bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Northern nursing practice in a primary health care setting
Authors: Vukic Adele , Keddy Barbara 
Published: March 2003

Background.  This paper explicates the nature of outpost nursing work, and/or the day‐to‐day realities of northern nursing practice in a primary health care setting in Canada. The study was carried out to systematically explore the work of nurses in an indigenous setting. Institutional ethnography, pioneered by Dorothy Smith was the methodology used to guide this research. The theoretical perspective of this methodology does not seek causes or links but intends to explicate visible practices. Aim.  It is intended to explicate the social organization of specific discourses that inform work processes of nurses working in remote indigenous communities. Methodology.  The data originated from various sources including spending 2 weeks in a northern remote community shadowing experienced nurses, taking field notes and audio taping interviews with these nurses. One of the two researchers was a northern practice nurse for many years and has had taught in an outpost nursing programme. As part of the process, texts were obtained from the site as data to be incorporated in the analysis. The lived experiences have added to the analytical understanding of the work of nurses in remote areas. Data uncovered documentary practices inherent to the work setting which were then analysed along with the transcribed interviews and field notes derived from the on‐site visit. Identifying disjuncture in the discourse of northern nursing and the lived experience of the nurses in this study was central to the research process. Results.  The results indicated that the social organization of northern community nursing work required a broad generalist knowledge base for decision making to work effectively within this primary health care setting. The nurse as ‘other’ and the invisibility of nurses' work of building a trusting relationship with the community is not reflected in the discourse of northern nursing. Trust cannot be quantified or measured yet it is fundamental to working effectively with the community. Conclusion.  The nurses in this study saw building trust to promote health and well‐being in communities as very important, yet very difficult to achieve. The difficulty in part stems from the constraining, structural, administrative, historical, cultural and political contextual realities that have shaped northern community nursing.
A lived experience of dualism between the natural and human science paradigms in nursing
Authors: Chan Engle Angela 
Published: March 2003

Aim.  To describe the use of narrative as both phenomenon and method to illuminate college nurse educators' nursing knowledge development through their day‐to‐day stories on the institutional landscape, which shape and are shaped by health‐care and nursing education changes. Background.  The Ontario health‐care reform in Canada and a shift in nursing curriculum have brought to light a different dimension of a theory–practice issue. The traditional predominant natural science approach in nursing is now no longer considered responsive to the unique characteristics of patients' health‐care needs. Emerging from current nursing education is an emphasis on a human science paradigm. However, as many college nurse educators moved back and forth between their classrooms to clinical settings, they experienced tremendous tensions in living between the new caring paradigm and the old culture of biomedical science ideology. Compounding this challenge is a lack of understanding by the policymakers and administrators of the importance of nurses' contribution vis‐à‐vis an ailing health‐care system. This growing complexity demands that nursing, as a practice discipline, should articulate its unique body of knowledge for advancing contributions in health care. Methods.  My stories of experience and those of my participants were analysed narratively to determine the knowledge and understanding developed from living the complex and interwoven changes in nursing education and practice. Findings.  Through living, telling, retelling and reliving our stories, my participants and I recognized a false dualism between the seemingly polarized biomedical and human science paradigms. Conclusion.  The meaning of certainty–uncertainty inherent in nursing teaching and practice demands that nurse educators rethink how stories of experience play out in their understanding of teaching future graduates the interrelationships between these two approaches.
Portfolios and assessment of competence: a review of the literature
Authors: McMullan Mirjam , Endacott Ruth , Gray Morag A. , Jasper Melanie , Miller Carolyn M.L. , Scholes Julie , Webb Christine 
Published: March 2003

Background.  The literature review presented here was conducted as part of an English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting funded project to evaluate the use of portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence. Initial consideration of the topic revealed the need to clarify the terminology and approaches used to assess competence using portfolios, and therefore the literature review was conducted to inform the study. Aims.  To clarify definitions, theoretical bases and approaches to competence and the use of portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence in nursing education. Methods.  A comprehensive literature review was conducted using the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases and the keywords competenc*, portfolios and nursing. Articles published in the period 1989–2001 in English were obtained and their reference lists scrutinized to identify additional references. Twenty articles were found using a combination of the keywords competenc* and portfolios, and 52 using the combination portfolios and nurse education. Articles were included in the review if they focused on the use of portfolios in nursing, and those concerned with professional or transitional portfolios were excluded. This article will analyse definitions of and approaches to competence and its measurement and to portfolios and their use as discussed in the articles identified. Results.  Three approaches to competence were identified, each with its appropriate forms of assessment. With regard to portfolios, a number of definitions were again found, but there was a consensus that the theoretical basis of their use is theories of adult learning. A number of reasons for and advantages and disadvantages of their use were found, as well as varying ideas about what a portfolios should consist of and how it should be assessed. Conclusions.  A holistic approach to competence seems to be compatible with the use of portfolios to assess competence in nursing students, but the concept and its implementation is still evolving. A variety of assessment methods are needed for assessment and portfolios appear to have the potential to integrate these. Reflection is an essential component of a portfolio, as are the student–teacher relationship and explicit guidelines for constructing the portfolio. Issues of rigour in assessment of portfolios need to be addressed, but the assessor's professional judgement will inevitably enter into this assessment.
Exploring nursing outcomes for patients with advanced cancer following intervention by Macmillan specialist palliative care nurses
Authors: Corner Jessica , Halliday Debbie , Haviland Jo , Douglas Hannah‐Rose , Bath Peter , Clark David , Normand Charles , Beech Nicola , Hughes Philippa , Marples Rachael , Seymour Jane , Skilbeck Julie , Webb Tom 
Published: March 2003

Background. Little information exists about the outcomes from nursing interventions, and few studies report new approaches to evaluating the complex web of effects that may result from specialist nursing care. Aims. The aim of this study was to explore nursing outcomes for patients with advanced cancer that may be identified as resulting from the care of a Macmillan specialist palliative care nurse. Methods/instruments. Seventy‐six patients referred to 12 United Kingdom Macmillan specialist palliative care nursing services participated in a longitudinal study of their care over 28 days. Patients were interviewed and completed the European Organization for Research on Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Scale and the Palliative Care Outcomes Scale at referral, and 3, 7 and 28 days following referral to a Macmillan specialist palliative care nursing service. A nominated carer was interviewed at baseline and 28 days. Notes recorded by Macmillan specialist palliative care nurses in relation to each patient case were analysed. Findings. Significant improvements in emotional (P = 0·03) and cognitive functioning (P = 0·03) were identified in changes in patients' European Organization for Research on Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Scale scores, and in Palliative Care Outcomes Scale patient anxiety scores (P = 0·003), from baseline to day 7. Analysis of case study data indicated that overall positive outcomes of care from Macmillan specialist palliative care nursing intervention were achieved in 42 (55%) cases. Study limitations. Sample attrition due to patients' deteriorating condition limited the value of data from the quality of life measures. The method developed for evaluating nursing outcomes using data from patient and carer interviews and nursing records was limited by a lack of focus on outcomes of care in these data sources. Conclusions. A method was developed for evaluating outcomes of nursing care in complex situations such as care of people who are dying. Positive outcomes of care for patients that were directly attributable to the care provided by Macmillan specialist palliative care nurses were found for the majority of patients. For a small number of patients, negative outcomes of care were identified.
Male mating success and risk of predation in a wolf spider: a balance between sexual and natural selection?
Authors: Kotiaho Janne , Alatalo Rauno V. , Mappes Johanna , Parri Silja , Rivero Ana 
Published: March 2003

1.  Traits that benefit males through sexual selection are simultaneously expected to impair males by provoking costs through natural selection. If we consider the two male fitness components, mating success and viability, then we may expect that the increase in male mating success resulting from a larger trait size will be counterbalanced by an increase in viability costs. 2.  We studied the benefits and costs of male mate searching and sexual signalling activity in the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata. In the field, males search females actively and court them by drumming dry leaves with their abdomen. Females have been shown to prefer males with high drumming rate. Male moving and especially drumming is energetically highly demanding and drumming results in significant mortality costs. 3.  Our objective in this study was to determine whether male mate‐searching activity or drumming activity affect male mating success and the risk of males being predated. 4.  It was evident that both higher mate‐searching activity and higher drumming activity benefited males by increasing their mating success. Higher mate‐searching activity clearly impaired males by causing direct increase in predation risk. There was also a slight tendency that more actively drumming males had higher risk of predation and from all of the predated males 13.3% were caught directly after they had drummed. Furthermore, male drumming activity decreased drastically in the presence of the predator. 5.  We conclude that in H. rubrofasciata both increased mate‐searching activity and drumming activity benefit males through sexual selection, but at the same time natural selection provokes direct balancing costs on the same traits.
Transmission of Plodia interpunctella granulosis virus does not conform to the mass action model
Authors: KNELL ROBERT. J. , BEGON MICHAEL , THOMPSON DAVID J. 
Published: March 2003

1.  Transmission of insect pathogens is traditionally described by a term which states that transmission is proportional to the densities of the susceptible hosts and the infectious units, multiplied by a constant, the transmission coefficient. Theoretical studies suggest that deviations from this can be important in host–pathogen population dynamics, but little is known of how commonly pathogen transmission conforms to the conventional model. 2.  We describe a test of the traditional assumption for the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) (Hübner) and its granulosis virus using a modification of the previous methods, which allows for unpredictable declines in the amount of infectious material present. 3.  The estimated transmission coefficient increased with the density of susceptible hosts and showed a marked decline with density of infectious cadavers. This suggests that the usual assumption does not adequately describe transmission in this system. 4.  The reasons for this deviation from the usual assumption are likely to be a combination of behavioural and physiological changes at high host density, and differential susceptibility to the pathogen leading to an effect analogous to pseudo‐interference in parasitoids.
Individualistic species responses invalidate simple physiological models of community dynamics under global environmental change
Authors: DAVIS ANDREW J. , LAWTON JOHN H. , SHORROCKS BRYAN , JENKINSON LINDA S. 
Published: March 2003

1.  Most predictions of species distribution and abundance changes in response to global warming relate the individual requirements of a single isolated species to climate variables through some form of climate mapping. This method fails to account for the effects of species dispersal and species interactions, both of which may strongly affect distribution and abundance. 2.  We therefore examined the effects of dispersal and species interactions on the distribution and abundance of three Drosophila species in a laboratory system that mimicked a latitudinal cline of 15 °C. We then investigated how species distribution and abundance in this system responded to simulated global warming. 3.  Dispersal allowed populations to persist at non‐optimum temperatures, overriding physiologically imposed range limits. 4.  Temperature determined the outcome of competition. In pairwise interactions, Drosophila subobscura eliminated D. melanogaster or D. simulans at low temperatures but was itself eliminated at high temperatures. 5.  Competitive interactions changed abundance and range sizes thus shifting the position of species optima. These changes depended on both the number and the identity of the competing species. 6.  Enemy–victim interactions altered range and abundance. Adding the parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi affected the host assemblage directly at high temperatures where the parasitoid was present, and indirectly (mediated by dispersal) at low temperatures where it was scarce or absent. Host species coexisted for longer at low temperatures in clines when parasitoids were present than when they were absent. 7.  Simulated global warming produced complex, counter‐intuitive effects on distribution and abundance, including the reversal of species’ relative abundance at some temperatures. 8.  Because dispersal and species interactions strongly influenced both range and abundance (sometimes in unexpected ways) current species distributions are no guide to what they might be under global climate change. Furthermore, since both these factors are missing from climate envelope models of range and abundance change, their predictions are, at best, incomplete.
Effects of parental quality and effort on the reproduction of common terns
Authors: Wendeln Helmut , Becker Peter H. 
Published: March 2003

1. Age‐related patterns of reproduction in birds are often interpreted in terms of changing reproductive value with age: as residual reproductive value decreases with age birds have to increase their effort at younger age. In contrast, the ‘state‐based’ approach to life history postulates that not age per se determines reproductive decisions, but the ‘state’, reflecting condition or quality that may differ considerably between individuals of the same age. In this respect, we investigated the stability of body conditon, as well as individual quality differences in common terns Sterna hirundo and outline the role of parental quality and parental effort in reproductive performance. For lifetime identification we marked terns with passive transponders. Quality and effort were derived from body condition, which we monitored during the whole breeding season and every year for a period of up to 5 years. 2. Parameters of body condition and reproduction varied significantly between individuals, whereas intra‐individual variation over years was very low. Hence, body condition is very stable and differs considerable between birds. 3. Among the factors number of chicks, year and parental body condition, the latter was the only significant factor influencing chick growth rates. Furthermore, high growth rates of chicks were correlated with good female condition, and breeding success was positively correlated with body condition of both parents during incubation and chick‐rearing. 4. Parental effort increased significantly with increasing breeding success. The amount of expended effort depended on condition during incubation: mass loss was correlated with incubation mass, but not with mass during chick‐rearing. 5. Age was not an important factor in terms of condition or quality and also in terms of reproduction. The age independent condition reflects bird quality, enabling high quality birds to invest high parental effort resulting in high reproductive success over years, yet without negative consequences on future reproduction. 6. We conclude that in the common tern condition is a stable and age‐independent individual feature with substantial effects on reproduction. Hence, our data strongly support the ‘state‐based’ approach to life history. The high constancy in condition within and great differences between birds may also result in differences in lifetime reproductive success and fitness.
Host resources govern the specificity of swiftlet lice: size matters
Authors: Tompkins Daniel. M. , Clayton Dale. H. 
Published: March 2003

1.An important component of parasite diversity is the specificity for particular host taxa shown by many parasites. Specificity is often assumed to imply adaptive specialization by the parasite to its host, such that parasites are incapable of surviving and reproducing on ‘foreign’ hosts.2.Specificity, however, need not be due to adaptation to particular hosts. Some parasites may be specific simply because they are incapable of dispersing among host taxa. For example, ‘permanent’ parasites like chewing lice spend their entire lifecycle on the body of the host and require direct contact between hosts for dispersal.3.The role of adaptive constraints in parasite host‐specificity has seldom been tested in natural populations. We conducted such a test by comparing the relative fitness of host‐specific lice experimentally transferred among closely related species of cave swiftlets in northern Borneo.4.The survival of lice in most of these transfers was significantly reduced in proportion to the mean difference in feather barb size between the donor and recipient species of hosts. Thus, adaptation to a particular resource on the body of the host does appear to govern the specificity of swiftlet lice.5.In transfers where lice survived, microhabitat shifting on the body of the host was observed, whereby the mean barb diameter of the feathers on which the lice occurred was held ‘constant’.
Estimating handling times for herbivore diets: a statistical method using the gamma distribution
Authors: Kohlmann Stephan. G. , Matis James. H. , Risenhoover Kenneth. L. 
Published: March 2003

1. We present a statistical model for the prediction of handling times for different diet items of herbivores foraging in heterogeneous environments, based on the distribution of time intervals between bites. 2. We propose the gamma distribution as a convenient and appropriate model for foraging data and illustrate its use with field observations of foraging Nubian ibex (Capra ibex nubiana Linnaeus 1758) in the Negev Desert of Israel. 3. Specifically, we demonstrate how to estimate handling times from skewed frequency data of intervals between bites within patches. 4. We compared two mathematically equivalent gamma models and found a pronounced difference in the numerical results in fitting empirical data. 5. Estimated handling times varied with bite size, but not with plant category or sex of the foraging animal. 6. Fitting a gamma model to foraging data allows the efficient estimation of minimum handling constraints, mean handling times and within‐patch cropping rates, which should be useful for models of the herbivore foraging process.
The comparative expression of life‐history traits and its relationship to the numerical dynamics of four populations of the least killifish
Authors: Leips Jeff , Travis Joseph 
Published: March 2003

1.We examined the numerical dynamics in four natural populations of the least killifish [Heterandria formosaAgassiz (1855)]; to ascertain how those dynamics affected the expression of key life‐history traits and, in turn, whether life‐history variation among populations might be responsible for different dynamic properties. Populations were chosen from two types of communities, spring‐fed rivers and lakes, to examine the relative influence of community characteristics on these relationships.2.Populations in lakes had lower densities, more female‐biased sex ratios and a smaller proportion of immature individuals than populations in rivers. Predator faunas differed between habitats and the ratio of predator toH. formosadensity was higher in lakes than in rivers.3.Females in lake populations were 35−40% larger than river females. Female size was positively correlated with the number of broods carried by a female at any given time and the number of offspring in a particular brood. These correlations and the larger body size of females in lake populations indicate that the reproductive output per female was higher in lake than river populations.4.Female size was negatively correlated with population density in two of the four populations. After adjusting for the variation in female size, brood size and brood numbers were negatively correlated with population density in only the highest density population.5.Average offspring size was negatively correlated with brood size in all of the populations, indicating a general trade‐off between offspring size and number. The average offspring size in the highest density population was as much as 45% larger than that of all other populations, an effect independent of any phenotypic plasticity in offspring size with respect to female body size or density.6.The effects of density on female body size are the major avenue for negative feedback of population density on the subsequent dynamics through life‐history expression. Whether such an effect is stabilizing or destabilizing cannot yet be determined. If the variation in offspring size among populations is adaptive, it may be a prominent example of density‐dependent life‐history evolution.