Displaying publications 61 - 80 of 532 in total

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  1. The 'human revolution' in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo)
    Barker G, Barton H, Bird M, Daly P, Datan I, Dykes A, et al.
    J Hum Evol, 2007 Mar;52(3):243-61.
    PMID: 17161859
    Recent research in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia suggests that we can no longer assume a direct and exclusive link between anatomically modern humans and behavioral modernity (the 'human revolution'), and assume that the presence of either one implies the presence of the other: discussions of the emergence of cultural complexity have to proceed with greater scrutiny of the evidence on a site-by-site basis to establish secure associations between the archaeology present there and the hominins who created it. This paper presents one such case study: Niah Cave in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, famous for the discovery in 1958 in the West Mouth of the Great Cave of a modern human skull, the 'Deep Skull,' controversially associated with radiocarbon dates of ca. 40,000 years before the present. A new chronostratigraphy has been developed through a re-investigation of the lithostratigraphy left by the earlier excavations, AMS-dating using three different comparative pre-treatments including ABOX of charcoal, and U-series using the Diffusion-Absorption model applied to fragments of bones from the Deep Skull itself. Stratigraphic reasons for earlier uncertainties about the antiquity of the skull are examined, and it is shown not to be an 'intrusive' artifact. It was probably excavated from fluvial-pond-desiccation deposits that accumulated episodically in a shallow basin immediately behind the cave entrance lip, in a climate that ranged from times of comparative aridity with complete desiccation, to episodes of greater surface wetness, changes attributed to regional climatic fluctuations. Vegetation outside the cave varied significantly over time, including wet lowland forest, montane forest, savannah, and grassland. The new dates and the lithostratigraphy relate the Deep Skull to evidence of episodes of human activity that range in date from ca. 46,000 to ca. 34,000 years ago. Initial investigations of sediment scorching, pollen, palynomorphs, phytoliths, plant macrofossils, and starch grains recovered from existing exposures, and of vertebrates from the current and the earlier excavations, suggest that human foraging during these times was marked by habitat-tailored hunting technologies, the collection and processing of toxic plants for consumption, and, perhaps, the use of fire at some forest-edges. The Niah evidence demonstrates the sophisticated nature of the subsistence behavior developed by modern humans to exploit the tropical environments that they encountered in Southeast Asia, including rainforest.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  2. Space, repetition and collective interlocution: Psychiatric interviews in a Borneo longhouse
    Barrett RJ
    Commun Med, 2004;1(1):25-34.
    PMID: 16808686
    An analysis is presented of psychiatric research interviews conducted among the Iban, a longhouse dwelling people of Sarawak, Malaysia. It draws on transcripts of interviews recorded in the course of carrying out research into schizophrenia in this group. The article examines three different interview spaces within the longhouse--public, family, and private--in order to explore the interplay between ethnographic context and interview conversation. The public setting is notable for the number of relatives who join in and transform the communication from dyadic to collective interlocution; the role of repetition in recruiting them into the conversation is explored. Indirect contrast is the private space, which allows for a level of confidentiality commensurate with Western psychiatric research practice. Intermediate between the two is the family space. The communicative forms that correspond to these settings influence the way symptoms of schizophrenia are experienced and expressed in the Iban. Implications for the practice of psychiatry cross-culturally are examined.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment*
  3. Green is clean: the role of ICT in resource management
    Batool R, Sharif A, Islam T, Zaman K, Shoukry AM, Sharkawy MA, et al.
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2019 Aug;26(24):25341-25358.
    PMID: 31256396 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-05748-0
    It is well documented that carbon emissions can be reduced by replacing conventional energy resources with renewable energy resources; thereby, the role of green technology is essential as it protect natural environment. Given that, the United Nations' agenda of "green is clean" may be achievable by adoption of green technologies. The objective of the study is to examine the link between information and communication technology (ICT), economic growth, energy consumption, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the context of South Korean economy, by using a novel Morlet wavelet approach. The study applies continuous wavelet power spectrum, the wavelet coherency, and the partial and the multiple wavelet coherency to the year during 1973-2016. The outcomes reveal that the connections among the stated variables progress over frequency and time domain. From the frequency domain point of view, the current study discovers noteworthy wavelet coherence and robust lead and lag linkages. From the time-domain sight, the results display robust but not consistent associations among the considered variables. From an economic point sight, the wavelet method displays that ICT helps to reduce environmental degradation in a medium and long run in the South Korean economy. This emphasizes the significance of having organized strategies by the policymakers to cope up with 2 to 3 years of the occurrence of the huge environmental degradation in South Korea.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  4. The distribution and ecology of Bakerocoptes cynopteri (Sarcoptiformes: Bakerocoptidae) in Malaysia
    Beck AJ
    Acta Trop, 1969;26(3):270-4.
    PMID: 4391240
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  5. Restocking and stock enhancement of marine invertebrate fisheries
    Bell JD, Munro JL, Nash WJ, Rothlisberg PC, Loneragan NR, Ward RD, et al.
    Adv. Mar. Biol., 2005;49:xi-374.
    PMID: 16503428
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  6. Body image and personality among British men: associations between the Big Five personality domains, drive for muscularity, and body appreciation
    Benford K, Swami V
    Body Image, 2014 Sep;11(4):454-7.
    PMID: 25113287 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.07.004
    The present study examined associations between the Big Five personality domains and measures of men's body image. A total of 509 men from the community in London, UK, completed measures of drive for muscularity, body appreciation, the Big Five domains, and subjective social status, and provided their demographic details. The results of a hierarchical regression showed that, once the effects of participant body mass index (BMI) and subjective social status had been accounted for, men's drive for muscularity was significantly predicted by Neuroticism (β=.29). In addition, taking into account the effects of BMI and subjective social status, men's body appreciation was significantly predicted by Neuroticism (β=-.35) and Extraversion (β=.12). These findings highlight potential avenues for the development of intervention approaches based on the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and body image.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment
  7. The experiences of suffering of palliative care patients in Malaysia: a thematic analysis
    Beng TS, Guan NC, Seang LK, Pathmawathi S, Ming MF, Jane LE, et al.
    Am J Hosp Palliat Care, 2014 Feb;31(1):45-56.
    PMID: 22956340 DOI: 10.1177/1049909112458721
    A qualitative study was conducted with semi-structured interviews to explore the experiences of suffering in 20 adult palliative care inpatients of University Malaya Medical Centre. The results were thematically analyzed. Ten basic themes were generated (1) loss and change → differential suffering, (2) care dependence → dependent suffering, (3) family stress → empathic suffering, (4) disease and dying → terminal suffering, (5) health care staff encounters → interactional suffering, (6) hospital environment → environmental suffering, (7) physical symptoms → sensory suffering, (8) emotional reactions → emotional suffering, (9) cognitive reactions → cognitive suffering, and (10) spiritual reactions → spiritual suffering. An existential-experiential model of suffering was conceptualized from the analysis. This model may inform the development of interventions in the prevention and management of suffering.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  8. Environmental correlates of ranging behaviour in the banded langur, Presbytis melalophos
    Bennett EL
    Folia Primatol., 1986;47(1):26-38.
    PMID: 3557228
    Data are presented from a long-term study of banded langurs in three contrasting rain forest habitats in Peninsular Malaysia. Results from different sites and months are used to correlate ranging patterns with food availability and other environmental variables. Day range lengths are correlated with availability of preferred foods; the degree of territoriality is related to the distribution and size of food sources and length of time for which any one of these produces favoured food items.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  9. Fulltext GIS modeling for selection of a transfer station site for residential solid waste separation and recycling
    Billa, L., Pradhan, B.
    Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2013;21(2):487-498.
    MyJurnal
    In this study a GIS model was developed and spatial analytical techniques performed to identify and select a suitable location for a waste transfer station in the sprawling suburban town of Petaling Jaya. The lack of a transfer station in urban centres of Malaysia has caused many problems and affects the efficiency of waste collection and disposal. With diminishing space for landfills and the increasing cost of solid waste management, the need for urban solid-waste recycling has become very important. However, finding a place for waste to be efficiently sorted before unwanted waste can be carried to disposal landfills has social and physical constraints. This study applies GIS techniques and analysis for site selection and identifies an acceptable area. In the model, environmental, physical and social constraints were taken into account, resulting in the selection of a potential area that is acceptable to the residents of the area because it is out of range of causing public nuisance and within minimum travelling distance for collection vehicles. The results show that the potential location for the transfer station should be in proximity of the industrial area of Petaling Jaya, allowing for the possible sale of recyclable materials to local industries. The location is also sited near a major highway to allow quick transportation of the rest of the unwanted waste to the landfill.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  10. Watson, Swellengrebel and species sanitation: environmental and ecological aspects
    Bradley DJ
    Parassitologia, 1994 Aug;36(1-2):137-47.
    PMID: 7898951
    Following the discovery of mosquito transmission of malaria, the theory and practice of malaria control by general and selective removal of specific vector populations resulted particularly from Malcolm Watson's empirical work in peninsular Malaysia, first in the urban and peri-urban areas of Klang and Port Swettenham and subsequently in the rural rubber plantations, and from the work of N.H. Swellengrebel in nearby Indonesia on the taxonomy, ecology and control of anophelines. They developed the concept of species sanitation: the selective modification of the environment to render a particular anopheline of no importance as a vector in a particular situation. The lack of progress along these lines in India at that time is contrasted with that in south-east Asia. The extension of species sanitation and related concepts to other geographical areas and to other vector-borne disease situations is outlined.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  11. Fulltext Evaluating the relative environmental impact of countries
    Bradshaw CJ, Giam X, Sodhi NS
    PLoS One, 2010;5(5):e10440.
    PMID: 20454670 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010440
    Environmental protection is critical to maintain ecosystem services essential for human well-being. It is important to be able to rank countries by their environmental impact so that poor performers as well as policy 'models' can be identified. We provide novel metrics of country-specific environmental impact ranks - one proportional to total resource availability per country and an absolute (total) measure of impact - that explicitly avoid incorporating confounding human health or economic indicators. Our rankings are based on natural forest loss, habitat conversion, marine captures, fertilizer use, water pollution, carbon emissions and species threat, although many other variables were excluded due to a lack of country-specific data. Of 228 countries considered, 179 (proportional) and 171 (absolute) had sufficient data for correlations. The proportional index ranked Singapore, Korea, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Philippines and Netherlands as having the highest proportional environmental impact, whereas Brazil, USA, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, India, Russia, Australia and Peru had the highest absolute impact (i.e., total resource use, emissions and species threatened). Proportional and absolute environmental impact ranks were correlated, with mainly Asian countries having both high proportional and absolute impact. Despite weak concordance among the drivers of environmental impact, countries often perform poorly for different reasons. We found no evidence to support the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis of a non-linear relationship between impact and per capita wealth, although there was a weak reduction in environmental impact as per capita wealth increases. Using structural equation models to account for cross-correlation, we found that increasing wealth was the most important driver of environmental impact. Our results show that the global community not only has to encourage better environmental performance in less-developed countries, especially those in Asia, there is also a requirement to focus on the development of environmentally friendly practices in wealthier countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  12. Green dots, pink hearts: displacing politics from the Malaysian rain forest
    Brosius JP
    Am Anthropol, 1999;101(1):36-57.
    PMID: 19280759
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  13. Suicidal ideation in systemic lupus erythematosus: NR2A gene polymorphism, clinical and psychosocial factors
    Buji RI, Abdul Murad NA, Chan LF, Maniam T, Mohd Shahrir MS, Rozita M, et al.
    Lupus, 2018 Apr;27(5):744-752.
    PMID: 29161964 DOI: 10.1177/0961203317742711
    Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are a high-risk population for suicide. Glutamatergic neurosystem genes have been implicated in the neurobiology of depression in SLE and suicidal behaviour in general. However, the role of glutamate receptor gene polymorphisms in suicidal behaviour among SLE patients remains unclear in the context of established clinical and psychosocial factors. We aimed to investigate the association of NR2A gene polymorphism with suicidal ideation in SLE while accounting for the interaction between clinical and psychosocial factors. Methods A total of 130 SLE patients were assessed for mood disorders (MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview), severity of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), suicidal behaviour (Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale), socio-occupational functioning (Work and Social Adjustment Scale), recent life events (Social Readjustment Rating Scale) and lupus disease activity (SELENA-SLE Disease Activity Index). Eighty-six out of the 130 study participants consented for NR2A genotyping. Results Multivariable logistic regression showed nominal significance for the interaction effect between the NR2A rs2072450 AC genotype and higher severity of socio-occupational impairment with lifetime suicidal ideation in SLE patients ( p = 0.038, odds ratio = 1.364, 95% confidence interval = 1.018-1.827). However, only the association between lifetime mood disorder and lifetime suicidal ideation remained significant after Bonferroni correction ( p 
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene-Environment Interaction
  14. Case study: beverage temperature at aid stations in ironman triathlon
    Burdon CA, Johnson NA, Chapman PG, Munir Che Muhamed A, O'Connor HT
    Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 2013 Aug;23(4):418-24.
    PMID: 23295183
    The aim of this study was to measure the effect of environmental conditions and aid-station beverage- cooling practices on the temperature of competitor beverages.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  15. Fulltext Environmental and spatial risk factors for the larval habitats of Plasmodium knowlesi vectors in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo
    Byrne I, Aure W, Manin BO, Vythilingam I, Ferguson HM, Drakeley CJ, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2021 Jun 03;11(1):11810.
    PMID: 34083582 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-90893-1
    Land-use changes, such as deforestation and agriculture, can influence mosquito vector populations and malaria transmission. These land-use changes have been linked to increased incidence in human cases of the zoonotic malaria Plasmodium knowlesi in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This study investigates whether these associations are partially driven by fine-scale land-use changes creating more favourable aquatic breeding habitats for P. knowlesi anopheline vectors. Using aerial remote sensing data, we developed a sampling frame representative of all land use types within a major focus of P. knowlesi transmission. From 2015 to 2016 monthly longitudinal surveys of larval habitats were collected in randomly selected areas stratified by land use type. Additional remote sensing data on environmental variables, land cover and landscape configuration were assembled for the study site. Risk factor analyses were performed over multiple spatial scales to determine associations between environmental and spatial variables and anopheline larval presence. Habitat fragmentation (300 m), aspect (350 m), distance to rubber plantations (100 m) and Culex larval presence were identified as risk factors for Anopheles breeding. Additionally, models were fit to determine the presence of potential larval habitats within the areas surveyed and used to generate a time-series of monthly predictive maps. These results indicate that land-use change and topography influence the suitability of larval habitats, and may partially explain the link between P. knowlesi incidence and deforestation. The predictive maps, and identification of the spatial scales at which risk factors are most influential may aid spatio-temporally targeted vector control interventions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  16. Fulltext Systems perspectives in agricultural education, research and development: A vision for sustaining food security in Asia
    C. Devendra
    ASM Science Journal, 2013;7(2):152-165.
    MyJurnal
    Systems perspectives are fundamental in driving technological improvements and yield-enhancing strategies that improve agricultural productivity. These can resolve farmerʼs problems and are important pathways for sustaining food and nutritional security for human welfare in Asia. The essential determinants of this objective are the capacity to efficiently manage the natural resource base (land, crops, animals, and water) to resolve constraints to farming systems, and notably the integration of multiple research and development (R&D) issues through all levels of formal and non-formal learning systems. Both formal and informal education systems are important, with the former relating more to universities and colleges, and the latter to the intermediate level. Graduates from this level have the primary responsibility of introducing improved technologies and change to farmers, mainly along production and disciplinary pathways.The traditional research–extension–farmer model for technology delivery is no longer acceptable, due to “top down” extension functions and prescriptions, ineffectiveness to cope with the dynamics of production systems, complex interactions within the natural resources, effects of climate change and globalisation. There are also reservations on the technical capacity and skills of extension agents, constraints identification, methods for technology diffusion and dissemination, and innovative use of beneficial technological improvements that can directly respond to the needs of small farmers, and impact on subsistence agriculture. Agricultural education and systems perspectives are therefore an overriding compelling necessity which transcends prevailing limitations to waning agriculture and rural growth. Their wider recognition and applications provides an important means to maximise efficiency in the potential use; of the natural resources, increase engagement and investments in agriculture, promote ways to become more self-reliant in the development of crucial new technologies and intensification. These together can meet the challenges of the future and overcome the legacy of continuing poverty, food and nutritional insecurity. Asian farming systems, with their diversity of crops and animals, traditional methods, multiple crop-animal interactions, numerous problems of farmers present increasingly complex issues of natural resource management (NRM) and the environment. Many if not all of these can only be resolved by interdisciplinary R&D, which overcomes a major weakness of many R&D programmes presently and in the past. Improved education and training is a powerful and important driver of community-based participation aimed at enhancing sustainable food security, poverty reduction and social equity in which the empowerment of women in activities that support organising themselves is also an important pathway to enhance self-reliance and their contribution to agriculture. A vision for the future in which improved agricultural education in a systems context can provide the pathway to directly benefit the revitalisation of agriculture and agricultural development is proposed with a three-pronged strategy as follows:
    Define policy for the development of appropriate curricular for formal agricultural education that provides strong multi-disciplinary orientation and improved understanding of the natural resources (land, crops, animals and water) and their interactions
    Organise formal degree education and specialisation at the university level that reflects strong training in understanding of agricultural systems; systems perspectives, methodologies and their application, and
    Define non-formal education and training needs that can be intensified at different levels, including the trainin of trainers as agents of change.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  17. Fulltext International Physical Activity and Built Environment Study of adolescents: IPEN Adolescent design, protocol and measures
    Cain KL, Salmon J, Conway TL, Cerin E, Hinckson E, Mitáš J, et al.
    BMJ Open, 2021 01 18;11(1):e046636.
    PMID: 33462102 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046636
    INTRODUCTION: Only international studies can provide the full variability of built environments and accurately estimate effect sizes of relations between contrasting environments and health-related outcomes. The aims of the International Physical Activity and Environment Study of Adolescents (IPEN Adolescent) are to estimate the strength, shape and generalisability of associations of the community environment (geographic information systems (GIS)-based and self-reported) with physical activity and sedentary behaviour (accelerometer-measured and self-reported) and weight status (normal/overweight/obese).

    METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The IPEN Adolescent observational, cross-sectional, multicountry study involves recruiting adolescent participants (ages 11-19 years) and one parent/guardian from neighbourhoods selected to ensure wide variations in walkability and socioeconomic status using common protocols and measures. Fifteen geographically, economically and culturally diverse countries, from six continents, participated: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hong Kong SAR, India, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain and USA. Countries provided survey and accelerometer data (15 countries), GIS data (11), global positioning system data (10), and pedestrian environment audit data (8). A sample of n=6950 (52.6% female; mean age=14.5, SD=1.7) adolescents provided survey data, n=4852 had 4 or more 8+ hours valid days of accelerometer data, and n=5473 had GIS measures. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour were measured by waist-worn ActiGraph accelerometers and self-reports, and body mass index was used to categorise weight status.

    ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was received from each study site's Institutional Review Board for their in-country studies. Informed assent by adolescents and consent by parents was obtained for all participants. No personally identifiable information was transferred to the IPEN coordinating centre for pooled datasets. Results will be communicated through standard scientific channels and findings used to advance the science of environmental correlates of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and weight status, with the ultimate goal to stimulate and guide actions to create more activity-supportive environments internationally.

    Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design
  18. Habitat quality and populations of two sympatric gibbons (Hylobatidae) on a mountain in Malaya
    Caldecott JO
    Folia Primatol., 1980;33(4):291-309.
    PMID: 7419138
    Sympatric gibbon species Hylobates lar and H. syndactylus were censused on a mountain in Malaya (West Malaysia). Habitat quality was assessed between 380- and 1,525-m altitudes. H. syndactylus was found to occur up to altitudes higher than does H. lar, and this is discussed with reference to the two species' divergent foraging strategies indicated by previous research. It is suggested that gibbons are restricted in their altitudinal range by an increasingly unfavourable ratio of food consumed to energy expended in its location, caused by a reduced food-source density and more difficult terrain at higher elevations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  19. Comparative population structure of Cynopterus fruit bats in peninsular Malaysia and southern Thailand
    Campbell P, Schneider CJ, Adnan AM, Zubaid A, Kunz TH
    Mol Ecol, 2006 Jan;15(1):29-47.
    PMID: 16367828
    The extent to which response to environmental change is mediated by species-specific ecology is an important aspect of the population histories of tropical taxa. During the Pleistocene glacial cycles and associated sea level fluctuations, the Sunda region in Southeast Asia experienced concurrent changes in landmass area and the ratio of forest to open habitat, providing an ideal setting to test the expectation that habitat associations played an important role in determining species' response to the opportunity for geographic expansion. We used mitochondrial control region sequences and six microsatellite loci to compare the phylogeographic structure and demographic histories of four broadly sympatric species of Old World fruit bats in the genus, Cynopterus. Two forest-associated species and two open-habitat generalists were sampled along a latitudinal transect in Singapore, peninsular Malaysia, and southern Thailand. Contrary to expectations based on habitat associations, the geographic scale of population structure was not concordant across ecologically similar species. We found evidence for long and relatively stable demographic history in one forest and one open-habitat species, and inferred non-coincident demographic expansions in the second forest and open-habitat species. Thus, while these results indicate that Pleistocene climate change did not have a single effect on population structure across species, a correlation between habitat association and response to environmental change was supported in only two of four species. We conclude that interactions between multiple factors, including historical and contemporary environmental change, species-specific ecology and interspecific interactions, have shaped the recent evolutionary histories of Cynopterus fruit bats in Southeast Asia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  20. Ethno-behaviorism and the culture-bound syndromes: the case of Amok
    Carr JE
    Cult Med Psychiatry, 1978 Sep;2(3):269-93.
    PMID: 710174
    The phenomenon of amok is reviewed in order to demonstrate the heuristic value of an ethno-behavioral model of culture-bound syndromes. The notion that culture-bound syndromes share underlying common disease forms is rejected. Instead, the ethno-behavioral model postulates that culture-bound syndromes consist of culturally specific behavioral repertoires legitimated by culturally sanctioned norms and concepts, but with both behavior and norms acquired in accordance with basic principles of human learning universal to all cultures. Consistent with this model, amok is shown to be a common behavioral pathway for multiple precipitants (which may or may not include disease pathology), but with a distinct form and conceptualization which can be traced to the social learning practices and beliefs of the Malay.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment
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