Hierarchical Factors Research Articles

AN IDENTIFICATION APPROACH OF TECHNICALLY EFFICIENT CATEGORY FOR CONTROLLABLE, CATEGORICAL FACTORS IN PRODUCTION AND AN APPLICATION TO A PRODUCTION PROCESS

This paper suggests a new DEA-based approach to the identification of the efficient category value for controllable categorical factors when controllable categorical factors are involved in the DMU's production process. Though the main objective of this approach is to identify the efficient category value for nonhierarchical categorical factors, it can also be employed to identify the efficient category value for hierarchical categorical factors without any large adjustment. This new approach is applied to an empirical data from an Agricultural Resource Management Survey for soybean production in Pennsylvania. The result of the empirical application illustrates how our approach leads us to the efficient category value of categorical factors by using both radial measure and nonradial measure. Moreover, it shows us the existence of substantial heterogeneity in the use of categorical factors and the opportunity of improvement in DMUs' selection of category value for categorical factors.

Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix and Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism

Flavor mixings together with fermion mass spectra are studied in detail in the $SU(6) \times SU(2)_R$ model, in which state-mixings beyond the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) take place. Characteristic patterns of fermion spectra are attributed to the hierarchical structure of effective Yukawa interactions via the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism and also to the state-mixings beyond the MSSM. It is shown explicitly that the neutrino mass matrix in the mass diagonal basis for charged leptons has no hierarchical structure. This is due to the cancellation among the hierarchical factors by the seesaw mechanism with the hierarchical Majorana mass matrix of $R$-handed neutrinos. As a consequence, $V_{\rm MNS}$ exhibits large mixing. It is found that observed values of the Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix elements are reproduced successfully.

Hierarchical factors impacting the distribution of an invasive species: landscape context and propagule pressure

Distribution of invasive species is the outcome of several processes that interact at different hierarchical levels. A hierarchical approach is taken here to analyze the landscape level distribution pattern of Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), an aggressive wetland invader. Using land use/land cover (LULC) data and loosestrife presence records we were able to identify and characterize the key processes that resulted in the observed large-scale distribution. Herbaceous wetlands, edges of open water sites, and developed open spaces were identified as loosestrife’s preferred LULC types. Analysis of spatial neighborhoods of these key land cover types revealed that disturbance modified open water edges and herbaceous wetlands were more likely to be invaded by loosestrife. Moreover, developed open spaces appear to hold loosestrife only if there is water rich conditions in the immediate neighborhood. Neighborhood analyses also showed that wetlands and open water edges embedded within a neighborhood matrix of grassland and agricultural environments is less likely to contain loosestrife. Finally, there is strong evidence of propagule pressure. Open water edges and wetlands invaded by loosestrife had on an average more loosestrife as neighbors than uninvaded lake edges and wetlands. Taken together, it is apparent that loosestrife’s landscape level distribution is the outcome of three nested hierarchical factors: habitat preference, the spatial neighborhood and propagule pressure. The patterns characterized suggests that occurrence of an invasive species is not merely contingent on availability of suitable habitat but is also influenced by human actions within its proximity, and is further constrained by dispersal limitation.

Structural marginalisation among the long-term care workforce in England: evidence from mixed-effect models of national pay data

ABSTRACTThe long-term care sector is generally characterised by low pay and difficult working conditions. Understanding pay structures and differentials within this sector is important in enhancing recruitment, retention, quality of care and productivity. This article uses new national data on the long-term care workforce in England to investigate employer and individual effects on pay levels and differentials, using mixed-effects modelling controlling for region, sector and employer hierarchical factors. We further examine whether gender and ethnic pay gaps exist among different groups of workers. The results indicate a significant relationship between sector and pay across different job roles. The analysis further identifies ethnic and gender pay differences even after controlling for the effects of sector and individual employers. The implications of this are discussed in relation to sustaining the care workforce in the context of an ageing society and the potential for structural employment marginalisation to reflect the marginalisation of older people receiving care.

Hierarchical structuring success factors of project stakeholder management in the construction organization

Stakeholder management is essential for project success. Previous studies have explored project stakeholder management process and the success factors while the practice is unsatisfactory. Few have further explored the interrelationships of the success factors, which is obstructive to the in-depth understanding of project stakeholder management. This paper employs interpretative structural modeling (ISM) to develop the hierarchical structure and investigate the interrelationships of these success factors. Moreover, matrice d’impacts croises-multiplication applique a un classemen (MICMAC) analysis is conducted to identify the dependency and driving power of the success factors. ISM, as well as MICMAC analysis, provides a useful tool for practitioners to understand success factors for stakeholder management in construction. This study discovered that 6 factors among 16 factors have a weak dependent power but a strong driving power while 6 factors have a strong dependent power but a weak driving power. Managing stakeholders with social responsibility, keeping and promoting a good relationship, and communicating with and engaging stakeholder properly and frequently have been found to have the highest dependence on the other factors and have been placed on the top level of the hierarchical structure. The results facilitate the managers to gain an in-depth understanding of project stakeholder management and pay due attention to achieve the success. It can also be generalized to provide good references for investigation of success factors for project stakeholder management in other countries. Key words: Stakeholder management, project organization, success factors, interpretative structural modeling (ISM), matrice d’impacts croises-multiplication applique a un classemen (MICMAC) analysis, China.

Precedent Usage and Reliance: From Briefs to the Final Opinion

This paper examines several state high courts across a range of private torts cases over six years. The research question of interest is the influence that appellant/appellee briefs have on precedents that state high courts use in their opinions. I utilize a theory of motivated reasoning as a way to integrate several factors that may influence how courts utilize precedents. In particular, I examine several possible sources of motivated reasoning: ideological influences, legal influences, and hierarchical influences. My dependent variables are whether the court cites a precedent that is listed in a brief and how they treat the precedent substantively. I test my research hypotheses using several statistical methodologies: multinomial logit, and logit models with controls for the individual case. I find moderate to strong support for all of my research hypotheses, including the influence of ideological factors, legal factors, and hierarchical factors.

The cultural heterogeny of project firms and project teams

PurposeThe purpose this paper is to examine a prevailing assumption that the culture of organisations is homogenous. It explores the culture of one project organisation with multiple offices.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative questionnaire and qualitative research method of cultural immersion was used. The ethnographic Douglas grid‐group was used to filter the findings: isolate, competitive, hierarchical and egalitarian positions. Hofstede's dimensions were overlaid to enhance the analysis.FindingsThe research found distinct cultural differences in the same organisation. Competitive and hierarchical factors are found with some evidence of egalitarian behaviours. Regional cultural factors affected behaviour and organisational practices. Individuals actively negotiated dominant behaviours and cultural norms. The Hofstede dimensions are in evidence around roles and functions. The findings showed a stronger influence from the dominant social culture of the region than the organisational culture.Research limitations/implicationsOrganisations cannot be assumed as homogeneous. The influence of the dominant social culture and competing cultural influences within organisation requires further analysis.Practical implicationsGenerating a coherent organisational culture with aligned norms is a difficult management problem, especially for an organisation with multiple offices. Establishing consistent norms also poses challenges for the management of projects.Originality/valueThe tendency to assume cultural homogeneity requires closer attention in organisational research and practice. This paper employed a unique combination of methods to explore the issue. The primary contribution is a demonstration of the need for practitioners and researchers to pay more attention to the dynamic formation and effects of culture in organisations and for projects.

Relationship and Accountability: Tensions in Feminist Supervision

A challenge in clinical supervision is balancing tension between fostering a collaborative supervisory relationship and maintaining supervisory accountability. In feminist supervision this tension is heightened by virtue of its contextual, collaborative, and interpersonal qualities. What distinguishes feminist supervision is the intent to address hierarchical factors and examine their impact rather than simply exercise authority and the intent to honor the explicit commitment to the areas of mutuality possible in the relationship. Reflection and elaboration of tensions and potential conflicting roles are part of feminist supervisors' role definition. Feminist supervision models explicate the impact of such power and relationship on the supervisory process. The purpose of this paper is to describe the tensions and possible interventions to structure the relationship effectively, elucidating supervisory power and accountability in the era of competency-based clinical supervision. Drawing on best practices in clinical supervision, including supervisory alliance, informed consent, and role elucidation provides pathways for maximum respectful collaboration in the context of accountability. The areas in which best practices are not being met in actual practice are also highlighted.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER WITHIN MNES: INTER-SUBSIDIARY COMPETITION AND COOPERATION

Much theory and research that seeks to explain why and how technology transfers occur within multinational enterprises (MNEs) actually addresses the question of how these transfers occur among cooperative subsidiaries, and relies on the assumption of inter-subsidiary cooperation. However, subsidiaries do not always cooperate. We suggest that the success of technology transfer among subsidiaries depends on the extent to which the relationships among an MNE's subsidiaries (i.e. intersubsidiary) are competitive or cooperative. Inter-subsidiary cooperation is determined by the MNE's international strategy, organizational structure, and the social relationships among subsidiaries. Both hierarchical and social relational factors drive the potential for inter-subsidiary multimarket competition that originates from the overlap on the subsidiaries' products, technologies, and market portfolios.

Profiling Organisational Commitment

The main objectives of this study were to compare Organisational Commitment for the employees in service and manufacturing public sector organisations, to see the association between subscales of organizational commitment and to compare these dimensions of organizational commitment vis-à-vis different psycho-demographic factors of the employees. The scope of the study was Public Sector Organisations belonging to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. The sample comprised of 225 respondents drawn from eight public sector organisations, 2 each from Engineering, Textile, Banking and Insurance sectors, to represent the Manufacturing and Service Sector organizations adequately. Comparisons made on the basis of hierarchical levels and other psycho-demographic factors make the study comprehensive. The results revealed a very significant but weak positive correlation between three subscales of Organisational Commitment. Almost all other null hypotheses concerning level of Organisational Commitment vis-à-vis failed to be rejected unlike previous similar studies.

Patterns of variation across primates in jaw-muscle electromyography during mastication

Biologists that study mammals continue to discuss the evolution of and functional variation in jaw-muscle activity during chewing. A major barrier to addressing these issues is collecting sufficient in vivo data to adequately capture neuromuscular variation in a clade. We combine data on jaw-muscle electromyography (EMG) collected during mastication from 14 species of primates and one of treeshrews to assess patterns of neuromuscular variation in primates. All data were collected and analyzed using the same methods. We examine the variance components for EMG parameters using a nested ANOVA design across successive hierarchical factors from chewing cycle through species for eight locations in the masseter and temporalis muscles. Variation in jaw-muscle EMGs was not distributed equally across hierarchical levels. The timing of peak EMG activity showed the largest variance components among chewing cycles. Relative levels of recruitment of jaw muscles showed the largest variance components among chewing sequences and cycles. We attribute variation among chewing cycles to (1) changes in food properties throughout the chewing sequence, (2) variation in bite location, and (3) the multiple ways jaw muscles can produce submaximal bite forces. We hypothesize that variation among chewing sequences is primarily related to variation in properties of food. The significant proportion of variation in EMGs potentially linked to food properties suggests that experimental biologists must pay close attention to foods given to research subjects in laboratory-based studies of feeding. The jaw muscles exhibit markedly different variance components among species suggesting that primate jaw muscles have evolved as distinct functional units. The balancing-side deep masseter (BDM) exhibits the most variation among species. This observation supports previous hypotheses linking variation in the timing and activation of the BDM to symphyseal fusion in anthropoid primates and in strepsirrhines with robust symphyses. The working-side anterior temporalis shows a contrasting pattern with little variation in timing and relative activation across primates. The consistent recruitment of this muscle suggests that primates have maintained their ability to produce vertical jaw movements and force in contrast to the evolutionary changes in transverse occlusal forces driven by the varying patterns of activation in the BDM.

Use of Generalized Linear Mixed Models to Examine the Association between Air Pollution and Health Outcomes

Time-series and case-crossover are two techniques that are widely used for assessing the short-term impact of ambient air pollution exposure on health. The generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) methodology is proposed here to study the association between ambient air pollution and health outcomes. Poisson random-effects models are applied to analyze the clustered counts, where the groups of days, determined by the triplet <day of week, month, year>, form the clusters. The proposed technique uses a nested structure for the clusters and allows random-effects for hierarchical factors. A random intercept in the models adjusts for different levels of counts among the clusters. A fixed slope represents a common response to the exposure. The obtained results are consistent with those generated by a classical approach (for example the case-crossover technique). The GLMM technique is a valid alternative methodology for studying air health effects.

A multi-scale study of soil macrofauna biodiversity in Amazonian pastures

The influence of three spatially hierarchical factors upon soil macrofauna biodiversity was studied in four pasture plots in eastern Amazonia. The first factor was the local depth of the soil. The second factor was the ground cover type on the soil samples (bare ground, grass tufts, dead trees lying on the ground). The third factor was the dimensions of the grass tufts sampled (size and shape). The effect of each factor upon the morphospecies richness and density of total soil macrofauna was analysed. Detailed results are given for earthworms, termites, ants, beetles and spiders. All factors significantly affected the morphospecies richness and/or density of the soil macrofauna. The type of ground cover had the strongest influence, affecting the total richness and density of the soil macrofauna and of almost all the groups represented. The soil depth affected only the density of the termites and the global morphospecies richness. Interactions between soil depth and ground cover type affected the total macrofauna morphospecies richness and the density of the earthworms. The dimensions of the grass tuft influenced the global morphospecies richness, the morphospecies richness of the ants and the density of the spiders.

Integrating concepts and tests of intelligence from the differential and developmental traditions

This study aimed to test a possible convergence in the structure of cognitive abilities as specified by classic psychometric theory and two neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, namely the theories of Case and Demetriou. A large test battery was constructed which contained items from the WISC-Rc, from Case's and from Demetriou's previous research. The battery comprised five subscales that were intended to assess spatial, quantitative, verbal/propositional, qualitative/analytic (categorical), and causal thought. It was given to 120 7- to 10-year-old children. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered five factors, which were interpreted as representing spatial, quantitative, social/verbal, logical/analytic, and causal thought. These same five factors emerged when the analysis was rerun on the age-partialled correlation matrix. Confirmatory factor analysis validated this structure and also indicated that a general factor was needed to account for performance on the battery as a whole. The relative contribution of the general and specific factors for each task was determined using the Schmid–Leiman method of orthogonalization for hierarchical factors. The results were interpreted to suggest that Demetriou's theory of specialized capacity spheres, Case's theory of central conceptual structures (CCSs), and the classic psychometric notion of hierarchically nested general and specific abilities can be integrated into a comprehensive system. A brief outline of such a system was presented, and its possible merits outlined.

Hierarchical Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Revised Personal Style Inventory: Evidence for the Multidimensionality Problem of Perfectionism

Autonomy and sociotropy, reflecting excessive concern about autonomous achievement and interpersonal relationships, respectively, have been proposed as the two personality dimensions that prompt vulnerability to depression. Accordingly, several self-report questionnaires have been developed to measure these two dimensions. The revised Personal Style Inventory (PSI) represents a significant improvement over existing measures in that it assesses entire domains of autonomy and sociotropy. However, the PSI’s usefulness has been undermined by its unclear factor structure. Using 574 college students in Korea, the present study examined the factor structure of the revised PSI using hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis. Several first-order and two two-factor hierarchical models were tested, with a hierarchical model specifying perfectionism as associated with both hierarchical factors (Autonomy and Sociotropy) deemed the best fitting.

The effects of causal relations and hierarchical position on the importance of story statements

The role that structural properties of a narrative text play in determining the importance of its statements was investigated. The level of goals and outcomes was varied over two episodic structures: hierarchical and sequential. Hierarchical structure is defined in terms of an embedded goal structure in which failure to attain a goal creates a lower-level goal. The lower-level goal must then be achieved in order to satisfy the higher-level goal. The hierarchical stories have three levels of such goals. In contrast, in the sequential structure the same goals are satisfied in a sequential manner. Causal connectivity of goal statements was varied orthogonally to their level. This was accomplished by increasing or decreasing the number of actions motivated by goals over the three episodic levels in the hierarchical stories. Judges rated the importance of identical statements in the resulting structures. The judged importance of a goal statement increased strongly as its number of causal relations increased, independent of its hierarchical level. Hierarchical level, however, did not affect the judged importance of goal statements. In contrast, outcome statements were affected by both factors. The importance of the lower-level outcome was determined by the number of connections of its associated goal. In addition, the importance of the outcomes increased as they ascended in the hierarchy. Lastly, failed outcomes were judged more important when they caused the establishment of new goals than when they did not, indicating another contribution of causal connectivity. These results implicate causal as well as hierarchical factors in determining the role that a statement plays in a narrative text. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to models of story representation.

Decomposition of the difference between two rates with hierarchical factors

A decomposition method for the difference between two rates when data are classified by two factors, one of which may be considered as a more direct factor than the other for the event under consideration, is presented in this paper. The two factors are treated as hierarchical and thus this method is conceptually different from the decomposition methods of Kitagawa (1955) and Das Gupta (1978), in which two factors are treated as symmetrical. Our method is shown to be a balanced version of the Cho-Retherford (1973) decomposition method. Analyses of neonatal mortality rates using our method are presented as an example.

Influence of physical fitness on second- and third-order personality factors using orthogonal and oblique rotations.

The study investigated the relationship between physical fitness and personality variables at second- and third-order factor-analytic structures. Further, the stability of the factor structures at pre- and post-physical fitness program tests was examined by orthogonal and oblique rotations. Physical fitness and personality data were collected on 56 middle-aged males. The fitness and personality variables were factor analyzed and rotated orthogonally and obliquely by the principal axis form of solution. As a result, five second-order factors were extracted, both initially and finally. Factor scores were estimated for each S on each of the second-order factors, and data were factor analyzed to extract the third-order factors. The second-order factors closely resembled Cattell's factors, but subtle differences were found to exist between initial and final factor structures that may have been due to the influence of the fitness program. Two third-order factors were extracted initially and three finally when the factor scores were rotated orthogonally and obliquely, and physical fitness was associated with two of these hierarchical factors both initially and finally. The hierarchical factor structures appeared to be comparable to the scales of Eysenck. On the basis of the present findings it was concluded that the problem of rotation was not of importance and scientifically uninteresting and that the hierarchical factor solutions were highly stable. Further, it appears that the hierarchical levels of personality are manifested in two syndromes confounded by "traits" and "states" of personality. These two syndromes are Introversion vs. Extraversion and Neuroticism vs. Stability. The extraction of additional factors, such as Low Superego Strength vs. High Superego Strength, as in this study, is completely dependent upon the treatment or conditions superimposed.