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.     

Century‐long apparent decrease in intrinsic water‐use efficiency with no evidence of progressive nutrient limitation in African tropical forests

Forests exhibit leaf‐ and ecosystem‐level responses to environmental changes. Specifically, rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels over the past century are expected to have increased the intrinsic water‐use efficiency (iWUE) of tropical trees while the ecosystem is gradually pushed into progressive nutrient limitation. Due to the long‐term character of these changes, however, observational datasets to validate both paradigms are limited in space and time. In this study, we used a unique herbarium record to go back nearly a century and show that despite the rise in CO₂ concentrations, iWUE has decreased in central African tropical trees in the Congo Basin. Although we find evidence that points to leaf‐level adaptation to increasing CO₂—that is, increasing photosynthesis‐related nutrients and decreasing maximum stomatal conductance, a decrease in leaf δ¹³C clearly indicates a decreasing iWUE over time. Additionally, the stoichiometric carbon to nitrogen and nitrogen to phosphorus ratios in the leaves show no sign of progressive nutrient limitation as they have remained constant since 1938, which suggests that nutrients have not increasingly limited productivity in this biome. Altogether, the data suggest that other environmental factors, such as increasing temperature, might have negatively affected net photosynthesis and consequently downregulated the iWUE. Results from this study reveal that the second largest tropical forest on Earth has responded differently to recent environmental changes than expected, highlighting the need for further on‐ground monitoring in the Congo Basin.     

Liana communities exhibit different species composition,diversity and community structure across forest types in the Congo Basin

Lianas are poorly characterized for central African forests. We quantify variation in liana composition, diversity and community structure in different forest types in the Yangambi Man and Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo. These attributes of liana assemblages were examined in 12 1-ha plots, randomly demarcated within regrowth forest, old growth monodominant forest, old growth mixed forest and old growth edge forest. Using a combination of multivariate and univariate community analyses, we visualize the patterns of these liana assemblage attributes and/or test for their significant differences across forest types. The combined 12 1-ha area contains 2,638 lianas (≥2 cm diameter) representing 105 species, 49 genera and 22 families. Liana species composition differed significantly across forest types. Taxonomic diversity was higher in old growth mixed forests compared to old growth monodominant and regrowth forests. Trait diversity was higher than expected in the regrowth forest as opposed to the rest of forest types. Similarly, the regrowth forest differed from the rest of forest types in the pattern of liana species ecological traits and diameter frequency distribution. The regrowth forest was also less densely populated in lianas and had lower liana total basal area than the rest of forest types. We speculate that the mechanism of liana competitive exclusion by dominant tree species is mainly responsible for the lower liana species diversity in monodominant compared to mixed forests. We attribute variation in liana community structure between regrowth and old growth forests mostly to short development time of size hierarchies.     

Minireview: The Potential of Enhanced Manganese Redox Cycling for Sediment Oxidation

Both natural and anthropogenic processes are responsible for excessive organic loading of submerged soils, with detrimental environmental consequences. The often insufficient natural attenuation can be enhanced by exploiting microbial manganese cycles. This review describes how an anoxic oxidation of organic matter with concomitant reduction of MnO ₂ can link up with a reoxidation of the resulting, soluble Mn(II) in oxic layers. The potentially attainable oxidation rates through these natural cycles are of the same order as the organic carbon accumulation rates. The microbiology and physiology of the responsible organisms are discussed, as well as examples of naturally occurring manganese cycles and the possibility to engineer this natural phenomenon.     

Relief of hypoxia by angiogenesis promotes neural stem cell differentiation by targeting glycolysis

Blood vessels are part of the stem cell niche in the developing cerebral cortex, but their in vivo role in controlling the expansion and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) in development has not been studied. Here, we report that relief of hypoxia in the developing cerebral cortex by ingrowth of blood vessels temporo‐spatially coincided with NSC differentiation. Selective perturbation of brain angiogenesis in vessel‐specific Gpr124 null embryos, which prevented the relief from hypoxia, increased NSC expansion at the expense of differentiation. Conversely, exposure to increased oxygen levels rescued NSC differentiation in Gpr124 null embryos and increased it further in WT embryos, suggesting that niche blood vessels regulate NSC differentiation at least in part by providing oxygen. Consistent herewith, hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF)‐1α levels controlled the switch of NSC expansion to differentiation. Finally, we provide evidence that high glycolytic activity of NSCs is required to prevent their precocious differentiation in vivo. Thus, blood vessel function is required for efficient NSC differentiation in the developing cerebral cortex by providing oxygen and possibly regulating NSC metabolism.     

Gross Nitrogen Dynamics in the Mycorrhizosphere of an Organic Forest Soil

The rhizosphere is a hot-spot for biogeochemical cycles, including production of greenhouse gases, as microbial activity is stimulated by rhizodeposits released by roots and mycorrhizae. The biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen (N) in soil is complex, consisting of many simultaneously occurring processes. In situ studies investigating the effects of roots and mycorrhizae on gross N turnover rates are scarce. We conducted a ¹⁵N tracer study under field conditions in a spruce forest on organic soil, which was subjected to exclusion of roots and roots plus ectomycorrhizae (ECM) for 6 years by trenching. The forest soil had, over the 6-year period, an average emission of nitrous oxide (N₂O) of 5.9 ± 2.1 kg N₂O ha^?1 year^?1. Exclusion of roots + ECM nearly tripled N₂O emissions over all years, whereas root exclusion stimulated N₂O emission only in the latest years and to a smaller extent. Gross mineralization–ammonium (NH₄ ⁺) immobilization turnover was enhanced by the presence of roots, probably due to high inputs of labile carbon, stimulating microbial activity. We found contrasting effects of roots and ECM on N₂O emission and mineralization, as the former was decreased but the latter was stimulated by roots and ECM. The N₂O emission was positively related to the ratio of gross NH₄ ⁺ oxidation (that is, autotrophic nitrification) to NH₄ ⁺ immobilization. Ammonium oxidation was only stimulated by the presence of ECM, but not by the presence of roots. Overall, we conclude that plants and their mycorrhizal symbionts actively control soil N cycling, thereby also affecting N₂O emissions from forest soils. Consequently, adapted forest management with permanent tree cover avoiding clearcutting could be a means to reduce N₂O emissions and potential N leaching; despite higher mineralization in the presence of roots and ECM, N₂O emissions are decreased as the relative importance of NH₄ ⁺ oxidation is decreased, mainly due to a stimulated microbial NH₄ ⁺ immobilization in the mycorrhizosphere.     

Legal constraints and opportunities for biochar: a case analysis of EU law

This article addresses biochar from a legal point of view. It analyses different policies and regulations from a European (Flemish) point of view and provides a first and general insight in what potential legal constraints the development of a biochar industry might face and what opportunities lie ahead. This is due to the fact that biochar is a recent product and a lot of scientific uncertainty still exists regarding the consequences of its application. From the analysis it appears a multitude of policies and legislative measures influence the development of the biochar industry. Hence, it is important that all these policies and legislative measures are analyzed in an appropriate manner. Moreover, considerable lobbying, negotiating and cooperation between different disciplines (legal, scientific, economical, etc.) will be required so as to develop a feasible and safe biochar framework.     

Conservative N cycling despite high atmospheric deposition in early successional African tropical lowland forests

Plant and Soil - Many applied disciplines have recognized problems related to the practice of data analysis within their own communities. Some of them have even declared the existence of a...