Value of Education as Perceived by Mexican Immigrants and Caucasian American Citizens Employed in Agriculture in Louisiana

Agriculture operations benefit from the employment of Mexican immigrants through government programs that supply workers to the industry. Therefore, many crawfish farm operations in Louisiana employ both U.S. citizen and Mexican immigrant labor to operate efficiently. The purpose of this study was to compare selected characteristics of farm workers as well as to explore values related to education, as sorted by citizenship and ethnicity. The results of this study indicated significant differences in Mexican immigrant and Caucasian U.S. citizen crawfish farmers’ educational backgrounds and demographic characteristics, while finding that both groups held similar values about education. In general, the Mexican immigrant group was younger and had a lower overall educational attainment than the Caucasian U.S. citizens group. However, education was perceived as equally important by both groups. The results of this study can be used by extension services and other educational programs to direct future educational activities based on collected information related to educational values and perceptions of farm employees in Louisiana. These activities can enhance the value of educational programs that are meant to serve all populations

Job Satisfaction Of Vocational Agriculture Teachers In The Southeastern United States

Public schools continue to have difficulty retaining vocational agriculture teachers in the profession. The percentage of vocational agriculture teachers who leave the teaching profession is higher than the percentage for other teaching fields. According to Craig(1982), the turnover rate among vocational agriculture teachers was 12.9& for 1981. This rate was higher than the rate for all teachers which was estimated to be between 7% and 10% in 1980 (Relfschneider, 1980). McCracken, Smith and Suandi (1982( indicated that if county extension agents and vocational agriculture teachers are to achieve their most effective level, administrators must reduce this turnover rate

Debunking the 'digital native': beyond digital apartheid, towards digital democracy

This is the accepted version of the following article: Brown, C. & Czerniewicz, L. 2010. Debunking the 'digital native': beyond digital apartheid, towards digital democracy. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 26(5): 357-369., which has been published in final form at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00369.x.This paper interrogates the currently pervasive discourse of the 'net generation' finding the concept of the 'digital native' especially problematic, both empirically and conceptually. We draw on a research project of South African higher education students' access to and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to show that age is not a determining factor in students' digital lives; rather, their familiarity and experience using ICTs is more relevant. We also demonstrate that the notion of a generation of 'digital natives' is inaccurate: those with such attributes are effectively a digital elite. Instead of a new net generation growing up to replace an older analogue generation, there is a deepening digital divide in South Africa characterized not by age but by access and opportunity; indeed, digital apartheid is alive and well. We suggest that the possibility for digital democracy does exist in the form of a mobile society which is not age specific, and which is ubiquitous. Finally, we propose redefining the concepts 'digital', 'net', 'native', and 'generation' in favour of reclaiming the term 'digitizen'

Studying the Impact of Trained Staff on Evacuation Scenarios by Agent-Based Simulation

Human evacuation experiments can trigger distress, be unethical and present high costs. As a solution, computer simulations can predict the effectiveness of new emergency management procedures. This paper applies multi-agent simulation to measure the influence of staff members with diverse training levels on evacuation time. A previously developed and validated model was extended with explicit mechanisms to simulate staff members helping people to egress. The majority of parameter settings have been based on empirical data acquired in earlier studies. Therefore, simulation results are expected to be realistic. Results show that staff are more effective in complex environments, especially when trained. Not only specialised security professionals but, especially, regular workers of shopping facilities and offices play a significant role in evacuation processes when adequately trained. These results can inform policy makers and crowd managers on new emergency management procedures

Mother-infant interactions and regional brain volumes in infancy: an MRI study

Background: It is generally agreed that the human brain is responsive to environmental influences, and that the male brain may be particularly sensitive to early adversity. However, this is largely based on retrospective studies of older children and adolescents exposed to extreme environments in childhood. Less is understood about how normative variations in parent-child interactions are associated with the development of the infant brain in typical settings. Method: To address this, we used magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the relationship between observational measures of mother-infant interactions and regional brain volumes in a community sample of 3-6 month old infants (N=39). In addition, we examined whether this relationship differed in male and female infants. Results: We found that lower maternal sensitivity was correlated with smaller subcortical grey matter volumes in the whole sample, and that this was similar in both sexes. However, male infants who showed greater levels of positive communication and engagement during early interactions had smaller cerebellar volumes. Conclusion These preliminary findings suggest that variations in mother-infant interaction dimensions are associated with differences in infant brain development. Although the study is cross-sectional and causation cannot be inferred, the findings reveal a dynamic interaction between brain and environment that may be important when considering interventions to optimize infant outcomes

Cigarette smoking and reasons for leaving school among school dropouts in South Africa

School dropouts are at heightened risk of tobacco use compared to in-school learners. School dropouts are described as those not currently enrolled in school for the academic year, have not completed their schooling, and are between 13 and 20 years old. This paper examines the relationship between reasons for leaving school and past month cigarette smoking, taking into account gender differences.Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse survey data (n = 4185). Geographical location was also incorporated into the analysis as effect moderators

Challenges towards renewable energy : an exploratory study from the Arabian Gulf region

Considering the importance of energy for social and economic development, access to clean, affordable and reliable energy has been adopted as one of the United Nations sustainable development goals that all countries aim to achieve by 2030. However, much of the world's energy is still produced from fossil fuels and thus the progress towards clean and renewable energy is slow. This paper explores the key challenges towards renewable energy in Gulf Cooperation Council countries blessed with plenty of oil and gas reserves. The key challenges identified through literature review were ranked using a quantitative approach through the data collected from a selective sample across the six countries. These challenges in order of importance were found to be policies and regulations, manpower experience and competencies, renewable energy education, public awareness, costs and incentives for renewable energy and government commitment. The findings could be helpful to decision makers and government organisations in the region to develop strategies to overcome these identified challenges