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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the culture in the logging industry in the East Kootenay/Columbia region in British Columbia, Canada, is changing as warm winters resulting from climate change drive expansion of a native tree-killing pest, the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae).

The paper is derived from historical records and 11 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted from July 2010 to May 2011.

This analysis found that the insect outbreaks are generating a heightened sense of economic and physical vulnerability in the logging industry, undermining previous assumptions of sufficiency and confidence.

This paper presents results from a study of a specific region, and caution should be used when comparing these results with similar phenomena in other contexts.

The forest industry is an important employer throughout the British Columbia interior; the cultural changes documented here indicate that climate change, manifested in insect outbreaks, is generating cultural dislocation that can have negative consequences beyond the immediate economic impacts.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of how an unanticipated consequence of climate change is driving adjustments in a subculture in a technologically advanced society.

The purpose of this paper is to review the importance of various change principles in assisting change in three public sector organizations.

The researchers carried out interviews and used focus groups in assessing the principles and strategies which would be more useful.

The interview and focus group results in three public sector organizations suggest that forming a guiding coalition might be one of the most important principles to observe.

The research data used for illustration are based on case evidence and the anecdotal interpretation of change in three settings. The paper does not claim to offer a scientific conclusion.

The goal is to encourage a discussion on whether or not certain principles or strategies should be more important.

The paper reviews the literature on change and reviews these principles in real experiences. Much of the other literature is conceptual.

Social science research is used to support the formulation of natural resource management decisions with accurate and timely information. Due to risk and potential impacts, this is important in wildland fire management. The purpose of this paper is to identify the respondent perceptions of a natural disturbance agent's impact on fire management in Colorado and Wyoming.

The research methodology included a self-administered questionnaire completed by a random sample of respondents in three study locations adjacent to national forests. A quantitative analysis was conducted to identify attitudes about fuels management (prescribed fire) and beliefs about fire and fire management.

Respondents viewed prescribed fire favorably and they understand the natural role of fire on the landscape. While results suggest respondents support management of forest conditions to decrease the effects of a wildfire, they do not feel that individuals have a right to expect their home to be protected from fire by land managers, nor do they agree with restricting home building near national forest land.

Future research should continue the longitudinal assessment of attitudes toward prescribed fires, incorporating respondent distance to the national forest or identifying respondents living within the wildland-urban interface.

This paper illustrates how applied, social science research can meet the needs of agencies and public officials. Results of this paper have been presented to state and federal forestry officials, and members of an executive-level task force in Colorado studying wildfire insurance and forest health.

During the great post–World War II economic expansion, modernization theorists held that the new American capitalism balanced mass production and mass consumption, meshed profitability with labor's interests, and ended class conflict. They thought that Keynesian policies insured a near full-employment, low-inflation, continuous growth economy. They viewed the United States as the “new lead society,” eliminating industrial capitalism's backward features and progressing toward modernity's penultimate “postindustrial” stage.⁷ Many Americans believed that the ideal of “consumer freedom,” forged early in the century, had been widely realized and epitomized American democracy's superiority to communism.⁸ However, critics held that the new capitalism did not solve all of classical capitalism's problems (e.g., poverty) and that much increased consumption generated new types of cultural and political problems. John Kenneth Galbraith argued that mainstream economists assumed that human nature dictates an unlimited “urgency of wants,” naturalizing ever increasing production and consumption and precluding the distinction of goods required to meet basic needs from those that stoke wasteful, destructive appetites. In his view, mainstream economists’ individualistic, acquisitive presuppositions crown consumers sovereign and obscure cultural forces, especially advertising, that generate and channel desire and elevate possessions and consumption into the prime measures of self-worth. Galbraith held that production's “paramount position” and related “imperatives of consumer demand” create dependence on economic growth and generate new imbalances and insecurities.⁹ Harsher critics held that the consumer culture blinded middle-class Americans to injustice, despotic bureaucracy, and drudge work (e.g., Mills, 1961; Marcuse, 1964). But even these radical critics implied that postwar capitalism unlocked the secret of sustained economic growth.

The purpose of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

This review is based on “Implementing change in public sector organizations,” by J. Barton Cunningham and James S. Kempling. Some points made here about the principles behind organizational change might seem to be spelled out excessively, but there some useful observations about the public sector, its dependency on other agencies, and how obstacles to change can be surmounted.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

Of all the deaths associated with disasters, bushfires account for 40% of these fatalities. The resulting fatalities are consequent upon householders’ decision-making, leading to late or non-evacuation from at-risk communities. However, while decision-making is a function of risk perception, this paper aims to investigate householders’ perceptions of bushfire risks following the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires of 2019/2020.

An inductive research approach was adopted. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted to elicit qualitative data from southeastern NSW, Australia householders. The data were collected via face-to-face and online Zoom. Each interview was recorded, transcribed using Otter.AI and thematically analyzed with NVivo 12 Pro (Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2019). In addition, inter-rater reliability was done by engaging an independent researcher to code the de-identified data independently. The codes were cross-checked for reliability and adjusted where necessary.

It was found that bushfire risk perceptions were high among the householders in bushfire at-risk communities following the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires. High levels of perceptions were recorded among the participants regarding the likelihood of bushfire occurrence, concern for bushfires, severity of bushfires and vulnerability to bushfire threats.

The study’s results do not reflect all householders in the southeastern part of NSW. It was limited to 30 householders who indicated their intentions to participate and are living in the study area. Therefore, future studies should be undertaken with more participants from broader geographical areas, including emergency responders like firefighters, recovery officers and non-government organizations in charge of recovery operations. This study will add to the prioritization of risk perceptions.

All else being equal, elevated bushfire risk perceptions among participants can potentially decrease the fatalities linked with bushfires and their subsequent ripple effects. This holds particularly true when residents opt for early self-evacuation from at-risk communities.

The paper contributes to developing a better understanding of the bushfire risk perceptions underlying the evacuation decision-making of the residents in bushfire at-risk communities in south-eastern NSW of Australia.

The paper contributes to the existing knowledge on bushfire risks by providing insights into residents’ perceptions after the catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires. As a qualitative study, it describes bushfire risk perceptions on four themes: likelihood, concern, severity and vulnerability, which is uncommon in many bushfire studies.

The sawmill shootings in British Columbia, Canada, resulted in fatalities and grievous injuries to workers, which have put a sensational face on workplace violence in the forestry sector. Yet, for all of the attention devoted after this horrific incident, to the growth and possible consequences of workplace violence, little empirical investigation has been done regarding the extent to which this type of violence may have permeated the sawmill forestry workplace in Canada; employees' experiences of workplace violence; employees' definition of workplace violence; the specific type of violence that occurs in sawmills; and the drivers of workplace violence as experienced and perceived by managers, union, and employees in the forestry sector context in British Columbia, Canada.

This research critically explores these questions to better understand employees' experiences of workplace violence, the problems of violence and its implications for workplace stress, well-being, leadership, and corporate governance. This research contributes to the workplace violence body of knowledge as it relates to employment in the forestry sector in British Columbia, Canada.

A mixed methodological approach was adopted using 367 questionnaire survey, 20 telephone interviews, and 2 focus groups lasting 45–60 minutes (managers and employees) were used to focus on managers, union, and employees' accounts of their own experiences and perceptions of workplace violence.

The analysis of the data in this study lends support to the conclusion that workplace violence waged against workers in the forestry sector is significantly different than the violence being perpetrated in other sectors and work settings. The findings further suggest that forestry workers work environment, communities, and activity contributes meaningfully to the differences in workplace violence experienced by Sawmill employees.

Insights obtained from this research can be used to develop educational tools and resources, and new policies to foster workplace practices conducive to reducing drivers to workplace violence, towards a more respectful workplace and overall employee well-being.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gather current (2011) arguments and counterarguments in support of the classic change management model proposed by John P. Kotter in his 1996 book Leading Change. His work was based on his personal business and research experience, and did not reference any outside sources that has questioned its value. A current perspective on a limited tested model aims to be a focus of this paper. Design/methodology/approach – The literature on change management was reviewed for each of the eight steps defined in Kotter's model, to review how much support each of these steps had, individually and collectively, in 15 years of literature. Findings – The review found support for most of the steps, although no formal studies were found covering the entire spectrum and structure of the model. Kotter's change management model appears to derive its popularity more from its direct and usable format than from any scientific consensus on the results. However the model has several limitations, that are identified, impacting upon its universal acceptance and popularity. Research limitations/implications – Further studies should examine the validity of Kotter's model as a whole. More importantly, change management research should form a greater link with stakeholders in order to translate current research into a format usable by practitioners. Practical implications – No evidence was found against Kotter's change management model and it remains a recommendable reference. This paper attempts to “test” the “how‐to‐do‐change management” with empirical and practitioner literature that was not evident in the original text. The model would be most useful as an implementation planning tool, but complementary tools should also be used during the implementation process to adapt to contextual factors or obstacles. Originality/value – Based upon a thorough review, this is the first formal review of Kotter's change management model, 15 years after its introduction.

Recent climate scenarios indicate that Sweden's southern region, Götaland, will experience significant climate change over the coming century. Swedish forestry policy guidelines emphasize the need for risk spreading to reduce the potential adverse impacts of these changes. Risk spreading is defined here as reducing the vulnerability of a social‐ecological system by increasing the heterogeneity of its ecological components. Risk spreading may be achieved through the diversification of tree species currently relied upon by the forestry sector. The purpose of this paper is to consider the capacity of the socio‐ecological forest system to adapt to climate change through the use of risk spreading.

A variety of disciplines contribute to the understanding of the rate at which risk spreading is likely to take place in a system. A synthesis is conducted to unite these insights.

Five key constraints on the rate at which risk spreading can take place are identified. These include constraints imposed by the silvicultural system itself, voluntary policy measures, forest‐owner perceptions of climate change, motivation among forest owners to respond to risk, and forestry consultants. Potential future directions are discussed and include the need for specifying the goal of risk spreading policy, and the need to evaluate the motivations of those forest owners already altering adopting risk spreading approaches.

Conceptual equivalents of the “risk spreading” approach are international, due to the need for many societies to adapt social‐ecological systems to climate change. The issues raised from this case study/synthesis provide value insights regarding the breadth of systemic constraints which can thwart attempts at rapid adjustment to climate change, and where solutions to these constraints may be found.

This work aims to determine the best linear model using an artificial neural network (ANN) with the imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA-ANN) and ANN to predict the energy consumption for land leveling.

Using ANN, integrating artificial neural network and imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA-ANN) and sensitivity analysis (SA) can lead to a noticeable improvement in the environment. In this research, effects of various soil properties such as embankment volume, soil compressibility factor, specific gravity, moisture content, slope, sand per cent and soil swelling index on energy consumption were investigated.

According to the results, 10-8-3-1, 10-8-2-5-1, 10-5-8-10-1 and 10-6-4-1 multilayer perceptron network structures were chosen as the best arrangements and were trained using the Levenberg–Marquardt method as the network training function. Sensitivity analysis revealed that only three variables, namely, density, soil compressibility factor and cut-fill volume (V), had the highest sensitivity on the output parameters, including labor energy, fuel energy, total machinery cost and total machinery energy. Based on the results, ICA-ANN had a better performance in the prediction of output parameters in comparison with conventional methods such as ANN or particle swarm optimization (PSO)-ANN. Statistical factors of root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (R²) illustrate the superiority of ICA-ANN over other methods by values of about 0.02 and 0.99, respectively.

A limited number of research studies related to energy consumption in land leveling have been done on energy as a function of volume of excavation and embankment. However, in this research, energy and cost of land leveling are shown to be functions of all the properties of the land, including the slope, coefficient of swelling, density of the soil, soil moisture and special weight dirt. Therefore, the authors believe that this paper contains new and significant information adequate for justifying publication in an international journal.