Glossary
| Term | Explanation | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A process that acquires information from an external source. Typical acquisition processes are those used in measurements and surveys. |
| Activity | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A high level activity such as a project, programme or experiment. This can have sub-activities and can be related to other activities via use of appropriate keywords. An Activity may have any number of Datasets associated with it via the "Related activities" property of the Dataset class. |
| Agricultural and Environmental Data Archive (AEDA) | The Defra funded digital archive for scientific research data and related materials | www.environmentdata.org |
| Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Platform (AGHGP) | The Defra funded research platform | http://www.ghgplatform.org.uk/ |
| Analysis | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | The Analysis is a type of Data Component that refers to a computation that is carried out on 1 or more inputs. Those inputs could be either another type of Data Component or a Supplementary File. The Analysis will also have a "protocol" which is typically a document referred to by a URL. |
| Archive System | A web-based tool used to provide submission, discovery and access to the Agricultural and Environmental Data Archive. | www.environmentdata.org |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange. | A basic character set including letters, numbers and others found on a standard keyboard. |
| Centre for Environmental Data Archival (CEDA) | CEDA is the main author of the Conceptual Model. | http://www.ceda.ac.uk |
| Class | Conceptual Model Term (Structure) | A type of information container used in the Conceptual Model. Each Class has a set of Properties that describe the details. Each Property is defined as either a simple type (such as a text string or date range) or a separate class. |
| Compound phenomenon | A phenomenon that is defined as a mixture of multiple dimensions (such as date, time, type, breed etc) | |
| Computation | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A computation process that may have inputs and always has an output. The computation can vary from a simple algorithm to a complex simulation. The software is recorded, which should include version information, so that a computation should be able to be replicated by another party. |
| Conceptual Model | The information model used to organise and express the metadata related to the research and the data. |
|
| Controlled Vocabulary (CV) | Archive system for managing and sharing commonly used terms. | AEDA Controlled Vocabulary:www.environmentdata.org/vocabulary |
| CSV file | Comma-separated variable file | |
| Data Component | Conceptual Model Term (base Class) | A base class that contains all the relevant Properties found in the Data Component types. |
| Data Providers | Scientists who generate datasets. | |
| Dataset | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A logical collection of Data Components and/or Supplementary Files that relate to at least one Activity. The Dataset has overall extent information in time and space and has a publication state. The "member" activity is a set of Data Components or Supplementary Files. The association with an Activity is defined within the "Related activities" Property. |
| Defra | ||
| Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) | ||
| DOI (Digital Object Identifier) | A digital object identifier (DOI) is a character string (a "digital identifier") used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. |
Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found. |
| End User | A researcher or other interested party who makes use of data in the DTC Archive. | |
| Excel | Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software | |
| Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) | The FBA led the project that built AEDA, the FBA also houses AEDA on it's servers. | http://www.fba.org.uk/ |
| Individual | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A person. |
| Instrument | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | An instrument that makes measurements. |
| Instrument Platform Pair | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | An instrument and platform that are deployed together |
| Literature Review | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | The Literature Review is a type of Data Component that involves a computation carried out on a set of articles and/or papers from the scientific or technical literature. There must be at least one input. The inputs could be either another type of Data Component or a Supplementary File. The Literature Review will also have a "protocol" which is typically a document referred to by a URL. |
| Measurement | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | The Measurement is a type of Data Component that refers to the acquisition of data via some experimental or monitoring process that consists of making direct measurements. There are no inputs defined for a Measurement. The Measurement will also have a "protocol" which is typically a document referred to by a URL. |
| Metadata | Information relating to data. Typically details of how, where, why, when, what and who created a dataset. | |
| Mobile Platform Operation | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | The operation of a mobile platform performed as part of an Acquisition. |
| NetCDF | Binary data format commonly used to store arrays of atmospheric, oceanic and climate data with associated metadata. | http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/
|
| Organisation | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | An organisation. |
| Adobe Portable Document Format | Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format used to represent documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. | |
| Phenomenon | The variable that was measured or simulated. | Such as temperature, rainfall rate, flux etc. |
| Platform | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A platform on which an instrument or operation is run. |
| Property | Conceptual Model Term (Structure) | A single information item pertaining to a Class of the Conceptual Model. |
| Result | Conceptual Model Term | The output file(s) relating to a Data Component. |
| Simulation | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | The Simulation is a type of Data Component that involves a computation that attempts to simulate a real-world or virtual process. There can be any number of inputs. The inputs could be either another type of Data Component or a Supplementary File. The Simulation will also have a "protocol" which is typically a document referred to by a URL. |
| Supplementary File | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | A data file for which we do not have structured metadata. It may be a member of a Dataset and/or an input or output of a Data Component. The Data Provider may use the Supplementary File class for a number of purposes, including: (i) a file for which the format is not permitted by the Archive Manager, (ii) an image file, (iii) a pre-print of a scientific paper, (iv) a PDF of a scanned field book, (v) a shapefile representing some polygons that do not need to be fully described in the data model and (vi) an original survey response from which certain information is extracted into a Survey Data Component. |
| Synthesis | Conceptual Model Term (Class) | The Synthesis is a type of Data Component that involves a computation that generates a result from multiple inputs. The inputs could be either another type of Data Component or a Supplementary File. The Synthesis will also have a "protocol" which is typically a document referred to by a URL. |
References
- Stephens, A., Wall, E., Haft, M., Ventouras, S. & Pascoe, C. (2012). A Technical Specification for a Greenhouse Gas Agricultural Emissions Inventory Model. Defra project: AC0114. Available on request or from project Sharepoint site at: https://sharepoint.adas.co.uk/AC0114/Shared%20Documents/Delivered_Report...
- D.F. McGonigle, S.P. Burke, A.L. Collins, R. Gartner, Haft. M.R., R.C. Harris, P.M. Haygarth, M.C. Hedges, K.M. Hiscock, A.A. Lovett (2014) Developing Demonstration Test Catchments as a platform for transdisciplinary land management research in England and Wales. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts.[DOI:10.1039/C3EM00658A]
