Capability in the digital: institutional media management and its dis/contents

This paper explores how social media spaces are occupied, utilized and negotiated by the British Military in relation to the Ministry of Defence’s concerns and conceptualizations of risk. It draws on data from the DUN Project to investigate the content and form of social media about defence through the lens of ‘capability’, a term that captures and describes the meaning behind multiple representations of the military institution. But ‘capability’ is also a term that we hijack and extend here, not only in relation to the dominant presence of ‘capability’ as a representational trope and the extent to which it is revealing of a particular management of social media spaces, but also in relation to what our research reveals for the wider digital media landscape and ‘capable’ digital methods. What emerges from our analysis is the existence of powerful, successful and critically long-standing media and reputation management strategies occurring within the techno-economic online structures where the exercising of ‘control’ over the individual – as opposed to the technology – is highly effective. These findings raise critical questions regarding the extent to which ‘control’ and management of social media – both within and beyond the defence sector – may be determined as much by cultural, social, institutional and political influence and infrastructure as the technological economies. At a key moment in social media analysis, then, when attention is turning to the affordances, criticisms and possibilities of data, our research is a pertinent reminder that we should not forget the active management of content that is being similarly, if not equally, effective

Including the Human Dimension into Resilience Planning for Maine’s Lobster Fishery

The American lobster fishery is one of the most valuable in the US but is being affected by climate-driven shifts in lobster availability, impacting people’s ability to harvest the resource and sparking broader adaptation challenges. Since the late 1990s, lobster landings in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) have climbed to record levels while those in Southern New England (SNE) have experienced significant declines. The experiences of SNE lobstermen during these declines can offer important lessons for both individual lobstermen and communities in the GOM, where lobster abundance is currently at high levels but facing future uncertainty given continuing climate trends. In this commentary we gather insights from a news analysis and interviews with SNE lobstermen to examine resilience pathways and dimensions, and consider ways forward for supporting social resilience in the Maine fishery. We highlight a range of adaptation pathways and actions that have been undertaken in SNE and the complex considerations associated with them. We apply these insights into three generalized learnings for Maine: 1) encourage diversity in preferences, capacities and strategies for people responding to shifting lobster availability; 2) progress collaborative social and economic resilience research for the fishery; and 3) move beyond reliance on industry innovation to instead cross-regional learning and integrative, cross-sectoral approaches for management and resilience planning to enable more holistic decision-making and action

Ecosystem-based Indicators for Monitoring the Status of Rivers in Ghana

The ecosystem approach is a widely accepted framework for natural resource management and has been adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as the primary framework for action under the convention. The ecosystem approach, as defined by the CBD, is underpinned by a set of twelve principles and points of operational guidance that are intended to aid the implementation of the approach. However, these are overarching principles and implementing an ecosystem approach in practice requires practical tools for local managers and policy makers that embody the principles but are appropriate for the challenges faced at a local level. Here, we present a set of indicators, and a toolkit to aid their application, that are intended to support the implementation of the ecosystem approach in the management of riverine ecosystems in Ghana. The application of the indicators is illustrated using data gathered for the Densu, Ayensu and Birim catchments

Erythrocytes in multiple sclerosis: forgotten contributors to the pathophysiology?

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease characterised by lymphocytic infiltration of the central nervous system and subsequent destruction of myelin and axons. On the background of a genetic predisposition to autoimmunity, environmental triggers are assumed to initiate the disease. The majority of MS research has focused on the pathological involvement of lymphocytes and other immune cells, yet a paucity of attention has been given to erythrocytes, which may play an important role in MS pathology. The following review briefly summarises how erythrocytes may contribute to MS pathology through impaired antioxidant capacity and altered haemorheological features. The effect of disease-modifying therapies on erythrocytes is also reviewed. It may be important to further investigate erythrocytes in MS, as this could broaden the understanding of the pathological mechanisms of the disease, as well as potentially lead to the discovery of novel and innovative targets for future therapies

Seasonal abundance of thrips (Thysanoptera) in capsicum and chilli crops in south-east Queensland, Australia

Thrips can be important pests of capsicum and chilli crops, causing damage through their feeding and by vectoring viral diseases. As different species vary in their ability to transmit viruses and in their susceptibility to insecticides, it is important to know which species are present in a crop. The seasonal occurrence of thrips in capsicum and chilli crops in the Bundaberg district of south-east Queensland was investigated from July 2002 to June 2003. Fifty flowers were collected weekly from crops on seven farms and the adult thrips extracted and identified. Thrips palmi Karny and Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) were collected in the greatest numbers, with T. palmi predominant in autumn crops (March to July) and F. occidentalis predominant in spring crops (August to November). Pseudanaphothrips achaetus (Bagnall) was common, while Thrips tabaci Lindeman, Thrips imaginis Bagnall and Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom) were collected in low numbers

A review of techniques for monitoring the success of peatland restoration

An important element of all peatland restorationprojects is a programme of monitoring to checkresults and progress. Several peat projectworkshops identified a demand for technicalguidance on monitoring techniques. So NaturalEngland commissioned this study to: -Review the range of peatland restorationmonitoring techniques available. -Identify those that were consistent, informativeand easily applicable for peatland restorationprojects at a range of scales and budgets.Tables to identify appropriate monitoringtechniques for specific projects are published inthe Technical Information Note TIN097 -Guidelines for monitoring peatland restoration.Further information on these techniques isprovided in this report.The findings of this study have been used to: -Inform the JNCC project to design a researchprogramme on UK Peatland Green House Gasand Carbon Flux. -Develop thinking on monitoring peatlands inthe IUCN UK Peatland Programme. -Inform hydrological monitoring programmes forthe Dartmoor and Exmoor Mires Project.These findings are being disseminated to: -Encourage the use of balanced and consistentapproaches to peatland restoration monitoring. -Develop consistency in monitoring approachesso as to enable possible future collation ofpeatland monitoring data as a single databaseresource.A single database resource of peatlandrestoration would enable more robust analysesof monitoring data to support the developmentand implementation of future support andmanagement techniques for peatlandrestoration

Guidelines for monitoring the success of peatland restoration

The aim of this guidance is to provide information to enable peatland restoration projects to develop appropriate monitoring programmes. Degraded peatlands are restored for a wide range of reasons. Restoration objectives can include protecting and enhancing biodiversity, improving water quality, reducing flood risk and protecting cultural heritage or carbon stores. Restoration projects need monitoring programmes to show whether these objectives are being met and to help them to adapt practices to respond to environmental changes

Anti-truncated stellar light profiles in the outer regions of STAGES spiral galaxies: bulge or disc related?

We present a comparison of azimuthally averaged radial surface brightness mu(r) profiles and analytical bulge-disc decompositions (de Vaucouleurs, r^(1/4) bulge plus exponential disc) for spiral galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys V-band imaging from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). In the established classification scheme, antitruncated mu(r) profiles (Type III) have a broken exponential disc with a shallower region beyond the break radius r_brk. The excess light at large radii (r > r_brk) can either be caused by an outer exponential disc (Type III-d) or an extended spheroidal component (Type III-s). Using our comparisons, we determine the contribution of bulge light at r > r_brk for a large sample of 78 (barred/unbarred, Sa-Sd) spiral galaxies with outer disc antitruncations (mu_brk > 24 mag arcsec^-2). In the majority of cases (~85 per cent), evidence indicates that excess light at r > r_brk is related to an outer shallow disc (Type III-d). Here, the contribution of bulge light at r > r_brk is either negligible (~70 per cent) or too little to explain the antitruncation (~15 per cent). However in the latter cases, bulge light can affect the measured disc properties (e.g. mu_brk, outer scalelength). In the remaining cases (~15 per cent), light at r > r_brk is dominated by the bulge (Type III-s). Here, for most cases the bulge profile dominates at all radii and only occasionally (3 galaxies, ~5 per cent) extends beyond that of a dominant disc and explains the excess light at r > r_brk. We thus conclude that in the vast majority of cases antitruncated outer discs cannot be explained by bulge light and thus remain a pure disc phenomenon.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

Short-term effectiveness of drain-blocking in suppressingenzymic peat decomposition and DOC export

It has become evident that there is a general problem of increasing colour in the water draining from areas of accumulated peat in upland Britain. It was agreed in early 2007 to set up a preliminary investigation into the causes of change in colour using methods based on characterising the breakdown and oxidation of peat. These make use of techniques to measure the activities of extracellular enzymes which catalyse the process of decomposition independently from the microbial population. The overall aim of this investigation was to investigate the effect of grip blocking on the enzymic decomposition of peat and the consequential production of colour. The main study area is located within Langdon Moor, part of the Raby Estate. Peat samples were collected at 5 m intervals along transects perpendicular to a natural gully and a blocked grip. At each 5 m interval peat samples were collected at 5 depths down to 85 cm depth. Peat samples were analysed in the laboratory for carbon-related enzyme activities, microbial activity, colour and phenolic concentration.There were clear differences between enzyme activities in surface peat when compared with peat from greater depth at both study sites. There were no significant differences in magnitude of enzyme activity levels in surface peat from either area. However, there were significant differences between the areas for a number of parameters including enzyme activities in peat collected from depths between 5 and 85cms. These results suggest that increased retention of water within Langdon moor, as a result of grip blocking has caused a significant impact on the amount of colour and phenolic compounds with increasing depth relative to the amounts in a naturally drained area. Furthermore, the relationship between water colour and the concentration of phenolic compounds has been altered in the area of the blocked grip. This indicates some difference, yet to be elucidated, in the processes producing the colour deriving from the two drainage states.There were also significant differences in amounts of colour and phenolic compounds, but not enzyme activities with increasing distance from the blocked grip in contrast to the naturally drained area where amounts were less variable. This again indicates a significant influence of altered drainage patterns on the amount and quality of the coloured compounds produced from the breakdown of peat.Further detailed research will be required to determine whether this phenomenon is site specific or widespread in peatlands, and to the cause and effect of changing enzyme activity, phenolics and colour in peatlands. This preliminary study has only focused on one site per management treatment and therefore, at this stage, the results must be considered to be preliminary and site specific to Langdon moor rather than applicable to peatlands in general.Despite the small size of the study, we have achieved a good indication that there are significant differences between the two sites with contrasting drainage histories that were chosen for study and that it is possible to determine the involvement of a number of soil enzymes in the breakdown processes. It should now be possible to produce a properly convincing dataset with enough replicate study sites included which could quantify spatial variation that will undoubtedly be there at this scale. Now that the methods have been implemented, the funding requirements are relatively modest so that a level similar to that originally provided by Peatscapes (£4k) would enable a design that could cover a substantive area of Langdon Moor in enough detail to clearly demonstrate the impact of impeded drainage on this managed area

Splanchnic metabolism of nutrients and hormones in steers fed alfalfa under conditions of increased absorption of ammonia and L-arginine supply across the portal-drained viscera

Effects of increased ammonia and/or arginine absorption on net splanchnic (portal-drained viscera [PDV] plus liver) metabolism of nonnitrogenous nutrients and hormones in cattle were examined. Six Hereford × Angus steers (501 ± 1 kg BW) prepared with vascular catheters for measurements of net flux across the splanchnic bed were fed a 75% alfalfa:25% (as-fed basis) corn and soybean meal diet (0.523 MJ of ME/[kg BW0.75.d]) every 2 h without (27.0 g of N/kg of DM) and with 20 g of urea/kg of DM (35.7 g of N/kg of DM) in a split-plot design. Net flux measurements were made immediately before and after a 72-h mesenteric vein infusion of L-arginine (15 mmol/h). There were no treatment effects onPDVor hepaticO2 consumption. Dietary urea had no effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose or L-lactate, but arginine infusion decreased net hepatic removal of L-lactate when urea was fed (P < 0.01). Net PDV appearance of n-butyrate was increased by arginine infusion (P < 0.07), and both dietary urea (P < 0.09) and arginine infusion (P < 0.05) increased net hepatic removal of n-butyrate. Dietary urea also increased total splanchnic acetate output (P < 0.06), tended to increase arterial glucagon concentration (P < 0.11), and decreased arterial ST concentration (P < 0.03). Arginine infusion increased arterial concentration (P < 0.07) and net PDV release (P < 0.10) and tended to increase hepatic removal (P < 0.11) of insulin, as well as arterial concentration (P < 0.01) and total splanchnic output (P < 0.01) of glucagon. Despite changes in splanchnic N metabolism, increased ammonia and arginine absorption had little measurable effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose and other nonnitrogenous components of splanchnic energy metabolism