Food habits of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) off Oregon and northern California, 1986–2007

We described the diet of the eastern stock of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) from 1416 scat samples collected from five sites in Oregon and northern California from 1986 through 2007. A total of 47 prey types from 30 families were identified. The most common prey was Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), followed by salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.), skates (Rajidae), Pacific lamprey (Lampetra tridentata), herrings (Clupeidae), rockfish (Sebastes spp.), and northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax). Steller sea lion diet composition varied seasonally, annually, and spatially. Hake and salmonids were the most commonly identified prey in scats collected during the summer (breeding season), whereas hake and skate were most common in the nonbreeding season. Continued research on Steller sea lion diet and foraging behavior in the southern extent of their range is necessary to address issues such as climate change, interaction with competing California sea lions, and predation impacts on valuable or sensitive fish stocks

Determining the Relationship Among Change Fatigue, Resilience, and Job Satisfaction of Hospital Staff Nurses

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine if there is a relationship among change fatigue, resilience, and job satisfaction of hospital staff nurses and if differences exist between novice and experienced staff nurses. Background: Healthcare is typified by change. Organizational changes have a negative impact on nurses and the effects of organizational change are being overlooked and under researched. Change fatigue is a result of constant organizational change and has not been researched with nurses. Methods: The study utilized a descriptive correlational design. Participants completed an online survey, using three tools: Change Fatigue Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and McCloskey/Mueller Satisfaction Scale (MMSS). Results: The participants were 535 hospital staff nurses. The findings of the study report a significant difference between novice and experienced staff nurses in change fatigue (t = -2.9, p = .003), resilience (t = -2.3, p =.01), and job satisfaction (t= -2.0, p = .04). Experienced nurses had higher change fatigue, resilience, and job satisfaction mean scores. The study also found a significant negative association between change fatigue and job satisfaction (r = -.295, p = .000) and change fatigue and resilience (r = -.145, p .002). A significant positive association was found between resilience and job satisfaction (r =.251, p = .000). Multiple linear regression found that years of experience was not significant with change fatigue, resilience, and job satisfaction. Magnet status, unit employed, and marital status are predictor variables of job satisfaction. Education and unit employed are predictor variables of resilience. Education, gender, and hospital size are predictor variables of change fatigue. Linear trend found as size of facility and number of beds increases, change fatigue increases and as education increases, change fatigue decreases. Conclusions: The study provided new knowledge of the relationship among change fatigue, resilience, and job satisfaction of hospital staff nurses. This new knowledge will assist nursing leaders to become more aware of the effects of change fatigue and develop interventions to prevent change fatigue of hospital staff nurses, which in turn may increase job satisfaction and retention rates

Richard P. McCormick, Roger McDonough, John T. Cunningham and the Writing of New Jersey History, 1947-1969

Richard P. McCormick, John T. Cunningham, and Roger H. McDonough are often spoken of together as having a remarkable impact on the field of New Jersey history. Exploring that narrative demonstrated that the story was much more complicated than that. McCormick had a great gift for gathering allies. The most prominent of his allies, when dealing with public history, were Cunningham and McDonough, for very different reasons. The narrative also highlights the contributions of Donald Sinclair, Clifford Lord, Robert Lunny, Bernard Bush, Miriam Studley, Charles Cummings, Donald Cameron and many others. Together they renovated and reenergized the New Jersey Historical Society. They created, structured and supported the explosion of energy during the Tercentenary celebration. Finally, they left us with a long-term public history infrastructure, with the launching of the New Jersey Historical Commission, the Historic Sites Council and the New Jersey Historic Trust. This story was also a reflection of a different era. New Jersey in the post World War II era was a smaller state, with a much more stable and homogeneous population. The post-war boom generated a golden age of building and expansion. It was an age when the entrepreneurial spirit stimulated new programs and built mainly in concrete and marble. New libraries were built and several New Jersey history collections matured, a vital counterpoint to the growth of New Jersey history as a field

Bioassessment of the West Fork of the White River, Northwest Arkansas

The West Fork-White River has been and continues to be an important water resource for northwest Arkansas. It is used recreationally for fishing and swimming, agriculturally as a source of water for livestock and irrigation of crops, it is mined for gravel, used as a receiving stream for municipal wastewater effluent, and contributes to Beaver Lake which provides water for treatment and distribution to most of northwest Arkansas. While these uses have benefited a large segment of the Arkansas population, they have also contributed to the decline in environmental quality of the river. To facilitate the development of appropriate management protocols and assess restoration potential, we provided a biological assessment of the West ForkWhite River to complement studies of its physical and chemical properties. This holistic evaluation can be used presently, and to track changes in the environmental quality of the river in the future

Designing Sugaropolis:digital games as a medium for conveying transnational narratives

In this paper, the authors present a case study of ‘Sugaropolis’: a two-year practice-based project that involved interdisciplinary co-design and stakeholder evaluation of two digital game prototypes. Drawing on the diverse expertise of the research team (game design and development, human geography, and transnational narratives), the paper aims to contribute to debates about the use of digital games as a medium for representing the past. With an emphasis on design-as-research, we consider how digital games can be (co-)designed to communicate complex histories and geographies in which people, objects, and resources are connected through space and time

Finding the future:evolving interaction design

The main aim of this project is to design and prototype a simplified example of a mobile operating system that makes use of both edge swipe control and 'smart' graphical instructions. The research will consider how these methods can be used to design a truly inclusive and accessible interface. The effectiveness of these features will be validated through user experiments and focus groups over the course of the project, with the findings of user testing used to inform design practice

On the Significance of Psychodynamic Discourse for the Field of Consciousness Studies

Despite the obvious confluence of concerns between psychodynamic psychology and the emerging field of consciousness studies, the extent to which psychodynamic thinking has factored into the consciousness literature has been limited. With widespread interest in “the unconscious” having significantly diminished, the present paper asks what might be implied in the shift towards the notion of “consciousness”—what about this cross-disciplinary designation has come to attract attention not only within the academic world, but also in the popular press? That the term does indeed invite contributions from a variety of disciplines makes the field both a meeting space, and a battleground. It is posited that the field of consciousness studies can be considered both a reaction to, and a reflection of, the evolving nature of psychoanalysis in the English-speaking world. After demonstrating the ways in which depth psychological discourse is implicated in the debates around consciousness, the author suggests why the notion of an unconscious mind might profitably be adopted in the consciousness literature. Stressing the clinical and ethical significance of an assumed capacity for creative autonomy in individuals, this paper grounds itself in a fundamental concern for the sociopolitical dimensions of the consciousness debates

Effectiveness of lift-assisted training in developing upper body strength in females

Subjects included 17 female college students, aged 19 to 44 yrs. Subjects were assigned to 1 of 3 specific training protocols and performed lift-assisted (LA) pull-ups (PU) and/or LA bar dips (BD) for a period of 12 weeks. PU and BD performance were compared at 0, 4, 8 and 12 weeks training. Flexed arm hang (FAH), modified pull-up (MPU) and push-up exercises were compared at 0 and 12 weeks. A 3 x 4 (group by time) repeated measures factorial was used for the PU and BD tests, and a 3 x 2 (group by time) factorial was used for the FAH, MPU and push-up tests. There was significant interaction on the PU {dollar}(F = 4.28,\ p = .0019){dollar} and FAH {dollar}(F = 4.79,\ p = .0260).{dollar} There was a significant main effect for time on the BD test {dollar}(F = 33.16,\ p = 0.0001).{dollar} There was a main effect for group, and a main effect for time on the MPU and push-up tests. Group II (PU) significantly improved on the PU from 4 weeks ({dollar}\bar\times{dollar} 0.583) to 12 weeks ({dollar}\bar\times{dollar} 3.41), and Group I (PU/BD) and Group II were significantly better than Group III (BD). All Groups significantly improved on the BD from 4 weeks ({dollar}\bar\times{dollar} 1.9) to 8 weeks ({dollar}\bar\times{dollar} 3.59), and from 8 weeks to 12 weeks ({dollar}\bar\times{dollar} 5.8). Group II (PU) significantly improved on all 5 tests. Group I (PU/BD) significantly improved on all tests except the PU. Group III (BD) significantly improved on the BD, MPU and push-up tests

Why does He Hit Her? Content Analysis of Protection from Abuse Orders

According to FBI statistics, each year 3.3 million wives and 250,000 husbands receive severe beatings from their spouses. This research tries to answer the question of why one human being would want to abuse another. More specifically, what is the function, purpose, or pay off of all this violence? This research identifies key features in Protection from Abuse Order Affidavits that are indicative of motives underlying interpersonal abuse. This was done by using content analysis that will aim to uncover such motives by relating the abusive behavior to the circumstances under which the perpetrator enacted them and the personal and interpersonal consequences they brought about. Three questions guide this research. First, what do documents such as Protection from Abuse Order Affidavits reveal about the abusive actions the perpetrator took against the victim? Second, what do such documents reveal about the circumstances under which the abuse occurred and about the consequences of the abuse? And third, which conclusions can be drawn from these documents about the perpetrator\u27s motives for abuse? Upon completion of the content analysis the following motives were discovered: 1. Attacks on the woman\u27s attempt to leave the relationship. 2. Punishment, coercion, and retaliation against the woman\u27s actions concerning children. 3. Coercion or retaliation against the woman\u27s pursuit of court or police remedies. 4. Assaults upon the woman\u27s challenges to drinking and to other dimensions of male authority. 5. Attempts to try to control where she goes, whom she sees, and with whom she talks. By looking at these perpetrators\u27 motives for the abuse I believe we will be better able to help victims free themselves from terror and fear and to hold batterers accountable for their actions. I believe that this research into motives for abuse will help us to understand the goals and meanings that violence may have for an abusive individual and to improve our efforts to stop interpersonal abuse