Subalpine ecosystems are experiencing rapid changes in snow pack, temperature, and precipitation regime as a result of anthropogenic climate forcing. These changes in climate can have a profound effect on subalpine ecosystem structure and functioning, which may ultimately feed back to climate change. In this study, I examined the response of the subalpine meadow plant communities at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory to natural and simulated climate change. First, I looked at whether changes in growing season precipitation or temperature regime would have the larger effect on subalpine ecosystem carbon flux. In a simulated warming experiment, changes in growing season precipitation had a tenfold larger effect on cumulative carbon flux than did the warming treatment. Along a natural climatic and elevational gradient, precipitation stimulates carbon uptake, particularly at higher elevations. Given projected decreases in summer precipitation in the high elevation Rockies, we predict a 20% decrease in carbon uptake from subalpine meadows. Second, I compared the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional structure of plant communities along an elevational gradient to infer which climatic and biotic factors influence community assembly at each elevation. Floral and phenology traits become overdispersed at high elevation, mirroring phylogenetic relatedness, and suggesting pressure to diversify to attract pollinators during the abbreviated growing season. At the same time, leaf functional traits become clustered at high elevation, indicating multiple opposing assembly mechanisms in subalpine communities. Finally, I studied the natural history of sagebrush, Artemisia tridentate ssp. vaseyana, at its elevational range limit in subalpine meadows. In particular, I focused on the importance of warming and species interactions in elevational advance of the species. I found that facilitation by neighboring forbs was critical for sagebrush seedling survival, decreasing mortality by 75%. Seedling mortality was overwhelmingly due to desiccation of seedlings; therefore, neighboring forbs moderate temperature and water stress for seedlings. Despite the extremely limited growing season at high elevation caused by subfreezing temperatures, subalpine ecosystem structure and function are closely tied to water availability during the growing season. Therefore, improved predictions of future precipitation regimes over the Rocky Mountains will be our best tool for conservation of these fragile habitats.

Due to large influx of migrants along with a declining rate of native Swedes in working age, corporations are devoting more time and resources for diversity management today. While much attention has been directed towards the gender equality aspect of diversity, less attention has been given to the management of employees with diverse ethnicities and/or nationalities, hence the cultural aspect of diversity. This qualitative case study aims to contribute to the research field on diversity management in Swedish businesses in general but more specifically how the Swedish state-owned company Svevia is working with cultural diversity, identified as a strategic premise in order to assure future business survival. Through semi-structured interviews with employees at all organizational levels, a thorough understanding has been achieved of how Svevia works with diversity management and how the organizational culture allows for cultural diversity to thrive. A range of theoretical perspectives are combined in the for this study established conceptual framework, a framework which has enabled this study to provide an understanding of how an organization as a whole system, and not just fragments of organization, operationalize diversity management. Focus was given to study the processes that underlie the translation towards an intended more diverse workforce and the shape this process takes within the company. The results show that the processes through which information is being transferred within the organization, allowing for a flexibility that enables the company to evolve influenced by society’s constantly shifting demands. Svevia’s management efforts in the area of cultural diversity is not as well developed as that of gender equality. This, in a combination with a rather fragmented organizational culture indicates that there is still room for improvement regarding Svevia’s work with cultural diversity. Svevia, continues to be rather homogenous when it comes to the composition of its workforce, not reflecting the society in which they operate even though measures have been taken. However, if the increased commitment for cultural diversity continues, Svevia will most likely face the growth of diversity in the Swedish labor market, with more ease than companies who do not take measures to improve the organizational culture to become more including and welcoming.

Problem:      Companies need to maintain a competitive position in the market to financially perform, and in order to do so, the companies need to have a good corporate governance structure. In the latter years, the ethical discussion about gender diversity has gained a lot of attention in society, which influence norms, standards and legislations, and also the business. Today, Swedish and Danish firms are obligated to strive for gender diversity in their corporate boards according to the corporate governance codes in the respective countries. However, the financial aspects should be taken into concern, since a company needs to financially perform to keep its operations. It is not established whether an increased gender diversity is related to financial performance, since studies on the field are contradictive. Due to the different results, it is interesting to see what the relationship looks like in the Nordic countries, especially in Sweden and Denmark where quota-based legislation has not yet been established. This thesis investigates the issue to provide evidence for the companies in similar countries if an increased gender diversity is financially supportable.   Purpose:      The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the gender diversity in the board of directors and its relationship with the financial performance of a corporation. Further, the study will investigate the financial performance dependency on the gender diversity in the board of directors.   Method:       A sample of 104 Swedish and Danish companies was chosen as observation objects. To investigate the relationship between the gender diversity and the financial performance, a Pearson correlation analysis was made. To identify the financial performance dependency on the gender diversity regression analyses were performed. Hypotheses that were built on agency theory, resource dependency theory, upper echelons theory and previous research were tested in the statistical analyses.   Results:        The statistical analyses show that there is no statistically significant relationship between gender diversity and financial performance, neither that the financial performance is dependent on the gender diversity. This evidence implies that increased gender diversity in board rooms should be motivated for other reasons than strictly financial success. Companies should consider these findings in the attaining process of directors and focus on other factors than financial progress in the proceeding involvement of women in the board. Thus, a company cannot increase its financial performance only by attaining more women to the board room. / Problem:      För att prestera finansiellt behöver företag bibehålla konkurrenskraft, och för att göra det är företagsledningen viktig. På senare tid, har den etiska diskussionen kring könsdiversitet fått stor uppmärksamhet i samhället, vilket påverkar normer, standarder och lagstiftning. Svenska och danska företag är förpliktigade att sträva efter könsdiversitet enligt den svenska och danska koden för bolagsstyrning, men även de finansiella aspekterna av könsmångfald bör tas i beaktning eftersom ett företag behöver prestera finansiellt för att kunna fortsätta sin verksamhet. Ännu är det inte fastslaget att en ökad könsdiversitet är relaterat till finansiella framsteg, då studier på området säger emot varandra. Därför är det intressant att se hur denna relation ser ut i de nordiska länderna, speciellt i Sverige och Danmark där kvoteringslagar ännu inte har införts. Denna uppsats undersöker frågan för att skapa bevis för företagen i länderna om en ökad könsdiversitet är finansiellt försvarbar.   Syfte:            Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka könsdiversitet i bolagsstyrelser och relationen till finansiella prestationer av företaget i fråga. Dessutom ämnar studien undersöka de finansiella prestationernas beroendeförhållande till könsdiversiteten i bolagsstyrelserna.     Metod:         Ett urval av 104 svenska och danska företag valdes som observationsobjekt. För att undersöka relationen mellan könsdiversitet och finansiella prestationer görs en Pearson korrelationsanalys. För att upptäcka om finansiella prestationer är har ett beroendeförhållande till könsdiversiteten i bolagsstyrelserna gjordes regressionsanalyser. Hypoteserna som testades baserades på agentteori, resursberoendeteori, och övernivåteori och tidigare empirisk forskning.   Resultat:      De statistiska analyserna visar att det inte finns något signifikant samband mellan könsdiversitet och finansiella prestationer, och inte heller att finansiell prestation har ett beroendeförhållande till könsdiversitet i bolagsstyrelsen. Dessa resultat indikerar att en ökad könsdiversitet i styrelserummen bör motiveras av andra faktorer än strikt finansiell framgång. Företag bör ta ställning till resultaten från denna forskning i tillsättandet av styrelseledamöter och inte förvänta sig en förbättrad finansiell ställning enbart genom att tillsätta fler kvinnor till styrelsen.

Abstrakt Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi III - Organisation & Ledarskap 15 hp Ekonomihögskolan Linneuniversitetet Kalmar Titel: Kulturell mångfald: Att leda olikheter - En kvalitativ studie om ledarskapets roll för mångfaldsarbete Syfte: Studien syfte är att bidra med en ökad förståelse för hur kulturell mångfald inom organisationer kan tillvaratas som resurs av ledare. Syftet är även att skapa en förståelse för de olika faktorer som påverkar hur kulturell mångfald hanteras och hur ledarskapet kan användas som verktyg för ett positivt mångfaldsarbete. Metod: En kvalitativ studie med en induktiv ansats. Tre fallstudier har genomförts inom två universitet samt ett statligt konsultbolag där sammanlagt sex personer har intervjuats.   Slutsats: Ledarskapet bör vara situationsanpassat eftersom kulturell mångfald inom en organisation betyder en stor del förändringar och olikheter. Kulturell mångfald kan snarare utgöra ett hinder än en resurs om ledare inte vet hur de ska arbeta med och hantera mångfalden. Ledare behöver verktyg för mångfaldsarbetet vilket kan anskaffas på olika sätt, exempelvis genom utbildningar, praktiska seminarier eller arbetsplatsmöten där kommunikation och mångfald kan diskuteras. Mångfaldsarbete kan och bör bedrivas på olika sätt beroende på organisation, men det måste oavsett ske kontinuerligt och på flera nivåer. Det krävs ett aktivt arbete från organisationens ledare för att skapa och bibehålla en medvetenhet kring organisationens kulturella mångfald och därför bör mångfaldsarbete ses som en långsiktig investering. / Abstract Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration III - Organization & Leadership 15 hp School of Economics at Linnaeus University of Kalmar Title: Cultural diversity: To lead differences - A qualitative study about the role of leadership in  workforce diversity Purpose: The purpose of the study is to contribute to an enhanced understanding for how cultural diversity within organizations can be utilized as a resource by leaders. The purpose is to also create an understanding for the different factors that can affect how cultural diversity is managed and how leadership can be used as a tool for positive outcomes in diversity. Methodology: A qualitative method has been used with an inductive approach. Three case studies were implemented, two were conducted in two Swedish universities and one was conducted in a public consulting company. The case studies had an amount of six people in total that were interviewed. Conclusion:Leadership should be situational because cultural diversity within an organization mean a great deal of changes and differences. Cultural diversity can therefore rather be a hindrance than a resource if the leader doesn’t know how to work with and manage the diversity that exists. The leader needs tools in order to work with diversity and it can be obtained through different ways, such as; educations, practical seminars or meetings where communication and diversity is discussed. Diversity can and should be managed in different ways depending on organization, it has to be done continuously and on different levels. An active working process is therefore needed from the leaders of the organization in order to create and maintain a consciousness around the cultural diversity of the organization and hence see diversity as a longterm investment.

This paper examines the effect of executive board-level national culture and board nationality diversity on corporate social performance (CSP). The sample constitutes of 130 executive boards of non-financial firms from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK over the time period 2010-2014. Based on the upper echelon theory and the notion of national culture, board-level national culture is determined across Hofstede’s dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity and power distance. In this paper, no evidence is provided of a significant relationship between board-level national culture and the corporate social performance of the firm. In addition, nationality diversity as a double-edged sword could both enhance and hamper CSP. In this research, no significant relationship between board nationality diversity and CSP is found. In conclusion, alterations of the board composition in terms of nationality in order to foster CSP seem unjustified based on the results of this paper.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka attityder högskolestudenter har till etnisk mångfald. Studien var kvalitativ och underlaget utgjordes av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Ett bekvämlighetsurval tillämpades och totalt deltog 17 respondenter (n=17). Det insamlade materialet analyserades genom en tematisk analys som resulterade i tre huvudteman: rädsla, samhörighet och den etniska mångfaldens inverkan för organisationer. Studiens resultat visade att samtliga respondenter hade en positiv attityd till etnisk mångfald. Samtliga respondenter ansåg att mångfald bör främjas inom svenska organisationer för att organisationerna ska kunna bli innovationsrika, konkurrenskraftiga och tillfredsställa en bredare marknad samt tillvarata den kompetens som mångfalden innebär.

Background: In modern times it is undeniable that companies that foster diversity have been able to gain an edge over their competitors. Warehouses as every other workplace are trying to follow the trend of economic globalization and a study towards managing the diversity needs to be conducted in order to evaluate the processes that the managers within the warehouses use in order to integrate the workforce effectively. Method: This research uses a qualitative approach which involved semi structured interviews with 5 warehouses that operate within Jonkoping. The study is perceived through an interpretive research philosophy with an inductive research approach. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how cultural diversity is managed at the warehouses within Jonkoping. Also, a further research is conducted on how the tools and processes available to the managers working within the warehouse industry can help them foster diversity within their company. Conclusion: The results depict that the idea of having culturally diverse work teams is becoming increasingly popular and mangers working within the warehouse industry seem to take more interest in hiring people coming from different backgrounds. The major benefits of having a racially mixed team identified by managers were creativity and innovation. The major challenge that was brought up by managers was their ability to be responsive and adaptable towards the needs of their employees.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Twomey / As our world continues to evolve as a global community, schools must prepare students to live, work, and thrive in a diverse society. Teaching the acceptance of diversity to our students is a significant step in building a safe and peaceful culture within our school communities. Teaching the acceptance of diversity to a generation of young people is a significant step in building a peaceful world. This qualitative case study examined an anti-bias education initiative that empowered students to become leaders and activists in their high school. The findings of this study revealed that the diversity education initiative did not have an immediate impact on school culture, but the students who took active leadership roles encountered a transformational experience. The student leaders demonstrated substantial growth in the skills and understandings essential to anti-bias activism. Significant to this development was heightened awareness of discriminatory language and behavior, a more comprehensive view of diversity and its role in community, and the ability to engage peers in dialogue about challenging diversity topics. In a dialogic exploration of individual differences, student leaders discovered the commonality that connects all humanity. This insight led them to affirm individual identity, to conceptualize the richness that diversity adds to community, and ultimately to embrace diversity as fundamental to community. The findings of this study point to the incremental nature of school culture change and the need to institutionalize a diversity education/student leader effort as a long-term initiative in order to achieve substantive school improvement. The findings compel educators to provide leadership opportunities for students, cultivating their ability to become productive citizen-leaders in an increasingly global community. This is the subject matter of their lives, an authentic curriculum that activates their knowledge, their ability, and their responsibility to transform their world (Starratt, 2008). This dissertation captures the lived experiences of a group of students who led this diversity education initiative, and how their reflections inform educational policy, practice, and leadership. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration.

Abordagens integrativas considerando diferentes dimensões da diversidade (p.ex., taxonômica, funcional, ou filogenética) cada vez mais estão sendo utilizadas para (1) avançar o nosso conhecimento sobre os mecanismos que criam e mantém a biodiversidade, e (2) elucidar a distribuição da biodiversidade tanto em áreas geográficas de interesse como dentro de áreas protegidas. De fato, entender como a biodiversidade se distribui no espaço e como ela é mantida ao longo do tempo é fundamental para embasar o planejamento de áreas protegidas e corredores ecológicos, assim como auxiliar no manejo de espécies invasoras, restauração de habitats degradados e manejo de ecossistemas. Nessa perspectiva, os objetivos centrais desta tese foram: (1) avaliar os mecanismos ecológicos e evolutivos, que potencialmente influenciam a diversidade beta taxonômica e filogenética de árvores nas florestas Atlânticas do sul do Brasil, e (2) avaliar como os componentes taxonômicos e filogenéticos se distribuem ao longo destas florestas, e como eles são representados dentro da rede regional de áreas protegidas. Para tal, utilizei modelagem de equações estruturais (capítulo 1) para testar a validade de uma rede de hipóteses ligando dados e teoria. No capítulo 1, avaliei a relação entre a diversidade beta taxonômica e filogenética, e como elas se relacionam com a riqueza de espécies, filtragem ambiental, espaço geográfico e estrutura filogenética (agrupamento filogenético). Nesse capítulo, concluí que a diversidade beta taxonômica é influenciada principalmente pelos gradientes altitudinais e climáticos, enquanto que a diversidade beta filogenética é determinada também pelo grau de agrupamento filogenético, em nível local, que provavelmente reflete o conservadorismo de nicho dentro das linhagens e distúrbio humano, que historicamente tem conduzido as florestas estudadas a um processo de homogeneização biótica. Em relação ao segundo objetivo, utilizei uma abordagem integrativa para predizer e mapear os componentes taxonômicos e filogenéticos da diversidade de árvores e, em seguida, avaliar a efetividade da rede de áreas protegidas em representar tais componentes nas florestas Atlânticas do sul Brasil. Nesse capítulo, concluí que as áreas protegidas são insuficientes para preservar adequadamente a biodiversidade de árvores nestas florestas. Sugeri que a expansão da rede em direção as áreas de alta singularidade taxonômica e filogenética, como definidas aqui, poderia aumentar, ao mesmo tempo, a representação da riqueza de espécies, da diversidade beta e da história evolutiva das espécies estudadas. Sugeri também que a inclusão de áreas de alta insubstituibilidade, em termos de história evolutiva, poderia ajudar a aumentar a proteção da diversidade de características e do potencial evolutivo das espécies. / Integrative approaches considering different dimensions of biodiversity are increasingly being used in ecology and conservation to (1) advance our knowledge about the mechanisms underlying current patterns of biological diversity, and (2) elucidate the distribution of biodiversity in geographical areas of interest, and within the protected areas. Indeed, understanding how biodiversity is distributed in space and how it is maintained over time is critical to support the planning of protected areas and ecological corridors as well as assist the management of invasive species, the restoration of degraded areas and ecosystem management. In this perspective, the central goals of this thesis were: (1) to evaluate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that potentially influence the tree taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity in Atlantic forests located in southern Brazil, and (2) to evaluate how the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity components are distributed across these forests, and how they are represented within the regional network of protected areas. For this, I used structural equation modeling (chapter 1) to test the validity of a network of hypotheses linking data and theory. In the chapter 1, I evaluate the relationship between taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity, and how they are related to species richness, environmental filtering, geographical space and phylogenetic structure (phylogenetic clustering). In this chapter, I conclude that taxonomic beta diversity (at the study scale) is mainly driven by the altitudinal and climatic gradients, while phylogenetic beta diversity is also determined by the degree of phylogenetic clustering at local level, more likely reflecting niche conservatism within lineages and human disturbance that has historically conducted the studied forests to a process of biotic homogenization. In relation to the second goal, I used an integrative approach to predict and map the taxonomic and phylogenetic components of tree diversity, and to assess the effectiveness of the protected areas network in representing these components in the Atlantic forests. In this chapter, I conclude that protected areas are insufficient to adequately preserve the tree biodiversity in these forests. I suggest that expanding the network towards the areas of taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness, as defined here, could increase the representation of species richness, beta diversity and evolutionary history of angiosperm trees at the same time. Furthermore, the inclusion of areas of high irreplaceability in terms of evolutionary history could help to improve the protection of feature diversity and evolutionary potential of species.

An ensemble of classifiers succeeds in improving the accuracy of the whole when thecomponent classifiers are both diverse and accurate. Diversity is required to ensure that theclassifiers make uncorrelated errors. Theoretical and experimental approaches from previousresearch show very low correlation between ensemble accuracy and diversity measure.Introducing Proposed Compound diversity functions by Albert Hung-Ren KO and RobertSabourin, (2009), by combining diversities and performances of individual classifiers exhibitstrong correlations between the diversities and accuracy. To be consistent with existingarguments compound diversity of measures are evaluated and compared with traditionaldiversity measures on different problems. Evaluating diversity of errors and comparison withmeasures are significant in this study. The results show that compound diversity measuresare better than ordinary diversity measures. However, the results further explain evaluation ofdiversity of errors on available data. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik