Environment In Rural Areas Research Articles

Rural–urban analysis of parental time poverty and child over-nutrition in ghana

ABSTRACT This study examines the link between parental time poverty and child body mass index, prevalence of overweight and obsesity. The study relied on data from the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS), a nationally representative household level data. Employing the standard instrumental variable (IV) to control for endogeneity indicates that parental time poverty is associated with a higher BMI z-score and higher likelihood of children being overweight and obese, particularly in rural Ghana. Additionally, there is evidence of heterogeneity in the effect of parental time poverty on the prevalence of children being overweight and obese based on income classification and gender. The implications of these findings suggest that interventions aimed at providing labor-saving technologies and improving social and physical environments in rural areas may help reduce parental time poverty and improve child nutrition outcomes.

Systematic Assessment of Practical Challenges in Rural Domestic Sewage Treatment in China: Examining Treatment Models, Ecological Risks, and Management Dilemmas

The treatment and purification of rural domestic sewage (RDS) is a pivotal focus in enhancing the living environment in rural areas. Since 2008, special funds for comprehensive rural environmental improvement have been established by the Chinese government. Numerous projects have been implemented to treat RDS, resulting in a significant enhancement of China’s rural sewage treatment ratio. However, current discussions often focus on technical investigations, process selection, and operation modes pertaining to urban sewage while overlooking the unique challenges posed by decentralized sewage treatment facilities in rural areas. This work aims to provide technical support for addressing rural sewage treatment and purification in China through an analysis of limitations associated with prevailing mainstream sewage treatment and separation technologies, ecological risks arising from new pollutants present in domestic wastewater, and subsequent management difficulties.

Оценка обеспеченности человеческим капиталом аграрного сектора экономики

Abstract. The formation and use of human capital in the agricultural economy must meet modern economic requirements and the level of development of agricultural production. The assessment of the efficiency of the use of human resources and the quality of products plays a key role in adapting to changing market conditions. Therefore, it is important to constantly strengthen human resources to ensure a prompt response to market challenges. At the same time, agricultural production is currently undergoing changes in all key areas. This article analyzes the availability and efficiency of the use of agricultural enterprises' labor resources, based on statistical data for the Russian Federation. In this regard, the purpose of this scientific study is to analyze the availability of human capital in agriculture. The objectives of the study include carrying out a qualitative and quantitative assessment of labor resources. Methods. The methodological basis is based on the general scientific principles of a systematic approach. The analysis uses logical, factorial, comparative and strategic methods, as well as methods of qualitative research of the main trends in the presence and use of human capital in agriculture. Results. The analysis of the formation and use of human capital in agriculture in its quantitative and qualitative assessment in the Russian Federation is carried out: the dynamics of rural population density and the number of workers, the growth rate of wages of agricultural workers, the grouping of those employed in agriculture by level of education, gender and age is given. Scientific novelty. As a result of the research, new theoretical and practical conclusions were obtained, including: 1) identification and classification of socio-economic conditions that promote or, conversely, hinder the effective use and preservation of human capital in the agricultural sector; 2) comprehensive schemes for the formation of human capital in the agricultural sector are proposed, taking into account internal and external factors; 3) the need for the formation of a comfortable socio-economic environment in rural areas is justified; 4) confirmed the need to provide special support measures to attract highly qualified specialists to rural areas.

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND CHALLENGES IN SUPPORTING LGBTQI LEARNERS IN RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS

This study explores the perceptions and challenges faced by secondary school teachers in supporting LGBTQI learners within the Nongoma Circuit in South Africa. Adopting a phenomenological approach, the research aims to uncover nuanced understandings and lived experiences of teachers regarding LGBTQI learners. The study employs a qualitative methodology, utilizing purposive sampling to select five Life Orientation teachers for in-depth, semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis reveals varied attitudes among teachers, ranging from supportive to biased, highlighting significant disparities in acceptance and understanding. Key findings indicate that while some teachers recognize the importance of fostering an inclusive environment, others perpetuate misconceptions and biases, contributing to an unwelcoming school atmosphere for LGBTQI learners. The study underscores the urgent need for comprehensive training programmes and policy reforms to equip teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to support LGBTQI learners effectively. Enhanced teacher training on LGBTQI issues, along with a review of school policies, is recommended to promote inclusivity and safeguard the well-being of all learners. These findings are crucial for teachers, policymakers, and stakeholders in developing strategies to create a more supportive and inclusive educational environment in rural areas. The research contributes to the broader discourse on educational equity and the role of teachers in fostering a safe and inclusive learning environment for marginalized groups.

The Toilet Revolution Empowers Rural Revitalization based on a Health Perspective

Since the reform and opening up, with the rapid development of the Chinese economy, public health problems have become increasingly serious. At the same time, due to the reality of imbalanced urban-rural development in China, improving the living environment in rural areas is the key and difficult point to achieve rural revitalization. Therefore, in 2015, the Chinese government officially began the "Toilet Revolution", a national public health movement aimed at improving urban and rural public health problems, enhancing people's quality of life, promoting rural economic development, and further promoting the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. Based on a health perspective, this article analyzes the impact of the "toilet revolution" on rural health human capital by reviewing existing data and literature such as the "China Statistical Yearbook" on the level of health service expenditure and the number of sanitary toilet constructions. It further elucidates the mechanism by which the "toilet revolution" empowers rural revitalization, providing a theoretical basis for the government to deepen the "toilet revolution", narrow the urban-rural gap, and promote rural revitalization.

The understanding of the agriculturally shaped environment: from the theoretical construct to an applied indicator of sustainable development

Sustainable development of the resource ‘land’ is increasingly being discussed with a focus on rural areas. Understanding is key to solving land use conflicts. It can lead to joint solutions and can thus enable sustainable development at a practical level. It goes beyond environmental consciousness, which is related to general issues, and instead aims to address concrete challenges in the context of sustainable development at an applicable level. ‘Understanding’ with regard to land use conflicts has not yet been defined in the literature. Based on this motivation, it is the aim of this study to create the construct of ‘understanding’ conceptually, to validate it empirically with structural equation modelling, and to demonstrate that understanding might be an important prerequisite for sustainable development. In this case, the focus is not on a general kind of understanding, but rather on specific aspects of understanding in relation to the agriculturally shaped environment in rural areas. The empirical data for the paper were collected by means of a large-scale population survey in Western Pomerania, Germany, a rural peripheral region characterized by typical land-use conflicts in predominantly rural areas. A tripartite division of the construct into cognitive, emotional, and opinion levels was derived theoretically. The construct is supported empirically and that it can be applied as an SDG indicator. Thus, the refined construct of understanding the agriculturally shaped environment can make a substantial contribution towards closing the knowledge/attitude-behavior gap.

Association between Built Environment and Bus Usage among Older Adults: Urban–Rural Differences in the Nonlinearities

Public transport improves mobility and well-being for the rapidly aging population. However, few planning interventions have addressed the urban–rural disparity in bus usage among older adults. Using data from Zhongshan, China, this study adopts the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model to examine urban–rural differences in the nonlinear relationship between built environment and daily bus usage among elderly adults. The results indicate nonlinearities across all built environment variables and stronger effects of the built environment in rural areas. Distance to transit contributes the most in urban neighborhoods but least in rural ones. Furthermore, dwelling unit density and green space accessibility play the biggest roles in the rural context. Additionally, the most effective ranges of intersection density, land use mixture, and CBD accessibility are greater in rural areas. The findings facilitate fine-grained and diversified planning interventions to facilitate bus usage among older adults in both urban and rural areas.

Effects of water conservancy-project policies on lake ecology, rural economy, leisure-environment development, and local young people’s willingness to engage in leisure activities

Context No consensus has yet been formed on project development in lake-water conservancy on aspects such as lake quality, ecological environment, rural economy, social culture, leisure living environment and leisure aspirations due to the current lack of comprehensive discussion. Aims This study mainly uses the case of Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan to verify the impact of lake-tourism optimisation and water-conservancy projects on the rural economy, water quality, ecology and sustainable development of tourism for local young people in the area around the lake. Methods We employed open-sampling questionnaires and semistructured interviews to collect data and conducted multivariate analysis. Key results The study investigated the hypothesis that optimising water-conservancy projects for lake tourism creates a stable leisure and tourism environment in rural areas, enhances visibility, and increases emotional exchanges and the preservation of historic sites. However, problems such as excessive tourism waste and a lack of public facilities negatively affect local young consumers’ willingness to engage in tourism activities. Conclusions Improving problems in the villages, ecology and natural environment surrounding lakes that are being conserved can increase young local individuals’ willingness to engage in and share experiences of tourism activities. Implications If the local government can improve the issues of protected villages, ecology and the natural environment around the lake, it can increase the willingness of local young people to participate in and share their experiences in tourism activities.

Descriptors of the socio-cultural assessment of rural areas and the activities of the Presidential Grants Fund for the development of the socio-cultural space of rural areas

Introduction. The article examines the problem of the formation of a socio-cultural environment in rural areas with the direct participation of rural schools and non-profit organizations (NGOs) in this process. The current situation of education in rural areas is assessed using traditional methods of assessing educational organizations and, accordingly, the approaches applied to the education system in rural areas lead to the need to develop certain areas of rural school activity and socio-economic components of life and activity of the settlement, that is, rural and rural school development programs are implemented on the basis of traditional assessment. In this regard, in the new socio-economic and political conditions of the development of education and the socio-economic sector in rural areas, there is a need to understand the current requirements for the education system in rural areas of Russia and consider existing support measures from NGOs. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need for the use of socio-cultural assessment of educationMaterials and Methods. The main method of research is a content and contextual continuous analysis of the text of the works submitted to the contest "My little Homeland" in the nomination "Village of my dreams – village of the future" and applications of the winners of the Presidential Grants Fund competition in the grant direction "Support of projects in the field of science, education, enlightenment" using the method of socio-cultural assessment of educational organizations, developed and published by us earlier.Results. Descriptors have been identified, the implementation of which will contribute to raising the level of criteria for the socio-cultural expediency of an educational institution in rural areas and, as a result, contribute to the formation of the necessary socio-cultural situation in rural areas. Working with descriptors will allow leveling or will contribute to improving the current socio-cultural and economic situation in rural areas of Russia. The analysis of the activities of the Presidential Grants Fund in the grant direction "Support of projects in the field of science, education, enlightenment" according to the results of the beginning of 2023 is made.Discussion and Conclusions. The conducted research proved the operability of descriptors and criteria of socio-cultural assessment to identify the needs of educational organizations and residents in rural areas of Russia. In the course of the study, it was found that the current activities of the Presidential Grants Fund through the activities of NGOs contribute to the support of projects in the field of science, education, and enlightenment in rural areas of Russia to a small extent. This study may be useful to federal, regional and local government bodies, including education, for monitoring the current situation in rural areas of Russia and making appropriate administrative decisions.

Winter indoor thermal environment and livability analysis of traditional residential houses in northeast Sichuan, China

With the rapid development of the national economy, increasing attention has been given to the living environment in rural areas, especially indoor thermal and wind environments. This study conducted on-site measurements and questionnaire surveys during winter in the indoor environment of five villages in northeastern Sichuan. Eighty-nine traditional residences were selected to investigate their fundamental characteristics, indoor thermal environment, humidity conditions, and comfort levels. Questionnaires and comparative experiments were also conducted with natives and locals. This combination of objective data and subjective feedback provides a comprehensive perspective for assessing the indoor thermal environment. The results showed that when expressed as neutral temperature and humidity, the temperature difference was 2.36 °C, with little humidity difference. Residents exhibited higher tolerance towards the local thermal and humidity environment than nonlocal volunteers, who showed greater sensitivity to it. In addition, residents had a Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) value of −0.69 and a heat acceptance value of −1.78, while non-local volunteers had a PMV value of −0.76 and a heat acceptance value of −1.32. A detailed evaluation and analysis of the relationship between the indoor thermal environment and human comfort of local residential houses was carried out, providing technical guidance for energy conservation and thermal insulation of local buildings.

Retraction Note: Modeling the correlation between energy consumption and the built environment in rural areas: a case study in Egypt

Retraction Note: Modeling the correlation between energy consumption and the built environment in rural areas: a case study in Egypt

Deep neural network-based plant protection strategy in rural garden landscape construction

Rural landscaping enhances the quality of the environment in rural areas by planting trees and flowers and plants and at the same time can contribute to the protection of plants in rural areas. The occurrence and development of landscape plant diseases are very insidious, which may lead to poor tree growth and affect the annual growth of timber, or even lead to the death of the whole forest and the reverse succession of the forest. Plant leaf disease lesion location is random, and plant leaf image shooting is susceptible to light, background, angle and other objective factors can only rely on artificial identification, but the traditional artificial identification and physiological information extraction methods such as low accuracy, low efficiency and cumbersome. The rapid development of deep neural networks provides an effective solution for plant leaf recognition based on image analysis. In this paper, a DCA-ResNet model is constructed based on ResNet101 to recognize plant leaves by introducing the attention mechanism and optimizing the model structure. The validation of the DCA-ResNet model using public datasets on three species of plant leaves and plant leaf diseases achieved accuracy rates of 96.79%, 96.64%, and 96.44%, respectively.

Analysis of the indoor thermal environment and livability of traditional residences in summer in Northeast Sichuan, China

Abstract With the rapid development of the national economy, increasing attention has been given to the living environment in rural areas, especially indoor thermal and wind environments. This study conducted onsite measurements and questionnaire surveys during summer in the indoor environment of five villages in northeastern Sichuan. A total of 89 traditional residences were selected to investigate their fundamental characteristics, indoor thermal environment, humidity conditions and comfort levels. The results showed that when expressed as neutral temperature and humidity, the temperature difference was 1.35°C and the humidity difference was 8.14%. Local residents exhibited higher tolerance toward the local thermal and humidity environment compared to nonlocal volunteers, who displayed greater sensitivity toward it. In addition, local residents had a thermal comfort value of 0.03 and a thermal acceptance value of 1.16, whereas nonlocal volunteers had a thermal comfort value of 1.42 and a thermal acceptance value of −0.45.

Integration of the rural revitalization strategy in the construction of rural elderly services in the information age

Abstract Aiming at the uncertainty of decision-making factors and the difficulty of quantifying various subjective and objective weights in the process of rural pension service quality evaluation, this paper proposes a rural pension service quality evaluation method combining improved interval AHP and CRITIC method based on indicator correlation at the level of rural revitalization strategy. The method is based on 5 guidelines and 11 common factors, comprehensively considers the influence of subjective and objective weights on the design scheme, introduces the interval number and triangular fuzzy number, and establishes the evaluation index system of rural elderly service. By utilizing the improved interval AHP and CRITIC method, the subjective and objective weights of each evaluation index can be calculated. The analysis is done by combining examples to explore the ecological niche of the senior care industry, the rural suitability for elderly people, and their expectations and perceptions of the service. From the market ecological niche, it can be seen that the result of the senior care manufacturing industry measure is 0.85, which contributes the most to the rural economy in rural revitalization. The travel, ecological landscape, living services, and socio-economic environment in rural areas are improved under the rural revitalization strategy, and the weighted scores of the four are 0.5528, 1.1524, 1.299, and 0.6031, respectively. According to the comprehensive results, the rural revitalization strategy has resulted in a noticeable increase in the rural aged-care industry and services.

Diet-Related Disease Prevention in a Rural Australian Setting: Understanding Barriers, Enablers, and the Role of Rural Health Services in Supporting Changes in Local Rural Food Environments

Bold and comprehensive action is needed to prevent diet-related diseases in rural areas, which includes improving food environments to enable healthier dietary practices. Rural health services are integral to the health of rural populations, yet their role in community disease prevention is not swell understood. This study sought to understand health service, local government, and food outlet stakeholders’ perspectives on (1) the drivers of unhealthy retail environments in a rural setting; (2) the role of rural health services in supporting changes in local food environments; and to (3) identify characteristics of potential interventions. Two Group Model Building workshops were held with health service and local government leaders (n = 9), and interviews were conducted with local food outlet participants (n = 13). Key themes included ‘enablers to healthier food environments’, ‘barriers to healthier food environments’, ‘Rural health services are a leading broker of knowledge for healthy food environments’, and ‘characteristics of desirable healthy food environment interventions.’. Rural health services can play a key role in addressing the current barriers to healthy food environments in rural areas. Effective promotion of healthier diets in rural populations will require consideration of key stakeholder perspectives and the development of further evidence on the role that rural health services can play in improving the healthiness of food environments.

Health effects and externalities of the popularization of sanitary toilets: evidence from Rural China

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the impact of the increased prevalence of sanitary toilets in rural areas on the health of rural residents, and whether the popularity thereof has a positive externality. This study investigates whether the broader use of sanitary toilets has had a positive effect on the health of people who do not have access to them.MethodsData from the China Family Panel Studies from 2012 to 2014 and a two-way fixed effect model were used to investigate the relationship between the prevalence of village sanitary toilets and the health of rural residents of all ages.ResultsThe results showed that: (1) the increase in the prevalence of sanitary toilets in villages is conducive to improving the health level of rural residents; (2) the widespread adoption of sanitary toilets in rural areas has improved the health of not only residents with access to these toilets but also residents without access; (3) the health of children is more sensitive to improvements in sanitary conditions of toilets; and (4) there are significant regional differences in the impact of the popularity of sanitary toilets on the health of rural residents.ConclusionsThis study found that the popularity of sanitary toilets has externalities, improving not only the health of residents who use them but also the health of other residents. This study enriches the literature in the field of health effects of sanitation improvement, while providing a reference for developing countries to further enhance the living environment in rural areas. In the future, the popularization of sanitary toilets should be vigorously promoted to reduce the incidence of diseases.

Construction of a rural water environment management system from the perspective of ecocivilization

Abstract The ecological protection of rural water resources is not only related to people's living environment, but also affects their drinking water safety. Currently, the water environment in rural areas is severely polluted and lacks an effective management system. To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of rural water environment management and to improve the development of rural water resources, this paper conducts in-depth research and exploration on the construction of a rural water environment management system from the perspective of ecological civilization. This article first analyzes the causes, impacts, and current situation of rural water resource pollution. Then, from the perspective of ecological civilization, it analyzes the necessity of building a rural water environment management system, and explores measures to reform the rural water environment management system with the goal of maximizing water resource benefits. To verify the effectiveness of the management system, this article conducted comparative experiments on the construction of water environment management systems from three perspectives: water quality, water pollution level, and water resource utilization rate. The results show that compared with before construction, the water resource utilization rate after establishing a management system has increased by 32.4%.

The influences of psychosocial work environment on the turnovers of civil service cadre officers in rural Bangladesh: an empirical study

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the psychosocial work environment on the turnover of civil service cadre officers in rural areas in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachPhysical intimidation, mental health and well-being, organisational impediments, decision latitude, psychological job demands and social interaction were developed as variables to examine in relation to job satisfaction and turnover. This study gathers 406 responses from Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) cadre officers in rural areas to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings indicate that physical intimidation increases employee turnover, whereas psychosocial job demand decreases it. Physical intimidation reduces job satisfaction, whereas decision flexibility and social interaction enhance job satisfaction, hence reducing the turnover of civil service cadre officers in rural Bangladesh.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the creation of context-specific and targeted public sector support, particularly the interventions and policies addressing the work environment in rural areas.

Regularity of rural settlement changes driven by rapid urbanization in North China over the three decades

The systematic decline of rural areas in the process of rapid urbanization has become a global trend, creating greater challenges for sustainable rural development. As the spatial projection of socio-economic development and living environment in rural areas, the continuous tracking of rural settlements (RUS) is crucial to quantify the imbalance of rural development. However, consistent information on RUS is highly needed but is quite deficient in current research. In this study, a cost-effective mapping model was proposed to produce an annual RUS dataset in the rapid urbanization region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) in North China during 1990–2020, and the temporal-spatial regularity of RUS changes was further analyzed. The location-based and the area-based comparison verified the effectiveness of our model, with a mean overall accuracy of 85% and a mean correlation value of 0.88, respectively. The total area of RUS in the BTH region increased by 2561 km2 from 1990 to 2020, while the average size of RUS remained stable after 2005. The annual change trends in RUS appeared with increasing and decreasing accounting for 76.33% and 23.67%, respectively. The centroids of RUS in Tianjin and Hebei have moved closer to Beijing, while those in Beijing have moved away from the former. Notably, we have identified 56.3% counties in the BTH region belong to the “Convex-I” change type in RUS. In general, our work can help to consistently quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of RUS in a cost-effective way, providing more explicit spatial information and continuous temporal information for rural residential land management.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Modeling the correlation between energy consumption and the built environment in rural areas: a case study in Egypt

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Modeling the correlation between energy consumption and the built environment in rural areas: a case study in Egypt