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Intensive Observations (intensive + observation)
Selected AbstractsNursing in a technological environment: Nursing care in the operating roomINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NURSING PRACTICE, Issue 1 2006Rosalind Bull BApplSc(Nsg) MN PhD Operating room nurses continue to draw criticism regarding the appropriateness of a nursing presence in the operating room. The technological focus of the theatre and the ways in which nurses in the theatre have shaped and reshaped their practice in response to technological change have caused people within and outside the nursing profession to question whether operating room nursing is a technological rather than nursing undertaking. This paper reports findings from an ethnographic study that was conducted in an Australian operating department. The study examined the contribution of nurses to the work of the operating room through intensive observation and ethnographic interviews. This paper uses selected findings from the study to explore the ways in which nurses in theatre interpret their role in terms of caring in a technological environment. [source] Distribution and abundance of patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) in Laikipia, Kenya, 1979,2004AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 11 2007Lynne A. Isbell Abstract Patas monkeys may be especially vulnerable to local extinction because they live in relatively small, female-philopatric groups at low densities and are strongly polygynous. We assessed a patas monkey population in Kenya's 9,700 km2 Laikipia District over 25 years, using data collected in 1979,1981 and 1992,2004. The data were based on intensive observations of three study groups, "on the ground" counts, and surveys of Laikipia residents. In 1979,1981, a minimum of 415 patas monkeys lived in 14,15 groups. By 2000, the best estimate suggested 310,445 patas monkeys living in 13,17 groups over a greater surveyed area, suggesting that patas monkeys in Laikipia may have undergone a slight decline in numbers over time. Their distribution, however, was similar over time. The relative stability of this population has likely been the result of beneficial co-existence with large-scale cattle ranching. Outside Laikipia, substantial habitat alteration from rising human populations has coincided with the near disappearance of patas monkeys where they were previously more numerous. The small population in Laikipia, probably the largest remaining in Kenya, may therefore be critical to the continued existence of patas monkeys in that country and may be dependent on maintenance of large-scale ranches. Such land use provides patas monkeys with water and broad expanses of Acacia drepanolobium woodlands, the habitat to which patas are restricted in Laikipia. Am. J. Primatol. 69:1223,1235, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Convective mixing in a tropopause foldTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 599 2004H. J. Reid Abstract We present a case study of the passage of a tropopause fold over the UK behind a cold front, with emphasis on the mixing caused by convection extending into the fold. The event took place on 15,16 January 1999, and was the subject of intensive observations using the Met Office C130 aircraft and the mesosphere,stratosphere,troposphere (MST) radar at Aberystwyth. Here we concentrate on radar and satellite observations during the afternoon of 16 January, when the surface cold front had passed over the UK. A tongue of moist air moved north-eastwards over Wales at 700 hPa at this time, which, because of the very dry air in the fold above, resulted in potential instability. The resulting convection was clearly observed in NOAA satellite images. The MST radar depicted the passage of the cold front and tropopause fold as a layer of high-echo power and vertical wind shear ascending with time. Spectral widths showed the fold to be free of turbulence until 1200 UTC on 16 January, when convection was observed reaching into the frontal zone and generating turbulence. Eddy dissipation and diffusivity rates of 8.6 mW kg,1 and 8.5 m2s,1, respectively, were derived for this event. To place these figures in context, they are compared with corresponding rates derived for sixteen other passages of tropopause folds over the radar, each resulting from shear rather than convective instability. The convective event is found to be comparable to the strongest shear events, and to correspond to moderate turbulence as experienced by an aircraft. This process is of potential importance for atmospheric chemistry because it mixes boundary layer air directly with stratospheric air over a timescale of 1,2 hours. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Spatial and temporal variability in predation on rainforest primates: do forest fragmentation and predation act synergistically?ANIMAL CONSERVATION, Issue 3 2009M. T. Irwin Abstract Predation is a constant risk for most primates, impacting demography, population dynamics, activity patterns and social behaviour. Data are limited on both the rates of predation and its spatial and temporal variability. We present long-term observations of Cryptoprocta ferox predation on rainforest sifakas in Madagascar, Propithecus diadema at Tsinjoarivo (22 group years) and Propithecus edwardsi at Ranomafana (73 group years), derived from intensive observations based on ongoing behavioural studies. Average per capita offtake rates are relatively low (0.06,0.07), but temporal variability is high (kills are clumped in time). This is consistent with Cryptoprocta ecology; individual home ranges are much larger than sifaka ranges, and individuals may hunt in a subsection of their range until prey density is decreased, then move on. These results have broad implications. First, in terms of the evolution of anti-predator strategies, it now becomes important to ask: (1) whether average or peak predation rates determine the strength of selection and (2) whether antipredator strategies (e.g. vigilance, sleeping site selection) fluctuate interannually, reflecting recent experience. Second, in terms of population ecology, Cryptoprocta may have disproportionately large impacts on the (small) sifaka groups, even driving groups to extinction (as observed at both sites). Third, the disappearance of groups has important implications for conservation. When this happens in continuous forest (as at Ranomafana), home ranges will likely be re-filled over time, whereas in isolated forest fragments (as at Tsinjoarivo), recolonization is less likely. Thus, conservation planners should consider predation as a potentially important proximate cause of extirpation in fragmented landscapes, even when resource density and quality could otherwise sustain populations. Considering the effects of predation can be useful in (1) decisions regarding the allocation of limited conservation resources, including which landscapes to invest resources in and (2) investigating ways to increase resilience of prey species. [source] | ||||||||||