Leadership: A Resource In The Workplace

Leadership is an organizational component that has seen considerable interest in the I/O psychology literature. The current study aimed to expand on this literature by investigating the extent to which the relation between leadership style and strain outcomes varies based on employee social class. Participants were asked to complete a survey assessing leadership style of their supervisor, indicators of stress, indicators of work-related strain, and components of social class. Results suggested that individuals of lower social class experience higher levels of stress and strain. Additionally, individuals with leaders who are more transformational experience lower levels of stress and work-related strain. Further, individuals with leaders who are more transactional or laissez-faire tend to experience higher levels of stress and work-related strain. However, results did not suggest that social class moderates the relations between leadership style and stress or work-related strain outcomes

Policy shifts, developer contributions and land value capture in London 2005–2017

Since the early 1990s developer contributions have been the main instrument for land value capture by local government in the UK. There has been little empirical research that has investigated the extent of land value capture and how it may have varied over time in the light of shifting policy regimes and changing real estate market conditions. This paper attempts to address this issue by investigating trends in land value capture through developer contributions in inner London during the period 2005-2017. Using a land valuation model that attempts to simulate the approach to land pricing used by real estate developers, a time series of land values and developer contributions has been generated. It is estimated that, over the study period, developer contributions amounted to 45%-65% of land value assuming a no developer contribution regime. In a period during which national housing and planning policy has changed significantly, non-market housing contributions have comprised a significant proportion of land value capture. As residential property prices have increased, the absolute amount of land value capture has also increased, yet the relative proportion of land value captured has decreased. This finding is mainly due to the failure of local planning policies on developer contributions to keep pace with house price growth. The findings also reveal that, despite a policy environment that has been unsympathetic to delivery of non-market housing through developer contributions, the removal of the social housing grant for non-market housing developed as a component of private schemes in 2010 seems to have increased land value capture relative to the pre-2010 policy regime

Use of Medical Care and Suicide Among Veterans

Due to rising veteran suicide rates, the veteran population has become a focus of practitioners, research scientists, and policymakers. Although researchers have studied the relationship between suicidality and the environment, more research is required to evaluate how suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation, and suicide risk are associated with a veteran\u27s use of medical care services within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Therefore, this study focused on environmental variables (medical care usage and rurality), and their relationship with suicidal behavior (Manuscript 1), suicidal ideation (Manuscript 2), and suicide risk (Manuscript 3). The social ecological model was used to better understand the interaction between the environmental factors discussed and veteran suicidality. Use of primary care services was found to be significantly associated (negative association at all levels in comparison to the reference level of high use) with each dependent variable: suicidal behavior (p \u3c .001, OR = .074 - .529), suicidal ideation (p \u3c .001, OR = .170 - .490), and suicide risk (p \u3c .001, OR = .154 - .656). Finally, rurality was found to be significantly associated with suicidal behavior and suicidal ideation. A positive association was found between suicidal behavior (p \u3c .05, OR = 8.099) and suicidal ideation (p \u3c .05, OR = 1.892) and urban residence (in comparison to the reference level of highly rural). This study can promote social change by providing insights on how environmental factors influence veterans\u27 propensity to suicide and by leading VHA researchers into further exploring the impact of veterans\u27 use of services on the suicidality of the population

Investigation of potential land value tax policy - options for Scotland

The University of Reading has been appointed by the Scottish Land Commission (SLC) to conduct research to assess, with reference to international experience, the potential of land value taxation to contribute to a more productive, accountable and diverse pattern of land ownership and use in Scotland and to identify a set of potential policy options that merit further consideration by the SLC. The current research is part of a broader agenda to reform the system of land ownership and the functioning of the land market in Scotland, and to reshape the role of the public sector in taking a more proactive stance in delivering development in the public interest. Adjustments in the mechanisms for land and property taxation will be an essential piece of the puzzle in delivering this vision

A Record of Lateglacial and Early Holocene Environmental and Ecological Change from Southwestern Connecticut, USA

Analyses of a sediment core from Highstead Swamp in southwestern Connecticut, USA, reveal Lateglacial and early Holocene ecological and hydrological changes. Lateglacial pollen assemblages are dominated by Picea and Pinus subg. Pinus, and the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) cold interval is evidenced by higher abundance of Abies and Alnus viridis subsp. crispa. As climate warmed at the end of the YD, Picea and Abies declined and Pinus strobus became the dominant upland tree species. A shift from lacustrine sediment to organic peat at the YD-Holocene boundary suggests that the lake that existed in the basin during the Lateglacial interval developed into a swamp in response to reduced effective moisture. A change in wetland vegetation from Myrica gale to Alnus incana subsp. rugosa and Sphagnum is consistent with this interpretation of environmental changes at the beginning of the HoloceneOther Research Uni

The relationship between residential development land prices and house prices

There exists apparent disagreement between two areas of literature regarding the relationship between house prices and land prices. In the professional literature it is argued that high house prices cause high residential development land prices. In some of the policy literature it is argued that it is land price increases that are behind increasing house prices. We argue that this is a rather artificial dichotomy and arises from two different ways of thinking about the relationship between land and house prices. To demonstrate this we explore how housing and residential land markets work and how their price responses are interrelated

Implementing a land value tax: considerations on moving from theory to practice

A land value tax is a recurrent tax on landowners based on the value of unimproved land. There is a widely held view that a land value tax is an economically efficient means of taxing wealth and of encouraging land development. The arguments presented in the policy and academic literature tend to concentrate on the compelling theoretical case, but most do not consider the detail of how such a tax might be implemented. Indeed, land value taxation is not widely implemented as a standalone real estate tax despite the strong theoretical rationale for its use. We explore why this might be by identifying key practical, political and economic factors surrounding the implementation and operation of land value taxation in six countries. We examine the various rationales for the introduction of land value tax, reasons for its continued use or abolition (where applicable) as well the particular practical and political issues which policymakers need to consider prior to introducing land value taxation. These include the need for a comprehensive up-to-date land registry and forward planning of land use at plot level; the provision of a well-resourced and informed valuation profession; resources to undertake robust valuations which separate the value of land from the value of improvements for developed plots and do so on the basis of highest and best use; and the need for widespread political support for the introduction of a new tax (which may be difficult to secure). These issues present significant uncertainty in comparison with already-existing forms of land and property taxation. We conclude that these issues may therefore provide some explanation as to the lack of widespread adoption of land value tax despite the economic theoretical arguments in its favour

Evidence of Limited Recruitment of Pallid Sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River

Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus are endemic to the Missouri and Mississippi river basins and are rare throughout their range. The species was listed as federally endangered with little to no evidence of natural recruitment. Since population augmentation was initiated as a recovery objective in the early 1990s, thousands of hatchery-origin Pallid Sturgeon have been stocked in the lower Missouri River (Gavins Point Dam [river kilometer 1,305.1] to the confluence of the Mississippi River [river kilometer 0.0]). Efforts to discriminate natural reproduction and recruitment of wild-origin Pallid Sturgeon from hatchery-origin fish has been hampered by tag loss in hatchery-origin sturgeon, inconsistent documentation of hatchery parental crosses, and the failure to collect tissue samples for genotyping all broodstock. However, the recent reconstruction of missing parental genotypes from known hatchery-origin progeny and from cryopreserved milt made it possible to examine Pallid Sturgeon recruitment. Therefore, our objectives were to 1) determine the likelihood that unmarked Pallid Sturgeon captured from the lower Missouri River were the result of natural recruitment and 2) examine the length distribution of wild- and hatchery-origin fish to determine if a difference exists by origin and examine the life-stage distribution. Genetic analysis showed that from 2003 to 2015, 358 ‘‘presumptive wild-origin’’ Pallid Sturgeon were captured in the lower Missouri River and the comparison between the length distributions of wild- and hatchery-origin fish did not provide any additional clarification into potential wildorigin fish. Low recruitment may be due to a small breeding population, high mortality of early life stages, hybridization with Shovelnose Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus, or transport of drifting free embryos or larvae into inhospitable habitats. Determining what factors are limiting recruitment is the important next step for the recovery of Pallid Sturgeon in the lower Missouri River

Hectospec, the MMT's 300 Optical Fiber-Fed Spectrograph

The Hectospec is a 300 optical fiber fed spectrograph commissioned at the MMT in the spring of 2004. A pair of high-speed six-axis robots move the 300 fiber buttons between observing configurations within ~300 s and to an accuracy ~25 microns. The optical fibers run for 26 m between the MMT's focal surface and the bench spectrograph operating at R~1000-2000. Another high dispersion bench spectrograph offering R~5,000, Hectochelle, is also available. The system throughput, including all losses in the telescope optics, fibers, and spectrograph peaks at ~10% at the grating blaze in 1" FWHM seeing. Correcting for aperture losses at the 1.5" diameter fiber entrance aperture, the system throughput peaks at $\sim$17%. Hectospec has proven to be a workhorse instrument at the MMT. Hectospec and Hectochelle together were scheduled for 1/3 of the available nights since its commissioning. Hectospec has returned \~60,000 reduced spectra for 16 scientific programs during its first year of operation.Comment: 68 pages, 28 figures, to appear in December 2005 PAS