Opinions Of Community Members Research Articles

Evaluation of the human-otter conflict in central Veracruz, Mexico: recommendations for mitigation

ABSTRACT Evaluating human–wildlife conflict is necessary to reach positive long-term management solutions and aid the conservation of biodiversity. We used indirect approaches to evaluate the Human–Neotropical otter conflict in three river basins with high fishing activity in western Mexico and provided recommendations to mitigate the conflict by identifying the variables that increase the risk of predation of ponds by otters. Human–Otter conflict was moderate, and the opinions of community members toward otters were mostly negative, particularly those of the fishing sector. However, after offering environmental education workshops, the number of people recognizing the importance of protecting the species increased, which could result in the acceptance and tolerance toward otters. Avoiding building ponds at ground level and covering ponds with metal mesh, especially in fish-farms located in the middle and upper areas of rivers, as explored with fish-farmers, merits more experimentation, since it could be a good means for reducing the conflict.

Stakeholder Attitudes towards Donating and Utilizing Donated Human Breastmilk.

The promotion and support of human milk banks (HMBs) can enhance exclusive breastfeeding rates. The success and sustainability of HMBs depend on the support from relevant healthcare workers and related communities. This study aimed to determine attitudes of key stakeholders, including mothers, healthcare workers and grandmothers, regarding the donation and receipt of human breastmilk. This study was conducted at a public hospital and clinics in the North West Province, South Africa. Eight focus group discussions explored the attitudes regarding donating and receiving human breastmilk: three groups with mothers of infants (n = 13), three with grandmothers (>60 years old) (n = 17) and two with healthcare professionals working with infants (n = 11). Four main themes emerged: perception regarding breast and formula feeding; exposure to the concept of “wet nursing”; breastmilk donation; and utilization and opinions of community members and traditional healers. Specific barriers identified included the processes for donating and receiving milk, safety, human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) screening and cultural beliefs. Mothers’ fears included having insufficient milk for their own infants, changes in the quality of donated milk during pasteurization and transportation and HIV transmission. Despite barriers towards donations to and the use of HMBs, sufficient information could enhance donations by mothers and breastmilk utilization.

Public Participation in Governance of Community College

The purpose of this study was to explored public participation in governance of the community college. The local people established college in their community of their active participation. Community colleges help for the access of higher education in rural area but not being able to fulfill desire of the local people. The study focuses on public participation in governance of community college. The study was carried out in a qualitative paradigm in which a case study facilitated access to in-depth feelings, views, and opinions of community members and educators regarding their participation in providing education. Data were generated through in-depth interview with parents of children in the college, College Management Committee (CMC) members, and the college chief. Data were transcribed and analyzed manually through the cut and paste technique. The study found out that public participation in governance of community colleges is of various types it may be involvement through sending their children to the college and providing fees and stationery, involvement through contributions of physical things & donations from the very beginning of the establishment of the college, involvement through attendance in programs and meetings conducted by the college, participation in real decision making etc. Further, parents financed college budgets, and were involved in college governance.Academic Voices Vol.6 2016: 37-42

Capitalizing on Multidimensionality in Survey Instruments to Ensure Delivery of Relevant Extension Programming

At a time when resources are dwindling, Extension must capitalize on the potential of multidimensionality in survey instruments. A research project on wind energy development in Ohio involved a survey instrument that assessed the attitudes and opinions of community members, thereby meeting the needs of local stakeholders. However, responses to a set of peripheral questions on the survey also revealed gaps in community members' knowledge related to wind energy development. This article addresses data resulting from the three peripheral survey questions, the data analysis methods that yielded background for future Extension programming, and the importance of using a survey instrument to achieve multiple goals.

Challenges Impacting Community Participation and Their Effect on Teaching and Learning: a Case Study of Rural Areas

This study sought to investigate challenges impacting community participation in schools and their effect on quality of education. The study was carried out in a qualitative paradigm in which a case study facilitated access to in-depth feelings, views, and opinions of community members and educators regarding their participation in providing education. Data were generated through focus group discussions with parents of children in the schools, community members without children in the schools, School Development Committee (SDC) members, and the teachers. In addition, data were generated through in-depth interviews with community leaders and school heads, observation as well as analysis of school documents such as minutes of SDC meetings, staff meetings, financial records, and children’s progress records. Data were transcribed and analysed manually through the cut and paste technique. The study found out that communities were involved in providing primary education through preparing children for school by providing food, school uniforms and stationery. Parents were also involved in children’s homework, as well as monitoring teacher and children’s attendance. In addition, parents were involved in preparing schools for children through providing labour and materials for constructing classrooms. Further, parents financed school budgets, and were involved in school governance. Challenges impacting community participation were centred on parents’ low standard of living, community attitude towards education, family income level, and school-community relations. Impact of community participation on teaching and learning included the following: hungry learners, narrow curriculum, unmotivated teachers, high rate of absenteeism and drop out, as well as ineffective school administration. The study recommended development and implementation of strategies for uplifting community standard of living through increasing family income levels and availability of food. The study, further recommends government policy on parent orientation on school processes and school based study sessions for parents and school children respectively. Government policies that prohibits the practice of sending away of children from school for non payment of levies should be reinforced.

Residents' Perceptions Toward Utility-Scale Wind Farm Development

Increased development of wind farms in the U.S. has fostered debates surrounding the siting and support for the projects. Prior research demonstrates the importance of understanding the attitudes and opinions of community members when developing projects. This article reviews a case study of an Ohio community that integrated a local survey to measure local knowledge, support, attitudes, and opinions of community residents on a proposed wind farm into the local conversation and decision-making. Ultimately the survey results informed local programming needs and an outreach and engagement strategy and provided elected officials data to guide informed decision making on the project.

Community members’ responses to the elective hysterectomy of an intellectually disabled girl

Abstract The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (2007) guarantees all intellectually disabled women the right to full bodily integrity. However, non-therapeutic sterilisations continue to be proposed as a means of managing the support needs of some members of this group. The opinions of community members, and whether men and women's views differ in relation to this topic, are rarely canvassed. Yet these views are significant as what constitutes acceptable social practice is ultimately set and contested at community level. This article reviews comments posted by male and female contributors to a BBC Have Your Say website about a mother's request for a hysterectomy for her 'severely disabled' daughter. Comments suggest the majority of posters endorse the request, however a marked difference by gender in reasons for support is evident. Gender differences are also noted in remarks about the social implications of requests of this kind and in the gender of contributors who thought this topic to be unsuitable for discussion in public forum. The difficulty some posters had with comments made from a rights-based advocacy position is briefly discussed as are possible limitations involved in using rights when debating the issue of non-therapeutic sterilisation. Keywords: intellectual disability, sterilisation, gender, community, rights

Community members’ responses to the elective hysterectomy of an intellectually disabled girl

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (2007) guarantees all intellectually disabled women the right to full bodily integrity. However, non-therapeutic sterilisations continue to be proposed as a means of managing the support needs of some members of this group. The opinions of community members, and whether men and women’s views differ in relation to this topic, are rarely canvassed. Yet these views are significant as what constitutes acceptable social practice is ultimately set and contested at community level. This article reviews comments posted by male and female contributors to a BBC Have Your Say website about a mother’s request for a hysterectomy for her ‘severely disabled’ daughter. Comments suggest the majority of posters endorse the request, however a marked difference by gender in reasons for support is evident. Gender differences are also noted in remarks about the social implications of requests of this kind and in the gender of contributors who thought this topic to be unsuitable for discussion in public forum. The difficulty some posters had with comments made from a rights-based advocacy position is briefly discussed as are possible limitations involved in using rights when debating the issue of non-therapeutic sterilisation.

Interpreting amenities, envisioning the future: common ground and conflict in North Carolina’s rural coastal communities

This paper contributes to ongoing discussions about the implications of rural change and amenity migration for members of diverse rural communities. We engage with recent amenity migration and political ecology literature that focuses on social constructions of nature and landscapes, and how these constructions affect the attitudes and opinions of community members. We use our case study of a mail-based survey in Down East, North Carolina to suggest that the ways in which people conceptualize the particular ‘natures’ and landscapes of a place matters in terms of shaping people’s attitudes with respect to ongoing processes of change. We find that people’s opinions about environment, culture, and land use are often superficially similar but that when conflicts arise or particular actions are considered, substantial differences in people’s underlying conceptual frameworks are revealed. In particular we find that despite widespread shared appreciation of the environment and culture Down East, differing interpretations of these key terms lead to potential misunderstandings and land use planning challenges.

Designing conversational agents: effect of conversational form on our comprehension

We have developed a broadcasting agent system, public opinion channel (POC) caster, which generates understandable conversational form from text-based documents. The POC caster circulates the opinions of community members by using conversational form in a broadcasting system on the Internet. We evaluated its transformation rules in two experiments. In experiment 1, we examined our transformation rules for conversational form in relation to sentence length. Twenty-four participants listened to two types of sentence (long sentences and short sentences) with conversational form or with single speech. In experiment 2, we investigated the relationship between conversational form and the user’s knowledge level. Forty-two participants (21 with a high knowledge level and 21 with a low knowledge level) were selected for a knowledge task and listened to two kinds of sentence (sentences about a well-known topic or sentences about an unfamiliar topic). Our results indicate that the conversational form aided comprehension, especially for long sentences and when users had little knowledge about the topic. We explore possible explanations and implications of these results with regard to human cognition and text comprehension.

Sikap dan Perilaku Komunitas Warga mengenai Maraknya Pedagang Kaki Lima

Streetmerchant, famously known in Indonesia as Pedagang Kaki Lima (PKL) raise some problems for the city every year. The city government has tried to locate them in some areas, the amount of PKL has never decreased. From the year of 1997 to 2000, the amount of PKL has increased 56.3%/year. It means, from around 3.000 PKL in 1997, the amount of PKL has hit a number of 16.880 due to the worsening of economic conditions. This research aimed to study problems concerning PKL and interactions among PKL, city government, and community itself. It is found that opinions of community members toward PKL are varying: some feels uncomfortable, another think that it’s not their problems, on the other hand, people admit that they need PKL to supply materials for them.