Purpose: There are many complexities to be considered when selecting tactical control options in crops grown under an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) regime. Students being trained in IPM are made aware of this complexity but do not always get the chance to experience IPM decision-making first-hand. This case study describes a web-based assessment and presents student feedback as to its value.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Students are required to analyse the pest and disease status of and provide pesticide recommendations for an export apple orchard at four different times of the season. At each ‘virtual visit’ they are required to interpret monitoring data and make spray decisions. The students are provided with the same IPM information and guidelines commercial growers receive. Amongst other things, management history, non-target organisms, pesticide resistance risk, allowable residues, pesticide restrictions and pesticide compatibility must be considered. Student reflections (n = 57) from three years of use were assessed using grounded theory analysis and reported.
Findings: Students found they gained an appreciation of the various factors that need to be considered for tactical IPM and that the exercise helped prepare them for this task ‘in real life’.
Practical Implications: The assessment described can be used as a template for an online integrated case-based training strategy which provides the opportunity for real-life decision making in a safe environment.
Originality/Value: The paper is original. It is hoped this case study will serve as a source of ideas and/or inspiration from those wishing to employ similar ‘active learning’ web-based exercises for agricultural education or extension training. 相似文献
The manipulation of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) extracted from E. coli cells by dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been demonstrated over the range of 3 kHz-50 MHz using interdigitated microelectrodes. Quantitative measurement using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy of the time dependent collection indicated a positive DEP response characterized by a plateau between 3 kHz and 1 MHz followed by a decrease in response at higher frequencies. Negative DEP was observed above 9 MHz. The positive DEP response below 1 MHz is described by the Clausius-Mossotti model and corresponds to an induced dipole moment of 3300 D with a polarizability of 7.8×10(-32) F m(2). The negative DEP response above 9 MHz indicates that the rRNA molecules exhibit a net moment of -250 D, to give an effective permittivity value of 78.5 ε(0), close to that of the aqueous suspending medium, and a relatively small surface conductance value of ~0.1 nS. This suggests that our rRNA samples have a fairly open structure accessible to the surrounding water molecules, with counterions strongly bound to the charged phosphate groups in the rRNA backbone. These results are the first demonstration of DEP for fast capture and release of rRNA units, opening new opportunities for rRNA-based biosensing devices. 相似文献
This paper explores the connections between School Effectiveness as a research paradigm and developments in policy and practice. With a particular focus on the English school system, 'effectiveness' is examined as a discourse which underpins the accountability regime, and in terms of its influence on the related field of School Improvement. Anti-democratic tendencies in areas such as school leadership, teacher professionalism, curriculum and pedagogy are related to a failure, at the heart of the 'effectiveness' concept, to give critical consideration to social and educational aims. 相似文献
A study was conducted to determine the effects of external reward in the form of prizes on the performance of college students in a paired-associate learning task in which subjects were asked to recall a real word associated with a nonsense word. Two groups, one of whom was offered a prize, received the S-R pairs with no aid (no mediators); and two groups, one of whom was offered a prize, received the S-R pairs with a sentence-pictorial aid mediator. Results of two-way ANOVA supported the hypothesis that the No Prize/Aided and No Prize/NonAided groups would exhibit performance of higher quality than the groups offered prizes. The dependent measure was number of correct responses over six trials. 相似文献
Previous research has demonstrated that running in a rotating wheel functions as a reinforcer for leverpressing in rats. In these studies, the pattern of responding was similar to the pattern of responding maintained by consummatory reinforcers, such as food and water. The present study investigated quantitative features of responding maintained by running. In previous experiments in which responses were reinforced according to variable-interval (VI) schedules and food and water served as the reinforcer, the equation for a rectangular hyperbola described the relationship between response rate and reinforcement rate. This experiment tested whether this quantitative regularity also applies to leverpressing maintained by the opportunity to run in a wheel. Fourteen male Wistar rats responded on levers for the opportunity to run. In each session, subjects were exposed to a series of VI schedules. An opportunity to run for 60 sec was the reinforcing consequence. Results showed that response rate was a negatively accelerated function of reinforcement rate, and the relationship between these two variables was described well by the equation for a rectangular hyperbola. To further test the similarity between running and consummatory reinforcers, the response requirement and access were manipulated. In previous experiments with food and water, these types of manipulations differentially changed the two parameters of the hyperbola. A similar pattern of results was obtained with wheel running. Thus, the equation appears to apply to running about as well as it does to consummatory reinforcers. 相似文献