eResearch Infrastructure Research Articles

EPOS Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards in the operational phase

The problem of hazards induced by the exploitation of geo-resources focuses growing interest of science, industry, public administration, non-governmental organisations and the general public. Anthropogenic seismicity, i.e. the undesired dynamic rock mass response to geo-resources exploitation, is one of the examples of unwanted by-products of the technological operation of humans. The socio-economic impact of the induced seismicity is very significant. Induced earthquakes can cause material loss, injuries and even fatalities. Restricted access to data constitutes a barrier to assessing and mitigating the associated hazards. To respond to the need of the scientific community the Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards (TCS AH) has been created within the framework of the European Plate Observing System, a solid earth science European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC). TCS AH is an open consortium of 13 European institutions. TCS AH provides access to a novel e-research infrastructure, the EPISODES Platform (former name: IS-EPOS platform) to foster both research and training on induced seismicity and geo-hazards related to the exploration and exploitation of geo-resources. The EPISODES Platform is connected to international data nodes which offer open access to multidisciplinary datasets, called episodes. Episodes comprise geoscientific and associated data from industrial activity along with a large set of embedded applications for their efficient data processing, analysis and visualization. The EPISODES Platform opens also the possibility to create new applications and combine implemented applications with the user's codes. The team-working features of the EPISODES Platform facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific research, public understanding of science, citizen science applications, knowledge dissemination, and the teaching of anthropogenic hazards related to geo-resource exploitation. This study presents the current results of the TCS AH research infrastructure integration and also indicates the benefits of their usage for science, education, and innovation.

The Fitness Barometer: A Best Practice Example for Monitoring Motor Performance With Pooled Data Collected From Practitioners.

Introduction: Motor Performance (MP) in children is an important resource for their future active lifestyle and health. Monitoring of MP is crucial to derive information of trends and to implement specific programs on the base of current MP levels. A variety of MP assessment tools exist, making it difficult to determine a “gold-standard” for assessment and to compare the findings. In Germany, the German Motor Test 6–18 (GMT 6–18) and Kinderturntest Plus 3–10 (KITT+ 3–10) are widely used MP assessment tools. The aim of this paper is to show which key questions can be answered within the context of a best practice example of a MP assessment tool and what can be derived from this for a practical application (the Fitness Barometer).Methods: The raw data of the Fitness Barometer was collected with the MP assessment tools GMT 6–18 and KITT+ 3–10 from 2012 through 2020. Data was pooled anonymously with the e-Research infrastructure MO|REdata and categorized into percentiles for MP and BMI. Overall, we included data of 23,864 children for the statistical analyses. T-tests for independent samples, percentage frequency analysis, descriptive statistics (chi- square-test) and single analysis of variance were conducted.Results and Discussion: Children tested reached a mean value of 57.03 (SD = 18.85). Of the sample, 12.7% children were overweight or obese and there is a significant difference between age groups [ = 178.62, p < 0.001, Cramer V = 0.09; n = 23.656]. The relationship between BMI category and mean value of MP was significant [F(4,19,523) = 224.81, p < 0.001]. During 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, mean value of endurance and speed decreased [Welch's F(1,573) = 8.08, p = 0.005; Welch's F(1,610) = 35.92, p < 0.001]. The GMT 6–18 and KITT+ 3–10 are valid, objective, reliable, and economic MP assessment tools for monitoring MP levels and derive added practical value. Specific programs and interventions should focus on the findings of these. The Fitness Barometer is a best practice example how a standardized assessment tool of monitoring MP point to trends on which practical evidence-based suggestions can be derived with many various partners and expertise.

The importance of humanities interfaces for research and its social futures

ABSTRACT This paper reflects upon humanities ‘interfaces’ between academia and society via an analysis of two recent Australian policy moments. First, I reflect on the inaugural Engagement and Impact (E & I) Assessment of university research, undertaken in 2018 by the Australian Research Council (ARC). The EI 2018 points to the rich contribution of humanities interfaces to social function of contemporary research and the pivotal role that communication and media studies play. Second, I discuss the effort over the past 10–15 years to conceptualise and fashion an e-research infrastructure for humanities and social sciences research. Despite leadership in e-research infrastructure in sciences Australia lagged in addressing requirements of humanities and social science. Both cases show the stakes in digital humanities interfaces, which are vital to research and its social futures.

An open data infrastructure for the study of anthropogenic hazards linked to georesource exploitation

Mining, water-reservoir impoundment, underground gas storage, geothermal energy exploitation and hydrocarbon extraction have the potential to cause rock deformation and earthquakes, which may be hazardous for people, infrastructure and the environment. Restricted access to data constitutes a barrier to assessing and mitigating the associated hazards. Thematic Core Service Anthropogenic Hazards (TCS AH) of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) provides a novel e-research infrastructure. The core of this infrastructure, the IS-EPOS Platform (tcs.ah-epos.eu) connected to international data storage nodes offers open access to large grouped datasets (here termed episodes), comprising geoscientific and associated data from industrial activity along with a large set of embedded applications for their efficient data processing, analysis and visualization. The novel team-working features of the IS-EPOS Platform facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary scientific research, public understanding of science, citizen science applications, knowledge dissemination, data-informed policy-making and the teaching of anthropogenic hazards related to georesource exploitation. TCS AH is one of 10 thematic core services forming EPOS, a solid earth science European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) (www.epos-ip.org).

EResearch

Joint research projects in ecology typically aim to integrate scientific knowledge from various disciplines. This raises the request for collaboration technologies. As ecological research is data-intensive, it requires the management and exchange of large datasets, often with spatial reference. The demand for collaboration, data, and information management tools in science is addressed by the creation of digital service infrastructures, so-called eResearch Infrastructures, which are collections of typically web-based software systems. Here, an example eResearch infrastructure implemented for a joint research project is presented. It is described by the user stories, the derived functional requirements, and their implementation in software systems. This infrastructure followed an open-source paradigm with only two exceptions. Based on the lessons learned, recommendations for the future development of eResearch infrastructures and their embedment in an organizational, project, and scientific framework are derived.

A Decision Matrix for the Evaluation of Triplestores for Use in a Virtual Research Environment

 Abstract—The Tropical Data Hub (TDH) is a virtual research environment that provides researchers with an eres earch infrastructure to congregate significant tropical data sets for data reuse, integration, searching, and correlation. However, researchers often require data and metadata synthesis across disciplines for cross� domain analyses and knowledge discovery. A triplestore offers a semantic layer to achieve a more intelligent method of search to support the synthesis requirements by automating latent linkages in the data and metadata. Presently, the benchmarks to aid the decision of which triplestore is best suited for use in an application environment like the TDH are limited to performance. This paper describes a new evaluation tool developed to analyze both features and performance. The tool comprises a weighted decision matrix to evaluate the interoperability, functionality, performance, and support availability of a range of integrated and native triplestores to rank them according to requirements of the TDH.

Factors Influencing Research Data Reuse in the Social Sciences: An Exploratory Study

The development of e-Research infrastructure has enabled data to be shared and accessed more openly. Policy mandates for data sharing have contributed to the increasing availability of research data through data repositories, which create favourable conditions for the re-use of data for purposes not always anticipated by original collectors. Despite the current efforts to promote transparency and reproducibility in science, data re-use cannot be assumed, nor merely considered a ‘thrifting’ activity where scientists shop around in data repositories considering only the ease of access to data. The lack of an integrated view of individual, social and technological influential factors to intentional and actual data re-use behaviour was the key motivator for this study. Interviews with 13 social scientists produced 25 factors that were found to influence their perceptions and experiences, including both their unsuccessful and successful attempts to re-use data. These factors were grouped into six theoretical variables: perceived benefits, perceived risks, perceived effort, social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived re-usability. These research findings provide an in-depth understanding about the re-use of research data in the context of open science, which can be valuable in terms of theory and practice to help leverage data re-use and make publicly available data more actionable.Â

Biodiversity analysis in the digital era.

This paper explores what the virtual biodiversity e-infrastructure will look like as it takes advantage of advances in ‘Big Data’ biodiversity informatics and e-research infrastructure, which allow integration of various taxon-level data types (genome, morphology, distribution and species interactions) within a phylogenetic and environmental framework. By overcoming the data scaling problem in ecology, this integrative framework will provide richer information and fast learning to enable a deeper understanding of biodiversity evolution and dynamics in a rapidly changing world. The Atlas of Living Australia is used as one example of the advantages of progressing towards this future. Living in this future will require the adoption of new ways of integrating scientific knowledge into societal decision making.This article is part of the themed issue ‘From DNA barcodes to biomes’.

Measuring the scientific impact of e-research infrastructures: a citation based approach?

This micro-level study explores the extent that citation analysis provides an accurate and representative assessment of the use and impact of bioinformatics e-research infrastructure. The bioinformatic e-research infrastructure studied offers common tools used by life scientists to analyse and interpret genetic and protein sequence information. These e-resources therefore provide an interesting example with which to explore how representative citations are as acknowledgements of knowledge in the life sciences. The examples presented here suggest that there is a relation between number of visits to these databases and number of citations; however, a parallel finding shows how citation analysis frequently underestimates acknowledged use of the resources offered on this e-research infrastructure. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for various aspects of impact measurement and also considers how appropriate citation analysis is as a measurement of knowledge claims.

A Framework for Discussing e-Research Infrastructure Sustainability

e-Research infrastructure is increasingly important in the conduct of science and engineering research, and in many disciplines has become an essential part of the research infrastructure. However, this e-Research infrastructure does not appear from a vacuum; it needs both intent and effort first to be created and then to be sustained over time. Research cultures and practices in many disciplines have not adapted to this new paradigm, due in part to the absence of a deep understanding of the elements of e-Research infrastructure and the characteristics that influence their sustainability. This paper outlines a set of contexts in which e-Research infrastructure can be discussed, proposes characteristics that must be considered to sustain infrastructure elements, and highlights models that may be used to create and sustain e-Research infrastructure. We invite feedback on the proposed characteristics and models presented herein.

The Tropical Data Hub: A Virtual Research Environment for Tropical Science Knowledge and Discovery

Tropical regions support some of the world's most diverse and unique ecosystems. However, these sensitive areas are under increasing pressures that significantly threaten their future sustainability. To help better manage tropical regions, a need exists for more informed environmental monitoring procedures. Currently, data is collected in disjoint repositories that are not visible or accessible for reuse. As data is not being publicized, there are missed opportunities for holistic discovery of trends that influence tropical ecosystems. This proposal presents the Tropical Data Hub as an e-research infrastructure to congregate significant tropical data sets for cross-domain analyses and knowledge discovery. The Hub serves as a focal point for the amalgamation of disparate data sources to facilitate data reuse, integration, searching, and correlation by environmental researchers and government departments for discovery and decision making. More suitable environmental management practices may then be devised via cross-disciplinary data that depicts a more accurate representation of the status. The system automates the data capture process and incorporates semantic technologies to provide knowledge discovery. We present two successful visualisation applications that demonstrate the Hub's capacity to enhance tropical environmental research. The first assesses land space use, and the second assesses potential impacts of climate change on global biodiversity.

ACADEMIC AND ETHICAL CHALLENGES IN PARTICIPATORY MODELS OF COMMUNITY RESEARCH

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explore academic and ethical challenges with Participatory Community Research (PCR) in the context where many universities and researchers are moving to embrace new e-Research infrastructure. A case study of a project focussing on developing electronic capacity in a deprived community in Africa is used to problematize issues. E-Research also brings its own challenges for PCR, such as: a need to clearly understand the dynamics of community-based research and ethics and ethical frameworks that are responsive to this; the development of new legal ownership and access rights; the need for appropriately sensitive institutional commitment to the long-term maintenance of repositories to support continued data storage and curation; and the formation of adaptive, inter-organizational research teams which are comfortable with community and electronic interactions.

Golden Trail: Retrieving the Data History that Matters from a Comprehensive Provenance Repository

Experimental science can be thought of as the exploration of a large research space, in search of a few valuable results. While it is this “Golden Data” that gets published, the history of the exploration is often as valuable to the scientists as some of its outcomes. We envision an e-research infrastructure that is capable of systematically and automatically recording such history – an assumption that holds today for a number of workflow management systems routinely used in e-science. In keeping with our gold rush metaphor, the provenance of a valuable result is a “Golden Trail”. Logically, this represents a detailed account of how the Golden Data was arrived at, and technically it is a sub-graph in the much larger graph of provenance traces that collectively tell the story of the entire research (or of some of it).In this paper we describe a model and architecture for a repository dedicated to storing provenance traces and selectively retrieving Golden Trails from it. As traces from multiple experiments over long periods of time are accommodated, the trails may be sub-graphs of one trace, or they may be the logical representation of a virtual experiment obtained by joining together traces that share common data.The project has been carried out within the Provenance Working Group of the Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) NSF project. Ultimately, our longer-term plan is to integrate the provenance repository into the data preservation architecture currently being developed by DataONE.

E-Research Infrastructure and Community Research

Research is increasingly being conducted by multi-stakeholder teams which include the researchers themselves, funding authorities, industry collaborators and community stakeholders inside and outside universities, all of whom have dynamic requirements relating to research data, research artefacts and products, and published outcomes. While the physical location of electronic research resources is of decreasing importance, control and ownership, as reflected in intellectual property policies and ethical requirements, have become highly contested within several communities. Such issues become even more complex when dealing with emergent participatory modes of e-Research, which influence: Empowerment of participants in the research. Recognition of different ways of researching. Institutional commitment to the long-term maintenance of a research repository. Adaptive research teams which are comfortable with electronic interactions. New legal ownership and access rights, and terms and conditions of use. This paper deliberately focuses on the challenging area of participatory e-Research in order to surface the widest possible range of issues. It is designed to explore governance frameworks that can be applied in new e-Community contexts, and to identify the user needs of participants. It forms part of a new paradigm, which stresses the importance of facilitating participation, by addressing issues which arise about the new management principles required for the authenticity, accessibility, disposition and preservation of electronic research resources for multiple purposes. The prime focus of the paper will be an investigation as to how well repositories and archival services, as they are presently constituted, meet the needs of communities. It will discuss issues including: empowerment, research frameworks, design and methods; and how to conduct ethical research with communities, including protocols, intellectual property, ownership of research data and of outcomes.

Infrastructure Time: Long-term Matters in Collaborative Development

This paper addresses the collaborative development of information infrastructure for supporting data-rich scientific collaboration. Studying infrastructure development empirically not only in terms of spatial issues but also, and equally importantly, temporal ones, we illustrate how the long-term matters. Our case is about the collaborative development of a metadata standard for an ecological research domain. It is a complex example where standards are recognized as one element of infrastructure and standard-making efforts include integration of semantic work and software tools development. With a focus on the temporal scales of short-term and long-term, we analyze the practices and views of the main parties involved in the development of the standard. Our contributions are three-fold: 1) extension of the notion of infrastructure to more explicitly include the temporal dimension; 2) identification of two distinct temporal orientations in information infrastructure development work, namely ‘project time’ and ‘infrastructure time’, and 3) association of related development orientations, particularly ‘continuing design’ as a development orientation that recognizes ‘infrastructure time’. We conclude by highlighting the need to enrich understandings of temporality in CSCW, particularly towards longer time scales and more diversified temporal hybrids in collaborative infrastructure development. This work draws attention to the manifold ramifications that ‘infrastructure time’, as an example of more extended temporal scales, suggests for CSCW and e-Research infrastructures.

ARCHER – e-Research Tools for Research Data Management

With new scientific instruments growing exponentially in their capability to generate research data, new infrastructure needs to be developed and deployed to allow researchers to effectively and securely manage their research data from collection, publication, and eventual dissemination to research communities. In particular, researchers need to be able to easily acquire data from instruments, store and manage potentially large quantities of data, easily process the data, share research resources and work spaces with colleagues both inside and outside of their institution, search and discover across their accessible collections, and easily publish datasets and related research artefacts. The ARCHER Project has developed production-ready generic e-Research infrastructure including: a Research Repository; Scientific Dataset Managers (both a web and desktop application); Distributed Integrated Multi-Sensor and Instrument Middleware; and a Collaborative Workspace Environment. Institutions can selectively deploy these components to greatly assist their researchers in managing their research data.