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The aim of this chapter is to explore the links between management development (MD) and organizational commitment. First, the literature on organizational commitment is discussed. The chapter then proceeds with an account of research carried out in DaimlerChrysler UK Limited (DCUK) on its first MD programme for team leaders. The research design applied a widely held notion of organizational commitment as comprising three different types of commitment – Affective, Normative and Continuance – as based on the work of Meyer and Allen (1997). A conceptual framework linking management development, organizational commitment and job performance was developed, and a hypothesis formulated that management development has no impact on Affective or Normative commitment and has a negative impact on Continuance commitment.

Changes to Aboriginal fire regimes since European occupation are thought to have affected the range and demographic structure of many vegetation communities. This study shows a contraction by 49% of the area of fire-prone open forest through rainforest invasion between 1945 and 1991-94 in the northern wet tropics of Queensland, Australia. Relative Growth Rates (RGR) for open forest areas varied from -0.112 to -0.005. Collaborative historical research with the Aboriginal traditional owners, the Kuku-Yalanji people, investigated possible linkages with alterations to their fire practices. A multiplicity of human impacts is associated with the measured vegetation change, including clearing for agriculture and mining, logging for timber and firewood, and the introduction of cattle and horses. Some rainforest expansion since 1945 represents a recovery following clearing from earlier mining operations. Contraction of open forest through rainforest invasion was most rapid (RGR = -0.124) where there was a continuation of Aboriginal fire management with cattle grazing. The contraction of open forest was nine times slower in an ungrazed area (RGR = -0.005) than in a nearby area grazed by horses (RGR = -0.045). Aboriginal fire regimes may act synergistically with cattle or horse grazing to accelerate the invasion of rainforest into open forest. Management prescriptions currently focus on active fire management to prevent further open forest contraction. However, fire management may have unexpected outcomes when rainforest-open forest dynamics are complicated by recent historical factors such as cattle grazing, logging, and tin mining, and possible synergies between these factors and fire regimes. Managers need to understand the histories of particular sites when formulating plans, and monitor the consequences of their actions to enable an adaptive approach.

(1981). Economic loss in negligence—the need for rationalisation. The Law Teacher: Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 181-186.

Drosophila salivary chromosomes have been isolated at neutral pH and physiological ionic strength. They display only background level binding of antibodies against Z-DNA. Following exposure to the commonly used fixative 45% acetic acid all of the polytene chromosomes, X and autosomes, show a massive increase in anti-Z-DNA antibody binding. The enhancement from background to intense fluorescence occurs whether the chromosomes are stabilised by two orders of magnitude lower concentration of formaldehyde than that used to minimise protein extraction in classical acid squash preparations, or by physiological concentrations of spermine and spermidine. Nicking of acetic acid-treated chromosomes by DNase I dramatically reduces their Z-DNA immunoreactivity. The histones and non-histones extracted by 45% acetic acid from unfixed and formaldehyde-fixed Drosophila chromatin have been analysed. Exposure of isolated salivary chromosomes to the non-protein-extracting fixative 95% ethanol also enhances Z-DNA immunoreactivity. All of these phenomena must be taken into account in the search for the Z-DNA conformation in cells by cytological techniques.

There is considerable interest in the existence and significance of alternative conformations of DNA to the right-handed B-form described originally by Watson and Crick. The indirect immunofluorescence observations of Nordheim et al., Arndt-Jovin et al. and Lemeunier et al. that antibodies against left-handed Z-DNA bind to polytene chromosomes have thus assumed considerable importance. However, there is a paradox: some workers observe Z-DNA in interbands and others in bands. We report here that binding of Z-DNA antibodies to Drosophila polytene chromosomes prepared without acid fixation is at background level, and that following acid fixation the same antibody treatment leads to intense fluorescence. Depending on the extent of exposure to 45% acetic acid, fluorescence can occur primarily in interbands or in bands. Furthermore, antibody binding is dependent on elastic torsional strain in the DNA molecules.