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Biodiversity, ecosystem stability, species compensation, conservation. - Declines in biodiversity have caused concern because of ethical and aesthetic reasons, but also because of the consequences for the goods and services provided by natural ecosystems. Consequently, ecologists have focused for decades on testing the idea that systems with more species are more stable. The results, however, have been complex and inconsistent. In particular, it is still unclear whether high stability in species-rich communities is due to the number of species per se (species richness) or to the increased likelihood of including particular species or functional types (species composition). In this thesis, I evaluated the contribution of species richness and species identity to the stability of marine hard-bottom communities. Combining observational and manipulative experimental methods, I conducted three field studies in intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats of Helgoland Island, NE Atlantic. First, I conducted an observational study to test whether intertidal communities containing many species are more stable (i.e. do vary less over time) than communities containing fewer species. Species covers were estimated every 6 months for 24 months and an index of stability was calculated for total community cover across time (S = mean SD-1). Second, I conducted a synthetic-assemblage experiment - in which I increased the diversity of field-grown sessile suspension-feeding invertebrates - to determinate whether assemblages containing several functional groups consume a greater fraction of resources than is caught by any of the functional types grown alone. (A functional group is a group of species with the same effect on an ecosystem property.) Finally, I conducted a removal experiment to test whether the loss of the canopy-forming alga Fucus serratus and mechanical ...

Biodiversity, ecosystem stability, species compensation, conservation. - Declines in biodiversity have caused concern because of ethical and aesthetic reasons, but also because of the consequences for the goods and services provided by natural ecosystems. Consequently, ecologists have focused for decades on testing the idea that systems with more species are more stable. The results, however, have been complex and inconsistent. In particular, it is still unclear whether high stability in species-rich communities is due to the number of species per se (species richness) or to the increased likelihood of including particular species or functional types (species composition). In this thesis, I evaluated the contribution of species richness and species identity to the stability of marine hard-bottom communities. Combining observational and manipulative experimental methods, I conducted three field studies in intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats of Helgoland Island, NE Atlantic. First, I conducted an observational study to test whether intertidal communities containing many species are more stable (i.e. do vary less over time) than communities containing fewer species. Species covers were estimated every 6 months for 24 months and an index of stability was calculated for total community cover across time (S = mean SD-1). Second, I conducted a synthetic-assemblage experiment - in which I increased the diversity of field-grown sessile suspension-feeding invertebrates - to determinate whether assemblages containing several functional groups consume a greater fraction of resources than is caught by any of the functional types grown alone. (A functional group is a group of species with the same effect on an ecosystem property.) Finally, I conducted a removal experiment to test whether the loss of the canopy-forming alga Fucus serratus and mechanical ...

It is said about communication - and the practice proves it thoroughly that it serves as a lubricant of management. There is consensus among experts regarding the paramount importance that the leadership has within communication. Referring only to the decision that the commander should make in any situation, it is enough to see that its adoption and success would be unthinkable in the absence of communication between the commander and executants.Keywords: communication; information; effective communication; strategy; public relations.

Invited commentary on the 2021 Journal of Management Education Lasting Impact Award for Dr. David Whetten 2007 article Principles of Effective Course Design: What I Wish I Had Known about Learning-centered Teaching 30 Years Ago.

Abstract. The rise of parties that challenge the political establishment has recently sparked the interest of political scientists. Scholars have identified several factors that lie behind the success of such anti‐political‐establishment parties. Most empirical studies, however, have concentrated their attention either on the importance of electoral system features or on the effects of socioeconomic conditions. This article focuses instead on the role that party system factors play in the electoral success of these parties. Using three data sets from studies conducted in three different time periods it tests two seemingly contradictory hypotheses. On the one hand, the claim that where the established parties have converged toward centrist positions and thus fail to present voters with an identity that is noticeably different from their established competitors, the electorate will be more susceptible to the markedly different policies put forward by anti‐political‐establishment parties. On the other hand, there is the argument that these parties profit more from increasing polarization and the subsequent enlargement of the political space than from a convergence toward the median. The results of the analyses show that anti‐political‐establishment parties generally profit from a close positioning of the establishment parties on the left‐right scale. However, there is no consistent support for the notion that party system polarization by itself is associated with an increase in the support for parties that challenge the political establishment.

Metrics are a hot topic. Executive leadership, boards of directors, management, and customers are all asking for data-based decisions. As a result, many managers, professionals, and change agents are asked to develop metrics, but have no clear idea of how to produce meaningful ones. Wouldn't it be great to have a fast, simple explanation of how to plan for and then design measurements to improve your organization?Planning and Designing Effective Metrics—an abridged version of author and metrics expert Martin Klubeck's Metrics:How to Improve Key Business Results—provides that explanation and the tools you'll need to make your organization more effective. Not only does this brief book explain the 'why' of metrics, but it walks you through a step-by-step process to create a clear picture of organizational health and how well you satisfy customer needs.This book:Provides a guide for planning and designing useful metrics based on your unique organizational needsOffers the theory behind metrics to help you get exponentially better practical resultsShows how to select and use the proper tools for creating, implementing, and using metricsProvides examples of how to identify, collect, analyze, and report metrics that will be immediately useful for improving all aspects of the enterprisePlanning and Designing Effective Metricswill help you to measure the right things, the right way—the first time. No wasted effort, no chasing data. You will learn how to create valuable measures of organizational success, like repeat customers, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth advertising. That will help you not only to improve organizational results—you'll also multiply your career opportunities. Martin Klubeck is a strategy and planning consultant at the University of Notre Dame and a recognized expert in the field of practical metrics. His passion for simplifying the complex has led to the development of a simple system for developing meaningful metrics. He is author of Metrics: How to Improve Key Business Results and coauthor of Why Organizations Struggle So Hard to Improve So Little and numerous articles on metrics. Klubeck is also the founder of the Consortium for the Establishment of Information Technology Performance Standards, a nonprofit organization focused on providing much-needed standards for measures.

The article attempts to conduct a comparative analysis of youth parties in the EU. Investigate theoretical approaches to understanding the concept of «political party» – as well as to highlight the main features and characteristics of youth parties.

The rise of parties that challenge the political establishment has recently sparked the interest of political scientists. Scholars have identified several factors that lie behind the success of such anti-political-establishment parties. Most empirical studies, however, have concentrated their attention either on the importance of electoral system features or on the effects of socio-economic conditions. This article focuses instead on the role that party system factors play in the electoral success of these parties. Using three datasets from studies conducted in three different time periods it tests two seemingly contradictory hypotheses. On the one hand, the claim that where the established parties have converged toward centrist positions and thus fail to present voters with an identity that is noticeably different from their established competitors, the electorate will be more susceptible to the markedly different policies put forward by anti-political-establishment parties. On the other hand, there is the argument that these parties profit more from increasing polarization and the subsequent enlargement of the political space than from a convergence toward the median. The results of the analyses show that anti-political-establishment parties generally profit from a close positioning of the establishment parties on the left-right scale. However, there is no consistent support for the notion that party system polarization by itself is associated with an increase in the support for parties that challenge the political establishment. (European Journal of Political Research / FUB)

Five leading German political parties and their coalitions are evaluated with regard to party manifestos and results of the 2005 parliamentary elections. For this purpose, the party manifestos are converted into Yes/No answers to 95 topical questions (Relax the protection against dismissals? Close nuclear power plants? etc.). On each question, every party represents its adherents as well as those of the parties with the same position. Therefore, a party usually represents a larger group than its voters. The popularity of a party is understood to be the percentage of the electorate represented, averaged on all the 95 questions. The universality of a party is the frequency of representing a majority of electors. The questions are considered either unweighted, or weighted by an expert, or weighted by the number of GOOGLE-results for given keywords (the more important the question, the more documents in the Internet). The weighting however plays a negligible role because the party answers are backed up by the party ``ideology'' which determines a high intra-question correlation. The SPD (Social-Democratic Party) did not receive the highest percentage of votes, remains nevertheless the most popular and the most universal German party. A comparison of the election results with the position of German Trade Union Federation (DGB) reveals its high representativeness as well. Finally, all coalitions with two and three parties are also evaluated. The coalition CDU/SPD (which is currently in power) is the most popular, and the coalition SPD/Green/Left-Party (which failed due to personal conflicts) is the most universal.

This article measures the influence of political party variables on the electoral process in Nepal. In the findings, in general, the research found that a free and fair election in Nepal does not perform at par with their counterparts in the Western world. In Nepal, it is the confrontational political culture among the political parties which is challenging to ensure free and fair elections.