No abstract

Air pollution has become a serious threat to public health due to the rapid economic development globally, and urban air pollution is thought to cause 1.3 million deaths annually. Urban areas have a huge potential for human exposure to the severity of air pollution and health concerns. Therefore, it is essential to advance our understanding of the factors influencing behaviour to provide compelling evidence for successful behavioural interventions and guidelines. Doing so will increase the practicality of public adaptation to the guidelines. Yet, little is known about the adaptive behaviour toward air pollution. This study aims to establish a predictive model of factors impacting the adaptative behaviour of urban Malaysians toward air quality. A deductive theory-generating research approach and a correlational research design were used in the development of a new ABR model. The following seven factors were tested: values (VAL), attitude (ATT), perceived vulnerability (PVL), perceived severity (PSV), self-efficacy (SEF), response efficacy (REF), and risk perception (RPN). Klang Valley served as the study area, and a multi-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select the respondents (n = 440) of a face-to-face questionnaire survey. In conjunction with PLS-SEM analyses, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the structural models. The results demonstrated that PLS-SEM CFA is suitable for building a reliable structural model to examine community adaptive behaviour.

The provision of road and highway traffic signage on public roads has been regulated in Malaysia, by the Department of Works and Departments of Road Transport Acts, Rules and Regulations 1987. Many studies have focused on the responses and impacts of these types of signage. However, for many private roads which a re not regulated under these Acts, Rules and Regulations, several non-conventional types of signage have beenprovided. There is lack of study, however, on the impacts of and drivers' responses towards these signages. This study, hence, explores the types, contents and locations of these signage. Additionally, the impacts of and responses towards these signages are evaluated in a controlled campus environment. Using the International Islamic University Malaysia's young student drivers as the unique purposive samples, statistical tests including correlation and chi-square analyses have been conducted. It is preliminary reported that gender and observation frequency, to a certain extent, influenced drivers' responses towards the information conveyed by the signages.

In urban areas, the rigid division of residential, commercial, employment and recreational areas forms a reliance on road transport, which leads to high levels of emission that gradually affects the quality of the urban environment. We establish the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a framework for explaining adaptive behavioural responses among urban communities in Malaysia. Participants (N = 450) answered to face-to-face questionnaire survey, and the results specify establishment for the proposed model, with perceived vulnerability (H1) (ß = 0.246, t = 4.534, P=0.000) and and self-efficacy (H3) (ß = 0.510, t = 9.653, P=0.000) positively predicting adaptive behaviour on  urban air pollution. The results presented that these structures were able to predict 47% of the variance of adaptive behaviour. The study establishes a significant contribution to the literature by contributing an indication of PMT as an ideal framework for adaptive behavioural responses on urban air pollution.

Energy-Efficient Vehicles (EEV) are a form of green transportation that minimise carbon dioxide emissions and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels. As an oil-producing nation, Malaysia needs to conserve its resources and alternate its dependence on fuel combustion engines and their toxic emissions. In recent years, Malaysia has set EEV production goals and adopted several policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the transportation sector's growing energy demands. This study evaluates the current policies and initiatives for EEV and their relevance and implementation in the present scenario. It is worth ascertaining the critical elements that need to be in place for the government to push for the adoption of EEV. This study first reviewed relevant government policies supporting EEVs. Next, a comparative analysis of EEVs initiatives between Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries was discussed. Simultaneously, expert panels were consulted through interview sessions to identify gaps in the implementation of EEVs. Based on the findings, the relationship framework of EEVs initiatives and an outline of strategies to improve existing practices were formulated. As a result, this study proposed integrating various agencies and market players as an essential factor to determine the success of implementing EEVs. By way of conclusion, a summary of effective policies is put forward as a recommendation to stimulate the current EEV market. This study sets the stage for policymakers to adopt and improve EEV strategies.