3,257 research outputs found

    Temporal and spatial drivers of the structure of macroinvertebrate assemblages associated with <em>Laminaria </em><em>hyperborea </em>detritus in the northeast Atlantic

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    \ua9 2024Kelp forests occur on more than a quarter of the world\u27s coastlines, serving as foundation species supporting high levels of biodiversity. They are also a major source of organic matter in coastal ecosystems, with the majority of primary production released and exported as detritus. Kelp detritus also provides food and shelter for macroinvertebrates, which comprise important components of inshore food-webs. Hitherto, research on kelp detritus-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages remains relatively limited. We quantified spatiotemporal variability in the structure of detritus-associated macroinvertebrate assemblages within Laminaria hyperborea forests and evaluated the influence of putative drivers of the observed variability in assemblages across eight study sites within four regions of the United Kingdom in May and September 2015. We documented 5167 individuals from 106 taxa with Malacostraca, Gastropoda, Isopoda and Bivalvia the most abundant groups sampled. Assemblage structure varied across months, sites, and regions, with highest richness in September compared to May. Many taxa were unique to individual regions, with few documented in all regions. Finally, key drivers of assemblage structure included detritus tissue nitrogen content, depth, sea surface temperature, light intensity, as well as L. hyperborea canopy density and canopy biomass. Despite their dynamic composition and transient existence, accumulations of L. hyperborea detritus represent valuable repositories of biodiversity and represent an additional kelp forest component which influences secondary productivity, and potentially kelp forest food-web dynamics

    Managing changes initiated by industrial big data technologies : a technochange management model

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    With the adoption of Internet of Things and advanced data analytical technologies in manufacturing firms, the industrial sector has launched an evolutionary journey toward the 4th industrial revolution, or so called Industry 4.0. Industrial big data is a core component to realize the vision of Industry 4.0. However, the implementation and usage of industrial big data tools in manufacturing firms will not merely be a technical endeavor, but can also lead to a thorough management reform. By means of a comprehensive review of literature related to Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, industrial big data, information systems (IS) and technochange management, this paper aims to analyze potential changes triggered by the application of industrial big data in manufacturing firms, from technological, individual and organizational perspectives. Furthermore, in order to drive these changes more effectively and eliminate potential resistance, a conceptual technochange management model was developed and proposed. Drawn upon theories reported in literature of IS technochange management, this model proposed four types of interventions that can be used to copy with changes initiated by industrial big data technologies, including human process intervention, techno-structural intervention, human resources management intervention and strategic intervention. This model will be of interests and value to practitioners and researchers concerned with business reforms triggered by Industry 4.0 in general and by industrial big data technologies in particular

    The Reform of Employee Compensation in China’s Industrial Enterprises

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    Although employee compensation reform in Chinese industrial sector has been discussed in the literature, the real changes in compensation system and pay practices have received insufficient attention and warrant further examination. This paper briefly reviews the pre- and post-reform compensation system, and reports the results of a survey of pay practices in the four major types of industrial enterprises in China. The research findings indicate that the type of enterprise ownership has little influence on general compensation practices, adoption of profit-sharing plans, and subsidy and allowance packages. In general, pay is linked more to individual performance and has become an important incentive to Chinese employees. However, differences are found across the enterprise types with regard to performance-related pay. Current pay practices are positively correlated to overall effectiveness of the enterprise

    Rotating black rings on Taub-NUT

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    In this paper, we construct new solutions describing rotating black rings on Taub-NUT using the inverse-scattering method. These are five-dimensional vacuum space-times, generalising the Emparan-Reall and extremal Pomeransky-Sen'kov black rings to a Taub-NUT background space. When reduced to four dimensions in Kaluza-Klein theory, these solutions describe (possibly rotating) electrically charged black holes in superposition with a finitely separated magnetic monopole. Various properties of these solutions are studied, from both a five- and four-dimensional perspective.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

    Deconstructing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender victim of sex trafficking: Harm, exceptionality and religion–sexuality tensions

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    Contrary to widespread belief, sex trafficking also targets lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) communities. Contemporary social and political constructions of victimhood lie at the heart of regulatory policies on sex trafficking. Led by the US Department of State, knowledge about LGBT victims of trafficking constitutes the newest frontier in the expansion of criminalization measures. These measures represent a crucial shift. From a burgeoning range of preemptive measures enacted to protect an amorphous class of ‘all potential victims’, now policies are heavily premised on the risk posed by traffickers to ‘victims of special interest’. These constructed identities, however, are at odds with established structures. Drawing on a range of literatures, the core task of this article is to confront some of the complexities and tensions surrounding constructions of LGBT trafficking victims. Specifically, the article argues that discourses of ‘exceptional vulnerability’ and the polarized notions of ‘innocence’ and ‘guilt’ inform hierarchies of victimhood. Based on these insights, the article argues for the need to move beyond monolithic understandings of victims, by reframing the politics of harm accordingly

    The Hidden Curriculum of Veterinary Education: Mediators and Moderators of Its Effects

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    The “hidden curriculum” has long been supposed to have an effect on students' learning during their clinical education, and in particular in shaping their ideas of what it means to be a professional. Despite this, there has been little evidence linking specific changes in professional attitudes to the individual components of the hidden curriculum. This study aimed to recognize those components that led to a change in students' professional attitudes at a UK veterinary school, as well as to identify the attitudes most affected. Observations were made of 11 student groups across five clinical rotations, followed by semi-structured interviews with 23 students at the end of their rotation experience. Data were combined and analyzed thematically, taking both an inductive and deductive approach. Views about the importance of technical competence and communication skills were promoted as a result of students' interaction with the hidden curriculum, and tensions were revealed in relation to their attitudes toward compassion and empathy, autonomy and responsibility, and lifestyle ethic. The assessment processes of rotations and the clinical service organization served to communicate the messages of the hidden curriculum, bringing about changes in student professional attitudes, while student-selected role models and the student rotation groups moderated the effects of these influences

    Field evidence for the upwind velocity shift at the crest of low dunes

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    Wind topographically forced by hills and sand dunes accelerates on the upwind (stoss) slopes and reduces on the downwind (lee) slopes. This secondary wind regime, however, possesses a subtle effect, reported here for the first time from field measurements of near-surface wind velocity over a low dune: the wind velocity close to the surface reaches its maximum upwind of the crest. Our field-measured data show that this upwind phase shift of velocity with respect to topography is found to be in quantitative agreement with the prediction of hydrodynamical linear analysis for turbulent flows with first order closures. This effect, together with sand transport spatial relaxation, is at the origin of the mechanisms of dune initiation, instability and growth.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Version accepted for publication in Boundary-Layer Meteorolog
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