Improving the Adoption and Evolution of Data Standards for Fossil Specimens

As we atomize and expand the digital representation of specimen information through data standards, it is critical to evaluate the implementation of these developments, including how well they serve discipline-specific needs. In particular, fossil specimens often present challenges because they require information to be captured that is seemingly parallel to, but not entirely aligned with, that of their extant counterparts. Previous work to evaluate data sharing practices of paleontology collections has shown an imbalance in the use of Darwin Core (DwC) (Wieczorek et al. 2012) terms and many instances of underutilized terms (Little 2018). To expand upon that broad assessment and encourage better adoption of evolving standards and data practices by fossil collections, a more in-depth review of term usage is necessary. Here we review specific DwC terms that are underutilized or that present challenges for fossil occurrence records, and we examine the subsequent impact on data discovery of paleo specimens. We conclude by sharing options for improving standards implementation within a paleo context. We see key patterns and challenges in current implementation of DwC in paleo collections, as evidenced by evaluations of the typical mappings found in occurrence records for fossil specimens, data flags applied by aggregators, and discussions within the paleo collections community. These can be organized into three broad groupings. Group 1: Some DwC terms (or classes of terms) are clear to implement, but are underutilized due to issues that are also found within the neontological community. Example: Location. In the case of terms related to the Location class, paleontology has a need for a way to deal with sensitive locality information. The sensitivity here typically relates to laws restricting the sharing of locality information to protect fossil sites versus neontological requirements to protect threatened, rare, or endangered species. The end goal of needing to fuzz locality information without completely making the specimen record undiscoverable or unusable is the same. There is a need for better education at the paleo data provider-level related to standards for recording and sharing information in this category, which could be based on existing neontological community standards. Group 2: A second group of DwC terms often seem clear to implement, but the terminology used to describe and define them might be unfamiliar to paleontologists or read as unnecessary for fossil occurrences. This uncertainty about the applicability of a term to paleo data can often result in data not being mapped or fully shared. Example: recordedBy (= collector). In these cases, a simple translation of what the definition means in verbiage that is familiar to paleontologists, or the inclusion of paleo-oriented examples in the DwC documentation, can make implementation clear. Group 3: A third group of issues relates to DwC terms, classes, and/or extensions that are more complicated in the context of fossil vs. neontological data. In some cases use of these terms is complicated for neontological data as well, but perhaps for different reasons. The terms impacted by these challenges can sometimes have the same general use, but due to the nature of fossil preservation, or because a term has a different meaning within the discipline of paleontology, additional layers of uncertainty or ambiguity are present. Examples: Resource Relationship/Interactions, Individual count, Preparations, Taxon. Review of these terms and their related classes and/or the extensions they are part of has revealed that they might require qualification, further explanation, additional vocabulary terms, or even the need for special handling instructions when data are ingested and normalized at the aggregator level. This group of issues is more complicated to resolve, but the problems are not intractable and can progress toward solutions through further discussion within the community, active participation in the standards development and review process, and development of clear guidelines. Strategically assessing these terms and generating discipline-specific guidelines to be used by the paleo community can improve the mobilization and discovery of fossil occurrence data. Documenting these paleo data practices not only helps data providers, it also increases the utility of these data within the broader research community by clearly outlining how the terms were used. Overall, this discipline-focused approach to understanding the implementation of data standards like DwC at the term level, helps to increase knowledge sharing across the paleo community, improves data quality and standards adoption, and moves these datasets towards alignment with best practices like the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles.

Comparison between Highly Complex Location Models and GAMLSS

This paper presents a discussion regarding regression models, especially those belonging to the location class. Our main motivation is that, with simple distributions having simple interpretations, in some cases, one gets better results than the ones obtained with overly complex distributions. For instance, with the reverse Gumbel (RG) distribution, it is possible to explain response variables by making use of the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS) framework, which allows the fitting of several parameters (characteristics) of the probabilistic distributions, like mean, mode, variance, and others. Three real data applications are used to compare several location models against the RG under the GAMLSS framework. The intention is to show that the use of a simple distribution (e.g., RG) based on a more sophisticated regression structure may be preferable than using a more complex location model.

Intersectionality and climate policy-making: The inclusion of social difference by three Swedish government agencies

Climate change effects, views and approaches vary based on geographical location, class, gender, age and other climate related social factors. It is thus relevant to explore how various government bodies/authorities involved in dealing with climate change represent and act on social difference across diverse societies. This article performs a discourse analysis of climate policy documents from three Swedish government agencies: the Transport Administration, the Energy Agency, and the Environmental Protection Agency. This in order to explore how the different agencies represent social difference: what is made visible; what is obscured; what are the implications? We collected a purposive, collated sample of literature through online searches and personal communications with agency staff. We apply an intersectional approach to the sampled literature. The article finds that while each agency articulates an awareness of social difference, this tends to manifest in broad terms. It argues that this has the effect of obscuring differential climate impacts and effects of climate action, with potential environmental justice implications. Finally, the article concludes by proposing that incorporating intersectional approaches will support more effective, inclusive and equitable climate action, in Sweden and elsewhere.

Improved Georeferencing: Three essential guiding documents

To understand biological and geological events and the history of collected samples, it is essential to determine and communicate location information accurately. The accuracy of a georeference depends upon the circumstances of the event. Historical collections depend on having clear verbatim locality descriptions, the correct interpretation of data written on labels, and on the availability of gazetteers and maps of suitable scale and time. Observation and tracking data localities depend on GPS (Global Positiioning System) accuracy, and on presence or absence of nearby obstructions such as buildings, forest cover, cliffs, etc. Marine data depend on the accurate determination of the surface location and the techniques to position a dive event from that location and to determine its depth and extent. Many people are using smartphones or maps such as Google Earth and Google Maps to determine their georeferences – but are they suitable and accurate enough to determine locations and elevations? New editions of the Georeferencing Best Practices (Chapman and Wieczorek 2020), the Georeferencing Quick Reference Guide (Zermoglio et al. 2020), and the Georeferencing Calculator Manual (Bloom et al. 2020), were published earlier this year and address all the issues listed above and many more. These documents were based on earlier versions but have been updated and improved considerably – adding information for marine biomes, caves, lithographic stratifications, transects, and the use of elevation, as well as including many more illustrations and examples. The expansion of an extensive georeferencing glossary adds to consistency in the use of terms The trio of documents now provides consistent guidance about how to georeference diverse locality types and detailed instructions on how to calculate uncertainty using many different coordinate reference systems and datums (horizontal and vertical) along with the importance of recording this information. Finally, they provide guidance on how to set up a georeferencing project and how to relate the results to the Darwin Core Standard (Darwin Core Task Group 2009). For the last decade, Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al. 2012) has been one of the preferred standards for sharing biodiversity data, including associated location information. Darwin Core currently has 44 terms in its Location class, allowing sharing from administrative divisions, to elevations and depths, coordinates in different formats, and georeference metadata, among others. Although Darwin Core provides definitions for each of its terms, their correct use is sometimes poorly understood, resulting in information being captured incorrectly, or not captured, documented or shared at all. We will re-introduce these documents, discuss their content, importance, and differences from previously published versions. The newly revised documents provide guidance on capturing and documenting georeferences, clarifying the georeferencing process and showing how to capture information using Darwin Core appropriately. They will improve the location data associated with biological events and our understanding of these events.

MEANS OF FORMING ARCHITECTURAL AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION OF MODERN PUBLIC-BUSINESS CENTERS

The article describes the features of the organization of expressive architectural and artistic decisions of the exterior and interior spaces of business centers. Various approaches to the aesthetic formation of the business environment are proposed, based on the specifics of the town-planning location, class, and functional-typological classification of buildings of business centers. A number of composite tools for constructing the architectural appearance for three types of high-rise buildings of social and business centers are presented: multifunctional, specialized and universal. These means include: a) receiving form detail at the level of the building volume, architectural details, texture; b) the methods of combining the “architectural themes” of various functional planning, volumetric, and engineering technical components of the business center, including their consistent development, combinatorics, positive contrast, conscious emphasis and integration with the context; c) methods of identifying the high-altitude composition of a business building based on its vertical zoning. An arsenal of tools and techniques for designing an aesthetically appealing internal environment and comfortable interior spaces of business and office buildings has been developed. These techniques are based on enhancing the business environment by including internal public and collective spaces, by identifying and emphasizing communication areas and technical devices, scenario modeling of office-business and communication spaces, non-traditional tracing of communication flows. The application of the developed methodological tools will improve consumer and architectural and artistic qualities of buildings of public business centers, as well as ensure their comfort, commercial efficiency and aesthetic characteristics of the business environment.

A Proposed Grading Scale for Predicting Outcomes After Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Dural Arteriovenous Fistulas

BACKGROUND There are presently no grading scales that specifically address the outcomes of cranial dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF) after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). OBJECTIVE To design a practical grading system that would predict outcomes after SRS for cranial dAVFs. METHODS From the International Radiosurgery Research Foundation (University of Pittsburgh [41 patients], University of Pennsylvania [6 patients], University of Sherbrooke [2 patients], University of Manitoba [1 patient], West Virginia University [2 patients], University of Puerto Rico [1 patient], Beaumont Health System 1 [patient], Na Homolce Hospital [13 patients], the University of Virginia [48 patients], and Yale University [6 patients]) centers, 120 patients with dAVF treated with SRS were included in the study. The factors predicting favorable outcome (obliteration without post-SRS hemorrhage) after SRS were assessed using logistic regression analysis. These factors were pooled with the factors that were found to be predictive of obliteration from 7 studies with 736 patients after a systematic review of literature. These were entered into stepwise multiple regression and the best-fit model was identified. RESULTS Based on the predictive model, 3 factors emerged to develop an SRS scoring system: cortical venous reflux (CVR), prior intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and noncavernous sinus location. Class I (score of 0-1 points) predicted the best favorable outcome of 80%. Class II patients (2 points score) had an intermediate favorable outcome of 57%, and class III (score 3 points) had the least favorable outcome at 37%. The ROC analysis showed better predictability to prevailing grading systems (AUC = 0.69; P = .04). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed statistically significant difference between the 3 subclasses of the proposed grading system for post-SRS dAVF obliteration (P = .001). CONCLUSION The proposed dAVF grading system incorporates angiographic, anatomic, and clinical parameters and improves the prediction of the outcomes following SRS for dAVF as compared to the existing scoring systems.

Less Reproduction, More Production: Birth Control in the Early People’s Republic of China, 1949–1958

In the early People’s Republic of China (PRC), Communist officials initially placed strict constraints on birth control use, encouraging high fertility rates. However, in an effort to enhance agricultural and industrial productivity, such restrictions were gradually repealed and by the 1970s, aggressive promotion of family planning had become the norm. Drawing on both archival and oral history, this article considers the lived experience of birth control use from the founding of the People’s Republic until 1958, a period that is often overlooked in studies of reproduction and contraception in modern China, but that had important implications for later trends. Despite claims that discussion of sexuality was suppressed in the PRC and an early ban on certain publications related to sexual hygiene, a considerable amount of literature on sex and birth control was published in major cities in the 1950s. Narratives on sex and birth control in women’s magazines and sex handbooks, however, varied widely and access to birth control and surgeries, such as abortions and sterilizations, differed dramatically according to location, class, and education level. This essay probes the circumstances under which women or couples practiced birth control while demonstrating the diversity of contraceptive discourses and practices in the early People’s Republic. Though underexplored, the early years of the PRC remain critical to histories of reproduction in China because many of the gender dynamics, socioeconomic pressures, and cultural preferences that informed contraceptive practices in the 1950s continued to do so for decades to come.

Molding Nineteenth-century Girls in the Cape Colony into Respectable Christian Women

S. E. Duff. 2015. Changing Childhoods in the Cape Colony: Dutch Reformed Church Evangelicalism and Colonial Childhoods, 1860–1895. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.In Changing Childhoods in the Cape Colony: Dutch Reformed Church Evangelicalism and Colonial Childhoods, 1860–1895 (hereafter Changing Childhoods), S. E. Duff explores shifting notions of childhood and, more specifically, the emergence of new ideas about white childhood in the Cape Colony, South Africa, during the late nineteenth century by examining various efforts to convert and educate children, especially poor white children, and improve their welfare. As indicated in the title, Changing Childhoods draws attention to the multiplicity of experiences of children who existed alongside each other in the Cape Colony and how they were shaped by a variety of factors, including religion, location, class, race, and gender. While many histories of childhood elide the experiences of boys and girls, Duff pays careful attention to the different constructions of girlhood and boyhood and how gender shaped the lives of boys and girls, men and women. Throughout the book, girls appear not as passive observers but as complex agents shaping and participating in broader social, political, cultural, and economic transformations in the Cape.