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Objective: This paper shall first investigate the informatics areas and applications of the four Traditional Medicine systems - Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine and Traditional Malay Medicine. Then, this paper shall examine the national informatics infrastructure initiatives in the four respective countries that support the Traditional Medicine systems. Challenges of implementing informatics in Traditional Medicine Systems shall also be discussed.Methods: The literature was sourced from four databases: Ebsco Host, IEEE Explore, Proquest and Google scholar. The search term used was "Traditional Medicine", "informatics", "informatics infrastructure", "traditional Chinese medicine", "Ayurveda", "traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine", and "traditional malay medicine". A combination of the search terms above was also executed to enhance the searching process. A search was also conducted in Google to identify miscellaneous books, publications, and organization websites using the same terms.Results: Amongst major advancements in TCM and Ayurveda are bioinformatics, development of Traditional Medicine databases for decision system support, data mining and image processing. Traditional Chinese Medicine differentiates itself from other Traditional Medicine systems with documented ISO Standards to support the standardization of TCM. Informatics applications in Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine are mostly ehealth applications that focus more on spiritual healing, Islamic obligations and prophetic traditions. Literature regarding development of health informatics to support Traditional Malay Medicine is still insufficient. Major informatics infrastructure that is common in China and India are automated insurance payment systems for Traditional Medicine treatment. National informatics infrastructure in Middle East and Malaysia mainly cater for modern medicine. Other infrastructure such as telemedicine and hospital information systems focus its implementation in modern medicine or are not implemented and strategized at a national level to support Traditional Medicine.Conclusion: Informatics may not be able to address all the emerging areas of Traditional Medicine because the concepts in Traditional Medicine system of medicine are different from modern system, though the aim may be same, i.e., to give relief to the patient. Thus, there is a need to synthesize Traditional Medicine systems and informatics with involvements from modern system of medicine. Future research works may include filling the gaps of informatics areas and integrate national informatics infrastructure with established Traditional Medicine systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuing rapid developments in information communication technology has led to an ever increasing amount of personal information being collected, processed, stored and used, without the individual even knowing about it. For countries which have domestic legislation relating to privacy and data protection, it has afforded the opportunity for a review. For others, it has opened up the opportunity to legislate. The aim of the paper is three-fold. First, the paper aims to deal with data protection regime in Malaysia and in Hong Kong by examining the salient features of the newly enacted Malaysia's Personal Data Protection Act 2010 and the recent recommendations for legislative reform to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in Hong Kong. Second, it considers whether the laws are more concerned with legitimising data protection practices of organizations and busi-nesses rather than the protection of individuals' privacy interests. Finally, the paper briefly considers whether the laws adequately address the impact to individuals' data privacy brought about by technological advancements before providing a conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical energy consumption is expected to increase in Malaysia, and illumination is the second largest electric power consumption in Malaysia. Remarkably, the majority of residential illumination is carried out with incandescent lamps which consume a high level of energy in comparison with recent high efficient technologies. Light Emitting Diodes (LED) could possibly be an option to replace incandescent lamps and even fluorescent lamps (FL). This paper outlines the overview of Malaysia׳ energy sector, policy and programs; and calculate possible savings in terms of energy, costs and environmental emissions by using LED lamps in Malaysia. Despite the capital cost of energy-efficient LED lamps, the use of LEDs might make economic sense for households due to the reduction in operational energy (OE) in certain stage. By replacement of incandescent with LED, a significant reduction in annual energy use, electricity bill, CO 2 and other greenhouse gas emission in terms of lighting can be accomplished by each household in Malaysia. It is also suggested that the governments׳ financial support and regulations assist in adopting this energy-efficient technology more rapidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Implementation of large Chinese projects overseas is uneven, with the dynamic more complex than often portrayed. • Projects are rolled out more expeditiously in host states with a highly centralized political structure and vice versa. • Malaysia's power concentration has facilitated elite consensus and quickened the East Coast Rail Link's rollout. • Indonesia's implementation of the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail has been checked by multiple influential stakeholders. • This paper's findings have important implications for future South-South cooperation in railway development. This paper focuses on two of the most prominent Chinese railway projects in Southeast Asia since the 2013 inception of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – Malaysia's East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail (HSR). Adding non-economic considerations and political contestation between central state organs into Sinha's (2005) framework on central-state/province interactions and their impact on economic development, it argues that the implementation of large, capital-intensive BRI projects is more complex than often portrayed. The ECRL is implemented considerably faster than the HSR primarily because, relative to Indonesia, Malaysia possesses a more centralized political structure. Malaysia's power concentration at two levels – between central and subnational players and amongst central players – has facilitated elite consensus and accelerated the ECRL's rollout. In contrast, Indonesia's decentralization exercise since the late 1990s, both at the spatial level and within the executive arm of the central government, has encouraged plurality of opinions and complicated project implementation. Despite President Joko Widodo's clear intentions to expedite the Jakarta-Bandung HSR, he has been checked by multiple influential stakeholders, resulting in delays. The Indonesians, relative to the Malaysians, appear to have negotiated a somewhat better deal from the Chinese railway consortium. However, these tentative gains are offset by the HSR's slow implementation, which in turn is undergirded by Indonesia's fragmented institutional arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research interests in addressing construction and demolition (C&D) waste management issues have resulted in a large amount of publications during the last decade. This study demonstrates that there is no systematic examination on the research development in literature in the discipline of C&D waste management. This study presents the latest research trend in the discipline through analyzing the publications from 2000 to 2009 in eight major international journals. The analysis is conducted on the number of papers published annually, main authors’ contributions, research methods and data analysis methods adopted, and research topics covered. The results exhibit an increasing research interest in C&D waste management in recent years. Researchers from developed economies have contributed significantly to the development of the research in the discipline. Some developing countries such as Malaysia and China have also been making good efforts in promoting C&D waste management research. The findings from this study also indicate that survey and case study are major methods for data collection, and the data are mostly processed through descriptive analysis. It is anticipated that more future studies on C&D waste management will be led by researchers from developing economies, where construction works will remain their major economic activities. On the other hand, more sophisticated modeling and simulating techniques have been used effectively in a number of studies on C&D waste management research, and this is considered a major methodology for future research in the discipline. C&D waste management will continue to be a hot research topic in the future, in particularly, the importance of human factors in C&D waste management has emerged as a new challenging topic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: in recent years, many Asian countries have witnessed an intensification in populist discourses identifying the death penalty as a central tool of drug control, with public opinion surveys referred to as invaluable evidence of public support for the death penalty. This paper will address the claim that the public supports capital punishment, and the role of surveys in shaping this discourse.Methods: review of thirty-nine public opinion surveys on the death penalty carried out in five Asian countries which retain the death penalty for drugs or are considering re-introducing it. The review was conducted by analysing and comparing design, methodology, findings, and the relationship between these elements.Results: all but two surveys recorded a majoritarian support for the death penalty, driven by beliefs in (a) deterrent effect of the death penalty, and (b) perfect justice - both disproven. Complex surveys found a low intensity of support, and a limited interest and knowledge by the public in capital punishment. Support for capital punishment is lower for drug offences specifically, and it decreases significantly when expressed with reference to real-life cases. Limited data suggest that the public in the focus countries has reservations on the effectiveness of the death penalty to reduce drug offences, and prefers a discretionary system of punishment. The analysis also revealed correlations between the framing of survey questions and their findings.Conclusion: Public opinion surveys conducted in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand suggest that the public knows little and has little interest in the death penalty. Although majoritarian, its support is based on a faulty understanding of key facts related to capital punishment, and an increase in knowledge is correlated to a decrease in support. More rigorous polling exercises demonstrate that public support for capital punishment - both in general and for drug offences specifically - is instinctive, abstract, elastic, and contextual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Asia’s largest biofuels producers are currently Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, China and India. This paper first examines the current status of biofuels in these countries, including the national development targets, strategies, incentives and policies. It then identifies the fundamental driving forces behind the development and promotion of these industries and considers their economic, social and environmental impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]