The mystacial vibrissae of pinnipeds constitute a sensory system for active touch and detection of hydrodynamic events. Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) can both detect hydrodynamic stimuli caused by a small sphere vibrating in the water (hydrodynamic dipole stimuli). Hydrodynamic trail following has only been shown in harbour seals. Hydrodynamical and biomechanical studies of single vibrissae of the two species showed that the specialized undulated structure of harbour seal vibrissae, as opposed to the smooth structure of sea lion vibrissae, suppresses self-generated noise in the actively moving animal. Here we tested whether also sea lions were able to perform hydrodynamic trail following in spite of their non-specialized hair structure. Hydrodynamic trails were generated by a remote-controlled miniature submarine. Linear trails could be followed with high accuracy, comparable to the performance of harbour seals, but in contrast, increasing delay resulted in a reduced performance as compared to harbour seals. The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that structural differences in the vibrissal hair types of otariid compared to phocid pinnipeds lead to different sensitivity of the vibrissae during forward swimming, but still reveal a good performance even in the species with non-specialized hair type.

The Courier, Express and Parcel services (CEP) sector is a constant growing one. The changes concerning e-commerce have impact in the industry which is looking for solution. This research, based on a web survey with 1019 computer assisted web interviews, presents e-commerce customer expectations in alternative delivery time frames and considers the impacts in the last mile of attended home delivery, reception boxes and collection-and-delivery points. The analysed alternative delivery time frames are Express delivery within 3 hours, evening delivery, Saturday delivery, Sunday delivery and customer selected time frame. Within these the focus is on e-commerce purchase habits, frequency of purchase, products, time of purchase, interest in alternative delivery time frames, usage or preferences and finally the willingness to pay for an alternative delivery. The results show a tendency of more than two thirds towards consumer selected delivery time frame, Saturday delivery and evening delivery, which is accompanied by easy accessible Reception Boxes (RBs). The research study also performs regression analysis and finds a significant impact of Alternative Delivery Time Frame (ADTF), and Delivery Methods (DM) on customer's willingness to pay.

Purpose of the article: Knowledge is increasingly importance for the economic well-being of businesses. Core competencies of management are the generation and processing of information, used to develop a competitive advantage. Information has become established as a commodity in its own right which can be bought and sold. Four out of five goods traded on the market now consist of services or relate to information in the broadest sense. Knowledge is created when different pieces of information are linked on the basis of a particular intellectual background and meaningfully interpreted. Accordingly, knowledge incorporates not just information but also experience, (pre)- judgements, rules of thumb and worldviews. Knowledge is always associated with human beings. Methodology/methods: This article is based on literature research. The original article was written in German and translated into English, supported by a translation agency. Scientific aim: A questionnaire is being drawn up on the basis of the research results. This will allow the appraisal of these influencing factors and framework conditions by small and medium sized enterprises to be surveyed and evaluated. Findings: Social systems arise through and are sustained by communication. Actions of managers primarily consist of communication. For cognitive simplification, all humans repeat actions that have previously proved successful. Previously accumulated knowledge thus becomes a significant barrier to learning. An organisation’s ability to learn depends not only the general willingness of its workforce to learn but also on the newness and/or compatibility of knowledge acquired from a partner. Conclusions (limits, implications etc): Developing or acquiring competition-relevant knowledge is generally time-consuming and costly. As a complementary function to knowledge acquisition, the retention of knowledge carriers in the form of people and materials forms another component of knowledge management. It is important to recognise early on those knowledge carriers who promise high potential in the future.

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