SUMMARYWithin natural environments, animals must be able to respond to a wide range of obstacles in their path. Such responses require sensory information to facilitate appropriate and effective motor behaviors. The objective of this study was to characterize sensors involved in the complex control of obstacle negotiation behaviors in the cockroach Blaberus discoidalis. Previous studies suggest that antennae are involved in obstacle detection and negotiation behaviors. During climbing attempts, cockroaches swing their front leg that then either successfully reaches the top of the block or misses. The success of these climbing attempts was dependent on their distance from the obstacle. Cockroaches with shortened antennae were closer to the obstacle prior to climbing than controls, suggesting that distance was related to antennal length. Removing the antennal flagellum resulted in delays in obstacle detection and changes in climbing strategy from targeted limb movements to less directed attempts. A more complex scenario -a shelf that the cockroach could either climb over or tunnel under -allowed us to further examine the role of sensory involvement in path selection. Ultimately, antennae contacting the top of the shelf led to climbing whereas contact on the underside led to tunneling However, in the light, cockroaches were biased toward tunnelling; a bias which was absent in the dark. Selective covering of visual structures suggested that this context was determined by the ocelli. Supplementary material available online at

PurposePrevious research is equivocal about: whether affective organizational commitment increases or decreases with increasing tenure; and which psychological climate variables correlated with affective commitment are important as tenure increases. The study's purpose is to examine whether the relationship between psychological climate and affective commitment is moderated by tenure.Design/methodology/approachThe total workforce of a public sector agency in Western Australia (n=1,117) was surveyed with a response rate of 53 per cent. The moderating role of tenure was examined for employees with less than one year's tenure (n=87), one to nine years (n=232) and more than nine years (n=258).FindingsAffective commitment was found to be stronger for employees with longer tenure; however, perceptions of psychological climate appear to be less positive for these employees. The finding of a moderation effect for tenure appeared to be attributable to the importance of supervisor involvement to affective commitment for employees with one to nine years' tenure.Practical implicationsBuilding affective commitment is an important issue for managers as it is strongly related to withdrawal cognitions and employee turnover. The findings of the study suggest that the criteria against which an organization is assessed by employees tends to shift with time and impacts on affective commitment.Originality/valueThe three‐way relationship between tenure, psychological climate and affective commitment has received little attention. The findings of the study suggest that the strength of affective commitment may depend on the extent to which the specific interests and capabilities of individual employees at different stages of tenure are met.

Social workers require critical thinking skills to analyse situations which present themselves in the course of professional work and in making decisions about the most appropriate forms of social work intervention. The 4-year Bachelor of Social Work degree at the University of Newcastle, Australia, introduced an intensive instructional unit on critical thinking at the beginning of the final year of the course. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test, the Ennis--Weir Essay Test and a qualitative student self-appraisal were administered to students in the fourth year of the degree prior to the intensive instructional unit on critical thinking and again after the unit had been completed.From the results it was concluded that explicit and concentrated instruction on critical thinking assisted social work students to improve their critical thinking abilities and to identify principles of critical thinking.

This study investigates the relationship between cynicism, the perceived fairness of change management and personnel practices, and affective organizational commitment. High levels of affective organizational commitment have been shown to reduce voluntary turnover in the nursing workforce. Previous research suggests that "unfair" management practices and employee cynicism lead to lower commitment. It is not clear, however, whether the perceived fairness of particular practices influences affective commitment beyond that accounted for by underlying employee cynicism. Data were obtained from a study involving 1104 registered nurses that formed part of a larger investigation of the general well-being of nurses in Western Australia. Only nurses who were permanent or employed on fixed term or temporary contracts were included. Findings indicated that although higher levels of cynicism among nurses were associated with lower levels of affective commitment, their perception of the fairness of change management and personnel practices influenced their affective commitment over and above their cynicism. The perceived fairness of management practices is an important influence on nurses' affective commitment beyond that accounted for by cynicism. The implication for managers is that the affective organizational commitment of nurses is likely to be strengthened by addressing the perceived fairness of change management and personnel practices notwithstanding their beliefs about the integrity of the organization.