Influencing Factors for Sustainable Dietary Transformation—A Case Study of German Food Consumption

In a case study of Germany, we examine current food consumption along the three pillars of sustainability to evaluate external factors that influence consumers’ dietary decisions. We investigate to what extent diets meet nutritional requirements (social factor), the diets’ environmental impact (ecological factor), and the food prices’ influence on purchasing behavior (economic factor). For this, we compare two dietary recommendations (plant-based, omnivorous) with the status quo, and we examine different consumption styles (conventional, organic produce). Additionally, we evaluate 1446 prices of food items from three store types (organic store, supermarket, and discounter). With this, we are able to evaluate and compare 30 different food baskets along their health, environmental, and economic impact. Results show that purchasing decisions are only slightly influenced by health-related factors. Furthermore, few consumers align their diet with low environmental impact. In contrast, a large share of consumers opt for cheap foods, regardless of health and environmental consequences. We find that price is, arguably, the main factor in food choices from a sustainability standpoint. Action should be taken by policy makers to financially incentivize consumers in favor of healthy and environmentally friendly diets. Otherwise, the status quo further drives especially underprivileged consumers towards unhealthy and environmentally damaging consumption.

Analysis of Consumer Behavior on Buying Decision at the Online Shop, Easy Shopping Indonesia

Know the effect of the consumer behavior of online shop, Easy Shopping Indonesia on the consumers’ buying decision. The quantitative approach, descriptive and verified design are used. As much as 100 consumers of Essay Shopping in Bandung are selected as respondents using a purposive method. The instrument of data collection is questionnaire. The data analysis used is Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Square (PLS SEM). The research results show that the consumer behavior of Easy Shopping online shop affects the consumer buying decision significantly. The biggest effect of the consumer behavior dimension on the buying decision variable is a personal factor; the second one is a psychological factor; the third one is a social factor and the fourth one is a cultural factor. The biggest effect of the consumer behavior variable is on the dimension of payment method; then the second one is distribution selection; the third one is on brand selection; the fourth one is on buying time and the last one is on product selection. Those findings are the antecedents of the online buying decision which finally affect the changes of the buying decision from the conventional buying process into the online one. Key Words : consumer behavior, cultural factors, social factors, personal factors and psychological factors, buying decision, product selection, brand selection, distribution selection, payment method and timing.

Model orzecznictwa w sprawach o wykroczenia w Polsce Ludowej

The authoritarian ideology that guided the authorities of the communist Polish state did not remain indifferent to the emerging model of jurisprudence in petty offence cases. Eliminating the possibility of court proceedings, the location of adjudicating boards in petty offence cases at national councils, the introduction of collegial jurisprudence exercised by the social factor, giving the jurisprudence an educational character, and abandoning it in favour of severe penalties implemented for hooligan petty offences — these are just some of the features that distinguish the jurisprudence model in petty offence cases in the People’s Republic of Poland. The pursuit of the authorities to subordinate the individuals by, on the one hand, handing over the jurisprudence in petty offence cases into the hands of the people, and, on the other hand, filling the adjudication boards with members subordinate to the authority, did not bring independence in the decisions issued. It is evidenced, for example, by the excessive repressive adjudication boards judgments issued against participants of the political crisis of March 1968. The Authors present the development of the model of jurisprudence in petty offence cases in the controversial period of the communist regime.

Spain as a Reference in Wine Culture

The culture of wine as a traditional drink in the countries of Southern Europe is determined by the geographical, ethnographic, and historical context, at the same time it is associated with national identification. In the case of Spain, wine plays the role of a friendly union, an element of active communication, is a sociocultural behavioral norm. Through the history of wine-making, the key stages of the country’s development can be traced: from ancient settlements to the European Union, variety of backgrounds, traditions and religions, etc. adding to the long history of wine on the territory of today’s Spain. The theme of wine is reflected in the works of famous Spanish philosophers, writers and artists as a stable tradition, a symbol of community, celebration, creativity, at the same time melancholy and sadness, as a typical Spanish dualism of attitude to life. It is noted that wine was not only viewed as a means of recreation, but also a powerful double-edged social factor, both pacifying and disorganizing. Taverns became people’s universities, and cafes with their tertulias became the center of intellectual life. Wine is an important economic component, the vineyard zones cover the whole country, with its main wine-making regions — from Rioja to Jerez — renowned around the world. Hundreds of varieties of wines are produced, which differ in denomination, aging, reputation, and popularity on the world market and with tourists. Spain has a leading position in this area. At present, bars, restaurants, and taverns, as public spaces suitable for big parties and family gatherings alike, have become not only a place of spending one’s pastime, but also a platform for political discussions, a place where certain political forces manipulate their influence, where polar views on the current and future agenda are in confrontation: the globalization of the society and cultural unification, or the preservation of unique customs and traditions. Wine culture is dynamic, it manifests itself in a new form in the younger generation, the latest gender and progressive norms appear, the simple, down-to-earth consumption characteristic of the bar culture displaces the spiritual component. The loss of traditions, including the wine culture, is dangerous for the society. It will have negative consequences for the country, will cause damage to its attractiveness for investors and tourists, and hurt the very image of their motherland the Spanish hold dear. Wine remains an important part of the national heritage, material, and spiritual culture of Spain.

Understanding Anorexia and Eating Capability of Older Adults in Attempt to Prevent Malnutrition

Because of the rise of life expectancy, the older adults are now a big part of world’s population. In United States, prevalence of adults aged more than 65 years old increased from 36.6 million in 2005 to 47.8 million in 2015. In Indonesia, percentage of older adults increased two-fold from 1971 – 2019 as much as 9,6% or more than 25 million people. Along with this aging population, eating problems and malnutrition are getting more frequent. Aging causes several changes and degradation of body function which physiologically lead to anorexia and eating difficulty in older adults. Moreover, the other age-related factors such as social factor, economic factor, psychological factor, diseases and polypharmacy also have significant impact on food intake in older adults. Prevalence of inadequate energy intake and malnutrition in older adults are increasing, which lead them to become susceptible to acute and chronic diseases or worsening of their disease, increase hospitalization, and increase mortality rate. Even so, the signs of malnutrition of older adults are often late to be recognized, whereas the recovery of malnutrition in older adults is much more complicating than in younger adults. This review discusses about problems encountered by older adults that decrease their intake and cause malnutrition, to help clinicians recognize the cause of malnutrition in older adults earlier.

Carbon emissions management in construction operations: a systematic review

PurposeThe demand to reduce carbon emissions has become an increasingly important social factor due to the unprecedented impacts of climate change. However, most existing publications have focused on minimizing emissions during the operational phase of buildings. At the same time, there is a lack of comprehensive research conducted on carbon emissions, specifically during the construction phase. The purpose of this paper is to identify, review and classify current practices related to carbon emissions management in construction operations to gain greater insight into how to reduce and mitigate emissions and achieve more sustainable solutions.Design/methodology/approachThis study reviewed the published literature on carbon emissions from construction. A total of 198 bibliographic records were extracted from the Scopus collection database and analyzed using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). PRISMA is used as a basis for reporting possible trends, research methods and strategies used in published literatures. A total of 99 papers related to carbon emissions in the construction operations were further reviewed and analyzed. This review paper draws on existing research and identifies current carbon management patterns in construction projects.FindingsData indicated an upward trend in the number of publications in carbon emissions research during the last few years, particularly in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The most significant contributions to the domain were reported from China, Europe and the USA. This paper found that most studies conduct the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to estimate carbon emissions. This paper found that the primary studies have focused on construction machinery and equipment emissions. The strategies such as establishing uniform standards for carbon emissions policies and regulations, equipment and logistic planning and low carbon design material will potentially impact carbon emissions reductions.Practical implicationsThis paper provides information that will be beneficial for the construction industry to design and manage construction operations. It will also be of interest to those looking to reduce or manage construction emissions.Originality/valueAlthough there is a diversity of current thinking related to the practical estimation and management of carbon emissions in construction projects, there is no consolidated set of keys of standardized carbon emissions management in practice. By assessing the existing paradigms of carbon assessment methods and tactics in the construction industry, this study contributed to the existing knowledge base by providing insights into current techniques in the construction sector for monitoring and mitigating emissions.

Dietary Habits among Undergraduate Medical Students in Tamil Nadu; A Before and After Intervention Study

Introduction: In a developing country like India, people suffer from poverty and hunger on one hand and other lifestyle related diseases on the other hand. Unhealthy lifestyle is especially common among affluent society. Non communicable diseases has a multifactorial causation and key modifiable risk factor for NCDs is obesity. Adolescent population tends to suffer from ill effects of obesity because of unhealthy eating habits and social factor like stress. This study aims to evaluate the life style pattern especially eating habits among undergraduate medical students and possible outcome of interventional program in the form of health education. Methods: A Before and After Intervention study was conducted among 100 undergraduate medical students in a private medical college of Tamil Nadu. Universal sampling method was used to select the study participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the study participants and Mc Nemar chi-square test was used for analysis. Results: The Percentage of students who were overweight was 23% and obese was 5%. It was estimated that 94% of the participants had habit of consuming outside food before intervention and when enquired about the frequency 13% consumed daily, 48% consumed twice or thrice per week, 28% monthly once and 11% had rare consumption of outside food. Mc Nemar test was done to compare consumption of healthy food among study participants before and after intervention and this association was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: This study concluded that consumption of healthy food among study participants before and after intervention improved and association was statistically significant.

Why can China maintain a high crop diversity? A spatial-temporal dynamic analysis

Crop diversity is crucial for producing more food and nutrition in the crowded planet and achieving agricultural sustainable development, and thus it is a hot topic in shaping policies aimed at ensuring food security. Many studies have revealed that enhanced crop diversity can benefit crop productivity. However, research on how to maintain a relatively high crop diversity at regional and national scales remains limited. This study attempts to examine the underlying mechanisms of crop diversity changes in China and eventually answer why China can maintain a high crop diversity from the spatial-temporal perspective. To achieve this end, the county level crop area dataset for the period of 1980–2014 was compiled and used to quantify the spatiotemporal dynamics of crop diversity in China. The result reveals that the China’s crop diversity trended upward over past 35 years, evidenced by more than 7 major crops at national level and 4 major crops at county level having undergone massive planting process to maintain a high crop diversity. Spatially, the crop diversity increased in more than two-thirds of the counties, and its hotspots moved gradually to the south-west mountainous area. The natural factor of slope and the social factor of population density contributed to shape the crop diversity pattern in global effects. In contrast, the irrigation degree, elevation of cropland, mean annual temperature and precipitation affected the spatially non-stationary distribution of crop diversity at the local level. On the whole, the maintenance of a higher crop diversity in China not only was limited by natural conditions, but also subject to adopt the multi-cropping systems strategic choice for the country to agricultural conditions. We argued that crop diversity can be an indicator to draw agricultural zoning, and increasing crop diversity should be recognized as a policy tool to implement agricultural sustainable development strategy.

Conservation and Management of the Culture of Bears

ABSTRACT: Culture is widely accepted as an important social factor present across a wide range of species. Bears have a culture as defined as behavioral traditions inherited though social learning usually from mothers to offspring. Successful bear cultures can enhance fitness and resource exploitation benefits. In contrast, some bear cultures related to response to humans and human-related foods can be maladaptive and result in reduced fitness and direct mortality. In environments with minimal human influence most bear culture has evolved over generations to be beneficial and well adapted to enhance fitness. However, most bears across the world do not live in areas with minimal human influence and in these areas, bear culture is often changed by bear interactions with humans, usually to the detriment of bear survival. We highlight the importance of identifying unique bear cultural traits that allow efficient use of local resources and the value of careful management to preserve these adaptive cultural behaviors. It is also important to select against maladaptive cultural behaviors that are usually related to humans inorder to reduce human-bear conflicts and high bear mortality. We use examples from Yellowstone National Park to demonstrate how long-term management to reduce maladaptive bear cultures related to humans has resulted in healthy bear populations and a low level of human-bear conflict in spite of a high number of Park visitors in close association with bears.

Maternal responses to pup calls in a high-cost lactation species

Bonding between mothers and their young is fundamental to mammalian reproductive behaviour and individual fitness. In social systems where the risk of confusing filial and non-filial offspring is high, mothers should demonstrate early, strong and consistent responses to their kin throughout the period of offspring dependence, irrespective of maternal traits. We tested this hypothesis through playback experiments in the northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris , a phocid species that breeds in high-density colonies. We found that mothers recognized their offspring throughout lactation and as early as 1–2 days after parturition. Measures of experience (age) and temperament (aggressivity) did not predict their response strength to filial playback treatments, nor did pup age or sex. Some mothers showed great consistency in behavioural responses throughout the lactation period, while others were less predictable. The strength of a female's response did not influence her pup's weaning weight; however, more consistent females weaned pups of higher mass. This is a rare demonstration of individual recognition among phocid mothers and their offspring, and suggests that consistency in maternal responsiveness may be an important social factor influencing the pup's growth and survival.