High participation rates by the public in authority projects are key in increasing resident recycling levels. Understanding waste separation behavior is crucial to achieving sustainable waste management within such household-based schemes. To identify the driving forces behind the seldom-discussed kitchen garbage separation behavior, five psychological factors, namely, attitude, perceived behavior control, subjective norms, moral norms, and responsibility denial, are established. Our data originate from a social study of Beijing citizens conducted in July 2013 (n = 362). Through structural equation modeling, we find that moral norms are consistently the most important predictor of household kitchen waste (KW) separation behavior. Subjective norms have a larger effect on such behavior than responsibility denial. Data analysis shows that perceived behavior control contributes significantly and independently to the explanation of such behavior. By contrast, attitude towards KW separation is found to be significantly negatively correlated with separation behavior. In conclusion, the model with direct and indirect effects of psychological factors explains 50.3% of the variance in household KW source separation behavior. Implications of the results for the promotion of household KW separation programs are discussed.

Leptospirosis is a serious and potentially fatal zoonotic disease, but often neglected owing to lack of awareness. This study examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning leptospirosis among agricultural (n = 152) and non-agricultural (n = 115) workers in the lakeshore communities of Calamba and Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines. The findings showed no significant differences for the knowledge and attitude scores between agricultural and non-agricultural workers. However, agricultural workers had significantly lower prevention practice scores than non-agricultural workers. The ordinary least squares regression model identified gender, use of broadcast media as a source of health information, and knowledge and attitudes about leptospirosis as significant predictors of prevention practices common to both workers. Higher educational attainment was significantly associated with prevention practices among agricultural workers, while higher age and income level were significantly associated with prevention practices among non-agricultural workers. Public health interventions to improve leptospirosis knowledge and prevention practices should include health education and promotion programs, along with the strengthening of occupational health and safety programs in the agricultural sector.

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Erratic rainfall has a detrimental impact on crop productivity but rainfall during the specific growth stage is rarely used in efficiency analysis. This study focuses on this untapped point and examines the influence of rainfall specifically encountered during the sowing stage and early vegetative growth stage and the flowering stage of pulses on productivity and efficiency in Lower Myanmar using data from 182 sample farmers. The results of a stochastic frontier production function reveal that rainfall incidence during the flowering season of pulses has a negatively significant effect on yield while replanting crops after serious damage by rain increases productivity. Controlled rainfall variables, seed rate, human labor and land preparation cost are important parameters influencing pulses yield. In the efficiency model, levels of yield loss have a negative impact while being a male household head, access to government credit, access to training, locating farms in the Bago Region and possessing a large area of pulses have a positively significant effect on technical efficiency. Policy recommendations include the establishment of a safety network, such as crop insurance to protect farmers from losses due to unpredictable weather conditions, promoting training programs on cultural practices adapted to climate change, wide coverage of extension activities, giving priority to small-scale farmers and female farmer participation in training and extension activities and increasing the rate of credit availability to farmers.

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Abstract:Worldwide, damage to mangroves is alarming. Restoration is required to recover mangrove ecosystems, and communities' involvement is a primary factor to reduce the threat to mangroves. Their participation might be interpreted as the appropriate decision concerning conservation and utilization of mangroves. Using a contingent valuation approach, this study assesses mangroves' values to local communities through their willingness to contribute labor to obtain monetary value. Results showed that the opportunity cost of time was valued at IDR 398.76 thousand (US$29.99) a month or IDR 4.79 million (US$359.90) per year. A total annual benefit of mangrove restoration using the wage rate of time (WRT) is IDR 143 billion (US$10.77 million) per year. Accessing such information is crucial to making the appropriate decisions about conservation of mangroves within the context of developing countries that have poor coastal communities and low incomes. Tobit regression determined that five variables affect willingness to provide labor time and WRT significantly for mangrove restoration. These findings can support decision-makers with the relevant information for assessing a mangrove restoration project.