ONLINE STRATEGIES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES AFFECTED BY COVID-19: A SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL COMMERCE APPROACH

The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the way many US citizens work, live, and interact with one another. Many rules and regulations have been put in place by government officials to slow the spread of the virus because of how contagious it is in social settings. Because of these rules and regulations, many small businesses were forced to temporarily close their doors to the public in order to comply with the rules of social distancing and the ban on large gatherings. For some businesses, this shift from physical sales to digital sales has always been a part of their business models, leaving them unaffected by this pandemic. For other businesses with no digital strategy, the pandemic has put their business at risk for permanent closures. This project explores the various ways small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can avoid permanent business closures during the Coronavirus pandemic by adopting an online ordering strategy using social media and social commerce. The category of SME to be analyzed in this project is the small business restaurant. Online delivery systems, social media, and social commerce are the topics of research for this project in an attempt to shed some light on the value these strategies can bring to the struggling small business restaurant directly affected by Covid-19

Exploring Racial Injustice Conversations in Intergenerational Asian American Households Following The Death of George Floyd: A Case Study

This study explores intergenerational racial injustice conversations in Asian American households by focusing on conversations that occurred following the death of George Floyd. Asian American historical oppression, Eastern versus Western ideologies, and intergenerational communication conflict present several challenges for navigating conversations about racial injustice among family members. Given the important role of family in facilitating identity and fostering support, this study also considers the implications of mental health and well-being of Asian Americans associated with their ability to communicate about racial injustice. Informed by Racial Triangulation Theory and Family Communication Patterns Theory, four in-depth interviews were conducted, along with a self-exploration, among first and second generation self-identified Asian Americans living with intergenerational family members. Participants either attempted to or engaged in racial injustice conversations following the death of George Floyd. Findings point to present day racial tension and communication patterns that impact successful navigation of racial injustice conversations in intergenerational Asian American families and provide potential resources to promote mental health and well-being

Enhancing opportunities for nutrition education in public elementary schools in the Philippines

This detailed paper outlines a successful integrated school nutrition model that was scaled up nation-wide in the Philippines. A capacity building program was implemented in order to train 58 school administrators in “Region IV.” A network of “Lighthouse” or sentinel schools was established and a guideline specifically for nutrition education was developed (Annex 1). The paper describes approaches for implementation and interventions that worked, and that can be replicated, monitored and evaluated. A legal mandate for the Department of Education (DepEd, Philippines) will help set up and facilitate mainstreaming and sustainability as well as ensuring sufficient allocation of human and other resources

Promoting Nutrition in Climate Smart Agriculture

This booklet resulted from the project titled, “Community Based Adaptation via Climate and nutrition smart village to address food insecurity in Myanmar. The project aimed to contribute to food and nutrition security, food safety and hygiene in the communities where the project beneficiaries live. Drawing from the project’s experiences and lessons, the booklet serves as a guide for enhancing food production, food safety and hygiene beginning from the smallest unit of the community – the family

School food environments in the Philippines

School food environments (SFE)- which include school cafeterias, fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, and other forms of food outlets and food vendors found in the vicinity of the school- offer a unique opportunity to address malnutrition among school children. SFE interventions can promote fruit and vegetables consumption, as well as set children on a life-long path of healthy and sustainable eating behaviors

COVID-19 impact on local agri-food system in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines: Findings from a rapid assessment

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent enforcement of mobility restrictions have created bottlenecks in the agri-food system. When the food supply chain is disrupted, economic loss occurs, putting rural households, already in poverty, into severe food insecurity. A survey was conducted to assess the impacts of restrictions brought by COVID-19 on local food systems operations of Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) in Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines. The rural and traditional food systems of agriculture-based villages continued to operate with minimal adjustments during the course of COVID-19 restrictions. Our findings showed high mean household dietary diversity scores in Chhouk CSV (6.4), Htee Pu CSV (8.2), and Himbubulo Weste CSV (7.2) despite significant perceived changes in the availability and prices of certain food groups. Complementary and diverse food production and access to informal food outlets were essential parts of the local food systems and played critical roles in supplying food commodities to the population during the pandemic

Coconut-based Systems in the Philippines: Intensification and Diversification with Climate-Smart Agriculture

To generate evidence on increasing household resilience to climate change through increased farm income while also generating social benefits, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) study was undertaken in 2021 by the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) with support from the International Research and Development Center (IDRC). For the Philippine component of the study, the study determined the financial and social benefits of raising native pigs and planting fruit trees and black pepper gained by the households from Guinayangan, Quezon and Ivisan, Capiz. The combination of planting fruit trees and black pepper as well as native pig production are viable when they are integrated with the main sources of livelihood of the villages of Himbubulo Weste and Magsaysay (Guinayangan). The study showed that the said villages will continue to financially benefit from the CSA interventions despite facing possible threats in the market. The funds invested by the community members in implementing the CSA interventions are expected to be recovered within three years after 2020. Diversifying farm production should be encouraged and practiced by more households as it serves as a cushion to minimize loss of livelihood for the family, and could help households maintain a steady and reliable income even if one of the crops failed or incurred losses

Pathways to Women’s Empowerment in the Promotion of Climate Smart Agriculture in the Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia

Climate change is not gender neutral. Women are a vulnerable population within a vulnerable population. Far from an equalizing event, climate change risks and disasters often magnify and aggravate existing inequalities in society, including gender inequality. National governments and the international development community recognized that in order to strengthen and accelerate their goals for agricultural development, economic growth and food security they need to build the contributions that women make and take steps to alleviate barriers to women empowerment. A quantitative-qualitative study has been undertaken to investigate how the promotion of climate smart agriculture is contributing to women empowerment within the climate smart villages (CSVs) in Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines. The analysis of survey results (n=121) showed that the majority of the women farmers opt to make decisions jointly with their husbands in activities related to agriculture production. Women’s participation in the decision-making process are related to decisions on what crops or crop varieties to plant. Women are more engaged in the decision making related to small livestock such as goats, pigs and chickens, they have gained more experience and knowledge and are able to provide good suggestions regarding livestock. Increased income is a powerful measure of women’s economic empowerment. Across the six CSVs, there is a significant difference in the perceived increase in incomes. The impact of women’s increased income has been equally positive at both the household and community level, with increased involvement in household and production decision-making and increased and more active participation in community activities. Household borrowing and saving have traditionally been the normative responsibility of women. This finding is supported by focus group discussions (n=113) in the CSVs where women are designated as budget planner and keeper of the household income. The study also indicated that the promotion of homestead gardens and small livestock buffered the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the households as these activities provided them with food, enabled them to share or sell vegetables to their neighbors, and reserved food for extended lockdowns

A global phylogeny of butterflies reveals their evolutionary history, ancestral hosts and biogeographic origins

Butterflies are a diverse and charismatic insect group that are thought to have evolved with plants and dispersed throughout the world in response to key geological events. However, these hypotheses have not been extensively tested because a comprehensive phylogenetic framework and datasets for butterfly larval hosts and global distributions are lacking. We sequenced 391 genes from nearly 2,300 butterfly species, sampled from 90 countries and 28 specimen collections, to reconstruct a new phylogenomic tree of butterflies representing 92% of all genera. Our phylogeny has strong support for nearly all nodes and demonstrates that at least 36 butterfly tribes require reclassification. Divergence time analyses imply an origin similar to 100 million years ago for butterflies and indicate that all but one family were present before the K/Pg extinction event. We aggregated larval host datasets and global distribution records and found that butterflies are likely to have first fed on Fabaceae and originated in what is now the Americas. Soon after the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, butterflies crossed Beringia and diversified in the Palaeotropics. Our results also reveal that most butterfly species are specialists that feed on only one larval host plant family. However, generalist butterflies that consume two or more plant families usually feed on closely related plants

Molecular dynamics study of water transport and reverse solute diffusion mechanisms across a polyamide membrane during forward-osmosis-driven dewatering of microalgae

Microalgae are believed to be the futures potential novel sources of biological nutrients due to their interesting physical and chemical compositions. However, the substantial existence of water in the culture of microalgae poses a major challenge for their production, specifically the dewatering procedure, which is highly energy demanding. Forward-osmosis-driven (FO) process is a promising alternative to conventional methods of dewatering microalgae and understanding the system mechanisms at the molecular scale could provide substantial insights on system optimization. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed in this study to investigate the mechanisms of water transport and reverse solute diffusion across the polyamide membrane during forward-osmosis-driven dewatering of microalgae. A series of nanoscale MD simulations mimicking the FO-driven dewatering process were performed. Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) lipid bilayer with water molecules on both sides was modeled to represent microalgae suspension in the feed solution of the FO system. The draw solution was modeled as solutions of water molecules and ions. Varying concentrations of NaCl and MgCl2 ions were used to observe the relationship of the rate of water transport and the occurrence of reverse solute diffusion to draw solution types and concentrations and to observe other differences in the behavior of the system. Polyamide (PA) thin film composite was used and modeled as the membrane material separating the feed and draw solutions. Results of the calculations show that no water molecules have permeated the DPPC lipid bilayer and thus, extraction of water from inside of the cell membrane has not occurred in the simulations. On the other hand, the rate of extraction of water molecules (water flux) outside of the cell membrane showed strong dependence on the type and concentration of draw solutions used in the simulations. Higher draw solution concentration led to higher water fluxes for different FO systems with NaCl and MgCl2 in the draw solution region. The observation of reverse solute diffusion also showed strong dependence on the type and concentration of draw solutions used. Higher accumulation of ions on the surface of and inside the membrane was evident at higher draw solution concentrations. It was found then that NaCl ions from the NaCl draw solutions exhibited higher ionic permeability than MgCl2 ions from the MgCl2 draw solutions. Distinct transport behavior of water and ions across the polyamide membrane was also discovered and compared with other studies which allowed the understanding of the local structure of the membrane during the simulations of FO systems. The calculated diffusion coefficients and hydration numbers of water and ions in the system were found to be helpful in providing in-depth insights on the mechanisms of water transport and reverse solute diffusion across the polyamide membrane and on the behavior of water and ions in bulk solutions