Do organizational climate and competitive strategy moderate the relationship between human resource management and productivity?

This study examined whether the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) practices is contingent on organizational climate and competitive strategy. The concepts of internal and external fit suggest that the positive relationship between HRM and subsequent productivity will be stronger for firms with a positive organizational climate and for firms using differentiation strategies. Resource allocation theories of motivation, on the other hand, predict that the relationship between HRM and productivity will be stronger for firms with a poor climate because employees working in these firms should have the greatest amount of spare capacity. The results supported the resource allocation argument. © 2005 Southern Management Association. All rights reserved.

Alzheimer's disease: the relationship between the density of senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and A4 protein in human patients

The numerical density of senile plaques (SP) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) as revealed by the Glees silver method was compared with SP and NFT revealed by the Gallyas method and with amyloid (A4) deposits in immunostained sections in 6 elderly cases of Alzheimer's disease. The density of NFT was generally greater and A4 lower in tissue from hippocampus compared with the neocortex suggesting that A4 deposition was less important than the degree of paired helical filament (PHF) related damage in the hippocampus. The density of Glees SP was positively correlated Gallyas SP weakly correlated with A4 deposit number. A stepwise multiple regression analysis which included A4 deposit and Gallyas SP density and accounted for 54% of the variation in Glees SP density. Hence, different populations of SP were revealed by the different staining methods. The results suggested that the Glees method may stain a population of SP in a region of cortex where both amyloid deposition and neurofibrillary changes have occurred.

The relationship between personality and social factors and success as a sales representative, both of a petrol company and an animal food company

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Progress in the development of in vitro human-based alternatives to animal models

Editorial

Improving publicly funded human services: Incorporating capacity building into the contracting relationship between Children's Services Councils and nonprofit organizations

This qualitative two-site case study examined the capacity building practices that Children’s Services Councils (CSCs), independent units of local government, provide to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) contracted to deliver human services. The contracting literature is replete with recommendations for government to provide capacity building to contracted NPOs, yet there is a dearth of scholarship on this topic. The study’s purpose was to increase the understanding of capacity building provided in a local government contracting setting. Data collection consisted primarily of in-depth interviews and focus groups with 73 staff from two CSCs and 28 contracted NPOs. Interview data were supplemented by participant observation and review of secondary data. The study analyzed capacity building needs, practices, influencing factors, and outcomes. The study identified NPO capacity building needs in: documentation and reporting, financial management, program monitoring and evaluation, participant recruitment and retention, and program quality. Additionally, sixteen different types of CSC capacity building practices were identified. Results indicated that three major factors impacted CSC capacity building: CSC capacity building goals, the relationship between the CSC and NPOs, and the level of NPO participation. Study results also provided insight into the dynamics of the CSC capacity building process, including unique problems, challenges, and opportunities as well as necessary resources. The results indicated that the CSCs’ relational contracting approach facilitated CSC capacity building and that CSC contract managers were central players in the process. The study provided evidence that local government agencies can serve as effective builders of NPO capacity. Additionally, results indicated that much of what is known about capacity building can be applied in this previously unstudied capacity building setting. Finally, the study laid the groundwork for future development of a model for capacity building in a local government contracting setting.

The relationship between higher education curricular variables and human flight performance in a preliminary flying training program

The ability of the United States Air Force (USAF) to sustain a high level of operational ability and readiness is dependent on the proficiency and expertise of its pilots. Recruitment, education, training, and retention of its pilot force are crucial factors in the USAF's attainment of its operational mission: defense of this nation and its allies. Failure of a student pilot during a training program does not only represent a loss of costly training expenditures to the American public, but often consists of loss of human life, aircraft, and property. This research focused on the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps' (AFROTC) selection method for student pilots for the light aircraft training (LATR) program. The LATR program is an intense 16 day flight training program that precedes the Air Force's undergraduate pilot training (UPT) program. The study subjects were 265 AFROTC cadets in the LATR program. A variety of independent variables from each subject's higher education curricular background as well as results of preselection tests, participation in varsity athletics, prior flying experience and gender were evaluated against subsequent performance in LATR. Performance was measured by a quantitative performance score developed by this researcher based on 28 graded training factors as well as overall pass or fail of the LATR program. Study results showed participation in university varsity athletics was very significantly and positively related to performance in the LATR program, followed by prior flying experience and to a very slight degree portions of the Air Force Officers Qualifying Test. Not significantly related to success in the LATR program were independent variables such as grade point average, scholastic aptitude test scores, academic major, gender and the AFROTC selection and ranking system.

Humanism is a violence typical of the beasts. Philosozing with a Hammer, using Levinas and Derrida, the Measure of the Human and the Human as a measure

Levinas’s reflections arose as a critique of traditional philosophy which, since it was based on presence and identity, leads to the exclusion of the other. Instead of an onto-logical thought the Lithuanian proposes that the ipseity of the human being be constituted by alterity, and that it be so ethically, because the subject is sub-ject, that is, that which upholds, responsibility. In an attempt to take the obligatory attention to the otherness of the other even further, Derrida would develop a radical critique of the Levinasian posture. Deconstruction of every trace of ipseity and sovereignty in the relationship with the other, the reading that we have done of the work of Derrida opts for a no definable understanding of the human. That is why every de-limitation of an ethical field as a properly human implies a brutal violence that the levinasian humanism of the other tried to exceed.

Rabbits, stoats and the predator problem: Why a strong animal rights position need not call for human intervention to protect prey from predators

Animal rights positions face the ‘predator problem’: the suggestion that if the rights of nonhuman animals are to be protected, then we are obliged to interfere in natural ecosystems to protect prey from predators. Generally, rather than embracing this conclusion, animal ethicists have rejected it, basing this objection on a number of different arguments. This paper considers but challenges three such arguments, before defending a fourth possibility. Rejected are Peter Singer’s suggestion that interference will lead to more harm than good, Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka’s suggestion that respect for nonhuman sovereignty necessitates non-interference in normal circumstances, and Alasdair Cochrane’s solution based on the claim that predators cannot survive without killing prey. The possibility defended builds upon Tom Regan’s suggestion that predators, as moral patients but not moral agents, cannot violate the rights of their prey, and so the rights of the prey, while they do exist, do not call for intervention. This idea is developed by a consideration of how moral agents can be more or less responsible for a given event, and defended against criticisms offered by thinkers including Alasdair Cochrane and Dale Jamieson.

A prospective view of animal and human Fasciolosis

Fasciolosis, a food-borne trematodiasis, results following infection with the parasites, Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. These trematodes greatly affect the global agricultural community, infecting millions of ruminants worldwide and causing annual economic losses in excess of US $3 billion. Fasciolosis, an important zoonosis, is classified by WHO as a neglected tropical disease with an estimated 17 million people infected and a further 180 million people at risk of infection. The significant impact on agriculture and human health together with the increasing demand for animal-derived food products to support global population growth demonstrate that fasciolosis is a major One Health problem. This review details the problematic issues surrounding fasciolosis control, including drug resistance, lack of diagnosis and the threat that hybridization of the Fasciola species poses to future animal and human health. We discuss how these parasites may mediate their long-term survival through regulation and modulation of the host immune system, by altering the host immune homeostasis and/or by influencing the intestinal microbiome particularly in respect to concurrent infections with other pathogens. Large genome, transcriptome and proteomic data sets are now available to support an integrated One Health approach to develop novel diagnostic and control strategies for both animal and human disease.

Resources Grabbing and Human Rights: Building a Triangular Relationship Between States, Indigenous Peoples and Corporations

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of a chapter accepted for publication in Angelica Bonfanti, Francesca Romanin Jacur, Francesco Seatzu (eds), Natural Resources Grabbing: Natural Resources Grabbing: An International Law Perspective, (Brill, 2016). The version of record is available at: http://www.brill.com/products/book/natural-resources-grabbing

Plantibodies in human and animal health: a review.

Background: Antibodies are essential part of vertebrates’ adaptive immune system; they can now be produced by transforming plants with antibody-coding genes from mammals/humans. Although plants do not naturally make antibodies, the plant-derived antibodies (plantibodies) have been shown to function in the same way as mammalian antibodies. Methods: PubMed and Google search engines were used to download relevant publications on plantibodies in medical and veterinary fields; the papers were reviewed and findings qualitatively described. Results: The process of bioproduction of plantibodies offers several advantages over the conventional method of antibody production in mammalian cells with the cost of antibody production in plants being substantially lesser. Contrary to what is possible with animal-derived antibodies, the process of making plantibodies almost exclusively precludes transfer of pathogens to the end product. Additionally, plants not only produce a relatively high yield of antibodies in a comparatively faster time, they also serve as cost-effective bioreactors to produce antibodies of diverse specificities. Conclusion: Plantibodies are safe, cost-effective and offer more advantages over animal-derived antibodies. Methods of producing them are described with a view to inspiring African scientists on the need to embrace and harness this rapidly evolving biotechnology in solving human and animal health challenges on the continent where the climate supports growth of diverse plants.

Bioética animal: antropocentrismo y otras reflexiones

En este artículo se hace un recorrido histórico-filosófico acerca de las diferentes concepciones que el ser humano se ha planteado en torno a los animales, y su relación con éstos. Finalmente, se elabora un análisis crítico en relación con el antropocentrismo y el biocentrismo, además se asume una postura moderada con respecto a ambas tesis.