1,721,073 research outputs found
Assessing Financial Sustainability of Small-Scale Farms in North Carolina
Get PDFThis honors thesis examines the financial sustainability of small-scale farms in Durham and Orange Counties in North Carolina that grow produce, keep poultry, small ruminants (e.g., sheep and goats) and small camelids (e.g., llamas and alpacas) and produce other agricultural products. These farms are generally characterized as local and environmentally conscious due to a wider variety of crops produced and a greater focus on a smaller area of land often leading to lower pesticide use, better irrigation and soil improvements. Quantitative and qualitative data for a representative sample of small-scale farms focusing on their financial viability, sources of non-farm income, allocation of factors of production (e.g. land, hours worked, hired labor, capital investments), marketing and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics were collected through 21 in-person structured interviews. Farms were categorized as either sustainable, quasi-sustainable or unsustainable, and the data were analyzed for factors correlated with financial sustainability. These categories were dependent on three primary variables—whether the farming was the primary operator’s primary occupation, gross farm income covering operating costs (including income for the operator) and the use or absence of additional sources of income to subsidize operating costs. Eight of the farms were considered financially sustainable, four quasi-sustainable and six financially unsustainable. Number of years as primary operator and experience seemed highly important in determining financial sustainability. Operators that were not farming as their primary occupation stated their desire to farm full-time but were financially limited. Quasi-sustainable farms were more likely to use web-based advertising and utilize U-pick operations. Quasi and unsustainable farms were more likely to use federal, state and local assistance programs, but more research is required to determine the direction of the relationship between these factors. Government programs focused on new farms, such as establishing sustainable practices in land management, seem highly beneficial as well as grants for infrastructure across all sustainability groups. Durham and Orange counties are wealthy counties, which makes the findings difficult to generalize beyond college towns.Bachelor of Art
Measuring the Right to Food: A U.S. Policy Perspective
Get PDFThe right to food is recognized by international law as a fundamental human right of all people. Three conditions must be met for the right to food to be realized; food must be available, accessible, and adequate. While food policy research in the United States has focused on specific elements of these conditions, the right to food has not been measured in a substantive and comprehensive way. This paper discusses the normative implications of the right to food in the United States and proposes a framework for operationalizing and measuring it domestically. I argue that right to food standards should apply in the United States, and that a substantive and comprehensive right to food assessment should be undertaken. Incorporating right to food principles into the development of U.S. food policy, particularly at the state and local levels, may address both structural and direct determinants of food insecurity and the prevalence of overweight and obesity. The goal of right to food policies in the U.S. should be to facilitate conditions such that people are able to provide a healthy diet for themselves. This paper takes the first step in a substantive right to food assessment of U.S. food policy by introducing an evaluation framework for use in future policy research and analysis.Bachelor of Art
Determinants of exposure to household air pollution in rural Malawi
Get PDFThe very high exposure of people to airborne combustion products in developing
nations who use solid fuels (mainly wood) as the only source of fuel for cooking, often in
inefficient stoves and with poor ventilation is an important public health and
environmental issue. A research study done by UNC’s FUEL (Forest Use, Energy, and
Livelihoods) Lab collected data on determinants of exposure to household air pollution in
rural Malawi. The field study collected carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter
(PM2.5) for a period of 24 hours in each of the 108 households in the study. Additionally,
they collected both personal (the primary cooks of the household wore the monitors) and
area (placed in the primary cooking area) concentration measurements along with
completing an in-depth questionnaire with the household owners.
The goal of the study was to do a multivariate regression analysis of household
pollutant levels to see how different factors – the type of fuel, fuel quality, stove design,
ventilation conditions, etc. – influence indoor air pollutant exposures. The study found
that the interaction of ventilation, moisture content, stove type, income quintile, and
household size in a multivariate regression model best explains the variance of household
air pollutant concentrations. The identification of these determinants allows for further
studies on targeted interventions that reduce pollutant concentrations and adverse health
outcomes.Bachelor of Scienc
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The Role of Social Capital in Improved Cookstove Adoption in Lusaka, Zambia
Get PDFThis study explores the role of social capital in adoption of improved cookstoves in Lusaka,
Zambia. Improved cookstoves provide positive health benefits particularly for women and
children under five, as well as other benefits including requiring less fuel, reducing greenhouse
gas emissions from cooking, and improving overall well-being. Despite being relatively well off
in the African context, Zambia has low rates of improved or clean cookstove adoption. We use
data from a multi-year impact evaluation study undertaken by the Energy Poverty PIRE in
Southern Africa (EPPSA) research team and collaborators. We use data collected during
baseline and rapid surveys to understand the role of social capital in adoption of improved
cookstoves and fuels marketed by two private sector firms, VITALITE and SupaMoto, who are
marketing products to households in high density, low-income neighborhoods in Lusaka. Our
study includes a sample of 350 households in two neighborhoods where stoves have already
been adopted, and 467 households in two neighborhoods where marketing took place after our
baseline data collection. In the latter group, 45% of households adopted stoves after the initial
wave of marketing providing us with a total sample of 503 adopters and 343 non-adopters.
Based on the results from this study, we found that no singular way we operationalized social
capital had an impact on a population level. The two that had the largest impact were if a
household agreed to at least one Trust question (if they have faith in most people or can rely on
someone do complete a task for them) then likelihood of adoption increases and if a household
agree to at least one Community question (if they participate in community decision making or
feel part of the community) then likelihood of adoption decreases. This is pertinent specifically
for the prospective user population. Other key variables include owning your home and having
a female headed household, both of which increase likelihood of adoption. These results have
important implications for the two cookstove firms because VITALITE and SupaMoto could use
what was found in these results to adapt to the strong parts of their marketing base. This could
be spaces that are primarily women occupied, for example, women’s savings and credit groups.Master of Science (MS)School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167260/1/Lloyd_Shannon_Thesis.pd
Adoption and Use of Liquified Petroleum Gas for Household Cooking in Rwanda
No full textNearly all of Rwanda’s population relies on burning high polluting fuels, such as charcoal or fuelwood,
for cooking their meals. Household air pollution (HAP) from burning these fuels leads to severe health
conditions and is one of the leading causes of premature death in Africa, and the collection and burning
of woodfuels leads to forest degradation and has climate change implications. Using data from a
randomized control trial studying the uptake of biomass pellet gasification stoves in urban Rwanda, I
asses the determinants of the transition from cooking with solid fuels to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG)
with a set of regression models. In our sample we see a rapid transition occurring from 2015, when only
5% of households are using LPG at all, to 2020 when 36% of households are cooking with LPG. I find that
survey respondents with higher education levels have a much higher likelihood to adopt LPG, higher
asset wealth is strongly associated with likelihood of adoption, and that the larger the household, the
less likely they are to use LPG. Households that have access to flush toilets and clean water are much
more likely to make the transition to cooking with LPG. This finding suggests synergies between Water
and Sanitation Health (WASH) efforts and clean cooking programs, and that efforts in one field may lead
to gains in the other. I also add to the energy ladder and fuel switching hypotheses of household energy
transitions. I find that those higher up the socioeconomic ladder adopted LPG at a higher rate, but
almost no households completely abandoned cooking with charcoal - even if they were using LPG
primarily. The biomass pellet solution central to the randomized control trial shows an opposite pattern.
LPG appears to be cost-prohibitive, while the pellet solution was reaching the poorest households in the
sample. However, the pellet company went out of business before the end of the study. Households are
not fuel switching as they move up the energy ladder, and whether LPG is displacing enough of the
cooking with high polluting fuels in a household to meaningfully reduce HAP is up for debate. Future
efforts should be focused on the suspension of solid fuel use alongside the adoption of clean fuels.Master of Science (MS)School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172176/1/Milliken, Caleb_Thesis.pd
Does solar provide sustainable energy for all? Examining adoption and sustained use of household solar technologies in Malawi
No full textMalawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with one of the lowest rates of electricity access,
particularly in its rural areas. However, the Government of Malawi aims to achieve universal
electrification by 2030 through a variety of grid and off-grid strategies, including the promotion of
decentralized solar technologies. Our study assesses the uptake and sustained use of solar home systems
and standalone solar panels in rural areas of Malawi to explore the efficacy of household-level solar
technologies in achieving universal energy access. We analyze survey data from 2,503 households as part
of a two-period quasi-experimental quantitative impact evaluation to address three research questions:
1) what types and capacities of solar products do households use; 2) what factors are associated with
the adoption of household-level solar technologies; and 3) as households adopt solar products, what
factors affect whether they expand, maintain, or contract their supply of solar products over time?
Through a series of linear and logit models, we find that the solar energy capacity of most solar devices
and households is extremely low, highlighting the need for further research into the impacts of
household-level solar technologies across differing capacity levels. Additionally, we identify several
demographic and economic characteristics associated with household-level solar technology adoption
and sustained use. Notably, our data suggest that low socioeconomic status is a major barrier to solar
technology adoption, as well as to the maintenance or expansion of a household’s supply of solar
technologies over time. As such, we recommend targeted financial support for low-income households
to ensure household-level solar technologies can be an effective electrification strategy in rural areas of
Malawi.Master of Science (MS)School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/193073/1/Mahieu_Andrea_Thesis.pdfd0a18e86-7d9e-4669-812b-ead353cc489
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Determinants of Solar of Panel Adoption, Disadoption and Use in Malawi
No full textMalawi has one of the lowest rates of electricity access in the
world
with high rates of blackouts
due to reliance
on
a
hydropower
system
whose
capacity
is
adversely
affected by droughts and
flooding
. There has been a push to expand electricity access wi
th solar
energy
seen as a
sustainable
path
, particularly in rural settings.
We
use
four waves of the
nationally represent
ative Malawi
Integraged Household Survey (IHS) spanning the period
2010 to 2020 to examine determinants of
household adoption and disadoption
of solar
panels
. Specifically
we explore trends in adoption,
what energy services households are using solar
pane
ls
for, characterisics of households who
adopt, and from among those who adopt,
who is likely to disadopt.
Between 2010 and 2020
household adoption of solar
panels
increased from
1.2
% to
19.5
%, with higher rates of take
-
up in
rural
settings
(
21.7
% by 2020
)
compared to
urban
settings
(
9.8
% by 2020).
Among those who adopt
solar
panels
, fewer than 1% of households report using solar for lighting, suggesting that solar
adoption does
not
necessarily equate to provision of lighting services.
We find
the
househo
lds
most
likely
to adopt
solar
panel
are in rural areas,
are male headed
,
own
a mobile phone
, and own a tv or
radi
o
. Policy makers seeking to improve energy access should consider
not only uptake of solar
panels
but
also
patterns of use
and
re
consider the
assumption
that rapid solar upt
ak
e
will
lead
to
provision of lighting services, a key dimension of household energy accessMaster of Science (MS)School for Environment and SustainabilityUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/172177/1/Lindsey_Charles_Thesis.pd
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