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Understanding the earth as a system requires integrating many forms of data from multiple fields. Builders and funders of the cyberinfrastructure designed to enable open data sharing in the geosciences risk a key failure mode: What if geoscientists do not use the cyberinfrastructure to share, discover and reuse data? In this study, we report a baseline assessment of engagement with the NSF EarthCube initiative, an open cyberinfrastructure effort for the geosciences. We find scientists perceive the need for cross-disciplinary engagement and engage where there is organizational or institutional support. However, we also find a possibly imbalanced involvement between cyber and geoscience communities at the outset, with the former showing more interest than the latter. This analysis highlights the importance of examining fields and disciplines as stakeholders to investments in the cyberinfrastructure supporting science.

Fluid circulation in the Earth's crust plays an essential role in surface, near surface, and deep crustal processes. Flow pathways are driven by hydraulic gradients but controlled by material permeability, which varies over many orders of magnitude and changes over time. Although millions of measurements of crustal properties have been made, including geophysical imaging and borehole tests, this vast amount of data and information has not been integrated into a comprehensive knowledge system. A community data infrastructure is needed to improve data access, enable large-scale synthetic analyses, and support representations of the subsurface in Earth system models. Here, we describe the motivation, vision, challenges, and an action plan for a community-governed, four-dimensional data system of the Earth's crustal structure, composition, and material properties from the surface down to the brittle-ductile transition. Such a system must not only be sufficiently flexible to support inquiries in many different domains of Earth science, but it must also be focused on characterizing the physical crustal properties of permeability and porosity, which have not yet been synthesized at a large scale. The DigitalCrust is envisioned as an interactive virtual exploration laboratory where models can be calibrated with empirical data and alternative hypotheses can be tested at a range of spatial scales. It must also support a community process for compiling and harmonizing models into regional syntheses of crustal properties. Sustained peer review from multiple disciplines will allow constant refinement in the ability of the system to inform science questions and societal challenges and to function as a dynamic library of our knowledge of Earth's crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing that, in this rapidly evolving age of social media, accessible digital technology and storytelling, the public at large are now routinely accessing social media sites (Google Maps, Google Street View, Google Earth, Open Street Map) for locational information, this paper argues for a new thematic approach to cartography, seeking a revitalized balance and synthesis on important social issues: i. e. an approach that comprises new application areas, theory and practice. This paper will explore a new synthesis between Cybercartography, Photo Atlassing, SuAVE Semiotic photo atlas analysis, and on-line Social Media Cybernetic Cartography materialized in Canoe motif. Cybercartography is a complex, holistic, user-centered process which applies location-based technologies to the analysis of topics of interest to society, and the presentation of the results in innovative ways through cybercartographic atlases. A cybercartographic atlas includes both qualitative and qualitative information of many types linked by location and displayed in innovative, interactive, multimodal, and multisensory formats. These atlases permit users to create and tell their own stories. Both mapping and storytelling are basic human instincts and are a central part of the holistic nature of Cybercartography. Photo Atlassing (https://atlas-semiotics.jimdofree.com/bild-atlantothek/) includes the creation, analysis and portrayal of various storytelling atlases as new communication and knowledge models. Atlassing (with two "s") is a new interdisciplinary trend of the 21st century in Europe involved in the creation, research, and collection of various eatlases in semiotic and geo-sciences in multiple Atlas formats i) three generation groups (print atlases, digital atlas information systems / interactive web atlases and ubiquitous atlases / mini-atlases for smart phones and tablets); ii) semiotic classification groups (map atlases, photo atlases, text atlases and mixatlases); iii) cartographic and noncartographic traditions; and iv) atlases for mass users and for experts. Atlasing (with one "s") is a way to refer to an activity where people produce and use digital atlases for the specific task of integrating neuroanatomic images and delineations with gene expression data and other signals. SuAVE (Survey Analysis via Visual Exploration, http://suave.sdsc.edu/) application for semiotic analysis, annotation, and sharing of thematic photo-atlases and their collections: this is a platform that has been used for analysis of surveys and image collection across several disciplines and can help to answer research questions related to atlas semiotics by organizing atlas documents as different data views, providing ways to compare the atlases and visualize them in different contexts of legacy and new data. The paper will examine a pilot project started in 2019 with 100 photo-atlases, that, like any collection of information products and as one of the types of digital media, can take their rightful place in online libraries, and can be created by professionals or layman. Circle of All Nations is an informal global eco peace community founded by North American Indigenous Elder William Commanda, now animated extensively on Social Media, including via Facebook live interactive video events, integrating multi-dimensional semiotic storytelling and animative mapping as a digital global village in times of Covid isolation (https://www.facebook.com/circleofallnations). An example of contemporary cartography underpinned by spatial and temporal referential imaging, the Canoe motif, representative of William Commanda's cognitive mapping, that underlies this approach will be examined from multiple angles: i) cybernetic motional navigation, ii) ancient technology re-presented via interactive learning and film/video technology, iii) iconic affective enviro-art-cartography, and iv) ephemeral performance mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed several health disparities experienced by underserved and Latino/a communities, including inequitable access to COVID-19 testing., Objective and Goals: To describe the utilization of a community-driven and culturally-tailored testing model on COVID-19 testing in an underserved Latino/a community in San Diego., Methods: The Community-driven Optimization of COVID-19 testing to Reach and Engage Underserved Areas for Testing Equity (CO-CREATE) project implemented a community co-designed COVID-19 testing program in partnership with a Federally Qualified Health Center in a US/Mexico border community., Results: Between May 2021 and March 2023, 24, 422 COVID-19 PCR tests were administered to 13,253 individuals, among whom 93% percent identified as Latino/a, 57% spoke Spanish in the home, and 38% resided in our target community adjacent to the US/Mexico border, San Ysidro. Based on a subset of available county testing data, CO-CREATE accounted for nearly 12% of all COVID-19 tests reported for San Ysidro residents. Over the course of the project, we estimated that nearly 17% of all San Ysidro residents were tested for COVID-19 through the CO-CREATE project., Conclusion: These findings highlight the success and reach of this culturally responsive and community co-designed COVID-19 testing program, within a Latino/a border community. Future public health interventions should focus on identifying testing barriers and design appropriate strategies to ensure equitable access to resources and testing uptake for all community members., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of both the University of California, San Diego and San Ysidro Health. Informed consent was obtained from all participants and/or their legal guardian(s). Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 incidence are pronounced in underserved U.S./Mexico border communities. Working and living environments in these communities can lead to increased risk of COVID-19 infection and transmission, and this increased risk is exacerbated by lack of access to testing. As part of designing a community and culturally tailored COVID-19 testing program, we surveyed community members in the San Ysidro border region. The purpose of our study was to characterize knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of prenatal patients, prenatal caregivers, and pediatric caregivers at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FHQC) in the San Ysidro region regarding perceived risk of COVID-19 infection and access to testing. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect information on experiences accessing COVID-19 testing and perceived risk of COVID-19 infection within San Ysidro between December 29, 2020 and April 2, 2021. A total of 179 surveys were analyzed. Most participants identified as female (85%) and as Mexican/Mexican American (75%). Over half (56%) were between the age of 25 and 34 years old. Perceived Risk: 37% reported moderate to high risk of COVID-19 infection, whereas 50% reported their risk low to none. Testing Experience: Approximately 68% reported previously being tested for COVID-19. Among those tested, 97% reported having very easy or easy access to testing. Reasons for not testing included limited appointment availability, cost, not feeling sick, and concern about risk of infection while at a testing facility. This study is an important first step to understand the COVID-19 risk perceptions and testing access among patients and community members living near the U.S./Mexico border in San Ysidro, California., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.)

Urban community gardens have increased in prevalence as a means to generate fresh fruits and vegetables, including in areas lacking access to healthy food options. However, urban soils may have high levels of toxic heavy metals, including lead and cadmium and the metalloid arsenic, which can lead to severe health risks. In this study, fruit and vegetable samples grown at an urban community garden in southeastern San Diego, the Ocean View Growing Grounds, were sampled repeatedly over a four-year time period in order to measure potential contamination of toxic heavy metals and metalloids and to develop solutions for this problem. Metal nutrient, heavy metal, and metalloid concentrations were monitored in the leaf and fruit tissues of fruit trees over the sampling period. Several of the fruit trees showed uptake of lead in the leaf samples, with Black Mission fig measuring 0.843-1.531 mg/kg dry weight and Mexican Lime measuring 1.103-1.522 mg/kg dry weight over the sampling period. Vegetables that were grown directly in the ground at this community garden and surrounding areas showed arsenic, 0.80 + 0.073 mg/kg dry weight for Swiss chard, and lead, 0.84 ± 0.404 mg/kg dry weight for strawberries, in their edible tissues. The subsequent introduction of raised beds with uncontaminated soil is described, which eliminated any detectable heavy metal or metalloid contamination in these crops during the monitoring period. Recommendations for facilitating the monitoring of edible tissues and for reducing risk are discussed, including introduction of raised beds and collaborations with local universities and research groups., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest associated with the work described in this manuscript., (© 2020 The Authors. Plant Direct published by American Society of Plant Biologists and the Society for Experimental Biology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Biomedical research entails capture and analysis of massive data volumes and new discoveries arise from data-integration and mining. This is only possible if data can be mapped onto a common framework such as the genome for genomic data. In neuroscience, the framework is intrinsically spatial and based on a number of paper atlases. This cannot meet today's data-intensive analysis and integration challenges. A scalable and extensible software infrastructure that is standards based but open for novel data and resources, is required for integrating information such as signal distributions, gene-expression, neuronal connectivity, electrophysiology, anatomy, and developmental processes. Therefore, the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) initiated the development of a spatial framework for neuroscience data integration with an associated Digital Atlasing Infrastructure (DAI). A prototype implementation of this infrastructure for the rodent brain is reported here. The infrastructure is based on a collection of reference spaces to which data is mapped at the required resolution, such as the Waxholm Space (WHS), a 3D reconstruction of the brain generated using high-resolution, multi-channel microMRI. The core standards of the digital atlasing service-oriented infrastructure include Waxholm Markup Language (WaxML): XML schema expressing a uniform information model for key elements such as coordinate systems, transformations, points of interest (POI)s, labels, and annotations; and Atlas Web Services: interfaces for querying and updating atlas data. The services return WaxML-encoded documents with information about capabilities, spatial reference systems (SRSs) and structures, and execute coordinate transformations and POI-based requests. Key elements of INCF-DAI cyberinfrastructure have been prototyped for both mouse and rat brain atlas sources, including the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas, UCSD Cell-Centered Database, and Edinburgh Mouse Atlas Project.

Background: Two devastating hurricanes ripped across the Gulf Coast of the United States during 2005. The effects of Hurricane Katrina were especially severe: the human and environmental health impacts on New Orleans, Louisiana, and other Gulf Coast communities will be felt for decades to come. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that Katrina's destruction disrupted the lives of roughly 650,000 Americans. Over 1,300 people died. The projected economic costs for recovery and reconstruction are likely to exceed $125 billion., Objectives: The NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) Portal aims to provide decision makers with the data, information, and the tools they need to a) monitor human and environmental health impacts of disasters; b) assess and reduce human exposures to contaminants; and c) develop science-based remediation, rebuilding, and repopulation strategies., Methods: The NIEHS Portal combines advances in geographic information systems (GIS), data mining/integration, and visualization technologies through new forms of grid-based (distributed, web-accessible) cyberinfrastructure., Results: The scale and complexity of the problems presented by Hurricane Katrina made it evident that no stakeholder alone could tackle them and that there is a need for greater collaboration. The NIEHS Portal provides a collaboration-enabling, information-laden base necessary to respond to environmental health concerns in the Gulf Coast region while advancing integrative multidisciplinary research., Conclusions: The NIEHS Portal is poised to serve as a national resource to track environmental hazards following natural and man-made disasters, focus medical and environmental response and recovery resources in areas of greatest need, and function as a test bed for technologies that will help advance environmental health sciences research into the modern scientific and computing era.