How can residents protect and promote pollinators? The diffusion of residential pollinator-friendly gardening.

Urbanization and land use change are leading causes of declines in pollinator abundance and diversity. However, researchers in different regions of the world have found that some pollinators can thrive in urban landscapes, depending on land use practices, environmental conditions, and species traits. Residential landscapes constitute a significant portion of urban green space and thus, residents' adoption of landscape practices to promote pollinators can play a central role in addressing the global pollinator challenge. Yet, although residents' willingness and intention appear strong, adoption of pollinator-friendly gardening remains low. The present study - guided by the Diffusion of Innovations theory - aimed to build empirical understanding by surveying 1598 [State] residents on their experiences and perceptions related to pollinator-friendly gardening to determine the most salient barriers and opportunities to engagement. Key findings suggest making the practice more widely observable and reducing perceived complexity in learning to do the practice are critical to promoting adoption. This demonstrates, in practical terms, that: (1) targeted efforts to build residents' actionable knowledge about pollinator-friendly gardening may significantly reduce uncertainty and boost the likelihood of adoption; and (2) examples of active pollinator gardens need to be more widely showcased and popularized (e.g., through experiential or virtual demonstrations). We also found most residents living in homeowner associations (HOAs) believed HOA policies on pollinator-friendly gardening were restrictive or the residents were unsure whether they are allowed to practice pollinator-friendly gardening. Given these perceptions strongly associated with residents' low intent to engage in pollinator-friendly gardening, a major opportunity exists to diffuse the practice and increase adoption by working with HOAs and community leaders to become promoters of - rather than barriers to - pollinator-friendly gardening.

Personal and Professional Mitigation Behavioral Intentions of Agricultural Experts to Address Climate Change.

Mitigation activities, whether at the personal level relating to lifestyle or on the professional level, especially in the agriculture sector, are widely encouraged by scientists and policymakers. This research empirically analyses the association between agricultural experts' perceptions about climate change and their intention to implement climate change mitigation. Based on survey data, individuals' reported intention to implement personal and professional mitigation behavior is explained using a conceptual model. The structural equation modeling results suggest that the new ecological paradigm (NEP), institutional trust, and risk salience indirectly influence climate change mitigation intentions. The findings indicate that risk perception, personal efficacy, responsibility, belief in climate change occurring, and low psychological distance trigger a significantly greater intention to support personal and professional mitigation behaviors. However, the research framework is much stronger at predicting the intention to mitigate climate change in professional affairs compared to personal activities. The findings suggest that hypothetical distance factors only have a moderating effect on the relationship between higher climate change environmental values, institutional trust, risk salience, and mitigation intention. This paper analytically explores the regulating role of risk perception, hypothetical distance, personal efficacy, and responsibility between institutional trust, risk salience, and the NEP as independent concepts and intention to personal and professional mitigation behaviors as dependent variables. The findings of the study have important implications for encouraging personal and professional mitigation behaviors.

Using a diffusion of innovation lens to understand homeowner support for septic system to sewer system conversions.

Water quality impairment linked to household septic systems presents a significant challenge for environmental management professionals given the costs and complexity of encouraging residents to convert to sewer systems. Septic-to-sewer conversion programs may be more effective if they employ innovative techniques such as social marketing to accelerate engagement, but there is a lack of the necessary formative audience research available on which to promote sanitation-related technologies and behaviors using these types of strategies. We used Diffusion of Innovations theory as a lens through which to view support for septic-to-sewer conversion programs, considering perceptions of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, and observability as factors (i.e., barriers, motivators) in the decision to convert to sewer. We collected data from 518 septic system owners in the state of Florida, USA. Four out of ten respondents indicated there were septic-to-sewer conversion plans in place in their community, and most of these individuals reported the plans were voluntary rather than mandatory. Residents with plans in place had more favorable perceptions than those without such plans and were largely supportive of septic-to-sewer conversion programs. Ordinal regression revealed compatibility and observability were significant predictors of residents' support for septic-to-sewer conversion. When conversion project status variables were added to the final ordinal model, compatibility remained a significant predictor, and completed conversion status also predicted support. Environmental management professionals should consider using characteristics of compatibility and observability to bolster engagement in septic-to-sewer conversion programs, and consider integrating the influences of other communities with completed conversion programs.

Evaluating connections between personal well-being and adoption of landscape best management practices: An audience segmentation study.

Integrated pest management and outdoor water conservation comprise key practices encouraged by nonformal educators who work with the public to address significant issues related to water quality and availability. Disconnects among diverse audiences and educational programs pose challenges in achieving the goals of these types of programs. To discern a potential nonformal educational programming strategy, we conducted audience segmentation research incorporating residential environmental landscape best management practices and compared resulting subgroups' characteristics. We explored this paradigm through the context of Extension education and used a nationally-distributed electronic survey instrument to measure well-being and landscape management perceptions and practices in the United States. We collected 2601 complete survey responses and employed cluster analysis to divide the respondents into homogenous subgroups, followed by analysis of variance and chi-square analyses to identify differences among the subgroups. The group that indicated the highest level of engagement with water conservation and IPM practices also had significantly higher well-being, demonstrating the potential to align IPM education with more commonly promoted conservation practices. Membership in the highest IPM and water conservation group was related to several socio-demographic characteristics, including age, homeownership, and homeowners' association membership. This group was also most likely to engage with educational programs. Understanding these indicators of engagement in landscape best management practices and nonformal education, along with higher well-being, may be useful in determining target audiences and potential engagement with nonformal education programs.

Classifying Residents who use Landscape Irrigation: Implications for Encouraging Water Conservation Behavior.

Large amounts of water applied as urban irrigation can often be reduced substantially without compromising esthetics. Thus, encouraging the adoption of water-saving technologies and practices is critical to preserving water resources, yet difficult to achieve. The research problem addressed in this study is the lack of characterization of residents who use urban irrigation, which hinders the design of effective behavior change programs. This study examined audience segmentation as an approach to encouraging change using current residential landscape practices. K-means cluster analysis identified three meaningful subgroups among residential landscape irrigation users (N = 1,063): the water considerate majority (n = 479, 45 %), water savvy conservationists (n = 378, 36 %), and unconcerned water users (n = 201, 19 %). An important finding was that normative beliefs, attitudes, and perceived behavioral control characteristics of the subgroups were significantly different with large and medium practical effect sizes. Future water conservation behaviors and perceived importance of water resources were also significantly different among subgroups. The water considerate majority demonstrated capacity to conserve, placed high value on water, and were likely to engage in behavior changes. This article contributes to the literature on individuals who use residential landscape irrigation, an important target audience with potential to conserve water through sustainable irrigation practices and technologies. Findings confirm applicability of the capacity to conserve water to audience segmentation and extend this concept by incorporating perceived value of water resources and likelihood of conservation. The results suggest practical application to promoting residential landscape water conservation behaviors based on important audience characteristics.

Employing the TAM in predicting the use of online learning during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online learning systems have become an applied solution for delivering educational content, especially in developing countries, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study is designed to identify the factors influencing the behavioral intention of agricultural students at universities in Iran to use online learning systems in the future. This research uses an extended model in which the constructs of Internet self-efficacy, Internet anxiety, and output quality are integrated into the technology acceptance model (TAM). Data analysis was performed using the SmartPLS technique. The analyses showed the proposed model to be strong in terms of predicting the attitude to online learning and the intention to use it. The extended TAM model fit the data well and predicted 74% of the intention variance. Our findings show attitude and perceived usefulness to have directly affected intention. Output quality and Internet self-efficacy indirectly affected attitude and intention. Research findings can help with the design of educational policies and programs to facilitate education and improve student academic performance.

Shaping farmers' beliefs, risk perception and adaptation response through Construct Level Theory in the southwest Iran.

Due to the severe effects of climate change on the agricultural sector, urgent action is required on the part of farmers and is, indeed, critical to reducing climate change impacts. However, reports globally revealed farmers' engagement in climate change adaptation is still insufficient, ambivalent, and inconsistent and farmers do not consider adaptation to be urgent. Researchers have argued that this issue is rooted in psychological biases beside other factors. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate how psychological distance determines climate change beliefs, risk perception and adaptation strategies among Iranian farmers. A cross-sectional paper-based survey was conducted in the Dasht-e Azadegan county of Khuzestan province in southwest Iran. The study sample consisted of 250 farmers selected through a multi-stage random sampling process. An expert panel review and a pilot study were conducted to confirm convergent validity and reliability of the scales. The results confirm that all four dimensions of psychological distance influence water management adaptation strategies and non-farm activities. Moreover, all psychological dimensions, except the temporal dimension, affect adaptation in farming management. Thus, making climate change more proximal to decision makers could be a strategic way of encouraging individuals to take adaptive actions. This study emphasizes that concepts of psychological distance can be applied to help organizations (e.g., agriculture extension services) to understand farmers' risk perceptions and responses to climate change impacts and improve risk communication to better engage farmers in climate action.

Ancillary Findings on CT Pulmonary Angiograms that are Negative for Pulmonary Embolism.

CONTEXT: One advantage of computed tomographic pulmonary angiograms (CTPA) is that they often show pathology in patients in whom pulmonary embolism (PE) has been excluded. In this investigation, we identified the ancillary findings on CTPAs that were negative for PE to obtain an impression of the type of findings shown. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of findings on CTPAs that were negative for PE obtained in nine emergency departments between January 2016 - February 2018. Ancillary findings were assessed by review of the radiographic reports. RESULTS: Ancillary findings were identified in N=338 (40.9%) of 825 patients with CTPAs that were negative for PE. Most ancillary findings, 254 (75.1%) of 338 were pulmonary or pleural abnormalities. Liver, gall bladder, kidney, or pancreatic abnormalities were shown in 26 (7.7%) cases, and abnormalities of the heart or great vessels were shown in 23 (6.8%) of cases. Abnormalities of the esophagus or intestine were shown in 12 (3.6%), abnormalities of the thyroid in 10 (3.0%) and abnormalities of bone or soft tissue lesions were shown in three (0.9%) cases. Inferential statistical procedures demonstrated that the occurrence of ancillary findings in patients with negative CTPAs was proportionately greater in patients who were 50 years and older (p < 0.001), although not between genders (p = 0.145). CONCLUSIONS: Ancillary findings on CTPAs that were negative for PE were frequently reported. Future studies might focus of the extent to which ancillary findings on CTPA assisted physicians in management of the patient.