bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cultural, external and behavioral factors in claims negotiations
Authors: Fazliani Hassan , Charoenngam Chotchai 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper was to investigate the factors affecting the claim negotiations in Iranian oil and gas construction projects. The findings of this paper give better understanding of claim negotiations in Iranian oil and gas projects.

Design/methodology/approach
– The research methodology for this study involved the use of Delphi technique, conducted with non-Iranian stakeholders being involved in Iranian oil and gas construction projects more than five years and determined the major factors, affecting claims negotiations. Subsequently, factors’ weightings were derived using analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

Findings
– In total, 13 affecting factors identified in three categories of: external, cultural and personal behavioral. Finally, the weights of factors were identified.

Research limitations/implications
– This research was conducted in the context of Iranian oil and gas projects. This industry has high standards and its employees are well chosen and have frequent in job training. All these affect the organization, working and people’s culture and behavior compared to other sectors of construction business. Therefore, the results of this research are specific to the oil and gas industry.

Practical implications
– The findings of this paper can be considered as a practical guide for dealing with Iranian counterparts during claims negotiations to ensure amicable settlement. Also, it is useful for Iranian stakeholders to have better understanding of concerns of non-Iranian stakeholders.

Originality/value
– The paper is the original work of the authors, and to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper has for the first time introduced the factors affecting claims negotiations. The findings of this paper provide useful insight into effective claims negotiations of Iranian oil and gas projects.
Exploring residential energy consumers’ willingness to accept and pay to offset their CO2 emission
Authors: Yang Yingkui , Solgaard Hans Stubbe 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– Voluntary carbon offsets have the potential to contribute to reduce carbon emission and thereby meet the national and international target of carbon emission. However, the public support for such scheme in the energy sector is unclear. The purpose of this paper was to invest whether and why residential energy consumers are willing to pay to offset the CO2 emission from electricity consumption.

Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected using a self-administrated online questionnaire. A sample of size 1,022 respondents with useable questionnaires was received. Contingent valuation method is used to measure the willingness to pay (WTP) for carbon offset. Finally, the ordered logit model is used in modeling willing to pay for carbon offset.

Findings
– The results show that there is significant support from residential energy consumers to offset their CO2 emission from electricity consumption. The WTP is motivated by consumers’ perceptions toward carbon offset, moral obligation and individual’s social-demographic backgrounds.

Originality/value
– This paper contributes a new insight on whether and why residential energy consumers would be willing to pay to offset carbon emission from electricity consumption.
Combined heat and power dispatch by grey wolf optimization
Authors: Jayakumar N , Subramanian S , Ganesan S , Elanchezhian E. B. 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– The combined heat and power dispatch (CHPD) aims to optimize the outputs of online units in a power plant consisting thermal generators, co-generators and heat-only units. Identifying the operating point of a co-generator within its feasible operating region (FOR) is difficult. This paper aims to solve the CHPD problem in static and dynamic environments.

Design/methodology/approach
– The CHPD plant operation is formulated as an optimization problem under static and dynamic load conditions with the objectives of minimizations of cost and emissions subject to various system and operational constraints. A novel bio-inspired search technique, grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm is used as an optimization tool.

Findings
– The GWO-based algorithm has been developed to determine the preeminent power and heat dispatch of operating units within the FOR region. The proposed methodology provides fuel cost savings and lesser pollutant emissions than those in earlier reports. Particularly, the GWO always keeps the co-generator’s operating point within the FOR, whereas most of the existing methods fail.

Originality/value
– The GWO is applied for the first time to solve the CHPD problems. New dispatch schedules are reported for 7-unit system with the objectives of total fuel cost and emission minimizations, 24-unit system for economic operation and 11-unit system in dynamic environment. The simulation experiments reveal that GWO converges quickly, consistent and the statistical performance clears its applicability to CHPD problems.
Aberration detection in electricity consumption using clustering technique
Authors: Sharma Desh Deepak , Singh S.N. 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to detect abnormal energy uses which relate to undetected consumption, thefts, measurement errors, etc. The detection of irregular power consumption, with variation in irregularities, helps the electric utilities in planning and making strategies to transfer reliable and efficient electricity from generators to the end-users. Abnormal peak load demand is a kind of aberration that needs to be detected.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper proposes a Density-Based Micro Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBMSCAN) clustering algorithm, which is implemented for identification of ranked irregular electricity consumption and occurrence of peak and valley loads. In the proposed algorithm, two parameters, a and ß, are introduced, and, on tuning of these parameters, after setting of global parameters, a varied number of micro-clusters and ranked irregular consumptions, respectively, are obtained. An approach is incorporated with the introduction of a new term Irregularity Variance in the suggested algorithm to find variation in the irregular consumptions according to anomalous behaviors.

Findings
– No set of global parameters in DBSCAN is found in clustering of load pattern data of a practical system as the data. The proposed DBMSCAN approach finds clustering results and ranked irregular consumption such as different types of abnormal peak demands, sudden change in the demand, nearly zero demand, etc. with computational ease without any iterative control method.

Originality/value
– The DBMSCAN can be applied on any data set to find ranked outliers. It is an unsupervised approach of clustering technique to find the clustering results and ranked irregular consumptions while focusing on the analysis of and variations in anomalous behaviors in electricity consumption.
Public value as a framework for reforming publicly funded museums
Authors: Herguner Burak 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– In recent years, New Public Management (NPM) has been used as the major framework for administrative reforms to redesign the public museums in many countries. However, some scholars argue that this market-based transformation results in professional corrosion or shortcomings about the public museums’ capacity to fulfill their traditional missions. In this regard, this paper maintains that the concept of public value provides a useful way of thinking about the objectives of public services. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a new framework for administrative reforms in the sector to keep efficiency without falling into professional corrosion or inefficiency problem.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper uses the data collected through 178 questionnaire surveys.

Findings
– The conclusion of the paper is that, for reforming publicly funded museums, public value offers a balance between efficiency and the primary roles of the museums.

Research limitations/implications
– In the paper, the analysis is based on the views of museum professionals. Thus, further researches based on different sources of data are required to further explain the administrative peculiarities of public museums.

Originality/value
– There is a scarcity of literature on the administrative issues in public museums. This paper fulfills an identified need to study on this issue.
Tracing the future of reporting in the public sector: introducing integrated popular reporting
Authors: Cohen Sandra , Karatzimas Sotirios 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to debate the future form of reporting in the public sector by examining alternative forms of reporting, and more specifically the frameworks of integrated reporting and popular reporting. Moreover, the paper explores whether and how these reports could be related to each other in order for the needs of a pillar user group, that of the citizens, to be addressed.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors analyze the frameworks of integrated reporting and popular reporting, and by combining their characteristics the authors propose a creative synthesis suitable for the public sector.

Findings
– The analysis leads to the conclusion that governmental entities need to take the next step on reporting in two parallel levels: the first would require the publication of information encountered in integrated reports containing various information elements that are not confronted to the traditional financial ones. The second would result in the provision of this information in a concise and easily comprehensive way. The merger of these two streams will give rise to the publication of “Integrated Popular Reports – IPR.”

Originality/value
– This move would result to useful and meaningful reporting with potential strategic advantages. The integrated reporting dimension of the reports combined to the popular reporting dimension would provide an adequate information matrix for citizens and other user groups (e.g. politicians, public executives), that are interested to understand the “whole picture” of public sector entities but at the same time they neither possess advanced accounting knowledge nor they are familiar with technical terminology.
Innovation and alliances in international management programmes; redefining and extending the model
Authors: Thomas Mark , O'Sullivan Patrick , Zahner Martin , Silvestre Joelle 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative international management programme that has been developed across four countries for Master-level students. It first analyses the advantages and disadvantages of two of the most common forms of internationalisation in higher education; the student exchange and full-scale offshore campus model. It then shows how one programme at Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) has been designed to capture the best parts of both models in the creation of a hybrid, transcontinental programme. This has resulted in the creation of high quality international education for a large number of students whilst further developing a stronger alliance network between faculties and the business community.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of two forms of internationalisation. From there, it draws upon a case study of a hybrid programme based on discussions with faculty and students from four internationally accredited business schools in Vancouver, New York, Grenoble and Beijing. It is supplemented with research on the development of international higher education.

Findings
– International exchange programmes and offshore international campuses can enrich the learning experience for students. However, there are limitations to both models. A hybrid model, though more complex to develop may have a much deeper impact on student learning and faculty development while also offering graduates a greater number of international employment opportunities. The paper outlines some best practices and preliminary learning outcomes.

Research limitations/implications
– The transcontinental project is relatively new being in its third year. Initial results are very positive, but the full implications will be understood in the coming years.

Practical implications
– The paper outlines a framework for joint academic programmes overseas. It demonstrates that by assessing the pros and cons of different forms of international development, a third way can be designed to ensure a richer experience for students, faculty and the business community.

Originality/value
– The programmes are designed to include a greater number of stakeholders and involve teaching, research and corporate participation. This contrasts with many international ventures in higher education institutions that may deal with only one aspect. The paper gives a clear framework for the creation of such programmes. It will be of value to academics, administrators and directors wishing to innovate in their international development for the benefit of their students and faculty.
Exploring culture-specific learning styles in accounting education
Authors: Sikkema Seth E , Sauerwein Joshua A 
Published: October 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to review whether culture affects accounting students’ learning processes to identify practical guidance for accounting educators facing a culturally diverse classroom. In spite of a significant literature thread in accounting education on student learning, relatively, little emphasis has been placed on culture-specific learning differences. The literature gap is particularly acute with respect to practical culture-specific guidance for accounting educators. This paper is organized along three primary inquiries into the role of culture in accounting education: first, do we know if culture impacts learning? Second, how much do we know about culture-specific learning styles in the accounting field? Third, what implications do culture-specific learning styles carry for accounting educators?Design/methodology/approach– Initially, the author surveys culture-specific learning styles literature, after which a more in-depth analysis of accounting-specific literature is conducted. The author then provides a synthesis of the literature followed by a discussion of the implications for accounting educators.Findings– Culture-specific learning styles carry several implications for educators such as problems associated with overloading short-term memory, the importance of prior experience and the role of visual prompts and motivation among students and educators.Research limitations/implications– It is an opportunity for accounting educators to explore practical teaching techniques that address differences in learning styles that result from culture.Practical implications– Culture-specific learning styles carry several implications for educators. Problems with culture may ultimately be associated with overloading short-term memory. Likewise, prior experience is an important aspect of culture-specific learning and should be recognized by accounting educators. Last, not all motivation need be sourced from the student, and instructors may explore the role of visual prompts when teaching international students.Originality/value– This paper highlights the importance of culture-specific learning styles research in accounting education and the need for accounting educators to carefully consider cultural implications, as international accounting education standards are pursued. The dearth of research into culture-specific learning styles in accounting education is addressed.
Does the stress‐gradient hypothesis hold water? Disentangling spatial and temporal variation in plant effects on soil moisture in dryland systems
Authors: Butterfield Bradley J. , Bradford John B. , Armas Cristina , Prieto Ivan , Pugnaire Francisco I. 
Published: October 2015

Summary

The nature of the relationship between water limitation and facilitation has been one of the most contentious debates surrounding the stress‐gradient hypothesis (SGH), which states that plant‐plant interactions shift from competition to facilitation with increasing environmental stress.

We take a closer look at the potential role of soil moisture in mediating plant‐plant interaction outcomes by assessing effects of climate and soil texture on plant modulation of soil moisture.

Using an empirically‐parameterized soil moisture model, we simulated soil moisture dynamics beneath shrubs and in un‐vegetated coarse and fine soils for 1000 sites in the Western United States with <700 mm mean annual precipitation. This threshold reflects the transition from dryland (<600 mm precipitation) to mesic ecosystems.

Positive effects of shrubs on shallow soil moisture (i.e. the difference between shrub and interspace soil moisture) decreased along the aridity gradient when long‐term average conditions were considered, contrary to expectations based on the SGH. Negative effects of shrubs on deeper soil moisture also increased with aridity.

However, when extreme years were considered, positive effects of shrub on soil moisture were greatest at intermediate points along the spatial aridity gradient, consistent with a hump‐backed model of plant‐plant interactions.

When viewed through time within a site, shrub effects on shallow soil moisture were positively related to precipitation, with more complex relationships exhibited in deeper soils

Taken together, the results of this simulation study suggest that plant effects on soil moisture are predictable based on relatively general relationships between precipitation inputs and differential evaporation and transpiration rates between plant and interspace microsites that are largely driven by temperature. In particular, this study highlights the importance of differentiating between temporal and spatial variation in weather and climate, respectively, in determining plant effects on available soil moisture. Rather than focusing on the somewhat coarse‐scale predictions of the SGH, it may be more beneficial to explicitly incorporate plant effects on soil moisture into predictive models of plant‐plant interaction outcomes in drylands.
Influence of soil microbiota in nurse plant systems
Authors: Rodríguez‐Echeverría Susana , Lozano Yudi M. , Bardgett Richard D. 
Published: October 2015

SummaryFacilitation by nurse plants is a key process involved in the organization of plant communities and maintenance of biodiversity, particularly in harsh environments. Nurse plants increase plant diversity and productivity in these ecosystems, but our knowledge on the mechanisms through which such facilitation operates is still expanding.Despite growing evidence that soil microbiota impact plant fitness and community dynamics, their role in plant facilitation has been little explored. Here, we synthesize available evidence on the effect of nurse plants on the abundance, composition and activity of soil microbial communities, and the effect of these soil communities on beneficiary plant species.Studies conducted mostly in arid and semi‐arid systems show that nurse plants promote the development of differentiated soil microbial communities characterized by a higher microbial abundance and activity, the dominance of competitive bacteria and larger mycorrhizal networks, compared to gaps and to coexisting non‐nurses. There is also evidence that differentiated soil microbiota associated with nurse plants has positive effects on the establishment, growth and fitness of beneficiary plant species, although the mechanisms involved remain unclear. We suggest that they include increased nutrient availability for plants, a better use of resources through functional complementarity in the microbial community, soil stabilization and also direct molecular signalling between soil microbes and plants that affect plant defence and plant interactions.Evidence for the role of soil microbiota as mediators of facilitation by nurse plants is growing, but there are still too few studies on which to draw generalizable conclusions. Future studies are needed to assess the effect of plant ontogeny and environmental conditions on soil microbial communities under nurse plants and other coexisting species, and to determine the microbial groups and specific mechanisms involved in facilitation by nurse plants.
The complex net effect of reciprocal interactions and recruitment facilitation maintains an intertidal kelp community
Authors: Barner Allison K. , Hacker Sally D. , Menge Bruce A. , Nielsen Karina J. 
Published: October 2015

SummaryTheoretical and empirical ecology has transitioned from a focus on the role of negative interactions in species coexistence to a more pluralistic view that acknowledges that coexistence in natural communities is more complex, and depends on species interactions that vary in strength, sign, and reciprocity, and such contexts as the environment and life‐history stage.We used a whole‐community approach to examine how species interactions contribute to the maintenance of a rocky intertidal macroalgal canopy–understorey assemblage. We determined both the types of interactions in this network, and whether interactions were sensitive to environmental gradients.Focusing on a structurally dominant canopy kelpSaccharina sessilis, and its diverse co‐occurring understorey assemblage, we evaluated the role of the understorey in controllingS. sessilisrecruitment and quantified the reciprocal effect of theS. sessiliscanopy and understorey on one another using a removal experiment replicated across 600 km of coastline. We determined the sensitivity of interactions to natural variation in light and nutrient availability (replicated among four regions on the N.E. Pacific coast), and under different wave conditions (three wave regimes).Surprisingly, species interactions were similar across sites and thus not context‐dependent. Unexpectedly, the understorey community had a strong positive effect on theS. sessiliscanopy, whereby the adult canopy decreased dramatically following understorey removal. Additionally,S. sessilisrecruitment depended on the presence of understorey coralline algal turf. In turn, the canopy had a neutral effect on the coralline understorey, but a negative effect on non‐calcifying algal turfs, likely eventually generating positive indirect canopy effects on the coralline understorey. Density‐dependent intraspecific competition betweenS. sessilisadults and recruits may moderate this positive feedback between theS. sessiliscanopy and coralline understorey.Synthesis. Our research highlights the importance of positive interactions for coexistence in natural communities, and the necessity of studying multiple life‐history stages and reciprocal species interactions in order to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain diversity.