bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Resource allocation for efficient environmental management
Authors: McCarthy Michael A. , Thompson Colin J. , Hauser Cindy , Burgman Mark A. , Possingham Hugh P. , Moir Melinda L. , Tiensin Thanawat , Gilbert Marius 
Published: August 2010

Ecology Letters (2010)AbstractEnvironmental managers must decide how to invest available resources. Researchers have previously determined how to allocate conservation resources among regions, design nature reserves, allocate funding to species conservation programs, design biodiversity surveys and monitoring programs, manage species and invest in greenhouse gas mitigation schemes. However, these issues have not been addressed with a unified theory. Furthermore, uncertainty is prevalent in environmental management, and needs to be considered to manage risks. We present a theory for optimal environmental management, synthesizing previous approaches to the topic and incorporating uncertainty. We show that the theory solves a diverse range of important problems of resource allocation, including distributing conservation resources among the world’s biodiversity hotspots; surveillance to detect the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus in Thailand; and choosing survey methods for the insect order Hemiptera. Environmental management decisions are similar to decisions about financial investments, with trade‐offs between risk and reward.
Solenicola setigera is the first characterized member of the abundant and cosmopolitan uncultured marine stramenopile group MAST‐3
Authors: Gómez Fernando , Moreira David , Benzerara Karim , López‐García Purificación 
Published: August 2010

SummaryCulture‐independent molecular methods based on the amplification, cloning and sequencing of small‐subunit (SSU) rRNA genes are a powerful tool to study the diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms for which morphological features are not conspicuous. In recent years, molecular data from environmental surveys have revealed several clades of protists lacking cultured and/or described members. Among them are various clades of marine stramenopiles (heterokonts), which are thought to play an essential ecological role as grazers, being abundant and distributed in oceans worldwide. In this work, we show that Solenicola setigera, a distinctive widespread colonial marine protist, is a member of the environmental clade MArine STramenopile 3 (MAST‐3). Solenicola is generally considered as a parasite or an epiphyte of the diatom Leptocylindrus mediterraneus. So far, the ultrastructural, morphological and ecological data available were insufficient to elucidate its phylogenetic position, even at the division or class level. We determined SSU rRNA gene sequences of S. setigera specimens sampled from different locations and seasons in the type locality, the Gulf of Lions, France. They were closely related, though not identical, which, together with morphological differences under electron microscopy, suggest the occurrence of several species. Solenicola sequences were well nested within the MAST‐3 clade in phylogenetic trees. Since Solenicola is the first identified member of this abundant marine clade, we propose the name Solenicolida for the MAST‐3 phylogenetic group.
The relationship between functional and taxonomic homogenization
Authors: Baiser Benjamin , Lockwood Julie L. 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTAim Species introductions and extinctions have reorganized the earth's biota, often leaving formerly spatially distinct assemblages more similar in species composition, a process termed biotic homogenization. The study of biotic homogenization has been almost entirely focused on the change in taxonomic similarity between assemblages through time. Here, we provide a trait‐based method for calculating functional similarity through time and compare these trends in functional attributes with those trends generated from a taxonomic perspective.Location Data were produced through computer simulation and gathered from North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data and published accounts of North American birds for 10 locations across the east and west coast of the United States.Methods We simulated change in assemblages with different trait types (binary and continuous), levels of trait overlap, number of traits and species richness to determine the relationship between change in taxonomic similarity (ΔTS) and change in functional similarity (ΔFS). We also assess the relationship between ΔTS and ΔFS for bird assemblages across 10 locales in the USA between 1968 and 2008. We used simple linear regression to determine the slope and correlation between ΔTS and ΔFS and used multiple regression to assess the influence of trait overlap, number of traits, species richness and the ratio of traits to species on the relationship between ΔTS and ΔFS.Results Simulations reveal that trait redundancy governs the relationship between ΔTS and ΔFS. A decrease in trait overlap increases the slope of the regression between ΔTS and ΔFS and an increase in the ratio of traits to species in the regional pool increases the correlation. The relationship between ΔTS and ΔFS for breeding birds is comparable to simulations with low trait redundancy.Main conclusions We show that often losing or gaining species from an assemblage tells us very little about the loss or gain of function, and that this scenario most often occurs when the two assemblages have high trait redundancy. It remains to be seen how prevalent this scenario is within empirical examples; however, the implications for the continued delivery of ecosystem functions in the face of species introductions and extinctions are large.
Potential impacts of climate change on the environmental services of humid tropical alpine regions
Authors: Buytaert Wouter , Cuesta‐Camacho Francisco , Tobón Conrado 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTAim  Humid tropical alpine environments are crucial ecosystems that sustain biodiversity, biological processes, carbon storage and surface water provision. They are identified as one of the terrestrial ecosystems most vulnerable to global environmental change. Despite their vulnerability, and the importance for regional biodiversity conservation and socio‐economic development, they are among the least studied and described ecosystems in the world. This paper reviews the state of knowledge about tropical alpine environments, and provides an integrated assessment of the potential threats of global climate change on the major ecosystem processes.Location  Humid tropical alpine regions occur between the upper forest line and the perennial snow border in the upper regions of the Andes, the Afroalpine belt and Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.Results and main conclusions  Climate change will displace ecosystem boundaries and strongly reduce the total area of tropical alpine regions. Displacement and increased isolation of the remaining patches will induce species extinction and biodiversity loss. Drier and warmer soil conditions will cause a faster organic carbon turnover, decreasing the below‐ground organic carbon storage. Since most of the organic carbon is currently stored in the soils, it is unlikely that an increase in above‐ground biomass will be able to offset soil carbon loss at an ecosystem level. Therefore a net release of carbon to the atmosphere is expected. Changes in precipitation patterns, increased evapotranspiration and alterations of the soil properties will have a major impact on water supply. Many regions are in danger of a significantly reduced or less reliable stream flow. The magnitude and even the trend of most of these effects depend strongly on local climatic, hydrological and ecological conditions. The extreme spatial gradients in these conditions put the sustainability of ecosystem management at risk.
Are active fund managers collectors of private information or fast interpreters of public information?
Authors: Gallagher David R. , Looi Adrian , Pinnuck Matt 
Published: August 2010

AbstractRecent studies of fund manager performance find evidence of outperformance. However limited research exists as to whether such outperformance is because of privately collected information, or merely expedient interpretation of publicly released information. In this study, we examine the trade sequences of active Australian equity fund managers around earnings announcements to provide insights into the source of fund managers’ superior information. We document an increased occurrence of buy‐sell trade sequences around good‐news earnings announcements. The evidence is consistent with fund managers having both private information about forthcoming good‐news earnings announcements and being ‘short‐term profiteers’. We find no evidence that fund managers have private information about forthcoming bad‐news earnings announcements. However, we do find an increase in the frequency of fund managers not trading before bad‐news earnings announcements only to subsequently sell during announcements.
Understanding the structure of audit workpaper error knowledge and its relationship with workpaper review performance
Authors: Harding Noel 
Published: August 2010

AbstractThis study examines the veracity of two important, yet untested, premises underlying the interpretation of hierarchical variation in workpaper review performance. Prior research has argued that auditors at different hierarchical levels structure their knowledge of workpaper errors differently, and that these differences in knowledge structure give rise to hierarchical variation in the ability of auditors to identify mechanical and conceptual workpaper errors. This study directly examines the way in which audit firm managers, seniors and staff auditors structure their knowledge of audit workpaper errors and finds variation across hierarchical levels. These differences in knowledge structure were found to be associated with variation in workpaper review performance as they related to the identification of conceptual errors, but not, as proposed in prior research, mechanical workpaper errors. These results guide future research efforts aimed at improving workpaper review performance.
The Struggle Continues? The Spectre of Liberation, Memory Politics and ‘War Veterans’ in Namibia
Authors: Metsola Lalli 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTMemory politics continues to define the socio‐political landscape of post‐colonial Namibia. Interpretations of the country's recent political history are used to contest and legitimize current social and political relations. This article examines these issues as they appear in the negotiation of recognition and benefits between ex‐combatants and state and ruling party actors. A dominant narrative of national liberation, associated with the ruling party Swapo, casts Swapo ex‐combatants as heroes. This has propelled recurrent ex‐combatant demands to the forefront and relegated those who fought on the South African side to a secondary category of ex‐combatant ‘reintegration’. At the same time, this frame constrains ex‐combatant remembrance, pushing aside contentious memories that might lead to a more critical historical consciousness. Although telling a story of the emergence of a unified nation, the liberation narrative actually is an example of a far more exclusionary form of nationalism that uses the vocabulary of national belonging to make distinctions between citizens, and thus justifies practices of inclusion and exclusion. Its strength lies in its ability to link current material politics with emotionally compelling narratives of identity.
Protection for Sale? War and the Transformation of Regulation on the Congo–Ugandan Border
Authors: Raeymaekers Timothy 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTThis article proposes an explanation for the emergence of non‐state governance in situations of apparent state collapse, based on an ethnographic study of the armed rebellion in Butembo (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo). The model of explanation is inspired by Charles Tilly's description of state making as organized crime, in which armed rebels and private economic agents enter an agreement for private protection. The study seeks to explain how an original meeting between Butembo's armed rebels of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie — Mouvement de Libération (RCD–ML) and an existing network of cross‐border traders actually led to a ‘pluralizing’ moment, in which the reinterpretation of existing relations and regulatory practices contributed to a gradual transformation of the institutional framework and local governance. Recently, this local political order has entered into increasing competition with the internationally induced project of political ‘transition’, based on a conflict between dynamics of state building and translocal political (trans)formation.
Negotiating Statehood: Dynamics of Power and Domination in Africa
Authors: Hagmann Tobias , Péclard Didier 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTThis article, which forms the introduction to a collection of studies, focuses on processes of state construction and deconstruction in contemporary Africa. Its objective is to better understand how local, national and transnational actors forge and remake the state through processes of negotiation, contestation and bricolage. Following a critique of the predominant state failure literature and its normative and analytical shortcomings, the authors identify four key arguments of the scholarly literature on the state in Africa, which concern the historicity of the state in Africa, the embeddedness of bureaucratic organizations in society, the symbolic and material dimensions of statehood and the importance of legitimacy. A heuristic framework entitled ‘negotiating statehood’ is proposed, referring to the dynamic and partly undetermined processes of state formation and failure by a multitude of social actors who compete over the institutionalization of power relations. The article then operationalizes this framework in three sections that partly conceptualize, partly illustrate who negotiates statehood in contemporary Africa (actors, resources and repertoires); where these negotiation processes occur (negotiation arenas and tables); and what these processes are all about (objects of negotiation). Empirical examples drawn from a variety of political contexts across the African continent illustrate these propositions.
The People, the Power and the Public Service: Political Identification during Guinea's General Strikes in 2007
Authors: Schroven Anita 
Published: August 2010

ABSTRACTIn francophone West Africa, the term fonctionnaire unambiguously identifies public servants as integral parts of the state apparatus. Yet during general strikes in Guinea in 2006/7 this self‐evident association was called into question by the polarization of the public discourse which forced Guineans into associating either with the state or with the protesting people. Based on empirical data from ethnographic fieldwork, this contribution explores how public servants negotiated this tension during and after the upheavals. Their professional (historic) trajectories are constituted by ideological and institutional characteristics of post‐colonial state building and are fundamental for the participation of public servants in the changing dynamics of the local political arena. At the same time, these trajectories play an important and pertinent role in the everyday production of state that stabilizes society even during governance crises such as those experienced in Guinea.
Are open educational resources systematic or systemic change agents for teaching practice?
Authors: Lane Andy , McAndrew Patrick 
Published: August 2010

AbstractOpen educational resources (OER) raise many similar issues for education to those that have surrounded Learning Objects (LO). However the greater use and availability of digital technologies and open licensing seems to be enabling OER to have wider acceptance into individual and institutional teaching practice. While the need for appropriate design in teaching and learning on the part of educators, which was the primary driver of developments in LO, remains, the very openness of OER is changing the relationships between educators, learners and content (resources) and is becoming a primary agent of change. Experience in OpenLearn, a major initiative to provide OER from The Open University, indicates that some of these changes can be planned for while others will emerge as releasing content openly imposes evolutionary pressures that accelerate change and work around barriers. Development can then be driven by learner expectations of the technology and needs for informal life‐long learning that in turn impact on how content is being designed and openly presented. It is argued that this represents a shift from a teacher‐centric, systematic model of change in teaching practices as embodied in earlier ideas about LO to a learner‐centric, systemic model of change as embodied in OER.
Driven Out of Employment? The Impact of the Abolition of National Service on Driving Schools and Aspiring Drivers
Authors: Avrillier Paul , Hivert Laurent , Kramarz Francis 
Published: August 2010

AbstractBefore 1997, compulsory military service was a way for many young French men to obtain their driving licence for free. After the abolition of compulsory conscription in 1997, this sex‐based discrimination disappeared. We use this shock in its two dimensions. First, it was a supply shock, since we show the abolition induced a decline in the fraction of men holding a driving licence, particularly for men living in urban areas. Because the causal relation between holding a driving licence and employment is hard to demonstrate, we use this policy change as an instrument for the former. Some elements of our analysis show that employment and having a driving licence are closely related. However, we cannot fully demonstrate that our results are due to the lack of a driving licence in itself rather than due to other consequences of the abolition of national service (e.g. professional courses or the associated loss of experience). Second, it was a demand shock, since these men were forced to turn to driving schools. Here, we are able to show that the abolition of national service had a direct and uncontroversial effect on the (heavily regulated) driving schools industry. The demand shock resulted in increased rents. These rents translated into an increase in the number of driving schools, stable total employment, a decrease in average employment, no increase of total sales or value‐added, no obvious decrease in profits per school, but an increase in wages paid to the teachers in those cities that had many young men. Hence, those who benefited from increased demand have been the instructors, in limited supply, not the incumbent schools or the consumers.
Economic Growth and Welfare in a Neoclassical Overlapping Generations Growth Model with Minimum Wages and Consumption Taxes
Authors: Fanti Luciano , Gori Luca 
Published: August 2010

AbstractWe examine the effects of minimum wages on both the long‐run per worker GDP and welfare in the textbook Diamond style overlapping generations economy. In addition, we assume the existence of unemployment benefits financed at a balanced budget with consumption taxes. Under suitable conditions, it is shown that a regulated‐wage economy with unemployment performs better than a competitive‐wage economy with full employment in the long run. Moreover, a welfare‐maximizing minimum wage exists. Our findings may have interesting policy implications.
Least Squares Asymptotics in Spurious and Cointegrated Panel Regressions with Common and Idiosyncratic Stochastic Trends*
Authors: Urbain Jean‐Pierre , Westerlund Joakim 
Published: August 2010

AbstractThis article makes an analytical study of the effects of the presence of both common and idiosyncratic stochastic trends on the pooled least squares estimator. The results suggest that the usual result of asymptotic normality depends critically on the absence of the common stochastic trend.
Dividend Policies of Privately Held Companies: Stand‐Alone and Group Companies in Belgium
Authors: Rommens An , Cuyvers Ludo , Deloof Marc 
Published: August 2010

AbstractThis study examines the dividend policies of privately held Belgian companies, differentiating between stand‐alone companies and those affiliated with a business group. We find that privately held companies typically do not pay dividends. Compared to public companies, they are less likely to pay dividends and they have lower dividend payouts. Our results also suggest that group companies pay more dividends than stand‐alone companies, consistent with the hypothesis that tax‐exempt group firms redistribute dividend payments on the group's internal capital market. Group companies pay higher dividends if they have minority shareholders.
Shareholder Activism through Proxy Proposals: The European Perspective
Authors: Cziraki Peter , Renneboog Luc , Szilagyi Peter G. 
Published: August 2010

Abstract This paper is the first to investigate the corporate governance role of shareholder‐initiated proxy proposals in European firms. Proposal submissions in Europe remain infrequent compared to the USA, especially in Continental Europe. In the UK proposals typically relate to a proxy contest seeking board changes, while in Continental Europe they are more focused on specific governance issues. There is some evidence that proposal sponsors are valuable monitors, because the target firms tend to underperform and have low leverage. Sponsors also consider the ownership structure of the firm, because proposal probability increases in the target's ownership concentration and the equity stake of institutional investors. While proposals enjoy limited voting success across Europe, they are relatively more successful in the UK. The outcomes are strongest for proposals targeting the board but are also affected by the target characteristics including the CEO's pay‐performance sensitivity. Proposals are met with a significant negative abnormal return of −1.23%, when they are voted upon at general meetings. The low voting support gathered by proposals and the strongly adverse market reaction suggest that shareholders of European companies use proposals as an emergency brake rather than a steering wheel.
Margin Changes and Futures Trading Activity: a New Approach
Authors: Phylaktis Kate , Aristidou Antonis 
Published: August 2010

AbstractIn this paper we examine the impact of margins, adjusted for underlying price risk proxied by market volatility, on trading volume and incorporate the relationship between trading volume and price volatility documented in stock markets. We estimate a bivariate GARCH‐M model to take account of the inter‐relationships and apply them to the Greek derivatives market over the period 1999–2005. The results show that when adjusting margins for market risk there is no impact on trading volume, casting doubts on the results of previous research, and providing support for the view that margin requirements are used only as a mechanism to prevent trader default.