Mating success depends on rearing substrate in cactophilic Drosophila

Drosophila buzzatii and D. koepferae coexist in the arid lands of southern South America and exploit different types of cactus as breeding hosts. The former prefers to lay eggs on the rotting pads of prickly pears (genus Opuntia) whereas D. koepferae exhibits greater acceptance for columnar cacti (e. g., Echinopsis terschekii). Here, we demonstrate that the rearing cacti affect male mating success, flies reared in each species' preferred host exhibited enhanced mating success than those raised in secondary hosts. Opuntia sulphurea medium endows D. buzzatii males with greater mating ability while D. koepferae males perform better when flies develop in Echinopsis terschekii. These effects are not mediated through body size, even in D. buzzatii whose body size happens to be affected by the rearing cacti. This scenario, which is consistent with the evolution of host specialization and speciation through sensory drive, emphasizes the importance of habitat isolation in the coexistence of these cactophilic Drosophila. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Extending the understanding of critical success factors for implementing business intelligence systems

Extant studies suggest implementing a business intelligence (BI) system is a costly, resource-intensive and complex undertaking. Literature draws attention to the critical success factors (CSFs) for implementation of BI systems. Leveraging case studies of seven large organizations and blending them with Yeoh and Koronios's (2010) BI CSFs framework, our empirical study gives evidence to support this notion of CSFs and provides better contextual understanding of the CSFs in BI implementation domain. Cross-case analysis suggests that organizational factors play the most crucial role in determining the success of a BI system implementation. Hence, BI stakeholders should prioritize on the organizational dimension ahead of other factors. Our findings allow BI stakeholders to holistically understand the CSFs and the associated contextual issues that impact on implementation of BI systems.

Personality in captivity: more exploratory males reproduce better in an aviary population

The existence of animal personality is well-established across a wide range of species, with the majority of evidence for this being obtained from individuals held in captivity. However, there has been little work assessing the influence of commonly-measured personality traits on fitness, which is pertinent when the genetic basis of personality is considered. We measured whether the reproductive behaviour and success of zebra finches in a captive mixed-sex aviary environment was influenced by an aspect of their personality, their exploratory behaviour in a single-sex social aviary. We found that more exploratory males made a greater number of breeding attempts and raised more nestlings than less exploratory males. These results were not confounded by extra-pair paternity, which was not related to personality, or by the individuals that did not initiate any reproductive attempts at all. Our work provides evidence that attributes of personality may influence the degree to which individuals cope with, and thrive in a captive environment and this should be accounted for in both experimental design and the interpretation of results. Furthermore, this suggests that there may be selection on these traits as part of the domestication process.

Benefits, impediments and critical success factors in B2C E-business adoption

This paper reports the results of a study carried out to assess the benefits, impediments and major critical success factors in adopting business to consumer e-business solutions. A case study method of investigation was used, and the experiences of six online companies and two bricks and mortar companies were documented. The major impediments identified are: leadership issues, operational issues, technology, and ineffective solution design. The critical success factors in the adoption of e-business are identified as: combining e-business knowledge, value proposition and delivery measurement, customer satisfaction and retention, monitoring internal processes and competitor activity, and finally building trust. Findings suggest that above all, adoption of e-business should be appropriate, relevant, value adding, and operationally as well as strategically viable for an organization instead of being a result of apprehensive compliance.

Trafficking and protection: theorising reintegration and defining success

Grounded upon research in Cambodia, a theory of ‘reintegration’ is proposed for victims of sex-trafficking and benchmarks for assessing success. Drawing upon a cosmopolitan conception of shared vulnerability, it is argued that a life lived with dignity chiefly depends upon access to either modernist or traditional forms of reciprocal recognition.

Critical success factors in e‐learning ecosystems: a qualitative study

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the critical success factors for sustainable e-learning in an e-learning ecosystem framework. Three critical components of the e-learning ecosystem including principles and methods, processes and systems, and substance and content are considered based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature in e-learning.
Design/methodology/approach – Systematic interviews are conducted with experts in e-learning for identifying the critical success factors to sustainable e-learning within an e-learning ecosystem framework. This leads to the development of an e-learning success model that describes the underlying relationship between and among the identified critical success factors.
Findings – A comprehensive analysis of the interview results shows that there are several barriers to the effective adoption of the proposed e-learning success model for improving the effectiveness of e- learning. These barriers include a lack of understanding of the technologies behind various pedagogies, insufficiencies of the popular learning management systems, and the sustainability of the learning objects repositories.
Research limitations/implications – The paper highlights the criticality of synergizing the three components of e-learning ecosystems namely pedagogies, technologies and management of learning resources for achieving a sustainable e-learning success.
Practical implications – A better understanding of these barriers would help e-learning stakeholders develop appropriate strategies and policies for the implementation of the proposed e-learning success model towards creating a sustainable e-learning environment.
Originality/value – Specific contributions of this research to the entire e-learning community are discussed with recommendations for concerted policy measures to eliminate the identified barriers in the process of adopting the developed e-learning success model.

Foraging strategies and reproductive success in two sympatric seabird species: influence of environmental variability

 This work focused on flexibility in foraging strategies in little penguins and short-tailed shearwaters, which represents an important mechanism enabling them to cope with highly dynamic ecosystems and provides a buffer against spatial and temporal changes in prey availability over the breeding period.

Managing student diversity in business education: Incorporating campus diversity into the curriculum to foster inclusion and academic success of international students

ABSTRACT
The past three decades have witnessed significant growth of culturally and linguistically diverse international students in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. International students now constitute an important component of the student body at many universities, especially in their business schools. The increased presence of international students has generated new demands and challenges for these business schools, and a number of issues related to international students have been identified in the literature. However, the increased presence of international students has not led universities and business schools to develop adequate responses to the issues and make subsequent changes in the curriculum. Diversity on campus continues to be managed in roughly the same way as in business organizations. Drawing on the notion that diversity should be defined and understood in terms of context, this conceptual paper redefines diversity on campus, identifies limitations of current diversity education in the higher education context, and develops a competency-oriented approach to improve inclusion and academic performance of international students.

Loss of periodicity in breeding success of waders links to changes in lemming cycles in Arctic ecosystems

Lemming population cycles in the Arctic have an important impact on the Arctic food web, indirectly also affecting breeding success in Arctic-nesting birds through shared predators. Over the last two decades lemming cycles have changed in amplitude and even disappeared in parts of the Arctic. To examine the large scale effect of these recent changes we re-analysed published data from the East Atlantic Flyway (EAF), where a relationship between lemming cycles and wader breeding success was earlier found, and new data on breeding success of waders in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). We found that 1) any long-term periodicities in wader breeding success existed only until the year 2000 in the EAAF and until the 1980s in the EAF; 2) studying these patterns at a smaller spatial scale, where the Siberian-Alaskan breeding grounds were divided into five geographical units largely based on landscape features, breeding success of waders from the EAAF was not correlated to an index of predation pressure, but positively correlated to Arctic summer temperatures in some species. We argue that fading out of lemming cycles in some parts of the Arctic is responsible for faltering periodicity in wader breeding success along both flyways. These changed conditions have not yet resulted in any marked changing trends in breeding success across years, and declining numbers of waders along the EAAF are therefore more likely a result of changing conditions at stop-over and wintering sites.

Tough decisions: Reproductive timing and output vary with individuals' physiology, behavior and past success in a social opportunistic breeder

This article is part of a Special Issue SBN 2014. Photoperiod and the hormonal response it triggers are key determinants of reproductive timing in birds. However, other cues and physiological traits may permit flexibility in the timing of breeding and perhaps facilitate adaptation to global change. Opportunistic breeders are excellent models to study the adaptive significance of this flexibility, especially at the individual level. Here, we sought to quantify whether particular male physiological and behavioral traits were linked to reproductive timing and output in wild-derived zebra finches. We repeatedly assessed male stress-induced corticosterone levels (CORT), basal metabolic rate (BMR), and activity before releasing them into outdoor aviaries and quantifying each pair's breeding timing, investment, and output over a seven-month period. Despite unlimited access to food and water, the colony breeding activity occurred in waves, probably due to interpair social stimulations. Pairs adjusted their inter-clutch interval and clutch size to social and temperature cues, respectively, but only after successful breeding attempts, suggesting a facultative response to external cues. When these effects were controlled for statistically or experimentally, breeding intervals were repeatable within individuals across reproductive attempts. In addition, males' first laying date and total offspring production varied with complex interactions between pre-breeding CORT, BMR and activity levels. These results suggest that no one trait is under selection but that, instead, correlational selection acts on hormone levels, metabolism, and behavior. Together our results suggest that studying inter-individual variation in breeding strategy and their multiple physiological and behavioral underpinnings may greatly improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the evolution of breeding decisions.

Effects of sea temperature and stratification changes on seabird breeding success

As apex predators in marine ecosystems, seabirds may primarily experience climate change impacts indirectly, via changes to their food webs. Observed seabird population declines have been linked to climate-driven oceanographic and food web changes. However, relationships have often been derived from relatively few colonies and consider only sea surface temperature (SST), so important drivers, and spatial variation in drivers, could remain undetected. Further, ex - plicit climate change projections have rarely been made, so longer-term risks remain unclear. Here, we use tracking data to estimate foraging areas for 11 black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridac - ty la colonies in the UK and Ireland, thus reducing reliance on single colonies and allowing calculation of colony-specific oceanographic conditions. We use mixed models to consider how SST, the potential energy anomaly (indicating density stratification strength) and the timing of seasonal stratification influence kittiwake productivity. Across all colonies, higher breeding success was associated with weaker stratification before breeding and lower SSTs during the breeding season. Eight colonies with sufficient data were modelled individually: higher productivity was associated with later stratification at 3 colonies, weaker stratification at 2, and lower SSTs at one, whilst 2 colonies showed no significant relationships. Hence, key drivers of productivity varied among colonies. Climate change projections, made using fitted models, indicated that breeding success could decline by 21 to 43% between 1961-90 and 2070-99. Climate change therefore poses a longer-term threat to kittiwakes, but as this will be mediated via availability of key prey species, other marine apex predators could also face similar threats.

Medical textiles as vascular implants and their success to mimic natural arteries

Vascular implants belong to a specialised class of medical textiles. The basic purpose of a vascular implant (graft and stent) is to act as an artificial conduit or substitute for a diseased artery. However, the long-term healing function depends on its ability to mimic the mechanical and biological behaviour of the artery. This requires a thorough understanding of the structure and function of an artery, which can then be translated into a synthetic structure based on the capabilities of the manufacturing method utilised. Common textile manufacturing techniques, such as weaving, knitting, braiding, and electrospinning, are frequently used to design vascular implants for research and commercial purposes for the past decades. However, the ability to match attributes of a vascular substitute to those of a native artery still remains a challenge. The synthetic implants have been found to cause disturbance in biological, biomechanical, and hemodynamic parameters at the implant site, which has been widely attributed to their structural design. In this work, we reviewed the design aspect of textile vascular implants and compared them to the structure of a natural artery as a basis for assessing the level of success as an implant. The outcome of this work is expected to encourage future design strategies for developing improved long lasting vascular implants.