Multi-taxa spatial conservation planning reveals similar priorities between taxa and improved protected area representation with climate change

Protected area (PA) networks have in the past been constructed to include all major habitats, but have often been developed through consideration of only a few indicator taxa or across restricted areas, and rarely account for global climate change. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) aims to improve the efficiency of biodiversity conservation, particularly when addressing internationally agreed protection targets. We apply SCP in Great Britain (GB) using the widest taxonomic coverage to date (4,447 species), compare spatial prioritisation results across 18 taxa and use projected future (2080) distributions to assess the potential impact of climate change on PA network effectiveness. Priority conservation areas were similar among multiple taxa, despite considerable differences in spatial species richness patterns; thus systematic prioritisations based on indicator taxa for which data are widely available are still useful for conservation planning. We found that increasing the number of protected hectads by 2% (to reach the 2020 17% Aichi target) could have a disproportionate positive effect on species protected, with an increase of up to 17% for some taxa. The PA network in GB currently under-represents priority species but, if the potential future distributions under climate change are realised, the proportion of species distributions protected by the current PA network may increase, because many PAs are in northern and higher altitude areas. Optimal locations for new PAs are particularly concentrated in southern and upland areas of GB. This application of SCP shows how a small addition to an existing PA network could have disproportionate benefits for species conservation.

Determinants of network effectiveness: evidence from a benchmarking consortium

PurposeThe study investigates the perceived network effectiveness of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium (FBC). It also examines the impact of network coordination, longevity of membership and environmental support on perceived network effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachIt uses a cross-sectional, nonexperimental research design and an ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression that employed data from an online survey administered to local government employees from FBC member governments.FindingsThe results show that the FBC moderately meets the expectation of network participants to serve as a platform for exchanging experiences and increasing performance knowledge. However, the network's effectiveness is not dependent on the frequency of interactions among network members, but depends on their interactions with focal egos such as the FBC Executive Director. Contrary to expectations, the longevity of involvement with the network is not associated with perceived network effectiveness. Moreover, network members who perceive the environment as supportive are more likely to positively evaluate the network's effectiveness.Practical implicationsBecause perceived network effectiveness may be improved if the members interact with the right “focal” players, managers should proactively pursue closer connections with knowledgeable network members using additional and more frequent communication. Also, research efforts at identifying the characteristics of the right focal players that contribute to network effectiveness should be pursued.Originality/valueWhile there is extensive attention to the participation of public organizations in networks, less research focuses on network effectiveness examined at the network level. This study addresses this research gap by investigating if the FBC is effective in meeting its network goals.

Tracing the potential of networks to improve community cancer care: an in-depth single case study

Background Despite overall declines in cancer mortality in the USA over the past three decades, many patients in community settings fail to receive evidence-based cancer care. Networks that link academic medical centers (AMCs) and community providers may reduce disparities by creating access to specialized expertise and care, but research on network effectiveness is mixed. The objective of this study was to identify factors related to whether and how an exemplar AMC network served to provide advice and referral access in community settings. Methods An embedded in–depth single case study design was employed to study a network in the Midwest USA that connects a leading cancer specialty AMC with community practices. The embedded case units were a subset of 20 patients with young-onset colorectal cancer or risk-related conditions and the providers involved in their care. The electronic health record (EHR) was reviewed from January 1, 1990, to February 28, 2018. Social network analysis identified care, advice, and referral relationships. Within-case process tracing provided detailed accounts of whether and how the network provided access to expert, evidence-based care or advice in order to identify factors related to network effectiveness. Results The network created access to evidence-based advice or care in some but not all case units, and there was variability in whether and how community providers engaged the network, including the path for referrals to the AMC and the way in which advice about an evidence-based approach to care was communicated from AMC specialists to community providers. Factors related to instances when the network functioned as intended included opportunities for both rich and lean communication between community providers and specialists, coordinated referrals, and efficient and adequately utilized documentation systems. Conclusions Network existence alone is insufficient to open up access to evidence-based expertise or care for patients in community settings. In-depth understanding of how this network operated provides insight into factors that support or inhibit the potential of networks to minimize disparities in access to evidence-based community cancer care, including both personal and organizational factors.

A Study on the Network Effectiveness of Sustainable K-Fashion and Beauty Creator Media (Social Media) in the Digital Era

With the convergence of various media in the digital era, the influence of Korean fashion/beauty on popular culture is growing rapidly. This study examines the sustainable relationship between the content and community characteristics of Korean fashion/beauty creator media, the associated social exchange relationships, and the effectiveness of the network among international consumers. In total, 614 international consumers who had made Korean fashion product purchases, viewed Korean fashion creator media, and shared information related to Korean fashion at least once were selected as a sample. Frequency analysis, reliability and validity analysis, measurement model analysis, and path analysis were conducted using SPSS and AMOS. The results showed that, first, content uniqueness had a significant effect on perceived similarity, although content continuity did not. In addition, content uniqueness and content continuity both had a significant effect on emotional expectations. Second, community scalability and community cohesion both had a significant effect on perceived similarity, and community scalability and community cohesion had a significant effect on emotional expectations. Third, perceived similarity had a significant effect on both emotional expectation consciousness and parasocial interaction, and emotional expectation consciousness had a significant effect on parasocial interaction. Finally, parasocial interaction had a significant effect on fad-like behavior. Through this, this study expanded the scope of academic research by linking the contents and community characteristics of Korean fashion/beauty creator media with research problems in the field of social exchange from the perspective of network effectiveness. Integrating this with the existing studies on consumer acceptance of Hallyu culture is expected to lead to the development of a more descriptive theoretical model for the formation of attitudes and purchase intentions toward Korean fashion/beauty products.

Neural Network Effectiveness Evaluation While the Intersection of Images in the Receptor Field

The study and application of neural networks is one of the main areas in the field of artificial intelligence. The effectiveness of the neural network depends significantly on both its architecture and the structure of the training set. This paper proposes a probabilistic approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the neural network if the images intersect in the receptor field. A theorem and its corollaries are proved, which are consistent with the results obtained by a different path for a perceptron-type neural network.

Analyzing the topology characteristic and effectiveness of the China city network

The topology characteristic and effectiveness of city network play critical roles in guiding transportation infrastructure planning and construction. From empirical evidence of three types of transportation infrastructure in China’s urbanization process—railway, civil aviation, and highway—we propose a new city network construction method based on the transportation infrastructure links between cities. Degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality are selected as measuring indicators for analyzing the topology characteristic of the China city network, and the shortest path length is used to measure the effectiveness of the China city network from the node level and the overall level. Based on public and open data and combining analysis methodologies, we explore the topology characteristic and effectiveness of the China city network. The analysis results show that the topology characteristic of the China city network presents disequilibrium on geographical distribution. Network node effectiveness is positively correlated to the economic development level of cities in the China city network, and different sub-networks present different overall network effectiveness. The analysis results of the Dalian–Yantai subsea tunnel show that although the effectiveness of the China city network can be greatly improved through increasing links between cities with no direct link, transportation infrastructure planning and construction has different impacts on the topology characteristic of the China city network. The topology characteristic and effectiveness of each city in the China city network should be considered comprehensively in the process of transportation planning and construction.

Digitalization and network effectiveness of public governability

Technological changes taking place under the flag of digitalization affect not only the sphere of technology itself. Digitalization is not a politically neutral process, a simple means of increasing labor productivity. It has a decisive influence on all spheres of life of modern society, creating additional conditions for their networking. The network architecture of emerging relations includes not only social and political agents, but also the technical objects themselves, which begin to perform the functions of mediators in interaction. There is a pessimistic and optimistic direction in assessing the ongoing transformations and the role of the technical component in them. Some politicians and scientists talk about a new cybernetic totalitarianism, while others believe that in modern conditions not only challenges arise, but also prospects for more meaningful and effective development are being formed. The article focuses on one important aspect of the topic related to the relation of digitalization, its inclusion in the public administration system and the emerging problems of public governability. Trends in the impact of digitalization on public governability are considered, four models of network governability efficiency are analyzed: interactive, contingent, multidimensional, socio-technical. Particular attention is paid to the problem of cooperation between government and citizens, which ensure the effectiveness of governance based on co-governance networks.