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IntroductionIntegrated social and ecological processes shape urban plant communities, but the temporal dynamics and potential for change in these managed communities have rarely been explored. In residential yards, which cover about 40% of urban land area, individuals make decisions that control vegetation outcomes. These decisions may lead to relatively static plant composition and structure, as residents seek to expend little effort to maintain stable landscapes. Alternatively, residents may actively modify plant communities to meet their preferences or address perceived problems, or they may passively allow them to change. In this research, we ask, how and to what extent does residential yard vegetation change over time?MethodsWe conducted co-located ecological surveys of yards (in 2008, 2018, and 2019) and social surveys of residents (in 2018) in four diverse neighborhoods of Phoenix, Arizona.Results94% of residents had made some changes to their front or back yards since moving in. On average, about 60% of woody vegetation per yard changed between 2008 and 2018, though the number of species present did not differ significantly. In comparison, about 30% of woody vegetation changed in native Sonoran Desert reference areas over 10 years. In yards, about 15% of woody vegetation changed on average in a single year, with up to 90% change in some yards. Greater turnover was observed for homes that were sold, indicating a “pulse” of management. Additionally, we observed greater vegetation turnover in the two older, lawn-dominated neighborhoods surveyed despite differences in neighborhood socioeconomic factors.DiscussionThese results indicate that residential plant communities are dynamic over time. Neighborhood age and other characteristics may be important drivers of change, while socioeconomic status neither promotes nor inhibits change at the neighborhood scale. Our findings highlight an opportunity for management interventions, wherein residents may be open to making conservation-friendly changes if they are already altering the composition of their yards.

Background: The evidence-based practice (EBP) process was challenged during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic by factors such as a novel disease, rapidly changing guidelines, shortage of personal protective equipment, and other health care supplies., Objectives: Our aims were to (1) explore sources of evidence sought by critical care nurses during a pandemic and (2) explore nurses' perceptions of EBP., Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted using deidentified data from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (ACCN) open-access Facebook page, January 28 to April 30, 2020., Results: Two major themes were identified: (1) "sharing and seeking evidence," that is, nurses used both formal and informal sources to explore evidence supporting evolving clinical practices, and (2) "concerns about evidence," that is, nurses expressed concerns about lack of evidence and mistrust of evolving evidence., Discussion: Initially, there was a mismatch in nurses' expectations of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Facebook page. A major limitation of Facebook is the lack of a repository for quick retrieval of information. Despite these limitations, and fear and mistrust of changing guidelines, social media was used to communicate, collaborate, and share evidence to support clinical practice. Critical care nurses seemed to value evidence to support patient management and their personal safety during this evolving health crisis., Conclusions: Social media played a large role in dissemination of timely evidence-based information during the early pandemic. Our results show that current EBP models should be revised to prepare for future crises and include direction for dealing with limited health care resources, and lack of and/or rapidly changing evidence., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Enhancing clinical expertise of novice nurses is a challenge for nursing professional development practitioners. Time and availability of expert preceptors are limited. This article describes a process evaluation project using a specific method of cognitive skills training to expose inexperienced nurses to expert thinking and help them develop more advanced cognitive skills. Development of scenarios, decision points, and expert rationale is described along with project outcomes and lessons learned. Nursing professional development practitioners and inexperienced nurses may benefit from using this method.

Decreased discomfort after colonoscopy is a high priority for patients. Typically, air is used to insufflate the bowel during colonoscopy, but emerging literature shows that carbon dioxide insufflation decreases postoperative discomfort and flatus. An evidence-based practice project was developed and implemented by a surgical department at a community hospital. The Director of Surgical Services brought the evidence to the staff, secured agreement from a physician champion, and the new process was quickly adopted. Patients experienced less discomfort and flatus postprocedure with carbon dioxide insufflation, and were able to be discharged expediently. These patient outcomes validated the literature and confirmed the success of the practice change.

Though individual assessments are widely used in selection settings, very little research exists to support their criterion-related validity. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted of 39 individual assessment validation studies. For the current research, individual assessments were defined as any employee selection procedure that involved (a) multiple assessment methods, (b) administered to an individual examinee, and (c) relying on assessor judgment to integrate the information into an overall evaluation of the candidate's suitability for a job. Assessor recommendations were found to be useful predictors of job performance, although the level of validity varied considerably across studies. Validity tended to be higher for managerial than nonmanagerial occupations and for assessments that included a cognitive ability test. Validity was not moderated by the degree of standardization of the assessment content or by use of multiple assessors for each candidate. However, higher validities were found when the same assessor was used across all candidates than when different assessors evaluated different candidates. These results should be interpreted with caution, given a small number of studies for many of the moderator subgroups as well as considerable evidence of publication bias. These limitations of the available research base highlight the need for additional empirical work to inform individual assessment practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.)

Delirium in the intensive care unit is prevalent and a topic of high interest. Although it has been studied a great deal, screening, prevention, and management remain difficult. There are many causes of delirium and equally as many approaches to prevention and treatment. Two case studies sharing the challenges and successes of education, prevention, and treatment of delirium are presented in the context of complex adaptive systems., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Enzymatic recognition of SeLNA nucleotides was investigated. KOD XL DNA polymerase was found to be an efficient enzyme in primer extension reactions. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of SeLNA-modified DNA templates was also efficiently achieved by Phusion and KOD XL DNA polymerases.