Farmers' Adoption of Soil Conservation Technologies: A Case Study from Osun State,Nigeria

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to determine the attitude of farmers towards erosion and the adoption of appropriate soil conservation technologies (SCTs). For the survey, farmers were selected from the communities Esa Oke, Elwure and Owode-Ede and Akoda in Osun State in Nigeria. In the first three communities farmers did receive training on soil conservation, in the fourth not. About 60 farmers were interviewed to obtain information on personal and socio-economic characteristics, awareness of environmental problems, attitude towards erosion control and experiences with SCTs. Statistical data analyses (analyses of frequencies, correlation, t-test, χ²-test) were made to examine possible relationships among parameters and the influence of factors on adoption.

Most respondents were advanced in years, responsible for large households and characterized by low levels of income and literacy. Soil erosion was seen as a problem confronting agricultural production only to a small extent. The adoption rate of SCTs was low, as only mulching, cover cropping, contour tillage and cut-off drainage were practised and often rejected. Low labour-demand, the availability of common equipment, low costs of application, ease of practice and compatibility with the existing farming system influenced adoption.

The observed positive correlation between level of education, knowledge of appropriate technologies, farming experience and the number of SCTs adopted emphasizes the importance for farmers of education and training. Strengthening agricultural extension agencies for capacity building is an important tool for improving soil conservation in Nigeria.

The paper clarifies with specific examples the causes of the low rates of adoption of available technologies, with a reduced impact of research and of efforts to achieve food security and sustainable production at village level.     

The role of outdoor recreation in family enrichment

Abstract

The family is the fundamental unit in society and perhaps the oldest and most important of all human institutions. Several studies have indicated a positive correlation between strong, successful families and family participation in outdoor recreational activities. This paper addresses the role of structured outdoor recreation programming in family enrichment. Findings from two studies based in the United States are presented: one on the effect of a one-day family outdoor adventure program on parental and child perceptions of family functioning and the other from a qualitative inquiry into the meaning of family residential camping experiences. The first study collected both quantitative and qualitative data from 24 families who participated in an 8-hour outdoor adventure program. The second study utilized structured interviews with 11 families participating in a residential camp experience. Findings from both studies demonstrate that structured outdoor family recreation programming has a strong positive relationship with family strength. Furthermore, findings indicate that the type of outdoor adventure activities being used in the treatment of dysfunctional and maladaptive families is also effective in providing family enrichment experiences.     

Jewish Identity In A Changing World An Historical Survey

What are the basic variables that one ought to consider when attempting to describe possible trends in supplementary Jewish education in the United States during the next decade? They should include the following: Birth rate in Jewish families which are but marginally associated with various Jewish causes; the interest of these families in Jewish life and religion; identification with Israel and Israel-related causes; general climate for Jewish education in the communities in which these families reside; rate of growth in tuition requirements for day school enrollment; and comparative educational achievement in day schools and supplementary schools.     

Children's Developing Mathematics in Collective Practices: A Framework for Analysis

This article presents a cultural-developmental framework for the analysis of children's mathematics in collective practices and illustrates the heuristic value of the framework through the analysis of videotaped episodes drawn from a middle-school classroom. The framework is presented in 2 related parts. The first targets the children's emerging mathematical goals in collective practices, with a particular focus on the complex role that artifacts play in children's emerging goals. The second part focuses on children's developing mathematics that takes form in their goal-directed activities: (a) Microgenetic analyses concern the process whereby children structure cultural forms like artifacts to serve particular functions as they accomplish emerging mathematical goals; (b) sociogenetic analyses concern the spread or travel of mathematical forms and associated functions within a community of individuals; and (c) ontogenetic analyses concern the interplay between the forms that children use and the functions that they serve over the course of children's development. The analyses of the classroom episodes points to the promise (and limitations) of the framework as a method for furthering our understanding of the interplay between social and developmental processes in children's mathematics.     

Identifying Factors that Influence the Successful Transition of Criminal Justice Transfer Students

Higher educational institutions place a priority on the retention and timely graduation of students. Previous literature has identified transfer students to have unique concerns and that these concerns vary by major. While previous retention research has reported factors that influence students’ decision to remain in college, many of these studies treated transfer status as a homogenous group. The university in this study enrolls a high percentage of transfer students, and a large percentage of these transfers students enroll in Criminal Justice classes and become Criminal Justice majors. To determine if there are unique risk factors among Criminal Justice transfer students, this study uses multiple measures of transfer status to identify factors that might impact a students’ (1) university involvement, (2) GPA, (3) satisfaction with and sense of belonging to their university and (4) thereby influence their decision to remain in school. The proposition that transfer students as compared to native (nontransfer) students differ on how they face university challenges was also examined. While several variables were found to be important to students’ adjustment to the University, transfer status does not appear to be significant risk factor. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Evaluating the Graduation Gap: Interventions Designed to Enhance Upper-level Student Success and Commitment

Over the past several decades, there has been a wealth of research identifying factors and conditions of persistence toward graduation for first-year students and more recently transfer students. While previous research recognizes these critical periods, some recent literature suggests that students may face a similar transitional period later in their academic careers as they advance into their major areas of study. To date, there has been a dearth of information exploring upper-level students' success and commitment to graduation. Exploring this later transition might provide a critical link to understanding the graduation gap between those students who persist to graduation and those who drop out. The purpose of this research was to review the intervention programs proscribed by the literature, design an intervention program, and examine the impact of the program on criminal justice students during this advanced transitional phase of their college careers. It examined the direct and indirect effects of the intervention program on both retention and the antecedents of successful retention while controlling for other relevant influences identified in the literature. The results indicated that the intervention had small, but significant positive direct and indirect effects on academic integration, commitment to the university, and graduating in a timely fashion. Policy implications are discussed.     

Prisons of the mind: Lessons learned from home confinement

As conservative political ideologies have shifted U.S. correctional policies toward a justice model orientation, efforts to escalate the “pains of imprisonment” have become increasingly prevalent. Although these attempts to enhance the punishing aspects of incarceration are primarily driven by political grandstanding and emotional appeal, it is not uncommon for today's postsecondary students to enter the classroom with punitive attitudes similarly based on rhetoric and emotion. Yet correctional students cannot be expected to develop an empathetic appreciation for the intrinsically punishing nature of confinement itself through traditional classroom techniques that rely exclusively on the cognitive dimensions of learning. In an effort to broaden personal perspectives on punishment by engaging the affective domain, students in an introductory corrections class participated in a simulated 48-hour confinement exercise. The intent was to enhance empathy for the intrinsic discomfort of imprisonment through experiential learning. The results not only point clearly in that direction, but also manifest parallels with the actual pains of confinement experienced by inmates in the real world.     

The application of cognitive learning theory to criminal justice education

Most criminal justice programs began as extensions of vocational technical training courses, but within the last decade they have begun to parallel the liberal arts programs originally proposed. As a result of this reorientation, criminal justice instructors lack many of the instructional methods used by colleagues in other fields. In addition, the dual nature of criminal justice instruction, requiring both experience and theory, places demands on criminal justice instructors that their colleagues may not experience. The field needs an instructional approach that blends the best of the vocational aspects and the theoretical underpinnings. This paper reviews cognitive learning theory, specifically Kolb's experiential learning model. Recommendations are offered for the application of this model to instruction in criminal justice courses.     

The evaluation of criminal justice programs: Assessment of evolving standards in context

The quality of criminal justice programs has been evaluated by methods which assume that quality standards are associated primarily with research excellence and are clearly defined. Because these standards are still emerging in our discipline, a more appropriate method of assessment is introduced, which takes into account the evolving standards of quality in criminal justice. With this method, programs can evaluate themselves continuously not only against minimum standards, but also against newly evolving standards as they are introduced. This design will allow criminal justice programs to determine whether their procedures promote the goal of students' learning by analyzing their functions in relation to evolving standards of quality.