National Research Council Committee Research Articles

Grape pomace in equine nutrition: effect on antioxidant status

Grape pomace in equine nutrition: effect on antioxidant status

Assess the Effectiveness of Self-instructional Module on Knowledge Regarding Cultural Beliefs of Dietary Habits among Postnatal Women

Background: The study of cultural factors in nutrition emerged as a distinct focus of research only recently, with the formation of the National Research Council's Committee on Food Habits in 1941. The impact of culture on nutrition has primarily been studied in the realm of "food habits," which is the second of two distinct spheres comprehended by nutrition science. The first is concerned with determining nutritional requirements and dietary standards and includes biochemistry and physiology.
 Objective of the study: This study aims to assess the effects of self-instructional module on knowledge regarding cultural beliefs of dietary habits among postnatal women. 1. To assess the existing knowledge regarding cultural beliefs of dietary habits among postnatal women 2. To assess the effectiveness of self-instructional module on knowledge regarding cultural beliefs of dietary habits among postnatal women 3. To associate knowledge regarding cultural beliefs of dietary habits among postnatal women with demographic variables.
 Material and methods: Evaluatory research approach is used to assess the effectiveness of self-instructional module on through the difference between the pre-test and post-test knowledge score. In this study a total number of 60 postnatal women who fulfil the inclusion criteria were selected. A structured questionnaire developed for assessing the knowledge of postnatal women.
 Result: According to the findings, 13.33% of postnatal women had an average level of knowledge, 55% had a good level of knowledge, and 31.67% had an excellent level of knowledge. Conclusion: According to findings of the study, there is an improvement in knowledge of postnatal women. Statistically, the self-instructional module on knowledge regarding cultural beliefs of dietary habits among postnatal women was proved to be effective.

Optimal gestational weight gain

Optimal gestational weight gain

Treatment of inconclusives in the AFTE range of conclusions

Abstract In the past decade, and in response to the recommendations set forth by the National Research Council Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community (2009), scientists have conducted several black-box studies that attempt to estimate the error rates of firearm examiners. Most of these studies have resulted in vanishingly small error rates, and at least one of them (D. P. Baldwin, S. J. Bajic, M. Morris, and D. Zamzow. A Study of False-Positive and False-Negative Error Rates in Cartridge Case Comparisons. Technical report, Ames Lab IA, Performing, Fort Belvoir, VA, April 2014.) was cited by the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST) during the Obama administration, as an example of a well-designed experiment. What has received little attention, however, is the actual calculation of error rates and in particular, the effect of inconclusive findings on those error estimates. The treatment of inconclusives in the assessment of errors has far-reaching implications in the legal system. Here, we revisit several black-box studies in the area of firearms examination, investigating their treatment of inconclusive results. It is clear that there are stark differences in the rate of inconclusive results in regions with different norms for training and reporting conclusions. More surprisingly, the rate of inconclusive decisions for materials from different sources is notably higher than the rate of inconclusive decisions for same-source materials in some regions. To mitigate the effects of this difference we propose a unifying approach to the calculation of error rates that is directly applicable in forensic laboratories and in legal settings.

Discordance between Body-Mass Index and Body Adiposity Index in the Classification of Weight Status of Elderly Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease.

Background and Aims: Body-mass index (BMI) is a popular method implemented to define weight status. However, describing obesity by BMI may result in inaccurate assessment of adiposity. The Body Adiposity Index (BAI) is intended to be a directly validated method of estimating body fat percentage. We set out to compare body weight status assessment by BMI and BAI in a cohort of elderly patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: A total of 169 patients with stable CAD were enrolled in an out-patient cardiology clinic. The National Research Council (US) Committee on Diet and Health classification was used for individuals older than 65 years as underweight BMI < 24 kg/m2, normal weight BMI 24–29 kg/m2, overweight BMI 29–35 kg/m2, and obesity BMI > 35 kg/m2. In case of BAI, we used sex- and age-specific classification of weight status. In addition, body fat was estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BImpA). Results: Only 72 out of 169 patients (42.6%) had concordant classification of weight status by both BMI and BAI. The majority of the patients had their weight status either underestimated or overestimated. There were strong positive correlations between BMI and BImpA (FAT%) (R = 0.78 p < 0.001); BAI and BImpA (FAT%) (R = 0.79 p < 0.001); and BMI and BAI (R = 0.67 p < 0.001). BMI tended to overestimate the rate of underweight, normal weight or overweight, meanwhile underestimating the rate of obesity. Third, BMI exhibited an average positive bias of 14.4% compared to the reference method (BImpA), whereas BAI exhibited an average negative bias of −8.3% compared to the reference method (BImpA). Multivariate logistic regression identified independent predictors of discordance in assessing weight status by BMI and BAI: BImpA (FAT%) odds ratio (OR) 1.29, total body water (%) OR 1.61, fat mass index OR 2.62, and Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score OR 1.25. Conclusions: There is substantial rate of misclassification of weight status between BMI and BAI. These findings have significant implications for clinical practice as the boundary between health and disease in malnutrition is crucial to accurately define criteria for intervention. Perhaps BMI cut-offs for classifying weight status in the elderly should be revisited.

Effect of dietary grape pomace on fats digestibility in horses

Effect of dietary grape pomace on fats digestibility in horses

The behavioural challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic: indirect measurements and personalized attitude changing treatments (IMPACT).

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the globe coerced their citizens to adhere to preventive health behaviours, aiming to reduce the effective reproduction numbers of the virus. Driven by game theoretic considerations and inspired by the work of US National Research Council's Committee on Food Habits (1943) during WWII, and the post-WWII Yale Communication Research Program, the present research shows how to achieve enhanced adherence to health regulations without coercion. To this aim, we combine three elements: (i) indirect measurements, (ii) personalized interventions, and (iii) attitude changing treatments (IMPACT). We find that a cluster of short interventions, such as elaboration on possible consequences, induction of cognitive dissonance, addressing next of kin and similar others and receiving advice following severity judgements, improves individuals' health-preserving attitudes. We propose extending the use of IMPACT under closure periods and during the resumption of social and economic activities under COVID-19 pandemic, since efficient and lasting adherence should rely on personal attitudes rather than on coercion alone. Finally, we point to the opportunity of international cooperation generated by the pandemic.

Comparison of body mass index range criteria and their association with cognition, functioning and depression: a cross-sectional study in Mexican older adults

BackgroundWorld population is living longer, demanding adjustments in public health policies. Body mass index (BMI) is widely known and used as a parameter and predictor of health status although an adapted criterion for older adults is usually overlooked. BMI has been extensively analysed in relation to mortality but fewer studies address its association with cognition, functioning and depression in older adults. The present study aimed at 1) comparing BMI distribution according to the ranges proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States National Research Council Committee on Diet and Health (CDH), 2) analysing their association with cognitive functioning, physical functioning and depression and 3) analysing a possible, interaction of BMI criteria with sex on the outcome measures.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included 395 participants recruited by convenience sampling; 283 (71.6%) women and 112 (24.58%) men. Mean age was 74.68 (SD = 8.50, range: 60–98). Outcome measures included the Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire for cognitive status, the Barthel’s Index of Activities of Daily Living for physical functioning, and the Geriatric Depression Scale.ResultsWHO criterion classified most cases (65.3%) as overweight, followed by normal weight (32.2%) and underweight (2.5%) whereas CDH criterion considered most (48.1%) as normal weight, and followed by overweight (31.4%) and underweight (20.5%). Analysing cognitive status, independent physical functioning and depression mean scores, significant differences (p ≤ .001) were found when comparing the three weight groups (underweight, normal weight and overweight) using either the WHO- or the CDH criterion. Post-hoc tests revealed that in all comparisons the underweight group scored the lowest in all three outcome measures. According to the CDH criterion, overweight was favourable for females but unfavourable for males regarding cognitive status (interaction F(2,389) = 4.52, p ≤ .01) and independent functioning (interaction F(2,389) = 3.86, p ≤ .05).ConclusionsBMI and its associations to relevant outcome measures in the older adults must rely on criteria that take into account the particular features of this population, such as the CDH criterion. Underweight was associated with decremented cognition, less independent physical functioning and more depression. Overweight seemed favourable for women but unfavourable for men.

Missing data and sensitivity analysis for binary data with implications for sample size and power of randomized clinical trials.

Despite our best efforts, missing outcomes are common in randomized controlled clinical trials. The National Research Council's Committee on National Statistics panel report titled The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials noted that further research is required to assess the impact of missing data on the power of clinical trials and how to set useful target rates and acceptable rates of missing data in clinical trials. In this article, using binary responses for illustration, we establish that conclusions based on statistical analyses that include only complete cases can be seriously misleading, and that the adverse impact of missing data grows not only with increasing rates of missingness but also with increasing sample size. We illustrate how principled sensitivity analysis can be used to assess the robustness of the conclusions. Finally, we illustrate how sample sizes can be adjusted to account for expected rates of missingness. We find that when sensitivity analyses are considered as part of the primary analysis, the required adjustments to the sample size are dramatically larger than those that are traditionally used. Furthermore, in some cases, especially in large trials with small target effect sizes, it is impossible to achieve the desired power.

Jerry Paul Gollub

Jerry Paul Gollub was a remarkably creative physicist who conducted foundational experiments in nonlinear dynamics, including the first observation and characterization of the transition from order to chaos in fluid systems. His work contributed greatly to the understanding of complex dynamical behavior. His lucid papers and lectures made him widely sought as a lecturer at universities and international conferences. Jerry Paul Gollub LISA J. GODFREY/HAVERFORD COLLEGEPPT|High-resolutionJerry was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, on 9 September 1944 and died in Haverford, Pennsylvania, on 8 June 2019. He graduated with an AB degree from Oberlin College in 1966 and with a PhD from Harvard University in 1971; his thesis adviser was Michael Tinkham. His primary appointment during the entirety of his professional career, from 1971 to 2012, was at Haverford College. In 1997 he was named the John and Barbara Bush Professor of Natural Sciences. His steadfast commitment to undergraduate education and to Haverford led him to decline offers of professorships at several major research universities.In his Haverford laboratory, Jerry mentored more than 100 undergraduates and worked with postdocs and with graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an adjunct professor. Because of the world-class research he conducted, in 1986 he became the first recipient of the American Physical Society (APS) Prize for a Faculty Member for Research in an Undergraduate Institution. He also held visiting appointments at the University of Paris VII in 1985, École Normale Supérieure in 1991, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1997–98.My fondest memories of Jerry are from the period 1974–75, when we collaborated on experiments designed to test Lev Landau’s 1944 prediction that the transition to turbulence would occur through an infinite sequence of instabilities, each adding a new frequency to the motion, as the Reynolds number was increased. In our intense collaboration, Jerry and I developed a deep friendship and a research style and purpose that we sustained throughout our careers.Our experiments, conducted at the City College of New York, yielded time series of the fluid velocity measured at a point between concentric cylinders. As the inner cylinder rotation rate (proportional to the Reynolds number) was increased, power spectra of the velocity time series revealed a transition from time-independent flow to a state characterized by a single frequency, in accord with the Landau picture. At a higher Reynolds number, a second frequency component, incommensurate with the first, appeared in the power spectrum, just as Landau had anticipated. With further increase in the Reynolds number, however, the spectra contained increasing broadband noise but no additional discrete frequency components. The noisy behavior differed from the expected Landau scenario, but the observation was consistent with models and analyses of chaos developed in the 1960s and 1970s.In the 1980s Jerry and his group at Haverford developed a technique for visualizing spatial patterns in convecting fluids. With it, they investigated how competition between different spatiotemporal modes led to chaos. In the late 1980s, Jerry used particle-tracking methods to characterize chaotic mixing in time-periodic convective flows, the formation of fractal and dendritic structures in solidification processes, and pattern formation and chaos in surface waves. He also conducted a series of imaginative experiments on the dynamics of granular materials. In 2008–9 Jerry was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Cambridge University, where he collaborated with Raymond Goldstein, who had developed green algae as model organisms for biological fluid dynamics. Their experiments revealed diffusive yet non-Gaussian tracer statistics in suspensions of swimming microorganisms.From 2000 to 2002, Jerry served as cochair of the National Research Council committee that produced the study Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools. In 2005–8 he served on the National Academy of Sciences governing council.Jerry was awarded the 2003 APS Fluid Dynamics Prize “for his elucidation of chaos, instabilities, mixing and pattern formation.” He also served for three decades in many APS elected and appointed positions, including on the council and the executive board.Jerry is greatly missed by his many friends, students, postdocs, and other collaborators throughout the world. His innovative experiments on the complex dynamics of systems driven away from thermodynamic equilibrium will have lasting influence. He will also be remembered as a tireless advocate for high school and undergraduate science education, especially in physics, and for his contributions to the general good of the broad scientific community.© 2019 American Institute of Physics.

The Way It Was.

Mary Osborn was a native Californian. She was an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, where she worked in the laboratory of I.L. Chaikoff. She received her PhD at the University of Washington, where her work on the role of folic acid coenzymes in one-carbon metabolism revealed the mechanism of action of methotrexate. After postdoctoral training with Bernard Horecker in the Department of Microbiology at New York University (NYU), she embarked on her research career as a faculty member in the NYU Department of Microbiology and in the Department of Molecular Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1968 she moved as one of the founding faculty of the new medical school of the University of Connecticut, where she remained until her retirement in 2014. Her research was focused on the biosynthesis of the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria and on the assembly of the bacterial cell envelope. She made seminal contributions in these areas. She was the recipient of numerous honors and served as president of several important scientific organizations. Later in her career she served as chair of the National Research Council Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, advisory to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which produced an influential report that plotted the path for NASA's space biology research program in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Dr. Osborn died on Jan. 17, 2019.

Using contrasting cases to improve self-assessment in physics learning

Self-assessment is essential to scientific literacy as stated by the National Research Council Committee on Conceptual Framework for the New K-12 Science Education Standards and has since been incorporated into the Next Generation Science Standards. However, little empirical evidence documents which instructional tools are beneficial in improving students’ self-assessment in science learning. As such, we conducted a classroom-based quasi-experiment to test whether contrasting case-based instructional supports improved 390 introductory high school physics students’ accuracy in self-assessment and academic performance when solving physics problems. We compared the effects of providing students with content knowledge and contrasting cases (contrasting good and poor solution) on students’ physics problem solving and their ability to self-assess, with the effects of either presenting them with content knowledge and good solutions or teaching only content knowledge. We found contrasting examples improved the accuracy of students’ self-assessments, promoted content learning, and enhanced the development of self-assessment strategies.

Značaj socijalne komponente rada učenika u problemskoj nastavi

This paper explores the ways in which problem-based learning is implemented and its effect on student performance. We conducted a parallel group study of primary school students in grades 5 to 8 to examine the effect of problem-based learning on students' scores on a math test. The assessment of the effect of problem-based learning using an experimental study is a reliable means of verifying the results of earlier research in this area, but also contributes to pedagogical research in terms of assessing the importance of the effect of this type of instruction on the development of various modern skills and competencies. In addition to the principal, experimental method and testing technique, we have employed the descriptive method and the technique of systematic observation in order to identify the manner in which problem-based learning is organized and implemented. The sample consisted of 480 students in grades 5-8 and 14 teachers in two primary schools in the municipality of Niksic. The results indicate that the majority of teachers in the experimental groups (E-groups) adequately implemented problem-based learning. Differences between E-groups were identified with regard to the way in which students were incentivized, communication between the subjects, and the form of instruction, resulting in differences in performance between E-group students and control group (C-group) students on knowledge tests. Problem-based learning was found to be more effective when students worked on problems in a group format through cooperation and collaboration rather than working on problems individually. We therefore highlight the advantages of group work when implementing problem-based learning, which promotes the development of three areas of competencies in the modern age, as defined by the National Research Council committee in 2011: the cognitive, the interpersonal and the intrapersonal.

When Is Science Used in Science Policy? Examining the Importance of Scientific and Technical Information in National Research Council Reports

AbstractA frequent lament among researchers is that public policy makers should pay more attention to scientific and technical information (STI). If there is any single area where one might expect STI to be used in public policy making and agenda setting it is in science and technology policy. Many of the policy makers in science and technology policy are themselves scientists or researchers and presumably would prove especially receptive to STI. However, STI is only one of many types of information used in policy making and policy actors often differ in the extent to which they view STI as credible, particularly compared to other types of potentially policy‐relevant information. Research on credibility (the believability of information, information types, and media) has shown variance and policy makers’ “credibility maps.” Thus, some policy makers have preference for formal information generally and STI specifically, but others privilege raw data, personal experience, authority, history and anecdote, analogical reasoning, or conformance to ideology, to name just a few of the information choices. Here, we build on the current researchers’ previous bibliometrics‐based work and use data from 41 semi‐structured elite interviews with National Research Council (NRC) executives and staff and NRC committee members concerning the use of STI in reports issued by the NRC. Findings show that the use of STI in NRC reports varies according to the nature of the inquiry and the sponsor. Information used in the reports is based on not only the assessed credibility of information but also its perceived direct relevance and the availability of STI as compared to other types of information. In general, the amount of STI in the NRC reports tends to have modest effects on the likelihood that reports will be used in policy making or by the mass media. More important factors include the timing of the report with respect to political agendas, the party requesting the report, and the enacted roles of NRC staff members and committee chairs.

PROCEEDINGS DEDICATION: Robert Dean

This Proceedings is dedicated to Dr. Robert George Dean. For more than 12 years (1992-2004), Dr. Dean served as Chairman of the Coastal Engineering Research Council, the organization that is responsible for providing the coastal engineering profession with its most important conference, the ICCE. His motto was “the Coastal Engineering Research Council does one thing and we do it well”—ensuring that a high-quality conference is held every two years and that a proceedings is created as a record of the state of the art. We all can agree with that. &#x0D; &#x0D; Dr. Dean was one of the most influential coastal engineers of this era. On the academic side, he educated a large number of masters and PhD students, many who have carried on his teachings in the field. He wrote or co-wrote several hundred articles and three books—Water Wave Mechanics for Engineers and Scientists, Beach Nourishment: Theory and Practice, and Coastal Processes with Engineering Implications. The first book, in print since 1984, provided to generations of coastal engineers the derivation of water wave mechanics from fluid mechanics and reflected some of his contributions to the field: such as wavemaker theory and the Stream Function wave theory. The second book (2003) provided a new rational basis for the design of beach nourishments from sand selection and beach profile to planform layout, while the third book (2004) provided a scientific bases for coastal engineering, including some of his novel work on sediment transport and tidal inlet hydraulics and stability. &#x0D; &#x0D; He was born in Wyoming, USA, on November 1, 1930. His education included Long Beach City College and then UC Berkeley for the BS in Civil Engineering (1954), an MS in Physical Oceanography at Texas A&amp;M (1956), and then the Doctor of Science (Civil Engineering) from MIT (1959). His professional career started in industry with five years at Chevron Research Corporation, when he developed the Stream Function theory for use in wave force calculations on offshore structures. He then became the chair of the Department of Coastal and Oceanographical Engineering at the University of Florida in 1966. For seven years (1975-1982) he served as Unidel Professor at the University of Delaware, where, among other things, he worked on equilibrium beach profiles, providing several scientific explanations and field verification of the Bruun beach profile. Then he returned to the University of Florida as a Graduate Research Professor until his retirement in 2003 as an Emeritus Graduate Research Professor (2003). Even in retirement he continued working in the field, often producing more than eight publications a year!&#x0D; &#x0D; He was very active in consulting and service to the profession. He served on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Coastal Engineering Research Board, which provides advice to the Corps on coastal topics (1968-1980; 1993-1998). He served on six National Research Council (of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine) committees on such topics as sea level rise, coastal erosion, coastal nourishment, and Louisiana, and the Marine Board (beginning in 1981). As a Floridian, he worked as the Director of the Division of Beach and Shores of the State of Florida, working on such topics as the basis of implementing the State’s coastal setback line for development. He also was Chair of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association and a director of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. &#x0D; &#x0D; Bob possessed a tremendous skill for examine a problem and recognizing the appropriate physics to apply to it. With this skill, he was able to bring new insights into beach profiles, alongshore sediment transport rates, beach nourishment guidelines, tidal inlet stability, wave theory, and a host of other topics. For this, he was recognized by the ASCE’s John G. Moffatt-Frank E. Nichol Harbor and Coastal Engineering Award (1987), the Gold Medal of the Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association (1987), the ASCE International Coastal Engineer Award (1983) and the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the Department of the Army (1981 and 2008) among others. In 1980, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. &#x0D; &#x0D; For a man of his professional stature and accomplishment, Bob was just as happy talking with the top people in the field as newcomers. He treated them all with the same graciousness. Even when someone he was listening to was saying something scientifically wrong, Bob would ask polite questions, such as “would your solution satisfy conservation of energy?” or “I don’t understand where this term came from?” I know, because it happened to me on occasions. &#x0D; &#x0D; Bob is survived by his wife Phyllis, his daughter Julie Dean Rosati (another contribution to coastal engineering), his son Tim, and five grandchildren.

A Digital History of Anglophone Demography and Global Population Control, 1915–1984

A Digital History of Anglophone Demography and Global Population Control, 1915–1984

Credibility and use of scientific and technical information in policy making: An analysis of the information bases of the National Research Council’s committee reports

Often researchers are disappointed by the limited extent to which peer reviewed STEM research seems to contribute directly to high level public policy decision-making. However, does the perception of the limited use of formal scientific and technical information (STI) accord with empirical reality? How does the choice of various types of information relate to the use and impacts of science policy reports and recommendations? While there is a prodigious literature on the use of formal information in decision-making, our focus is on the use of STI in science, technology and innovation (S&T) policy, a domain in which there is virtually no empirical literature. This study examines the use and impacts of STI in the context of a single, but arguably quite important, S&T policy domain: the US National Research Council (NRC) reports. This is an especially important target institution for analysis because NRC committees have extensive information access and resources, as well as decision-makers who are well equipped to deal with a variety of information types, including STI. To understand the information ingredients of high-level S&T policymaking and advice, we have coded information about the report, policy area, committee and reviewers, STI, and use of the report by Congress. Results indicate that STI is widely used in the NRC report-writing process, but, although nearly half of all NRC reports are explicitly conveyed to Congress, STI use does not figure significantly in this conveyance. These findings imply different internal and external credibility orientations.

Invited review: Experimental design, data reporting, and sharing in support of animal systems modeling research.

The National Animal Nutrition Program "National Research Support Project 9" supports efforts in livestock nutrition, including the National Research Council's committees on the nutrient requirements of animals. Our objective was to review the status of experimentation and data reporting in animal nutrition literature and to provide suggestions for the advancement of animal nutrition research and the ongoing improvement of field-applied nutrient requirement models. Improved data reporting consistency and completeness represent a substantial opportunity to improve nutrition-related mathematical models. We reviewed a body of nutrition research; recorded common phrases used to describe diets, animals, housing, and environmental conditions; and proposed equivalent numerical data that could be reported. With the increasing availability of online supplementary material sections in journals, we developed a comprehensive checklist of data that should be included in publications. To continue to improve our research effectiveness, studies utilizing multiple research methodologies to address complex systems and measure multiple variables will be necessary. From the current body of animal nutrition literature, we identified a series of opportunities to integrate research focuses (nutrition, reproduction and genetics) to advance the development of nutrient requirement models. From our survey of current experimentation and data reporting in animal nutrition, we identified 4 key opportunities to advance animal nutrition knowledge: (1) coordinated experiments should be designed to employ multiple research methodologies; (2) systems-oriented research approaches should be encouraged and supported; (3) publication guidelines should be updated to encourage and support sharing of more complete data sets; and (4) new experiments should be more rapidly integrated into our knowledge bases, research programs and practical applications.

The BioStudies database.

Mol Syst Biol. (2015) 11: 847 Making data and materials used in scientific research available to other researchers is the basis of scientific progress, as reconfirmed in the report of American Academy of Sciences more than a decade ago (National Research Council (US) Committee on Responsibilities of Authorship in the Biological Sciences, 2003) and more recently in the Royal Society Science as an Open Enterprise report (Royal Society, 2012). Abiding by this principle is not only necessary for ensuring reproducible science and maximizing the utility of public funding, but arguably even more importantly, to allow scientists to build on the previous work of their colleagues. Since the inception of protein crystallographic structure and nucleotide sequence databases, it has been common practice to deposit a number of specific types of data in domain‐specific, community‐endorsed archival database and then cite the accession number in the accompanying research article (Kahn & Hazledine, 1988; International Union of Crystallography Commission on Biological Macromolecules, 1989). The advantages of this are twofold: first, data that underpin scientific assertions in the article are accessible, and second, the data are computationally reusable because the same data formats and standards are applied across the entire database. However, in the age of data‐driven science, continuing to meet these aspirations comprehensively can be non‐trivial. The variety and volume of biological research data being produced is growing—nucleotide sequencing data alone are measurable in petabytes (and conceivably will soon be exabytes). There is a growing number of transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic technologies, as well as increasing amounts of research data from consented human individuals, adding further complexity. These and many other data types are supported by the public repositories exemplified by the protein crystallographic structure and nucleotide sequence databases, which work with journals to ensure that data are deposited in the most …

In Memoriam: Paul J. Lioy.

In Memoriam: Paul J. Lioy.