Toxicity of fipronil was evaluated against field-collected Coptoteres formosanus Shiraki. In topical application assays, fipronil was highly effective against both workers and soldiers at very low doses. Acute toxicity after 24 h was significantly greater in workers than in soldiers. The LD50s were 2.59- and 2.91-fold greater with soldiers than with workers from the two tested colonies. The LD50s of fipronil at 72 h after treatment were <2.0 ng/insect, with no significant differences regarding the tested workers/soldiers or colonies. Treated soldiers placed with untreated workers significantly increased worker mortality. However, there was no significant horizontal transmission of fipronil from treated workers to untreated soldiers. Fipronil at rates of 0.063% or less showed no repellency, whereas sand treatments of 0.125% fipronil were repellent to termite workers.

Toxicity and behavioral effects of nootkatone and two of its derivatives, 1,10-dihydronootkatone and tetrahydronootkatone, to Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki were investigated on workers from two different colonies by using topical application assays, repellency assays, and sand barrier assays. The acute toxicity of the nootkatones on workers from both colonies increased as the saturation of the molecule increased, but the difference was significant for only one colony. The results of the repellency assays showed a similar trend of efficiency; the threshold concentration for significant repellency was four-fold higher in nootkatone treatments (50 ppm) than in the reduced derivatives 1,10-dihydronootkatone or tetrahydronootkatone (12.5 ppm). In sand barrier assays, a concentration of 100 ppm of any of the three chemicals significantly reduced termite survival, tunnel building, and food consumption after a 12-d exposure. Termites preexposed to 100 ppm nootkatone-treated sand and placed in containers without nootkatone for 15 d continued to exhibit abnormal feeding and digging behaviors; survivorship, tunneling, and feeding activities were significantly reduced by 83.5, 63.2, and 95.4%, respectively. Termites pretreated for 12 d at concentrations of 50 and 75 ppm nootkatone and tetrahydronootkatone returned to normal digging activity after they were removed from the treatments, but their feeding activity was significantly reduced.

Attributes and quality are synonyms that refer to characteristics inherent in or ascribed to someone or something. This article describes a study of the attributes of nursing staff development. Results revealed that 16 out of total nurses included in the study did not receive any type of staff development programs since appointment, whereas 61.8% of them attended one program only. In total, less than half of the nurses agreed upon attributes or quality of their received training. Establishment of staff development committees in the public hospitals and planning programs for staff development based on staff and patient needs were recommended.

Background: The professional competencies of faculty staff are of great importance in shaping students' values, skills and attitudes that directly affect subsequent patient care. Objectives: to assay the level of faculty staff professionalism through investigating the level of professional competencies of faculty staff and behavior via students' perceptions, assessing nursing students' values, and finding the relationship between faculty staff professionalism and nursing students' values. Methods: A descriptive correlational study design was carried out with 186 nursing students from four levels in the Faculty of Nursing, Port Said University, Egypt. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results: Faculty staff had a high level of competencies, including: personality and respectful professional relationships and communication (75.3%); planning and preparation, well-organized teaching methods (72.0%); Activities of monitoring and giving feedback (72.6%), Scientific and professional competence (68.3%); and Methods of motivation and enhancement (67.7%). About half of students (51.6%) perceived that their faculty staff behave positively to a high level. Prominent values among nursing students are mercy, honesty and patience. Statistically significant relations were found between total faculty staff behavior scores, total faculty staff competencies scores, and total students' values scores, with statistically significant relations found for most items between faculty staff behaviors and competencies and students' values. Conclusions and recommendations: The present study found that values as mercy, honest and patience had a great influence by the faculty staff professional competencies and positive behavior. It is recommended to enhance the scientific and professional level of faculty staff by continuous training and scholarships. Faculty staff must pay attention to guide students toward positive behavior and stress the importance of personal and professional students' values, reflected in their clinical nursing practice.