We investigated the role of multiple forms of feedback and of alternative measures of motivation in feedback‐goal‐performance processes. Results indicated that when performance‐based and normative‐based feedback are both provided, the two forms of feedback have differential effects on personal goals and intrinsic motivation, supporting our predictions. Moreover, measures of self‐efficacy and personal goals worded in relation to performance were more strongly related to performance‐based feedback, while self‐efficacy and personal goals measures worded in relation to normative information were more strongly related to normative‐based feedback, as predicted. These results highlight the importance of investigating more complex feedback environments and examining the role of alternative measures of motivational variables to increase our understanding of motivational processes.
Globally, farming systems are mostly dominated by monoculture, which has the advantage of profitability at the expense of ecological systems. Recent years have witnessed an increasing momentum in global efforts to deploy sustainable agriculture practices that mimic ecological processes, with agroecology at the forefront. In addition to the ecological aspect, agroecology also encompasses economic and social aspects targeting the whole food system. Transformative agroecology has been recognized as a stepping stone to achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), due to its great potential to build climate change-resilient farming systems while enhancing ecosystem services and reducing biodiversity loss. Nonetheless, the available literature on the recent developments and future trajectories of the adoption of agroecology approaches for improving the production of cereals, the most important group of food crops, is limited. This review aims to highlight the blueprint of agroecology that can contribute to the achievements of the SDGs, allowing explicit interpretation of the term that will benefit twenty-first century agriculture. Using cereal crops as the case study, we provide insights into how far this field has come and the main barriers to its adoption, and conclude that this approach of “science for and with society” is the way forward for building a resilient future.
Secure, affordable housing is strongly linked to wellbeing in older age. This paper reports on a study of childless and poor older Malaysians who are potentially a vulnerable group in relation to accumulating such housing resources for older age. Childless is defined as a person without biological, step or adopted children, and poverty is defined following the national guideline. The research explores the cumulative advantages and disadvantages over the lifecourse that may influence their routes to attaining, or failing to attain, secure and stable housing in older age. Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 34 childless and poor older Malaysians in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were analysed using a lifecourse perspective to identify the events/experiences that had shaped their housing arrangements in old age. Housing arrangements are hierarchical in structure and can be categorised into four types: home-ownership, public-rental, private-rental and informal housing arrangements. The capacity to afford secure housing (i.e. public rental or ownership) decreased with ill-health and reduced opportunities to work. Structural and policy factors such as eligibility for public housing had also contributed to shaping current housing arrangements. Family poverty, low levels of education and, consequently, reduced employment opportunities affected the ability to accumulate the financial resources needed to afford housing in older age. Some individual decisions and situational disadvantages also contributed to reductions in housing choice. From the social and cultural context, some participants with greater networks had more choices and advantages in the accumulation of housing resources. Initiatives to provide retirement entitlements for workers have not favoured those in low-level informal employment or have come too late to assist those who are now older people. In conclusion, more disadvantages than advantages were accumulated earlier in their life, impacting on their ability to have affordable, secure and stable housing in older age.
By the mid-century, urban areas are expected to house two-thirds of the world’s population of approximately 10 billion people. The key challenge will be to provide food for all with fewer farmers in rural areas and limited options for expanding cultivated fields in urban areas, with sustainable soil management being a fundamental criterion for achieving sustainability goals. Understanding how nature works in a fast changing world and fostering nature-based agriculture (such as low-input farming) are crucial for sustaining food systems in the face of worsening urban heat island (UHI) effects and other climatic variables. The best fit for the context is transformative agroecology, which connects ecological networks, sustainable farming approaches, and social movements through change-oriented research and action. Even though agroecology has been practiced for over a century, its potential to address the socioeconomic impact of the food system remained largely unexplored until recently. Agroecological approaches, which involve effective interactions between researchers, policy makers, farmers, and consumers, can improve social cohesion and socioeconomic synergies while reducing the use of various agricultural inputs. This review presents a timeline of agroecology transformation from the past to the present and discusses the possibilities, prospects, and challenges of agroecological urbanism toward a resilient urban future.
Although the vast caregiving literature shows that adult children generally play a key role in providing social support to ageing parents, research on how childless people manage to get their social support needs met in old age is quite limited. The emerging demographic and sociological literature on childlessness among older people, primarily located in western countries, gives limited attention to those who are poor, as well as childless. In countries such as Malaysia, with a strong policy focus on care provision by family and limited state provision for older people, how older childless people who are poor manage to get their social support needs met is of significant policy and research interest. To date, there is no research that focuses on this topic within this context.The older population in Malaysia is heterogeneous, having experienced major social, economic and historical changes and development since the country gained independence in 1957. Older people who are childless and poor have remained largely "invisible" in the changing Malaysian social and policy contexts. The aim of this study is to explore the life experiences of childless and poor older Malaysians. The study provides an insight into the pathways to childlessness, the opportunities and constraints in life which resulted in them being childless and poor in older age, and, under these circumstances, how social support needs are managed in old age. A Life Course Perspective frames the study as this locates experiences in a social, historical, cultural and political context, is useful in understanding how the past shapes the future, and incorporates core concepts such as cumulative effects, linked lives, timing and agency.Thirty-four childless and poor participants aged 62-82 years old of different gender, ethnic group and marital status were recruited and interviewed using semi-structured interviews. These interviews were conducted by the researcher in three languages, and participants were able to choose the language used. Recruitment was conducted in the welfare office in Kuala Lumpur. All interviews were translated and transcribed into English. The thematic analysis of the data identified themes and patterns in relation to childlessness, accumulated advantages and disadvantages, and managing social support needs. The overall story was developed using deduction and then induction processes closely linked to the conceptual framework that drove the study.In all cases, a combination of individual, family, and structural constraints contributed to childlessness in old age. Poor family relationships in the family of origin, poverty and structural impediments to adoption, suggested that childlessness in older age is not simply an individual choice. In most cases, childlessness was affected by the environment and context in which they
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