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Resource Component (resource + component)
Selected AbstractsThe adoption of high-involvement practices and processes in emergent and developing firms: A descriptive and prescriptive approachHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2003Mark A. Ciavarella One of the most pressing challenges entrepreneurs face is how to do more with less. More often than not, the solution lies in the human resource component of the venture. As such, it is important that entrepreneurs understand how practices and processes designed to tap the knowledge, skills, and abilities of their employees can lead to greater productivity and performance. This article develops prescriptive arguments to implicate that adoption of involvement practices and processes by entrepreneurs early in the organization's life may extend desired stages such as growth, or may delay or negate unwanted stages such as maturity and decline. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] An efficient multivariate approach for estimating preference when individual observations are dependentJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Steinar Engen Summary 1We discuss aspects of resource selection based on observing a given vector of resource variables for different individuals at discrete time steps. A new technique for estimating preference of habitat characteristics, applicable when there are multiple individual observations, is proposed. 2We first show how to estimate preference on the population and individual level when only a single site- or resource component is observed. A variance component model based on normal scores in used to estimate mean preference for the population as well as the heterogeneity among individuals defined by the intra-class correlation. 3Next, a general technique is proposed for time series of observations of a vector with several components, correcting for the effect of correlations between these. The preference of each single component is analyzed under the assumption of arbitrarily complex selection of the other components. This approach is based on the theory for conditional distributions in the multi-normal model. 4The method is demonstrated using a data set of radio-tagged dispersing juvenile goshawks and their site characteristics, and can be used as a general tool in resource or habitat selection analysis. [source] PLASTICITY TO LIGHT CUES AND RESOURCES IN ARABIDOPSIS THALIANA: TESTING FOR ADAPTIVE VALUE AND COSTSEVOLUTION, Issue 6 2000Lisa A. Dorn Abstract Plants shaded by neighbors or overhead foliage experience both a reduction in the ratio of red to far red light (R:FR), a specific cue perceived by phytochrome, and reduced photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), an essential resource. We tested the adaptive value of plasticity to crowding and to the cue and resource components of foliage shade in the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana by exposing 36 inbred families from four natural populations to four experimental treatments: (1) high density, full sun; (2) low density, full sun; (3) low density, neutral shade; and (4) low density, low R:FR-simulated foliage shade. Genotypic selection analysis within each treatment revealed strong environmental differences in selection on plastic life-history traits. We used specific contrasts to measure plasticity to density and foliage shade, to partition responses to foliage shade into phytochrome-mediated responses to the R:FR cue and responses to PAR, and to test whether plasticity was adaptive (i.e., in the same direction as selection in each environment). Contrary to expectation, we found no evidence for adaptive plasticity to density. However, we observed both adaptive and maladaptive responses to foliage shade. In general, phytochrome-mediated plasticity to the R:FR cue of foliage shade was adaptive and counteracted maladaptive growth responses to reduced PAR. These results support the prediction that active developmental responses to environmental cues are more likely to be adaptive than are passive resource-mediated responses. Multiple regression analysis detected a few costs of adaptive plasticity and adaptive homeostasis, but such costs were infrequent and their expression depended on the environment. Thus, costs of plasticity may occasionally constrain the evolution of adaptive responses to foliage shade in Arabidopsis, but this constraint may differ among environments and is far from ubiquitous. [source] Costs of neonatal care for low-birthweight babies in English hospitalsACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 7 2009Hema Mistry Abstract Aim:, To estimate mean costs of neonatal care for babies with birthweights ,1800 g in a regional Level 3 unit and three Level 2 units providing short-term intensive care. Method:, Babies ,1800 g admitted to units in four hospitals in England over 15 months in 2001,2002 were audited until discharge. Unit costs (2005,2006 prices) were attributed to their resource items, including neonatal cot occupancy, pharmaceuticals, blood products and ambulance transfers. Bootstrapped mean costs were derived for the Level 3 unit and the Level 2 units combined. Results:, The mean gestation period for 199 Level 3 babies was 29.5 weeks compared with 30.4 weeks for 192 Level 2 babies (p = 0.003). Mean costs excluding ambulance journeys were £17 861 per Level 3 baby and £12 344 per Level 2 baby. Level 3 babies <1000 g averaged £26 815, whereas Level 2 babies <1000 g were generally less costly than babies 1000,1499 g. Ambulances transported 76 Level 3 babies and 62 Level 2 babies; their adjusted mean costs were £18 495 and £12 881, respectively. Conclusion:, By comprehensively costing resource components, the magnitude of total costs for low-birthweight babies has been revealed, thus demonstrating the importance of budgets for neonatal units being realistically determined by commissioners of neonatal services. [source] | ||||||||||