Science has been defined as 'a way of knowing' which is, in certain respects, unlike other ways of knowing. While some forms of knowledge are highly personal and intuitive, the methods of science are designed to be as objective and impersonal as possible. Science has been referred to as 'public knowledge' because of its procedures for verification involve the whole of society. Science is also 'organised knowledge' because it is systematic and because it is supported by a group of social institutions without which it could not exist in its modern form. For many decades, Fensham, an internationally recognised science educator, has been one of the most important and consistent voices for the reform of science education based on his vision of a democratic and socially responsible science education for all, based on the fundamental premise that if society is to understand the world it must be educated in the principles of science upon which a sustainable world is premised. Thus, science has a real place in society and a social responsibility. From a chemistry perspective, this enabling science is perceived by society as irrelevant to the real world and the cause of many of the evils of the world. This paper addresses the pivotal role of chemistry both in science education and in the social responsibility of science campaign and simultaneously shows how chemistry is at the leading edge of sustainable science in both a scientific and social context.
Sains telah ditakrifkan sebagai 'suatu cara mengetahui'. Dalam ertikata tertentu, takrif ini berlainan dengan cara-cara mengetahui hal-hal lain. Sesetengah bentuk pengetahuan sangatlah tersendiri dan intuitif, namun kaedah sains direkabentuk sedemikian sehingga sejauh mungkin ia berobjektif dan tidak tersendiri. Sains telah dirujukkan sebagai 'pengetahuan awam' kerana prosedur pensahihannya melibatkan seluruh masyarakat. Sains juga merupakan 'pengetahuan yang tersusun' kerana ini bersistem dan kerana ia disokong oleh kumpulan institusi sosial. Tanpa sokongan ini sains tidak boleh wujud dalam bentuk modemnya. Selama beberapa dekad yang lalu, Fensham, seorang ahli pendidikan sains yang diiktiraf antarabangsa, merupakan seorang penggiat yang penting dan konsisten dalam menyuarakan pendapat ke arah perubahan pendidikan sains berdasarkan visinya, iaitu pendidikan sains untuk semua secara demokratik dan bertanggungjawab kepada masyarakat, berlandaskan kepada premis asas bahawa jika masyarakat hendak memahami dunia, maka ia mestilah dididik dalam prinsip-prinsip sains dengan prinsip-prinsip itu sendiri dijadikan premos bagi sebuah dunia mampan. Dengan demikian, sains mempunyai tempatnya yang sebenar dalam masyarakat dan mempunyai tanggungjawab kemasyarakatan. Dari perspektif kimia, masyarakat bertanggapan bahawa sains tersebut tidaklah relevan dalam dunia nyata dan merupakan penyebab kepada banyak keburukan dalam dunia ini. Kertas ini mengupas peranan pengimbangan bidang kimia dalam pendidikan sains dan dalam tanggungjawab sosial kempen sains dan sekali gus menunjukkan bahawa kimia adalah teraju bagi sains mampan dalam kedua-dua konteks sainstifik dan sosial.
This exploratory qualitative study investigates older adults' unmet needs in the age-friendly city of Ipoh, Malaysia. Seventeen participants were interviewed, including ten older adults residing in Ipoh City for at least six months, four carers, and three professional key informants. Interviews were conducted using semi-structured questions based on the WHO Age-Friendly Cities Framework. A 5P framework for active ageing based on the ecological ageing model was adapted for data analysis. The 5P framework consists of domains of person (micro), process (meso), place (macro), policymaking (macro), and prime, which allows for the dissection of older adults' unmet needs in planning for multilevel approaches, which were employed for analysis. Person: the personal needs requiring improvement included digital divide disparity, inadequate family support, and restricted sports activities attributed to physical limitations. Process: There were fewer social activities and a lack of low-cost and easily accessible venues for seniors. Economic challenges include expensive private healthcare services, variation in the quality of care in older residential care facilities, and limited savings for retirement. Place issues include unequal distribution of exercise equipment, public open spaces, the need for more conducive parking for seniors, and a place for social activities. Difficulties assessing public transportation, digitalized services, and unaffordable e-hailing services are common among seniors. Housing issues for seniors include a lack of barrier-free housing design and unaffordable housing. Policymaking: Insufficient private sector commitment to improving services to older adults, lack of policy governance on the quality of nursing homes, and insufficient multidisciplinary governance collaboration. Prime: Health promotion for preventing age-related illness is required to preserve health in old age, and full-time family caregivers' psychological well-being is often overlooked.
In Sarawak, some tribes stay in communal longhouses whilst others live in villages of single dwellings. The present study looks into the question of whether there is an association between the prevalence of leprosy and tuberculosis with the quantum of social contact that occurs in these two types of settlement patterns. It was found that the prevalence of leprosy and tuberculosis is significantly higher among longhouse dwellers compared with single house dwellers. It was also noted that social groups tended to be larger and to persist for much longer among longhouse dwellers than among those in single dwellings. This lends support to the evidence that social contact in longhouses is more extensive and contributes towards a higher prevalence of leprosy and tuberculosis.
Remote sensing and geographic information system techniques are significant and popular approaches that have been used in recent years to measure and map urban growth patterns. This paper primarily aims to provide a basis for a literature review of urban growth measurement and mapping by using different methods. For this purpose, the general characteristics of measuring and mapping urban growth patterns are described and classified. The strengths and weaknesses of the various methods have been identified from an analysis and discussion of the characteristics of the techniques. Results of reviews confirm that combining quantitative and qualitative techniques, such as Shannon approach and change detection, to measure and map urban growth patterns will improve understanding of the phenomenon of urban growth. Moreover, using social and economic data such as population and income data will improve understanding of the relationships between causes and effects. The integration of social and economic factors with quantitative and qualitative techniques will contribute to a perfect evaluation of urban growth patterns and land use changes, taking technical, social, economic, spatial, and temporal factors into account.
Environmental factors play a very important role in the child development process, especially in a situation like that of Iraq. Thirteen years of economic sanctions followed by the 2003 war and 8 years of unstable security have affected the daily life of Iraqi families and children. The objective of this study was to assess the associations between living environment domains and child intelligence quotient (IQ) score.
The study examined a conceptual model integrating existing knowledge on the linkages between life satisfaction, affect, purpose in life, and resilience with school engagement. This model posits direct relationships between all the social psychological variables and school engagement, and also indirect relationships between life satisfaction and school engagement as mediated by all the other variables in the study. The participants were 2381 students (1119 boys and 1262 girls) with average age of 15 years, from 40 national secondary schools in Malaysia. The findings supported the theoretical conceptualization. All variables were positively associated with school engagement. The strongest relationship was observed between overall life satisfaction and school engagement. The mediating model was partially supported. The study reiterates the adage that "it takes a village to raise a child". Implications for practice and future research are discussed in the context of engagement in school learning.
Within a city, gender differences in walking for recreation (WfR) vary significantly across neighbourhoods, although the reasons remain unknown. This cross-sectional study investigated the contribution of the social environment (SE) to explaining such variation, using 2009 data from the How Areas in Brisbane Influence healTh and AcTivity (HABITAT) study, including 7866 residents aged 42-67 years within 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia (72.6% response rate). The analytical sample comprised 200 neighbourhoods and 6643 participants (mean 33 per neighbourhood, range 8-99, 95% CI 30.6-35.8). Self-reported weekly minutes of WfR were categorised into 0 and 1-840 mins. The SE was conceptualised through neighbourhood-level perceptions of social cohesion, incivilities and safety from crime. Analyses included multilevel binomial logistic regression with gender as main predictor, adjusting for age, socioeconomic position, residential self-selection and neighbourhood disadvantage. On average, women walked more for recreation than men prior to adjustment for covariates. Gender differences in WfR varied significantly across neighbourhoods, and the magnitude of the variation for women was twice that of men. The SE did not explain neighbourhood differences in the gender-WfR relationship, nor the between-neighbourhood variation in WfR for men or women. Neighbourhood-level factors seem to influence the WfR of men and women differently, with women being more sensitive to their environment, although Brisbane's SE did not seem such a factor.
China's internal migrants suffer from marginalised housing conditions, poor neighbourhood environments and residential segregation, which may have significant implications on health and well-being. Echoing recent calls for interdisciplinary research on migrant health and well-being, this study examines the associations and mechanisms of the impact of the residential environment on the health and well-being of Chinese migrants. We found that most of the relevant studies supported the "healthy migration effect", but the phenomenon was only applicable to migrants' self-reported physical health rather than mental health. The subjective well-being of migrants is lower than that of urban migrants. There is a debate between the effectiveness of residential environmental improvements and the ineffectiveness of residential environmental improvements in terms of the impact of the neighbourhood environment on migrants' health and well-being. Housing conditions and the neighbourhood's physical and social environment can enhance migrants' health and well-being by strengthening place attachment and social cohesion, building localised social capital and gaining neighbourhood social support. Residential segregation on the neighbourhood scale affects the health outcomes of migrant populations through the mechanism of relative deprivation. Our studies build a vivid and comprehensive picture of research to understand migration, urban life and health and well-being.
Current human activities are seriously eroding the ability of natural and social systems to cope. Clearly we cannot continue along our current path without seriously damaging our own ability to survive as a species. This problem is usually framed as one of sustainability. As concerned professionals, citizens, and humans there is a strong collective will to address what we see as a failure to protect the natural and social environments that supports us. While acknowledging that we cannot do this alone, human factors and ergonomics needs to apply its relevant skills and knowledge to assist where it can in addressing the commonly identified problem areas. These problems include pollution, climate change, renewable energy, land transformation, and social unrest amongst numerous other emerging global problems. The issue of sustainability raises two fundamental questions for human factors and ergonomics: which system requires sustaining and what length of time is considered sustainable? In this paper we apply Wilson (2014) parent-sibling-child model to understanding what is required of an HFE sustainability response. This model is used to frame the papers that appear in this Special Issue.
Introduction: Physical inactivity has been recognised as the fourth leading risk factor for mortality worldwide. Individuals who are physically inactive have an increased risk of 20% to 30% of dying prematurely. Individuals who fulfil the minimum recommendations of physical activity can reduce the development of Non-Communicable Diseases. In 2015, 33.5% of Malaysian adults were reported to be physically inactive. Various factors were found to be associated with physical activity participation and these factors need to be explored. Methods: A cross-sectional study using proportionate simple random sampling was conducted. A total of 310 health staff were sampled according to the proportion from five divisions and data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. IBM SPSS version 22.0 were used to analyse the data. Predictors for physical activity were also determined. Results: The response rate was 97.7% (303 out of 310). The prevalence of physical inactivity among respondents was 37.6%. The predictors for physical inactivity were smoker/ex-smoker (aOR=2.308, p=0.027), certificate/diploma education (aOR=2.135, p=0.008), personal barrier (aOR=1.055, p=0.017) and social environment barrier (aOR=1.106, p =0.025). Conclusion: People that have a higher possibility of being physically inactive were those with certificate or diploma education and smokers or ex-smokers. Those with personal barriers and social environment barriers likewise have higher probability of being physically inactive. Thus, appropriate health interventions should be developed by taking these factors into consideration to promote physical activity among the health staff.
All over the world the prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has became a stumbling stone in progress of human civilization and is a huge concern for people worldwide.
Little research on body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors, and the sociocultural influences on them, has been undertaken in non-Western contexts. The current study investigated these variables and the relationships between them among a sample of 529 Malaysian high school students (103 Malays, 344 Chinese and 82 Indians), who completed a set of measures in classroom settings. Chinese girls were more dissatisfied with their bodies than Chinese boys, but no gender difference was found for Malay and Indian participants. Girls were more likely to engage in behaviors to lose weight, and boys were more likely to engage in behaviors to increase muscle. The influence of sociocultural factors on body dissatisfaction and body change behaviors was limited and varied across both sex and ethnicity. Findings are discussed in relation to Western research, and it is concluded that cultural nuances need to be considered when investigating these phenomena.
The present study examined the factor structure of a Malay translation of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 among a community sample of 554 Malaysian women. Results of an exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of four factors, two of which (Information and Internalization-Athlete) mirrored those found among Western samples. An additional factor was an amalgamation of two factors reported in the West, namely Pressure and Internalization-General. A fourth factor consisted of six items, four of which cross-loaded onto previous factors, and was consequently dropped from analyses. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the three retained factors were all above .82, and the three factors were significantly correlated with each other and with participants' body mass index. The results of this study stress the need for locally developed scales in the study of body image and a shift away from reliance on scales developed in the West.
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis is a common problem in communities with poor socio-environmental conditions. This study was undertaken to identify important socio-environmental predictors of soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Bachok, a rural community in Kelantan for the development and implementation of an effective prevention and control program. Of 363 children randomly sampled, 38.8% were infected with soil-transmitted helminthiasis. Risk predictors of soil-transmitted helminthiasis found to be significant after adjustment included poor household hygiene score and large household size. The probability of being infected was 0.58 amongst children with both of these risk factors.
This study used path analysis to assess the chances of survival of babies in a neonatal intensive care unit in Lansing, Michigan, USA. Two paths to neonatal survival were identified and the variables accounted for 20% of the variance in gestational age. The first path showed that prior infant losses were negatively correlated with gestational age while in the second path, gestational age showed negative relationships with pre-pregnancy weight and household job worries.
The present paper is the third and concluding part of a study of the secondary school population of two of Malaysia's thirteen states, Penang and Selangor. Since completion of the two earlier papers, the research team has investigated the pattern and nature of drug use among the equivalent population in a third state, Kelantan, and has again found essentially the same pattern of results: youthful drug use is most clearly related to precocious self-assertion, and a set of beliefs and attitudes about drugs and drug taking, and is largely unrelated to indicators of social deprivation or personal problems. The significance of this repeated finding in Kelantan is that, in this much more rural and traditional state, adult and established patterns of drug use had historically differed considerably from those found in the two more urban and cosmopolitan states of Penang and Selangor. Our findings indicate that the new pattern of drug use by youth has transcended the older cultural differences between the states, and is in turn explained by a more universally familiar set of characteristics in adolescent development.
Those Malaysian secondary schoolchildren who have ever used an illicit drug do not differ significantly in terms of social class background, ethnicity or rural/urban location, from the majority of their contemporaries who have not used drugs. The cross-sectional data show a rapid secular trend towards the sexes being equally involved in drug use. Significant differences between ever and never users are, however, found in their attitudes towards drug taking and their beliefs about the properties of drugs, although both groups share the same rather negative image of the typical drug user. Thus, drug users have accepted some of the attitudes towards drug issues which are normative in the non-user group, whilst developing other attitudes which are consistent with their continuing use. It is argued that adolescent drug abuse in Malaysia is not to be linked specifically with social deprivation, but should be seen as being part of the life style of particular groups in all strata of society.