Effective Stakeholder Management Strategies for Information Technology Projects

Information Technology (IT) projects have become critical to business strategy. However, one major issue is that, historically, IT projects have high failure rates, with scholars asserting that ineffective stakeholder management strategies were a major factor for project failure. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies IT executives use for managing IT project stakeholders by exploring the experiences of 2 CIOs and 4 IT directors in two multinational companies, based in Switzerland. Stakeholder theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and company documentation, and analyzed using Yin\u27s 5-step data analysis process to identify and code themes. Five main themes emerged from the data analysis: organizational culture, organizational maturity, leadership, competencies, and post-implementation reviews. The results of this study revealed the importance for leaders to articulate business strategies enabling stakeholders to have a common perspective on project objectives, and to act as a foundation upon which IT executives can create effective stakeholder management strategies. Results indicated that the deployment of effective stakeholder management strategies was dependent on several factors, including organizational culture, leadership style, competencies, and organizational maturity. Findings may contribute to positive social change by encouraging effective stakeholder management to improve knowledge sharing, individual and team motivation, management across cultural boundaries, and stimulate a culture of social responsibility and sustainability

Briefing: UK Ministry of Defence Force Protection Engineering Programme

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory sponsored, QinetiQ-led Force Protection Engineering Research Programme has two main strands, applied and underpinning research. The underpinning strand is led by Blastech Ltd. One focus of this research is into the response of geomaterials to threat loading. The programme on locally won fill is split into four main characterisation strands: high-stress (GPa) static pressure–volume; medium-rate pressure–volume (split Hopkinson bar); high-rate (flyer plate) pressure–volume; and unifying modelling research at the University of Sheffield, which has focused on developing a high-quality dataset for locally won fill in low and medium strain rates. With the test apparatus at Sheffield well-controlled tests can be conducted at both high strain rate and pseudo-static rates up to stress levels of 1 GPa. The University of Cambridge has focused on using one-dimensional shock experiments to examine high-rate pressure–volume relationships. Both establishments are examining the effect of moisture content and starting density on emergent rate effects. Blastech Ltd has been undertaking carefully controlled fragment impact experiments, within the dataspace developed by the Universities of Sheffield and Cambridge. The data from experiments are unified by the QinetiQ-led modelling team, to predict material behaviour and to derive a scalable locally won fill model for use in any situation

The STRS (shortness of breath, tremulousness, racing heart, and sweating): A brief checklist for acute distress with panic-like autonomic indicators; development and factor structure

Background: Peritraumatic response, as currently assessed by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criterion A2, has weak positive predictive value (PPV) with respect to PTSD diagnosis. Research suggests that indicators of peritraumatic autonomic activation may supplement the PPV of PTSD criterion A2. We describe the development and factor structure of the STRS (Shortness of Breath, Tremulousness, Racing Heart, and Sweating), a one page, two-minute checklist with a five-point Likert-type response format based on a previously unpublished scale. It is the first validated self-report measure of peritraumatic activation of the autonomic nervous system.\ud \ud Methods: We selected items from the Potential Stressful Events Interview (PSEI) to represent two latent variables: 1) PTSD diagnostic criterion A, and 2) acute autonomic activation. Participants (a convenience sample of 162 non-treatment seeking young adults) rated the most distressing incident of their lives on these items. We examined the factor structure of the STRS in this sample using factor and cluster analysis.\ud \ud Results: Results confirmed a two-factor model. The factors together accounted for 68% of the variance. The variance in each item accounted for by the two factors together ranged from 41% to 74%. The item loadings on the two factors mapped precisely onto the two proposed latent variables.\ud \ud Conclusion: The factor structure of the STRS is robust and interpretable. Autonomic activation signs tapped by the STRS constitute a dimension of the acute autonomic activation in response to stress that is distinct from the current PTSD criterion A2. Since the PTSD diagnostic criteria are likely to change in the DSM-V, further research is warranted to determine whether signs of peritraumatic autonomic activation such as those measured by this two-minute scale add to the positive predictive power of the current PTSD criterion A2. Additionally, future research is warranted to explore whether the four automatic activation items of the STRS can be useful as the basis for a possible PTSD criterion A3 in the DSM-V

Predicted alteration of vertebrate communities in response to climate-induced elevational shifts

Aim: Climate change is driving species to migrate to novel areas as current environments become unsuitable. As a result, species distributions have shifted uphill in montane ecosystems globally. Heterogeneous dispersal rates among shifting species could result in complex changes to community assemblages. For example, interspecific differences in dispersal ability could lead to the disruption, or creation, of species interactions and processes within communities, likely amplifying the impact of climate change on ecosystems. Here, we studied the dispersal success of vertebrate species in a tropical montane ecosystem under a climate-induced uphill shift and assessed the derived impacts on community structures. Location: The Australian Wet Tropics bioregion. Method: We simulated the uphill shift of 7613 community assemblages across the elevational gradient using thermal resistance layers for movement analyses. Dispersal success was calculated as the probability of shifting given species’ dispersal ability and landscape composition. We then used dissimilarity indices to measure the potential changes in community structures resulting from the heterogeneous dispersal success among migrating species. Results: Dispersal success was strongly influenced by species’ dispersal ability, landscape composition and climate change. The heterogeneous dispersal success among migrating species induced marked temporal changes between community assemblages along the elevational gradient. The local extinction rate (i.e. the proportion of species unable to shift) was especially remarkable at high elevations, suggesting potential mass local extinctions of upland species. Furthermore, the increasing local extinction rate with elevation resulted in substantial declines in species co-occurrence in high-altitude ecosystems. Main conclusions: Our study highlights the escalating impact of climate change on community assemblages in response to climate-induced elevational shifts, providing a classic example of the "escalator to extinction." Future predictions of the impacts of climate change on ecosystems will benefit from improvements in understanding species interactions, population dynamics and species potential to adapt to a changing environment

National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan Terrestrial Biodiversity: update 2017

In 2011, a National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan (NARP) was developed for the terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity theme of climate change adaptation (Terrestrial NARP 2011). The Terrestrial NARP aims to identify priority research questions for climate change adaptation issues relevant to Australia's cities, towns and regions, including coastal communities and regions. This NARP was updated in 2013 (Terrestrial NARP 2013). The purpose of this document is to review the Terrestrial NARP 2013 and this was done through a series of workshops with key stakeholders in 2015-16. The most important component of the NARPs is to identify and prioritise adaptation research questions that are important, often urgent, and will provide knowledge needed by adaptation stakeholders across Australia. Based on the stakholder review, a total of 20 priority research questions (Table 1) are presented in this report within four research themes

The modulation of event-related alpha rhythm during the time course of anticipation

Anticipation is the ability to accurately predict future actions or events ahead of the act itself. When attempting to anticipate, researchers have identified that at least two broad sources of information are used: contextual information relating to the situation in question; and biological motion from postural cues. However, the neural correlates associated with the processing of these different sources of information across groups varying in expertise has yet to be examined empirically. We compared anticipation performance and electrophysiological activity in groups of expert (n = 12) and novice (n = 15) performers using a video-based task. Participants made anticipation judgements after being presented information under three conditions: contextual information only; kinematic information only; and both sources of information combined. The experts responded more accurately across all three conditions. Stronger alpha event-related desynchronization over occipital and frontocentral sites occurred in experts compared to the novices when anticipating. The experts relied on stronger preparatory attentional mechanisms when they processed contextual information. When kinematic information was available, the domain specific motor representations built up over many years of practice likely underpinned expertise. Our findings have implications for those interested in identifying and subsequently, enhancing the neural mechanisms involved in anticipation

Motor Learning Induces Plasticity in the Resting Brain—Drumming Up a Connection

Neuroimaging methods have recently been used to investigate plasticity-induced changes in brain structure. However, little is known about the dynamic interactions between different brain regions after extensive coordinated motor learning such as drumming. In this article, we have compared the resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in 15 novice healthy participants before and after a course of drumming (30-min drumming sessions, 3 days a week for 8 weeks) and 16 age-matched novice comparison participants. To identify brain regions showing significant FC differences before and after drumming, without a priori regions of interest, a multivariate pattern analysis was performed. Drum training was associated with an increased FC between the posterior part of bilateral superior temporal gyri (pSTG) and the rest of the brain (i.e., all other voxels). These regions were then used to perform seed-to-voxel analysis. The pSTG presented an increased FC with the premotor and motor regions, the right parietal lobe and a decreased FC with the cerebellum. Perspectives and the potential for rehabilitation treatments with exercise-based intervention to overcome impairments due to brain diseases are also discussed

Momentum Flux Spectra of a Mountain Wave Event Over New Zealand

During the Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE) 13 July 2014 research flight over the South Island of New Zealand, a multiscale spectrum of mountain waves (MWs) was observed. High-resolution measurements of sodium densities were available from ~70 to 100 km for the duration of this flight. A comprehensive technique is presented for obtaining temperature perturbations, T′, from sodium mixing ratios over a range of altitudes, and these T′ were used to calculate the momentum flux (MF) spectra with respect to horizontal wavelengths, λH, for each flight segment. Spectral analysis revealed MWs with spectral power centered at λH of ~80, 120, and 220 km. The temperature amplitudes of these MWs varied between the four cross-mountain flight legs occurring between 6:10UT and 9:10UT. The average spectral T′ amplitudes near 80 km in altitude ranged from 7–13 K for the 220 km λH MW and 4–8 K for the smaller λH MWs. These amplitudes decayed significantly up to 90 km, where a critical level for MWs was present. The average MF per unit mass near 80 km in altitude ranged from ~13 to 60 m2/s2 across the varying spectra over the duration of the research flight and decayed to ~0 by 88 km in altitude. These MFs are large compared to zonal means and highlight the importance of MWs in the momentum budget of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere at times when they reach these altitudes

Two weeks of watermelon juice supplementation improves nitric oxide bioavailability but not endurance exercise performance in humans

This study tested the hypothesis that watermelon juice supplementation would improve nitric oxide bioavailability and exercise performance. Eight healthy recreationally-active adult males reported to the laboratory on two occasions for initial testing without dietary supplementation (control condition). Thereafter, participants were randomly assigned, in a cross-over experimental design, to receive 16 days of supplementation with 300 mL·day-1 of a watermelon juice concentrate, which provided ~3.4g L-citrulline·day-1 and an apple juice concentrate as a placebo. Participants reported to the laboratory on days 14 and 16 of supplementation to assess the effects of the interventions on blood pressure, plasma [Lcitrulline], plasma [L-arginine], plasma [nitrite], muscle oxygenation and time-to-exhaustion during severe-intensity exercise. Compared to control and placebo, plasma [L-citrulline] (29 ± 4, 22 ± 6 and 101 ± 23 μM), [L-arginine] (74 ± 9, 67 ± 13 and 116 ± 9 μM) and [nitrite] (102 ± 29, 106 ± 21 and 201 ± 106 nM) were higher after watermelon juice supplementation (P<0.01). However, systolic blood pressure was higher in the watermelon juice (130 ± 11) and placebo (131 ± 9) conditions compared to the control condition (124 ± 8 mmHg; P<0.05). The skeletal muscle oxygenation index during moderate-intensity exercise was greater in the watermelon juice condition than the placebo and control conditions (P<0.05), but time-to-exhaustion during the severe-intensity exercise test (control: 478 ± 80, placebo: 539 ± 108, watermelon juice: 550 ± 143 s) was not significantly different between conditions (P<0.05). In conclusion, while watermelon juice supplementation increased baseline plasma [nitrite] and improved muscle oxygenation during moderate-intensity exercise, it increased resting blood pressure and did not improve time-to-exhaustion during severe-intensity exercise. These findings do not support the use of watermelon juice supplementation as a nutritional intervention to lower blood pressure or improve endurance exercise performance in healthy adults