Wofford College

The outcome of male-male contests is a major determinant of reproductive success in many species. Because of this, traits that are associated with winning fights are often more pronounced in winner males than in loser males. Here, we examined a variety of morphological, physiological and performance traits that may predict the outcome of contests between male fall field crickets (Gryllus pennsylvanicus). We staged contests between size-matched male crickets and also collected data on jumping performance, standard and maximum metabolic rate, and head and hindlimb morphological traits. Though some of these traits have been examined previously, others have not been examined in the context of male-male competition and the full set of traits have not been measured on the same individuals. Our results indicate that winners, as compared with losers, had significantly greater head size, maxilla size, jump performance (distance, takeoff velocity, total kinetic energy and mass-specific power) and marginally greater hindlimb muscle mass. We found no differences between winners and losers for standard or maximum metabolic rate or factorial metabolic scope. This integrative dataset contributes to a broader understanding of sexual selection in this species.

Purpose This paper links employees’ relationship orientation, or their sense that the organization respects their contribution, to value co-creation and overall firm performance. It also measures the effects on innovation and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach A total of 301 US product and marketing managers participated in a survey. Measurement and structural models were evaluated using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings Main findings suggest that increased value co-creation (VCC) activity has a significant effect on employee relationship orientation. This study also finds that employee relationship orientation plays a mediating role in the relationship between VCC and firm performance. Innovation as a moderator is shown to strengthen the positive relationship between value co-creation and employee relationship orientation. Finally, this study finds that knowledge sharing as a moderator has a negative effect on the relationship between VCC and employee relationship orientation. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted exclusively in the United States, so results may not apply elsewhere. Future research should explore the antecedent relationship between VCC and employee relationship orientation. Practical implications Addressing managers’ questions about the potential benefits of VCC, this study demonstrates that its effectiveness may depend on emphasizing employee relationship orientation, which can positively affect firm performance. Originality/value This study launches a new stream of research examining the relationship between VCC and employee factors. The quantitative model shows employee relationship orientation is a critical mediator in the relationship of VCC to firm performance.

Tectonics literally and figuratively create rhythms for living in the seismically active nation of Indonesia where shifting plates generate landforms around which cultures construct their homelands. Eastern Indonesian communities who have built their societies around the region’s dynamic watersheds have constructed traditional ecological knowledge and place-based skills for accessing freshwater. What is the water-related knowledge and skills of Indigenous societies who live in the tropical monsoon climate zone of Nusa Tenggara Timur Province (NTT)? How have communities living on Sumba Island in southern NTT adapted to their homelands where they find water to pose the most difficult challenge to survival? How do Sumbanese continue adapting to ongoing natural and anthropogenic changes in their island’s hydrological systems? Ecological rhythms inform cultural constructions of freshwater ecosystems and the ways people manage water. Despite the dynamism of tectonic and oceanic-atmospheric processes, they are steadier in some ways than misguided anthropogenic developments. We describe changes that have occurred over the past quarter century in the ways Sumbanese interact with and manage freshwater following the premise that socioeconomic transformations coincide with changes in freshwater ecology. We focus on the culturally specific management of water within the North Kodi Subdistrict of the South West Sumba Regency and the hydrological setting of residents’ lives. To understand the latter, we reviewed scientific literature and to study the former we conducted ethnographic fieldwork. Our findings show the impacts of hydrological developments on communities reflect existing social structures. In stratified societies, development has uneven impacts. Our research reveals anthropogenic change to be nonlinear. While people may adjust their water-related practices to novel developments, they also may revert to historically proven behaviors when developments fail. Resilience is an inherent quality of cultural adaptations to hydrological systems in the dry tropical biomes of Indonesia.

Quick Oil Red O staining is a well established method to assay total lipid levels in Caenorhabditis elegans , but the software to clean up and analyse the images is either laborious, expensive or both. We have developed a process that uses an existing protocol to stain the animals, followed by Magic Select in Paint3D to remove background and then a custom script in Biopython to quantify average pixel intensity per animal. The software is free, accessible and relatively easy to use for undergraduate researchers.

The corals responsible for building tropical reefs are disappearing at an alarming rate as elevated sea temperatures cause them to bleach and lose the algal symbionts they rely on. Without these symbionts, corals are unable to harvest energy from sunlight and, therefore, struggle to thrive or even survive in the nutrient-poor waters of the tropics. To devise solutions to address the threat to coral reefs, it is necessary to understand the cellular events underpinning the bleaching process. One model for bleaching proposes that heat stress impairs algal photosynthesis and transfer of sugar to the host. Consequently, the host's demands for nitrogen decrease, increasing nitrogen availability to the symbionts, which leads to an increase in algal proliferation that overwhelms the host. Our work suggests that phosphate may play a similar role to nitrogen in this feedback loop.

Ultra short-term (UST) heart rate variability (HRV) has been used to establish normative HRV values. This study aims to investigate whether HRV metrics can capture changes in HRV from external stimuli, and whether these metrics remain effective under various recording length. Participants completed varying stimulating activities including viewing images, arithmetic tasks, and memory recall of viewed images. SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, SD2, SD1/SD2, and DFA were extracted from the data. Comparing arithmetic calculation and the first minute of memory recall, SDNN, pNN50, SD2, and SD1/SD2 had significant HRV differences; this suggests that these metrics can distinguish the inherently different stimuli participants were exposed to. However, comparing first minute of viewing with that of the second, SDNN, pNN50, and SD2, presented some significant HRV differences during two inherently similar stimuli. Comparing the first 60-120 s during viewing, SDNN, pNN50, and SD2 also presented significant differences. Our results suggest that SDNN, pNN50, and SD2 may not be robust in evaluating UST HRVs in replacement of the standard short-term HRV. It may be beneficial to analyze multiple HRV metrics, particularly SD1/SD2, to achieve a more holistic understanding of the underlying physiology.

Abstract This article examines the development of memetic witnessing, a vernacular strategy of repetition and remixing, in the testimony of Harriet Fernanders, a nineteenth-century woman called to testify before a congressional hearing about Ku Klux Klan violence in South Carolina during Reconstruction, and in the contemporary “#Say Her Name” social media campaign, which asks viewers to repeat the names of women killed by police violence. This article argues that memetic witnessing allows for important forms of identification and solidarity that refuse the persistent threat of erasure such subjects are vulnerable to through this important form of knowledge production.

With the advent of powerful imaging instruments, the prenatal behaviour of vertebrates has been discovered to be far more complex than previously believed, especially concerning humans, other mammals and birds. Surprisingly, the fetal behaviour of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes and amphisbaenians), a group of over 11 000 extant species, are largely understudied. Using ultrasonography, 18 late-term pregnant copperhead snakes (Agkistrodon contortrix) from a single population were inspected for fecundity (number of fetuses). Unexpectedly, during the ultrasound procedure that involved 97 fetuses, we observed sinusoidal tail movements in 11 individuals from eight different copperhead mothers. These movements were indistinguishable from caudal luring, a mimetic ambush predatory strategy which is exhibited by newborn copperheads and other snakes. Caudal luring is initiated shortly after birth and is employed to attract susceptible vertebrate prey. Using the same ultrasound equipment and methods, we tested for this behaviour in two species of rattlesnakes (genus Crotalus) not known to caudal lure and none of the late-term fetuses showed any type of tail movements. Prenatal movements in humans and other vertebrates are known to be important for musculoskeletal and sensorimotor development. The fetal behaviours we describe for copperheads, and possibly other snakes, may be similarly important and influence early survival and subsequent fitness.