Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Impact Of Agricultural Communication Interventions On Improving Agricultural Productivity In Malawi, Fallys Masambuka-Kanchewa, Mary T. Rodriguez, Emily Buck, Jera Niewoehner-Green, Alexa J. Lamm

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

Agricultural communication (AGCOM) has been known to aid in disseminating research-based agricultural information among Malawian farmers. In 1958 the Malawi Government, via the Ministry of Agriculture, established the Agricultural Communications Branch (ACB) in an attempt to increase access to and adoption of scientifically-proven technologies among farmers. Moreover, in 2000 the Malawi Government started implementing an agricultural extension policy that promoted pluralistic demand-driven extension, which led to the increased availability of non-governmental organizations providing AGCOM services to farmers. However, after several decades of using different communication tools to promote new technologies, low productivity in most small holder farms remains a challenge, …

Prospects And Evaluation Of An Integrated Extension Model Designed For Anthrax-Free Area Development, Shahjahan Ali Sarker, Ajran Kabir Samin, Muket Mahmud, Nazmul Hoque, Sk Shaheenur Islam, M. Asaduzzaman Sarker, Bahanur Rahman, Nazmul Hussain Nazir

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

The main purpose of this study wasto assess and evaluate anIntegrated Extension Modelto improve the overall knowledge, attitude and practice habits of community people over a sustained period.The survey questionnaire results have indicated that the various sources of anthrax message dissemination had played a significant role in the study. Among those responsible for disseminating the information, it was realized that studentsserving in the role of message disseminators played the most significant role (15%) indelivering the anthrax-related key information to the community. Majority community members (97.5%) were made aware of the nature, occurrence, public health importance, and management of the disease. …

Piloting Of The Concerns-Based Adoption Model: Farmer Concerns About The Participatory Guarantee System In Cambodia, Meghan Mize, Cary J. Trexler, Amanda Crump, Glenn M. Young, Borarin Buntong, Karen Legrand

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

While there is a large body of adoption and agricultural extension literature on the process of introducing a new technology, agricultural development projects are often expected to produce immediate results that do not always allow for the integration of these theories into practice. The Concerns-based Adoption Model (CBAM) is a framework that places participants at the center of the change process to identify their concerns and challenges, providing a roadmap for projects to guide individuals with the correct support for their particular stage of adoption. CBAM has typically been used for the introduction of new curriculum in formal education. But …

Social Media Application In Agriculture Extension Programming For Small Scale Rural Farmers: Is Knowledge Impeding The Lack Of Adoption?, Stephan Moonsammy, Donna Marie Renn Moonsammy

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge level of farmers on basic computer literacy, social media use, and to explore which social and demographic factors affected their knowledge capacity. The study had a final sample of 176 participants from the northern, southern and central regions of Trinidad and Tobago. A survey instrument comprising of 14 multiple-choice questions with one accurate response was developed to decrease bias of farmers randomly selecting the accurate response. The questions addressed knowledge on basic computer and social media literacy. Analysis was conducted using one-way ANOVA with post-hoc testing. Results indicated that there …

African Entrepreneurs’ Perceptions On The Mentoring Provided By A Cross-Cultural Professional Development Experience: Implications For Future Program, Lisa K. Taylor, M. Craig Edwards, Marshall A. Baker, Craig E. Watters, James A. Rutledge

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

We conducted a multicase investigation to assess the impacts of a cross-cultural exchange program on Entrepreneur Fellows from Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda (8 women; 14 men) after they had returned home from the United States. Our assessment included the mentoring aspect of the program. Six questions and related probes guided semi-structured interviews with the 22 Fellows, the study’s quintain. The lead researcher transcribed the study’s interviews and verified accuracy and trustworthiness by sending her transcriptions to the Fellows for verification. Findings derived from the interviews or cases crystallized as themes representative of the quintain. The emergent themes, which included …

Lived Experiences During International Service Learning: A Semiotic Analysis Of Photo Journals, Catherine E. Dobbins, Kristin E. Gibson, Leslie D. Edgar, Kim E. Dooley

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

International service learning (ISL) is a pedagogical approach used to prepare students to be global citizens and has emerged as a popular short-term program model for international experiences. Few studies of ISL have integrated semiotic photo analysis into their evaluations. Combining students’ photographs with text encourages reflection on knowledge and experiences as well as how they are related. The current study used semiotic analysis to understand the lived experiences of students on an ISL to Guatemala. The participatory nature of the research process was critical to the semiotic analysis, as the researchers had an understanding of the cultural perspectives and …

A Psychometric Evaluation Of Computerized Attention Measures In Young Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1, Sara Katharine Pardej

Theses and Dissertations

Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) often demonstrate difficulties with attention and executive functioning that can be evident even starting at a young age. Despite this consistent finding in the literature, there has been no research to determine which measures of attention are most suitable for use with children with NF1. Recently, there have been several computerized measures of attention and executive abilities that have become available to researchers and clinicians. This study explored the National Institute of Health Toolbox Flanker, Dimensional Change Card Sort, and List Sort Working Memory; Cogstate Identification; and Conners Kiddie Continuous Performance Test, second edition …

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Transmission Potential, Iran, 2020, Kamalich Muniz-Rodriguez, Isaac Fung, Shayesteh R. Ferdosi, Sylvia Ofori, Yiseul Lee, Amna Tariq, Gerardo Chowell

Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

To determine the transmission potential of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in Iran in 2020, we estimated the reproduction number as 4.4 (95% CI 3.9–4.9) by using a generalized growth model and 3.5 (95% CI 1.3–8.1) by using epidemic doubling time. The reproduction number decreased to 1.55 after social distancing interventions were implemented.

Neo Grids Performance In 2020, Iryna Demko, Merissa Piazza, Iryna V. Lendel

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Center for Economic Development identified 33 driver industries in the 2019 report titled “Northeast Ohio Front Runners: Groups of Regional Industry Drivers (GRIDs).” GRIDs are wealth-creating industries that pay high wages, have a robust regional specialization, and contribute to the economy through regional supply chains. However, in this year alone, the U.S. and Ohio economies have seen a trade war with China, retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, the collapse of oil prices, and mandatory business closings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These events contributed to the already ongoing cyclical repression, and impacted the wealth creation of Northeast Ohio’s (NEO)3 …

Evaluating The Quality Of Information Found In The Most Common Health Websites In Google Using Discern And Craap, Ivan A. Portillo, Scott Yosuke Johnson, Catherine V. Johnson

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Objectives: Google search results can have an outsized impact on the health information that consumers find and trust. The researchers analyzed the health-related websites that show up most frequently on the first page of Google search results. After determining the websites that appear most frequently, the authors would evaluate the quality of the health information on these websites using the DISCERN instrument and the CRAAP test.

Methods: To replicate a common health information search, a list of search terms was gathered from the most frequently searched health-related topics on Google Trends. Each term would then be searched on Google and …

Models And Metaphors Of Play Therapy: The Role Of The Child Therapist, Agathe David-Weill

Child Development Theses

What is the role of a therapist in play therapy? How does play therapy actually work? While the contribution of pretend play to mental development has been widely discussed in research, how could it possibly translate into therapy? Play becomes a medium through which children can start thinking about the complicated parts of their lives and therapists can look for clues about them. But is there a “proper” way of being in the playroom with a child and if so what is it? Which methods are to be used in play therapy? When and with what child? Paying attention to …

The Criminal Justice System's Problematic Response To The Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Children, Alexandra Levitskaya

Child Development Theses

There is a current problem with the way that the American criminal justice system is responding to survivors of commercial sexual exploitation of children, or CSEC. In this thesis, I will first acknowledge that this oppressive, abusive, and tragic reality cannot be fully examined in this one piece of writing and offer two areas of further exploration which are limited in this piece: international CSEC and the victimization of boys and transgender youth. I will then explore the development of CSEC on American soil, from how youth become coerced into “the life”, what physical and psychological tactics exploiters use, and …

Memes And Copyright: Article 13, Branding, And Digital Remix Culture, Yasemin Beykont

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the impact of the EU digital copyright directive, Article 13, on memes and internet culture. Due to their transformative nature, it is tricky to fit memes into a traditional copyright framework. Article 13’s filter algorithms will be coded to detect posts that make use of intellectual property, thereby complicating the use of copyrighted images drawn from film and television. This study includes a discourse analysis of news coverage of Article 13 to explore how various groups characterized the value of meme culture and the threats posed by the new directive. It also includes a textual analysis of …

Counterpublics, Abled Sex, And Crip Discourses On Twitter: A Discourse Analysis Of Conversations Of Sexuality And Disability, Claudia Garcia Mendoza

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

We live in an era in which essential conversations occur online. Social media has become the official voice of presidents and corporations. Donald Trump, the president of the United States, uses Twitter to address public issues and make policy announcements. Similarly, alternative voices have emerged from social media and evolved into public debates, social movements, and massive mobilizations (e.g., Gerbaudo, 2012; Tufeksi, 2017). The community gathering opportunities of social media (boyd, 2011; Parks, 2010; Chambers, 2013) and the possibilities to generate collective knowledge (Jenkins, 2004) stress the necessity to continue to expand the research in digital spaces.

It is important …

Faits Accomplis In The Shadow Of Shifting Power, Joshua Adam Hastey

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The military fait accompli is so understudied a phenomenon in the international relations literature that even its definition is not widely known. A fait accompli is a unilateral revision to the status quo in an ongoing dispute over some distribution of benefits. Though recent work has demonstrated that faits accomplis are relatively common events in international history and current international relations, the subject remains undertheorized and empirically underexplored. This dissertation seeks to open up the conversation about faits accomplis in two complementary ways. First, it advances an original formal model of faits accomplis in the shadow of power shifts, …

The Study Of Motivation For Defection Within The Intelligence Community: Hindering The Government's Ability To Prevent And Detect Defection, William Virgili

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Since its inception, the global community has been marred by insecurities about the intentions of other states, which led to states creating intelligence agencies to engage in human intelligence operations. In defense against foreign intelligence services, the U.S. has implemented policies and procedures, informed by defection research, to prevent and detect defection. However, this leads to the question does current research on motivation for defection adequately inform government policies and procedures to prevent and detect defection within the intelligence community? To interrogate this question, I present an in-depth analysis of motivation; the ways in which these conclusions have or have …

Automatic Processing Of Tonal Information During Visual Word Recognition In L2 Chinese Learners, Rongchao Tang

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the automatic tonal processing in a second language (L2) and a first language (L1) during visual word recognition. Four experiments were conducted to examine -- (i) whether tonal information can be automatically processed in a similar manner in L2 learners and native speakers of Chinese (Experiments 1 and 2 in Chapter 2), and (ii) whether the processing of tonal information is influenced by the involvement of the production system during L1 and L2 visual word recognition (Experiments 3 and 4 in Chapter 3). Native speakers and L2 learners of Chinese were tested using a naming Stroop task …

Reconstraining Massive Pied-Piping In English: A Non-Interrogative Cp Analysis, Daniel Garrett Amy

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the distribution of "massive pied-piping" (Heck 2008) constructions in English. Compared to other forms of wh-movement and pied-piping, broadly speaking, massive pied-piping is limited in the environments in which it may occur. The primary goals of this dissertations are to examine (i) whether massive piped-piping is restricted to non-subordinated clauses (cf. wh-movement), (ii) what effect prosody has on relative clause interpretations, and (iii) how the distribution of massive pied-piping can be explained given a wider pattern of acceptability. To address these questions, I combine traditional syntactic and semantic judgments with two psycholinguistic experiments that utilize a …

Singapore Property Tax Law As It Stands: The Rebus Sic Stantibus Principle And The Statutory Formula, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Singapore jurisprudence appears to have adopted the proposition that the rebus sic stantibus principle is to be disapplied where section 2(3) of the Singapore Property Tax Act (“PTA”) (the “Statutory Formula”) is applied. This article argues that this proposition perhaps ought to be stated more precisely. The principle is only disapplied where section 2(3)(b) is applied because it would run contrary to the statutory fiction imposed by section 2(3)(b) that the land is to be valued as if it were vacant land. There should be no disapplication of the principle where section 2(3)(a) is applied due to the absence …

Philanthropic Structuring: The Asian Context, Hang Wu Tang, Man Yip, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Asian philanthropy has tremendous potential for growth. Even as the population of ultra-rich individuals in Asia continues to expand, studies indicate that Asian philanthropists have the capacity to give a lot more. The key to tapping into the massive potential for Asian giving and catalysing sustainable and impactful philanthropy in Asia, is to understand the Asian way of giving and embrace strategic institutional and industry innovation.Our paper proposes three strategic directions to expand access to philanthropy: encouraging giving beyond one’s home and religious causes; encouraging everyone to give regardless of the size of the gift; and encouraging formal giving.Strong support …

A Brief Online Acceptance And Commitment Training For Enhancing Outcomes Of A Cultural Competence Intervention, Elizabeth Tish Hicks

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In an increasingly diverse and multicultural society, there is a pressing and practical need for interventions to help professionals improve their cultural competence. Cultural competence trainings that target psychological flexibility in addition to knowledge, awareness, and skills may produce more efficacious results. The current study will examined the utility of targeting psychological flexibility (the ability to maintain contact the present moment and current internal experiences and to choose contextually appropriate, values-consistent behaviors, regardless of what one’s internal experiences are) as a process to enhance the impact of a cultural competence intervention with an Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)-enhanced cultural competence …

Psychosocial Effects Of Shared Book Reading, Amy Halling

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many studies have examined the academic benefits of parents reading with their children, but few studies have looked at the psychological and social benefits, and even fewer have related the quality of shared book reading to psycho-social benefits. This study looked at whether positive and negative reading interactions during shared book reading predicted parent-child relationships, child social skills and child academic skills. Twenty-five parents of 4-year-olds read a story with their child and completed parent relationship and child social skills questionnaires. The reading interactions were then coded into two separate composite scores: positive and negative. Positive interactions did not significantly …

Temporal Bisection Dynamics, Mahdi Shafiei

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Temporal bisection is a behavioral task used to study how we perceive time. However, it is not fully clear how time perception should be interpreted in different variations of this task. Moreover, it is not understood why the results of this task are often different for human and animal subjects. Understanding parameters of this task and making a connection between human and animal experiments may help researchers to understand how time is perceived in the brain and consequently disorders involving time perception.

In this thesis, I propose a computational model that A) provides researchers with a framework to study the …

A Translational Investigation Of Reinforced Behavioral Variability: Implications For Promoting Behavioral Variability In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Ann Galizio

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Behavioral variability is sometimes adaptive and can be maintained by the delivery of reinforcement. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show restricted and repetitive behaviors. Therefore, interventions to promote behavioral variability in individuals with ASD are needed. The present line of research was designed to inform such interventions by investigating reinforced behavioral variability from basic, applied, and translational perspectives. Each of these laboratory studies involved participants making sequences of well-defined responses, which were compared to previous responses. Responses that meet a variability contingency (i.e., were sufficiently different from previous responses) produced rewards. Studies 1 and 2 were basic experiments, …

Harmonic Delay Reduction, Jay E. Hinnenkamp

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Stimuli which, during the life of an organism, acquire the ability to increase the probability of behavior that they follow are called conditioned reinforcers. The concurrent-chains procedure has been used to study conditioned reinforcement for over 60 years. During this time several different models have been developed to explain how stimuli become conditioned reinforcers. The three experiments of this dissertation introduced a new quantitative model of conditioned reinforcement (DRT_H) and tested its predictions against four existing models. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that DRT_H improves upon the accuracy of its predecessor, delay reduction theory (Fantino, 1969), …

Framing Climate Change In Local Context: Newspaper Coverage Of Climate Change In Three Mountain Towns In The Intermountain West Compared To National Coverage, Tyler J. Spradlin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Past research has focused on how journalists cover and frame the issue of climate change or global warming in mainly nationally circulated newspapers. This study compares and contrasts the framing of climate change between two nationally circulated newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and three intermountain west community newspapers, Jackson Hole News & Guide in Jackson Hole, WY, Summit Daily in Summit County, CO, and Park Record in Park City, UT. This research incorporates the five generic frames, responsibility, conflict, human-interest, economic consequences, and morality frames defined by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) …

The Affordable Care Act In The States: Fragmented Politics, Unstable Policy, Daniel Beland, Philip Rocco, Alex Waddan

Political Science Faculty Research and Publications

Many argue that the frustrated implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) stems from the unprecedented level of political polarization that has surrounded the legislation. This article draws attention to the law's “institutional DNA” as a source of political struggle in the 50 states. As designed, in the context of US federalism, the law fractured authority in ways that has opened up the possibility of contestation and confusion. The successful implementation of the ACA varies not only across state lines but also across the various components of the law. In particular, opponents of the ACA have experienced their greatest …

Clinical Work With Adult Male Incest Survivors: Therapeutic Themes And Perspectives, Kathryn B. Rosenberg

Doctoral Dissertations

For psychotherapists, encountering clients who have experienced sexual trauma or abuse is inevitable, whether or not the abuse is disclosed to the therapist; however, mental health professionals receive extremely limited (if any) training on how to identify or effectively support adult clients who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Many people who experienced CSA, especially those who identify as male, remain isolated and invisible in their suffering as adults even within therapeutic spaces, facing what feel like insurmountable barriers – both internal and external – to getting help. When sexual abuse is intrafamilial, these barriers are both amplified and …

Business Education: How Culture And Leadership Impact Organizational Outcomes, Joyce Lemay, Chris Kaiser

Business Faculty Publications

Leadership and organizational culture influence the outcomes of any business. Many companies look at various information to measure results but may not know how to manage the information or interpret it in a way to make ethical and effective decisions. Many organizational cultures are broken and leadership needs to better understand how culture impacts the required outcomes. This article reviews the demands of a broken culture and creative ways to impact culture to ensure effective organizational outcomes. In times of crisis, like COVID-19, organizational culture can direct, redirect, or worsen the desired outcomes. The ability to analyze, understand and positively …

Geology, Soils And Climate Of The Margaret River Wine Region, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

All other publications

This report is an extract from the broader description and analysis of the Geology, soils and climate of Western Australia's wine regions. It expands on the brief descriptions in the second edition of 'Viticulture' (Coombe & Dry 2004) concerning the soils and landscapes of Western Australia’s main wine growing regions. We have tailored this report extract to the specific needs of the Margaret River wine region. It contains local soil names and soil-landscape zones and systems maps.

The wine industry recognises the importance of giving customers an understanding of the vines’ environment and how that may influence wine character …