Not seeing eye to eye: differences in supervisor and subordinate perceptions of and attributions for psychological contract breach

This study examines supervisor and subordinate perceptions of and attributions for psychological contract breach. The data suggest that supervisor and subordinate perceptions are most likely to differ on the extent to which the organization violated its obligations to provide fair pay, advancement opportunities, and a good employment relationship. In addition, the results indicate that the greater the degree of psychological contract breach reported by subordinates, the less committed they are to the organization and the lower their job performance (as rated by their supervisor). Moreover, when psychological contract breach is perceived, supervisors' and subordinates' attributions regarding the reasons for the breach are likely to differ. Specifically, the findings suggest that subordinates are more likely to attribute breach to the organization's intentional disregard for the commitments that it had made to the employee, while supervisors are more inclined to attribute breach to situations beyond the organization's direct control. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A safety self-management intervention for mining operations

PROBLEM: This quasi-experimental field study examined the efficacy of a safety self-management process to increase safety-related work practices in mining operations. METHODS: After a 7-week baseline, 15 miners participated in a safety self-management training and education presentation. The participants in a prebehavior condition (n=8) recorded their intentions to engage in specific percentages of safety-related work behaviors before starting their shift for the day. In contrast, participants in a postbehavior condition (n=7) recorded their percentages of safety-related work behaviors after their shift for the day. RESULTS: During withdrawal (4 weeks), the miners did not complete any self-monitoring forms. Based on 10,905 behavioral observations, safety self-management was effective at increasing the frequency of safety-related behavior (p<.05). For the prebehavior condition, the mean percent safe score across three target behaviors increased 34.8% during intervention. Similarly, in the postbehavior condition, the mean percent safe score across three target behaviors increased 40.1% during intervention. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The results suggest that employees who work in relative isolation or have little oversight, compared to traditional industrial workers, may benefit from a process by which they can systematically observe themselves.     

Impact of floodplain and Stage 0 stream restoration on flood attenuation and floodplain exchange during small frequent storms

River flooding impacts human life and infrastructure, yet provides habitat and ecosystem services. Traditional flood control (e.g., levees, dams) reduces habitat and ecosystem services, and exacerbates flooding elsewhere. Floodplain restoration (i.e., bankfull floodplain reconnection and Stage 0) can also provide flood management, but has not been sufficiently evaluated for small frequent storms. We used 1D unsteady Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System to simulate small storms in a 5 km-long, second-order generic stream from the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and varied % channel restored (starting at the upstream end), restoration location, restoration bank height (distinguishes bankfull from Stage 0 restoration), and floodplain width/Manning's n. Stream restoration decreased (attenuated) peak flow up to 37% and increased floodplain exchange by up to 46%. Floodplain width and % channel restored had the largest impact on flood attenuation. The incremental effects of new restoration projects on flood attenuation were greatest when little prior restoration had occurred. By contrast, incremental effects on floodplain exchange were greatest in the presence of substantial prior restoration, setting up a tradeoff. A similar tradeoff was revealed between attenuation and exchange for project location, but not bank height or floodplain width. In particular, attenuation and exchange were always greater for Stage 0 than for bankfull floodplain restoration. Stage 0 thus may counteract human impacts such as urbanization.     

Wetland Flowpaths Mediate Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and human health impacts are critical environmental challenges resulting from excess nitrogen and phosphorus in surface waters. Yet we have limited information regarding how wetland characteristics mediate water quality across watershed scales. We developed a large, novel set of spatial variables characterizing hydrological flowpaths from wetlands to streams, that is, “wetland hydrological transport variables,” to explore how wetlands statistically explain the variability in total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB) in the United States. We found that wetland flowpath variables improved landscape-to-aquatic nutrient multilinear regression models (from R² = 0.89 to 0.91 for TN; R² = 0.53 to 0.84 for TP) and provided insights into potential processes governing how wetlands influence watershed-scale TN and TP concentrations. Specifically, flowpath variables describing flow-attenuating environments, for example, subsurface transport compared to overland flowpaths, were related to lower TN and TP concentrations. Frequent hydrological connections from wetlands to streams were also linked to low TP concentrations, which likely suggests a nutrient source limitation in some areas of the UMRB. Consideration of wetland flowpaths could inform management and conservation activities designed to reduce nutrient export to downstream waters.     

Dietary characterization of the hominoid Khoratpithecus (Miocene of Thailand): evidence from dental topographic and microwear texture analyses

The genus Khoratpithecus, a hominoid thought to be related to the orangutan lineage, is represented by two known fossil species K. chiangmuanensis and K. piriyai. Both were discovered in Southeast Asia (Thailand) and are dated to the Middle and Late Miocene, respectively. In this study, dental topographic and microwear texture analyses were used to examine molars from both of these species, with the goal of understanding their dietary preferences. Although sample sizes are small for Khoratpithecus, available data are compared to that collected for extant apes. Environmental evidence, such as botanical remains and sedimentological data, is also considered for comparisons with dietary reconstruction. Results from dental topographic analysis suggest that the two fossil species were better adapted to a diet of fruits than to one of leaves, much like the living orangutan or chimpanzee. Results from microwear texture analysis further support this, suggesting that Khoratpithecus preferred soft fruits to hard fruits or seeds. And finally, the botanical and sedimentological evidence point to environments for Khoratpithecus that would have been compatible with a fruit-eating species. Given the small sample sizes available for analysis, however, definitive judgments are not yet possible at this time.     

Assessment of soil erosion under rainfed sugarcane in KwaZulu‐Natal,South Africa

Soil erosion from agricultural land use runoff is a major threat to the sustainability of soil composition and water resource integrity. Sugarcane is an important cash and food security crop in South Africa, subjected to an intensive soil erosion, and consequently, severe land degradation. This study aimed to investigate soil erosion and associated soil and cover factors under rainfed sugarcane, in a small catchment, KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. Three replicated runoff plots were installed at different slope positions (down, mid and upslope) within cultivated sugarcane fields to monitor soil erosion during the 2016–2017 rainy season. On average, annual runoff (RF) was significantly greater from 10 m² plots with 1163.77 ± 2.63 l/m/year compared to 1 m² plots. However, sediment concentration (SC) was significantly lower in 10 m² (0.34 ± 0.04 g/l) compared to 1 m² (6.94 ± 0.24 g/l) plots. The annual soil losses (SL) calculated from 12 rainfall events was 58.36 ± 0.77 and 8.84 ± 0.20 t/ha from 1 m² and 10 m² plots, respectively. The 1 m² plot, SL (2.4 ± 1.41 ton/ha/year) in the upslope experienced 33% more loss than the midslope and 50% more loss than the downslope position. SL was relatively lower from the 10 m² plots than the 1 m² plots, which is explained by high sediment deposition at the greater plot scale. SL was negatively correlated with the soil organic carbon stocks (r = ?0.82) and soil surface cover (r = ?0.55). RF decreased with the increase of slope gradient (r = ?0.88) and soil infiltration rate (r = ?0.87). There were considerable soil losses from cultivated sugarcane fields with low organic matter. These findings suggest that to mitigate soil erosion, soil organic carbon stocks and vegetation cover needs to be increased through appropriate land management practices, particularly in cultivated areas with steep gradients.     

Biological Connectivity of Seasonally Ponded Wetlands across Spatial and Temporal Scales

Many species that inhabit seasonally ponded wetlands also rely on surrounding upland habitats and nearby aquatic ecosystems for resources to support life stages and to maintain viable populations. Understanding biological connectivity among these habitats is critical to ensure that landscapes are protected at appropriate scales to conserve species and ecosystem function. Biological connectivity occurs across a range of spatial and temporal scales. For example, at annual time scales many organisms move between seasonal wetlands and adjacent terrestrial habitats as they undergo life‐stage transitions; at generational time scales, individuals may disperse among nearby wetlands; and at multigenerational scales, there can be gene flow across large portions of a species’ range. The scale of biological connectivity may also vary among species. Larger bodied or more vagile species can connect a matrix of seasonally ponded wetlands, streams, lakes, and surrounding terrestrial habitats on a seasonal or annual basis. Measuring biological connectivity at different spatial and temporal scales remains a challenge. Here we review environmental and biological factors that drive biological connectivity, discuss implications of biological connectivity for animal populations and ecosystem processes, and provide examples illustrating the range of spatial and temporal scales across which biological connectivity occurs in seasonal wetlands.     

A Rapid Response Survey to Characterize the Impacts of the 2017 High Water Event on Lake Ontario

In the spring and summer of 2017, communities along the Lake Ontario shoreline suffered from the worst flood event on record. In late May, daily water levels reached their highest point in over 100 years, and flooding continued throughout much of the summer as lake levels slowly declined, with inundation and erosion significantly impacting shoreline homes and businesses. In this work, we present results from a rapid response online survey of property owners along the New York Lake Ontario shoreline to quantify the perceived flood impacts of the 2017 extended high water event. The survey focused on the degree and spatial distribution of inundation and erosion; the duration and drivers of inundation; the associated damages to different property features, with an emphasis on shoreline protection; and the degree of disruption to business and other activities and services. Photographic documentation of inundation extent and property damage also was provided by survey respondents. We demonstrate the potential utility of this dataset by characterizing key features of inundation and erosion impacts across the shoreline, and by using classification and regression trees to explore the predictability of inundation and erosion based on property characteristics. This work is part of a larger effort to develop models of inundation and erosion that can support flood impact assessments across the shoreline and help communities better prepare for future extended high water events.     

A Comprehensive Python Toolkit for Accessing High‐Throughput Computing to Support Large Hydrologic Modeling Tasks

The National Flood Interoperability Experiment (NFIE) was an undertaking that initiated a transformation in national hydrologic forecasting by providing streamflow forecasts at high spatial resolution over the whole country. This type of large‐scale, high‐resolution hydrologic modeling requires flexible and scalable tools to handle the resulting computational loads. While high‐throughput computing (HTC) and cloud computing provide an ideal resource for large‐scale modeling because they are cost‐effective and highly scalable, nevertheless, using these tools requires specialized training that is not always common for hydrologists and engineers. In an effort to facilitate the use of HTC resources the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project, CI‐WATER, has developed a set of Python tools that can automate the tasks of provisioning and configuring an HTC environment in the cloud, and creating and submitting jobs to that environment. These tools are packaged into two Python libraries: CondorPy and TethysCluster. Together these libraries provide a comprehensive toolkit for accessing HTC to support hydrologic modeling. Two use cases are described to demonstrate the use of the toolkit, including a web app that was used to support the NFIE national‐scale modeling.