Impact of the 2015 wildfires on Malaysian air quality and exposure: a comparative study of observed and modeled data

In September and October 2015, Equatorial Asia experienced the most intense biomass burning episodes over the past two decades. These events, mostly enhanced by the extremely dry weather associated with the occurrence of strong El Niño conditions, resulted in the transnational transport of hazardous pollutants from the originating sources in Indonesian Borneo and Sumatra to the highly populated Malaysian Peninsula. Quantifying the population exposure form this event is a major challenge, and only two model-based studies have been performed to date, with limited evaluation against measurements. This manuscript presents a new data set of 49 monitoring stations across Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo active during the 2015 haze event, and performs the first comparative study of PM10 (particulate matter with diameter < 10 µm) and carbon monoxide (CO) against the output of a state-of-the-art regional model (WRF-Chem). WRF-Chem presents high skills in describing the spatio-temporal patterns of both PM10 and CO and thus was applied to estimate the impact of the 2015 wildfires on population exposure. This study showed that more than 60% of the population living in the highly populated region of the Greater Klang Valley was systematically exposed to unhealthy/hazardous air quality conditions associated with the increased pollutant concentrations from wildfires and that almost 40% of the Malaysian population was on average exposed to PM10 concentrations higher than 100 µg m−3 during September and October 2015

Small farmers and sustainability: Institutional barriers to investment and innovation in the Malaysian palm oil industry in Sabah

The Malaysian palm oil industry is well known for the social, environmental and sustainability challenges associated with its rapid growth over the past ten years. Technologies exist to reduce the conflict between national development aims of economic uplift for the rural poor, on the one hand, and ecological conservation, on the other hand, by raising yields and incomes from areas already under cultivation. But the uptake of these technologies has been slow, particularly in the smallholder sector. In this paper we explore the societal and institutional challenges that influence the investment and innovation decisions of micro and small enterprise (MSE) palm oil smallholders in Sabah, Malaysia. Based on interviews with 38 smallholders, we identify a number of factors that reduce the smallholders' propensity to invest in more sustainable practices. We discuss why more effective practices and innovations are not being adopted using the concepts of, firstly, institutional logics to explore the internal dynamics of smallholder production systems, including attitudes to sustainability and innovation; and, secondly, institutional context to explore the pressures the smallholders face, including problems of access to land, labour, capital, knowledge and technical resources. These factors include limited access to global market information, corruption and uncertainties of legal title, weak economic status and social exclusion. In discussing these factors we seek to contribute to wider theoretical debates about the factors that block innovation and investment in business improvements in marginal regions and in marginalised groups

Modelling the demand for inbound medical tourism : The case of Malaysia

This paper empirically examines the macroeconomic determinants for medical tourism demand using time series econometrics methodology. We find that income, price, exchange rate, SARS outbreak, safety, medical quality, manpower, and medical facilities are significantly affecting the long-run demand behaviour of medical tourism in Malaysia. In order to attract medical tourists, policymakers in Malaysia should (a) reduce the medical prices, (b) reduce the crime rate and improve safety, and (c) continue the improvement of research, medical quality, manpower, and facilities to support the revolution of inbound medical tourism demand in Malaysia. This is to ensure the Malaysia's sustainable economic developmen

PROTOTIPE SISTEM INFORMASI MANAJEMEN KINERJA BERBASIS WEB PADA PT.PERTAMINA UPMS IV TERMINAL TRANSIT LOMANIS CILACAP

PT PERTAMINA UPMS IV TTL Cilacap membawahi beberapa bagian, yaitu bagian Distribusi, bagian Teknik, bagian LLKK, bagian SDM. Dari setiap bagian memerlukan kegiatan manajemen untuk melakukan penilaian kinerja seluruh pegawai yang berada pada bagiannya masing-masing. Pihak TTL berencana untuk membangun sebuah sistem informasi manajemen kinerja berbasis web yang digunakan khusus untuk melakukan penilaian kinerja. Sistem informasi berbasis web ini adalah untuk membantu pihak perusahaan dalam melakukan penilaian yang dapat dilakukan dengan cepat, karena cukup mengakses ke IP address komputer server tempat sistem tersebut berada. Software yang digunakan untuk membangun aplikasi Sistem Informasi Manajemen Kinerja Berbasis Web adalah PHP sebagai bahasa pemrogramannya, apache web server, MYSQL untuk database server. Kemampuan dari software ini adalah mampu melakukan pemasukan data pegawai, pemasukan nilai pegawai, dan pemasukan rekomendasi. Software ini juga mampu menghasilkan laporan data pegawai, laporan nilai, laporan rekomendasi, laporan statistik keseluruhan nilai, surat resmi rekomendasi, serta mampu melakukan pencarian data. Untuk menyimpan dan menampilkan data diperlukan 8 buah tabel relasi. Struktur tabel yang dibuat membutuhkan space 331 byte yang diperoleh dari jumlah space setiap tabel. Keyword : penilaian kinerja, sistem informasi, berbasis web, tabel relasi

PROTOTIPE SISTEM INFORMASI MANAJEMEN KINERJA BERBASIS WEB PADA PT.PERTAMINA UPMS IV TERMINAL TRANSIT LOMANIS CILACAP

PT PERTAMINA UPMS IV TTL Cilacap membawahi beberapa bagian, yaitu bagian Distribusi, bagian Teknik, bagian LLKK, bagian SDM. Dari setiap bagian memerlukan kegiatan manajemen untuk melakukan penilaian kinerja seluruh pegawai yang berada pada bagiannya masing-masing. Pihak TTL berencana untuk membangun sebuah sistem informasi manajemen kinerja berbasis web yang digunakan khusus untuk melakukan penilaian kinerja. Sistem informasi berbasis web ini adalah untuk membantu pihak perusahaan dalam melakukan penilaian yang dapat dilakukan dengan cepat, karena cukup mengakses ke IP address komputer server tempat sistem tersebut berada. Software yang digunakan untuk membangun aplikasi Sistem Informasi Manajemen Kinerja Berbasis Web adalah PHP sebagai bahasa pemrogramannya, apache web server, MYSQL untuk database server. Kemampuan dari software ini adalah mampu melakukan pemasukan data pegawai, pemasukan nilai pegawai, dan pemasukan rekomendasi. Software ini juga mampu menghasilkan laporan data pegawai, laporan nilai, laporan rekomendasi, laporan statistik keseluruhan nilai, surat resmi rekomendasi, serta mampu melakukan pencarian data. Untuk menyimpan dan menampilkan data diperlukan 8 buah tabel relasi. Struktur tabel yang dibuat membutuhkan space 331 byte yang diperoleh dari jumlah space setiap tabel. Keyword : penilaian kinerja, sistem informasi, berbasis web, tabel relasi

Sustainability assessment for crude palm oil production in Malaysia using the palm oil sustainability assessment framework

The sustainability of production is one of the greatest challenges experienced by the Malaysian palm oil industry. Palm oil products consistently receive negative press and criticism, for causing deforestation, land use changes, peat land conversion, species loss, greenhouse gas emissions, biomass waste generation, violation of indigenous people's rights and limited local employment. This paper evaluates the sustainability of the most common crude palm oil supply chain in Malaysia, located in Sarawak, using the Palm Oil Sustainability Assessment (POSA) framework. The results show that the overall sustainability score for a typical crude palm oil supply chain in Malaysia is 3.47/5, which is below the sustainability target of 5/5. Hotspots identified include smallholder inequity, lack of biomass waste recycling and recovery, improper plantation practices, lower average wages and local employment. The site‐specific application of the POSA framework in the current study demonstrates its potential to be used universally across Malaysia