Clear Leader Research Articles

Recovery of Abies alba and Picea abies saplings to browsing and frost damage depends on seed source.

The density of wild ungulates has increased in the last century, and browsing has become a major driver of forest succession in the northern hemisphere. In addition, tree species are expected to respond differently to future climate conditions, especially an increased frequency of late frost events. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of intraspecific genetic variation on the recovery of two tree species to frost and browsing. An experiment with saplings from 90 Abies alba and 72 Picea abies seed sources was conducted. Five‐year‐old saplings were clipped at three intensities before budburst in spring. Growth (height, diameter, leader shoot length, and biomass) and quality (e.g. stem form, multistemming, reaction type) were assessed before and 1–2 years after clipping or 3–4 years after natural frost events, and provenance differences were related to environmental differences at the seed source. For Abies, frost and clipping resulted in reduced height growth in the first year after the stress and reduced height for two (clipping) to four (frost) vegetation periods. Sapling biomass, diameter increment, and quality decreased after heavy clipping. For Picea, which grew twice as fast as Abies, such effects were only found after frost damage. Population differences were significant for both species for all investigated growth traits and for Picea also for some quality variables. The “reaction type” after browsing (e.g. new shoot, existing twig bending upward) seems to be species specific and independent of seed source. In contrast, the time lag between clipping and formation of a clear new leader shoot increased for Abieswith lower temperatures at the seed source. Lowland populations with warmer climates grew faster, and for Picea also qualitatively better, and recovered faster from leader shoot loss (Abies) or reacted at the uppermost meristem (Picea). Thus, the investigated stressors increased the existing differences among populations.

Requiem for Rethink Robotics

Universal Robots and Rethink Robotics burst onto the scene ten years ago with seemingly similar breakthrough products—collaborative robots, or cobots—that were safe enough to work next to people on the factory floor. Rethink Robotics, however, shut its doors in October 2018 while Denmark’s Universal has become the clear cobot leader. Why did one company succeed while the other crashed and failed? In this article, robotics experts and customers tell a complicated story of how Rethink’s designs failed to meet the needs of its target market.

The development characteristics of the discontinuous leader under the positive switching impulse with low rate of voltage rising

Discontinuous leader development is the most important discharge process under the application of the switching impulse voltage with the low rate of voltage rising, which is of great significance to study the external insulation characteristics of ultra-high voltage (UHV) large scale air gap. Based on the CMOS high-speed camera, a discharge test with different operating impulse voltage is carried out by constructing a comprehensive observation platform of rod-plate air gap discharge, and a clear discontinuous leader development process picture is captured. Moreover, the leader current, injection charge and leader channel unit length charge, and their characteristics of the change trend are also obtained. Further analysis based on the experimental results shows that the discontinuous leader development under the action of the impulse voltage with low rate of voltage rising has two different laws. Finally, this paper uses the thermodynamic equation, combined with the test results, the channel temperature changes in the discontinuous leader development stagnation stage were calculated. The results show that the leader channel temperature is still greater than 1500 K in the hundreds of microsecond time scales in the leader stagnation stage, and the subsequent leader can continue to develop on the original leader channel.

E-COMMERCE MARKET IN EUROPE IN B2C

The paper presents the changes that have taken place in the E-commerce market in Europe. The European B2C e-commerce sales have been steadily growing since 2011. Still, the growth rate has decreased the last few years, from 18.4% in 2011 to 13.3% in 2015 and 12% in 2016. The value of market in 2016 was Euro 509.9 billion. In the category of B2C e-commerce sales, the UK was the clear leader in Europe. In 2015, the British in total spent Euro 157.1bn online, which is more than France (Euro 64.9bn), Germany (Euro 59.7bn) and Russia (Euro 20.5bn) combined. In addition, the share of the UK was more than twice as much as all the other countries outside the top 10 combined. It was found that E-commerce market developed faster than economy but was dependent from her.

Electric-Energy Systems of Dynamic-Positioning Drilling Vessels

This article considers the characteristic features of the electric-energy systems of the dynamicpositioning drilling vessels Stena Drillmax of Samsung Heavy Industry dockyard, Discoverer Clear Leader of DSME-DAEWOO shipbuilding and Marine Engineering dockyard, and Pacific Scirocco of Maersk Viking dockyard. The electric-energy systems of the drilling vessels include four to eight generator sets connected to the main electric switchboards located in isolated machine compartments separated from each other by watertight and fire-resistant bulkheads to increase the survivability. The propulsion system includes, as a rule, six azimuth thrusters with semiconductor frequency converters. The main ways in which modernization is carried out of drilling-vessel electric-energy systems are to ensure the operation of the vessel power plants on a common bus without reducing the reliability of the power supply of the positioning system and realizing the idea of the split power islands in the electric-energy system using a modernized monitoring and protection system for diesel generators (AGS, AGP blocks), a system of electrical distribution, and a more efficient algorithm of functioning of the PMS automation system, which in the case of the accident allows localizing the emergency area within one main switchboard without deenergization.

Price strategies by German and British tour operators in Mallorca

Abstract This paper analyses the price strategies used by major German and British tour operators for holiday packages in Mallorca. The analysis differentiates package holidays by price (cheap, mid price and expensive), first trying to identify the existence of different strategies for each price level and, second, whether these price strategies have changed during the recent economic crisis. The main results show that, in the German market, there is a clear market leader, while, in the British market, no price leader can be observed. The two markets have reacted differently to the economic crisis. In the German market, the leader-follower model was maintained. In the British market, the economic crisis has led to a more uniform price distribution, with reductions in the prices of cheaper holidays and price rises in the case of the top end of the market. The results were obtained by estimating a hedonic price model using quantile regressions.

Improving Interprofessional Communication Utilizing Obstetric Simulation Training

BACKGROUND: Effective interprofessional communication requires clear, concise, and respectful participation from each provider. Simulation has been shown to improve teamwork and patient safety in nonobstetric fields. Whether the benefit of interdisciplinary participation in simulation extends to the obstetric population is unknown. METHODS: We conducted a prospective educational trial involving obstetric residents and L&D nurses. Participants were administered a pretest examining their perception of interprofessional communication and cooperation with responses measured on a Likert scale. Participants then underwent an obstetric simulation, watched their video-taped performance, participated in a structured debrief and educational session, and then repeated the simulation. Following the simulation, they were administered a posttest to assess changes in their perception of communication and cooperation. RESULTS: Eighteen L&D nurses and 17 obstetric residents participated in the trial. Following simulation, participants were more likely to report that they feel respect from other providers (P=.0087), use closed-loop communication (P<.001), designate a clear leader (P=.0009), read back verbal orders (P=.0002), conduct a nonaccusatory debrief (P=.0491), and view both their communication and communication from others as clear and effective (P=.0043 and P=.0042, respectively). DISCUSSION: Obstetric simulation can be used to improve effective interprofessional communication and cooperation. Continued use of interdisciplinary simulation in obstetrics should be encouraged to promote a commitment to patient safety.

The Religious Dimension of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement

[The Umbrella Revolution] is a movement without a clear leader, one in which crowds of largely young people are organizing themselves and acting on their own, overtaking months of planning by veterans of the city’s pro-democracy camp.1 Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy, “Hong Kong Protests are Leaderless but Orderly,” New York Times, September 30, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/world/asia/in-hong-kong-clean-and-polite-but-a-protest-nonetheless.html?_r=0. The party-state is concerned by the fact that Protestants draw their moral compass from a transnationalized source outside its control. Prominent Christian involvement in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement, just across the border from the mainland, serves to exacerbate this sense of nervousness.2 Phil Entwistle, “Bypassing the Party-State? The Implications of Urban Protestant Growth in China,” China Monitor 30 (2015): 7, www.merics.org/en/redirect/pdf-china-monitor-nummer-30-en.html. The preceding statements by Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy and by Phil Entwistle are indicative of the highly diverging viewpoints about the organizational nature of Hong Kong’s Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) civil disobedience campaign, also known as the Umbrella Movement (UM). While Buckley and Ramzy described the OCLP/UM as secular and leaderless, Entwistle has pointed out that Christian leaders actually played a significant role in it. We agree that the aims of the movement were indeed secular, for its key demands included both universal suffrage for electing Hong Kong’s chief executive and constitutional reform aimed at making the territory’s parliament, the Legislative Council (LegCo), more representative. At the same time, the OCLP/UM’s most important leaders were religious people whose justifications for direct political action had religious origins. Despite differences among the various competing Christian religious groups—Catholic, Protestant, and Methodist—a significant ecumenical alliance of Hong Kong Christians supported the OCLP/UM. The movement thus had a religious dimension that needs to be acknowledged.

Social Policy's ‘Greatest Hits’

AbstractThe ‘age of metrics’ or ‘the metric tide’ in the form of bibliometrics has largely by‐passed Social Policy. This study aims to broaden the focus from the most cited articles in Social Policy journals to discover the most cited works in Social Policy or ‘Social Policy's Greatest Hits’. It finds some 24 works with over 2000 Google Scholar citations, but only nine of these are by social policy writers. In terms of total citations, Gosta Esping‐Andersen's The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism is the clear leader by a significant margin, with the most cited Social Policy (or Social Administration) writers being Peter Townsend, Richard Titmuss, Ruth Lister and Jane Lewis. In addition to total citations, it presents citations per year, and ‘Social Policy citations’ (i.e. the use made of the work within the discipline of Social Policy). This list is headed by Gosta Esping‐Andersen and Paul Pierson, with the leading social policy writer being Jane Lewis. This article presents a set of the ‘most plausible contenders’ for the works with greatest influence within Social Policy or ‘Social Policy's Greatest Hits’. It is concluded that, even with its flaws, bibliometrics is an important approach to exploring the vast field of Social Policy.

Refractive IOL Pipeline: Innovations, Predictions, and Needs

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of published literature evaluating new refractive intraocular lenses (IOLs). Six categories of refractive IOLs are either currently commercialized in various regions (notably Europe) or under investigation for the treatment of presbyopia. No single category has emerged as a clear market leader, re-emphasizing the need for surgeons to individualize their treatment approaches. The newest refractive IOLs provide good outcomes with minimal complications. However, the categories studied each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Despite advancements, there are still significant opportunities to meet the unmet refractive needs through additional research and development in intraocular lenses.

Fifty years of hemodialysis access literature: The fifty most cited publications in the medical literature.

Objectives The modern era of hemodialysis access surgery began with the publication in 1966 by Brescia et al. describing the use of a surgically created arteriovenous fistula. Since then, the number of patients on chronic hemodialysis and the number of publications dealing with hemodialysis access have steadily increased. We have chronicled the increase in publications in the medical literature dealing with hemodialysis access by evaluating the characteristics of the 50 most cited articles. Methods We queried the Science Citation Index from the years 1960-2014. Articles were selected based on a subject search and were ranked according to the number of times they were cited in the medical literature. Results The 50 most frequently cited articles were selected for further analysis and the number of annual publications was tracked. The landmark publication by Dr Brescia et al. was unequivocally the most cited article dealing with hemodialysis access (1109 citations). The subject matter of the papers included AV fistula and graft (9), hemodialysis catheter (9), complications and outcomes (24), and other topics (8). Most articles were published in nephrology journals (33), with fewer in surgery (7), medicine (7), and radiology (3) journals. Of the 17 journals represented, Kidney International was the clear leader, publishing 18 articles. There has been an exponential rise in the frequency of publications regarding dialysis access with 42 of 50 analyzed papers being authored after 1990. Conclusion As the number of patients on hemodialysis has increased dramatically over the past five decades, there has been a commensurate increase in the overall number of publications related to hemodialysis access.

A note on modeling world equity markets with nonsynchronous data

We investigate information transmission in world equity markets using lengthy time series of daily data for nine developed equity markets over the 1999–2014 (post-Euro) time interval. Three nine-variable systems are examined, including stock indexes in both local currency and US dollars plus foreign exchange rates. After finding only weak evidence of cointegration in the three nine-variable systems, vector autoregression models are used to identify which price indexes drive the others. Our initial tests are consistent with earlier findings; that is, the US market appears to be the clear price leader. However, after constructing alternative models with the US data series lagged one period (making it the first market reported each day rather than the last), the results are reversed; the US is no longer the price leader. The US market is driven by nearly all other markets, while making little or no impact on the others. Thus, in earlier studies using nonsynchronous data reported by calendar date, it only appears that the US drives other stock markets, when in fact the US is merely an equal participant in information transmission around the world.

Participants' perceptions of an intervention implemented in an Action Research Nursing Documentation Project.

The aim of this study is to describe healthcare professionals' experiences and perceptions of an intervention implemented in an action research project conducted to improve nursing documentation practices in four municipalities in Norway. Documentation of individualized patient care is a continuing concern in healthcare services and could impacts the quality and safety of healthcare. Use of electronic systems has made some aspects of documentation more comprehensive, but creation of an individualized care plan remains a pressing issue. A qualitative descriptive design was used. An action research project was conducted between 2010-2012 to improve the content and quality of nursing documentation in community healthcare services in four municipalities. One year after the project was completed four focus group interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals, one for each involved municipality. Two unit managers were interviewed individually. Qualitative content analysis was used. Three themes emerged: healthcare professionals perceived competing interest; they experienced that they had to manage complexity and changes; and they highlighted a clear and visible leader as important for success. Quality improvement activities are essential. Healthcare professionals experience a complicated situation when electronic health record systems do not support workflow. Further research is recommended to focus on the functionality and user interface of electronic health record systems, and on the role of leadership when implementing changes in clinical practice. Stronger cooperation among policymakers, electronic health record system vendors, and healthcare professionals is essential for improving electronic health record systems and documentation practices. Involvement of end-users in these improvements can make a difference in the way the systems are perceived in the clinical workflow.

Partnerships in global health and collaborative governance: lessons learnt from the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine at the Geneva University Hospitals.

BackgroundIn 2007 the “Crisp Report” on international partnerships increased interest in Northern countries on the way their links with Southern partners operated. Since its establishment in 2007 the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine at the Geneva University Hospitals has developed a variety of partnerships. Frameworks to assess these partnerships are needed and recent attention in the field of public management on collaborative governance may provide a useful approach for analyzing international collaborations.MethodsProjects of the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine were analyzed by collaborators within the Division using the model proposed by Emerson and colleagues for collaborative governance, which comprises different components that assess the collaborative process.ResultsInternational projects within the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine can be divided into four categories: Human resource development; Humanitarian response; Neglected Tropical Diseases and Noncommunicable diseases. For each of these projects there was a clear leader from the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine as well as a local counterpart. These individuals were seen as leaders both due to their role in establishing the collaboration as well as their technical expertise. Across these projects the actual partners vary greatly. This diversity means a wide range of contributions to the collaboration, but also complexity in managing different interests. A common definition of the collaborative aims in each of the projects is both a formal and informal process. Legal, financial and administrative aspects of the collaboration are the formal elements. These can be a challenge based on different administrative requirements. Friendship is part of the informal aspects and helps contribute to a relationship that is not exclusively professional.ConclusionUsing collaborative governance allows the complexity of managing partnerships to be presented. The framework used highlights the process of establishing collaborations, which is an element often negated by other more traditional models used in international partnerships. Applying the framework to the projects of the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine highlights the importance of shared values and interests, credibility of partners, formal and informal methods of management as well as friendship.

Task complexity and shared value orientation: exploring the moderators of a social dilemma in team social networks

Although it is often in the interest of individuals to implement networking strategies that erode their team’s social capital, it is unclear under what conditions such a social dilemma is more or less likely to occur. We focus on brokerage and closure as two dimensions of social structure where tension arises between individual networking strategies and team performance. Adopting a multilevel perspective, and focusing on closed teams with the presence of a clear leader, we analyze two complementary moderators of this social dilemma that are fundamental to the existence of teams: the task complexity facing the team under consideration, and the individualist versus collectivist shared value orientation of its members. We find that an increase in either of these makes the social dilemma more likely to occur. Counterintuitive conclusions pertaining to these moderators are discussed.

FEDERAL SUPPORT OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY IN THE UNITED STATES: CURRENT EVOLUTION UNDER THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE

2000’s and 2010’s witnessed diminishing margin of the United States in science and technology. Meanwhile, the U.S. remains a clear leader in this fi eld. Major driving force of the country’s success in the second half of the ХХ century remained assertive federal science policy. The article seeks to identify major trends in evolution of the U.S. science policy and the reasons behind relative decline of the level of budget support of the scientifi c research. The author studies evolution of the policies of George Bush and Barack Obama, as well as the views of Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The article also examines the input into the federal policy of the governmental bodies, which are directly responsible for its implementation, as well as non-governmental organizations, which seek to advocate interests of scientists; it studies rising competition between the executive authorities and legislators for the recognition as a major champion of the academic community as well as American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Fleet, prey, plough: exploiting economies of experience from the large WEG sector to sustain the small wind industry

The wind energy generator (WEG) manufacturing industry has split into large (above, say, 300 kW) and small (under about 100 kW in rated capacity) sectors, with their respective technology packages, research, design, assembly, logistics, clientele, marketing channels and, consequently, respective reputations. The large WEG sector is an oligopoly of about ten firms sub-categorised into 'innovators', the 'fast followers', and 'followers'. The small WEG sector, however, comprises over 300 rival firms - and an additional 300 component suppliers - mostly enthusiast-founded, funded and managed. These firms work in isolation, at very low average sales volumes, and remain acutely dependent on incentive schemes for their survival. The sector boasts no clear technology leader(s) even after 40 years of progression. The small WEG sector has remained fragile and unviable owing to the lack of scale, the dispersion in research expenditure and engineering resources, and the consequent inability to supply market-responsive products. Licensing designs and engineering from the large WEG players, co-branding and offering energy services, could help build consumer confidence and scale up sales volumes.

Price formulation and the law of one price in internationally linked markets: an examination of the natural gas markets in the USA and Canada

The degree to which the law of one price holds (integration) along with determining each individual markets’ role in price discovery is examined for 11 major natural gas markets, six from the USA and five from Canada. Deregulation, technological advances, and trade agreements have opened the USA’s and Canada’s natural gas market to new and extensive interactions. The 11 natural gas market prices are tied together with ten long-run co-integration relationships with all markets included in the co-integration space, providing evidence the markets are integrated. The degree of integration varies by region. Markets geographically adjacent to each other tend to be more highly integrated than markets separated by distance. Further results indicate that there is no clear price leader among the 11 markets. Including more US and Canadian markets than previous studies, show markets in both eastern and western USA and Canada are important in the price discovery process.

Abstract 15297: A Bundled Approach to Improving Code Team Response for In-hospital Cardiac Arrest to Decrease Overcrowding and Improve Role Clarity and Leadership

Background: Little is known about how non-technical factors such as inadequate role definition and overcrowding may impact in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) outcomes. Using a bundled intervention, we sought to decrease overcrowding while improving provider role ambiguity and leadership at IHCA events. Objective: To examine interventions targeted at decreasing overcrowding, improving role ambiguity and leadership during IHCA. Methods: As part of a performance improvement initiative, a multidisciplinary team implemented four countermeasures to improve IHCA code response: an MD/RN leadership dyad, assigned optimal team composition, scripted role definitions, and visual (stickers)/verbal (role-checks) cues. Between 4/2013-4/2014, the number and discipline of providers responding to ICHA events were recorded at each pulse check, and a 10-point Likert scale survey assessing communication and leadership was performed pre- and post-intervention. The primary outcome was the number of providers present after the role checks. Secondary outcome examined communication and leadership performance. Mann-Whitney test was used for continuous variables and chi-squared or Fischer’s exact test was used to compare categorical variables. Results: 20 pre-intervention and 34 post-intervention IHCA events were captured. During both periods, MDs and RNs comprised the majority of the total providers present (61%, 57%). The median number of MDs present in the post-intervention group was lower than in the pre-intervention group (4 (IQR 4-5) vs. 7 (IQR 5-9), p= 0.004), as was the number of total overall providers (14 (IQR 12-16) vs. 18 (IQR 14-22), p=0.04). The number of RNs did not differ post-intervention (data not shown). Survey results showed no significant differences in perceptions of communications or physician leadership post-intervention. However, the overwhelming majority of both the MD code leaders (90%) and primary nurses (97%) identified that there was a clear RN leader and rated the leadership provided by RN lead consistently high with a median score of 9 out of 10 possible points. Conclusions: Using an innovative bundle can decrease overcrowding and improve role ambiguity and leadership during non-ICU IHCA events.

Productivity of Dairy Supply Chains: A Comparative Analysis Across the Countries of the Baltic Sea Region

To explore the competitiveness of the Finnish dairy chain, we analysed its productivity performance relative to that of other Baltic countries: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, and the three Baltic states. We used partial productivity indicators and indices of total factor productivity (TFP) to investigate productivity growth and productivity levels in both dairy farming and dairy manufacturing, using data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network as well as national industrial statistics. At farm level, there are enormous differences in the level of labour productivity across the eight countries: a dairy farmer in Denmark produces 13 times more milk than one in Latvia or Lithuania. Labour productivity in Finland is also significantly lower than in the other old EU countries – not only Denmark, the clear leader, but also Germany and Sweden. Further, there is evidence that Estonia is catching up with Finland in terms of labour productivity. A decomposition analysis then shows that the cross-country differences in labour productivity on farms are driven primarily by differences in labour requirements per cow, while differences in milk yields account for a much smaller share of the difference. Thus, the key to high labour productivity in dairy is the farm structure and the adoption of mechanical innovations, while differences in adoption of biological innovations (e.g., genetic improvement, feeds) are relatively less important. In a second step, a growth accounting exercise indicates that growth in farm-level production in the four older EU members has occurred through different channels, but that TFP growth rates have been roughly comparable from 1995 to 2010. Thus, the competitive position of Finnish dairy farms relative to those in Sweden, Germany and Denmark has not changed greatly over the last two decades. More positively, we find that in recent years (i.e., since 2004), TFP on Finnish farms has grown much faster than on German and Swedish farms. Altogether, Finnish farms appear in the process of raising their productivity to the level achieved by German and Swedish farms, while Danish farms are probably out of reach. Extending the comparison to include the new EU members reveals that dairy farms in those countries are lagging behind Finnish ones in terms of productivity and are not catching up. Although Estonian farms, which are on average relatively large, have recorded impressive increases in yields and labour productivity, this has been achieved more by substitutions of other production factors for labour than real efficiency gains. The processing level of the Finnish dairy supply chain appears more competitive when benchmarked against the processing sectors of the old EU members, although TFP growth has been slow in absolute terms. However, the productivity of dairy manufacturing in Poland and Lithuania is increasing rapidly and converging towards the levels observed in the older EU countries. Overall, the evolution documented in the paper is consistent with the view that transferring technologies and organisational forms from the productivity leaders to the productivity “laggards” is easier in the manufacturing sector than in primary production, due to the typical difference in the size of firms as well as the more pronounced reliance of the primary sector on country-specific agro-ecological conditions.