The evolution of monogamy is associated with reversals from male to female bias in the survival cost of parasitism

The extent to which parasites reduce host survival should depend upon how hosts balance trade-offs between reproduction and survival. For example, parasites are predicted to impose greater survival costs under polygynous or promiscuous mating systems in which competition for mates favours increased reproductive investment, particularly in males. We provide, to our knowledge, the first comparative test of the hypothesis that the mating system of the host is an important determinant of (i) the extent to which parasites reduce survival, and (ii) the extent to which males and females differ in the survival cost of parasitism. Using meta-analysis of 85 published estimates of the survival cost of parasitism from 72 studies of 64 species representing diverse animal lineages, we show that parasites impose a mean 3.5-fold increase in the odds of mortality on their hosts. Although this survival cost does not differ significantly across monogamous, polygynous and promiscuous mating systems, females incur a greater survival cost than males in monogamous species, whereas males incur a greater survival cost than females in polygynous and promiscuous species. Our results support the idea that mating systems shape the relative extent to which males and females invest in reproduction at the expense of defence against parasites.

China’s Data Security Law will create dilemmas

Significance It tries to balance trade-offs between restricting access to data (to promote security and privacy) and allowing access to data (to promote trade in data and its commercial application). Impacts Data will be subject to greater government control, including classification and cataloguing. The law takes a stricter stance on cross-border flows, particularly vis-a-vis data requests by foreign law enforcement bodies. It will also perpetuate turf wars within the Chinese government.

Developing Effective Mosquito Control Strategies by Utilizing Vector Mosquito Life Histories and Ecology

Globally, mosquitoes have the propensity to severely impact public health by transmitting infectious agents that can lead to diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, and West Nile fever. To develop appropriate control and mitigation measures for controlling the spread of mosquito-borne disease, we need to better understand ecological influences on mosquitoes, including competition, predation, and interactions with the environment. Building novel and environmentally conscious strategies has become increasingly important under the threat of potential range expansion with climate change and increased global connectivity. As a result of this case study and answering the corresponding questions, readers will be able to identify modern approaches to mosquito control based on an ecological understanding of these disease vectors. Readers will actively engage in scenarios where they will balance trade-offs between public health and environmental health, while considering the breadth of factors involved in global mosquito control efforts.

Leaders’ ambidexterity traits

The ability of companies to develop simultaneously innovations that exploit their current knowledge, while exploring new opportunities that go beyond their present knowledge is recognized as organizational ambidexterity and essential in the achievement of sustained performance above the average of the industry. The concept of ambidexterity, includes exploration and exploitation. Exploration requires search, discovery, experimentation, risk-taking and innovation, while exploitation consists of behavioral patterns characterized by refinement, implementation, efficiency, production and selection. Top managers are crucial to balance trade-offs among these competing objectives regarding exploration and exploitation and to reduce the organization’s tendency to focus only in one of them. Top managers act as a leaders in the process of exploiting existing competencies while also exploring new opportunities. In this study we are going to review the literature to extract the characteristics of ambidextrous leaders capable to cope with these tensions, in order to achieve organizational innovations.

Political Trade-Offs: Democracy and Governance in a Changing World

The investigation of trade-offs in political science receives only limited attention, although many scholars acknowledge the importance of trade-offs across a variety of different areas. A systematic and comprehensive examination of the topic is missing. This thematic issue of <em>Politics and Governance</em> sheds light on this research deficit by providing a holistic but also an integrative view on trade-offs in the political realm for the first time. Researchers of trade-offs from different political areas present and discuss their findings, and promote a fruitful exchange, which overcomes the current isolation of the approaches. They consider the theoretical and methodological questions as well as the identification of empirical trade-offs. Furthermore, they provide insights into the possibility to balance trade-offs and strategies, which could help actors to find such compromises.

International Bonds

Given the size of the global sovereign debt market is nearly as large as the entire international equity market, a thorough understanding of this market is useful to academics and practitioners alike. Sovereign bond markets allow nations to balance trade and fiscal policy, but a well-functioning domestic bond market and access to international investors are more complex than merely issuing sovereign debt. A nation’s credit rating affects both its economy in terms of domestic market stability as well as the economic stability of trade partners. Default and the restructuring of sovereign debt can trigger economic crisis. Moreover, the so-called sovereign ceiling has a real economic impact on domestic firms and can substantially affect access to credit as well as the cost of both debt and equity capital. The chapter also discusses the role of integration, effects of global macroeconomic risk factors, and diversification benefits.