Compliance Principles for Decision Management Solutions at the Dutch Government

Since decision management is becoming an integrated part of business process management, more and more decision management implementations are realized. Therefore, organizations search for guidance to design such solutions. Principles are often applied to guide the design of information systems in general. A particular area of interest when designing decision management solutions is compliance. In an earlier published study we took a general perspective on principles regarding the design of decision management solutions. In this paper, we re-address our earlier work, yet from a different perspective, the compliance perspective. Thus, we analyzed how the principles can be utilized in the design of compliant decision management solutions. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to specify, classify, and validate compliance principles. To identify relevant compliance principles, we conducted a three round focus group and three round Delphi Study which led to the identification of eleven compliance principles

Simple and accurate representation of cumulative nighttime leaf respiratory CO2 efflux

Leaf respiratory carbon loss decreases independent of temperature as the night progresses. Detailed nighttime measurements needed to quantify cumulative respiratory carbon loss at night are challenging under both lab and field conditions. We provide a simple yet accurate approach to represent variation in nighttime temperature-independent leaf respiratory CO2 efflux in environments with both stable and fluctuating temperatures, which requires no detailed measurements throughout the night. We demonstrate that the inter- and intraspecific variation in the cumulative leaf respiratory CO2 efflux at constant temperature, at any length of night, scales linearly with the inter- and intraspecific variation in initial measurement of leaf respiratory CO2 efflux at the same temperature at the beginning of the night. This approach informs large-scale predictions of cumulative leaf respiratory CO2 efflux, which is needed to understand plant carbon economy in global change studies as well as in global modeling and eddy covariance monitoring of the land–atmosphere exchange of CO2

A lifetime perspective of biomass allocation in Quercus pubescens trees in a dry, alpine valley

Plasticity of biomass allocation is a key to growth and survival of trees exposed to variable levels of stress in their lifetime. Most of our understanding of dynamic biomass allocation comes from seedling studies, but plasticity may be different in mature trees. We used stem analysis to reconstruct whole-tree growth and biomass allocation patterns in Quercus pubescens trees harvested from a dry woodland in Valais, Switzerland. We identified three distinct growth phases. In phase I, a primary root developed but the aboveground structure did not persist. In phase II, height growth occurred and secondary roots developed. In phase III, height growth ceased and stems and roots only grew radially. Reference trees harvested from a less dry site nearby only showed phase II-type growth. In line with our hypothesis, drought-stressed trees maintained more biomass in roots and less in aboveground woody parts than reference trees. Contrary to our expectation, stressed trees allocated proportionally more resources to leaves and less to roots in the growing season before harvest than reference trees. It appears that sub-seasonal wood anatomical adjustments to water availability minimize hydraulic failure, thus enabling these dry woodland trees to invest preferentially in leaves. Wet years did not see preferential investment in aboveground tissues, suggesting more restricted plasticity in biomass allocation in these mature trees than in seedlings. It is concluded that trees beyond seedling stage show different responses to variation in drought than the better-studied seedling

Thermal sensitivity across forest vertical profiles: patterns, mechanisms, and ecological implications

Rising temperatures are influencing forests on many scales, with potentially strong variation vertically across forest strata. Using published research and new analyses, we evaluate how microclimate and leaf temperatures, traits, and gas exchange vary vertically in forests, shaping tree, and ecosystem ecology. In closed-canopy forests, upper canopy leaves are exposed to the highest solar radiation and evaporative demand, which can elevate leaf temperature (Tleaf ), particularly when transpirational cooling is curtailed by limited stomatal conductance. However, foliar traits also vary across height or light gradients, partially mitigating and protecting against the elevation of upper canopy Tleaf . Leaf metabolism generally increases with height across the vertical gradient, yet differences in thermal sensitivity across the gradient appear modest. Scaling from leaves to trees, canopy trees have higher absolute metabolic capacity and growth, yet are more vulnerable to drought and damaging Tleaf than their smaller counterparts, particularly under climate change. By contrast, understory trees experience fewer extreme high Tleaf 's but have fewer cooling mechanisms and thus may be strongly impacted by warming under some conditions, particularly when exposed to a harsher microenvironment through canopy disturbance. As the climate changes, integrating the patterns and mechanisms reviewed here into models will be critical to forecasting forest-climate feedback

Biopsy prostate cancer perineural invasion and tumour load are associated with positive posterolateral margins at radical prostatectomy:implications for planning of nerve-sparing surgery

Aims: Radical prostatectomy (RP) for prostate cancer is frequently complicated by erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence. However, sparing of the nerve bundles adjacent to the posterolateral sides of the prostate reduces the number of complications at the risk of positive surgical margins. Preoperative selection of men eligible for safe, nerve-sparing surgery is therefore needed. Our aim was to identify pathological factors associated with positive posterolateral surgical margins in men undergoing bilateral nerve-sparing RP. Methods and results: Prostate cancer patients undergoing RP with standardised intra-operative surgical margin assessment according to the NeuroSAFE technique were included. Preoperative biopsies were reviewed for grade group (GG), cribriform and/or intraductal carcinoma (CR/IDC), perineural invasion (PNI), cumulative tumour length and extraprostatic extension (EPE). Of 624 included patients, 573 (91.8%) received NeuroSAFE bilaterally and 51 (8.2%) unilaterally, resulting in a total of 1197 intraoperative posterolateral surgical margin assessments. Side-specific biopsy findings were correlated to ipsilateral NeuroSAFE outcome. Higher biopsy GG, CR/IDC, PNI, EPE, number of positive biopsies and cumulative tumour length were all associated with positive posterolateral margins. In multivariable bivariate logistic regression, ipsilateral PNI [odds ratio (OR) = 2.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.62–5.48; P &lt; 0.001] and percentage of positive cores (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.08–1.29; P &lt; 0.001) were significant predictors for a positive posterolateral margin, while GG and CR/IDC were not. Conclusions: Ipsilateral PNI and percentage of positive cores were significant predictors for a positive posterolateral surgical margin at RP. Biopsy PNI and tumour volume can therefore support clinical decision-making on the level of nerve-sparing surgery in prostate cancer patients.</p

The acquisitive–conservative axis of leaf trait variation emerges even in homogeneous environments

The acquisitive-conservative axis of plant ecological strategies results in a pattern of leaf trait covariation that captures the balance between leaf construction costs and plant growth potential. Studies evaluating trait covariation within species are scarcer, and have mostly dealt with variation in response to environmental gradients. Little work has been published on intraspecific patterns of leaf trait covariation in the absence of strong environmental variation.Methods: We analysed covariation of four leaf functional traits (SLA: specific leaf area, LDMC: leaf dry matter content, Ft: force to tear, and Nm: leaf nitrogen content) in six Poaceae and four Fabaceae species common in the dry Chaco forest of Central Argentina, growing in the field and in a common garden. We compared intraspecific covariation patterns (slopes, correlation and effect size) of leaf functional traits with global interspecific covariation patterns. Additionally, we checked for possible climatic and edaphic factors that could affect the intraspecific covariation pattern.Key Results: We found negative correlations for the LDMC-SLA, Ft-SLA, LDMC-Nm , and Ft-Nm trait pairs. This intraspecific covariation pattern found both in the field and in the common garden and not be explained by climatic or edaphic variation in the field follows the expected acquisitive-conservative axis. At the same time, we found quantitative differences in slopes among different species, and between these intraspecific patterns and the interspecific ones. Many of these differences seem to be idiosyncratic, but some appear consistent among species (e.g.all the intraspecific LDMC-SLA and LDMC-Nm slopes tend to be shallower than the global).Conclusions: Our study indicates that the acquisitive-conservative leaf functional trait covariation pattern occurs at the intraspecific level even in the absence of relevant environmental variation in the field. This suggests a high degree of variation-covariation in leaf functional traits not driven by environmental variables.Fil: Gorne, Lucas Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Díaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Minden, Vanessa. University of Oldenburg; Alemania. Vrije Universiteit Brussel; BélgicaFil: Onoda, Yusuke. Kyoto University. School of Agriculture; JapónFil: Kramer, Koen. Wageningen University; Países BajosFil: Muir, Christopher. University Of Hawaii; Estados UnidosFil: Michaletz, Sean T. University of British Columbia; CanadáFil: Lavorel, Sandra. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Sharpe, Joanne. Sharplex Services, Edgecomb; Estados UnidosFil: Jansen, Steven. Universitat Ulm; AlemaniaFil: Slot, Martijn. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; PanamáFil: Chacon, Maximiliano Eduardo. Universidad de Costa Rica; Costa RicaFil: Boenisch, Gerhard. Max Planck Institute For Biogeochemistry; Alemani

Centralized prostatectomy with intraoperative NeuroSAFE margin assessment improves surgical margin control

Aims: To investigate the surgical margin status in patients with prostate cancer who underwent robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) with intraoperative neurovascular structure-adjacent frozen-section analysis (NeuroSAFE) and evaluate differences compared to patients who underwent radical prostatectomy without NeuroSAFE. Patients and Methods: Between September 2018 and January 2021, 962 patients underwent centralized RARP with NeuroSAFE. A secondary resection was performed in case of a positive surgical margin (PSM) on intraoperative frozen section (IFS) analysis to convert a PSM into a negative surgical margin (NSM). A retrospective cohort consisted of 835 patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy in a tertiary centre without NeuroSAFE between January 2000 and December 2017. We performed multivariable logistic regression to evaluate differences in risk of PSM between cohorts after controlling for clinicopathological variables. Results: Patients operated with NeuroSAFE in the centralized clinic had 29% PSM at a definitive pathological RP examination. The median cumulative length of definitive PSM was 1.1 mm (interquartile range: 0.4–3.8). Among 275 men with PSM, 136 (49%) had a cumulative length ≤1 mm and 198 (72%) ≤3 mm. After controlling for PSA, Grade group, cribriform pattern, pT-stage, and pN-stage, patients treated in the centralized clinic with NeuroSAFE had significantly lower odds on PSM (odds ratio [OR]: 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56–0.88; P = 0.002), PSM length &gt;1 mm (OR: 0.14, 95% CI: 0.09–0.22; P &lt; 0.001), and &gt;3 mm (OR: 0.21, 95% CI: 0.14–0.30; P &lt; 0.001). Conclusion: This study provides a detailed overview of surgical margin status in a centralized RP NeuroSAFE cohort. Centralization with NeuroSAFE was associated with lower PSM rates and significantly shorter PSM cumulative lengths, indicating improved control of surgical margin status.</p