Access to Geographic Scientific and Technical Data in an Academic Setting

Data availability is a key issue affecting society\u27s social well being. Information technology has increased the availability of and improved access to data. The academic community that uses spatial data is one of the groups that has taken advantage of fast and inexpensive opportunities to share data and knowledge in a relatively unfettered fashion across digital networks. However, pressure by the private sector to increase protection for databases through database legislation, self-help measures (contracts, licensing and technological methods for limiting access) and movement by some local governments towards revenue generation from sales of data are decreasing or threatening to decrease access to information for academics. This research explores current and potential access to information principles having substantial potential for promoting sharing and openness for scientific exploration. Current laws and policies on intellectual property and access to information are explored in the context of such principles. A literature study and a questionnaire are used to investigate the access to data environment of academia using geographic data in accomplishing academic research. Current problems are assessed, and legal constraints are analyzed. Whether or not adhered to, an assessment is made in each project of the productivity of scientists compared to the actual principles followed and the extent and nature of problems encountered. Productivity is assessed on a dataset level. It is measured in terms of satisfaction by scientists with the principles imposed upon scientists for accessing that dataset, the extent of problems encountered by scientists when confronted with the specific access principles, and the accomplishment of research goals under the constraints imposed. This research has resulted in new knowledge that should help inform policy makers and scientists themselves of the means by which a satisfactory environment for accessing data might be maintained or accomplished. Ultimately the results are used to supply evidence of academic community practices that would be supported or not supported by a range of legal options for protecting databases, some of which are currently before Congress

Smarter lighting for life

Sunlight impacts many biological and psychological processes, including those governing people’s circadian rhythm and mental and physical health. But in modern societies people spend most of their time inside buildings. Designing building facades which provide optimal access to daylight without introducing glare and high heating and cooling loads is a key challenge. For interior spaces, future artificial daylight solutions that mimic the essential characteristics of real windows or skylights are being investigated. But also there, balancing high light levels for health benefits with low energy consumption is a challenge. These conflicting requirements may be met by the application of Ambient Intelligence methods. Context-aware systems allow automatic adaptation of environmental conditions to individual health, comfort or safety needs, while limiting energy use to relevant times and locations at the same time. This lecture outlines key opportunities and challenges in this exciting field

Beyond the Social: Artist Project Spaces, 2003 to 2016.

This research examines storefront project spaces in the early 2000s that offered alternative approaches to the programming, organizing, and archiving found in conventional museums. I propose that such sites impacted participatory visual culture by offering a reformulatory role for arts’ practices, one that organized itself across disciplinary boundaries, chose a collaborative rather than competitive approach, and processed the ideological implications of their group work. Focused on three specific sites—Machine Project in Los Angeles, Elsewhere in Greensboro, and Mess Hall in Chicago—this study details the museological, pedagogical, and archival challenges of these artist-convened organizations. My interdisciplinary investigation offers a reference point for museums and those seeking to work within them, as a way of rethinking organizational systems and their inherent structural exclusions in empathetically human and rigorously messy ways. Detailing nine principles of practice, I trace the shared beginnings of these social sites in 2003, their shifting organizational forms across decade-long tenures, and their amassed archival remains. What Machine Project, Elsewhere, and Mess Hall realized as arts organizations, or as artist organizers resistant to dominant cultural narratives, added necessary amendments, additions, and accruals within participatory visual culture in the United States. In their producing of new organizational forms through their structural affordances, behavioral capacities, and participatory expansions, each revealed what may yet be lost when we translate artist and activist processes, non-dominant subjectivities, and neighborhood connections into more conventional display practices. In this way, the three sites moved beyond the social towards structural change, providing not a map, but a generative archival source

Towards Voluntary Interoperable Open Access Licenses for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

Access to earth observation data has become critically important for the wellbeing of society. A major impediment to achieving widespread sharing of earth observation data is lack of an operational web-wide system that is transparent and consistent in allowing users to legally access and use the earth observations of others without seeking permission from data contributors or investigating terms of usage on a case-by-case basis. This article explores approaches to supplying a license-based system to overcome this impediment in the context of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. It discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the explored approaches and suggests an integrated legal and technological approach for supplying an effective web-wide sharing environment for earth observation data

Extragalactic line surveys

40 years have passed since the first molecular detection outside our Galaxy. Since then, our knowledge on the distribution, kinematics and composition of the molecular material in the extragalactic ISM has built up significantly based not only on the carbon monoxide observations but also in the more than 50 molecular species detected. In particular, line surveys have been proven to be excellent tools to study the chemical composition in the nuclei of galaxies. Such studies have been favored by the increasing instantaneous bandwidth of current mm and sub-mm facilities. Here I will summarize the highlights of extragalactic molecular spectroscopy, mostly focusing in the results from molecular line surveys published in the last few years as well as the aims of still ongoing projects.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, in Proceedings of the 280th Symposium of the International Astronomical Unio

Status of National Open Spatial Data Infrastructures: a Comparison Across Continents

The increasing need for geospatial information demands for well-organised management among all levels of society. A Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is a multidisciplinary and dynamic instrument that facilitates access and sharing of geospatial information. The current trend towards open data initiatives is influencing the development of these infrastructures. In order to examine this effect, this article addresses the following question: what is the current state of SDI openness of four best practice open data countries Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and Brazil, and how do they compare? The question is answered through a qualitative literature study and the application of a newly developed Open SDI Assessment Framework to the countries. The Netherlands and Canada show a high performance on all assessment dimensions; data discovery, data access and data properties. Australia and Brazil show a poor open SDI performance, as they could not meet the requirements set for the assessed datasets. General conclusions of the assessment are that data is currently fragmented and scattered among the web in all four countries, which strongly negatively influences the user experience. It is crucial that a strict legal framework is embedded in a country, which ensures that current SDI objectives and propositions regarding an user-centred approach and open data availability are achieved

Open National CORS Data Ecosystems: A Cross-Jurisdictional Comparison*

Developments toward Open Government Data (OGD) also affect the data from National Continuously Operating Reference Station (NCORS), an infrastructure supporting standard and precise positioning in spatial activities. The application of OD policies on NCORS data (OD-NCORS) varies per country. This article explores the approaches and impact of OD-NCORS in three European countries: Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Understanding the differences in the implementations may benefit other countries in their strategies to implement OD for their NCORS. It may also provide insights for organisations considering OD for other data. The research found that the key factors affecting OD NCORS implementation are the national governing nature and the existence of commercial CORS networks. There is no single approach for OD-NCORS implementation that fits every national context

Designing T-cells with desired T-cell receptor make-up for immunotherapy

TCR gene transfer is a strategy that enables the rapid engineering of anti-leukemic T-cells with defined specificity, resulting in a so called __off the shelf __ therapy. An elegant strategy to promote persistence of TCR modified T-cells may be TCR gene transfer into CMV- and EBV-specific T-cells, which exhibit proper memory and effector phenotypes. Furthermore, these virus-specific T-cells do not induce GvHD after HLA identical allo-SCT, and thus can be safely administered. For efficient anti-leukemic reactivity of the introduced TCR coinciding with enhanced in vivo survival, a balance between cell surface expression of the introduced and endogenous TCR is required. The aim of this thesis was to optimize the efficacy of TCR gene transfer, study possibilities and restrictions of virus-specific T-cells as host cells for TCR gene transfer and characterize the occurrence of potentially harmful mixed TCR dimers and strategies to prevent their formation.Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), J.E. Jurriaanse stichting, BD Biosciences, Beckman Coulter, Lonza.UBL - phd migration 201