scholarly journals When Machines Take the Beans: Ex-Ante Socioeconomic Impact Evaluation of Mechanized Harvesting of Mungbean in Bangladesh and Myanmar

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 925
Author(s):  
Lutz Depenbusch ◽  
Cathy Rozel Farnworth ◽  
Pepijn Schreinemachers ◽  
Thuzar Myint ◽  
Md Monjurul Islam ◽  
...  

Agricultural mechanization has spread across much of Asia since the 1960s. It has increased agricultural productivity and reduced arduous farm work. However, differing impacts for smallholders and hired laborers, and for men and women, require careful consideration. This study analyzed, ex-ante, the likely social and economic tradeoffs of mechanizing the mungbean harvest in Bangladesh and Myanmar. We used a mixed methods approach combining survey data from 852 farm households with in-depth interviews in four villages. Partial budget analysis shows that mechanical harvesting of mungbean is not yet profitable for most farms. There is nevertheless an incentive to mechanize as the associated timeliness of the harvest reduces the risk of harvest losses from weather shocks. Men and women farmers expect time savings and reduced drudgery. The results confirm that hired workers depend on manual harvesting for income and status in both countries. Most hired workers are landless married women with limited access to other sources of income. In the short term, farmers are likely to combine manual harvests and a final mechanized harvest of the indeterminate crop. This could mediate the impact on hired workers. However, in the long term, it will be necessary to facilitate income-generating opportunities for women in landless rural families to maintain their well-being and income.

2021 ◽  
pp. 089011712110553
Author(s):  
Cheryl Jones ◽  
Marley Gibbons ◽  
Kate Magsamen-Conrad ◽  
Kathleen T. Ulanday ◽  
Jessica Watterson ◽  
...  

Purpose To test the feasibility of introducing ‘Free Time for Wellness’ (FT4W) an intervention to increase healthy behaviours and reduce the risk of cancer. Design Feasibility study; Setting: Washington Heights, New York, USA is a low socioeconomic status area. Subjects Mothers aged 18 and above with children under 12 years of age and living in Washington Heights were recruited. Intervention FT4W, a community-based intervention delivered through a neighbourhood-based app, offering weekly dance and yoga classes, food pantry visits and group playdates. Childcare professionals cared for participants' children during wellness activities. Measures A bespoke before and after survey was designed and tested for its ability to collect relevant data to assess the impact of FT4W. Outcomes included recruitment rates, participation, attrition, acceptability, and success of the community champion. Analysis Comparisons of proportions and means Results Twenty-one mothers participated in the study of which 90% attended ≥ 1 FT4W activity; 65% ≥ 2; 52% ≥ 3. The survey was completed by a 100% of participants indicating it was easy to understand and not too burdensome. All measures detected change in constructs from baseline to follow-up. Availability of childcare was the most commonly (66%) reported reason participants were able to engage in the offered wellness activities. Conclusion Conducting a larger-scale trial to assess the impact of FT4W is feasible considering 4 major lessons. (1) Recruitment, retention, and acceptability rates were high; however, moms need additional support to increase participation in wellness activities and improve tech literacy. (2) Research measures were sensitive enough to detect change, but the timing of assessments needs to be considered. (3) Participants greatly valued access to professional childcare. (4) The Community Champion is a necessary, but difficult role to fill that requires careful consideration by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).


2009 ◽  
pp. 125-152
Author(s):  
Diego Lanzi

- In this paper we propose a model of Gender Auditing (GA) inspired by Amartya Sen's capability approach. The methodological and normative assumptions and features of the model are outlined in order to list the relevant dimensions of human development. Then, the paper proposes indicators and a simple variation of the Gender Empowerment Measure to evaluate the impact of public policies on gender issues of equal opportunities between men and women.JEL D63, I31, J16Keywords: Economia di Genere, Politiche Pubbliche, Capacitŕ, Well-being


1989 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL HUGHES

Previous studies have found that children have a negative, albeit fairly weak, impact on the psychological well-being of parents. These studies have generally focused on married respondents and, to a somewhat lesser extent, unmarried women, but have generally ignored unmarried men. For the most part, studies of parenthood and well-being have not considered the issue of adult and/or absent children. Defining parenthood so it includes relations with adult children, absent children, and dependent children in the home, the present study compares the impact of parenthood on the well-being of formerly married men and women to that of married men and women. The findings confirm that nonparents experience better mental health than parents and further indicate that (1) variation in the parental role is more strongly associated with psychological well-being for men than for women, (2) parenthood is most strongly related to well-being among formerly married men, for whom the greatest problems occur with the presence of young children, (3) the negative effect of the absence of children on parents is greater than the effect of the presence of children for married men and formerly married women, and (4) much of the negative effect of being divorced or being widowed has to do with the impact of children on psychological well-being, particularly for men. Theoretical implications are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 463-463
Author(s):  
Miles Taylor ◽  
Dawn Carr ◽  
Amelie Quesnel-Vallee

Abstract Financial security is critical to overall well-being in retirement. Life course disruptions in work due to unemployment or disability may have lasting impacts on financial security in later life, and these effects may or may not be ameliorated by old age security programs and retirement benefits. Women are known to be particularly vulnerable for financial hardship in later life, making their life course experiences especially important in understanding financial well-being in retirement. We examine the Canadian Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA) to assess later life financial insecurity in retirement, including 20 years of data on labor force experiences across adulthood drawn from linked tax records (N=2,353; N=1,079 men and N=1,274 women). The Canadian context is a useful complement to studies in the US due to its diverse and relatively generous public support programs, in addition to personal savings options for retirement. We find that among men, financial insecurity is tied to years reporting unemployment, where for women this outcome is more strongly linked to reports of disability and income assistance across adulthood. Although public and private retirement benefits do not offset these associations for either gender, receipt of income supplements reduce subjective financial insecurity among women. Among men, personal savings have the most robust effect in reducing financial insecurity. Our results suggest that in Canada, with its relatively generous provision of retirement support, life course work and health instability have lasting but differential effects for men and women in retirement.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Ulmanen

Women’s and men’s lial care: extent, content and consequencesThis paper analyses the extent, content and consequences of caregiving for elderly parents from a gender and welfare state perspective using a nationally representative postal survey conducted in Sweden in 2013 (response rate 60.5 per cent, 3630 individuals, age 45–66 years). Negative consequences of filial care on well-being, work situation and employment were examined. The analysis confirms earlier research showing that filial care is common in Sweden but is less intense and has fewer negative consequences than in less generous welfare states. A quarter of both women and men gave filial care at least once a month, on average around 3.4 hours a week. Although men and women gave the same extent of filial care, it was more common among women to give the more demanding personal care as well as to experience mental and physical strain, difficulties in finding time for leisure activities and reduced ability to focus on their job. Although women retired earlier than planned due to filial care more often than men, this was very rare. Men and women, however, suffered to the same extent from difficulties in managing to accomplish their tasks, to take part in meetings, courses and travels, as well as having to reduce their working hours and quit their jobs. The content of care was crucial for the occurrence of negative consequences of caregiving, even when the analysis controlled for hours of care given. The more demanding the care tasks performed, the more common it was among both men and women that their well-being and work situation were affected. The correlation between care tasks and negative impact, however, differed between genders. The impact of managerial care was much higher for women than for men, which is discussed in relation to the decline of eldercare services and the lack of coordination of health and eldercare services.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 733-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Jongbloed

This study examines the impact of post-secondary education on the well-being of Europeans, comparing single-item hedonic and multi-dimensional eudaimonic models of well-being, operationalized as ‘satisfaction with life’ (SWL) and ‘flourishing’. The results indicate that the impact of education varies significantly when well-being is defined from each of these two perspectives: although vocational education is not significantly associated with the SWL of women and men, it is significantly associated with the extent to which both men and women are flourishing in their lives. Tertiary education is significant across all models for both SWL and flourishing. This study highlights the importance of comprehensive conceptualizations and measurements of well-being in European educational research and public policy.


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1751
Author(s):  
Richard J. Bloomer ◽  
Matthew Butawan ◽  
Marie van der Merwe ◽  
Faith H. Keating

Background: Certain dietary fibers have been reported to improve gut health and cellular immunity. Ambrotose is a glyconutrient supplement that contains mannose-rich polysaccharides (acemannan), reported to improve immune function. A more nutrient-dense version of this dietary supplement has been developed recently, with added aloe leaf gel powder (acemannan). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the traditional and newly developed Ambrotose products on immunity, gut health, and psychological well-being in healthy men and women. Methods: Seventy-five men and women were randomly assigned in double-blind manner to one of five treatments, as follows: Ambrotose Advanced (AA) at 2 or 4 g daily, Ambrotose LIFE (AL) at 2 or 4 g daily, or placebo. Subjects ingested their assigned treatment daily for eight weeks. Resting heart rate, blood pressure, and measures of psychological well-being were analyzed before and after four and eight weeks of supplementation. Blood samples were collected at the same times and analyzed for zonulin, hematology measures, and cytokines—IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β, and TNF-α (analyzed both with and without stimulation via lipopolysaccharide [LPS]). Results: All Ambrotose treatments were well-tolerated. There were no differences among treatments in heart rate or blood pressure across time. Self-reported well-being scores were generally higher for the Ambrotose treatments but there were no changes of statistical significance across time (p > 0.05). Differences of statistical significance were noted for select biochemical variables, the most notable being a dramatic decrease in monocytes in the Ambrotose groups. No change was noted in the cytokine response to LPS stimulation in all groups, indicating a maintenance of a healthy immune response. Conclusion:Regular supplementation with Ambrotose is safe and can improve subclinical cellular adversity (as evidenced by a decrease in monocytes), without unnecessary activation of an immune response.


Author(s):  
Daniel W. Grupe ◽  
Chris Smith ◽  
Chad McGehee

The introduction of mindfulness practices into law enforcement has the potential for broad benefits for police officers and community members alike, but the impact of this work depends on careful consideration of contextual factors specific to conducting research and training in this population and environment. This chapter provides an overview of the authors' experiences over the past five years adapting, delivering, and studying the impact of mindfulness training in a Midwestern U.S. police agency. The authors detail strategies and practices that have proved beneficial in the implementation and uptake of this training. Themes that are addressed include developing diverse and meaningful partnerships, preparing outside researchers and trainers to work in a police context, adapting mindfulness for policing, and logistical issues. Key considerations for the future of mindfulness in policing include the challenge of widespread implementation and expanding the focus of research and training to encompass community well-being.


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