Three years of routine Raman lidar measurements of tropospheric aerosols: Planetary boundary layer heights, extinction and backscatter coefficients

International audienceWe have performed a three-year series of routine lidar measurements on a climatological base. To obtain an unbiased data set, the measurements were taken at preselected times. The measurements were performed between 1 December 1997, and 30 November 2000, at Kühlungsborn, Germany (54°07' N, 11°46' E). Using a Rayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar system, we measured the aerosol backscatter coefficients at three wavelengths in and above the planetary boundary layer. The aerosol extinction coefficient has been determined at 532 nm, but here the majority of the measurements has been restricted to heights above the boundary layer. Only after-sunset measurements are included in this data set since the Raman measurements were restricted to darkness. For the climatological analysis, we selected the cloud-free days out of a fixed measurement schedule. The annual cycle of the boundary layer height has been found to have a phase shift of about 25 days with respect to the summer/winter solstices. The mean values of the extinction and backscatter coefficients do not show significant annual differences. The backscatter coefficients in the planetary boundary layer were found to be about 10 times higher than above. The mean aerosol optical depth above the boundary layer and below 5 km is 0.26 (±1.0) x 10-2 in summer, and 1.5 (±0.95) x 10-2 in winter, which almost negligible compared to values measured in the boundary layer. A cluster analysis of the backward trajectories yielded two major directions of air mass origin above the planetary boundary layer and 4 major directions inside. A marked difference between the total aerosol load dependent on the air mass origin could be found for air masses originating from the west and travelling at high wind speeds. Comparing the measured spectral dependence of the backscatter coefficients with data from the Global Aerosol Data Set, we found a general agreement, but only a few conclusions with respect to the aerosol type could be draws due to the high variability of the measured backscatter coefficients

An Informatics Perspective on Argumentation Mining

Abstract It is time to develop a community research agenda in argumentation mining. I suggest some questions to drive a joint community research agenda and then explain how my research in argumentation, on support tools and knowledge representations, advances argumentation mining

Automated argumentation mining to the rescue? Envisioning argumentation and decision-making support for debates in open online collaboration communities

International audienceArgumentation mining, a relatively new area of discourse analysis, involves automatically identifying and structuring arguments. Following a basic introduction to argumentation, we describe a new possible domain for argumentation mining: debates in open online collaboration communities. Based on our experience with manual annotation of arguments in debates, we envision argumentation mining as the basis for three kinds of support tools, for authoring more persuasive arguments, finding weaknesses in others’ arguments, and summarizing a debate’s overall conclusions

Towards automatic data extraction from clinical research reports: A case study of a systematic review of oral pain relief

In healthcare, it takes a long time for new treatments to move from clinical studies into practice: perhaps an average of 17 years [Balas et al., 2000]. Systematic review is a critical step in this research translation process because it determines what is known. To do this, a systematic review analyzes all available evidence on a particular question through a series of steps, including data extraction. The current best practice for data extraction is for two people to independently identify and extract data from each research paper. Because the data extraction step is almost always performed manually, it is very time-consuming [Tsafnat et al., 2014] yet methodological errors may cause problems with the review's conclusions [Lundh et al., 2009]. Our long-term goal is to help reviewers synthesize the literature quickly and accurately by developing a semi-automatic support system for data extraction. Towards this end, we are currently conducting an in-depth case study of a single systematic review, a Cochrane Review about oral pain relief. Through manual annotation and a content analysis of the six studies synthesized by this Cochrane Review, we will develop hypotheses about which clinical data elements can be automatically extracted. We will also develop an annotated corpus which will enable us to propose methods for automatically supporting human reviewers in data extraction. Eventually, we plan to design a semi-automated support system, and to test the two hypotheses (1) that it can reduce the time and human labor required to conduct a review and (2) that it can maintain or increase the quality of the resulting review.Ope

Evaluating ParsCit’s Citation Context Extraction Functionality

A poster on the ParsCit evaluation projectOpe

Argument analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease

Understanding the reasoning of papers can help assess their quality, and could make it easier to translate or reuse scientific research. We analyzed the reasoning of the paper “Propagation of Tau Pathology in a Model of Early Alzheimer’s Disease”, which describes how mouse models can be used to study Alzheimer’s disease. It is one of the top ten most influential Alzheimer's disease research papers selected by members of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. We visualize the structure of the multiple experiments in the paper using a new argument-focused representation called micropublications (Clark et al. 2014).Ope

Understanding Arguments to Protect Farmland in Idaho: Innovative Solutions and Community Insights to Drive Policy Change

Between Spring 2022 and Spring 2023, a team of researchers at Boise State University conducted interviews with people involved in farmland protection efforts. Our goal was to understand how interviewees frame the issue of farmland loss. Frames can draw attention to an issue, contextualize decision-making, and influence the policy solutions considered. Through a frame analysis, we gained a clearer understanding of potential approaches for farmland protection in Idaho. We conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with individuals representing government agencies, academic institutions, land trusts, non-profit organizations, and farmers. After conducting the interviews, we analyzed the transcripts in a systematic manner to identify recurring message frames pertaining to farmland loss. The analysis process enabled us to map these frames onto potential policy solutions applicable to Idaho. Our report outlines the advantages and disadvantages of each frame and pinpoints which ones are likely to resonate with specific groups. Our research revealed a diverse range of frames used to address farmland protection, with many interviewees citing multiple frames. The domestic food security, regional economy, and national/global trade frames are expected to have broad appeal, while the national security and environmental benefits frames may appeal to more specific audiences. The threatened resource and cultural importance frames are likely to resonate with those valuing tradition. We identified a variety of solutions, such as agricultural protection areas, support for rural economies, promotion of regenerative agriculture, and expansion of Idaho\u27s Right to Farm Act protections. Our findings underscore the importance of diverse, flexible, and responsive solutions to improve the feasibility of farmland protection in Idaho. We hope that our work will provide a solid basis for future efforts aimed at preserving Idaho\u27s farmland

Tracing persistent citation of a retracted clinical trial with faked data

We will estimate how retracted research spreads through citation. Our goal is to understand how retracted research gets cited and used using the citation network for one particular article, Matsuyama et al. 2005, about a clinical trial with falsified data. We will update its citation network from 2014-2018, following the methods of the published paper "Persistent citation of the only published randomised controlled trial of Omega-3 supplementation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease six years after its retraction".Ope