Impacts of Elephant Crop-Raiding on Subsistence Farmers and Approaches to Reduce Human-Elephant Farming Conflict in Sagalla, Kenya

As human and elephant populations grow in Kenya, elephants increasingly leave parks to eat farmers’ crops while foraging, which creates epicenters of human-elephant conflict (HEC). This conflict compromises farmers’ food and economic security, impedes elephant conservation initiatives, and threatens the safety of humans and elephants. In recent years, the situation has been exacerbated by drought and national-level infrastructure development that bisects key elephant habitat. Although researchers have widely studied elephant populations, few have examined the cultural, economic, and emotional effects of HEC on subsistence farmers. This project utilized a mixed methods approach to address this knowledge gap and understand the lived experiences of Wasaghala farmers in Lower Sagalla, Kenya. These farmers live adjacent to Kenya’s largest elephant population in Tsavo East National Park and regularly experience elephant crop-raiding. This research was conducted in partnership with Save the Elephants, a non-profit that studies elephant-crop raiding in Lower Sagalla. This project complements their research by facilitating greater understanding of complex human-elephant interactions and providing insight into the role that agricultural crops play in elephant crop-raiding. Personal interviews were conducted with a purposefully chosen sample of farmers, community leaders, and regional experts to understand their perspectives on cultural, agricultural, and economic dimensions of HEC in Lower Sagalla. Topics covered included regional history of HEC, impacts on farmers, elephant deterrent strategies, and farmer agricultural decision-making. Additional data were collected from an on-farm experiment that examined how crop palatability impacts elephant crop-raiding behavior. It aimed to determine if moringa and sunflowers are less palatable to elephants than maize and if growing these crops can reduce crop loss due to elephant crop-raiding. Results from all data concluded that HEC creates widespread suffering for farmers in Lower Sagalla, that they are unable to adequately address this issue on their own, and that there is a need for the development of novel HEC mitigation strategies. Additionally, results suggest that crop palatability influences elephant crop-raiding behavior and that growing crops that are less palatable to elephants, but beneficial to farmers, may play a role in reducing crop loss and increasing farmers’ economic and food security. The research concludes with management recommendations to reduce elephant crop-raiding and improve human-elephant co-existence

Gamification of the Dar Si Hmad Fog Water Harvesting Project in Morocco: Creating a role-playing course to integrate STEM and the Humanities

Our team created a role-playing curriculum based on the world’s largest fogwater harvesting project, pioneered by Dar Si Hmad, a Moroccan NGO. We created processes to gamify a course that integrates STEM and humanities content within the social, scientific and engineering context of the fog project. We developed characters, team activities and assignments to help students better understand social and cultural factors embedded in engineering problems. We also developed material for the NGO to use at the COP22 climate conference

Gamification of the Dar Si Hmad Fog Water Harvesting Project in Morocco: Creating a role-playing course to integrate STEM and the Humanities

Our team created a role-playing curriculum based on the world’s largest fogwater harvesting project, pioneered by Dar Si Hmad, a Moroccan NGO. We created processes to gamify a course that integrates STEM and humanities content within the social, scientific and engineering context of the fog project. We developed characters, team activities and assignments to help students better understand social and cultural factors embedded in engineering problems. We also developed material for the NGO to use at the COP22 climate conference

Spartan Daily, May 13, 1991

Volume 96, Issue 67https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8135/thumbnail.jp

The Use of Simulation and Gaming for Enhancing Creative Behavior

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A case study of an art partnership involving an elementary school, a university and two cultural institutions.

Since the 1970\u27s collaborations, partnerships, and networks between schools and universities have been increasing. As Goodlad points out we no longer have to justify the value of school/university partnerships, but it is the descriptions of the processes that are lacking (Goodlad in Sirotnik & Goodlad, 1988). I have studied a partnership among a public elementary school, a university school of education, and two cultural institutions. The focus of the partnership was on the arts as the entry point to broader and deeper approaches to teaching and learning. A review of literature related to school/university partnerships and artists in the schools and the integration of the arts in the curriculum provides a foundation for this study. The case study design using in-depth and informal interviewing and participant observation was developed from a review of the nature of the phenomena to be studied. This inquiry was guided by the question: What factors, circumstances or environments within the partnership process foster the development of all participants as learners? The study examines the planning year and one year of implementation. During the planning year of this study I focused on an overview of the development of the three year art partnership plan and the efforts to lay the foundation for implementation of the plan. A description of the work with artists, university consultant, and the Cultural Education Collaborative\u27s summer institute in the arts serves to show how that foundation was built. During the year of implementation the study focuses on the process of two pilot teachers as they interfaced with the components of the partnership program: the infusion of the arts in the curriculum, modeled by artists in residence, and experiential learning opportunities aided by interns and a consultant from the University School of Education partner. Conclusions drawn from the data indicate that the school community was energized by the involvement of community resources such as artists, consultants, interns et al. when their involvement was relevant to the interests and stated goals of the participants. This school/university (school of education) partnership provided a way for teachers and interns to reflect on their practice at their own pace. When participants come together open to ideas different from their own, and open to experiences new to them, personal and professional growth occurred. The arts were a vehicle for getting in touch with their creative potential. Recommendations for further research are presented

In spite of yourself : the asignifying force of humor and laughter

In Spite of Yourself: The Asignifying Force of Humor and Laughter calls upon the interruptive moments of uncontrollable laughter to challenge rhetoric’s historical treatment of humor and laughter. Anyone who has ever suffered a fit of hysterical laughter at precisely the wrong moment, or has begun to laugh spontaneously at an inappropriate joke before stopping short, can attest to laughter’s uniquely uncontrollable force. Beyond all reason and control, laughter interrupts us and reminds us of the limits of the human subject. Because laughter does not signify meaning in the traditional communicative sense, it exerts an asignifying force irreducible to the questions of truth, understanding, and presence. While rhetoricians like Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian attempt to confine laughter’s force to calculated aspects of persuasion, their approaches simultaneously reveal an understanding that laughter’s effects lie beyond the rational control of the orator. By tracing the often-unintended effects of humor through a range of comedic performances including stand-up comedy, radio, and film, this project ultimately argues that laughter’s rhetorical power resides not in what it means, but in what it does. Ultimately, because laughter is not a signifying language, yet it still produces rhetorical effects, taking up laughter’s asignifying force provides a chance to expand the field of rhetoric in ways beyond the reason, beyond signification, and beyond the human

Monitoring of Honey Bee Colony Losses

In recent decades, independent national and international research programs have revealed possible reasons behind the death of managed honey bee colonies worldwide. Such losses are not due to a single factor, but instead are due to highly complex interactions between various internal and external influences, including pests, pathogens, honey bee stock diversity, and environmental changes. Reduced honey bee vitality and nutrition, exposure to agrochemicals, and the quality of colony management contribute to reduced colony survival in beekeeping operations. Our Special Issue (SI) on ‘’Monitoring of Honey Bee Colony Losses” aims to address the specific challenges that honey bee researchers and beekeepers face. This SI includes four reviews, with one being a meta-analysis that identifies gaps in the current and future directions for research into honey bee colonies’ mortalities. Other review articles include studies regarding the impact of numerous factors on honey bee mortality, including external abiotic factors (e.g., winter conditions and colony management) as well as biotic factors such as attacks by Vespa velutina and Varroa destructor

Lanthorn, vol. 39, no. 29, April 7, 2005

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State\u27s student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present