3,001 research outputs found

    Wikipedia as an encyclopaedia of life

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    In his 2003 essay E O Wilson outlined his vision for an “encyclopaedia of life” comprising “an electronic page for each species of organism on Earth”, each page containing “the scientific name of the species, a pictorial or genomic presentation of the primary type specimen on which its name is based, and a summary of its diagnostic traits.” Although the “quiet revolution” in biodiversity informatics has generated numerous online resources, including some directly inspired by Wilson's essay (e.g., "http://ispecies.org":http://ispecies.org, "http://www.eol.org":http://www.eol.org), we are still some way from the goal of having available online all relevant information about a species, such as its taxonomy, evolutionary history, genomics, morphology, ecology, and behaviour. While the biodiversity community has been developing a plethora of databases, some with overlapping goals and duplicated content, Wikipedia has been slowly growing to the point where it now has over 100,000 pages on biological taxa. My goal in this essay is to explore the idea that, largely independent of the efforts of biodiversity informatics and well-funded international efforts, Wikipedia ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) has emerged as potentially the best platform for fulfilling E O Wilson’s vision

    Developing a virtual zoological museum

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    Abstract. This is a documentation of our work developing a virtual zoological museum. Although it’s challenging to create a virtual museum that lives up to the original, Unity3D and virtual reality technology are utilized in order to provide experiences that a traditional museum cannot. As we aim to digitize the museum that once was in University of Oulu, different ways of designing an educating and engaging virtual museum visit are explored. The animals of the museum can be interacted with, being able to play back animations and audio while also providing information in text form. An interactive forest was also developed as a more natural and lively environment. Furthermore, 360° photos of local forests were added to improve the representation of nature. Virtual reality support was programmed for Oculus Rift, allowing movement and interaction as if one was there in real life. In order to achieve a comfortable experience, some performance optimization has been done to reach stable frame rates. We evaluated users’ sense of presence, experienced Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP), system usability and content quality. Based on our tests, users found the virtual museum visit enjoyable and immersive overall despite being distracted by some aspects, like the quality of the display. Users were also mostly satisfied with the environments and the quality of the animals. Experienced Game Transfer was low, however. All in all, this concept for creating a virtual museum has appeared to be successful, and it could be developed further.Virtuaalisen elĂ€intieteellisen museon kehittĂ€minen. TiivistelmĂ€. TĂ€mĂ€ on dokumentaatio virtuaalisen elĂ€intieteellisen museon kehittĂ€misestĂ€. Vaikka onkin haastavaa luoda virtuaalinen museo, joka on verrattavissa alkuperĂ€iseen, hyödyntĂ€mĂ€llĂ€ Unity3D:tĂ€ ja virtuaalitodellisuusteknologiaa on mahdollista tarjota kokemuksia, mitĂ€ perinteinen museo ei pysty. Digitalisoidessamme sitĂ€ museota, joka Oulun Yliopistolla ennen oli, tutkimme erilaisia keinoja kehittÀÀ opetuksellinen ja kiinnostava virtuaalimuseovierailu. Museon elĂ€imet ovat interaktiivisia, pystyen toistamaan animaatioita ja ÀÀniĂ€ sekĂ€ antamaan tietoa tekstin muodossa. Interaktiivinen metsĂ€ luotiin tarjoamaan luonnollisemman ja elĂ€vĂ€mmĂ€n ympĂ€ristön. LisĂ€ksi 360° kuvia paikallisista metsistĂ€ lisĂ€ttiin parantaakseen luonnon edustusta. Virtuaalitodellisuustuki lisĂ€ttiin Oculus Rift:ille, sallien liikkumisen ja vuorovaikuttamisen kuin olisi siellĂ€ todellisessa elĂ€mĂ€ssĂ€. Luodakseen mukavan kokemuksen, sovelluksen suorituskykyĂ€ on optimoitu saavuttaakseen vakaan kuvan pĂ€ivitystaajuuden. Evaluoimme kĂ€yttĂ€jien lĂ€snĂ€olon tunnetta, koettua Game Transfer -ilmiötĂ€ (GTP), jĂ€rjestelmĂ€n kĂ€ytettĂ€vyyttĂ€ ja sisĂ€llön laatua. Testien perusteella kĂ€yttĂ€jĂ€t kokivat museovierailun miellyttĂ€vĂ€nĂ€ sekĂ€ immersiivisenĂ€ yleisesti ottaen, vaikka jotkin piirteet, kuten nĂ€ytön laatu, hĂ€iritsivĂ€t. KĂ€yttĂ€jĂ€t olivat myöskin pitkĂ€lti tyytyvĂ€isiĂ€ ympĂ€ristöihin ja elĂ€inten laatuun. Koettu Game Transfer oli kuitenkin vĂ€hĂ€istĂ€. Kaikenkaikkiaan tĂ€mĂ€ virtuaalimuseo konsepti vaikuttaa toimivalta, ja sitĂ€ voisi kehittÀÀ pidemmĂ€lle

    Simple identification tools in FishBase

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    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

    Constructing a biodiversity terminological inventory.

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    The increasing growth of literature in biodiversity presents challenges to users who need to discover pertinent information in an efficient and timely manner. In response, text mining techniques offer solutions by facilitating the automated discovery of knowledge from large textual data. An important step in text mining is the recognition of concepts via their linguistic realisation, i.e., terms. However, a given concept may be referred to in text using various synonyms or term variants, making search systems likely to overlook documents mentioning less known variants, which are albeit relevant to a query term. Domain-specific terminological resources, which include term variants, synonyms and related terms, are thus important in supporting semantic search over large textual archives. This article describes the use of text mining methods for the automatic construction of a large-scale biodiversity term inventory. The inventory consists of names of species, amongst which naming variations are prevalent. We apply a number of distributional semantic techniques on all of the titles in the Biodiversity Heritage Library, to compute semantic similarity between species names and support the automated construction of the resource. With the construction of our biodiversity term inventory, we demonstrate that distributional semantic models are able to identify semantically similar names that are not yet recorded in existing taxonomies. Such methods can thus be used to update existing taxonomies semi-automatically by deriving semantically related taxonomic names from a text corpus and allowing expert curators to validate them. We also evaluate our inventory as a means to improve search by facilitating automatic query expansion. Specifically, we developed a visual search interface that suggests semantically related species names, which are available in our inventory but not always in other repositories, to incorporate into the search query. An assessment of the interface by domain experts reveals that our query expansion based on related names is useful for increasing the number of relevant documents retrieved. Its exploitation can benefit both users and developers of search engines and text mining applications

    Otter spotter: The Creation and evaluation of an educational resource for the association of zoos and aquariums, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Seneca Park Zoo

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    Otter Spotter is an educational website providing information about otters found in Association of Zoos and Aquariums\u27 (AZA) facilities. Though the site includes five species of otter it focuses primarily on the North American river otter. It was designed to meet the needs of AZA\u27s Otter Species Survival Plan (SSP) committee, Rochester Institute of Technology\u27s (RIT) Otter Research group, and the Seneca Park Zoo. This site helps fulfill the mission of modern zoos to become centers for conservation and education. Otter Spotter contains species information, photos, video clips, research summaries, teacher resources, and a blog with the latest news related to otters. Site statistics show that Otter Spotter is being used frequently with an increase in page views when social media tools are utilized. Evaluations show that the site is appealing and easy to navigate, useful to AZA educators, and will continue to be used as a resource for AZA facilities. Pre and post-testing of the lesson plans designed for the site also indicate that the lesson plans are a useful way to teach kindergarten through fourth grade students about otters and meet the standards of the New York State Core Curriculum. Overall, the site is a successful resource and by utilizing the findings of the evaluations it will continue to grow and extend its reach beyond the AZA community

    A 'philosophical storehouse': the life and afterlife of the Royal Society's repository

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    PhDIn June 1781, the Royal Society’s repository was transferred to the British Museum. Though ostensibly as a result of the limited space in the Royal Society’s purpose-built accommodation at Somerset House, the Society were perhaps also a little relieved to relinquish a collection that had proved to be somewhat burdensome during its residence at the Society and which was frequently criticised for its decaying specimens, broken items and missing, possibly stolen, objects. However this seems to be only part of the story. Drawing upon manuscript material in the Royal Society and the British Library, this study will examine the repository’s pattern of usage, collecting strategies and intellectual output throughout its life, in addition to exploring its afterlife at the British Museum using the British Museum’s, Royal College of Surgeon’s and Natural History Museum’s extensive archives. This thesis will seek to reveal an alternative account of the Royal Society’s repository arguing that it was comprised of a substantial and significant collection that the British Museum, at least initially, appears to have been grateful to receive and which, periodically, played a central role in the Society’s and naturalists' work

    Promoting Green Infrastructure in Kumasi: Challenges and Strategies

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    The study investigated the causes and effects of the reduction of green spaces in the city of Kumasi,  as well as the challenges in the management of green spaces. Data for the study were gathered through interviews, documentary reviews and observation. The causes and challenges of maintaining green spaces included inadequate collaboration between institutions engaged in the planning and management of the city, inadequate capacity and lack of control by the city management over a greater part of the city’s lands.  The effects included the near loss of the garden city status of the city and reduction in the number of green spaces for recreation, parties and relaxation. To help promote and preserve green spaces in the city, it is recommended that the managers of the city develop various policies, programmes and projects to support green living and create a participation strategy for all major stakeholders in the creation and management of green spaces. City authorities should institute an annual Green Space Awareness education in the city, encourage private developers, owners of housing facilities and educational institutions to maintain private gardens and green spaces and help improve the collaboration between and among key stakeholders and institutions in the management of green spaces in the city. Keywords: Green Infrastructure, Green space, Cities, Kumasi, land use, climate chang

    Wetland Degradation in Ethiopia: Causes, Consequences and Remedies

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    Ethiopia owns more than 58 different types of wetlands which provide enormous socio-economic and environmental values. Despite all those and other indispensable values, these wetlands are under severe pressure and degradation. Due to improper extraction of uses and misconceptions forwarded to wetlands, the health of the wetlands is continuously decreasing from time to time that in doubt their existence in the near future. Traditional and modern agricultural expansions, continuous land degradations, urbanizations and industrializations, lack of policies and institutional arrangements, lack of capacities, natural and ecological problems are the most dominant challenging factors of wetlands in the country. Malnutrition of children, extra loads on women and poor, absence of medicinal plants (healers), lack of water and forage, health problems and lack of recreational areas are the dominant consequences seen in parts of Ethiopia where wetlands get lost. As Ethiopia is prone to desertification and recurrent drought, the effects of wetland loss could be more visible in complicating the situation locally. In order to reverse these emerging problems and conserve these fragile but crucial wetlands, integrated problem solving approach through realizing the collaboration of relevant stakeholders from policy level down to grassroots community is indispensible opportunity to Ethiopian wetlands. Key words:   Wetland, Challenge, Opportunit

    Post-Zoo Design: Alternative Futures in the Anthropocene

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    abstract: Public awareness of nature and environmental issues has grown in the last decades and zoos have successfully followed suit by re-branding themselves as key representatives for conservation. However, considering the fast rate of environmental degradation, in the near future, zoos may become the only place left for wildlife. Some scholars argue that we have entered a new epoch titled the “Anthropocene” that postulates the idea that untouched pristine nature is almost nowhere to be found. Many scientists and scholars argue that it is time that we embraced this environmental situation and anticipated the change. Clearly, the impact of urbanization is reaching into the wild, so how can we design for animals in our artificializing world? Using the Manoa School method that argues that every future includes these four, generic, alternatives: growth, discipline, collapse, and transformation , this dissertation explores possible future animal archetypes by considering multiple possibilities of post zoo design.Dissertation/ThesisHistorical Zoo timelineDoctoral Dissertation Design, Environment and the Arts 201
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