bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
CIAC: Adoptando estrategias en el postconflicto
Authors: Hernández Juan Dario , Calderón Juan Camilo , Rodríguez Iván Felipe , Bayona Jaime Andrés
Published: December 2019

Learning outcomes

1. Identificar la influencia de variables contextuales (i.e. políticas) en la estrategia de una organización militar. 2. Analizar y evaluar opciones de cambio estratégico de una organización militar. 3. Decidir un cambio estratégico desde el modelo de recursos y capacidades.

Case overview/synopsis

La CIAC es una compañía colombiana de economía mixta que tiene como objetivo comercializar servicios de mantenimiento y reparación de aeronaves y componentes aeronáuticos civiles y militares. El caso presenta la decisión que debe tomar su gerente con respecto al cambio de estrategia corporativa debido a la entrada en vigencia del acuerdo de paz entre el Gobierno de Colombia y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Este acuerdo supone que la principal línea de negocio de la CIAC se debilitaría (i.e. reparación de aeronaves militares utilizadas en el conflicto con las FARC), pues dentro de un nuevo escenario de paz, las aeronaves no necesitarían tanto mantenimiento como en las etapas más críticas del conflicto.

Complexity academic level

MBA (cursos sugeridos: Estrategia, Dirección estratégica, Cambio organizacional). Pregrado (cursos sugeridos: Estrategia, Cambio organizacional).

Supplementary materials

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.
Disentangling the strength of the HRM system: effects on employees reactions
Authors: de la Rosa-Navarro Dolores , Díaz-Fernández Mirta , Lopez-Cabrales Alvaro
Published: December 2019

Purpose

A strong HRM system (encompassing the dimensions of distinctiveness, consistency and consensus) facilitates a collective interpretation of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices in a common direction, and consequently, a conjoint response by employees. The purpose of this paper is two fold: first to argue that those dimensions have a direct impact on the reaction of employees (organisational citizenship behaviour, OCB and intention to remain, IR); and second, the authors propose that these dimensions are not independent, but rather can interact in such a way that consensus impacts on the consistency of an HRM system, and consistency mediates the relationship between consensus and OCB and IR.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors surveyed HR managers and employees from a sample of 102 Spanish hotels. Specifically, HR managers were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing the dimensions of HRM strength, and employees completed a different questionnaire reporting their levels of OCB and IR. The authors examined the reliability and validity of measures by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Finally, structural equations models were applied to test direct effects and mediating hypotheses.

Findings

As an initial finding, the authors obtained two dimensions of HRM strength: consistency and a new factor, which is a combination of distinctiveness and consensus, labelled the “Reputation” of the HRM system. A second result is that such the reputation of the HRM system positively affects OCB and IR. Third, consistency mediates in the relationships between the reputation of the HRM system and OCB and IR.

Research limitations/implications

Although the authors are aware of the limitations of our paper, regarding the cross-sectional data design and the assessment of HR strength by managers, the authors believe that the results highlight the importance of HRM system strength, since it affects individual outcomes.

Originality/value

One of the valuable contributions made by this paper is that the authors obtained two dimensions for HRM strength instead of the three proposed by Bowen and Ostroff (2004): consistency and reputation (as a combination of distinctiveness and consensus). The authors explain that the new dimension is related to the concept of employer branding, emphasising HRM system’s internal image, facilitating common expectations that guide employees towards the desired responses. Second, Reputation impacts Consistency, improving employees’ OCB and IR; hence, the dimensions of HRM system strength are not independent, but they are better able to interact in order to affect employee outcomes.
“These kids are rebelling”: a student-led transformation of community and critical literacy
Authors: Shelton Stephanie Anne , Guy Kelsey H. , Jones April M.
Published: December 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to consider the ways that students are shaped by and shape community and critical literacy, along with the ways that community affords student empowerment in an English class during a US high school summer enrichment program.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative methodological approach is a narrative-based descriptive case study. To provide a detailed and narrative-based discussion, the authors incorporate ethnographic observation narratives and conversational interview excerpts, and analyze the data through inductive coding.

Findings

Organizing the findings into two sections, “These kids are rebelling”, and “We’re trusting him to teach and do better now”, we first examine the ways that student-led rebellion reshaped the classroom community and then the ways that the teacher's response redefined critical literacy approaches and his interactions with the students.

Research limitations/implications

As this is a qualitative case study that is set during a summer enrichment program, its implications are not wholly generalizable to secondary English education. However, this research does suggest the importance of student agency in considerations of community and critical literacy.

Practical implications

This research emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and exploring ways that students' everyday interactions and agency shape educational spaces. Additionally, this research suggests the importance of community and critical literacy to all teachers, no matter their levels of experience or success.

Social implications

Students have tremendous potential to not only shape and define learning environments, but to transform pedagogy and teacher relationships. This research emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and exploring these implications specifically to transform community and critical literacy in a summer high school English classroom.

Originality/value

First, this paper examines student community as an agentive and rebellious influence within the everyday constructs of schooling, and the authors assert that critical literacy pedagogies may be student-driven as part of community-based activism. Second, this paper seeks to explore both “community” and “critical literacy” as key concepts in positioning students as influential and empowered stakeholders with capacities to reshape education.
Adaptive information sharing approach for crowd networks based on two stage optimization
Authors: Wang Xiaoni , Pan Zhiwen , Li Zhouxia , Ji Wen , Yang Feng
Published: December 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to optimize and evaluating the performance of the crowd networks through analyzing their information sharing patterns. That is, in a crowd network, the qualities of accomplishing tasks are highly dependent on the effective information sharing among intelligent subjects within the networks. Hence, proposing an adaptive information-sharing approach can help improve the performance of crowd networks on accomplishing tasks that are assigned to them.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper first introduces the factors that affect effectiveness of information-sharing pattern: the network topology, the resources owned by intelligent subjects and the degree of information demand. By analyzing the correlation between these factors and the performance of crowd networks, an Adaptive Information Sharing Approach for Crowd Networks (AISCN approach) is proposed. By referring to information needed for accomplishing the historical tasks that are assigned to a crowd network, the AISCN approach can explore the optimized information-sharing pattern based on the predefined composite objective function. The authors implement their approach on two crowd networks including bee colony and supply chain, to prove the effectiveness of the approach.

Findings

The shared information among intelligent subjects affects the efficiency of task completion in the crowd network. The factors that can be used to describe the effectiveness of information-sharing patterns include the network topology, the resources owned by intelligent subjects and the degree of information demand. The AISCN approach used heuristic algorithm to solve a composite objective function which takes all these factors into consideration, so that the optimized information-sharing pattern can be obtained.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a set of factors that can be used to describe the correlation between information-sharing pattern and performance of crowd network. By quantifying such correlation based on these factors, this paper proposes an adaptive information-sharing approach which can explore the optimized information-sharing pattern for a variety of crowd networks. As the approach is a data-driven approach that explores the information-sharing pattern based on the network’s performance on historical tasks and network’s characteristics, it is adaptive to the dynamic change (change of incoming tasks, change of network characteristics) of the target crowd network. To ensure the commonality of the information-sharing approach, the proposed approach is not designed for a specific optimization algorithm. In this way, during the implementation of the proposed approach, heuristic algorithms can be chosen according to the complexity of the target crowd network.
The relationship between social capital and innovativeness climate in schools
Authors: Parlar Hanifi , Polatcan Mahmut , Cansoy Ramazan
Published: December 2019

Purpose

Professional learning communities that merge under the same goal in schools where social relationship networks are strong can contribute to creating an atmosphere which provides a basis for innovativeness. In this study the relationships between social capital, innovativeness climate and professional learning communities were examined through the views of teachers working at public schools. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of this study, which utilised correlational survey model, were collected from 734 teachers who work in the Umraniye district of Istanbul, Turkey.

Findings

The findings revealed that there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between social capital, innovativeness climate and professional learning communities. The results demonstrated that teachers’ perceptions of social capital in schools affected their perceptions of innovativeness climate and that professional learning communities had an intermediary role in this relationship. These findings showed that the richness in social relationship networks provided a basis for the development of innovative teaching practices in schools and the professional learning environments created in schools contributed to this process.

Research limitations/implications

In this study, the intermediary role of professional learning communities on the effect of social capital on innovativeness climate was analysed via teachers’ views. In the literature no study studying the relationship between social capital, innovativeness climate and professional learning communities was found.

Practical implications

It can be put forward that there is a need for studies that analyse the effect of the roots of social capital on innovativeness culture to identify other variables that may potentially be relevant. In addition, this study may be a contribution to the literature by providing a study on the concepts of social capital and innovativeness climate, which were studied in the fields of social sciences extensively, in educational settings and this supports the field through theoretical and empirical studies.

Originality/value

This study demonstrated the effects of the concept of social capital on innovativeness climate which provides a basis for innovativeness in educational institutions. This topic is currently on the agenda of the OECD and World Bank. Moreover, this study aims to show the intermediary role of professional learning communities in the relationship between social capital and innovativeness climate.
Mapping four leadership styles in Japan: how has the role of the principal been shaped by policies?
Authors: Yokota Hirokazu
Published: December 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how internationally recognized styles of transactional, instructional, transformational and distributed leadership have emerged in the Japanese education system.

Design/methodology/approach

National legislation and policy documents in Japan since 1945 were collected by searching for the word “principal” or “head of school.” Then, four types are excluded: those that are unique only to one school type, do not explicitly deal with the role of the principal, are in subordinate laws prescribing contents that essentially overlap with those in superordinate statutes and define procedural roles of the principal. As a result, 17 legal provisions and 35 policy documents remained, each of which was analyzed by using four leadership styles.

Findings

Despite an increasing focus on instructional, transformational and distributed styles, Japan has not comprehensively articulated attributes and abilities expected of the principal. Additionally, a movement away from instructional leadership in the 2000s contrasts with the recent emphasis on “educational leadership.” Moreover, transformational leadership has centered on the school–family–community collaboration and the expansion of principal autonomy, and distributed leadership has taken the forms of new positions that support the principal, both of which were influenced by the decentralization movement.

Research limitations/implications

It points to the susceptibility of the role of the principal in Japan and western countries alike to broader structural reforms but with different implications and distinct timing of the advent of leadership styles among them. Additionally, Japan has adopted a modified approach to distributed leadership style, which is somewhat similar to delegation, to make a compromise between the emergent theory and the centrality of the principal in the school hierarchy. Furthermore, instructional leadership seems to be a “late bloomer” in Japan because of its practice-based nature and unsuitability to daily realities of the principal.

Originality/value

As an arguably unprecedented attempt to apply leadership styles to legislation and policy documents, this study builds a foundation for understanding how school leadership is shaped by education policies. Moreover, while making connections to the western view, it creates a paradigm for future studies of school leadership in Japan and in the field of comparative educational administration.
Shared leadership in entrepreneurial teams: a qualitative study
Authors: Lyndon Shiji , Pandey Ashish
Published: December 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to unravel the underpinnings of the phenomenon of shared leadership. The study was carried out with the objective of answering questions such as what is shared in shared leadership, what are individual and team level factors which lead to sharing and what are the outcomes of shared leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a qualitative approach. Eighteen in-depth interviews were conducted. The data were analysed using Nvivo 11 software.

Findings

The study found that in entrepreneurial teams while sharing leadership, cofounders share competencies, roles, vision, stress and decision-making. The study also reveals various individual and team level factors which facilitate shared leadership and its outcomes.

Practical implications

The study offers critical insights regarding the characteristics of individuals and team where shared leadership would work and hence can be used to understand the factors to be considered while forming teams. The study also has important insights for the investors regarding what dynamics to look for in individuals and teams before making investment decisions.

Originality/value

The inductive approach adopted in the study helps in understanding some of the basic underpinnings of the phenomenon of shared leadership which were not adequately answered by previous studies.
Lightweight alternative tech: a study of Chromebooks in the academic library classroom
Authors: Seyala Beth , Burns Erin , Richie Shannon , Deuink Amy L. , Lynn Valerie
Published: December 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Chromebooks as an alternative to the traditional computer laboratory for library instruction in an academic environment. The results of this study could help inform the creation of a mobile instruction lab that students and librarians quickly construct inside any classroom with minimal effort and no software to manage.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was distributed to student participants. The survey contained two demographic questions followed by seven user experience questions related to the in-classroom use of Chromebooks; most questions were quantitative in nature.

Findings

The majority of respondents (84 percent) strongly or somewhat agreed that Chromebooks were easy to use, and 15 percent of the respondents reported some difficulty accessing the university’s Wi-Fi system while using the devices.

Research limitations/implications

This introductory study was limited to a survey population primarily comprised of lower-level undergraduate students in their first two years of study. Additionally, Chromebooks were not tested in an educational environment using G Suite for Education, which could increase the opportunities for use in an academic setting.

Practical implications

The study’s findings, combined with the portability and long battery life of Chromebooks, make them a candidate for a mobile instruction lab.

Originality/value

This research seeks to explore the viability of Chromebooks as an affordable and easy to manage alternative to wired instruction rooms, using a light laptop technology that is becoming increasingly familiar to college students.
An organismic approach to multinational enterprise failure
Authors: Park Jeong-Yang , Lew Yong Kyu , Park Byung Il
Published: December 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to answer why some multinational enterprises (MNEs) fail within the international business (IB) domain.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptually, the study takes an organismic approach to MNE failure. Methodologically, it adopts an elite interview approach derived from the Delphi technique. Respondents are 39 IB and strategic management academics.

Findings

The paper finds that MNE failure is rooted in strategic leadership and capabilities (i.e. internal deterioration of organizational resources and strategies) and institutional pressures and differences, and these factors lead to deterioration of institutional legitimacy for an MNE.

Originality/value

The paper conducts a review of the firm failure and foreign divestment literature and undertakes an organismic approach to the analysis of MNE failure in the IB context. The paper provides useful insights on developing and implementing both market and non-market strategies for overcoming MNE internationalization failure.
Exploring digital evidence recognition among officers and troopers in a sample of a state police force
Authors: Holt Thomas J. , Clevenger Shelly , Navarro Jordana
Published: December 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which line officers in police agencies can identify digital evidence at crime scenes, also known as the binary artifacts stored on computers, mobile devices, tablets and the internet, through an analysis of survey responses of line staff in a Midwestern state police agency.

Design/methodology/approach

An electronic survey was completed by 258 respondents using a scenario-based vignette asking them to identify where such evidence may be located during a fictitious call for service.

Findings

Most all respondents identified appropriate devices and locations where digital evidence may be stored on suspects and victims in a scenario call for service. There were significant differences in responses on the basis of recent field experience with digital evidence.

Research limitations/implications

The findings demonstrate the importance of experiential learning and training for line staff in police agencies to prepare them for basic digital evidence handling in the field. This sample is, however, based on a single state police agency and may not be reflective of other similarly sized agencies. Future research is needed to replicate this study and expand the generalizability of these findings.

Originality/value

First responders should be able to identify and secure all appropriate forms of evidence at crime scenes, regardless of crime type, while awaiting specialized investigators. This study is one of the first to consider when and how police are able to recognize digital evidence at crime scenes.
Investigating microbial associations from sequencing survey data with co‐correspondence analysis
Authors: Alric Benjamin , ter Braak Cajo J. F. , Desdevises Yves , Lebredonchel Hugo , Dray Stéphane
Published: December 2019

Microbial communities, which drive major ecosystem functions, consist of a wide range of interacting species. Understanding how microbial communities are structured and the processes underlying this is crucial to interpreting ecosystem responses to global change but is challenging as microbial interactions cannot usually be directly observed. Multiple efforts are currently focused to combine next‐generation sequencing (NGS) techniques with refined statistical analysis (e.g., network analysis, multivariate analysis) to characterize the structures of microbial communities. However, most of these approaches consider a single table of sequencing data measured for several samples. Technological advances now make it possible to collect NGS data on different taxonomic groups simultaneously for the same samples, allowing us to analyse a pair of tables. Here, an analytical framework based on co‐correspondence analysis (CoCA) is proposed to study the distributions, assemblages and interactions between two microbial communities. We show the ability of this approach to highlight the relationships between two microbial communities, using two data sets exhibiting various types of interactions. CoCA identified strong association patterns between autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial eukaryote assemblages, on the one hand, and between microalgae and viruses, on the other. We demonstrate also how CoCA can be used, complementary to network analysis, to reorder co‐occurrence networks and thus investigate the presence of patterns in ecological networks.
“Because we all love our country”: Refugee and Asylum‐Seeking Children, Australian Policy‐Makers, and the Building of National Sentiment
Authors: Silverstein Jordana
Published: December 2019

In this article I look at Australian political discourse from 2013 to 2016 to examine two twinned schemas: the ways in which the category of the child refugee or asylum‐seeker is produced, and the ways in which ideas of the Australian nation are produced, through emotional discourses, or economies of emotion. I am interested here in asking what emotional work these narratives about child refugees do in the national imagination, and to create an idea of “Australia”. Both the category of the child refugee/asylum‐seeker, and that of the nation, are not natural: they are historical productions, built through multivalent, multilingual discourses and practices. They are forms of creating difference amongst populations in society. Through a focus on these discourses, languages, and grammars — as enunciated by politicians, NGO workers, lawyers, activists, and policy‐makers — I will explore the specific ways in which the emotional economies function, and work to understand and historicise the systems of ideas and relations that they produce.
Impact of a multidisciplinary quality improvement initiative to reduce inappropriate usage of stress ulcer prophylaxis in hospitalized patients
Authors: Choi Yeo Jin , Sim Joohyun , Jung Yun Tae , Shin Sooyoung
Published: December 2019

Aims

To promote effective methods to improve overutilization patterns of acid‐suppressive therapy in hospitalized patients and to evaluate the impact of multidisciplinary team efforts to reduce inappropriate use of stress ulcer prophylaxis in low‐risk patients.

Methods

A multidisciplinary quality improvement initiative incorporating education, medication use reviews and reconciliation, and pharmaceutical intervention was implemented in June 2018 for surgical patients hospitalized via emergency department. For the pre‐post analysis and time series analysis, patients admitted during April and May were classified into the pre‐intervention cohort and those admitted during July and August into the post‐intervention cohort.

Results

Three hundred and seventeen patients were included in this study (153 and 164 in the pre‐ and post‐intervention cohorts, respectively). The multidisciplinary program was effective in reducing overuse of stress ulcer prophylaxis and healthcare expenses associated with it. Biweekly education on risk factors warranting stress ulcer prophylaxis was provided for clinicians, and acid‐suppressive therapy was removed from a preset list of admission orders. The incidence of inappropriate prophylaxis use declined substantially following intervention in overall patients (OR = 0.51, P = 0.01) and a significant decrease was primarily observed among non‐ICU patients (OR = 0.50, P = 0.01). Interrupted time series analysis confirmed the significant decline in inappropriate use post intervention (coefficient = −0.63, P < 0.001). The total healthcare expenses associated with such overuse decreased by 58.5% from US$ 19.39 to US$ 8.04 per 100 patient‐days.

Conclusions

Our multidisciplinary team efforts were associated with improvement in stress ulcer prophylaxis overuse patterns, resulting in a substantial decrease in the incidence of inappropriate use, especially in general wards, and associated healthcare costs.
Pharmacokinetics of human antithrombin III concentrate in the immediate postoperative period after liver transplantation
Authors: Kim Bo Rim , Oh Jaeseong , Yu Kyung‐Sang , Ryu Ho Geol
Published: December 2019

Aims

Antithrombin III (AT‐III) concentrates have been used to prevent critical thrombosis in the immediate post‐liver transplantation period without clear evidence regarding the optimal dose or administration scheme. The relationship between the AT‐III dosage and the plasma activity levels during the period was evaluated in this study.

Methods

The plasma AT‐III activity levels and clinical data obtained from patients who received liver transplantation from January 2017 to September 2018 were retrospectively analysed. A population pharmacokinetic (PK) model was developed using nonlinear mixed‐effects method and externally validated thereafter. Several dosing scenarios were simulated to maintain the plasma AT‐III activity level within the normal range using the developed PK model to search for an optimal AT‐III dosing regimen.

Results

The plasma AT‐III activity levels were best described by a single compartment model with first order elimination kinetics. The recovery of endogenous AT‐III level during the postoperative days was modelled using an Emax model. The typical values (95% confidence interval) of volume of distribution and clearance were 3.86 (3.40–4.32) L, and 0.129 (0.111–0.147) L h−1, respectively. Serum albumin and body weight had significant effect on clearance and were included in the model. External validation of the proposed model demonstrated adequate prediction performance. Furthermore, simulation of previously suggested or modified dosing scenarios showed successful maintenance of AT‐III activity level within the normal range.

Conclusion

A population PK model of AT‐III concentrate was developed using data from liver recipients. Dosing scenarios simulated in our study may help establish a practical guide for AT‐III concentrate titration after liver transplantation.
Construction of a predictive scoring system as a guide to screening and confirmation of the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism
Authors: Kietsiriroje Noppadol , Wonghirundecha Rawipas , Suntornlohanakul Onnicha , Murray Robert D.
Published: December 2019

Background

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of secondary hypertension. In Southern Thailand, the aldosterone‐renin ratio (ARR) is only available within a small number of tertiary centres, necessitating need for a simple clinical assessment to determine the requirement for ARR.

Objective

This study aimed to identify predictive factors for the diagnosis of PA and generate a predictive scoring system (PSS) for use in screening and diagnosis of PA.

Patients and Methods

A total of 420 patients aged >15 years with paired plasma aldosterone concentration and plasma renin activity values allowing calculation of ARR were identified from the electronic hospital database between 2011 and 2016.

Results

The overall prevalence of PA was 16.7% (range; adrenal incidentaloma 5.6% to hypokalaemia 30%). Predictive factors for diagnosis of PA were as follows: age <60 years, BMI < 25 kg/m2, presence of diabetes, ≥3 antihypertensive agents, serum sodium ≥ 141 mmol/L and serum potassium < 3.5 mmol/L. A predictive scoring system (PSS) (range −2 to 13) was generated by the coefficients of the variables with ROC curve AUC 0.87 [95% CI: 0.83‐0.91]. Using the PSS, a total score <4 provided a robust negative predictive value (sensitivity, 0.97; specificity, 0.48; NPV, 0.99; PPV, 0.27) for PA. In patients at high risk of PA (PAC > 15 ng/dL and PRA < 1.0 ng/mL/hr), a PSS score > 9 had specificity and PPV of 100%, essentially confirming PA in these individuals.

Conclusion

The proposed PSS for PA will enable more focused and cost‐effective use of ARR screening and confirmatory testing. In our cohort, 40% and 42% of patients would not require ARR screening or confirmatory tests, respectively.
Understanding factors hampering activities of daily living performance in childhood‐onset myotonic dystrophy phenotypes
Authors: Gagnon Cynthia , Gallais Benjamin
Published: December 2019

This commentary is on the original article by Eriksson et al. on pages 723–728 of this issue.
Weather and regional crop composition variation drive spatial synchrony of lepidopteran agricultural pests
Authors: Walter Jonathan A. , Sheppard Lawrence W. , Venugopal P. Dilip , Reuman Daniel C. , Dively Galen , Tooker John F. , Johnson Derek M.
Published: December 2019

1. Spatial synchrony, the tendency for temporal population fluctuations to be correlated across multiple locations at regional scales, is common and contributes to the severity of outbreaks and epidemics, but is little studied in agricultural pests.

2. This study analysed spatial synchrony from 1974 to 2008 in 16 lepidopteran agricultural pests in Maryland, U.S.A., and investigated whether pest synchrony is driven by interannual variability in seasonal weather and the areas planted in different crop types.

3. Lepidopteran pests exhibited high degrees of spatial synchrony, which was driven by environmental variation, a phenomenon known as the Moran effect. Region‐wide variation in the areas planted in major crops drove spatially synchronous abundance fluctuations in more than half of studied species. The combination of weather and crop composition explained large fractions of synchrony in black cutworm, corn earworm, European corn borer, and spotted cutworm populations. Other pests, including forage looper and variegated cutworm, displayed a high degree of spatial synchrony, but without dependence on the tested drivers.

4. The study finding that synchronous variation in the area planted in different crop types contributed to synchronous pest abundance fluctuations suggests that strategies to reduce synchrony in changes in crop type across a region could reduce the severity of pest outbreaks and enhance the stability of agricultural systems.
Mentality, motivation, and economic decision‐making in Ancient Rome: Cicero and Tullia's shrine
Authors: García Morcillo Marta
Published: December 2019

Cicero's letters to his friend Atticus are an invaluable source for the study of the financial and economic activities pursued by Late Republican upper‐class Romans. Beyond the information concerning the diversity, scale, and impact of their businesses, these extraordinary documents give enlightening testimonies to the psychological factors that affected economic behaviour and the process of decision‐making. The case of Tullia's shrine, a complex operation that concerned the search for and purchase of a garden‐estate in one of the most exclusive areas of the Roman suburbs, became Cicero's most personal challenge and obsession. An accurate study of this affair through the orator's own voice allows us to explore the concept of ancient rationality, as well as the psychological and environmental mechanisms that led to economic strategies and performances. The study also tests the applicability of ideas and methodologies from the field of behavioural economics in the context of the first‐century BC real estate market, a fluctuating and speculative business sector highly informed by credit culture, social status, and unstable politics.
Shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy: A promising tool for the investigation of soil
Authors: Theurer Lara S. , Maiwald Martin , Sumpf Bernd
Published: December 2019

In this paper we demonstrate shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy (SERDS) for soil analysis as a proof of concept. Confocal Raman microscopy is performed for sample analysis as well as for qualitative comparison with our SERDS experiments. Raman spectra of a soil sample show huge background signals, which mask weak Raman peaks. SERDS clearly separates the Raman signals from background signals with a 10‐fold improvement of the signal‐to‐background noise ratio. Thus, besides hydroxyapatite, additional Raman bands from quartz and feldspar could be extracted. The results demonstrate SERDS as a promising tool for soil analysis.

Highlights

Raman spectroscopy for soil characterization, e.g., for nutrient management.

SERDS as a proof of concept for soil analysis.

SERDS extracts Raman signals from disturbing background signals.

SERDS as a promising tool for soil investigations.
Dietary stress increases the total opportunity for sexual selection and modifies selection on condition‐dependent traits
Authors: Cattelan Silvia , Evans Jonathan P. , Garcia‐Gonzalez Francisco , Morbiato Elisa , Pilastro Andrea
Published: December 2019

Although it is often expected that adverse environmental conditions depress the expression of condition‐dependent sexually selected traits, the full consequences of environmental change for the action of sexual selection, in terms of the opportunity for total sexual selection and patterns of phenotypic selection, are unknown. Here we show that dietary stress in guppies, Poecilia reticulata, reduces the expression of several sexually selected traits and increases the opportunity for total sexual selection (standardized variance in reproductive success) in males. Furthermore, our results show that dietary stress modulates the relative importance of precopulatory (mating success) and postcopulatory (relative fertilization success) sexual selection, and that the form of multivariate sexual selection (linear vs. nonlinear) depends on dietary regime. Overall, our results are consistent with a pattern of heightened directional selection on condition‐dependent sexually selected traits under environmental stress, and underscore the importance of sexual selection in shaping adaptation in a changing world.
Aesthetics as Shared Interfaith Space between Christianity and Islam
Authors: Mihoc Vasile‐Octavian
Published: December 2019

Due to its immediate message, religious aesthetics is prone to various kinds of instrumentations in the contemporary world. In this context the aesthetic fundamentals shared by different religious traditions or scriptures must be rediscovered. This article argues for theological aesthetics as an effective category of analyzing religious identity and alterity. It looks at the aesthetics of revelation and scripture, and their reflexes in the embodied faith – architecture, ritual, and faith narratives – to articulate a comparative aesthetic theology of Christianity and Islam. The focus of this article lies in the interreligious potentialities of religious aesthetics, in the case of (Eastern) Christianity and Islam, conceived as a resonance chamber for similar sensibilities in the two religions.
The Virgin and the Whore – An Interreligious Challenge for Our Times
Authors: Parker Eve Rebecca
Published: December 2019

The boundaries of religious belonging are often based upon essentialist patriarchal conceptions of decency and morality that have been shaped into doctrine; those who are deemed indecent are marginalized to locations of struggle and often met with violence – thus presenting an interreligious challenge for our times. This paper will explore the gendered politics of religious belonging through an intersectional lens, focusing on the virgin/whore dichotomy in Christianity. It aims to undress exclusive notions of religious belonging and expose the hegemonic systems that have created ideological boundaries intended to control the bodies of women. It will then look to the narrative of Tamar and Judah in the book of Genesis, where prostitution, Levirate marriage, widowhood, childbirth, ethnicity, honour killing, and sexual desires shape the text and force the reader to confront questions of morality, justice, and the politics of religious belonging.
Re‐viewing Christian Theologies of Religious Diversity
Authors: Samuel Joshua
Published: December 2019

While Christian theology of religions fundamentally revolves around the questions of revelation and salvation, as some scholars have shown, context also plays an important role in dialoguing/engaging with other religions. However, these context‐sensitive perspectives, which focus on common socio‐economic‐ecological concerns and multiple identities that cut across religious boundaries, generally seem to promote a pluralistic position (for commendable reasons). But this need not always be the case. In contexts (like that of rural Dalit Christianity) where communities are marginalized and threatened, it might be necessary and justifiable to make claims of exclusivism; although what is (verbally) professed could be quite different from what is actually practised. Reflecting on these observations, this essay suggests the need for theologians of religions and dialogists to be (self‐)aware of the critical and complex role that socio‐political contexts play in terms of influencing and determining (their) theological approaches toward other religions.
An evolutionary perspective on marine invasions
Authors: Blakeslee April M. H. , Manousaki Tereza , Vasileiadou Katerina , Tepolt Carolyn K.
Published: December 2019

Species distributions are rapidly changing as human globalization increasingly moves organisms to novel environments. In marine systems, species introductions are the result of a number of anthropogenic mechanisms, notably shipping, aquaculture/mariculture, the pet and bait trades, and the creation of canals. Marine invasions are a global threat to human and non‐human populations alike and are often listed as one of the top conservation concerns worldwide, having ecological, evolutionary, and social ramifications. Evolutionary investigations of marine invasions can provide crucial insight into an introduced species’ potential impacts in its new range, including: physiological adaptation and behavioral changes to exploit new environments; changes in resident populations, community interactions, and ecosystems; and severe reductions in genetic diversity that may limit evolutionary potential in the introduced range. This special issue focuses on current research advances in the evolutionary biology of marine invasions and can be broadly classified into a few major avenues of research: the evolutionary history of invasive populations, post‐invasion reproductive changes, and the role of evolution in parasite introductions. Together, they demonstrate the value of investigating marine invasions from an evolutionary perspective, with benefits to both fundamental and applied evolutionary biology at local and broad scales.
A Task Analysis of Client Re‐engagement: Therapeutic De‐escalation of High‐Conflict Coparents
Authors: Anderson Shayne R. , Sumner Brock W. , Parady Andrea , Whiting Jason , Tambling Rachel
Published: December 2019

Parents who are engaged in protracted conflict following a divorce are often referred to coparenting therapy. Episodes of intense conflict are common during these therapy sessions and often result in coparents disengaging from the therapist while they engage in escalating conflict with each other, potentially disrupting their progress in therapy. The purpose of this study was to identify how therapists successfully re‐engage clients in the session. To understand this process, 24 disengagement events (12 successful and 12 unsuccessful) from 13 cases were analyzed using a task analytic approach. The sample included coparent dyads referred by the judicial system to a high‐conflict coparenting therapy program. Task analysis was used to create a model of how re‐engagement unfolds in treatment. The empirical model that resulted has five phases: (1) disengagement from the therapeutic process, (2) disruption of the conflict, (3) de‐escalating the most escalated coparent, (4) de‐escalating the other coparent, and (5) therapist buffered re‐engagement. Successful episodes of re‐engagement tended to have therapists who remained active throughout the conflict episode, used structuring interventions aimed at disrupting and then regulating the most escalated partner, blocked attempts to re‐engage in conflict, and then repeated this process with the less escalated partner. Additional interventions that promote therapeutic re‐engagement are described for each phase, and implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed.
Which Relationship Service Fits Best? Teaching the Difference Between Relationship Education and Couples Therapy
Authors: Burr Brandon K. , Hubler Daniel S.
Published: December 2019

Current evidence suggests that many people do not understand the difference between relationship education (RE) and couples therapy (CT). A major facet of the theory of planned behavior suggests that attitudes play a large role in shaping intentions and behavior, including the decision to attend a relationship service. If the public does not distinguish between RE and CT, bur rather believe RE and CT are the same, fewer people may be inclined to attend RE. For this study, a brief, online module was created to teach the difference between RE and CT. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment group receiving the module, or to a control group. Both groups completed a pretest and two sets of posttests (1 day and 1 month after pretest). Results showed that the module had an effect on clarifying the difference between RE and CT, boosting positive appraisals of the helpfulness of RE and CT, and some effect on the intentions to seek and attend relationship services. As an implication of this work, family life education media campaigns can help to increase knowledge of the types of services available and aid in the decision to attend.
Flood disturbance affects macroinvertebrate food chain length in an alluvial river floodplain
Authors: Chanut Pierre C. M. , Siebers Andre R. , Robinson Christopher T.
Published: December 2019

Characterising food‐web responses to environmental factors could greatly improve our understanding of environment‐biota relationships, and especially in floodplains where trophic interactions can be particularly important during phases of hydrological disconnection. The effects of floodplain hydrology and environmental attributes on structural aspects of biotic assemblages have been extensively studied, but responses at the functional level remain largely unknown.

Here, we characterised a central aspect of food‐web architecture, the food chain length, as the maximum trophic position within 24 macroinvertebrate communities of parafluvial habitats in the Maggia river floodplain, in Switzerland. We investigated how the food chain length changed with different levels of habitat size, primary productivity and disturbance, the three factors potentially affecting food chain length in both theoretical and empirical studies.

We found that food chain length was lower in frequently flooded habitats and immediately after a flood. We also showed that trophic omnivory, where predators fed at lower trophic levels after flooding, and in more frequently flooded habitats, may explain these changes.

These findings show that trophic omnivory may explain how predators resist disturbance and are maintained in highly dynamic landscapes. More importantly, given that trophic omnivory may overall weaken trophic linkages and thus increase food‐web stability, this suggests that it could be a key mechanism in sustaining biodiversity in river floodplains.
Beavers alter stream macroinvertebrate communities in north‐eastern Utah
Authors: Washko Susan , Roper Brett , Atwood Trisha B.
Published: December 2019

Understanding changes in macroinvertebrate communities is important because they play a large role in stream ecosystem functioning, and they are an important food resource for fish. Beaver‐induced changes to stream morphology could alter macroinvertebrate communities, which in turn could affect food webs and ecosystem function. However, studies investigating the effects of North American beaver activities on macroinvertebrates are rare in the inter‐mountain west, an area with high potential for beaver‐assisted restoration.

The aim of this study was to quantify differences in the macroinvertebrate community between unaltered segments of streams and within beaver ponds in north‐eastern Utah, U.S.A. We assessed macroinvertebrate species richness, biomass, density, functional feeding group composition, mobility group composition, and macroinvertebrate habitat characteristics to test the hypothesis that macroinvertebrate communities will differ among habitat types (undammed stream segments and beaver ponds) in beaver‐occupied streams.

Beaver pond communities significantly differed from lotic reach communities in many ways. Beaver ponds were less diverse with 25% fewer species. Although there was variability among streams, in general, beaver ponds had 75% fewer individuals and 90% lower total macroinvertebrate biomass compared to lotic reaches.

Regarding functional feeding groups, beaver ponds contained more engulfers, while lotic reaches contained more scrapers, filterers, and gatherers. For mobility groups, beaver ponds had more sprawlers, while lotic reaches had more clingers. Swimmers were also more prevalent in lotic reaches, although this is probably due to the abundance of Baetis within lotic reaches. More beaver pond taxa were classified as lentic‐dwelling insects, while more lotic reach taxa were categorised as preferring lotic habitats.

The creation of ponds by beavers fundamentally altered the macroinvertebrate community in north‐eastern Utah streams. Such changes to stream macroinvertebrate communities suggest that recolonisation of beavers across North America may be altering stream functioning and food webs. Our study highlights the need to further investigate the effects of beaver recolonisation on stream communities.