Planning a Central Cartographic Web Portal for the Revolutionary War Era, 1750-1800

The Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library is developing a Central Cartographic Web Portal, focusing on the American Revolutionary War Era. This curated database will provide broad access to primary source documents that will include a judicious selection of the best and most informative printed and manuscript maps from approximately ten collections in the U.S. and Europe. The materials will focus on military mapping; 18th century American maritime charts; and urban mapping. The theme of the American Revolutionary War Era will serve as a pilot and model for additional themes in future years. Two advisory teams, one composed of curators and humanities experts, the other of technical expertise for cataloging and data management, will advise and create protocols for all aspects of the project. The site will improve access to vastly expanded resources through technology; advancing the scholarly, educational and cultural enrichment missions of all participating institutions

Categorization of species as native or nonnative using DNA sequence signatures without a complete reference library.

New genetic diagnostic approaches have greatly aided efforts to document global biodiversity and improve biosecurity. This is especially true for organismal groups in which species diversity has been underestimated historically due to difficulties associated with sampling, the lack of clear morphological characteristics, and/or limited availability of taxonomic expertise. Among these methods, DNA sequence barcoding (also known as "DNA barcoding") and by extension, meta-barcoding for biological communities, has emerged as one of the most frequently utilized methods for DNA-based species identifications. Unfortunately, the use of DNA barcoding is limited by the availability of complete reference libraries (i.e., a collection of DNA sequences from morphologically identified species), and by the fact that the vast majority of species do not have sequences present in reference databases. Such conditions are critical especially in tropical locations that are simultaneously biodiversity rich and suffer from a lack of exploration and DNA characterization by trained taxonomic specialists. To facilitate efforts to document biodiversity in regions lacking complete reference libraries, we developed a novel statistical approach that categorizes unidentified species as being either likely native or likely nonnative based solely on measures of nucleotide diversity. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by categorizing a large sample of specimens of terrestrial insects and spiders (collected as part of the Moorea BioCode project) using a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). Using a training data set of known endemic (n = 45) and known introduced species (n = 102), we then estimated the likely native/nonnative status for 4,663 specimens representing an estimated 1,288 species (412 identified species), including both those specimens that were either unidentified or whose endemic/introduced status was uncertain. Using this approach, we were able to increase the number of categorized specimens by a factor of 4.4 (from 794 to 3,497), and the number of categorized species by a factor of 4.8 from (147 to 707) at a rate much greater than chance (77.6% accuracy). The study identifies phylogenetic signatures of both native and nonnative species and suggests several practical applications for this approach including monitoring biodiversity and facilitating biosecurity

Promoting Inclusive Growth and Better Trade Relations with Indonesia

This rapid review synthesises the literature from academic, policy, and knowledge institution sources on the political economy of Indonesia, concerning recent inclusive growth efforts in Indonesia. It can be concluded that the transformation of Indonesia’s economy to a more resilient economy, which is integrated within the Asia region, has been successful and gained the country more global political powers. However, the economic literature on Indonesia remains limited, and “studies that provide a comprehensive and integrated macroeconomic analysis are particularly scarce” (Breuer & Kinda, 2018, p.3). Still much of the existing recent literature focuses on the periods leading into either the Asian financial crisis or the global financial crisis. The literature used in this review, showed that: a) Indonesia’s economic policy seeks stability before growth, b) The country has a favourable demographic trend of increasing the working population until 2030, and with healthy urbanisation rates, which could increase market development, c) Indonesia reduced poverty levels by half to 11% between 1996 and 2016, but this trend has slowed down in recent years, d) Indonesia faces a challenge with low tax revenue, which has limited the Government’s ability to increase public investments in infrastructure, health and social safety nets. Indonesia’s investment gap is larger than in other countries in the Asian region, and e) the country faces a low level of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Low participation in global and Asian value chains limit Indonesia’s ability to tap further into the growing Asian consumer market, complicating the transition from a commodity-dominated economy to a more innovative, services-oriented economy

BiologicalNetworks 2.0 - an integrative view of genome biology data

Abstract Background A significant problem in the study of mechanisms of an organism's development is the elucidation of interrelated factors which are making an impact on the different levels of the organism, such as genes, biological molecules, cells, and cell systems. Numerous sources of heterogeneous data which exist for these subsystems are still not integrated sufficiently enough to give researchers a straightforward opportunity to analyze them together in the same frame of study. Systematic application of data integration methods is also hampered by a multitude of such factors as the orthogonal nature of the integrated data and naming problems. Results Here we report on a new version of BiologicalNetworks, a research environment for the integral visualization and analysis of heterogeneous biological data. BiologicalNetworks can be queried for properties of thousands of different types of biological entities (genes/proteins, promoters, COGs, pathways, binding sites, and other) and their relations (interactions, co-expression, co-citations, and other). The system includes the build-pathways infrastructure for molecular interactions/relations and module discovery in high-throughput experiments. Also implemented in BiologicalNetworks are the Integrated Genome Viewer and Comparative Genomics Browser applications, which allow for the search and analysis of gene regulatory regions and their conservation in multiple species in conjunction with molecular pathways/networks, experimental data and functional annotations. Conclusions The new release of BiologicalNetworks together with its back-end database introduces extensive functionality for a more efficient integrated multi-level analysis of microarray, sequence, regulatory, and other data. BiologicalNetworks is freely available at http://www.biologicalnetworks.org

The open maritime traffic analysis dataset

Ships traverse the world’s oceans for a diverse range of reasons, including the bulk transportation of goods and resources, carriage of people, exploration and fishing. The size of the oceans and the fact that they connect a multitude of different countries provide challenges in ensuring the safety of vessels at sea and the prevention of illegal activities. To assist with the tracking of ships at sea, the International Maritime Organisation stipulates the use of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) on board ships. The AIS system periodically broadcasts details of a ship’s position, speed and heading, along with other parameters corresponding to the ship’s type, size and set destination. The availability of AIS data has led to a large effort to develop automated systems which could identify and be used to prevent undesirable incidents at sea. For example, detecting when ships are in danger of colliding, running aground, engaged in illegal activity, traveling at unsafe speeds, or otherwise attempting manoeuvres that exceed their physical capabilities. Despite this interest, there is a lack of a publicly available ‘standard’ dataset that can be used to benchmark different approaches. As such, each new approach to automated maritime activity modelling is tested using a different dataset to previous work, making the comparison of technique efficacy problematic. In this paper a new public dataset of shipping tracks is introduced, containing data for four vessel types: cargo, tanker, fishing and passenger. Each track corresponds to a leg of a vessel’s journey within an area of interest located around the west coast of Australia. The tracks in the dataset have been validated according to a set of rules, consisting of journeys at minimum 10 hours long, with no missing data. The tracks cover a three-year period (2018 to 2020) and are further categorised by month, allowing for the analysis of seasonal variations in shipping. The intention of releasing this dataset is to allow researchers developing methods for maritime behaviour analysis and classification to compare their techniques on a standard set of data. As an example of how this dataset can be used, we use it to build a model of ‘expected’ behaviour trained on data for three vessel categories: cargo, tanker, and passenger vessels, using a convolutional autoencoder architecture. We then demonstrate how this model of ship behaviour can be used to test new data that was not used to build the model to determine whether a track fits the model or is an anomaly. Specifically, we verify that the behaviour of fishing vessels, whose movement patterns are quite different to those of the other three vessel types, is classified as an anomaly when presented to the trained model

DiSCmap : digitisation of special collections mapping, assessment, prioritisation. Final project report

Traditionally, digitisation has been led by supply rather than demand. While end users are seen as a priority they are not directly consulted about which collections they would like to have made available digitally or why. This can be seen in a wide range of policy documents throughout the cultural heritage sector, where users are positioned as central but where their preferences are assumed rather than solicited. Post-digitisation consultation with end users isequally rare. How are we to know that digitisation is serving the needs of the Higher Education community and is sustainable in the long-term? The 'Digitisation in Special Collections: mapping, assessment and prioritisation' (DiSCmap) project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Research Information Network (RIN), aimed to:- Identify priority collections for potential digitisation housed within UK Higher Education's libraries, archives and museums as well as faculties and departments.- Assess users' needs and demand for Special Collections to be digitised across all disciplines.- Produce a synthesis of available knowledge about users' needs with regard to usability and format of digitised resources.- Provide recommendations for a strategic approach to digitisation within the wider context and activity of leading players both in the public and commercial sector.The project was carried out jointly by the Centre for Digital Library Research (CDLR) and the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM) and has taken a collaborative approach to the creation of a user-driven digitisation prioritisation framework, encouraging participation and collective engagement between communities.Between September 2008 and March 2009 the DiSCmap project team asked over 1,000 users, including intermediaries (vocational users who take care of collections) and end users (university teachers, researchers and students) a variety of questions about which physical and digital Special Collections they make use of and what criteria they feel must be considered when selecting materials for digitisation. This was achieved through workshops, interviews and two online questionnaires. Although the data gathered from these activities has the limitation of reflecting only a partial view on priorities for digitisation - the view expressed by those institutions who volunteered to take part in the study - DiSCmap was able to develop:- a 'long list' of 945 collections nominated for digitisation both by intermediaries andend-users from 70 HE institutions (see p. 21);- a framework of user-driven prioritisation criteria which could be used to inform current and future digitisation priorities; (see p. 45)- a set of 'short lists' of collections which exemplify the application of user-driven criteria from the prioritisation framework to the long list (see Appendix X):o Collections nominated more than once by various groups of users.o Collections related to a specific policy framework, eg HEFCE's strategically important and vulnerable subjects for Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics.o Collections on specific thematic clusters.o Collections with highest number of reasons for digitisation

Port-City Transition: Past and Emerging Socio-Spatial Imaginaries and Uses in Rotterdam's Makers District

This article explores old and emerging socio-spatial imaginaries and uses of Rotterdam's Makers District. The district comprises two urban harbors - Merwe Vierhavens and Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij - historically in use as bustling trade, storage, and ship yarding nodes of the city’s port activities. At the turn of the millennium, technological advancements made it possible to move many port-related activities out of the area and farther out of the city, gradually hollowing out these harbors’ port-related economic foundations and opening opportunities for new uses and imaginaries. This article traces the transition by detailing how the boundary between the city and the port has become more porous in this district. It does so by offering original empirical evidence on the flows of users in and out of the area in recent years, based on location quotients, while also applying a content analysis of the profiles of companies and institutions currently inhabiting and working in these transformed port-city spaces. On the one hand, the results show how the ongoing port-city transition in Rotterdam's Makers District combines carefully curated interventions and infrastructure plans seeking to progressively adapt the area to new purposes, while maintaining some of its former functions. On the other hand, they highlight the pioneering role of more bottom-up initiatives and innovative urban concepts, springing from the creative industries and maker movement. The article offers insights into the emerging uses and imaginaries attached to the district, while also showing the resilience and adaptation of port legacies

Digital Asset Management for the Hong Kong Maritime Museum

The Hong Kong Maritime Museum is moving to a larger facility and lacks a system to manage images, video, and other digital assets. Our goal was to recommend a strategy for improved digital asset management. Through interviews with staff and research into available systems, we identified solutions to the museum\u27s challenges. We proposed two potential solutions for the museum along with standardized cataloguing and keywording systems. We also captured and produced media that could be used to bolster the museum\u27s upcoming website