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Today, there is a greater focus on worldwide academic excellence and quality of tuition. The industry can be more selective nowadays, because there is a wide range of graduates due to a variety of institutions offering many qualifications of different standards and quality. In order for a higher education institution to be successful and profitable, quality products and services need to be ensured and delivered. It becomes evident that many higher education institutions are ignorant towards the level of service they provide, which implicates the students’ attitudes towards the institution. It is, therefore, important that higher education institutions know what level of service students expect from them. The study aimed to identify the most important service feature of student administration, according to students. A quantitative study was conducted among 200 students at a South African university. The results indicated that students’ perceptions regarding service quality, as well as the overall level of satisfaction of the service are only slightly above average.

The evolution of cooperation in animal and human societies is associated with mechanisms to suppress individual selfishness. In insect societies, queens and workers enforce cooperation by “policing” selfish reproduction by workers. Insect policing typically takes the form of damage limitation after individuals have carried out selfish acts (such as laying eggs). In contrast, human policing is based on the use of threats that deter individuals from acting selfishly in the first place, minimizing the need for damage limitation. Policing by threat could in principle be used to enforce reproductive suppression in animal societies, but testing this idea requires an experimental approach to simulate reproductive transgression and provoke out-of-equilibrium behavior. We carried out an experiment of this kind on a wild population of cooperatively breeding banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) in Uganda. In this species, each group contains multiple female breeders that give birth to a communal litter, usually on the same day. In a 7-y experiment we used contraceptive injections to manipulate the distribution of maternity within groups, triggering hidden threats of infanticide. Our data suggest that older, socially dominant females use the threat of infanticide to deter selfish reproduction by younger females, but that females can escape the threat of infanticide by synchronizing birth to the same day as older females. Our study shows that reproduction in animal societies can be profoundly influenced by threats that remain hidden until they are triggered experimentally. Coercion may thus extend well beyond the systems in which acts of infanticide are common.

Multimale groups of primates are characterized by strong reproductive competition among males, generally resulting in an uneven division of male reproductive success (reproductive skew). The observed patterns of conflict and reproductive skew have often been attributed to the so-called tug-of-war model. We show, however, that two important assumptions of this model are not met in male primates. First, the tug-of-war model assumes that reproductive conflict reduces overall group productivity, but in male primates (and most other vertebrates) conflict likely involves mortality rather than fecundity costs. Second, the tug-of-war model does not account for the possibility that male primates can achieve some reproductive success without engagement in open conflict, such as when a single male cannot guard several receptive females at the same time. We therefore develop a dynamic version of the tug-of-war model, in which reproductive competition causes mortality costs, and in which individuals can gain uncontested shares of reproduction dependent on the degree of female receptive overlap. This model differs substantially from the original tug-of-war model, and derives a new and rich set of comparative predictions. For instance, it predicts that the level of conflict among males declines as the queuing success of subordinate males increases (as survival increases), and also, as their uncontested share of reproduction increases, e.g., as female receptive overlap increases. Our model shows how male–male conflict and female receptive overlap collectively determine the level of reproductive skew among male primates, and illustrates that this relationship is more complex than previously thought.

The mode by which individuals disperse, and the cost of dispersal, are of great importance in attempts to understand variation in reproductive skew in animal societies. In this paper we report detailed information on dispersal and pack formation in banded mongooses Mungos mungo. Six pack fission events were recorded among 11 packs over 22 months. Pack fission occurred under two distinct circumstances. First, groups of individuals were evicted from their natal group as a result of intense aggression from other group members. A small fraction of group members was responsible for most of the aggression. Both sexes helped to attack and evict individuals from the group, and both males and females were driven out of their natal groups en masse. The second mode of pack fission occurred when groups of same-sex individuals left their natal group voluntarily to join dispersing individuals of the opposite sex, thereby forming new packs. Dispersing groups were more frequently involved in fights with rival packs of mongooses compared to established groups, and in one instance these fights seemed to be responsible for severe injury and increased mortality among members of a dispersing group. The observations of eviction provide one line of evidence that the presence of subordinates is sometimes detrimental to dominants, contrary to the assumptions of concession models of reproductive skew.

Recent theoretical work suggests that the distribution of reproduction, or degree of reproductive skew, in animal societies depends crucially on (1) whether dominant individuals can fully control subordinate reproduction, and (2) how subordinate reproduction affects the fitness of dominants. I investigated these two factors in cooperatively breeding banded mongooses, Mungos mungo. Female packmates entered oestrus together and were closely guarded by dominant males. These males were aggressive to subordinate males who attempted to mate, but females still managed to mate with males other than their mate guard. Older females were guarded and mated a few days before their younger packmates, yet all females usually gave birth on the same day, suggesting that older females may have a longer gestation period. Moreover, older females carried more fetuses. Overall, ca. 83% of adult females conceived in each breeding attempt and 71% carried to term. These results indicate that, among males, dominant individuals did not have full control over the mating attempts of subordinates (since they could not fully control the mating behaviour of the females they guarded), while among females there was little or no attempt to prevent subordinates from breeding (at least, prior to parturition). Two within-group infanticides by males suggested that some control over reproduction may be exercised postpartum. Per capita survivorship of young in the den increased with the number of females who gave birth. Thus, dominant females may benefit from subordinate reproduction, providing a possible explanation for the lack of reproductive suppression among females in this species. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Most recent models of the partitioning of reproduction attempt to explain patterns of skew on the assumption that dominant individuals have complete control over breeding opportunities within the group, but may nevertheless concede a share of direct reproduction to subordinates as an incentive to remain peacefully in the association. Although these models may be applicable to some animal societies, we argue that they fail to provide a comprehensive theory of skew. Instead, we suggest that subordinates may often be able to claim unsanctioned reproduction for themselves, but will be forced to exercise a degree of reproductive restraint lest they incite ejection by the dominant. Reproductive skew, in other words, may reflect the threat of ejection (inducing subordinate restraint) rather than the threat of subordinate departure (inducing reproductive concessions by dominants). We present a simple ESS model of reproductive skew under these circumstances, which demonstrates that a shift in emphasis from reproductive concessions by dominants to reproductive restraint on the part of subordinates, radically alters the predictions of skew models. High group productivity, high relatedness and (when group members are related) strong ecological constraints are all expected to lead to reduced skew (the opposite conclusions to those of previous, concession-based analyses). The reason is that these factors reduce the benefits (or increase the costs) of ejection to the dominant, who therefore does best to tolerate more subordinate reproduction.

In communally breeding animals, there is an evolutionary conflict over the partitioning of reproduction within the group. If dominant group members do not have complete control over subordinate reproduction, this conflict may favour the evolution of infanticidal behaviour (by either subordinates or dominants or both). Elimination of offspring, however, is likely to be constrained by the difficulty of discriminating between an individual's own progeny and those of cobreeders. Here, we develop an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) model of reproductive partitioning, which demonstrates that killing of young can be favoured, even if such discrimination is not possible. The model predicts that infanticide will typically be associated with elevated levels of offspring production, and is most likely to prove evolutionarily stable when the coefficient of relatedness between cobreeders is low, and offspring are cheap to produce. The effect of infanticide is to release subordinates from the reproductive restraint they would otherwise be forced to exercise, leading to reduced reproductive skew. When infanticide is possible, addition of numerous young to the joint brood will not lower overall productivity, because progeny in excess of the most productive brood size are eliminated. Subordinates are thus free to contribute more young to the brood than would otherwise be the case. In addition, we show that the possibility of infanticide may influence the pattern of reproduction within a group even if no offspring are actually killed at equilibrium. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

In many animal societies, a small proportion of dominant females monopolize reproduction by actively suppressing subordinates. Theory assumes that this is because subordinate reproduction depresses the fitness of dominants, yet the effect of subordinate reproduction on dominant behaviour and reproductive success has never been directly assessed. Here, we describe the consequences of experimentally preventing subordinate breeding in 12 groups of wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) for three breeding attempts, using contraceptive injections. When subordinates are prevented from breeding, dominants are less aggressive towards subordinates and evict them less often, leading to a higher ratio of helpers to dependent pups, and increased provisioning of the dominant’s pups by subordinate females. When subordinate breeding is suppressed, dominants also show improved foraging efficiency, gain more weight during pregnancy and produce heavier pups, which grow faster. These results confirm the benefits of suppression to dominants, and help explain the evolution of singular breeding in vertebrate societies., In hierarchical animal societies, dominant females suppress breeding by subordinate females. Here, the authors experimentally suppress breeding by subordinate female meerkats and observe that dominants give birth to heavier pups which grow faster, suggesting this behaviour improves fitness of dominants.

Members of animal societies compete over resources and reproduction, but the extent to which such conflicts of interest are resolved peacefully (without recourse to costly or wasteful acts of aggression) varies widely. Here, we describe two theoretical mechanisms that can help to understand variation in the incidence of overt behavioural conflict: (i) destruction competition and (ii) the use of threats. The two mechanisms make different assumptions about the degree to which competitors are socially sensitive (responsive to real-time changes in the behaviour of their social partners). In each case, we discuss how the model assumptions relate to biological reality and highlight the genetic, ecological and informational factors that are likely to promote peaceful conflict resolution, drawing on empirical examples. We suggest that, relative to males, reproductive conflict among females may be more frequently resolved peacefully through threats of punishment, rather than overt acts of punishment, because (i) offspring are more costly to produce for females and (ii) reproduction is more difficult to conceal. The main need now is for empirical work to test whether the mechanisms described here can indeed explain how social conflict can be resolved without overt aggression.

Long-term studies of cooperatively breeding vertebrates offer excellent opportunities to test theories about the evolution of cooperation and the demographic consequences of social behavior. Here we draw together over a decade of research on an unusually tractable cooperative mammal system, the banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) and compare our results against advances in social evolution theory that have occurred over the same period. We report recent data on the demographic and genetic structure of the population, and then focus on the main conflictual and cooperative features of the breeding system. Groups are founded by unrelated dispersal coalitions of males and females and consist of multiple male and female breeders. Genetic relatedness between breeding males and females increases with the number of years since group founding, but breeders nevertheless appear to avoid inbreeding. Reproductive competition between females is intense, but young females can escape infanticide by synchronizing birth to the same day as older, socially dominant females. Dominant females respond to reproductive competition by evicting subordinate females en masse. Helping behavior takes two main forms: “babysitting” offspring at the den in the early weeks of life, and “escorting” particular offspring after they emerge from the den. Males contribute most to both babysitting and escorting, particularly the low-ranking males that are excluded from breeding. The way that conflict over reproduction is resolved in this system has a strong influence on patterns of eviction and dispersal. Like many other cooperative vertebrates, each banded mongoose group represents a small, highly viscous population embedded within a larger “metapopulation”. Our research highlights the links between within-group conflict, demography, and the evolution of cooperative life histories.

Models of social conflict in animal societies generally assume that within-group conflict reduces the value of a communal resource. For many animals, however, the primary cost of conflict is increased mortality. We develop a simple inclusive fitness model of social conflict that takes this cost into account. We show that longevity substantially reduces the level of within-group conflict, which can lead to the evolution of peaceful animal societies if relatedness among group members is high. By contrast, peaceful outcomes are never possible in models where the primary cost of social conflict is resource depletion. Incorporating mortality costs into models of social conflict can explain why many animal societies are so remarkably peaceful despite great potential for conflict.

Price is a critical component for any business and can be crucial in the survival of the business. If the price is not set in line with the selected target market it can negatively impact on the product and the company’s profitability. The main goals of any profit seeking organisation is to make a profit and in order to achieve this goal all areas related to the management of the product, costs and the setting of the price need to be managed correctly. The primary aim of this study was therefore to investigate the factors considered by small business enterprises (SME’s) when developing their pricing strategies. To address this problem adequately, the research methodology was based on the primary data collected from South African SMEs. As SME’s show common traits all over the world, it is accepted that any findings will be universally applicable. A questionnaire was distributed to 88 SMEs to gather relevant data regarding factors considered when determining prices. The data was quantified and analysed by examining the frequency of occurrences and the importance of the problem. The study found that SME’s generally agree that price setting is influenced by competitor information and macro environmental factors such as fuel prices and inflation. There was a general agreement amongst the SME’s that consumers relationships and the benefits that they, the consumers enjoy form the product as well as product performance are important aspects to consider when determining prices.

Male Chironomus plumosus most successful at acquiring mates showed lower levels of fluctuating asymmetry in length of wing than their rivals. These males were not of the most common size, but were the smallest in the population. These results are consistent with the prediction that where there is directional selection for small individuals, fluctuating asymmetry will be positively correlated with size. However, for a species that mates on the wing, selection may act upon symmetry per se rather than body size. Uncoupling the effects of size from those of asymmetry suggested that fluctuating asymmetry might, on its own, account for the observed mating success of C. plumosus. It is suggested that the success of the more symmetrical males is due to their improved aerobatic ability. Chironomus plumosus provides an example of the importance of fluctuating asymmetry in male characters that are not purely ornamental and these results are therefore more readily interpreted in terms of natural rather than sexual selection.

The knowledge that consumers have of products and services as well as other factors serves as an indicator as to which product or store to “pick”. The products and store location add to the ease with which consumers are able to cherry pick. This article has its focal point the South African customer and the motives for cherry picking and to establish if there is a relationship between price knowledge, consumer knowledge and gender. To some extent it was expected that females would be more knowledgeable about prices of grocery products and this was indeed the case. These same consumers are also well informed about promotions on grocery products. The conducted research concludes that gender has an influence on the knowledge that the South African consumers have on product prices, the types of stores and product assortment. The results also shows that the South African consumers is able to confidently cherry pick over more than one day due to their increased knowledge of prices offered on different products at different stores. This wider level of knowledge results in them being able to participate in cherry picking more readily than a consumer who has more limited price knowledge. The research findings also clearly indicate that there is a significant relationship between price knowledge, consumer knowledge and gender. Keywords - Customer behaviour, product knowledge, loyalty, cherry picking, product price knowledge; and gender

Evolutionary conflict arises at all levels of biological organization and presents a barrier to the evolution of cooperation. This barrier can be overcome by mechanisms that reduce the disparity between the fitness optima of subunits, sometimes called the "battleground" of conflict. An alternative, unstudied possibility is that effort invested in conflict is unprofitable. This possibility has received little attention because most existing models of social conflict assume that fitness depends on the ratio of players' conflict efforts, so that "peaceful" outcomes featuring zero conflict effort are evolutionarily unstable. Here I show that peaceful outcomes are stable where success depends on the difference rather than the ratio of efforts invested in conflict. These difference form models are particularly appropriate to model strategies of suppression or policing. The model suggests that incomplete information and asymmetries in strength can act to eliminate costly conflict within groups, even among unrelated individuals, and thereby facilitate the evolution of cooperation.

Social animal species show considerable variation in the way in which reproduction is distributed among group members. Recent attempts to explain this variation have proposed that differences in reproductive skew are attributable to differences in the net benefits group members receive from suppressing each other’s breeding attempts. Despite receiving relatively little theoretical and empirical attention, the availability of resources required for successful breeding may have an important influence in determining the costs and benefits of suppressing reproduction and thus influence reproductive skew within social groups. Here, we test this possibility using a long-term study of female reproductive success in the banded mongoose Mungos mungo .W e find that females experience greater costs of co-breeding when resources are in short supply and that older, more dominant females respond to this cost by suppressing subordinate breeding. This results in differing patterns of reproductive success for females of different competitive abilities, with the oldest, most dominant females breeding regardless of resource availability and younger, subordinate females breeding only when resources are abundant. Our findings highlight the role of resource limitation in determining the distribution of reproductive opportunities within social groups. Key words: cooperative breeding, dominance, rainfall, reproductive conflict, resource availability, suppression. [Behav Ecol]

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) plays a vital role in the growth and development of a country. It is therefore critical for any country, especially developing countries, to support and enhance the development of SMEs. Although the external support t is critical; SME’s needs to create and build its own loyal customer base for growth and sustainability. Loyal occurs when customers choose to use a particular store rather than others. A well maintained customer base can affect the SME’s profitability in a positive manner. Quantitative research was undertaken by means of a self-administered questionnaire to establish the perception of South African SME owners regarding loyalty. The study revealed that the main drive for creating loyal customers is good products and services as well as competitive prices. It is hoped that this information will help SMEs to attract and keep loyal customers as it is more cost effective to retain loyal customers than it is to obtain new customers.

The University of South Africa (Unisa) is one of the world’s largest ‘mega universities’ with a population of more than 250 000 students. The Department of Marketing and Retail Management (DMRM) is one of six academic departments within the School of Management Sciences, which in turn is one of three Schools within the College of Economic and Management Sciences, the largest College within Unisa. One such challenge is to decide on what technology to use to deliver and support learning amongst the DMRM’s students. The process of choosing one or more technologies to adopt as a preferred learning technology within the DMRM can either be done by drawing on the current thinking on this topic in the academic literature, by speaking with peers and other educational and technology experts, by asking the lecturers involved in the everyday delivery of this education, or by surveying students themselves. This study focuses on the lecturers’ perspectives. The Unisa lecturer, after all, is the key driver behind the delivery of education within the DMRM and will be instrumental in the successful adoption of any technology decided on. Their views were obtained using the Delphi methodology and analysed using a Chi-square analysis. The findings suggest that a learning management system is considered by lecturers as the preferred technology to use. Keywords – learning technologies, higher education, learning management systems (LMS)

International audience; Arising from M. A. Nowak, C. E. Tarnita & E. O. Wilson 466, 1057-1062 (2010); Nowak et al. reply. Nowak et al. argue that inclusive fitness theory has been of little value in explaining the natural world, and that it has led to negligible progress in explaining the evolution of eusociality. However, we believe that their arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory and a misrepresentation of the empirical literature. We will focus our comments on three general issues.

Reproductive events in animal societies often show a high degree of temporal clustering, but the evolutionary causes of this synchronization are poorly understood. Here, we suggest that selection to avoid the negative effects of competition with other females has given rise to a remarkable degree of birth synchrony in the communal-breeding banded mongoose ( Mungos mungo ). Within banded mongoose groups, births are highly synchronous, with 64 per cent of females giving birth on exactly the same night. Our results indicate that this extreme synchrony arises because offspring suffer an increased risk of infanticide if their mother gives birth before other females, but suffer in competition with older littermates if their mother gives birth after them. These findings highlight the important influence that reproductive competition can have for the evolution of reproductive synchrony.

Considerable research has focused on understanding variation in reproductive skew in cooperative animal societies, but the pace of theoretical development has far outstripped empirical testing of the models. One major class of model suggests that dominant individuals can use the threat of eviction to deter subordinate reproduction (the ‘restraint’ model), but this idea remains untested. Here, we use long-term behavioural and genetic data to test the assumptions of the restraint model in banded mongooses (Mungos mungo), a species in which subordinates breed regularly and evictions are common. We found that dominant females suffer reproductive costs when subordinates breed, and respond to these costs by evicting breeding subordinates from the groupen masse, in agreement with the assumptions of the model. We found no evidence, however, that subordinate females exercise reproductive restraint to avoid being evicted in the first place. This means that the pattern of reproduction is not the result of a reproductive ‘transaction’ to avert the threat of eviction. We present a simple game theoretical analysis that suggests that eviction threats may often be ineffective to induce pre-emptive restraint among multiple subordinates and predicts that threats of eviction (or departure) will be much more effective in dyadic relationships and linear hierarchies. Transactional models may be more applicable to these systems. Greater focus on testing the assumptions rather than predictions of skew models can lead to a better understanding of how animals control each other's reproduction, and the extent to which behaviour is shaped by overt acts versus hidden threats.

Models of reproductive skew have shed light on why animal societies vary in the partitioning of reproduction among group members. However, their application to cooperative vertebrate societies remains controversial. A particular problem is that previous models assume that skew in paternity is determined by interactions among males and males only. This conflicts with observations from many species that indicate that females exert control over the distribution of paternity. Here we address this shortfall in the current theory by developing two models to explore the expected patterns of skew in three member groups in which a female controls the allocation of paternity among two males. The first "staying incentive" model extends previous "transactional" (or "concession") models to examine the conditions where females will be willing to share reproduction among a dominant and a subordinate male to retain the subordinate in the group. The second "work incentive" model explores patterns of skew where females allocate paternity in order to maximize the amount of care their offspring receive. The models make contrasting predictions about the nature of male-female conflict over reproduction and also about the relationships between skew and relatedness, ecological constraints, the relative quality of the subordinate male, and the relative cost of care for the two males. These divergent predictions provide a schema by which the evolutionary causes of variation in skew among males can be evaluated.

In this article, we explore the impact of sex-biased dispersal on local relatedness and on selection for helping and harming behavior among males and females. We show that in a patch-structured population, when there is a marked sex bias in dispersal, selection will almost always favor harming behavior among individuals of the sex more prone to dispersal. This result holds regardless of the effects of mating skew or overlapping generations. Selection may well also favor helping behavior among individuals of the philopatric sex, particularly if there is generational overlap, but this is less likely to occur if individuals of the philopatric sex compete more intensely for fewer breeding opportunities. In this last case, if generational overlap is low and mating skew pronounced, the result may be selection for harming behavior among both males and females. In general, the rate of dispersal and the level of relatedness among individuals of one sex do not reliably predict their level of helping or harming behavior; selection on either males or females depends on the dispersal of both sexes.

An enduring puzzle of human life history is why women cease reproduction midway through life. Selection can favor postreproductive survival because older females can help their offspring to reproduce. But the kin-selected fitness gains of helping appear insufficient to outweigh the potential benefits of continued reproduction. Why then do women cease reproduction in the first place? Here, we suggest that early reproductive cessation in humans is the outcome of reproductive competition between generations, and we present a simple candidate model of how this competition will be resolved. We show that among primates exhibiting a postreproductive life span, humans exhibit an extraordinarily low degree of reproductive overlap between generations. The rapid senescence of the human female reproductive system coincides with the age at which, in natural fertility populations, women are expected to encounter reproductive competition from breeding females of the next generation. Several lines of evidence suggest that in ancestral hominids, this younger generation typically comprised immigrant females. In these circumstances, relatedness asymmetries within families are predicted to give younger females a decisive advantage in reproductive conflict with older females. A model incorporating both the costs of reproductive competition and the benefits of grandmothering can account for the timing of reproductive cessation in humans and so offers an improved understanding of the evolution of menopause.

The advent of technology has led to a major change in the delivering of knowledge and lecturers are in the forefront of this. No longer can projectors or black boards solely be used as a means of communication, as the student of the new millennia is an astute user of technology. Lecturers and students are both therefore expected to make use of technology in the transfer of knowledge and academic interaction. Students have a right to expect their lecturers, and the institution that they study at, to incorporate the latest technology in the delivery of their qualifications. The main aim of this study was to determine lecturers perceptions on social media networking systems and their use of it in an academic context. The study also focussed on whether lecturers make use of, and believes in, social media networking systems as an effective tool to use in teaching and in providing study content and material to students. These were tested by making use of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs namely; Perceive ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Attitude towards using, Intention to use, and System accessibility. A survey was distributed to lecturers, and it was found that social media is being used by the majority of lecturers, but more for social purposes than educational purposes. It was also found that Facebook is the most popular social media networking system to use.

Deciding on the right products to offer to the market is a demanding and crucial task that requires understanding and insight into the customers needs and wants. This task is even more important and crucial for SMEs who in many instances have to rely on the knowledge and feeling of the owner/manager only to make these decisions. It is therefore important for SMEs to have a well thought out strategy when deciding on what products to sell. This study aimed to identify aspects related to products that SMEs consider when selecting products to sell. Surveys were sent out to SMEs around South Africa. The results indicated that SMEs selected products based on the quality of the product and customer demand.

Many plant and animal aggregations have size hierarchies within which a variety of sizes of individuals, from large to small, can be found. Size hierarchies are thought to indicate the existence of competition amongst individuals within the aggregation, but determining their exact cause is difficult. The key to understanding size hierarchies lies in first quantifying the pattern of size and growth of individuals. We conducted a quantitative investigation of pattern in the size hierarchy of the clown anemonefish Amphiprion percula, in Madang Lagoon, Papua New Guinea. Here, groups of A. percula occupy sea anemones (Heteractis magnifica) that provide protection from predators. Within each anemone there is a single group composed of a breeding pair and zero to four non-breeders. Within each group there is a single size hierarchy; the female is largest (rank 1), the male is second largest (rank 2), and the non-breeders get progressively smaller (ranks 3–6). We demonstrate that individuals adjacent in rank are separated by body size ratios whose distribution is significantly different from the distribution expected under a null model—the growth of individuals is regulated such that each dominant ends up being about 1.26 times the size of its immediate subordinate. We show that it is decisions about growth at the individual level that generate the size hierarchy at the group level, and thereby determine maximum group size and population size. This study provides a new perspective on the pattern, causes and consequences of size hierarchies.

Technology has provided many new methods of communicating and has changed the way in which students interact with each other. This had an impact on the way in which students of today interact with their learning environment as well. Educational institutions have started to make use of technology to better their interaction with students and the level of education that they provide. Open and Distance Leaning (ODL) institutions have made use of this technology to provide a better learning environment and service to the students. This article aims to determine the level of acceptance of e-learning systems and technology in ODL institutions.

As breeding between relatives often results in inbreeding depression, inbreeding avoidance is widespread in the animal kingdom. However, inbreeding avoidance may entail fitness costs. For example, dispersal away from relatives may reduce survival. How these conflicting selection pressures are resolved is challenging to investigate, but theoretical models predict that inbreeding should occur frequently in some systems. Despite this, few studies have found evidence of regular incest in mammals, even in social species where relatives are spatio-temporally clustered and opportunities for inbreeding frequently arise. We used genetic parentage assignments together with relatedness data to quantify inbreeding rates in a wild population of banded mongooses, a cooperatively breeding carnivore. We show that females regularly conceive to close relatives, including fathers and brothers. We suggest that the costs of inbreeding avoidance may sometimes outweigh the benefits, even in cooperatively breeding species where strong within-group incest avoidance is considered to be the norm.

Competition in the educational market is increasing at a rapid rate. With e-education and the increasing globalisation taking place, universities are competing more and more for student numbers. Service quality has become one of those factors that differentiate institutions from one another. As a result, higher education institutions can use service quality as a competitive advantage to ensure that they stay the first choice in the minds of potential students. It is a known fact that many consumers and students will support a product or university based on the level of service they receive. It is for this reason that universities will benefit from research into service quality and the importance that students attach to this. In this study, student satisfaction towards the quality of the service received was measured in terms of appearance of the higher educations physical facilities, equipment, staff and communication materials by using the SERVQUAL model. The results may assist higher education institutions to focus on the unknown, yet important elements of the tangibility element in order to improve the students overall satisfaction. The results indicated that students perception about the tangibility of the service, as well as the overall level of satisfaction of the service received, is slightly above average.

Fast-food consumption has been a staple for many people; however, due to rising health concerns, there has been an increasing interest in the consumption of healthier food both in South Africa and elsewhere. Many consumers are demanding better quality foods that offer nutritional benefits. This global trend has led to fast-food outlets adding healthier food options to their menus. Limited literature exists on customer satisfaction with regards to the food quality of these healthier food options. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to determine the level of customer satisfaction with the food quality of healthier food options available at fast-food outlets in South Africa. The study followed a mixed method approach, whereby a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students at a residential South African University. The results indicate that South African consumers are highly satisfied with the food quality of the healthier food options at fast-food outlets.

The failure of internationally renowned organisations together with the global financial catastrophe in 2008, which emerged as a result of the collapse in corporate governance, in general, and business ethics, in particular, has led to an amplified focus on business ethics around the world. This has led to governments, private sector, and even individuals to call for stronger regulation and control of business practices in order to stamp out, or at least to reduce, instances of morally and ethically questionable practices.The main purpose of this study was to measure small business owners differences in moral thought based on idealism and relativism. This is measured by determining the ethical ideological classification of individuals based on Forsyths ethical taxonomy. The research followed a quantitative analysis and an online survey questionnaire was used to collect the data from Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners in South Africa. The results found that the majority of SME owners fall in the situationist and absolutist category of Forsyths ethical taxonomy.

Traditionally, marketing was about delivering the right product to the consumer at the right place and set at the right price. In recent years, experiential marketing has increased in popularity among companies that aim at delivering holistic experiences to be enjoyed by their consumers. With the technology explosion and the level of development the past number of years, marketers have become more and more focussed on different ways and methods to reach consumers. The use of experiential marketing as a means of getting consumer buy-in and attention is gaining in momentum - with Apple leading the way. This study made use of a mixed-method approach to determine the relationship between experiential marketing and brand advocacy through brand loyalty. Qualitative research was utilised to deduce themes for brand advocacy for Apple, which was incorporated into the quantitative research in the form of a web-based questionnaire completed by consumers of Apple products. Apple consumers found the experiential marketing efforts by Apple to have an influence on their feeling of loyalty toward the brand. As that feeling of loyalty increased, these consumers displayed a high tendency toward becoming brand advocates for Apple.

The purpose of this study was to determine South African students perceptions and uses of social media networking systems. The study further determined whether students are making use of social media networking systems, the purpose of making use of social media networking systems, and whether the students believe that it can be an effective and easy tool to use in order to study the course content. The reason for this study was the fact that students now a days are more familiar with social media networking systems, as more technology mediums are available today to communicate on a more flexible and timely manner. The study made use of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs in order to test the objectives. These constructs are; Perceive ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Attitude towards using, Intention to use, and System accessibility. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students, and it was found that social media is mostly being used by students for social purposes rather than for educational purposes, and that Facebook is the most popular social media networking system to use.

Little attention has been paid to a conspicuous and universal feature of animal societies: the variation between individuals in helping effort. Here, we develop a multiplayer kin-selection model that assumes that subordinates face a trade-off because current investment in help reduces their own future reproductive success. The model makes two predictions: (i) subordinates will work less hard the closer they are to inheriting breeding status; and (ii) for a given dominance rank, subordinates will work less hard in larger groups. The second prediction reflects the larger pay-off from inheriting a larger group. Both predictions were tested through a field experiment on the paper wasp Polistes dominulus. First, we measured an index of helping effort among subordinates, then we removed successive dominants to reveal the inheritance ranks of the subordinates: their positions in the queue to inherit dominance. We found that both inheritance rank and group size had significant effects on helping effort, in the manner predicted by our model. The close match between our theoretical and empirical results suggests that individuals adjust their helping effort according to their expected future reproductive success. This relationship has probably remained hidden in previous studies that have focused on variation in genetic relatedness.

Models of reproductive skew are concerned with the partitioning of reproduction between dominant and subordinate members of a group. In an interesting extension of these models, Reeve and Ratnieks briefly considered whether it might benefit subordinates to engage in aggressive behavior to test the fighting ability of a dominant. Their analysis suggested that such testing should be more probable in groups that feature high skew and, hence, perhaps among closer relatives (because high relatedness favors high skew). Here we explore in more detail the possibility of dominance testing. Three models that differ in the outcome of fights over dominance are presented: in the first model, the loser of the challenge is killed; in the second model, the loser is evicted from the nest; and, in the third model, the loser becomes (or remains) subordinate. In each case we consider the independent effects of the parameters that determine skew (namely, relatedness, group productivity, and ecological constraints) on the predicted level of dominance testing. We then construct an amalgamated model to examine situations where fights may lead to any one of the three outcomes. Our analysis reveals that, in the majority of cases, higher relatedness will in fact lead to lower levels of aggression. Moreover, dominance testing need not be associated with high skew. Rather, the relationship between skew and dominance testing will depend on which factor (relatedness, group productivity, or level of ecological constraints) is principally responsible for variation in the distribution of reproduction.

Reproductive skew is a measure of the way breeding is distributed among the members of an animal society or group. Up to now, explanations of patterns of skew have been limited to one particular model, which assumes that a single dominant has full control over the distribution of subordinate reproduction. If this control is incomplete or absent, however, unsanctioned breeding by subordinate females will increase the total number of young produced. Here I present a new model for the evolution of skew that considers the effect of brood size on the inclusive fitness of dominants and subordinates. By augmenting brood size, a subordinate female reduces the per capita fitness of a dominant's offspring, so the net benefits of producing young are lower for related subordinates. I consider the stable level of skew when both dominant and subordinate attempt to maximize their inclusive fitness under two conditions: (1) when the dominant is unable to anticipate that a subordinate will add to her brood; and (2) the dominant does anticipate subordinate reproduction and can respond by adjusting her own brood size. In the first case, the model predicts that reproductive skew will increase with relatedness between breeders, because related subordinates are selected to add fewer young to the dominant's brood. In the second case, the dominant's optimal response to the presence of a second breeder exaggerates the relationship between relatedness and skew: dominants should produce more young when breeding with related compared with unrelated subordinates. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Much has been said as to what makes a good Open and Distance Learning (ODL) practitioner - or lecturer if you prefer. It is easy to make statements and observations, but it is, however, essential to establish exactly what an ODL practitioner is and then to establish if there is a set of characteristics that can be attached to such a practitioner. That, in essence, is the main aim of this study; namely, to investigate the characteristics of a good ODL practitioner. With the increase in student numbers at ODL institutions, there is a need for an increased number of ODL practitioners who are able to provide the quality education that the ODL students desire or need (Roberts, n.d.:1). In order to satisfy the objectives of the study, a self-administered survey was distributed to the ODL practitioners within an ODL institute. The results of this study revealed that there is a difference as to what these respondents saw in terms of the relevant importance of some characteristics. It is evident from the results that an ODL practitioner should have good subject knowledge, and should be fair and ethical.

Several consumers think they only purchase products when they go shopping, however time and time again they purchase the experience of shopping as well. The experience of shopping is highly influenced by the visual merchandising displays (also known as feature areas where merchandise is presented) used in store. Much has been said about visual merchandising displays and the effect it has on consumer behaviour. The way products are displayed and promoted in apparel retail stores can have a vast impact on consumer responses and how much merchandise the retailer sells. The main research question explored the effect visual merchandising displays have on consumer behaviour. Explorative research was deemed to be the most appropriate for this study and qualitative data was collected. Focus groups were used to collect the first round of data, where after nae sketches were used to support the findings. The focus groups and nae sketches were analysed by means of thematic analysis. The findings indicated that the visual merchandising displays guide consumers in the direction of the products they are seeking and that it also guides their decisions. The participants agreed that their buying behaviour is influenced on a subconscious level, based on the eminence of the visual merchandising displays, as well as their personal preferences and gender.

The small business sector plays a vital role in the economic development, upliftment and job creation of any third world country, and even more so in Africa. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have underperformed over the past years and therefore have not contributed their expected roles in the growth and development of the Nigerian economy. This can and may lead to unethical behaviour and questionable practices which speak of moral decay something that Africa, in general, and Nigeria, specifically, has been accused of. The performance and ethical behaviour of Nigerian SMEs have been of great concern to numerous individuals, parties and organisations (Onugu, 2005:8). Since managers decisions impact organisational goals and behaviours, this research aims to determine whether a sense of moral behaviour will have an influence on the concern for ethical misconduct in the Nigerian business environment by examining the relationship between Moral Behaviour and the Concern for Ethical Dilemmas/Misconduct. The research followed a quantitative approach. Results indicated that there is a fine line between what is perceived as being morally wrong or unethical and that, in many instances, the focus is rather on future existence of the business and not really on the ethical issues involved. The study confirms that there is a medium to strong relationship correlation between sense of ethical concerns and immoral behaviour in the Nigerian small business environment. The hypothesis (H0: Entrepreneurs who have an acute sense of moral behaviour are concerned about ethical misconduct/dilemmas in the business environment) is therefore accepted.

Students in tertiary institutions have become more and more adapted to the use of technology, which is especially important for the businesses that hire graduates. Students are increasingly expected by employers to be proficient in the use of social media and therefore expect their institutions to make use of similar technology in the delivery of educational materials. The main aim of this study was to investigate students perceptions of the use of social media networking systems during their time of studying at an open distance learning (ODL) tertiary institution. The study also investigated whether students feel at ease when using social media networking systems, whether they will be able to find information on these social media networking systems, and whether they believe it will be an effective and easy way to study course content. These were tested by making use of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs namely; Perceived ease of use, Perceived usefulness, Attitude towards using, and System accessibility. A survey was distributed to students, and it was found that students regarded Perceived ease of use as being the most important factor to consider when they are using social media networking systems.