The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee at Waukesha is a two-year college located in Waukesha, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. A campus of the University of Wisconsin Colleges, it is part of the University of Wisconsin System. Like the other UW Colleges' campuses, UW-Waukesha's land and buildings belong to a local government unit, in this case Waukesha County. As part of the local-state partnership, the University of Wisconsin provides faculty, staff, educational programs, technology, furnishings, libraries, and supplies.
Current evidence suggests that hybridization played a crucial role in the early evolution and diversification of the species flocks of cichlid fishes in the African Great Lakes. Nonetheless, evidence for hybridization in the extant cichlid fauna is scant, suggesting that hybridization is rare in the modern era, perhaps enforced by natural or sexual selection acting against F1 hybrids. Additionally, most experimental studies of hybridization perform a hybrid cross in one direction, ignoring the reciprocal hybrid. In this study, we perform reciprocal crosses between sympatric congeners from Lake Malaŵi, Labeotropheus fuelleborni and L. trewavasae, in order to compare the body shape and coloration of males of both of these hybrids, as well as to examine how these hybrids fare during both inter- and intrasexual interactions. We found that L. trewavasae-sired hybrid males are intermediate to the parental species both morphologically and chromatically, while the reciprocal L. fuelleborni-sired hybrids are likely transgressive hybrids. Males of these transgressive hybrids also fare poorly during our mate choice experiments. While female L. trewavasae reject them as possible mates, male L. trewavasae do not make a distinction between them and conspecific males. Selection against transgressive F1 hybrids as observed in our crossing experiments may help explain why contemporary hybridization in Lake Malaŵi cichlids appears to be rare.
In sexually reproducing taxa, reproductive isolation is key to speciation. Given the speed with which behavioral reproductive isolation evolves, this form of isolation is of particular importance to rapidly evolving species. Here we examine behavioral reproductive isolation in a sympatric, congeneric pair of rock-dwelling cichlids from Lake Malawi, testing the hypothesis that females should prefer conspecific males. We used a pair of Labeotropheus, L. fuelleborni Ahl and L. trewavasae Fryer, from the Chidunga Rocks in southwestern Lake Malawi, to test this hypothesis, with the prediction that females would approach conspecific males more frequently than they would heterospecific males. When given a choice between a male L. fuelleborni and L. trewavasae, we found that females did approach males of their own species more frequently than males of the opposite species, and that differences in length and the number of eggspots on the anal fin between the stimulus males had no effect on a female's choice. These results are consistent with behavioral reproductive isolation between these sympatric species, and add further support to the hypothesis that sexual selection played a key role in the speciation of cichlid fishes from Lake Malawi.
Seals and other inscribed materials of the Indus Civilization (2600–1900 BCE) are a valuable source of data for studying this ancient cultural system, from writing, craft production, and economics, to art and ideology. In the absence of deciphered texts, detailed comparative studies of these materials allow us to explore their roles and significance in the organizational dynamics of one of the world’s earliest urban societies. This article contributes to the study of inscribed objects by applying complementary methodologies from art history and archaeology to the examination of seals and related artifacts that depict the tiger motif. It explores the consistency and variability in these objects as a reflection of the unique carving styles and techniques employed to make them, the distinct identities that they embody, and the ideas embedded within them. Identified patterns provide insights into the production strategies, shared ideologies, and potential meanings of this uniquely South Asian icon and highlight larger issues of Indus sociopolitical organization and integration. This innovative approach for investigating inscribed materials allows for a deeper exploration of their role in and reflection of the unique cultural systems that defined the Indus during the third millennium BCE.
The mean residual life (MRL) function plays an essential role in Engineering, particularly in the area of Industrial Engineering. The kernel estimator is one of the well-known estimators for the MRL function . Mugdadi and Teweldemedhin [4] proposed two nonparametric estimators for this function. The twofold aim of this investigation is to firstly discuss the choice of the kernel for these two estimators by calculating the efficiencies of several popular second-order kernel functions and secondly to obtain an asymptotic distribution for the estimators.
Most previous research did not find powerful evidence suggesting the depreciation of Chinese yuan had contributed significantly to the trade imbalances between the United States and China. In our current study, we employ quarterly data from 2005Q3 to 2018Q3 and an error correction model to examine the responsiveness of bilateral trade flows between the United States and China to relative prices and the nominal exchange rate under China's managed floating exchange rate regime. To test for a possible structural break due to the financial crisis in 2008, we carry out Chow tests. But the results support no structural break. We find strong evidence that depreciation of Chinese currency yuan encourages U.S. imports from China and discourages U.S. exports to China. In addition, an increase in U.S. income will promote U.S. imports from China significantly, and a higher Chinese income will remarkably encourage U.S. exports to China. Finally, the bilateral trade flows between the United States and China respond differently to the relative prices and nominal exchange rate.
