19366 research outputs found
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An evaluation of Bachelor of Nursing students’ perceptions of clinical placement experiences.
No full textBackground: The COVID-19 global pandemic had positive and negative impacts on health care workers, including student nurses. Different clinical areas provide unique learning opportunities, with students reporting varying levels of satisfaction across their different clinical placements in the years prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal data evaluating clinical experiences was collected from 2017 until 2022.
Aim: This evaluation sought to determine the pandemic’s impact on student nurses’ perceptions of their clinical experience and identify which clinical learning environments provided optimal learning experiences.
Methods: The study analysed 2,012 datasets using quantitative statistical analysis with a descriptive cross-sectional design. Bachelor of Nursing students at Ara Institute of Canterbury Limited (ARA) completed the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher Scale (CLES+T) survey after completion of their clinical placements.
Findings: Students rated their clinical learning experiences highly (mean 4.5 ±0.5), with no impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the transition to practice (transition) placement was viewed more positively than other clinical areas, and while statistically significant, in this particular context, this difference was deemed to be trivial. This might be attributed to students’ increased readiness to practice in their final semester and having some choice in placement location.
Implications for practice: Nursing management from both clinical providers and tertiary institutions should address lower-scored areas through enhanced preparatory education. Feedback from students can guide nursing management in performance reviews of tertiary and clinical staff, and support nurses and educators to provide quality clinical experiences. Consideration of an alternative questionnaire may improve amount and quality of information gathered to better guide the tertiary institutions and clinical providers. Collaboration between clinical providers and academic institutions as well as building resilience and willingness to change when major events occur are opportunities for consideration, as well as more robust orientation periods within the clinical setting to allow for a better settling in period for students. Early identification and workload support for preceptors, along with robust post-placement debriefings, can help students better connect theory with practice
Nudges and monetary incentives: A green partnership?
No full textShifting individual behaviour is an important tool for addressing environmental issues and there is a wide literature evaluating interventions to encourage pro-environmental behaviour. One important but under-researched area is the effect of combining interventions to affect behaviour. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of two interventions – monetary incentives and nudges – on nature restoration volunteering. We use a two-by-two treatment design to evaluate the individual and combined effects of the interventions in a field experiment setting. We find that the monetary incentive significantly increases volunteering behaviour, despite concerns incentives may crowd out motivation, but that nudging alone is ineffective at shifting behaviour. However, there are considerable positive synergies between the monetary incentive and nudge. The monetary incentive becomes more than twice as effective when it is combined with a nudge. We find support for our theoretical prediction that this synergy arises because the nudge reduces motivational crowding out effects from the incentive. Our results have important policy implications, showing that concerns around motivation crowding out from monetary incentives could be mitigated by simple, low-cost nudges
“It has fundamentally changed how I look at the world”: Exploring the outcomes of polar youth expeditions through self determination theory
No full textFramed by ‘Self-Determination Theory’, this presentation explores the qualitative results of a project that examined the impact of youth polar travel by assessing participants’ pro-environmental behaviour, career choices and ambassadorial activities, up to 18 years after their polar voyage. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a theory of motivation which highlights how purposive activity may fulfil basic psychological needs, triggering intrinsic motivation. The theory is based on the notion that humans choose to participate in activities which contribute to self-growth. Such intrinsic motivation is believed to lead to a deeper understanding of the need for behaviour change from within, supposedly triggering long-term differences within the individual, an outcome which lies at the core of many polar youth expeditions. In this study, research participants were recruited from the 2,500+ alumni of Students on Ice (SOI), a Canadian-based charitable organisation that leads educational expeditions to the Polar Regions for international high school and university students. Established in 1999, SOI offers bespoke educational expeditions to the Antarctic and the Arctic, with a mandate to provide students, educators, and scientists with inspiring educational opportunities at the Poles and, in doing so, to help participants foster a new understanding of and respect for the environment. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach and was co-designed with SOI with data collected via an online survey (n=217). The key components of self-determination theory (including autonomy, competence and relatedness) are used to present the qualitative data and frame how meaningful experiences and post-travel outcomes were created by the expedition. Initial analysis indicates that immersion in the polar environment creates a lasting impact on participants’ self-determination to make positive change in their own lives and in their wider communities
Climate-smart agriculture for a sustainable future
No full textAs we celebrate and appreciate our natural resources and surroundings today on World Environment Day, we are also acutely aware of the rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events like droughts and floods that devastate the planet
Integral health farming
No full textSociety is increasingly aware of the connection between the health of the land, of animals and of humans. Visions of ‘foodscapes’ and ‘healthscapes’ are eclipsing the conventional view of landscapes focussed solely on production. Livestock production farming systems must co-evolve with this thinking. Lincoln University has designed and is implementing the Integral Health Dairy Farm (IHDF) to test and communicate these new and transformational systems views. Its objective is to innovate, to demonstrate and to manage a tangible transition from current practices to a system designed to enhance health, from the ground up. This includes measured improvements in soil, plant, animal, human and community health. In this ‘comment’, we focus on applied scientific integration of the ‘One health approach’ into agricultural systems of livestock, presenting our initial design and prototyping processes, as well as how it continues as the project moves from the drawing board to implementation, benefiting from a growing network of supporters and collaborators
An assessment of cumulative CO₂ efflux as proxy of organic matter turnover time in the soil priming effect: Analysis using the lumped parameter approach
No full textSoil microbes respond to fresh organic matter in soil by altering their respiration rate and hence the cumulative CO₂ efflux (henceforth called efflux) from soil. Parallelly, perturbed microbial respiration alters organic matter recalcitrance. Consequently, the turnover time of two carbon pools, namely recalcitrant soil organic matter and active microbial biomass, changes. The former outcome is the real, and the latter outcome the apparent soil priming effect (PE). Either or both PEs can occur. If pool turnover time changes, then the pool efflux necessarily changes. The PE is therefore widely measured using the pool efflux as proxy of pool turnover time since the latter cannot be measured directly. Typically, labelled experiments are performed to identify the carbon source in the efflux. We identify a caveat in this procedure. If soil PEs in multiple locations are compared, the initial soil carbon content per unit soil mass varies across locations, becoming a confounding variable. We propose a correction for this confounding effect. We also propose a simulation methodology to identify the two PEs from the total efflux without the need of expensive and onerous labelled experiments. A lumped parameter multi-carbon pool model is developed, in which the turnover time of the two carbon pools corresponds to two distinct model parameters. This model structure allows defining the two PEs by the change in the relevant model parameter value in treatment relative to control. Applying the definition to experimental data arising from glucose addition to loamy Haplic Luvisol soil gives results consistent with microbial ecology
Unveiling a microexon switch: novel regulation of the activities of sugar assimilation and plant-cell-wall-degrading xylanases and cellulases by Xlr2 in Trichoderma virens
No full textFunctional microexons have not previously been described in filamentous fungi. Here, we describe a novel mechanism of transcriptional regulation in Trichoderma requiring the inclusion of a microexon from the Xlr2 gene. In low-glucose environments, a long mRNA including the microexon encodes a protein with a GAL4-like DNA-binding domain (Xlr2-∝), whereas in high-glucose environments, a short mRNA that is produced encodes a protein lacking this DNA-binding domain (Xlr2-β). Interestingly, the protein isoforms differ in their impact on cellulase and xylanase activity. Deleting the Xlr2 gene reduced both xylanase and cellulase activity and growth on different carbon sources, such as carboxymethylcellulose, xylan, glucose, and arabinose. The overexpression of either Xlr2-∝ or Xlr2-β in T. virens showed that the short isoform (Xlr2-β) caused higher xylanase activity than the wild types or the long isoform (Xlr2-∝). Conversely, cellulase activity did not increase when overexpressing Xlr2-β but was increased with the overexpression of Xlr2-∝. This is the first report of a novel transcriptional regulation mechanism of plant-cell-wall-degrading enzyme activity in T. virens. This involves the differential expression of a microexon from a gene encoding a transcriptional regulator
The effects of purchase and consumption on beef quality attribute beliefs: A study of tourists visiting Vanuatu
No full textTourists’ gastronomic experiences are integral to their overall travel satisfaction. Understanding the factors influencing tourists’ perceptions of local cuisine quality is crucial. This study explores the development of quality attribute beliefs among tourists unfamiliar with Vanuatu beef. It focuses on credence and experience quality attributes and their evolution through the purchasing and consumption of Vanuatu beef, considering the influence of personal factors on attribute beliefs. Data from 200 tourists in Vanuatu was analysed using factor analysis, means comparison, and multiple linear regression. The results highlight the influence of tourists’ pre-existing beliefs on credence quality attributes, impacting their post-purchase and consumption beliefs. Additionally, personal factors, especially the importance of credence attributes, significantly affect pre- and post-purchase beliefs about experience quality attributes. However, the importance of experience attributes only affects post-purchase beliefs regarding credence attributes. This research provides valuable insights into the formation of tourists’ beliefs about the quality attributes of local cuisine. The findings are particularly significant as tourists’ gastronomic experiences are closely tied to their overall travel satisfaction. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for enhancing tourists’ experiences in Vanuatu and similar destinations
The liquid milk market in Sri Lanka - Analysis of demand and consumer preference : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University
No full textIn Sri Lanka, domestic milk production has increased considerably in the last decade, but fresh milk
consumption has been decreasing annually. Before the advent of open economic policies in 1977, 80
per cent of the country's requirements were fulfilled through domestic milk. Now it only accounts for
45 per cent of domestic requirements, with the balance being met through the importation of dairy
products. A particular feature of Sri Lanka is that milk powder consumption has increased dramatically
and almost 95 per cent of imports are in the form of powders. The current economic crisis in Sri Lanka
has increased the prices for imported food products, particularly milk powder, due to the depreciation
of Sri Lankan currency value against the U.S. dollar. Milk powder, which was earlier easily accessible
and affordable, is now difficult to access and expensive. Liquid milk is seen to have nutritional
advantages over powdered milk and there also appear to be opportunities to replace imported milk
powder with domestically produced liquid milk in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study investigates the
demand for milk products in Sri Lanka and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the key attributes
of liquid milk.
The first objective of this study was to estimate the demand for disaggregated milk products, such as
fresh liquid milk, milk powder, and flavoured liquid milk. Multi-stage budgeting approach and a
QUAIDS model were used to estimate the price and expenditure elasticities. Empirical evidence from
demand estimation revealed that households are price sensitive to all the disaggregated milk products
considered in this study. Specifically, households are more sensitive to price changes in fresh liquid
milk than milk powder and flavored liquid milk. Moreover, the findings of this study revealed that all
the disaggregated milk products considered are substitutes for each other, and a strong substitution
relationship exists between milk powder and fresh liquid milk.
The second objective of this study used a choice experiment approach to estimate the respondents’
preferences and WTP for liquid milk attributes in Sri Lanka. This study focuses on five attributes of
liquid milk—milk fat, processing technology, food safety measures, packaging, and price. A random
parameter logit model was used to estimate WTP for the attributes of liquid milk since consumers'
preferences are heterogeneous. The findings of this study revealed that respondents on average prefer
low-fat milk to whole milk, pasteurization and UHT processing technology to no processing, an increase
in food safety measures to no change, and reusable packaging to single-service packaging. They are
also willing to pay more for these attributes. The results revealed that preferences for milk attributes
are heterogeneous, indicating that consumers with different sociodemographic characteristics prefer
different levels of attributes.
The findings of this study will enable policymakers, marketers, and milk processing companies to
understand the demand for milk products and consumer preferences for liquid milk attributes while
providing information to develop products with varying attribute levels to meet consumers’
expectations and enhance competitiveness. Notably, policymakers can utilize elasticity estimates to
formulate appropriate policies to improve the domestic dairy industry as well as the overall well-being
and nutrition of the Sri Lankan population
On-animal sensors may predict paddock level pasture mass in rotationally grazed dairy systems
No full textPrecision livestock farming aims to improve animal welfare and farm management using digital technology. We investigated the potential of individual on-animal sensors to predict paddock-level pasture mass, an important metric for grazing management in pasture-based dairy systems. The study consisted of four groups of 25 cows assigned to different pasture allocations (ranging from an estimated 80% to 120% of their energy requirements) over two 20-day experimental periods (late spring and late summer). Each cow was fitted with five sensors that measured a range of behaviours, including rumination time, eating/grazing time, activity and lying time. These data were used to build predictive models of pasture mass, which was estimated by calibrated rising plate meter. Our results show that rumination time was the most critical behaviour for predicting paddock-level pasture mass; the best predicted was post-grazing pasture mass (kg DM/ha) with a maximum Adjusted-R² value of 0.58 using a linear model. Including pasture and behaviour data at less than 24-hour resolution did not improve model performance, likely due to the importance of rumination, which is a diurnal behaviour. It is unclear whether this level of predictive ability is practically useful for making grazing management decisions; however, given its near real-time nature, low effort, and objectivity, the approach may provide value to farmers. Further evaluation is needed to determine how providing these data affects farmers' decision-making processes and therefore its value. In conclusion, our proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates the potential of individual on-animal sensors to predict post-grazing pasture mass, and this could help farmers make informed decisions for grazing management