In-transit perishable product inspection

We determine the value of monitoring perishable freight in-transit for a single vehicle traveling from an origin to a destination. We develop a computationally practical approach for determining the optimal expected cost function and an optimal policy, based on an infinite horizon partially observed Markov decision process model. Structural properties of the optimal expected cost function and optimal policy are determined. These results can lend insight when deciding whether to acquire the capacity to monitor freight status in transit and what actions to take, based on the data from the in-transit monitoring, that optimally increase expected supply chain productivity.     

Why Regenerative Agriculture?

Regenerative agriculture is both an attitude and a suite of practices that restores and maintains soil health and fertility, supports biodiversity, protects watersheds, and improves ecological and economic resilience. It focuses on creating the conditions for life above and below ground and takes its cues from nature, which has a very long track record of successfully growing things. By re-carbonizing soils via photosynthesis and biology, particularly on degraded land, regenerative agriculture can also sequester increasing quantities of atmospheric carbon (CO₂) underground, making it a low-cost “shovel-ready” solution to climate change. Its multiple co-benefits, including the production of healthy, nutritious food, means it will be a critical component of our response to rising climate instability.     

How does the availability and use of flexible leave influence the employer–employee relationship?

In this article, we develop, and empirically test, a moderated mediation model of the effects of flexible leave on employees' organizational attachment. Drawing on a social exchange framework and signaling theory, we explore how the material and non-material nature of exchange between the employer and employee shapes their relationship. First, we show that the relationship between the availability of flexible leave and organizational attachment is shaped by two competing mediators, perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived flexibility stigma. Second, we delineate between availability and use of the policy, to show how the effect of POS is enhanced and perceived flexibility stigma reduced, with use. Our findings demonstrate that the relationship between the availability of flexible leave and organizational attachment is complex, but is enhanced through use of flexible leave. We contribute toward HRM scholarship about the relationship between employees' experience of HR practices and their corresponding impact on employees' subsequent behavior.     

Ethical or practical: An empirical study of students' choices in simulated business scenarios

Graduate and undergraduate students were asked to evaluate the ethicality and practicality of the lead character in several case scenarios. Students' responses indicated they believed practicality was more important than ethicality. The majority of students were able to determine the correct ethicality of the cases presented to them. The authors conclude that more research is needed in the antecedents of a student's value system.Dr. White is U.C. Foundation Professor of Management at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he has been a faculty member since 1981. Dr White has published in the areas of general management, operations management, and personnel. Dr White holds the Ph. D. Degree in Management.Mr. Dooley is a candidate for the doctoral degree in management and holds an MBA degree.     

AN APPROACH TO LINKING AN ECOLOGICAL VEGETATION MODEL TO AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC MODEL

Agricultural policy measures are directed increasingly towards encouraging production systems that are deemed to be favourable for ecologically valued plant communities and species. This paper presents an approach to linking an ecological model of vegetation with a regional economic model of agricultural production to provide a means of estimating the costs of achieving a given area of a desired vegetation type. This is demonstrated by an empirical study of heather and hay meadow conservation in the River Tyne catchment in northern England. The results show that policy measures need to take account both of spatial linkages within agriculture and temporal links between ecological processes and agricultural productivity.