Urban land use spectral using high resolution imagery and GIS approach in sustaining urban planning spatial databases

Remote sensing technology is useful for urban planning due to its capability in examining detailed spectral characteristic of urban land uses. This study attempts to review a relevant studied have been done in identified an appropriate spectral for urban land use using high resolution remote sensing images and GIS approach. The detailed spectral for urban land uses consist of residential, industrial and commercial in metropolitan and city center urban hierarchy will be discussed. The segmentation techniques through object oriented and the use of field measurement was highlighted, at once demonstrates the usability of such infrastructure to facilitate further progress of remote sensing and GIS application in urban planning in Malaysia. Finally, a discussion of the needs for further research is presented

Medical and nursing students’ knowledge of accurate blood pressure measurement procedure in University Malaysia Sarawak

Blood pressure measurement is a basic, frequently-used clinical procedure. Nowadays with increasing use of automatic devices, blood pressure measurement procedure is the most inaccurately performed by the healthcare professionals. The medical and nursing students need good knowledge of accurate measurement procedure for correct diagnosis of hypertension. Our study assessed the knowledge of blood pressure measurement procedure among medical and nursing students in Faculty of Medicine and Health Science of University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). This was a quantitative, cross-sectional study. Data were collected from total 242 students (171 medical and 71 nursing programmes) with a pre-tested questionnaire including patient’s position, application of instruments, and measurement technique and blood pressure reading. Of 16 items tested, correct answers for 9 items were less than 70%: proper patient’s position (66.9%), choice of the arm (59.1%), appropriate cuff size(51.2%), chest piece (bell or diaphragm) of stethoscope used for listening of Korotkoff sound(11.6%), estimated inflation cuff pressure(66.1%), recommended deflation rate(65.3%), preference of last digit of blood pressure reading(60.7 %), awareness of the auscultatory gap (31.0 %), and habit of palpatory method (27.7%). 51.7% of total students (n= 242) had good knowledge scores. There was no significantly different between the medical and nursing students’ mean knowledge scores (p value=0.099). Our study found that the students need subsequent learning and practices to improve their knowledge for accurate blood pressure resul

Emotional Intelligence Level of Year One and Two Medical Students of University Malaysia Sarawak: Association With Demographic Data

Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them, and to guide one’s thinking and actions. It is very important to assess as it helps to reason out our emotional responses. The objective of this study is to assess the emotional intelligence level of Year one and two medical students of UNIMAS. Majority has strength in all the domains except managing emotions domain where 51.5% need attention. No respondent fall into the development priority competency. There were no significant difference among all the domains between two groups but Year 1 students need more attention in managing emotions domain compared to Year 2 students. There was no significant association between demographic characteristics – age, residency, qualification and ethnicity – but there was a significant association (p value of 0.038) in male with empathy domain. Further study should be done on groups spanning from Year 1 to Year 5 as they have a greater difference in age as well as exposure to clinical practice which may have a significant impact on their emotional intelligence

Measuring urban sprawls on highway strips parameters using GIS approach

Urban sprawl has increasingly become a major issue in the global trend towards urbanization. It has become a common problem, and is being faced by both developed and developing countries nowadays. It is refers to a specific form of urban development characterized by low-density, leapfrog, commercial strip development and discontinuity ((Ewing, 1997; Downs 1999; Galster et al., 2001; Malpezzi and Guo, 2001)Most of the urban sprawl is considered to be the expansion of low density accompanied by a series of environmental and socio-economic issues. Furthermore, the important characteristics of sprawl include unlimited outward extension of development, dominance of transportation by private automobiles, fragmentation of land use, and large fiscal disparities among individual communities (Burchell 1998). According to Ewing (1997), these features accelerate the spatial expansion of metropolitan areas by creating discontinuous land use patterns. Many studies have shown that sprawl is more expensive than an alternative pattern of development .It is not immediately apparent how all the series of characteristics or attributes can be measured. Over the last decade, there has been a rapid increase in the amount of literature on the measurement of urban sprawl. This is because urban sprawl, which encompasses multiple aspects of urban spatial development, has been one of the debatable discussions in the field of urban and regional planning. However, the factors influencing the development of sprawl are multifaceted and include rapid urbanization, agricultural, industrialization, migration, economic development, income growth, development policy, market failures and population growth. Thus the issue of sprawl is become preference nowadays. Therefore, this paper endeavour to analyze and measuring urban landuse sprawl at residential, industrial and commercial based on determination of spatial factor especially on leapfrog parameter using GIS approach

Application of GNSS Methods for Monitoring Offshore Platform Deformation

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has become a powerful tool for high-precision deformation monitoring application. Monitoring of deformation and subsidence of offshore platform due to factors such as shallow gas phenomena. GNSS is the technical interoperability and compatibility between various satellite navigation systems such as modernized GPS, Galileo, reconstructed GLONASS to be used by civilian users. It has been known that excessive deformation affects platform structurally, causing loss of production and affects the efficiency of the machinery on board the platform. GNSS have been proven to be one of the most precise positioning methods where by users can get accuracy to the nearest centimeter of a given position from carrier phase measurement processing of GPS signals. This research is aimed at using GNSS technique, which is one of the most standard methods to monitor the deformation of offshore platforms. Therefore, station modeling, which accounts for the spatial correlated errors, and hence speeds up the ambiguity resolution process is employed. It was found that GNSS combines the high accuracy of the results monitoring the offshore platforms deformation with the possibility of survey

Application of GNSS Methods for Monitoring Offshore Platform Deformation

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has become a powerful tool for high-precision deformation monitoring application. Monitoring of deformation and subsidence of offshore platform due to factors such as shallow gas phenomena. GNSS is the technical interoperability and compatibility between various satellite navigation systems such as modernized GPS, Galileo, reconstructed GLONASS to be used by civilian users. It has been known that excessive deformation affects platform structurally, causing loss of production and affects the efficiency of the machinery on board the platform. GNSS have been proven to be one of the most precise positioning methods where by users can get accuracy to the nearest centimeter of a given position from carrier phase measurement processing of GPS signals. This research is aimed at using GNSS technique, which is one of the most standard methods to monitor the deformation of offshore platforms. Therefore, station modeling, which accounts for the spatial correlated errors, and hence speeds up the ambiguity resolution process is employed. It was found that GNSS combines the high accuracy of the results monitoring the offshore platforms deformation with the possibility of survey

From Ceasefire to Dialogue: The Problem of “All-Inclusiveness” in Myanmar’s Stalled Peace Process

A key principle underpinning Myanmar’s peace process has been the principle of “all-inclusiveness.” Initially, this principle represented a commitment to the inclusion of all ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in a nation-wide ceasefire agreement (NCA) that would serve as a basis for reconciliation, political dialogue and negotiation over constitutional reform. When President Thein Sein’s transition government (2011–16) began making peace overtures, the principle was widely embraced by EAOs and the military, and ultimately enshrined in the text of the NCA. When Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power in 2016 and made the peace process its top priority it, too, championed the principle of “all-inclusiveness.” However, as the NLD and the military struggle to convince more EAOs to sign the NCA, it has become apparent that, for all its good intentions, the principle of “all-inclusiveness” has become an obstacle to the peace process. This chapter reviews the peace process to date to examine the problems that have emerged around the concept of “all-inclusiveness.” Drawing on interviews with signatories of the NCA and other key stakeholders,1 the chapter highlights a central challenge confronting the government in its efforts to advance Myanmar’s stalled peace process

The roles of land use planning in sustaining natural resources

The concept of sustainable development has become very important item across the world, covering many disciplines. Land use planning, among others, is challenged to play an active role in obtaining sustainable natural resources. The main focus of this paper is to study the roles played by land use planning in sustaining the natural resources. Therefore, this paper includes the study on the roles of land use via development planning system and development control decision which are to plan and to control the development. However, land use planning is not retrospective and essentially only deals with proposals to change land use, it relies on various stakeholders such as owners or land managers to initiate such changes. The practice of land use planning involves achieving a balance between the community’s environmental, social and economic needs and demands; between the rights of private property owners, the role and willingness of government at various levels to set policy and direction, and the right of the community to have input into the policy formed and decisions made. Thus, this paper highlights the significant roles played by planners in preserving the assets of Mother Nature in a sustainable manner