High‐quality relationships,psychological safety,and learning from failures in work organizations

How can organizations support employees to engage in learning from failures? In this paper, we draw on the concept of high‐quality relationships to explore the relational underpinnings of learning from failures in organizations. We focus on relational coordination as a specific manifestation of high‐quality relationships and examine how the relational dimensions of relational coordination—shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect—foster psychological safety and thus enable organizational members to engage in learning from failures. The results of two separate studies support our mediation model where psychological safety mediates the link between high‐quality relationships and learning from failures in organizations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ventilation rate and copulation in Octopus vulgaris

Typically three events occur when Octopus vulgaris Cuvier mates. The male inserts its hectocotylus into the mantle cavity of the female; the hectocotylus and the bodies of the male and female become quiescent; and the female increases its ventilation rate about 2.5 times, on the average, above its precopulatory base rate. It is hypothesized that the increased ventilation rate of the female provides the stimulus to the male to transfer its spermatophore to the oviduct. Since the insertion of the hectocotylus and the female's increased ventilation rate may be dissociated, it is suggested that copulation be defined as the attachment of the hectocotylus to the oviduct. A conditioned ventilation-rate increase in the female was observed with repeated testing. Observation of arching and pumping movements of the male as well as measurements of its ventilation rate before and during copulation indicate that only a few spermatophores are transferred per copulation.     

Reversal and transfer of spermatophores by Octopus vulgaris and O. hummelincki

Copulatory behavior in the octopus consists of a patterned series of movements whose individual functions are not well understood. Observations and experiments on mating in Octopus vulgaris and O. hummelincki from Bimini, Bahamas and Haiti were made over a number of years in the laboratory. The study reveals how the male octopus reverses its spermatophore prior to transferring it to the female. The male’s terminal organ (penis) extrudes the sperm end of the spermatophore as it exits from Needham’s sac up to the cap or filament thread and then, holding onto the cap thread, inserts the ejaculatory end of the spermatophore into the groove of the hectocotylus, thus reversing it. It is hypothesized that the primary function of the cap or filament thread, one part of the spermatophore, is to be a handle by which the reversal and transfer is accomplished. The siphon is merely a conduit through which the terminal organ functions and plays no role whatsoever in either the reversal of the spermatophore or in its insertion into the groove. The stimulus to which the male orients to find the groove of the hectocotylus is the apex of the retracted interbrachial membrane between the third and fourth right arms, which bears a fixed spatial relationship to the origin of the groove. A number of deviations from the successful transfer process, which represent loss of sperm from the reproductive process, are illustrated. Despite these deviations, the delicately balanced integration of the various movements serves to transfer the spermatophore to the female to ensure reproductive success.     

深圳地区全氟辛烷磺酸的环境多介质迁移和归趋行为研究

为探究全氟辛烷磺酸(perfluorooctane sulfonate,PFOS)在深圳地区的环境多介质迁移和归趋行为,本研究利用LevelⅢ逸度模型,通过输入PFOS的物理化学性质参数和深圳地区环境参数,首先模拟计算了深圳地区大气、水体、土壤和沉积物中PFOS的含量并用实测数据进行验证,其次基于PFOS在各相间的迁移通量分析确定了其主要的迁移途径及归趋行为,最后对模型的输入参数和输出结果分别进行了灵敏度和不确定度分析.结果表明,大气、水体、土壤和沉积物中的PFOS模拟含量分别为1.4 pg·m~(-3)、7.0 ng·L~(-1)、0.39μg·kg~(-1)和0.11μg·kg~(-1),和实测结果较吻合.气相到土相、土相到水相和气相到水相的迁移量分别占PFOS相间总迁移量的32%、32%和5.8%,是PFOS相间的主要迁移途径,而PFOS随水体迁出是其从区域环境迁出的主要途径.大气和水体的平流输入速率、温度、PFOS的水溶性和降雨,以及土壤和沉积物的密度是影响模型输出结果的关键参数.不确定度分析结果则表明PFOS含量在水体中的变异系数最小而在土壤中的最大,这可能是由土壤易于变化的有机碳含量造成的.     

The Application of Strict Criminal Liabilities to Spillage of Oil: The Practical Impact on Effective Spill Response

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 provides criminal penalties in oil spills that result from criminal activity, gross negligence or willful misconduct on the part of the spiller. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice has seen fit to reach into unrelated legislation to potentially apply strict criminal liability to any oil spill regardless of intent.Strict criminalization of accidental oil spills is demonstrably counterproductive to effective protection of the environment from the effect of spills since it poses a serious impediment to cooperation and coordination by and between those charged by law to respond to them. This impediment is particularly dangerous since it threatens the proper functioning of the inherently sensitive “troika” Unified Command Structure that has evolved in spill response management in response to OPA-90 management requirements.Introduction of strict criminal liability for accidental spills is also particularly troublesome in that it must enlist unrelated law to influence an area that has been addressed specifically by legislation designed for that purpose; legislation that has worked well in the past 30 years to both regulate the target activities while successfully achieving the objective of protecting and improving environment quality.