This study examines the sustainable transport policy framework in the case of railway development in Klang Valley, Malaysia. It is guided by the main principle that sustainable transport policy is a result of the integration of broad policy instruments that range from infrastructure provision and management, technological improvements, regulation, information, awareness, education, and pricing and taxation. Although this study is mainly qualitative, performance data available at the ASEAN Statistics Division, World Bank Open Data and Global Competitiveness Reports. This is followed by in-person interviews with experts who have vast knowledge, experience, and direct participation in sustainable railway development in Malaysia, especially those related to the Klang Valley development. The main findings have indicated that the current framework in Malaysia meets the criteria of sustainable development policy framework, which are essentially constituted within environmental protection. It also constitutes the pursuance of long-term growth in terms of economic and societal needs. Nonetheless, the rail-based transit system in Malaysia is highly driven by the Government and there is no clear sign indicating that the public is shifting from the road and private transport to rail-based services.
This paper analyzes the dynamic impact of economic, social, and governance factors on PM2.5 concentrations in 89 countries from 2006 to 2019. Using the GMM-PVAR approach and Impulse-Response Functions, we examine how shocks to specific variables affect PM2.5 concentrations over a 10-year period. Our findings reveal that the influence of these factors on PM2.5 levels varies over time. For example, a shock in urbanization has no effect on PM2.5 concentrations in the first year, but in the second year, pollution increases significantly. In the third period, PM2.5 levels decrease, but they rise again in the fourth period, albeit not significantly. By the fifth period, pollution decreases until a new equilibrium is reached in the sixth period. Additionally, a shock in financial development, government effectiveness, industrialization, trade openness, or GDP has no effect on PM2.5 concentrations in the initial period. However, during the second period, air pollution decreases, followed by an increase in the third period and a decrease again in the fourth period. These dynamic patterns highlight the need for environmental policies that consider the evaluation time horizon. Our analysis is supplemented by the Granger causality test, guiding specific policy recommendations based on our findings.
Since the inception of the twenty-first century, there has been a profound upsurge in economic policy uncertainty (EPU) with several economic and environmental impacts. Although there exists a growing body of literature that probes the economic effects of EPU, the EPU-energy nexus yet remains understudied. To fill this gap, the current study probes the impact of disaggregated EPU (i.e., monetary, fiscal, and trade policy uncertainty) on energy consumption (EC) in the USA covering the period 1990M1-2020M12. In particular, we use sectoral EC (i.e., energy consumed by the residential sector, the industrial sector, the transport sector, the electric power sector, and the commercial sector) in consort with total EC. The findings from the bootstrap ARDL approach document that monetary policy uncertainty (MP) plunges EC, whereas trade (TP) and fiscal policy uncertainty (FP) escalate EC in the long run. On the contrary, there is a heterogeneous impact of FP and MP across sectors in the short run, while TP does not affect EC. Keeping in view the findings, we propose policy recommendations to achieve numerous Sustainable Development Goals.
Rapid and marked socioeconomic advancements in Malaysia for the past two decades have brought about significant changes in the lifestyles of communities. These include significant changes in the dietary patterns of Malaysians, eg the increase in consumption of fats and oils and refined carbohydrates and a decreased intake of complex carbohydrates. This resulted in a decline in the proportion of energy from carbohydrates, while an increase in the percentage contribution of fat has been observed. Changes in meal patterns are also evident: more families eat out, busy executives skip meals, the younger generation miss breakfasts and rely too much on fast foods. Many Malaysians have the mistaken belief that the taking of vitamin and mineral supplements can make up for the lack of these nutrients in their daily diets. In addition, communities have become generally more sedentary. All these changes have brought about undesirable effects with significant proportions of the affluent segments of the population being afflicted with various non-communicable diseases associated with overnutrition, namely obesity, hypertension, coronary heart disease and cancers. Nutrition activities and programmes are now being directed to tackle this increasing trend, whilst still attempting to eliminate the undernutrition problems. The ultimate strategy towards achieving a healthy nation is the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including inculcating a culture of healthy eating. Comprehensive long term programmes, including a series of Healthy Lifestyle (HLS) Programmes have been carried out by the government. Launched in 1991 for six consecutive years, the first phase of the Programme comprised one thematic campaign each year, commencing with coronary heart disease and ending with diabetes mellitus. To further strengthen this long-term strategy, another series of activities to be carried out under the second phase of the HLS programme from 1997 to 2002 was launched within the framework of the National Plan of Action on Nutrition (NPAN) for Malaysia. The implementation of these programmes is, however, a challenge to health and nutrition workers. There is a need to examine the strategies for nutrition education to ensure more effective dissemination of information. The challenge is to determine how best to promote healthy eating within the present scenerio of rapid urbanisation, "western" dietary pattern influence, a whole barrage of convenience and "health" foods and nutrition misinformation. Malaysia continues to march ahead with its development plans to elevate the nation and its people to an even higher level of socio-economic status. The crucial question is: are we able to arrest the increase in these diet-related chronic diseases ? Or are we heading towards further deterioration in dietary pattern and increase in these diseases ? It will be a difficult and challenging journey ahead, requiring the concerted effort of all in the country. It is hoped that through this conference of sharing experiences with other Asian countries, a better understanding and improved strategies could be arrived at.
The Chinese central government established eight pilot zones in five provinces for green finance reform and innovations (GFRI) in 2017. The pilot zones promote green finance development and explore the propagable and reproducible experiences regarding mechanisms and institutions. Adopting a sample of China's listed companies from 2012 to 2021, this paper constructed a quasi-natural experiment and investigated the GFRI policy's effect on firms' total factor productivity (TFP) using the difference-in-differences (DID) method to verify the implementation effect of the GFRI policy. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis and mechanism analysis were conducted to identify the guidance effect and deep mechanisms of the GFRI policy. The empirical results demonstrated that firms' TFP in pilot zones increased substantially after implementing the GFRI pilot policy, confirming that the policy had a strong incentive effect. The corresponding promoting effect was particularly significant for non-state-owned companies, the eastern and central regions, and firms in the growth stage. Further mechanism analysis revealed that the GFRI pilot policy can stimulated firms' TFP by promoting technological innovation and improving resource allocation efficiency. This paper's empirical findings are essential in improving relevant policies and expanding the pilot zones.
Cities are complex adaptive systems whose responses to policy initiatives emerge from feedback interactions between their parts. Urban policy makers must routinely deal with both detail and dynamic complexity, coupled with high levels of diversity, uncertainty and contingency. In such circumstances, it is difficult to generate reliable predictions of health-policy outcomes. In this paper we explore the potential for low-order system dynamics (LOSD) models to make a contribution towards meeting this challenge. By definition, LOSD models have few state variables (≤5), illustrate the non-linear effects caused by feedback and accumulation, and focus on endogenous dynamics generated within well-defined boundaries. We suggest that experience with LOSD models can help practitioners to develop an understanding of basic principles of system dynamics, giving them the ability to 'see with new eyes'. Because efforts to build a set of LOSD models can help a transdisciplinary group to develop a shared, coherent view of the problems that they seek to tackle, such models can also become the foundations of 'powerful ideas'. Powerful ideas are conceptual metaphors that provide the members of a policy-making group with the a priori shared context required for effective communication, the co-production of knowledge, and the collaborative development of effective public health policies.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Policy*; Policy Making*
Over the last decade the number of negligence cases brought against doctors, dentists and other healthcare professional has increased significantly in many countries around the world. In addition, the proliferation of the pathways of accountability in many countries means that doctors are feeling undervalued and vulnerable and are therefore seeking assistance and protection more than ever. The effect of a claim or complaint on a doctor can be devastating both personally and professionally. The relationship with the patient is damaged and an increase in defensive practice ultimately causes an increase in healthcare costs. Patient expectations have increased. Patients are more knowledgeable than they were five years ago and the demands on the professions are increasing daily. Unfortunately because of the long delays that are seen between an incident and a claim it is very difficult to predict what reserves are required in the future. We have seen a number of organisations pull out of the business over the last year and it highlights the importance of having an understanding of the needs of the professions and the ability to track trends in litigation in order to set appropriate subscription rates. Doctors and other healthcare professionals require more than just financial protection. They need support from their colleagues and assistance from experienced lawyers in order to help restore their confidence and ensure that they can continue to practice for the benefit of their patients in the future.
What is COVID-19's impact on development? What lessons can be drawn from development studies regarding the effects of and recovery from COVID-19? The unprecedented scale and scope of government interventions carry implications at all levels: global, national, and local. In this introduction, our team of Editors underline the importance of systematic substantive study to further knowledge acquisition, and rigorous global-, national-, or context-specific evaluation to inform evidence-based policymaking. The 12 articles summarised here capture these values and sense of "high quality". In particular, despite early considerations in the first year of the pandemic, they illuminate the need for diverse responses beyond business-as-usual, attention to the multiplicity of impact of policies formulated, and progressive strategies to counteract the impacts of this disaster around the world. The path of future research is clear: studies need to consider and give voice to marginalised groups to counteract the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic.
Nutrition is a major determinant of health throughout all stages of life and together with smoking is the most important risk factor for morbidity and mortality in the Asia Pacific Region. The workshop participants examined Dietary Guidelines and Food Guides that are in use in our region, together with additional materials from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Cancer Research Foundation. The resulting set of guidelines is meant as a reminder of the main issues to be covered in a general public health education program. It may also be of value in reminding public health practitioners, educators, administrators, and policy makers of current nutrition issues. It may additionally be useful as a checklist of the issues to be considered in public health programs and regulations. The main areas of nutrition that are included in the Guidelines are eating a variety of foods, including vegetables, fruits, whole grain cereals, and nuts. Choose fish, poultry, and meats grown in a sustainable way. Appropriate growth, including avoiding obesity, and physical activity are important. Breastfeeding is the basis of infant nutrition and nutrition of mothers is an important public health measure. Negative factors in the Asian diet include salt, refined sugar, alcohol and fats. The APACPH Dietary Guidelines will need to be kept under review and modified to meet regional differences in food supply. The Guidelines will be useful as a checklist of the issues to be considered in public health programs, addressing both acute and chronic diseases.
Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a mathematical programming for evaluating the relative efficiency of decision making units (DMUs). The first DEA model (CCR model) assumed for exact data, later some authors introduced the applications of DEA which the data was imprecise. In imprecise data envelopment analysis (IDEA) the data can be ordinal, interval and fuzzy. Data envelopment analysis also can be used for the future programming of organizations and the response of the different policies, which is related to the target setting and resource allocation. The existing target model that conveys performance based targets in line with the policy making scenarios was defined for exact data. In this paper we improved the model for imprecise data such as fuzzy, ordinal and interval data. To deal with imprecise data we first established an interval DEA model. We used one of the methods to convert fuzzy and ordinal data into the interval data. A numerical experiment is used to illustrate the application to our interval model.
Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) multi-copy routing protocols are privileged to create and transmit multiple copies of each message that causes congestion and some messages are dropped. This process is known as reactive drop because messages were dropped re-actively to overcome buffer overflows. The existing reactive buffer management policies apply a single metric to drop source, relay and destine messages. Hereby, selection to drop a message is dubious because each message as source, relay or destine may have consumed dissimilar magnitude of network resources. Similarly, DTN has included time to live (ttl) parameter which defines lifetime of message. Hence, when ttl expires then message is automatically destroyed from relay nodes. However, time-to-live (ttl) is not applicable on messages reached at their destinations. Moreover, nodes keep replicating messages till ttl expires even-though large number of messages has already been dispersed. In this paper, we have proposed Priority Queue Based Reactive Buffer Management Policy (PQB-R) for DTN under City Based Environments. The PQB-R classifies buffered messages into source, relay and destine queues. Moreover, separate drop metric has been applied on individual queue. The experiment results prove that proposed PQB-R has reduced number of messages transmissions, message drop and increases delivery ratio.
Carbon emission trading is an important environmental policy tool to promote carbon emission reduction. With the panel data of carbon emissions trading (CET) pilots, this paper used the spatial difference-in-difference model (SDID) to test whether CET can affect the enterprise environmental responsibility and the spatial spillover effect of carbon emissions trading. The study found that CET can significantly improve the environmental responsibility level of enterprises in pilot areas. The environmental responsibility level of enterprises in surrounding areas are also improved driven by CET. In the time dimension, the role of CET in improving the enterprise environmental responsibility is gradually increasing. The impact of CET on enterprise environmental responsibility has significant heterogeneity in the dimension of ownership attributes and environmental regulation. Promoting corporate environmental protection investment is the main path for CET to improve the enterprise environmental responsibility.
Despite the high costs involved and the lack of definitive evidence of sustained effectiveness, many low- and middle-income countries had begun to strengthen their health information system using information and communication technology in the past few decades. Following this international trend, the Malaysian Ministry of Health had been incorporating Telehealth (National Telehealth initiatives) into national health policies since the 1990s. Employing qualitative approaches, including key informant interviews and document review, this study examines the agenda-setting processes of the Telehealth policy using Kingdon's framework. The findings suggested that Telehealth policies emerged through actions of policy entrepreneurs within the Ministry of Health, who took advantage of several simultaneously occurring opportunities--official recognition of problems within the existing health information system, availability of information and communication technology to strengthen health information system and political interests surrounding the national Multimedia Super Corridor initiative being developed at the time. The last was achieved by the inclusion of Telehealth as a component of the Multimedia Super Corridor.
Matched MeSH terms: Health Policy*; Policy Making*
Foreign direct investment (FDI) can boost economic growth and provide job opportunities. FDI inflows in ASEAN+3 countries have dropped markedly, which may affect economic development in the region. Many previous studies have investigated a multitude of factors that can influence FDI, such as market size, inflation, trade openness, corruption, and inflation. Previous studies did not, however, consider environmental degradation as a potential factor. Besides corruption and inflation, imposing stringent environmental regulations, such as carbon pricing and taxes to reduce environmental degradation, might deter foreign investors from the country. This is due to heightened costs for foreign investors, which may cause FDI inflows to drop. To shed some light on the reality of this situation, this study examines whether environmental degradation can significantly affect foreign direct investment in the region. This study includes environmental degradation as a potential factor and employs the panel ARDL approach to analyse data from 1995 to 2019. Results show that environmental degradation, infrastructure, and corruption can affect the inflow of FDI in the long run. In the short run, inflation can affect FDI. The findings of this study can be utilized by policymakers in formulating the right policies to attract more investors. An increase in infrastructure facilities should be considered to attract more foreign investment. It is also vital for governments to reduce corruption and inflation to attract more FDI inflows. Environmental incentives should also be introduced to ensure that attempts to reduce environmental degradation do not affect FDI inflows.
Despite the government's policies and objectives, Malaysia lags behind in sustainable waste management techniques, particularly recycling. Bins should be located conveniently to encourage recycling and reduce waste. The current model of bin location-allocation is mostly determined by distance. However, it has been identified that previous studies excluded an important factor: litter pattern identification. Litter pattern is important to identify waste generation hotspots and litter distribution. Thus, we proposed the within cluster pattern identification (WCPI) approach to optimize the recycle point distribution. WCPI gathers the information on litter distribution using geotagged images and analyses the pattern distribution. The optimal location for recycle bin can be identified by incorporating k-means clustering to the pattern distribution. Since k-means faces the non-deterministic polynomial-time-hard challenge of selecting the ideal cluster and cluster centre, WCPI used the total within-cluster sum of square on top of k-means clustering. The proposed location by WCPI is validated in terms of accessibility and suitability. Furthermore, this study provides further analysis of carbon footprint that can be reduced by simulating the data from geotagged images. The results show that 10,323.55 kg of carbon emission can be reduced if the litter is sent for recycling. Thus, we believe that locating bins at an optimal location will embark on consumer motivation to dispose of recycled waste, reduce litter and lessen the carbon footprint. At the same time, these efforts could transform Malaysia into a clean and sustainable nation that aims to achieve Agenda 2030.
Globalization persists the tendency to alter numerous aspects of today's world including religion, transport, language, living styles, and international relations; however, its potential to influence quality of environment is the prime concern for trade and environmental policies guidelines (Audi and Ali 2018). In response to the growing interest for identifying the dynamic relationship between globalization and environmental performance, the present study seeks to investigate the critical link between globalization and ecological footprints in top 15 globalized countries between 1970 and 2016. Applying the novel methods of quantile-on-quantile regression (QQ) and Granger causality in quantiles, the findings examine the manners in which quantiles of globalization affect the quantiles of ecological footprints and vice versa. The empirical results suggest that globalization has a long-term positive effect on ecological footprint and vice versa in case of Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, and Portugal. On the other hand, the estimated results indicate a negative effect between globalization and ecological footprint in the case of France, Germany, the UK, and Hungary. These results extend the recent findings on the globalization-environment nexus implying that the magnitude of relationship among both variables varies with countries demanding individual focus and cautions for postulating environmental and trade policies.