Analyzing the Mind-Coping Cognitive Process or Psychosis And the Higher Mind

Article from the Journal of Metaphysical Thought

Organic Fertilizers in Alabama: Composition, Transformations, and Crop Response in Selected Soils of the Southeast United States

Rapid growth in organic production in the past 20 years is due to consumer concerns about the impacts of conventional agriculture on the environment, food safety, and quality. There are considerable variations in nutrient concentration and the rate of mineralization among organic fertilizers. Some organic fertilizers and application rates are specific to soil types, which affect the nutrient potential. Two organic fertilizers produced in Alabama and added to soils are the chicken or poultry litter (1.8 million Mg annually) and the hydrolyzed liquid fish protein. The under- or overestimation of the total N content of the litter may result in its over- or underapplication with potential environmental consequences to surface waters. The overestimation of the total N may result in its inadequate application. The inorganic forms (ammonium, NH4+–N; nitrate, NO3−–N; and nitrite, NO2−–N) are found in small but sometimes significant amounts especially when broiler litter is stored under environmental conditions favorable to nitrification. Limited information is available on the usefulness of the various modifications of the regular Kjeldahl method in poultry litter analysis and transformations when added to soils. This chapter provides information and our experiences on the sources of organic fertilizers produced in the southeastern United States (Alabama)

Reassessing Caribbean Migration: Love, Power and (Re) Building in the Diaspora

Traditional research has framed Caribbean migration as a socio-economic issue including discourses on limited resources, brain drain, remittances, and diaspora/transnational connection to, or longing for home. This narrative usually presents migration as having a destabilizing effect on Caribbean families, households and communities, more specifically the impacts on the relationships of working class women who migrate leaving behind children, spouses and other dependents because of a lack of opportunities in Caribbean. This paper proposes an alternative view of migration as a source/manifestation of women’s power, where women, as active agents within the migration process, in fact contribute to re building relationships, families and kinship and social networks. This paper is largely theoretical and puts forward a model which the authors plan to use to carry out future research on the lived experiences of Caribbean women, as well as a framework of analysis for other researchers. The authors thus carry out an examination of the migration literature which speaks to the lives of Caribbean female migrants, both in the region as well as those who now make up the Caribbean diaspora. We offer a critique of the existing literature on Caribbean migration and propose a reassessment of migration using a methodological framework entitled Intimate Cultural Love Power, developed by one of the authors, to examine love, power and migration

Black students' perception of the integrated school environment : how do the students feel? : a study of Black students in Halifax, Nova Scotia

xiii, 105 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-105).The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the perceptions that students of African descent (Black students) have of the integrated school environment. Two hundred and sixty Black students attending sixteen junior and senior high schools located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were surveyed. The participants were equally divided between males and females. At the time of the survey, they represented approximately fifty percent of the Black students attending public high schools in the city of Halifax. The survey instrument also included two sections which allowed the students to state their impressions of the school environment in their own words. In one section, they were asked to indicate areas of concern not necessarily identified in the questionnaire, and in another, they were asked to state a positive change they would like to see in their schools. The results revealed that the perceptions of students attending the junior highs were significantly less negative than those attending senior high schools; and male students had more negative perceptions of their school environments than their female counterparts. It also showed that, in spite of a history of racism in the education system which the students acknowledged was still reflected in their schools, the most important concern of the Black students was the paucity of information about Black people in the curriculum. It was recommended that programs should be developed to address the way that Black students attending integrated schools are taught; and, the information they are taught should be more reflective of their African heritage

When Consensus Falters, We Co-create: Attending to Power in a Practitioner/Scholar Partnership to Amplify Newcomer Belonging

This article interrogates the politics of belonging in scholar–practitioner collaborations by analysing and reflecting upon a group project that advocated for a more equitable approach to newcomer belonging and integration in an urban setting in the United States. The structure of our collaboration revealed unaddressed and unspoken dynamics that collectively reinforced boundaries and hierarchies in our group, despite a level of intentionality around democratic praxis among the community-engaged scholars who initially brought participants together. The article asks: How can we work towards a notion of belonging if we haven’t worked out an equitable approach within our own group where everyone, including newcomers, feels like they belong? The article relies on a methodology of critical reflexive dialogue between the four co-authors – two scholars and two practitioners – to analyse and reflect on the ways that power imbalances are bound up in questions of belonging and representation

Jamaican Kindergarten and First Grade Teachers’ Expectations for Readiness Skills

Children’s readiness to meet demands in Grade 1 is a common concern in most primary schools in Jamaica. Teachers have voiced their expectations that students should display a level of mastery in readiness skills so that they can be engaged in academic tasks when they transition from the kindergarten to Grade 1. The purpose of this qualitative case study, guided by social constructivism, was to explore kindergarten students’ readiness for Grade 1 based on the perceptions of kindergarten teachers compared to Grade 1 teachers on readiness skills, instructional practices, and expectations of students’ competency. The research questions were designed to explore how teachers prepare students with readiness skills, to what extent teachers believe incoming students are prepared, and to what extent students’ mastery of readiness skills influence students’ competencies for the formal curriculum at Grade 1. Ten face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and documents from the standardized assessment of Grade One Individual Learning Profile were reviewed. Data were coded and analyzed for themes. The findings indicated that the teacher–pupil ratio needs to be addressed; students were exposed to readiness skills, but mastery in the requisite areas for literacy and numeracy needs greater focus; and there should be greater collaboration of stakeholders about the expectations for students. This research may influence positive social change by informing policymakers as they review, refine, and implement the expected standards for young children who transition to Grade 1

Performance of Sweetpotato for Bioregenerative Life Support

Sweetpotato was successfully grown to harvest maturity in a large-scale atmospherically-closed controlled environment chamber. Yield of edible biomass and capacity for contributing to air revitalization and water recovery were documented. Yield was slightly less than that found in smaller-scale studies, but this is not unusual (Wheeler 1999). Continued work is suggested to improve control of storage root initiation, bulking and vine growth

Effect of channel size on sweet potato storage root enlargement in the Tuskegee University hydroponic nutrient film system

The potential of the sweet potato as a food source for future long term manned space missions is being evaluated for NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) program. Sweet potatoes have been successfully grown in a specially designed Tuskegee University nutrient film technique (TU NFT) system. This hydroponic system yielded storage roots as high as 1790 g/plant fresh weight. In order to determine the effect of channel size on the yield of sweet potatoes, the width and depth of the growing channels were varied in two separate experiments. Widths were studied using the rectangular TU NFT channels with widths of 15 cm (6 in), 30 cm (12 in) and 45 cm (18 in). Channel depths of 5 cm (2 in), 10 cm (4 in), and 15 cm (6 in) were studied using a standard NASA fan shaped Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) channel. A comparison of preliminary results indicated that, except for storage root number, the growth and yield of sweet potatoes were not affected by channel width. Storage root yield was affected by channel depth although storage root number and foliage growth were not. Both experiments are being repeated

Effect of biweekly shoot tip harvests on the growth and yield of Georgia Jet sweet potato grown hydroponically

Sweet potato shoot tips have been shown to be a nutritious green vegetable. A study was conducted to determine the effect of biweekly shoot tip harvests on the growth and yield of Georgia Jet sweet potato grown in the greenhouse using the nutrient film technique (NFT). The nutrient solution consisted of a modified half Hoagland solution. Biweekly shoot tip harvests, beginning 42 days after planting, provided substantial amounts of vegetable greens and did not affect the fresh and dry foliage weights or the storage root number and fresh and dry storage root weights at final harvest. The rates of anion and cation uptake were not affected by tip harvests

Sweet potato for closed ecological life support systems using the nutrient film technique

Sweet potatoes were grown hydroponically using the nutrient film technique (NFT) in support of the Closed Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) program. Experiments in the greenhouse with the TI-155 sweet potato cultivar produced up to 1790 g/plant of fresh storage roots. Studies with both TI-155 and Georgia Jet cultivars resulted in an edible biomass index of approximately 60 percent, with edible biomass linear growth rates of 12.1 to 66.0 g m(exp -2)d(exp -1) in 0.05 to 0.13 sq meters in 105 to 130 days. Additional experimental results are given. All studies indicate good potential for sweet potatoes in CELSS