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Papers by Taniya Koswatta
International Journal of Science Education, Part B
British Food Journal
PurposePublic perception of health benefits derived from organic foods is often misaligned with s... more PurposePublic perception of health benefits derived from organic foods is often misaligned with scientific evidence. This study aims to examine the factors affecting public perception of scientific information about organic foods.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted multinominal and multiple linear regression analyses to examine associations between public perception of scientific information about organic foods and 19 factors using data from a descriptive survey (N = 763).FindingsPerceived benefits of organic foods, trust in scientists, communicator credibility, preexisting beliefs and events related to science (e.g. COVID-19) were significant predictors of public perception of scientific information about organic foods.Theoretical implicationsCognitive dissonance and recreancy theoretical frameworks help describe relationships between beliefs, science, trust and risk. These theories intersect when purchasing credence goods (i.e. organic foods) whose qualities cannot be...
School personnel help youth cope with life and school stressors daily. However, help may depend o... more School personnel help youth cope with life and school stressors daily. However, help may depend on one’s confidence or knowledge of such issues. In 2019 and 2020, more than 13,800 Texas educators participated in Emotional Backpack Project (EBP) training for youth coping with behavioral and mental health issues. Post-intervention results showed significant gains in understanding students’ behavioral and mental health issues, improved confidence in approaching students, parents, or other school staff to discuss students’ harmful behaviors, understanding mindfulness activities, and increased knowledge of trauma informed schools and trauma informed educators. Teachers and other school personnel were less confident approaching parents or guardians to discuss youth mental health issues than in approaching students, counselors, and other staff. EBP interventions produced positive results in school personnel’s knowledge, perceptions, and confidence to help students cope with behavioral and ...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2022
From co-authored publications to sponsored projects involving multiple partner institutions, coll... more From co-authored publications to sponsored projects involving multiple partner institutions, collaborative practice is an expected part of work in the academy. As evaluators of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant awarded to four university partners in a large southern state, the authors recognized the increasing value of collaborative practice in the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings in the partnership over time. When planning a program among partnering institutions, stakeholders may underestimate the need for, and value of, collaborative practice in facilitating partnership functioning. This method paper outlines an evaluative model to increase the use of collaborative practice in funded academic partnership programs. The model highlights collaborative practice across multiple stakeholder groups in the academic ecology: Sponsors of funded programs (S), Program partners and participan...
Students can increase their likelihood of academic success if they participate in at least two hi... more Students can increase their likelihood of academic success if they participate in at least two high-impact experiences during their undergraduate program. High-impact experiences have multiple forms, but whether students choose to participate may depend on perceptions of the high-impact experience structure, intensity, and additive nature to their education. The authors examined students’ levels of interest and factors affecting their participation in selected highimpact experiences. The authors found significant differences in levels of interest for internships and service learning courses when analyzed by gender. Females had significantly higher levels of interest for those high-impact experiences than did males. National levels for participating in service learning high-impact experiences are high, but the authors found low interest levels in service learning high-impact experiences. Low awareness levels of high-impact experiences and/or their benefits indicates that Texas A&M Un...
Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 2018
Evaluation has been identified as a critical pathway to meet the grand challenges facing agricult... more Evaluation has been identified as a critical pathway to meet the grand challenges facing agriculture to feed the world. Understanding evaluation models and practices used in articles published in the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education (JIAEE) allowed us to identify areas of focus, need, and improvement. This content analysis assessed JIAEE articles published from 1994 to 2018 for evaluation methods implemented according to characteristics outlined by Stufflebeam and Coryn (2014). This study initially identified 384 possible articles for consideration. Upon further assessment, 81 articles were identified as maintaining characteristics appropriate for review. Of these articles, the majority (70%) did not specifically identify an evaluation approach, even though 21% of all feature articles published over the past 25 years can be considered an evaluation. Few published evaluation articles specifically identified an evaluation approach; rather, the majority mer...
Past Global Changes Magazine, 2017
CC-BY 126 WORKSHOP REPORT the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) organized a t... more CC-BY 126 WORKSHOP REPORT the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) organized a three-day Proposal Development training Workshop to enhance the capacity of young scientists in south Asia to develop competitive project proposals. the workshop provided an opportunity for young scientists to identify peer scientists working in the area of paleoclimate and develop regional research proposals. the workshop aimed to build transdisciplinary collaborations among climate scientists including paleoclimatology. twenty young scientists from south Asia attended the training workshop and developed five proposals, two of which were developed to address paleoclimate issues in the region. Of the two proposals, one focuses on the analysis of land-based tree-ring proxies, and the other focuses on lower-resolution proxies such as from marine sediment cores.
Tropical Agricultural Research, 2012
A comparative evaluation of five widely used protein secondary structure prediction programs avai... more A comparative evaluation of five widely used protein secondary structure prediction programs available in World Wide Web was carried out. Secondary structure data of ten proteins containing 190 secondary structure motifs were collected from Protein Data Bank (PDB). The amino acid sequences of the proteins were then evaluated using GOR, PSIPRED, HNN, PROF, and YASPIN secondary structure prediction tools and the results were compared with the structural information obtained from PDB. The study reveals considerable differences between results obtained from each program. Within the limit of this comparative study, PSIPRED showed the highest prediction accuracy with 77 % accuracy in α helix prediction and 70 % accuracy in β strand prediction. Furthermore, the level of accuracy varied with the length of the secondary structure motifs. Highest accuracies were obtained for α helices of 16-20 amino acids and β strands of 7-9 amino acids in length. The results suggest that, among the most frequently used software programs available in World Wide Web, PSIPRED is the tool that gives the best results for secondary structure prediction.
Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 2018
The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine agricultural livelihood vulnerability to cl... more The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine agricultural livelihood vulnerability to climate change in Bluefields, Westmoreland, Jamaica based on the Livelihoods Vulnerability Index (LVI). Random sampling was used to select participants. Personal interviews were conducted with farmers using an instrument consisting of LVI components representing livelihood strategies, natural and physical assets, socio-demographic profile, social networks, water issues, food issues, natural disasters, and climate variability. LVI data were aggregated using an indexing approach to create scores for comparison across vulnerability components. The results showed farmers in Bluefields had the most amount of vulnerability in social networks and water issues. Low numbers of farmers owned their land, had contact with extension services, or used irrigation. Most farmers reported having problems with access to seeds and planting material, depended on their farms for food, and experienced frequent c...
EDULEARN21 Proceedings, 2021
International Journal of Science Education, Part B
British Food Journal
PurposePublic perception of health benefits derived from organic foods is often misaligned with s... more PurposePublic perception of health benefits derived from organic foods is often misaligned with scientific evidence. This study aims to examine the factors affecting public perception of scientific information about organic foods.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted multinominal and multiple linear regression analyses to examine associations between public perception of scientific information about organic foods and 19 factors using data from a descriptive survey (N = 763).FindingsPerceived benefits of organic foods, trust in scientists, communicator credibility, preexisting beliefs and events related to science (e.g. COVID-19) were significant predictors of public perception of scientific information about organic foods.Theoretical implicationsCognitive dissonance and recreancy theoretical frameworks help describe relationships between beliefs, science, trust and risk. These theories intersect when purchasing credence goods (i.e. organic foods) whose qualities cannot be...
School personnel help youth cope with life and school stressors daily. However, help may depend o... more School personnel help youth cope with life and school stressors daily. However, help may depend on one’s confidence or knowledge of such issues. In 2019 and 2020, more than 13,800 Texas educators participated in Emotional Backpack Project (EBP) training for youth coping with behavioral and mental health issues. Post-intervention results showed significant gains in understanding students’ behavioral and mental health issues, improved confidence in approaching students, parents, or other school staff to discuss students’ harmful behaviors, understanding mindfulness activities, and increased knowledge of trauma informed schools and trauma informed educators. Teachers and other school personnel were less confident approaching parents or guardians to discuss youth mental health issues than in approaching students, counselors, and other staff. EBP interventions produced positive results in school personnel’s knowledge, perceptions, and confidence to help students cope with behavioral and ...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2022
From co-authored publications to sponsored projects involving multiple partner institutions, coll... more From co-authored publications to sponsored projects involving multiple partner institutions, collaborative practice is an expected part of work in the academy. As evaluators of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) grant awarded to four university partners in a large southern state, the authors recognized the increasing value of collaborative practice in the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings in the partnership over time. When planning a program among partnering institutions, stakeholders may underestimate the need for, and value of, collaborative practice in facilitating partnership functioning. This method paper outlines an evaluative model to increase the use of collaborative practice in funded academic partnership programs. The model highlights collaborative practice across multiple stakeholder groups in the academic ecology: Sponsors of funded programs (S), Program partners and participan...
Students can increase their likelihood of academic success if they participate in at least two hi... more Students can increase their likelihood of academic success if they participate in at least two high-impact experiences during their undergraduate program. High-impact experiences have multiple forms, but whether students choose to participate may depend on perceptions of the high-impact experience structure, intensity, and additive nature to their education. The authors examined students’ levels of interest and factors affecting their participation in selected highimpact experiences. The authors found significant differences in levels of interest for internships and service learning courses when analyzed by gender. Females had significantly higher levels of interest for those high-impact experiences than did males. National levels for participating in service learning high-impact experiences are high, but the authors found low interest levels in service learning high-impact experiences. Low awareness levels of high-impact experiences and/or their benefits indicates that Texas A&M Un...
Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 2018
Evaluation has been identified as a critical pathway to meet the grand challenges facing agricult... more Evaluation has been identified as a critical pathway to meet the grand challenges facing agriculture to feed the world. Understanding evaluation models and practices used in articles published in the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education (JIAEE) allowed us to identify areas of focus, need, and improvement. This content analysis assessed JIAEE articles published from 1994 to 2018 for evaluation methods implemented according to characteristics outlined by Stufflebeam and Coryn (2014). This study initially identified 384 possible articles for consideration. Upon further assessment, 81 articles were identified as maintaining characteristics appropriate for review. Of these articles, the majority (70%) did not specifically identify an evaluation approach, even though 21% of all feature articles published over the past 25 years can be considered an evaluation. Few published evaluation articles specifically identified an evaluation approach; rather, the majority mer...
Past Global Changes Magazine, 2017
CC-BY 126 WORKSHOP REPORT the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) organized a t... more CC-BY 126 WORKSHOP REPORT the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) organized a three-day Proposal Development training Workshop to enhance the capacity of young scientists in south Asia to develop competitive project proposals. the workshop provided an opportunity for young scientists to identify peer scientists working in the area of paleoclimate and develop regional research proposals. the workshop aimed to build transdisciplinary collaborations among climate scientists including paleoclimatology. twenty young scientists from south Asia attended the training workshop and developed five proposals, two of which were developed to address paleoclimate issues in the region. Of the two proposals, one focuses on the analysis of land-based tree-ring proxies, and the other focuses on lower-resolution proxies such as from marine sediment cores.
Tropical Agricultural Research, 2012
A comparative evaluation of five widely used protein secondary structure prediction programs avai... more A comparative evaluation of five widely used protein secondary structure prediction programs available in World Wide Web was carried out. Secondary structure data of ten proteins containing 190 secondary structure motifs were collected from Protein Data Bank (PDB). The amino acid sequences of the proteins were then evaluated using GOR, PSIPRED, HNN, PROF, and YASPIN secondary structure prediction tools and the results were compared with the structural information obtained from PDB. The study reveals considerable differences between results obtained from each program. Within the limit of this comparative study, PSIPRED showed the highest prediction accuracy with 77 % accuracy in α helix prediction and 70 % accuracy in β strand prediction. Furthermore, the level of accuracy varied with the length of the secondary structure motifs. Highest accuracies were obtained for α helices of 16-20 amino acids and β strands of 7-9 amino acids in length. The results suggest that, among the most frequently used software programs available in World Wide Web, PSIPRED is the tool that gives the best results for secondary structure prediction.
Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education, 2018
The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine agricultural livelihood vulnerability to cl... more The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine agricultural livelihood vulnerability to climate change in Bluefields, Westmoreland, Jamaica based on the Livelihoods Vulnerability Index (LVI). Random sampling was used to select participants. Personal interviews were conducted with farmers using an instrument consisting of LVI components representing livelihood strategies, natural and physical assets, socio-demographic profile, social networks, water issues, food issues, natural disasters, and climate variability. LVI data were aggregated using an indexing approach to create scores for comparison across vulnerability components. The results showed farmers in Bluefields had the most amount of vulnerability in social networks and water issues. Low numbers of farmers owned their land, had contact with extension services, or used irrigation. Most farmers reported having problems with access to seeds and planting material, depended on their farms for food, and experienced frequent c...
EDULEARN21 Proceedings, 2021