Organizational Participation in Open Communities: Conceptual Framing and Early Findings

As design and development evolves within open communities, new affordances present new possibilities andorganizations must balance ‘contributions to’ and ‘differentiation from’ the open community for reasons of cost, resourcemanagement, and time to market. Organizational participation in open communities is timely in light of recent analysesby the Linux Foundation indicating that 75% of kernel contributions are by paid developers. In this proposal, we build onprinciples of public sharing and collaboration using the Linux open-source community as our basis for understandingopen communities (Fitzgerald, 2006). The focus of this project is why organizations participate with open communitiesand how they participate with open communities. We apply action research as a methodological approach within which aqualitative field study will be conducted (Chiasson et al., 2009). Action research supports our dual goal of developing asolution to a practical problem which is of value to the people with whom we are working, while at the same timedeveloping theoretical knowledge of value to an academic community involved in research and pedagogy (Mathiassen etal., 2009). We found organizational participation to be primarily derived from the leveraged support, contribution to, anddifferentiation from open communities

The Domestication of Open Source

Open source is becoming domesticated through the advancement of organizational practices, foundation sponsorships, and communal standards. Over the past ten years, organizational participation with open source has become a viable business proposition, opening new paths for service management, innovation discovery, and product development. Traditionally, engagement with open source has recognized how organizations leverage resources from an open source community into new practice. Such recognition assumes stabilizing efforts located within organizations to address open source community complexities. However, recent trends have led organizations to advance durability into open source communities in efforts to stabilize practices within communities themselves. In essence, domesticating open source. In this research-in-progress we provide a theoretical frame of risk, agency, and technology-in-practice to understand open source domestication and reveal it roots, trajectories, and evolutionary nature. This work has been funded through the National Science Foundation VOSS-IOS Grant

Employees and Food Safety: Is Training Important to Food Service Managers?

A sample of food service managers were surveyed regarding the value they placed on food safety training: whether they would provide higher pay or bonuses for trained new workers or pay a fixed amount for current employee training. They were also asked how important public image was to their business. Approximately 72% indicated they would be more likely to hire food safety trained workers, and 50% would be willing to pay higher wages to those trained. Finally, given tight labor supplies for this sector, 93% were willing to hire trained Welfare-to-Work participants. However, other barriers to hiring these participants remain

Risk Mitigation in Corporate Participation with Open Source Communities: Protection and Compliance in an Open Source Supply Chain

Open source communities exist in large part through increasing participation from for-profit corporations. The balance between the seemingly conflicting ideals of open source communities and corporations creates a number of complex challenges for both. In this paper, we focus on corporate risk mitigation and the mandates on corporate participation in open source communities in light of open source license requirements. In response to these challenges, we aim to understand risk mitigation options within the dialectic of corporate participation with open source communities. Rather than emphasizing risk mitigation as ad hoc and emergent process focused on bottom lines and shareholder interests, our interest is in formalized instruments and project management processes that can help corporations mitigate risks associated with participation in open source communities through shared IT projects. Accordingly, we identify two key risk domains that corporations must be attendant to: property protection and compliance. In addition, we discuss risk mitigation sourcing, arguing that tools and processes for mitigating open source project risk do not stem solely from a corporation or solely from an open source community. Instead they originate from the interface between the two and can be paired in a complementary fashion in an overall project management process of risk mitigation. This work has been funded through the National Science Foundation VOSS-IOS Grant: 112264

Biogeographic characterization of essential fish habitats affected by human activities in the coastal zone of Puerto Rico

The overall purpose of this project was to collect available information on the characteristics of essential fish habitats in protected and non-protected marine areas around the islands of Puerto Rico. Specifically, this project compiled historical information on benthic habitats and the status of marine resources into a Geographic Information System (GIS) by digitizing paper copies of existing marine geologic maps that were developed for the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (CFMC) for areas around the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In addition, information on benthic habitat types, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) requirements, and fishing and non-fishing impacts to marine resources were compiled for two priority areas: La Parguera and Vieques. The information obtained will help to characterize and select habitats for future monitoring of impacts of fishing and non-fishing activities and to develop management recommendations for conservation of important marine habitats. The project focused specifically on areas identified as priorities for conservation by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) and the Local Action Strategy Overfishing Group

A Characterization of the Shallow-Water Coral Reefs and Associated Habitats of Puerto Rico

We mapped bottom types and shelf zones of 1600 km2 or about one fourth of Puerto Rico’s insular shelf from the shoreline to the shelf edge. Overall map accuracy for these bottom types is estimated as 93.6% correct. Maps were produced through visual interpretation of benthic features using orthorectified aerial photographs within a Geographic Information System with customizable software. The maps are one component of an integrated mapping and monitoring program underway by NOAA and its partners in the US Coral Reef Task Force to assess all US reef ecosystems. Maps are currently being used to enhance coastal research and management activities in Puerto Rico such as fisheries assessments and designation of important fish habitats

Combination of immunocytochemistry and radioligand receptor assay to identify beta-adrenergic receptor subtypes on astroglia in vitro

There is an increasing need to assess the distribution of receptors for neuroactive substances on specific neural cell types. This study describes the establishment of methodology that combines the quantification of beta-adrenergic receptor subtypes by radioligand binding assays with immunocytochemical analysis of the contribution of astroglia (identified by the presence of glial fibrillary acidic protein) and fibroblasts (identified by the presence of fibronectin) to cultures prepared from neonatal rat cerebral cortex. The effects of subtle changes in culture methodology on the cellular composition of cerebral cortical cultures and the distribution of beta-adrenergic receptor subtypes were examined. The data indicate that (1) a decrease in the density of the initial plating suspension, (2) an increase in the age of the animals, or (3) supplementation of the cortical cell suspension with meningeal fibroblasts all result in an increase in fibronectin staining and a decrease in glial fibrillary acidic protein antibody staining. This change in the cellular composition of the cortical cultures correlated with an increase in the number of beta 2- adrenergic receptors and a corresponding decrease in the number of beta 1-adrenergic receptors. These observations point out the care which must be exercised when preparing primary astroglial cultures of sufficient purity for large-scale biochemical and pharmacological studies

Rapid population decline in migratory shorebirds relying on Yellow Sea tidal mudflats as stopover sites

Migratory animals are threatened by human-induced global change. However, little is known about how stopover habitat, essential for refuelling during migration, affects the population dynamics of migratory species. Using 20 years of continent-wide citizen science data, we assess population trends of ten shorebird taxa that refuel on Yellow Sea tidal mudflats, a threatened ecosystem that has shrunk by >65% in recent decades. Seven of the taxa declined at rates of up to 8% per year. Taxa with the greatest reliance on the Yellow Sea as a stopover site showed the greatest declines, whereas those that stop primarily in other regions had slowly declining or stable populations. Decline rate was unaffected by shared evolutionary history among taxa and was not predicted by migration distance, breeding range size, non-breeding location, generation time or body size. These results suggest that changes in stopover habitat can severely limit migratory populations

BAY61-3606 Affects the Viability of Colon Cancer Cells in a Genotype-Directed Manner

Background: K-RAS mutation poses a particularly difficult problem for cancer therapy. Activating mutations in K-RAS are common in cancers of the lung, pancreas, and colon and are associated with poor response to therapy. As such, targeted therapies that abrogate K-RAS-induced oncogenicity would be of tremendous value. Methods: We searched for small molecule kinase inhibitors that preferentially affect the growth of colorectal cancer cells expressing mutant K-RAS. The mechanism of action of one inhibitor was explored using chemical and genetic approaches. Results: We identified BAY61-3606 as an inhibitor of proliferation in colorectal cancer cells expressing mutant forms of K-RAS, but not in isogenic cells expressing wild-type K-RAS. In addition to its anti-proliferative effects in mutant cells, BAY61-3606 exhibited a distinct biological property in wild-type cells in that it conferred sensitivity to inhibition of RAF. In this context, BAY61-3606 acted by inhibiting MAP4K2 (GCK), which normally activates NFκβ signaling in wild-type cells in response to inhibition of RAF. As a result of MAP4K2 inhibition, wild-type cells became sensitive to AZ-628, a RAF inhibitor, when also treated with BAY61-3606. Conclusions: These studies indicate that BAY61-3606 exerts distinct biological activities in different genetic contexts

A Replication Study of GWAS-Derived Lipid Genes in Asian Indians: The Chromosomal Region 11q23.3 Harbors Loci Contributing to Triglycerides

Recent genome-wide association scans (GWAS) and meta-analysis studies on European populations have identified many genes previously implicated in lipid regulation. Validation of these loci on different global populations is important in determining their clinical relevance, particularly for development of novel drug targets for treating and preventing diabetic dyslipidemia and coronary artery disease (CAD). In an attempt to replicate GWAS findings on a non-European sample, we examined the role of six of these loci (CELSR2-PSRC1-SORT1 rs599839; CDKN2A-2B rs1333049; BUD13-ZNF259 rs964184; ZNF259 rs12286037; CETP rs3764261; APOE-C1-C4-C2 rs4420638) in our Asian Indian cohort from the Sikh Diabetes Study (SDS) comprising 3,781 individuals (2,902 from Punjab and 879 from the US). Two of the six SNPs examined showed convincing replication in these populations of Asian Indian origin. Our study confirmed a strong association of CETP rs3764261 with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (p = 2.03×10−26). Our results also showed significant associations of two GWAS SNPs (rs964184 and rs12286037) from BUD13-ZNF259 near the APOA5-A4-C3-A1 genes with triglyceride (TG) levels in this Asian Indian cohort (rs964184: p = 1.74×10−17; rs12286037: p = 1.58×10−2). We further explored 45 SNPs in a ∼195 kb region within the chromosomal region 11q23.3 (encompassing the BUD13-ZNF259, APOA5-A4-C3-A1, and SIK3 genes) in 8,530 Asian Indians from the London Life Sciences Population (LOLIPOP) (UK) and SDS cohorts. Five more SNPs revealed significant associations with TG in both cohorts individually as well as in a joint meta-analysis. However, the strongest signal for TG remained with BUD13-ZNF259 (rs964184: p = 1.06×10−39). Future targeted deep sequencing and functional studies should enhance our understanding of the clinical relevance of these genes in dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) and, consequently, diabetes and CAD