Search

The modern study of economic inequality is based on the distribution of entitlements over goods and services. But social commentators at least since Rousseau have been concerned with a different aspect of economic inequality: that it implies that one person is entitled to command another person for their own personal ends. I call this inequality as entitlements over labor. I propose to measure entitlements over labor by calculating the extent to which top income groups can afford to buy the labor of others for the purpose of their personal consumption. Unlike standard inequality measures, this measure is not welfarist, but instead has its normative basis in relations of domination, hierarchy and social status between people. I estimate entitlements over labor in three high-inequality and two low-inequality countries and argue that inequality as entitlements over labor is socially and politically salient, capturing a side of inequality neglected by standard measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommendations to coffee farmers regarding agronomic practices are eventually based on agronomic research. The main target of agronomic research is often, if not always, yield measured in Kilograms of green coffee per Ha. We often see or hear claims that a given practice will double or even triple the yield. However, everyone can feel that supposed agronomic silver bullet solutions are not widely adopted by farmers. The reason often put forward is that farmers ignore these solutions and require training. Too often, agronomists and technical assistants explain that farmers are stubborn and will not change and not to mention other more derogatory statements used. We need to understand that the vast majority of farmers, just like any human being, is making rational decisions, optimizing the expected return on any investment in time or money. We hence need to refresh our R&D approach towards coffee farmers’ profitability. Yield is not profitability. Every entrepreneur will understand the difference between gross and net income. In fact, extra-coffee yield obtained by recommended practices is not necessarily covering the extra-cost related to these practices. It is a compulsory first step to understand what the limitations of farmers are and then specifically work out some practices addressing these limitations. In my presentation, I will give some illustrations and show what a refreshed agronomic R&D approach would look like.

This paper presents an overview of the Gaja -- a very severe cyclonic storm that battered thousands of lives in Cauvery delta regions of Tamil Nadu. The cyclone originated from the Gulf of Thailand on 5th November 2018 and gradually turned into a very severe cyclonic storm that made a landfall at Tamil Nadu coast on 15th November 2018. Nagapattinam was one of the most affected coastal districts, which endured extensive damage due to coastal flood and wind-rose to about 120 kmph. The current study was focused on the impact assessments of the co-operative society members. The statistical chi-square distribution was calculated to substantiate the significant relationships between the physical attributes, socio-economic conditions and level of vulnerability to the coastal communities affected by the cyclone. The major findings of the study reveals that the human vulnerability is highly significant to the physical attributes and socio-economic factors such as mean sea level, distance of house-holds from the shore-line, house type, income and education. The study suggests that the policy managers should proactively consider all the identified variables homogeneously to proficiently improvise the disaster management, preparedness; adaptation and mitigation measures to efficiently conserve the resources from vulnerable hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine the socio-economic impact of the existence of the Kasturi Waste Bank in Karangasem, Gempol, Condongcatur, Yogyakarta. This was field research using a descriptive qualitative data analysis and a purposive sampling technique. The results showed that the existence of the Kasturi Waste Bank has a positive impact on increasing public awareness and concern for waste sorting and management, awareness of environmental hygiene thus improving the quality of public health, and awareness of inorganic waste utilization into valuable goods as well as organic waste utilization into eco-enzymes and compost. In addition, the existence of this waste bank also results in more efficient spending of the community and increases the income of the waste bank customers from waste saving transactions. The income is used to help meet the basic household needs and incidental needs, as well as for personal savings funds. Although the income from the waste transaction is not yet much, it could contribute to helping meet the daily needs of the customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Constantine tramway line in Algeria has many variables that can be analysed to assess the impact of the line. These variables include social ones, such as the rational supply of transport between different modes of travel, the place of people with reduced mobility in the supply and interior and exterior design. Moreover, the economic variables that are the most dominant in relation to its importance in the development of the economy of the city are the reliability and comfort made to the regularity of the transport time in relation to time savings and intermodality at stopping points. To this end, this article examines these different variables during several commissioning periods in order to determine the impact of the introduction of the tramway line in the Constantine metropolitan area. Its approach is carried out through a field survey, interviews and on-site observations with a population made up of users of different travel modes. The results confirm that the tramway line linking the city of Constantine and the new town of Ali Mendjeli has a strong effect on ridership. On the other hand, its effects seem minimal in terms of rational supply and intermodality between different travel modes. Meanwhile, reliability and regularity are topics that deserve to be explored. The accessibility of people with reduced mobility is considered a primary objective of the tramway system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine ecosystem restoration is fast becoming the primary tool for repairing the socio-ecological functions and economic benefits of coastal ecosystems. Healthy seascapes are characterized by many interacting species and intermingled habitats (e.g., seagrass, kelp, shellfish, sedimentary) that co-create ecological functions of substantial socio-economic value. These co-created functions not only build stability and resilience at seascape scales, but synergistically combine to enhance ecological productivity that is greater than the sum of the individual habitats. Yet, restoration practice is dominated by single-habitat approaches underpinned by single-species monocultures, potentially limiting the range of benefits that restoration can provide. We propose that for ecosystem restoration to meet its full potential in delivering socio-ecological benefits that are resilient to environmental change, restoration practices should plan beyond single-species and single-habitats to a multi-habitat seascape. Where multiple habitats are co-restored, their positive interactions mutually benefit each other to stabilize and even accelerate ecosystem recovery; such as co-restored shellfish and kelp forests on constructed reefs, which combine to stabilize sediment for seagrass recovery. As fisheries scientists and managers, food and social scientists, and ecologists and oceanographers, we describe multi-habitat marine restoration activities that are readily achievable and provide a vision for the diverse socio-ecological, economic, and culture benefits that may emerge from future seascape-level repair.

Urban Geography studies forms, social fabrics, and economic structures of cities from a geographic perspective. Catalysed by the increasingly abundant spatial big data, Urban Geography seeks new models and research paradigms to explain urban phenomena and address urban issues. Recent years have witnessed significant advances in spatially-explicit geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI), which integrates spatial studies and AI, primarily focusing on incorporating spatial thinking and concept into deep learning models for urban studies. This paper provides an overview of techniques and applications of spatially-explicit GeoAI in Urban Geography based on 581 papers identified using a systematic review approach. We examined and screened papers in three scopes of Urban Geography (Urban Dynamics, Social Differentiation of Urban Areas, and Social Sensing) and found that although GeoAI is a trending topic in geography and the applications of deep neural network-based methods are proliferating, the development of spatially-explicit GeoAI models is still at their early phase. We identified three challenges of existing models and advised future research direction towards developing multi-scale explainable spatially-explicit GeoAI. This review paper acquaints beginners with the basics of GeoAI and state-of-the-art and serve as an inspiration to attract more research in exploring the potential of spatially-explicit GeoAI in studying the socio-economic dimension of the city and urban life.

The restoration of marine habitats is becoming a primary strategy for managing healthy coastal ecosystems, but initiatives often fail due to conflicts with social or industry activities. Confronting the challenge of expanding marine restoration for the ‘Ocean Decade’, this paper explores the ways that researchers could improve the way Governments and practitioners engage stakeholders with restorations of high socio-ecological and economic value. We seek to recenter the role of scientific knowledge-making in marine restoration by incorporating culturally informed socio-economic well-being into restoration practice; a process for encouraging greater marine stewardship by an engaged, more ocean literate public set to co-benefit from successful restoration practices. Using Australia's shellfish reef restoration program as a case study, we underscore the value of understanding diverse perspectives on marine restoration to foster a more inclusive restoration practice, one that nurtures a meaningful knowledge base to shift how restoration is viewed, engaged with, and funded.

Identifying the socioeconomic drivers of COVID‐19 deaths is essential for designing effective policies and health interventions. However, how the significance and impact of these factors varies across different spatial regimes has been scantly explored. In this ecological cross‐sectional study, we apply the spatial lag by regimes regression model to examine how the socioeconomic and health determinants of COVID‐19 death rate vary across (a) metropolitan vs. non‐metropolitan, (b) shelter‐in‐place vs. no‐shelter‐in‐place order, and (c) Democratic vs. Republican US counties. A total of 20 variables were studied across 3108 counties in the contiguous US for the first year of the pandemic (6 February 2020 to 5 February 2021). The results show that the COVID‐19 death rate not only depends on a complex interplay of the population demographic, socioeconomic and health‐related characteristics, but also on the spatial regime that the residents live, work and play. Household median income, household size, percentage of African Americans, percentage aged 40–59 and heart disease mortality are significant to metropolitan but not to non‐metropolitan counties. We identified lack of insurance access as a significant driver across all regimes except for Democratic. We also showed that the political orientation of the governor might have impacted COVID‐19 death rates due to the public response (i.e., shelter‐in‐place vs. no‐shelter‐in‐place order). The proposed analysis allows for understanding the socioeconomic context in which public health policies can be applied, and importantly, it presents how COVID‐19 death related factors vary across different spatial regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence of ride-sourcing and ride-splitting services, more options are available to support shifts away from transit, where maintaining transit ridership increases requirements for transit service quality, so as to promote high-capacity and sustainable transport systems. In this endeavor, proper transit stop spacing is critical for both service accessibility and in-vehicle trip efficiency, as well as operation cost. This research explores acceptable stop spacing for three kinds of transit services from the perspective of travel behavior, drawing on the 2017 National Household Travel Survey in the United States. A stochastic frontier model is developed to infer passengers' unobservable vertex of acceptable transit access times on the basis of observed walk time, which can be converted to the tolerance with respect to stop spacing with the average walking speed. Significant explanatory variables on the vertex of acceptable transit stop spacing are further identified with their quantified impacts, including household density, household income, wait time, trip distance, transfer, and maintenance purpose, while the inefficiency variance is significantly related to traveler age, wait time, secondary walk time, and trip frequency. Recommended response strategies follow. Findings from this study provide insights, guidelines, and implementation plans for different transit agencies when considering stop spacing redesign, to strengthen transit service appeal and to promote cooperative and sustainable multi-modal urban transport systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio‐economic development pathways and their implications for the environment are highly uncertain, and energy transitions will involve complex interactions among sectors. Here, traditional Monte Carlo analysis is paired with scenario discovery techniques to provide a richer portrait of these complexities. Modeled uncertain input variables include costs of advanced energy technologies, energy efficiency trends, fossil fuel resource availability, elasticities of substitution for labor, capital, and energy across economic sectors, population growth, and labor and capital productivity. The sampled values are simulated through a multi‐sector, multi‐region, recursively dynamic model of the world economy to explore a range of possible future outcomes. We find that many patterns of energy and technology development are possible for various long‐term environmental pathways and that sectoral output for most sectors is little affected through 2050 by the long‐term temperature target, but with tight constraints on emissions, emission intensities must fall much more rapidly. Scenario discovery techniques are applied to the large uncertainty ensembles to explore if there are prevailing storylines behind outcomes of interest. An illustrative investigation focused on different levels of economic growth shows many combinations of pathways and no single storyline emerging for a given economic outcome. This method can be extended to other outcomes of interest, exploring the nature of scenarios with both tail and median outcomes. Sampling from a Monte Carlo generated ensemble provides a rich set of scenarios to investigate, and potentially aids in avoiding heuristic biases in less structured scenario approaches. Plain Language Summary: Simulation models are often used to explore future development pathways and their impacts on energy, emissions, economies and the environment. This requires making assumptions about various socio‐economic conditions, such as how fast populations and economies will grow, the cost of technology options, or the amount of fossil fuels available. Different assumptions have significant impacts on model results, yet analyses typically only test a few alternatives. Here, we develop and use probability distributions to capture this uncertainty. We draw samples from these distributions, run an energy‐economic model hundreds of times, and quantify the resulting uncertainty in model outcomes, providing insight into their likelihood. We focus on results related to emissions and output from different economic sectors, as well as energy and electricity technologies. We also apply approaches to find scenarios of interest from within the database of scenarios. We find that many patterns of energy and technology development are possible under a given long‐term environmental pathway (such as a 2C scenario) or a given economic outcome (such as high or low GDP). This approach can help identify biases in perceptions of what "needs" to happen to achieve certain outcomes, and shows that there are many pathways to a successful energy transition. Key Points: Traditional uncertainty quantification approaches can be combined with scenario discovery techniques to provide new insightsMany patterns of energy and technology development are possible under a given long‐term environmental pathwayLong‐term temperature targets have a much larger impact on sectoral emissions intensities than on sectoral output through 2050 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban heat island (UHI) effect exists both during daytime and nighttime and varies with urban characteristics, such as 2D/3D urban morphology and socio-economics. However, there is a lack of quantitative understanding of the roles of these characteristics in influencing land surface temperature (LST) variations in different urban functional zones (UFZs) throughout the diurnal cycle. In this study, we examined the responses of diurnal LSTs in different UFZs to 2D/3D urban morphology and socio-economic variables. Results showed the following: (1) During daytime, the main drivers of LST varied with not only the UFZs but also the observation times; during nighttime, the LST variations across different UFZs were largely controlled by 3D urban morphology and socio-economic factors. (2) At 10:37, LST declined most rapidly when the percentage of tree cover (PER_Tree) exceeded a certain threshold. The threshold values of PER_Tree were 85%, 70%, 50%, and 60% for the residential, industrial, commercial, and public service zones, respectively. Irrespective of the UFZs, a nighttime cooling effect occurred only when sky view factor (SVF) exceeded 0.8. (3) For locations with high population density (Pop_Den) in the residential zone, whether urban trees induced a cooling effect depended on both the observation time and PER_Tree during daytime; however, a higher SVF tended to result in an increased LST during nighttime. In the public service zone, when Pop_Den exceeded 50, urban trees with high height contributed to nighttime LST cooling, whereas a warming effect occurred with trees with low height. The direct implications of this study suggest that 3D urban morphology and socio-economics are more efficient mitigation strategies for all UFZs at night, and the interactive effects between the dominant drivers of diurnal LSTs should be considered to cool the city most effectively. • Dominant factors of daytime LST vary with UFZs and observation times. • Nighttime LST is controlled by 3D urban morphology and socio-economics for all UFZs. • Threshold effects of dominant factors influencing diurnal LSTs across different UFZs. • LST primary drivers interact complexly across different UFZs in the diurnal cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmlands, positioned at the interface of mangrove forestlands and urban centers, serve as critical buffer zones. These areas play a pivotal role in determining the ecological fate of mangrove forests, acting as a cushion against mangrove deforestation. This study aims to study the spatiotemporal data from Landsat imagery whilst considering the geo-political and scocio-economic transformations of such a buffer region adjoining the Sunderban mangrove forest to understand the surreptitious reason for such expansive nature of the farmlands. Results indicate that these buffer farmlands are in a constant tug-of-war between the urban and forest ecosystems. The built up area adjoining the cities increases at a much higher pace than the areas adjoining the forest lands. Quite contrary to the popular belief, it is seen that the majority of cropland expansion in the mangrove adjoining regions arises from the use of fallow land rather than the clearing of vegetation. The study shows that the changes need to be addressed through the government's policies and a restructure of governance is required. In policymaking, the collaborative action of scientists, governments, and local people should be involved. The lack of sustainable development and targeted improvement can increase the threat and risk nearby the mangrove farmlands. [Display omitted] • Several regions globally have farmlands as buffer areas between mangrove forests and major cities. • Farmlands in between the largest mangrove forest – Sunderbans and Kolkata city of India have been considered for study. • Farmers in the buffer lands are in a constant tug-of-war between urban expansion and farmland reduction. • Multi-dimensional assessment depicts politics, society, finance and global geopolitics affect mangrove forests. • The study provides a framework on how to evaluate other similar regions globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is generally devastating in densely populated cities, and disparate observations of city characteristics on COVID-19 have been reported. In order to unraveling the nexuses of city characteristics and infectious transmissions, this study examined the effects of non-pharmaceutical factors on COVID-19 transmission rates in 180 cities worldwide, during the "first wave" of pandemic when no vaccines were widely available. City density and connectivity significantly increased COVID-19 case and mortality rates. However, their determining roles and influence pathways were continent-dependent and contingent upon social restrictions, and can be significantly mitigated under circumstances of only prompt and rigorous restrictions.. In addition, a metric-dependent effects were observed when validating with population density metrics calculated from different definitions. While socio-economically developed cities likely have high capacity of testing and contact tracing, and global connectedness, it also reflected more resources and infrastructures for social distancing and healthcare. These findings suggest that while city density and connectivity exacerbate infectious spread, forward-looking city planning and effective governance is a promising alternative towards to pandemic mitigation and a sustainable city in an urbanization era. • City density and connectivity increase COVID-19 transmission globally. • Effect of density and connectivity varying and is continent-dependent. • Effect of population density is associated with definitions and data sources. • Socio-economics has mixed effects as their multiple indicative meanings. • Only prompt and rigorous restrictions mitigate infectious transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite fruits and vegetables’ importance and nutrient composition, their consumption is still below the world’s recommended threshold in Nigeria, even among pregnant women. Therefore, this study examined pregnant women’s critical socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. Multistage sampling techniques and a semi-structured questionnaire were employed to collect data from 100 pregnant women from the study area. The descriptive statistics show that the majority (91%) of the respondents belong to the age bracket of 20 to 36 years. Also, most (56%) of the respondents were in their third trimester, while 30% and 14% were in the second and first-trimester, respectively. The study employed descriptive and inferential statistics to analyse the data. The results indicate that Education, Trading, first-trimester, income, and nutrition advice positively influenced expenditure on fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, age, second-trimester, third-trimester, attending ante-natal, and distance from home to market have an inverse relationship with expenditure on fruits and vegetables. Likewise, education, nutrition advice, trading, first-trimester positively influence the frequency of fruits and vegetable consumption. The study recommended that policymakers, government, and NGOs should be focused on the significant socioeconomic factors to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption among pregnant women.

Abstract Socio‐economic development pathways and their implications for the environment are highly uncertain, and energy transitions will involve complex interactions among sectors. Here, traditional Monte Carlo analysis is paired with scenario discovery techniques to provide a richer portrait of these complexities. Modeled uncertain input variables include costs of advanced energy technologies, energy efficiency trends, fossil fuel resource availability, elasticities of substitution for labor, capital, and energy across economic sectors, population growth, and labor and capital productivity. The sampled values are simulated through a multi‐sector, multi‐region, recursively dynamic model of the world economy to explore a range of possible future outcomes. We find that many patterns of energy and technology development are possible for various long‐term environmental pathways and that sectoral output for most sectors is little affected through 2050 by the long‐term temperature target, but with tight constraints on emissions, emission intensities must fall much more rapidly. Scenario discovery techniques are applied to the large uncertainty ensembles to explore if there are prevailing storylines behind outcomes of interest. An illustrative investigation focused on different levels of economic growth shows many combinations of pathways and no single storyline emerging for a given economic outcome. This method can be extended to other outcomes of interest, exploring the nature of scenarios with both tail and median outcomes. Sampling from a Monte Carlo generated ensemble provides a rich set of scenarios to investigate, and potentially aids in avoiding heuristic biases in less structured scenario approaches.

Purpose: This study aims to provide a public image of this process and provide valuable insight into the status and A Review of the Impact of Coronavirus on Sports businesses and help future research cover the research gaps in this field.Methodology: This study is a library-type study in the form of a review-descriptive study. The statistical population of this study is all articles related to the impact of Coronavirus on sports and the economy from June to July 2020 that were published in local and foreign journals in the field of management, marketing, and health. But some studies have pointed to its positive effects on exercise.Findings: After reviewing and studying the research, a higher percentage of reviews on the documents showed that the Covid-19 has damaged the sports economy, and it is not clear how long the adverse effects of Coronavirus on socio-economic status will continue. In addition to the difficulties that Coronavirus has brought, it can also get opportunities for sports and community health; Use strategies such as market segmentation, emphasis on virtual activity, and blue ocean strategy, which can turn into a chance for sports managers.Originality: This study introduced the functions of the blue ocean strategy in the sports industry in the Coronavirus context.

Islamic Financial Services Industry (IFSI) crosses the age of 40 years, and sufficient empirical evidence exists to evaluate in light of the distinctive aspirations. This study fills the gap in the literature by evaluating the performance of IFSI in light of Islamic finance objectives—financial stability, equitable distribution of wealth and social responsibility; Shari'ah principles, and professional practices. Our investigation documents the achievements based on real accounting data from 23 countries, and the suitability of tools in practice to achieve the stated objectives by promotors of IFSI. Findings suggest that the objectives of IFSI have been achieved to an extent. However, visible contribution to the achievement of socio‐economic justice is yet to emerge. Practical application of tools shows divergence (in spirit) from the original design, primarily to achieve integration and coherence with the prevailing conventional financial system. IFSI needs collaborative efforts to overcome the challenges at hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide human activities are the driving force for land degradation; these difficulties will worsen without immediate remedial action. This pressing global issue affects mankind, especially rural communities. The indicators for land degradation is mostly reduction in benefits derived from land. Bamboo is a grass type with a very large woody stem. Bamboo forests are important both for land restoration and socio-economic value. This review paper is aimed to assess land restoration and socio-economic contributions of bamboo in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the leading bamboo resource country in Africa. Assosa, Injibara, Gimbi, Ambo, Gurage, Bale, Masha, Chencha and Hagere-Selam are the known bamboo producing areas of Ethiopia. Basically, bamboo is considered a good plant for restoring degraded land and soil health. Bamboo has great benefits for income diversification and other socio-economic values. Additionally, bamboo plants have so many cultural and medicinal uses in many parts of Ethiopia. Though a variety of studies revealed that bamboo has a unique ability in restoring lands condition, but less attention was given for its biological soil conservation, so concerned body should create awareness regarding the importance of bamboo for soil and water conservation. Ethiopia has numerous hectares of natural bamboo, known in the African continent. But, the real benefits generated from this subsector is insignificant so, the concerned body should improve benefits obtained from bamboo. Bamboo production and processing provides job opportunities and creates economic and social stability, however, there is little attention given, and so concerned body should give special attention for this sub-sector.

This study discusses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on B40s in Malaysia. This study aims to study the impacts of the pandemic on the B40s' socio-economics, the type of government assistance received, as well as the impacts of such assistance on them whilst facing the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia in 2020. The study involved 141 respondents representing the B40s in Johor Bahru district. The data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the socio-economic condition of the B40s was greatly affected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the important findings are, government assistance such as Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) had a positive impact on the survival of the B40s in this challenging era. This study has beneficial implications for the authorities in considering the effectiveness of the assistance provided. In addition, improvements can be proposed as a result of the study findings so that the sustainability of human resources in Malaysia can be sustained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Animal & Poultry Production is the property of Egyptian National Agricultural Library (ENAL) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study we assessed the determinants of lack of credit access among the Indigenous Vegetables (IVs) farmers based on primary data collected in a cross-sectional survey. Using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis, the results revealed that more females were involved in the indigenous vegetable production with average age of 40 years, seven household members, eight years of formal education and cultivating 0.76 acre of land. Only 8 % had access to credit and 76 % did not have contact with extension agents. The mean monthly income from indigenous vegetables production, off-farm income and savings were about ₦35,000 (US$96.83), ₦15,000 (US$42.12) and ₦13,000 (US$38.57), respectively. Further, lack of credit access significantly depended on gender (β = 0.15, P < 0.05), educational level (β = 0.11; P < 0.05), farming experience (β = 0.73; P < 0.05), off-farm income (β = 0.23, P < 0.05), saving habits (β = 0. 25; P < 0.01) and annual numbers of extension contact (β = 0.94, P < 0.01) of indigenous vegetable farmers. Therefore, improved access to formal education, extension supports, creation of gender-specific credit scheme and farm-based organisation (FBO) for indigenous vegetables farmers to sustain credit accessibility were advocated.

The study described socio-economic characteristics of the beneficiaries of the Community Based Agricultural and Rural Development Project (CBARDP), profiled the agricultural technologies disseminated and adopted. The study was carried out in Kwara State, Nigeria among smallholder farmers. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select respondents who participated in CBARDP in Local Government Areas (LGAs). At the first stage, one participating LGA was purposively selected from each of the agricultural zones, making a total of nine LGAs. At the second stage, three rural communities were randomly selected from each of the selected LGAs while the final stage involved a simple random selection of ten participating farmers from the selected rural communities making a total of 270 respondents. Data collected were described with the frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviations whereas Chi-square and correlation analyses were used for inferential purposes. The results showed that the mean age of farmers was 52.1 ± 6 years, majority (92.2 % and 74.1 %) were married and male, respectively. The overall results indicated a moderate level of adoption of CBARDP technologies but high adoption in orchard, fishery, poultry and cattle packages while the respondents had low adoption in livestock, processing, crop production and agro-processing packages. The results showed that significant associations existed between sex (χ2 = 23.934), marital status (χ2 = 34.66), membership of social organisation (χ2 = 23.43), compatibility (χ2 = 362.88, relative advantage (χ2 = 211.69) and adoption of CBARDP technologies whereas there were significant relationship between household size (r = 0.201), farm size (r = 0.537), years of experience (r = −0.375) and farmers’ adoption of CBARDP technologies. The study concluded that adoption of CBARDP technologies was moderate among beneficiaries in the study area. It is therefore recommended that more awareness should be created by relevant stakeholders to encourage especially more women to actively participate in similar projects in the future.

Abstract Background Optimal complementary feeding (CF) promotes health and supports growth and development in children. While suboptimal feeding practices are reported for many countries, very limited information exists about such practices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The present study describes CF practices in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and evaluates them using the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Programming Guide: Infant and Young Child Feeding. Methods In this cross-sectional study, participating mothers of children below the age of two reported on their children’s CF introduction and practices via a structured questionnaire. The study received ethical approval (ZU17_006_F) from Zayed University. Results Out of 1822 participating mothers, 938 had initiated complementary feeding for their children, who had a mean age of 7.1 ± 5.9 months. Three quarters of the children (72.2%) were introduced to CF in a timely manner between the ages of 6 and 9 months. A majority (71.4%) consumed ≥4 food groups, i.e. the recommended minimum diet diversity. In total, less than half (47.3%) of the children met the requirements for minimum meal frequency, with the non-breastfed, 6–23 month old children being the least compliant (21.9%) (p

We review and evaluate the major land-based sources and pathways of plastic waste that lead to marine pollution in a South African context. Many of the formal solid waste and waste-water management facilities in South Africa are not fully functional, contributing towards plastic releases to the environment. Much plastic also enters the environment directly by informal and illegal dumping. Once in the environment, plastic is transported and distributed by air, inland waterways and human activity, with complex dynamics that are not fully understood. Depending on the size and type of plastic and environmental factors like wind action and run-off, plastic can be deposited into sinks such as soil, river sediments and vegetation, or carried to the ocean. Contrary to an initial assumption that South Africa is the 11th worst contributor to marine plastic pollution, we estimate from more accurate and recent data that between 15 000 and 40 000 tonnes per year is carried to the oceans. This amount is six-fold less than a previous estimate. Despite many data and information gaps that require urgent attention through research and monitoring, it is clear that the status quo will lead to a worsening of already severe plastic pollution of all environments. South Africa needs to reduce plastic entering the environment by reducing illegal and informal dumping, effectively implementing and improving waste management infrastructure, and intensifying long-term awareness campaigns. Most importantly, however, immediate and effective mitigation is required. Significance: More accurate and recent data show that between 15 000 and 40 000 tonnes of plastic is carried to the oceans from South Africa per year – six-fold less than the widely used previous estimate. Riverine sediments are potentially major sinks for plastic en route to the ocean. Management of treated waste-water sludge, as well as the state of waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs) are key concerns. WWTPs are reported to remove most plastic from the water content. The state of South African WWTPs have deteriorated to such an extent that up to 40% of the country's waste water is untreated and data and management practices of sludge are unavailable. There are major data gaps in the South African waste sector, which lead to miscalculations and uncertainties about the country's contribution to marine plastic debris.

Abstract Family-related factors, like parent’s educational level, their values and expectations have a significant impact on child’s early skills and later educational outcomes. Further, parents provide their child, alongside with other learning environments, a broad mathematical and early literacy input. This study investigates the relationship between family-related socio-economic and other factors like, parental education, amount of books at home, parental attitudes towards mathematics and science, parental perception of child’s early skills and student’s later academic achievement. This is studied in the light of the Finnish data collected for Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015. The results are presented with the help of a geospatial method called Kriging that reveals regional variance. The results indicate that family-related background variables have different effects on child’s later achievement in mathematics across Finland. The results suggest, that some areas in Finland are better in ‘levelling the playing field’ for children and minimising the effect of family related variables on educational outcomes than others.

Agitations by labour unions in the country have become a recurring decimal and this has led to a series of arrests and death of members in the course of fighting for their legitimate rights of improved welfare packages. In this incessant face- off between government and labour unions in the country, many scholars have written voicing the opinions. While some blamed successive government on their insensitivity to the plight of Nigerian workers, others condemned the actions of workers as falling below expectation as many are inefficient and incompetent. But, an area where attention has not been focused on, has to do with the value of dignity of labour among the Nigerian workforce. It is therefore pertinent to take a critical look at the religious value of the dignity of labour vis - a - vis the attitudes of those in the corridors of power and the plight of workers who are the fulcrum on which the economy upon which any nation stands. It is in light of this that this paper will examine among other things, strike actions in Nigeria, and the meaning of ‘dignity of labour’ from a religious perspective. Lastly, a clarion call will be made on stakeholders in labour matters on the need toaddress the lingering gridlock between government and labour unions in the country in order for the efforts of the present administration at revamping the economy not to be a mere waste of time .

Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) farming has boosted the Indian shrimp production to an all-time high of 0.7 MMT. However, its susceptibility to pathogens, seed quality issues, asymmetry in inputs costs and market prices, environmental limitations and inadequate institutional support are threatening its sustainability. The present study was undertaken to assess its sustainability by developing a composite sustainability index delineating technology, economics, environment, social and institutional indicators. The results show that the pacific white shrimp farming in India is sustainable with a mean sustainability index of 0.77. Majority of the surveyed farms (61%) were operated at moderate to high level of sustainability (0.66–0.84). Dimension wise analysis indicate that P. vannamei shrimp farming was technology driven, economically profitable, benefitted the society, yet, need improvement in environmental and institutional dimensions. Shrimp farm water reconditioning and reuse for subsequent crops, provision of institutional credit and insurance would further enhance its sustainability. Further access to quality shrimp seed, carrying capacity-based stocking density, optimization of inputs, mobilizing farmers for collective compliance of BMPs and strengthening institutional support mechanisms for domestic marketing are together complement the sustainability of shrimp farming in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agitations by labour unions in the country have become a recurring decimal and this has led to a series of arrests and death of members in the course of fighting for their legitimate rights of improved welfare packages. In this incessant face-off between government and labour unions in the country, many scholars have written voicing the opinions. While some blamed successive government on their insensitivity to the plight of Nigerian workers, others condemned the actions of workers as falling below expectation as many are inefficient and incompetent. But, an area where attention has not been focused on, has to do with the value of dignity of labour among the Nigerian workforce. It is therefore pertinent to take a critical look at the religious value of the dignity of labour vis - a - vis the attitudes of those in the corridors of power and the plight of workers who are the fulcrum on which the economy upon which any nation stands. It is in light of this that this paper will examine among other things, strike actions in Nigeria, and the meaning of 'dignity of labour' from a religious perspective. Lastly, a clarion call will be made on stakeholders in labour matters on the need to address the lingering gridlock between government and labour unions in the country in order for the efforts of the present administration at revamping the economy not to be a mere waste of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]