Networking nature: Building cybercabinets of digital curiosities

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
R Sargent
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Heuristic Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
User Survey ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Access ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Project Personnel

Abstract In the age of the Internet, engaging the public online is critical to building audiences and broadening support for natural history. While collections managers have been providing online access to collections through sophisticated database search interfaces, less progress has been made to present these resources in a user-friendly framework. Some museums are thinking in terms of networked online knowledge and radically shifting the way they broker their digital content. This research examines ways natural history can be effectively presented online to the public by reviewing relevant literature, analyzing six model sites with a heuristic evaluation tool and a user survey, and exploring three case studies through project personnel interviews. Findings summarize important strategies for cultivating creative online access to natural history digital resources and culminate in offering guidelines for building these “cybercabinets” of digital natural history specimens.

scholarly journals An Overview of Corrosion Risk of Metal Culverts in Arkansas

2019 ◽  
Vol 271 ◽  
pp. 02004
Author(s):  
Mdariful Hasan ◽  
Zahid Hossain
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Neural Network Models ◽  
The Public ◽  
Corrosion Risk ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Highway System

Metal culverts or pipes used in cross-drains along or across the Arkansas highway system are susceptible to corrode over time. Catastrophic incidents such as a complete washout of metal culverts along with roadway can be prevented if proper metals can be selected during the construction project. At present, the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) does not have enough information about corrosion effects on metal culverts. The main objective of this study is to develop a user-friendly corrosion map for Arkansas by analyzing soil properties, water properties, and environmental data collected from the public domain as well as those gathered from laboratory experiments. Experimental data will be used to develop mathematical models to predict the resistivity and corrosive nature of soils. In this paper, relevant literature has been reviewed to narrow down the specific gaps in the available data and limitations in using methods to analyze the risk, challenges in developing regression and neural network models and risk mapping. Findings of this study have helped the research team to design the experimental plan and appropriate metrics need to be considered for developing the predictive models for this study.

scholarly journals ‘Give Us The Tools!’: development of knowledge transfer tools to support the involvement of patient partners in the development of clinical trial protocols with patient-reported outcomes (PROs), in accordance with SPIRIT-PRO Extension

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. e046450
Author(s):  
Samantha Cruz Rivera ◽  
Richard Stephens ◽  
Rebecca Mercieca-Bebber ◽  
Ameeta Retzer ◽  
Claudia Rutherford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Patient And Public Involvement ◽  
Patient Reported Outcome ◽  
Flow Diagram ◽  
Additional Patient ◽  
The Public ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
Trial Protocols ◽  
User Friendly

Objectives(a) To adapt the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT)-patient-reported outcome (PRO) Extension guidance to a user-friendly format for patient partners and (b) to codesign a web-based tool to support the dissemination and uptake of the SPIRIT-PRO Extension by patient partners.DesignA 1-day patient and public involvement session.ParticipantsSeven patient partners.MethodsA patient partner produced an initial lay summary of the SPIRIT-PRO guideline and a glossary. We held a 1-day PPI session in November 2019 at the University of Birmingham. Five patient partners discussed the draft lay summary, agreed on the final wording, codesigned and agreed the final content for both tools. Two additional patient partners were involved in writing the manuscript. The study compiled with INVOLVE guidelines and was reported according to the Guidance for Reporting Involvement of Patients and the Public 2 checklist.ResultsTwo user-friendly tools were developed to help patients and members of the public be involved in the codesign of clinical trials collecting PROs. The first tool presents a lay version of the SPIRIT-PRO Extension guidance. The second depicts the most relevant points, identified by the patient partners, of the guidance through an interactive flow diagram.ConclusionsThese tools have the potential to support the involvement of patient partners in making informed contributions to the development of PRO aspects of clinical trial protocols, in accordance with the SPIRIT-PRO Extension guidelines. The involvement of patient partners ensured the tools focused on issues most relevant to them.

scholarly journals GIS-technologies in the advancement of epidemiological surveillance for anthrax in the Rostov region

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-156
Author(s):  
Svetlana Yu. Vodyanitskaya ◽  
L. V Sudina ◽  
F. V Logvin ◽  
A. S Vodopjanov ◽  
Yu. G Kireev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Epidemiological Surveillance ◽  
Federal State ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Register ◽  
Rostov Region ◽  
Region Data ◽  
Historic Data ◽  
State Archives ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Informational System

The article describes geo-informational system (GIS) aimed at advancement of epidemiological surveillance for anthrax in the Rostov region and developed with the use of the following resources: computerized program Quantum GIS 2.2, soil maps from "Unified State Register of Soil Resources of Russia", information submitted by experts of the Federal State Healthcare Institution "Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Rostov Region", data gained from the Public State Archives of the Rostov region. GIS makes it possible to reveal patterns ofspread ofanthrax among people and animals, to carry out comparative historic data analysis, to trace dynamics and a trend of incidence, to analyze the distribution of fixed problem areas according to the types of soils, landscapes, etc. Information presented in user-friendly form will be helpful for the effective and timely decision-making.

scholarly journals Promoting Public Engagement of Natural History Collections through Science Communication

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e28479
Author(s):  
Bryan Lessard
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Wide Audience ◽  
The Public ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
New Students

Natural history collections are essential for understanding the world’s biodiversity and drive research in taxonomy, systematics, ecology and biosecurity. One of the biggest challenges faced is the decline of new taxonomists and public interest in collections-based research, which is alarming considering that an estimated 70% of the world’s species are yet to be formally described. Science communication combines public relations with the dissemination of scientific knowledge and offers many benefits to promoting natural history collections to a wide audience. For example, social media has revolutionised the way collections and their staff communicate with the public in real time, and can attract more visitors to collection exhibits and new students interested in natural history. Although not everyone is born a natural science communicator, institutions can encourage and provide training for their staff to become engaging spokespeople skilled in social media and public speaking, including television, radio and/or print media. By embracing science communication, natural history collections can influence their target audiences in a positive and meaningful way, raise the profile of their institution, encourage respect for biodiversity, promote their events and research outputs, seek philanthropic donations, connect with other researchers or industry leaders, and most importantly, inspire the next generation of natural historians.

scholarly journals A Review of Agency and Structure: Where does Rorty’s Ironist Stand?

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Reza Arab
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Richard Rorty ◽  
Main Question ◽  
The Public ◽  
Agency And Structure

This paper intends to reread what Richard Rorty introduced as ironist in the context of one of the most contested topics in the realm of social sciences; i.e. agency and structure. Rorty maintains that ironist is the potential citizen of utopian liberal democracy. An ironist, in his words, is a person who a) has radical and continuing doubts about the final vocabulary she currently uses, b) realizes that argument phrased in her present vocabulary can neither underwrite nor dissolve possible doubts, and c) she does not think that her vocabulary is closer to reality than others. The main question of this study is where this conscious subject stands within the context of agency-structure dispute. First, relevant literature on the dichotomy is going to be examined, and then, while discussing other relevant terms in his philosophy, this paper will show how Rorty solves the agentic problem of his ironist with his introducing of the public-private distinction.

Recent developments on the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bouwe Andela ◽  
Fakhereh Alidoost ◽  
Lukas Brunner ◽  
Jaro Camphuijsen ◽  
Bas Crezee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Model Evaluation ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Scientific Review ◽  
The Earth ◽  
User Friendly

<p>The Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool) is a free and open-source community diagnostic and performance metrics tool for the evaluation of Earth system models such as those participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Version 2 of the tool (Righi et al. 2020, www.esmvaltool.org) features a brand new design composed of a core that finds and processes data according to a ‘recipe’ and an extensive collection of ready-to-use recipes and associated diagnostic codes for reproducing results from published papers. Development and discussion of the tool (mostly) takes place in public on https://github.com/esmvalgroup and anyone with an interest in climate model evaluation is welcome to join there.</p><p> </p><p>Since the initial release of version 2 in the summer of 2020, many improvements have been made to the tool. It is now more user friendly with extensive documentation available on docs.esmvaltool.org and a step by step online tutorial. Regular releases, currently planned three times a year, ensure that recent contributions become available quickly while still ensuring a high level of quality control. The tool can be installed from conda, but portable docker and singularity containers are also available.</p><p> </p><p>Recent new features include a more user-friendly command-line interface, citation information per figure including CMIP6 data citation using ES-DOC, more and faster preprocessor functions that require less memory, automatic corrections for a larger number of CMIP6 datasets, support for more observational and reanalysis datasets, and more recipes and diagnostics.</p><p> </p><p>The tool is now also more reliable, with improved automated testing through more unit tests for the core, as well as a recipe testing service running at DKRZ for testing the scientific recipes and diagnostics that are bundled into the tool. The community maintaining and developing the tool is growing, making the project less dependent on individual contributors. There are now technical and scientific review teams that review new contributions for technical quality and scientific correctness and relevance respectively, two new principal investigators for generating a larger support base in the community, and a newly created user engagement team that is taking care of improving the overall user experience.</p>

Digital Resources: Intellectuals in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliana Regina de Freitas Dutra ◽  
Renato Pinto Venancio
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Remote Access ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Research ◽  
History Taking ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
University Library ◽  
Unrestricted Access ◽  
Online Access ◽  
Brazilian History

The en masse digitalization of sets of documents held by memory institutions in Brazil and the promotion of remote access to them has impacted the writing and the reinterpretation of Brazilian history and historiography in different dominions. In Brazil, at the national and regional levels, there are numerous academies, libraries, foundations, museums, institutions, and centers of documentation which preserve and are progressively making various—and often meaningful—collections available online to scholars and researchers in the area of intellectual history. Taking into account the quantity and diversity of these collections, already available on the Internet, and the impossibility of elaborating an exhaustive inventory, it was decided to present a sample of institutions of diverse natures which hold expressive sets of collections with online access, whether in their totality or significant parts of them. This option was complemented by the no less important listing of the collection of a foreign university library, as well as the listing of various other digital addresses considered useful for the knowledge of researchers. It is also worth mentioning that the selected sites not only contain significant digitalized sets of documents but also allow free and unrestricted access, through online research instruments.

Drop the "e"

2011 ◽  
pp. 1016-1046
Author(s):  
Douglas Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Online Services ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
The Public ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Political Understanding

This chapter was prepared originally for the 2002 Task Force of the OECD Project on the Impact of E-Government and was updated in 2004 for inclusion in the book, Practicing E-Government: A Global Perspective. The chapter addresses the risk of low public awareness and declining political interest as barriers to e-government, and considers ways governments can develop better marketing techniques to “sell” online services and the e-government concept to both groups. The term “marketing” is used loosely to mean both the presentation and promotion of actual online services to encourage people to use them, and the presentation and promotion of the theory and concept of e-government to ensure political understanding of its benefits to society. The chapter has two parts plus an initial Executive Summary that summarizes the points raised in both sections. Part A discusses demand-side issues: the lack of awareness and confusion among users and potential users of electronic services and how these issues can be addressed with various marketing techniques. While the greatest factor contributing to low take-up of electronic services continues to be poor Internet access and a lack of computer skills, the purpose of this report is not to address social exclusion issues. It is recognized that the digital divide is gradually being bridged and therefore the chapter primarily considers the person who has access to a computer but, for a variety of reasons, does not use it to access government services. Part B looks at the supply side and ways to market the concept of e-government to decision-makers — politicians and senior level bureaucrats — who are responsible for supporting and funding the development of online services and for removing remaining regulatory and legal barriers. The chapter does not address culture change within the public sector and the need to shift the mindset of government employees from traditional department-centric thinking into more customer-centric and user-friendly approaches. Overcoming employee resistance to new working methods requires more management skills than marketing skills. But marketing techniques can be used to address the risk of a backlash against e-government as declining political interest in the Internet generally and in e-government specifically coincides with the need to develop more complex and expensive electronic services and information systems. The author would like to thank Stefan Czerniawski, David Hickman, Chris Roberts, and Rod Quiney for their contributions.

scholarly journals Municipal public health officials and the Public Health Act

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Lyshol
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Vocational Teachers ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
New Public ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Act

Introduction: The Norwegian Public Health Act of 2012 was intended to give the municipalities a bigger stake in the health of the population by emphasizing public health at a municipal level. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the Act on public health officials in the execution of their vocational roles.Research questions: How do public health officials in Norwegian municipalities balance the requirements of the new Public Health Act and what their local leaders, both politicians and bureaucrats, want? How do they use the Act in the performance of their vocational roles? Does this have any relevance for vocational teachers? Method :After a literature search, semi-formal interviews were conducted with 13 municipal public health officials who were also given practical tasks and short questionnaires. The interview transcripts were analysed using Thematic Analysis. This qualitative research technique is defined and described. Discussion and Results: The study shows that the public health workers see the Act as a useful tool and actively use it to leverage the public health field into greater importance. They feel that the Act is empowering, gives them greater pride in their work, and that it helps both them and their superiors to achieve greater understanding of public health workers’ roles in their municipalities. Using the informants’ own words, changes in the municipal public health workers’ roles and vocational self-definitions are discussed in the context of the new Act and selections from the relevant literature. Conclusion: The Public Health Act has changed the roles of municipal public health workers and helped them to further public health by giving them more responsibility and expanded their duty to safeguard health in all policies. The Act is seen as empowering, giving public health professionals pride in their work and greater role understanding, and should be heavily featured in the curriculum of future public health workers.

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