Classics in Science

In common with most readers, excepting the fanatical culture seekers, the concept of a list of "great books, " which every educated man or woman must read, strikes me as dreary and dull. Despite Robert Hutchins 1 and Clifton Fadiman's exhortations, nothing could induce me to wade through such sleep-producers as a majority of the titles urged upon us in The Lifetime Reading Plan and the Great Books Foundation list. Far more rewarding, significant, and exciting, in my view, is to try to single out those books that over the centuries have made the most profound impact on the history, economics, culture, civilization, and science of our time. Admittedly, some works of prime importance are intangible in their influence. That is especially true in such fields as literature, philosophy, and religion. Most measurable in their effect are certain seminal works in sciencethe trail-blazers, creating new frontiers, often dramatically extending man's knowledge of the visible and invisible universe around him. Often these books represent the culmination of the efforts of many minds. William Harvey on blood circulation built upon the researches of sixteenthcentury anatomists and physiologists; Linneaus came at the end of two centuries of systems of classifying plants. Sir Isaac Newton, after acknowledging his indebtedness to Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and other predecessors, remarked, "If I have seen further than other men, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."published or submitted for publicatio

Conducting a Self-Assessment of a Long-Term Archive for Interdisciplinary Scientific Data as a Trustworthy Digital Repository

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PresentationsDate: 2009-05-19 03:00 PM – 04:30 PMLong-term preservation and stewardship of scientific data and research-related information is paramount to the future of science and scholarship. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary scientific data archives can offer capabilities for managing and preserving data for research, education, and decision-making activities of future communities representing various scientific and scholarly disciplines. However, meeting the requirements for a trusted digital repository presents challenges to ensure that archived collections will be discoverable, accessible, and usable in the future. Assessing whether scientific data archives meet the requirements for trustworthy repositories will help to ensure that todayâ s collections of scientific data will be available in the future. A continuing self-assessment of a long-term archive for interdisciplinary scientific data is being conducted to identify improvements needed to become a trustworthy repository for managing and providing access to interdisciplinary scientific data by future communities of users. Recommendations are offered for archives of scientific data to meet the requirements of a trustworthy repository.NAS

Standing Up to Osteoporosis

Educational Objectives 1. To provide basic information about osteoporosis, including risk factors, diagnostic testing, treatment, and prevention. 2. To get you to help us spread the word that osteoporosis can be diagnosed and treated, and that there are things you can do to decrease your future risk for developing osteoporosis

Implementing Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to Foster Attribution for Earth Science Data

Persistent identifiers, such as Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), can contribute to the discovery and access of online scientific data and related web-based resources over time. In addition to enabling continuing access to scientific data when persistent identifiers are maintained, DOIs also can contribute to the attribution of scientific data. Assigning DOIs to datasets and registering them for inclusion in open catalogs enables discovery of the metadata records by facilitating harvesting and indexing by other catalogs where the data can be discovered and accessed through the DOIs that serve as resolvable links to the landing pages for the scientific data. Similar to other publications that are cited in research articles, the DOIs for data can be included in the reference to the data when citing the data used for preparation of a research publication. Examples of landing pages and recommended citations for scientific data that are available from the NASA Socioeconomic Data! and Applications Center (SEDAC) demonstrate how access to scientific data can be facilitated through the assignment of DOIs and show how guidance may be provided for users of scientific data to provide attribution to the data that they use in their research

Sustainable Software for the Future of Science: A User’s Perspective

The sustainability of scientific software is critical for the future of science. Recent efforts by funding agencies to recognize software as a contribution to science demonstrate the importance of software for science. Scientific software should be prepared and maintained for subsequent use in the future. Developers of scientific software should consider potential users and the future usability of the software

Workflow for Evaluating SEDAC Data for Dissemination

The depiction of the workflow for the evaluation of scientific data that are planned for dissemination by the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) demonstrates the diversity of roles, groups, and activities that are involved in the evaluation of scientific data disseminated by SEDAC. The evaluation efforts described in the workflow include reviews, assessments, and testing activities of scientific data that are conducted throughout the data acquisition, product development, and dissemination processes

A Scientific Data Center Perspective on Publishing Data

Answers to questions about publishing scientific data are offered and include, a description of the organization and role, a definition of publishing data, and descriptions of the scientific data center role, how data are published at the NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC), challenges with publishing data, and minimum requirements for publishing data

Research Data Strategies to Support Studies of Human Interactions in the Environment

When trying to use scientific data, members of the research community need to know how the data can be found, how the data have been reviewed, whether the data have been preserved for future use, how the data are managed throughout the data lifecycle, and how the data have been used. The presentation answers these questions by describing a strategic approach to managing the workflow for the stewardship and curation of scientific data

Improving the Review of Scientific Data for Public Dissemination

Establishing specifications for the review of scientific data can contribute to the quality of data products and services that are disseminated. Data reviews can take many forms. Ideally, specifications for the review of scientific data include the criteria and the procedures to be employed for conducting such reviews. Specifying and documenting the criteria and procedures for reviewing scientific data enables documentation of the review that was completed for a particular dataset, application of the same criteria and procedures for reviewing multiple datasets over time, and identification of opportunities for improving the criteria and procedures employed for reviewing scientific data. The criteria and procedures for reviewing scientific data at the NASA Socioeconomic Data and applications Center, SEDAC, are described along with recent improvements that have contributed to the quality of scientific data disseminated by SEDAC

Eliciting Knowledge on Science Software Sustainability from the Earth Science Informatics Community

An overview is offered and the methodology is described for a focus group study conducted to elicit knowledge about scientific software sustainability from members of the Earth science informatics community