Territoriality of giant otter groups in an area with seasonal flooding.

Territoriality carries costs and benefits, which are commonly affected by the spatial and temporal abundance and predictability of food, and by intruder pressure. Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) live in groups that defend territories along river channels during the dry season using chemical signals, loud vocalizations and agonistic encounters. However, little is known about the territoriality of giant otters during the rainy season, when groups leave their dry season territories and follow fish dispersing into flooded areas. The objective of this study was to analyze long-term territoriality of giant otter groups in a seasonal environment. The linear extensions of the territories of 10 giant otter groups were determined based on locations of active dens, latrines and scent marks in each season. Some groups overlapped the limits of neighboring territories. The total territory extent of giant otters was correlated with group size in both seasons. The extent of exclusive territories of giant otter groups was negatively related to the number of adults present in adjacent groups. Territory fidelity ranged from 0 to 100%between seasons. Some groupsmaintained their territory for long periods, which demanded constant effort in marking and re-establishing their territories during the wet season. These results indicate that the defense capacity of groups had an important role in the maintenance of giant otter territories across seasons, which may also affect the reproductive success of alpha pairs

Putting knowledge to work in clinical practice: understanding experiences of preceptorship as outcomes of interconnected domains of learning

Aim: To understand newly qualified nurses’ learning during the preceptorship period. Background: Newly qualified nurses’ learning during their transition to confident professional practice is facilitated by effective and supportive preceptorship. Several studies have alluded to, but not directly investigated or addressed contextual factors which may prevent the delivery of effective and supportive preceptorship. Design: Two-phase ethnographic case study design in three hospital sites in England from 2011-2014. Methods: Phase One included participant observation, interviews with 33 newly qualified nurses, 10 healthcare assistants and 12 ward managers, the design of a tool to develop newly qualified nurses’ delegation skills during their preceptorship period. This tool was piloted in Phase Two with thirteen newly qualified nurses in the same sites. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Constraints on available time for preceptorship, unsupportive ward cultures, and personal learning styles may limit effective preceptorship if time for learning and knowledge recontextualisation is restricted. For newly qualified nurses in supportive ward cultures, limited access to formal preceptorship can be bolstered by team support. Newly qualified nurses in less supportive ward cultures may have both a greater need for preceptorship and have fewer compensatory mechanisms available to them when formal preceptorship is not available. We argue that organisational learning contexts and individual learning styles which facilitate recontextualisation of knowledge in this group of nurses are key to understanding effective preceptorship. Conclusions: This study reports constraints to effective preceptorship which affect newly qualified nurses in their early careers. We recommend a need for greater prioritisation and ‘ring-fencing’ of time for formal preceptorship to ensure newly qualified nurses are appropriately supported in their transition to confident professional practice. Relevance to clinical practice: We discuss ways to improve preceptorship at ward and organizational level through policy, practice and education and suggest future research in this are

Interactional Structure Applied to the Identification and Generation of Visual Interactive Behavior: Robots that (Usually) Follow the Rules

Peer reviewe

Memory and superposition in a spin glass

Non-equilibrium dynamics in a Ag(Mn) spin glass are investigated by measurements of the temperature dependence of the remanent magnetisation. Using specific cooling protocols before recording the thermo- or isothermal remanent magnetisations on re-heating, it is found that the measured curves effectively disclose non-equilibrium spin glass characteristics such as ageing and memory phenomena as well as an extended validity of the superposition principle for the relaxation. The usefulness of this "simple" dc-method is discussed, as well as its applicability to other disordered magnetic systems.Comment: REVTeX style; 8 pages, 4 figure

Delegation and supervision of health care assistants’ work in the daily management of uncertainty and the unexpected in clinical practice: invisible learning among newly qualified nurses

The invisibility of nursing work has been discussed in the international literature but not in relation to learning clinical skills. Evans and Guile’s (2012) theory of recontextualisation is used to explore the ways in which invisible or unplanned and unrecognised learning takes place as newly qualified nurses learn to delegate to and supervise the work of the health care assistant. In the British context, delegation and supervision are thought of as skills which are learnt ‘on the job’. We suggest that learning ‘on-the-job’ is the invisible construction of knowledge in clinical practice and that delegation is a particularly telling area of nursing practice which illustrates invisible learning. Using an ethnographic case study approach in three hospital sites in England from 2011-2014, we undertook participant observation, interviews with newly qualified nurses, ward managers and health care assistants. We discuss the invisible ways newly qualified nurses learn in the practice environment and present the invisible steps to learning which encompass the embodied, affective and social, as much as the cognitive components to learning. We argue that there is a need for greater understanding of the ‘invisible learning’ which occurs as newly qualified nurses learn to delegate and supervise

'Doing the writing' and 'working in parallel': how 'distal nursing' affects delegation and supervision in the emerging role of the newly qualified nurse

Background: The role of the acute hospital nurse has moved away from the direct delivery of patient care and more towards the management of the delivery of bedside care by healthcare assistants. How newly qualified nurses delegate to and supervise healthcare assistants is important as failures can lead to care being missed, duplicated and/or incorrectly performed. Objectives: The data described here form part of a wider study which explored how newly qualified nurses recontextualise knowledge into practice, and develop and apply effective delegation and supervision skills. This article analyses team working between newly qualified nurses and healthcare assistants, and nurses' balancing of administrative tasks with bedside care. Methods and Analysis: Ethnographic case studies were undertaken in three hospital sites in England, using a mixed methods approach involving: participant observations; interviews with 33 newly qualified nurses, 10 healthcare assistants and 12 ward managers. Data were analysed using thematic analysis, aided by the qualitative software NVivo. Findings:Multiple demands upon the newly qualified nurses' time, particularly the pressures tomaintain records, can influence how effectively they delegate to, and supervise, healthcare assistants. While some nurses and healthcare assistants work successfully together, others work ‘in parallel’ rather than as an efficient team. Conclusions: While some ward cultures and individual working styles promote effective team working, others lead to less efficient collaboration between newly qualified nurses and healthcare assistants. In particular the need for qualified nurses to maintain records can create a gap between them, and between nurses and patients. Newly qualified nurses require more assistance in managing their own time and developing successful working relationships with healthcare assistants