The article presents results of the analysis of the cattle breeding industry’s development in Ukraine, the main trend of which was the decrease in the number of cattle, including the number of cows. A way to support livestock in the industry using the subsidy mechanism is suggested. This approach is aimed at increasing profitability of the cattle breeding industry output per 1 ha of fodder crops in the farm to profitability of barley production from 1 hectare in the area. The results of the proposed approach show that increasing milk profitability from 1 hectare of fodder crops to barley profitability from 1 hectare can be the basis for maintaining the livestock sector. The use of the livestock productivity factor (cow milk yield) in the proposed methodology makes farms more interested in increasing livestock productivity, which in turn increases the number of subsidies in the industry. In addition, an increase in fodder crops area in the farm has an ecological effect.

The biceps brachii - brachialis muscles has attachment on the medial coronoid process (MCP) and proximal radius. It is considered that medial coronoid disease (MCD) can be caused by biceps brachii – brachialis muscle generated force to MCP. Computed tomography data from 31 dogs were analysed. The aim of this study was to compare biceps brachii – brachialis muscle volume and maximum cross-sectional area (mCSA) between clinically normal dogs to dogs with a MCD. Results showed that in dogs with MCD, biceps brachii - brachialis muscle volume and mCSA is smaller than in clinically normal dogs and therefore the generated muscle force cannot be considered as the main or accompanying cause of a MCD.

Climate risks constitute an enormous challenge to poultry production and have affected the livelihoods of the people who depend on them. Thus, farmers have adopted various strategies that can help them cope with the adverse effects of climate change. The aim of this study is to examine the factors influencing small scale poultry farmers’ choice of adaptation strategies to climate change. Data used for this study were obtained from 121 representative farmers selected through a two-stage random sampling procedure. Descriptive Statistics, Likert Scale and the Multinomial Logit Model were the tools used for analysis. Results showed that the mean age and household size of the respondents were 45 years and 5 persons respectively, while the average number of birds per farmer stood at 583 birds. Majority of the respondents had a moderate perception of the impacts of climate change on poultry farming and chose management adaptation strategies in their fight against climate change. Econometric analysis showed that the age, gender and educational status of farmers, number of birds, household size, poultry experience, access to cooperative societies, poultry housing system, access to credit, access to extension services and farm size were the factors influencing farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation strategies in the study area. Therefore, policy should focus on awareness creation on management adaptation strategies through enhancing education and extension services as well as access of poultry farmers to credit facilities to indirectly insure farmers against climate change impacts.

Human capital development is increasingly gaining policy relevance especially with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examined the correlates of human capital expenditure in rural Nigeria. General Household Survey dataset collected by the National Bureau of Statistics was used for this study. Descriptive statistical tools, principal components analysis and the Heckman selection model were used to analyse relevant data. The study found majority of the households were maleheaded, with an average size of 7 people. In terms of access to education, 62.1% of the surveyed households had access to education and spent an average of NGN 12,570.56 on education. The age of household head, access to loans, marital status and household size were the correlates of human capital expenditure in rural Nigeria. Also, school fees and registration accounted for 41.2% of households’ expenditure on education. The study found paucity of funds, low priority placed on education and low interest were the main constraints to human capital expenditure. The study recommended the design and implementation of pro-poor educational interventions especially for children from rural households. Also, there is the need for government, multilateral organisations and financial institutions to position rural households for financial inclusion.

Latvian Blue (LZ) cows are kept for a variety of herd colours and because of national cow breed value. Resources of LZ cow breed remained low over the last decade. The aim of the study was to evaluate LZ cow breed linear conformation traits and analyse results in relation to their possession to the gene pool (GF) status and productive lifetime in 2017−2018. Information of the Agriculture Data Centre Republic of Latvia (LDC) and linear evaluation in vivo were used. The number of LZ cows registered in LDC in 2017−2018 was 1648 and only 339 cows were gene-pool animals (LZ GF), and 140 of LZ GF animals were culled because of different reasons in 2017−2018. There were registered 544 (190 primiparous of them) closed standard LZ cow lactations in 2009 and only 292 (64 primiparous of them) in 2018. The oldest LZ GF cow was 16.3 years old; 20% of LZ GF cows were more than 10 years old, and only 10% were younger than 5 years. The overall exterior rating was established more than 80 points for 64.4% of the evaluated LZ GF cows. Some LZ GF linear conformation traits did not change significantly (p is greater than 0.05) with age – exterior, milking properties and cow’s temperament. Udder parameters, rump and foot angle became worse with animals advancing in age and could be improved by breeding. No statistically significant differences (p is greater than 0.05) were established regarding all parameters of conformation traits among LZ and LZ GF dairy cows except a tendency of larger body depth in LZ GF (p=0.054). In conclusion, the linear conformation traits of LZ cows, despite the presence of genetic influence of other breeds, do not differ significantly from the gene pool animals. Rump angle, udder and teat qualities became worse with age in LZ and LZ GF cows. Legs and hoofs were stable parameters inherited by the LZ offspring.

Children and students with functional disorders are one of the target groups of the inclusive education. Students with functional disorders can adapt in general education schools faster if their intellectual development is within the normal range. This group usually consists of disabled students, but they are able to master general education programmes successfully with an assistant’s support. The purpose of the article is to explore the problems of assistants’ support for students with functional disorders in general education schools. Adaptation of these students to general education schools would facilitate their development and enable them to undertake further studies not only in vocational education, but also in higher educational institutions. Assistant’s support would promote the adaptation of these students to the class environment and ease the daily life of their parents. Having assessed the current situation, the authors conclude that the assistant’s support will be effective if the assistant’s functions and roles are recognized and if training of assistants for students with functional disorders in general education schools is ensured.

Unemployment is a major issue in Nigeria because the youth finds it difficult or impossible to secure jobs that meet their expectations. There appears to be a mismatch between graduate skills and those sought by employers. The study investigated the effect of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) youth Agripreneurs (IYA) programme on employment and income generation on cattle fattening enterprise under the N2Africa Borno youth project. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select IYA participants and non-participants. Results revealed that the majority of respondents were males in both categories. It also indicated that youths who are in their productive age are more into cattle fattening enterprise in both categories. The study also found that, unemployment and skill acquisition are the main driving reasons for participating in IYA. It also indicated that both categories of respondents’ required external capital support for start-up of their enterprise, and that IYA programme participants on the average earn more income per month than nonparticipants. IYA programme participants generated more employment opportunities which implied that the programme had not only empowered participants but also made the participants’ become employers. The study recommended that there is a need to support youths with funds, access to trainings on capacity development and skill acquisition to make them self-employed and job creators.

The constructivist approach is based on the idea that knowledge can never be passed from one person to another. The only way to acquire knowledge is to create or construct them. The constructivist approach changes also the role of the teacher in the educational process, the task of them is to organize the environment so that the student himself can construct the cognitive forms that teacher wants to give him. In the paper, the nature of the constructivist approach is identified, different aspects regarding mathematics education are analysed as well as the potential impact on the development of mathematical competences in the context of sustainable development is discussed. The study process and learning methods appropriate to constructivist approach also were studied. In order to illustrate the need for a constructivist approach in mathematics education, the survey of students from Latvia University of Life Science and Technologies (LLU) and Riga Technical University (RTU) were carried out, the results of which proved that mathematics learning at universities has to be changed. The current study proved that the constructivist approach radically changes the process of teaching and learning mathematics, connecting it with daily life, rather than teaching only abstract formulas and using a creative approach to mathematical tasks solving. This study shows that using constructivist approach to the teaching of mathematics, the competences needed for sustainable development are boosted.

This study examined the livelihood strategies and food security situation of rural households around Derba Cement Factory by taking a randomly selected sample of 215 heads of farm households from three rural kebeles. A mixed research approach was employed to triangulate concurrently collected data through household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Informed by the sustainable rural livelihood framework, descriptive statistics were used to describe rural households’ livelihood strategies and challenges they faced while inferential statistics was employed to explain households’ food security situations with different livelihood combinations. While mixed farming was found to be the mainstay of the household economy, small-scale irrigation and extracting forest products were also used as supplementary economic activities. More than a half of the respondents (52.5%) reported at least one non-farm activity. Land shortage was identified as a major constraint to expand crop production and this was further aggravated by the activities (e.g. querying leading to displacement) of the Derba Cement Factory. This further affected household labour allocation and natural resources utilization. The result of household food (in) security access scale indicated that 59% of the respondents have experienced food access insecurity in 2016. However, respondents who combined agriculture and non-farm activities appeared relatively more food secure than those engaged in agriculture alone or in non-farm activity only. Overall, households with multiple livelihood strategies had diverse food entitlements to maintain sustainable food consumption. Yet, necessity induced diversification was found to affect food access security of households. This calls for inclusive policies and strategies that integrate rural non-farm activities to subsistence farming in order to assure sustainable livelihood in rural communities.

The present study envisages the effect of PGF2α and antibiotic treatment on ovarian cyclic activity and regression of corpus luteum verum in post-partum dairy cows. Cows were divided into three treatment (PG8, PG25, antibiotic) and a control group. Ovarian activity was studied by examining follicular dynamics up to 42 days post-partum in which diameter of dominant follicle before first ovulation, the number of days to first ovulation and complete regression of corpus luteum verum were evaluated. Body condition score was recorded for all the cows in different groups. Also, ovulation on ovary ipsilateral or contralateral to previous gravid uterine horn was noted. On transrectal ultrasonography at a 3-day interval, dominant follicle diameter prior to ovulation was significantly higher (p is less than 0.01) in PG8 group. The mean time required for complete regression of CL verum was not significantly (p is greater than 0.05) lower in PG8 group i.e. 24.33±1.48 days in comparison to PG25, antibiotic and control group (26.67±1.48, 29.00±1.81and 27.60±1.40 days post-partum, respectively). A subsequent ovarian activity was affected as 70.83 and 66.33% 1st and 2nd ovulations occurred on the ovary contralateral to corpus luteum verum. In conclusion, contralateral ovary was more active in terms of ovulation whereas presence of corpus luteum verum had no effect on post-partum ovarian cyclic activity.