Towards the Development of Interactive and Multifaceted Pre-Lab Exercises for Organic Chemistry Practical Classes

In the Chemistry Department we are developing innovative web-based pre-laboratory exercises to enhance our students’ lab learning and experience. The framework incorporates supportive information, contextual value of the experiment, multimedia resources including interactive materials, and formatively assessed questions with explanatory feedback. The interactive pre-lab exercises are designed to explain the theories and justify experimental procedures and their utility value to increase student motivation and enhance their in-person lab practice. These multimedia resources are being developed for second-year chemistry undergraduate students. The effectiveness of these pre-laboratory resources will be assessed through multiple strategies including feedback forms, module evaluation questions, inter-cohort grade comparison and semi-structured interviews via MS Teams

Process Evaluation of the Early Implementation Stages of theNational Diabetes Prevention Program through Kentucky Cooperative Extension: Perceptions of Adopters and Potential Adopters

With the growing demand for lifestyle change programs that prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes onset, community organizations with broad reach should be explored for national dissemination of the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP). This study evaluates the early implementation of the NDPP through Cooperative Extension in four Kentucky counties and explores the feasibility of scaling up the program to additional counties. Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 12 Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Agents – four who were participating in the pilot (adopters) and eight who had no experience with the NDPP (potential adopters). Five overarching themes emerged: satisfaction with and desire for the NDPP; implementation barriers (recruitment challenges and Agent comfortability issues); needed supports; roles of community partners (potential duplication of efforts); and dynamics of community relationships and trust. While there was agreement that Cooperative Extension was an appropriate platform for dissemination, notable barriers must be overcome. This study provides important information for Cooperative Extension Services across the country that are implementing or considering implementing the NDPP; specifically, that this program may need a more tailored and controlled rollout compared to traditional Extension programming

Management and drivers of change of pollinating insects and pollination services. National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England, Evidence statements and Summary of Evidence

These Evidence Statements provide up-to-date information on what is known (and not known) about the status, values, drivers of change, and responses to management of UK insect pollinators (as was September 2018). This document has been produced to inform the development of England pollinator policy, and provide insight into the evidence that underpins policy decision-making. This document sits alongside a more detailed Summary of Evidence (Annex I) document written by pollinator experts. For information on the development of the statements, and confidence ratings assigned to them, please see section ?Generation of the statements? below. Citations for these statements are contained in the Summary of Evidence document

Historical influence of soil and water management on sediment and carbon budgets in the United States

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Applied Geochemistry 26 (2011): S259, doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2011.03.118.The documented history of US soil and water management provides a unique opportunity to examine soil and sediment C storage under conditions of changing management practices. Historical acceleration of erosion due to cultivation has been moderated by improved soil management. Increased construction of dams and locks has expanded areas of aquatic sedimentation in reservoirs and ponds. Enhanced historical sediment deposition rates have been documented in lakes and estuaries. All of these changes have an impact on terrestrial C storage and turnover. The present-day C budget associated with erosion and burial cannot be determined without quantifying the time-dependent changes due to past and present soil and water management