A daily diary study of affective responses to psychological contract breach and exceeded promises

The psychological contract has been viewed as an explanatory framework for understanding the employment relationship, and is regarded by some researchers as central in understanding employee attitudes and behavior. Despite the importance ascribed to the psychological contract, it remains theoretically underdeveloped and has received limited empirical attention. This study takes a new approach to researching the psychological contract, through the use of daily diaries, and addresses a number of fundamental questions regarding its nature. Results show that both broken and exceeded promises occur regularly and in relation to virtually any aspect of work, that the importance of the promise contributes significantly to emotional reactions following broken and exceeded promises, and that the psychological contract is an important concept for understanding everyday fluctuations in emotion and daily mood. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social Planning for Mall Redevelopment: an Australian case-study

This paper provides a case study of recent work undertaken in Melbourne relating to a mall re-development project. It begins by discussing the nature of shopping centres as sites of consumption and non-commercial social activities. It then describes planning and development strategies that provide innovative and socially progressive interventions in regard to the social, physical and regulatory environments of public malls. The importance of seeing such sites as 'community spaces', of promoting activities on the basis of social inclusion, of creating a safe, convivial atmosphere, and of establishing low-key friendly sorts of mall management, are highlighted.     

Disinfection and removal of human pathogenic bacteria in arctic waste stabilization ponds

Wastewater stabilization ponds (WSPs) are commonly used to treat municipal wastewater in Arctic Canada. The biological treatment in the WSPs is strongly influenced by climatic conditions. Currently, there is limited information about the removal of fecal and pathogenic bacteria during the short cool summer treatment season. With relevance to public health, the objectives of this paper were to determine if treatment in arctic WSPs resulted in the disinfection (i.e., removal of fecal indicator bacteria, Escherichia coli) and removal of selected human bacterial pathogens from the treated effluent. The treatment performance, with focus on microbial removal, was assessed for the one-cell WSP in Pond Inlet (Nunavut [NU]) and two-cell WSP in Clyde River (NU) over three consecutive (2012–2014) summer treatment seasons (late June-early September). The WSPs provided a primary disinfection treatment of the wastewater with a 2–3 Log removal of generic indicator E. coli. The bacterial pathogens Salmonella spp., pathogenic E. coli, and Listeria monocytogenes, but not Campylobacter spp. and Helicobacter pylori, were detected in the untreated and treated wastewater, indicating that human pathogens were not reliably removed. Seasonal and annual variations in temperature significantly (p < 0.05) affected the disinfection efficiency. Improved disinfection and pathogen removal was observed for the two-cell system in Clyde River as compared to the one-cell system in Pond Inlet. A quantitative microbial risk assessment should be performed to determine if the release of low levels of human pathogens into the arctic environment poses a human health risk.     

Real-world vehicle emissions: A summary of the 15th coordinating research council on-road vehicle emissions workshop

The Coordinating Research Council held its 15th workshop in April 2005, with nearly 90 presentations describing the most recent mobile source-related emissions research. In this paper, the authors summarize the presentations from researchers who are engaged in improving our understanding of the contribution of mobile sources to air quality. Participants in the workshop discussed emission models and emission inventories, results from gas- and particle-phase emissions studies from spark-ignition and diesel-powered vehicles (with an emphasis in this workshop on particle emissions), effects of fuels on emissions, evaluation of in-use emissions control programs, and efforts to improve our capabilities in performing on-board emissions measurements, as well as topics for future research.     

Identification of policies for a sustainable legal trade in rhinoceros horn based on population projection and socioeconomic models

Between 1990 and 2007, 15 southern white (Ceratotherium simum simum) and black (Diceros bicornis) rhinoceroses on average were killed illegally every year in South Africa. Since 2007 illegal killing of southern white rhinoceros for their horn has escalated to >950 individuals/year in 2013. We conducted an ecological–economic analysis to determine whether a legal trade in southern white rhinoceros horn could facilitate rhinoceros protection. Generalized linear models were used to examine the socioeconomic drivers of poaching, based on data collected from 1990 to 2013, and to project the total number of rhinoceroses likely to be illegally killed from 2014 to 2023. Rhinoceros population dynamics were then modeled under 8 different policy scenarios that could be implemented to control poaching. We also estimated the economic costs and benefits of each scenario under enhanced enforcement only and a legal trade in rhinoceros horn and used a decision support framework to rank the scenarios with the objective of maintaining the rhinoceros population above its current size while generating profit for local stakeholders. The southern white rhinoceros population was predicted to go extinct in the wild <20 years under present management. The optimal scenario to maintain the rhinoceros population above its current size was to provide a medium increase in antipoaching effort and to increase the monetary fine on conviction. Without legalizing the trade, implementing such a scenario would require covering costs equal to approximately $147,000,000/year. With a legal trade in rhinoceros horn, the conservation enterprise could potentially make a profit of $717,000,000/year. We believe the 35‐year‐old ban on rhinoceros horn products should not be lifted unless the money generated from trade is reinvested in improved protection of the rhinoceros population. Because current protection efforts seem to be failing, it is time to evaluate, discuss, and test alternatives to the present policy.     

Utility of North Atlantic Right Whale Museum Specimens for Assessing Changes in Genetic Diversity

Abstract: We examined six historical specimens of the endangered North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ) using DNA isolated from documented baleen plates from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Sequences from the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region from these samples were compared with those from a near-exhaustive survey (269 of approximately 320 individuals) of the remaining right whales in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Our results suggest that there has been only relatively modest change in maternal lineage diversity over the past century in the North Atlantic right whale population. Any significant reduction in genetic variation in the species most likely occurred prior to the late nineteenth century. One historical specimen was from the last documented female capable of propagating one of the maternal lineages in the population today; no females in the existing population have been found to carry this mtDNA haplotype. Analysis of the only specimens from the eastern North Atlantic right whale population ever to be examined revealed that eastern and western North Atlantic right whales may not have been genetically differentiated populations. Loss of gene diversity experienced by North Atlantic right whales over the last century has been modest, and the six decades of protection have been successful in maintaining much of the maternal lineage diversity that was present in the late nineteenth century.