Local environmental context determines the colonisation of leaf shelters by arthropods: an experimental study

The magnitude of facilitation by shelter-building engineers on community structure is expected to be greater when they increase limited resources in the environment. We evaluated the influence of local environmental context on the colonisation of leaf shelters by arthropods in a Mexican evergreen tropical rainforest. We compared the species richness and abundance of arthropods (total and for different guilds) colonising artificially rolled leaves in habitats differing in understory heterogeneity (forest edge > old-growth forests > living fences). Arthropod abundance of the most representative arthropod taxa (i.e., Araneae, Blattodea, Collembola and Psocoptera) colonising the rolled leaves was greater at forest edge, a trend also observed for average arthropod abundance, and for detritivore and predator guilds. In addition, fewer arthropod species and individuals colonised the rolled leaves in the living fence habitat, a trend also observed for most arthropod guilds. As forest edge is expected to have a greater arthropod diversity and stronger density-dependent interactions, a greater limitation of refuges from competitors or predators may have determined the higher colonisation of the rolled leaves in this habitat. Our results demonstrate that local environment context is an important factor that affects the colonisation of arthropods in leaf shelters.

Marketing control in international headquarters-subsidiary working relationships of industrial goods firms: the role of environmental context

The use of marketing and sales control mechanisms is a core management activity for multinational corporations. However, research on controlling marketing and sales of international subsidiaries is scarce. In particular, the influence of a firm’s economic and cultural environment on different control mechanisms has not been thoroughly examined yet. In attempting to fill these gaps, we build on Jaworski’s (J Mark 52:23–39, 1988) framework from a subsidiary perspective on marketing and sales controls, applied by the headquarters of medium-sized industrial goods corporations. Through a rival model analysis, we determine the impact of the local environmental context on marketing and sales control types exerted by headquarters on subsidiaries located in foreign countries. To analyze the proposed model, this study deploys survey data of 184 subsidiaries from different industries and different European countries with headquarters in Switzerland. The results show that while environmental factors influence the marketing and sales control configurations, the effectiveness of marketing and sales controls is not contingent on environmental factors.

Neural Circuits Underlying Behavioral Flexibility: Insights From Drosophila

Behavioral flexibility is critical to survival. Animals must adapt their behavioral responses based on changes in the environmental context, internal state, or experience. Studies in Drosophila melanogaster have provided insight into the neural circuit mechanisms underlying behavioral flexibility. Here we discuss how Drosophila behavior is modulated by internal and behavioral state, environmental context, and learning. We describe general principles of neural circuit organization and modulation that underlie behavioral flexibility, principles that are likely to extend to other species.

Dockside Reading

In Dockside Reading Isabel Hofmeyr traces the relationships among print culture, colonialism, and the ocean through the institution of the British colonial Custom House. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, dockside customs officials would leaf through publications looking for obscenity, politically objectionable materials, or reprints of British copyrighted works, often dumping these condemned goods into the water. These practices, echoing other colonial imaginaries of the ocean as a space for erasing incriminating evidence of the violence of empire, informed later censorship regimes under apartheid in South Africa. By tracking printed matter from ship to shore, Hofmeyr shows how literary institutions like copyright and censorship were shaped by colonial control of coastal waters. Set in the environmental context of the colonial port city, Dockside Reading explores how imperialism colonizes water. Hofmeyr examines this theme through the concept of hydrocolonialism, which puts together land and sea, empire and environment.

Bees in the Medieval Maghreb: Wax, Honey and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Western Mediterranean

Believed to originate in Paradise and set apart in their chastity, bees were potent religious symbols in medieval Christianity and Islam. This article explores how these beliefs drove an extensive trade in wax and honey, and examines the role of Jews, conversos, Christians, and Muslims in this trade. Further, it considers the environmental context and the extent to which religious prohibitions against trade between Christians and Muslims may have provided economic opportunities for Jewish merchants, while examining the economic and cultural relationships between members of the three Abrahamic religions.

Problem Representation in Occupational Therapy

<p>Clinical reasoning is a fundamental component of occupational therapy practice. Educators, researchers and clinicians are faced with the challenge of understanding and fostering the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills. The aim of this study was to examine the internal problem representations held by students and clinicians in respect of clients they had been treating for a period of time. Such representations form the basis on which treatment is formulated so are highly influential in the clinical reasoning process. The ultimate purpose of the study was to identify educational strategies that could be used to assist students to develop clinical reasoning skills. Understandings gained from the literature and from observation, indicated that there would be differences between novices and experts and that the work setting would affect problem representation. Thus the influence of experience and location was the primary focus of the study. To place the study within the context of the occupational therapy literature, the beliefs underlying problem representation were also explored to determine whether or not these were consistent with the philosophical assumptions identified in the literature. The method of investigation was an interview with pre-determined questions. The interview was consistent with the theory base of the study (ie. information processing), but the analysis also included the investigation of qualitative aspects. To ensure a developmental perspective was gained, respondents included students on two different levels of an occupational therapy course and clinicians who were currently practicing. The total number of respondents was 67 ie. 14 stage II students, 31 stage III students (ie. in their final year) and 22 clinicians. The study illustrated that the environmental context affects problem representation in respect of both the amount of data to be considered and the nature of that data. Differences between students' and clinicians' representation of the problem were related to qualitative aspects rather than identification of the elements relevant to treatment planning. In particular, clinicians were more able to elaborate on the data, justify their responses and provide a humanistic perspective beyond the more technical aspects of knowing the clients concerns. The beliefs governing thinking about treatment, demonstrated consistency with the occupational therapy literature (apart from one assumption). A major finding of this study is that the development of schemata related to practice areas is the basis of sound reasoning and justification of treatment planning decisions. Both domain specific knowledge and an understanding of the environmental context are important to the forming of these schemata. The implication for teaching is that the wealth of experiential knowledge that is gained by students while on clinical practice should be tapped to enable them to make links with academic knowledge and thus develop a comprehensive problem representation.</p>

Problem Representation in Occupational Therapy

<p>Clinical reasoning is a fundamental component of occupational therapy practice. Educators, researchers and clinicians are faced with the challenge of understanding and fostering the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills. The aim of this study was to examine the internal problem representations held by students and clinicians in respect of clients they had been treating for a period of time. Such representations form the basis on which treatment is formulated so are highly influential in the clinical reasoning process. The ultimate purpose of the study was to identify educational strategies that could be used to assist students to develop clinical reasoning skills. Understandings gained from the literature and from observation, indicated that there would be differences between novices and experts and that the work setting would affect problem representation. Thus the influence of experience and location was the primary focus of the study. To place the study within the context of the occupational therapy literature, the beliefs underlying problem representation were also explored to determine whether or not these were consistent with the philosophical assumptions identified in the literature. The method of investigation was an interview with pre-determined questions. The interview was consistent with the theory base of the study (ie. information processing), but the analysis also included the investigation of qualitative aspects. To ensure a developmental perspective was gained, respondents included students on two different levels of an occupational therapy course and clinicians who were currently practicing. The total number of respondents was 67 ie. 14 stage II students, 31 stage III students (ie. in their final year) and 22 clinicians. The study illustrated that the environmental context affects problem representation in respect of both the amount of data to be considered and the nature of that data. Differences between students' and clinicians' representation of the problem were related to qualitative aspects rather than identification of the elements relevant to treatment planning. In particular, clinicians were more able to elaborate on the data, justify their responses and provide a humanistic perspective beyond the more technical aspects of knowing the clients concerns. The beliefs governing thinking about treatment, demonstrated consistency with the occupational therapy literature (apart from one assumption). A major finding of this study is that the development of schemata related to practice areas is the basis of sound reasoning and justification of treatment planning decisions. Both domain specific knowledge and an understanding of the environmental context are important to the forming of these schemata. The implication for teaching is that the wealth of experiential knowledge that is gained by students while on clinical practice should be tapped to enable them to make links with academic knowledge and thus develop a comprehensive problem representation.</p>

A Case Study into the Environmental Context of Walking School Buses and Other Modes of Travel Used for the Journey to School

<p><b>The journey to school involves a number of different modes of travel. Approximatelyhalf of all journeys to school in New Zealand rely on the use of an automobile. Thisheavy dependence on automobiles involves a number of environmental detractions.</b></p> <p>Walking School Buses provide an alternative to cars as a mode of travel for thejourney to school. This mode of travel compares favourably in a number of respectswhen compared to other modes of travel and is generating considerable interest.</p> <p>Based on a case study involving in-depth interviews with ten caregivers this papercompares whether and how Walking School Buses emerged from a different socialand cultural background when compared to other modes of travel. Four keyinfluences, in particular parenting culture, the work commitments that caregivershave, the risks posed by strangers and traffic, and the social fragmentation ofneighbourhoods were found to be significant in shaping the journey to school. Basedon finding a number of similarities between different modes of travel to school it isconcluded that the journey to school is embedded in a wider system of social andcultural ideas that shape Walking School Buses and other modes of travel alike.</p>