Categorisation and Causes of Building Design Defect: A Case Study on Public Building Hospital

Hospital is a complex building which involves a diverse range of people, equipment and systems. The building maintainability aspect has always been neglected at the design stage of project development; on the other hand issues related to maintainability may affect the performance of hospital building and incurred unnecessary cost. Some of the defect could be eliminated with proper attention and consideration during the design stage. The aim of the study is to identify the category and causes of building defects of public hospital. Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar has been selected as a case study. Data collection has been conducted based on secondary reports produced by the hospital services outsourcing company maintenance. The building defect were categorised based on three items that are enclosure, settings and fittings. Each defect will be discussed in detail in the paper. The study provides a significant contribution to the knowledge on public hospital defect in Malaysia

Multimedia design principle in developing multimedia learning application (MMLA) to increase children awareness of child sexual abuse

This paper is focusing on multimedia design principles as a design strategy in designing and developing a multimedia learning application with purpose to increase children’s awareness of potential sexual abuse situations.Currently, children’s knowledge and awareness about danger and self-protection is still lacking and they are not totally aware of prohibited adult’s touches over their body.In such situation, they need to be educated and made aware of.In such situation, with the advantages of current multimedia technologies, learning can be supported by effective multimedia application.Accordingly, this study develops a learning application by adapting an instructional design model for design and development by Alessi and Trollip.Then, alpha and beta testing has been conducted with the help of an expert.It was found that the advantages of multimedia technology can facilitate children in better understanding of child sexual abuse and improve their awareness of the issues

Effect of Structural Break on Financial Development and Economic Growth Nexus in Middle-Income Countries in Asia: Moderating Role of Technological Advancements

Asian countries have experienced many financial catastrophes and pandemics in the past couple of decades. Therefore, evaluating the effect of structural breaks on economies has taken substantive attention in the empirical literature. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effect of structural breaks on the Financial Development (FD) and Economic Growth (EG) of middle-income countries in Asia. The study considered the global financial crisis of 2008 as a key structural break. The sample consisted of 24 middle-income countries while the sample period was 20 years from 2000 to 2019. Technological Advancement was considered a moderator variable that facilitate the smooth functioning of the FD and EG. Structural Break was identified using the "xtbreak" function and the effect was analyzed with panel unit root, panel homogeneity test and short panel cointegration. The findings revealed that before the structural break, FD and moderator variables were the only significant variables but after the structural breaks, Human Capita and Private Consumption also have become significant. FD had a significant negative influence over EG before and after the structural break but the moderator variable had a positive influence. HC was not a significant factor before the structural break but has become significant after the economic downturn with a positive influence on EG. In contrast, PC shows a negative influence after the structural breaks. Hence, it guides the policymakers to decide on reducing investments for FD and direct funds to HC development and developing the technology. Moreover, they must consider making policy decisions to reduce PC

Identifying the monotonic trend in climate change parameter in Kluang and Senai, Johor, Malaysia

Presently, climate change plays an important role as it gives a serious impact to the living things on earth. Analyzing the trend of climate change is very important in identifying the pattern of changes because it can give an initial overview for future analysis. In this study, trend analysis was carried out to study the pattern of changes for five climate change parameters, such as total amount of monthly precipitation (mm), monthly average temperature (°C), monthly average global radiation (MJm–2), monthly average wind speed (m/s) and monthly average humidity (%) during the period of 1974 to 2010. Comparisons were made between two research stations, which were the Senai International Airport and Kluang Meteorological Stations. In this study, the Mann-Kendall trend test and Sen’s slope estimator test were used to identify the monotonic trend for these climate change parameters. As a result of this analysis, the precipitations showed no trend for both locations and the radiation showed no trend in Kluang from both analyses. Meanwhile, other parameters in Senai and Kluang showed a monotonic trend, according to the Tau value (Z) and the Sen’s slope value. The temperature shows a positive trend for both locations

Construction of White Male Hegemony in Coetzee's Waiting for Barbarians and Disgrace

 This article will investigate how Coetzee's white male characters confront their pasts that revolve around abuse of power in both familial relations and the community. For a long time, Coetzee has been in a difficult position regarding his literary identity. He is both criticized and praised by many people about his writings. In this article, I will be investigating how he draws both praise and criticism in the way he constructs white male identity. It is possible that many of these critics do not agree with the writer’s construction of both African and white identities. Coetzee was required to betray his ancestors and oppose the white male dominance. I will determine whether he chose either of them. It is a known fact that none of Coetzee novels were banned by the Apartheid regime. The most probable reason that is often cited by many of his critics is that he was politically correct. An investigation of his representation of white hegemony might put to rest this criticism. Furthermore, it is important to understand his stand against white supremacy at a time many of his colleagues from the civil rights movement were writing about equality and human rights. I will investigate how the characters of his novels feel influenced by those who exercise power in the society. Most importantly, I will examine how masculine identities in the novels fit in the wider society and how they respond to changing power structures because they influence their behavior. My objective is to investigate whether Coetzee ascribed to the patriarchal Boer societal values that marginalized both women and servants into silence. Since masculine discourse is recurring in his other works, it is both an ideological and political discourse representing oppression and colonialism

Land use and deforestation modelling of river catchments in Klang Valley Malaysia.

This paper presents analyses of the land use and land cover change of the Langat-Dengkil sub-catchment and the deforestation of the Klang-Langat catchment in the context of water resource availability. The Langat-Dengkil sub-catchment lies within the upper catchment of Klang-Langat. For both catchments, the landsat TM and ETM satellite imageries, ERDAS Imagine 8.4 and ArcView/Arc GIS softwares were used to detect spatial and temporal changes in land use and deforestation between the year 1990 and 2001. For Klang-Langat deforestation, CLUE model was used to forecast change up to year 2020 using two set scenarios. Langat-Dengkil sub-catchments experienced multiple changes of land use and land cover at varying quantum for the years 1990 and 2001. It was found that forest land and agriculture were reduced by 9.5% (4,303 ha) and 17.3% (11,598 ha), respectively. During the same period (1990 to 2001), urbanised land has increased by nearly six folds (18,860 ha). Land use change matrix has indicated that the increase of urbanised area was at the expense of agriculture and forest land. For Klang-Langat catchment, the deforestation for 1989 – 1999 were also serious. About 36,351 ha were deforested including 12,244 ha of Permanent Forest Reserve. Deforestation prone areas are located within 1000 m from major access, 2000 m from town, confined to altitude less than 100 m and within slope of less than 5o. Projection for year 2020 has predicted that if the Permanent Forest Reserve is strictly protected, deforestation will be reduced to 22,340 ha or 22%. Otherwise, it will be heavily deforested at 50,851 ha or 50%. Both results showed that the accelerated land use change and deforestation can only be mitigated through stringent management of land conversion, and as for the forest, it has to be through the total protection by law. This can be achieved by strengthening the Permanent Forest Reserve law and the commitment in adopting sustainable resource policy

The Impact of Hegemony and Apartheid against African American Women: A Critical Study of Alice Walker

Through this part the researcher introduces a sufficient analysis of Walker’s selected novels to reflect the ill-treatment against black women in American society from 1970 to 1982. The researcher will analyze Walker’s characters to offer a real justification of the racial oppression, cruelty, unkindness and misery that most of African American women have been faced on the hand of the whites American especially in the south. The researcher support and analyze this subject by trace the life of the main characters that suffer from ill-treatment and racial oppression. The researcher analyzes these texts with regard to black feminist critical theory, to discuss the main themes by tracing group of  heroines who live, represent and portray these topics through a contemporary black American author Alice Walker in her selected novels, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian , The Color Purple . Referring to the main themes in the statement of the problem and first research questions the researcher achieve that all the characters of the novels are racially oppressed

Impact of Technological Advancements on Environmental Degradation: Evidence from ASEAN

This research investigates the long-run and short-run effects of technological advancements on environmental degradation in ASEAN countries. The research was conducted using Pooled Mean Group (PMG) panel data estimation methodologies, and the data set used in this study includes annual data from 2000 to 2019. Results revealed that the development of technology reduces the environmental degradation of ASEAN countries. Improvements in technology and more money for research and development through domestic savings lead to increased environmental quality in the long run. Therefore, this study concludes that policymakers should increase the investment in technological innovations to reduce environmental degradation. Keywords: Economic Growth; Environmental Degradation; Technological Advancements; Pooled Mean Group eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.367

Flood Risk Trend by using PCA and SPC Analysis at Muda River, Kedah

A flood study is a continual concern in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) studies in Yan Kedah, Malaysia. This study analyzed the flood risk pattern for a flood warning system and justified the variables that contribute to flooding by the natural occurrence or human activities. Accordingly. that specifically aimed at reducing floods and impacts on SDGs. Three (3) hydrological parameters, which are Rainfall (RL), Water Level (WL) and Stream Flow (SF) from 2019 to 2021, are used to analyzed using the correlation test, Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Statistical Process Control (SPC). The Global Forest Watch (GFW) data on primary forest loss areas is used to compare with Rainfall data for the validation of rainfall data. The goal of this study is for the early flood warning system, where the PCA and SPC are used to identify the key data variables that trigger flooding, to predict hydrological modelling, and to assess flood risk in the Muda River basin. Pearson's Correlation test shows SF and WL have a substantial (>0.7) and significant correlation (p-value 0.0001). Varimax rotation in a PCA test to evaluate the primary contributors to WL changes revealed SF's strong factor pattern (0.975). The PCA indicated that all the hydrology variables mentioned are important based on the factor loadings shown. The SPC can visualize the flood patterns and displays ideal flood control rates for the Muda River basin. The discharge value that exceeds the UCL increases the flood risk, and most trends peaked shown in 2021. Rapid development expansion and anthropogenic activities have led to the distribution of heavy rainfalls, which caused WL and SF to rise above normal. Since RF, WL and SF have positive factor loadings, the monsoon season has contributed to floods. This study showed that the Muda River Basin flood risk model is accurate and adaptable. This study aimed to develop a method of analysis to confirm the estimation of future flooding events and flood hazard mitigation plan

Effect of Renewable Energy Consumption on Environmental Degradation in ASEAN Countries

This study focused on estimating the long-run and short-run relationship of dross domestic savings, development of the industrial sector, and renewable energy consumption towards the environmental degradation in Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries. We conducted the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimation techniques developed by Pesaran et al.(1999). The results highlighted that all the variables present significant environmental degradation while using renewable energy has abolished environmental pollution in ASEAN countries. Therefore, policymakers must take action to design sustainable economic development mechanisms and convert industrial investments to environmentally friendly projects to improve green technology