Colony Defense Behavior of the Primitively Eusocial Wasp, Mischocyttarus cerberus is Related to Age

The colony defense behavior of the wasp Mischocyttarus cerberus Richards (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) was studied to verify whether there were different reactions of wasps of different ages and hierarchical positions during attacks of ants. Detailed nest mapping was first performed, then the wasps were marked and were divided in four distinct categories: queens, older workers, younger workers and males. Tests were made simulating attacks of ants in the nests. The main results showed that the M. cerberus behaviors against ant attacks is more related to the age of the wasps than to their hierarchical position. The oldest wasps (queens and older workers) defend the nest more than the younger workers and males, representing a form of temporal polyethism

Multiplication of the patato tuber moth granulosis virus in Phthorimaea operculella cell cultures

International audienc

Origin and destination attachment: study of cultural integration on Twitter

The cultural integration of immigrants conditions their overall socio-economic integration as well as natives’ attitudes towards globalisation in general and immigration in particular. At the same time, excessive integration—or assimilation—can be detrimental in that it implies forfeiting one’s ties to the origin country and eventually translates into a loss of diversity (from the viewpoint of host countries) and of global connections (from the viewpoint of both host and home countries). Cultural integration can be described using two dimensions: the preservation of links to the origin country and culture, which we call origin attachment, and the creation of new links together with the adoption of cultural traits from the new residence country, which we call destination attachment. In this paper we introduce a means to quantify these two aspects based on Twitter data. We build origin and destination attachment indices and analyse their possible determinants (e.g., language proximity, distance between countries), also in relation to Hofstede’s cultural dimension scores. The results stress the importance of language: a common language between origin and destination countries favours origin attachment, as does low proficiency in the host language. Common geographical borders seem to favour both origin and destination attachment. Regarding cultural dimensions, larger differences among origin and destination countries in terms of Individualism, Masculinity and Uncertainty appear to favour destination attachment and lower origin attachment

An Evidence-based Framework for Reporting Student Nurse Medication Incidents: Errors, Near Misses and Discovered Errors

Purpose: To share an evidence-based framework for reporting and analysing three types of medication incidents in an undergraduate nursing program. Incident types include errors, near misses and discovered errors. Background: Medication errors are underreported. Published studies on errors by nursing students indicate that although errors occur during clinical placements, there is a lack of consensus on how the factors that contributed to the errors are reported and analyzed. This limits our understanding of the factors that impact safe medication administration and reduces our ability to apply this knowledge to education and practice. Method: Quality improvement project. Results: Our reporting framework quantifies system factors that are supported by the literature as contributing to errors but not usually captured in incident reporting. Contributing factors for errors and near misses varied. This finding has not been documented in the literature. Conclusion: Nursing schools should prepare nursing students with a strong commitment to report all incidents and provide them with the competencies and a reporting system that allows them to report efficiently and effectively. As these graduates enter the workforce, they can influence the reporting practices of seasoned nurses. The ten factor framework provides nursing schools with the ability to quantify the individual and system factors that influence the safety of the student nurse medication administration process and the opportunity to implement strategies to reduce and/or prevent these incidents from occurring. Objectif : Présenter un cadre fondé sur des résultats probants pour signaler et analyser trois types d’incidents liés aux médicaments dans un programme de premier cycle en sciences infirmières, soit les erreurs, les quasi-incidents et les erreurs découvertes. Contexte : Les erreurs de médication ne sont pas toutes signalées. Les études publiées portant sur les erreurs causées par des étudiantes infirmières indiquent que, même si les erreurs se produisent durant les stages cliniques, la manière de signaler et d’analyser les facteurs contributifs ne fait pas consensus. Cela limite notre compréhension des facteurs influant sur l’administration sécuritaire des médicaments et réduit notre capacité à mettre en application ces connaissances en formation et en pratique. Méthode : Projet d’amélioration de la qualité. Résultats : Notre cadre de signalements quantifie les facteurs systémiques qui, selon la littérature sur le sujet, contribuent à des erreurs, mais ne figurent pas normalement dans les déclarations d’incident. Les facteurs ayant contribué à des erreurs et quasi-incidents étaient variables. Ce résultat n’a pas été rapporté dans la littérature. Conclusion : Les écoles de sciences infirmières devraient enseigner aux étudiantes infirmières l’importance de signaler l’ensemble des incidents tout en leur fournissant les habiletés et un système de déclaration qui leur permet de les déclarer de façon efficace et efficiente. Lorsque les diplômées intègreront le marché du travail, elles pourront influencer les pratiques des infirmières chevronnées en matière de signalement. Le cadre composé de dix facteurs permet aux écoles de sciences infirmières de quantifier les facteurs individuels et systémiques ayant un impact sur la sécurité du processus d’administration des médicaments par des étudiantes infirmières; il leur permet aussi de mettre en œuvre des stratégies de réduction ou de prévention de tels incidents

Magnetic Helicity Generation from the Cosmic Axion Field

The coupling between a primordial magnetic field and the cosmic axion field generates a helical component of the magnetic field around the time in which the axion starts to oscillate. If the energy density of the seed magnetic field is comparable to the energy density of the universe at that time, then the resulting magnetic helicity is about |H_B| \simeq (10^{-20} G)^2 kpc and remains constant after its generation. As a corollary, we find that the standard properties of the oscillating axion remain unchanged even in the presence of very strong magnetic fields.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. Minor revisions and new references adde