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The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a primary tool for restoring grassland in the United States, in part as wildlife habitat, which has benefited declining grassland bird populations. Among potential mid-contract management practices used to maintain early-successional CRP grasslands, cattle grazing had been prohibited and is currently disincentivized during the primary nesting season for birds (much of the growing season), despite the important role that large herbivores historically played in structuring grassland ecosystems. Conservative grazing of CRP grasslands could increase spatial heterogeneity in vegetation structure and plant diversity, potentially supporting higher densities of some grassland bird species and higher bird diversity. Our objective was to determine the effect of experimental cattle grazing on species-specific relative abundance and occupancy, species diversity, and community dissimilarity of grassland birds on CRP grasslands across the longitudinal extent of Kansas, USA (a 63.5-cm precipitation gradient) during the 2017–2019 avian breeding seasons. Fifty-three of 108 fields were grazed by cattle during the growing seasons of 2017 and 2018 and all fields were rested from grazing in 2019. For all analyses, we examined separate model sets for semiarid western versus more mesic eastern Kansas. Using data from line transect surveys, we modeled relative abundances of 5 songbird species: grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum), dickcissel (Spiza americana), eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna), western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), and brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). Grazing had delayed yet positive effects on abundances of grasshopper sparrow in western Kansas, and eastern meadowlark in eastern Kansas, but negative effects on dickcissel abundance in western Kansas and especially on burned fields in eastern Kansas. Somewhat counterintuitively, brown-headed cowbirds in western Kansas were more abundant on ungrazed versus grazed fields in the years after grazing began. In addition, we modeled multi-season occupancy of 3 gamebird species (ring-necked pheasant [Phasianus colcicus], northern bobwhite [Colinus virginianus], mourning dove [Zenaida macroura]) and Henslow’s sparrow (Centronyx henslowii); grazing did not affect occupancy of these species. In eastern Kansas, species diversity was highest in grazed, unburned fields. In western Kansas, bird communities in grazed and ungrazed fields were dissimilar, as determined from multivariate analysis. Though regionally variable, conservative stocking of cattle on CRP grasslands during the nesting season as a mid-contract management tool might increase bird species diversity by restructuring habitat that accommodates a greater variety of species and decreasing abundances of species associated with taller, denser stands of vegetation.

This rigorously academic book describes - in a precise but practical way - the most recent principles and techniques of project management, at the highest international standards, with a fully company-wide, process-based, multi-project approach.

Despite the relevance of Chile’s mining industry, risk models applied to contracts have not been intensively developed. This is a quantitative exploratory research, which focuses on the results of a novel risk assessment methodology applied for the analysis of potential industry 4.0 technologies to be implemented by contractor companies in Chile’s mining sector. In this paper, an overview about mining 4.0 was done and Chile’s large mining companies were analyzed during 2021-2022, obtaining contracts information from a relevant copper producer. A case was selected to apply the model and semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the stakeholders involved in this industry. Based on our results we found small contracts concentrated the largest number of low and moderate- priority projects, but also the largest number of high-priority contracts. However, it seems to be that big projects are riskier than small projects under the future effects of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Currently, there is an increasing focus on procurement contract administration as among of the key variables in explaining the performance of construction projects. Despite such observations, their relationship with quality attainment of the Force Account (FA) construction projects is not well postulated to cement the observed causal relationship. Therefore, this study assesses the role of procurement contract administration in the quality attainment of FA construction projects in Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in Tanzania. The study employed a cross-sectional research design, and data was collected by using structured questionnaires from primary schools in Dodoma, Tanzania. The study used 318 respondents to analyse data by using Partial least square structural equitation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings of the study reveal that risk management, relationship management, dispute management, and monitoring and control are positive and significant factors in explaining the quality attainment of FA construction projects. Notably, risk management is the strongest predictor of quality attainment of FA construction projects. It was concluded that the quality attainment of FA construction projects is highly influenced by procurement contract administration. These findings have practical implications, as procurement practitioners and FA committees can use them to make decisions concerning the quality attainment of the projects through the implementation of procurement contract administration practices.

Birds may respond to habitat at multiple scales, ranging from microhabitat structure to landscape composition. North American grassland bird distributions predominantly reside on private lands, and populations have been consistently declining. Many of these lands are enrolled in U.S. federal conservation programmes, and properly guided management policies could alleviate declines. However, more evaluative research is needed on the effects of management policies juxtaposed with other multi‐scale habitat features. Furthermore, research focused on nest survival is arguably more valuable because habitat associations with avian densities can sometimes be deceptive. We investigated nest survival of a grassland facultative (red‐winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus) and obligate species (dickcissel Spiza americana), and two nesting communities (ground and above‐ground nesters) relative to management and multi‐scale habitat (nest‐site characteristics, in‐field microhabitat, patch metrics, and landscape context). Our study was conducted on private lands in Illinois (2011–2014) and directly linked to policy‐based management (discing, herbicidal spraying, spray/interseeding) and landowner decisions. Multi‐scale models explained more variation in nest survival compared to single scales or management in three of four analyses (blackbirds, dickcissels, and above‐ground nesters). Finer‐scale habitat variables, such as nest‐site characteristics, were more often in top and among the competitive models relative to landscape factors. Compared with other management types, discing (i.e., tractor‐pulled disc harrows removed approximately 50% of vegetation) displayed distinct effects and positively influenced nest survival in above‐ground nesters. Also, greater proportions of a field managed cumulatively and yearly, regardless of type, generally improved nest survival for dickcissels and above‐ground nesters. All groups except above‐ground nesters had generally higher nest survival in native‐grass dominated fields. Synthesis and applications. Habitat practitioners can improve nest survival for certain grassland birds by directly affecting in‐field microhabitat vegetation and structure. However, characteristics associated with specific nest locations often drive nest survival. We suggest habitat managers and agency staff promote native grass practices and management, such as discing, to enhance nest survival of grassland bird populations. Management will likely be most effective in favourable unfragmented grassland landscapes with less surrounding forested areas, which also promote other important responses (e.g., colonization and persistence) of target species. Habitat practitioners can improve nest survival for certain grassland birds by directly affecting in‐field microhabitat vegetation and structure. However, characteristics associated with specific nest locations often drive nest survival. We suggest habitat managers and agency staff promote native grass practices and management, such as discing, to enhance nest survival of grassland bird populations. Management will likely be most effective in favourable unfragmented grassland landscapes with less surrounding forested areas, which also promote other important responses (e.g., colonization and persistence) of target species.

The research aims to examine the impact of supplier development on procurement performance, taking into consideration contract management difficulties as a moderating variable. The research method section of the study employs a cross-sectional research design. In this survey technique, a questionnaire is employed to collect primary data from 220 respondents from the purchasing department via Google Forms through an adopted questionnaire. The initial step in our analysis was to clean and analyse the data using SPSS and SmartPLS 3 software, then incorporate structural equation modelling (SEM) to conduct our analysis. The findings confirmed that supplier development affects procurement performance. In addition to this, the contract management difficulties suggested a negative and significant impact on procurement performance. Furthermore, the relationship between supplier development and procurement performance is moderated by contract management difficulty. These unique findings highlight the importance of supplier development and effective contract management in improving procurement performance in the textile industry. The work’s implementation of transaction cost theory to analyse how supplier development impacts sourcing capability is recognized as the primary theoretical contribution.

This article analyzes optimal nonlinear portfolio management contracts. We consider a setting in which the investor faces moral hazard with respect to the effort and risk choices of the portfolio manager. The employment contract promises the manager: (i) a fixed payment, (ii) a proportional asset-based fee, (iii) a benchmark-linked fulcrum fee, and (iv) a benchmark-linked option-type \"bonus\" incentive fee. We show that the optiontype incentive helps overcome the effort-underinvestment problem that undermines linear contracts. More generally, we find that for the set of contracts we consider, with the appropriate choice of benchmark it is always optimal to include a bonus incentive fee in the contract. We derive the conditions that such a benchmark must satisfy. Our results suggest that current regulatory restrictions on asymmetric performance-based fees in mutual fund advisory contracts may be costly.