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Daily Archives: April 25, 2016

Shining a Light on Scientific Data: Building a Data Catalog to Foster Data Sharing and Reuse

Shining a Light on Scientific Data: Building a Data Catalog to Foster Data Sharing and Reuse, by Ian Lamb and Catherine Larson. Code{4}Lib Journal, Issue 32, 2016-04-25.

“The scientific community’s growing eagerness to make research data available to the public provides libraries — with our expertise in metadata and discovery — an interesting new opportunity. This paper details the in-house creation of a “data catalog” which describes datasets ranging from population-level studies like the US Census to small, specialized datasets created by researchers at our own institution. Based on Symfony2 and Solr, the data catalog provides a powerful search interface to help researchers locate the data that can help them, and an administrative interface so librarians can add, edit, and manage metadata elements at will. This paper will outline the successes, failures, and total redos that culminated in the current manifestation of our data catalog.”

Commentary – What Do Your Social Media Posts Reveal About Your Health?

Knowledge@Wharton: “What have you shared on social media today? Did you comment on last night’s election results; mention that you’re going to the gym later; sympathize with a friend who’s been in the hospital; describe your meal at a favorite burger joint, or display pictures of your daughter’s jazz dance recital? And what do those… Continue Reading

Prosecutorial Analytics

Kreag, Jason, Prosecutorial Analytics (April 12, 2016). Washington University Law Review (2017) Forthcoming; Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 16-10. Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2764399 “The institution of the prosecutor has more power than any other in the criminal justice system. What is more, prosecutorial power is often unreviewable as a result of limited… Continue Reading

Conviction by Prior Impeachment

Roberts, Anna, Conviction by Prior Impeachment (April 22, 2016). Boston University Law Review, Forthcoming (2016). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2768951 “Impeaching the testimony of criminal defendants through the use of their prior convictions is a practice that is triply flawed: it relies on assumptions belied by data; it has devastating impacts on individual trials;… Continue Reading

Smart Farming May Increase Cyber Targeting Against US Food and Agriculture Sector

FBI/USDA Notification: “The FBI and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) assess the Food and Agriculture (FA) Sector is increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks as farmers become more reliant on digitized data. While precision agriculture technology (a.k.a. smart farming) a reduces farming costs and increases crop yields, farmers need to be aware of and understand… Continue Reading

Health Care for Veterans: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Via FAS – CRS report – Health Care for Veterans: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, Sidath Viranga Panangala, Specialist in Veterans Policy. April 21, 2016. “The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), operates the nation’s largest integrated health care delivery system, provides care to approximately 6.7 million unique veteran patients,… Continue Reading

CRS – Protection of Trade Secrets: Overview of Current Law and Legislation

Protection of Trade Secrets: Overview of Current Law and Legislation, Brian T. Yeh, Legislative Attorney. April 22, 2016. “A trade secret is confidential, commercially valuable information that provides a company with a competitive advantage, such as customer lists, methods of production, marketing strategies, pricing information, and chemical formulae. (Well- known examples of trade secrets include… Continue Reading

GPO – Univ Florida Make Historical Panama Canal Pubs Available on Govinfo

“The U.S. Government Publishing Office and the George A. Smather’s Libraries at the University of Florida (UF) make the digital versions of the Panama Canal Commission publications, and its predecessor agencies, available on GPO’s govinfo.  Link: https://www.govinfo.gov/browse/panama-canal. The collection contains a variety of publications that provide a glimpse into the workings of the Canal and… Continue Reading

Edward Snowden interview – Internet is Broken

Matt Giles, Popular Science interviewed Edward Snowden “Popular Science: How has the Internet changed in the three years since the release? Edward Snowden: There have been a tremendous number of changes that have happened, and not just on the Internet. It has changed our culture, it has changed our laws, it’s changed the way our… Continue Reading