderated by some of the challenges and barriers identified in the review. The paper will be useful to researches, practitioners and policy makers in real estate development and market seeking explanations for factors that could enhace demand for green building in Malaysia. Keywords: green building, green building demand, green building index, green building barriers, green building benefits

Availability of Essential Medicines in Healthcare Facilities Offering Maternal and Reproductive Healthcare Services in Nigeria

Background: The availability of essential medicines is important in preventing maternal and child deaths. This study assessed the availability of essential medicines in healthcare facilities offering maternal and reproductive healthcare services in Nigeria. Method: This study was cross-sectionally designed using structured interviewer-administered survey questions and site inspections. The study was conducted across all States in Nigeria except three states (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) that had security challenges. The survey was carried out between May and July 2019. The data were analysed with IBM-SPSS version 25.0. Results: The mean availability of 17 essential medicines was 58.8%. South-East has a very low availability of 49.1%, North East, South West, and South-South had availability below 60% whereas North-West (71.8%) and North-central (60.2%) had higher availability (

The Challenges in the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the global space for more than a year, and the world faces a lot of challenges in the battle against the deadly virus. This study highlights funda­mental issues that undermine the fight against the COVID-19pandemic and informs on how government and health authorities might further the cause of pandemic control. This study aimed is to analyze challenges that hinder the battle against the COVID-19pandemic from the viewpoint of the Nigerian Twitter community. Subjects and Method: This was a qualitative study with phenomenological approach, conducted using an online survey through Google Forms with Nigerian Twitter community. A total of 128 informants were selected using a list-based sampling technique. The data was managed, cleaned, organized and analyzed in SPSS, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Notepad. Results: 40.6% of the informants are in the field of Education, 11.7% are Entrepreneurs, 10.9% are Students, 10.9% are Civil Servants, 9.4% are IT Specialists, while 7.0% are Engineers. Issues that undermines the fight against COVID-19pandemic according to the findings from this study were summarized and classified into five themes, included: 1) Fake News Distort Health Messages on Covid-19, 2) Conspiracy Theories on Covid-19, 3) Mismanagement of COVID-19pandemic, 4) Lack of Government Trust on Covid-19, 5) Lack of Adequate Information on Covid-19. Conclusion: Findings suggest that these five issues are key in fighting the COVID-19scourge and must be addressed in future pandemic mitigation efforts and control plans. Keywords: COVID-19, health communication, fake news, pandemic, health messages Correspondence: Sanni Shamsudeen Ademola. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Eswatini. Private Bag 4, Matsapha Manzini, The Kingdom of Eswatini. Email: [email protected]. Mobile: +26876241155/ 79241155 Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior (2021), 06(02): 133-143 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/thejhpb.2021.06.02.0

The Challenges and Opportunities of Pharmacoepidemiology in Bone Diseases

Altres ajuts: This work was supported by the National Health Medical Research Council Australia (NHMRC project ID; DA 1114676, DB 1073430, and JRC 1008219). This work was partially supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford. DPA is funded by a National Institute for Health Research Clinician Scientist award (CS-2013-13-012). This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). Other funding bodies were the Bupa Health Foundation (formerly MBF Foundation) and the Mrs Gibson and Ernst Heine Family Foundation. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHMRC and the NIHR.Pharmacoepidemiology is used extensively in osteoporosis research and involves the study of the use and effects of drugs in large numbers of people. Randomized controlled trials are considered the gold standard in assessing treatment efficacy and safety. However, their results can have limited external validity when applied to day-to-day patients. Pharmacoepidemiological studies aim to assess the effect/s of treatments in actual practice conditions, but they are limited by the quality, completeness, and inherent bias due to confounding. Sources of information include prospectively collected (primary) as well as readily available routinely collected (secondary) (eg, electronic medical records, administrative/claims databases) data. Although the former enable the collection of ad hoc measurements, the latter provide a unique opportunity for the study of large representative populations and for the assessment of rare events at relatively low cost. Observational cohort and case-control studies, the most commonly implemented study designs in pharmacoepidemiology, each have their strengths and limitations. However, the choice of the study design depends on the research question that needs to be answered. Despite the many advantages of observational studies, they also have limitations. First, missing data is a common issue in routine data, frequently dealt with using multiple imputation. Second, confounding by indication arises because of the lack of randomization; multivariable regression and more specific techniques such as propensity scores (adjustment, matching, stratification, trimming, or weighting) are used to minimize such biases. In addition, immortal time bias (time period during which a subject is artefactually event-free by study design) and time-varying confounding (patient characteristics changing over time) are other types of biases usually accounted for using time-dependent modeling. Finally, residual "uncontrolled" confounding is difficult to assess, and hence to account for it, sensitivity analyses and specific methods (eg, instrumental variables) should be considered. © 2018 The Authors JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Proximate analysis and phytochemical screening of watermelon (citrullus lanatus) pulp, peels and seeds

The fruit popularly known as Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a local recipe eaten in Nigeria and African. The research was conducted to evaluate the nutritional composition and phytoconstituents of the peels, pulp and seeds of the fruit. The vitamin C was also determined. Proximate analysis revealed that the pulp contained much higher moisture content of 11.50 ± 0.50 % than the peels with 8.78 ± 1.25 %, and 3.66±0.29 % seed respectively. The ash content for peels was high with 5.31 ± 0.55 %, while pulp contained 3.66 ± 0.82 % and the seeds contained 2.97 ± 05 % respectively. For crude lipids; seeds contained high value of 13.66 ± 0.29 % compared to the peels with 2.33 ± 0.29 % and pulp contained 0.5± 0.00 %.respectively. The crude fibre; seeds contained higher value of 14.66 ± 0.57 % compared to peels with 10.66 ± 29 % and7.66 ± 0.29 % for pulp. The crude proteins, the peels contained 2.88 ± 1.69 %, while the pulp contained 3.33± 0.17 % and seeds contained 18.75± 0.65% having the highest value which implies that the seed is rich in protein thereby help to build the body and replace worn-out tissues. The carbohydrate value for pulp was much higher with 73.35 ± 1.78 %, peels contained 70.04± 4.05 % and seed contained 46.3± 0.78 % respectively. The mineral elements revealed that Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, P and Zn are much present with significant different P<0.05.Therefore, seed is a reservoir of crude lipids, while pulp serves as a reservoir of moisture content and food supplement whereas peels serve as reservoir for mineral elements. The vitamin C value ranged from (4.56± 0.47 to 3.32± 0.37) mg/100 g respectively. Phytochemical analyses of aqueous extracts revealed that terpenoids, saponins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides and steroids are present. This justify the claim why the fruit can be used as food and medicinal purpose

Alleviating the Material and Health Challenges of Young Internally Displaced People in North-East Nigeria

The increasing rate of attack in the North-Eastern parts of Nigeria has caused the deaths of thousands and thereby forcing many of the residents, including children to abandon their comforts zones. This study assessed the material and health challenges of young IDPs and the impacts of sexual and reproductive health programs in improving the conditions of these young ones. The study was conducted in sixteen local governments of three states (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe) in the North-East of Nigeria using mixed methods. The quantitative data were obtained by the administration of a structured questionnaire to the young IDPs in the three states. The quantitative data were analysed and were complemented by the qualitative data {Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)} that were obtained from the young IDPs. Data were analysed using SPSS version 20. The majority (78.5%) of the young internally displace persons (IDPs) were within the age group of 10-14 years with 51.8% males and 59.1% have attained primary. The major material challenges facing the young IDPs include lack of food (31.6%), clothing (28.7%), Soap/cream (19.8%) and medicine (13.1%). The most common health problems include Malaria (28.9%), cough 23.1%, diarrhoea (18.3%) and cholera (13.1%). The IDPs confirmed that they were fully protected in the camp with no experience of rape. They affirmed that their needs were met by the intervention programs provided for them; 71.7% affirmed that their situation was “Good” since they came to the camps and more than half (55.2%) confirmed a better situation. The training in the IPD camps was mostly artisan related while only 31.7% were schooling. This study found that young IDPs are being faced with material and health-related challenges as well as the lack of proper training and education. However, the outcome of the SRH project is a manifestation of the efficient utilization of the resources of the project. More intervention programs to alleviate the challenges of IDPs are advocated

Risk analysis in fish farming systems in Oyo and Kwara States, Nigeria: a prospect towards improving fish production

The aim of this paper is to analyze risks in fish farming systems in Oyo and Kwara States, Nigeria. The primary data were collected using structured questionnaire with personal interview method by trained enumerators. The data collected belonged to the 2015/2016 production year. The total respondents (277) in the two states were separated to concrete pond fish farmers (123) and earthen pond fish farmers (154). Descriptive statistics, safety model and multinomial logit model were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that concrete system was more hired labour driven, relatively had higher formal education, and higher total investment and credit utilized compared to earthen system. The results of the risk preference revealed that of 123 respondents in concrete pond system, 52 % are risk preferring, 34 % are risk neutral and 16 % are risk averse, indicating better risk seeking compared with 154 respondents in earthen pond system with 21.4 % being risk preferring, 59.7 % being risk neutral and 18.8 % risk averse. The results of the estimates of the explanatory variables revealed that that the set of significant explanatory variables and their signs vary across the concrete and earthen pond systems. It would be concluded that the determinants of fish farmers’’ risk status differ considerably between concrete and earthen pond systems. Fish farmers needs to be sensitized through seminars, workshops and trainings in seeking risk by extension personnel in collaboration with agricultural insurance firms, this will go a long way in improving fish production among respondents.Keywords: Fish farming, Insurance, Marginal effect, Risk aversion, Workshop

Sample size and power considerations for ordinary least squares interrupted time series analysis: a simulation study.

Interrupted time series (ITS) analysis is being increasingly used in epidemiology. Despite its growing popularity, there is a scarcity of guidance on power and sample size considerations within the ITS framework. Our aim of this study was to assess the statistical power to detect an intervention effect under various real-life ITS scenarios. ITS datasets were created using Monte Carlo simulations to generate cumulative incidence (outcome) values over time. We generated 1,000 datasets per scenario, varying the number of time points, average sample size per time point, average relative reduction post intervention, location of intervention in the time series, and reduction mediated via a 1) slope change and 2) step change. Performance measures included power and percentage bias. We found that sample size per time point had a large impact on power. Even in scenarios with 12 pre-intervention and 12 post-intervention time points with moderate intervention effect sizes, most analyses were underpowered if the sample size per time point was low. We conclude that various factors need to be collectively considered to ensure adequate power for an ITS study. We demonstrate a means of providing insight into underlying sample size requirements in ordinary least squares (OLS) ITS analysis of cumulative incidence measures, based on prespecified parameters and have developed Stata code to estimate this