Dorsal shaving affects concentrations of faecal cortisol metabolites in lactating golden hamsters

Breeding of golden hamsters is classically performed at thermal conditions ranging from 20 to 24 °C. However, growing evidence suggests that lactating females suffer from heat stress. We hypothesised that shaving females dorsally to maximise heat dissipation may reduce stress during reproduction. We thus compared faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) from shaved golden hamster mothers with those from unshaved controls. We observed significantly lower FCM levels in the shaved mothers (F_1,22?=?8.69, p?=?0.0075) pointing to lower stress due to ameliorated heat dissipation over the body surface. In addition, we observed 0.4 °C lower mean subcutaneous body temperatures in the shaved females, although this effect did not reach significance (F_1,22?=?1.86, p?=?0.18). Our results suggest that golden hamsters having body masses being more than four times that of laboratory mice provide a very interesting model to study aspects of lactation and heat production at the same time.     

Self‐leadership in the context of part‐time teleworking

Employees who work periodically in both a traditional office and home office (part‐time teleworkers) face opportunities and risks related to both working locations. As self‐leadership might play a crucial role in this context, we examined within‐person variations in self‐leadership (self‐reward, self‐punishment, self‐cueing, self‐goal setting, imagining successful performance, and evaluation of beliefs and assumptions) on home days and office days. In a typical workweek, 195 part‐time teleworkers filled out daily surveys (729 days), and we examined the relationship between working location (office and home) and self‐leading behavior as well as the mediating role of autonomy. Finally, we investigated whether self‐leading behavior relates to ego depletion and work satisfaction at the end of the working day. Multilevel analyses revealed that part‐time teleworkers reported higher use of self‐reward, self‐goal setting, and visualization of successful performance on home days than on office days. The association between working location and self‐reward, self‐goal setting, visualization of successful performance, and evaluation of beliefs and assumptions was mediated by autonomy. There were no indirect effects of working location on ego depletion through self‐leadership. However, we found that on home days, part‐time teleworkers were more satisfied with their job at the end of the workday through self‐goal setting.     

Goal striving,idiosyncratic deals,and job behavior

Two important gaps remain to be filled in the idiosyncratic deals (i‐deals) literature. First, it is unclear which employees are predisposed to seek and receive i‐deals. Second, it is unclear how employees' perceptions of whether their coworkers are receiving i‐deals affect their own i‐deal experiences. This study proposed a theoretical model suggesting that (a) three key motivational goals identified in human development research, that is, achievement, status, and communion striving, predispose employees to seek and receive i‐deals; (b) employees' perceptions of whether their coworkers are receiving i‐deals moderate these relationships; and (c) employees' i‐deals are related to their job behavior. Data collected from more than 400 working adults in Italy showed that employees' motivational goals (particularly achievement and status striving) were positively related to the levels of i‐deals they received, and that these i‐deals were in turn positively related to supervisors' assessments of their in‐role job performance, voice behavior, and interpersonal citizenship behavior. High perceptions of the extent to which coworkers received i‐deals further strengthened the relationship between status striving and employees' perceptions of their own i‐deals, highlighting a trait‐situation interactionist perspective on employees' i‐deal experiences. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship between road traffic noisescape and urban form in Hong Kong

This paper reports on a study which explored the possible relationship between road traffic noisescape and urban form in Hong Kong. A total of 212 residential complexes from 11 contrasting urban forms were sampled, and their noise levels assessed both at dwelling and neighbourhood scales by noise mapping. Its findings indicate that residential complexes with different urban forms have significantly different noisescape attributes. There is a strong correlation between the noise characteristics and morphological indicators at the dwelling scale. A less obstreperous noisescape is associated with urban forms with lower road and building densities, and with building arrangements which provide self-noise screening. These findings suggest that urban form is an influential determinant of the noisescape in the urban environment, and they point to the need to rethink the conventional approach to managing the urban acoustic environment.     

Inter-annual variability in the breeding performance of six tropical seabird species: influence of life-history traits and relationship with oceanographic parameters

We investigated inter-annual variability in the breeding performance of six tropical seabirds with different life histories. We further examined the extent to which presumed differences among years in food availability to seabirds were related to large-scale oceanic processes (El Niño Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole) or local features around the colony (Sea Surface Temperature—SST, chlorophyll-a concentration, wind patterns, association with underwater predators). Two food shortages were recorded: (1) a short-term event operating at a local-scale, lacking any relationship with any measured oceanographic parameters and affecting only a few seabird species; (2) a generalized and protracted event, strikingly characterized by low SST, possibly induced by a La Niña and/or negative IOD event, and with detrimental impacts in the whole seabird community. Overall, species with inflexible feeding habits and fast chick growth rates were more affected by food shortage events than those with more plastic life-history traits.