From Best Practice to Best Fit: A Framework for Designing and Analyzing Pluralistic Agricultural Advisory Services Worldwide

Abstract

We assess the long-term effectiveness of outreach and education efforts associated with a water quality improvement project in a watershed located in northern Utah, USA. Conducted 15 years after the original project began, our research examines the lasting impacts of different extension activities on landowners’ motivations to participate and their awareness and understanding of the water quality problem. Data were gathered by reviewing annual project reports, interviewing project staff about outreach and education efforts, and conducting in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a majority of the farmers and ranchers who participated in the project. The findings suggest that landowners were motivated to participate in the programme more by practical farm and household considerations and available cost-share opportunities than by particular environmental concerns. Previous relationships between farmers and government programme staff and one-on-one visits with landowners played an important role in their decisions to participate, while demonstration projects and peer-to-peer social diffusion processes played a much smaller role than expected. Although participants had a good grasp of the project goals, they did not have a strong sense of ownership of the water quality problem. These results suggest that education and outreach approaches centred only on the environmental dimensions of conservation projects may be insufficient to motivate changes in conservation behaviour. The results also suggest that conventional outreach strategies often did not have their presumed impact on landowners.     

Sub-field normalization in the multiplicative case: Average-based citation indicators

This paper investigates the citation impact of three large geographical areas – the U.S., the European Union (EU), and the rest of the world (RW) – at different aggregation levels. The difficulty is that 42% of the 3.6 million articles in our Thomson Scientific dataset are assigned to several sub-fields among a set of 219 Web of Science categories. We follow a multiplicative approach in which every article is wholly counted as many times as it appears at each aggregation level. We compute the crown indicator and the Mean Normalized Citation Score (MNCS) using for the first time sub-field normalization procedures for the multiplicative case. We also compute a third indicator that does not correct for differences in citation practices across sub-fields. It is found that: (1) No geographical area is systematically favored (or penalized) by any of the two normalized indicators. (2) According to the MNCS, only in six out of 80 disciplines – but in none of 20 fields – is the EU ahead of the U.S. In contrast, the normalized U.S./EU gap is greater than 20% in 44 disciplines, 13 fields, and for all sciences as a whole. The dominance of the EU over the RW is even greater. (3) The U.S. appears to devote relatively more – and the RW less – publication effort to sub-fields with a high mean citation rate, which explains why the U.S./EU and EU/RW gaps for all sciences as a whole increase by 4.5 and 5.6 percentage points in the un-normalized case. The results with a fractional approach are very similar indeed.     

Tactical behaviour of winning athletes in major championship 1500-m and 5000-m track finals

This article analyses the tactics employed by middle-distance (1500-m) and long-distance (5000-m) runners from an observational methodology perspective. The subject of investigation has received little attention from specialists in the field of athletics, with most research focusing on physiological studies of athlete performance. Using an ad hoc observation tool and a database containing systematically recorded data we detected time patterns (T-patterns) within the data recorded using the Theme software program (version 5.0), and analysed the tactics employed by winners of the men's 1500-m and 5000-m finals of the World Championships in Athletics [Edmonton 2001, Paris 2003, Helsinki 2005 (1500-m final only), Osaka 2007 (1500-m final only), Berlin 2009 and Daegu 2011], the European Athletics Championships (Munich 2002, Göteborg 2006, and Barcelona 2010) and the Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012). T-pattern detection and investigation of the relationship between category systems corresponding to the criteria comprising the observation tool revealed both similarities (starting lane and lane used during race, runner's position during race and sprint zone and lane) and differences (variations in pace, zones in which changes of pace occur, sprint initiation zone and winner's position at the start of the sprint) between the two disciplines.     

Telling of Institutional Oppression: Voices of Minoritized Counselor Educators

The authors use the results of an intersectional critical qualitative inquiry to illustrate the encounters 6 minoritized counselor educators had with institutional forms of oppression. Their findings depict the insidious nature of institutional oppression and suggest that counselor educator experiences may be improved by peer mentorship programs and by the organizational advocacy and accountability efforts of bodies such as the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.     

Lexical and sub-lexical effects on accuracy, reaction time and response duration: impaired and typical word and pseudoword reading in a transparent orthography

In an opaque orthography like English, phonological coding errors are a prominent feature of dyslexia. In a transparent orthography like Spanish, reading difficulties are characterized by slower reading speed rather than reduced accuracy. In previous research, the reading speed deficit was revealed by asking children to read lists of words. However, speed in list reading sums the time required to prepare an utterance, reaction time (RT), with the time required to say it, response duration (RD). Thus, the dyslexic speed deficit in transparent orthographies could be driven by slow RTs, by slow RDs, or both. The distinction is especially important if developmental readers rely on phonological coding to achieve lexical access because the whole word would have to be encoded before it could be identified. However, while the factors that affect reading RT have been extensively investigated, no attention has been paid to RD. We studied the performance of typically developing and dyslexic Spanish children in an oral reading task. We analysed the impact of word frequency and length on reading accuracy, RT, and RD. We found that accuracy, RT, and RD were affected by word frequency and length for both control and dyslexic readers. We also observed interactions between effects of reader group—dyslexic, typically developing (TD) younger or TD older readers—and effects of lexicality, frequency, and word length. Our results show that children are capable of reading aloud using lexical and sub-lexical coding processes in a transparent orthography.     

Participation and cognitive quality profiles in an online discussion forum

A case study was used to analyse the relationships between participation in an online discussion forum and the cognitive quality of the contributions made. Participation was calculated using two dimensions: presence (who accesses the environment, how often and for how long) and connectivity (who interacts with whom and the degree of intensity of the interaction). The discussion forum considered forms part of a course on Educational Psychology included in the curriculum of initial teacher training at the University of Barcelona and was accessed by 17 students over a period of 25 days. The analysis was carried out using a multi‐method approach, which combines quantitative indicators of presence and connectivity with a content analysis of the contributions made by each participant. The results suggest that a high level of participation (high level of presence/high level of connectivity) is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for maintaining high‐quality contributions throughout the discussion.     

sMOOC,Un Nuevo Modelo De Formación En El Aprendizaje Del Segundo Idioma. Estudio De Caso

RESUMEN

Este artículo presenta un trabajo de investigación desarrollado en el Proyecto Europeo ECO (Elearning, Communication, Open-data). El estudio despliega un análisis de enfoque cuantitativo del sMOOC (socialMOOC) llamado “How to succeed in the English B1 Level Exam“, curso destinado a ayudar a los estudiantes a prepararse para cualquier examen de inglés, de nivel B1. El objetivo de la investigación es el análisis de las experiencias comunicativas y pedagógicas percibidas en este contexto específico, aplicadas al aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras, en general, y al inglés como lengua extranjera, en particular. Esta línea educativa y comunicativa ha sentado las bases para el Proyecto ECO que, más allá de la formación de docentes, apuesta decididamente por una educación abierta para toda la vida. Este estudio ha sido concebido con el propósito de descubrir la valoración de los estudiantes que aprenden a través de este modelo formativo e innovador, que promueve un nuevo esquema horizontal y bidireccional de comunicación. Para reconocer esta realidad, se han analizado los datos compilados a través de la herramienta de cuestionarios incluida en el curso. Se ha llevado a cabo una investigación para la acción, ampliando el rango de innovación con nuevas prácticas pedagógicas y comunicativas en las redes sociales, consiguiendo activar una participación comprometida de los individuos como agentes culturales activos en la creación de la cibercultura del siglo XXI.     

Intelligence capital: a capability maturity model for a software development centre

Knowledge assets have become relevant to every organization and society since they are the most valuable product and production means in the knowledge economy. But measuring intangible assets still remains a challenge. The emerging knowledge-based view is still far from being a widely accepted theory. Researchers in this field are faced with knowledge-based value dynamics, changing environments and uncertainty. Knowledge assets are embedded capabilities in individuals, organizations or societies. This research is focused on the design of artifacts that enhance Intelligence Capital. Intelligence, understood in a comprehensive manner, is a knowledge asset that leverages adaptive capabilities through information gathering, sense-making and adaptation. From this approach, developing Intelligence Capital means to increase adaptive capabilities to make better decisions supported on internal and external knowledge. The purpose of this research is to apply the Intelligence Capital framework to a Technology Development Centre at the Tecnologico de Monterrey. It is expected that through this intervention, Intelligence Capital capabilities of this Centre can be assessed and managed. This model is an innovating proposal that deals with Capital Systems, adaptive capabilities and complexity.