ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6403-5606
Current Organisation
University of Adelaide
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2018
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 08-01-2021
Abstract: China has the highest mortality rate caused by diseases and conditions associated with its high-salt diet. Since 2016, China has initiated a national salt reduction c aign that aims at promoting the usage of salt information on food labels and salt-restriction spoons and reducing condiment and pickled food intake. However, factors affecting in iduals’ decisions to adopt these salt reduction measures remain largely unknown. By comparing the performances of logistic regression, stepwise logistic regression, lasso logistic regression and adaptive lasso logistic regression, this study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the adoption behaviour of 1610 in iduals from a nationally representative online survey. It was found that the practices were far from adopted and only 26.40%, 22.98%, 33.54% and 37.20% reported the adoption of labelled salt information, salt-restriction spoons, reduced condiment use in home cooking and reduced pickled food intake, respectively. Knowledge on salt, the perceived benefits of salt reduction, participation in nutrition education and training programs on sodium reduction were positively associated with using salt information labels. Adoption of the other measures was largely explained by people’s awareness of hypertension risks and taste preferences. It is therefore recommended that policy interventions should enhance Chinese in iduals’ knowledge of salt, raise the awareness of the benefits associated with a low-salt diet and the risks associated with consuming excessive salt and reshape their taste choices.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.EHB.2015.12.006
Abstract: There is evidence that middle school transition adversely affects educational and psychological outcomes of pre-teen children, but little is known about the impacts of middle school transition on other aspects of health. In this article, we estimate the impact of middle school transition on the body mass index (BMI) of public schoolchildren in Arkansas, United States. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that middle school transition in grade 6 led to a moderate decrease of 0.04 standard deviations in BMI z-scores for all students. Analysis by subs le indicated that this result was driven by boys (0.06-0.07 standard deviations) and especially by non-minority boys (0.09 standard deviations). We speculate that the changing levels of physical activities associated with middle school transition provide the most reasonable explanation for this result.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Publisher: Brill
Date: 03-06-2020
Abstract: Agricultural production decisions in China are usually financially constrained, and the lack of credit often can prevent profitable investment such as farm expansion that generates economies of scale. However, farm expansion is still increasingly observed in China, where more smallholders are expanding farms towards moderate-scale operation, especially in the rice sector. This study investigates this paradox by specifically assessing the impact of credit constraint on farm expansion decisions using a representative household survey of rice farmers in Guangxi Province, China. Farm expansion is empirically measured by both actual expansion in the past five years and the willingness to expand in the near future, which is predicted by a series of factors where the possible endogeneity of credit constraint is accounted for using instrumental variable techniques. It is found that credit constraint negatively and significantly affects farm expansion. Such impact is heterogeneous and is larger among moderate scale holders. Our findings highlight the importance and necessity of offering financial services to relatively small-scale commercial farms in developing countries to relax their credit constraints.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 15-07-2020
DOI: 10.1017/S1368980020001354
Abstract: To examine the association between consumption of western foods purchased and consumed away from home and measures of nutrition quality: average daily caloric intake and macronutrient (carbohydrates, fat and protein) shares, for urban consumers in Vietnam, a country undergoing economic transition. Cross-sectional observational data were collected using household surveys and 24-h food diaries. Outcome variables were in idual average daily caloric intake and shares of calories from macronutrients: carbohydrates, fat and protein. The key explanatory variable was in idual daily share of calories from western food purchased and consumed away from home. Ordinary least squares and multivariate regression analyses were used to examine the association between the outcome variables: caloric intake and macronutrient shares and the share of calories from western food consumed away from home. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In total, 1685 households and 4997 in iduals, including adults (aged $$ \\ge $$ 18 years), adolescents (aged 10–17 years) and children (aged 0–9 years). The share of calories from western food away from home was significantly associated with higher caloric intake among male and female adults ( P 0·01), adolescents ( P 0·01) and male children ( P 0·10) and was associated with higher shares of fat for male and female adults ( P 0·01), adolescents ( P 0·01) and male children ( P 0·01). Policymakers must be conscious of the numerous factors associated with poor nutrition quality, especially in younger Vietnamese in iduals. Relevant interventions targeting at risk groups are required if nutrition improvement is a long-term goal.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-11-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S10460-021-10277-Z
Abstract: Increasing women’s participation in intrahousehold decision-making has been linked with increased agricultural productivity and economic development. Existing studies focus on identifying the decision-maker and exploring factors affecting women’s participation, yet the context in which households make decisions is generally ignored. This paper narrows this gap by investigating perceptions of women's participation and the roles of social norms in agricultural decision-making. It specifically applies a fine-scale quantitative responses tool and constructs a women’s participation index (WPI) to measure men’s and women’s perceptions regarding women’s participation in decisions about 21 agricultural activities. The study further examines the correlation between social norms in these perceptions as measured by the WPI for 439 couples in West Java, Indonesia. We find that first, men and women have different perceptions about women's decision-making in agricultural activities, but the same perceptions of the types of activities in which women have the most and the least participation. Second, joint decisions come in various combinations but overall, the women’s role is smaller. Third, social norms influence spouses' perceptions of decision-making participation, which explains most of the variation of the WPI. These results suggest that rigorous consideration of social norms is required to understand intrahousehold decision-making.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 27-04-2020
DOI: 10.1108/JADEE-12-2019-0207
Abstract: This paper examines the labour demand associated with hybrid chilli adoption, a relatively labour-intensive crop in Indonesia. Using 228 chilli producing households in West Java Province, Indonesia’s primary chilli production region, the analysis extends previous research on household labour demand by assessing the impacts of hybrid chilli seed adoption on both family and hired labour on a gender-specific basis. Instrumental variables 2SLS approach is employed to address potential endogeneity that may occur related to hybrid seed choices. The results demonstrate that hybrid chilli seed use is more likely to increase demand for hired labour, particularly female hired labour However, hybrid seed adoption is insignificantly associated with demand for male and female family labour. The s le size used in this paper is relatively small however, the s le is chosen from the biggest chilli producing area in Indonesia and can still be considered reasonably representative. The results indicate that hybrid seed adoption creates rural employment opportunities for rural women in Indonesia, which could potentially help empower them in rural economic activities and household decision making. This study contributes to the literature assessing modern agricultural technologies by evaluating rural employment impacts on a source- and gender-specific basis, which is much less understood. It, therefore, complements the existing knowledge regarding welfare impacts in other aspects such as poverty reduction, food security and nutrition enhancement and suggests another dimension where desirable impacts may occur through associated women’s empowerment.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.PREVETMED.2016.10.013
Abstract: Preventive practices are highly important in response to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). As biosecurity guidelines, HPAI vaccination, antiviral medication, farm cleaning and disinfection jointly focus on mitigating the risk of infectious pathogen spread, yet much less is known about the association between broiler farmer's socio-economic characteristics and their adoption decision of these preventive practices. The current study aims to bridge this gap using a nationally representative household survey of 331 Chinese chicken farm owners, among whom the practices are far from fully adopted (only 58% of the farmers adopt all four types). Discrete choice modeling reveals that farmer's gender, age, education, perceived disease impact, farming experience, breeding density, chicken feed conversion ratio, chicken daily weight gain, available service, and subsidy are playing important roles in adoption decision making. Moreover, farmers with husbandry and veterinary knowledge, longer farming experience and lower feed conversion ratios tend to adopt all preventive practices, whereas farmers with larger proportions of income coming from chicken farming tend not to.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.EHB.2019.01.004
Abstract: Retail food environment is increasingly considered in relation to obesity. This study investigates the impacts of access to supermarkets, the primary source of healthy foods in the United States, on the bodyweight of children. Empirical analysis uses in idual-level panel data covering health screenings of public schoolchildren from Arkansas with annual georeferenced business lists, and utilizes the variations of supermarket openings and closings. There is little overall impact in either case. However, supermarket openings are found to reduce the BMI z-scores of low-income children by 0.090 to 0.096 standard deviations. Such impact remains in a variety of robustness exercises. Therefore, improvement in healthy food access could at least help reduce childhood obesity rates among certain population groups.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 16-10-2018
DOI: 10.3390/SU10103715
Abstract: Overuse of chemical fertilizer has led to severe land degradation and environmental pollution in China. Switching to organic fertilizer may improve soil quality and reduce pollution, which is meaningful to the sustainable development of Chinese agriculture. This study examines how farmers’ perceptions and risk preference affect their organic fertilizer investment using a representative rural household survey from Guangxi, a major agricultural region in China. Tobit and double-hurdle models are used to empirically test their impacts on organic fertilizer adoption and investment. An ordinary least squares model is used to regress chemical fertilizer use on the same set of explanatory variables to compare and contrast farmers’ different fertilizer investment behaviors. It is found that both organic fertilizer perceptions and risk attitude significantly affect organic fertilizer investment. Perceived yield-increasing and quality-improving effects encourage organic fertilizer investment, while perceived cost increases discourage it. Moreover, risk-averse farmers are more likely to invest in organic fertilizers. Most of the perceptions affecting organic fertilizer investment have an opposite impact on chemical fertilizer investment, which suggests substitutability between organic and chemical fertilizer. Interventions that aim to improve farmers’ perceptions of organic fertilizer and illustrate its risk-reduction effect could be effective in promoting organic fertilizer use, which can help achieve China’s sustainable development of agriculture.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-06-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2015.07.011
Abstract: Health disparities are increasingly recorded in literature, but are much less understood in a rural-urban context. This study help bridges this gap through investigation of four major diseases in the Commonwealth of Virginia: cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We utilize a unique inpatient hospital discharge billing dataset, and construct average patient counts at ZIP-code level over 2006-2008 where covariates from alternative sources are merged (806 ZIP-code areas, 190 urban, 616 rural). Count data regressions are first fitted to identify possible regional-level factors that affect disease incidences. A system of equations with rural-urban specification are then estimated via seemingly unrelated regression techniques to account for possible associations among these diseases and correlations of errors, which is followed by disease-specific nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions that compare the respective explanatory powers of observed characteristics and unobserved mechanisms. Results suggest that regional-level factors are significantly correlated with health outcomes in both rural and urban areas. The unknown mechanisms behind these linkages are different between rural and urban areas, and explain even larger proportions of the observed disparities. These findings confirm the role of regional-level factors in generating rural-urban health disparities, and call for further investigations of the causal mechanisms of such disparities that remain largely unknown.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-06-2017
DOI: 10.1111/AGEC.12358
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 29-10-2020
DOI: 10.3390/NU12113335
Abstract: Vietnam is experiencing a diet and nutrition transition. Increasing consumption of food and beverages with added sugars is a significant public health concern. Policies and interventions, such as mandatory nutrition labelling, are being considered to improve consumers’ awareness and understanding of diet and health implications of added sugars in food and beverages. The effectiveness of various policy approaches relies on an improved understanding of the interrelationships between urban Vietnamese consumers’ health concerns, nutrition label use, and intake of sugars. We empirically disentangle these relationships for urban Vietnamese households using novel intra-household data covering 4047 adults and 737 adolescents from 1590 households in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The data are from comprehensive household surveys and 24-hour food diaries. Simultaneous equation regression models are estimated using three-stage least squares (3SLS) to account for possible endogeneity. Nutrition label use is significantly associated with a lower share of calories from foods and beverages with added sugars. These findings suggest that nutrition labelling programs may be an effective policy mechanism to reduce the negative health implications of increasing availability and consumption of food and beverages with added sugars in urban Vietnam.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-05-2015
DOI: 10.1111/AGEC.12178
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-05-2019
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-07-2019
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Di Zeng.