Education Program for Improved Water Quality in Copano Bay Final Report

The Copano Bay watershed covers approximately 1.4 million acres encompassing portions of Karnes, Bee, Goliad, Refugio, San Patricio and Aransas counties. Copano Bay and its main tributaries, the Mission and Aransas rivers, were placed on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) 303(d) list in 1998 due to levels of bacteria that exceed water quality standards established to protect oyster waters use. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program was initiated in September 2003 to identify and assess sources of these bacteria. The Center for Research in Water Resources at the University of Texas at Austin (UT CRWR) was funded by TCEQ to conduct computer-based modeling to determine the bacterial loading and reductions necessary to attain water quality standards. Subsequently Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) conducted bacterial source tracking (BST) with funding from Texas General Land Office (TGLO) and the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program (CBBEP) to determine actual sources of bacteria. Due to the findings of the initial efforts of the TMDL and concerns voiced by stakeholders in the watershed, Texas AgriLife Extension Service was awarded a Clean Water Act § 319(h) Nonpoint Source Grant from the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The overall goal of this project was to improve water quality in Copano Bay and its tributaries by increasing awareness of water quality issues throughout the watershed. This increased awareness was to be accomplished by providing education and demonstrations for land and livestock owners in the watershed on best management practices (BMPs) to decrease or prevent bacteria from entering waterways. Through creation of a project website, 52 educational programs, and nine one-on-one consultations over the span of the project, we have reached 5,408 residents in and around the Copano Bay watershed. Additionally, through this project all data collected for the initial TMDL efforts was re-evaluated and findings were presented in the “Task 2 Report.” Project members developed a curriculum for horse owners, “A Guide to Good Horsekeeping” that addressed BMPs specific to horse operations. Land and livestock owners who had already implemented BMPs or were interested in implementing BMPs were given a participation certificate

Diabetes Mellitus: Indigenous naming, indigenous diagnosis and self-management in an African setting: the example from Cameroon

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective was to examine how the indigenous naming, indigenous self-diagnosis and management of diabetes evolved with awareness in order to develop a socially oriented theoretical model for its care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data was collected through a one-year extended participant observation in Bafut, a rural health district of Cameroon. The sample consisted of 72 participants in a rural health district of Cameroon (men and women) with type 2 diabetes. We used participant observation to collect data through focus group discussions, in depth interviews and fieldwork conversations. The method of analysis entailed a thick description, thematic analysis entailing constant comparison within and across FGD and across individual participants and content analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The core concepts identified were the evolution of names for diabetes and the indigenous diagnostic and self-management procedures. Participants fell into one of two naming typologies: (a) Naming excluding any signs and symptoms of diabetes; (b) naming including signs and symptoms of diabetes. Participants fell into two typologies of diagnostic procedures: (a) those that use indigenous diagnostic procedures for monitoring and controlling diabetes outcomes and b) those that had initially used it only for diagnosis and continued to use them for self management. These typologies varied according to how participants' awareness evolved and the impact on self-diagnosis and management.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The evolution of names for diabetes was an important factor that influenced the subsequent self-diagnosis and management of diabetes in both traditional and modern biomedical settings.</p

Economic Impact of Beef Cattle Best Management Practices in South Texas: Stocking Strategies during Drought

In a drought situation, forage is normally reduced due to lack of adequate moisture. Moreover, the availability of hay may become limited, and hay prices often escalate. Cow-calf producers are faced with the integral decision to maintain their herds and supplemental feed or reduce the herd to minimize feeding requirements and costs. The management decision to maintain versus destock can significantly impact producer profits and financial position. This paper illustrates the financial implications of alternative management stocking strategies in a drought situation optimizing profitability of ranching operations

Interprofessional Education: Theoretical and Practical Considerations for Occupational Therapy Educators

Interprofessional education (IPE) is an integral part of occupational therapy education as programs across the United States incorporate IPE into existing courses and develop new, innovative curricula. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Commission on Education (COE) proposed in its 2015 position paper on IPE in occupational therapy curricula, that IPE is imperative for effective and ethical practice in today’s healthcare environment. Through participation in a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning program focusing on IPE, the authors examined broad constructs and practical implementation of IPE in occupational therapy education. As occupational therapy educators explore opportunities to collaborate with a diverse range of professions, this article provides information about key conceptual frameworks, approaches for faculty training and development, and methods for evaluating IPE outcomes

The influence of agri-entrepreneurship courses studied on youth farm entrepreneurial intention: Evidence from Folk Development Colleges in Tanzania

This research article published by African Online Scientific Information Systems, 2021Background: Youth engagement in agriculture in developing countries is of paramount importance since much of their livelihoods depend on this sector. Aim: This article therefore aims at assessing the influence of studying agri-entrepreneurship courses on youth farm entrepreneurial intention. Setting: Three of the 55 Folk Development Colleges (FDCs) in Tanzania. Methods: A cross-sectional design was employed and 300 respondents were randomly selected from three FDCs offering agricultural programmes. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics in which frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and Somers’s D Model were employed. Results: The results show that there is a significant relationship between agri-entrepreneurship knowledge and skills acquired and youth entrepreneurial intentions towards farming. Conclusion: The FDCs’ agri-entrepreneurial training provides knowledge and skills which influence youth farm entrepreneurial intention. However, the strength of this influence ranges from weak to moderate depending on various factors. Regular reviews of curricula to enhance the beliefs that develop a view of farm entrepreneurship as a paying business is recommended. The analysis and implication of this finding has been further explained

The Use of Mentored Inquiry Communities to Foster Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): Outcomes of the American Occupational Therapy Association SoTL Program (2007-2017)

Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is recognized in Boyer’s model, along with discovery, integration, and application, as one of four essential scholarships and is the systematic study of teaching and learning. As such, in 2007, the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF), and later the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), supported the development of a SoTL mentorship program in an effort to foster SoTL within the discipline of occupational therapy. This mixed-methods study describes AOTA SoTL Program outcomes across ten years, 2007-2017, gathered via survey of past program mentee (n = 50) and mentor (n = 12) participants. Results suggest that mentored inquiry communities are a useful approach to fostering SoTL collaborations. In the future, the AOTA SoTL Program and similar disciplinary-specific SoTL programs should consider additional strategies for supporting mentee participants to completion with their projects

Blocked Goals, Persistent Action: Implementation Intentions Engender Tenacious Goal Striving

Research on goal attainment has demonstrated that people are more likely to reach their goals when they form implementation intentions. Three experiments tested whether implementation intentions lead to tenacious goal striving following blockage of an initial attempt to reach the goal. In all three experiments some participants were instructed to form an implementation intention and other participants were not. Subsequently, the initial goal-directed attempt of all participants was unexpectedly blocked. Experiment 1 found that implementation intentions resulted in more attempts to realize one’s goal. Experiment 2 showed that when participants formed an implementation intention their repeated attempt was acted out as intensely as their first, blocked attempt. Experiment 3 found that implementation intentions still allow people to seize an alternative, more onerous means to realize their intention. These results imply that implementation intention conserve self-regulatory strength. After goal blockage, the remaining strength can be used to continue goal-directed action

Thirty years old lady with nephrotic syndrome: a case of biopsy proven lupus nephritis in Tanzania

We describe a case of a 30 years old female patient who presented with nephrotic syndrome and impaired renal function which was diagnosed to have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with lupus nephritis. This is the first biopsy proven lupus nephritis in Tanzania. SLE is common among females and is reported be more common among Africans as compared to other races. This patient presented with nephrotic syndrome, pleural effusion and pericardial effusion which depicts the multisystem effects of SLE. This patient was treated with cyclophosphamide in combination with steroid as induction therapy and attained remission after one month of treatment. Systemic lupus erythematosus should be considered in patients with nephrotic syndrome and these patients should have renal biopsy to determine renal involvement

Effects of study design and allocation on participant behaviour-ESDA: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: What study participants think about the nature of a study has been hypothesised to affect subsequent behaviour and to potentially bias study findings. In this trial we examine the impact of awareness of study design and allocation on participant drinking behaviour. Methods/Design: A three-arm parallel group randomised controlled trial design will be used. All recruitment, screening, randomisation, and follow-up will be conducted on-line among university students. Participants who indicate a hazardous level of alcohol consumption will be randomly assigned to one of three groups. Group A will be informed their drinking will be assessed at baseline and again in one month (as in a cohort study design). Group B will be told the study is an intervention trial and they are in the control group. Group C will be told the study is an intervention trial and they are in the intervention group. All will receive exactly the same brief educational material to read. After one month, alcohol intake for the past 4 weeks will be assessed. Discussion: The experimental manipulations address subtle and previously unexplored ways in which participant behaviour may be unwittingly influenced by standard practice in trials. Given the necessity of relying on self-reported outcome, it will not be possible to distinguish true behaviour change from reporting artefact. This does not matter in the present study, as any effects of awareness of study design or allocation involve bias that is not well understood. There has been little research on awareness effects, and our outcomes will provide an indication of the possible value of further studies of this type and inform hypothesis generation

A phenomenological exploration of the domain and structure of internal marketing

Despite the fact that Internal Marketing (IM) has emerged to capture the interest of academic researchers and management practitioners, there is a surprising absence of empirical study investigating how IM is experienced in the world of practice. This constitutes an impediment to bridging the gap in the holistic understanding of the IM concept. The big question that remains is how to articulate precisely those activities that can be taken to constitute the structure of IM and those that do not. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring whether the experiences of managers who are implementing IM in their organisations could provide clarity as to the meaning and the constituents structure of IM. This study first undertakes scrutiny of the extant IM literature in an attempt to clarify the multiplicity of terms often associated with IM. The meaning and the constituents structure of IM was investigated via an in-depth qualitative study guided by the principles of phenomenology. This qualitative study is based around open-ended interviews with participants sampled from the UK private and public sector firms. Data was collected and analysed in line with Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological research praxis. The phenomenological findings indicate nine overlapping elements, namely, internal communication, employee training, reward, empowerment, employee motivation, interdepartmental co-ordination, understanding the organisation, commitment, and top management support that emerged to constitute the experiential structure of IM. Drawing upon these elements, the study offers a conceptual framework of the IM structure. Systematic analytical steps were utilised to ensure the validity of findings.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo