Over the past several years, many state Cooperative Extension Services have taken inventory of their engagement with international issues, including barriers (real and perceived) to active participation in globalizing programs as well as staff needs for effective communication with diverse audiences. While Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) has actively involved 4-H youth in international exchange programs, they have not engaged in a coherent and proactive effort to globalize all program areas. The study purpose was to assess attitudes of VCE faculty toward globalizing their programming efforts. Also examined were information related to VCE faculty's current involvement in globally-focused activities and barriers to globalizing programming efforts. The survey instrument combined various sections of two surveys developed and employed by Barbara Ludwig in studies on Ohio Cooperative Extension. The web-based survey included four sections: 1) Employee Profile, 2) Involvement in International Activities, 3) Perception towards Global Issues, and 4) Perceived Barriers to Globalizing Extension Programs. The target audience included all VCE faculty members (N = 332). Two hundred six faculty members completed the on-line survey. This represents a return rate of 62%. Data revealed that 92% of the respondents were involved in international efforts within the past five years. On a scale of one to four, with four representing the highest level of engagement, campus administrators (mean = 2.66) and specialists (mean = 2.13) were the most involved in international programming effort; the least involved were the district directors (mean = 1.21). "Exchanged ideas with colleagues from other countries" and "hosted an international visitor" were the top two activities performed by faculty. Data also revealed an attitude mean score of 2.9 on a scale from one to four, with four being the most positive. Campus administrators (mean = 3) were the most positive of the four position categories; agents were the least positive (mean = 2.86). Furthermore, the top two barriers to globalizing VCE programs, as identified by respondents, were "lack of financial support" and "not a programming priority". Respondents also selected "Lack of time" as a major barrier. / Ph. D.

Master Gardener (MG) volunteers are nonpaid, education partners with Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). VCE MGs have assisted Extension agents in meeting VCE's educational goals and mission by following the Sustainable Landscape Management educational program objectives within the VCE Plan of Work. Local MG volunteer programs must be managed appropriately so that volunteers are prepared for their work, complete their volunteer jobs, and remain an active part of the local program. Prior to 1996, local agents trained and managed MG volunteers and supervised the projects in which MGs volunteered. Budgetary actions in 1996 transitioned management from state-funded agents to a system of local MG coordinators consisting of locally funded agents, locally funded non-agent coordinators, or volunteers willing to take on additional responsibilities. In order to provide consistent, state-level direction and leadership to this less experienced group of local coordinators and to prepare them for their jobs as MG program managers, current management materials were extensively revised and expanded and new resources were developed. These efforts to ensure that everyone understood the purpose and focus of the VCE MG program resulted in revision of MG program policies; development of new volunteer management materials, VCE publication 426-699 Welcome to Virginia Master Gardenering! Guide to Educational Programming and Resource and Reference Guide; establishment of a MG planning and work team; new management guidelines, the VCE Master Gardener Coordinator Manual; in-service training for coordinators; an administrative website at http://www.ext.vt.edu/vce/specialty/envirohort/mastergard/master.html; the VCE-MGC electronic discussion "listserv" specifically for direct communication with coordinators; and the Virginia Master Gardener Leadership Development Newsletter, the state MG newsletter refocused on the role of Master Gardeners as community leaders and educators. Evaluation of the VCE Master Gardener Coordinator Manual, a 14-chapter resource book developed cooperatively with teams of Master Gardeners (MG), coordinators, and agents to enhance coordinators' skills in managing the local VCE MG program, identified areas for enhancement prior to final publication. It showed that coordinators are using the manual. They are adapting the suggestions and samples to fit their local programs despite the fact that more planning time is often required. Use of the manual has also resulted in increased understanding of VCE goals and the role of the MG by MG volunteers, coordinators, and other paid VCE staff; a slight increase in leadership skills of MGs; and increasing interest and demand for information on training MG to design and implement strong educational horticulture programs for Virginia communities. An assessment of current MG management practices in Virginia measured the adoption of new VCE MG volunteer management guidelines. Results indicated that the MG management practices among local VCE MG coordinators have changed to that of a more professional, long-term relationship that is committed to nurturing the volunteer, the MG program, and VCE educational programming. These changes were noted in areas of volunteer management, such as the role of the local coordinator, use of job descriptions, recruitment, volunteer evaluation, public relations, reporting and record keeping, and retention of volunteers. Although the improvements in management practices were slight, they were encouraging and they indicate areas where state MG management must provide additional training and support to local coordinators. Annual assessment of local MG program management practices will continue to document the progress of local coordinators and determine necessary changes and training needed to achieve more professional, well-managed MG programs. / Master of Science

The latest edition of the Food and Drug Administration's Model Food Code provides the definition of an acceptable donated food item but does not specify any safe storage or handling standards for these items. Virginia has not adopted this edition, but its own food handling regulations provide liability protections to food donors and exempt food pantries from any relevant retail food handling regulations. This means that food pantries must provide their own oversight over implementation of safe food handling requirements. Some pantries only accept nonperishables, but others accept both perishable and nonperishable food, or prepare/repurpose food on site. Therefore, pantries have varying needs in terms of safe food handling and preparation oversight and guidance. This project aims to observe food safety practices at food pantries within Virginia, and to establish a set of recommendations based on these observations for food pantries to consider implementing. Twenty pantries throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia were observed when distributing food using a standardized rubric. This rubric allowed the observer to collect detail on food storage, handling, and preparation at the pantry. Each pantry was visited once and observed for about two hours. The manager of the pantry completed a survey to determine basic food safety knowledge. Generally, pantries successfully followed basic food safety guidelines, however there were some clear risky practices observed. These included improper handwashing, improper storage of perishable items, and improper volunteer personal hygiene. There were only two handwashing attempts observed between all 20 pantries and neither of these attempts was correct. In addition, 8 of 20 (40%) of the pantries did not keep up to date records of their refrigerator and freezer temperatures. Lack of personal hygiene, especially the use of personal items while handling food and lack of glove usage, was a concern. 9 of 20 (45%) of pantries had someone on site using a personal item while handling food, and 4 of 6 (67%) of pantries that prepared or cooked food on site had volunteers improperly wearing gloves during these activities. Managers at seventeen of twenty (85%) pantries reported completing some type of food safety training while only volunteers at six of twenty (30%) pantries reported the same. This demonstrates gaps in knowledge between volunteers and managers. The results of this study demonstrate the need for standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be made available for food pantries, as well as a food safety training created specifically for food pantry volunteers that is applicable to their scope of work. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / The latest edition of the Food and Drug Administration's Model Food Code provides the definition of an acceptable donated food item but does not specify any safe storage or handling standards for these items. Virginia has not adopted this edition, but its own food handling regulations provide liability to food donors and exempt food pantries from any relevant retail food handling regulations. This means that food pantries must provide their own oversight over implementation of safe food handling requirements. Some pantries only accept nonperishable food items, but others accept both perishable and nonperishable food, or prepare/repurpose food on site. Therefore, pantries have varying needs in terms of safe food handling and preparation oversight and guidance. This project aims to observe food safety practices at food pantries within Virginia, and to establish a set of recommendations based on these observations for food pantries to consider. Twenty pantries throughout the state of Virginia were observed during distribution using a standardized rubric. This rubric allowed the observer to collect detail on food storage, handling, and preparation at the pantry. Each pantry was visited once and observed for two hours. The manager of the pantry completed a survey on general basic food safety knowledge. Generally, pantries successfully followed basic food safety guidelines, however there were some clear risky practices observed. Consistently, these included risky practices around handwashing, proper storage of perishable items, and personal hygiene of volunteers. The results of this study show a pointed need for standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be created for food pantries, as well as a food safety training created specifically for food pantry volunteers that is applicable to their scope of work.

The purpose of this study was to assess the rural Extension manpower needs and the needs for formal education in Extension in Costa Rica. The study surveyed all current Extension professionals of the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture Extension system to determine their educational qualifications, education in Extension, opinions regarding the educational qualifications needed to enter an Extension position and the levels of education appropriate for formal Extension education at time of the study and in 15 years and their perceptions of the current and future needs for Extension manpower in Costa Rica. Findings included: (1) all Extension professionals had a secondary level diploma and 55 percent held university level qualifications; (2) formal education was the most reported type of education in Extension; (3) twenty-five percent had neither formal education nor training in Extension; (4) the education qualifications needed and the levels of education appropriate for formal education in Extension were perceived as shifting upwards during the next 15 years; and (5) a 33 percent current and a 102 percent future increase in Extension manpower was perceived as necessary to meet clientele needs.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perceptions of the University of Arizona College of Agriculture graduate students on the importance of Extension functions for rural development. In this study graduate students were grouped into: (1) American and international graduate students; and (2) graduate students with and without previous professional work experience. A questionnaire was mailed to 200 graduate students for the assessment of the importance of 34 Extension functions for rural development. The total response rate was 58%. To analyze the responses two statistical tests were used: the Student's t-test and the Spearman's rank order correlation (rs). It was found that the American and international graduate students perceived a majority of the Extension functions alike, but the international students gave them greater importance. Overall, these students ranked the functions similarly. The graduate students with previous professional work experience gave greater importance to the Extension functions than those without such experience, but their rankings were similar.

Significant support for sustainable agriculture practices exists within the land-grant university system nationwide. Despite this fact, many colleges, including the University of Florida, have not evaluated the individual paradigms held by their faculty. An existing Alternative-Conventional Agriculture Paradigm Scale was modified, improved and converted into an electronic instrument that was administered to a random sample of University of Florida Extension Faculty. It is suggested that data collected through this study serves the following purposes: assist the University of Florida’s decision-makers in better understanding the positions held by their Extension agents; allow improvement of educational programming for Extension agents, agricultural professionals, and communities throughout the state; and provide input for improvement of University-wide policy-making and goal-setting. The study consisted of three phases: a) redevelopment and pilot-test of a new ACAP instrument; b) description of University of Florida Extension faculty’s paradigmatic preferences; and c) determination of any existing relationships between personal characteristics and an individual’s paradigm. A pilot study of the new instrument was conducted with participants belonging to known paradigmatic groups who were not part of the final sample. The survey was found to be reliable with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.94 in a pilot test of 26 individuals. The survey was found to discriminate effectively between the two known paradigmatic groups (t=4.091, p= .001), making it a useful tool in quantitatively assessing agricultural preferences. Following the pilot study, survey research was conducted with a random sample of 188 Extension agents. The majority of faculty aligned with agricultural paradigmatic groups labeled Moderates and Sustainables. Very few of this population aligned with a Conventional paradigm. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a preliminary seven-factor solution. Two individual component factors were found to vary based on Extension discipline and gender, which included Size and Scale of Production and Use of Natural Resources, respectively.

Cette recherche s’inscrit, à la fois, dans le champ des recherches portant sur l’organisation du temps scolaire et dans celui traitant de l’articulation des enseignements mathématiques entre école et collège. Il s’agit d’une approche transversale, visant à tisser des liens entre temps d’enseignement, culture des professeurs et mémoire didactique. La thèse montre en quoi la possibilité ou non de mobiliser des situations mathématiques nécessitant des recherches longues et des débats, exerce une influence sur les formes prises par l’institutionnalisation des connaissances et, au-delà, sur le rapport aux mathématiques des enseignants. Dans le courant de l’année scolaire 2006-2007, quatre classes de sixième et quatre classes de CM2 ont été observées. La production d’un nombre important d’énonciations différentes de connaissances différentes, a été mise en évidence, entraînant une régulation, sous la forme d’un nombre restreint de connaissances rappelées et/ou institutionnalisées par écrit. On peut qualifier ce double processus, d’extension et de réduction didactique. La réduction didactique assure aux connaissances visées par l’étude une visibilité élective, tout au long du processus d’institutionnalisation. Cette mise en avant de certaines connaissances, liée à un traitement discursif et sémiotique spécifique, a été qualifiée de « visibilité institutionnelle ». L’aptitude de la mémoire didactique à se projeter dans l’avenir comme dans le passé confirme sa dimension prospective et sa capacité à organiser un récit susceptible d’emporter l’adhésion des élèves. / This research is two-fold, taking place in the field of research on the organization of school time and the one focusing on Mathematics teaching organization, both in primary school and middle school. The approach exposed is transversal, forging links between instructional time, teacher culture and didactic memory. The thesis demonstrates how the possibility or not to mobilize mathematical situations, requiring long research and discussions, affects the institutionalization of knowledge shapes and, beyond, teachers’ feeling about Mathematics. In the course of the 2006-2007 school year, four classes of fifth grade and four classes of sixth grade were observed. The production of a large number of different enunciations of various knowledge was highligthed, resulting in a regulation with a limited number of knowledge recalled and / or institutionalized in writing. We can describe this dual process as didactic extension and reduction.Didactic reduction ensures targeted knowledge elective visibility, all along the institutionalization process. Highlighting a specific knowledge is called “institutional visibility”. The ability of didactic memory to project into the future as into the past confirms its prospective dimension and its ability to organize a story that could win students’ support.

Brands have for a long time been used to identify and distinguish organizations, companies and products, it can be compared to as the soul of a company. A brand extension is a clear channel for product innovation, which can be a powerful tool to hold a competitive advantage. Product innovations can create differentiation; raise the brands characteristic-values, extend the area of use and block competitors.For 25 years, Panos Emporio has had a leading position in the swimwear industry and in spring of 2011 the company launched their first clothing collection for men and woman, and has recently launched an online store. The company is extending their brand and now that they have a new product category they are facing a challenge, which is underlying in our research question: How can Panos Emporio, a swimsuit brand, expand their brand image and identity to their new clothing line? The purpose of this report is to highlight important factors within brand extension that could be of value to Panos Emporio and other companies facing a brand extension.The report is a qualitative study using an abduction methodology where empirical findings have been studied parallel with the theories and vice versa. We have conducted interviews and observations, and have also collected quantitative data in form of a customer interview, to gain an understanding of the reality. We have chosen to examine and observe the brand Panos Emporio by asking questions regarding the company‟s organization, brand identity and image, as well as customer attitudes. The theoretical framework is underlying in our research study, with the initiation of portraying a brands meaning, importance and structure. Furthermore theories of brand extension with an emphasis on approach strategy and its advantages and disadvantages. The empirical chapter includes, information concerning the company´s brand, collections, costumer and retailers, as well as marketing strategies, which is a part of our data presentation.Out of our theoretical and empirical part we came to the conclusion that Panos Emporio should consider making the consumers more aware of the clothing collection before launching more products within a new product category, since the lack of awareness can throw a shadow over the main product and bring down the brand image which in terms affects the brand equity. Having good knowledge regarding the brands attribute, personality, purpose, identity and the relationship with consumers is more important than whether they should extend the brand or not. Companies need to focus on building their brand equity and image, towards the customers first. Authors believe that companies can take great advantages if a strong brand name and relationship is established at first. / Program: Master in Fashion Management with specialisation in Fashion Marketing and Retailing

Cooperative extension is one of three components, along with teaching and research that form the mission of land grant universities. The focus of extension work is to take knowledge gained through research conducted at the university, and disseminate the information, in a practical manner to the end user. In most instances, extension work revolves around agriculture. Within the extension system are personnel that help to foster this program of educating clientele who work in the agricultural industry. County level agents are in place to teach and address the needs of local constituents, specialists are generally housed at the university campus and are hired for their expertise in a specific field of agriculture, and administrators help to keep the system functioning. Many studies have been conducted on the leadership characteristics of county agents and extension administrators, however the current knowledge base concerning leadership behaviors of extension specialists is lacking. Traditionally, specialists were strictly used as a resource for subject matter information; however, changes overtime to cooperative extension have seen specialists move to a leadership position that involves leading agents groups and conducting programing that directly serves the clientele. With newly acquired expectations to perform in a leadership capacity, yet without training or educational background to ensure these skills, there is potential for complications to arise. Using a mixed methodological approach, this sequential explanatory study was conducted using Burn’s (1978) transformational leadership as a theoretical framework, with the purpose of examining current transformational leadership characteristics among extension specialists in addition to gaining information concerning demographic and professional information pertaining to this group. The sample group consisted of equine extension specialists, an initial survey was sent which contained questions relating to educational background, make-up and tenure of their position, as well as the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) to analyze self-perceived transformational leadership characteristics. This survey was followed by a voluntary individual interview with the researcher. The purpose of the semi-structured interview was to gain a broader example of the leadership perspectives of this particular group. Although no significant connections could be made concerning demographic information and MLQ leadership scores, the group as a whole registered below average for displaying transformational leadership characteristics, ranking in the 40th percentile for composite MLQ scores compared to the general population. The interview data showed that as a whole there was agreement with the concepts of transformational leadership, however MLQ scores and anecdotal evidence show that practical application of transformational leadership is lacking. Most participants indicated they did not feel prepared for their job, and many indicated that interpersonal relationship skills were used more often than their degree specialization. The findings from this study may help to encourage leadership training focused towards extension specialists, and to emphasize the need for leadership skills within this position.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Agriculture)) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / The study was designed to outline the production process of a video film with farmers and its use as a tool for agricultural extension with other farmers engaged in similar development processes. The production process of the video film followed five stages namely: (1). Planning stage, where the production idea was discussed between the producer and the director. (2). Pre-production where brainstorming and conceptual framework were made. (3). Production stage was the shooting stage. Production took place at different venues with farmers and extension officers. (4). The editing stage using conceptual framework and Non Linear Editing (NLE) method to organize the video film into sequence; and (5) Distribution to project the video film with farmers in ten rural areas of the Limpopo province. Following the above-mentioned process, an eleven-minute film called Phanda na Vhulimi was produced with farmers, farmer’s leader as the main character and extension officers. Phanda na Vhulimi captured the farmer in her field, during meetings at various venues as a leader and during a public function in the village with provincial leaders. A back voice extensionist supplements the visual information with a description of the support process. In the ten villages the video film Phanda na Vhulimi was then projected to farmers following the subsequent steps: (1) Preparation for projection was a stage for arranging projection venues and setting sound to audible volume. (2) Pre-projection, here the researcher made a short presentation about the study without disclosing the content of the video film. (3) Projection was a stage of playing the video without pausing or talking by the projecting person (researcher) with exception to the viewers. (4) Post projection stage iii was where the video film was discussed with farmers, during this stage the researcher was acting as the facilitator to bring in farmer-to-farmer experience in relation to what was portrayed. After projections, an open-ended questionnaire was used to conduct this research. The raw data collected were analyzed by dividing it into two themes. The themes were divided into subsections as follows: preparation of the video film, reflection by the viewers/participants of the video film and learning during the projection process. The results of the study indicated that people in rural areas of South Africa watch television. There is a culture of shooting still pictures and watching video films but not hiring as they find it expensive, as a result, they borrow or watch with neighbours, friends i.e. other villages or watch family videos produced during special events. With this culture people are used to see pictures-both moving and still, therefore they will criticize less good quality pictures when they come across them. The study discovered that when a video film is produced with characters of the same background targeted audiences associate themselves with the product and feel that it represents them and their activities. These video films can be used as a tool to compliment not to replace the available methods of presentations. / Department of Labour SETASA NSF