Employee reactions to corporate social responsibility: an organizational justice framework

We seek to bridge the macro concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with micro research in organizational justice. A theoretical model is presented whereby employees' perceptions of CSR impact their subsequent emotions, attitudes, and behaviors, mediated by instrumental, relational, and deontic motives/needs, as well as moderated by organizations' social accounts. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CHLOROPHYLL,PHOSPHORUS, SECCHI DISK,AND TROPHIC STATE1

ABSTRACT: The relationship between chlorophyll u, total phosphorus, secchi disk depth, and trophic state were examined using data on U.S. lakes collected by U.S. EPA's National Eutrophication Survey. By comparing predicted secchi disk depths with observed summer secchi disk depths in 757 lakes, it was determined that in many lakes non-chlorophyll related light attenuation is important in controlling the amount of chlorophyll u produced per unit of total phosphorus. Ranking of 44 lakes by 18 different trophic state measurements and single and multivariable indices were compared with rankings provided by mean summer ambient total phosphorus and chlorophyll u. The trophic state measurements and indices were much more successful in ranking the lakes against total phosphorus than chlorophyll u, indicating that there are differences in the relative trophic rankings of many of the lakes depending upon whether primary nutrients or biological manifestations are used as the ranking mechanism. If the manifestations of nutrients rather than their absolute levels are the primary criteria for beneficial use of lakes, the use of many of the commonly employed trophic state measurements, which assume or imply that there is a constant relationship between total phosphorus or secchi disk and chlorophyll, can lead to erroneous conclusions and unnecessary costly management controls. Secchi disk measurements may be more useful as a predictor of ambient lake total phosphorus concentrations than of chlorophyll.     

Crisis Management to Controlled Recovery: The Emergency Planning Response to the Bombing of Manchester City Centre

Fuelled by terrorist attacks on urban areas, emergency planning responses to manmade disasters is a growing area of critical debate within the field of urban management. The response of a major British city--Manchester--to the 1996 bombing of its commercial core, is examined in this paper. It focuses on the transformation of the emergency planning response from dealing with the immediate crisis during the first week, to a stage of controlled recovery that still continues. The response to the devastation caused by the bomb was co-ordinated by the city council, which developed a range of short- and long-term initiatives, but the re-opening of the city centre could not have happened so quickly had the council not worked in collaboration with other key organisations and agencies. Working partnerships were crucial to the immediate response and subsequent recovery, with such capacity for organisational learning built upon existing co-operative arrangements within the city, which had developed over the previous decade.     

Fossil proxies of near-shore sea surface temperatures and seasonality from the late Neogene Antarctic shelf

We evaluate the available palaeontological and geochemical proxy data from bivalves, bryozoans, silicoflagellates, diatoms and cetaceans for sea surface temperature (SST) regimes around the nearshore Antarctic coast during the late Neogene. These fossils can be found in a number of shallow marine sedimentary settings from three regions of the Antarctic continent, the northern Antarctic Peninsula, the Prydz Bay region and the western Ross Sea. Many of the proxies suggest maximum spring–summer SSTs that are warmer than present by up to 5 °C, which would result in reduced seasonal sea ice. The evidence suggests that the summers on the Antarctic shelf during the late Neogene experienced most of the warming, while winter SSTs were little changed from present. Feedbacks from changes in summer sea ice cover may have driven much of the late Neogene ocean warming seen in stratigraphic records. Synthesized late Neogene and earliest Quaternary Antarctic shelf proxy data are compared to the multi-model SST estimates of the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) Experiment 2. Despite the fragmentary geographical and temporal context for the SST data, comparisons between the SST warming in each of the three regions represented in the marine palaeontological record of the Antarctic shelf and the PlioMIP climate simulations show a good concordance.     

Adaptation to climate change of wheat growing in South Australia: Analysis of management and breeding strategies

Evaluation of adaptive management options is very crucial for successfully dealing with negative climate change impacts. Research objectives of this study were (1) to determine the proper N application rate for current practice, (2) to select a range of synthetic wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars to expand the existing wheat cultivar pool for adaptation purpose, (3) to quantify the potential impacts of climate change on wheat grain yield and (4) to evaluate the effectiveness of three common management options such as early sowing, changing N application rate and use of different wheat cultivars derived in (2) and given in the APSIM-Wheat model package in dealing with the projected negative impacts for Keith, South Australia. The APSIM-Wheat model was used to achieve these objectives. It was found that 75 kg ha^?1 N application at sowing for current situation is appropriate for the study location. This provided a non-limiting N supply condition for climate change impact and adaptation evaluation. Negative impacts of climate change on wheat grain yield were projected under both high (?15%) and low (?10%) plant available water capacity conditions. Neither changes in N application level nor in wheat cultivar alone nor their synergistic effects could offset the negative climate change impact. It was found that early sowing is an effective adaptation strategy when initial soil water was reset at 25 mm at sowing but this may be hard to realise especially since a drier environment is projected.     

Behavioral genomics of honeybee foraging and nest defense

The honeybee has been the most important insect species for study of social behavior. The recently released draft genomic sequence for the bee will accelerate honeybee behavioral genetics. Although we lack sufficient tools to manipulate this genome easily, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that influence natural variation in behavior have been identified and tested for their effects on correlated behavioral traits. We review what is known about the genetics and physiology of two behavioral traits in honeybees, foraging specialization (pollen versus nectar), and defensive behavior, and present evidence that map-based cloning of genes is more feasible in the bee than in other metazoans. We also present bioinformatic analyses of candidate genes within QTL confidence intervals (CIs). The high recombination rate of the bee made it possible to narrow the search to regions containing only 17–61 predicted peptides for each QTL, although CIs covered large genetic distances. Knowledge of correlated behavioral traits, comparative bioinformatics, and expression assays facilitated evaluation of candidate genes. An overrepresentation of genes involved in ovarian development and insulin-like signaling components within pollen foraging QTL regions suggests that an ancestral reproductive gene network was co-opted during the evolution of foraging specialization. The major QTL influencing defensive/aggressive behavior contains orthologs of genes involved in central nervous system activity and neurogenesis. Candidates at the other two defensive-behavior QTLs include modulators of sensory signaling (Am5HT ₇ serotonin receptor, AmArr4 arrestin, and GABA-B-R1 receptor). These studies are the first step in linking natural variation in honeybee social behavior to the identification of underlying genes.     

Sustainable energy investments: contributions of the Global Environment Facility

Addressing energy, economic and environment security is a pressing challenge for nations worldwide. Global energy demand is projected to increase by 45% during the next 20 years, with the fastest growth in developing and transition countries. Over the past two decades, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has invested in a portfolio of sustainable energy projects with an emphasis on energy efficiency, renewable energy, and urban transport. These projects address many different national priorities including infrastructure, technologies, policies, best practices, institutions, and capacity building. Since 1991, more than US2,735 billion has been invested in energy sector projects with an additional US2,735 billion has been invested in energy sector projects with an additional US17.118 billion in co-financing from governments and the private sector. US1,186 billion, together with US1,186 billion, together with US7,092 billion in co-finance, has been invested in energy efficiency projects that deploy new technologies, develop institutional and human capacity, disseminate best practices, and build public awareness and understanding. GEF renewable energy investments of US1,298 billion, with co-financing of US1,298 billion, with co-financing of US7,555 billion, have advanced demonstration and deployment of solar thermal heating, solar thermal power, photovoltaics, wind power, geothermal energy, small hydropower, biomass, and combined technologies and best practices across 5 continents. The GEF has invested US251 million (with US251 million (with US2,471 billion in co-finance) in urban transport projects that address transport strategies, infrastructure, and mobility technology solutions. These energy efficiency, renewable energy and urban transport projects contributed to the direct reduction of about 1.7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Other tangible environmental benefits also flowed from these GEF investments. Case studies of representative projects are presented to illustrate lessons learned from the energy efficiency, renewable, energy, and urban transport investments. Experiences from GEF investments can inform development and implementation of future sustainable energy investments.     

Effects of LATCH versus Available Seatbelt Installation of Rear Facing Child Restraint Systems on Head Injury Criteria for 6 Month Old Infants in Rear End Collisions

Objective: The Lower Anchor and Tethers for CHildren (LATCH) system was introduced in vehicles made after September 1, 2002 and intended to make installation of rear and forward-facing child safety seats easier. Due to the lack of rear impact testing of RFCRS required per the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), the purpose of this study was to explore the effects, if any, of installation method of RFCRS on the performance of commonly purchased makes and models of RFCRS. Specifically, we hypothesize that in a 48 km/h (29.8 MPH) rear-end collision, installation of RFCRS using the LATCH system will result in higher Head Injury Criteria (HIC) values when compared to using the available lap/shoulder seatbelt (Emergency Locking Retractor - ELR or Automatic Locking Retractor - ALR).

Methods: The test matrix included 36 rear impact sled tests conducted using 3 installation methods on 3 models of RFCRS: the Graco SnugRide® with and without the base, the Britax Chaperone with base-mounted anti-rebound bar, and the Evenflo Tribute®, a model of convertible rearward/forward facing restraint system used in the rearward facing mode. The seats were installed using the LATCH system, ELR lap/shoulder belts, or ALR lap/shoulder belts in seating positions 4 and 6 on a vehicle buck mounted to the sled test base. The infant seat and 6 month old CRABI anthropometric test device (ATD) installation methods were in accordance with standards set forth in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) FMVSS No. 213, Child Restraint Systems. All tests were conducted on pneumatic controlled acceleration sled (HYGE, Inc., PA, USA) at 48 km/h.

Results: Installation of infant seat type RFCRS using the LATCH system resulted in higher HIC₁₅ values when compared to using the available lap/shoulder seatbelt (ELR or ALR). The mean HIC₁₅ values were most severe when infant seat type RFCRS were installed using LATCH (Graco SnugRide® HIC₁₅ = 394 and Britax Chaperone HIC₁₅ = 133) compared to using either ELR lap/shoulder belts (Graco SnugRide® HIC₁₅ = 218 and Britax Chaperone HIC₁₅ = 65) or ALR lap/shoulder belts (Graco SnugRide® HIC₁₅ = 194 and Britax Chaperone HIC₁₅ = 78). The installation method did not result in a statistically significant difference in HIC for the convertible type RFCRS (Evenflo Tribute®). In many of the tests, the ATD's head struck the seatback in which the RFCRS was installed. These head strikes resulted in the higher HIC₁₅ scores recorded throughout the testing.

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that LATCH does not offer equal protection to lap/shoulder belts from head injuries in rear impacts when used with infant seat type RFCRS.     

An ecotoxicological view on neurotoxicity assessment

The numbers of potential neurotoxicants in the environment are raising and pose a great risk for humans and the environment. Currently neurotoxicity assessment is mostly performed to predict and prevent harm to human populations. Despite all the efforts invested in the last years in developing novel in vitro or in silico test systems, in vivo tests with rodents are still the only accepted test for neurotoxicity risk assessment in Europe. Despite an increasing number of reports of species showing altered behaviour, neurotoxicity assessment for species in the environment is not required and therefore mostly not performed. Considering the increasing numbers of environmental contaminants with potential neurotoxic potential, eco-neurotoxicity should be also considered in risk assessment. In order to do so novel test systems are needed that can cope with species differences within ecosystems. In the field, online-biomonitoring systems using behavioural information could be used to detect neurotoxic effects and effect-directed analyses could be applied to identify the neurotoxicants causing the effect. Additionally, toxic pressure calculations in combination with mixture modelling could use environmental chemical monitoring data to predict adverse effects and prioritize pollutants for laboratory testing. Cheminformatics based on computational toxicological data from in vitro and in vivo studies could help to identify potential neurotoxicants. An array of in vitro assays covering different modes of action could be applied to screen compounds for neurotoxicity. The selection of in vitro assays could be guided by AOPs relevant for eco-neurotoxicity. In order to be able to perform risk assessment for eco-neurotoxicity, methods need to focus on the most sensitive species in an ecosystem. A test battery using species from different trophic levels might be the best approach. To implement eco-neurotoxicity assessment into European risk assessment, cheminformatics and in vitro screening tests could be used as first approach to identify eco-neurotoxic pollutants. In a second step, a small species test battery could be applied to assess the risks of ecosystems.     

Natural concentrations and reference values for trace elements in soils of a tropical volcanic archipelago

Fernando de Noronha is a small volcanic archipelago in the Southern Atlantic, some 350 km NE of the city of Natal in NE Brazil. These remote volcanic islands represent a largely pristine environment, distant from sources of anthropogenic contamination. This study was carried out to determine the natural concentrations of Ag, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, V and Zn in the A and B horizons of soils of Fernando de Noronha. The aims of the study were twofold: determine whether there is a relationship between the bedrock geology and soils and to establish quality reference values for soils from Fernando de Noronha. Soil samples were subjected to acid digestion by the USEPA method 3051A, and metals were determined by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrophotometry. The results showed that the trace element distribution largely reflects the geochemistry of the underlying volcanic rocks of the Remedios and Quixaba Formations. The results demonstrate that the concentrations of Ba, Cr, Zn, Ni and Cu from the soils of the volcanic Fernando de Noronha archipelago are higher than those found in soils from continental Brazil. However, concentrations of Ni, Cu and Co are lower in soils of the archipelago as compared to other volcanic islands throughout the world. The elevated trace element concentrations of the volcanic parent material of Fernando de Noronha soils seem to be the main factor governing the relatively high natural concentrations of trace elements.