Consortial Geospatial Data Collection: Toward Standards and Processes for Shared GeoBlacklight Metadata

Consortial geospatial data communities, such as the OpenGeoPortal federation and the GeoBlacklight initiative, facilitate contextualized discovery and promote metadata sharing to disperse hosting and preservation responsibilities across institutions. However, the challenges of communal metadata are manifold; they include proliferating standards, varying levels of completeness, mutable technology infrastructures, and uneven availability of human labor. Drawing from literature on metadata quality control, we outline a procedure for “scoring” GeoBlacklight records to establish a Domain Specific Language for metadata best practices. We propose strategies for authorship and management conducive to functionally interoperable geospatial metadata, that is versioned and enhanceable by the collective

Digital tools for brownfield redevelopment: Stakeholder perspectives and opportunities

Brownfield redevelopment is a complex process often involving a wide range of stakeholders holding differing priorities and opinions. The use of digital systems and products for decision making, modelling, and supporting discussion has been recognised throughout literature and industry. The inclusion of stakeholder preferences is an important consideration in the design and development of impactful digital tools and decision support systems. In this study, we present findings from stakeholder consultation with professionals from the UK brownfield sector with the aim of informing the design of future digital tools and systems. Our research investigates two broad themes; digitalisation and the use of digital tools across the sector; and perceptions of key brownfield challenge areas where digital tools could help better inform decision-makers. The methodology employed for this study comprises the collection of data and information using a combination of interviews and an online questionnaire. The results from these methods were evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively. Findings reveal a disparity in levels of digital capability between stakeholder groups including between technical stakeholder types, and that cross-discipline communication of important issues may be aided by the development of carefully designed digital tools. To this end, we present seven core principles to guide the design and implementation of future digital tools for the brownfield sector. These principles are that future digital tools should be: (1) Stakeholder driven, (2) Problem centred, (3) Visual, (4) Intuitive, (5) Interactive, (6) Interoperable, and (7) Geospatial data driven

A critical review of decision support systems for brownfield redevelopment

Over the past two decades, many decision support systems (DSSs) have been developed to support decision makers and facilitate the planning and redevelopment process of brownfields. Existing systems are however often siloed in their approach and do not fully capture the complexity of brownfield sites from a sustainable development point of view. This critical review provides an insight into the development and implementation of DSSs, published and emerging, together with assessment of their strengths, limitations and opportunities for future integration. Brownfields DSS applications include: remediation technology selection; and land use planning; and risk assessment. The results of this review lead the authors to identify four opportunities to improve brownfield DSSs: (i) increased use of qualitative socioeconomic criteria, particularly costs and economic variables, (ii) decision-support during the early stages of brownfield redevelopment, (iii) the integration of predictive modelling methods, and (iv) improvements of user interfaces and modern web-based functionalities

Flight Operations of Two Rapidly Assembled CubeSats with Commercial Infrared Cameras: The Rogue-Alpha,Beta Program

The Aerospace Corporation’s Rogue-alpha, betaprogram, co-funded by the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Development Corps, is a rapid prototyping effort that built and launched two 3-Unit CubeSats equipped with modified commercial IR camera payloads, laser communications and precision pointing capabilities in 18-months. Launched on 2 November 2019, the two spacecraft were released from the ISS Cygnus NG-12 robotic resupply spacecraft on 31 January 2020 into a circular 460-km, 52° inclined orbit. The two Rogue spacecraft are serving as testbeds for studying wide-field-of-view fast-framing imaging, on-orbit stellar calibration techniques for small IR payloads, and associated spacecraft flight operations. Precision pointing is enabled by three star sensors. High data rate sensor observations are enabled by the ultra-compact 200 Mbps lasercom system, which downlinks gigabytes of stored data during a single laser contact, using The Aerospace Corporation’s prototype ground stations located in El Segundo, California. The Rogue-alpha, beta IR sensor is a 1.4 micron band, 640x512 pixel, 28° field of view, InGaAs SWIR camera. It is accompanied by a panchromatic, 10-megapixel, 37° field of view visible context camera. Modes of sensor operation have included: 1) horizon-pointed imaging in all directions relative to the spacecraft orbit (fore, aft, port, and starboard) which is designed to maximize the imaged field of view, 2) point-and-stare imaging, 3) nadir-pointed, and 4) stereo fore-aft pointing using both spacecraft. All of these modes of operation are usually conducted in multi-frame collections at 1-20hz for dozens to thousands of frames. Highlights from the Rogue-alpha, beta sensor Earth remote sensing observation experiments will be presented. These have included impressive video imagery of hurricanes, typhoons, thunderstorms, and high clouds in the intra-tropical convergence zone. Infrared and visible point sources studied include gas flares, wildfires, active volcanos, nighttime lights, and other phenomena, including the first infrared CubeSat observations of space launch upper stages in flight. Stereo cloud imaging observations were also conducted with an aim of better understanding Earth backgrounds from low Earth orbit. Highlights from the CubeSat flight operations experiments include: 1) spacecraft-to-spacecraft boresight alignment of Rogue’s lasercom systems, and 2) metric and radiometric calibration of Rogue’s flight cameras using bright infrared stars. The results from the Rogue-alpha, beta460-km orbit show the exciting possibilities for wide-field-of-view missions from low earth orbit

Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Age at Natural Menopause and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Among Postmenopausal Women: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Data From 13 Cohort Studies

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between age at natural menopause, particularly premature ovarian insufficiency (POI; natural menopause before age 40 years), and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) and identify any variations by ethnicity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We pooled individual-level data of 338,059 women from 13 cohort studies without T2D before menopause from six ethnic groups: White (n = 177,674), Chinese (n = 146,008), Japanese (n = 9,061), South/Southeast Asian (n = 2,228), Black (n = 1,838), and mixed/other (n = 1,250). Hazard ratios (HRs) of T2D associated with age at menopause were estimated in the overall sample and by ethnicity, with study as a random effect. For each ethnic group, we further stratified the association by birth year, education level, and BMI. RESULTS: Over 9 years of follow-up, 20,064 (5.9%) women developed T2D. Overall, POI (vs. menopause at age 50-51 years) was associated with an increased risk of T2D (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.20-1.44), and there was an interaction between age at menopause and ethnicity (P < 0.0001). T2D risk associated with POI was higher in White (1.53; 1.36-1.73), Japanese (4.04; 1.97-8.27), and Chinese women born in 1950 or later (2.79; 2.11-3.70); although less precise, the risk estimates were consistent in women of South/Southeast Asian (1.46; 0.89-2.40), Black (1.72; 0.95-3.12), and mixed/other (2.16; 0.83-5.57) ethnic groups. A similar pattern, but with a smaller increased risk of T2D, was observed with early menopause overall (1.16; 1.10-1.23) and for White, Japanese, and Chinese women born in 1950 or later. CONCLUSIONS: POI and early menopause are risk factors for T2D in postmenopausal women, with considerable variation across ethnic groups, and may need to be considered in risk assessments of T2D among women

Defining the Riddle in Order to Solve It:There Is More Than One “Parkinson's Disease”

© 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.Background: More than 200 years after James Parkinsondescribed a clinical syndrome based on his astute observations, Parkinson's disease (PD) has evolved into a complex entity, akin to the heterogeneity of other complex human syndromes of the central nervous system such as dementia, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, and epilepsy. Clinicians, pathologists, and basic science researchers evolved arrange of concepts andcriteria for the clinical, genetic, mechanistic, and neuropathological characterization of what, in their best judgment, constitutes PD. However, these specialists have generated and used criteria that are not necessarily aligned between their different operational definitions, which may hinder progress in solving the riddle of the distinct forms of PD and ultimately how to treat them. Objective: This task force has identified current in consistencies between the definitions of PD and its diverse variants in different domains: clinical criteria, neuropathological classification, genetic subtyping, biomarker signatures, and mechanisms of disease. This initial effort for "defining the riddle" will lay the foundation for future attempts to better define the range of PD and its variants, as has been done and implemented for other heterogeneous neurological syndromes, such as stroke and peripheral neuropathy. We strongly advocate for a more systematic and evidence-based integration of our diverse disciplines by looking at well-defined variants of the syndrome of PD. Conclusion: Accuracy in defining endophenotypes of "typical PD" across these different but interrelated disciplines will enable better definition of variants and their stratification in therapeutic trials, a prerequisite for breakthroughs in the era of precision medicine. © 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.T.F.O. is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy—EXC (2067/1-390729940). V.B. is supported by the Stichting Parkinson Fonds (the Netherlands). M.G.S. is supported by the Bhargava Family Research Chair in Neurodegeneration, the Department of Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital and its Foundation. B.M. is supported by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for PD Research, DFG, EU (Horizon 2020), the National Parkinson's Foundation, Parkinson Fonds Deutschland, and the Deutsche Parkinson Vereinigung. L.S. and T.F.O. were supported by IMPRiND and EU (Horizon 2020). H.S. was supported by the Advanced ERC program, The Michael J. Fox foundation, and the Israel Science Fund. We thank Dr. J.P. Vonsattel, Columbia University, for providing the images for Figure 2. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio