Higher Hierarchies Research Articles

Hierarchical diversity partitioning of microscopic epibiont community on intertidal molluscan shells and inert surfaces over three geographic regions in Japan.

Microscopic epibionts on molluscan shells are a component of the biodiversity of intertidal coastal areas. Because molluscan shells are discrete habitats for the epibiont community, and the molluscan basibionts belong to the local community, epibiont diversity can be evaluated hierarchically by basibiont categories including species. To evaluate the structure of epibiont diversity and effects of taxonomic resolution on the evaluation, epibionts on molluscan shells and inert surfaces were investigated at three geographically distant sites in Japan. In total, 94 species-level taxonomic units of epibionts were obtained from 31 basibiont molluscan species and inert surfaces (plastics and rock chips). The density and the species richness at the site of the lowest latitude were significantly lower than those at the other sites. The epibiont community differed between the three sites, although the major portion of the epibionts were diatoms. Between-site diversity contributed most of the total diversity of the species richness and Simpson diversity in the five levels of the hierarchical partitioning: sample (individual basibiont), basibiont species (molluscan species), surface group (bivalves, chitons + limpets, and globose gastropods), site, and the total. The taxonomic resolution did not markedly affect the variability of communities between the three sites, although the taxon richness was reduced to 51 in the genus-level analysis. The lower taxonomic resolution (genus level); however, increased the contribution of the within-sample and decreased the contribution of β diversities at the higher hierarchies, leading to a possible overestimation of biotic homogenization between the communities.

The Art of Adversity Thinking: Political Turnover and Firm Innovation

By integrating the political strategy literature and research on innovation, this article develops a theoretical framework and empirically tests how and why political turnover affects firm innovation. Drawing on the attention-based view, we argue that firms also use innovation as an attention-catching strategy to seek opportunities in uncertain environments. Furthermore, we highlight how the uncertainty rooted in political turnover varies by identifying two contingent values: 1) politicians’ career concerns and 2) firms’ political hierarchy. Using a longitudinal data set of industrial enterprises in the context of China, we find that there is a significant positive relationship between the replacement of government leaders at prefectural city level and firm innovation. Moreover, this positive relationship is strengthened when new government leaders are promoted locally, but is less salient if the politicians are at an early stage of their career or firms are affiliated with higher hierarchies. Our research expands the literature on uncertainty by highlighting the role of political agents, contributes to the theory of the attention-based view by treating attention from key external stakeholders as a key resource, and advances the understanding of how firms strategically respond to political shocks in China.

Factors associated with violence against nursing students at the rotary internship

Introduction: violence is a public health problem, among which we find workplace violence, which is identified when a worker suffers abuse, threats, and attacks that can be verbal and physical. Rotating internship nursing students play an important role within healthcare institutions.Objective: to determine the factors associated with violence against nursing students in the rotating boarding school.Methods: the study presents a non-experimental research design with a quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional approach in a group of nursing students of the rotating internship, with a sample of 121 participants, to whom a questionnaire with a reliability of 0.717 of Alpha Cronbach was applied.Results: a low risk was reported about violence by the patient's family member with 88,43 %, although a small group of students is at medium risk with 11,57 %. As for the factors associated with violence, medium and high risk is shown at 56,2 %.Conclusions: nursing interns receive many physical, verbal, and psychological aggressions at work from relatives of patients and colleagues with higher hierarchies. In the current study, it was possible to observe the presence of blows in physical violence, humiliation, and rudeness in psychological violence and the individual associated factors of aggression by the immediate superior boss, by aggressors in altered mental state, and aggressors by the state of health of the relatives

How Sustainable Are Indian Cities?

This article examines the fifth iteration of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) to determine the state of urban India. We have some surprising revelations. First, regardless of class and caste affiliations, the gap between the higher and lower hierarchies in the NFHS-5 has shrunk since the previous edition, with the exception of provision of on-premises drinking water. Second, in combination with the growing body of literature on caste and ethnicity-based residential segregation in Indian cities, the most recent batch of data asserts unequivocally that such a segregation mechanism has not manifested itself in unequal access to public amenities; this is another positive sign. Third, profound inequality exists along class lines. Because class is only distantly tied to caste or ethnic ascriptions, we can observe a vast swath of wealthless residuals along the caste–ethnic hierarchy. We publish these studies in light of India’s globally attuned aspiration to attain Sustainable Development Goals 6, 7, 10, and 11.

Mechanical and Crack Propagating Behavior of Sierpiński Carpet Composites.

Fractals, mathematically defined as "self-similar subsets at different scales", are ubiquitous in nature despite their complexity in assembly and formulation. Fractal geometry formed by simple components has long been applied to many fields, from physics and chemistry to electronics and architecture. The Sierpiński carpet (SC), a fractal with a Hausdorff dimension of approximately 1.8933, has two-dimensional space-filling abilities and therefore provides many structural applications. However, few studies have investigated its mechanical properties and fracture behaviors. Here, utilizing the lattice spring model (LSM), we constructed SC composites with two base materials and simulated tensile tests to show how fractal iterations affect their mechanical properties and crack propagation. From observing the stress-strain responses, we find that, for either the soft-base or stiff-base SC composites, the second iteration has the optimal mechanical performance in the terms of stiffness, strength, and toughness compared to the composites with higher hierarchies. The reason behind this surprising result is that the largest stress intensities occur at the corners of the smallest squares in the middle zone, which consequently induces crack nucleation. We also find that the main crack tends to deflect locally in SC composites with a soft matrix, but in global main crack behavior, SC composites with a stiff matrix have a large equivalent crack deflection. Furthermore, considering the inherent anisotropy of SC composites, we rotated the samples by 45°. The results show that the tensile strength and toughness of rotated SC composites are inferior and the crack propagating behaviors are distinct from the standard SC composites. This finding infers advanced engineering for crack control and deflection by adjusting the orientation of SC composites. Overall, our study opens the door for future engineering applications in stretchable devices, seismic metamaterials, and structural materials with tunable properties and hierarchies.

Effect of Kinetic Degrees of Freedom on Hierarchical Organization of Multi-element Synergies during Force Production and Releasing Tasks

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of degrees of freedom on the multi-synergies in two hierarchies of human hand system during force production and releasing tasks. Method: In this study, the constrained movements of the aiming and releasing actions using both hands and fingers during archery-like shooting were implemented as experimental tasks. The participants produced a pulling force holding the customized frame (mimicking an archery bow, with a set of force transducers) and kept it consistently for about 5 seconds, and released fingers as quickly as possible in a self-paced manner within the next 5 seconds. An analytical method based on the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis was used to quantify the stability index (synergy index) in two hierarchies including two hands (upper hierarchy) and individual fingers (lower hierarchy). Results: The results confirmed that the positive synergy pattern showed simultaneously at the upper and lower hierarchies, and the kinetic degrees of freedom were associated with the increment of hierarchical synergy indices and the performance indices. Also, the synergy indices of both hierarchies showed significant positive correlations with the performance accuracy during the task. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the human control system actively uses extra degrees of freedom to stabilize task performance variables. Further increasing the degree of freedom at one level of hierarchy induces positive interactions across hierarchical control levels, which in turn positively affects the accuracy and precision of task performance.

Art of Adversity Thinking: Political Turnover and Innovation

By integrating political strategies literature and research on innovation, this study develops a theoretical framework and empirically test how and why political turnover affects corporate innovation. Facing political risks, information asymmetry and policy uncertainty created by political turnover, in addition to passively reducing the sense of existence, we argue that firms also use innovation as an attention-catching strategy to seek opportunities in uncertainty environment. Furthermore, we highlight how the uncertainty rooted in political turnover varies by identifying two kinds of contingent values: (1) politician’s career concerns and (2) firm’s political hierarchy. Using a longitudinal dataset of industrial enterprises above the scale in the context of China, we found that there is a significant positive relationship between political uncertainty and firm innovation. This is more likely to occur when new government leaders are promoted locally, while less salient if they are at the early career stage and firms are affiliated with higher hierarchies. Our research expands the literature on political uncertainty and innovation by highlighting the role of political agents, and improves our understanding of how firms strategically respond to political shocks in emerging economies.

A hierarchical walk-based measure of centrality based on reachability between strongly connected components in a digraph

ABSTRACT For measuring the centrality in a digraph, Bonacich and Lloyd summarized a vector, from the power series of an attenuated adjacency matrix, as the alpha centrality. However, scores of alpha centrality are usually dominated by nodes in the strongly connected component, which owns the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix. In this paper, based on reachability between strongly connected components, we consider not only the largest eigenvalue but also the other smaller ones to attenuate the adjacency matrix hierarchically; and obtain a measure from the power series of the hierarchically attenuated adjacency matrix. Consequently, we propose the hierarchical alpha centrality, which can yield higher scores for nodes at higher hierarchies of reachability in a digraph.

The Vortex Approach: The role of maxillofacial surgeons and its incorporation in to surgical training

Introduction: The Vortex Approach is a novel method of dealing with Can’t Intubate, Can’t Oxygenate (CICO), which attempts to empower the entire theatre team to ensure patients aren’t hypoxic for extended periods and encourages the team towards carrying out Front of Neck Access (FONA) when this is the best option. It aims to lower hierarchies and develop skills across the team.

Establishment and weight of supportability indicator system for marine power system using analytic hierarchy process

Supportability evaluation is widely uesd in marine power system which is the most important equipment in a ship or vessel since it can provide energy for other systems of the ship/vessel. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is an effective and useful method for supportability evaluation and indicator system establishment due to its simplicity and convenience. In this paper, a hierarchical structure of indicator system for marine power system is established based on AHP, and four judgement matrixes of the supportabilities are constructed. Then a calculation method of the maximum eigenvalue is introduced to solve the ranking weight vector of those matrixes which can determine the weight of the indicator system for supportability evaluation of marine power system. Consistency index and its evaluation method are given for checking the judgement matrixes and conclusions. Finally taking a ship’s power system as an example, the above solutions were calculated and results show that APH can grantee the validity and accuracy of the establishment and application of the indicator system. lower hierarchies and indicators could be considered due to the growing demand of the mission and service of marine power system.

Key indicator system establishment for reliability evaluation of marine electrical system based on analytic hierarchy process

Reliability evaluation is widely uesd in electrical system which determines operation stability and environment safety of ships and vessels since it can discover potential safety hazard scientifically and accurately. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is an effective and useful method for reliability evaluation and indicator system establishment due to its simplicity and convenience. In this paper, a hierarchical structure of indicator system for ship’s electrical system is established based on AHP, and three judgement matrixes of the reliability, basic reliability and mission reliability are constructed. Then a calculation method of the maximum eigenvalue is introduced to solve the ranking weight vector of the three matrixes which can determine the weight of the indicator system for reliability evaluation of marine electrical system. Consistency index and its evaluation method are given for checking the judgement matrixes and conclusions. Finally taking a ship’s electrical system as an example, the above solutions were calculated and results show that APH can grantee the validity and accuracy of the establishment and application of the key indicator system. lower hierarchies and indicators could be considered due to the growing demand of the mission and service of ship’s electrical system.

Employee Retention Practices in Hospitality Industry in Nepal: Investigating the Moderating Effect of Management Hierarchy, Age Group and Gender

Since it is indispensable for organizations to employ and retain quality human resources (HRs) and talents for their effective operation and continuous growth, it is imperative and relevant to investigate into the HR retention practices and strategies. Hence, the paper examines the influence of human resource management practices on employee retention and the moderating effect of management hierarchy, age group and gender on HR retention factors in hospitality industry of Nepal. The study employed a cross-sectional descriptive survey design with a sample of 292 respondents from six out of eight five-star hotels of Nepal stationed in the capital Valley of Kathmandu. Using correlation analysis, Jonckheere-Terpstra test, as well as post hoc and Mann-Whitney U tests, the study discovered that rewards and compensation help retain entry level employees, while employer branding is a strong retention measure for those on higher hierarchies. Likewise, balanced work life and employer branding help retain higher age group employees, while career growth is the strongest and balanced work life the weakest measure to retain male hotel employees in Nepal.

Assessing Spatial Equity and Accessibility of Public Green Spaces in Aleppo City, Syria

This paper examines the accessibility of urban green spaces within the Syrian city of Aleppo before the civil war using an environmental justice approach by indicating the current state of the parameters proximity and quantity in relation to the socioeconomic status of the inhabitants. Therefore, we conducted the average nearest neighbour analysis, facilities over and under coverage analysis, network analysis and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test followed by a post-hoc Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) test. The findings clearly indicate that the spatial pattern of the distribution of public parks facilities was significantly clustered (p-value < 0.0001), with a z-score of −16.4. Several neighbourhoods within the western and central parts of the city were identified to have a higher density of facilities, while the majority of the neighbourhoods located in the marginal parts in eastern Aleppo (low income) lack access to urban green spaces. The hierarchy-wise analysis reveals a strong deficit of urban green spaces at lower hierarchies, for example pocket parks and neighbourhood parks, while access to quarter parks and district parks is high. The urban green spaces at higher hierarchies are located in high and middle socioeconomic status areas. Regarding social segregation in park distribution and their accessibility, the data showed that high income neighbourhoods enjoy a significantly higher percentage of park facilities. The approach presented in this paper offers a generic method for the future development of public green spaces for balanced and sustainable planning.

Dealing with foreign cultural paradigms: A systematic review on intercultural challenges of international medical graduates.

ObjectivesAn increasing number of International Medical Graduates (IMG), who are defined to be physicians working in a country other than their country of origin and training, immigrate to Western countries. In order to ensure safe and high-quality patient care, they have to take medical and language tests. This systematic review aims to (1) collect all empiric research on intercultural communication of IMGs in medical settings, (2) identify and categorize all text passages mentioning intercultural issues in the included studies, and (3) describe the most commonly reported intercultural areas of communication of IMGs.MethodsThis review was based on the PRISMA-Guidelines for systematic reviews. We conducted a broad and systematic electronic literature search for empiric research in the following databases: MEDLINE, BIOSIS Citation Index, BIOSIS Previews, KCI-Korean Journal Database and SciELO Citation Index. The search results were synthesized and analyzed with the aid of coding systems. These coding systems were based on textual analysis and derived from the themes and topics of the results and discussion sections from the included studies. A quality assessment was performed, comparing the studies with their corresponding checklist (COREQ or STROBE). Textual results of the studies were extracted and categorized.ResultsAmong 10,630 search results, 47 studies were identified for analysis. 31 studies were qualitative, 12 quantitative and 4 studies used mixed methods. The quality assessment revealed a low level of quality of the studies in general. The following intercultural problems were identified: IMGs were not familiar with shared decision-making and lower hierarchies in the health care system in general. They had difficulties with patient-centered care, the subtleties of the foreign language and with the organizational structures of the new health care system. In addition, they described the medical education in their home countries as science-oriented, without focusing on psychosocial aspects.ConclusionThere is a need for a better training of IMGs on culture-related and not culture-related topics in the new workplace country. The topics that emerged in this review constitute a basis for developing these courses. Further empiric research is needed to describe the findings of this review more precisely and should be in accordance with the existing reporting guidelines.

Urinary incontinence and its association with functional physical and cognitive health among female nursing home residents in Switzerland

BackgroundSpecific knowledge of urinary incontinence (UI) and its interrelation with physical and cognitive health is essential to working towards prevention of UI and to improving quality of treatment and care. The purpose of this study was to determine the association between UI and the activities of daily living (ADL) hierarchy scale, the cognitive performance scale (CPS) and comorbid conditions.MethodsThe cross-sectional retrospective analysis of 357 nursing homes in Switzerland was based on data of the Minimum Data Set of the Resident Assessment Instrument 2.0 (RAI-MDS). The analysis examined the effect of ADL hierarchy scale, CPS, joint motion and comorbidities on UI. Women ≥65 years were included (n = 44’811; January 2005 to September 2014) at the time of admission to a nursing home. Statistical analysis was done by means of descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe prevalence of UI was 54.7%, the mean ADL hierarchy scale (± SD) 2.42 ± 3.26 (range = 0–6), the mean CPS 1.95 ± 1.67 (range = 0–6). There was a gradual increase in the odds ratio (OR) for UI depending on the ADL hierarchy scale, from the hierarchy scales of “supervised” to “total dependence” of 1.43 – 30.25. For CPS, the OR for UI from “borderline intact” to “very severe impairment” was 1.35 – 5.99. Considering the interaction between ADL and CPS, all ADL hierarchies remained significantly associated with UI, however for CPS this was the case only in the lower hierarchies. Of the 11 examined comorbid conditions, only diabetes mellitus (OR 1.19), dementia (OR 1.01) and arthrosis/arthritis (OR 1.53) were significantly associated with UI.ConclusionThe study indicated that impairment in ADL performance is strongly associated with UI, more than CPS performance and comorbidities. Physical more than cognitive training in order to improve or at least stabilize ADL performance could be a way to prevent or reduce the process of developing UI.

Белое духовенство и его отношение к событиям 1917 года

This article is devoted to the analysis and the characteristics of the position, views and attitude to the events of February - October 1917 the white of the parish clergy still existed in the time period of the Russian Empire. The aim of the work is based on the analysis presented in the research and writings of contemporaries of the events, and modern researchers to provide a General concept of relations and attitudes of the parish clergy to the events in the period of time that they specifically represented, and which ultimately was expected by the clergy and other members of the clergy as a result of what was happening in the country. For the writing of this article the author used the following methods: systematic (review of activities, only the parish clergy from the whole of the clergy, the analysis of the relationship between priests and the higher hierarchies, and authorities of the secular power directly), structural (an attempt to identify specific features of the activities of the secular clergy in the events until the October revolution). The result of this work is the presentation of individual examples of relationships, attitudes, and specific activities of the secular clergy in this period of time, what factors influenced them in the course of events since the beginning of February 1917, which part of the representatives of the aforementioned categories of the clergy showed themselves more actively in the current situation. The results of this work allow us to address the study does not investigate enough problems with mandatory use of sources of archival, historiographer and personal character.

Javanese cosmological layout as a political space

Javanese cities, just like other Southeast Asian cities, are believed to be based on a cosmological layout. The basic of this layout is that there is a centre with the highest hierarchy, surrounded by circles with lower hierarchies, and axes. This layout can be seen as a practice of power in which it serves as a silent ideology (Bourdieu, 1977) that embodies social hierarchy. This article focuses on the ‘cosmological’ layout as a political space, in which a practice of power of the royal kingdoms or kratons is embodied. It focuses on the case studies of Javanese cities, namely Yogyakarta and Surakarta, which are recognised as the locus of Javanese culture at present. This paper seeks how different political power of the royal courts in both cities is reproduced in similar urban and architectural layouts.

“Want to” Versus “Have to”: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators as Predictors of Compliance Behavior Intention

“Worthless,” “money burning,” or “black holes” is how media and professionals describe compliance practices today. Practitioners are unenthusiastic about control systems, codes of conducts, and systems for compliance management that are increasing in volume but not in effectiveness. In order to help practitioners clarify what actually makes employees comply with their compliance program, this study examines intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of 119 employees from procurement and sales. We contribute to the existing motivation literature, testing the self-determination theory in low and high hierarchical levels. Our findings show that intrinsic motivators are more strongly and positively related to compliance intention on higher hierarchical levels than the lower ones. However, employees from higher hierarchies show overall less compliance intention than employees from lower hierarchies. © 2015 The Authors. Human Resource Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Design phasor data concentrator as adaptive delay buffer for wide-area damping control

Phasor Data Concentrators (PDCs) are employed to aggregate data frames from multiple Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) with the same time-stamp into data packets. This function is an essential step in the utilization of PMU data in Wide-Area Monitoring and Control (WAMC) system. This is facilitated by assigning a fixed and heuristically decided wait time to the PDC buffer. The processed PMU data packets are sent to WAMC applications or similarly PDCs at higher hierarchies in the WAMC system when either a PDC buffer is full or its wait time has passed. In this paper, two methods to configure adaptive PDC wait time based on recent PMU traffic delay patterns are proposed. The purpose is to reduce the frequency of performing delay compensations in wide-area damping control system. With the adaptive PDC delay buffer in place, the wide-area damping controller only switches its gain once every five seconds, given the studied PMU traffic delay scenarios, instead of the current practice which requires the control gain to be adapted on a per PMU data frame basis, e.g., 50 or 60 times every second. The proposed methods offer a perspective to efficiently utilize the supporting Information and Communication Technology infrastructure with the purpose to simplify the design and implementation of wide-area damping control system.

Natural Selection and Thermodynamics of Biological Evolution

The author of this article proposes that the representation of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace’s theory on “variation and selection” in the living world is a reflection of the action of hierarchical thermodynamics. Hierarchical thermodynamics is based on the law of temporal hierarchies and on the principle of substance stability. This principle enables the transmission of thermodynamic information between lower and higher structural hierarchies, in both forward and reverse direction: from nucleic acids to higher structural hierarchies and back. The principle of substance stability, in fact, is the main dynamical and thermodynamic mechanism of natural selection. It is alleged that the natural selection of atoms, molecules, organisms, populations, and other hierarchical structures takes place under the action of a variety of internal factors within organisms and the external environmental factors that can be considered as tropisms. Forms (design) of living organisms are formed as a result of spontaneous and non-spontaneous processes that lead to the adaptation of living systems to the environment. The selection is carried out as a result of the impacts of different energy types and the principle of substance stability at all levels of hierarchical structures. Actions of tropisms are presented by various members of the generalized Gibbs equation.