1,721,009 research outputs found
The role of migration in post-soviet communities: the changing structure of rural livelihoods in Moldova
Full text linkThe nexus between migration and differentiation of livelihood strategies in sending countries is a widely investigated topic. However, this nexus has been often approached from narrow perspectives, highlighting the impact of migration only on limited elements of households’ livelihood strategies, typically related to the economic impact of remittances. This research presents a multi-level analysis of the migration-livelihood differentiation nexus, adopting the Republic of Moldova as a case study. Starting from two sets of original quantitative and qualitative data, a model-based cluster analysis allowed to identify 8 typologies of farmers
with distinctive livelihood and income generation strategies. Then, a logistic regression model was developed to assess the impacts of demographic, economic, and social characteristics of rural households on the adoption of different livelihood choices. Finally, results from cluster analysis and logistic regression were integrated and discussed through qualitative data collected with interviews and focus groups conducted in Moldova between
September 2020 and December 2022. Results shows that the impact of migration in the livelihood strategies
adopted by Moldovan smallholders is multifaceted, ranging from the prevalent role of pure subsistence to the limited role of incentive for investing in higher added value activities, both in and off farm. Finally, out-migration represents a fundamental part of the livelihood strategy to cope with the multifaceted challenges experienced daily by rural households
Post-Soviet smallholders between entrepreneurial farming and diversification. Livelihood pathways in rural Moldova
Full text linkThe breakdown of socialist agriculture in post-Soviet countries generated a large number of smallholders, of which only a minority turned to entrepreneurial agriculture. With the largest number of family farms per capita in Europe, Moldova represents an exemplary case study to explore the livelihood trajectories of these land recipients. Relying on an original smallholder survey, we analyse the role of farming in their livelihoods two decades after land privatisation. Two groups are identified: ‘peasants’, who represent a large majority, and ‘entrepreneurial’ farmers. The former tend to diversify their livelihoods off-farm; the latter turned agriculture into a proper full-time business but maintain a small-size compared to the corporate farms that succeeded the Soviet kolkhozy and sovkhozy. The two groups are found to share similar goals and values, but while ‘entrepreneurs’ pursue profit maximisation, ‘peasants’ set their working pace based on family needs. Still, some ‘peasants’ invest part of their off-farm income in agriculture to intensify production and commercialise ‘niche’ products. De-commodification, internalisation, mutual aid mechanisms, and reliance on ‘traditional markets’ emerge as strategies to preserve autonomy vis-à-vis risky modern markets, rather than a mere outcome of necessity. Despite such aspirations of most smallholders, EU-driven rural development policies require them to behave as ‘entrepreneurs’
Competing goals in food consumption choices: a comparative analysis of student's choices in Bologna and Belgrade
No full textAim of this study is to investigate the role of eight economic, cultural and behavioural macro-factors which drive the choices of millennial consumers in purchasing and managing food. To do so, an online survey has been conducted among the students of the Universities of Bologna (Italy) and Belgrade (Serbia), with the aim of understand how choices related to food are related to nonstrictly economic aspects, such as nationality, gender and age
Do culture and consciousness matter? A study on motivational drivers of household food waste reduction in Turkey
Full text linkFood waste reduction has taken a remarkable place in the objectives of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and it has been considered a relevant topic by scholars, companies, and governmental organizations. This study aims to design and compare two competing models describing the influence of personally (consciousness) and socially (culture) determined factors on consumers intention to reduce household food waste in Turkey. To do so, a cross-sectional study was conducted in three metropolitan cities of Turkey: Ankara, Izmir, and Adana. The primary data were collected from 710 individuals by using face–to–face interviews and analyzed through two Structural Equation Models (SEM) based on Motivation-Opportunity- Ability theoretical framework. Results from the SEM model investigating the role of cultural factors identify motivation as a significant driver of food waste reduction, which is directly influenced by religiosity, media effects, and good provider identity. Results from the SEM model related to consumer consciousness also show that motivation is a significant and robust driver of intention, and that economic consciousness has a strong effect on motivation, while environmental consciousness has a weak influence on intention to reduce food waste. Findings of this study increase the knowledge of consumers' drivers to reduce food waste in an emerging country as Turkey and provide policymakers and practitioners insights to elaborate interventions to reduce household food waste tailored on consumers' cultural and consciousness factors
Does the COVID-19 external shock matter on household food waste? The impact of social distancing measures during the lockdown
No full textThe COVID-19 outbreak forced national governments to the adoption of social distancing and movement limitation measures aimed to reduce the diffusion of the virus and to mitigate its highly disruptive impact on the healthcare systems. Reduced income, job insecurity, distribution system interruptions, product shortages, localized price hikes, and time availability resulted in changes in food-related behaviors of households, including food waste generation. Although the significant progress achieved in the understanding of the multidimensional determinants of food losses and waste, no study has been considering the role of uncertainty generated by exogenous generalized shocks on consumer behavior. Building on an original and nationally representative survey, this work aims to investigate the impact of the measures introduced to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 on the main behavioral factors underpinning household food waste generation. The study develops a theoretical model introducing uncertainty validated through a Structural Equations Modelling approach. Results showed that during the quarantine period declared household food waste decreased, with more than half of the respondents reporting to waste less. The model suggested that the amount of material and non-material resources that consumers can dedicate to food-related activities represents the most influential factor for the generation of household food waste and that uncertainty is significantly affecting the drivers and indirectly influencing the self-declared values of food waste. Results suggest several potential policy implications, of which the most relevant being related to the importance of stimulating improvements in food management opportunities at home
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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