Powerless in the field: a cautionary tale of digital dependencies

PARADISEC (Pacific And Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures), Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories, Ethnographic E-Research Project and Sydney Object Repositories for Research and Teaching

Topic and focus in Ngardi

This paper examines the discourse pragmatics of the non- configurational (free word order) Australian language Ngardi. Ngardi is a Ngumbin language spoken by a small number of people east of the Kimberleys. I examine Topic and Focus in equational sentences and question forms gathered from transcripts of card games played by Ngardi speakers. I examine this data from the Information Structure perspective as defined by Lambrecht (1994) and include some discussion of Choi's (2001) NEW and PROM binary features. I conclude that a range of constituents to the left of the obligatory pronominal clitics are conditioned by discourse pragmatic factors.The field data for this thesis was collected by Lee Cataldi, funded by ARC Grant No. A10009036, Chief Investigators Christopher Manning and Jane Simpson

Report of the Fieldwork Data Sustainability Project (FIDAS)

Fieldworkers typically collect data in a rather ad-hoc way during fieldwork, often leading to patchy and highly variable metadata quality at the time of submission to a digital repository. It can be very difficult or even impossible to reconstruct some of this information at a later date, yet these resources are often unique and unrepeatable records of highly significant events collected at considerable expense of researcher time, effort and resources. From the repository perspective, lack of metadata (including preservation metadata) can have serious implications not only for ingestion into a repository, but also for subsequent archival management and dissemination of archival information. This project aimed to extend the scope of the OAIS model to facilitate sustainable data collection and description of digital objects from the time of creation during fieldwork, and to integrate this workflow with repository ingestion, management, and dissemination requirements

Fieldhelper: a tool to assist the collation of field data and its ingestion into repositories

FieldHelper is a project designed to bridge the gap between researcher and repository. The program is designed to assist the researcher in annotating digital objects with the relevant metadata necessary for ingestion into a number of possible repository targets. The aim is to provide a generic and highly flexible tool applicable to several research disciplines that hides the complexity of a submission information package from the user by using a simple "drag and tag" metaphor. The tool has the capability of not only specifying simple annotations per object but also complex spatio-temporal and abstract relationships between objects. The APSR funded project is being developed at the University of Sydney as a joint project between the Archaeological Computing Laboratory (ACL) and the Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC)

Nutrient Analysis of Iowa Grown Field Peas for Swine Feed

Peas are a new crop in Iowa and have potential as an ingredient for supplementing pig diets. However, it is essential to know the nutrient levels before incorporating peas in swine diets. Pea seeds can be ground and incorporated directly in the pig’s diet on the farm without further processing. Field peas (winter, spring, and summer types) grown in southeast Iowa during 2005 and 2006, were sampled and analyzed for nutrient content. The Iowa peas were about 86% dry matter or 14% moisture, which is a level that will store well. Crude fat averaged about 2%, although the 2005 spring varieties were low, less than 1%. Crude fiber was 5 to 6% and ash was about 3%. Crude protein averaged 20% compared with 22.8% reported in the NRC tables. Values reported are as fed basis. Field peas are a good source of lysine (about 1.54%), which is commonly the first limiting amino acid in pig diets. According to the NRC, lysine in peas is highly digestible (84%). This enhances the economic value of peas. The peas were low in methionine and tryptophan, 0.20%. Threonine in winter, summer, and spring peas averaged about 0.74% (Table 1). The amino acid levels in the Iowa-grown peas were similar to NRC table values

Addressing Research Software Sustainability via Institutes

Research software is essential to modern research, but it requires ongoing human effort to sustain: to continually adapt to changes in dependencies, to fix bugs, and to add new features. Software sustainability institutes, amongst others, develop, maintain, and disseminate best practices for research software sustainability, and build community around them. These practices can both reduce the amount of effort that is needed and create an environment where the effort is appreciated and rewarded. The UK SSI is such an institute, and the US URSSI and the Australian AuSSI are planning to become institutes, and this extended abstract discusses them and the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.Comment: accepted by ICSE 2021 BokSS Workshop (https://bokss.github.io/bokss2021/

Introducing the FAIR Principles for research software

Research software is a fundamental and vital part of research, yet significant challenges to discoverability, productivity, quality, reproducibility, and sustainability exist. Improving the practice of scholarship is a common goal of the open science, open source, and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) communities and research software is now being understood as a type of digital object to which FAIR should be applied. This emergence reflects a maturation of the research community to better understand the crucial role of FAIR research software in maximising research value. The FAIR for Research Software (FAIR4RS) Working Group has adapted the FAIR Guiding Principles to create the FAIR Principles for Research Software (FAIR4RS Principles). The contents and context of the FAIR4RS Principles are summarised here to provide the basis for discussion of their adoption. Examples of implementation by organisations are provided to share information on how to maximise the value of research outputs, and to encourage others to amplify the importance and impact of this work

Patients' online access to their electronic health records and linked online services: a systematic review in primary care

Background Online access to medical records by patients can potentially enhance provision of patient-centred care and improve satisfaction. However, online access and services may also prove to be an additional burden for the healthcare provider. Aim To assess the impact of providing patients with access to their general practice electronic health records (EHR) and other EHR-linked online services on the provision, quality, and safety of health care. Design and setting A systematic review was conducted that focused on all studies about online record access and transactional services in primary care. Method Data sources included MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EPOC, DARE, King’s Fund, Nuffield Health, PsycINFO, OpenGrey (1999–2012). The literature was independently screened against detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria; independent dual data extraction was conducted, the risk of bias (RoB) assessed, and a narrative synthesis of the evidence conducted. Results A total of 176 studies were identified, 17 of which were randomised controlled trials, cohort, or cluster studies. Patients reported improved satisfaction with online access and services compared with standard provision, improved self-care, and better communication and engagement with clinicians. Safety improvements were patient-led through identifying medication errors and facilitating more use of preventive services. Provision of online record access and services resulted in a moderate increase of e-mail, no change on telephone contact, but there were variable effects on face-to-face contact. However, other tasks were necessary to sustain these services, which impacted on clinician time. There were no reports of harm or breaches in privacy. Conclusion While the RoB scores suggest many of the studies were of low quality, patients using online services reported increased convenience and satisfaction. These services positively impacted on patient safety, although there were variations of record access and use by specific ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Professional concerns about privacy were unrealised and those about workload were only partly so

Cognitive impairment in older patients undergoing colorectal surgery

Background: With increasing numbers of older people being referred for elective colorectal surgery, cognitive impairment is likely to be present and affect many aspects of the surgical pathway. This study is aimed to determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment and assess it against surgical outcomes. Methods: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was carried out in patients aged more than 65 years. We recorded demographic information. Data were collected on length of hospital stay, complications and 30-day mortality. Results: There were 101 patients assessed, median age was 74 years (interquartile range = 68–80), 54 (53.5%) were women. In total, 58 people (57.4%) ‘failed’ the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test (score ≤ 25). There were two deaths (3.4%) within 30 days of surgery in the abnormal Montreal Cognitive Assessment group and none in the normal group. Twenty-nine (28.7%) people experienced a complication. The percentage of patients with complications was higher in the group with normal Montreal Cognitive Assessment (41.9%) than abnormal Montreal Cognitive Assessment (19.9%) (p = 0.01) and the severity of those complications were greater (chi-squared for trend p = 0.01). The length of stay was longer in people with an abnormal Montreal Cognitive Assessment (mean 8.1 days vs. 5.8 days, p = 0.03). Conclusion: Cognitive impairment was common, which has implications for informed consent. Cognitive impairment was associated with less postoperative complications but a longer length of hospital stay