Farmer\u27s intended and actual adoption of climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies

A growing body of work aims to understand the impacts of climate change on agriculture as well as farmer’s perceptions of climate change and their likeliness to adopt adapting and mitigating behaviors. Despite this, little work has considered how intention to adopt differs from actual adoption of climate change practices in agriculture. Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior we aim to assess whether different factors affect intended versus actual adoption of climate behaviors among farmers in New Zealand. Data were collected through mixed methods (37 interviews and a telephone survey of 490 farmers) in two regions of New Zealand 2010–2012. Through multiple regression models we test hypotheses related to the Theory of Planned Behavior around the role of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived capacity in affecting intended and actual adoption. Results suggest that there are different drivers of intended and actual adoption of climate change practices. Climate change attitudes and belief is only associated with intended not actual adoption. We find no evidence that subjective norms (climate change policy support) significantly influence either intention or actual adoption. Only perceived capacity and self-efficacy were important predictors of both intended and actual adoption. These results suggest a disconnect between intended and actual behavior change and that using data about intention as a guiding factor for program and policy design may not be prudent. Furthermore, fostering perceived capacity and self-efficacy for individuals may be crucial for encouraging both intended and actual adoption of climate adapting and mitigating behaviors

How limiting factors drive agricultural adaptation to climate change.

Consensus is growing that agriculture is vulnerable to climate change and adaptation responses are necessary to minimize impacts. Nonetheless, the diversity of potential impacts, agro-ecological contexts and regional capacity for change make understanding adaptation behaviors challenging and ensure that climate change adaptation will not be the same across all contexts. Considering this heterogeneity, this paper aims to develop a theoretical approach to connect agro-ecosystem diversity with farmer decision-making in the context of agricultural adaptation to climate change. We combine the ecological principle of Liebig’s Law of the Minimum with the Psychological Distance Theory to suggest how adaptation behaviors vary across regional contexts. We argue with our limiting factors hypothesis that limiting factors within a farm system (water or temperature impacts) influence the adoption of adaptation practices differently across regions and farm systems. Limiting factors varied across farm systems and regions, based on historical climate changes, agro-ecological contexts, infrastructure and adaptation capacity. Using farmer survey data from New Zealand we show that limiting factors mediate the effect of past climate experiences on the adoption of adaptation strategies differently in two regions with water acting as a limiting factor in Hawke’s Bay and water and temperature as a limiting factor in Marlborough. This suggests that farmers perceive and respond to climate change in part due to their personal experiences with climate change and the limiting factors within their system. Such results are relevant for the development of regional adaptation strategies, effective policies and targeted climate change communication

Academic practice and public engagement through the lens of Hannah Arendt’s public sphere of action

This article contributes to conceptualisations of public engagement as part of academic practice in higher education. It uses Hannah Arendt’s idea of action in the public sphere, which is underpinned by the belief that all have the capacity to contribute to the renewal of the world, and that we are equally different. It argues that public engagement should go beyond a one-way flow from the academic to the public and should instead aim to promote engagement towards renewed understandings of all participants. The ideas are exemplified by the practical example of a conference, co-designed and co-organised by the author. It highlights participatory processes of the conference towards generating engagement of a wide variety of participants and considers evidence of the renewal of understandings from such public engagement. The conference is drawn upon to develop a reconceptualisation of public engagement

Learning-Focused Leadership and Leadership Support: Meaning and Practice in Urban Systems

Synthesizes three reports on what good education leadership means and how it can best be supported, including the role of the school leader and the transformation of central district offices to focus more on improving instruction. Outlines key practices

Clodia, Fulvia, Livia, Messalina : what can we really learn about the elite women of Rome?

How much can we really know about the lives of elite women in the Late Republic and Early Empire? If we are to take the written sources at face value then we might assume that women in the public eye were generally oversexed, overly assertive and ‘unnatural’ in their masculine behaviour: Cicero’s Clodia is an excessive monster and Fulvia is an aggressive and manipulative woman who dominates her husband. Rome of the Late Republic has a reputation for moral decline characterised by increasing emancipation for women. The foundation of the Principate sees Augustan moral legislation attempting to address this, combined with the establishment of an unprecedented female role: that of First Lady. Livia of the sources is virtuous and loyal, but she is also manipulative and a poisoner. Messalina’s vilification by historians as a self-seeking nymphomaniac is a culmination in the portrayal of female cunning and excess. However, these portrayals do not tend to include information from material evidence. Through analysis of both literary and artistic evidence this dissertation seeks to establish whether it is really possible to see the real women behind the sources and to determine their role and status with any true historical accuracy. In doing so it considers the importance of the nature of those sources: some are blatant propaganda, others conform to their literary genre and others reflect political bias

Creating spaces of dialogical action towards epistemic justice in higher education

Universities tend to take an exclusive view of knowledge and who can generate such knowledge. This knowledge tends to be based upon concepts within Western frameworks which assume the desirability of objectivity between the individual knower and what is known, the fragmentation of knowledge into disciplines and a marked distinction between theory and practice. As such, legitimate knowledge creation is seen to be the prerogative of academics based in Western contexts. Other forms of knowledge and other knowers are viewed as less legitimate. I challenge this view in practical and theoretical ways, arguing that it is exclusional, unjust and counterproductive. The practices described in the thesis are premised on the belief that all people should be seen as having knowledge creating capacity and the ability to use such capacity. It explores how relational, participative practices of knowledge creation between people of difference were enacted. Using a self-study action research approach, I investigate my practices as an academic in co-ordinating an international collaborative project between those inside and outside of academia in global North and South. I describe and theorise how participative, relational and dialogic spaces were created for knowledge creation. The thesis explores how all participants were recognised as having a unique role which contributed to addressing a common concern, how such a role may be developed in collaboration with others and how this inclusive approach can motivate participation. I explain how such practices can embody epistemic justice. I draw conclusions which contribute to a conceptualisation of the role and responsibility of the academic towards creating spaces for participation in collaborative and dialogical political action. I also draw out the practices embedded within my research and view them as a microcosm of what universities could be: spaces of participation in dialogical learning and in political action, towards social hope

A Savings Account for Every Child Born in Israel: Recommendations for Program Implementation

In November 2015, Israel enacted legislation to create and fund a Child Development Account program. Beginning in 2017, every baby born to an insured Israeli resident will receive a Child Development Account in his or her name. This brief details the policy, which was developed in collaboration with researchers at the Center for Social Development, and offers recommendations to guide its implementation

Effects of cochlear implantation on binaural hearing in adults with unilateral hearing loss

A FDA clinical trial was carried out to evaluate the potential benefit of cochlear implant (CI) use for adults with unilateral moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. Subjects were 20 adults with moderate-to-profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and normal or near-normal hearing on the other side. A MED-EL standard electrode was implanted in the impaired ear. Outcome measures included: (a) sound localization on the horizontal plane (11 positions, −90° to 90°), (b) word recognition in quiet with the CI alone, and (c) masked sentence recognition with the target at 0° and the masker at −90°, 0°, or 90°. This battery was completed preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after CI activation. Normative data were also collected for 20 age-matched control subjects with normal or near-normal hearing bilaterally. The CI improved localization accuracy and reduced side bias. Word recognition with the CI alone was similar to performance of traditional CI recipients. The CI improved masked sentence recognition when the masker was presented from the front or from the side of normal or near-normal hearing. The binaural benefits observed with the CI increased between the 1- and 3-month intervals but appeared stable thereafter. In contrast to previous reports on localization and speech perception in patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, CI benefits were consistently observed across individual subjects, and performance was at asymptote by the 3-month test interval. Cochlear implant settings, consistent CI use, and short duration of deafness could play a role in this result