Farmers Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change: An Estimation of Willingness to Pay

This paper assesses farmers’ perception and adaptation to climate change to enhance policy towards tackling the challenges climate change poses to the farmers in Ghana. With regards to farmers’ perception and methods of adaptation, majority of the farmers perceived increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall pattern. Farmers’ level of adaptation was found to be relatively high with majority of the farmers using changing planting dates, different crop varieties, soil conservation and water harvesting as the major adaptation measures to climate change impacts. However, access to water, high cost of adaptation, lack of information, lack of knowledge on adaptation, insecure property rights, insufficient access to inputs and lack of credits were identified as the major barriers to adaptation. The probit regression estimation results indicated that the probability of willingness to pay for climate change mitigation policies increases with age, years of education and ownership of farm land.Perception, adaptation, climate change, willingnessto pay, probit regression, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, GA, IN,

Diabetes and depression comorbidity and socio-economic status in low and middle income countries (LMICs): a mapping of the evidence

Non-communicable diseases account for more than 50% of deaths in adults aged 15–59 years in most low income countries. Depression and diabetes carry an enormous public health burden, making the identification of risk factors for these disorders an important strategy. While socio-economic inequalities in chronic diseases and their risk factors have been studied extensively in high-income countries, very few studies have investigated social inequalities in chronic disease risk factors in low or middle-income countries. Documenting chronic disease risk factors is important for understanding disease burdens in poorer countries and for targeting specific populations for the most effective interventions. The aim of this review is to systematically map the evidence for the association of socio-economic status with diabetes and depression comorbidity in low and middle income countries. The objective is to identify whether there is any evidence on the direction of the relationship: do co-morbidities have an impact on socio-economic status or vice versa and whether the prevalence of diabetes combined with depression is associated with socio-economic status factors within the general population. To date no other study has reviewed the evidence for the extent and nature of this relationship. By systematically mapping the evidence in the broader sense we can identify the policy and interventions implications of existing research, highlight the gaps in knowledge and suggest future research. Only 14 studies were found to analyse the associations between depression and diabetes comorbidity and socio-economic status. Studies show some evidence that the occurrence of depression among people with diabetes is associated with lower socio-economic status. The small evidence base that considers diabetes and depression in low and middle income countries is out of step with the scale of the burden of disease

EXPLORING SCIENCE EDUCATION THROUGH PERFORMANCE-ARTS LENS

Literature points out that the continuing goal of science education research is the generation of pedagogical knowledge that can be used to improve meaningful understanding of science concepts by students. In view of this goal, the study adopted a performance-arts pedagogical lens being developed for mathematics education to explore the effectiveness of this lens for science education, particularly for middle grades. The study used the four categories: (1) Surprise/New/Wonderful; (2) Sensemaking; (3) Emotional moments; and (4) Visceral sensation of the performance-arts lens to analyze YouTube videos that used a performative approach to presenting scientific concepts. Study findings showed that, while most of the videos satisfy the criteria for the categories “Surprising/New/Wonderful,” and “Visceral experiences,” the same cannot be said of the categories “Sense-making,” and “Emotional moments.” Based on these findings, some implications for science education were identified, and recommendations for future research suggested

An Examination of Leadership Behavior: Improving Family Engagement in an Urban Latinx School Community

The following is a technical report based on the qualitative case study of a school principal in a representative urban high school in the Rocky Mountain West. The purpose of this study was to better understand the extent to which an urban high school principal in a high poverty school can implement behaviors that increase family engagement within a Latinx school community. The research question in this study was: What leadership behaviors are impactful in developing and increasing Latinx family engagement in an urban high school? The principal was observed for a year and interviewed extensively regarding his beliefs, practices, and behaviors in implementing a family engagement program called Parent University. Stakeholders were also interviewed and focus groups were conducted with parents that participated regularly in the program. Observations were made and field notes were collected for a year during pilot and initial full-year rollout of the Parent University program. This study provides field-based examples of principal behavior that informs practice through the case study of one urban principal