Tier Level Research Articles

Conceptualizing Leadership Behaviors and Its Relationship With Competitive Advantage

The world is changing and it seems only “change is constant in this world” though Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, foreseen that we have to adapt to changes to survive but the magnitude and the pace of changes were not in his wildest dreams may be. We live in a VUCA world now – in an environment of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, 1987), and this acronym VUCA is used in the US Army War College, Harvard, Forbes, and so on. Leadership in a VUCA world has books and articles published that emphasis adapt or die. On the other hand, it is leadership that is one of the most significant factors that gives companies competitive advantage. Competitive Advantages are achieved through judicious use of resources and capabilities, and a leader is the one who makes call on use of a company’s core competence. Strategic decisions are made at top tier levels as vision and disseminated to all tiers of leaders – middle to lower echelons and broken into goals, objectives, and tasks. From vision to missions to goals to objectives and tasks the orchestration and synchronization’s require leaders at all levels to be effective.

Xylem conductivities in leaf veins

Leaves are the main photosynthetic organs of plants. There is almost an infinite variety of leaf shapes and venations. The purpose of the current study was to determine if leaf areas, leaf veins and xylem conductivities are well scaled among primary, secondary and tertiary tiers in leaves with percurrent leaf venation for 32 species. Data from both fully-expanded leaves and leaves that underwent expansion were analyzed. Thirty-two species with leaves of 7.25 to 887 cm2 lamina areas with a median leaf area of 81 cm2 were tested. On average, leaves had 19 secondary veins 45 mm long to produce secondary areas of 4.1 cm2. Leaves had 272 tertiary areas, each 0.30 cm2, in which the median tertiary veins were 10 mm in length. There were strong relationships between lamina areas, vein lengths, vessel numbers, vessel radii and xylem conductivities among tier levels. Primary veins had a median xylem conductivity of 1.02 g cm-1 MPa-1 s-1 while secondary and tertiary xylem conductivities were 0.51 and 0.00081 g cm-1 MPa-1 s-1, respectively. The above strong relationships for fully-expanded leaves were confirmed for five species during leaf expansion. Estimates of water conduction with respect to lamina areas, vein characteristics and xylem conductivities among tier levels are presented. The strong relationships among the above parameters of this study suggest that leaf characteristics of leaf lamina areas, veins lengths and xylem conductivities of each species are well scaled to provide water to all areas of leaves.

Reforming School Discipline: Responses by School District Leadership to Revised State Guidelines for Student Codes of Conduct

Purpose: Over the past decade, increasing attention to the negative impacts of exclusionary discipline and disparities therein has led many state educational leaders to enact school discipline reforms. This study examined the response by school district leadership to a state’s revision of guidelines for student codes of conduct. Data: This study leveraged longitudinal data on school district codes of conduct from the 2013–2014 to 2015–2016 school years across the state of Maryland. Codes of conduct were coded in an iterative fashion according to a common set of infraction–response combinations. Research Design: Using a pre–post analytic design, this study examined changes in districts’ codified infractions, responses to infractions, and the overall tier of response. Furthermore, the study compared alignment between state guidelines and district codes of conduct while exploring variation in codified discipline across districts. Findings: Findings suggest that leaders in districts increased the number of response options available for most types of infractions, with the largest increases occurring for more serious infractions. While these increases tended to be driven by increases in the codification of less exclusionary responses, there were nevertheless sizeable increases in the availability of in-school suspension and removal/intervention. In almost all cases, school districts reported distributions of response options that were at a higher tier level than that recommended by the state. Conclusions: Findings are discussed in the context of current efforts to reform school discipline and the implications of such reform for implementation by district and school leadership.

Building From the Bottom Up: The Importance of Tier 1 Supports in the Context of Tier 2 Interventions

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) relies on effective implementation of Tier 1 practices to ensure accurate identification of students in need of more intensive supports at Tier 2 or Tier 3. While measures of school-level fidelity are widely used, measures of classroom-level implementation of Tier 1 supports are less common. If classroom levels of Tier 1 supports are variable, schools may identify students for Tier 2 supports when, instead, teachers need support implementing Tier 1 in classrooms. The purpose of this case study was to assess the impact of a self-monitoring intervention, Monitoring Behavior on the Go (MoBeGo), on the academic engagement and disruptive behavior of a middle school student. Initially, the impact of the self-monitoring intervention was inadequate. In the context of evaluating the impact of a Tier 2 intervention, we identified an opportunity to assess whether a class-wide Tier 1 program, Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT), enhanced the effectiveness of the Tier 2 intervention. Using an A-B-BC-B-BC design, we compared the effectiveness of a Tier 2 intervention alone with a combined Tier 1 + Tier 2 intervention. When the class-wide Tier 1 program was layered on top of the Tier 2 intervention, the student’s academic engagement showed an increase in level and stability.

SLA-driven Load Scheduling in Multi-tier Cloud Computing: Financial Impact Considerations

A cloud service provider strives to provide a high Quality of Service (QoS) to client jobs. Such jobs vary in computational and Service-Level-Agreement (SLA) obligations, as well as differ with respect to tolerating delays and SLA violations. The job scheduling plays a critical role in servicing cloud demands by allocating appropriate resources to execute client jobs. The response to such jobs is optimized by the cloud provider on a multi-tier cloud computing environment. Typically, the complex and dynamic nature of multi-tier environments incurs difficulties in meeting such demands, because tiers are dependent on each other which in turn makes bottlenecks of a tier shift to escalate in subsequent tiers. However, the optimization process of existing approaches produces single-tier-driven schedules that do not employ the differential impact of SLA violations in executing client jobs. Furthermore, the impact of schedules optimized at the tier level on the performance of schedules formulated in subsequent tiers tends to be ignored, resulting in a less than optimal performance when measured at the multi-tier level. Thus, failing in committing job obligations incurs SLA penalties that often take the form of either financial compensations, or losing future interests and motivations of unsatisfied clients in the service provided. In this paper, a scheduling and allocation approach is proposed to formulate schedules that account for differential impacts of SLA violation penalties and, thus, produce schedules that are optimal in financial performance. A queue virtualization scheme is designed to facilitate the formulation of optimal schedules at the tier and multi-tier levels of the cloud environment. Because the scheduling problem is NP-hard, a biologically inspired approach is proposed to mitigate the complexity of finding optimal schedules.

Characterization and Immunogenicity of HIV Envelope gp140 Zera® Tagged Antigens.

HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) remains the most relevant target for the elicitation of functional antibodies to HIV by vaccination. However, soluble Env antigens often do not elicit the desired immune responses. Delivering subunit antigens on particulate nanoparticles is an established approach to improve their immunogenicity. In this study the sequence encoding Zera®, a proline-rich domain derived from the γ-zein storage protein, was fused to either the C- or N-terminus of the superinfecting HIV-1 CAP256 gp140 envelope: Zera® generally induces the formation of protein bodies (PBs), which can significantly improve both the immunogenicity and yields of the partner protein. The expression of gp140-Zera® and Zera®-gp140 (N- and C-terminal fusions respectively) in mammalian cells was confirmed by western blot analysis and immunostaining. However, isopycnic ultracentrifugation showed that neither gp140-Zera® nor Zera®-gp140 accumulated in characteristic electron-dense PBs. gp140-Zera® elicited higher binding antibody titers in rabbits to autologous gp140 and V1V2 scaffold than Zera®-gp140. Rabbit anti-gp140-Zera® sera also had significantly higher Tier 1A neutralizing antibody titers than anti-Zera®-gp140 sera. Neither gp140-Zera® nor Zera®-gp140-specific sera neutralized Tier 1B or autologous Tier 2 viruses. These results showed that HIV-1 gp140 tagged with Zera® at either the N- or C-termini elicited high titers of gp140 and V1V2 binding antibodies, and low levels of Tier 1 neutralizing antibodies in rabbits.

Effects of Land Finance on Resource Misallocation in Chinese Cities during 2003–2017: A Dynamic Panel Econometric Analysis

Based on the review of previous studies and the analysis of the dynamic changes of misallocation of capital and labour in China during 2003–2017, this study has adopted the Dynamic Panel Econometric Model to investigate the effects of land finance on resource misallocation at national, regional, and urban tier levels. The results show that resource misallocation has a significant feature of temporal dependence, while the misallocations of capital and labour in China have experienced different dynamic changes during the investigation period. In addition, land finance has aggravated resource misallocation at the national level, while spatial heterogeneity is established at regional and urban tier levels, which deserves much more attention in further studies. The conclusions will not only provide a relatively scientific and accurate reference for the effective allocation of production factors but also be conducive to the coordinated and sustainable development of China’s economy in the long run.

The Need of Linking Local Community and National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies for Effective Disaster Mitigation: Lessons from Zimbabwe

This article exposes the perceptions of Mhondoro-Ngezi rural communities regarding the contribution of strengthening local community and national disaster risk reduction strategies in mitigating disasters in their district. It further shows the importance and level of community participation in disaster risk reduction programmes and the need for enhancement of community participation in disaster risk reduction (DRR) initiatives. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in data collection. Data was collected using closed and open ended questionnaires administered to 176 members of the households from a district population of about 102350. Structured interviews were conducted with eight (8) key informants to provide more detailed information. Furthermore, two focus group discussions were conducted to augment what was obtained from the interviews. Community participation was found empowering as social and human capital could be enhanced. Communities were aware that through community participation, they could develop some skills that were necessary for their everyday lives. They could enhance their leadership skills, thereby boosting their livelihoods by working together in community development initiatives. This article recommends that communities need to be engaged so that they become active participants in community DRR interventions. It further recommends that the government should come up with a policy to ensure that DRR activities become participatory at all levels of government administrative tiers. It is also imperative that the government should help communities develop local mechanisms for sustainable disaster risk reduction initiatives. Keywords: Disaster risk reduction, Livelihoods, Participation , Vulnerability, Rural communities DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/10-2-09 Publication date: January 31 st 2020

Integrating cost–benefit analysis into the NIST Cybersecurity Framework via the Gordon–Loeb Model

Abstract The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework has rapidly become a widely accepted approach to facilitating cybersecurity risk management within organizations. An insightful aspect of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework is its explicit recognition that the activities associated with managing cybersecurity risk are organization specific. The NIST Framework also recognizes that organizations should evaluate their cybersecurity risk management on a cost–benefit basis. The NIST Framework, however, does not provide guidance on how to carry out such a cost–benefit analysis. This article provides an approach for integrating cost–benefit analysis into the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. The Gordon–Loeb (GL) Model for cybersecurity investments is proposed as a basis for deriving a cost-effective level of spending on cybersecurity activities and for selecting the appropriate NIST Implementation Tier level. The analysis shows that the GL Model provides a logical approach to use when considering the cost–benefit aspects of cybersecurity investments during an organization’s process of selecting the most appropriate NIST Implementation Tier level. In addition, the cost–benefit approach provided in this article helps to identify conditions under which there is an incentive to move to a higher NIST Implementation Tier.

Impact of light-emitting diode and compact fluorescent light source type and cage tier on layers reared in an enriched cage system Part 1: Production performance and egg quality

This study?s aim was to investigate the effects of age, light source type (light-emitting diode (LED), and compact fluorescent (FLO)), and cage tier on production performance and egg quality traits of layers reared in the enriched cage system. A total of 800 Nick Chick White layers were used in the study. A total of 800 eggs were used for egg quality traits at 25 and 45 weeks of age. The enriched cage tiers were coded as I, II, III, and IV from bottom to top. Layer age significantly affected egg mass, hen-day egg production rate, hen-house egg production rate, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, damaged egg ratio (P < 0.05), egg weight, shape index, shell thickness, albumen weight, yolk weight, shell weight, yolk color index, albumen ratio, yolk ratio, and shell ratio (P < 0.001). The higher egg mass, egg weight, albumen weight, yolk weight, shell thickness (P < 0.001), dirty egg ratio (P < 0.01), and lower FCR, yolk color index (P < 0.01), shell ratio (P < 0.01) were found in the FLO group when compared to the LED group (P < 0.05). Highest body weight was found in cage tier I at 45 weeks of age (P < 0.001). Level of cage tier significantly affected 50% egg production age, egg mass, hen-day egg production rate, hen-house egg production rate, and dirty egg ratio (P < 0.01). Level of cage tier significantly affected 5% egg production age, FCR, and shape index (P < 0.05). It can be concluded that the hens in the FLO group were better than the LED group in terms of some production and egg quality traits.

Male Selenoprotein F-Like (SPF-L) Influences Female Reproduction and Population Growth in Nilaparvata lugens (Hemiptera: Delphacidae).

Selenoproteins serve in anti-oxidant and cellular redox functions in almost all organisms. A recent study characterized a selenoprotein F-like (SPF-L) in the brown plant hopper’s (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, male accessory glands (MAGs), raised the question of whether the SPF-L is associated with female fecundity. In this study, SPF-L mRNA was found to be enriched in the internal reproductive organ (IRO) of virgin males, also expressed relatively stably in virgin males and females, and dietary dsSPF-L-treatments led to reduced MAG protein and Arginine content. Knockdown of NlSPF-L in unmated males did not influence juvenile hormone (JH) III and ecdysteroid titers, however, dsSPF-L-treated mated males had increased JH III titer, and reduced ecdysteroid titer compared to controls. After mating with dsSPF-L-treated males, female partners had reduced fat body and ovary soluble proteins and JH III tier and vitellogenin (Vg) mRNA levels, but no alterations in ecdysteroid titer, body weight or longevity. The experimental females had prolonged pre-oviposition periods and they laid fewer eggs, which suffered reduced hatching rates and population growth index (PGI). Such mating also led to impaired IRO development in males and females, which was confirmed by immunofluorescence staining. We infer that SPF-L affects reproductive success of males and their partners.

Free-play impact by customer segment

Little is known about the effectiveness of casino free-play campaigns, despite hundreds of millions of dollars in annual redemptions. These costly play incentives are awarded to individual players, based largely on management’s evaluation of their historical play. Extant campaign-level research suggests these incentives may not be effective in driving spend per visit, but there has been no attempt to examine efficacy across player tiers (e.g., light, medium, and heavy users). Analysis of 365 days of performance data from a Las Vegas Strip casino produced varied results across tiers, but all tier-level findings indicated a failure to recover the face value of the free-play incentives. While no support was garnered for the house money effect, the results were consistent with the notion of loss aversion. The methodological approach outlined herein provides the means to critically evaluate free-play offers at the tier level, fast-tracking campaign optimization via more targeted revisions.

Effects of a brief mindfulness-infused behavioral parent training for mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder

A concurrent randomized multiple baseline across three mother-child dyads single-case design was employed to evaluate the effects of a brief mindfulness-infused behavioral parent training program. The program included strategies embedded within the context of natural family routines. Three mothers and their children with autism spectrum disorder participated. At the individual tier level, visual analysis revealed moderately positive results for two mother-child dyads and contraindicated results for maternal self-reported stress in one dyad. At the study level, standardized mean difference analyses yielded a medium effect for increases in behavioral strategy use and small-moderate effects for decreases in parent stress and child challenging behavior. Implications for continued research and applications of the program for families of children with ASD are discussed.

Abstract 216: Evolution of Medicare Formulary Coverage Changes for Antithrombotic Therapies after Guideline Revisions

Introduction: The 2014 ACC/AHA/HRS atrial fibrillation (AF) guideline recommends either warfarin or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) as first-line antithrombotic therapies for patients with non-valvular AF. In 2016, the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) venous thromboembolism (VTE) guideline recommended DOACs over warfarin in non-cancer patients. Formulary coverage and utilization management can be used to promote guideline recommended medications, but the impact of these guidelines is unknown. Methods: We used Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Formulary Files, which include data on all Medicare Advantage and Part D plans, to compare coverage in the second quarters of 2013 (pre-guidelines), 2015 (post-ACC/AHA/HRS AF guideline), and 2017 (post-CHEST VTE guideline) for warfarin and each of the following DOACs: apixaban, dabigatran, edoxaban, and rivaroxaban. We determined formulary coverage and, among formularies that provided coverage, formulary restrictiveness based on use of utilization management strategies (i.e., cost-sharing tier level 3 or higher, prior authorization requirement, or step therapy requirement). Formularies were categorized as unrestrictive if no strategies were used, restrictive if any strategy was used, and no coverage. Results: In 2013, 2015, and 2017, there were 314, 389, and 378 Medicare formularies, respectively. All but one plan provided unrestrictive coverage of warfarin in all 3 time periods (Figure). Among DOACs, in 2013, 12% and 38% of formularies provided unrestrictive and restrictive coverage of apixaban, 20% and 78% of dabigatran, and 25% and 62% of rivaroxaban, whereas by 2017, 24% and 70% provided unrestrictive and restricted coverage of apixaban, 24% and 73% of dabigatran, and 30% and 69% of rivaroxaban ( p &lt; .001). From 2013 to 2017, formularies providing restrictive or unrestrictive coverage for at least one DOAC increased from 84% to 100% ( p &lt; .001). Most plans restricted DOAC coverage by increased tier-level cost-sharing, which increased over time, while prior authorization requirements decreased. Conclusions: After guidelines recommended DOACs as first-line or preferred therapy for AF and VTE, unrestrictive coverage increased, but the vast majority of plans restrict coverage by requiring high patient cost-sharing through tier placement.

Do Clients Get What They Pay For? Evidence from Auditor and Engagement Fee Premiums

ABSTRACTDespite the intuitive appeal, prior research finds mixed evidence on whether higher audit fees translate to superior audit quality. Under the assumption that product differentiation between auditors is based, in large part, on the level of financial statement assurance, we propose more refined measures of excess audit fees that separate auditor premiums from other fee premiums. Consistent with our conjecture, we identify significant variation in audit pricing across auditors (i.e., auditor premiums) that relates positively to audit quality. Conversely, we find no evidence that higher engagement‐specific fee premiums (i.e., fee model residuals) are positively related to proxies for audit quality. Additional tests indicate that our results do not simply reflect premiums attributable to auditor characteristics evaluated in prior research (e.g., Big 4 membership, office size, and industry expertise). In fact, our findings suggest that the positive association between auditor premiums and audit quality is better captured at the auditor level than it is at the auditor “tier,” office, auditor‐industry, or engagement levels. In sum, our results suggest that auditors charging higher fees, on average, deliver superior levels of financial statement assurance, but engagement‐specific fee premiums do not reflect quality‐enhancing audit effort. These contrasting results provide a possible explanation for the mixed findings in prior research.

Effect of Tier Level, Exposure and Period on Egg Production and Grade of Eggs

Effect of Tier Level, Exposure and Period on Egg Production and Grade of Eggs

First description of rare Teichichnus burrows from carbonate rocks of the Lower Paleozoic of Estonia

Teichichnus burrows occur in the Sandbian, Katian and Telychian of Estonia associated with carbonate rocks. It is possible that Teichichnus is more common in the Sandbian than in the Lower to Middle Ordovician and in the Silurian. Two ichnospecies, T. rectus and T. patens, have been identified from the Lower Paleozoic of Estonia. This is the first record of T. patens in the Ordovician of Baltica. Teichichnus in the Sandbian, Katian and Telychian of Estonia is restricted to the shallowest tier levels. The rarity of Teichichnus in the carbonate sequences of the Ordovician and Silurian of Estonia reflects little bathymetric variability and an extremely low sedimentation rate in the shallow epicontinental basin.

Analiza izloženosti korupcijskim pritiscima na lokalnoj razini vlasti u Europi

Korupcija na lokalnoj razini zabrinjavajuća je pojava u zemljama Europske unije. Cilj rada je utvrditi obilježja lokalnih vijećnika na drugoj razini vlasti koja opisuju njihovu veću ili manju izloženost korupcijskim pritiscima. Istraživanje, provedeno na više od pet tisuća vijećnika iz 14 europskih država, propituje može li se njihov subjektivni dojam o doživljenim korupcijskim pritiscima opisati njihovim socio-demografskim obilježjima. Rezultati klaster analize su pokazali da u državama Europske unije postoje dvije grupe lokalnih vijećnika koje različito doživljavaju izloženost korupciji i da korupcijski rizici više pogađaju lokalne vijećnike u posttranzicijskim zemljama. Članovi klastera lokalnih vijećnika koji se osjećaju manje izloženi korupcijskim pritiscima su iz ‘starih’ zemalja Europske unije, zemalja s općenito nižom prisutnosti korupcije, a to su ujedno klasteri s većim udjelom žena i profesionalnih političara u odnosu na klaster vijećnika koji su pod većim korupcijskim pritiskom. Rezultat koji ponajviše pridonosi postojećoj literaturi je da su opažene statistički značajne razlike u izloženosti korupcijskim pritiscima vijećnika u lokalnim jedinicama veće ili manje fi skalne snage. Svrha rada je bila utvrditi ranjive skupine lokalnih vijećnika u cilju jačanja njihovog integriteta za što su neke preporuke ponuđene u zaključku.

Anthropometric Properties versus Physical Performance in Rugby ::union:: Forwards and Backs - A Systematic Review

Background. Rugby union is a team sport with a high amount of physical contact during match play. The physical performance and anthropometric characteristics required, differ based on the playing position. Objectives. The objective of this systematic review was to relate anthropometric properties with physical performance parameters in Rugby union backs and forwards across different playing levels of Tier 1 nations. Methods. Two electronic searches were performed in MEDLINE on the PubMed and on BISp (German Federal Sports Science Institute) databases from August 2016 to July 2017. All experimental study types in English and German were assessed for eligibility. Inclusion criteria were 15-a-side senior male backs and forwards, with anthropometric and/or physical performance data. Results. In n = 7 studies out of 12 selected, the elite forwards were significantly taller than the elite backs (p < 0.05). This accounted not for lower playing levels. Across all levels the forwards were significantly heavier than the backs. Significantly lower body fat percentages for the backs demonstrated n = 5 out of 6 studies. Consequently, backs were more ectomorphic than forwards. Backs reached significantly lower sprint velocities over short distances and higher ones over longer distances (10 to 40 m). Conclusion. Anthropometric parameters adapt to physical performance requested. In strength and endurance test situations heavier players may be underestimated postulating careful interpretation of those results to avoid misleading conclusion.

Do Clients Get What They Pay For? Evidence from Auditor and Engagement Fee Premiums

Despite the intuitive appeal, prior research finds mixed evidence on whether higher audit fees translate to superior audit quality. Under the assumption that product differentiation between auditors is based, in large part, on the level of financial statement assurance, we propose more refined measures of excess audit fees that separate auditor premiums from other fee premiums. Consistent with our conjecture, we identify significant variation in audit pricing across auditors (i.e., auditor premiums) that relates positively to audit quality. Conversely, we find no evidence that higher engagement-specific fee premiums (i.e., fee model residuals) are positively related to proxies for audit quality. Additional tests indicate that our results do not simply reflect premiums attributable to auditor characteristics evaluated in prior research (e.g., Big 4 membership, office size, and industry-expertise). In fact, our findings suggest that the positive association between auditor premiums and audit quality is better captured at the auditor level than it is at the auditor tier, office, auditor-industry, or engagement levels. In sum, our results suggest that auditors charging higher fees, on average, deliver superior levels of financial statement assurance, but engagement-specific fee premiums do not reflect quality-enhancing audit effort. These contrasting results provide a possible explanation for the mixed findings in prior research.