Tools of the profession submission (for AIAEE) European Seminar in Extension Education perspective of a first-time seminar participant

Abstract

The threats to traditional cultural landscapes and the concomitant demands from society for remedial landscape management represent a new challenge for agricultural education. The research described here examined the extent to which relevant landscape management skills and knowledge are transferred to would-be farmers (if at all) within the Austrian agricultural school system. A plurilateral approach was taken, involving a standardised text evaluation of curricula (as defined in legislative documents), examination of further vocational training programmes for teachers, and investigation of the actual teaching situation in selected schools. This combination of methods produced a comprehensive overview of the situation in agricultural schools and academies with regard to landscape management teaching. The teaching programmes prescribed by law and the actual programmes carried out by teachers were compared with a theoretical ‘best-case’ programme for teaching landscape management, and this revealed considerable shortcomings in current teaching. The research also identified potential constraints to the integration of landscape management elements within the agricultural school system.     

Eco-friendly alternative refrigeration systems

Refrigeration applications at the domestic, commercial and industrial levels are becoming an integral part of the present day living. The demand and supply of refrigeration systems is increasing day by day with the changing lifestyle. The existing compressor-based refrigeration (i.e., mechanical refrigeration) system has reached the maximum level of innovation. For the last few decades, there has not been any significant increase in the efficiency (i.e., coefficient of performance, COP) of the system. Moreover, with the increasing awareness of environmental degradation, the production, use and disposal of ChloroFluoro Carbons (CFCs) and HydroChloroFluoroCarbons (HCFCs) as refrigerants in mechanical refrigeration system has become a subject of great concern. However, such systems are being developed using more ecofriendly refrigerants viz., air, CO₂, NH₃, etc. Besides, efforts are being directed to develop other types of refrigeration technologies e.g., magnetic refrigeration, thermoelectric refrigeration (discussed in Part 1) and thermoacoustic refrigeration (discussed in Part 2), which will be moreecofriendly, cost effective, efficient, simple in design, convenient and reliable.     

Commentary on Cross‐Cultural Perspectives on Positive Youth Development With Implications for Intervention Research

There is a growing focus on youth positive development issues among researchers and practitioners around the world. In this special issue of Child Development, each of the international authors provides new perspectives and understanding about youth developmental assets in different cultural settings. The present commentary (a) examines some of the cross‐cultural themes that emerge from the four articles by international authors in this issue with implications for positive youth development (PYD) and (b) how intervention science can benefit by incorporating a PYD approach. As evident, youth involved in contexts that provide positive resources from significant others not only were less likely to exhibit negative outcomes, but also were more likely to show evidence of positive development.     

Effect of water extract of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichosanthes dioica</Emphasis> fruits in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats

In rats with streptozotocin induced severe diabetes mellitus, aqueous extract of Trichosanthes dioica fruits at a dose of 1000mg/kg body weight daily once for 28 days reduced the levels of fasting blood glucose, postprandial glucose, asparate amino transferase, alanine amino transferase, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine, urine sugar and urine protein where as total protein and body weight was increased. No toxic effect was observed during LD50. Our study suggests that further detailed toxicity studies and mechanism of action of T. dioica would be useful for undertaking human trials.     

Tyrosinase activity in photosensitive individuals inin-vitro study

A reddish glow localized within the iris was observed in the photographs of some individuals in the dark using an electric-arc flash. On repeated exposure and reprints of the same individuals to photography under similar conditions, the red glow persisted. Studies were under taken to analyze thein vitro effect of cupric ions on the activity of serum tyrosinase. A significant increase in the activity of tyrosinase was observed in the affected individuals as compared to the controls when cupric ion was supplementedin vitro. Studies also confirmed the inhibitory effect of benzoic acid on serum tyrosinase activityin vitro. Our preliminary studies have shown a significant decrease (p<0.001) in tyrosinase activity in the serum of the photosensitive individuals compared to controls which is consistent with the observed red glow on the photographic prints and reprints.     

Patterns of co-occurring non-verbal behaviour and self-directed speech; a comparison of three methodological approaches

Self-directed speech – the audible or partially whispered self-talk that children engage in during their daily activities, was proposed by Vygotsky to have a mediating role in the emerging self-regulatory behaviour of young children. Studies with correlational findings tend to lend support to this hypothesis but fail to delineate the real-time temporal interactions between self-directed speech and self-regulatory behaviour. The authors propose the use of lag sequential analysis and t-pattern analysis as useful and complementary methods for detecting significantly recurring patterns of co-occurrence of self-directed speech and non-verbal behaviour (that is either self-regulatory or shows a failure of self-regulation). Furthermore, it is argued that the analysis of these co-occurrences is required to establish the functions of self-directed speech, and to determine in what ways these might be self-regulatory. Illustrative analyses are presented of data from a study comparing the patterns of self-directed speech use during a planning task in typically developing children and matched peers with Specific Language Impairment. The results obtained from t-pattern analysis reveal qualitative differences between these two groups of children, in their use of self-directed speech, which were not detected by the other two methods. Implications of examining recurring temporal patterns in behaviour for research investigating aspects of development, particularly self-regulation, are discussed.