Writing Success Stories for Program Enhancement and Accountability

Success stories showcase Extension program efforts. In a time of greater demand for accountability and performance measurement, success stories provide a qualitative measure of Extension program success. This article describes the rationale, the need, and tips for writing success stories. From the accountability standpoint, success stories serve as readily available piece of information for program impact. In addition, they also serve as a communication and marketing tool and also improving the communication and/or writing skills of Extension agents

Tips for Developing and Testing Questionnaires/Instruments

Questionnaires are the most widely used data collection methods in educational and evaluation research. This article describes the process for developing and testing questionnaires and posits five sequential steps involved in developing and testing a questionnaire: research background, questionnaire conceptualization, format and data analysis, and establishing validity and reliability. Systematic development of questionnaires is a must to reduce many measurement errors. Following these five steps in questionnaire development and testing will enhance data quality and utilization of research

Estimation and Determinants of Chronic Poverty in India : An Alternative Approach

The paper conceptualizes chronic poverty by using the spaces of income and nutrition and estimates its incidence among states and social groups. It also aims to improve our understanding of the determinant of chronic poverty by considering economic, demographic and social factors. It attempts to answer the following questions : How important a determinant of chronic poverty is household income? What factors inhibit escape from chronic poverty? How different are the other poor from chronic poor? The analysis uses the unit level NSS and NFHS data.Chrinic Poverty, India

Estimation and determinants of chronic poverty in India: An Alternative approach

The paper conceptualizes chronic poverty by using the spaces of income and nutrition and estimates its incidence among states and social groups. It also aims to improve our understanding of the determinant of chronic poverty by considering economic, demographic and social factors. It attempts to answer the following questions: How important a determinant of chronic poverty is household income? What factors inhibit escape from chronic poverty? How different are the other poor from chronic poor? The analysis uses the unit level NSS and NFHS data.

4-H Experiences Contributing to Leadership and Personal Development of 4-H Alumni

The study reported here examined the contribution of 4-H experiences on leadership and personal development of Pennsylvania 4-H alumni. A total of 168 4-H alumni responded to a mail survey. Stepwise regression analysis identified six variables (challenges and responsibilities, benefits of 4-H participation, number of years in 4-H, animal science projects completed, usefulness and total number of 4-H projects completed) contributing to leadership and personal development. The variables explained 69.5% of the total variance. Pennsylvania 4-H alumni view their 4-H experience as very beneficial. The experiences they had in 4-H continue to influence them in later life

The Influence of High-Energy Lithium Ion Irradiation on Electrical Characteristics of Silicon and GaAs Solar Cells

Space-grade Si and GaAs solar cells were irradiated with 15 & 40 MeV Li ions. Illuminated (AM0 condition) and unilluminated I-V curves reveal that the effect of high-energy Li ion irradiation has produced similar effects to that of proton irradiation. However, an additional, and different, defect mechanism is suggested to dominate in the heavier-ion results. Comparison is made with proton-irradiated solar-cell work and with non-ionizing energy-loss (NIEL) radiation-damage models.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figures, Data presented at 2006 NSREC, Final Version to be published in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 53, NO. 6, December 2006. Index Terms: GaAs, Ion-irradiation, Lithium, NIEL, Photovoltaic cells, Radiation effects, Silico

Experiences of 4-H Japanese Exchange Program on Participants: An Evaluative Study

The study described here assessed the 4-H Japanese Exchange Program in terms of arrival and departure orientation programs, 4-H program expectations, host family expectations, program coordination, and school and community experience. Overall, findings indicated that participants rated their exchange experience as excellent. The service received from 4-H, friendliness, and professionalism were also rated highly by participants. Seventy-one percent indicated that they would recommend the 4-H exchange program to others in their home country. As a result of participating in the 4-H Japanese Exchange Program, participants agreed that they better understand intercultural sensitivity and global perspectives

Modeling charge transport in Swept Charge Devices for X-ray spectroscopy

We present the formulation of an analytical model which simulates charge transport in Swept Charge Devices (SCDs) to understand the nature of the spectral redistribution function (SRF). We attempt to construct the energy-dependent and position dependent SRF by modeling the photon interaction, charge cloud generation and various loss mechanisms viz., recombination, partial charge collection and split events. The model will help in optimizing event selection, maximize event recovery and improve spectral modeling for Chandrayaan-2 (slated for launch in 2014). A proto-type physical model is developed and the algorithm along with its results are discussed in this paper.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, Proc. SPIE 8453, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy