生产环节外包能否助力中国粮食安全？——来自粮食主产区的证据

在中国大力扶持和推进生产环节外包服务业发展的现实背景下,系统评估生产环节外包对中国粮食安全的影响具有重要的现实意义。聚焦粮食安全数量目标与环境目标两个维度,从农户是否参与外包、农户的外包横向参与度与农户的外包纵深参与度三个层面,理论剖析生产环节外包影响中国粮食安全的逻辑机理,并使用中国粮食主产区1211户农户的抽样调查数据和CMP方法进行实证检验。研究发现：①从三大主粮的总体估计来看,生产环节外包有助于中国粮食安全数量目标的实现,但不利于中国粮食安全环境目标的达成。在解决潜在的内生性问题后,这一结论依然成立;②从玉米、小麦和水稻的分样本估计来看,生产环节外包对中国粮食安全的多维影响在玉米和水稻生产中仍较为稳健,但对小麦的增产效果并不明显;从黑龙江、河南和湖南的分样本估计来看,生产环节外包对中国粮食安全的多维影响在三大粮食主产省均较为稳健。目前,从服务视角破解资源环境约束与农户行为约束暂未成为解决中国粮食安全环境问题的有效途径,仍需进一步推动生产环节外包服务市场的发育与完善,鼓励并引导外包供给主体的绿色生产导向。     

Welfare service privatization and opinions about service quality: The role of political ideology among local politicians and the public

In this article, we join the discussion about the potential consequences of welfare service privatization by examining the relationship between the privatization of welfare service delivery and public opinion about service quality in Sweden. Due to the politically polarized debate about welfare service privatization in Sweden, we also examine the extent to which individualsapos; ideological orientations influence this relationship in both local politicians and ordinary citizens. For local politicians, the results show that a higher municipal degree of privatization is generally associated with slightly lower levels of satisfaction overall with welfare services, although no such relationship exists for the public. Most importantly, however, the results indicate that political ideology constitutes an important moderator in the relationship between privatization and opinions about service quality. Local politicians and, to some extent, ordinary citizens who place themselves to the left on the ideological left–right scale tend to be less satisfied with services as the municipal degree of welfare service privatization increases. For local politicians who position themselves far to the right on the scale, the relationship between welfare service privatization and satisfaction is positive. These findings suggest that there is no clear-cut relationship between privatization and individualsapos; opinions about services; rather, this relationship depends on the ideological predispositions of local politicians and ordinary citizens.     

Unintended consequences in traffic-light food labeling: A call for mixed methods in public health research

Abstract

Nudge theory describes how indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement can influence decision-making. We used nudge theory to implement a traffic-light labeling and choice architecture (modifying product placement) intervention at Harvard University cafeterias, but found no significant change in sales. Survey and focus group data showed that some students thought the labeling may exacerbate eating disorders, however, there is extremely limited research on potential negative consequences of labeling. One way to describe these findings is through 20th century philosopher Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower. Biopower manipulates cultural norms and nudges individuals to engage in self-surveillance and self-discipline, de facto subjugating themselves to certain ways of being. Biopower may lead to the creation of an in-group and an out-group based on who can adopt the new behaviors, such as healthy eating. Those in the out-group may face additional unintended consequences, highlighting the need for mixed-methods research to better evaluate public health interventions.     

Peer support and food security in deaf college students

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the study was to investigate whether peer support and demographic characteristics predicted food security among deaf college students. Participants: The sample included 166 deaf college students at Gallaudet University. Methods: Participants completed a bilingual online survey in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. This survey included USDA’s 6-item food security survey, questions about peer support and socio-demographic characteristics. Results: Out of 166 students (mean age =23; SD?=?6), 60.7% were food secure. About 26.4% were at-risk for low food security and another 12.9% had very low food security. The sample included respondents who identified as people of color (54%) and women (52%). Binary logistic regression revealed that compared to people who reported always receiving peer support, people who never received peer support were 16.3 times more likely to experience food insecurity (adj OR: 16.325, 95% CI 1.824–146.107). Conclusions: This study demonstrates a strong relationship between peer support and deaf college students' food security experiences.     

The Role of Empowerment in Home Care Work

ABSTRACT

The home care industry experiences similar problems with the recruitment and retention of direct care workers (DCWs) as those faced by institutions, and it is important to identify strategies to help retain and grow this important workforce. The empowerment of DCWs has been shown to be an effective strategy for increasing job satisfaction and decreasing turnover in nursing homes but has not been studied in home care. Using Kanter’s organizational theory of empowerment, including structural empowerment (structure of opportunity, access to resources, access to information, and access to support) and psychological empowerment (meaning, competence, self-determination or autonomy, and impact) this study examined whether home care workers (HCWs) feel empowered in carrying out their jobs. An exploratory, qualitative study of 12 HCWs, recruited from two states in the United States, found high levels of both structural and psychological empowerment among research participants, as well as a number of disempowering aspects of their job. Findings suggest ways to support elements of the work that HCWs find empowering and decrease elements that contribute to job dissatisfaction and turnover.     

食品安全犯罪的法律归属再探讨

新近学界泛起将食品安全犯罪的法律归属调整到危害公共安全罪的观点，其立论的最大“法宝”在于食品安全犯罪侵害了不特定多数人的健康生命权，即公共安全。其实，“危害后果严重”不是判断主要客体的依据，食品安全犯罪的法律归属取决于其行为特性和本国立法价值取向及立法传统。食品安全犯罪与传统的危害公共安全罪不具有兼容性，将其归属于生产、销售伪劣商品罪并无不妥。     

Social policy and embedded evaluation: Assessing the impact of a food insecurity project in the United Kingdom

Social policy making needs to involve robust evaluation to assess its impact. In this article, a social policy intervention focused on tackling food insecurity amongst vulnerable people is examined and the benefits and challenges of using an embedded approach to evaluation are considered. Food insecurity is defined as not always having the economic, social, and physical resources to ensure a sufficient supply of nutritionally appropriate food. Evidence suggests that food insecurity in the United Kingdom is increasing in the context of long-term poverty, austerity, insecure employment, rising living costs, low pay, and cuts to welfare and public services. An embedded evaluation was conducted involving interviews with the intervention participants and observations of a series of cooking and food budgeting classes. The findings suggest that the classes had a positive impact on many of the participants, who felt more confident about cooking and valued the shared experience. However, given the acute problems facing many of the participants including long-term poverty, policies aimed at tackling food insecurity need to go beyond cooking and food budgeting skills. The embedded evaluation approach contributed towards the overall impact of the intervention by providing insights that led to changes as part of an iterative process during the intervention rather than in the form of a final report after its completion. An embedded evaluation-based approach can be resource intensive, and the role of the evaluators can present challenges, but it can help to bridge the gap between intervention design, delivery, and social change.     

Veganism as a lifestyle movement

In the last few years, the popularity of veganism has surged. Current literature on the cultural practice, which situates it within a social movements framework, cannot adequately explain this meteoric rise. A better approach is to view veganism as an emerging lifestyle movement based on individual consumption rather than political protest. After situating veganism within the literature on animal rights, this review then explains why a lifestyle movement perspective yields a more compelling account of its growing mainstream appeal. Drawing on both cultural and organizational sociology, this review provides insights into the cultural origins of veganism, its evolving relationship to other food movements, and highlights the key role played by cultural entrepreneurs, the key changemakers who are bringing veganism from the margins to the mainstream.     

Episiotomy practice in the Middle East: A Lebanese teaching tertiary care centre experience

Problem

There is lack of data on the rate of episiotomy in Lebanon and the study’s hospital.