Intensity of Grazing Effect on Livestock and Forage Production

An intensity of grazing experiment was initiated in 1942 at the Cottonwood Range Field Station to study the effects of heavy, moderate, and light grazing on the vegetation and on cow and calf production. Results of the first 9 years of this study were reported in South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 412 in 1951. These studies have been continued and intensified. The present publication is a progress report on the effects of the intensity of grazing on cow and calf production since 1953 and on the cumulative effects of different grazing intensities on the native vegetation

A constructively critical review of change and innovation-related concepts: Towards conceptual and operational clarity

The aim of this paper is to examine and clarify the nomological network of change and innovation (CI)-related constructs. A literature review in this field revealed a number of interrelated constructs that have emerged over the last decades. We examine several such constructs—innovation, creativity, proactive behaviours, job crafting, voice, taking charge, personal initiative, submitting suggestions, and extra-role behaviours. Our conceptual analysis suggests each one of these constructs represents a specific component of CI-related behaviours. However, we also found that on occasion these concepts have been dysfunctionally operationalized with evidence of three dysfunctional effects: (a) construct confusion, (b) construct drift, and (c) construct contamination. Challenges for future research to enhance conceptual and operational clarity are discussed.This paper was supported by the British Academy: [Grant number SG110409] awarded to the first author and by UK Leverhulme Trust: [Grant number IN-2012-095] awarded to the second author

Proactive and politically skilled professionals: What is the relationship with affective occupational commitment?

The aim of this study is to extend research on employee affective commitment in three ways: (1) instead of organizational commitment the focus is on occupational commitment; (2) the role of proactive personality on affective occupational commitment is examined; and (3) occupational satisfaction is examined as a mediator and political skills as moderator in the relationship between proactive personality and affective occupational commitment. Two connected studies, one in a hospital located in the private sector and one in a university located in the public sector, are carried out in Pakistan, drawing on a total sample of over 400 employees. The results show that proactive personality is positively related to affective occupational commitment, and that occupational satisfaction partly mediates the relationship between proactive personality and affective occupational commitment. No effect is found for a moderator effect of political skills in the relationship between proactive personality and affective occupational commitment. Political skills however moderate the relationship between proactive personality and affective organizational commitment

Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

Formation and interactions of cold and ultracold molecules: new challenges for interdisciplinary physics

Progress on researches in the field of molecules at cold and ultracold temperatures is reported in this review. It covers extensively the experimental methods to produce, detect and characterize cold and ultracold molecules including association of ultracold atoms, deceleration by external fields and kinematic cooling. Confinement of molecules in different kinds of traps is also discussed. The basic theoretical issues related to the knowledge of the molecular structure, the atom-molecule and molecule-molecule mutual interactions, and to their possible manipulation and control with external fields, are reviewed. A short discussion on the broad area of applications completes the review.Comment: to appear in Reports on Progress in Physic

Sustainable design of biorefinery processes: existing practices and new methodology

Nowadays, eco-designing products is increasingly practiced. The next challenge for sustain- ability is to optimize production processes. Biorefi neries are particularly concerned with this improve- ment, because they use renewable resources. To identify the contribution of transformation processes to the overall environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) appears as the adequate method. A literature review highlights that LCA is mainly performed on biorefi neries to compare biomass feed- stocks between them and to a fossil reference. Another part of environmental LCA compares the impacts of different processing routes. Nevertheless, these evaluations concern already designed pro- cesses. Generally, processes are considered as a unique operation in assessments. However, some criteria like operating can notably modify environmental burdens. The eco-design of biorefi nery pro- cesses can be guided by coupling process simulation to LCA. This method has been emerging in the chemical sector in recent years. Consequently, this paper proposes a new methodological approach to assessing the complete sustainability of biorefi nery processes, since its fi rst design stages. In addi- tion to coupling process simulation and environmental LCA, the other pillars of sustainability will be assessed. Indeed, Life Cycle Costing and Social Life Cycle Assessment can be performed to obtain an integrated methodological framework. The simultaneous optimization of the environmental, economic, and social performances of the process can lead to antagonist ways of improving. Consequently, compromises should be realized. Thereby, the multi-objective optimization can be accomplished by a metaheuristic method supported by a decision-making tool. Finally, the main limits of this method and some perspectives and ways for improving are discussed

Does proactive personality matter in leadership transitions? Effects of proactive personality on new leader identification and responses to new leaders and their change agendas

Despite the growing frequency of leadership transitions and their significant impact on team and organizational performance, little research has examined why and how teams develop an identification with a new leader or their subsequent receptiveness to the new leader’s change initiatives. Drawing from the contrast and congruence effects and the theoretical perspectives of leader identification, this study empirically tests a model in which the congruence of new leaders’ and their teams’ proactive personalities foster new leader identification, as well as the team’s behavioral responses to the new leader’s change agenda. This effect is strongest when the new leader’s proactive personality is higher than that of the former leader’s proactive personality (positive contrast). Our findings of a four-wave “before-and-after” transition survey of 155 hotel employees and 51 new leaders, achieved through polynomial regression analyses, proved very insightful. Essentially, we found that the congruence between a new leader’s and his/her team’s proactive personalities and the positive contrast between a former leader’s and the new leader’s proactive personalities enhanced new leader identification and the team’s shared identification with the new leader’s change agenda, and, thereby led the team to exhibit more behavioral engagement with, and voice behavior about, the new leader’s change agenda

Reversing the Extraverted Leadership Advantage: The Role of Employee Proactivity

Extraversion predicts leadership emergence and effectiveness, but do groups perform more effectively under extraverted leadership? Drawing on dominance complementarity theory, we propose that although extraverted leadership enhances group performance when employees are passive, this effect reverses when employees are proactive, because extraverted leaders are less receptive to proactivity. In Study 1, pizza stores with leaders rated high (low) in extraversion achieved higher profits when employees were passive (proactive). Study 2 constructively replicates these findings in the laboratory: passive (proactive) groups achieved higher performance when leaders acted high (low) in extraversion. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for leadership and proactivity

A relational model of perceived overqualification : the moderating role of interpersonal influence on social acceptance.

Theories of perceived overqualification have tended to focus on employees’ job-related responses to account for effects on performance. We offer an alternative perspective and theorize that perceived overqualification could influence work performance through a relational mechanism. We propose that relational skills, in the form of interpersonal influence of overqualified employees, determine their tendency to experience social acceptance and, thus, engage in positive work-related behaviors. We tested this relational model across two studies using time-lagged, multisource data. In Study 1, the results indicated that for employees high on interpersonal influence, perceived overqualification was positively related to self-reported social acceptance, whereas for employees low on interpersonal influence, the relationship was negative. Social acceptance, in turn, was positively related to in-role job performance, interpersonal altruism, and team member proactivity evaluated by supervisors. In Study 2, we focused on peer-reported social acceptance and found that the indirect relationships between perceived overqualification and supervisor-reported behavioral outcomes via social acceptance were negative when interpersonal influence was low and nonsignificant when interpersonal influence was high. The implications of the general findings are discussed