Search Results (61)

Capital flow, integral to the global economy, is significantly influenced by business potential and institutional environments. As one of the world’s largest economies, China’s outflow plays a crucial role in the rapid development of its economy. This study examines domestic investment into public and private components to avoid aggregation bias, whether China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) serves as a substitute or complement to local investments, and how local institutional quality mediates this relationship. We employed Dynamic Autoregressive Distributed Lag model ARDL simulation methods for the period of 1996–2021 in order to control endogeneity, auto-correlation, cross-sectional bias, as well as heteroscedasticity issues, which normally arise in time-series datasets. Our findings reveal that OFDI has a dual impact on local economies. Firstly, OFDI has a generally positive effect on private and public investment, but this relationship is nonlinear. Furthermore, institutional quality significantly influences private investment more than public investment. Additionally, higher interest rates are shown to adversely affect both private and public investments by increasing borrowing costs. These results offer valuable insights for policymakers aiming to optimize investment flows and economic stability. Specifically, fostering institutional quality can amplify the positive spillovers of OFDI on private investment, while mitigating its crowding-out effects on public investment. Full article

In the context of globalization and rapid societal changes, preserving sacred landscapes is vital for cultural identity and resilience. This study investigates the concept of liminality within the cultural landscape of Neira Island, emphasizing the significance of the Buka Kampung ritual and keramat (sacred objects) as integral components of Neira landscape identity. Through qualitative analysis and case studies, the study explores how these rituals serve as liminal practices that mediate between continuity and transformation. The findings highlight that the act of making offerings at keramat during the Buka Kampung ritual fosters social cohesion and reinforces collective identity. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the interplay between sacredness, rituals, and identity, demonstrating how these elements shape place attachment, collective memory, and the lived experiences of local communities. It highlights the importance of sacred landscapes in fostering community resilience and cultural continuity, offering insights into the role of ritual practices in heritage preservation. Full article

Background: Patient satisfaction is a key indicator for improving healthcare delivery, yet the influence of gender preferences on healthcare providers remains underexplored. Cultural norms and gender perceptions often shape the patient preferences, affecting access to care, patient–provider relationships, and overall satisfaction. Thus, this study investigates the patients’ gender preferences and their impact on satisfaction in Tanzania. Methods: The study utilized a cross-sectional design, collecting data from five health centres: Mikongeni, Konga, Mzumbe, Tangeni, and Mlali. A total of 240 randomly selected respondents participated in the study. Gender preferences were categorized as male, female, and both, and determinants were analyzed using a multivariate probit model (MPM), while satisfaction was analyzed using an ordered logit model (OLM). Results: Results reveal that female providers were preferred for empathy (58.30%), intimate care (50.00%), and receptionist roles (50.00%), while males were favored for surgery (50.00%), professionalism (0.86), and IT roles (41.70%). Professionalism (0.75) and communication (0.70) had the strongest positive effects on very high satisfaction. Male provider preference was strongly linked to higher satisfaction (0.84), while female preference showed a mild effect (0.23). Insurance (0.32) and care at Tangeni Health Centre (0.70) boosted satisfaction, while consultation fees (−0.26) reduced it. Conclusions: The study recommends that healthcare systems address gender stereotypes by equipping all providers with both technical and relational care skills, regardless of gender. It also highlights the need for culturally and religiously sensitive care practices that acknowledge how societal norms shape patient preferences and satisfaction. To enhance patient-centered care, policies should promote affordability, broaden insurance coverage, and integrate patient feedback on gender preferences into healthcare delivery models. Full article

This study examines the urban greening community movement through the lens of tactical urbanism as a community-based urban planning model. Tactical urbanism, gaining traction as both a response and an alternative to urban challenges, is defined by active community participation. This approach challenges traditional top-down planning by offering swift, adaptive, and creative solutions tailored to community needs. By fostering participatory planning, tactical urbanism enhances collective awareness and empowers communities to drive development and address urban issues. The emphasis on grassroots involvement ensures a more inclusive and effective planning process. Despite its potential, tactical urbanism remains under explored within Indonesia’s planning framework. This study analyzes the tactical urbanism process in urban greening communities in Jakarta’s urban kampung, exploring whether tactical urbanism serves as a steppingstone to achieving more strategic long-term goals and examining the role of stakeholders outside the community in this process. In-depth interviews with key members of three urban greening communities and thematic data analysis reveal several key findings: the greening movement is primarily driven by personal initiatives; the formalization of community structures plays a crucial role; government and private sector involvement influences the process of maintaining urban greening community’s needs; empowerment and behavioral changes occur within the community; and organizational sustainability remains a key challenge. Based on the findings, it proposes an “organic tactical urbanism” framework as a practical guide for addressing urban challenges in various contexts. Full article

Background: Adequate nutrition in early childhood is crucial for growth and development. Growth milk, a fortified milk product, has been suggested to address nutritional gaps, but its effectiveness remains uncertain. Methods: This clustered randomized controlled trial aimed to assess the effects of growth milk on the nutritional status, immune resilience, appetite, and cognitive function of children aged 2–5 years in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta. The intervention lasted three months, with 49 participants from two clusters being randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. Nutritional status was assessed monthly. Illness incidence, appetite, food fussiness, and cognitive function were assessed at baseline and endline. Results: Children in both groups showed significant improvements in weight, height, and head circumference growth. Significant height differences between the groups was found, although considered minimal clinically. The height-for-age Z-scores significantly increased from −1.65 to −1.58 only in the intervention group, suggesting the positive effects of growth milk supplementation on children’s growth. No significant differences were observed between the groups pertaining to illness incidence, appetite, food fussiness, and cognitive function. Both groups exhibited similar levels of appetite and reported similar cognitive development outcomes. Conclusions: Growth milk supplementation resulted in improved growth parameters in children; however, it showed the same trend in the growth milk and the control group. No changes in illness incidence and cognitive development were observed in both groups. Longer studies and the inclusion of malnourished children may provide a better understanding of the broader benefits of growth milk supplementation. Full article

The aim of this study is to explore the influence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors on business failure in Brazil by employing advanced machine learning techniques. We collected data from 235 companies and conducted principal component analysis (PCA) on 40 variables already used in the bankruptcy failure literature, resulting in the formation of seven variables that predict business failure. The results indicate that ESG factors significantly predict business failure in Brazil. This study has implications for investors, policymakers, and business leaders, offering a more precise tool for risk assessment and strategic decision-making. Full article

Using survey data from three dwelling types in Jakarta, we examine how dwelling type, socioeconomic identity, and commuting distance affect women’s travel-mode choices and motivations behind women’s choices for nearby and distant non-working trips. We compared the performance of the multinomial logit (MNL) model with two machine-learning classifiers, random forest (RF) and XGBoost, using Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) for interpretation. The models’ efficacy varies across different datasets, with XGBoost mostly outperforming other models. The women’s preferred commuting modes varied by dwelling type and trip purpose, but their motives for choosing the nearest activity were similar. Over half of the women rely on private motorized vehicles, with women living in the gated community heavily relying on private cars. For nearby shopping trips, low income and young age discourage women in urban villages (kampungs) and apartment complexes from walking. Women living in gated communities often choose private cars to fulfill household responsibilities, enabling them to access distant options. For nearby leisure, longer commutes discourage walking except for residents of apartment complexes. Car ownership and household responsibilities increase private car use for distant options. SHAP analysis offers practitioners insights into identifying key variables affecting travel-mode choice to design effective targeted interventions that address women’s mobility needs. Full article

The integration of compatibilisers with thermoplastics has revolutionised the field of polymer composites, enhancing their mechanical, thermal, and rheological properties. This study investigates the synergistic effects of incorporating SEBS-g-MAH on the mechanical, thermal, and rheological properties of polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene/graphene oxide (PC/ABS/GO) (PAGO) and the properties of polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene/graphene oxide (PC/ABS/rGO) (PArGO) composites through the melt blending method. The synergistic effects on thermal stability and processability were analysed by using thermogravimetry (TGA), melt flow index (MFI), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The addition of SEBS-g-MAH improved the elongation at break (EB) of PAGO and PArGO up to 33% and 73%, respectively, compared to the uncompatibilised composites. The impact strength of PAGO was synergistically enhanced by 75% with the incorporation of 5 phr SEBS-g-MAH. A thermal analysis revealed that SEBS-g-MAH improved the thermal stability of the composites, with an increase in the degradation temperature (T_80%) of up to 17% for PAGO at 1 phr SEBS-g-MAH loading. The compatibilising effect of SEBS-g-MAH was confirmed by FTIR analysis, which indicated interactions between the maleic anhydride groups and the PC/ABS matrix and GO/rGO fillers. The rheological measurements showed that the incorporation of SEBS-g-MAH enhanced the melt flowability (MFI) of the composites, with a maximum increase of 38% observed for PC/ABS. These results demonstrate the potential of SEBS-g-MAH as a compatibiliser for improving the unnotched impact strength (mechanical), thermal, and rheological properties of PC/ABS/GO and PC/ABS/rGO composites, achieving a synergistic effect. Full article

Rapid urban development in Southeast Asia is often the main cause of urban kampung formation, a cluster of sporadic and informal settlements. Kampungs possess the capacity to serve to build the local economy and provide culture conservation through heritage tourism. To promote sustainable development in heritage kampung tourism, it is imperative to propose directives that optimize its heritage qualities without compromising both the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. This study aims to develop a comprehensive sustainable development framework on a local scale by implementing a novel prioritization approach. Descriptive statistical analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) provide the researchers with a holistic understanding regarding heritage tourism sustainability by considering various stakeholders’ perspectives. Novel prioritization is presented using radar diagrams to understand how each variable, representing environmental, social, and economic criteria, has perceived importance according to experts and tourists. The analysis highlights the kampung Kayutangan’s sustainability while acknowledging variations in element importance, necessitating the alignment of development directives. Full article

This study investigates the influence of human intellectual and social capital on the reciprocity (mutual exchange) between non-tourist populations and actors in the Kampung Coklat tourism of Plosorejo village, Indonesia. The existence of a sense of trust, mutual respect, and social networks between communities are important values in the dimension of social capital and form interchange between communities. The question in this research is whether interpersonal trust has a beneficial impact on relationship social capital and whether the existence of trust, social networks, and social norms has a beneficial impact on community reciprocity. The findings indicate that social capital is pivotal in advancing cocoa tourism, especially for individuals not directly involved in the tourism industry. Full article

Owing to its excellent qualities as a natural sorbent, rice husk (RH), a significant agricultural waste product obtained from the milling process, is employed as a biosorbent for engine oil. Engine oil spillages in rivers will flow to the ocean, exposing marine life to deadly contaminants. To date, there are very few natural sorbent studies specifically targeting engine oil removal. The purpose of this study was to optimise the significant factors in the efficiency of engine oil sorption by RH. Spectroscopic analyses using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to characterise the chemical composition and surface morphology of RH sorbent after pre- and post-treatment. A conventional optimisation approach, one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT), was used to assess the range of factors affecting the efficiency of engine oil sorption through heat treatment, heating time, packing density, and concentration of engine oil. The efficiency of engine oil removal obtained from this method was 74.5%. All the factors were assessed using a Plackett–Burman design (PBD) to eliminate non-significant factors. Furthermore, a central composite design (CCD) was employed to explore significant interactions among the factors. The quadratic model generated (R² = 0.9723) fitted the data well. The optimised conditions from the CCD were 160 °C, 20 min, 0.16 g/cm³, and 12.5% (v/v), with improved oil sorption from 74.5% (OFAT) to 78.89% (RSM). Full article

The green-lipped mussel Perna viridis’ sensitive nature and characteristic as a benthos organism that filters the sediment in its environment make it one of the possible bioindicators for pollution in the aquatic ecosystem. The present study aimed to determine the percentages of total shell deformities in comparison to the past data in the coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia. It was found that several types of discontinuous, continuous, and unexplained shell abnormalities contributed to the overall range of shell deformities of 15.8–87.5%, which was greater in comparison to that (0.0–36.8%). The present study showed that the highest overall proportion of shell abnormalities occurred in Teluk Jawa, whereas the lowest percentages were found in Kampung (Kg.) Pasir Puteh. The regulative mechanisms at the well-known polluted sites at Kg. Pasir Puteh could be the explanation. Further research should be conducted to determine the degree of heavy metal that may be the source of these malformations in the mussel shells. Full article

This paper introduces a new chaotic jerk system with three cubic nonlinear terms. The stability properties of the three equilibrium points of the proposed jerk system are analyzed in detail. We show that the three equilibrium points of the new chaotic jerk system are unstable and deduce that the jerk system exhibits self-excited chaotic attractors. The bifurcation structures of the proposed jerk system are investigated numerically, showing period-doubling, periodic windows and coexisting bifurcations. An electronic circuit design of the proposed jerk system is designed using PSPICE. As an engineering application, a new image-encryption approach based on the new chaotic jerk system is presented in this research work. Experimental results demonstrate that the suggested encryption mechanism is effective with high plain-image sensitivity and the reliability of the proposed chaotic jerk system for various cryptographic purposes. Full article

Adequate housing is one of the rights of Indonesian citizens. Nevertheless, forced eviction is something familiar in Indonesia. One of the areas that experienced forced evictions was Kampung Akuarium. In April, the Provincial Government of DKI Jakarta evicted Kampung Akuarium settlement area residents. As a form of demonstration, they survived on the rubble from the evictions and built tents to carry out their activities in the Kampung Akuarium area. The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government began to rebuild the site into an adequate residential area called Kampung Susun Akuarium (KSA) as a solution for the residents. Based on the government’s solution, the study aims to determine whether the KSA meets the principles of sustainable housing. Sustainable housing promotes environmental preservation, social equality, and economic development to improve the residents’ quality of life. This study conducts a preliminary study to compile sustainable housing variables and indicators. The variables used in this research are community development, environment, social, and economy. Data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling was performed with SmartPLS software, based on the data collected, with an intensive study by distributing questionnaires to 102 residents. The findings indicate that KSA residents have performed most of the sustainable housing and community development indicators well and can still be improved by considering solutions related to poorly implemented indicators. This study’s results also emphasize that community development is a significant variable in building sustainable housing to be used in subsequent studies. Full article

An increase in the prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) worldwide presents a significant burden to the health care system. An initiative was started in Europe designated as Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) to develop internationally applicable guidelines by utilising an evidence-based approach to address this crucial issue. The efforts are directed at empowerment of patients for self-management, the use of digital mobile technology to complement and personalise treatment, and establishment of real-life integrated care pathways (ICPs). This guideline includes aspects of patients’ and health care providers’ management and covers the main areas of treatment for AR. The model provides better real-life health care than the previous traditional models. This review summarises the ARIA next-generation guideline in the context of the Malaysian health care system. Full article