National Research Data Research Articles

Towards Semantic Integration of Federated Research Data

Digitization of the research (data) lifecycle has created a galaxy of data nodes that are often characterized by sparse interoperability. With the start of the European Open Science Cloud in November 2018 and facing the upcoming call for the creation of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), researchers and infrastructure providers will need to harmonize their data efforts. In this article, we propose a recently initiated proof-of-concept towards a network of semantically harmonized Research Data Management (RDM) systems. This includes a network of research data management and publication systems with semantic integration at three levels, namely, data, metadata, and schema. As such, an ecosystem for agile, evolutionary ontology development, and the community-driven definition of quality criteria and classification schemes for scientific domains will be created. In contrast to the classical data repository approach, this process will allow for cross-repository as well as cross-domain data discovery, integration, and collaboration and will lead to open and interoperable data portals throughout the scientific domains. At the joint lab of L3S research center and TIB Leibniz Information Center for Science and Technology in Hanover, we are developing a solution based on a customized distribution of CKAN called the Leibniz Data Manager (LDM). LDM utilizes the CKAN’s harvesting functionality to exchange metadata using the DCAT vocabulary. By adding the concept of semantic schema to LDM, it will contribute to realizing the FAIR paradigm. Variables, their attributes and relationships of a dataset will improve findability and accessibility and can be processed by humans or machines across scientific domains. We argue that it is crucial for the RDM development in Germany that domain-specific data silos should be the exception, and that a semantically-linked network of generic and domain-specific research data systems and services at national, regional, and organization levels should be promoted within the NFDI initiative.

Current Trends in Research Data Management

This article presents an analysis of policies, guidelines and requirements set by governments of a number of countries in the field of data openness, grantors, and publishers, as well as a review of publications, which allows tracing the main trends in research data management, and the Guide to Research Data Management, which reflects the basic concepts and features of preparing a data management plan, metadata standards, data identifiers, etc. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop service management and create institutional and national research data management services.

Research Data Management (RDM) Strategy for Academic Libraries in Ghana: Setting a National Development Agenda

Academic libraries have in tandem, gradually assumed a superior role in a nation’s development. Academic library policies and practices over the world have therefore advocated holistic research data management in a physical and virtual landscape. These dynamics have posed challenges and consequences for socio-economic development for academic libraries in Ghana. This study analyses and assesses research data management policies and practices in academic libraries in order to develop a strategic and comprehensive framework that depicts real time coordination among stakeholders for socio-economic development, thus asetting a strong agenda for national development in Ghana. Using ethically professional research methods, this study adopted the purposive sampling techniques to select its sample size, scooped both quantitative and qualitative data from survey-based secondary data sources and modifies existing research data management theories and models to unravel and explain its findings. The Ghana Library Board (GLB), the Consortium of Academic and Research Li-braries in Ghana (CARLIGH), and the Ghana Library Association (GLA) are key policy formulation agencies in Ghana’s academic library industry with a goal of negotiating licensing agreements and play leadership roles to re-inforce research data management. Poor level of collaboration between researchers and librarians, lack of research data management skill, lack of technological innovation and financial constraints are key challenges of academic libraries in Ghana. Surely, academic libraries in Ghana have ex-hibited potentials for revitalizing research data management in the areas of health, education, employment, land and housing, governance, water and sanitation, agriculture, energy, urbanization, youth and gender studies, and the environment. The recommended national research data management policy framework with an embedded enterprise wide research management information system will assure the world’s academic library industry of an effective RDM strategy that drives global development, hone the expertise of academic libraries in Ghana and direct their research data management strategies.

Landesinitiative NFDI – a Central Point of Contact for RDM for Higher Education Institutions in the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia

This paper gives an overview of activities regarding RDM in Germany including the national political context as well as initiatives on federal state level. The knowledge about Germany’s federal system, which also entails the autonomy of the federal states regarding the higher education system, is fundamental to understand the different approaches towards RDM in Germany. The state initiatives of Thuringia, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Hesse are described to compare them to the state initiative (Landesinitiative NFDI) of Germany’s most populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW). The aim of the initiative in NRW is to initiate the collaboration between institutions, to link current RDM activities in NRW and to prepare the local institutions for the participation in a National Research Data Infrastructure (Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur, NFDI).

Method of speed data fusion based on Bayesian combination algorithm and high‐order multi‐variable Markov model

The variety of data collecting and communication methods used in intelligent transportation systems such as sensors, cameras, and communication networks bring about huge volumes of data that are available for numerous transportation applications and related research on smart cities. However, it is still a challenge to integrate these heterogeneous data sources into a singular data schema in practice. Compared to a single data source, higher data accuracy can be obtained through integration of the multiple data sources if the data quality from each source has been known. In this study, a data fusion method based on Bayesian fusion rules is proposed to merge traffic speed from different data sources according to their prior probability that can be inferred from a high-order multivariable Markov model by considering the relations of multiple traffic factors in a systemic perspective. Case studies based on freeway data, such as loop data, INRIX data, and data from the National Performance Management and Research Data Set, are performed to validate the effectiveness of proposed speed fusion method.

Distributed NLP Framework to create new federated data-sets

IntroductionAlthough healthcare systems generate significant amounts of structured data, there remains a untapped wealth of unstructured narrative data. In the UK, 70% of all NHS digital information is in unstructured form. The NHS has no plans to computerise this data, as it is simply would not be cost effective.
 Objectives and ApproachOur aim was to make all digitised free text within partner organisations accessible for NLP processing for research, while overcoming information governance challenges. We developed a distributed GATE-based NLP platform enabling NLP models to be automatically distributed and materialised against the free text data in each organisation to create new conventional datasets, which can then be transmitted back using an established governance model.
 This work adds NLP capability to the UK’s National Research Data Appliances, deployed throughout Wales and beyond and uses many open source components enabling a deployment without additional software licence costs, leading to increased potential use cases.
 ResultsWe have been able to demonstrate a fully federated network of analytical nodes into NHS Wales, which takes the analytical NLP model to the free text data, as opposed to the data having to travel. Under a common, acceptable, governance model, an approval system enables organisations such as health boards to give permission for projects and NLP models to be used against their data.
 In a proof of concept project, we have run a number of NLP models over large numbers of documents, which the platform has ingested, converted and analysed.
 We have developed a proposal for a common NLP model definition format to enable models to be interchangeable between different research groups and systems. Sharing/discovery of established NLP models is key deliverable.
 Conclusion/ImplicationsThe implications of being able to send the query to the data, enables access to this untapped data source, finally enabling the realisation of new datasets, while abiding by any IG framework. The low cost and simplicity will enable a many research opportunities, some of which are already being realised.

Setting up a National Research Data Curation Service for Qatar: Challenges and Opportunities

Over the past decade, Qatar has been making considerable progress towards developing a sustainable research culture for the nation. The main driver behind Qatar’s progress in research and innovation is Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), a private, non-profit organization that aims to utilise research as a catalyst for expanding, diversifying and improving the country’s economy, health and environment. While this has resulted in a significant growth in the number of research publications produced by Qatari researchers in recent years, a nationally co-ordinated approach is needed to address some of the emerging but increasingly important aspects of research data curation, such as management and publication of research data as important outputs, and their long-term digital preservation. Qatar National Library (QNL), launched in November 2012 under the umbrella of QF, aims to establish itself as a centre of excellence in Qatar for research data management, curation and publishing to address the research data-related needs of Qatari researchers and academics. This paper describes QNL’s approach towards establishing a national research data curation service for Qatar, highlighting the associated opportunities and key challenges.

Bullying in Students with and Without Special Educational Needs

In the present study a concise presentation of the phenomenon of school bullying in students with and without special educational needs is attempted. Initially, a distinction is made between the terms “violence” and “school bullying”, the second term being a sub-category of the broader concept of violence. Then, some of the most important definitions which have been attributed to ‘‘school bullying’’ are presented. It is noted that there is no universally accepted definition, as the definition of such a complex and multidimensional phenomenon is not an easy task. Then, the main forms of school bullying are described as well as its principal causes are presented. Finally, international and national research data – principally from Greece - on the frequency of school bullying based on the type of disability/special educational needs is presented while suggestions are made for its confrontation.

The susceptibility of infection site in sepsis

Sepsis is the most common cause of death in infants and children in the world.Common infection sites leading to sepsis include respiratory tract, bloodstream, urinary tract, alimentary tract, central nervous system, and endocardia.Infection site is hypothesized to have the significant susceptibility.There is little epidemiological or national research data on the site of sepsis in China.In this article, we discussed the susceptibility of infection site in sepsis by literature review.Identifying infection site early would help guide clinical decision making in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Key words: Sepsis; Infection site; Susceptibility,

Secure Research at scale

ABSTRACT
 BackgroundAs part of an initiative funded by FARR institute, Swansea University Health Informatics Unit embarked on the creation of the UK Secure e-Research Platform (UKSeRP) to both build on the experience developed by the SAIL databank over many years and to create an infrastructure that can support, at scale, multiple national research programmes.
 MethodThe system was created utilising the in-house technical staff and combines multiple vender solutions all orchestrated through bespoke developments. The same team also developed the National Research Data Appliance (NRDA) and elements of this initiate were integrated into the core of this development.
 ResultsThe system went live at the end of February 2016 and is already supporting five national level research programmes. The presentation will show now the system is architected and how it evolved over time as additional opportunities arose. It is imperative to both provide common architecture and systems that can scale to meet the research programmes needs and yet still allow for additional unique aspects to be provisioned that deliver against the programmes research goals and differing governance models.
 The platform has gained an ISO 27001 accreditation which provided clear control and management over information security but also allows programmes utilising the platform to inherit these key controls and if desirable to gain their own accreditation easier, as the SAIL Databank has demonstrated.
 The platform has an ambitus road map and is currently adding imaging capabilities supported by an imaging processing pipeline. Genomics handling, processing and analysis capabilities are being added in the next couple of months.
 ConclusionThe demand for UKSeRP has been higher than initially envisaged and the possible use cases are constantly being imagined. We are also introducing an entry level UKSeRP to support individual projects and their requirements.

The Important Role of CRIS's for Registering and Archiving Research Data. The RDS-project at Radboud University (the Netherlands) in Cooperation with Data-archive DANS

Optimal research data management and archiving is a key condition for progress in modern science and of vital importance from both the point of view of research as such as well as research policy and management. More specifically, it is a conditio sine qua non for the realization of Open Science and at the same time it is indispensable for the monitoring and assessment of the quality and integrity of research. Various aspects play a role here: optimal infrastructures and tools for the actual handling of data during the research lifecycle, appropriate metadata to describe the datasets, and – last but not least – an adequate organizational framework to curate and archive the datasets professionally and provide optimal support and services to the researchers.The paper presents the Research Data Services (RDS) project of Radboud University (the Netherlands) in cooperation with one of the Dutch national research data archives: DANS (Data Archiving and Networked Services). In this project, a model is worked out for the archiving of research datasets via the CRIS (Current Research Information System) of the university, including both the registration of the metadata as well as the actual upload of the data files to the DANS archive. It is argued that an optimal solution is not only a technical matter, but also requires the definition and organization of appropriate support, management structures and workflows, involving both local and national partners. In this respect, attention is paid to the explanation of the frontoffice-backoffice model(FoBo) that is being defined and implemented as part of the project and which forms the organizational backbone of the solution worked out. The paper starts by arguing that aCRIS-oriented approach in research data archiving holds substantial added value, and it ends with an overview of lessons learned and a peek into the future of the RDS-project.

Towards a Collaborative National Research Data Management Network

This paper describes the plans and strategies to develop Portage, a national network of sustainable, shared services for research data management (RDM) in Canada. A description of the RDM context in Canada is provided. This environment has heightened expectations around the Government of Canada’s Open Science plans and includes deliverables aimed at improving access to publications and data resulting from federally funded scientific activities. At the same time, a recent environmental scan published by Canada’s three federal research granting councils reveals significant gaps in services, infrastructure, and funding mechanisms to support RDM. In addition, Canada’s RDM environment consists of stakeholders from a variety of communities with minimal ongoing coordination or cooperation. The Portage network was conceived as a collaborative network model based on libraries’ strong connections with researchers across the disciplines, an ethos of curation and preservation, and experience with systems for managing data in all its forms. A pilot project provided Portage with a vision and set of principles, and identified several objectives as the small wins that would build the trust and shared understanding required for a successful network. Current services and activities of Portage, including a data management planning tool and an infrastructure project, are described in this paper. Portage now faces the challenge of moving from project to operational network, and the challenge of establishing a sustainable governance model. CARL appointed a Steering Committee that will be proposing a full governance model at the conclusion of this transition period. Using a framework of factors identified in the literature, several relevant collaborative and network governance models are being explored.This paper outlines experience to date with Portage and matters under consideration for long-term sustainability, with a goal of engaging international colleagues in discussion and furthering the concepts for the benefit of RDM networks everywhere.Â

Methodology for leading indicators on sustainable regional development

Abstract This research depicts an exploratory initiative focused on treating data to create score and rank indicators of sustainability that can be used to monitor sustainable regional development in metropolitan regions. In order to characterize, classify, and predict the conditions that might lead to the sustainable regional development of cities in a metropolitan area, the study of municipalities in the Baixada Fluminense (region neighboring the city of Rio de Janeiro) was adopted as a reference. The operational assumption for constructing and handling the variables took into account the existence of a legal framework, proposed by the government institute in charge of national research and socioeconomic data surveys, thereby establishing the parameters for the leading indicators required to characterize the conditions needed to achieve different development levels. Based on a series of secondary data, available in binary format for the year 2009 and obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) Municipal Database (BDM), the statistical methods used in this paper indicated a high level of accuracy in the "mashing-up" constructs (Cronbach's Alpha equivalent to 0.824). They also showed the existence of different hierarchical clusters and functions able to classify the typology of municipalities based on selected leading indicators and 87.8% correspondence in the classification of observations. According to the purposes of this study, namely to discover a framework for measuring, discussing, and producing policies for sustainable development, some findings show that it is possible to create simple methods to deal with the complexity of sustainable regional development: the creation of types and hierarchies favors the development of policies focused on the comparison and alignment of local realities.

Unemployment and Health: An overview of current research results and data from the 2010 and 2012 German Health Update

This study analyzes the association of unemployment and health using national and international research data. It is based on data from the 2010 and 2012 German Health Update (GEDA), conducted by the Robert Koch Institute. For our analysis, participants aged from 18 to 64 years were selected if they gave information on their unemployment experiences within the five years prior to the study (n = 31,955). The results show that the self-rated health of the unemployed in Germany is significantly worse compared to the workforce. Additionally, the unemployed suffer from medically diagnosed depression. The association of unemployment and health is more pronounced in men than in women for all major outcomes. When compared to workers of the same age, the unemployed smoke more frequently and do less sports. Regarding alcohol consumption, no systematic relationship was found. While the use of medical screening measures for the early detection of diseases is lower among the unemployed than among the employed, they visit general practitioners and hospitals more often than their counterparts. Overall, our findings suggest that unemployed people should remain an important target group of preventive measures in Germany and that the corresponding measures should be intensified.

Community Based Research Network: Opportunities for Coordination of Care, Public Health Surveillance, and Farmworker Research

Introduction: The lack of aggregated longitudinal health data on farmworkers has severely limited opportunities to conduct research to improve their health status. To correct this problem, we have created the infrastructure necessary to develop and maintain a national Research Data Repository of migrant and seasonal farmworker patients and other community members receiving medical care from Community and Migrant Health Centers (C/MHCs). Project specific research databases can be easily extracted from this repository.Methods: The Community Based Research Network (CBRN) has securely imported and merged electronic health records (EHRs) data from five geographically dispersed C/MHCs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our data aggregation methodologies, we also conducted a small pilot study using clinical, laboratory and demographic data from the CBRN Data Repository from two initial C/MHCs to evaluate HbA1c management.Results: Overall, there were 67,878 total patients (2,858 farmworkers) that were seen by two C/MHCs from January to August 2013. A total of 94,189 encounters were captured and all could be linked to a unique patient. HbA1c values decreased as the number of tests or intensity of testing increased.Conclusion: This project will inform the foundation for an expanding collection of C/MHC data for use by clinicians for medical care coordination, by clinics to assess quality of care, by public health agencies for surveillance, and by researchers under Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight to advance understanding of the needs and capacity of the migrant and seasonal farmworker population and the health centers that serve them. Approved researchers can request data that constitute a Limited Data Set from the CBRN Data Repository to establish a specific research database for their project.

Mortality as a measure of quality of care in infants with congenital cardiovascular malformations following surgery.

Mortality has traditionally been perceived as a straightforward measure of outcome and has been used to evaluate surgical performance. In the rapidly developing arena of paediatric cardiac surgery, the insightful analysis of mortality figuresis challenging. This report discusses the issues involved when mortality is used as a marker for surgical outcome, referring to national and international audit and research data. Mortality is an important variable and should be transparently defined, reported and monitored. Definitions of mortality, assessments of risk and interpretations of reported statistics all have limitations that must be recognized. Traditional use of raw early mortality as a simplistic indicator of outcome and performance is evolving to include risk-adjusted mortality, longer-term survival, reinterventions and complications. As the vast majority of children undergoing cardiac surgery now survive beyond 30 days, the focus for measures of quality is shifting towards morbidity.

Using a Bayesian estimator to combine information from a cluster analysis and remote sensing data to estimate high-resolution data for agricultural production in Germany

In Germany, a county-resolution data set that consists of 35 land-use and animal-stock categories has been used extensively to assess the impact of agriculture on the environment. However, because such environmental effects as emission or nutrient surplus depend on the location, even a county resolution might produce misleading results. The aim of this article is to propose a Bayesian approach which combines two sorts of information, with one being treated as defining the prior and the other the data to form a posterior, used to estimate a data set at a municipality resolution. We define the joint prior density function based on (i) remote sensing data, thus accounting for differences in county data and missing data at the municipality level, and (ii) the results of a cluster analysis that was previously applied to the micro-census, whereas the data are defined by official statistics at the county level. This approach results in a fairly accurate data set at the municipality level. The results, using the proposed method, are validated by the national research data centre by comparing the estimates to actual observations. The test statistics presented here demonstrate that the proposed approach adequately estimates the production activities.

Invited Review: Ethanol co-products for dairy cows: there goes our starch … now what?

Paz, H. A., Castillo-Lopez, E., Ramirez-Ramirez, H. A., Christensen, D. A., Klopfenstein, T. J. and Kononoff, P. J. 2013. Invited Review: Ethanol co-products for dairy cows: there goes our starch … now what? Can. J. Anim. Sci. 93: 407–425. The rise of the grain-ethanol industry has resulted in a dramatic increase in the availability of feed co-products namely, distillers’ grains with solubles (DG). The cost of feeds that have traditionally been used for energy continues to increase and there is a need to understand the potential impact of replacing these feeds with DG on milk yield and composition. Using the Dairy National Research Council (2001) model and data from a total of 25 published studies (81 observations), we used a meta-analytical procedure to evaluate the impact of feeding corn milling co-products on lactating dairy cows. Based on our model, the inclusion of DG did not affect dry matter intake (P=0.35) but a trend for an increase in milk yield was observed (P=0. 10). Additionally, the percentages of milk fat and protein in the milk were not affected (P=0.24 and 0.25, respectively). The modeled daily rumen outflow of Lys in grams was significantly (P<0.01) reduced and Met was not affected (P=0.79) when DG were included. The error associated with net energy of lactation allowable milk averaged 5.0±1.0 kg d−1and was not affected by DG (P=0.79) but the error associated with metabolizable protein allowable milk tended (P=0.10) to be higher for cows consuming DG by 1.4±1.2 kg d−1.

중소 국제물류주선업체의 유엔 조달시장 물류서비스 부분 진출방안 연구

Local freight forwarder`s circle is suffering worsening profitability and insecure employment from over-competition which caused by a saturated local logistics market. It is emerging UN procurement market for local freight forwarders. However it is needed to study on successful entry, market status and supporting measures from government and research institute. Currently there are no national research data of UN procurement market in logistics sectors but as per the writer`s experience and viewpoint to UN bidding, it would seem that appropriate measures should be made such as government`s enhanced support for overseas advancement, price competitiveness, building global network and development of education program for trainees associated with current overseas internship program by government.

Research data and libraries: who does what

A range of external pressures are causing research data management (RDM) to be an increasing concern at senior level in universities and other research institutions. But as well as external pressures, there are also good reasons for establishing effective research data management services within institutions which can bring benefits to researchers, their institutions and those who publish their research. In this article some of these motivating factors, both positive and negative, are described. Ways in which libraries can play a role – or even lead – in the development of RDM services that work within the institution and as part of a national and international research data infrastructure are also set out.