Staff Nurses’ Perceptions and Experiences about Structural Empowerment: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

The aim of the study reported in this article was to investigate staff nurses’ perceptions and experiences about structural empowerment and perceptions regarding the extent to which structural empowerment supports safe quality patient care. To address the complex needs of patients, staff nurse involvement in clinical and organizational decision-making processes within interdisciplinary care settings is crucial. A qualitative study was conducted using individual semi-structured interviews of 11 staff nurses assigned to medical or surgical units in a 600-bed university hospital in Belgium. During the study period, the hospital was going through an organizational transformation process to move from a classic hierarchical and departmental organizational structure to one that was flat and interdisciplinary. Staff nurses reported experiencing structural empowerment and they were willing to be involved in decision-making processes primarily about patient care within the context of their practice unit. However, participants were not always fully aware of the challenges and the effect of empowerment on their daily practice, the quality of care and patient safety. Ongoing hospital change initiatives supported staff nurses’ involvement in decision-making processes for certain matters but for some decisions, a classic hierarchical and departmental process still remained. Nurses perceived relatively high work demands and at times viewed empowerment as presenting additional. Staff nurses recognized the opportunities structural empowerment provided within their daily practice. Nurse managers and unit climate were seen as crucial for success while lack of time and perceived work demands were viewed as barriers to empowerment.     

Seasonal succession in the plankton of a naturally acidic, highly humic lake in Northeastern Ohio, USA

A 13 month study of the plankton in a naturally acidic bog lakeshowed high algal biovohune, year-round dominance by flagellatesand mid-summer dominance by Gonyostomum semen. Zooplankton abundanceand species richness was very low. Rotifers were the year-rounddominants.     

Phytoplankton and periphyton responses to in situ experimental nutrient enrichment in a shallow subtropical lake

Experiments were performed in situ in shallow, subtropical LakeOkeechobee (Florida. USA) to quantify and compare the responsesof phytoplanklon (in 20 I clear polycarbonate carboys) and periphyton(on nutrient-diffusing clay substrates) to additions of nitrogenand/or phosphorus. During early and late summer. 1994, bothassemblages were nitrogen limited or co-limited by nitrogenand phosphorus, indicating the potential for competition betweenbenthic and planktonic communities. During late summer, therewas evidence that high phytoplankton biomass reduced light penetrationthrough the water column and may have suppressed periphytongrowth. The similar phytoplankton and periphyton taxonomic structures,both dominated by Lyngbya sp. and pennate diatoms, suggestedthat in shallow regions of this lake, resuspended meroplanktonmight account for a large portion of phytoplankton biomass.This phenomenon has been observed in other shallow, wind-drivenFlorida lakes.     

The effects of nutrient addition and pH manipulation in bag experiments on the phytoplankton of a small acidic lake in West Virginia,USA

In situ bag experiments were performed during summer and autumn in a small acidic lake, Tibbs Run Lake, West Virginia, USA. The objective was to evaluate phytoplankton responses to pH manipulation and nutrient addition. Increasing the pH from below 4.5 to over 6.3 resulted in great declines in phytoplankton biovolume. There was also a succession from dinoflagellates (Peridinium inconspicuum to small chlorophytes. The trend was more rapid where phosphorus (P) additions were made along with pH enhancement. During summer, P limitation was indicated, while nitrogen (N) appeared to limit production in autumn. In both seasons, nutrient additions greatly altered the phytoplankton composition in high pH treatments, but had no discernable effects at (the natural) low pH. A low pH, P addition treatment in autumn was the single exception. When N was subsequently added, phytoplankton composition changed dramatically, probably because the proceeding P additions caused severe secondary N-limitation. In general, however, the results supported the view that phytoplankton compositional responses to nutrient additions are suppressed in low pH, relative to high pH lake water.     

An Ustilago maydis Mutant Partially Blocked in P45014DM Activity Is Hypersensitive to Azole Fungicides

An Ustilago maydis ergosterol biosynthesis mutant (A14) which is partially blocked in sterol 14alpha-demethylase (P45014DM) activity is described. This mutant accumulated the abnormal 14alpha-methyl sterols, eburicol, 14alpha-methylfecosterol, and obtusifoliol, along with significant amounts of ergosterol. Although the A14 mutant grew nearly as well as the wild type, it was impaired in cell extension growth, which indicated a dysfunction in apical cell wall synthesis. The mutant was also found to be hypersensitive to the azole fungicides penconazole and tebuconazole.     

Summer zooplankton dynamics in the limnetic and littoral zones of a humic acid lake

The limnetic and littoral zooplankton were studied during summer 1989 in Triangle Lake, a humic acid (pH 4.9) bog lake in Ohio, USA. The limnetic zooplankton showed low species richness and biomass, and dominance by the rotifers Kellicottia bostoniensis and Polyarthra vulgaris. In the littoral, species richness and biomass were markedly higher, and the crustaceans Alona guttata, Ceriodaphnia quadrangula, Chydorus sphaericus, Simocephalus serrulatus and Tropocyclops prasinus, and the rotifer Ascomorpha ecaudis were the dominants. The extreme rotifer dominance and lack of cladocerans in the limnetic zone were likely the result of Chaoborus predation. A pronounced mid-summer decline in cladoceran biomass in the littoral was likely due to predation by T. prasinus and Utricularia (bladderwort).     

Premating isolation is determined by larval rearing substrates in cactophilic Drosophila mojavensis. IX. Host plant and population specific epicuticular hydrocarbon expression influences mate choice and sexual selection

Sexual signals in cactophilic Drosophila mojavensis include cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), contact pheromones that mediate female discrimination of males during courtship. CHCs, along with male courtship songs, cause premating isolation between diverged populations, and are influenced by genotype × environment interactions caused by different host cacti. CHC profiles of mated and unmated adult flies from a Baja California and a mainland Mexico population of D. mojavensis reared on two host cacti were assayed to test the hypothesis that male CHCs mediate within‐population female discrimination of males. In multiple choice courtship trials, mated and unmated males differed in CHC profiles, indicating that females prefer males with particular blends of CHCs. Mated and unmated females significantly differed in CHC profiles as well. Adults in the choice trials had CHC profiles that were significantly different from those in pair‐mated adults from no‐choice trials revealing an influence of sexual selection. Females preferred different male CHC blends in each population, but the influence of host cactus on CHC variation was significant only in the mainland population indicating population‐specific plasticity in CHCs. Different groups of CHCs mediated female choice‐based sexual selection in each population suggesting that geographical and ecological divergence has the potential to promote divergence in mate communication systems.     

Hexazonium pararosaniline as a fixative for animal tissues

Hexazonium pararosaniline is a valuable reagent that has been used in enzyme activity histochemistry for 50 years. It is an aqueous solution containing the tris-diazonium ion derived from pararosaniline, an aminotriarylmethane dye, and it contains an excess of nitrous acid that was not consumed in the diazotization reaction. Other investigators have found that immersion for 2 min in an acidic (pH 3.5) 0.0015 M hexazonium pararosaniline solution can protect cryostat sections of unfixed animal tissues from the deleterious effects of aqueous reagents such as buffered solutions used in immunohistochemistry, while preserving specific affinities for antibodies. In the present investigation hexazonium pararosaniline protected lymphoid tissue and striated muscle against the damaging effects of water or saline. The same protection was conferred on unfixed sections treated with dilute nitrous or hydrochloric acid in concentrations similar to those in hexazonium pararosaniline solutions. Model tissues (solutions, gels or films containing gelatin and/or bovine albumin) responded predictably to well known cross-linking (formaldehyde) or coagulant (mercuric chloride) fixatives. Hexazonium pararosaniline solutions prevented the dissolution of protein gels in water only after 9 or more days of contact, during which time considerable swelling occurred. It is concluded that there is no evidence for a “fixative” action of hexazonium pararosaniline. The protective effect on frozen sections of unfixed tissue is attributable probably to the low pH of the solution.     

Economic evaluation of water loss saving due to the biological control of water hyacinth at New Year’s Dam,Eastern Cape province,South Africa

Water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes is considered the most damaging aquatic weed in the world. However, few studies have quantified the impact of this weed economically and ecologically, and even fewer studies have quantified the benefits of its control. This paper focuses on water loss saving as the benefit derived from biological control of this plant between 1990 and 2013 at New Year’s Dam, Alicedale, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Estimates of water loss due to evapotranspiration from water hyacinth vary significantly; therefore, the study used three different rates, high, medium and low. A conservative raw agriculture value of R 0.26 per m³ was used to calculate the benefits derived by the water saved. The present benefit and cost values were determined using 10% and 5% discount rates. The benefit/cost ratio at the low evapotranspiration rate was less than one, implying that biological control was not economically viable but, at the higher evapotranspiration rates, the return justified the costs of biological control. However, at the marginal value product of water, the inclusion of the costs of damage to infrastructure, or the adverse effects of water hyacinth on biodiversity, would justify the use of biological control, even at the low transpiration rate.