Quality Of Life In Villages Research Articles

To participate, or not to participate – That is the question. (Non-)participation of older residents in rural communities

In recent years, rural residents' participation within their local communities has attracted attention within scientific and political debates that focus on sustaining or improving the quality of life in villages. Retired older people feature centrally in these discussions, as they are perceived to have the time and life experience to participate in various local activities. This paper contributes to the existing literature through an examination of older villagers’ participation and non-participation within their communities in a strongly ageing rural area in Germany. Applying mixed methods and using survey data compiled for older residents, we identified six groups differentiated according to four types of participative practices and two main rationales for non-participation within villages in this region, thus introducing nuances and complexity to both sides of the participation/non-participation dichotomy. Our comparison of these six groups, considering their socio-economic characteristics and residential histories, revealed that women were underrepresented in positions of responsibility and that poor health and advanced age were primary reasons for non-participation. There were minor differences in the participation of village stayers and incomers, who accounted for a larger share of non-participants. As strategies to sustain or improve local quality of life should accommodate the interests of all residents, we advocate raising awareness regarding non-participant groups within research and policy contexts.

Tourism impact on quality of life in villages off the coast of Oman

Tourism impact on quality of life in villages off the coast of Oman

Municipalities and Regions as Good Places to Live: Index of Quality of Life in the Czech Republic

Quality of life is associated with the term good life; when we evaluate the quality of life, we evaluate how good it is. The central element of the objective (spatial) dimension of quality of life is the phenomenon of a good place as a place in which there is lived a good life to a varying degree. The paper aims to calculate the index of quality of life at the micro-level of all 6251 municipalities in the Czech Republic based on the indicators of a gold standard and derived indices of higher hierarchical levels of districts and regions and expression of their spatial differentiation. The calculation of the index of quality of life implies that the quality of life in villages is generally higher than in the cities; however, the highest is in large cities with a population of over 100,000 and in small towns with a population of 5000 to 10,000. Quality of life in the Czech Republic is substantially spatially differentiated at all hierarchical levels.

Rural electrification and development in South Korea

In fifteen years, South Korea went from providing only 12% of rural households with electricity to providing 98% of rural households with electricity for lighting and productive uses. This paper provides an analysis of rural electrification and development in South Korea from 1965 to 1979 and finds that rural electrification contributed to a significant increase in rural household income levels and improved the quality of life in villages substantially. At the same time, rural electrification did not benefit the poorest quartile of rural households, increased economic and social inequality, led to a significant increase in household debt, and accelerated migration to urban areas. Central to the South Korean electrification experience was a top-down and a bottom-up approach that balanced local control and participation with central government control. This approach was crucial in overcoming many of the issues that continue to be found today in both grid-based and off-grid approaches to electrification.

Role of ICT Institutions in Enhancing Productivity, Knowledge and Innovativeness of Farmers: A Case Study of ISRO Village Resource Centers

Space technology and Information communication technologies are state of the art technologies of modern civilization. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), with the intention of disseminating knowledge of any kind to rural masses using advances of information communication technologies in space research, has envisaged the Village Resource Centre (VRC) concept in the year 2004. ISRO's VRC conduct interactive programmes on a regular basis in the areas of, agriculture, water resources, tele - health care, awareness programmes, skill development/vocational training for livelihood support etc., are connected to knowledge producing institutions like Universities, development institutes, hospitals and other institutions in association with NGOs/Trusts and state/central agencies. The purpose of this study is to empirically analyze the role of VRCs in enhancing productivity, level of knowledge and innovation performances of farmer community. The specific objectives of present study was: 1) to understand the level productivity of VRC attending farmers 2) to understand the level of knowledge of VRC attending farmers and 3) to understand the innovativeness of VRC attending farmers. The study has conducted in Meppadi Panchayath (11°33’38.24N, 76° 8’31.32E) in Kerala State. Findings of the study show that the impact of new developmental intervention through Village Resource Centers are significant in the level of knowledge diffusion, innovativeness, and productivity of farming communities, and are quantitatively measured. There is a significant reduction of information inequality among the people and noticed the emergence of a new socioeconomic relationship. It is understood from the study that the farmers are keenly interested in increasing their knowledge day by day and as a result of trying to increase their income from farming. VRC's plays a vital role in improving the quality of life in villages by providing new knowledge to the farmer community. The VRCs are connecting the knowledge between the experts and the village community and making it to reach the doorsteps of common man, in local language.

Trends in VLSI Technology – Rural Applications Perspective

VLSI Technology has advanced rapidly since late 90s. Low cost, high performance Chips designed and fabricated made strong impact in systems development and resulted in applications to diversified fields like computers, communications, entertainment electronics, medicine, and rural necessities. Spreading of Internet globally, making this world as a ‘global village” and rapid strides in mobile communications have a direct bearing on the progress made in VLSI technology. Research work is being done to further develop the technology in new dimensions like Silicon Photonics, Organic semi-conductors, Flexible displays etc. These developments take the technology further close to rural applications and can result in significant improvement in the quality of life in villages. Fibre optic connectivity, hosting of portals with useful information to rural folk, e-governance, energy conservation, wireless sensor networks, Telephone-TV can improve the standard of living in rural areas significantly. VLSI technology directly or indirectly is playing a vital role in this direction.This paper reviews various developments taking place in the technology, research work being done in this area, new devices and systems being developed and their applications. The application of the technology and systems developed for rural areas is also discussed. The projects implemented and possible developments to improve quality of life in rural areas is discussed.With the rapid strides being made in silicon device technology, efficient, low cost devices with high performance are being manufactured. The chip design methods, making use of the software tools are producing hardware for various applications like computers, communications, defence, household appliances, commercial toys etc. These developments are also making inroads into rural areas and changing the technological applications scenario there. Hosting of websites / portals with information useful to rural areas is proving to be a boon, for which the VLSI technology is contributing significantly.