Background: Every country is affected by some form of malnutrition. Some governments and nutrition experts look to public-private partnerships (PPPs) to address the burden of malnutrition. However, nutrition-related PPPs face opposition, are difficult to form, and there is limited evidence of their effectiveness. Methods: We conducted a literature review and 30 semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in or researching nutrition-related PPPs to identify the factors that shape their creation and effectiveness in food systems. Results: Several factors make it difficult to establish nutrition-related PPPs in food systems: a lack of understanding of the causal pathways behind many nutrition problems; a weak architecture for the global governance of nutrition; power imbalances between public and private sector nutrition actors; and disagreements in the nutrition community on the advisability of engaging the private sector. These complexities in turn make it difficult for PPPs to be effective once established due to goal ambiguity and misalignment, resource imbalances, and weak accountability. Conclusion: If effective nutrition-related PPPs are to be established, private sector conflicts of interest must be addressed, trust deficits between private and public sector actors must be surmounted, and evidence must be assessed as to whether PPPs can achieve more for public health nutrition than private and public sector actors working separately.
The need to assess service quality of existing transportation systems based on users'perceptions has received increased attention in recent years. In this context, researchers have identified level of service (LOS) as an effective tool to measure users' perceptions of service quality on a linguistic scale ranging from LOS A to LOS F which denote 'best' to 'worst' levels of service according to users' perceptions. However, contrary to the definition of LOS that requires it to be measured based on user perception, the existing LOS benchmarks available for public transportation are based on expert judgment. This research attempts to develop LOS benchmarks for bus transit services based on user perception using the 'Law of Successive Interval Scaling' which converts an ordered categorical scale into an interval scale. The results obtained through this analysis for the city of Kolkata, India, highlight the difference in LOS scale values between developed and developing nations and between expert opinion and user perception.
Current agriculture faces multiple challenges due to boom in food demand and environmental concerns. Biochar is increasingly being recognized by scientists and policy makers for its potential role in carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, waste mitigation and as a soil amendment. The purpose of this review is to provide a balanced perspective on the agronomic and environmental impacts of biochar amendment to soil. Application of biochar to soil can play a significant role in the alteration of nutrients dynamics, soil contaminants as well as microbial functions. Therefore, strategic biochar application to soil may provide agronomic, environmental and economic benefits. Recent findings also supported that in order to enhance crop yield, improve soil quality and soil health, biochar has proven significant role as fertilizer and soil conditioner respectively.
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