Colorado ammonites

45 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-44).The upper part of the Pierre Shale and Fox Hills Formation were deposited in the late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Western Interior Seaway. They crop out in a belt that roughly parallels the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains from Douglas to Weld County, Colorado. These rocks consist of sandy shales and sandstones and are overlain by the nonmarine Laramie Formation. A sparse assemblage of ammonites is present consisting of Coahuilites sheltoni Böse, 1928, Sphenodiscus pleurisepta (Conrad, 1857), Trachybaculites sp. cf. T. columna (Morton, 1834), Hoploscaphites birkelundae Landman and Waage, 1993, Hoploscaphites sp. cf. H. birkelundae, Jeletzkytes dorfi Landman and Waage, 1993, and Jeletzkytes sp. cf. J. dorfi. Hoploscaphites birkelundae and Jeletzkytes dorfi define the H. birkelundae Zone in the Western Interior, which represents the lower part of the Upper Maastrichtian. These rocks are thus equivalent in age to the Fox Hills Formation in Niobrara County, Wyoming, and older than the type Fox Hills Formation in north-central South Dakota. An analysis of the ratio of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in a belemnite from this zone in Morgan County, Colorado, yields a value of 0.707790 ± 0.000008 (2-sigma SE), nearly identical to that of a bivalve from the same zone in Niobrara County, Wyoming (McArthur et al., 1994). The western shoreline of the seaway during the time of H. birkelundae extended as far west as northwestern Colorado and southwestern Wyoming

Heteromorph ammonites

88 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-85).Heteromorh ammonites of the families Nostoceratidae Hyatt, 1894, and Diplomoceratidae Spath, 1926, are common to abundant in sediments deposited in the western and central parts of the U.S. Western Interior Seaway during the early late Campanian. The indices of successive zones of Didymoceras nebrascense (Meek and Hayden, 1856a) (oldest), Didymoceras stevensoni (Whitfield, 1877), Exiteloceras jenneyi camacki, n. subsp., Exiteloceras jenneyi jenneyi (Whitfield, 1877) and Didymoceras cheyennense (Meek and Hayden, 1856a) are revised, as are Nostoceras monotuberculatum Kennedy and Cobban, 1993a (D. nebrascense and D. stevensoni zones), Oxybeloceras crassum (Whitfield, 1877) (D. stevensoni and E. jenneyi zones), and Spiroxybeloceras meekanum (Whitfield, 1877) (D. cheyennense zone). Solenoceras elegans, n. sp. (D. stevensoni and E. jenneyi zones), Solenoceras bearpawense, n. sp. (D. nebrascense zone), and Solenoceras larimerense, n. sp. (E. jenneyi zone) are also described

Ammonites of New Jersey

30 p. : ill., map ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-30).New fossil collections provide additional information about the late Campanian and Maastrichtian ammonites from the Navesink Formation of New Jersey. Late Campanian ammonites include Pseudophyllites indra (Forbes, 1846), Nostoceras (N.) approximans (Conrad, 1855) (of which Nostoceras (N.) stantoni Hyatt, 1894, is a synonym), Nostoceras (N.) hyatti Stephenson, 1941, Nostoceras (N.) pauper (Whitfield, 1892), Didymoceras cf. D. draconis (Stephenson, 1941), Exiteloceras rude n. sp., Hoploscaphites pumilus (Stephenson, 1941), and Jeletzkytes cf. J. nodosus (Owen, 1852). Maastrichtian ammonites from the Navesink Formation include Pachydiscus (P.) neubergicas neubergicus (Hauer, 1858), Kitchinites sp., Nostoceras (N.) alternatum (Tuomey, 1854), Baculites sp., Eubaculites cf. E. labyrinthicus (Morton, 1834), Eubaculites sp.?, Jeletzkytes cf. J. plenus (Meek, 1876), Jeletzkytes criptonodosus Riccardi, 1983, and Discoscaphites gulosus (Morton, 1834). These faunas are correlated with those of Western Europe, the Gulf Coast, and the Western Interior of the United States. The older fauna from the basal phosphatic beds of the Navesink Formation at the classic Atlantic Highlands locality is referred to the Nostoceras (N.) hyatti zone. It is late Campanian in age and equivalent to the Nostoceras (N.) pozaryskii/Belemnella langei zone in Europe and the Baculites jenseni zone in the United States Western Interior. In addition, these beds contain ammonites that range into the early Maastrichtian, as well as Pachydiscus (P.) neubergicus, whose appearance marks the base of the Maastrichtian. Thus, these phosphatic beds represent a condensed sequence that spans the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian. Ammonites also occur at other localities in the Navesink Formation in New Jersey, and correspond to higher levels in the Maastrichtian. The youngest ammonite known from the Navesink Formation, Discoscaphites gulosus, from Sewell, New Jersey, indicates a correlation with the Hoploscaphites nicolletii or Jeletzkytes nebrascensis zone of the Western Interior

Aragonite bias exhibits systematic spatial variation in the late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, North America

Preferential dissolution of the biogenic carbonate polymorph aragonite promotes preservational bias in shelly marine faunas. Whilst field studies have documented the impact of preferential aragonite dissolution on fossil molluscan diversity, its impact on regional and global biodiversity metrics is debated. Epicontinental seas are especially prone to conditions which both promote and inhibit preferential dissolution, which may result in spatially extensive zones with variable preservation. Here we present a multi-faceted evaluation of aragonite dissolution within the late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. Occurrence data of molluscs from two time intervals (Cenomanian-Turonian boundary, early Campanian) are plotted on new high-resolution paleogeographies to assess aragonite preservation within the seaway. Fossil occurrences, diversity estimates and sampling probabilities for calcitic and aragonitic fauna were compared in zones defined by depth and distance from the seaway margins. Apparent range sizes, which could be influenced by differential preservation potential of aragonite between separate localities, were also compared. Our results are consistent with exacerbated aragonite dissolution within specific depth zones for both time slices, with aragonitic bivalves additionally showing a statistically significant decrease in range size compared to calcitic fauna within carbonate-dominated Cenomanian-Turonian strata. However, we are unable to conclusively show that aragonite dissolution impacted diversity estimates. Therefore, whilst aragonite dissolution is likely to have affected the preservation of fauna in specific localities, time averaging and instantaneous preservation events preserve regional biodiversity. Our results suggest that the spatial expression of taphonomic biases should be an important consideration for paleontologists working on paleobiogeographic problems

Advancing the argument for validity of the Alberta Context Tool with healthcare aides in residential long-term care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Organizational context has the potential to influence the use of new knowledge. However, despite advances in understanding the theoretical base of organizational context, its measurement has not been adequately addressed, limiting our ability to quantify and assess context in healthcare settings and thus, advance development of contextual interventions to improve patient care. We developed the Alberta Context Tool (the ACT) to address this concern. It consists of 58 items representing 10 modifiable contextual concepts. We reported the initial validation of the ACT in 2009. This paper presents the second stage of the psychometric validation of the ACT.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used the <it>Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing </it>to frame our validity assessment. Data from 645 English speaking healthcare aides from 25 urban residential long-term care facilities (nursing homes) in the three Canadian Prairie Provinces were used for this stage of validation. In this stage we focused on: (1) advanced aspects of internal structure (e.g., confirmatory factor analysis) and (2) relations with other variables validity evidence. To assess reliability and validity of scores obtained using the ACT we conducted: Cronbach's alpha, confirmatory factor analysis, analysis of variance, and tests of association. We also assessed the performance of the ACT when individual responses were aggregated to the care unit level, because the instrument was developed to obtain unit-level scores of context.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Item-total correlations exceeded acceptable standards (> 0.3) for the majority of items (51 of 58). We ran three confirmatory factor models. Model 1 (all ACT items) displayed unacceptable fit overall and for five specific items (1 item on <it>adequate space for resident care </it>in the Organizational Slack-Space ACT concept and 4 items on use of electronic resources in the Structural and Electronic Resources ACT concept). This prompted specification of two additional models. Model 2 used the 7 scaled ACT concepts while Model 3 used the 3 count-based ACT concepts. Both models displayed substantially improved fit in comparison to Model 1. Cronbach's alpha for the 10 ACT concepts ranged from 0.37 to 0.92 with 2 concepts performing below the commonly accepted standard of 0.70. Bivariate associations between the ACT concepts and instrumental research utilization levels (which the ACT should predict) were statistically significant at the 5% level for 8 of the 10 ACT concepts. The majority (8/10) of the ACT concepts also showed a statistically significant trend of increasing mean scores when arrayed across the lowest to the highest levels of instrumental research use.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The validation process in this study demonstrated additional empirical support for construct validity of the ACT, when completed by healthcare aides in nursing homes. The overall pattern of the data was consistent with the structure hypothesized in the development of the ACT and supports the ACT as an appropriate measure for assessing organizational context in nursing homes. Caution should be applied in using the one space and four electronic resource items that displayed misfit in this study with healthcare aides until further assessments are made.</p

To what extent do nurses use research in clinical practice? A systematic review

Background : In the past forty years, many gains have been made in our understanding of the concept of research utilization. While numerous studies exist on professional nurses\u27 use of research in practice, no attempt has been made to systematically evaluate and synthesize this body of literature with respect to the extent to which nurses use research in their clinical practice. The objective of this study was to systematically identify and analyze the available evidence related to the extent to which nurses use research findings in practice. Methods : This study was a systematic review of published and grey literature. The search strategy included 13 online bibliographic databases: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, HAPI, Web of Science, SCOPUS, OCLC Papers First, OCLC WorldCat, ABI Inform, Sociological Abstracts, and Dissertation Abstracts. The inclusion criteria consisted of primary research reports that assess professional nurses\u27 use of research in practice, written in the English or Scandinavian languages. Extent of research use was determined by assigning research use scores reported in each article to one of four quartiles: low, moderate-low, moderate-high, or high. Results : Following removal of duplicate citations, a total of 12,418 titles were identified through database searches, of which 133 articles were retrieved. Of the articles retrieved, 55 satisfied the inclusion criteria. The 55 final reports included cross-sectional/survey (n = 51) and quasi-experimental (n = 4) designs. A sensitivity analysis, comparing findings from all reports with those rated moderate (moderate-weak and moderate-strong) and strong quality, did not show significant differences. In a majority of the articles identified (n = 38, 69%), nurses reported moderate-high research use. Conclusions : According to this review, nurses\u27 reported use of research is moderate-high and has remained relatively consistent over time until the early 2000\u27s. This finding, however, may paint an overly optimistic picture of the extent to which nurses use research in their practice given the methodological problems inherent in the majority of studies. There is a clear need for the development of standard measures of research use and robust well-designed studies examining nurses\u27 use of research and its impact on patient outcomes. The relatively unchanged self-reports of moderate-high research use by nurses is troubling given that over 40 years have elapsed since the first studies in this review were conducted and the increasing emphasis in the past 15 years on evidence-based practice. More troubling is the absence of studies in which attempts are made to assess the effects of varying levels of research use on patient outcomes.<br /