Do Family Relationships Affect Team Performance?

Nepotism refers to the practice of giving preferential treatment to family members and is prohibited in some work organizations. Common anti-nepotism policies are often based on the unsubstantiated assumption that family relationships negatively affect performance. This study challenges this assumption with the hypothesis that family relationships improve team performance. The theoretical basis for this hypothesis is grounded in the literature examining team processes. Research suggests that coordination is an important team process, and that family members coordinate more effectively than non-family members. Thus, it is reasonable to suspect that familial relationships in teams will lead to better – rather than worse team performance. To test this hypothesis, over 100 years of performance data from 477 men\u27s college basketball teams were analyzed. Results suggest that familial relationships in teams is positively related to better team performance

Embedding Interprofessional Activities with Physical Therapy and Athletic Training Students in Shared Professional Course

Introduction and Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) is outlined in many health professions education standards creating an increased demand for its inclusion in already crowded curricula with limited faculty and financial resources. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) developed “Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice” that outline a framework for meaningful IPE experiences. Case-based learning activities have been used to foster improvements in interprofessional role clarity, communication, and rapport among student groups. The authors describe one trial of incorporating interprofessional and team work activities in a shared professional course and report on student learning outcomes in the context of IPEC competencies. Course Design: In an existing shared professional course, athletic training (AT) and physical therapy (PT) students were exposed to an interprofessional teaching team and engaged in team work activities during lab sessions. Students were also assigned to interprofessional (IP) and uniprofessional (UP) teams to complete four case-based learning activities regarding the application of therapeutic modalities in various patient cases. Students then wrote critical reflections of their experiences working in teams. Instructors evaluated these reflections in the context of eight relevant IPEC sub-competencies. Outcomes: Both IP and UP groups of students were able to articulate the demonstration of each of the eight IPEC sub-competencies, suggesting that incorporating a variety of interprofessional and team work activities in a shared professional course may offer a valuable IPE experience that promotes development of students’ collaboration skills. Discussion and Conclusion: Embedding IPE in existing curricula could be a viable way to overcome many of the challenges faced by health professions programs, meet IPE accreditation standards, and prepare students for interprofessional collaborative practice

Interprofessional Role Clarity, Case-Based Learning, and Perceptions of Group Effectiveness Among Athletic Training and Physical Therapy Students in a Shared Professional Course

Purpose: Health professions students experience professional socialization during their program of study. Institutions have turned to interprofessional education as a means of preparing students for their role as collaborative health care professionals. This study examines the effect of case-based learning experiences in a shared professional Therapeutic Modalities course on student’s interprofessional role clarity as well as the relationship between interprofessional role clarity and measure of group effectiveness. Methods: 112 students (22 Athletic Training and 90 Physical Therapy) were assigned to one of 18 interprofessional and 18 uniprofessional teams and asked to complete four case-based learning activities. All students completed pre-test, retrospective pre-test, and post-test role clarity/ambiguity scales. Measures of team viability, team member satisfaction, and self-rated output were collected post-intervention. Results: Results suggest the experience of interacting with one another in this course, including during case-based learning activities, may lead to increased knowledge of other’s roles and responsibilities as shown in the retrospective pre-test and post-test role clarity differences. Additionally, role clarity has meaningful relationships with measures of perceived group effectiveness, particularly team viability and self-rated output. Conclusion: We suggest that health professions educators consider incorporating case-based learning activities into existing curricula to introduce other professions’ roles and engage students in teamwork

Citizen science enables a new locality record for a critically endangered toad, Peltophryne Florentinoi Moreno & Rivalta, 2007

The Zapata Toad (Peltophryne florentinoi) is reported from a new locality, Guajimico, which extends the distribution of this species to the Cienfuegos Province, in the central region of Cuba

Selection of shrimp breeders free of white spot syndrome and infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis

The objective of this work was to select surviving breeders of Litopenaeus vannamei from white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) outbreak, adapted to local climatic conditions and negatively diagnosed for WSSV and infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), and to evaluate if this strategy is a viable alternative for production in Santa Catarina, Brazil. A total of 800 males and 800 females were phenotypically selected in a farm pond. Nested-PCR analyses of 487 sexually mature females and 231 sexually mature males showed that 63% of the females and 55% of the males were infected with IHHNV. Animals free of IHHNV were tested for WSSV, and those considered double negative were used for breeding. The post-larvae produced were stocked in nine nursery tanks for analysis. From the 45 samples, with 50 post-larvae each, only two were positive for IHHNV and none for WSSV. Batches of larvae diagnosed free of virus by nested-PCR were sent to six farms. A comparative analysis was carried out in growth ponds, between local post-larvae and post-larvae from Northeast Brazil. Crabs (Chasmagnathus granulata), blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus), and sea hares (Aplysia brasiliana), which are possible vectors of these viruses, were also evaluated. The mean survival was 55% for local post-larvae against 23.4% for post-larvae from the Northeast. Sea hares showed prevalence of 50% and crabs of 67% of WSSV

Paradoxical Exception to Island Tameness: Increased Defensiveness in an Insular Population of Rattlesnakes

Island tameness results largely from a lack of natural predators. Because some insular rattlesnake populations lack functional rattles, presumably the consequence of relaxed selection from reduced predation, we hypothesized that the Santa Catalina Island, California, USA, population of the southern Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus helleri, which possesses a functional rattle), would exhibit a decrement in defensive behavior relative to their mainland counterparts. Contrary to our prediction, rattlesnakes from the island not only lacked tameness compared to mainland snakes, but instead exhibited measurably greater levels of defensiveness. Island snakes attempted to bite 4.7 times more frequently as we endeavored to secure them by hand, and required 2.1-fold more time to be pinned and captured. When induced to bite a beaker after being grasped, the island snakes also delivered 2.1-fold greater quantities of venom when controlling for body size. The additional venom resulted from 2.1-fold larger pulses of venom ejected from the fangs. We found no effects of duration in captivity (2–36 months), which suggests an absence of long-term habituation of antipredator behaviors. Breeding bird surveys and Christmas bird counts indicated reduced population densities of avian predators on Catalina compared to the mainland. However, historical estimates confirmed that populations of foxes and introduced mammalian predators (cats and pigs) and antagonists (herbivorous ungulates) substantially exceeded those on the mainland in recent centuries, and therefore best explain the paradoxically exaggerated defensive behaviors exhibited by Catalina’s rattlesnakes. These findings augment our understanding of anthropogenic effects on the behaviors of island animals and underscore how these effects can negatively affect human safety