4,204 research outputs found
Knowledge and attitude towards collaboration in agricultural innovation systems amongst stakeholders in the North West Province, South Africa
No full textThe current study examined the extent of knowledge concerning agricultural innovation systems amongst researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers, while determining their attitude towards collaborating with agricultural innovation systems. Through using a simple random sampling technique; researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers were selected as the study population. Information was gathered by distributing a structured questionnaire amongst the various participants and analysing the data gained concerning their wealth of knowledge and their corresponding willingness to collaborate. The results show that researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers are aware of, and have adequate knowledge of, these systems available to them, to be able to utilise them effectively. However, they expressed different attitudes towards collaboration with agricultural innovation systems
Linkage activities amongst researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers towards agricultural innovation systems in the North West Province, South Africa
No full textThis paper examined the research- extension- farmer- input dealer and marketer linkage activities in the North West Province of South Africa. A simple random sampling technique was used to select researchers, extension agents, farmers, agricultural input dealers and marketers. Their responses in linkage activities were elicited through a structured questionnaire. The F value for linkage = 41.817(p< 0.05) shows that there is a significant difference among stakeholders with extension agents having the highest mean of 51.63. In contrast, the marketers have the lowest mean of 37.16. This indicates that extension agents were involved in more linkage activities than other stakeholders in the agricultural innovation systems covered in this study
Evaluation of Small-scale Farmers' use of Information Communication Technology for Farm Management in Mahikeng Local Municipality
No full textMSc (Agricultural Extension), North-West University, Mafikeng CampusThe effectiveness and efficiency of small-scale farmers' agricultural production as a means of improving rural livelihood hinges on their access to timely and adequate agricultural information. The study focused on the evaluation of small-scale farmers' use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for farm management in Mahikeng Local Municipality. Simple random sampling technique was adopted for the study and 320 respondents were randomly selected out of the selected respondents, 121 respondents volunteered to participate and data were collected with a structured questionnaire. The result revealed that farming was male dominated in the study area 63% and the educational level of most respondents were primary education 33%, the majority of respondents were married 51% and their age distribution was mostly 50 years and above 49% and 41 to 50 years 40%. House hold size was mostly 4 to 6 members 59.5%. The farming experience was found to be majorly 11 to 20 years 39.67% and 2-10 years 33.06%. Their farm sizes were mostly 0-2 hectares 47% and 3-6 hectares 39%. In the study, the annual income of respondents was mostly 10,000 to 30,000 Rands 46.3% and 31,000 to 50,000 Rands 32.2%. The majority of respondents were into both crop and animal production 72%, and their major information sources were fellow farmers 35% and extension agents 36%.The majority of respondents 92% in the study were aware of the use of ICT for extension service delivery and 86% of the respondents used ICT in accessing extension services, however, the most available and accessible ICT tools used by respondents were majorly conventional ICT tools such as television 30.87%, radio 27.7% and mobile phone 27.18% Most respondents in the study had a high perception of the use of ICT for farm management this is because none of the mean value was less than 3. Majority of respondents were knowledgeable about the conventional ICT tools such as television 97%, radio 98% and mobile phone 87% but were not knowledgeable on contemporary ICT tools such as the internet 64.5% and video conferencing 90%. Major constraints identified by respondents were poor infrastructures in rural areas 85%, lack of ICT related facilities 79%, data bundles are expensive to purchase 73%, lack of internet connectivity 71%, ICT tools are expensive to purchase 71.1%, The result further showed that educational level was positively significant at P≤0.01, awareness on the use of ICT for extension and ease of use were both positively significant at P≤0.10. Gender had a negative significance at P≤0.10 this implies that the more increase of female farmers in the study area the lesser the use of ICT as most women have little access to ICT devices as compared to men. Information sources also had a negative significance of P≤0.05. Furthermore, farm size had positive significance P≤0.10 which implies that an increase in farm sizes results in an increase in annual income which makes ICT devices purchasable for respondents with large farm sizes. ICT tools were expensive and had a negative effect at P≤0.10 on respondents' use of ICT. This implies that an increase in the cost of ICT tools will result in small-scale farmers' inability to purchase or use ICT. Lack of internet connectivity had a negative significance at P≤0.10, data bundles are expenses to purchase and lack of ICT related facilities both had a positive significance at P≤0.05. Based on findings it is apparent that small-scale farmers have a high perception on the use of ICT for farm management as it is perceived to enhance their agricultural productivity as well as creating a broader network that helps them make good decisions during transactions. Therefore, it is important for the government and other voluntary organisation to assist small-scale farmers to build ICT infrastructure in the study area.Master
On using Directional Information for Parameter Space Decomposition in Ellipse Detection
No full textIn this paper we use the parametric polar representation to extend the application of edge directional information from circle to ellipse extraction. As a result we obtain a mapping which decomposes the parameter space required for ellipse extraction into two independent sub-spaces and one final histogram accumulator. The mapping includes the tangent of the angle of the first and second directional derivatives. These tangents are computed by considering edge direction at two border points. We show that the use of gradient information for parameter space decomposition avoids the intensive point labelling imposed by geometric constraints used by other approaches
Analysis of Worth Assessment, Access Points and Credibility of Information Sources Used by Artisanal Fish Farmers in Selected Coastal States of Nigeria
No full textPhD (Agriculture), North-West University, Mafikeng CampusInformation sources play a vital role in improvement of artisanal fish farming. However, the different sources of information do not receive equal attention by artisanal fishers, and, as a result a study on the worth assessment, access points and credibility of information sources used by artisanal fish farmers was conducted. This study was carried out in the coastal States of Nigeria, which included, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, which are in Nigeria in West Africa. The data for the study gathered were from primary sources using structured questionnaire. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicates that the majority of artisanal fish farmers were male (79.90%). A high proportion of artisanal fish farmers fall within the age bracket of 41 – 50 years (43%). This shows that artisanal fish farmers are predominantly young people. Majority (88%) of the artisanal fish farmers had one form of education or the other. This background of artisanal fishers affected information accessibility. Majority of artisanal fish farmers 243 (55%) earn monthly income between 11,000 Naira – 50,000 Naira. Artisanal fish farmers need information in nearly all the areas. Coastal artisanal fish farmer’s information was highly motivated by farmer’s groups, television, neighbor farmers, co-operatives, use of cell phones, extension agents, church meetings, input dealers, output buyers, credit agencies and friends who were regular and relevant. Some of the constraints associated with information dissemination included long distance to source of information, language barrier between artisans and information sources, cost of acquiring access points, technical languages of information by experts, unreliable nature of electricity for use of television, cell phones and laptops, and lack of libraries of access points in the fishing settlements. Illiteracy of artisanal fish farmers, shortage of extension workers, and distortion due to interpretation by interpreters, epileptic cell phone mobile network situation, and obtaining it was an expensive logistical problem, while some are abroad and expensive to reach. The regression analysis revealed that there is a significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of artisanal fish farmers and their information worth assessment. It also shows that there is a significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of artisanal fish farmers and the information access points.Doctora
Knowledge and attitude towards collaboration in agricultural innovation systems amongst stakeholders in the North West Province, South Africa
No full textThe current study examined the extent of knowledge concerning agricultural innovation systems amongst researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers, while determining their attitude towards collaborating with agricultural innovation systems. Through using a simple random sampling technique; researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers were selected as the study population. Information was gathered by distributing a structured questionnaire amongst the various participants and analysing the data gained concerning their wealth of knowledge and their corresponding willingness to collaborate. The results show that researchers, extension agents, farmers, input dealers, and marketers are aware of, and have adequate knowledge of, these systems available to them, to be able to utilise them effectively. However, they expressed different attitudes towards collaboration with agricultural innovation systems.Keywords: Knowledge, attitude, collaboration, innovation system
Large-scale patterns in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in very large aspect ratio cells
No full textLarge-scale patterns, which are well-known from the spiral defect chaos regime of thermal convection at Rayleigh numbers Ra 105. They are uncovered when the turbulent fields are averaged in time and turbulent fluctuations are thus removed. We apply the Boussinesq closure to calculate turbulent viscosities and diffusivities, respectively. The resulting turbulent Rayleigh number Ra_, that describes the convection of the mean patterns, is indeed in the spiral defect chaos range. Interestingly, the turbulent Prandtl numbers are smaller than one with 0:2 _ Pr_ _ 0:4 for Prandtl numbers 0:7 _ Pr _ 10. Finally, we demonstrate that these mean flow patterns are robust to an additional finite-amplitude side wall-forcing when the level of turbulent fluctuations in the flow is sufficiently high
Reynolds number effect on 3D turbulent offset jet reattaching to a free surface
No full textExperimental study was carried out to investigate the effect of Reynolds number on 3D offset jet reattaching to above free surface. Sharp edged square nozzle was used to produce the jets, and the measurements were performed at the following six different Reynolds numbers: 2300, 3700, 5100, 7900, 10300 and 11900. Detailed velocity measurements were made in the symmetry plane. From the PIV data, the mean velocity and turbulence statistics were obtained to study the effects of Reynolds number on the salient features of the jet flow. Preliminary results on streamwise mean velocity decay along the nozzle centerline, contours of streamwise mean velocity and Reynolds shear stress are presented herein
The Benefits of Being Economics Professor A (and not Z)
No full textAlphabetic name ordering on multi-authored academic papers, which is the convention in the economics discipline and various other disciplines, is to the advantage of people whose last name initials are placed early in the alphabet. As it turns out, Professor A, who has been a first author more often than Professor Z, will have published more articles and experienced afaster growth rate over the course of her career as a result of reputation and visibility. Moreover, authors know that name ordering matters and indeed take ordering seriously: Several characteristics of an author group composition determine the decision to deviate from the default alphabetic name order to a significant extent.performance measurement, incentives, economists, name ordering
<i>Entrenchment, wealth, power, and the constitution of democratic societies</i> by Paul Starr
No full textEntrenchment, Wealth, Power, and the Constitution of Democratic Societies, by Paul Starr, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2019. 280 pages, hardcover.Why should we, as Management scholars and educators, care about a book on political diagnosis? The answer is twofold. First, the calibre of the author (Paul Starr), an awardee of both Bancroft and Pulitzer Prizes, a former policy advisor to the Clinton administration, and the author of The Transformation of American Medicine (1982), a book with a profound impact on American policy circles. Second, the core concept (entrenchment) of the book, and its potential to advance the process of institutional development, and the ways in which we can reform and change our institutions to better meet the current and pressing needs of the many, rather than preserve the unequal privileges of a few. In light of the geopolitical, social, and environmental pressures we see currently rising across the world (George, Howard-Grenville, Joshi & Tihanyi, 2016; Howard-Grenville, Buckle, Hoskins & George, 2014) there is no better time to examine whether and how we can address some of these grand challenges by reforming and improving our institutions
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