Managing the waters within area A : water allocation in Jericho as a case study for Palestinian water management

textThis thesis examines the case study of Jericho as an example of the unique challenges of intra-Palestinian water allocation. Over the past hundred years, Jericho has been under the control of five ruling governments: Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian. This study begins with an investigation of local water allocation under foreign control. Throughout each period of rule, legislation about water was inherently connected with land control, and Jericho’s history as an agricultural city dictated how water was classified. Despite many of the nominal changes in law from one government to the next, local practice changed relatively little, as the community allocated resources in a fairly consistent way among community members. Jericho’s sustained level of agriculture has been possible because of the consistently high output of a large spring, Ein Sultan, just north of the contemporary city. The second chapter examines the transition from Israeli to Palestinian control of Jericho in 1994, which is now considered an Area A zone in the West Bank, and examines the relationship of nascent Palestinian water institutions with previous informal networks. The last section addresses the challenges facing Jericho today, referencing and analyzing the recently written Master Plan for Jericho’s water system undertaken by a Palestinian nongovernmental organization. The Plan effectively highlights problems within the system of allocation, including: poor water quality, inefficient domestic and irrigation networks, conspicuous local consumption, ineffective pricing systems, and lack of wastewater treatment. However, the plan does not provide long-term suggestions to address the underlying systematic problems with the allocation system. Although Jericho is theoretically a Palestinian controlled municipality, it faces serious obstacles to effective governance of its resources. The informal institutions dominated by the agricultural sector that sustained the community for such a long time, may not be able to adjust in the face of necessary water reform for the city. The local government may need to consider politically unpopular decisions, reform tariffs, and decrease reliance upon foreign aid if it hopes to continue maintain and manage Ein Sultan and other water sources for the growing city into the future.Middle Eastern Studie

Consumer Perceptions of Child-Friendly Shaped Healthy Fruit and Vegetable Snacks

Fruits and vegetables (FV) are widely recognized as healthful foods by the public, and most individuals are aware of dietary guidance recommendations to consume more FV. However, actual consumption of FV has been and continues to be low in the United States and many other countries, despite public health efforts to change this trend. The sub-optimal intake of FV among children and adolescents is of particular concern due to high nutrient requirements for proper growth and development during these life stages. Fruit and vegetable intake patterns in childhood have been shown to track into later life and may affect individuals\u27 risk for the development of overweight and obesity, as well as risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers. Children\u27s food intake behaviors are guided by their likes and preferences, which are influenced by many factors such as the taste, appearance, and familiarity of foods. The food industry has capitalized on the direct and indirect purchasing power of children (e.g. children\u27s purchase of items using their own money versus the influence they exert on their caregivers\u27 purchasing decisions) by targeting a large number of foods to children via child-friendly (CF) packaging and fun attributes of the foods themselves, such as attractive shapes and colors. The vast majority of these foods are less healthy options such as sweet and salty snack foods and entrees that are high in fat and sodium. To date, a very limited number of healthy fruit and vegetable options targeted specifically to children have been available in the marketplace. Providing ready-to-eat fruit and vegetable snacks in CF shapes may positively influence children\u27s liking of these foods, which could in turn lead to increased consumption. Also, ready-to-eat CF-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks are a convenient, readily accessible food form that would require no kitchen skills or preparation on the part of the child, all of which are factors that are positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake in children. Price is another important factor in the purchase and consumption of FV; therefore, parents\u27 and caregivers\u27 willingness to pay slightly more for CF-shaped FV as compared to produce items currently available in the marketplace might be an important factor as processing costs would increase the purchase price at least marginally. A consumer behavior survey and optional taste-test procedure were developed in order to explore children\u27s and adults\u27 consumer perspectives regarding CF-shaped foods, adults\u27 purchasing habits pertaining to CF-shaped foods and pre-cut FV, and participants\u27 sensory assessment of CF-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks. To quantify children\u27s self-reported liking of CF-shaped foods and to examine their sensory perceptions (appearance, taste and texture) of CF-shaped and regular-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks, a child survey was developed and conducted in a large (n=365) convenience sample of children in an urban area of northwest Indiana. Children were asked how much they liked fun-shaped foods, and how fun the shapes of the sample foods were. Next, child participants were offered an optional taste-test of a CF-shaped fruit and/or vegetable or a regular-shaped fruit and/or vegetable, (shape and fruit/vegetable combination were randomly selected by day). Likewise, adults (n=298) were invited to participate in a consumer behavior survey that assessed family demographics, purchasing habits regarding CF-shaped foods and pre-cut FV, and perceived sensory appeal of the CF- and regular-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks. Individuals who declined to taste-test the study foods were asked to visually rate them. Study results demonstrated that children self-reported a high level of liking for fun-shaped foods, and that children who assessed the CF-shaped FV rated their shape as significantly more fun than participants who received and rated the regular-shaped fruit and vegetable samples. Girls reported higher ratings for how fun the shapes of the foods were compared to boys (for both CF- and regular-shaped samples). Girls also reported higher visual appeal and taste ratings for the samples. Parents consistently recognized the CF-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks as CF-shaped foods and adults\u27 average ratings of the visual appeal, but not the taste or texture, of the CF-shaped FV were higher as compared to visual appeal ratings for the regular-shaped FV. Furthermore, a greater percentage of adults stated they were willing to pay extra for the CF-shaped FV as compared to adults who were willing to pay extra for the regular-shaped pre-cut produce. A number of independent variables, including female gender, the presence of children in the home, and frequent self-reported purchase of pre-cut produce and CF-shaped foods were positive predictors of one or more of the aforementioned outcomes. Notably, CF-shaped fruit and vegetable samples were 34% more likely to be selected for taste-test than regular-shaped FV and fruits were more frequently selected than vegetables. Sensory ratings were high among adults and children for both the CF- and the regular-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks. In summary, CF-shaped FV were perceived as having a fun shape by children and were seen as highly visually appealing by adults; they were more likely to be selected for taste-test than regular-shaped pre-cut produce; and, they received high sensory appeal ratings. Furthermore, adults reported willingness to pay a little extra for CF-shaped produce as compared to fruit and vegetable options currently available in the marketplace. These findings indicate that providing CF-shaped fruit and vegetable snacks in grocery stores may be a promising approach for increasing children\u27s purchase requests for FV and their consumption of these foods, contributing to overall diet quality and long-term health benefits

Effect of Implementing Subgoals in Code.org’s Intro to Programming unit in Computer Science Principles

The subgoal learning framework has improved performance for novice programmers in higher education, but it has only started to be applied and studied in K-12 (primary/secondary). Programming education in K-12 is growing, and many international initiatives are attempting to increase participation, including curricular initiatives like Computer Science Principles and non-profit organizations like Code.org. Given that subgoal learning is designed to help students with no prior knowledge, we designed and implemented subgoals in the introduction to programming unit in Code.org’s Computer Science Principles course. The redesigned unit includes subgoal-oriented instruction and subgoal-themed pre-written comments that students could add to their programming activities. To evaluate efficacy, we compared behaviors and performance of students who received the redesigned subgoal unit to those receiving the original unit. We found that students who learned with subgoals performed better on problem-solving questions but not knowledge-based questions and wrote more in open-ended response questions, including a practice Performance Task for the AP exam. Moreover, at least a third of subgoal students continued to use the subgoal comments after the subgoal-oriented instruction had been faded, suggesting that they found them useful. Survey data from the teachers suggested that students who struggled with the concepts found the subgoals most useful. Implications for future designs are discussed

Effects of Facebook on Mood and Self-Esteem

Humans are alike in that all compare themselves to others in social settings. The use of social media is widespread in society, so it often has effects on self- esteem. There are increasing amounts of narcissistic behaviors exhibited on social media (MacDonald, 2010). Social comparisons made when viewing social media can have significant effects on self-esteem, through making upward and downward social comparisons (Vogel, et al., 2014). There is a positive correlation between social comparison on Facebook and having negative feelings from that comparison (Lee, 2014). How will thinking about one’s self while observing a Facebook post affect one’s self-esteem and mood? We predicted that when primed with their ideal self (who they aren’t but wish they were) and viewed narcissistic Facebook posts, participants would have low self- esteem and negative mood

Effect of Implementing Subgoals in Code.org\u27s Intro to Programming Unit in Computer Science Principles

The subgoal learning framework has improved performance for novice programmers in higher education, but it has only started to be applied and studied in K-12 (primary/secondary). Programming education in K-12 is growing, and many international initiatives are attempting to increase participation, including curricular initiatives like Computer Science Principles and non-profit organizations like Code.org. Given that subgoal learning is designed to help students with no prior knowledge, we designed and implemented subgoals in the introduction to programming unit in Code.org\u27s Computer Science Principles course. The redesigned unit includes subgoal-oriented instruction and subgoal-themed pre-written comments that students could add to their programming activities. To evaluate efficacy, we compared behaviors and performance of students who received the redesigned subgoal unit to those receiving the original unit. We found that students who learned with subgoals performed better on problem-solving questions but not knowledge-based questions and wrote more in open-ended response questions, including a practice Performance Task for the AP exam. Moreover, at least one-third of subgoal students continued to use the subgoal comments after the subgoal-oriented instruction had been faded, suggesting that they found them useful. Survey data from the teachers suggested that students who struggled with the concepts found the subgoals most useful. Implications for future designs are discussed

The Curious Case of Loops

Background and Context: Subgoal labeled worked examples are effective for teaching computing concepts, but the research to date has been reported in a piecemeal fashion. This paper aggregates data from three studies, including data that has not been previously reported upon, to examine more holistically the effect of subgoal labeled worked examples across three student populations and across different instructional designs. Objective: By aggregating the data, we provide more statistical and explanatory power for somewhat surprising yet replicable results. We discuss which results generalize across populations, focusing on a stable effect size to be expected when using subgoal labels in programming instruction. Method: We use descriptive and inferential statistics to examine the data for the effect of subgoal labeled worked examples across different student populations and different classroom instructional designs. We specifically concentrate on the potential effect size across samples of the intervention for potential generalization. Findings: Two groups of students learning how to write loops using subgoal labeled instructional materials perform better than the others. The better performing groups were the group that was given the subgoal labels with farther transfer between worked examples and practice problems and the group that constructed their own subgoal labels with nearer transfer between worked examples and practice problems, both with medium-large effect sizes. Implications: For educators wishing to improve student learning using subgoal labeled materials should either provide students with subgoal labels while having them practice with a wide range of practice problems or allow students to generate their own subgoal labels and practice problems within similar contexts

The Effects Of Dietary Yeast Extracts On Rumen Microbiota And Fermentation In A Dual-Flow Continuous Culture Fermentation System

Dietary yeast supplements are a popular feed additive in ruminant diets as its inclusion can favorably alter the rumen microbiota and fermentation, and subsequently improve animal health and production. Yeast are a rich source of amino acids, peptides, organic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, and minerals. Inclusion of nutrient-rich yeast and yeast extracts in the diet promote the growth of select groups of rumen microbiota, subsequently improving digestibility, volatile fatty acids, and pH profile. However, the large variability within yeast types and composition has created inconsistent results on these parameters, and further investigation into yeast product variability is crucial for understanding its use in ruminant diets.The aim of this thesis was to evaluate six novel yeast extract treatments, different by origin and processing, and their influence on the abundance and diversity of rumen bacteria, protozoa numbers, digestibility, pH, and methane production. The study utilized a 6 x 6 Latin square design using dual-flow continuous culture fermenters (n = 6), including six 10-d periods consisting of 7-d of adaptation followed by 3-d of sample collection. Dietary yeast extract treatments were included at 4% on a dry matter (DM) basis of the total diet, where treatments and basal diets were combined and added to the fermenters twice daily in equal proportions (109 g DM total per fermenter/d). Treatments included 1) a Brewer’s yeast extract with crude protein (CP) \u3e 60% and a high degree of protein hydrolysis (BrE), 2) a blend of Brewer’s yeast extract and Baker’s peptone with CP \u3e 65% and a mixture of high and low levels of protein hydrolysis and nucleotides (BrEPN), 3) a blend of Baker’s yeast extract with CP \u3e 50% and a mixture of high and medium levels of protein hydrolysis and nucleotides (BENH), 4) a blend of Baker’s yeast peptone and yeast extract with CP \u3e 65% and a mixture of high and low levels of protein hydrolysis and nucleotides (BEPN), 5) a blend of Baker’s yeast peptone, Brewer’s yeast autolysate, and Baker’s yeast extract with CP \u3e 50% and medium protein hydrolysis (BEPBrA), and 6) a blend of Baker’s yeast extracts with CP \u3e 60% and a mixture of medium and low levels of protein hydrolysis and nucleotides (BENL). Fermenter pH was recorded every minute using indwelling pH sensors, methane concentration was determined in triplicate twice daily at the time of feeding via a real-time gas analyzer system, and protozoa and bacteria samples were enumerated via microscopic and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. Bacterial DNA was extracted from harvested bacterial pellets for high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to determine bacterial abundance and diversity. Effluent samples were dried to determine DM disappearance and apparent digestibilities. Fermenter pH, methane, apparent digestibilities, and protozoa and bacteria enumerations were statistically analyzed via the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS. Fermenter pH, protozoa and bacteria counts, methane concentration, apparent digestibility, and bacterial abundance and diversity were not different across treatments. Yeast extract treatments provided at an inclusion rate of 4% on a DM basis, resulted in no differences on rumen microbiota and fermentation across treatments. Further examination of these yeast extract treatments in a dose-response study to determine efficacy as well as an in vivo study to determine their impact on animal health and production parameters could provide greater insight into the differences of yeast extract origin and processing in the rumen