Many methods, many microbes: methodological diversity and standardization in the deep subseafloor biosphere

Standardization is widely assumed to be important to advance science. This assumption is typically embedded in initiatives to devise infrastructure and policies to support scientific work. This paper examines a movement comprising scientists advocating methods standardization in an emerging scientific domain, the deep subseafloor biosphere. This movement is not primarily motivated by the usual rationales for standardization, but instead by the aim of intervening in the politics of an infrastructure upon which the domain depends, scientific ocean drilling cruises. This infrastructure is shared and contested with other domains, and this movement regards standardization as a critical step in reconfiguring the infrastructure to secure a greater share of resources for the deep subseafloor biosphere. This movement encounters two tensions. One tension is between the perceived benefits of standardization vs. methodological diversity. Another tension is between perceived benefits for the domain vs. a lack of incentives for individuals to perform necessary standardization work

Dealing with privacy – Personal privacy from a research data management perspective

Sharing research data is increasingly required by key stakeholders, such as funding agencies and journals. However, sharing human subjects data poses multiple issues around protecting these subjects' privacy. This poster examines these issues through a Delphi study, comprising interviews and questionnaires, of stakeholders (n=24) involved in data curation and sharing in Norway. Two particular contexts are considered: 1) privacy in international research collaborations and 2) maintaining research subjects' trust in the re-searcher. The findings presented in this poster show tensions between maintaining subjects' privacy, maintaining trust, and advancing research. These tensions are complicated further by conflicting perspectives on privacy held by different stakeholders. Researchers and other stakeholders must balance these aspects throughout the data lifecycle, from data collection to decisions about sharing. All stakeholders involved in data sharing should pay attention to research subjects through dialog and negotiation

Library Cultures of Data Curation: Adventures in Astronomy

University libraries are partnering with disciplinary data producers to provide long-term digital curation of research datasets. Managing dataset producer expectations and guiding future development of library services requires understanding the decisions libraries make about curatorial activities, why they make these decisions, and the effects on future data reuse. We present a study, comprising interviews (n=43) and ethnographic observation, of two university libraries who partnered with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) collaboration to curate a significant astronomy dataset. The two libraries made different choices of the materials to curate and associated services, which resulted in different reuse possibilities. Each of the libraries offered partial solutions to the SDSS leaders’ objectives. The libraries’ approaches to curation diverged due to contextual factors, notably the extant infrastructure at their disposal (including technical infrastructure, staff expertise, values and internal culture, and organizational structure). The Data Transfer Process case offers lessons in understanding how libraries choose curation paths and how these choices influence possibilities for data reuse. Outcomes may not match data producers’ initial expectations but may create opportunities for reusing data in unexpected and beneficial ways

When Scientists Become Social Scientists: How Citizen Science Projects Learn About Volunteers

Online citizen science projects involve recruitment of volunteers to assist researchers with the creation, curation, and analysis of large datasets. Enhancing the quality of these data products is a fundamental concern for teams running citizen science projects. Decisions about a project’s design and operations have a critical effect both on whether the project recruits and retains enough volunteers, and on the quality of volunteers’ work. The processes by which the team running a project learn about their volunteers play a critical role in these decisions. Improving these processes will enhance decision-making, resulting in better quality datasets, and more successful outcomes for citizen science projects. This paper presents a qualitative case study, involving interviews and long-term observation, of how the team running Galaxy Zoo, a major citizen science project in astronomy, came to know their volunteers and how this knowledge shaped their decision-making processes. This paper presents three instances that played significant roles in shaping Galaxy Zoo team members’ understandings of volunteers. Team members integrated heterogeneous sources of information to derive new insights into the volunteers. Project metrics and formal studies of volunteers combined with tacit understandings gained through on- and offline interactions with volunteers. This paper presents a number of recommendations for practice. These recommendations include strategies for improving how citizen science project team members learn about volunteers, and how teams can more effectively circulate among themselves what they learn.Ope

When scientists meet the public: an investigation into citizen cyberscience

Citizen Cyberscience Projects (CCPs) are projects mediated through the Internet, in which teams of scientists recruit members of the public (volunteers) to assist in scientific research, typically through the processing of large quantities of data. This thesis presents qualitative ethnographic case studies of the communities that have formed around two such projects, climateprediction.net and Galaxy Zoo. By considering these social actors in the broader contexts in which they are situated (historical, institutional, social, scientific), I discuss the co-shaping of the interests of these actors, the nature of the relationships amongst these actors, and the infrastructure of the projects and the purposes and nature of the scientific work performed. The thesis focusses on two relationships in particular. The first is that between scientists and volunteers, finding that, although scientists in both projects are concerned with treating volunteers with respect, there are nevertheless considerable differences between the projects. These are related to a number of interconnecting factors, including the particular contexts in which each project is embedded, the nature of the scientific work that volunteers are asked to undertake, the possibilities and challenges for the future development of the projects as perceived by the scientists, and the tools at the disposal of the respective teams of scientists for mediating relationships with volunteers. The second is amongst the volunteers themselves. This thesis argues that volunteers are heterogeneous, from disparate backgrounds, and that they sustain their involvement in CCPs for very different purposes. In particular, they seek to pursue these through the way they negotiate and construct their relationships with other volunteers, drawing on particular features of the project to do so. This thesis contributes to two fields. The first is to Citizen Cyberscience itself, with a view to improving the running of such projects. Some social studies have already been conducted of CCPs to this end, and this thesis both extends the analysis of some of these pre-existing studies and also problematizes aspects of CCPs that these studies had not considered. I discuss the significance of my findings for those involved in setting up and running a CCP, and present some recommendations for practice. The second field is Science and Technology Studies, in particular studies of public engagement with scientific and technological decision- and knowledge-making processes. The modes of engagement found in CCPs differ in key ways from those that have already been documented in the existing literature (in particular, different power relationships) and thus offer new ways of understanding how the public might be engaged successfully in such processes.Ope

Pre-movement changes in sensorimotor beta oscillations predict motor adaptation drive

International audienceBeta frequency oscillations in scalp electroencephalography (EEG) recordings over the primary motor cortex have been associated with the preparation and execution of voluntary movements. Here, we test whether changes in beta frequency are related to the preparation of adapted movements in human, and whether such effects generalise to other species (cat). Eleven healthy adult humans performed a joystick visuomotor adaptation task. Beta (15-25 Hz) scalp EEG signals recorded over the motor cortex during a pre-movement preparatory phase were, on average, significantly reduced in amplitude during early adaptation trials compared to baseline, late adaptation, or aftereffect trials. The changes in beta were not related to measurements of reaction time or reach duration. We also recorded local field potential (LFP) activity within the primary motor cortex of three cats during a prism visuomotor adaptation task. Analysis of these signals revealed similar reductions in motor cortical LFP beta frequencies during early adaptation. This effect was present when controlling for any influence of the reaction time and reach duration. Overall, the results are consistent with a reduction in pre-movement beta oscillations predicting an increase in adaptive drive in upcoming task performance when motor errors are largest in magnitude and the rate of adaptation is greatest

Non-invasive Stimulation of the Cerebellum in Health and Disease

The cerebellum is linked to motor, cognitive and affective functions. Anatomically, the cerebellum is part of an interconnected network including a wide range of other brain structures. This chapter reviews ways in which non-invasive stimulation has been used to activate or inhibit these circuits and how this has contributed to our understanding of cerebellar function in both motor and non-motor domains. The utility of non-invasive stimulation of the cerebellum in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases (Parkinson’s disease, cerebellar ataxia, stroke, depression and schizophrenia) is discussed. The chapter concludes with consideration of the challenges that must be overcome if non-invasive cerebellar stimulation is to be adopted in a wider clinical setting

Ethical perspectives on data and software sharing in the sciences: A research agenda

Data and software are critical components of scientific work. Increased data and software sharing promises many benefits for science. Many stakeholders are building infrastructure and implementing policies to promote sharing. However, sharing remains rare in practice. Attention must be paid to researchers' ethical perspectives on sharing to fully realize the promise of sharing and promote greater circulation of data and software and better uptake of infrastructure for data and software curation. This research presents an agenda for researching these perspectives, including characterizing and accounting for researchers' perspectives; examining how these perspectives shape decisions related to data and software sharing; and understanding how and why differences in perspectives arise and are contested, negotiated, and resolved in multidisciplinary scientific collaboration. This agenda will enable stakeholders to identify and resolve differences in ethical perspectives, and develop policies, infrastructures, and education that support existing ethical perspectives, and cultivate better ethical practices.Ope

Dissolved Phosphorus Retention in Buffer Strips: Influence of Slope and Soil Type

Phosphorus (P) contributes to eutrophication of surface waters and buffer strips may be implemented to reduce its transfer from agricultural sources to watercourses. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that soil type and slope influence the retention of dissolved organic P and inorganic orthophosphate in agricultural runoff in 2-m-wide buffer strip soils. A solution, comprised of dissolved orthophosphate and the organic P compounds glucose-1-phosphate, RNA, and inositol hexakisphosphate (1.8 mg L−1 total P) and a chloride tracer, was applied as simulated overland flow to grassland soil blocks (2 m long × 0.5 m wide × 0.35 m deep), containing intact clay or loam soils, at slope angles of 2, 5, and 10°. Phosphorus forms were determined in the surface and subsurface flow from the soil blocks. Slope had no significant effect on the hydrological behavior of the soil blocks or on the retention of any form of P at the water application rate tested. The clay soil retained 60% of the unreactive P and 21% of the reactive P applied. The loam soil retained 74% of the unreactive P applied but was a net source of reactive P (the load increased by 61%). This indicates leaching of native soil P or hydrolysis of organic compounds and complicates our understanding of P retention in buffer strip soils. Our results suggest that a 2-m buffer strip may be more effective for reducing dissolved unreactive P transfers to surface waters than for reducing the eutrophication risk posed by dissolved reactive P