Malaysian Landscape Research Articles

Safety and Efficacy of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound and Monopolar Radiofrequency Combination Therapy for Skin Tightening: A Retrospective Study in Malaysia.

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and monopolar radiofrequency (MRF) are common treatment modalities that have shown significant results in skin tightening. Nevertheless, the novel combination of these two treatments is new to the Malaysian landscape. Thus, this study aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of this novel combination treatment for the Malaysian population. This retrospective study included data on HIFU and MRF combination therapy for skin tightening collected from an aesthetic clinic in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from June 2018 to May 2021. Efficacy was assessed using the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS) and Glogau classification, while the safety of the treatment was analysed using pain scores and adverse events (AEs). A total of 56 patients with a mean age of 47.7 years old (SD 10.00) were included in this study. The majority of the patients had Fitzpatrick skin types III and IV. Most of the patients were Chinese, followed by Malay, Indian and others. Most patients (96.4%) showed clinically significant improvement in skin tightening after treatment, with 15 patients scoring 1 (very much improved) and 39 scoring 2 (improved). All patients reported transient mild erythema, with no serious AEs, such as burn, swelling, numbness or muscle weakness. Among the patients, 80% reported a pain score of 5, while 10% reported pain scores of 4 and 6. Combining HIFU with MRF therapy improved GAIS scores by 96.4%, indicating a secure and efficient skin-tightening method. Transient erythema was shown to be the most common side effect of this combination.

Exploring Forward-Looking Information Disclosure Practices: Insights from the Malaysian Landscape in the IFRS Era

Exploring Forward-Looking Information Disclosure Practices: Insights from the Malaysian Landscape in the IFRS Era

INVESTIGATING FACTOR TO PROJECT OBJECTIVES UNDERACHIEVEMENT IN MALAYSIAN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

Malaysia landscape architecture projects frequently face several difficulties that expose their projects to a high degree of challenges. These challenges will become project issues that eventually affect the achievement of the project objectives. Understanding the factors of project objective underachievement is essential for project practitioners to manage and control their projects in the future. Thus, this study aims to investigate factors to project objectives underachievement in the Malaysian landscape architecture project. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with twenty-four landscape architect practitioners from Klang Valley. The interview information was analysed using the content and thematic analysis method. The snowball effect from project challenges to project issues and stakeholders’ factors causes underachievement of the landscape architecture project objective. Managing the project affects the organisation’s operational and cultural objectives directly, whereas the project outcome issues indirectly jeopardise the achievement of the project’s business objectives. The finding will be a lesson learnt for project practitioners to evaluate their current project management practice and recommend issue and stakeholder management applications, enabling the achievement of project objectives.

Exploring Malaysian Landscape Practitioner Standpoint Towards Risk Definition In Landscape Architectural Project

Exploring Malaysian Landscape Practitioner Standpoint Towards Risk Definition In Landscape Architectural Project

Engaging Malaysia: Greening Postcolonial Memories in The Garden of Evening Mists

The Garden of Evening Mists is a symbolically charged historical narrative about the ramifications of Japanese colonisation in Malaya in the 1940s. A prominent metaphor in this novel is ‘the garden’ in memorium of the protagonist’s deceased sister. This article explores the greening of postcolonial memories of the Japanese colonisation of Malaya in the novel and its deep engagement of Malaysian framed within the social, political and historical contexts. Using postcolonial ecocriticism as a reading lens, the analysis is carried out to be emblematically functional across the limitations of space and time in the country’s colonial history. The analysis displays that the author, Tan Twan Eng, through his authorial-defined social reality, re-enacts numerous snapshots from the Malaysia ecosystem in order to achieve a coherent engagement of Malaysia pre, during and post Japanese occupation. The finding also reveals that while Tan’s narrative provides us with some insights into the ways in which the Malaysians navigate various colonial and postcolonial consequences, it should also be recognized that the ecology of the land adds to the narrative. Through the intersection of the Malaysian landscape and the country’s historical context, the current article reveal how postcolonial ecocriticism is instrumental in understanding the literary canon of Malaysia.

IBN KHALDŪN’S BIOGRAPHY

Ibn Khaldūn and his Muqaddimah is a continuing project on the European intellectual map. For a long time, most of his works was studied by the French. The same cannot be said of the Malaysian intellectual Malaysian landscape. Ibn Khaldūn, of course, makes an attractive option for academic courses and readings in a variety of disciplines. This essay attempts to recast Ibn Khaldūn in the Malaysian intellectual landscape viz discourses on global history and approaching the study of civilization from a sociological and historical perspective. The sentiment echoes more of the Western engagement with the polymath. Malaysian university campuses are ambivalent. The Khaldunian corpus is almost non existent. The West has attempted to modernize Ibn Khaldūn. Some have construed this as “denaturing” him, accusing the thinker of “anticipatory plagiarism.” The Muslim world has been subdued in defending such accusations against him. There is no worthy defence. This essay uses the framework from Robert Irwin in his Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography. We ask who was Ibn Khaldūn writing for? For the state and authority? Or for himself? Some of the earliest beneficiaries of the Khaldunian corpus was the Ottoman state. This essay notes the disconnect between Ibn Khaldūn and the practice of modern history and social science. The Muqaddimah has largely been ignored as course or as text in the various social science disciplines. The corpus is not seen as providing an alternative form of knowledge. Irwin, however, provides a critical examination of Ibn Khaldūn’s magnum opus, and the political and intellectual climate that he thrived on. As a scholar, Ibn Khaldūn was partisan and certainly close to political institutions. Objective and universal knowledge is not blind to the human condition. Even when deciding to take a reprieve in writing, he sought the protection of a powerful tribe in the hinterland, the Awlad ‘Arif in what is now western Algeria. This essay serves as a contribution to the discourse on the Khaldunian history and sociology.

Malaysian Batik, Our Pride: A Systematic Literature Review

The world is rapidly changing into a more modern era with the availability of technology and according to the current generation’s needs. One of the main challenges in preserving culture is for the current generation to maintain the culture and tradition established in the community. The culture is crucially essential to any society in the works stipulated under SDG 11, which calls for efforts to protect the world’s culture and heritage. Thus, this paper aims to highlight the importance of protecting Malaysian batik by reviewing published articles that focused on design motifs and characteristics of Malaysian batik. This paper adopted systematic literature review analysis using PRISMA 2009 framework to identify Malaysian batik’s current design motifs and characteristics. Many of the identified scholars have attempted to produce and innovate new and contemporary batik design motifs for the Malaysian landscape. The outcome of this paper may help enlighten the relevant stakeholders such as the policymakers, industry players, researchers, and non-governmental organisations to research on this subject matter further. All stakeholders should work together to raise the profile of Malaysian batik on a global scale, which will lead to the protection and maximisation of benefits for future generations.

Examining Comparative Treatment Action Between Predicted Project Issues and Forecasted Project Risk of Landscape Architecture Project

Extensive project issues continue to occur in Malaysian landscape architecture projects due to ineffective treatment action taken despite the ability to predict and treat the issues beforehand. This study examines comparative treatment action between predicted project issues and forecasted project risk in landscape architecture projects. The data collection was conducted through a semi-structured interview with twenty-four landscape architect professionals based in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Then the data were analysed using the content and thematic analysis method. The study found a contrasting treatment action between predicted project issues and forecasted project risk. The predicted project issues were treated passively, despite treating them with effective treatment strategies causing project issues bound to happen. This finding will be a lesson learnt for landscape architecture practitioners to evaluate current practice and find the best management system application to manage project issues effectively.

INVESTIGATING THE CURRENT RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS PRACTICE IN MALAYSIAN LANDSCAPE PLANNING PROJECTS

The Malaysian landscape planning projects are dynamic, subjective, and fasttracked, causing multiple risks. Hence, risk management practice is needed to manage risks. However, the risk management process is not managed comprehensively despite the considerable capability of project practitioners to predict, analyse, and treat project risks, causing the project to underperform. This study has investigated the current risk management process in Malaysian landscape planning projects. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with twenty-four landscape architect practitioners from Klang Valley. The information from the interviews was analysed utilising the content and thematic analysis method. The six steps of the risk management process were not managed following the suggested methodology, whereby the procedure was carried out in an ad hoc, unstructured, and incomplete manner. This action has caused extensive risk impact which affected project performances. This finding will teach project practitioners to evaluate their current practice and recommend the adoption of formal risk management in landscape planning projects.

Determining Controllability Level of Project Issues in Malaysian Landscape Architectural Projects

The study aims to examine current project issues and the level of controllability in Malaysian landscape architecture projects. The data collection fieldwork was conducted via a semi-structured interview with twenty-four landscape architect professionals in the Klang Valley region. Content and thematic analysis were used to analyse the collected data. Found that project issues are controllable if the project can anticipate and treat them in advance. Nonetheless, issues continue to occur due to insufficient action taken in response to predicted issues affecting project outcomes. The study recommends developing a process for systematically forecasting, evaluating, and treating future issues. Keywords: landscape architecture; project issues; controllability; Malaysia eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under 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.v6i18.3053

Prospects of contemplative urban park from expert perspectives

The urban park is part of urban biodiversity that restore the diverse ecosystem to be resilient from rapid urbanisation impact. Also, it is an invented landscape that serves recreational opportunities as well as contemplation. However, significant evidence to measure the contemplativeness of Malaysian urban parks as an eco-psychological restoration resource is indistinct. Previously, the restorative environments have determined by personal opinions and evaluations of researchers without operationalising the empirical study on landscape design quality. This study evaluated Taman Tasik Shah Alam’s contemplativeness via expert evaluation assessed by ten Malaysian Landscape Architects. The assessment involves eight physical attributes using Contemplative Landscape Model criteria on 35 images via an online survey. Eventually, five of the most contemplative scenes are recognised as eco-psychological restoration resources to remedy psychological distress, including landscape composition types. It also highlights the necessary physical attributes of the urban park towards inventing the existing one into a contemplative environment for the betterment of communities. Thus, the contemplative landscape can serve as an antidote for people affected by psychological distress to contemplate themselves by exposing and experiencing well-preserved urban biodiversity.

Evaluating Malaysian Landscape Architecture Project Issues Controllability Level

The study's purpose is to assess project issues' controllability and indicate the necessity for a management system in Malaysian landscape architecture projects. A semi-structured interview with twenty-four Klang Valley landscape architects was utilised to collect data. The acquired material was analysed using content and thematic analysis. The study discovered that project issues could be managed if anticipated and addressed in advance. Despite this, inaction on common issues continues to affect project outcomes negatively. The study recommends developing a procedure for forecasting, evaluating, and treating future concerns.

Classification of Malaysian Architecture Revisited

This paper attempts to portray the classification of Malaysian architecture according to the trends and changes along with the advancement of the economy, technology and growth of architecture schools in Malaysia. The faces of Malaysian architecture are very much influenced by graduates in architecture returning from overseas and the establishment of the Malaysian Institute of Architects. Malaysia is blessed with natural beauty and resources that enable it to be independent. The hot-wet equatorial climate of Malaysia and its high humidity together with the abundance of timber and other cheap building materials enable builders and architects alike to experiment with the built forms. The traditional and vernacular architecture that has been crystallized in the colonial style by the pioneer British architects who designed the government quarters and other government buildings in Malaysia revealed the attention towards the climatic factors and the style that later developed into modern and post-modern style that appear in the residential design of the Malaysian landscape today. This paper employs an exploratory technique from earlier writings and longitudinal historical evidences of Malaysian architecture, visual surveys from the digital media and verbal comments from the practising Architects interviewed. The finding shows that the Malaysian Architecture can be classified according to era, style and contemporary trends influenced by the changes in the world.

Risk Management Process Into Project Lifecycle: A case of Malaysian landscape architecture projects

The risk management process is an integral part of all project activities and proportionally customized as one process. This paper prepared to review risk management process integration into the landscape architecture project lifecycle in Malaysia. Data collected from three completed landscape architecture projects studied through structured interviews and project document reviews. The data analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The study found the ineffective risk management process integration into the project lifecycle with the result of the incomplete, unplanned and intended process, and redundant activity ow. Specific integration strategies recommended accommodating landscape architecture project context for practical risk management applications.Keywords: risk management process; project lifecycle; landscape architecture projecteISSN 2398-4295 ©2020 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 responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v5i18.187

Measuring Bourdieu Capitals of Landscape Architects In Malaysian Landscape Architecture Firms

Pierre Bourdieu (1986) introduced the concept of capitals as forms of intangible resources that individual use to advance their socio-economic status. Past relevant researches have not focused on all Bourdieu capitals. This study conceptualises the Bourdieu capitals to empirically determine the intangible resources of Malaysian leader landscape architects. The aim of this study is to determine the type of capitals of leader landscape architects in Malaysian landscape architecture firms. All landscape architecture firms (73 nos.) in the database of the Institute of Landscape Architects Malaysia were chosen for the survey. The firms were given the letter of invitation and questionnaires through the post. Thirty-nine firms responded to the invitation which resulted in 90 subordinates landscape architects and assistant landscape architects as respondents. The subordinates were asked to rate their leaders’ (landscape architects) capitals. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. Factor analysis findings generated 5 factors (capitals). The capitals are social, human, emotional, cultural and design authority. The study findings provide evidence of the validity of scales to measure the intangible resources of the leading landscape architects in Malaysian landscape architecture firms. It also suggests a new research perspective for the Trait Theory of Leadership by replacing the traits with Bourdieu’s forms of capitals.

BOURDIEU CAPITALS AND LEADERSHIP: THE CASE OF DESIGN CONSULTANT FIRMS’ MANAGERS IN THE MALAYSIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

The creative products of Malaysian design firms are critical for sustained competitiveness in the increasing globalised and local construction market. These products are derived from the collaborative efforts of the design leaders and their subordinates. Owner-managers of design firms are aware of the role of their leadership in increasing the productivity of their creativity workers. Knowledge of effective leadership traits has initially guided leadership development and sustainability. Later theories such as charismatic theories and leader-member exchange theories have a common theoretical paradigm of leader-follower relations. A novel approach to this leadership theoretical paradigm is replacing relevant leaders’ traits with Bourdieu capitals that effectively influence their followers. This paper reports the findings of interviews with subordinates in Malaysian architecture, civil engineering and landscape architecture consultant firms regarding the influence of the superior’s Bourdieu capitals upon their creativity. Qualitative thematic coding analysis of the interview transcripts generated the relevant Bourdieu capital categories and theme. The leader’s human, emotional, leadership, cultural and social capitals were found to influence the subordinate’s creativity motivation. The data indicate a common theme of followers’ creativity motivation through learning from leader’s superior human capital. The learning is aided by the leader’s emotional capital. Thus, Bourdieu capitals offer an innovative perspective in studying and possibly quantifying leaders’ influence upon their followers.

Breaking Windows: Malaysian Manga As Dramaturgy Of Everyday-Defined Realities

The consumption of Japanese anime and manga among Malaysian readers has increased in the past decade (Roslina Mamat, Yamato Eriko, Sanimah Hussin, & Farah Tajuddin, 2012). Currently, Malaysian youth have reached an advanced stage of manga consumption, creating original works (Roslina Mamat, Yamato Eriko, Sanimah Hussin, & Farah Tajuddin, 2012). For example, Malaysian manga artist, Kaoru was the first to earn acclaim among local manga consumers and paved the way for other new entrants to the mangaka scene (Gan, 2011). However, manga has also been described as “culturally odorless” by Iwabuchi (1998). Gan (2011) notes that a significant aspect of Kaoru’s work is a narrative context that is devoid of a fixed locality, instead occupying an ambiguous and imaginative space, which enables the creation of a “place free from the ethnic tensions of everyday life”. I add on to this discourse by observing that there is now a new wave of Malaysian made manga that roots itself in locally recognisable depictions of standard ethnicity, gender, and social class dimensions. In doing so, I extend a content analysis into a specific manga publication, called “Kepahitan Tersembunyi” by Leoz, published under Gempak Starz. I argue that this particular manga novel reaches beyond the suspended reality of Kaoru’s narrative world, into a recognisable Malaysian landscape, for example through the depiction of Malaysian school uniforms. I highlight the way stylistic elements of manga are used to signify identifications of ethnicity, gender, and social class in a way that is recognisable to the Malaysian reader. This suggests that manga may be seen as a platform for the dramaturgy of “everyday-defined” realities (Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, 1996). Keywords: Everyday-defined realities, dramaturgy, Malaysia, ethnicity, culturally odorlessness

Influential aspects of leader’s Bourdieu capitals on Malaysian landscape architecture subordinates’ creativity

Free Trade Agreements as implemented by Malaysian government calls out local businesses such as landscape architecture consultant firm to explore internationally and strengthen their performance to compete locally. Performance of landscape architecture firm as a design firm depends entirely on creativity of the subordinates in the firm. Past research has neglected studying the influence of a leader’s capitals on subordinates’ creativity, especially in Malaysian landscape architecture firms. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of subordinates’ perceptions of the leader’s Bourdieu capitals towards promoting subordinate’s creative behaviours in Malaysian Landscape Architecture firms. The sample chosen for this research are subordinates in registered landscape architecture firm. Data was collected using qualitative semi-structured interviews with 13 respondents and analysed using Qualitative Category Coding. Aspects of the leader’s social capital (i.e. knowledge acquisition, problem solving, motivation boosting), human capital (guidance, demotivating leadership, experiential knowledge, knowledge acquisition), and emotional capital (chemistry with leader, respect, knowledge acquisition, trust, understanding, self-inflicted demotivation) that influence subordinates’ creativity were uncovered from the data. The main finding is that the leader’s capitals promote the subordinate landscape architects or assistant landscape architect to be more creative based on three main things, first is knowledge acquisition, motivation, and ability for the leader to influence through positive relationship. The finding contributes to a new way of understanding the leader’s characteristics that influence subordinates’ creativity.

A tool for assessing ecological status of forest ecosystem

Managers and policy makers are beginning to appreciate the value of ecological monitoring of artificially regenerated forest especially in urban areas. With the advent of more advance technology in precision forestry, high resolution remotely sensed data e.g. hyperspectral and LiDAR are becoming available for rapid and precise assessment of the forest condition. An assessment of ecological status of forest ecosystem was developed and tested using FRIM campus forest stand. The forest consisted of three major blocks; the old growth artificially regenerated native species forests, naturally regenerated forest and recent planted forest for commercial timber and other forest products. Our aim is to assess the ecological status and its proximity to the mature old growth artificially regenerated stand. We used airborne LiDAR, orthophoto and thirty field sampling quadrats of 20x20m for ground verification. The parameter assessments were grouped into four broad categories: a. forest community level-composition, structures, function; landscape structures-road network and forest edges. A metric of parameters and rating criteria was introduced as indicators of the forest ecological status. We applied multi-criteria assessment to categorize the ecological status of the forest stand. The paper demonstrates the application of the assessment approach using FRIM campus forest as its first case study. Its potential application to both artificially and naturally regenerated forest in the variety of Malaysian landscape is discussed

Understanding the Potential of Modern Community Center as Social Architectural Spaces in Malaysia

Malaysia is one of the classic examples of a multi-ethnic society. The country is proud of its multiracial culture which makes it a model for other countries. The ubiquitous community hall in the Malaysian landscape, as it stands now, has long passed its time of usefulness. These halls are labelled with names like dewan serbaguna, dewan orang ramai or even balai raya. But as it stands today, the community hall in our midst is nothing more than a large empty space used for games like badminton or ping pong and the occa-sional event. The changing modern Malaysian society demands more of this simple out-dated facility; there must be a place for the various ethnic groups to meet and fulfil modern needs such as family days, health checks, child’s play, music lessons and many more important uses This paper strives to identify and analyse some of the architectural problems in current community centres in Malaysia with the focus on the spatial aspects and space usage. It is expected that this paper can give a clear picture of the problems faced by Malaysian community centres with some considerations and a framework to develop a new scheme for community centre development in the future.