Firm Performance, Worker Commitment and Loyalty

Using matched employer-employee level data drawn from the UK Workplace and Employee Relations Survey, we explore the influence of worker commitment and loyalty on firm level labour productivity and financial performance. Our empirical findings suggest that worker commitment and loyalty enhance both labour productivity and financial performance at the firm level thereby highlighting a hitherto neglected conduit for improved firm performance. Using employee level data, we also explore the determinants of worker commitment and loyalty in order to ascertain how such attachments to the firm may be engendered. In general, our employee level analysis suggests that it is firm level characteristics (such as appraisal schemes, supervision, suspensions and redundancies) that influence attachments to the firm. Such findings suggest that firms may be able to exert some influence over the loyalty and commitment of its workforce, which, in turn, may affect firm performance

Claytonia virginica L.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/10519/thumbnail.jp

OAK WILT RESEARCH - A LESSON IN COOPERATION

During a meeting of the Memphis Lumbermen\u27s Club in the early spring of 19.50, the words of two men initiated one of the most unique research programs ever known in biological circles. On this day, Dr. Curtis .\fay, a government forest pathologist, had been asked to speak to this group on the relatively new disease of oaks, oak wilt. At the conclusion of Dr. .\lay\u27s discussion, the late Leonard H.. Steidel, a Club member, challenged his group to do something constructive in meeting this threat to their chief lumber tree. From this simple beginning, the National Oak Wilt Research Committee was born

No evidence for a culturable bacterial tetrodotoxin producer in Pleurobranchaea maculata (Gastropoda: Pleurobranchidae) and Stylochoplana sp. (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida)

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin found in the tissues of many taxonomically diverse organisms. Its origin has been the topic of much debate, with suggestions including endogenous production, acquisition through diet, and symbiotic bacterial synthesis. Bacterial production of TTX has been reported in isolates from marine biota, but at lower than expected concentrations. In this study, 102 strains were isolated from Pleurobranchaea maculata (Opisthobranchia) and Stylochoplana sp. (Platyhelminthes). Tetrodotoxin production was tested utilizing a recently developed sensitive method to detect the C9 base of TTX via liquid chromatography—mass spectrometry. Bacterial strains were characterized by sequencing a region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. To account for the possibility that TTX is produced by a consortium of bacteria, a series of experiments using marine broth spiked with various P. maculata tissues were undertaken. Sixteen unique strains from P. maculata and one from Stylochoplana sp. were isolated, representing eight different genera; Pseudomonadales, Actinomycetales, Oceanospirillales, Thiotrichales, Rhodobacterales, Sphingomonadales, Bacillales, and Vibrionales. Molecular fingerprinting of bacterial communities from broth experiments showed little change over the first four days. No C9 base or TTX was detected in isolates or broth experiments (past day 0), suggesting a culturable microbial source of TTX in P. maculata and Stylochoplana sp. is unlikely

Procedures for Laboratory Studies on Wood Decay Resistance

Laboratory studies on wood decay resistance are useful in both research and teaching. These studies have been used extensively to determine decay resistance of tropical woods to wood rot fungi found in the temperate regions of North America (9, 16, 20, 25, 26, 27). The methods have been used or suggested as tools in basic research on fungal ecology (4, 13, 14, 17), abnormal wood (5, 6, 12, 24) and wood variability (8, 21, 22, 28). The techniques also are adapted for use as laboratory exercises in a Plant Pathology course, especially if conducted in conjunction with other laboratory deterioration procedures (18, 23, 29). Because of these uses, the suggestion was made that these laboratory procedures be presented in their entirety. This paper is an attempt to achieve this purpose

The Status of Oak Wilt in lowa

This paper is intended to review critically and briefly the research being conducted on the oak wilt disease caused by the fungus, Endoconidiophora fagacearum Bretz. Although conditions and work in Iowa will be referred to constantly throughout the course of this review, much of the material will be applicable to the other oak wilt areas of this country. Many old time woodsmen maintain the presence in oak stands at the turn of the century of what we now call oak wilt; but the first definite occurrence of this disease is indicated by photographs taken in the McGregor area in 1932 (Dietz and Young 1948). By 1943, oak wilt became a serious threat to the oak areas in northeastern Iowa and in the state parks of Dolliver and Pilot Knob. Since that time, oak wilt has been found to be present throughout the oak range in Iowa. At this writing, nationally, this disease is considered the most serious forest tree disease in the eastern half of the United States. Research was begun on this disease in the early 1940\u27s by workers in Iowa and Wisconsin with the support of their respective conservation commissions. As the disease became known in other areas of the country, more research programs developed. In 1950 the National Oak Wilt Research Committee, a group of men in the hardwood industry, was formed and has financially supported oak wilt research at six research institutions since that date. The federal government as well as other state and local agencies have also actively supported oak wilt research in the oak regions of this country. At this time, eleven states are active in research on this disease