Baseline for assessing the impact of Fairtrade certification on cocoa farmers and cooperatives in Ghana

Peer Revie

The Effectiveness of Islamic Microfinance Distribution on Microbusiness Owner's Poverty Alleviation (Case Study: BMT Bina Masyarakat Purworejo)

The objective of the study is to analyze the effectiveness of Islamic microfinance distri- bution and its impact on microbusiness owners' poverty alleviation in Purworejo. This study used descriptive analysis method that is Likert scale and ordinary least square method (OLS) to analyze the influence of Islamic Microfinance Institution's financing to microbusiness performance. The impact on the poverty alleviation is indicated by the change of microbusiness owners' income. The results indicate that Islamic micro-financing is con- sidered to be effective in several aspects, they are proposal aspect, disbursement aspect, utilization aspect, and pay-back aspect of financing. In addition, Islamic microfinance has a positive impact on microbusiness performance and poverty alleviation

Is first-gen an identity? How first-generation college students make meaning of institutional and familial constructs of self

Institutions increasingly use first-generation categorizations to provide support to students. In this study, we sought to understand how students make meaning of their first-generation status by conducting a series of focus groups with 54 participants. Our findings reveal that students saw first-generation status as an organizational and familial identity rather than a social identities. This status was connected to alterity and social distance that was most salient in comparison to continuing-generation peers. Our recommendations include re-examining the role of first- generation specific programming on campus, creating opportunities for meaning-making, supporting students within changing family dynamics, and exploring the interaction between first-generation status and other marginalized identities

Baseline for assessing the impact of fairtrade certification on cocoa farmers and cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire

Report commissioned by Fairtrade Africa and Fairtrade International. World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya. Farms-Forests-LandscapesIn 2014, Fairtrade International, Fairtrade Africa, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and Bioversity International initiated a collaboration for the development of a multidimensional baseline on small-scale cocoa farmers and their cooperatives in West Africa. The baseline is expected to provide a fuller understanding of the current situation for Fairtrade cocoa production and marketing as well as provide the foundation for rigorous assessment of outcomes and impacts of Fairtrade certification on cocoa cooperatives and smallholder households in West Africa in the future. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the two largest Fairtrade cocoa producers in West Africa, provide about 68 percent of the cocoa that is sold under Fairtrade terms in global markets. In 2013, the year this study was commissioned, the volume of Fairtrade cocoa sold from West Africa reached 133 400 tonnes, involving 71 cooperatives and producer associations and 138 800 farmers. Most of this cocoa originated from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The rapid growth in the number of cocoa-producing organizations joining the Fairtrade system in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana provides a unique opportunity to build a baseline on Fairtrade cocoa producers in West Africa for future monitoring and impact assessment. This report focuses on the Fairtrade cocoa baseline for Côte d’Ivoire (a similar report is available for Ghana). It describes the conceptual framework and methods used in the design of the baseline, followed by an assessment of the context in Côte d’Ivoire. Key features of the baseline data at the cooperative and household levels are covered in detail. The report concludes with some recommendations to Fairtrade for expanding Fairtrade International in Côte d’Ivoire and for follow-up actions for future baseline work

Consumer Preferences for The Design of Smoked Fish Packaging Using Conjoint Analysis

Research on smoked fish packaging has only focused on its functional side to increase product life. Meanwhile, research on smoked fish packaging design that focuses on improving and expanding markets has never existed. Until now, smoked fish was sold without packaging even though the amount of production continued to increase. The purpose of this study was to determine consumer preferences for the design of smoked fish packaging. With the recognition of these preferences, it is expected that the smoked fish industry players can apply it so that it can increase the sale value and the number of sales. This study uses focus group discussion as a qualitative method and conjoint analysis as a quantitative method. Color, material, shape, size, brand, and additional information is the attribute chosen at the focus group discussion as a representation of smoked fish packaging to determine the level of its preference. The results of this study indicate that brands have the highest preference compared to others (importance values 30.303%)

Penggunaan Albumen untuk Separasi Spermatozoa Epididymis Domba Garut

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui efektivitas berbagai konsentrasi albumen untuk separasi spermatozoa epididymis Domba Garut. Penelitian ini menggunakan semen yang berasal dari cauda epididymis Domba Garut yang baru dipotong dan segera diolah di laboratorium.  Perlakuan yang digunakan yaitu media separasi menggunakan berbagai kombinasi konsentrasi albumen pada lapisan atas dan bawah terdiri dari 10%-30%, 10%-50%, 10%-70% dan kontrol (tanpa media separasi). Penelitian ini dirancang dengan menggunakan Rangcangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) dengan empat perlakuan dan lima kali ulangan.  Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pada lapisan atas kombinasi konsentrasi albumen berpengaruh nyata (p<0.05) dapat meningkatkan jumlah spermatozoa X dari rasio alamiahnya, dan pada lapisan bawah kombinasi konsentrasi albumen berpengaruh nyata (p<0.05) dapat meningkatkan spermatozoa Y dari rasio alamiahnya.  Disimpulkan bahwa kombinasi konsentrasi albumen yang digunakan cukup efektif digunakan untuk pemisahan spermatozoa X dan Y pada Domba Garut.Kata kunci:  albumen, separasi spermatozoa, Domba Garu

Human group formation in online guilds and offline gangs driven by common team dynamic

Quantifying human group dynamics represents a unique challenge. Unlike animals and other biological systems, humans form groups in both real (offline) and virtual (online) spaces -- from potentially dangerous street gangs populated mostly by disaffected male youths, through to the massive global guilds in online role-playing games for which membership currently exceeds tens of millions of people from all possible backgrounds, age-groups and genders. We have compiled and analyzed data for these two seemingly unrelated offline and online human activities, and have uncovered an unexpected quantitative link between them. Although their overall dynamics differ visibly, we find that a common team-based model can accurately reproduce the quantitative features of each simply by adjusting the average tolerance level and attribute range for each population. By contrast, we find no evidence to support a version of the model based on like-seeking-like (i.e. kinship or `homophily')

Focused Deterrence and the Prevention of Violent Gun Injuries: Practice, Theoretical Principles, and Scientific Evidence

Focused deterrence strategies are a relatively new addition to a growing portfolio of evidence-based violent gun injury prevention practices available to policy makers and practitioners. These strategies seek to change offender behavior by understanding the underlying violence-producing dynamics and conditions that sustain recurring violent gun injury problems and by implementing a blended strategy of law enforcement, community mobilization, and social service actions. Consistent with documented public health practice, the focused deterrence approach identifies underlying risk factors and causes of recurring violent gun injury problems, develops tailored responses to these underlying conditions, and measures the impact of implemented interventions. This article reviews the practice, theoretical principles, and evaluation evidence on focused deterrence strategies. Although more rigorous randomized studies are needed, the available empirical evidence suggests that these strategies generate noteworthy gun violence reduction impacts and should be part of a broader portfolio of violence prevention strategies available to policy makers and practitioners

Association of Recorded Estimated Fetal Weight and Cesarean Delivery in Attempted Vaginal Delivery at Term:

To evaluate the association between documentation of estimated fetal weight, and its value, with cesarean delivery

Detection of mild cognitive impairment in people older than 65 years of age and its relationship to cardiovascular risk factors (DECRIVAM)

[ENG]Background: Studies centered on the detection of cognitive impairment and its relationship to cardiovascular risk factors in elderly people have gained special relevance in recent years. Knowledge of the cardiovascular risk factors that may be associated to cognitive impairment could be very useful for introducing treatments in early stagesthereby possibly contributing to improve patient quality of life. The present study explores cognitive performance in people over 65 years of age in Salamanca (Spain), with special emphasis on the identification of early symptoms of cognitive impairment, with the purpose of detecting mild cognitive impairment and of studying the relationships between this clinical situation and cardiovascular risk factors. Methods/Design: A longitudinal study is contemplated. The reference population will consist of 420 people over 65 years of age enrolled through randomized sampling stratified by healthcare area, and who previously participated in another study. Measurement: a) Sociodemographic variables; b) Cardiovascular risk factors; c) Comorbidity; d) Functional level for daily life activities; and e) Study of higher cognitive functions based on a neuropsychological battery especially adapted to the evaluation of elderly people. Discussion: We hope that this study will afford objective information on the representative prevalence of cognitive impairment in the population over 65 years of age in Salamanca. We also hope to obtain data on the relationship between cognitive impairment and cardiovascular risk factors in this specific population group. Based on the results obtained, we also will be able to establish the usefulness of some of the screening tests applied during the study, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination and the 7 Minute Screen test. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT0132719