Perspectives on multiple stakeholders and management control systems. Institutional and stakeholder theory: Friend or foe?

Organisations are increasingly being pressured by stakeholders to acknowledge and manage their interests (Phillips 2003; Freeman 1984). However, conflicts can arise where multiple stakeholders have differing interests, especially if certain stakeholder groups are prioritised above others when decisions are made about the allocation of scarce resources. The management accounting literature is limited in explicitly dealing with how multiple stakeholder objectives manifest in the management control systems of organisations. This paper discusses the conceptual overlaps and tensions between intuitional theory and stakeholder theory in an attempt to provide greater depth of analysis on how multiple and potentially conflicting stakeholder objectives manifest in management control systems. The paper is a conceptual. It first problematises the issues of multiple stakeholder objectives with management control system design and use. The paper then reviews three management accounting papers (Abernathy and Chua, 1996; Brignall and Modell, 2000; Mueller and Carter, 2007) which have adopted institutional perspectives for this analysis to highlight the limitations of institutional theory. Finally, the paper reconciles several terms used by the respective theories and develops a framework for management accounting researchers to draw from both institutional and stakeholder theories simultaneously to better inform future research design and findings. The framework draws heavily on the model of stakeholder identification and salience developed by Mitchell et al. (1997) and tested by Agle et al. (1999) to connect stakeholder characteristics to the design and use of management control systems

Organisational characteristics, alternative reasons to budget and two budget forms

This study examines contingency relationships between organisational characteristics and four alternative operational reasons to budget, across two budget forms (fixed budget and rolling forecasts). Furthering the work of Hansen and Van der Stede (2004), results show that contingency relationships between organisational characteristics and the importance of operational reasons to budget were different for performance evaluation reasons, in comparison to operational planning reasons

Wave-sheltered embayments are recruitment hotspots for tropical fishes on temperate reefs

© Inter-Research 2016. Poleward redistribution of species, facilitated by global warming, will be compromised if habitats at higher latitudes do not support the species' early life stages. For tropical reef fishes, reef structure may mediate colonisation of temperate regions; however, an understanding of key habitat requirements for colonisation is currently lacking. We show that density, diversity (taxonomic and trophic) and species richness of newly recruited tropical reef fishes were greater in embayed than exposed reefs in 2 mid-latitude temperate zones, where coastal waters are rapidly warming: southeastern Australia (30.5-33° S) and western Japan (32-33.5° N). Dietary generalists (e.g. planktivores and herbivores) and specialists (corallivores) associated more commonly with embayed reefs. Wave exposure was a stronger predictor of the density and richness of dietary generalists than water temperature, latitude, predatory fish densities, reef rugosities, benthos and distance to river mouths. Corallivores were strongly associated with branching corals, which were exclusive to highly sheltered reefs. We also explored habitat associations of 7 focal species within a coral reef, One Tree Island (OTI), Great Barrier Reef. Four species associated with wave - sheltered over exposed reef on OTI and temperate Australian reef. However, Abudefduf vaigiensis, Pomacentrus coelestis and Acanthurus triostegus associated more with wave-sheltered reef in temperate regions. We hypothesise that cool temperate waters promote greater sheltering of some warm-adapted, tropical fishes by impacting their swimming/physiological performance. Results suggest availability of embayed temperate reefs may influence where some tropical fishes colonise with warming waters, through impacting recruitment. Wave exposure of reefs should be considered when predicting geographic responses of tropical fishes to climate change

Balancing resource protection and development in a highly regulated river: The role of conjunctive use

The central position of water in social and economic development drives the imperative for water storage, particularly in water-stressed parts of the world. A consequence is that rivers are perceived primarily as locations for water storage as we seek to manage risks to social welfare and development. Assurance of supply becomes the dominant paradigm shaping decisions about allocation of water from impoundments. When this paradigm is deeply ingrained it constrains decision-making around flow management for other purposes, particularly for sustaining ecological systems. Ten years ago South Africa introduced progressive legislation for water resource management (the National Water Act of 1998) which enshrines the ecological Reserve. This requirement for the environment is not considered as a water use, because the environment is the resource. However, due to the very complex Reserve determination process, and perhaps a lack of political will, the ecological Reserve has proved difficult to implement and has only now started to be implemented in some river systems. In the case of the lower uMngeni River in KwaZulu-Natal, besides releases to maintain a minimum river flow (the so called ‘compensation flows’, which were never designed as environmental flows), for nearly 20 years there has been an unofficial policy to allow spates on between 1 and 4 days per year to make possible the continuation of the prestigious Dusi Canoe Marathon. The total amount of water involved is just over 1.2% of the river’s virgin MAR, although in years perceived to be dry the releases may be cut to as little as 0.3% of the virgin MAR. While these releases have been tolerated for the continuation of a high-value recreational industry, they are in fact aligned, albeit with a fraction of the necessary volume, with the environmental flows that would be required if the ecological Reserve had been determined. The releases for these events therefore have a dual or conjunctive value, serving both environmental and recreational purposes at the same time. We suggest that considerations of conjunctive use offer practical opportunities for balancing resource protection and development in regulated rivers. Keywords: resource protection, regulated rivers, assurance of supply, conjunctive use, ecological Reserve, environmental water allocation, environmental flows, recreational use, canoein

Preliminary Studies into the Environmental Fate of Nitrosamine and Nitramine Compounds in Aquatic Systems

AbstractPreliminary hydrolysis and photolysis data are presented for a suite of nitramines and nitrosamines relevant to post combustion CO2 capture using monoethanolamine solvent. Two nitramines (DMNA and MEA-NO2) and the nitrosamine NDELA were resistant to hydrolytic degradation at pH 4, 7 and 9. The nitrosamine NPz was hydrolytically stable at pH 4 and 9, but exhibited ∼30% degradation at pH 7. Nitrosamines appear highly susceptible to photolytic degradation, while nitramines are photolytically stable. The data form part of an ongoing study investigating the fate of nitrosamines and nitramines in terrestrial and aquatic environments

3-O-Benzhydryl-2,5-dide­oxy-2,5-imino-2-C-methyl-l-lyxono-1,4-lactone

The title bicyclic lactone, C19H19NO3, is an inter­mediate in the synthesis of chiral α-methyl­prolines and branched C-methyl pyrrolidines; the absolute configuration was determined by the use of d-erythronolactone as the starting material. It exhibits no unusual crystal packing features, and each mol­ecule acts as a donor and acceptor for one C—H⋯O hydrogen bond

Dairy fats and cardiovascular disease: do we really need to be concerned?

peer-reviewedCardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain a major cause of death and morbidity globally and diet plays a crucial role in the disease prevention and pathology. The negative perception of dairy fats stems from the effort to reduce dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake due to their association with increased cholesterol levels upon consumption and the increased risk of CVD development. Institutions that set dietary guidelines have approached dairy products with negative bias and used poor scientific data in the past. As a result, the consumption of dairy products was considered detrimental to our cardiovascular health. In western societies, dietary trends indicate that generally there is a reduction of full-fat dairy product consumption and increased low-fat dairy consumption. However, recent research and meta-analyses have demonstrated the benefits of full-fat dairy consumption, based on higher bioavailability of high-value nutrients and anti-inflammatory properties. In this review, the relationship between dairy consumption, cardiometabolic risk factors and the incidence of cardiovascular diseases are discussed. Functional dairy foods and the health implications of dairy alternatives are also considered. In general, evidence suggests that milk has a neutral effect on cardiovascular outcomes but fermented dairy products, such as yoghurt, kefir and cheese may have a positive or neutral effect. Particular focus is placed on the effects of the lipid content on cardiovascular health

Management of incidental findings during imaging research in "healthy" volunteers: current UK practice

OBJECTIVES: Incidental findings (IF) are becoming increasingly common due to the proliferation of imaging research. IFs can be life-changing for “healthy” volunteers. This study examined variation in IF management in UK research studies of healthy volunteers, including comparison with ethical and legal guidelines, thus providing baseline data and informing future practice. METHODS: Questionnaire of participant background [medical/non-medical; radiologist/non-radiologist; years as principal investigator (PI)], type of research (involving children or not), institutional policy, volunteer information, radiologist involvement in reporting scans and IF disclosure mechanisms. Investigator's current and perceived “ideal” practice was examined. Participants were PIs performing imaging research of healthy volunteers approved by UK ethics committees (2006–2009). RESULTS: 63/146 (43%) surveys completed. 54/61 (88.5%) had site-specific guidelines. Information commonly provided to volunteers should IF be found: personal data (51/62; 82%), contingency plans (54/62; 87%) and disclosure to general practitioner (GP)/treating physician (47/62; 76%). PIs used different strategies for image review. Commonest: radiologist reports research scans only when researcher suspicious of IF [15/57 (26%) compared with 5/28 (16%) in ideal practice]. Commonest ideal reporting strategy: routine reporting by specialist radiologists [9/28 (29%) compared with 8/57 (14%) in current practice]. 49/56 (87.5%) have a standardised disclosure contingency plan, usually involving GP. PIs most commonly disclosed IFs to volunteers when judged relevant (27/58; 47%), most commonly face to face (22/54; 41%), by volunteer's GP (26/60; 43%). Background of PI influenced consent, reporting and disclosure practice. CONCLUSION: There is wide variation in handling IFs in UK imaging research. Much of the current practice contravenes the vague existing legal and ethical guidelines, and is unlikely to be in the best interests of volunteers or researchers

Holography at an Extremal De Sitter Horizon

Rotating maximal black holes in four-dimensional de Sitter space, for which the outer event horizon coincides with the cosmological horizon, have an infinite near-horizon region described by the rotating Nariai metric. We show that the asymptotic symmetry group at the spacelike future boundary of the near-horizon region contains a Virasoro algebra with a real, positive central charge. This is evidence that quantum gravity in a rotating Nariai background is dual to a two-dimensional Euclidean conformal field theory. These results are related to the Kerr/CFT correspondence for extremal black holes, but have two key differences: one of the black hole event horizons has been traded for the cosmological horizon, and the near-horizon geometry is a fiber over dS_2 rather than AdS_2.Comment: 15 page

Association between pain intensity and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling adults: longitudinal findings from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Purpose: To investigate the longitudinal associations between pain and depressive symptoms in adults. Methods: Prospective cohort study on data from 28,515 community-dwelling adults ≥ 50 years, free from depression at baseline (Wave 5), with follow-up in Wave 6 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Significant depressive symptoms were defined by a EURO-D score ≥ 4. The longitudinal association between baseline pain intensity and significant depressive symptoms at follow-up was analysed using logistic regression models; odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CI) were calculated, adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical factors, physical inactivity, loneliness, mobility and functional impairments. Results: Mean age was 65.4 years (standard deviation 9.0, range 50–99); 14,360 (50.4%) participants were women. Mean follow-up was 23.4 (standard deviation 3.4) months. At baseline, 2803 (9.8%) participants reported mild pain, 5253 (18.4%) moderate pain and 1431 (5.0%) severe pain. At follow-up, 3868 (13.6%) participants—1451 (10.3%) men and 2417 (16.8%) women—reported significant depressive symptoms. After adjustment, mild, moderate and severe baseline pain, versus no pain, were associated with an increased likelihood of significant depressive symptoms at follow-up: ORs (95% CI) were 1.20 (1.06–1.35), 1.32 (1.20–1.46) and 1.39 (1.19–1.63), respectively. These associations were more pronounced in men compared to women, and consistent in participants aged 50–64 years, those without mobility or functional impairment, and those without loneliness at baseline. Conclusion: Higher baseline pain intensity was longitudinally associated with a greater risk of significant depressive symptoms at 2-year follow-up, in community-dwelling adults without baseline depression