Dans le contexte des changements globaux, la biodiversité en Méditerranée est menacée, notamment par une sécheresse plus intense, avec des modifications probables du fonctionnement des écosystèmes. Cette thèse étudie l’effet de la sécheresse accrue sur la végétation et la modulation des effets par la diversité végétale, par une expérimentation d’exclusion de pluie dans une garrigue au nord de Marseille avec un gradient naturel de diversité. Les performances des 4 arbustes dominants, la diversité spécifique et fonctionnelle, les relations interspécifiques et la relation diversité-productivité de la garrigue ont été étudiés sous deux niveaux de pluieAprès 2,5 années, les effets de la sécheresse accrue sur la performance des 4 arbustes dépendent de l’espèce et du paramètre évalués et peuvent être modulés par la diversité des co-dominantes. Q.coccifera parait plus résistante et résiliente, suivie de R.officinalis et finalement de C.albidus et U.parviflorus. Ceci s’explique en partie par leurs différentes stratégies d’acquisition, utilisation et conservation du carbone et de l’eau. Les traits foliaires et la diversité fonctionnelle et spécifique ne sont pas affectés significativement par la réduction des pluies, mais dépendent du nombre, l’identité et le recouvrement des dominantes. Au vu de l’effet différentiel de la sécheresse accrue sur les espèces dominantes, on peut s’attendre à un effet négatif indirect de la sécheresse sur la biodiversité et donc sur le fonctionnement de la garrigue. On confirme l’importance d’intégrer les facteurs biotiques dans les modèles visant à prévoir le fonctionnement et les services des écosystèmes dans le cadre du changement climatique. / In the global change context, the biodiversity in the Mediterranean is under threat, mainly due to the more intense drought, which could lead to modification of ecosystem functioning. This thesis focuses on the effects of higher drought on the aboveground vegetation and the modulation of these effects by plant diversity thanks to a precipitation exclusion experiment in a shrubland in the south of France whith a natural diversity gradient. The 4 dominant shrub species performances, the specific and functional diversity, the interspecific interaction, and the biodiversity-productivity relationship were studied under 2 rain levelsAfter 2,5 years the effects of increased drought on the 4 dominant shrub performances was species- and parameter-dependant and can be modulated by the diversity of the co-dominant species. Q. coccifera seems the most resistant and resilient, followed by R. officinalis and finally by C. albidus and U. parviflorus. This is partly explained by the different strategies of acquisition, utilization and conservation of carbon and water of the four species. The leaf traits, the functional and specific diversity are not significantly affected by the precipitation decrease, but they depend on the number, the identity and the cover of the dominant shrubs. Given the differential effect of higher drought on the dominant species performances, we could expect an indirect negative effect of drought on the shrubland diversity and so on ecosystem functioning. We confirm the importance of taking into account the biotic factors in models aiming to predict the ecosystem functioning and environmental risks and services under future in the climate change context

The purpose of this research was to develop a taxonomy of workplace diversity and examine its implications for understanding and predicting diversity at work. A 7-dimension taxonomy was originally developed by reviewing contemporary literature on diversity in the workplace. The taxonomy is grounded in Social Identity Theory. Preliminary research found that each of the seven dimensions of the taxonomy were present in 78 critical incidents describing work-relevant diversity dynamics. The current study reports the development and administration of an instrument, the Workplace Diversity Inventory (WDI), which was used to empirically examine the 7-factor model of the taxonomy in over 20 different industries. Exploratory factor analysis using data from 209 respondents supported a six-dimension taxonomy, with one factor from the proposed taxonomy (Leadership) collapsed into two of the included WDI dimensions (Diversity Climate and Organizational Justice). Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis indicated an adequate to good fit for the six-factor model, with the WDI reduced from 47 to 24 items. Results and implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Art education scholars have redefined multicultural teaching practices to include a need for addressing social inequities. To understand art educators’ multicultural teaching practices, it is important to measure the extent to which they present cultural diversity in the classroom and present a racially diverse pool of artists. The purpose of this this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to measure the extent to which practicing K–12 art educators who are members of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) engage students with racially diverse artists and cultures within their curricula. The study aimed to measure the extent that educators address racial and cultural diversity in their classrooms. The study also gathered data on which resources participants indicated would help create and implement curricula that addresses racially diverse artists and cultures. Finally, the study explored the relationships between seven different teachers’ self-reported attributes and the extent that they taught about and valued racial/cultural diversity. The findings show that educators taught about racial and cultural diversity to regularly in their classroom practices and they also voiced a need for more resources to teach more about racially diverse artists and cultures, specifically visual resources and education/training regarding racially/culturally diverse content. Findings also indicated that educators who taught 21+ years, taught predominantly students of color, and those who were more comfortable with conversations pertaining to racial/cultural diversity were more likely to value the importance of racial/cultural diversity in their curricula. The results suggest that resources, such as education, training, or professional development, should be offered to educators in the field so that they may continue learning new language concerning diversity as perceptions and understandings continue to shift.

The demographics of community colleges are rapidly changing. The culture composition of the student population in community colleges has expanded, and includes larger percentages of African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans than are found in other higher education institutions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of 10 community college leaders, consisting of 4 administrators, 5 faculty members, and 1 faculty/administrator, in their attempt to adapt to the changing demographics of the student population. Multicultural lens, the conceptual framework for the study, helped guide leaders in assessing their levels of multicultural sensitivity and competence in relation to the culturally diverse student population. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews; these data were then sorted, coded, and analyzed for central themes. The emergent themes'factors in leaders adapting to the changing student demographics'included leaders' educational, personal, work, and leadership experiences. The leaders' lived experiences contributed to them identifying with and understanding the various educational, family, financial, and cultural challenges these students encounter. The results of the study might help administrators, faculty, staff, and trustee boards continue valuing and promoting an environment of inclusion by improving the policies and practices related to student diversity and student success.

O objetivo principal desse estudo é identificar se há relações entre as práticas da gestão de diversidade e a percepção de desempenho em inovação, sob a moderação de três variáveis: o tamanho da empresa, a origem do capital e o setor em 133 empresas brasileiras. Há suporte que justifica a relação entre a diversidade e a inovação, no que diz respeito à composição demográfica organizacional (Yang, & Konrad, 2011), mas não há consenso e nem estudos empíricos quantitativos sobre as práticas de gestão da diversidade e a percepção de desempenho em inovação. Os resultados identificaram que as práticas de gestão da diversidade influenciam positivamente e explicam em 45% a percepção de desempenho em inovação. Porém, algumas práticas possuem maior influência do que outras, como os grupos de suporte e a integração. Ainda, a pesquisa identificou que o tamanho da empresa, o setor e a origem do capital são variáveis que moderam essa relação de influência das práticas de gestão da diversidade e a percepção de desempenho em inovação. Além disso, a moderação é mais forte em empresas de médio e pequeno porte do que as de grande porte, é mais forte no setor da indústria do que no setor de serviços e nas empresas de capital misto e privado é mais forte do que nas estatais. / The objective of this study is to identify whether there is a relationship between the diversity management practices and the performance perception in innovation, under the moderation of three variables: the size of the company, the source of capital and the sector in 133 Brazilian companies. There are supports that justify the relationship between diversity and innovation with respect to organizational demographic composition (Yang, & Konrad, 2011), but there is no consensus and no quantitative empirical studies on the diversity management practices and perception of performance in innovation. The results identified that the practices of diversity management explain in 45% and influence positively the perception of performance in innovation, being that, some practices have greater influence than others, such as support groups and integration. Moreover, the research identified that the size of the company, the sector and the origin of capital are variables that moderate this relationship of influence of the diversity management practices and the perception of performance in innovation. Yet, moderation is stronger in medium- to small-sized firms than in large ones, it is stronger in the industry than in the services sector and in mixed and private equity firms stronger than in state-owned enterprises.

Although there already exists a rich literature on cooperative diversity, current results are mainly restricted to the conventional assumption of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). AWGN model realistically represents the thermal noise at the receiver, but ignores the impulsive nature of atmospheric noise, electromagnetic interference, or man-made noise which might be dominant in many practical applications. In this thesis, we investigate the performance of cooperative communication over Rayleigh fading channels in the presence of impulsive noise modeled by Middleton Class A noise. We consider a multi-relay network with amplify-and-forward relaying and orthogonal cooperation protocol. As for the coding across the relays, we employ either space-time coding or repetition coding. For each scheme, we assume various scenarios based on relays’ location and quantify the diversity advantages through the derivation of the pairwise error probability. Based on the minimization of a union bound on the error rate performance, we further propose optimal power allocation schemes and demonstrate significant performance gains over their counterparts with equal power allocation. We finally present an extensive Monte Carlo simulation to confirm our analytical results and corroborate on our results.

In public relations, minority public relations practitioners are feeling left behind by the profession (Ford & Appelbaum, 2005). Where do top executives stand on employment diversity within their organizations? An online survey of 20 top executives of small-sized public relations agencies explored how top executives’ perceptions of and normative beliefs about diversity practices were related to their future engagement in diversity practices at work. Based on the theory of reasoned action, this explanatory study found that executives’ perceptions of peer endorsement of diversity were associated with greater intention of organizational engagement in diversity practices. Neither perceived benefits of nor perceived concerns about diversity were related to future engagement. Recommendations for contacting this hard-to-reach audience, as well as suggestions for promoting diversity practices among top executives, were discussed.

This project proposes is focus on having diversity in workforces of different cultures within theglobalized world that we live in. It is not enough to be perceived as effective in a singleorganization or by one nation. Leaders must look to understand how this can create acompetitive advantage and really should have skills that are perceived as effective by manydifferent people, despite cultural differences.The aim of this research is to have a better knowledge of how a leader can be perceived aseffective in a diverse workforce in Swedish and Thai context. And we also would like to knowthe employees’ expectation toward their future manager.To figure out the employees’ expectation, we conduct a questionnaire which was send to ourrespondents in both Thailand and Sweden. We are choosing currently workforce and futureworkforce of both countries to be our respondents. We also interview manager who have beenworked in multinational company about their experience of working in internationalenvironment.

Although there already exists a rich literature on cooperative diversity, current results are mainly restricted to the conventional assumption of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). AWGN model realistically represents the thermal noise at the receiver, but ignores the impulsive nature of atmospheric noise, electromagnetic interference, or man-made noise which might be dominant in many practical applications. In this thesis, we investigate the performance of cooperative communication over Rayleigh fading channels in the presence of impulsive noise modeled by Middleton Class A noise. We consider a multi-relay network with amplify-and-forward relaying and orthogonal cooperation protocol. As for the coding across the relays, we employ either space-time coding or repetition coding. For each scheme, we assume various scenarios based on relays’ location and quantify the diversity advantages through the derivation of the pairwise error probability. Based on the minimization of a union bound on the error rate performance, we further propose optimal power allocation schemes and demonstrate significant performance gains over their counterparts with equal power allocation. We finally present an extensive Monte Carlo simulation to confirm our analytical results and corroborate on our results.

Although the functional enhancement and price decrease of computer hardware have rapidly increased the popularity of computers, quality software is the key to determine the value of information systems. Unfortunately, software development is a highly uncertain business. Many projects fail or escalate. Since software development is a labor and knowledge intensive taks, proper management of team composition is a critical research issue. The purpose of his research is to explore the relationship between knowledge diversity of software team and project performance. Research on team composition and performance is not new. However, few have studied the relationship on software development team. In this research, a research framework based on conflict theory is developed and an empirical study was conducted on Taiwanese firms to examine the extended model. Major funding include (1) knowledge diversity has significant positive effects on task conflict, and the task conflict has significant positive effects on team learning, (2) value diversity has positive effects on relationship conflict, and the relationship conflict has positive effect on the quality of interaction. These findings are useful in helping decision makers to manage software project teams by selecting the right team members.