Mapping data ethics curricula

Purpose

As data-driven tools increasingly shape our life and tech ethics crises become strikingly frequent, data ethics coursework is urgently needed. The purpose of this study is to map the field of data ethics curricula, tracking relations between courses, instructors, texts and writers, and present a proof-of-concept interactive website for exploring these relations. This method is designed to be used in curricular research and development and provides multiple vantage points on this multidisciplinary field.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use data science methods to foster insights about the field of data ethics education and literature. The authors present a semantic, linked open data graph in the Resource Description Framework, along with proof-of-concept analyses and an exploratory website. Its framework is open-source and language-agnostic, providing the seed for future contributions of code, syllabi and resources from the global data ethics community.

Findings

This method provides a convenient means of exploring an overview of the field of data ethics’ social and textual relations. For educators designing or refining a course, the authors provide a method for curricular introspection and discovery of transdisciplinary curricula.

Research limitations/implications

The syllabi the authors have collected are self-selected and represent only a subset of the field. Furthermore, this method exclusively represents a course’s assigned literature rather than a holistic view of what courses teach. The authors present a prototype rather than a finished product.

Originality/value

This curricular survey provides a new way of modeling a field of study, using existing ontologies to organize graph data into a comprehensible overview. This framework may be repurposed to map the institutional knowledge structures of other disciplines, as well.

[Vaccinovigilance: Adverse reaction reports of animal vaccines in 2020]

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the vigilance system in Switzerland is the evaluation and classification of reported suspected adverse reactions of immunological veterinary medicines (IVMP), including suspected lack of expected efficacy. The Institute of Virology and Immunology (IVI) is the competent authority for marketing authorizations of immunological veterinary medicinal products in Switzerland and responsible for the vaccinovigilance system. In 2020, 130 adverse reaction reports were received (5% less compared to 2019). The reports mainly concerned dogs (41%) and cats (25%) followed by cattle (18%) and horses (7%). Many of the reports in dogs involved the application of combined vaccines against canine distemper, hepatitis, parvovirosis and parainfluenza in combination with canine leptospira components, in cats against cat flu and feline panleukopenia in combination with feline leukaemia virus infection. Causality assessments were done according to the international ABON system. In 27% of the reported cases, the causality assessments between the vaccination and the reaction described were evaluated as being probable (ABON A), in 44% as possible (ABON B).

[Vaccinovigilance: Reports of adverse reactions in the year 2019]

INTRODUCTION

The registration of adverse events after the use of immunological veterinary medicinal products (IVMP) is the aim of the vigilance reporting system in Switzerland. Adverse events comprise suspected adverse reactions and lack of expected efficacy. Since the Institute of virology and immunology (IVI) is the competent authority for the regulation of immunological VMP in Switzerland, the reporting system is administrated by the IVI. In 2019, 137 reports concerning authorized immunological VMP were received (15% less compared to 2018). While most of the reports were submitted by the marketing authorization holders (56%), practicing veterinary surgeons contributed to the reporting system, too (40%). This corresponds to an increase of 22% of reported adverse events by the practicing veterinary surgeons compared to the previous year. Private persons (4%) submitted five reports. In comparison to 2018, in 2019 79% of the adverse events were reported by marketing authorization holders and 18% by veterinarians. Dogs (55%) and cats (20%) were mainly affected. Further reports were related to cattle (13%) and horses (5%). Recently, the numbers of reports concerning dogs (+12%) and cats (+4%) have considerably increased. Most of the reports were based on the application of vaccines against canine distemper, hepatitis, parvovirosis and parainfluenza in combination with leptospirosis in dogs as well as cat flu and feline panleukopenia in cats. In 34% of the submitted cases, the causality assessment between the vaccination and the reaction described was evaluated as probable.

QUES, a new Phaseolus vulgaris genotype resistant to common bean weevils, contains the Arcelin-8 allele coding for new lectin-related variants

In common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), the most abundant seed proteins are the storage protein phaseolin and the family of closely related APA proteins (arcelin, phytohemagglutinin and α-amylase inhibitor). High variation in APA protein composition has been described and the presence of arcelin (Arc) has been associated with bean resistance against two bruchid beetles, the bean weevil (Acanthoscelides obtectus Say) and the Mexican bean weevil (Zabrotes subfasciatus Bohemian). So far, seven Arc variants have been identified, all in wild accessions, however, only those containing Arc-4 were reported to be resistant to both species. Although many efforts have been made, a successful breeding of this genetic trait into cultivated genotypes has not yet been achieved. Here, we describe a newly collected wild accession (named QUES) and demonstrate its resistance to both A. obtectus and Z. subfasciatus. Immunological and proteomic analyses of QUES seed protein composition indicated the presence of new Arc and arcelin-like (ARL) polypeptides of about 30 and 27 kDa, respectively. Sequencing of cDNAs coding for QUES APA proteins confirmed that this accession contains new APA variants, here referred to as Arc-8 and ARL-8. Moreover, bioinformatic analysis showed the two proteins are closely related to APA components present in the G12949 wild bean accession, which contains the Arc-4 variant. The presence of these new APA components, combined with the observations that they are poorly digested and remain very abundant in A. obtectus feces, so-called frass, suggest that the QUES APA locus is involved in the bruchid resistance. Moreover, molecular analysis indicated a lower complexity of the locus compared to that of G12949, suggesting that QUES should be considered a valuable source of resistance for further breeding purposes.

Bottom-up and top-down effects influence bruchid beetle individual performance but not population densities in the field

Plant quality (bottom-up) and natural enemies (top-down) can influence the individual performance of herbivorous insects on their host plants, but few studies measured at the same time the influence on population densities in the field. We investigated if plant quality of different wild common bean populations, Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Fabaceae), affects the performance of the bean weevil, Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), and one of its enemies, the ectoparasitoid Dinarmus basalis (Rondani) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), in controlled laboratory experiments. Additionally, we examined if parasitoids influence the beetles' development and if increased individual beetle and parasitoid fitness lead to higher field population densities. We show that bean quality and parasitoids affected individual bean weevil performance under laboratory and field conditions. In the presence of parasitoids, fewer and smaller beetles emerged. However, beetle and parasitoid performance were not correlated. Increased individual performance was not leading to higher population densities; we found no correlations between measured performance components and beetle field infestation levels or parasitism rates. We conclude that bottom-up or top-down effects measured at the individual level do not always translate into population effects; therefore it is important to discriminate between effects acting on individual insects and those acting on populations.