An exploration of concepts of community through a case study of UK university web production

The paper explores the inter-relation and differences between the concepts of occupational community, community of practice, online community and social network. It uses as a case study illustration the domain of UK university web site production and specifically a listserv for those involved in it. Different latent occupational communities are explored, and the potential for the listserv to help realize these as an active sense of community is considered. The listserv is not (for most participants) a tight knit community of practice, indeed it fails many criteria for an online community. It is perhaps best conceived as a loose knit network of practice, valued for information, implicit support and for the maintenance of weak ties. Through the analysis the case for using strict definitions of the theoretical concepts is made

Effect of Gestational Folic Acid Supplementation on Offspring Immune Organ Development and Postnatal Immune Response

Pairs of littermate, primiparous sows were fed a low folic acid, basal diet for 98 days to minimize body folic acid (FA) stores. Following the depletion period, sows were synchronized and bred via artificial insemination. Feeding of experimental diets was initiated on day 1 post-breeding and was continued throughout pregnancy. Experimental diets consisted of the low folic acid, basal diet supplemented with either 0 or 8 mg of FA per sow per day. The FA supplementation elevated sow serum FA concentration during pregnancy but did not alter immunoglobulin concentration in sow serum, piglet serum nor sow colostral whey at parturition. The FA supplementation did not affect the number of pigs per litter nor litter birth weight. The FA supplementation of the gravid sow did not alter piglet thymus or spleen weight, DNA, or protein content at birth, but resulted in a lower (

Nutritional Modulation of the Proliferation and Activation of Blood Lymphocyte Subsets from Milk Replacer-Fed Calves

Feeding greater quantities of protein and energy to neonatal calves was associated with a reduction in proliferative responses of T lymphocyte subsets to in vitro polyclonal stimulation. Feeding an intensified diet was also associated with altered in vitro expression of activation molecules, CD25, CD44, and CD62L. These data suggest that plane of nutrition during the neonatal period influences lymphocyte-activities essential for the development of a normal immune response

Effects of d-α-Tocopherol and Dietary Energy on Growth and Health of Pre-Ruminant Dairy Calves

Newborn Holstein bull calves were fed milk to support low or moderate growth and were supplemented with a complement of vitamins A, D, and E. The objective of the study was to determine the effects of dietary energy and vitamin supplementation on inflammation at the whole-body level. Calves were assigned randomly to one of four treatment groups (low growth, not vitamin supplemented; low growth, vitamin supplemented; moderate growth, not vitamin supplemented; moderate growth, vitamin supplemented) for five weeks. Vitamin supplementation tended to improve average daily gain in moderate-growth calves and significantly increased concentrations of retinol, 25-(OH)-vitamin D, and α-tocopherol in plasma in supplemented groups. Moderate growth calves exhibited lower concentrations of α-tocopherol in plasma and higher concentrations of serum haptoglobin, which is a protein associated with chronic inflammation. All calves exhibited elevated concentrations of the more acute indicator of inflammation, serum amyloid A, during weeks 1-3. These results indicate potential roles for vitamins A, D, and E in moderation of pro-inflammatory responses early in life

T-cell derived acetylcholine aids host defenses during enteric bacterial infection with Citrobacter rodentium.

The regulation of mucosal immune function is critical to host protection from enteric pathogens but is incompletely understood. The nervous system and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine play an integral part in host defense against enteric bacterial pathogens. Here we report that acetylcholine producing-T-cells, as a non-neuronal source of ACh, were recruited to the colon during infection with the mouse pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. These ChAT+ T-cells did not exclusively belong to one Th subset and were able to produce IFNγ, IL-17A and IL-22. To interrogate the possible protective effect of acetylcholine released from these cells during enteric infection, T-cells were rendered deficient in their ability to produce acetylcholine through a conditional gene knockout approach. Significantly increased C. rodentium burden was observed in the colon from conditional KO (cKO) compared to WT mice at 10 days post-infection. This increased bacterial burden in cKO mice was associated with increased expression of the cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα, but without significant changes in T-cell and ILC associated IL-17A, IL-22, and IFNγ, or epithelial expression of antimicrobial peptides, compared to WT mice. Despite the increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines during C. rodentium infection, inducible nitric oxide synthase (Nos2) expression was significantly reduced in intestinal epithelial cells of ChAT T-cell cKO mice 10 days post-infection. Additionally, a cholinergic agonist enhanced IFNγ-induced Nos2 expression in intestinal epithelial cell in vitro. These findings demonstrated that acetylcholine, produced by specialized T-cells that are recruited during C. rodentium infection, are a key mediator in host-microbe interactions and mucosal defenses

The Effects of Temperature and Light in High Tunnel Primocane Red Raspberry Production—Year 2

Climatic factors found in tunnels of the Midwest may show negative effects to primocane growth and development of raspberry. Researchers have found that as air and root-zone temperature exceed 24°C (75.2°F) and 16°C (60.8°F), respectively, the following plant development occurs: decrease in water uptake by primocanes, premature dormancy of lateral and axillary buds, delayed time to fruit ripening, and reduced fruit quality and weight. In addition to temperature, high light (irradiance) causes a decline of fruit yield and quality. Premature dormancy and delayed time-to-flowering occur when irradiance exceed 600 μmol·mˉÇsˉÅ. The proposed study was intended to (1) assess the relationship between temperature and light intensity and their effect on primocane growth and development, (2) evaluate how effective shade cloth and soil mulch are in reducing temperature and light intensity levels of high tunnel red raspberry production, and (3) provide relatively inexpensive solutions to minimize temperature and light intensity damage in protected red raspberry production during the warm summer months

Development of a Knowledge Management System for Energy Driven by Public Feedback

The Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department and the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom, is proposing to create an open web platform that makes high-quality scientific data on energy sources readily available, assembles those data into metrics more suitable to the general public’s knowledge and interest (e.g. impact on the family’s budget or green house gas emission), and visually renders such information in a straightforward manner

Cold Hardy Wine Grape Cultivar Trial

In conjunction with the Northeast Regional Research project NE 1020 “Multi-state Evaluation of Wine Grape Cultivars and Clones,” Iowa State University established a cold hardy wine grape cultivar trial in 2008 at the ISU Horticulture Research Station (HRS) and Tabor Home Vineyards and Winery (THV) near Baldwin, IA. The Iowa trial evaluates the performance of Corot noir, La Crescent, Marquette, Petit AmiTM, NY 95.0301-01, MN-1189, MN-1200, MN-1220, MN-1235, MN-1258 with Frontenac, and St. Croix serving as controls. This report summarizes the results for the 2012 growing season

NE-1020 Cold Hardy Wine Grape Cultivar Trial

In conjunction with the Northeast Regional Research project NE-1020 “Multi-state Evaluation of Wine Grape Cultivars and Clones,” Iowa State University established a cold hardy wine grape cultivar trial in 2008 at the ISU Horticulture Research Station (HRS), Ames, Iowa, and Tabor Home Vineyards and Winery (THV), Baldwin, Iowa. The Iowa trial evaluates the performance of Corot noir, La Crescent, Marquette, Petit Ami™, NY95.0301- 01 (Arandell), MN1189, MN1200, MN1220, MN1235, MN1258, with Frontenac and St. Croix serving as controls. Selection NY95.0300-01 was shipped by mistake and was planted in the guard rows and as end-ofrow guard vines. This report summarizes the results for the 2013 growing season