bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health‐related messages in food advertisements targeting children
Authors: Castonguay Jessica , McKinley Christopher , Kunkel Dale
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The goal of this study was to assess the use of “health” messages in food advertising in the USA which target children. The aim was to determine if these messages indicate the promotion of a healthful product or are a marketing tactic to promote unhealthy items, potentially undermining nutrition education efforts.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis of food advertisements (n=534) in children's television shows (n=141) was performed to identify three types of health messages. The type of products promoted with such messages and the nutritional value of those products were assessed.

Findings

Over half of food advertisements targeting children use “health” messages, with commercials for fast foods and sugared cereals most likely to include them. The majority of advertisements for nutritionally poor foods include a “health” message.

Research limitations/implications

The findings from this research cannot be used to predict the impact health messages have on young viewers, but rather describe the content. Quantification of this content then provides the basis for tracking changes to marketing practices over time.

Practical implications

This study raises concern that food advertisements targeting children may prime misleading perceptions of a food's actual nutritional value. Educators should be aware of the need to assist children in adequately interpreting “health” messages in advertising.

Originality/value

Little research to date has examined the “health” related messages presented in food advertisements targeting children. To our knowledge this is the first study to examine not only the presence of “health” messages but the actual nutritional quality of foods promoted to children with such messages.
Assessing the impact of ERP on supplier performance
Authors: Hwang Woosang , Min Hokey
Published: August 2013

Purpose

Through an empirical study, this paper identifies a multitude of drivers that facilitate or hinder the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) in business environments. Also, the purpose of this paper is to analyze its role in supply chain operations and assesses its impact on supplier capabilities and performances from supply chain perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on both a contingency theory and a resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm, the research develops a series of hypotheses regarding the use of ERP for strategic sourcing. A large‐scale survey of Korean manufacturers and their suppliers was conducted. A structural equation model was used for data analysis.

Findings

The firm's external environment (EE) has little influence on its decision to adopt and implement ERP. However, through the mediating role of an internal environment (IE), an EE still indirectly influences the ERP adoption and ERP implementation (ERPI) decision. Also, the paper found that ERP could enhance the ERP adopter's supplier capability (SCAP).

Originality/value

This study investigates the role of ERP in the supply chain and identifies important determinants influencing the ERP adoption and implementation decisions. Especially, this paper assesses the benefits of ERP from the ERP adopter's supply chain partner's standpoints.
Determining business models in bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid markets
Authors: Jun Sungbum , Lee Dongmyung , Park Jinwoo
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a multi‐criteria approach for determining business models in bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BOP) markets.

Design/methodology/approach

Analytic network process (ANP) was employed to construct a decision‐making model of quantitative and qualitative factors relevant to BOP markets. Alternatives can be evaluated, respectively, and further business implications can be delivered to decision makers through continuous improvement of the model.

Findings

ANP is a tool that can address the interdependencies among decision elements and alternatives in the BOP markets. Moreover, it can be employed in structural analysis of the network of relationships among the selection criteria.

Practical implications

Decision makers can make more informed decisions by using the proposed approach, which is targeted toward BOP customers. This approach also overcomes the flaws of previous approaches.

Social implications

The successful selection of business models for BOP markets can change how multinational companies think about BOP consumers, allowing the poor to be perceived as value‐demanding customers. In addition, if multinational companies create new local business models, the quality of life of the poor could be improved.

Originality/value

The consideration of interdependencies among the criteria relevant to the selection of successful business models in BOP markets is a novel conceptual contribution.
Supervisory control service for supporting flexible processes
Authors: Alves Portela Santos Eduardo , Francisco Rosemary , Pesic Maja , van der Aalst Wil
Published: August 2013

Purpose

Increasing flexibility and complexity of modern process‐aware information systems (PAIS) usually leads to less guidance for its users and consequently requires more experienced users. A flexible PAIS allows users to freely choose a specific execution sequence of activities. However, there are no guarantees that the chosen sequence conforms to established business rules. This context proposes a supervisory control service (SCS), which can be used to support end‐users of flexible PAIS during process execution by giving a list of disabled (or enabled) events (activities), i.e. at any point in time a list of possible next steps is given.

Design/methodology/approach

The SCS has been implemented in process mining framework (ProM – www.processmining.org) and the experiment that has been performed shows its feasibility. The computational infrastructure already implemented in ProM allows communication with external applications and allows the SCS to be integrated with PAIS that records events. This paper demonstrated that the SCS in ProM can cooperate with PAIS system in order to support users.

Findings

The SCS proposed in this paper monitors and restricts execution sequences of activities such that business rules are always obeyed. The system offers support based on business rules but does not limit the user by imposing rigid control‐flow structures. Users can adopt this service as a guide to execute activities with a guarantee that business rules are followed and goals are met. The SCS also offers flexibility to users to choose execution sequences.

Originality/value

The paper argues that the proposed approach has many advantages on controlling/supporting flexible processes. Supervisory control theory allows an automatic control synthesis instead of the usual manual and heuristic procedures. Thus, new control actions may be rapidly and automatically designed when modifications, such as redefinition of business rules or activities arrangements, are necessary. The flexible processes can be made to behave optimally with respect to a variety of criteria, where optimal means in minimally restrictive way.
Fashion founded on a flaw
Authors: McSweeney Brendan
Published: August 2013

Purpose

To comment on Brewer and Venaik's review of the misapplication of the national culture dimensions of Hofstede and GLOBE at the individual and other sub‐national levels. This paper supports and extends their critique.

Design/methodology/approach

The implausibility of deterministic claims about the multi‐level power of national culture is described and discussed by drawing on a wide range of disciplines (including anthropology, geography, sociology, and historiography).

Findings

Descriptions of the characteristics and origins of sub‐national level behaviour based on a priori depictions of national culture values are invalid and misleading.

Practical implications

There are important implications for practitioners. The paper highlights the unsoundness of descriptions of the sub‐national (individuals, consumer segments, organizations, and so forth) which are derived from national‐level depictions of culture and the dangers of ignoring the independent causal influence of non‐national culture and non‐cultural factors.

Originality/value

The ecological fallacy in the national culture literature is located within a wider and long‐standing critique of that fallacy. The paper is the first to show that the fallacy in the national culture literature is often an extreme causal version. It not merely supposes cross‐level equivalence, as in the standard version, but more aggressively, it attributes deterministic power to national culture thus excluding other independent influences and agency.
Real estate market factors and foreign real estate investment
Authors: Gholipour Fereidouni Hassan , Ariffin Masron Tajul
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of real estate market factors on foreign real estate investment (FREI).

Design/methodology/approach

Applying panel data technique, this paper uses related observations from 31 countries (inclusive of developed countries and emerging market economies) between 2000 and 2008 to investigate the relationships between real estate market factors and FREI.

Findings

Controlling for market size, infrastructure and political stability, the results for all countries indicate that lower financing costs and higher levels of transparency in real estate market attract greater amounts of FREI. Moreover, the paper finds that foreign real estate investors favor countries with higher property prices. Interestingly, when the paper splits the sample in developed countries and emerging market economies the paper finds that there are some differences in results in terms of determinants of FREI.

Originality/value

While FREI is a large component of service FDI, currently there are no analyses of FREI determinants across a broad set of countries over time. Therefore, the present study has filled this gap.
Credibility and the credit channel transmission of monetary policy theoretical model and econometric analysis for Brazil
Authors: Caldas Montes Gabriel , Cabral Machado Caroline
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical model and empirically verifies the transmission of monetary policy through the credit channel in Brazil. The study verifies if the monetary policy, the economic activity and the maturity of the inflation targeting regime affect the supply of credit.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper offers a review of the literature concerning inflation targeting credibility and the transmission mechanism of monetary policy through the credit channel, it develops a theoretical model based on Bernanke and Blinder and Ferreira and it seeks empirical evidence for the Brazilian economy using ordinary least squares, generalized method of moments and vector autoregressive.

Findings

The estimates indicate that the supply of credit is stimulated when the economy heats up, when the monetary authority reduces the interest rate and when the credibility increases. The evidence also indicate that the supply of credit is affected by the variables of the model, economic activity and employment are affected by monetary policy and the supply of credit exerts influence on both employment and output gap.

Research limitations/implications

An important implication of this study is that, in inflation targeting emerging economies, such as that of Brazil, following a committed monetary policy to price stability which increases the credibility of the regime of inflation targeting and promoting macroeconomic stability represents a good strategy for improving the volume of lending to the private sector, thus stimulating economic activity and employment. What the findings do indicate is that developing credibility is crucial for emerging economies that are trying to grow, but with inflation being kept under control.

Originality/value

The paper presents the following theoretical and empirical contributions: the model incorporates the effect that the credibility of the inflation targeting regime has on the supply of credit and, the econometric approach provides evidence that the monetary policy, the economic activity and the process of anchoring of inflation expectations affect the supply of credit in Brazil. Moreover, the paper finds evidence that the credit channel acts as a transmission mechanism of monetary policy to the economy.
Corporate financing activities, fundamentals to price ratios and the cross section of stock returns
Authors: Papanastasopoulos Georgios , Thomakos Dimitrios , Wang Tao
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relation between the value/growth anomaly and the external financing anomaly by considering an expanded value/growth indicator: free cash flow yield (free cash flows scaled by price).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilizes portfolio‐level tests and cross‐sectional regressions.

Findings

In line with the literature on contrarian portfolios, this paper finds that firms with low (high) free cash flow yield are experiencing low (high) returns. However, only when an investor buys (sells) stocks of firms with high (low) free cash flow yield that distribute (raise) capital, his zero‐cost portfolio is significant. These findings are robust, irrespective of the financing vehicle (equity or debt). Overall, their evidence suggests that distinctions between the value/growth anomaly and the external financing anomaly partially disappear, if one is willing to employ free cash flow yield as a proxy of the former anomaly.

Originality/value

The paper enhances one's understanding of the relation between asset pricing anomalies.
Integrated care in Herefordshire: a case study
Authors: Coupe Michael
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The paper draws on the experience of the health and social care system in Herefordshire to answer what, when and how improvements in cost and quality can be realised through service integration.

Design/methodology/approach

The three stages in the evolution of integrated health and social care services within the county and the establishment of Wye Valley NHS Trust are described. An overview of the new model of integrated care is provided.

Findings

The baseline performance of the health and social care system in 2010/2011 is compared with the projected future performance in 2014/2015 and the current performance in 2012/2013. Reasons for underperformance of the new model of care are listed. It is concluded that integration will improve the effectiveness of care and the patient experience but is unlikely to deliver material savings. Service integration requires pump priming monies and short‐term double running costs, the close involvement of GPs and a robust change management approach.

Practical implications

The implication of these conclusions is that the current emphasis on the cost benefits of service integration have been overstated and the difficulties of maximising cost and quality benefits underestimated.

Originality/value

The paper provides a “real world” contribution to what remains a live debate amongst NHS clinicians and managers, and those with an interest in policy development and analysis.
Integrating housing with care for older people
Authors: Blood Imogen
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The research explored the way in which different services, providers and other key players work together in housing with care (HWC) schemes and the impact of this on the quality of life of the older people living in them, especially those with high support needs.

Methods

This qualitative study included interviews with 47 residents and five relatives at 19 private and not‐for‐profit schemes across the UK and 52 professionals from provider, statutory and other relevant organisations.

Findings

Most participants were very satisfied with the services in HWC but a third described problems linked to “boundary” issues, where gaps, delays or confusion had arisen at the interface between teams, organisations or professional groups. Gaps often occurred where tasks were relatively small: they affected the quality of life of older people with high support needs but did not necessarily outweigh the benefits of living in HWC.

Practical implications

We identify ways of improving integrated working in HWC and beyond. The paper is relevant to those commissioning and providing services to older people and to all those with an interest in integrating care and housing.

Originality/value

This is the first UK‐wide, cross‐sector study to focus specifically on the boundaries between roles and responsibilities and their impact on residents in HWC.
Forensic rehabilitation in Asperger syndrome: a case report
Authors: Kelbrick Marlene , Radley Jane
Published: August 2013

Purpose

People with Asperger syndrome are at increased risk of co‐morbid mental health problems. The core features underlying autism are likely to play an important role in offending behaviour amongst this population. Forensic rehabilitation includes a multidisciplinary approach and combination of therapeutic interventions. However there is limited evidence in the literature of what constitutes effective treatment within this setting, and how the process of rehabilitation is experienced by patients. The purpose of this paper is to describe a case of Asperger syndrome with co‐morbid psychosis and offending behaviour and the process of forensic rehabilitation.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors briefly review the literature related to Asperger syndrome, offending in this population and co‐morbidity. The authors then describe and reflect on a case of a young man with Asperger syndrome, sexual offending and the process of forensic rehabilitation, and offer an insight from the patient's perspective.

Findings

Co‐morbid mental illness, when detected early, can be successfully managed with limited additional disability. The process of forensic rehabilitation includes a multidisciplinary approach. Therapeutic interventions specifically aimed at addressing core features of autism, risk and offence‐related factors are effective in promoting recovery amongst those with autism and offending behaviour.

Originality/value

The paper highlights how core features of autism can lead to offending behaviour, the importance of early recognition and treatment of co‐morbidity, and the process of forensic rehabilitation and recovery. Also included are quotes from the patient's perspective on what it is like to have Asperger syndrome, and what has been the key learning from the rehabilitation process.
Moments of identity formation and reformation: a day in the working life of an academic
Authors: Winkler Ingo
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of the article is to illuminate micro‐processes and dynamics of identity work in an academic working context. It elaborates on the various and shifting self‐notions experienced within a typical workday of an academic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts an analytic autoethnographic approach focusing on recalled experiences of the author's current employment in a university department. This approach is considered to contribute to the investigation of the intensive personal process of identity construction that likewise enhances the understanding of the connection between the individual person and the organization.

Findings

Illustrating the multifold notions of who one is in a particular work situation, the author demonstrates that identity work is correspondingly ongoing during the workday. Employing a workday narrative and the different self‐notions created throughout this day, the study illustrates the richness and variety in the identity work accomplished. Focusing on four particular workday events demonstrates how these situations serve as moments of identity work in the sense that they call for engaging in answering the question of who one is and how one should act.

Originality/value

Promoting a micro‐perspective, the study illuminates that identity work‐processes can also be observed within the relatively small‐scaled focus of an individual workday. It proposes to understand identity work as a process of micro‐level sensemaking. The study also reveals the shifting nature of self‐notions experienced over the day. It is not only various identities that are manufactured in relation to different workday events but also that these senses of oneself come at different levels of concreteness.
Constructing leadership by storytelling – the meaning of trust and narratives
Authors: Auvinen Tommi , Aaltio Iiris , Blomqvist Kirsimarja
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This paper approaches manager's storytelling as a means for promoting organizational aims and for constructing leadership, and examines the intentions of managers in this process. We focus on the context of storytelling and the content of the stories told by managers in order to identify areas of influence on subordinates. Storytelling in relation to building a narrative identity for the manager is also studied.

Design/methodology/approach

This is an exploratory empirical study that draws on 13 thematic interviews with Finnish managers working in different fields. A qualitative thematic analysis is used in order to analyze the data.

Findings

As a result of the study we found that managers tell stories in order to evoke leadership characterized by six areas of influence: motivation, inspiration, defusing conflict, influencing superiors, discovering a focus and constructing trust. According to the findings, the managers see stories as an effective means of building trust between leaders and their subordinates. It was also found that managers can use stories self‐reflectively and as a means of self‐development.

Practical implications

Storytelling can empower leadership and support interaction with subordinates. One application of this study is informing elements of leadership development such as business education programmes for managers and future managers.

Originality/value

Narrative leadership is a highly valued but still under‐researched approach to leadership. This study seeks to fill this gap in the research by providing an empirically based contribution to the field, emphasizing the intentional nature of storytelling.
Leaders life aspirations and job burnout: a self‐determination theory approach
Authors: Roche Maree , Haar Jarrod M.
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of leaders’ life goals on their work related wellbeing. Self‐determination theory (SDT) asserts aspirations (life goals) pursued in terms of personal growth, health, affiliation and community support psychological wellbeing, while aspirations of wealth, image and fame thwart wellbeing. However, little is understood about the influence of life goals towards leaders’ wellbeing at work, specifically job burnout.

Design

The study explores seven dimensions of aspirations on a sample of 386 New Zealand leaders towards emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Data were collected in two waves (1=predictors and 2=outcomes) and structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships between variables.

Findings

The study found that all extrinsic aspirations were significantly and positively correlated with job burnout, while mainly the intrinsic aspirations were significantly and negatively correlated. The structural model showed that wealth and image aspirations were positively related to emotional exhaustion and cynicism, while health aspirations were negatively related. Finally, relationship aspirations were negatively related to cynicism.

Implications

This study shows the importance of life goals and the role they play towards leaders’ job burnout. Leaders focussed on extrinsic aspirations are more likely to burnout at work than those focussed on intrinsic aspirations. Hence, what leaders focus on in terms of overall life objectives matter for their workplace wellbeing.

Originality/value

Findings are significant because, for the first time, relationships between the SDT dimensions associated with (a leader's) life goal orientations and job burnout has been established.
Transformational leadership and work engagement
Authors: Yasin Ghadi Mohammed , Fernando Mario , Caputi Peter
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This paper reports the findings of a study examining the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement through the mediating role of meaning in work.

Design/methodology/approach

Transformational leadership, work engagement and perceptions of meaning in work were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 530 full‐time employees working in Australia.

Findings

The results from structural equation modelling reveal that the transformational leadership style influences followers’ attributes of work engagement. The direct relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement was found to be partially mediated by employees’ perceptions of meaning in work.

Practical implications

Industry reports show that globally, the number of unengaged employees have increased, costing nations billions in productivity losses. We present a model that could help reduce these losses by providing human resource managers with new insights into developing training programmes that could improve transformational leadership behaviours in the workplace. These programmes could help re‐design the context of work to make work more meaningful.

Originality/value

The relationship between transformational leadership style, perceptions of meaning in work and work engagement were explored theoretically and tested empirically in an Australian context.
It's how leaders behave that matters, not where they are from
Authors: Posner Barry Z.
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine how national culture might impact both how leaders behave as well as their effectiveness as leaders.

Design/methodology/approach

Healthcare leaders and their constituents in Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines were surveyed about their leadership behaviors and their effectiveness. Analyses both across and within countries from self and constituent perspectives were conducted.

Findings

Leadership practices varied across countries but within the countries their impact was the same. Within each country the more frequently leaders used these leadership practices the more effective they were viewed by their constituents, and the more favorable were their own workplace attitudes.

Research limitations/implications

The study involved a cross‐section of leaders who may not be representative of organizational managers, did not have direct reports, were from a specialized field, and utilized a single conceptual framework and scale. Future studies should expand the conceptual framework and measurement tools, as well as extend the investigation to other organizational samples and nations.

Practical implications

Important leadership behaviors can be identified for effective leadership across various national or cultural boundaries. Leadership development efforts may be better directed toward building skills common to leaders rather than targeting differences within national boundaries.

Originality/value

This study provides understanding into how leaders behave around the globe, and documents that how they behave makes a difference to their constituents and impacts their own workplace attitudes. It demonstrates that there are some “universal” leadership processes and provides guidance for those responsible for developing the global (cross‐cultural) competencies of leaders.
Recent developments in MEMS sensors: a review of applications, markets and technologies
Authors: Bogue Robert
Published: August 2013

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide an introduction to micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors and their commercialisation and to consider a number of recent applications, markets and product developments.

Design/methodology/approach

– Following an introduction and a brief historical background to MEMS sensors and their commercialisation, the paper describes a selection of recent applications, with an emphasis on high volume uses. Various market figures are included to place these applications in a commercial context. Sensors for both physical variables and gases are considered.

Findings

– The paper shows that MEMS sensor applications continue to grow in the automotive, consumer electronics and other industries, which consume many millions of sensors annually. New product developments reflect the requirement for smaller and lower-cost sensors with enhanced performance and greater functionality. Markets for physical sensors dominate but MEMS technology is making progressive inroads in the gas sensing field.

Originality/value

– This article provides a timely review of a selection of recent MEMS sensor applications, markets and product developments.
Towards an overheating risk tool for building design
Authors: Banfill P.F.G. , Jenkins D.P. , Patidar S. , Gul M. , Menzies G.F. , Gibson G.J.
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The work set out to design and develop an overheating risk tool using the UKCP09 climate projections that is compatible with building performance simulation software. The aim of the tool is to exploit the Weather Generator and give a reasonably accurate assessment of a building's performance in future climates, without adding significant time, cost or complexity to the design team's work.

Methodology/approach

Because simulating every possible future climate is impracticable, the approach adopted was to use principal component analysis to give a statistically rigorous simplification of the climate projections. The perceptions and requirements of potential users were assessed through surveys, interviews and focus groups.

Findings

It is possible to convert a single dynamic simulation output into many hundreds of simulation results at hourly resolution for equally probable climates, giving a population of outcomes for the performance of a specific building in a future climate, thus helping the user choose adaptations that might reduce the risk of overheating. The tool outputs can be delivered as a probabilistic overheating curve and feed into a risk management matrix. Professionals recognized the need to quantify overheating risk, particularly for non‐domestic buildings, and were concerned about the ease of incorporating the UKCP09 projections into this process. The new tool has the potential to meet these concerns.

Originality/value

The paper is the first attempt to link UKCP09 climate projections and building performance simulation software in this way and the work offers the potential for design practitioners to use the tool to quickly assess the risk of overheating in their designs and adapt them accordingly.
Evaluative application of UKCP09‐based downscaled future weather years to simulate overheating risk in typical English homes
Authors: Gupta Rajat , Gregg Matthew , Du Hu , Williams Katie
Published: August 2013

Purpose

To critically compare three future weather year (FWY) downscaling approaches, based on the 2009 UK Climate Projections, used for climate change impact and adaptation analysis in building simulation software.

Design/methodology/approach

The validity of these FWYs is assessed through dynamic building simulation modelling to project future overheating risk in typical English homes in 2050s and 2080s.

Findings

The modelling results show that the variation in overheating projections is far too significant to consider the tested FWY data sets equally suitable for the task.

Research and practical implications

It is recommended that future research should consider harmonisation of the downscaling approaches so as to generate a unified data set of FWYs to be used for a given location and climate projection. If FWY are to be used in practice, live projects will need viable and reliable FWY on which to base their adaptation decisions. The difference between the data sets tested could potentially lead to different adaptation priorities specifically with regard to time series and adaptation phasing through the life of a building.

Originality/value

The paper investigates the different results derived from FWY application to building simulation. The outcome and implications are important considerations for research and practice involved in FWY data use in building simulation intended for climate change adaptation modelling.
Case of seborrheic keratosis with underlying basal cell carcinoma suggesting a collision tumor
Authors: Jee Hyunjoong , Lee Noo Ri , Ahn Sung Ku
Published: August 2013

Reports of seborrheic keratosis (SK) with concurrent malignant tumors are rare, but previous and recent reports – especially the co‐manifestation of basal cell carcinomas (BCC) have added to the ongoing debate of the possibility of the development of BCC from SK. We report a rare case of SK with underlying BCC with scarcely accounted histopathological characteristics – reticulated type and nodular type, respectively – that showed no direct histological link between the two entities. We also carefully suggest that differences in histopathology (whether the two lesions are connected or not) may account for the possibility of incidental co‐habitation.
Model‐uncertainty quantification in seismic tomography: method and applications
Authors: Osypov Konstantin , Yang Yi , Fournier Aimé , Ivanova Natalia , Bachrach Ran , Yarman Can Evren , You Yu , Nichols Dave , Woodward Marta
Published: August 2013

Uncertainty is inherent in every stage of the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) business and understanding uncertainty enables mitigation of E&P risks. Therefore, quantification of uncertainty is beneficial for decision making and uncertainty should be managed along with other aspects of business. For example, decisions on well positioning should take into account the structural uncertainty related to the non‐uniqueness of a velocity model used to create a seismic depth image. Moreover, recent advances in seismic acquisition technology, such as full‐azimuth, long‐offset techniques, combined with high‐accuracy migration algorithms such as reverse‐time migration, can greatly enhance images even in highly complex structural settings, provided that an Earth velocity model with sufficient resolution is available. Modern practices often use non‐seismic observation to better constrain velocity model building. However, even with additional information, there is still ambiguity in our velocity models caused by the inherent non‐uniqueness of the seismic experiment. Many different Earth velocity models exist that match the observed seismic (and well) data and this ambiguity grows rapidly away from well controls. The result is uncertainty in the seismic velocity model and the true positions of events in our images. Tracking these uncertainties can lead to significant improvement in the quantification of exploration risk (e.g., trap failure when well‐logging data are not representative), drilling risk (e.g., dry wells and abnormal pore pressure) and volumetric uncertainties. Whilst the underlying ambiguity can never be fully eradicated, a quantified measure of these uncertainties provides a valuable tool for understanding and evaluating the risks and for development of better risk‐mitigation plans and decision‐making strategies.
Full‐waveform inversion for macro velocity model reconstruction in look‐ahead offset vertical seismic profile: numerical singular value decomposition‐based analysis
Authors: Silvestrov Ilya , Neklyudov Dmitry , Kostov Clement , Tcheverda Vladimir
Published: August 2013

Full‐waveform inversion is currently considered as a potential tool for improving depth‐velocity models for areas with complex geology. It is well‐known that success of the inversion is very sensitive to the available low‐frequency content of the data. In the paper we investigate this issue considering a look‐ahead offset vertical seismic profile survey and applying singular value decomposition analysis of a linearized forward map as the main tool. We demonstrate with this technique the difference between the sequential full‐waveform inversion strategy and the original time‐domain approach proposed in the early 1980s. We emphasize the role of the lowest frequency in the data, which is necessary for reliable velocity model inversion in particular cases. Finally we show the existence of a trade‐off between the lowest frequency and a regularization parameter of the inversion procedure. The presented approach may be adapted to answer general questions regarding the quality of data and acquisition system parameters required for feasible full‐waveform inversion.
REVIEW: Ecological feedbacks can reduce population‐level efficacy of wildlife fertility control
Authors: Ransom Jason I. , Powers Jenny G. , Thompson Hobbs N. , Baker Dan L.
Published: August 2013

Anthropogenic stress on natural systems, particularly the fragmentation of landscapes and the extirpation of predators from food webs, has intensified the need to regulate abundance of wildlife populations with management. Controlling population growth using fertility control has been considered for almost four decades, but nearly all research has focused on understanding effects of fertility control agents on individual animals. Questions about the efficacy of fertility control as a way to control populations remain largely unanswered.

Collateral consequences of contraception can produce unexpected changes in birth rates, survival, immigration and emigration that may reduce the effectiveness of regulating animal abundance. The magnitude and frequency of such effects vary with species‐specific social and reproductive systems, as well as connectivity of populations. Developing models that incorporate static demographic parameters from populations not controlled by contraception may bias predictions of fertility control efficacy.

Many population‐level studies demonstrate that changes in survival and immigration induced by fertility control can compensate for the reduction in births caused by contraception. The most successful cases of regulating populations using fertility control come from applications of contraceptives to small, closed populations of gregarious and easily accessed species.

Fertility control can result in artificial selection pressures on the population and may lead to long‐term unintentional genetic consequences. The magnitude of such selection is dependent on individual heritability and behavioural traits, as well as environmental variation.

Synthesis and applications. Understanding species' life‐history strategies, biology, behavioural ecology and ecological context is critical to developing realistic expectations of regulating populations using fertility control. Before time, effort and funding are invested in wildlife contraception, managers may need to consider the possibility that many species and populations can compensate for reduction in fecundity, and this could minimize any reduction in population growth rate.
Upland land use predicts population decline in a globally near‐threatened wader
Authors: Douglas David J.T. , Bellamy Paul E. , Stephen Leigh S. , Pearce–Higgins James W. , Wilson Jeremy D. , Grant Murray C.
Published: August 2013

Changes in large‐scale land use may fragment and degrade habitats, affecting animal species adapted to these habitats. In the UK uplands for example, changes in sheep and game management, and afforestation, have altered the configuration of internationally important moorland habitat and are predicted to have increased predation pressure for a globally unique suite of breeding birds of international conservation importance.

Some of these upland bird species have declined, with particular concern over ground‐nesting waders. Using resurveys of the rapidly declining Eurasian curlew Numenius arquata as a focal species of global conservation concern, we investigate whether upland land use predicts low nesting success and population decline.

Curlew population changes over an 8‐ to 10‐year period were positively related to gamekeeper density (a surrogate of predator control intensity) and inversely to the area of woodland surrounding sites, as a likely source of predators to adjacent open ground. Model predictions suggest that increasing woodland cover from 0% to 10% of the land area within 1 km of populated sites requires an increase in human predator control effort of about 48%, to a level associated with high‐intensity grouse production, to achieve curlew population stability.

Curlew nesting success, known to be a key driver of population trends, was also positively related to gamekeeper density and inversely to woodland area surrounding sites, providing a plausible mechanistic link between land use and population change.

Synthesis and applications. Upland land use is associated with curlew declines, with predation a likely mechanism, and this may apply to other breeding waders. The removal of isolated woodland plantations from otherwise unafforested landscapes may help reduce predation pressure across a range of systems including moorland. However, direct predator control may also be important to conserve ground‐nesting birds in these landscapes, for example, where moorland management and forestry coexist as major land uses. Predator control may also mitigate climate change effects by enhancing wader productivity, particularly where climate effects coincide with changing land use. Emerging land uses in open landscapes, including native woodland restoration and wind farms, require careful siting to minimize further impacts on open‐area breeding birds.
Gains in native species promote biotic homogenization over four decades in a human‐dominated landscape
Authors: McCune Jenny L. , Vellend Mark
Published: August 2013

A long‐term perspective is needed to understand how disturbance is affecting plant communities in human‐dominated landscapes. Increased human disturbance often results in declining local native species richness, gains in exotic species and a decline in beta diversity. However, it is far from certain whether a general decline in plant diversity is occurring across all disturbed landscapes, and knowledge gaps remain concerning how the spread of exotic species influences beta diversity over long time‐scales.

We resurveyed 184 vegetation plots in three broad vegetation types on southern Vancouver Island, Canada, originally surveyed in the late 1960s. This landscape has experienced a high degree of human disturbance over the past 40 years due to urbanization. We examined changes in total diversity, local diversity and beta diversity over time. We also compiled information on the traits of each species and tested for correlations between traits and plant species success over four decades.

We found striking increases in local and total plant species richness driven by both native and exotic species. The most successful species tended to be exotic, disturbance tolerant, shade tolerant and shrubs. Biotic homogenization occurred, but not as a result of exotic species colonization, instead being significantly correlated with gains in native species. The loss in beta diversity has resulted in a shrinking of the gradient of vegetation types, blurring the distinction between them.

Synthesis. Our study shows that human‐mediated disturbance is the dominant driver of plant community changes, but the net result has actually been an increase in richness, for each plot and for all plots pooled, and for both natives and exotics, despite a decline in variability among plant communities on the landscape. Contrary to conventional definitions of biotic homogenization, this decline in beta diversity was not correlated with the spread of exotic species, but with the colonization of common, disturbance‐tolerant natives.
Latitudinal shifts in species interactions interfere with resistance of southern but not of northern bog‐plant communities to experimental climate change
Authors: Schwarzer Christian , Heinken Thilo , Luthardt Vera , Joshi Jasmin
Published: August 2013

The persistence of species under changed climatic conditions depends on adaptations and plastic responses to these conditions and on interactions with their local plant community resulting in direct and indirect effects of changed climatic conditions. Populations at species' range margins may be especially crucial in containing a gene pool comprising adaptations to extreme climatic conditions. Many species of northernEuropean bog ecosystems reach their southern lowland range limit in centralEurope.

In a common‐garden experiment, we experimentally assessed the impact of projected climatic changes on five bog‐plant species (including peat mossSphagnum magellanicum) sampled along a latitudinal gradient of 1400 km fromScandinavia to the marginal lowland populations inGermany.

Populations were cultivated in monocultures and in experimental communities composed of all five species from their local community, and exposed to five combinations of three climate treatments (warming, fluctuating water‐tables, fertilization) in a southern common garden.

Whereas most monocultures showed a decreasing biomass production from southern to northern origins under southern environmental conditions, in the experimental mixed‐species communities, an increasing biomass production towards northern communities was observed together with a shift in interspecific interactions along the latitudinal gradient. While negative dominance effects prevailed in southern communities, higher net biodiversity effects were observed in northern subarctic communities.

The combined effects of climate treatments increased biomass production in monocultures of most origins. In communities, however, overall the treatments did not result in significantly changed biomass production.

Among individual treatments, water‐table fluctuations caused a significant decrease in biomass production, but only in southern communities, indicating higher vulnerability to changed climatic conditions. Here, negative effects of climate treatments on graminoids were not compensated by the slightly increased growth of peat moss that benefited from interspecific interactions only in northern communities.

Synthesis. We conclude that shifting interactions within multispecies communities caused pronounced responses to changed climatic conditions in wetland communities of temperate southern marginal, but not of northern subarctic origin. Therefore, future models investigating the impacts of climate change on plant communities should consider geographical variation in species interactions an important factor influencing community responses to changed climatic conditions.