Characterizing efforts to reduce consumer demand for wildlife products

The unsustainable trade in wildlife is a key threat to Earth's biodiversity. Efforts to mitigate this threat have traditionally focused on regulation and enforcement, and there is a growing interest in campaigns to reduce consumer demand for wildlife products. We aimed to characterize these behavior-change campaigns and the evidence of their impacts. We searched peer-reviewed and grey literature repositories and over 200 institutional websites to retrieve information on demand-reduction campaigns. We found 236 campaigns, mainly in the grey literature. Since the 1970s, the number of campaigns increased, although for over 15% a start date could not be found. Asia was the primary focus, although at the national level the United States was where most campaigns took place. Campaigns most often focused on a single species of mammal; other vertebrates groups, with the exception of sharks, received limited attention. Many campaigns focused on broad themes, such as the wildlife trade in general or seafood. Thirty-seven percent of campaigns reported some information on their inputs, 98% on strategies, 70% on outputs, 37% on outcomes (i.e., changes in the target audience), and 9% on impacts (i.e., biological changes or threat reduction). Information on outcomes and impacts was largely anecdotal or based on research designs that are at a high risk of bias, such as pre- and postcampaign comparisons. It was unclear whether demand-reduction campaigns had direct behavioral or biological impacts. The lack of robust impact evaluation made it difficult to draw insights to inform future efforts, a crucial part of effectively addressing complex issues, such as the wildlife trade. If demand-reduction campaigns are to become a cornerstone of the efforts to mitigate the unsustainable trade in wildlife, conservationists need to adopt more rigorous impact evaluation and a more collaborative approach that fosters the sharing of data and insights.     

Assessing the safety criticality of driver behavior toward cyclists at intersections

Abstract

Objective: Detailed analyses of car-to-cyclist accidents show that drivers intending to turn right at T-junctions collide more often with cyclists crossing from the right side on the bicycle lane than drivers intending to turn left. This fact has led to numerous studies examining the behavior of drivers turning left and right. However, the most essential question still has not been sufficiently answered: is the behavior of drivers intending to turn right generally more safety critical than the behavior of those intending to turn left? The purpose of this article is to provide a method that allows to determine whether a driver’s behavior toward cyclists can retrospectively be assessed as critical or non-critical.

Methods: Several theoretical considerations enriched by findings of experimental studies were employed to devise a multi-measure method. This method was applied to a dataset containing real-world approaching behavior of 48 drivers turning right and left at four T-junctions with different sight obstructions. For each driver a behavior-specific criticality was defined based on both, their driving and gaze behavior. Moreover, based on the behavior-specific criticality of each driver, the required field of view to see a cyclist from the right was defined and was set into relation with the available field of view of the T-junction.

Results: The results show that only a small portion of the drivers within the dataset would have posed an actual risk to cyclists crossing from the right side. Those situations with a higher safety criticality did not only arise when drivers intended to turn right, but also left.

Conclusion: Therefore, the analysis can only provide an explanation for the higher proportion of accidents between drivers turning right and cyclists crossing from the right side in certain situations. Further research, for example analyses of exposure data regarding the frequency of turning manoeuvers at T-junctions, is needed in order to explain the higher proportion of accidents between drivers turning right and cyclists crossing from the right side.     

Driver Celeration Behavior and the Prediction of Traffic Accidents

A study was undertaken to investigate whether driver celeration (overall mean speed change) behavior can predict traffic accident involvement. Also, to test whether acceleration, deceleration or the combined celeration measure was the better predictor. Bus driver celeration behavior was measured repeatedly in real traffic, driving en route, and correlated with accidents for which the drivers were deemed at least partly responsible. Correlations around .20 were found in several samples between celeration behavior and culpable accidents for a 2-year period. The results show that although celeration behavior is only semi-stable over time, it predicts with some accuracy individual accident involvement over 2 years. The predictive power of acceleration and deceleration was slightly lower than the combined measure, in accordance with theory. The correlations found were strong enough to warrant the use of celeration behavior as a predictive variable for transportation companies in their safety work.     

Age and innovation‐related behavior: The joint moderating effects of supervisor undermining and proactive personality

Previous research has yielded mixed results regarding the effects of age on innovation‐related behavior (IRB; i.e., generating, disseminating, and implementing new ideas). This paper hypothesizes that the relationship of age with IRB is jointly moderated by undermining behavior on the part of the supervisor and the extent to which the employee possesses a proactive personality. We collected data from 196 employees at three points in time over a one‐year period. Results supported the hypothesized 3‐way interaction of age, supervisor undermining, and proactive personality on IRB. As predicted, highly proactive older workers responded to high supervisor undermining with more IRB, whereas older workers low on proactive personality responded to high supervisor undermining with less IRB. On the other hand, when supervisor undermining was low, proactive personality did not moderate the relationship of age with IRB. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizational citizenship behavior in work groups: A team cultural perspective

Although researchers have often found positive relationships between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and performance rating, very few studies have scrutinized the team contexts in which such relationships exist. This study examines how OCB influences job performance ratings within different team cultures, as measured by team collectivism and individualism. On the basis of multilevel data collected from 81 teams working at a multinational bank in Hong Kong, team collectivism and individualism were found to moderate the OCB–performance rating relationship such that OCB targeting individuals improved rated performance in highly collectivistic teams only, whereas only organizational OCB produced a significant improvement in highly individualistic teams. The implications of these findings and directions for future research directions are discussed here. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Capitalizing on proactivity for informal mentoring received during early career: The moderating role of core self‐evaluations

This paper examines the role of proactive personality in the receipt of informal mentoring received (i.e., psychosocial and career‐related mentoring) among a sample of 174 early career employees in China. The regression results indicated that networking behavior mediated the relationship between proactive personality and career‐related mentoring, whereas voice behavior mediated the relationship between proactive personality and psychosocial mentoring. Furthermore, core self‐evaluations moderated the aforementioned two indirect relationships such that they were stronger at higher levels of core self‐evaluations. Our analyses also showed that the moderating effects occurred at the first stage of the indirect relationships. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于BP神经网络的建筑工人不安全行为预警模型

为减少建筑工人不安全行为,提高企业安全管理水平,采用事故统计分析、文献分析、质性访谈方法获取不安全行为影响因素,从组织、个人、外在环境、设备4个方面建立不安全行为预警指标体系,在此基础上,基于反向传播(BP)神经网络原理,将预警指标作为网络输入,不安全行为无警、轻警、中警、重警4种状态作为网络输出,进而设计编制预警问卷...     

齐口裂腹鱼上溯洄游过程中的感官圈解译研究

选取西南地区典型鱼类齐口裂腹鱼（Schizothorax prenanti,（32.32±2.73） cm）作为实验对象,测试鱼类在上溯过程中应对不同水流环境时的游泳行为,解译不同大小网格尺寸下鱼类的游泳速度、转向次数以及转角和转角差与真实游泳轨迹的匹配程度.结果表明：采用小于或等于0.30m尺寸的网格时,分析得出的鱼类上溯运动平均游泳速度、转向次数以及转角和转角差均与实际情况无显著性差异,另外鱼类更偏向于在0.20~0.40m/s的流速区间内以和水平方向呈-49°~49°的运动搜索范围进行上溯运动.     

邻里效应能否促使稻农施用生物农药?——基于鄂、赣、浙三省农户调查数据的考察

在构建邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为影响的理论模型基础上,利用鄂、赣、浙三省农户的调研数据,实证检验了邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为的影响,在此基础上,进一步讨论了邻里效应促使稻农施用生物农药的条件与内在作用机制。结果表明：第一,55.76%的样本农户施用过生物农药,且施用生物农药的农户有较强的邻里关系。第二,邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为有显著的正向影响,且强邻里效应的农户生物农药平均施用量要显著高于弱邻里效应农户。第三,邻里效应对稻农生物农药施用行为的影响存在条件限制,对高收入农户和规模户而言,邻里效应的影响不显著。第四,邻里效应对农户生物农药施用行为有显著直接作用,也通过降低信息搜寻成本和有效规避农业生产风险两条路径间接影响农户生物农药施用行为。     

Coliquefaction of coal and polystyrene in supercritical water

The coliquefaction of coal and polystyrene (PS) in supercritical water (SCW) was carried out in a 50-mL batch stainless steel autoclave reactor, and the effects of the polymer ratio by weight (10–40%), reaction temperature (633.5–703.5 K), and reaction time (30–120 min) were investigated. The main products were analyzed qualitatively by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography. The results show that polystyrene stimulates coal liquefaction as a hydrogen donor, and the synergistic effects during coliquefaction in SCW were confirmed. The conversion reached a maximum of 62.26% after 60 min at 673.5 K. The phase behavior during coliquefaction was observed in a fused silica capillary reactor using a combined microscope and video recorder system.