In Malaysia, a country that ranks among the world's most recognised medical tourism destinations, medical tourism is identified as a potential economic growth engine for both medical and non-medical sectors. A state-level analysis of economic impacts is important, given differences between states in economic profiles and numbers, origins, and expenditure of medical tourists. We applied input-output (I-O) analysis, based on state-specific I-O data and disaggregated foreign patient data. The analysis includes nine of Malaysia's states. In 2007, these states were visited by 341,288 foreign patients, who generated MYR1,313.4m ($372.3m) output, MYR468.6m ($132.8m) in value added, and over 19,000 jobs. Impacts related to non-medical expenditure are more substantial than impacts related to medical expenditure, and indirect impacts are a substantial part of total impacts. We discuss management and policy responses and formulate recommendations for data collection.
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In this article, we assess the potential of alternative land use systems using non-drainage peatland species which could eventually phase out or partly replace oil palm plantations on undrainable peatlands. We have used the ecosystem services approach to analyse what scenarios using drainage-free peatland species could be suitable alternatives for oil palm cultivation on peat and how these scenarios compare to oil palm plantations in terms of selected ecosystem services. Our results indicate that alternative paludiculture systems will provide more direct and indirect ecosystem services than oil palm plantations on peat. We also found that stakeholders were aware of issues with growing oil palm on peat, and that there was a general intention for sustainable use of peatlands amongst several groups of stakeholders. Replacing oil palm with alternative systems such as paludiculture in Malaysia is not yet realistic. The most important impediments are a lack of knowledge on potential of non-drainage peatland species and its associated value chains, as well as the technical difficulty for smallholders to implement such a system. We recommend starting experimental plantings with paludiculture systems to further test species performance, life cycle analysis, growth, intercropping limitations and possibilities, yields and improvements in the value chain.
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With the rise of the knowledge-based economy in Asia, Western-dominated organizational literature is being exported to Asian countries. There is a huge interest from businesses and universities in China, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries in Asia and the Middle-East to learn about Western management ideas and techniques in the area of knowledge and intellectual capital management. There is, however, little insight into the success of management ideas and techniques that are based on Western conceptualizations of knowledge in an Asian context.
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In this publication you will find:Hosting the hybrid cityThis is a text in which Hermen Maat and Karen Lancel provide insights into the meaning of the word ‘role’ and into the position of the role of the ‘host’ in their own artistic practice. Their artistic research into this role was the starting point for both research modulesThe artist as host: on theories and interactive networked mushrooms.In the second text Hermen Maat clarifies how he translated this concept into two teaching modules. He explains how in one module the focus of the search was interesting examples of artist’s roles, and how in the other module technical issues shed a different light on the relationship between artist and audience.Student researchAfter this, you will find the work of students, introduced by Hermen Maat. Contributions from the theme class:Anna Weyer, Germany; Chan Lai Kuen, Malaysia; Katrina Jongsma, Canada; Rosemarie Pringle, Germany; Angie Daniels, South Africa/Germany; Niya Konstantinova, Bulgaria; Gothards Prieditis, Latvia; Ruben Jager,Netherlands. Contributions from the interactive media class: Helena Van Zuylen, Netherlands; Suzanne Vellema, Netherlands; Vanina Tsvetkova, Bulgaria; Jorine Homan, Netherlands; Cindy Wegner, Germany; Lotte Middendorp, Netherlands; Sander Bos, Netherlands; Chan Lai Kuen, Malaysia; Iris Leenknegt, Netherlands.The urgency of the role of the host In the afterword Anke Coumans, professor of the research group Image in Context, talks about the importance of this research for the work of the Centre of Applied Research and Innovation Art & Society into the new roles of artists and designers in society.
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In recent years, the importance of sustaining social innovation initiatives, onceinitiated, has gained increasing attention and, in particular, the role that design(ers) can play in this process. However, both the academic study and the practice of design and social innovation are currently lacking sufficient insight into how initiatives are sustained outside of experimental or academic settings and rarely move beyond the involvement of designers and/or researchers. The paper shares experiences from practitioners from Asia-Pacific that are operating in the real world, highlighting their precarious working conditions. The significance of building and maintaining healthy social relations in essential in this context, as these enable the weaving of a strong social fabric around the initiatives that will provide necessarily shelter and to endure long after the practitioners’ involvement. Therefore, facilitating the creation of meaningful social relations should be the key objective for design, instead of designing artefacts.
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How do global audiences use streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix and iPlayer? How does the experience of digital video change according to location? What strategies do people use to access out-of-region content? What are the commercial and governmental motivations behind geoblocking?Geoblocking and Global Video Culture explores the cultural implications of access control and circumvention in an age of VPNs. Featuring seventeen chapters from diverse critical positions and locations – including China, Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Cuba, Brazil, USA, Sweden and Australia.
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Ict is vrouwenwerk. Je krijgt geen vuile handen en je hoeft er de deur niet voor uit. De omgekeerde wereld? Niet in Maleisië. Vrouwen zijn daar goed vertegenwoordigd in de ict-sector en driekwart van de ict-studenten is vrouw. Dat zijn cijfers waar wij hier alleen van kunnen dromen. Maar het is geen rozengeur en maneschijn. Vrouwen in Maleisië hebben, ook in de ict, een achtergestelde positie. De strijd voor gendergelijkheid in de ict is universeel. Dat bleek tijdens het internationale congres 'Research on Women in ICT' in Kuala Lumpur. Een feest van herkenning in een wereld van verschil.
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Deze maand doken Nederlandse onderwater drones op in de Indonesische nationale pers. Onder grote belangstelling las men dat een consortium van Indonesische en Nederlandse organisaties (Tauw, INDYMO, TU Delft en water & milieulab WLN Indonesia) start met een grootschalig internationaal onderzoek naar oplossingen voor de slechte kwaliteit van oppervlaktewater in dichtbevolkte gebieden, zoals Surabaya. Hierbij werden innovatieve meetmethoden ingezet, waaronder aquatische drones. De eerste resultaten wijzen uit welke vervuilende bronnen aangepakt moeten worden: industrieel en huishoudelijk afvalwater). Tijdens de interactie bij de innovatieve metingen groeide de betrokkenheid van de partijen en werd duidelijk welke stakeholders betrokken moeten worden bij het opstellen - en uitvoeren - van nieuwe regelgeving, alsook het creëren van maatschappelijke bewustwording over het belang van een duurzame gezonde leefomgeving. Hierbij zullen de belangrijkste lessen die Nederland in de laatste decennia geleerd heeft worden toegepast, ook Nederland kent een geschiedenis van zuurstofloze rivieren en grachten vol vuilnis. De ‘lessons learnt’ omtrent bewustwording, regelgeving en innovatieve meettechnieken zijn van groot belang bij internationale kennisuitwisseling van de Nederlandse topsector water, een van de belangrijkste exportproducten van Nederland.
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