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Investigating Competency Level of Field Assistants for Agricultural Development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Thesis Info

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External Link

Author

Nawaz, Asif

Program

PhD

Institute

The University of Agriculture

City

Peshawar

Province

KPK

Country

Pakistan

Thesis Completing Year

2019

Thesis Completion Status

Completed

Subject

Agricultural Technology

Language

English

Link

http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/bitstream/123456789/11570/1/Asif%20Nawaz%20Thesis%20%28AEE%26C%29.pdf

Added

2021-02-17 19:49:13

Modified

2024-03-24 20:25:49

ARI ID

1676726497080

Similar


Effective extension services plays pivotal role in upgrading socio and economic condition of the farmers. In this era of economic and technological advancement, Field Assistants are required to be competent regarding emerging challenges in agriculture because they are the frontline soldiers in assisting farming community. This situation demands to assess the possessed level of competencies and identify new competencies required for them to satisfy the diverse needs of farming community in 21st century. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the competency level of Field Assistants of Agriculture Extension Department required for their effective task performance. The objectives of the study were to assess the possessed and required level of competency, areas for training needs and influence of demographic characteristics on their competency development. A total of 234 respondents were selected based on Sekaran sampling technique out of total 543 Field Assistant staff of the department. Furthermore, proportional allocation method was applied to select the respondents from four Agro-ecological zones of the province. Data from the respondents were collected through pre-tested and validated interview schedule. Mean, standard deviation, paired sample t-test and dummy variable regression model were used to accomplish the study objectives. Results showed that top most possessed technical competencies were ability to identify moisture content requirements for seed germination, familiarity with macro nutrient fertilizers and familiarity with primary tillage implements. Moreover, among crops, vegetables and fruits; highly possessed competencies were “understanding the agro-climatic condition requirements of crops”, familiarity with sowing timings of vegetables and understanding fruits plantation techniques respectively. Among plant protection competencies; identifying major insect pests of crops/vegetables/fruits was highly possessed competency regarding insect pests/diseases competency and familiarity with names of commonly occurring weeds in weed competency. Moreover, it was found that Field Assistants possessed low level competency in using Global Positioning System (GPS) device for soil sampling, measurement of soil pH and its reclamation, minimize post-harvest losses, training and propagation of fruit plants and diagnose the causes of low yield in vegetables that were required at high level for their task performance as perceived by them. Highly significant difference (P≤0.01) was reported between the possessed and required level of understanding adverse effect of water pH on crops, understanding nutrient contents of fertilizers, biological and cultural control of pests. Highest training needs in professional competency were reported in use of Information and Communication Technologies, use of audiovisual materials and ability of motivating farmers. vii Regression analysis showed that rural domicile, job experience, and master level education of the Field Assistants have positive and significant effect on the development of their competency. The top ranked constraints which the respondents faced in building the required competency were lack of promotion, training opportunities and incentives or motivation. It was concluded that respondents needed utmost training regarding emerging challenges in the technical competencies while providing advisory services to farming community. Therefore, it is suggested that Human Resource Development section may be established in the department that would perform regular training needs analysis of the Field Assistants so that in-service training should be provided to them regarding identified competencies. Similarly, it is suggested that curriculum of the Field Assistants diploma course should be updated regarding emerging challenges of the province.
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یہ جو حیرت سے میں تصویر بنی بیٹھی ہوں

یہ جو حیرت سے میں تصویر بنی بیٹھی ہوں
تیرے افکار کی جاگیر بنی بیٹھی ہوں

تو اگر مانگے ترے کاسے میں رکھ دوں خود کو
میں ترے خواب کی تعبیر بنی بیٹھی ہوں

اب تمھارے ہی تصور میں ہے جینا، مرنا
تجھ ارادوں کی میں تدبیر بنی بیٹھی ہوں

منتظر ہوں میں کسی قیس، کسی رانجھے کی
میں کہ لیلائے سخن ہیر بنی بیٹھی ہوں

مجھ کو کب دعویٰ ہے کب شعر کہا ہے میں نے
میں تو خوشبو ہوں فضاؔ گیر بنی بیٹھی ہوں

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Adolescent character education is extremely important. Promiscuity, rampant rates of aggression against children and youth, robberies against peers, juvenile theft, cheating behaviors, substance addiction, pornography, and the misuse of others' property have all been global issues that have yet to be fully addressed. The article explains the philosophy of adolescent character education, the function of adolescent character education, the urgency of adolescent character education, the factors that affect character education, and the enhancement of adolescent character education for adolescent promiscuity. Attitudes, emotions, will, values, and behaviors are all ingredients in the definition of character education for teenagers.

Dft Studies of Carbon and Nitrogen Based Cubic Antiperovskite Materials.

In this thesis, we present theoretical studies of antiperovskites ANCa3 (A=Ge, Sn, Pb), BCFe3 (B=Al, Zn, Ga), SnCD3 (D=Co and Fe) and MXY3 (M=Al, Ga, Ir, Mg, Pd, Pt, Rh; X=C, N; Y=Mn, Ni, Sc, Ti, Cr, Fe) as well as SbNCa3, BiNCa3, SbNSr3 and BiNSr3. The calculations are carried out with the full-potential linearized augmented plane waves plus local orbital (FPLAPW+lo) method within the framework of density functional theory (DFT) as well as Boltzmann’s theory. The exchange–correlation effects are treated by the local density approximation (LDA), generalized gradient approximation (GGA-PBEsol) and Engel and Vosko GGA (EV-GGA). Furthermore, the modified Becke and Johnson (mBJ) as well as improved mBJ potentials are used for the exact band gaps of the semiconductors. The relativistic effects in some of the compounds under study are explored by spin-orbit coupling. The consistency of the calculated results of the thermoelectric properties of SnCCo3 and SnCFe3 with the experimental results confirms the reliability of our theoretical calculations for the other investigated metallic antiperovskites, ANCa3 (A=Ge, Sn, Pb), BCFe3 (B=Al, Zn, Ga), SnCD3 (D=Co and Fe) and MXY3 (M=Al, Ga, Ir, Mg, Pd, Pt, Rh; X=C, N; Y=Mn, Ni, Sc, Ti, Cr, Fe). Our results for ANCa3 (A=Ge, Sn, Pb), BCFe3 (B=Al, Zn, Ga) and SnCD3 (D=Co, Fe) indicate that the thermopower of these materials can be enhanced by changing the chemical potential. The dimensionless figure of merit for the three nitrides approaches to 0.96 at room temperature, which predicts the usefulness of these materials in thermoelectric devices. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of these compounds is minimum at room temperature for chemical potential of -0.25 eV to 0.25 eV, with maximum values of dimensionless figure of merit in this range. The striking feature of these studies is identifying a metallic compound, SnNCa3, with the highest value of Seebeck coefficient at room temperature out of all metals. Furthermore, electronic and thermoelectric properties of carbon and nitrogen based twenty metallic antiperovskites MXY3 (M=Al, Ga, Ir, Mg, Pd, Pt, Rh; X=C, N; Y=Mn, Ni, Sc, Ti, Cr, Fe) are investigated. We find high values of Seebeck coefficient and small values of electronic thermal conductivity for AlCTi3, AlNSc3, AlCNi3, AlNTi3, GaCCr3 and MgCNi3 between -0.25 and 0.25 eV chemical potential. These results show high dimensionless figure of merit in metallic materials and therefore, we predict these materials can be potential candidates for low temperature thermoelectric applications. Figure of merit for AlNTi3, GaCCr3, AlCNi3, AlNSc3, MgCNi3 and AlCTi3 materials reaches to 0.32, 0.25, 0.19, 0.19, 0.2 and 0.25 respectively, and hence are predicted to be low temperature thermoelectric materials. The structural, electronic and optical properties of antiperovskite semiconductors, SbNCa3, BiNCa3, SbNSr3 and BiNSr3 are also studied. The calculated lattice constants for these compounds are found consistent with the available experimentally measured values and other theoretical results. The band profiles show that all of these materials are direct band gap semiconductors with the band gap values of 1.1 eV, 1.09 eV, 0.92 eV and 0.81 eV for SbNCa3, BiNCa3, SbNSr3 and BiNSr3 respectively. The direct band gap nature reveals that they may be effective in optical devices and therefore the optical properties of these compounds like the real and imaginary parts of dielectric function, refractive index and absorption coefficient are calculated and discussed. Furthermore, the thermoelectric properties of these semiconductors are also calculated. Our results show high values of Seebeck coefficient for these materials between -0.25 eV and 0.25 eV chemical potential values.