Levels Of Environmental Complexity Research Articles

Design teams and industry life cycles: The interplay of innovation and complexity

AbstractThis paper studies how innovation teams can be optimally configured to yield the best possible performance at different stages of a certain technology's life cycle, which correspond to different levels of environmental complexity. To conduct our analysis, we have employed computational simulations of communities searching NK landscapes at varying levels of complexity. We studied how the relative proportion of exploring agents to exploiting agents in a community impacts the evolution of scores over time, and conducted additional investigations into the role of specialization (i.e., the agents' propensity to take their preferred action) and density (i.e., the expected width of social groups within the community).We discover that majority‐explorer teams are to be preferred when complexity is high and over the long run, whereas majority‐exploiter teams are more effective in the short run and at low complexities. Furthermore, we show that higher levels of specialization yield better results at higher complexities, and that majority‐explorer teams benefit the most from higher levels of density. We conclude that different team compositions are to be preferred at different stages of maturity, and that selecting a time horizon for operations is of crucial importance when designing an innovation team.

EFFECT OF UNPREDICTABLE CHALLENGES IN MARKET CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLEXITY

Nowadays, management is challenging with various unpredicting economic, political, and technological changes. Management controlling facing unpredictable changes, which require major adaptability. Recently, there have been major changes in the world that have an impact on the overall market culture. This study aimed to investigate market culture orientation in the context of the diversity of product requirements and the diversity of competitor strategies. Cross-sectional research was performed, using an online self-administered questionnaire. This study included 68 adult working-age participants (63.2 % males). The web-based survey included market culture and environmental complexity scope. The main findings of this study showed that there are significant relations between various market culture orientations and environmental complexity. Diversity of product requirements is related to almost all market culture orientations, except manager leadership orientation. The greater the diversity of product requirements, the greater is orientation to competitiveness, goal accomplishment and achievement, leadership, and result-oriented market culture. However, diversity of competitor strategies is related only to market leadership orientation and result-oriented market culture. These findings give insight into the importance of market culture regarding the levels of environmental complexity, which could be crucial in planning effective models of a company’s market orientation.

On-farm broiler chicken welfare assessment using transect sampling reflects environmental inputs and production outcomes.

To evaluate the utility of transect sampling for assessing animal welfare in large chicken flocks, we quantified relationships between environmental inputs, welfare problems detected using transect sampling, and production outcomes. We hypothesised that environmental inputs including environmental complexity (i.e. number of environmental enrichment types provided), space allowance, underfloor heating (presence or absence), and photoperiod regimen (18 h continuous vs 16 h intermittent) would correspond to variations in welfare assessment findings, which would predict production outcomes. We conducted on-farm welfare assessment of Norwegian broiler flocks at approximately 28 days of age. We sampled four transects (rows between feeder and drinker lines) per flock to determine litter quality and the proportions of chickens with compromised welfare as indicated by visual signs of walking difficulties, illness, skin wounds and small bird size. Production outcome measures included mortality, reasons for carcass rejection at slaughter, footpad dermatitis, growth rate, feed conversion and an integrated production index. Greater environmental complexity was associated with a reduction in skin wounds and total welfare problems on the farm, lower mortality, fewer rejections due to wounds and underweight birds, and fewer rejections overall. Higher space allowances within levels of environmental complexity were associated with fewer walking difficulties and welfare problems overall, a reduction in rejections due to wounds, and a higher growth rate and production index. Underfloor heating was associated with a reduction in rejections due to leg deformity, and intermittent light was associated with lower illness and skin wound rates on the farm, and lower mortality. Furthermore, fewer welfare problems and better litter quality on the farm were associated with fewer carcass rejections at slaughter. Thus, data from transect sampling varied with environmental inputs and production outcomes, supporting the validity of transect sampling for practical, animal-based on-farm welfare assessment.

The power of hybrid modelling: An example from aquatic ecosystems

Planktonic communities in ponds and lakes show a high annual dynamic controlled by biotic interactions, nutrients and weather. In recent years, there has been an increase in demand for realistic and accurate lake models to improve ecological management of water bodies and to answer ecotoxicological questions in aquatic risk assessment. Most existing aquatic models are either ecosystem models aimed at describing the overall ecosystem dynamics, but which are incapable of including individual life-cycles and plasticity, or very detailed and realistic individual-based models lacking an appropriate level of environmental complexity. To reconcile these concepts, we present here a modelling approach using an individual-based population model (IBM), integrated within an ecosystem lake model, to link responses at the individual and population levels. We combine an IBM for Daphnia magna (IDamP) and a complex biogeochemical lake model (StoLaM), to create the DaLaM (Daphnia Lake Model). We use DaLaM to predict population dynamics of D. magna and phytoplankton within a simplified, daphnid-dominated food web under field conditions. In DaLaM, relevant variable environmental conditions such as underwater light climate, water temperature, turbulence, and nutrient availability are realistically simulated forced by weather conditions. For model testing we used data from aquatic mesocosm field studies exhibiting variable nutrient and weather conditions and lasting from several months to 2 years. DaLaM gave improved predictions of the overall population patterns of daphnids and phytoplankton in the mesocosms in contrast to its separate submodels. This study is an example of successfully merging individual-based population models with dynamic ecosystem models utilising the accuracy of the former and the dynamic environment of the latter to simulate more realistic field populations.

Acclimation of bloom-forming and perennial seaweeds to elevated pCO2 conserved across levels of environmental complexity.

Macroalgae contribute approximately 15% of the primary productivity in coastal marine ecosystems, fix up to 27.4Tg of carbon per year, and provide important structural components for life in coastal waters. Despite this ecological and commercial importance, direct measurements and comparisons of the short-term responses to elevated pCO2 in seaweeds with different life-history strategies are scarce. Here, we cultured several seaweed species (bloom forming/nonbloom forming/perennial/annual) in the laboratory, in tanks in an indoor mesocosm facility, and in coastal mesocosms under pCO2 levels ranging from 400 to 2,000μatm. We find that, across all scales of the experimental setup, ephemeral species of the genus Ulva increase their photosynthesis and growth rates in response to elevated pCO2 the most, whereas longer-lived perennial species show a smaller increase or a decrease. These differences in short-term growth and photosynthesis rates are likely to give bloom-forming green seaweeds a competitive advantage in mixed communities, and our results thus suggest that coastal seaweed assemblages in eutrophic waters may undergo an initial shift toward communities dominated by bloom-forming, short-lived seaweeds.

Visual sampling during walking in people with Parkinson’s disease and the influence of environment and dual-task

Visuospatial dysfunction may play a crucial role in gait disturbance in Parkinson’s disease (PD), in particular how visual exploration of the environment is integrated into gait control. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that people with PD would visually sample their environment less frequently than controls when walking under different levels of environmental complexity and dual-task. We also explored associations between saccadic outcomes and clinical measures. Visual sampling (saccadic frequency) and gait were measured concurrently for 21 people with PD and 12 age-matched controls during a series of walking tasks using electrooculography (EOG) synchronised with 3D motion analysis (VICON). Participants walked under four environmental conditions during single and dual-task. Saccade frequency and task duration were measured. PD participants took longer to complete all tasks than controls (p =.004). Environment and dual-task impacted on saccadic frequency especially for PD. For both groups, saccadic frequency increased when approaching a turn compared with straight walking. Prior to turning, PD made less frequent early preparatory saccades than controls (p =.012). Under dual-task conditions, people with PD made less frequent saccades than controls when walking straight ahead (p =.040) and in preparation for a turn (p =.032). Increased saccadic frequency was related to poorer attention, cognition and spatial memory in controls and people with PD for single-task conditions but not dual-task conditions. Impaired visual sampling may contribute to the gait disorder in PD, especially when navigating through complex environments and when distracted.

Fish diversity as a determinant of ecosystem properties across multiple trophic levels

Biodiversity has been established as a potential determinant of function in many ecosystems; however, previous research has mostly focused on primary producers and effects at a single trophic level. A broader perspective that considers multiple components of food webs is necessary to understand natural systems. In particular, consumer diversity needs to be more thoroughly examined as trophic interactions and indirect effects can alter ecosystem properties. We test the potential for consumer diversity (fish richness and composition) to govern food web dynamics at two levels of environmental complexity (mesocosms and experimental ponds) and explore the consequences of removing individual species of fish on lower trophic levels. In mesocosms, both the richness and density of zooplankton were reduced when more fish species were present. No effects from the fish treatments were found on phytoplankton, but phosphorus levels increased with higher fish richness. Removing either generalist or specialist fish species increased the richness and density of zooplankton and the amount of phytoplankton, whereas all fish species had redundant effects on nutrients. In ponds, a dominant fish species (specialist shiner) determined the richness and density of zooplankton. In contrast, phytoplankton and nutrients were reduced by higher fish richness in the fall and spring. Overall, the specialist shiner had unique effects on the pond food web suggesting the key to understanding function is the presence of a dominant species and their biological interactions. Differences between mesocosms and ponds are likely due to increased heterogeneity of resources in the ponds allowing species to specialize on different prey. Our study links the biodiversity ecosystem function paradigm with food web concepts to improve predictions for conservation and management actions in response to changes in biodiversity.

New Frontiers in Industrial Organizations

This paper proposes the features of future industrial organizations in order to provide them with the abilities to manage high levels of environmental complexity in the 21st century. For such a purpose, it introduces the concept of computational organization management networks.

Navigational strategies during fast walking: A comparison between trained athletes and non-athletes

Many common activities such as walking in a shopping mall, moving in a busy subway station, or even avoiding opponents during sports, all require different levels of navigational skills. Obstacle circumvention is beginning to be understood across age groups, but studying trained athletes with greater levels of motor ability will further our understanding of skilful adaptive locomotor behavior. The objective of this work was to compare navigational skills during fast walking between elite athletes (e.g. soccer, field hockey, basketball) and aged-matched non-athletes under different levels of environmental complexity in relation to obstacle configuration and visibility. The movements of eight women athletes and eight women non-athletes were measured as they walked as fast as possible through different obstacle courses in both normal and low lighting conditions. Results showed that athletes, despite similar unobstructed maximal speeds to non-athletes, had faster walking times during the navigation of all obstructed environments. It appears that athletes can process visuo-spatial information faster since both groups can make appropriate navigational decisions, but athletes can navigate through complex, novel, environments at greater speeds. Athletes’ walking times were also more affected by the low lighting conditions suggesting that they normally scan the obstructed course farther ahead. This study also uses new objective measures to assess functional locomotor capacity in order to discriminate individuals according to their level of navigational ability. The evaluation paradigm and outcome measures developed may be applicable to the evaluation of skill level in athletic training and selection, as well as in gait rehabilitation following impairment.

The effect of prey species and environmental complexity on the functional response of Franklinothrips orizabensis: a test of the fractal foraging model

Abstract. 1. The hypothesis proposed by the fractal foraging model, that prey procurement by predators declines as habitat complexity increases, was tested. To evaluate this hypothesis, the effect of two prey species, second‐instar larvae of Scirtothrips perseae Nakahara and Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis (Bouché) (both Thysanoptera: Thripidae), and environmental complexity on the functional response of the predatory thrips Franklinothrips orizabensis Johansen (Thysanoptera: Aeolothripidae) was examined.2. The Koch curve, a well‐studied fractal, was used to generate the shapes of experimental arenas to test the effect of environmental complexity on the functional response of F. orizabensis. Complexity was defined in terms of the number of acute vertices in which prey thrips could seek refuge and the length of the perimeter that had to be searched by the predator. Four shapes were tested: a circle (zero acute vertices, circumference = 186.61 mm), equilateral triangle (three acute vertices, perimeter = 240 mm), star (six acute vertices, perimeter = 277.13 mm), and snowflake (18 acute vertices, perimeter = 333.65 mm). All shapes were scaled so that the area of each arena was 2771 mm2.3. Franklinothrips orizabensis exhibited a Type II functional response for both prey species and all four experimental arenas tested. Significantly fewer S. perseae larvae were killed in the most complex arena (i.e. the snowflake) when prey densities exceeded 16. For H. haemorrhoidalis, significant differences in mortality were observed only when prey densities equalled four. These results demonstrated that the fractal foraging model was supported when certain prey densities coincided with particular levels of environmental complexity.4. Subtle changes in environmental complexity and different prey species of varying density can affect prey–predator interactions significantly.

Towards a robust concept for modelling zooplankton migration

Abstract We develop a model framework for handling some aspects of zooplankton behaviour in biophysical simulation models. The vertical behaviour of zooplankton (their diel vertical migration pattern, or DVM) is modelled as a stimuli-response process where inputs from the environment (i.e. presence of light, food, and predators) are used as decision parameters. By use of simple artificial neural networks to control behaviour and optimising these by genetic algorithms we obtain close to optimal sets of DVM strategies. We show how adding increasing levels of environmental complexity (number of stimuli, stochasticity, and seasonality) to the model affects predicted behaviour. Within 50 generations of adaptation the model strategies perform reasonable well under the levels of environmental complexity used in simulations. The performance of strategies tended to increase with the complexity level of inputs used to control behaviour. By adapting strategies to environments with a stochastic variability we show th...

History, Social Structure and Individualism: A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Japan

This paper explores how history and social structure affect individualism in Japan. In doing so, it reports on a variety of cross-cultural studies comparing Japan with the West. Although I have been involved in most of these studies, their approaches vary markedly. They span the range from broad historical comparisons covering centuries to analyses of variance of fine-grained time samples of parent and child behavior. The disciplines involved include not only sociology, but also psychology, anthropology and history. In the course of the paper, I will use all of these different cross-cultural comparative approaches to try to gain an understanding of the differences and similarities between Japan and the West in how the place of the individual in society is viewed. There is a school of thought that takes a quite different approach - one which maintains that the Japanese are essentially different from other people - one of the most basic differences being their fundamental rejection of individualism in favor of psychological interdependency.(1) Known as Nihonjinron, those in this school tend to see Japan as essentially incomparable to other nations except in terms of the ways it is better than they are (for a critical review see Befu, 1993). This paper, on the other hand, focuses on the many historical and modem day similarities between Japan and the West. Where it finds differences it tries to explain them according to generally applicable sociological and psychological principles rather than postulating that the Japanese are somehow inherently different. Substantively, I will try to show that: I. From an historical perspective, the pattern of Japanese history is remarkably similar to that of the West. Furthermore, parallel historical periods in Japan and the West were characterized by similar levels of economic development and individualism. There are plausible reasons - involving causal interconnections among individualism, economic development and environmental complexity - for thinking that these similarities are not accidental. II. From a sociological social psychology perspective, everyday socio-environmental conditions have analogous effects in Japan and the West. In particular, complex environments have quite similar psychological effects in both settings. In both, environmental complexity increases intellectual flexibility, self-directed orientations and the value placed on individualism and autonomy. III. Japan has recently shown a rise in the level of individualistic values and an accompanying decrease in 'traditional' group-oriented ones. The evidence suggests that the Japanese have not remained impervious to factors such as rising levels of environmental complexity that increase individualistic values, orientations and behaviors. IV. The increase in individualistic behavior among Japanese mothers and their children is especially noteworthy because it contrasts with the relative lack of such behavior found in the classic comparative study of Japanese and American infant and child rearing practices carried out by William Caudill in the 1960s. This study pioneered in revealing some of the behavioral mechanisms through which cultural norms are maintained from one generation to the next by being instantiated in infant and child-rearing practices. V. In part because of behavioral modes of cultural reproduction such as Caudill described, cultural changes, such as those involving individualism in Japan, generally take place at a slower rate than socio-environmentally produced psychological changes in individuals. VI. A more general basis for the slowness in change of cultural norms such as individualism is their institutionalization in the social structure of society.(2) Institutionalization furnishes us with at least part of the reason for the greater inertia of social and cultural, as compared to individual, level phenomena. This relative slowness of cultural change accounts, at least in part, for the remaining differences between Japan and the U. …

Aggressive and affiliative behavior in green monkeys with differing housing complexity

Eleven green monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) were combined into three social groups (two heterosexual, one all-male) in enclosures with similar volume but different levels of environmental complexity (two or four compartments). Agonistic and affiliative interactions were recorded over a 21-week period. The two heterosexual groups had their environmental complexity reduced (number of compartments reduced by one-half and volume/floorspace reduced by one-third) for a 5-week period in the middle of the study. Rates of contact aggression were low throughout the study. In the group with complexity reduced to one compartment, rates of noncontact aggression and affiliative behavior increased, and remained high after complexity was restored. In the group reduced to two compartments, rates of affiliative behavior increased but rates of noncontact aggression decreased, trends which continued after complexity was restored. The all-male group exhibited low rates of affiliative behavior throughout. Two compartments appear to foster successful group formation, but any change in a group's enclosure can have long-term effects on rates of aggression. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effects of Leader Persistence and Environmental Complexity on Leadership Perceptions

The effects of managerial persistence with one course of action and environmental complexity on leadership perceptions were explored. Persistent leaders were evaluated more highly and attributed more leadership and responsibility than nonpersistent leaders, regardless of the level of environmental complexity. The results suggest that implicit beliefs about effective leader behavior may not vary across situations, thereby discouraging variety in leader behavior critical for performance in complex environments.

Effect of Age on the Performance of Laying Hens During the First Year of Production

Two hundred and seventy White Leghorn hens were used in this study. The experimental period commenced at 23 weeks of age and continued for 48 weeks. A daily light period of 14 hours was consistent for the whole experimental period. The individual hens were fed ad libitum with one of two isocaloric diets, containing 15 or 17% protein. Each feeding space provided the same level of environmental complexity and the feeder outline intentionally did not prevent visual contact across adjacent cages or cage rows and therefore, did not prevent the social facilitation of feeding responses.The effect of age during the laying season significantly influenced feed conversion, feed consumption and the weights of fresh and freeze dried egg components. Moisture contents of fresh yolk and fresh albumen did not exhibit parallel changes with age. Diets significantly affected egg production (73.2% vs. 71.9%), average daily egg mass production (46.65 g. vs. 46.30 g.), and the weight of freeze dried albumen (4.30 g. vs. 4.37 g.) for the 15 and 17% protein diets, respectively. The only significant interaction between diets and age were detected for egg mass. The distribution of individual feed conversion ratios and egg shell deformation deviated from normality both being positively skewed and kurtotic.

The rat’s long-term preference for complexity in its environment

Locomotor, resting, and feeding responses to four levels of environmental complexity were measured in a two-phase study. In a long-term free-choice testing situation (ad-lib phase), subjects (N = 20) demonstrated a marked preference for high complexity during “day” conditions. This preference, present in the patterns of resting and locomotor behavior, was partially preserved under “night” conditions. The patterns of feeding behavior were essentially independent of complexity preference. The same subjects in the discrete trial phase of the study chose high complexity most often in a four-choice testing situation. The apparent preference for high environmental complexity was interpreted as a shelter/relaxation seeking response elicited by the number or complexity of elements in the complexity area. Complexity seemed to reduce the arousal level of the subject, arguing against current arousal hypotheses which suggest that complex stimuli are attractive because of their arousal-inducing qualities.