Quality Of Rural Life Research Articles

Что удалось сделать в сельском Татарстане за десять лет реализации системы самообложения населения

The budget deficit in municipalities of the Republic of Tatarstan forces local authorities to search for additional sources of funding to solve the problems of rural settlements. One of the ways was the participation of rural municipalities in the development of a system of self-taxation for citizens. It has been implemented in Tatarstan since 2013. The article sets the task of assessing the effects of the self-taxation system in rural settlements of the republic, accumulated over 10 years of its operation. By analyzing the legislative framework of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan, the author reveals the basic concepts and provisions used in the system of self-taxation of citizens. Using interviews he conducted in municipalities of the Republic of Tatarstan with heads, deputies, and activists of rural settlements, the experience of using and features of public participation in the self-taxation system over the past ten years was examined. It was revealed that the results of the implementation of the self-taxation system are expressed in an increased level of trust in it on the part of villagers, in almost one hundred percent collection of contributions, in the involvement of village residents in the formation of municipal budget plans, in increasing the civic responsibility of representatives of rural communities of Tatarstan. The “external” effect of the self-taxation system is expressed in the number of solved problems of local importance: repair and construction of rural roads, water supply, street lighting, improvement of cemeteries, monuments and obelisks, sites for garbage containers, sidewalks, embankments, springs, parks and public gardens. This list of work of conducted works, which is far from complete, using the villagers’ self-taxation system and through co-financing from the government bodies of Tatarstan, has significantly increased the level and quality of rural life in the republic.

Quality of rural life during the Covid-19 pandemic. Case study: Sedayulawas village, Lamongan Regency, Java, Indonesia

Quality of rural life during the Covid-19 pandemic. Case study: Sedayulawas village, Lamongan Regency, Java, Indonesia

Healthcare Practitioners' Quality of Life in Rural and Urban Areas of Saudi Arabia.

The quality of care delivered by healthcare practitioners (HCPs) is crucial in promoting optimal health and quality of life (QOL) for a population. To achieve this, understanding the factors that affect the quality of life of healthcare practitioners is essential for governments to develop sustainable healthcare systems. Developed countries have a major role to play in this aspect, as the misallocation of healthcare providers to the wrong geographic regions can significantly impact their performance. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the factors associated with healthcare practitioners' (HCP) quality of life (QOL) and provide workforce planning with knowledge of the level of QOL among HCPs and its factors in Saudi Arabia in 2021. This is an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in both rural and urban areas of Saudi Arabia. The study population includes all healthcare practitioners practicing in Saudi Arabia. A probability-stratified random sampling technique was used to recruit healthcare practitioners into the study, with a requirement of at least 380 practitioners to achieve 95% confidence and a 5% margin of error. To assess the quality of life of healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia, the study used a national online self-administered questionnaire that was designed by the research team. The data collection process took place from June 2021 to October 2021, and responses were obtained randomly. For analysis, the study used descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, mean or median, and standard deviation or interquartile range. The statistical significance was set at p<0.05, and independent sample T-tests and Chi-square tests were calculated to determine any significant differences between groups. A total of 439 participants completed the questionnaire and were included in the final analysis. The participants had a mean age of 38.8 years (SD = 10.173), with 232 (52.8%) male and 207 (47.2%) female. Regarding marital status, 28% were single, 68.6% were married, and 3.4% were divorced or widowed. The prevalence of chronic diseases in the cohort was 9.1%, with hypertension being the most commonly reported. Of the participants, 362 (82.5%) were living in a society considered urban, while 77 (17.5%) were living in rural areas.Urban healthcare practitioners expressed higher levels of satisfaction with safety and security, internet availability and speed, and city infrastructure compared to their rural counterparts. However, rural practitioners reported greater satisfaction with the cost of living, and transportation quality was a point of concern for both groups. The study shows that people living in urban and rural areas are all satisfied with their living conditions based on many factors mentioned in the results section. This indicates that there is no significant difference. The most important factor that affects satisfaction with living is health status. The rate of satisfaction is very high for all factors, including security and safety, environmental health, city infrastructure, cost of living, internet availability, and sports activity-all of which are related to the city itself. For factors related to the individual, such as emotional support from family and friends, personal relationships, overall health, and body appearance, the rate of satisfaction is also high.

Alarming Results of Land Use and Quality of Rural Life in Paraguay

Alarming Results of Land Use and Quality of Rural Life in Paraguay

Multidimensional Evaluation of the Quality of Rural Life Using Big Data from the Perspective of Common Prosperity.

Evaluating and revealing the spatial differentiations of quality of rural life (QRL) is the basis for formulating rural revitalization planning to promote rural transformation and achieve common prosperity. Taking the Lin'an District of Hangzhou city in China, an economically developed mountainous area, as an example, this study explored the connotation of QRL from the perspective of common prosperity and constructed a QRL evaluation framework involving living, employment, consumption, and leisure aspects. Then, based on multi-sourced data of 270 administrative villages as the assessment unit, we revealed the spatial patterns of QRL and proposed optimization paths to improving QRL. The results showed that (1) differences in the spatial distribution of quality of rural living, employment, consumption, and leisure of Lin'an District were significant, presenting stepped, block clustering, irregularity, and scattered patterns, respectively. (2) The overall QRL was mainly at a low level, clustered spatially, distributed in a strip pattern, and with obvious road directionality. (3) Based on the evaluation results of QRL, we divided the 270 administrative villages into six types of improvement: livability, employment, consumption, leisure, and balanced and lagged development types. This study could provide a scientific cognitive basis for the improvement of QRL and a useful reference for rural revitalization in China.

Urban-Rural Dichotomy of Quality of Life

This paper is focused on the urban-rural dichotomy as one of the dichotomies of quality of life (QOL). The first objective is to find out whether the quality of urban life, or the quality of rural life, is higher in Czechia. The hypothesis assumes that the quality of urban life is higher. The second objective is to identify predictors of QOL and compare values for the residents of cities and villages. In the Theoretical Background section, we discuss cities and urban life, plus villages and rural life. In the QOL section, we explore the quality of urban and rural life in Czechia, and give examples of QOL measurements in Czech municipalities. In the Measurement and Findings section we measure QOL with a subjective indicator on the Cantril scale, and derive findings from these measurements. The correlations between QOL and other variables yield very strong predictors of both urban and rural quality of life. The measurements also yielded two “by products”: The first was the finding that women’s measured values are, except for women’s quality of city life, higher than the measured values of men. The second was the finding that the combination of quality of place and quality of the environment, which we named ‘geographical matter’, was rated higher by the respondents than the combination of QOL and happiness, which we named ‘psychological matter’.

Measurement and identification of relative poverty level of pastoral areas: an analysis based on spatial layout

Pastoral areas are the key difficulty in China’s pursuit of common prosperity and a key region for China to build the northern ecological safety barrier and to realize the Two Centenary Goals. It is of great significance to scientifically evaluate the quality of rural life (QRL), measure the relative poverty level (RPL), and identify the relatively poor areas, making it possible to dock poverty elimination with rural revitalization. Based on the socio-economic data of 18 pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia, this paper draws on spatial layout theory to evaluate QRL and measures RPL by the natural breakpoint method and then identifies the relatively poor areas in Inner Mongolia. The results show that (1) the QRLs of pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia were unbalanced and highly polarized. The mean score of QRLs was 0.2598. Eleven (61.11%) of the counties/banners had a QRL smaller than the mean score. On the spatial layout of QRLs, the western areas were stronger than the central areas. High QRL counties/banners are mainly concentrated in the western region. In the central region, the QRLs were very fragmented, falling onto all five levels. (2) The pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia differed significantly in RPL. The mean score of RPL stood at 0.3788. Nine counties/banners (50%) had an RPL greater than the mean. Contrary to the spatial layout features of QRLs, the central pastoral areas in Inner Mongolia had stronger RPLs than the eastern ones. High RPL counties/banners are mostly clustered in the central region. The spatial layout of RPLs is relatively reasonable in the central region: the RPLs decreased gradually from Dorbod Banner. (3) Nearly 45% of the pastoral areas in central and western Inner Mongolia face serious relative poverty and a high risk of returning to poverty. Eight counties/banners (45%) were identified as high composite relative poverty areas. From spatial layout, the composite relatively poor counties/banners clustered clearly, mainly in the western region. Finally, this paper establishes a warning mechanism against large-scale returning to poverty, aiming to lower composite RPL. The research results provide empirical reference and implementation path for consolidating the results of poverty eradication and facilitating rural revitalization.

Somatization, Psychological Distress, and Quality of Life in Rural and Urban Russians

The aim of this study was to examine symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization as potential risk factors for poor quality of life among rural and urban Russians. The participants were 319 rural (N = 158) and urban (N = 161) residents who completed measures assessing somatization, anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life. Results showed that urban residents experienced more frequent and intense somatization (53.4% vs. 37.3%), anxiety (38.5% vs. 17.1%), and depressive symptoms (50.3% vs. 19.6%) than did rural residents. Both urban and rural residents complained equally about physical health (68.9% vs. 63.3%), but not mental health (18.1% vs. 17.7%). The relationship between quality of life and psychosomatic status is more complex among rural residents than among urban residents, as it depends on more potential risk factors. In conclusion, these patterns need further empirical testing, after which they can be used to develop medical and psychological assistance programs for the Russian population.

Socio-Technical Modeling to Manage Power Distribution for Microgrid Systems With Limited Production Capacity

Abstract The quality of life (QOL) in rural communities is improved through electrification. Microgrids can provide electricity in areas where grid access to electricity is infeasible. Still, insufficient power capacity hinders the very progress that microgrids promote. Therefore, we propose a decision-making framework to manage power distribution based on its impact on the rural QOL. Parameters are examined in this paper to represent the QOL pertaining to water, safety, education, and leisure/social activities. Each parameter is evaluated based on condition, community importance, and energy dependence. A solution for power allocation is developed by executing the compromise decision support problem (cDSP) and exploring the solution space. Energy loads, such as those required for powering water pumps, streetlamps, and household devices, are prioritized in the context of the QOL. The technique also allows decision-makers to update the power distribution scheme as the dynamics between energy production and demand change over time. In this paper, we propose a framework for connecting QOL and power management. The flexibility of the approach is demonstrated using a problem with varying scenarios that may be time dependent. The work enables sustainable energy solutions that can evolve with community development.

Rural Development and Communication

The aim of this paper is to investigate the level of communication that has contributed for India’s rural development. The other reason is to check the success and malfunction of the different tools of communication in the rural development journey where many are fighting and stressing on improving the quality of rural life. In this article we will analyze some communication projects which are for rural development. Also we will discuss about the post liberalization impact on media for rural and urban development. This paper will trace the history of print and electronic media use for rural development. Initially it defines the kind of different activities initiated by government and non-government organizations that are in use as a part of developmental practice. It also investigates about some of the issues that implementation of rural development programs have been affected with and argues that different tools of mass media could overcome some of the flaws in implementation. The analysis will also focus on the positive impact of media privatization on urban development and how it turned public and private broadcasting in favour of entertainment and consumerism. Besides, this will also investigate about different communication policies which are practically in favour of rural development but remain urban affluent. The research undertaken is qualitative.

An analysis of weed management in India

Weeds are the most significant impediment to the development of long-term crop production. Weeds control the majority of crop production practices and cause huge losses (37%) as a result of their interference. Farmers use a variety of methods to manage weeds in various crops/cropping systems, the most common of which is the use of herbicides, which is currently at the top of the list due to labor shortages. Environmental, social, and economic concerns about global competition, production costs, soil erosion, environmental pollution, and concerns about the quality of rural life are all raising questions about the systems’ long-term viability. The central thesis in new weed management paradigms will be to improve crop competitiveness through preventive methods, cultural practices, mechanical methods, plant breeding, biotechnology, biological control, and crop diversification. Integration of the aforementioned techniques will be critical for long-term weed control that maintains or improves crop productivity, profitability, and environmental quality. The goal of this review is to make it easier to develop environmentally friendly alternative weed management methods that will support crop production systems that use less tillage, herbicide, and other inputs. To achieve this goal, crop ecology research and the development of ecologically based weed management technologies must be dramatically expanded. Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices reduces the intensity of soil manipulation, making it more difficult for weed seeds to germinate, as well as reducing organic matter depletion and soil erosion. As a result, sustainable approaches to weed and soil management may be an option for ensuring long-term crop production.

A review of weed management in different crops

Weeds are the major deterrent to the development of sustainable crop production. Since weeds dictate most of the crop production practices and causes enormous losses (37 per cent) due to their interference. Farmers follow several practices for managing weeds in different crops/cropping systems of which at present the use of herbicides are on the top due to the scarcity of labors. The sustainability of these systems is being questioned because of environmental, social and economic concern over the quality of rural life. Enhancing the crop competitiveness through preventive methods, cultural practices, mechanical methods, plant breeding, biotechnology, biological control and crop diversification will be the central thesis in new paradigms of weed management. Integration of above techniques will be key to sustainable weed management that maintain or enhance the crop productivity, profitability and environmental quality. This article explores the scope of sustainable weed management, growing concern over herbicides resistance, environmental and health hazards of pesticides including herbicides and declining profitability are the major challenges of high input agriculture. The goal of this review is to facilitate the development of ecologically based alternative methods for sustainable weed management that will support crop production systems, which require less tillage, herbicide and other inputs. To accomplish this goal, research efforts must be radically expanded in crop ecology and in the development of ecologically based technologies for weed management. Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices reduces the intensity of soil manipulation thereby creates an unfavorable condition for weed seed germination, reduces the organic matter depletion and soil erosion. Thus, the sustainable approaches could be an option for weed and soil management which leads to sustainable crop production.

Assessment of Rural Tourism Brand Effects on Improving the Quality of Life in Rural area of Iran (A Case Study of Binalud County)

Purpose: Nowadays, communities intends to create brands in the field of tourism for various reasons. The most important reasons are to signalize a specific location or tourism destination in order to encourage tourists to spend more, and improve the standards and quality of life of residents. This study seeks to investigate the effects of tourism brands on the quality of rural life in the study area. Methods: The research is an applied one conducted in a descriptive-analytical method. A major part of the data was collected using field studies and sampling (Cochran formula) from 167 households of 9263 rural households in the study area. Results: Research findings suggest that there is a positive and 99% significant relationship between tourism brands and all components of life quality. Rural tourism development can provide villagers with incentives to stay, social justice, a sense of belonging, more benefits from the investments, services and facilities, satisfaction with living space and environmental facilities in rural areas. Conclusion: The path analysis tests in several stages showed that ‘appropriate infrastructure’ as one of the indicators in the independent variable (rural tourism brand) with 40.4 percent had the most significant effect on improving the quality of rural life. This paper contributes to the literature by including various variables in the tourism brand. Therefore, this paper has a new subject and, in practical aspects, it tries to take a general assessment to find out the impact of rural brand tourism on the quality of rural life in Iran.

The spatial differentiation of quality of rural life based on natural controlling factors: A case study of Gansu Province, China

The laws of regional differentiation of county development and influencing factors on the quality of rural life (QRL), affect not only the vital interests of rural residents but also the scientific implementation of rural revitalization strategy. In this paper, taking 87 counties (cities, districts) of Gansu Province as the region of study, we constructed five-dimensional model of QRL index. Then, Pearson correlation, spatial coupling, geographical detector and tradeoff analysis methods were used to analyze the QRL's spatial differentiation and quantitively identify its natural controlling factors. Further, we discussed the mechanism of spatial differentiation of QRL in Gansu Province and provided recommendations for improving QRL. The results show that: (1) QRL in Gansu Province is characterized by spatial heterogeneity and agglomeration, and decreases from west to east. There are five hot spots and four cold spots of QRL. (2) Altitude, slope, precipitation, and distance to the provincial capital (DTTPC) are the natural controlling factors of spatial differentiation of QRL in Gansu Province. Their influences are quantified to be 0.19, 0.37, 0.37 and 0.20, respectively. (3) The tradeoff between QRL and precipitation is the strongest, with root mean square deviation (RMSD) of 0.293. The tradeoff between QRL and altitude/slope/DTTCC are of medium level and decrease successively, with values of 0.238, 0.255 and 0.2 respectively. (4) According to the different influences of natural controlling factors on QRL, Gansu Province was classified into three regional types: natural environment restricted type, resource abundance restricted type and economic location restricted type. Thus, we can improve the QRL on the basis of identifying driving mechanisms in different regions, make policies according to local conditions, and further promote the rural development.

Analysing the Efficiency of Managing the Rural Social Infrastructure in the Region

The article aims to summarise theoretical conclusions and practical results of studying the activities of local bodies on managing the development of rural social infrastructure in the Republic of Kazakhstan. In the article, the objective and subjective indicators characterising the efficiency of managing the rural social infrastructure in rural areas of the Mangystau Region for 2013 – 2017 have been analysed. Through the example of a statistical study of the dynamics of the social infrastructure elements and living standards, the features and problems related to the administrative measures that regulate the socio-economic development of auls in the region have been identified. Using the questionnaire survey, the satisfaction of rural residents in the Mangystau Region with the quality of their social infrastructure has been determined. It has been proved that now the subjective assessment of the efficiency of managing the rural social infrastructure is positively correlated (correlated) with the degree of efforts taken by the local administration to improve the quality of rural life. Currently, rural settlements of the Mangystau Region have an average level of social infrastructure development. However, in different areas, the level of residents’ satisfaction with it varies from very low to sufficient.

Rural Poverty Identification and Comprehensive Poverty Assessment Based on Quality-of-Life: The Case of Gansu Province (China)

Rural poverty has received extensive attention worldwide. Eliminating poverty and achieving common prosperity are the major tasks for China to build a well-off society in an all-round way. Based on the evaluation results of quality of rural life (QRL) and relative poverty index (RPI), this paper identifies and classifies the poor objects using importance–Performance analysis (IPA) method and poverty degree model. The results were as following: (1) QRL has obvious regional differences, and its value gradually decreases from west to east, which is opposite to the spatial distribution pattern of RPI. In areas with high QRL value, the RPI is lower. (2) Fifty counties and districts are clustered in the second quadrant of IPA quadrant map, i.e., Low QRL-High RPI, and the lower quality-of-life corresponds to the higher degree of relative poverty. (3) The coincidence between the poverty-stricken counties and the poverty-stricken counties of the country identified as 84.48% by IPA method, which indicates that the accuracy of poverty delineation based on income is high. (4) Gansu Province is dominated by highly impoverished areas, accounting for 60% of the total number of impoverished counties. The results of comprehensive poverty classification are in line with the actual situation of impoverished counties. In counties with higher CPL, the poverty level is deeper. It is more difficult to get rid of poverty. This study can provide theoretical basis and decision-making reference for the formulation and implementation of Poverty Alleviation Policies in the late stage of underdeveloped areas in western China.

Chinese Rural Health-Seeking Behaviour and the Dilemma of Sufferers of Chronic Sickness: A Case Study from Inner Mongolia

Chinese society is entering a ‘period of chronic sickness’, especially hypertension, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, resulting from a more easily available diet rich in animal fat and protein. The damage is greatest in rural areas where medical and welfare facilities are limited and patients present late, which they justify as needing to continue farming despite sickness. Thus, contrary to Parsons’s observation regarding Western medical treatment, a patient’s sick role is neither ‘deviant’ nor separated from their everyday social role and lifestyle. Villagers might however be officially encouraged to regard biomedical, religious and traditional folk therapies as neither old-fashioned nor in conflict, but as a spectrum providing emotional/psychological and sometimes physical benefit, reinforced by returning to the greater community and family care existing before village social fragmentation. This recreation of a holistic perspective could enhance the quality of rural life, especially of chronic sickness sufferers.

Smart Villages in EU Policy: How to Match Innovativeness and Pragmatism?

Smart Villages is an approach to rural development which has been under discussion in the EU as one of the subthemes that the ENRD is working on. For this reason, the Thematic Group (TG) on Smart Villages was launched in 2017. Since then it has been contributing to the definition of smart villages, discussing the changes in rural development policy and opportunities for providing support for smart villages, exchanging experience and best practices in smart rural development, and serving as a forum for dialogue between various rural stakeholders. This paper outlines the discussion held during the selected meetings of the TG and briefly indicates the academic background of the approach discussed. Its aim was to present Smart Villages in terms of EU policy. Hence, the paper presents the genesis of the EU debate, highlights some of the dilemmas of the definition of smart villages, indicates the role of the territorial governments and the EU in creating the conditions for implementing the approach, and shows the selected examples of smart rural development. Smart Villages is an alternative way of thinking about the quality of rural life, and it seems to respond to the way the EU policy is evolving. However, it calls for better tailored tools and instruments, which applies both to EU policies and national/regional sources. It also calls for regional and local governments to play their role in the process.

The Battle for the Future of Food

First paragraphs: We are in the midst of a battle for the future of our food systems. In spite of persistent denials, today’s so-called modern food system simply cannot be sustained for much longer. Mounting evidence of the negative impacts of today’s dominant systems of food production on the natural environment, public health, animal welfare, and the quality of rural life is becoming difficult to deny or ignore. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) consistently identifies agriculture as the leading nonpoint source of pollution of rivers and streams and a major contributor to pollution of lakes, wetlands, estuaries, and groundwater (U.S. EPA, n.d.). Massive “dead zones,” such as those in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay, devel­oped with the industrialization of American agri­culture (National Geographic Society, 2011). Agriculture has also been identified as a major contributor to global climate change. Experts disagree, but an emerging consensus seems to be that agriculture globally contributes about 15% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions—about the same as transportation (Nahigyan, 2016). Animal agriculture is a major contributor, and environmentalists have joined animal welfare advocates in calling for an end to industrial animal agriculture....

Rural Quality of Life – Poverty, Satisfaction and Opportunity Deprivation in Different Types of Rural Territories

Abstract This article contributes to the rural-urban quality of life comparison issue by investigating territorial differences in quality of life using indices of poverty, satisfaction and opportunity deprivation. The article introduces three innovative elements. First, rural-urban differences are analysed alongside with the within-rural differentiation; second, two distinct spatial patterns of different forms of rural territorial disadvantage are introduced; third, the net-effect of the residential environment is assessed. Empirical results, based on survey data, show increased opportunity deprivation in rural areas, which however is not accompanied by decreased community satisfaction. For the most indices, within-rural differences proved larger than the difference between urban and rural areas.