EMOTICONS: Breaking down e-mail facilitated communication

The use of E-Mail expedites the rapid transfer of facts, data and reports, making the Information Super Highway an efficient communicative process. However, E-Mail is not historically well suited for personal, quality, one-on-one communication. The purpose of this article is to discuss devices, techniques and strategies to enhance the personal nature of E-Mail transfers

Small Shop Dynamics: Time and Technology

Nearly invisible in the manufacturing industry hierarchy are those small manufacturers with fewer than 50 employees. These firms, labeled Small Shops, constitute a large percentage of manufacturers. This study focuses on the impact of technological innovation and time relative to the re-emergence of small shops as a competitive entity in the industrial hierarchy

e-Commerce: How the times have changed

The advent cf E-Commerce and the information age are catalyzing fundamental decision making processes as well as their management. In this article the authors develop a functional definition of information which forms the resource base in evolving decision making activities where uncertainty and short time horizons tend to predominate. The article also makes the case that modem managers will need to be entrepreneurial

Attitudes and self-reported behavior of patients, doctors, and pharmacists in New Zealand and Belgium toward direct-to-consumer advertising of medication

Patients', doctors', and pharmacists' attitudes toward direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for medication and their perceptions of its impact on patient self-reported behavior in terms of request for, and consumption of, advertised medication were investigated. Data were obtained in New Zealand, 1 of only 2 countries that allow mass-media DTCA for prescription medication, and in Belgium, which does not. Attitudes were relatively negative in both countries, but significantly more positive in New Zealand than in Belgium. The impact of DTCA (both in a positive and a negative sense) on self-reported patient behavior and patient interaction with doctors and pharmacists was limited in both countries. Although - as already established in previous work - the informativeness and reliability of DTCA can be much improved, and the attitude of medical professionals toward DTCA is negative in both countries, from the point of view of medical professionals and patients, DTCA does not harm the self-reported relationship between doctors, pharmacists, and patients

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Human activity and land use change impact every landscape on Earth, driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others. Species ecological and life history traits may predict success in human- dominated landscapes such that only species with - winning- combinations of traits will persist in disturbed environments. However, this link between species traits and successful coexistence with humans remains obscured by the complexity of anthropogenic disturbances and variability among study systems. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America to quantify the effects of (1) the direct presence of people and (2) the human footprint (landscape modification) on mammal occurrence and activity levels. Thirty- three percent of mammal species exhibited a net negative response (i.e., reduced occurrence or activity) to increasing human presence and/or footprint across populations, whereas 58% of species were positively associated with increasing disturbance. However, apparent benefits of human presence and footprint tended to decrease or disappear at higher disturbance levels, indicative of thresholds in mammal species- capacity to tolerate disturbance or exploit human- dominated landscapes. Species ecological and life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint, with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. The positive and negative effects of human presence were distributed more randomly with respect to species trait values, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds. Differential responses by some species to human presence and human footprint highlight the importance of considering these two forms of human disturbance separately when estimating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife. Our approach provides insights into the complex mechanisms through which human activities shape mammal communities globally, revealing the drivers of the loss of larger predators in human- modified landscapes.Human activity and land use change are driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others, but predicting which species will successfully coexist with humans remains a challenge. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America and showed that species life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint (landscape modification), with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. Positive and negative effects of direct human presence (e.g., recreation, hunting) were distributed more randomly across species, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/1/gcb15650.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/2/gcb15650_am.pd

Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

Human activity and land use change impact every landscape on Earth, driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others. Species ecological and life history traits may predict success in human- dominated landscapes such that only species with - winning- combinations of traits will persist in disturbed environments. However, this link between species traits and successful coexistence with humans remains obscured by the complexity of anthropogenic disturbances and variability among study systems. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America to quantify the effects of (1) the direct presence of people and (2) the human footprint (landscape modification) on mammal occurrence and activity levels. Thirty- three percent of mammal species exhibited a net negative response (i.e., reduced occurrence or activity) to increasing human presence and/or footprint across populations, whereas 58% of species were positively associated with increasing disturbance. However, apparent benefits of human presence and footprint tended to decrease or disappear at higher disturbance levels, indicative of thresholds in mammal species- capacity to tolerate disturbance or exploit human- dominated landscapes. Species ecological and life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint, with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. The positive and negative effects of human presence were distributed more randomly with respect to species trait values, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds. Differential responses by some species to human presence and human footprint highlight the importance of considering these two forms of human disturbance separately when estimating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife. Our approach provides insights into the complex mechanisms through which human activities shape mammal communities globally, revealing the drivers of the loss of larger predators in human- modified landscapes.Human activity and land use change are driving declines in many animal species while benefiting others, but predicting which species will successfully coexist with humans remains a challenge. We compiled detection data for 24 mammal species from 61 populations across North America and showed that species life history traits were strong predictors of their responses to human footprint (landscape modification), with increasing footprint favoring smaller, less carnivorous, faster- reproducing species. Positive and negative effects of direct human presence (e.g., recreation, hunting) were distributed more randomly across species, with apparent winners and losers across a range of body sizes and dietary guilds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/1/gcb15650.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168486/2/gcb15650_am.pd