If I let go a hammer on a planet having a positive gravity, I need not see it fall to know that it has, in fact, fallen.

I recently viewed the film Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Dr. Jones, (brilliantly played by Ewan McGregor), has been ordered by the Ministry of Fisheries to undertake this farfetched project of introducing salmon into the Yemen River, wholeheartedly, or be out of a job. Dr. Jones reluctantly agrees but continuously ridicules this idea based on his years of research and meticulous study of salmon. He casts doubt every chance he gets that this project will actually work. And what we actually have here is a case of policy dictating science; in the name of a heartfelt, goodwill story meant to assuage the voting public’s uneasiness with the war. (A totally different issue of debate, which I will not touch on here.) It’s not until Dr. Jones meets Sheikh Muhammed, a deeply spiritual man of faith that he begins to open up to another way of thinking, one that defies all his principles of scientific reasoning. And he embraces that this plan just might work, with farmed salmon no less. But what causes the radical reversal of the scientist’s viewpoint from staunch biological reasoning to faith that this project might actually be possible?

Science and religion have had something of a love-hate relationship, intertwined for centuries and often at direct odds with each other. Popes and bishops issued condemnations and accused some great scientific minds of heresy in the Middle Ages. The work of Galileo, Conrad Gessner and Charles Darwin also come to mind, having caused quite a ruckus of controversy in their day. And well Darwin may always be at odds with some folks.

From my own experience growing up Catholic and pursuing biology and chemistry in college, I found it difficult to compartmentalize science and religion. But there have been and still are a few scientists out there who can separate their scientific beliefs from their religious practice. Copernicus was a Catholic clergyman; Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian friar; and Georges Lemaitre, who first proposed the Big Bang Theory, a Belgian priest. They seemed to have been able to separate their work from their spiritual beliefs. Perhaps they had truly find enlightenment? Or maybe that’s exactly what it is; just a spiritual belief, for right or wrong, that has nothing to do with science.

As with most conflicts, it seems that the bitter clashes between science and religion arose primarily due to a different interpretation over the definition of ‘science’. Secular philosophers considered science in the sense of natural science; while theologians took the view that all science is based on demonstrations – according to the St. Thomas Aquinas viewpoint. The shift toward science becoming the top dog, so to speak, over religion seems to have occurred as Europe and North America experienced greater secularization. The political power and influence of the church relating to scientific research has gradually decreased. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things the of the faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are”. I will leave it up to the reader to ponder that and agree or disagree.

But let’s explore the concept of faith for a moment. The word faith is thought to date back to the early 13th century, around the time of some budding scientific discoveries. Formally, faith is a belief in one or more gods or in the doctrines of religion. Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikh, Hinduism, Islam – all of these religions have some concept of faith stationed at the root of their core beliefs. Informally, it can mean a trust or belief without proof, a hope. And this is where the criticism starts, over this very definition of faith, and how it can seem at odds with science.

Critics argue that faith is opposed to reason, while advocates argue that faith addresses questions that cannot be settled by evidence. The evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins stated, “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.” While Dawkins is an outspoken atheist, his understanding of the natural world and contributions to genetics and belief in the rigorous scientific method cannot be discounted.

Faith is a truly personal feeling, whether tied to a religion or not, and we cannot say with certainty what caused Dr. Jones’s shift in thinking on the salmon project. It could have been any number of things happening in his life, consequentially circumstances all tied to emotion, and not science. Sometimes when all else fails, all you have is hope and faith that something will work out. How can you explain a child surviving cancer as the tumor miraculously disappears? There are instances where science cannot explain all things, there is an unknown we cannot account for, one we cannot reason for, and scientists have a hard time admitting this.

Perhaps faith is just a hope that some crazy scheme like transporting farmed salmon to the Yemen River will actually take hold, creating a sport fishing industry and lush farmland to inspire a new economy. Perhaps it’s a question that we will never have the answer to, and must simply accept. Maybe when it comes to science and faith there is no right or wrong answer. However, it does support the argument that you won’t know unless you try, (and try again), which directly supports the basis for scientific research. Whatever faith is, it reflects the need to respect the beliefs of others, while forging ahead with the scientific work of provable and verifiable results that keeps us progressing forward toward a more perfect society.

Photo source.

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Basics:

Organic cotton is generally understood as cotton and is grown in subtropical countries such as the United States of America and India, from non genetically modified plants, that is to be grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production also promotes and enhances biodiversity and biological cycles. In the United States cotton plantations must also meet the requirements enforced by the National Organic Program (NOP), from the USDA, in order to be considered organic. This institution determines the allowed practices for pest control, growing, fertilizing, and handling of organic crops. As of 2007, 265,517 bales of organic cotton were produced in 24 countries and worldwide production was growing at a rate of more than 50% per year. [1]

Cotton farmers in many developing countries are facing decreasing marginal returns due to stagnating yields and high input costs. Conversion to organic management could offer an alternative. In a two year comparative study in central India covering 170 cotton fields, organic farms achieved cotton yields that were on par with those in conventional farms, whereby nutrient inputs and input costs per crop unit were reduced by half. Due to 10–20% lower total production costs and a 20% organic price premium, average gross margins from organic cotton fields were 30–40% higher than in the conventional system. Although the crops grown in rotation with cotton were sold without premium, organic farms achieved 10–20% higher incomes from agriculture. In addition to these economic benefits, the organic farming system does not burden soil and groundwater with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. However, in this study only minor differences were detected in soil fertility parameters of organic and conventional fields. Altogether, the results suggest that conversion to organic farming can improve livelihoods of smallholders while protecting natural resources. Income loss due to reduced yields in initial years of transition, however, constitutes a major hurdle, especially for poorer farmers. It is thus important to support farmers in overcoming the obstacles of the conversion period. [2]

The integration of industrial ecology principles into a business may mean significant changes in its customary activities. In this article, we present a case study of a decision by Patagonia, a manufacturer and distributor of clothing and gear for outdoor sports, to use only organically grown cotton for our cotton products as of spring I996.We describe the history of our efforts to reduce our environmental impacts, the relationship between understanding the life-cycle impacts of garments in general and cotton in particular onour decision, and the changes required throughout the company to implement the decision. Although initial salesof the organic cotton products have met or exceeded expectations, most customers continue to buy our productsfor traditional reasons: quality, fit, styling, and brand. Westruggle to change consumer perceptions about the environmental significance of their purchases and influencemajor apparel manufacturers to make a similar switch. Our experience suggests, first, that consumers and industryneed to understand the principles of industrial ecology and, second, that environmental improvements must be integrated into all aspects of operations (e.g., marketing). Anunexpected benefit of the decision was an increase in our knowledge about the garment life cycle, which in turn improves our ability to develop new fabrics when off-the-shelf products do not meet our needs. Much remains to bedone, howevel; to reduce impacts associated with other aspects Of our products and corporate activities. [3]

This research documents the history and state of the current organic cotton projects in five sub-Saharan African countries: Benin, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Particular attention is paid to the local, regional and national contexts in which these projects operate, in order to improve the understanding of their functioning with a view to scaling-up organic cotton production and trade in sub-Saharan Africa. Production characteristics and market issues in the conventional and organic cotton sub-sectors are discussed. It is concluded that organic cotton production needs to be scaled up in order to become a viable and convincing alternative to conventional cotton production in sub-Sharan Africa. [4]

Data were collected with a mail survey of US health and natural foods consumers. Conjoint analysis revealed salient product attributes and cluster analysis identified segments of consumers with different attribute preferences. Factor analysis uncovered latent variables from among the large number of items and the clusters were examined for differences in their psychographic profiles. It was found that the 38 percent of consumers who found used organic cotton content salient had positive attitudes toward organic and sustainable agriculture, preferred to “buy locally” and had a strong self-identity as environmental, organic, and socially responsible consumers. Survey respondents interested in purchasing organic cotton apparel agreed that organic farming is good for the environment, suggesting that consumers would be receptive to marketing messages that place an emphasis on the environmental benefits of purchasing organic cotton apparel. [5]

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) yields, profits and pest incidence at fields of farmers participating in an export-oriented organic cotton production programme were compared with yields of conventional cotton production in the same village in Karimnagar district, Andhra Pradesh, India, during a bad cotton season (2004).Organic cotton yielded on par at 232 kg seed cotton/acre against conventional cotton at 105 kg/acre. Pest management in organic cotton was based on prevention: balanced nutrient management, intercrops and early spray of HaNPV. For certification purposes, a contiguous area of about 40 acre should go organic. The 34 farmers were organized in two groups for training, credit and savings, maintenance of certification administration and marketing purposes. [6]

Conclusion:

In the era of living green organic growing of plants has reached its peak. The same is with growing cotton. Organic cotton has become very populary and highly valued. It has a strong sigificance to socially responsible consumers and its production will continue to evolve.

References:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_cotton
[2] ‘The viability of cotton-based organic farming systems in India’ by: Frank Eyhornab, Mahesh Ramakrishnanc & Paul Mädera
[3] ‘Going Organic: Converting Patagonia’s Cotton Product Line’ by: Yvon Chouinard, Michael S. Brown
[4] ‘Organic cotton production in sub-Saharan Africa: the need for scaling up.’ by: Ton, P.
[5] http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1770828HYPERLINK “http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1770828&show=abstract”&HYPERLINK “http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1770828&show=abstract”show=abstract
[6]‘Case study on organic versus conventional cotton in Karimnagar, Andhira Pradesh, India.’ by: Raj, D. A.; Sridhar, K.; Arun Ambatipudi; Lanting, H.; Brenchandran, S.

Special thanks goes to http://dressdiva.co/ for topic suggestion.

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PLNOG Conference is a unique conference dedicated to issues of maintaining and developing of ICT networks. This is an incredible opportunity to exchange experiences, broaden knowledge, attempt to solve common problems in networking industry and to meet fantastic people with similar interests. The participation of many outstanding professionals, two days of exciting lectures and fun during the evening event make the PLNOG conference a truly unique.

In addition, in September, EuroNOG Meeting will be held – the international meeting of experts responsible for the construction, maintenance and development of ICT networks, which is an extension of the initiative PLNOG to the European market. Subsequent meetings will be held each year in various cities in Europe. Our main goal is to build a platform to exchange experience between the operators, ISPs and companies responsible for deployment.

More about  PLNOG, and the Call For Papers can be found at: http://plnog.pl/spotkanie-8-pazdziernik/call-for-papers/

Photo source

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The emergency room is one at the Australian Wildlife Hospital, providing veterinary care for sick and injured wildlife — admitting anywhere in the region of 30 different species on a daily basis — with injuries resulting from accidents, acts of deliberate cruelty, or conflict.

Arethusa came into the emergency room suffering from fractured ribs and internal abdominal bleeding. Frodo came in with a gunshot wound, sustaining a fractured skull and significant damage to the stomach and intestines. Travis and his mother were run over by a hit and run vehicle.

These four were koalas, but the hospital deals in animals common to the Australian landscape — from Brushtail Possums to Bearded Dragons.

The koalas themselves, cute cuddly creatures, with a sleepy demeanour, renowned as a representation of Australia have recently been in the news for being endangered and for a curious case of koala chlamydia. Koalas are in serious decline, suffering from many of the effects the veterinarians at the Australian Wildlife Hospital see on a daily basis — as well as habitat destruction, domestic dog attacks, bushfires and disease. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are less than 80,000 koalas left in the wild, possibly as few as 43,000.

Over the past few years researchers have been distilling and putting together a case to add another reason for koala decline to the list. Roughly 600 koalas per year are seen to at the hospital, and most present with other primary conditions. A number of koalas, however, have presented at the hospital with serious illness associated with regenerative anaemia and now trypanosome infections.

The trypanosome is a parasite we commonly associate with African Trypanosomiasis (as well Chagas disease). In reality, the trypanosome also infects rats, cattle, and even kangaroos.

To say little is known about systemic and blood parasites of native wildlife in Australia would be an understatement. Researchers are only just beginning to understand the diversity of trypanosomes in Australian marsupials. Much is still to be learnt. Their evolutionary biology, transmission, and resulting potential impact on the wildlife. The possibility that indigenous wildlife trypanosomes can act as a reservoir for human pathogenic infections is all to be seen.

What we do know is that, in Australia, the introduction of trypanosomes are as a direct result of human activities. Being almost certainly responsible for introducing trypanosomes from one wildlife population to another. The vector — what transmits the parasite from animal to animal — of Australian trypanosomes is not known. Although, researchers have the flea in mind as the usual suspect.

To date around 10 trypanosome species and genotypes have been identified in marsupials; from the northern brown bandicoot, the platypus, the woylie, the chuditch, the eastern grey kangaroo, the common wombat, and the swamp wallaby.

The koalas that came into that emergency room over a two year period were systematically studied; collecting blood samples during routine veterinary examinations, detailing geographical origin, as well as sex, age and reason for admission. The standard patient history.

One such patient led to the description (morphologically, pathologically, and genetically) of a trypanosome in the blood. A new species, named Trypanosoma irwini… named in honour of the late great Australian Steve Irwin. A fitting tribute to an original patron of the Australian Wildlife Hospital.

Image — source.

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New Associate EMBO Member from Australia - professor David L. Vaux

Fifty-five life scientists from Europe and around the world, on 9 May 2012 in  Heidelberg, Germany, were recognised by EMBO (Excellence in Life Sciences) for their excellence in research. Forty-eight of the researchers are from Europe and neighbouring countries while seven scientists from Argentina, Australia, South Korea and the United States join as Associate Members. In total, EMBO membership now comprises almost 1,550 life scientists in the international scientific community.

EMBO elects new members annually on the basis of scientific excellence. The new members represent a broad cross-section of the life sciences. The latest scientists to join the group come from 17 different countries and include 13 female scientists recognized for their contributions to life science research.

The new Associate Member from Australia is professor David L. Vaux, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Parkville. Prof. Vaux is best known for identifying the proto-oncogene bcl-2 as an inhibitor of cell death, thus launching the field of molecular biology of apoptosis (programmed cell death). Read more about his research division Cell Signalling and Cell Death and his research overview, interests, and selected publications.

The selected researchers will help shape the direction of the life sciences in Europe and beyond by their involvement with the activities of the organization. EMBO Members provide scientific input such as acting on advisory editorial boards of the four scientific journals of the organization, serving on selection committees for EMBO Programmes and giving general advice to the scientific community.

A list of all new EMBO Members and Associate Members accompanies this announcement [link].

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Basics:

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:
Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive human intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.
Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.
The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans. A geographical area is regarded as a natural environment. [1]

Different environmental education programs (field trips, hiking, camps, adventure activities) aim to develop pupils’ affective relationship to the natural environment, their environmental sensitivity, and outdoor behavior, as well as their social relationships, through personal experiences. This study discusses the results of experiences from outdoor activities involving 11- and 12-year-old pupils in Rovaniemi and Vaasa, Finland. The qualitative research methods comprised case studies involving questionnaires, individual interviews, drawings, photographs of landscapes, and participant observations during camps. Nature experiences developed the pupils’ self-confidence and feelings of safety, in particular, which in turn increased their willingness to participate in future outdoor activities. In this way, nature began to have new meanings for them on a personal level. Comparing pupils who were experienced in outdoor activities with pupils who were not, it was found that the former seemed to have a strong and clearly definable empathic relationship to nature. They also exhibited better social behavior and higher moral judgements. The reasons for conflicts between environmental attitudes and action, still observable in some experienced boys of the Vaasa group, are discussed in terms of conscious vs. unconscious action and applied knowledge. The role and possibilities of outdoor education in environmental education and natural studies are emphasized for schools as well as for teacher education.[2]

This empirical study finds support for the hypothesis that participation in a special residential education programme enhances facets of pupils’ environmental perception. A 4-day extra-curricular educational unit with a cognitive outdoors focus (established in a nature centre in France) was surveyed by using a two stage sampling design in a pre-post-treatment evaluation; the post-test was delayed for a one-month period after participation. All selected participating pupils (n=151) responded twice to the same perception questionnaire. The factorial structure of this questionnaire had been previously developed using a large European sample (n=4500) and separately validated in a smaller French pupil sample (n=900). The matched-pair pre-post-test survey showed significant differences in two of the five primary factors; both of them covered utilitarian preferences and scored in a way which indicated an increase in sensitivity to the environment. A pre-post-tested control group (n=78) revealed no significant difference. Possible reasons for the partial shift in primary factors are discussed, including a consideration of two related studies (in Germany and Switzerland) which were both monitored by the same measurement instrument.[3]

This study was conducted in order to identify the intensity of Turkish students’ views with regard to environmental issues presented in the national curriculum and to determine how these views differ by gender, grade level, previous science achievement, socio‐economic status (SES), and school location. For this project, a 51‐item Attitude Toward Environmental Issues Scale (ATEIS) was created and utilized. In total, the scale involved 30 distinct environmental issues. These environmental issues are emphasized in the current Turkish science education curriculum. A total of 458 students in grade 4–8 classrooms completed the scale. Rasch analysis results indicated that, in general, the students felt environmental problems should be confronted in Turkey. But when students were presented with a range of survey items stating that a particular environmental issue should take precedence over economic growth, it was often very difficult for students to agree. On the other hand, when students were simply presented a range of survey issues concerning environmental problems in Turkey, it was easy for them to agree with the presence (or importance) of these environmental issues in Turkey. Subsequent analysis suggested that the set of ATEIS survey items were understood and functioned in a similar measurement manner for male and female students, as well as elementary and middle school students. Results of ANOVA analyses indicated that recent high achievement in science courses resulted in more positive attitudes toward environmental issues. T‐test analyses revealed that the older female students of this data set exhibited more support for environmental issues than did male students. Students with high family income, and those students living in urban areas, displayed more positive attitudes toward environmental issues than did students with low family income, and those living in suburban areas. [4]

This study investigated the effects of early-life experiences on an individual’s environmental beliefs. Data from a survey of 533 university undergraduate students from 20 areas of academic study were analyzed using sequential regression to determine the degree to which current environmental beliefs could be explained by early childhood experiences. Results showed that four of the seven independent variables (appreciative outdoor activities, consumptive outdoor activities, media exposure, and witnessing negative environmental events) explained 14% of the variance in the eco-centric/anthropocentric beliefs. Three of the independent variables (early-life participation in mechanized outdoor activities, education, and involvement with organizations) were not significant predictors of eco-centric/anthropocentric beliefs. Implications for research and practice were discussed. [5]

Environmental sensitivity, an important variable in environmental awareness and in the predisposition to take responsible environmental action, has been the subject of a growing body of qualitative research, in which sensitivity is associated with particular kinds of significant life experiences. Studies of significant life experiences of environmental educators and other environmental professionals are reviewed, from original pioneering work through many open-ended surveys, questionnaires, and interview studies that have built on this tradition. Various definitions of the term environmental sensitivity are explored. The strengths and weaknesses of this research tradition are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested. [6]

Conclusion:

Environmental responsability needs to be very developed with all population and education about it needs to start as early as possible with children. While enjoying in outdoor activities people will easily fall in love with nature and will start getting interested in how to preserve it and keep our planet clean.

References:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_environment
[2] ”Outdoor Activities as a Basis for Environmental Responsibility” by: Irmeli E. Palmberg & Jari Kuru
[3] ”The influence of a residential outdoor education programme to pupil’s environmental perception” by: Franz X. Bogner
[4] ”Views of elementary and middle school Turkish students toward environmental issues” by: Ozgul Yilmaza, William J. Boone & Hans O. Andersenb
[5] ”Early-Life Outdoor Experiences and an Individual’s Environmental Attitudes” by: ALAN EWERT Ph.D.a, GREG PLACE Ph.D.b & JIM SIBTHORP Ph.D.c
[6] “Significant Life Experiences Revisited: A Review of Research on Sources of Environmental Sensitivity” by: Louise Chawla

Special thanks goes to http://www.discovery-campervans.com.au/ for topic suggestion.

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Courtesy Véronique Fritière

The food grain production in India is reaching an all-time record of 252.56 million tonnes for the year 2011-12. However, as per the report of Sainath (2012) the daily per capita availability of food grains has fallen from 474.9 grams during 1992-96 to 440.4 grams during 2007-2010. This needs a great attention as the population is increasing and there is growing demand for food and nutritional requirements in the country. The one of the United Nation‘s ‘Millennium Development Goals‘ is reduction of extreme poverty and hunger in the world. Hence, it is the responsibility of the country’s National Agricultural Research System (NARS) to make interventions in the sustainable agriculture and to feed its burgeoning population with the recommended nutritional requirements.

When we see at the Indian agriculture, it is rainfed and is very much dependent on the monsoon. Apart from this, it is also facing tough competition from various biotic and abiotic factors and global climatic changes. Marketing of the produce is also a big challenge due to volatile local and global markets. The NARS having the responsibility for the agricultural research, education and extension is looking at the possible interventions for sustainable agriculture and food security. It needs to advise the farmers and policy makers at various levels in the value chain of agricultural production. As agriculture being the principal occupation in the country, timely communication of agricultural information assumes a greater priority as it would help in taking informed decisions. Therefore, use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in NARS, assumes an important role in all the efforts towards sustainable food production and food security.

Increased use of ICTs would benefit farming in making available the right information at right time. However, the affordability of hardware and software had become the major constraints for the wide adoption of ICTs in the developing countries and in India. This situation could easily be overcome by the adoption of Free Open Source Software (FOSS) products/applications. The FOSS applications developed by the community developers/programmers, who believe in the philosophy that the software should be freely available to all in world to modify, improve, adapt and share. The adoption of FOSS would increase the access to ICTs by overcoming the price barrier compared to the expensive commercial/proprietary software packages. The FOSS products which are built on open standards and protocols allow sharing of information/knowledge across all the technologies and help in collaborating with everyone in the country and world. The advantage with the FOSS is that there would be flexibility in choosing wide variety of software flavors and could migrate from one platform to another easily.

In NARS, however the use/adoption of FOSS products/applications is minimal. Even if at all they are being used, it is because of convenience and not because of FOSS philosophy. Many of the institutions in NARS don’t train its students during their degree programmes and train their staff by capacity building programmes because of lack awareness and availability of FOSS trainers in the system. Many believe and argue that proprietary software is easy to use and they are more secure when compared to FOSS and moreover they say that they would get commercial technical support for all the proprietary software. In the NARS since the first establishment of Agricultural Research Information System units which are now renamed as Agricultural Knowledge Management Units (AKMU) centers, had established ICT infrastructure with proprietary software and now they are hesitating to switch over to FOSS. And the decision makers in the institutions prefer to be in the system they are familiar with rather than exploring the available FOSS products. When funds are earmarked for the procurement of software and progress is measured in terms of the money spent, the institutions continue to use proprietary software in NARS.

Under National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) Component – I, though considerable efforts have been made for the use and development of FOSS products, not many of the institutions have adopted the application of FOSS. As it can be seen that under the AGROWEB-Digital Dissemination System for Indian Agricultural Research (ADDSIAR) project, though there is a mention of use of open source software for content management, not all the projects partners have adopted/used FOSS. In the ADDSIAR project, the ICAR could built its website on Drupal; and the IARI and NAARM institutes could built their websites on Joomla. The NAARM had used Moodle for its e-learning initiatives for its students. The other projects in which we could see use and adoption of FOSS are the ‘Rice Knowledge Management Portal’ (RKMP) by DRR and ‘Agropedia‘ being developed on AgriDrupal under NAIP project lead by IIT Kanpur. It is surprising that under another NAIP project, Strengthening Statistical Computing for NARS proprietary software SAS is being used for training & capacity building NARS researchers but there is no use of FOSS statistical software ‘R‘. In the precision farming and plant genetic resource conservation and exploration projects too, where Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software is extensively used, there is no mention of using FOSS software like OSGeo which could be effectively used. However, in most of the GIS trainings programmes, commercial proprietary software is used rather than FOSS. In the Project Information & Management System of ICAR, to add the projects, one has to use only Internet Explorer and other Internet browsers do not work.

In NARS, about 100 scholarly societies are registered and they publish scholarly journals and organize conferences, seminars, and symposiums. All of them uses email for the paper submission and makes available them in printed books/CD-ROMs to all the attendees. However, the non attendees never get access to the abstracts, papers, and proceedings. When, the conference proceedings are managed and made available online, then the there would be greater reach of information and research outputs. The FOSS products from Public Knowledge Project’s Open Conference Systems (OCS) and Open Journal Systems (OJS) could effectively used by these scholarly societies for the conference and journal publication. In NARS, only KAU‘s Journal of Tropical Agriculture, UASD‘s Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences and ‘Indian Agricultural Research Journals‘ of ICAR’s  NAIP project are using OJS and OCS is never used till date. Similarly the FOSS products viz., AgriDrupal, AgriOcean DSpace and VocBench from the ‘Agricultural Information Management Standards‘ of Food and Agricultural Organization could be used in NARS for the knowledge dissemination. During the past year, we could only see only one short course on FOSS in development of agricultural information and communication management system organized by CIRG.

This shows that NARS needs sensitization and capacity building in use and application of FOSS in agricultural research. For this, a new initiative FOSKIARD (Free and Open Software and Knowledge Initiatives in Agricultural Research for Development) has been taken up by FOSS evangelists in NARS. It intends to conduct sensitization & capacity building workshops at various institutes of NARS and impress upon the NARS managers for the need of creation of central AKMU computer labs with FOSS operating systems like Ubuntu. From the workshops it is expected that the agricultural researchers, FOSS developers, free knowledge advocates and legal experts can meet, interact and could work for the development of applications of FOSS products relevant to agriculture for sharing agricultural information and research outputs for public good.

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Basics:

Unemployment (or joblessness), as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks. The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labour force. [1]

Behavior of unemployed persons was studied in the framework of the general value-expectancy model (Feather, 1982), which states that finding a job is affected by job-searching behavior, which is, in turn, influenced by the intention to look for a job. This intention is then affected by satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the current state of unemployment. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction with being unemployed is hypothesized to be affected by the subjective gains of employment, as well as by the presence of particular features of the specific situation, such as variation and the amount of money one can spend. The model was tested and cross-validated by LISREL and logit analysis with a longitudinal sample of 232 young, Dutch, unemployed persons. The results largely confirm the hypotheses concerning the determinants of motivation for looking for a job and job-seeking behavior. However, there was no link between the variables in the model and actually finding a job. [2]

A motivational, self-regulatory conceptualization of job search was used to organize and investigate the relationships between personality, expectancies, self, social, motive, and biographical variables and individual differences in job search behavior and employment outcomes. Meta-analytic results indicated that all antecedent variables, except optimism, were significantly related to job search behavior, with estimated population correlations ranging from –.15 to .46. As expected, job search behavior was significantly and positively related to finding employment. Several antecedents of job search were also significantly related to employment success, although the size of these relationships was consistently smaller than those obtained for job search. Moderator analyses showed significant differences in the size of variable relationships for type of job search measure (effort vs. intensity) and sample type (job loser vs. employed job seeker vs. new entrant).[3]

Using longitudinal data, the current study examined the relation between mental health and unemployment. It was assumed that these concepts would mutually influence each other—that is, while the perceived characteristics of the situation of being unemployed affect mental health, mental health may also influence the intention to look for a job, amount and type of job-searching behavior, and the chances of finding a job. Drawing on partly longitudinal data from 229 unemployed Dutch youth, a model relating mental health, perceptions of the unemployment situation, job-searching behaviors, and employment status was tested using structural equation modeling and logistic regression analysis. While the expectations were largely supported, there were also several unexpected results, most notably that participants who felt powerless were more likely to be active job seekers, while only mental health (and not job-seeking behavior) was (weakly) related to the likelihood of finding a job. [4]

Using a sample of recent retirees, the study described here sought to test the general propositions of the Wanberg, Watt, and Rumsey (1996) model by (a) including specific variables that are likely to be relevant to older adults seeking work after retirement (bridge employment) and (b) integrating more recent variable groups (e.g., situational constraints) suggested by recent research (e.g., Wanberg, Kanfer, & Rotundo (1999) and Kanfer, Wanberg, & Kantrowitz (2001). Generally, the results support the efficacy of the Wanberg et al. model to predict job seeking among this group. Biographical variables such as older worker job search constraints, self-evaluations (e.g., job seeking self-efficacy), and motive/social variables (e.g., social support) were related to job seeking. Some of these, however, were not in the expected direction. Similarities and differences between “regular” job seeking and bridge employment job seeking are discussed. [5]

Conclusion:

Being jobless definitely influences one’s state of mind and mental health. People feeling powerless can go to two extremes: either start searching job vigorously or loose interest completely. However, their mental state does not have a huge influence on them getting a job.

References:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment
[2] ”The Evaluation of Unemployment and Job-Searching Behavior: A Longitudinal Study” by: Toon W. Tarisa, José A. M. Heesinkb & Jan A. Feijc
[3] ”Job search and employment: A personality–motivational analysis and meta-analytic review.” by: Kanfer, Ruth;Wanberg, Connie R.;Kantrowitz, Tracy M.
[4] ”Unemployment and Mental Health: A Longitudinal Perspective” by: Toon W. Taris
[5] ”Job Seeking Among Retirees Seeking Bridge Employment” by: Gary Adams, Barbara Rau

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Together they will offer free digital courses worldwide, with students receiving the obligatory certificate of mastery at the end. The edX platform will be open source online learning platform that will feature teaching designed specifically for the Web. It means that it will be open to other universities and organisations. Since the learning technology will be available as open-source software (OSS), other universities and individuals will be able to collaborate and help edX improve and add features to the technology developments.

Features will include: self-paced learning, online discussion groups, wiki-based collaborative learning, assessment of learning as a student progresses through a course, and online laboratories. The platform will also serve as a laboratory from which data will be gathered to better understand how students learn. Because it is open-source, the platform will be improved continuously.

As Harvard Crimson reports:

“There’s great excitement, on both sides, to have this impact not only what we’re doing on campus but to really change the way education is done across the world,” Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith said in a conference call with reporters.

Both institutions said that they plan to use the edX in homage to MITx, the online learning portal that MIT launched this year—as a laboratory for their researchers to study how virtual learners interact with the system. Researchers will be able to observe the amount of time students spend watching and rewinding videos and to examine correlations between students’ preferred learning methods and their performance on assessment.

“This is about experimentation; it’s about research; it’s about rethinking education,” said Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber ’76.

The courses are scheduled to be announced in early summer and classes will begin in the fall.

Obviously, there are more and more open initiatives for online processes of teaching and learning. Recently TED-ed education launched their TED-Ed website (in beta) a new open platform for using video in education. It allows any teacher to take a video of their choice and  use it in the lectures, that can easily be assigned in class or as homework, complete with context, follow-up questions and further resources.  This whole process is explained in this video.

The same way that Web strives to be more open, collaborative, and free, so the current education reforms and innovations are fostering open and collaborative approach. Time will tell how these new initiatives will be adopted in (an online) education systems along with the accelerated development of mobile and cloud technologies that suppose to improve learning and teaching on campus, and around the world.

References: MIT news,  The Harvard Crimson, and Harvard Gazette.

(cross-post)

Image source.

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