Changes In Relative Influence Research Articles

The impact of the tourism accommodation composition on housing prices: The case of Croatia

The adverse effects booming tourism activity and peer-to-peer platforms on housing markets are well known, while the influence of relative changes in tourism accommodation composition on housing prices are not well understood. To shed more light on the issue, this paper employs the data set on housing prices and its main tourism, economic, and demographic determinants, for cities and municipalities in a tourism-dependent country. The results suggest more intensive tourism demand and the conversion of housing stock into rentals boost housing prices. The increase in the share of short-term rentals depresses prices, while in destinations where hotels and campsites become more prevalent prices increase. These findings could be attributed to the pricing-in effects of an increased supply of tourism amenities developed as part of hotels’ and campsites‘ product mix that improve the quality of life, and lower quality of life experienced at destinations where rentals are becoming more prevalent.

코로나19 이후 청소년의 삶의 변화와 청소년활동 참여가 진로준비도에 미친 영향

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of COVID-19-induced changes in daily life and activity participation for youth on their career readiness. To this end, a survey was conducted with 1,056 youths living in Busan, and the results were obtained using the hierarchical regression analysis method. For the analysis, changes in daily life and activity participation were used as independent variables. Changes in daily life consisted of changes in stress and life satisfaction, and youth’s participation in activities was comprised of participation and satisfaction. Accordingly, the relative influence of changes in their stress, life satisfaction, activity participation, and activity satisfaction since COVID-19 on their career readiness was investigated. As a result, it was found that youth activity satisfaction, activity participation, and changes in life satisfaction and stress had a positive effect on their career readiness. In particular, activity satisfaction showed the greatest influence. Career readiness can provide youth with powerful support to actively respond to various changes they are facing in the rapidly changing society since COVID-19 and to achieve their individual career goals. This study confirmed that career readiness is reinforced by youth activity participation satisfaction.

The influence of coastal evolution on the paleobiogeography of the bivalve Anomalocardia flexuosa (Linné, 1767) along the southwestern Atlantic Ocean

Anomalocardia flexuosa is a bivalve that inhabits shallow, low hydrodynamics coastal environments of normal to brackish salinity, currently distributed from the Caribbean up to the state of Santa Catarina (∼28°S) in southern Brazil, but its fossil record extends along the southwestern Atlantic up to ∼40°S, in Argentina. Its absence in southern coasts today is attributed to ocean water cooling as a result of Middle-Late Holocene changes in relative influence of the warm waters of the Brazil Current and the cold waters of the Malvinas/Falklands Current, but geomorphologic and stratigraphic data suggest that coastal evolution controlled mainly by glacioeustatic-driven oscillations may have also played a role on the shifts of its distribution. Here we review the past and present distribution of A. flexuosa along southern Brazil, establishing a correlation with the Holocene geological history of this area. The Holocene post glacial marine transgression (PMT) produced a large complex of interconnected coastal lagoons landward of sandy barriers stretching from southern Brazil (state of Rio Grande do Sul) to Argentina, creating a corridor that allowed for the southward dispersion of A. flexuosa. The few available numerical ages indicate that A. flexuosa was established in the northern coastal plain of Rio Grande do Sul around ∼7.1 ka BP, and by ∼5.8 ka BP it had reached the southern plain, facilitated by warmer ocean waters than today and the sea-level highstand of 6–5 ka BP. The combination of cooling, sea-level fall that reduced marine influence, and fluvial inputs of freshwater and sediments, converted most of the lagoon complex into smaller isolated freshwater lakes after ∼4 ka BP, leading to the regional extinction of that species. The fossils of A. flexuosa and other tropical mollusks in middle and late Pleistocene interglacial barrier-lagoon coastal deposits along the southwestern Atlantic suggest that their latitudinal distribution shifted cyclically, driven by glacial-interglacial oscillations of sea-level and temperatures. The understanding of the coastal processes that affected the distribution of A. flexuosa may help assessing how mollusks and other marine species respond to environmental forcings related to sea-level oscillations and climate, thus contributing from a paleobiological perspective for conservation and management efforts under present and future scenarios of changes in coastal ecosystems.

Gap creation alters the mode of conspecific distance-dependent seedling establishment via changes in the relative influence of pathogens and mycorrhizae.

In forest communities, conspecific density/distance dependence (CDD) is an important factor regulating diversity. It remains unknown how and the extent to which gap creation alters the mode and strength of CDD via changes in the relative importance of pathogens and mycorrhizae. Seeds of two hardwoods (i.e., Acer mono associated with arbuscular mycorrhizae [AM] and Quercus serrata associated with ectomycorrhizae [EM]) were sown reciprocally at four distances from the boundary between Acer- and Quercus-dominated forests towards forest interior in each of forest understories (FUs) and gaps. The causes of seed and seedling mortality, seedling growth and colonization of mycorrhizal fungi were investigated. In Acer, seed and seedling mortality were highest in Acer forests and gradually decreased towards the interior of Quercus forests in FU, mainly due to severe attack of soil pathogens, invertebrates, and leaf diseases. The reverse was true in gaps, due to reduction of damping-off damage caused by distance-dependent colonization of AM. In Quercus, most seeds and seedlings were eaten by vertebrates in FUs. The seedling mortality caused by leaf diseases was not high, even beneath conspecific forests with higher colonization of EM in gaps, suggesting a positive EM influence. In both species, seedling mass was greatest in conspecific forests and gradually decreased towards the interior of heterospecific forests in gaps, due to higher colonization of mycorrhizae near conspecifics. In conclusion, light conditions strongly altered the mode of CDD via changes in relative influence of pathogens and mycorrhizae, suggesting that gap creation may regulate species diversity via changes in the mode of CDD.

Relative influence of watershed and geomorphic features on nutrient and carbon fluxes in a pristine and moderately urbanized stream

Streams are important sites of elemental transformations due to the relatively high contact rates between flowing water and biogeochemically reactive sediments. Increased urbanization typically results in higher nutrient and carbon (C) inputs to streams from their watersheds and increased flow rates due to modification in channel form, reducing within stream net retention and increasing downstream exports. However, less is known on how moderate urbanization might influence the joint processing of C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in streams or the relative influence of changes in watershed and stream features on their fluxes. In this study, we performed mass-balances of different C, N, and P species in multiple reaches with contrasting land use land cover and geomorphic features (pools, riffles, runs) to determine the effects of geomorphology versus human influence on elemental fluxes in a pristine and a semi-urban stream. N was the most responsive of all elements, where nitrate concentrations were 3.5-fold higher in the peri-urban stream. Dissolved organic carbon was only slightly higher in the peri-urban site whereas total P not significantly different between streams. In terms of fluxes, nitrate behaved differently between the streams with net retention occurring in the majority of the reaches of the pristine site, whereas net export was observed in all of the reaches of the semi-urban one. We found a decrease in nitrate concentrations with an increase in excess deuterium of the water (d-excess), an indicator of how overall water retention capacity of the watershed favored N loss. Within the stream, the presence of pools, and reduced channel slope, which also increase water retention time, again favored N loss. Overall, nitrate was the most sensitive nutrient to slight urbanization, where higher export to stream was influenced by land use, but where geomorphic features were more important in driving retention capacity.

Increase of body mass index and waist circumference predicts development of metabolic syndrome criteria in apparently healthy individuals with 2 and 5 years follow-up.

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with overweight and abdominal obesity. Our aim was to use longitudinal measurements to provide clinically relevant information on the relative influence of changes in body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and weekly physical exercise duration on the development of each of the MetS components. We analyzed data collected at the Tel-Aviv Medical Center Inflammation Survey (TAMCIS). Apparently healthy individuals with two consecutive visits that were not treated for any metabolic criteria were included in this study. We analyzed the influence of changes in BMI, WC, and time engaged in physical exercise on the change in each of the components of the metabolic syndrome using linear regressions. Included were 7532 individuals (5431 men, 2101 women) with 2 years follow-up. Participants who gained two BMI points, had the mean number of criteria increase from 1.07 to 1.52, while participants who lost two BMI points, decreased from 1.64 to 1.16. A long-term analysis over 5 years showed similar results. Furthermore, an increase in WC was independently associated with increased severity of each of the other components, when controlling for increase in BMI. Increase in weekly exercise duration had a small but statistically significant favorable effect on blood triglycerides and HDL levels, but not on blood pressure or HbA1C. Changes in BMI and WC are highly associative with the likelihood and severity of the MetS independently of the baseline levels, suggesting that obese individuals can substantially improve their MetS prognosis by losing both body weight and abdominal fat.

Groundwater Controls on Postfire Permafrost Thaw: Water and Energy Balance Effects

AbstractFire frequency and severity are increasing in high‐latitude regions, but the degree to which groundwater flow impacts the response of permafrost to fire remains poorly understood. Here we use the Anaktuvuk River Fire (Alaska, USA) as an example for simulating groundwater‐permafrost interactions following fire. We identify key thermal and hydrologic parameters controlling permafrost response to fire both with and without groundwater flow, and separate the relative influence of changes to the water and energy balances on active layer thickness. Our results show that mineral soil porosity, which influences the bulk subsurface thermal conductivity, is a key parameter controlling active layer response to fire in both the absence and presence of groundwater flow. However, including groundwater flow in models increases the perceived importance of subsurface hydrologic properties, such as the soil permeability, and decreases the perceived importance of subsurface thermal properties, such as the thermal conductivity of soil solids. Furthermore, we demonstrate that changes to the energy balance (increased soil temperature) drive increased active layer thickness following fire, while changes to the water balance (decreased groundwater recharge) lead to reduced landscape‐scale variability in active layer thickness and groundwater discharge to surface water features such as streams. These results indicate that explicit consideration of groundwater flow is critical to understanding how permafrost environments respond to fire.

Resource deployment system implications of migrating the firm into a digital value creation paradigm

ABSTRACTThis article uses the intellectual capital-based view of the firm, to draw conclusions about both the change in relative importance of resources and the change in relative influence of transformations in the firm’s resource transformation system when introducing digital technologies.The methodology is a synthesis of research conducted on the implications of digital technologies for the firm’s value creation, through a review of the literature, combined with two case studies.The findings are that when introducing digital technologies, firms will migrate towards a value network logic. There will also be an increasing value creating influence of transformations into and out of the organisational resource category, and there will be an increase in the number of possible revenue streams that can be created.A clear practical implication for managers from this increased complexity is the need to simulate potential new resource deployment systems to verify their effectiveness before implementing them.

The Human Placenta in Diabetes and Obesity: Friend or Foe? The 2017 Norbert Freinkel Award Lecture.

The placenta plays a key role in sustaining fetal growth and development. Due to its position between mother and fetus, it is exposed to changes in the intrauterine environment in both circulations. The relative influence of changes in those circulations depends on the period of gestation. Early in pregnancy, maternal influences prevail and may affect the complex biological processes characteristic for this pregnancy period, such as placentation, early cell differentiation, and spiral artery remodeling. It is still unclear whether the placenta early in pregnancy is a friend or foe for the fetus. Later in pregnancy, when the fetal circulation is gradually establishing, fetal signals gain importance in regulating placental structure and function. Many of the placental alterations seen at term of pregnancy are the result of fetoplacental interactions often driven by fetal signals associated with maternal diabetes or obesity. These alterations, such as hypervascularization or enhanced cholesterol removal from placental endothelial cells, can be regarded as adaptations to maintain homeostasis at the fetoplacental interface and, thus, to protect the fetus. However, extreme conditions such as poorly controlled diabetes or pronounced obesity may exceed placental homeostatic capacity, with potentially adverse consequences for the fetus. Thus, in late pregnancy, the placenta acts mostly as a friend as long as the environmental perturbations do not exceed placental capacity for mounting adaptive responses.

New product performance and the benefit of periodically changing the relative influence balance between marketing and R&D

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between changes in relative influence between marketing and R&D and new product performance (NPP). The aim is to theorize and test whether relative influence changes are beneficial for NPP.Design/methodology/approachAn international survey was sent out to pharmaceutical companies worldwide, resulting in 106 usable questionnaires from knowledgeable senior managers. A model is estimated that relates recent and historic changes in relative influence to NPP.FindingsThere is a positive relationship between recent relative influence changes and subsequent NPP. Moreover, this paper finds that having a history of adaptation with respect to relative influence can serve organizations to build up capabilities that, in turn, strengthen the positive effects of recent relative influence changes on NPP. Finally, the paper shows that relative influence changes and integration between marketing and R&D positively affect NPP jointly.Originality/valueA core finding, that is quite counterintuitive, is that instability with respect to relative influence changes can help organizations to become more competitive in new product development.

"R&D Spending Leap, Top Management Team Attention and Firm Performance: Evidence from China"

Research and development (R&D) is an important way for firms to obtain the competitive advantage. Studies showed that firm performance was not only affected by absolute quantity of R&D spending, also under the influence of relative changes of R&D spending. Based on the attention-based view of firm, using 5656 firm-quarter observations collected from 202 Chinese firms over 7 years between 2007 to 2013, combining event study method and the text analysis method, we empirically investigate the effect and mechanism of R&D spending leap on firm performance. Results show that R&D spending leap positively influences firm performance, and the top management team attention to ambidextrous innovation plays the mediating role in the relationship between R&D spending leap and firm performance. Namely, R&D spending leap only increases top management team attention to ambidextrous innovation at first, which can further effectively improve firm performance.

Pressure solution creep of random packs of spheres

AbstractWe performed numerical calculations of compaction in aggregates of spherical grains, using Lehner and Leroy's (2004, hereinafter LL) constitutive model of pressure solution at grain contacts. That model is founded on a local definition of the thermodynamic driving force and leads to a fully coupled formulation of elastic deformation, dissolution, and diffusive transport along the grain boundaries. The initial geometry of the aggregate was generated by random packing of spheres with a small standard deviation of the diameters. During the simulations, isostatic loading was applied. The elastic displacements at the contacts were calculated according to Digby's (1981) nonlinear contact force model, and deformation by dissolution was evaluated using the LL formulation. The aggregate strain and porosity were tracked as a function of time for fixed temperature, applied effective pressure, and grain size. We also monitored values of the average and standard deviation of total load at each contact, the coordination number for packing, and the statistics of the contact dimensions. Because the simulations explicitly exclude processes such as fracturing, plastic flow, and transport owing to surface curvature, they can be used to test the influence of relative changes in the kinetics of dissolution and diffusion processes caused by contact growth and packing rearrangements. We found that the simulated strain data could be empirically fitted by two successive power laws of the form, εx ∝ tξ, where ξ was equal to 1 at very early times, but dropped to as low as 0.3 at longer times. The apparent sensitivity of strain rate to stress found in the simulations was much lower than predicted from constitutive laws that assume a single dominant process driven by average macroscopic loads. Likewise, the apparent activation enthalpy obtained from the simulated data was intermediate between that assumed for dissolution and diffusion, and, further, tended to decrease with time. These results are similar to the experimental observations of Visser et al.'s (2012), who used an aggregate geometry and physical conditions closely resembling the present numerical simulations.

Scale‐dependent effect sizes of ecological drivers on biodiversity: why standardised sampling is not enough

There is little consensus about how natural (e.g. productivity, disturbance) and anthropogenic (e.g. invasive species, habitat destruction) ecological drivers influence biodiversity. Here, we show that when sampling is standardised by area (species density) or individuals (rarefied species richness), the measured effect sizes depend critically on the spatial grain and extent of sampling, as well as the size of the species pool. This compromises comparisons of effects sizes within studies using standard statistics, as well as among studies using meta-analysis. To derive an unambiguous effect size, we advocate that comparisons need to be made on a scale-independent metric, such as Hurlbert's Probability of Interspecific Encounter. Analyses of this metric can be used to disentangle the relative influence of changes in the absolute and relative abundances of individuals, as well as their intraspecific aggregations, in driving differences in biodiversity among communities. This and related approaches are necessary to achieve generality in understanding how biodiversity responds to ecological drivers and will necessitate a change in the way many ecologists collect and analyse their data.

Population ecology of breeding Pacific common eiders on the Yukon‐Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Les populations d'Eiders a duvet du Pacifique (Somateria mollissima v-nigrum) ont decline de 50-90% sur le delta du Yukon-Kuskokwim (DYK) dans l'ouest de l'Alaska entre 1975 et 1992 puis se sont stabilisees avec des faibles effectifs depuis le debut des annees 1990 jusqu'a aujourd'hui. Nous avons etudie les processus sous-jacents qui affectent la dynamique de ces populations en recoltant et en analysant les donnees demographiques des Eiders a duvet du Pacifique a 3 sites sur le DYK (1991-2004) pour un total de 29 site-annees. Nous avons examine la variation des parametres de la reproduction, teste des hypotheses concernant l'influence de certains facteurs ecologiques specifiques sur les traits d'histoire de vie et evalue leur contribution relative a la dynamique de la population locale. Le succes reproducteur etait faible et variable, tant pour un meme individu qu'entre les individus alors que la survie apparente des femelles adultes etait elevee et peu variable (0.89 ± 0.005). Tous les parametres reproductifs variaient entre les sites d'etude et les annees. Les dates d'initiation des nids s'etalaient du 4 mai au 28 juin, avec un pic (mode) d'initiation le 26 mai. Les femelles qui nichaient a un site insulaire initiaient toujours leurs nids 3-5 jours plus tot que les femelles nichant a 2 autres sites situes sur la terre ferme. La variance de la date d'initiation des nids pour la population etait negativement liee au pic suggerant une synchronisation accrue durant les annees plus tardives. En moyenne, la taille de ponte totale (pondue) variait entre 4.8 et 6.6 oeufs et declinait avec la date d'initiation du nid. En tenant compte de la predation partielle et des oeufs non-viables, le nombre moyen d'oeufs a l'eclosion variait entre 2.0 et 5.8. Pendant la saison de reproduction, la probabilite de survie journaliere (PSJ) des nids etait plus faible durant la ponte et pour les nids inities tardivement. L'estimation de la survie des nids variait considerablement entre les sites et les annees (moyenne = 0.55, ecart: 0.06-0.92), mais la variance du processus de la survie des nids etait relativement faible (0.02, IC: 0.01-0.05), indiquant que la majorite de la variance etait attribuable a l'erreur d'echantillonnage. Nous avons trouve que l'effet des observateurs pouvait reduire le succes global des nids de 0.0 a 0.36 a travers les site-annees. Les sites d'etude avec de plus faibles nombres d'echantillons et les plus frequemment visites semblaient subir un plus grand effet des observateurs. En general, les Eiders a duvet du Pacifique demontraient une grande variance dans leurs parametres de reproduction. Des tailles de ponte plus elevees et une survie des nids elevee pour les pontes initiees tot suggerent une selection directionnelle pour une nidification hâtive. Cependant, les effets environnementaux stochastiques peuvent masquer la reponse a cette force de selection. Nos resultats demontrent que les femelles qui se reproduisent tot en saison ont la plus grande valeur reproductive car elles pondent plus d'oeufs et ont la plus grande probabilite de les amener a eclosion. Nous avons developpe des modeles matriciels stochastiques structures en classes de stades qui incluent la variance spatio-temporelle observee (processus) et la co-variation des indices demographiques puis avons projete la distribution stable des classes de stades (w) et le taux de croissance de la population (X)

Exploring the Impact of Changes in Group Composition on Trends in Specialization

Stander and colleagues, in 1989, noted that change in specialization may be caused by two distinct but potentially complementary processes: (a) a change in group composition, where change in specialization is the product of the attrition of offenders who vary systematically in their tendency to specialize; and (b) a change in the tendency to specialize among persistent offenders. Results of the current study support earlier work finding change in the tendency to specialize among persistent offenders. Results also show that those who desist do differ in their tendency to specialize in drug and miscellaneous offenses, thereby suggesting that attrition will influence trends in specialization for these offense types. Post hoc analyses indicate that the relative influence of changes in group composition on trends in specialization is minor.

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study: Influence of Genetic Predisposition and Chronic Stress on Risk for Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

AbstractThe Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study is a longitudinal study of biobehavioral antecedents of cardiovascular disease in youth and young adults, including around 500 twin pairs with roughly equal numbers of African Americans and European Americans. Focus of study includes the longitudinal change in relative influence of genetic and environmental factors (especially chronic stress) on development of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Approaches include quantitative genetic modeling of phenotypic twin data as well as the examination of the influence of polymorphic variation in candidate genes and their potential interaction with environmental factors on these risk factors. Future work will expand the scope of the study to investigating the impact of chronic stress as measured by indices of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system on preclinical markers of cardiovascular disease, essential hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study: Influence of Genetic Predisposition and Chronic Stress on Risk for Cardiovascular Disease and Type 2 Diabetes

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study is a longitudinal study of biobehavioral antecedents of cardiovascular disease in youth and young adults, including around 500 twin pairs with roughly equal numbers of African Americans and European Americans. Focus of study includes the longitudinal change in relative influence of genetic and environmental factors (especially chronic stress) on development of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Approaches include quantitative genetic modeling of phenotypic twin data as well as the examination of the influence of polymorphic variation in candidate genes and their potential interaction with environmental factors on these risk factors. Future work will expand the scope of the study to investigating the impact of chronic stress as measured by indices of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system on preclinical markers of cardiovascular disease, essential hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

Phase relationships between fine sediment suspensions and tidal currents in coastal seas

In shelf and coastal waters, point measurements of fine suspended sediment concentrations commonly display phase and frequency differences with respect to local current forcing. Phase shifts are often attributed to tidal advection and slow‐settling velocities of cohesive sediments. The phase relationship between tidal current speeds and near‐bed mud concentrations obtained at a site off the east coast of England is investigated. A simple depth‐averaged advection‐diffusion model is introduced and used to explore the influence of relative changes in settling, advection, and local erosion on the temporal evolution of suspension events. The model includes two source terms: local resuspension in phase with current speed and advection of a horizontal gradient in phase with tidal displacement. Incorporating a settling (or sink) term introduces a negative or positive phase shift in the advection or resuspension term, respectively. The settling term accounts for the vertical structure of suspension and becomes important at slack water when the near‐bed concentration, and thus deposition, rapidly increases. Model results are compared with suspended mud concentration data to help explain the observed phase relationships between concentration and current speed.

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study.

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study is a longitudinal study of biobehavioral antecedents of cardiovascular disease in youth. It includes roughly equal numbers of African Americans and European Americans, with a total of > 500 twin pairs. Focus of the study is the change in relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on development of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Future work will explore the influence of polymorphic variation in candidate genes and their potential interaction with the environment on these risk factors.

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study

The Georgia Cardiovascular Twin Study is a longitudinal study of biobehavioral antecedents of cardiovascular disease in youth. It includes roughly equal numbers of African Americans and European Americans, with a total of > 500 twin pairs. Focus of the study is the change in relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on development of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Future work will explore the influence of polymorphic variation in candidate genes and their potential interaction with the environment on these risk factors.