WAIS seminar: Publication Workflows for Scientific Data

Wednesday 23rd April 2014 Speaker(s): Willi Hasselbring Organiser: Leslie Carr Time: 23/04/2014 11:00-11:50 Location: B32/3077 File size: 669 Mb Abstract For good scientific practice, it is important that research results may be properly checked by reviewers and possibly repeated and extended by other researchers. This is of particular interest for "digital science" i.e. for in-silico experiments. In this talk, I'll discuss some issues of how software systems and services may contribute to good scientific practice. Particularly, I'll present our PubFlow approach to automate publication workflows for scientific data. The PubFlow workflow management system is based on established technology. We integrate institutional repository systems (based on EPrints) and world data centers (in marine science). PubFlow collects provenance data automatically via our monitoring framework Kieker. Provenance information describes the origins and the history of scientific data in its life cycle, and the process by which it arrived. Thus, provenance information is highly relevant to repeatability and trustworthiness of scientific results. In our evaluation in marine science, we collaborate with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.

Citation and peer review of data: moving towards formal data publication

This paper discusses many of the issues associated with formally publishing data in academia, focusing primarily on the structures that need to be put in place for peer review and formal citation of datasets. Data publication is becoming increasingly important to the scientific community, as it will provide a mechanism for those who create data to receive academic credit for their work and will allow the conclusions arising from an analysis to be more readily verifiable, thus promoting transparency in the scientific process. Peer review of data will also provide a mechanism for ensuring the quality of datasets, and we provide suggestions on the types of activities one expects to see in the peer review of data. A simple taxonomy of data publication methodologies is presented and evaluated, and the paper concludes with a discussion of dataset granularity, transience and semantics, along with a recommended human-readable citation syntax.

Three-dimensional portable document format: a simple way to present 3-dimensional data in an electronic publication

Three-dimensional (3D) models of teeth and soft and hard tissues are tessellated surfaces used for diagnosis, treatment planning, appliance fabrication, outcome evaluation, and research. In scientific publications or communications with colleagues, these 3D data are often reduced to 2-dimensional pictures or need special software for visualization. The portable document format (PDF) offers a simple way to interactively display 3D surface data without additional software other than a recent version of Adobe Reader (Adobe, San Jose, Calif). The purposes of this article were to give an example of how 3D data and their analyses can be interactively displayed in 3 dimensions in electronic publications, and to show how they can be exported from any software for diagnostic reports and communications among colleagues.

Chances and risks of publication of quality data - the perspectives of Swiss physicians and nurses

Background The release of quality data from acute care hospitals to the general public is based on the aim to inform the public, to provide transparency and to foster quality-based competition among providers. Due to the expected mechanisms of action and possibly the adverse consequences of public quality comparison, it is a controversial topic. The perspective of physicians and nurses is of particular importance in this context. They are mainly responsible for the collection of quality-control data, and are directly confronted with the results of public comparison. The research focus of this qualitative study was to discover what the views and opinions of the Swiss physicians and nurses were regarding these issues. It was investigated as to how the two professional groups appraised the opportunities as well as the risks of the release of quality data in Switzerland. Methods A qualitative approach was chosen to answer the research question. For data collection, four focus groups were conducted with physicians and nurses who were employed in Swiss acute care hospitals. Qualitative content analysis was applied to the data. Results The results revealed that both occupational groups had a very critical and negative attitude regarding the recent developments. The perceived risks were dominating their view. In summary, their main concerns were: the reduction of complexity, the one-sided focus on measurable quality variables, risk selection, the threat of data manipulation and the abuse of published information by the media. An additional concern was that the impression is given that the complex construct of quality can be reduced to a few key figures, and it that it is constructed from a false message which then influences society and politics. This critical attitude is associated with the different value system and the professional self-concept that both physicians and nurses have, in comparison to the underlying principles of a market-based economy and the economic orientation of health care business. Conclusions The critical and negative attitude of Swiss physicians and nurses must, under all conditions, be heeded to and investigated regarding its impact on work motivation and identification with the profession. At the same time, the two professional groups are obligated to reflect upon their critical attitude and take a proactive role in the development of appropriate quality indicators for the publication of quality data in Switzerland.

Source data for Plos ONE publication Redefining thermal regimes to design reserves for coral reefs in the face of climate change

Reef managers cannot fight global warming through mitigation at local scale, but they can use information on thermal patterns to plan for reserve networks that maximize the probability of persistence of their reef system. Here we assess previous methods for the design of reserves for climate change and present a new approach to prioritize areas for conservation that leverages the most desirable properties of previous approaches. The new method moves the science of reserve design for climate change a step forwards by: (1) recognizing the role of seasonal acclimation in increasing the limits of environmental tolerance of corals and ameliorating the bleaching response; (2) including information from several bleaching events, which frequency is likely to increase in the future; (3) assessing relevant variability at country scales, where most management plans are carried out. We demonstrate the method in Honduras, where a reassessment of the marine spatial plan is in progress.

Guidelines for Linked Data generation and publication: an example in building energy consumption

Linked Data is the key paradigm of the Semantic Web, a new generation of the World Wide Web that promises to bring meaning (semantics) to data. A large number of both public and private organizations have published their data following the Linked Data principles, or have done so with data from other organizations. To this extent, since the generation and publication of Linked Data are intensive engineering processes that require high attention in order to achieve high quality, and since experience has shown that existing general guidelines are not always sufficient to be applied to every domain, this paper presents a set of guidelines for generating and publishing Linked Data in the context of energy consumption in buildings (one aspect of Building Information Models). These guidelines offer a comprehensive description of the tasks to perform, including a list of steps, tools that help in achieving the task, various alternatives for performing the task, and best practices and recommendations. Furthermore, this paper presents a complete example on the generation and publication of Linked Data about energy consumption in buildings, following the presented guidelines, in which the energy consumption data of council sites (e.g., buildings and lights) belonging to the Leeds City Council jurisdiction have been generated and published as Linked Data.

RSV test monitoring and data publication - Renault R20TS-to-Calspan RSV 75 degree right side impact at Renault. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

RSV test monitoring and data publication - Renault R20TS-to-Calspan RSV 75 degree left side impact at Peugeot. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

RSV test monitoring and data publication - results of European performance and handling tests on the Calspan RSV. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Washington, D.C.

Processing / analyzing Landsat data : users assistance publication /

Mode of access: Internet.

Satellite earth resources data : a users assistance publication /

"Module U-3."