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Social media data are transforming sustainability science. However, challenges from restrictions in data accessibility and ethical concerns regarding potential data misuse have threatened this nascent field. Here, we review the literature on the use of social media data in environmental and sustainability research. We find that they can play a novel and irreplaceable role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by allowing a nuanced understanding of human-nature interactions at scale, observing the dynamics of social-ecological change, and investigating the co-construction of nature values. We reveal threats to data access and highlight scientific responsibility to address trade-offs between research transparency and privacy protection, while promoting inclusivity. This contributes to a wider societal debate of social media data for sustainability science and for the common good.

New forms of mobile phone data offer enormous potential for the advancement of our understanding of human activity and mobility. However, uncertainty in the representativeness of data creates ethical risks that underlying biases could impact results and mislead policy recommendations, limiting their usefulness. This paper assesses the spatial and socio-demographic representativeness of two extensive independent mobile phone application datasets over three years, covering a large and diverse city-region (Glasgow), home to over 1.8 million people. Towards this end, we advance methods in home location detection by utilising high resolution residential land use data as part of the process. Results show a very high level of representativeness across both datasets, comparable to survey-based techniques commonly used for mobility analysis in Scotland. The techniques employed to advance home location detection improve the fit substantially over a conventional technique. Our findings provide further confidence for the use of mobile phone data as an alternative data source to understand human activity, furthermore, our methods offer an improved benchmark upon which to assess the quality of similar data sources in the future.

Poster E5 Automation, as part of the Energy Industry’s Digital Transformation, is producing significant time savings in modern engineering workflows whilst minimising opportunity for human error. A challenge we face is ensuring these automated workflows are accessible to people in the industry without programming experience. Xodus’ solution to this problem is FLUX. FLUX works as an object-oriented, ‘no-code’, web-based platform which tracks, stores and executes both technical and non-technical workflows. Workflows are first automated in-house by developing scripts, which are then hosted on FLUX allowing them to be easily shared across the business without requiring programming knowledge. A popular use case for FLUX is in the concept engineering phase of a project when performing parametric analyses. Multiple simulation cases (typically thousands) assessing all the different possible combinations of design parameters can be interrogated at once. FLUX can then automatically output an interactive parallel coordinate plot to highlight the impact of each parameter on the overall system. Platforms such as FLUX are an effective solution to increasing accessibility to automation for the industry via ‘no-code’ mechanisms, the ability to interface through an intuitive digital platform where project data is stored, exchanged and analysed through automated calculations is a step forward in engineering workflow efficiency. To access the poster click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Coastal dune habitats such as those of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (APIS) are regionally rare habitats of global and state-wide concern. Their dynamic, sandy landforms provide habitat for unique species specifically adapted to frequent disturbance, drought, and other stresses. Despite having disturbance-driven life histories, these species are at risk due to increased visitor use of sandscape habitats and environmental change. Resource managers at APIS have long understood the values of these sandscapes and threats presented by recreational trampling, but more recently they have recognized the precarious position that these coastal habitats are in due to their proximity to the lake and exposure to weather-related phenomena linked with long-term climate change. In recognition of emerging threats and the need to track impacts of these threats, park managers initiated a revision of their methods for monitoring sandscape vegetation. We applied these methods to 15 sandscape locations within the national lakeshore in 2014. Here, we outline what these revisions to the methods were, assess the current status of sandscape structure and composition, assess the utility of data collected with these methods, provide suggestions for further revisions of the sampling method, outline a two-tiered sampling approach for future monitoring, and we provide management recommendations. In a second section of the report, we provide a focused assessment of the size and health of Juniperus communis (common juniper), a target species of concern in these sandscape communities after it was observed by park managers to be dying or stressed on Michigan Island. Our assessments include the status of J. communis across all sandscapes monitored in 2014, and an analysis of change over time since 2012 in the health of J. communis on Michigan, Outer, and Stockton Islands. We provide evidence of impacts by rodents on foliar dieback, primarily on Michigan Island, and we discuss possible interactions with the non-native pale juniper web-worm (Aethes rutilana) and with climate change.

Here we test an application, based on the analysis of the metadata of geotagged photographs, to investigate the provision of recreational services by the network of wetland ecosystems in the state of Kerala, India. We estimate visitation to individual wetlands state-wide and extend, for the first time to a developing region, the emerging application of recreational ecosystem services (ES) modelling using data from social media and environmental quality data. The impacts of restoration of wetland areal extension and water quality improvement are explored as a means to inform sustainable management strategies. Findings show that improving water quality to a level suitable for the preservation of wildlife and fisheries could increase annual recreational visits by 13% (350,000) to wetlands state-wide. Results support the notion that passive crowdsourced data from social media has the potential to improve current ecosystem service analyses and environmental management practices also in the context of developing countries.

Valuation of ecosystem services can play an important role in guiding decision-making concerning the restoration of natural ecosystems which is particularly important in tropical coastal wetlands due to their widespread deterioration. This study investigates the environmental status and provision of key ecosystem services of the Ashtamudi lake Ramsar site in Kerala, India, and explores the feasibility of wetland restoration scenarios through a multi-year program involving stakeholder workshops, primary market data collection, and stated preference non-market valuation. Relying on the input of local stakeholders, we apply a choice experiment to estimate the willingness to pay for wetland restoration scenarios with a focus on water quality, mangrove conservation and sustainable fisheries. Results indicate that local stakeholders attribute the greatest value to mangrove conservation, followed by water quality and sustainably managed fisheries. Furthermore, we show that the local residents’ willingness to pay for modest and moderate wetland improvement scenarios may outweigh the potential cost of the restoration projects, especially for modest restoration objectives and even under conservative assumptions regarding the benefits and costs of restoration. We discuss how such results can inform local policy in the development of sustainable management practices and act as a benchmark for the extensive network of wetlands in Kerala.

The Sequence Ontology (SO) is a structured, controlled vocabulary that provides terms and definitions for genomic annotation. The Gene Regulation Ensemble Effort for the Knowledge Commons (GREEKC) initiative has gathered input from many groups of researchers, including the SO, the Gene Ontology (GO), and gene regulation experts, with the goal of curating information about how gene expression is regulated at the molecular level. Here we discuss recent updates to the SO reflecting current knowledge. We have developed more accurate human-readable terms (also known as classes), including new definitions, and relationships related to the expression of genes. New findings continue to give us insight into the biology of gene regulation, including the order of events, and participants in those events. These updates to the SO support logical reasoning with the current understanding of gene expression regulation at the molecular level.

The analysis of data from social media and social networking sites may be instrumental in achieving a better understanding of human-environment interactions and in shaping future conservation and environmental management. In this study, we systematically map the application of social media data in environmental research. The quantitative review of 169 studies reveals that most studies focus on the analysis of people’s behavior and perceptions of the environment, followed by environmental monitoring and applications in environmental planning and governance. The literature testifies to a very rapid growth in the field, with Twitter (52 studies) and Flickr (34 studies) being most frequently used as data sources. A growing number of studies combine data from multiple sites and jointly investigates multiple types of media. A broader, more qualitative review of the insights provided by the investigated studies suggests that while social media data offer unprecedented opportunities in terms of data volume, scale of analysis, and real-time monitoring, researchers are only starting to cope with the challenges of data’s heterogeneity and noise levels, potential biases, ethics of data acquisition and use, and uncertainty about future data availability. Critical areas for the development of the field include integration of different types of information in data mashups, development of quality assurance procedures and ethical codes, improved integration with existing methods, and assurance of long-term, free and easy-to-access provision of public social media data for future environmental researchers.

Quantification of microtubule (MT) dynamic instability (DI) is essential to mechanistic dissection of MT assembly and the activities of MT binding proteins. Typical methods for quantifying MT dynamics assume that MT behavior consists of growth and shortening phases, with instantaneous transitions (rescues and catastrophes) in between. However, examination of DI data at high temporal and spatial resolution reveals the presence of ambiguous behaviors that cannot easily fit into these categories. Failure to objectively recognize and quantify these behaviors could reduce the reproducibility of DI data and impact attempts to dissect mechanisms. To address these problems, we recently developed STADIA (Statistical Tool for Automated Dynamic Instability Analysis), a MT analysis software package that uses length-history data as input and is (presently) implemented in MATLAB. STADIA uses machine learning methods to objectively analyze and quantify macro-level DI behaviors exhibited by MTs, including variable rates of growth and shortening and a newly quantified DI phase: stutter. Here we overview the process of using STADIA to quantify MT dynamics and provide a set of concrete protocols for using STADIA to process and analyze MT length history data.

Big data from photo-sharing platforms offer unique opportunities for the study of human-nature interactions and landscape planning. Research increasingly relies on computer vision in artificial intelligence to identify elements of interest in photographs and user preferences and sentiment towards them. Studies largely rely on pre-trained models from one of several available cloud-based, commercial image recognition services, but the extent to which findings depend on the implemented technology has not yet been explored. Here, we analyze ∼ 10,000 outdoor photographs retrieved from three social media platforms and geolocated within green and blue spaces in Haifa (Israel) by means of machine tags from three popular cloud-based services. We find that clustering of the 45 investigated sites based on common characteristics of the photographs is considerably affected by the image recognition service chosen, especially for sites with limited data points (

Regulation of gene expression by DNA methylation in gene promoter regions is well studied; however, the effects of methylation in the gene body (exons and introns) on gene expression are comparatively understudied. Recently, hypermethylation has been implicated in the inclusion of alternatively spliced exons; moreover, exon recognition can be enhanced by recruiting the methyl-CpG-binding protein (MeCP2) to hypermethylated sites. This study examines whether the methylation status of an intron is correlated with how frequently the intron is retained during splicing using DNA methylation and RNA sequencing data from breast cancer tissue specimens in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Interestingly, hypomethylation of introns is correlated with higher levels of intron expression in mRNA and the methylation level of an intron is inversely correlated with its retention in mRNA from the gene in which it is located. Furthermore, significant population differences were observed in the methylation level of retained introns. In African-American donors, retained introns were not only less methylated compared to European-American donors, but also were more highly expressed. This underscores the need for understanding epigenetic differences in populations and their correlation with breast cancer is an important step toward achieving personalized cancer care. Implications: This research contributes to the understanding of how epigenetic markers in the gene body communicate with the transcriptional machinery to control transcript diversity and differential biological response to changes in methylation status could underlie some of the known, yet unexplained, disparities in certain breast cancer patient populations. Mol Cancer Res; 16(3); 461–9. ©2018 AACR.

Cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs) by different production methods have been studied in cementitious systems, but the effects of contrasting types of CNMs on cement properties have not been delineated. This study is a side-by-side comparison of rheology, setting times, and compressive strength of cement paste incorporated with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) from acid hydrolysis vs. mechanically fibrillated cellulose nanofibers (CNFs). This study demonstrates that CNF gels increase the viscosity of cement paste (control) due to the entangled nanofiber network. In contrast, the shorter and more mobile CNCs reduce the viscosity and provide longer slump retention than a polycarboxylate superplasticizer. CNCs work as a set retarder, but CNFs show about half the deferring effect on setting times. Both CNMs delivered a similar increase in compressive strength (17–18%), but their optimum amount differed in conjunction with their respective morphology and percolation limits. This study underscores the distinct effects of CNCs vs. CNFs and shows, indeed, these different nanomaterials have contrasting effects on various properties of the cement paste and should be appropriately specified for concrete applications.

Background There is very little work on the role of positive or benevolent childhood experiences and how such events might offer protection from the insidious effects of adverse experiences in childhood or later in life. Objectives We set out to test, using latent variable modelling, whether adverse and benevolent childhood experiences could be best described as a single continuum or two correlated constructs. We also modelled the relationship between adverse and benevolent childhood experiences and ICD-11 PTSD and Complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms and explored if these associations were indirect via psychological trauma. Methods Data were collected from a trauma-exposed sample (N = 275) attending a specialist trauma care centre in the UK. Participants completed measures of childhood adverse and benevolent experiences, traumatic exposure, and PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Results Findings suggested that adverse childhood experiences operate only indirectly on PTSD and CPTSD symptoms through lifetime trauma exposure, and with a stronger effect for PTSD. Benevolent childhood experiences directly predicted only CPTSD symptoms. Conclusions Benevolent and traumatic experiences seem to form unique associations with PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Future research is needed to explore how benevolent experiences can be integrated within existing psychological interventions to maximise recovery from traumatic stress.

Quantification of microtubule (MT) dynamic instability (DI) is essential to mechanistic dissection of MT assembly and the activities of MT binding proteins. Typical methods for quantifying MT dynamics assume that MT behavior consists of growth and shortening phases, with instantaneous transitions (rescues and catastrophes) in between. However, examination of DI data at high temporal and spatial resolution reveals the presence of ambiguous behaviors that cannot easily fit into these categories. Failure to objectively recognize and quantify these behaviors could reduce the reproducibility of DI data and impact attempts to dissect mechanisms. To address these problems, we recently developed STADIA (Statistical Tool for Automated Dynamic Instability Analysis), a MT analysis software package that uses length-history data as input and is (presently) implemented in MATLAB. STADIA uses machine learning methods to objectively analyze and quantify macro-level DI behaviors exhibited by MTs, including variable rates of growth and shortening and a newly quantified DI phase: stutter. Here we overview the process of using STADIA to quantify MT dynamics and provide a set of concrete protocols for using STADIA to process and analyze MT length history data.

The “preclose” technique employing two Perclose (P) devices is well established for large-bore artery (LBA) hemostasis. Occasionally, only one Perclose deploys successfully during the initial preclose because of arterial calcification necessitating the use of the crossover balloon technique to achieve hemostasis at the LBA. We sought to determine if the combined use of one Perclose and either one Angioseal or one Mynx vascular closure device (VCD) is a safe alternative closure technique large-bore arteriotomy closure.In total, 40 patients underwent high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (HRPCI) with Impella support, of whom 38 had common femoral artery (CFA) arteriotomies and 2 underwent percutaneous axillary arteriotomy (AA). Prior to Impella insertion, one Perclose device was predeployed. At the end of HRPCI, Impella was removed and a 0.035″ wire was inserted through the Impella sheath. This sheath was then withdrawn over the wire, and partially deployed Perclose was fully deployed. A 6-Fr sheath was advanced over a 0.035″ wire into the CFA or AA, achieving hemostasis and reducing the LBA to a 6-Fr size. The 6-Fr arteriotomy was closed with a 6-Fr Mynx or Angioseal VCD. Patients were followed at day 1 and day 30.Hybrid closure was successful in 38 of 40 cases. In one case of Mynx balloon rupture, hemostasis was achieved with heparin reversal and manual compression. In the case of Perclose failure, crossover balloon tamponade at arteriotomy site and external manual compression achieved hemostasis. Patients were free of complications at day 1 and day 30.Hybrid closure with one Perclose and either one Mynx or one Angioseal VCD is safe and effective for LBA closure.

Background: Despite the plethora of social ills which came to bear on the death of Freddie Gray, the charm of Baltimore City is being revitalized through social work liberation-collaborative efforts toward effective urban policing. Objective: Social workers, community leaders, faith-based groups, gang members, fraternities/sororities, and businesses united under the auspices of one banner to strengthen Baltimore’s promising future. Methods: Using the strengths, prevention, empowerment, and community conditions (SPECS) framework, an urban community policing agenda was developed. Findings: This United Baltimore adopted the slogan of “One Baltimore” and generated a comprehensive agenda with 9 specific endeavors. Conclusion: Social workers in particular are called to action given their justice-oriented professional ethics to assist in Baltimore City’s recovery and to become catalysts of positive social change.

Recent advances in geotagging, sharing and automatically analyzing online content from Social Networking Sites (SNS) offer unprecedented opportunities for the analysis of human-nature interactions. Previous studies in this field, however, offer limited insights regarding the benefits of automated content analysis especially at large scales, biases arising from the selection of SNS sources, and the predictive power of visitation models based on SNS data. We explore quantitative and qualitative aspects related to intensity, interests and sentiments associated with on-site experiences in 568 protected areas in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. We analyze counts and content of >100,000 photographs and tweets from four different SNSs, calibrate visitation models and predict visitation in unmonitored sites, cluster sites based on the typology of human-nature interactions reflected in online photographs, and characterize the polarity of sentiments associated with experiences in individual sites and clusters thereof. We find benefits in combining data from multiple sources and controlling for biases related to sites’ photogenicity and type of human-nature interactions. Our results suggest that current best estimates of visitation in unmonitored sites underestimate by 39% the actual number of visits. We discuss how the techniques and findings in this study are applicable in the broader context of the management and conservation of sites of environmental or cultural interest.

Representing the economic value of recreation generated by natural ecosystems can provide a powerful incentive for their conservation. Demonstrating value, however, requires resource-intensive surveys or reliance on techniques which transfer value from other sites. Recent technological developments have contributed to an abundance of georeferenced public data as an alternative for exploring human-nature interactions, offering a potential substitute to costly and time-consuming visitor surveys and their commonly adopted alternative for the valuation of recreation, value transfer. Here, we (1) integrate data crowdsourced from geotagged photographs from social media into the travel cost method non-market valuation technique and (2) validate the results with value estimates generated using representative on-site surveys for German national parks and value transfer techniques. As expected from standard economic and consumer demand theory for ordinary goods, we find downsloping demand curves. Consumer surplus for access to the parks ranges between €16.54 and €34.90 (2016 rates). Value estimates are significantly correlated with those generated by on-site surveys, with a mean absolute error of €4.93 and a mean absolute percentage error of 22%, outperforming basic unit value transfer. We highlight the entailed, unprecedented opportunities to extend the scope and reduce costs of research seeking to value outdoor recreation.

Social media data are increasingly utilised as a low-cost alternative to visitor surveys in characterising nature-based recreation. However, the information available on individual users is limited and typically does not include provenance, restricting the potential applications and impact of the data. Here we investigate a methodology to estimate social media visitors' home locations at various spatial scales and apply it to the entire network of national parks in Germany. We compare predicted visitor provenance to representative onsite survey data and explore group-specific spatial and temporal patterns of recreation as characterised by users' geotagged photographs. Results show that photograph metadata can be used to assign home locations with accuracies between 62 and 89% depending on spatial scale implemented. Said social media-based predictions are reasonably well representative of the surveyed visitor structure in German national parks with Flickr visitor-days composed of 19% local, 62% non-local German and 19% international visits.

Human amniotic membrane (AM) has a long history of clinical use for wound treatment. AM serves as a wound protective barrier maintaining proper moisture. AM is anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and antifibrotic, and supports angiogenesis, granulation tissue formation and wound re-epithelialization. These properties of AM are attributed to its native extracellular matrix, growth factors, and endogenous cells including mesenchymal stem cells. Advances in tissue preservation have helped to overcome the short shelf life of fresh AM and led to the development of AM products for clinical use. Viable cryopreserved amnion (VCAM), which retains all native components of fresh AM, has shown positive outcomes in clinical trials for wound management. However, cryopreservation requires ultra-low temperature storage and shipment that limits widespread use of VCAM. We have developed a lyopreservation technique to allow for ambient storage of living tissues. Here, we compared the structural, molecular, and functional properties of a viable lyopreserved human amniotic membrane (VLAM) with properties of VCAM using in vitro and in vivo wound models. We found that the structure, growth factors, and cell viability of VLAM is similar to that of VCAM and fresh AM. Both, VCAM and VLAM inhibited TNF-α secretion and upregulated VEGF expression in vitro under conditions designed to mimic inflammation and hypoxia in a wound microenvironment, and resulted in wound closure in a diabetic mouse chronic wound model. Taken together, these data demonstrate that VLAM structural and functional properties are equivalent to VCAM but without the constraints of ultra-low temperature storage.

Background: Our previous work demonstrating great ease and predictability of cannulation of the major aortic arch branches with an upwardly pointing 3DR catheter, irrespective of aortic arch type, led us to hypothesize that centering or “cresting” of these vessels must occur along the superior most aspect of the aortic arch in a curvilinear fashion. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 111 computed tomographic scans of the chest and thoracic aorta with intravenous contrast performed at our hospital between April 2011 and May 2012 utilizing TeraRecon image reconstruction software. Four studies were excluded due to poor image quality and/or surgical changes to native aortic architecture. Results: Of the 107 studies included, 104 (97.2%) demonstrated centering of the major aortic arch branches on a curvilinear line “cresting” the superior most aspect of the aortic arch irrespective of arch type. Of the three studies that did not demonstrate this “cresting,” two were found to have aberrant right subclavian arteries associated with a type I aortic arch, and one had an aberrant right common carotid associated with a type II aortic arch. Conclusion: Operators engaging major aortic arch branches need to be mindful of the fact that these vessels are indeed centered on a line “cresting” along the superior most aspect of the aortic arch, and any algorithm that, by taking this information into account, reduces catheter manipulation in the aortic arch could potentially result in a reduction in distal atheroembolic events.