TECHNOLOGICAL GAP IN RECOMMENDED CULTIVATION PRACTICES OF CABBAGE GROWERS AT KUHUBOTO BLOCK IN DIMAPUR DISTRICT OF NAGALAND

This study has been conducted to find out the technological gap in recommended cultivation practices of the cabbage growers in order to understand the extent of the difference between the traditional and non- traditional practices practiced by the local farmers in the district. The aforementioned study was conducted at Kuhuboto block in Dimapur district of Nagaland in the year 2021. A descriptive research designed was applied for this study. The primary data was collected from 120 respondents by personal interview method using pre-structure interview schedule. After the analysis of the data, it was observed that, maximum number of the respondents (55.83%) were having medium level of overall utilization of information sources and majority of the cabbage growers (62.50%) belonged to medium level of over-all technological gap category. It indicates that a sum number of the population had incorporated the new technologies while others have still yet to adopt and use the new recommended cabbage cultivation. The socio- economic variables associated with the respondents, such as education and training exposure were positively significant with the extent of adoption of improved package of practices of cabbage cultivation. The above results compel the research and extension system to work on the gaps in a pragmatic way.

Designing simple productive waqf models for Indonesia

Purpose Productive waqf is one type of ethical business/investment, which should comply to Islamic law, with so many models to choose from. The purpose of this study is to determine factors of simple productive waqf, propose several simple productive waqf models and select the best simple productive waqf models appropriate to be adopted by waqf institution in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach This study applies the analytic network process, including field survey, focused group discussion and in-depth interview, with two groups of respondents, namely, expert and waqf practitioner. Findings The results show that the determinants of simple productive waqf in Indonesia are the waqf institution, productive waqf asset to be developed, how to finance the productive waqf, how to manage the productive waqf and the compliance of productive waqf. Proposed productive waqf models include cash-waqf and self-managed model, Islamic bank financing and self-managed model, Sukuk and external partnership model, cash-waqf and external partnership and cash-waqf + co-financing and external partnership. Moreover, the best simple productive waqf model is cash-waqf and self-managed model, followed by cash-waqf and external partnership, where they could achieve the most in all socio-economic variables, well-being compliance and moral/ethics within the theory of unity of knowledge, Tawhid. Research limitations/implications The simple productive waqf models proposed are not exhaustive, since there are so many variations of the model. Moreover, the case and respondents are all Indonesian, so that the results are possibly only applicable to Indonesia. Practical implications To increase the probability of successful productive waqf development, waqf institutions could apply cash-waqf and self-managed model first, while other models could be applied in staged in line with waqf institution experience. Social implications The successful development of productive waqf could increase the social programs provided by waqf institutions to the society. Originality/value Productive waqf development is desperately needed due to many unproductive waqf lands in Indonesia, while studies have been limited, and there is no study discussing the productive waqf model appropriate for Indonesia.

Food Insecurity and Associated Factors in Brazilian Undergraduates during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Undergraduates may face challenges to assure food security, related to economic and mental distress, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess food insecurity and its associated factors in undergraduates during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2020 to February 2021 with 4775 undergraduates from all Brazilian regions. The questionnaire contained socio-economic variables, the validated Brazilian food insecurity scale, and the ESQUADA scale to assess diet quality. The median age of the students was 22.0 years, and 48.0% reported income decreasing with the pandemic. Food insecurity was present in 38.6% of the students, 4.5% with severe food insecurity and 7.7% moderate. Logistic regressions showed students with brown and black skin color/race presented the highest OR for food insecurity; both income and weight increase or reduction during the pandemic was also associated with a higher OR for food insecurity, and better diet quality was associated with decreased OR for food insecurity. Our study showed a considerable presence of food insecurity in undergraduates. Policy for this population must be directed to the most vulnerable: those with brown and black skin color/race, who changed income during the pandemic, and those presented with difficulties maintaining weight and with poor diet quality.

An investigation of cancer survival inequalities associated with individual-level socio-economic status, area-level deprivation, and contextual effects, in a cancer patient cohort in England and Wales

Background People living in more deprived areas of high-income countries have lower cancer survival than those in less deprived areas. However, associations between individual-level socio-economic circumstances and cancer survival are relatively poorly understood. Moreover, few studies have addressed contextual effects, where associations between individual-level socio-economic status and cancer survival vary depending on area-based deprivation. Methods Using 9276 individual-level observations from a longitudinal study in England and Wales, we examined the association with cancer survival of area-level deprivation and individual-level occupation, education, and income, for colorectal, prostate and breast cancer patients aged 20–99 at diagnosis. With flexible parametric excess hazard models, we estimated excess mortality across individual-level and area-level socio-economic variables and investigated contextual effects. Results For colorectal cancers, we found evidence of an association between education and cancer survival in men with Excess Hazard Ratio (EHR) = 0.80, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.60;1.08 comparing “degree-level qualification and higher” to “no qualification” and EHR = 0.74 [0.56;0.97] comparing “apprenticeships and vocational qualification” to “no qualification”, adjusted on occupation and income; and between occupation and cancer survival for women with EHR = 0.77 [0.54;1.10] comparing “managerial/professional occupations” to “manual/technical,” and EHR = 0.81 [0.63;1.06] comparing “intermediate” to “manual/technical”, adjusted on education and income. For breast cancer in women, we found evidence of an association with income (EHR = 0.52 [0.29;0.95] for the highest income quintile compared to the lowest, adjusted on education and occupation), while for prostate cancer, all three individual-level socio-economic variables were associated to some extent with cancer survival. We found contextual effects of area-level deprivation on survival inequalities between occupation types for breast and prostate cancers, suggesting wider individual-level inequalities in more deprived areas compared to least deprived areas. Individual-level income inequalities for breast cancer were more evident than an area-level differential, suggesting that area-level deprivation might not be the most effective measure of inequality for this cancer. For colorectal cancer in both sexes, we found evidence suggesting area- and individual-level inequalities, but no evidence of contextual effects. Conclusions Findings highlight that both individual and contextual effects contribute to inequalities in cancer outcomes. These insights provide potential avenues for more effective policy and practice.

Modeling of COVID-19 Pandemic vis-à-vis Some Socio-Economic Factors

The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the socio-economic status of countries around the world should not be underestimated, when we consider the role it has played in various countries. Many people were unemployed, many households were careful about their spending, and a greater social divide in the population emerged in 14 different countries from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and from Africa (that is, in developed and developing countries) for which we have considered the epidemiological data on the spread of infection during the first and second waves, as well as their socio-economic data. We established a mathematical relationship between Theil and Gini indices, then we investigated the relationship between epidemiological data and socio-economic determinants, using several machine learning and deep learning methods. High correlations were observed between some of the socio-economic and epidemiological parameters and we predicted three of the socio-economic variables in order to validate our results. These results show a clear difference between the first and the second wave of the pandemic, confirming the impact of the real dynamics of the epidemic’s spread in several countries and the means by which it was mitigated.

Water Availability Challenges in Low-Income Areas of Agbowo Community, Ibadan, Nigeria

Water is crucial to life. This has led to the inclusion of a specific water-related target in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study by World Health Organization (WHO) stated that about 663 million people worldwide have no adequate access to safe drinking water while UNICEF stated that about 65 million Nigerians have no access to safe water supplies. It is against this background that this study was conducted in Agbowo Community. The community has a high rate of economic poverty and poor living conditions. The study determined the gap between water supply and demand and enumerated physical and socio-economic variables that influence water availability. The study noted that a significant number of respondents expressed optimism despite the seriousness of the challenges and recommended massive remediation of the area as most of the water sources are contaminated by sewage.

Nutritional Status of Rural Households: A Case Study in Cooch Behar District of West Bengal

The present work focuses on studying the effect of socio-economic factors on nutritional status of rural households under the Coochbehar-II block of Coochbehar district in West Bengal. A well-structured interview schedule was prepared to collect information about the socio-economic status and nutritional status of the respondents. As an indicator of Nutritional status, the Body Mass Index (BMI) values of the respondents were studied. In the present study, the Independent-Samples Kruskal-Wallis Test and Independent-Samples Mann-Whitney U Test (non-paramedic test) were employed to study the effect of different socio-economic variables on nutritional status of the respondents. Age of the respondents, educational qualification of the respondents, Family size, and House type of the respondents were found to significantly affect the BMI scores of the respondents. The categories of the significantly contributing variables for nutrition like age, education, and house type show significant associations with the BMI categories using Contingency table and Chi-square test.

Trust of Socially Vulnerable Groups on Criminal Justice System of Pakistan

The present research analyzed the trust of juvenile and women prisoners in the criminal justice system of Pakistan with a focus upon the perceived legitimacy and effectiveness of justice institutions for procedural and distributive fairness. Data were collected from both under-trial and convicted juvenile and women prisoners from Borstal Institute and District Jail Faisalabad respectively. Although larger proportions of the respondents recognized and accepted the authority of various justice institutions for rule of law, a significant number of respondents viewed that justice institutions protect the interests of powerful people and do not represent moral authority. Police lacked the trust of the respondents for procedural fairness in terms of respect, impartiality, and fair treatment. However, courts have been trusted for impartiality and fair treatment compared to police and other justice institutions. The logistic results indicated educational attainment, age, prison status, and income level differently influenced experiences of the prisoners towards procedural and distributive fairness of justice institutions. Younger, illiterate, and under-trial prisoners with relatively low household income levels had low perceived legitimacy of justice institutions and less trust in the criminal justice system. Low scoring on socio-economic variables seemed to be related to increased vulnerability of the prisoners, in turn, less trust in the criminal justice system.

The impact of organizational culture on public procurement act compliance in Obuasi municipality

Public procurement has become an integral component of Saving Public purse in the whole world wide not exempting Africa and for that matter Ghana. Public procurement compliance is one of the major factors that can lead to major saving in public spending. The major objective of this research work was to appreciate how organizational culture impact on compliance with the Public Procurement Act in the Obuasi Municipality. Largely four objectives were explored to asses and investigate the study in order to draw conclusion. Both Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to conduct the study. The study made use of 150 participants using a convenient sampling procedure. The study revealed that involvement (β = 0.42, p-value < 0.05) was a significant determinants of public procurement compliance Act whiles controlling for habit, stewardship behaviour and media publicity. Moreover, study found that Adaptability (β = 0.56, p-value < 0.05) was a significant determinants of public procurement compliance Act whiles controlling for habit, stewardship behaviour and media publicity. Again, study revealed that mission (β = -0.53, p-value < 0.05) was a significant determinants of public procurement compliance Act whiles controlling for habit, stewardship behaviour and media publicity. However, the study found that consistency (β = -0.13, p-value > 0.05) was not a significant determinants of public procurement compliance Act whiles controlling for habit, stewardship behaviour and media publicity. The study concludes that organizational is a determinant of procurement Act compliance meanwhile socio-economic variables significantly predicts procurement compliance. The study recommends improvement in cultural practices in public institutions to enhance compliance with the Procurement Act.

An attempt to optimize human resources allocation based on spatial diversity of the first wave of COVID–19 in Poland

Aim. Our task was to examine the relationship between the SARS–CoV–2 arrival and the number of confi rmed COVID–19 cases in the fi rst wave (period from March 4 to May 22, 2020 (unoffi cial data)), and socio–economic variables at the powiat (county) level.Methods. We were using simple statistical techniques such as data visualisation, correlation analysis, spatial clustering and multiple linear regression.Results. We showed that immigration and the logarithm of general mobility was the best predictor of SARS–CoV–2 arrival times, while emigration, industrialisation and air quality explain most of the size of the epidemic in poviats. On the other hand, infection dynamics is driven to a lesser extent by previously postulated variables such as population size and density, income or the size of the elderly population.Conclusions. Our analyses could support Polish authorities in preparation for the second wave of infections and optimal management of resources as we have provided a proposition of optimal distribution of human resources between poviats. Although this isa retrospective analysis of the initial phase of the epidemic, similar patterns could repeat in case of new variants of SARS–CoV–2 or new respiratory disease for immunologically naive populations.