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Fulltext Culture of the traditional Malays: Usage of sustainable furniture in internal spaces of traditional Malay houses

Nabilah Zainal Abidin, Fawazul Khair Ibrahim, Raja Nafida Raja Shahminan

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(105):73-80.
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This paper describes the culture of Traditional Malays, in particular the use of sustainable furniture inside a Traditional Malay House (TMH). The sample houses for this study were retrieved from archived reports, from the Centre for Built Environment in the Malay World (KALAM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Data collected were analysed using Componential Analysis for the presence of components (based on drawings of archival reports as well as photographic evidence from site visits). The findings showed that the Malays used a variety ofsustainable furniture in their houses. Additionally, their homes had built-in furniture, which indicated the houses were pre-designed based on its user.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design
Fulltext An M/M/c/K State-Dependent Model for Pedestrian Flow Control and Design of Facilities

Rahman K, Abdul Ghani N, Kamil AA, Mustafa A, Chowdhury MA

PLoS One, 2015;10(7):e0133229.
PMID: 26196124 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133229

Pedestrian overflow causes queuing delay and in turn, is controlled by the capacity of a facility. Flow control or blocking control takes action to avoid queues from building up to extreme values. Thus, in this paper, the problem of pedestrian flow control in open outdoor walking facilities in equilibrium condition is investigated using M/M/c/K queuing models. State dependent service rate based on speed and density relationship is utilized. The effective rate of the Poisson arrival process to the facility is determined so as there is no overflow of pedestrians. In addition, the use of the state dependent queuing models to the design of the facilities and the effect of pedestrian personal capacity on the design and the traffic congestion are discussed. The study does not validate the sustainability of adaptation of Western design codes for the pedestrian facilities in the countries like Bangladesh.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design*
Fulltext Individually-tailored multifactorial intervention to reduce falls in the Malaysian Falls Assessment and Intervention Trial (MyFAIT): A randomized controlled trial

Tan PJ, Khoo EM, Chinna K, Saedon NI, Zakaria MI, Ahmad Zahedi AZ, et al.

PLoS One, 2018;13(8):e0199219.
PMID: 30074996 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199219

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of an individually-tailored multifactorial intervention in reducing falls among at risk older adult fallers in a multi-ethnic, middle-income nation in South-East Asia.

DESIGN: Pragmatic, randomized-controlled trial.

SETTING: Emergency room, medical outpatient and primary care clinic in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 65 years and above with two or more falls or one injurious fall in the past 12 months.

INTERVENTION: Individually-tailored interventions, included a modified Otago exercise programme, HOMEFAST home hazards modification, visual intervention, cardiovascular intervention, medication review and falls education, was compared against a control group involving conventional treatment.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was any fall recurrence at 12-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were rate of fall and time to first fall.

RESULTS: Two hundred and sixty-eight participants (mean age 75.3 ±7.2 SD years, 67% women) were randomized to multifactorial intervention (n = 134) or convention treatment (n = 134). All participants in the intervention group received medication review and falls education, 92 (68%) were prescribed Otago exercises, 86 (64%) visual intervention, 64 (47%) home hazards modification and 51 (38%) cardiovascular intervention. Fall recurrence did not differ between intervention and control groups at 12-months [Risk Ratio, RR = 1.037 (95% CI 0.613-1.753)]. Rate of fall [RR = 1.155 (95% CI 0.846-1.576], time to first fall [Hazard Ratio, HR = 0.948 (95% CI 0.782-1.522)] and mortality rate [RR = 0.896 (95% CI 0.335-2.400)] did not differ between groups.

CONCLUSION: Individually-tailored multifactorial intervention was ineffective as a strategy to reduce falls. Future research efforts are now required to develop culturally-appropriate and affordable methods of addressing this increasingly prominent public health issue in middle-income nations.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN Registry no. ISRCTN11674947.

Study site: emergency department, medical outpatients and primary care clinic at a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design/standards
Falls amongst older people in Southeast Asia: a scoping review

Romli MH, Tan MP, Mackenzie L, Lovarini M, Suttanon P, Clemson L

Public Health, 2017 Apr;145:96-112.
PMID: 28359399 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2016.12.035

OBJECTIVES: The older population in the Southeast Asian region is accelerating and is expected to surpass the proportion of the ageing population in North America and Europe in the future. This study aims to identify the research literature related to falls among older people in Southeast Asia, to examine current practice and discuss the future direction on falls prevention and interventions in the region.
STUDY DESIGN: A scoping review design was used.
METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted using the Medline, CINAHL, AMED, Ageline, PsycINFO, Web of Sciences, Scopus, Thai-Journal Citation Index, MyCite and trial registries databases.
RESULTS: Thirty-seven studies and six study protocols were included, from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. One-sixth of the studies involved interventions, while the remainder were observational studies. The observational studies mainly determined the falls risk factors. The intervention studies comprised multifactorial interventions and single interventions such as exercises, educational materials and visual correction. Many of the studies replicated international studies and may not have taken into account features unique to Southeast Asia.
CONCLUSION: Our review has revealed studies evaluating falls and management of falls in the Southeast Asian context. More research is required from all Southeast Asian countries to prepare for the future challenges of managing falls as the population ages.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design
Planning Accessibility Strategies and Connectivity for Malaysian Urban Built Environment

Abd Samad NA, Said I, Abdul Rahim A

Stud Health Technol Inform, 2018;256:367-377.
PMID: 30371497

Access to our buildings relies to the accessibility of its external environment and the route taken. Developments and planning in urban areas has many several requirements and restrictions. Planning accessibility for Malaysian built environment is achievable by designing in compliance to the requirements enforced by authorities. Accessible design is commonly associated with providing facilities for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the issue that is often brought up is the inaccessibility of the external environment and lacking of seamless connectivity between buildings and the outdoor. The intention is to formulate accessibility strategies and work out planning process on how accessibility can be achieved. Universal Design will be the basis for the design and planning concept to accommodate all users to enjoy our urban built environment. It is notable that developed countries advances more in terms of implementing and enforcing accessibility measures via legislative and regulatory documents, government strategies and initiatives within its planning approach than the developing nations. The methodology will be looking into the establishment of strategies and measures of international and local planning policy, local and action plans of City of London as selected Local Authority to be analyzed its inclusive policy has been successfully implemented in their jurisdiction. The findings, discussions and result will be an outcome of generating a framework of accessibility strategies that is derived from interviews and government documents accordingly to targeted Malaysian urban areas focusing the City of Petaling Jaya and Putrajaya and how it can be improvised. Therefore, an interpretation of adopting accessibility planning strategies of developed country, to be adapted locally according to Malaysian legislation, culture and lifestyles.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design*
Motivations and built environment factors associated with campus walkability in the tropical settings

Ramakreshnan L, Fong CS, Sulaiman NM, Aghamohammadi N

Sci Total Environ, 2020 Dec 20;749:141457.
PMID: 33370890 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141457

Recognizing and mainstreaming pertinent walkability elements into the university campus planning is crucial to materialise green mandates of the campus, while enhancing social and economic sustainability. In one of such attempts, this transverse study investigated the walking motivations, built environment factors associated with campus walkability and the relative importance of the studied built environment factors in reference to the sociodemographic attributes from the viewpoint of the campus community in a tropical university campus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. An online survey using a structured questionnaire was conducted between May and September 2019. The built environment factors associated with campus walkability were expressed and ranked as adjusted scores (AS). Meanwhile, multivariable logistic regression was deployed to examine the relative importance of the studied built environment factors in reference to the sociodemographic attributes of the campus community. Among 504 total responses acquired, proximity between complementary land uses (90.7%) was reported as the main motivation for walking. On the other hand, street connectivity and accessibility (AS: 97.62%) was described as the most opted built environment factor, followed by land use (AS: 96.76%), pedestrian infrastructure (AS: 94.25%), walking experience (AS: 87.07%), traffic safety (AS: 85.28%) and campus neighbourhood (AS: 59.62%), respectively. Among the sociodemographic attributes, no regular monthly income (OR = 3.162; 95% CI = 1.165-8.379; p

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design
Fulltext Developing a web-based advisory expert system for implementing traffic calming strategies

Falamarzi A, Borhan MN, Rahmat RA

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:757981.
PMID: 25276861 DOI: 10.1155/2014/757981

Lack of traffic safety has become a serious issue in residential areas. In this paper, a web-based advisory expert system for the purpose of applying traffic calming strategies on residential streets is described because there currently lacks a structured framework for the implementation of such strategies. Developing an expert system can assist and advise engineers for dealing with traffic safety problems. This expert system is developed to fill the gap between the traffic safety experts and people who seek to employ traffic calming strategies including decision makers, engineers, and students. In order to build the expert system, examining sources related to traffic calming studies as well as interviewing with domain experts have been carried out. The system includes above 150 rules and 200 images for different types of measures. The system has three main functions including classifying traffic calming measures, prioritizing traffic calming strategies, and presenting solutions for different traffic safety problems. Verifying, validating processes, and comparing the system with similar works have shown that the system is consistent and acceptable for practical uses. Finally, some recommendations for improving the system are presented.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design
A bicycle safety index for evaluating urban street facilities

Asadi-Shekari Z, Moeinaddini M, Zaly Shah M

Traffic Inj Prev, 2015;16:283-8.
PMID: 24983474 DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2014.936010

The objectives of this research are to conceptualize the Bicycle Safety Index (BSI) that considers all parts of the street and to propose a universal guideline with microscale details.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design/standards*
A comparative study of count models: application to pedestrian-vehicle crashes along Malaysia federal roads

Hosseinpour M, Pour MH, Prasetijo J, Yahaya AS, Ghadiri SM

Traffic Inj Prev, 2013;14(6):630-8.
PMID: 23859313 DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2012.736649

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of various roadway characteristics on the incidence of pedestrian-vehicle crashes by developing a set of crash prediction models on 543 km of Malaysia federal roads over a 4-year time span between 2007 and 2010.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design/statistics & numerical data*