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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Plant Sentience: "Feeling" Or Biological Automatism?, Andrea Mastinu Apr 2023

Plant Sentience: "Feeling" Or Biological Automatism?, Andrea Mastinu

Animal Sentience

Sentience refers to the ability of an organism to have subjective experiences such as sensations, emotions and awareness. Whereas some animals, including humans, are widely recognized as sentient, the question of whether plants are sentient is still debated among scientists, philosophers, and ethicists. Over the past 20 years, many scientists such as Trewavas, Baluška, Mancuso, Gagliano, and Calvo have reported interesting discussions about memory, behavior, communication, and intelligence in plants. However, the reported conclusions have not convinced the entire scientific community. In this commentary, I would like to focus on two critical aspects related to sentience: cognition and emotion


Engaging In Conversations About Climate Change With Cattle Producers, Ricky Telg, Cassie Wandersee, David Smith, Saqib Mukhtar Mar 2020

Engaging In Conversations About Climate Change With Cattle Producers, Ricky Telg, Cassie Wandersee, David Smith, Saqib Mukhtar

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Cooperative Extension Service agents and United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) personnel used a dialogic model of communication in their interactions with cattle producers in the Southwest and Mountain West regarding the topic of climate change. Findings indicated that dialogic communication is being used, with a focus on discussing best management practices, avoiding the term “climate change,” and focusing on local data and weather events. The study suggests that Extension agents and NRCS personnel recognize the need to adapt their communication strategy and tactics to suit the …


The Changing Face Of The Wildlife Profession: Tools For Creating Women Leaders, Wendy S. Anderson Jan 2020

The Changing Face Of The Wildlife Profession: Tools For Creating Women Leaders, Wendy S. Anderson

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Women continue to be underrepresented in the natural resource sciences arena, including the field of wildlife biology. The gender gap widens further with advancement to higher level positions. This paper explores potential reasons behind the lack of women in leadership and the array of challenges that women may face in their career paths. A variety of tools are proposed to support and encourage career advancement for women. Studies show that organizations with higher numbers of women in leadership roles perform better and diverse teams are more dedicated and committed to the mission. Understanding gender issues and generating organizational change is …


Political Will, Fall/Winter 2018, Issue 37 Sep 2019

Political Will, Fall/Winter 2018, Issue 37

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.


Targeting Extension Programs To Opinion Leaders Guiding Genetic Modification Discussions, Alexa J. Lamm, Melissa R. Taylor, Joy N. Rumble, Jason D. Ellis Feb 2019

Targeting Extension Programs To Opinion Leaders Guiding Genetic Modification Discussions, Alexa J. Lamm, Melissa R. Taylor, Joy N. Rumble, Jason D. Ellis

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Despite communication efforts developed to educate the public about genetic modification (GM) science designed to ensure consumers are making educated purchasing decisions, most consumers do not seek out information about GM science and make emotional purchasing decisions. GM supporters and opponents can also be very vocal about their opinions, having an impact on those within their social realms of influence. Using opinion leadership theory, this study sought to identify GM opinion leaders within the U.S. who consider themselves to be outspoken and a source of information for GM science. An online survey was deployed with the purpose of identifying GM …


From Resistance To Receptiveness: Farmer Willingness To Participate In Extension Discussions About Climate Variability And Climate Change, David C. Diehl, Elder P. Garcia, Nicole L. Sloan, Daniel R. Dourte, Sebastian Galindo-Gonzalez, Clyde W. Fraisse Oct 2016

From Resistance To Receptiveness: Farmer Willingness To Participate In Extension Discussions About Climate Variability And Climate Change, David C. Diehl, Elder P. Garcia, Nicole L. Sloan, Daniel R. Dourte, Sebastian Galindo-Gonzalez, Clyde W. Fraisse

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Identifying what Extension professionals believe are the critical elements of a communication strategy that is most likely to encourage agricultural producers to participate in discussions of climate variability and climate change is pivotal to providing timely solutions to issues facing farmers. The current study involved interviews with 50 Extension professionals from four southeastern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) who were engaged in ongoing work related to climate and agriculture. Respondents were asked to assess how best to engage farmers in conversations related to climate variability and climate change. Qualitative analysis showed that Extension professionals recommended avoiding content related …


The Pribram – Bohm Hypothesis Part Ii: The Physiology Of Consciousness, Shelli R. Joye Sep 2016

The Pribram – Bohm Hypothesis Part Ii: The Physiology Of Consciousness, Shelli R. Joye

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

A physiology of consciousness is elaborated, based upon implications of the Pribram-Bohm hypothesis (developed in Part I of this series). The model presented here is in sharp contrast to the prevailing conviction among neuroscientists that consciousness will eventually be discovered to be a physiological epiphenomenon of neuronal electrical impulses firing in the brain. In contrast, the Pribram-Bohm theory holds that consciousness, inherent in what Bohm views cosmologically as “the Whole,” manifests as a dynamic conscious energy resonance bridging the explicate space-time domain with the nonlocal, transcendent flux domain termed the “implicate order.” Presented in Part I, the Pribram-Bohm hypothesis posits …


The Pribram – Bohm Hypothesis, Shelli R. Joye Mar 2016

The Pribram – Bohm Hypothesis, Shelli R. Joye

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

A holoflux theory of consciousness as modulated energy is hypothesized and shown to support both local and non-local properties. This thesis emerges from an integral evaluation of evidence drawn from: (1) the holonomic mind/brain theories of Karl Pribram, (2) the ontological interpretation of quantum theory by David Bohm. Applying an integral methodology to superimpose and correlate seemingly disparate concepts from among these sources and others, a composite-theory emerges, a “holoflux” theory of consciousness, after the term favored by Karl Pribram to describe David Bohm’s “holomovement” between an explicate order andan implicate order. This Pribram–Bohm composite holoflux theory is shown to …


Modulation Of Behavior In Communicating Emotion, Martin Gardiner Jan 2016

Modulation Of Behavior In Communicating Emotion, Martin Gardiner

Animal Sentience

King discusses many examples where two animals, as they bond, behave in ways we interpret as expressing love for one another. If one of the bonded animals then dies, signs of loving are replaced by signs we interpret as expressing grief by the animal who remains. I propose a pathway for emotional communication between an animal and an observer that can have a central role in these and other observations by King and in our overall ability to interpret observed behavior in relation to emotion. This pathway provides evidence of emotion in an observed animal by communicating evidence of emotion’s …


Visual Communications On The Road In Arkansas: Analysis Of Secondary Students Videos, Stuart Estes, Kristin M. Pennington, Leslie D. Edgar Jan 2012

Visual Communications On The Road In Arkansas: Analysis Of Secondary Students Videos, Stuart Estes, Kristin M. Pennington, Leslie D. Edgar

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

In the summer of 2010, the Visual Communications on the Road in Arkansas: Creative Photo and Video Projects to Promote Agriculture program was initiated. The program consisted of a two-week agricultural communications curriculum that would be taught by agricultural science teachers in Arkansas. The curriculum was composed of lessons about photography, writing, and videography, and the program introduced students to digital photography and videography equipment and the proper uses of equipment. Once the curriculum was taught in secondary schools, a mobile classroom unit—consisting of a travel trailer, photography and videography equipment, and laptop computers equipped with editing software—would visit the …


Communications Embracing New Technologies, Peter Watt, Tony Kubicki Jan 1997

Communications Embracing New Technologies, Peter Watt, Tony Kubicki

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The global trend in information delivery has been to electronic publications on disc, CD-Rom and the internet. Peter Watt and Tony Kubicki report on a survey of farmer preferences for receiving informationn, and describe Agriculture Western Australia's new electronic communication packages.