Interpreting environmental computational spreadsheets

Abstract. Environmental computational spreadsheets are important tools in supporting decision making. However, as the underlying concepts and relations are not made explicit, the transparency and re-use of these spreadsheets is severely limited. The goal of this project is to provide a semi-automatic methodology for constructing the underlying knowl-edge level model of environmental computational spreadsheets. We de-velop and test this methodology in a limited number of case studies. Our methodology combines heuristics on spreadsheet layout and for-mulas, with existing methods from computer science. We evaluate our constructed model with both the original developers and their peers. 1 Problem Statement Current environmental issues, like climate change and biodiversity loss, are uni-versal in their scale and long-term in their impact, their mechanisms are complex, and empirical data are scarce [1–3]. In addition there is an urgent need to find strategies to cope with these issues, and political pressure on the research com

Understanding citizen science and environmental monitoring: final report on behalf of UK Environmental Observation Framework

Citizen science can broadly be defined as the involvement of volunteers in science. Over the past decade there has been a rapid increase in the number of citizen science initiatives. The breadth of environmental-based citizen science is immense. Citizen scientists have surveyed for and monitored a broad range of taxa, and also contributed data on weather and habitats reflecting an increase in engagement with a diverse range of observational science. Citizen science has taken many varied approaches from citizen-led (co-created) projects with local community groups to, more commonly, scientist-led mass participation initiatives that are open to all sectors of society. Citizen science provides an indispensable means of combining environmental research with environmental education and wildlife recording. Here we provide a synthesis of extant citizen science projects using a novel cross-cutting approach to objectively assess understanding of citizen science and environmental monitoring including: 1. Brief overview of knowledge on the motivations of volunteers. 2. Semi-systematic review of environmental citizen science projects in order to understand the variety of extant citizen science projects. 3. Collation of detailed case studies on a selection of projects to complement the semi-systematic review. 4. Structured interviews with users of citizen science and environmental monitoring data focussing on policy, in order to more fully understand how citizen science can fit into policy needs. 5. Review of technology in citizen science and an exploration of future opportunities

Shadows : uma nova forma de representar documentos

Orientador: Claudia Maria Bauzer MedeirosDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Ferramentas de produção de documentos estão cada vez mais acessíveis e sofisticadas, resultando em um crescimento exponencial de documentos cada vez mais complexos, distribuídos e heterogêneos. Isto dificulta os processos de troca, anotação e recuperação de documentos. Enquanto mecanismos de recuperação da informação concentram-se apenas no processamento de características textuais (análise de corpus), estratégias de anotação de documentos procuram concentrar-se em formatos específicos ou exigem que o documento a ser anotado siga padrões de interoperabilidade - definidos por esquemas. Este trabalho apresenta o nosso esforço para lidar com estes problemas, propondo uma solução mais flexível para estes e outros processos. Ao invés de tentar modificar ou converter um documento, ou concentrar-se apenas nas características textuais deste, a estratégia descrita nesta dissertação propõe a elaboração de um descritor intermediário - denominado shadow - que representa e sumariza aspectos e elementos da estrutura e do conteúdo de um documento que sejam relevantes a um dado domínio. Shadows não se restringem à descrição de características textuais de um documento, preservando, por exemplo, a hierarquia entre os elementos e descrevendo outros tipos de artefatos, como artefatos multimídia. Além disto, Shadows podem ser anotados e armazenados em bancos de dados, permitindo consultas sobre a estrutura e conteúdo de documentos, independentemente de formatosAbstract: Document production tools are present everywhere, resulting in an exponential growth of increasingly complex, distributed and heterogeneous documents. This hampers document exchange, as well as their annotation and retrieval. While information retrieval mechanisms concentrate on textual features (corpus analysis), annotation approaches either target specific formats or require that a document follows interoperable standards - defined via schemas. This work presents our effort to handle these problems, providing a more flexible solution. Rather than trying to modify or convert the document itself, or to target only textual characteristics, the strategy described in this work is based on an intermediate descriptor - the document shadow. A shadow represents domain-relevant aspects and elements of both structure and content of a given document. Shadows are not restricted to the description of textual features, but also concern other elements, such as multimedia artifacts. Furthermore, shadows can be stored in a database, thereby supporting queries on document structure and content, regardless document formatsMestradoCiência da ComputaçãoMestre em Ciência da Computaçã

Simple identification tools in FishBase

Simple identification tools for fish species were included in the FishBase information system from its inception. Early tools made use of the relational model and characters like fin ray meristics. Soon pictures and drawings were added as a further help, similar to a field guide. Later came the computerization of existing dichotomous keys, again in combination with pictures and other information, and the ability to restrict possible species by country, area, or taxonomic group. Today, www.FishBase.org offers four different ways to identify species. This paper describes these tools with their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests various options for further development. It explores the possibility of a holistic and integrated computeraided strategy

Interoperability and FAIRness through a novel combination of Web technologies

Data in the life sciences are extremely diverse and are stored in a broad spectrum of repositories ranging from those designed for particular data types (such as KEGG for pathway data or UniProt for protein data) to those that are general-purpose (such as FigShare, Zenodo, Dataverse or EUDAT). These data have widely different levels of sensitivity and security considerations. For example, clinical observations about genetic mutations in patients are highly sensitive, while observations of species diversity are generally not. The lack of uniformity in data models from one repository to another, and in the richness and availability of metadata descriptions, makes integration and analysis of these data a manual, time-consuming task with no scalability. Here we explore a set of resource-oriented Web design patterns for data discovery, accessibility, transformation, and integration that can be implemented by any general- or special-purpose repository as a means to assist users in finding and reusing their data holdings. We show that by using off-the-shelf technologies, interoperability can be achieved atthe level of an individual spreadsheet cell. We note that the behaviours of this architecture compare favourably to the desiderata defined by the FAIR Data Principles, and can therefore represent an exemplar implementation of those principles. The proposed interoperability design patterns may be used to improve discovery and integration of both new and legacy data, maximizing the utility of all scholarly outputs

The Colour of Ocean Data: International Symposium on oceanographic data and information management, with special attention to biological data. Brussels, Belgium, 25-27 November 2002: book of abstracts

Ocean data management plays a crucial role in global as well as local matters. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission -with its network of National Oceanographic Data Centres- and the International Council of Scientific Unions- with its World Data Centres- have played a major catalysing role in establishing the existing ocean data management practices. No one can think of data management without thinking of information technology. New developments in computer hard- and software force us to continually rethink the way we manage ocean data. One of the major challenges in this is to try and close the gap between the haves and the have-nots, and to assist scientists in less fortunate countries to manage oceanographic data flows in a suitable and timely fashion. So far major emphasis has been on the standardisation and exchange of physical oceanographic data in open ocean conditions. But the colour of the ocean data is changing. The ‘blue’ ocean sciences get increasingly interested in including geological, chemical and biological data. Moreover the shallow sea areas get more and more attention as highly productive biological areas that need to be seen in close association with the deep seas. How to fill in the gap of widely accepted standards for data structures that can serve the deep ‘blue’ and the shallow ‘green’ biological data management is a major issue that has to be addressed. And there is more: data has to be turned into information. In the context of ocean data management, scientists, data managers and decision makers are all very much dependent on each other. Decision makers will stimulate research topics with policy priority and hence guide researchers. Scientists need to provide data managers with reliable and first quality controlled data in such a way that the latter can translate and make them available for the decision makers. But do they speak the same ‘language’? Are they happy with the access they have to the data? And if not, can they learn from each other’s expectations and experience? The objective of this symposium is to harmonize ocean colours and languages and create a forum for data managers, scientists and decision makers with a major interest in oceanography, and open to everyone interested in ocean data management

Biodiversity Databases

Computing and database management has shifted from cottage industry-style methods — the small independent researcher keeping records for a particular project — to state-of-the-art file storage systems, presentation, and distribution over the Internet. New and emerging techniques for recognition, compilation, and data management have made managing data a discipline in its own right. Covering all aspects of this data management, Biodiversity Databases: Techniques, Politics, and Applications brings together input from social scientists, programmers, database designers, and information specialists to delineate the political setting and give institutions platforms for the dissemination of taxonomic information. A practical and logical guide to complex issues, the book explores the changes and challenges of the information age. It discusses projects developed to provide better access to all available biodiversity information. The chapters make the case for the need for representation of concepts in taxonomic databases. They explore issues involved in connecting databases with different user interfaces, the technical demands of linking databases that are not entirely uniform in structure, and the problems of user access and the control of data quality. The book highlights different approaches to addressing concerns associated with the taxonomic impediment and the low reproducibility of taxonomic data. It provides an in-depth examination of the challenge of making taxonomic information more widely available to users in the wider scientific community, in government, and the general population

Visitor Use observation and monitoring in Mediterranean marine protected areas.: A handbook for managers.

International audienceIn all natural protected areas, irrespective of the type, it is the managers' role to reconcile environmental protection with their sites' opening to the public. Visitor impacts on protected habitats and species must be restricted, while fostering the positive effects of tourism on a social, cultural and/or economic level. To implement sustainable, balanced management, managers need to define the ecological conservation status of their site, and quantify and qualify the human activities to which it plays host. Knowledge of the natural environment has traditionally been the priority focus in protected areas. Managers have long used environmental conservation monitoring tools. Tools for monitoring visitor uses and the related socio-economic aspects, however, are less extensively developed and respond to more recent concerns. Today, managers are in search of standardised visitor use monitoring tools that will provide the data required to render visitor use compatible with site conservation, improve visitor and local community wellbeing, boost the positive effects of tourism, improve internal management and plan for future changes. This guide is the result of work carried out in cooperation by Mediterranean MPA managers and a team of scientists which has tested methods for studying visitor use with Port-Cros National Park in France.Afin de développer un tourisme écologiquement responsable, il est souhaitable de planifier la gestion des activités touristiques dans le cadre d'un plan de gestion qui est généralement associé aux aires marines protégées. Dans cette perspective, la connaissance et le suivi scientifique de la fréquentation et des impacts du tourisme sont une nécessité pour les gestionnaires soucieux de conserver un bon état environnemental à l'aire marine protégée. Les AMP doivent se donner les moyens, même minimum, pour suivre l'évolution des pratiques touristiques, avec la même conviction et des moyens comparables à ceux qui sont engagés pour le suivi du patrimoine naturel. L'observation régulière des usages, touristiques ou non, est une composante aujourd'hui incontournable pour une bonne gestion des espaces. La connaissance fine des activités touristiques permet au gestionnaire de mettre en œuvre les mesures de gestion nécessaires telles que le contingentement des visiteurs, l'aménagement des sites (mouillages organisés par exemple), les politiques tarifaires, la gestion des déchets, etc. Produit par le projet européen MedPAN Nord, coordonné par le WWF-France sous l'égide du réseau MedPAN des gestionnaires d'aires marines protégées de Méditerranée, le présent guide " Observer et suivre la fréquentation dans les aires marines protégées de Méditerranée " a pour vocation d'aider les gestionnaires à connaître et à mettre en œuvre les suivis des usages touristiques dans leur aire marine

PAPARA(ZZ)I : An open-source software interface for annotating photographs of the deep-sea

PAPARA(ZZ)I is a lightweight and intuitive image annotation program developed for the study of benthic megafauna. It offers functionalities such as free, grid and random point annotation. Annotations may be made following existing classification schemes for marine biota and substrata or with the use of user defined, customised lists of keywords, which broadens the range of potential application of the software to other types of studies (e.g. marine litter distribution assessment). If Internet access is available, PAPARA(ZZ)I can also query and use standardised taxa names directly from the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Program outputs include abundances, densities and size calculations per keyword (e.g. per taxon). These results are written into text files that can be imported into spreadsheet programs for further analyses. PAPARA(ZZ)I is open-source and is available at http://papara-zz-i.github.io. Compiled versions exist for most 64-bit operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux