Suchergebnisse

The social work and welfare profession has experienced change and challenge from a number of sources in the late 20th Century. In Western countries, changing government ideology and policy about welfare provision has fundamentally altered the landscape in which social and welfare workers are employed. The role and purpose of the social welfare profession has been interrogated, with a resulting perceived 'crisis' for the profession. Government policies have also affected the provision of education for students, and this, too, has had an impact on the shape and structure of courses, and the work of academics. In addition, broader changes in society have created a challenging environment, for example, there is a general distrust of professionals together with the speaking out by marginalised groups about their place and treatment within society and by professional groups such as social welfare. Such a context affects the profession, and recruitment of students. Within this milieu, social work and welfare education must equip graduates to work effectively in a changing and sometimes hostile world. This paper broadly examines the context affecting provision of education for social work and education in the 21st century. These issues are similar across Western countries, and affect many other professional groups. ; E1

AbstractConcerns about the growing prevalence of obesity worldwide have led researchers and policy makers to investigate the potential health impact of fiscal policies such as taxes on unhealthy foods. A common instrument used to measure the relationship between food prices and food consumption is the price elasticity of demand. Using meta‐regression analysis we assessed how differences in methodological approaches to estimating demand affected food price elasticities. Most methodological differences had a statistically significant impact on elasticity estimates, which stresses the importance of using meta‐estimates or testing the sensitivity of simulation outcomes to a range of elasticity parameters before drawing policy conclusions.

India has the highest national freshwater demand globally and 91% of India's freshwater is used in the agriculture sector. Cereals account for over 50% of the dietary water footprint in India and represent a potential opportunity for reducing water use in Indian agriculture. This study combines governmental production and irrigation statistics with crop distribution maps to examine trends in annual water use for cereal production in India between 2005 and 2014. A new online water assessment tool, Cool Farm Tool Water (CFTW), was used to calculate water use and derive seasonal state-level blue and green water footprints for rice, wheat, sorghum, millet and maize. The analysis indicates that India achieved 26.4% increased total cereal production between 2005 and 2014 without additional water or land use. Cereal water footprints have declined due to higher yields for most crops and slightly lower rates of evapotranspiration. There has also been a shift in the area under production away from the Kharif (monsoon) towards the Rabi (dry) season in which total water footprints for all cereals except rice are substantially lower (−33.4% to −45.0% compared to Kharif), but show a significantly higher dependency on ground and surface water. The value of this study is two-fold. First, it provides a full assessment of production trends for the five major cereals in India for each year from 2005 to 2014 and links it to water use. Secondly, it uses updated seasonal water footprints, which demonstrate the potential for changes in cereal production practices to contribute to improved efficiency of water use in India. Future pressures on scarce water resources may encourage transition to cereals with lower irrigation dependency, in particular maize, but also sorghum and millet. In addition, increased emphasis on improving millet and sorghum yields would be of benefit to secure cereal production and reduce its overall water footprint.

India has the highest national freshwater demand globally and 91% of India's freshwater is used in the agriculture sector. Cereals account for over 50% of the dietary water footprint in India and represent a potential opportunity for reducing water use in Indian agriculture. This study combines governmental production and irrigation statistics with crop distribution maps to examine trends in annual water use for cereal production in India between 2005 and 2014. A new online water assessment tool, Cool Farm Tool Water (CFTW), was used to calculate water use and derive seasonal state-level blue and green water footprints for rice, wheat, sorghum, millet and maize. The analysis indicates that India achieved 26.4% increased total cereal production between 2005 and 2014 without additional water or land use. Cereal water footprints have declined due to higher yields for most crops and slightly lower rates of evapotranspiration. There has also been a shift in the area under production away from the Kharif (monsoon) towards the Rabi (dry) season in which total water footprints for all cereals except rice are substantially lower (-33.4% to -45.0% compared to Kharif), but show a significantly higher dependency on ground and surface water. The value of this study is two-fold. First, it provides a full assessment of production trends for the five major cereals in India for each year from 2005 to 2014 and links it to water use. Secondly, it uses updated seasonal water footprints, which demonstrate the potential for changes in cereal production practices to contribute to improved efficiency of water use in India. Future pressures on scarce water resources may encourage transition to cereals with lower irrigation dependency, in particular maize, but also sorghum and millet. In addition, increased emphasis on improving millet and sorghum yields would be of benefit to secure cereal production and reduce its overall water footprint.