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The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in ecotoxicity of agricultural soil under the infl uence of Agritox 500SL, an herbicide from the phenoxyacid group, containing MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid), applied every 3 weeks for 3 months. Biodegradation potential in control and weathered soil was confi rmed by the analysis of the functional gene tfdA using PCR technique. Properties of the soil were assessed by the analysis of granulometric composition, pH, the content of macroelements and heavy metals. The soil ecotoxicity was measured using biotests Phytotoxkit ® and Microtox ® .The content of Ni (70 mg/kg) and Cr (21 mg/kg) was especially high in the soil with Agritox 500SL. The highest toxic effect for test organisms was observed in freshly spiked soil: 99% L. sativum, 97% S. alba, 66% S. saccharatum (% root growth inhibition) and 76% V. fi scheri (% luminescence inhibition). Weathering processes signifi cantly decreased the soil ecotoxicity being 36%, 34% and 3% for V. fi scherii, S. alba and L. sativum, respectively. S. saccharatum showed 12% stimulation of the root length. Molecular analysis confi rmed the potential of indigenous soil bacteria to biodegrade MCPA by the presence of tfdAα and tfdA Class III genes in the studied soil. The obtained results proved that either MCPA and residues of its decomposition or additional supporting substances in Agritox 500 SL, can infl uence enhanced soil ecototoxicity. The presence of functional tfdA genes in both: control and weathered soil, confi rmed the high potential of indigenous soil bacteria to degrade MCPA.

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In public relations, the social media explosion has significantly impacted how organizations communicate to their various publics through sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Although previous studies have investigated dialogic communication and relationship building strategies in organizations, few have carried out this in terms of an organization's overall social media presence, especially with nonprofits. Research has found most nonprofits are not taking full advantage of social media. Moreover, the organizations that did use social media typically employed one‐way communication strategies focusing primarily on information dissemination. This study quantitatively analyzed the transparency and credibility of breast cancer nonprofits are participating on social media sites, specifically Facebook and Twitter, and how these sites affect perceptions of credibility and transparency. Overall, most top breast cancer nonprofits are active on both Twitter and Facebook but differ in terms of activity, credibility, and transparency. Organizations that tweeted more had more “likes”, more followers, and more overall tweets and were seen to be more transparent and credible by virtue of activity alone. This study also found a strong relationship between the transparency and credibility of the organization. Therefore, organizations need to use social media sites not only to communicate with their audiences but also to engage in dialogue on a regular basis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.