Active Community Members Research Articles

The positive outcomes of a sense of virtual community

This study examines how an experienced sense of virtual community affects relationship-marketing-related outcomes. Based on social identity and relationship marketing theories, a research model is developed and structural equation modelling is used to test the relationships between a sense of virtual community, brand-loyalty intentions, brand-community intentions, and word-of-mouth intentions on a sample of 342 active members of a Finnish business-newspaper brand community. The findings suggest that a sense of virtual community strengthens brand-community, brand-loyalty and brand-related word-of-mouth intentions. Hence, the results imply that a sense of virtual community reflects positively on the brand hosting the online community and results in positive business-related outcomes.

Metagenome, metatranscriptome and single-cell sequencing reveal microbial response to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a deep-sea hydrocarbon plume that caused a shift in the indigenous microbial community composition with unknown ecological consequences. Early in the spill history, a bloom of uncultured, thus uncharacterized, members of the Oceanospirillales was previously detected, but their role in oil disposition was unknown. Here our aim was to determine the functional role of the Oceanospirillales and other active members of the indigenous microbial community using deep sequencing of community DNA and RNA, as well as single-cell genomics. Shotgun metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing revealed that genes for motility, chemotaxis and aliphatic hydrocarbon degradation were significantly enriched and expressed in the hydrocarbon plume samples compared with uncontaminated seawater collected from plume depth. In contrast, although genes coding for degradation of more recalcitrant compounds, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, total xylenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, were identified in the metagenomes, they were expressed at low levels, or not at all based on analysis of the metatranscriptomes. Isolation and sequencing of two Oceanospirillales single cells revealed that both cells possessed genes coding for n-alkane and cycloalkane degradation. Specifically, the near-complete pathway for cyclohexane oxidation in the Oceanospirillales single cells was elucidated and supported by both metagenome and metatranscriptome data. The draft genome also included genes for chemotaxis, motility and nutrient acquisition strategies that were also identified in the metagenomes and metatranscriptomes. These data point towards a rapid response of members of the Oceanospirillales to aliphatic hydrocarbons in the deep sea.

Jewish and American, Historical and Literary:

Jewish and American, Historical and Literary:

Broad Vision: The Art & Science of Looking

Undergraduate students and academic staff from diverse disciplines in the arts and sciences investigated questions of mediated vision through a year-long interdisciplinary research project at the University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. The Broad Vision project explored the perception and interpretation of microscopic worlds, and investigated the benefits and challenges of working across disciplinary divides in a university setting. This article describes the three-phase model for interdisciplinary learning and research developed through the project, providing a valuable case study for inquiry based art/science education. Author/Artist Bio Heather Barnett is a visual artist, researcher and educator working with biological systems and scientific processes. With interests ranging across medicine, psychology, perception and visualization, projects have included microbial portraiture, cellular wallpapers, performing cuttlefish and self-organizing installations. She is ‘Learning & Teaching Fellow’ and ‘Senior Lecturer’ in Photographic Arts at the University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom and runs an independent arts practice working on art/science research collaborations and public art commissions. For full information on project outputs visit: www.broadvision.info. John R. A. Smith is a ‘Senior Lecturer’ in Imaging Science at the University of Westminster and an independent forensic imaging specialist. His university work includes teaching imaging science, scientific imaging and practical photography to a variety of students. He is an active member of the international forensic science community, attending and presenting at many conferences, carrying out research, lecturing at various institutions, and delivering training to students, police and private-sector forensic science providers. He describes his general interest as being “the influence imaging technologies have in aiding our understanding of the world at every scale”.

Structural and functional response of methane‐consuming microbial communities to different flooding regimes in riparian soils

Climate change will lead to more extreme precipitation and associated increase of flooding events of soils. This can turn these soils from a sink into a source of atmospheric methane. The latter will depend on the balance of microbial methane production and oxidation. In the present study, the structural and functional response of methane oxidizing microbial communities was investigated in a riparian flooding gradient. Four sites differing in flooding frequency were sampled and soil-physico-chemistry as well as methane oxidizing activities, numbers and community composition were assessed. Next to this, the active community members were determined by stable isotope probing of lipids. Methane consumption as well as population size distinctly increased with flooding frequency. All methane consumption parameters (activity, numbers, lipids) correlated with soil moisture, organic matter content, and conductivity. Methane oxidizing bacteria were present and activated quickly even in seldom flooded soils. However, the active species comprised only a few representatives belonging to the genera Methylobacter, Methylosarcina, and Methylocystis, the latter being active only in permanently or regularly flooded soils.This study demonstrates that soils exposed to irregular flooding harbor a very responsive methane oxidizing community that has the potential to mitigate methane produced in these soils. The number of active species is limited and dominated by one methane oxidizing lineage. Knowledge on the characteristics of these microbes is necessary to assess the effects of flooding of soils and subsequent methane cycling therein.

An investigation of the physiology and potential role of components of the deep ocean bacterial community (of the NE Atlantic) by enrichments carried out under minimal environmental change

Samples of deep-ocean water (3170m) taken from the Rockall Trough (North-East Atlantic) were incubated for one-month at atmospheric and in-situ pressure (31MPa), at 4°C and in the absence and presence of added nutrients. Prokaryotic abundance (direct cell counts) increased by at least 28-fold in enrichments without added nutrients. However, the magnitude of increase in abundance was less for incubations carried out at in-situ pressure (131–181-fold) than those incubations at surface pressure (163–1714-fold increase in abundance). Changes in the prokaryotic community profile as a result of one-month incubation were measured by means of Denaturing Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) of extracted 16S rDNA. The profiles of post-incubation samples incubated at in-situ pressure were separated from all other profiles as were those of unpressurised samples with added nutrients. The behaviour (fitness) of individual community members (Operational Taxonomic Units: OTUs) was determined on the basis of change in relative DGGE band intensities between pre- and post-incubation samples. Of twenty-one OTUs examined, six were fitter when incubated in the presence of added nutrients and at in-situ pressure and one of these was advantaged when grown in the absence of added nutrients and at in-situ pressure. These represented autochthonous and active members of the deep-ocean prokaryotic community. In contrast, seven OTUs were disadvantaged when grown under in-situ pressure and were indicative surface-derived allochtonous microorganisms. A further two OTUs came to dominance in incubations with added nutrients (pressurised and unpressurised) and similar to the previous category were probably surface-derived microorganisms. A single OTU showed characteristics of piezophilic and oliogrophic behaviour and four OTUs were disadvantaged under all incubation conditions examined. The twenty-one DGGE bands were sequenced and the bacterial communities were dominated by Gamma proteobactria and to a lesser extent members of the Cytophaga–Flavobacterium–Bacteroides and δ groups of prokaryotes.

Gender Trends of Urology Manuscript Authors in the United States: A 35-Year Progression

The presence of women in urology has gradually increased in the last 35 years with an accelerated rate in the last decade. We evaluated manuscript authorship trends by gender. Manuscript authorship is a metric that has been used as a marker of academic productivity. We hypothesized that the number of first and last author publications by women has increased proportionately to the number of women in the field during the last 35 years. We performed a bibliometric study to examine authorship gender in The Journal of Urology® and Urology®. We reviewed all original articles published from American institutions in 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009. Of the 8,313 articles reviewed 5,461 were from American institutions, including 97.5% for which we determined author gender. There were 767 articles with female authors, including 440 first and 327 last authors. First and last female authorship increased from 2.7% of all authors in 1979 to 26.5% in 2009 (test for trend p <0.001). This authorship rate surpasses the rate of growth of women in urology, which increased from 0.24% in 1975 to 6.2% in 2008. Based on authorship gender analysis women urologists produce manuscripts at a rate that exceeds their number in the field. Findings show that women in urology are productive, active members of the academic community.

Organising the digital commons: a case study on engagement strategies in open source

In this paper we develop a conceptual framework for understanding the co-evolution of a virtual community and a hybrid governance regime. The research site is the Eclipse software development community led by IBM and based on data collected from activities of community members, we examine the attempts of participants to construct and refine a hybrid governance structure while developing and expanding the community. Drawing on strategy-as-practice approach and institutional theory, we bring arguments at two instances of this co-evolution process: the initiation and enactment. For the initiation of the community we argue that, beyond market-driven considerations, tensions and polarisation in the existing proprietary regimes, governance structures, and philosophies promote new practices. For the establishment process we emphasise the role of member-driven horizontal and vertical structural adjustments, and the maintenance of open-source developer spirit.

Integrating a Peer-Taught Module on Practical Research Ethics into the Graduate Student Orientation Curriculum

As active members of the scientific community, graduate students make ethical judgments about the conduct and presentation of their research. Pressures in the research environment often influence t...

Omics for understanding microbial functional dynamics

Omics for understanding microbial functional dynamics Janet K. Jansson 1 *, Josh D. Neufeld 2 , Mary Ann Moran 3 , Jack A. Gilbert 4,5 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division Berkeley, CA, USA. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. As a discipline, the field of microbial ecology has generally been limited by access to tools that have sufficient depth of resolution to enable exploration of complex microbial communities to determine ‘who is there?’ and ‘what they are doing?’. Until the mid 1980s most of our knowledge was based on the study of cultured microbial isolates or net enzymatic activities measured from laboratory enrich- ment experiments or environmental samples, without knowledge of the particular members of the community that were contributing to those functions. Since then, microbiologists have added a variety of molecular tools to our toolbox, allowing us to directly assess the identities and functions of microbial communities in a variety of environments without the necessity of prior cultivation. Most of the advances in molecular tools for assessing microbial community function have focused on the sequencing of nucleic acids. Sequencing of genomic or metagenomic DNA provides phylogenetic and functional gene information about specific organisms or communi- E-mail jrjansson@lbl.gov; Tel. (+1) 510 486 7487; Fax (+1) 510 486 7152. The submitted manuscript has been created in part by U. Chicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (‘Argonne’). Argonne, a US Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DE-AC02- 06CH11357. The US Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. ties respectively. These types of data have proven to be highly valuable for characterizing microbes that inhabit the various habitats on Earth, and importantly, their pos- sible roles in the function of that ecosystem. However, one should keep in mind that DNA sequence data only repre- sents the potential metabolic capacity of a system. In many environments, DNA that is sequenced may origi- nate from dead or dormant cells. Further, even actively growing microbes express only a fraction of their genes at any given time. For example, Escherichia coli genes are tightly regulated depending on, for example, the concen- tration of nutrients in their media (Tao et al., 1999). Only a third to a half of the genes in a given organism are expressed at any given time (Passalacqua et al., 2009). Methodology to address the longstanding dilemma of ‘which organisms are active?’ include the use of viability stains to first sort (e.g. with fluorescently activated cell sorting; FACS) and then sequence genomes from active populations, using stable isotopes to detect community members that are metabolically active (e.g. stable-isotope probing; SIP; Neufeld et al., 2007) and the use of bro- modeoxyuridine (BrdU), a thymidine analogue, to specifi- cally label DNA from growing cells that can then be isolated and sequenced (Edlund and Jansson, 2008; Mou et al., 2008). Alternatively, one can directly extract and sequence RNA to determine which microbes are active and which genes are transcribed. When applied to an entire microbial community, this analysis is referred to as ‘metatranscriptomics’. The metatranscriptomic approach has proven to be more challenging than metagenomics because RNA is less stable than DNA and because most of the RNA that is extracted is ribosomal RNA, usually representing over 90% of the total RNA (Urich et al., 2008). Ribosomal RNA sequences can inform about active community members due to a correlation between metabolic activity and ribosome abundance (Rehman et al., 2010), but do not reveal the genes and pathways expressed under a given set of conditions. In order to specifically focus on mRNA transcripts, several methods have been developed to enrich the mRNA fraction of the total RNA pool, usually by subtraction of the ribosomal RNA prior to sequencing (Fig. 1). The problem with loss of mRNA during the multiple processing steps is particularly

M. M. (Mollie) Raymer, 1916-2010

M. M. (Mollie) Raymer, 1916-2010

Making sure there's a "give" associated with the "take": producing and using open-source software in big pharma

In contrast to bioinformatics, open-source software is not as widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for molecular modeling and cheminformatics. Typical reasons given for this include problems with code quality, stability, and long-term support for the software (somehow this is less of a concern with bioinformatics software... kind of makes one think). Recently, our group has started making heavy use of an open-source cheminformatics toolkit RDKit [1] in our production environment. Importantly, we are not just acting as consumers of open-source software -- we are active members of the open-source community and have support from management to contribute code back to the project. In this presentation we will provide a brief overview of the RDKit itself and then present a number of case studies of how we have made use of this open-source platform. Examples will include using the toolkit for method development [2,3], integration with proprietary tools, and some recent (and upcoming) contributions to the open-souce community, including a database cartridge for fast and flexible similarity searching in the open-source PostgreSQL database [4], and adding support for the RDKit within the open-source pipelining platform Knime [5]. We will finish with a discussion of some practical aspects of working on and with open-source tools in a large research organization.

Characterization of the Active Bacterial Community Involved in Natural Attenuation Processes in Arsenic-Rich Creek Sediments

Acid mine drainage of the Carnoulès mine (France) is characterized by acid waters containing high concentrations of arsenic and iron. In the first 30 m along the Reigous, a small creek draining the site, more than 38% of the dissolved arsenic was removed by co-precipitation with Fe(III), in agreement with previous studies, which suggest a role of microbial activities in the co-precipitation of As(III) and As(V) with Fe(III) and sulfate. To investigate how this particular ecosystem functions, the bacterial community was characterized in water and sediments by 16S rRNA encoding gene library analysis. Based on the results obtained using a metaproteomic approach on sediments combined with high-sensitivity HPLC-chip spectrometry, several GroEL orthologs expressed by the community were characterized, and the active members of the prokaryotic community inhabiting the creek sediments were identified. Many of these bacteria are β-proteobacteria such as Gallionella and Thiomonas, but γ-proteobacteria such as Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and α-proteobacteria such as Acidiphilium, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were also detected.

Exploring provider and community responses to the new malaria diagnostic and treatment regime in Solomon Islands

BackgroundImprovements in availability and accessibility of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for malaria treatment and the emergence of multi-drug-resistant parasites have prompted many countries to adopt ACT as the first-line drug. In 2009, Solomon Islands (SI) likewise implemented new national treatment guidelines for malaria. The ACT, Coartem® (artemether-lumefantrine) is now the primary pharmacotherapy in SI for Plasmodium falciparum malaria, Plasmodium vivax malaria or mixed infections. Targeted treatment is also recommended in the new treatment regime through maintenance of quality microscopy services and the introduction of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs). Ascertaining the factors that influence community and provider acceptance of and adherence to the new treatment regime will be vital to improving the effectiveness of this intervention and reducing the risk of development of drug resistance.MethodsIn order to understand community and prescriber perceptions and acceptability of the new diagnostic and treatment interventions, 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) and 12 key informant interviews (KII) were carried out in rural and urban villages of Malaita Province, Solomon Islands four months subsequent to roll out of these interventions.ResultsLack of access to microscopy or distrust in the accuracy of diagnostic tools were reported by some participants as reasons for the ongoing practice of presumptive treatment of malaria. Lack of confidence in RDT accuracy has negatively impacted its acceptability. Coartem® had good acceptability among most participants, however, some rural participants questioned its effectiveness due to lack of side effects and the larger quantity of tablets required to be taken. Storing of left over medication for subsequent fever episodes was reported as common.ConclusionTo address these issues, further training and supportive supervision of healthcare workers will be essential, as will the engagement of influential community members in health promotion activities to improve acceptability of RDTs and adherence to the new treatment regime. Exploring the extent of these issues beyond the study population must be a priority for malaria programme managers. Practices such as presumptive treatment and the taking of sub-curative doses are of considerable concern for both the health of individuals and the increased risk it poses to the development of parasite resistance to this important first-line treatment against malaria.

Introducing University Students to the Possibilities of Performing in the Community: A Case Study of Early Childhood Dramatic Performance

This paper is a case study outlining the processes undertaken by the presenter as the director of early childhood performances by first-year University students presented to children aged between 6 weeks and 5 years at St. Paul's Lutheran Child Care Centre in Brisbane, Australia. This paper will chronicle the process that students follow in order to create their performances to demonstrate the ways that the Academy can encourage students to become actively engaged in the presentation of the Arts within their own communities. In their first semester of study at Australian Catholic University students create their own performance of a picture book or traditional tale for pre-school children. The most important function of this early childhood performance activity is to help students to learn how to be active members of the wider community. Students are shown how to instil their passion for the theatre in the hearts of young children. In this performance context they share the roles of learner and teacher with me and they often are empowered to go on to more adventurous projects later in their academic careers and after their University studies.

Performing liminal citizenship: using applied theatre techniques to civically engage international students

This study examines models of traditional and alternative citizenship such as legal, flexible, global and cultural citizenship, as a foundation for understanding “liminal citizenship”. The study identifies international students based in the United States as liminal citizens and examines the role of theatre in encouraging their civic engagement. It creates a model for using applied theatre techniques to raise international students’ awareness of the possibilities of inclusion within their host communities and to empower them to become active community members.

Strictly Polish: synagogues of the early twentieth century

For architects in partitioned Poland, the early twentieth century was a time of hope for independence and of a search for building forms intended to preserve or recreate the mythologized Polish landscape and townscape of the past. A dworek, or small manor house, became one of the most popular models for designers of all building types, including synagogues. Those synagogues designed and built by Henryk Stifelman, an active member of the Warsaw Jewish Community and an assimilationist, were the best proof of a continuity of the general local architectural tradition. Other examples can also be found of synagogues in the dworek style, designed by non-Jewish architects in the 1920s for small towns in central and eastern Poland.

Active community profiling via capillary electrophoresis single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis of amplified 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes

Here, we report the validation and advancement of a high-throughput method for fingerprinting the active members of a microbial community. This method, termed active community profiling (ACP), provides information about both the composition and the activity of mixed microbial cultures via comparative measurements of amplified 16S rRNA (RNA) and 16S rRNA genes (DNA). Capillary electrophoresis is used to resolve single-strand conformation polymorphisms of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) products, producing electropherograms representative of the community structure. Active members of the community are distinguished by elevated RNA:DNA peak area ratios. Chemostat experiments with defined populations were conducted to validate the ACP approach. Using a pure culture of Escherichia coli, a direct correlation was found between the growth rate and the RNA:DNA peak ratio. In a second validation experiment, a binary culture of E. coli and Pseudomonas putida was subjected to a controlled environmental change consisting of a shift to anaerobic conditions. ACP revealed the expected cessation of growth of P. putida, an obligate aerobe, while the corresponding DNA-only analysis indicated no change in the culture. Finally, ACP was applied to a complex microbial community, and a novel binning approach was demonstrated for integrating the RNA and DNA electropherograms. ACP thus represents a significant advance from traditional DNA-based profiling techniques, which do not distinguish active from inactive or dead cells, and is well suited for high-throughput community analysis.

Netnography as a Method of Lead User Identification

Lead users are rare subjects, which are difficult to detect. In theory and practice, mass screening is the main method of lead user identification. It is a standardized, quantitative approach, based on screening a large number of potentially relevant users. Shortcomings of screening are low sample efficiency, high search costs and the reliance on the self‐assessment of respondents. Thus, the elaboration of lead user identification methods is still a major challenge to researchers in the field. In this paper, we propose netnography as a new method of lead user identification. Netnography, made up of internet and ethnography, is an approach to analyse online communities systematically. The empirical results of our explorative study of the online community utopia show that 9 out of 40 of the most active online community members possess lead user attributes (22.5 per cent). Hence, we may conclude that netnography is a viable method of lead user identification, which relies on external assessments instead of self‐assessments and is probably less costly than mass screening.

Editor's Farewell Note

Editor's Farewell Note