2025
Other
Restricted
InfraScience research activity report 2024
Angioni S., Artini M., Assante M., Atzori C., Baglioni M., Bardi A., Bosio C., Bove P., Calanducci A., Candela L., Casini G., Castelli D., Cirillo R., Coro G., De Bonis M., Debole F., Dell'Amico A., Frosini L., Ibrahim Ahmed, La Bruzzo S., Lelii L., Manghi P., Mangiacrapa F., Mangione D., Mannocci A., Molinaro E., Oliviero A., Pagano P., Panichi G., Teresa M. T., Pavone G., Peccerillo B., Piccioli T., Procaccini M., Straccia U., Vannini G. L., Versienti L.
InfraScience is a research group within the Institute of Information Science and Technologies (ISTI) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), based in Pisa. This activity report outlines the group's research achievements and initiatives throughout 2024. InfraScience focused its efforts on key challenges in the areas of Data Infrastructures, e-Science, and Intelligent Systems, maintaining a strong synergy between research and development and a firm commitment to open science principles. In 2024, the group played a leading role in the development and evolution of two major Open Science infrastructures: D4Science and OpenAIRE. InfraScience researchers contributed significantly to the scientific community through the publication of peer-reviewed papers, active participation in EU-funded research projects, organization of international conferences and training activities, and engagement in various working groups and task forces. This report highlights these contributions and underscores the group's ongoing dedication to advancing open, collaborative, and impactful science.DOI: 10.32079/isti-ar-2025/001
Metrics:
Angioni S., Artini M., Assante M., Atzori C., Baglioni M., Bardi A., Bosio C., Bove P., Calanducci A., Candela L., Casini G., Castelli D., Cirillo R., Coro G., De Bonis M., Debole F., Dell'Amico A., Frosini L., Ibrahim Ahmed, La Bruzzo S., Lelii L., Manghi P., Mangiacrapa F., Mangione D., Mannocci A., Molinaro E., Oliviero A., Pagano P., Panichi G., Teresa M. T., Pavone G., Peccerillo B., Piccioli T., Procaccini M., Straccia U., Vannini G. L., Versienti L.
InfraScience is a research group within the Institute of Information Science and Technologies (ISTI) of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), based in Pisa. This activity report outlines the group's research achievements and initiatives throughout 2024. InfraScience focused its efforts on key challenges in the areas of Data Infrastructures, e-Science, and Intelligent Systems, maintaining a strong synergy between research and development and a firm commitment to open science principles. In 2024, the group played a leading role in the development and evolution of two major Open Science infrastructures: D4Science and OpenAIRE. InfraScience researchers contributed significantly to the scientific community through the publication of peer-reviewed papers, active participation in EU-funded research projects, organization of international conferences and training activities, and engagement in various working groups and task forces. This report highlights these contributions and underscores the group's ongoing dedication to advancing open, collaborative, and impactful science.DOI: 10.32079/isti-ar-2025/001
Metrics:
2024
Other
Restricted
FOSSR D6.1B - Architecture System Specification
Marangio F., Assante M., Candela L., Nuzzolese A. G., Scisci D., Ciampi M., Damiano E.
This document aims to illustrate the FOSSR system architecture and design methodology used. First, the deliverable describes functional and non-functional requirements appropriately categorized (e.g. requirements for the web portal, a marketplace that allows users to use FOSSR tools, single sign-on, suitable services for data curation, discovery, harmonization, anonymization, and management). Second, the document will describe the identified functions of the system and related scenarios using UML Use Case and Sequence diagrams. Finally, the architecture to be developed will be shown, going on to describe the modules that will compose it and some critical aspects, such as those related to security and the actual deployment of data centres.Project(s): Fostering Open Science in Social Science Research
Marangio F., Assante M., Candela L., Nuzzolese A. G., Scisci D., Ciampi M., Damiano E.
This document aims to illustrate the FOSSR system architecture and design methodology used. First, the deliverable describes functional and non-functional requirements appropriately categorized (e.g. requirements for the web portal, a marketplace that allows users to use FOSSR tools, single sign-on, suitable services for data curation, discovery, harmonization, anonymization, and management). Second, the document will describe the identified functions of the system and related scenarios using UML Use Case and Sequence diagrams. Finally, the architecture to be developed will be shown, going on to describe the modules that will compose it and some critical aspects, such as those related to security and the actual deployment of data centres.Project(s): Fostering Open Science in Social Science Research
2024
Conference article
Open Access
D4Science: advancing ocean science through collaborative data analysis
Assante M., Candela L., Frosini L., Mangiacrapa F., Molinaro E., Pagano P.
In the realm of ocean science, addressing intricate challenges necessitates collaborative analysis of extensive datasets. This underscores the significance of infrastructures that facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration, effective communication, and timely data sharing. D4Science [Assante et al., 2019], an operational infrastructure initiated 18 years ago with European Commission funding, has evolved into an efficient solution. Utilizing the “as a Service” paradigm, D4Science provides webaccessible Virtual Laboratories [Assante et al., 2023; Candela et al., 2023] (VLabs) that proved to be also suitable for ocean science collaboration [Schaap et al., 2022]. These VLabs simplify access to marine datasets, concealing underlying complexities. Key functionalities include a cloudbased Workspace for file organization, a platform for largescale data analysis on a distributed computing infrastructure, a catalog for publishing research results, and a communication system based on social network practices. D4Science has been actively supporting diverse marine and ocean science Virtual Laboratories (VLabs), adapting to evolving research needs. Notable initiatives include contributions to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), starting with the ‘BlueCloud’ project in 2020 and its subsequent extension, ‘BlueCloud2026.’ In 2015, D4Science played a pivotal role in the BlueBRIDGE Horizon 2020 Project, which aimed to provide userfriendly data services and tools for the aquaculture, fisheries, and environmental sectors. Additionally, in 2013, D4Science contributed to the iMarine FP7 Project, which has since evolved into the current iMarine initiative. This ongoing effort is dedicated to establishing and operating an einfrastructure that aligns with the principles of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management and the conservation of marine living resources, further supporting the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Blue Growth Initiative. D4Science is currently supporting over 20 scientific communities and over 150 VLabs, and pioneers Open Science in ocean research. It fosters collaboration, offers userfriendly environments, and provides service for accessing, sharing, analyzing, and publishing oceanographic data. A detailed description of these services is given in the followingSource: MISCELLANEA INGV, pp. 284-286. Bergen (Norway), 27-29/05/2024
DOI: 10.13127/misc/80/109
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
Metrics:
Assante M., Candela L., Frosini L., Mangiacrapa F., Molinaro E., Pagano P.
In the realm of ocean science, addressing intricate challenges necessitates collaborative analysis of extensive datasets. This underscores the significance of infrastructures that facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration, effective communication, and timely data sharing. D4Science [Assante et al., 2019], an operational infrastructure initiated 18 years ago with European Commission funding, has evolved into an efficient solution. Utilizing the “as a Service” paradigm, D4Science provides webaccessible Virtual Laboratories [Assante et al., 2023; Candela et al., 2023] (VLabs) that proved to be also suitable for ocean science collaboration [Schaap et al., 2022]. These VLabs simplify access to marine datasets, concealing underlying complexities. Key functionalities include a cloudbased Workspace for file organization, a platform for largescale data analysis on a distributed computing infrastructure, a catalog for publishing research results, and a communication system based on social network practices. D4Science has been actively supporting diverse marine and ocean science Virtual Laboratories (VLabs), adapting to evolving research needs. Notable initiatives include contributions to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), starting with the ‘BlueCloud’ project in 2020 and its subsequent extension, ‘BlueCloud2026.’ In 2015, D4Science played a pivotal role in the BlueBRIDGE Horizon 2020 Project, which aimed to provide userfriendly data services and tools for the aquaculture, fisheries, and environmental sectors. Additionally, in 2013, D4Science contributed to the iMarine FP7 Project, which has since evolved into the current iMarine initiative. This ongoing effort is dedicated to establishing and operating an einfrastructure that aligns with the principles of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management and the conservation of marine living resources, further supporting the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Blue Growth Initiative. D4Science is currently supporting over 20 scientific communities and over 150 VLabs, and pioneers Open Science in ocean research. It fosters collaboration, offers userfriendly environments, and provides service for accessing, sharing, analyzing, and publishing oceanographic data. A detailed description of these services is given in the followingSource: MISCELLANEA INGV, pp. 284-286. Bergen (Norway), 27-29/05/2024
DOI: 10.13127/misc/80/109
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS 
| imdis.seadatanet.org | doi.org 
| IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Open Access
Introducing Janet: early findings on a conversational agent for virtual research environments
Ibrahim A. S. T., Candela L.
Conversational agents have the potential to streamline tasks, provide support, and enhance user experience across various domains including Virtual Research Environments (VREs). The recent progress in conversational artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) offers novel strategies for the development of these agents. Janet is an attempt to develop an agent that, by leveraging the resources within the VRE, can engage in natural language conversations with VRE users to help them manage their daily activities, find relevant information, and use what the specific environment offers. It is developed following the Retrieval-Augmented Generation paradigm, a technique that reduces the effect of one of the limitations affecting LLMs; namely, hallucination. This paper highlights the lessons learned during the development of Janet.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13862920
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026, Skills4EOSC , SoBigData RI PPP
Metrics:
Ibrahim A. S. T., Candela L.
Conversational agents have the potential to streamline tasks, provide support, and enhance user experience across various domains including Virtual Research Environments (VREs). The recent progress in conversational artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) offers novel strategies for the development of these agents. Janet is an attempt to develop an agent that, by leveraging the resources within the VRE, can engage in natural language conversations with VRE users to help them manage their daily activities, find relevant information, and use what the specific environment offers. It is developed following the Retrieval-Augmented Generation paradigm, a technique that reduces the effect of one of the limitations affecting LLMs; namely, hallucination. This paper highlights the lessons learned during the development of Janet.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13862920
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
, Skills4EOSC , SoBigData RI PPP Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | zenodo.org | CNR IRIS
2024
Other
Open Access
SoBigData++ - SoBigData e-Infrastructure Operation Report 3
Assante M., Candela L., Dell'Amico A., Frosini L., Mangiacrapa F., Molinaro E., Oliviero A., Pagano P., Panichi G., Piccioli T.
This Deliverable builds upon and updates the previous reports, D9.2 - “SoBigData e-Infrastructure Operation Report 2” [5] and D9.1 - “SoBigData e-Infrastructure Operation Report 1” [3]. The SoBigData e-Infrastructure has been pivotal in enabling the core services and research support required for the SoBigData++ project, including Virtual Research Environments (VREs), the Catalogue, and Analytics Services. It is accessible through the SoBigData gateway (https://sobigdata.d4science.org), which provides end-users with seamless access to tools, datasets, and services. The SoBigData e-Infrastructure is built upon the D4Science infrastructure, offering a comprehensive platform that facilitates collaborative, transparent, and interdisciplinary research. The deployment and operation of VREs followed a well-defined procedure, leveraging the consolidated process inherited from D4Science. Throughout the 60 months of the project, a total of 27 VREs were created and operated to meet project and community needs. These VREs were classified into five categories: Exploratories, Applications, Virtual Labs, Training, and Management. Notable examples include, (i) SoBigDataLab and SoBigDataLab-PlusPlus for method development and experiments, (ii) Training VREs created for events like Summer Schools and specialised workshops, and (iii) Research spaces (formerly known as Exploratories) supporting targeted domains, such as Migration Studies, Sports Data Science, and Social Impacts of AI. The SoBigData Catalogue (https://sobigdata.d4science.org/catalogue-sobigdata) emerged as a critical resource for both human users and integrated services, enabling access to datasets, services, and analytical methods. The catalogue supports customisable item profiles enriched with metadata fields, controlled vocabularies, and validation rules. By end of term, the Catalogue recorded significant growth, particularly in key item types such as Methods (192 items) and Datasets (250 items). This expansion underscores the Catalogue’s role in promoting resource discoverability and supporting research workflows. Its usage indicators demonstrate its active adoption, with 31,909 total accesses, 29,595 metadata views, and 4,171 resource views recorded. Monthly trends reveal consistent engagement, highlighting its importance in the research ecosystem. The Social Mining Analytics Engine (SMAE) transitioned through the development of a new service, namely Cloud Computing Platform (CCP), offering enhanced scalability and automation through container orchestrations. Methods hosted on the SMAE span multiple categories, such as Text Processing, Web Analytics, and Image Analysis. Over the last year, the platform executed an average of 6.4 million method invocations per month, peaking at 16 million executions in July 2024. As of mid-December ’24, the e-infrastructure serves more than 13,000 users, with an overall trend in the use of the SoBigData VREs from January 2020 to December 2024, highlighting their importance for the research community. The steady engagement through 2023 and 2024, with peaks like July 2024 (2,592 sessions), underscores the VREs continued relevance and utility.Project(s): SoBigData-PlusPlus
Assante M., Candela L., Dell'Amico A., Frosini L., Mangiacrapa F., Molinaro E., Oliviero A., Pagano P., Panichi G., Piccioli T.
This Deliverable builds upon and updates the previous reports, D9.2 - “SoBigData e-Infrastructure Operation Report 2” [5] and D9.1 - “SoBigData e-Infrastructure Operation Report 1” [3]. The SoBigData e-Infrastructure has been pivotal in enabling the core services and research support required for the SoBigData++ project, including Virtual Research Environments (VREs), the Catalogue, and Analytics Services. It is accessible through the SoBigData gateway (https://sobigdata.d4science.org), which provides end-users with seamless access to tools, datasets, and services. The SoBigData e-Infrastructure is built upon the D4Science infrastructure, offering a comprehensive platform that facilitates collaborative, transparent, and interdisciplinary research. The deployment and operation of VREs followed a well-defined procedure, leveraging the consolidated process inherited from D4Science. Throughout the 60 months of the project, a total of 27 VREs were created and operated to meet project and community needs. These VREs were classified into five categories: Exploratories, Applications, Virtual Labs, Training, and Management. Notable examples include, (i) SoBigDataLab and SoBigDataLab-PlusPlus for method development and experiments, (ii) Training VREs created for events like Summer Schools and specialised workshops, and (iii) Research spaces (formerly known as Exploratories) supporting targeted domains, such as Migration Studies, Sports Data Science, and Social Impacts of AI. The SoBigData Catalogue (https://sobigdata.d4science.org/catalogue-sobigdata) emerged as a critical resource for both human users and integrated services, enabling access to datasets, services, and analytical methods. The catalogue supports customisable item profiles enriched with metadata fields, controlled vocabularies, and validation rules. By end of term, the Catalogue recorded significant growth, particularly in key item types such as Methods (192 items) and Datasets (250 items). This expansion underscores the Catalogue’s role in promoting resource discoverability and supporting research workflows. Its usage indicators demonstrate its active adoption, with 31,909 total accesses, 29,595 metadata views, and 4,171 resource views recorded. Monthly trends reveal consistent engagement, highlighting its importance in the research ecosystem. The Social Mining Analytics Engine (SMAE) transitioned through the development of a new service, namely Cloud Computing Platform (CCP), offering enhanced scalability and automation through container orchestrations. Methods hosted on the SMAE span multiple categories, such as Text Processing, Web Analytics, and Image Analysis. Over the last year, the platform executed an average of 6.4 million method invocations per month, peaking at 16 million executions in July 2024. As of mid-December ’24, the e-infrastructure serves more than 13,000 users, with an overall trend in the use of the SoBigData VREs from January 2020 to December 2024, highlighting their importance for the research community. The steady engagement through 2023 and 2024, with peaks like July 2024 (2,592 sessions), underscores the VREs continued relevance and utility.Project(s): SoBigData-PlusPlus
2024
Other
Open Access
Skills 4 eosc - Sample of services toolset: a practical guideline
Candela L., Corleto A., Green D., Lembinen L., Liisi C., Vudragovic D., Zimniewicz M.
This Deliverable describes a minimal set of tools and technologies that proven effective in helping Skills4EOSC Competence Centres achieve their goals. These tools belong to four major classes: (i) tools and solutions for training management, (ii) tools and solutions for collaborative work, (iii) tools and solutions for publishing, (iv) tools and solutions for virtual laboratories. The list of tools is complemented by a set of recommendations helping Competence Centres to take informed decisions concerning tools and services to offer to their designated community.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14230226
Project(s): Skills4EOSC
Metrics:
Candela L., Corleto A., Green D., Lembinen L., Liisi C., Vudragovic D., Zimniewicz M.
This Deliverable describes a minimal set of tools and technologies that proven effective in helping Skills4EOSC Competence Centres achieve their goals. These tools belong to four major classes: (i) tools and solutions for training management, (ii) tools and solutions for collaborative work, (iii) tools and solutions for publishing, (iv) tools and solutions for virtual laboratories. The list of tools is complemented by a set of recommendations helping Competence Centres to take informed decisions concerning tools and services to offer to their designated community.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14230226
Project(s): Skills4EOSC
Metrics:
2024
Other
Open Access
Blue-Cloud VRE operation report
Assante M., Candela L., Calanducci A., Cirillo R., Dell’amico A., Frosini L., Lelii L., Molinaro E., Mangiacrapa F., Oliviero A., Pagano P., Panichi G., Piccioli T.
The Horizon Europe Blue-Cloud initiative started in 2019 with the aim of creating a European Open Science Cloud for marine data. This involves federating data and e-infrastructures to provide data products and technologies as open science resources for the wider marine research community. Since 2023, the Blue-Cloud 2026 follow-up project has sought to further evolve this pilot ecosystem into a Federated European Ecosystem, offering FAIR and open data and analytical services crucial for advancing research on oceans, EU seas, and coastal and inland waters. Building on the pilot Blue-Cloud project, the current technical framework is designed to be extensible and open, continually evolving to meet the community's needs. The Blue-Cloud platform architecture comprises two major components: (a) the Blue-Cloud Data Discovery and Access Service (DDAS) component, which facilitates federated discovery and access to 'blue data' infrastructures, and (b) the Blue-Cloud Virtual Research Environment (VRE) component, which provides a Blue-Cloud VRE as a federation of computing platforms and analytical services. The VLabs leverage both DDAS and VRE, co-created with leading marine researchers to demonstrate the power of the Blue-Cloud Open Science platform through real-life scientific cases. \ This deliverable focuses on the VRE operation, specifically on how the VRE services have been utilised and managed to support the development of the Blue-Cloud VRE gateway (https://blue-cloud.d4science.org), its underlying infrastructure, and the VLabs on top of it, during the reporting period from January 2023 (M1) to June 2024 (M18). A total of 13 VLabs were created and operated to meet the needs arising from the Blue-Cloud 2026 project. Additionally, 7 VLabs from the previous Blue-Cloud project are being maintained. These working environments serve more than 1,700 users from 34 countries. Between January 2023 and June 2024, users initiated more than 26,000 working sessions via the Blue-Cloud VRE, averaging 1,447 sessions per month. Operating the VRE and VLabs involves managing support requests, issues, and incidents. A total of 143 tickets have been created and managed in the Blue-Cloud Project Issue Trackers (23 in the project consortium tracker and 120 in the support tracker), with 85% of these tickets closed. Additionally, 24 tickets related to Blue-Cloud have been created within the D4Science overall context, with an 88% closure rate.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12667549
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
Metrics:
Assante M., Candela L., Calanducci A., Cirillo R., Dell’amico A., Frosini L., Lelii L., Molinaro E., Mangiacrapa F., Oliviero A., Pagano P., Panichi G., Piccioli T.
The Horizon Europe Blue-Cloud initiative started in 2019 with the aim of creating a European Open Science Cloud for marine data. This involves federating data and e-infrastructures to provide data products and technologies as open science resources for the wider marine research community. Since 2023, the Blue-Cloud 2026 follow-up project has sought to further evolve this pilot ecosystem into a Federated European Ecosystem, offering FAIR and open data and analytical services crucial for advancing research on oceans, EU seas, and coastal and inland waters. Building on the pilot Blue-Cloud project, the current technical framework is designed to be extensible and open, continually evolving to meet the community's needs. The Blue-Cloud platform architecture comprises two major components: (a) the Blue-Cloud Data Discovery and Access Service (DDAS) component, which facilitates federated discovery and access to 'blue data' infrastructures, and (b) the Blue-Cloud Virtual Research Environment (VRE) component, which provides a Blue-Cloud VRE as a federation of computing platforms and analytical services. The VLabs leverage both DDAS and VRE, co-created with leading marine researchers to demonstrate the power of the Blue-Cloud Open Science platform through real-life scientific cases. \ This deliverable focuses on the VRE operation, specifically on how the VRE services have been utilised and managed to support the development of the Blue-Cloud VRE gateway (https://blue-cloud.d4science.org), its underlying infrastructure, and the VLabs on top of it, during the reporting period from January 2023 (M1) to June 2024 (M18). A total of 13 VLabs were created and operated to meet the needs arising from the Blue-Cloud 2026 project. Additionally, 7 VLabs from the previous Blue-Cloud project are being maintained. These working environments serve more than 1,700 users from 34 countries. Between January 2023 and June 2024, users initiated more than 26,000 working sessions via the Blue-Cloud VRE, averaging 1,447 sessions per month. Operating the VRE and VLabs involves managing support requests, issues, and incidents. A total of 143 tickets have been created and managed in the Blue-Cloud Project Issue Trackers (23 in the project consortium tracker and 120 in the support tracker), with 85% of these tickets closed. Additionally, 24 tickets related to Blue-Cloud have been created within the D4Science overall context, with an 88% closure rate.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12667549
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
Metrics:
2024
Journal article
Open Access
The FAIR Assessment Conundrum: reflections on tools and metrics
Candela L., Mangione D., Pavone G.
Several tools for assessing FAIRness have been developed. Although their purpose is common, they use different assessment techniques, they are designed to work with diverse research products, and they are applied in specific scientific disciplines. It is thus inevitable that they perform the assessment using different metrics. This paper provides an overview of the actual FAIR assessment tools and metrics landscape to highlight the challenges characterising this task. In particular, 20 relevant FAIR assessment tools and 1180 relevant metrics were identified and analysed concerning (i) the tool’s distinguishing aspects and their trends, (ii) the gaps between the metric intents and the FAIR principles, (iii) the discrepancies between the declared intent of the metrics and the actual aspects assessed, including the most recurring issues, (iv) the technologies used or mentioned the most in the assessment metrics. The findings highlight (a) the distinguishing characteristics of the tools and the emergence of trends over time concerning those characteristics, (b) the identification of gaps at both metric and tool levels, (c) discrepancies observed in 345 metrics between their declared intent and the actual aspects assessed, pointing at several recurring issues, and (d) the variety in the technology used for the assessments, the majority of which can be ascribed to linked data solutions. This work also highlights some open issues that FAIR assessment still needs to address.Source: DATA SCIENCE JOURNAL, vol. 23
DOI: 10.5334/dsj-2024-033
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026, Blue Cloud , Skills4EOSC , SoBigData-PlusPlus
Metrics:
Candela L., Mangione D., Pavone G.
Several tools for assessing FAIRness have been developed. Although their purpose is common, they use different assessment techniques, they are designed to work with diverse research products, and they are applied in specific scientific disciplines. It is thus inevitable that they perform the assessment using different metrics. This paper provides an overview of the actual FAIR assessment tools and metrics landscape to highlight the challenges characterising this task. In particular, 20 relevant FAIR assessment tools and 1180 relevant metrics were identified and analysed concerning (i) the tool’s distinguishing aspects and their trends, (ii) the gaps between the metric intents and the FAIR principles, (iii) the discrepancies between the declared intent of the metrics and the actual aspects assessed, including the most recurring issues, (iv) the technologies used or mentioned the most in the assessment metrics. The findings highlight (a) the distinguishing characteristics of the tools and the emergence of trends over time concerning those characteristics, (b) the identification of gaps at both metric and tool levels, (c) discrepancies observed in 345 metrics between their declared intent and the actual aspects assessed, pointing at several recurring issues, and (d) the variety in the technology used for the assessments, the majority of which can be ascribed to linked data solutions. This work also highlights some open issues that FAIR assessment still needs to address.Source: DATA SCIENCE JOURNAL, vol. 23
DOI: 10.5334/dsj-2024-033
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
, Blue Cloud , Skills4EOSC , SoBigData-PlusPlus Metrics:
See at:
IRIS Cnr | Data Science Journal | Data Science Journal | IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Open Access
An overview of Open Science in Italy
Bardi A., Candela L., Mangione D., Pavone G.
Open Science is a phenomenon pervading scientific practices to make scientific research and its outputs more accessible, transparent, and collaborative. It is gaining momentum globally, and various initiatives were and are underway to promote it. However, implementation varies across disciplines, regions, and institutions. This paper overviews the current state of open science implementation in Italy by analysing the established policies, the scientific production, and the available services documented by several publicly available information systems.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, vol. 3643, pp. 126-139. Bressanone, Brixen, Italy, 22-23/02/2024
Project(s): Skills4EOSC, SoBigData RI PPP
Bardi A., Candela L., Mangione D., Pavone G.
Open Science is a phenomenon pervading scientific practices to make scientific research and its outputs more accessible, transparent, and collaborative. It is gaining momentum globally, and various initiatives were and are underway to promote it. However, implementation varies across disciplines, regions, and institutions. This paper overviews the current state of open science implementation in Italy by analysing the established policies, the scientific production, and the available services documented by several publicly available information systems.Source: CEUR WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS, vol. 3643, pp. 126-139. Bressanone, Brixen, Italy, 22-23/02/2024
Project(s): Skills4EOSC
, SoBigData RI PPP
See at:
ceur-ws.org | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Restricted
New Tools for Geo-scientific Data Management in the Framework of the ITINERIS Project Leveraging D4Science e-Infrastructure Capabilities.
Gennaro S., Di Giuseppe P., Perrone E., Agostini S., Trumpy E., Assante M., Candela L., Pagano P., Procaccini M., Coro G., Provenzale A.
Open Science is a cultural movement based on transparency, inclusion, research integrity, collaboration, and cooperative work, promoting an enhancing approach to science. Benefits are expected from this approach, although doing open science can entail a contrast with several barriers, including: (i) cultural factors (e.g., the fear of the loss of control of the datasets); (ii) cost-base factors; and (iii) disincentive factors (Assante et al., 2019; 2023). The effectiveness of the Open Science approach of a project can be enhanced by using the D4Science infrastructure. This infrastructure promotes collaboration and cooperative work with Virtual Research Environments (VREs). As part of the ITINERIS Project, a comprehensive Italian Research Infrastructures (RDIs) hub in the geoscientific and environmental fields is under development, in which teams with a high level of trans-disciplinarity are working on the development of thematic VREs for topics that includes: (i) Critical Zone (CZ) VRE; (ii) Aquatic Biomass services (BIOMASS) VRE; (iii) Crops, Plants and Pests services (CPP VRE); (iv) Essential Variables (EV VRE); (v) Aerosol-biosphere (AERO VRE); (vi) Carbon Cycle services (CARBON VRE); (vii) Indicators and Impacts of Climate Change (CLIMA VRE); (viii) Downstream Effects of Environmental Change (DOWNSTREAM VRE); (ix) Isotope Database (ISOTOPE VRE). VREs are based on the D4Science infrastructure, and their development is based on the needs of the scientific communities and the specific stakeholders identified by the researcher. VREs are new eScience facilities that address scientifically and socially relevant topics, especially through the sharing of information and data produced. Research data and results products following international standards are managed and shared with the members of the VREs. In this context, these D4Science enabled VREs will become tools supporting the entire spectrum of the research lifecycle. Specifically, for data collection (i) the Collaborative Storage Framework promotes teamwork among users and offers a collaborative space to share digital objects. For data analytics, (ii) the Analytics Engine Framework equips VREs with Cloud Computing Platforms. For data publishing, (iii) the Publishing Framework facilitates the dissemination of research outcomes by means of the Metadata Catalogue and the Spatial Data Catalogue, which help organise and make research results available to the broader scientific community. Moreover, VREs are planned with a modular structure with semantic services for data discovery, harmonization and interoperability, and will contribute to share workflows, procedures and analysis tools which could be applied to analyse new datasets by the members of the VRE. Data from multiple sources, analysis and modelling tools will be integrated into the VREs, allowing users to gain insights into the problems at hand and add their data and analysis methods to respond to the changing scientific and practical needs.DOI: 10.3301/absgi.2024.02
Metrics:
Gennaro S., Di Giuseppe P., Perrone E., Agostini S., Trumpy E., Assante M., Candela L., Pagano P., Procaccini M., Coro G., Provenzale A.
Open Science is a cultural movement based on transparency, inclusion, research integrity, collaboration, and cooperative work, promoting an enhancing approach to science. Benefits are expected from this approach, although doing open science can entail a contrast with several barriers, including: (i) cultural factors (e.g., the fear of the loss of control of the datasets); (ii) cost-base factors; and (iii) disincentive factors (Assante et al., 2019; 2023). The effectiveness of the Open Science approach of a project can be enhanced by using the D4Science infrastructure. This infrastructure promotes collaboration and cooperative work with Virtual Research Environments (VREs). As part of the ITINERIS Project, a comprehensive Italian Research Infrastructures (RDIs) hub in the geoscientific and environmental fields is under development, in which teams with a high level of trans-disciplinarity are working on the development of thematic VREs for topics that includes: (i) Critical Zone (CZ) VRE; (ii) Aquatic Biomass services (BIOMASS) VRE; (iii) Crops, Plants and Pests services (CPP VRE); (iv) Essential Variables (EV VRE); (v) Aerosol-biosphere (AERO VRE); (vi) Carbon Cycle services (CARBON VRE); (vii) Indicators and Impacts of Climate Change (CLIMA VRE); (viii) Downstream Effects of Environmental Change (DOWNSTREAM VRE); (ix) Isotope Database (ISOTOPE VRE). VREs are based on the D4Science infrastructure, and their development is based on the needs of the scientific communities and the specific stakeholders identified by the researcher. VREs are new eScience facilities that address scientifically and socially relevant topics, especially through the sharing of information and data produced. Research data and results products following international standards are managed and shared with the members of the VREs. In this context, these D4Science enabled VREs will become tools supporting the entire spectrum of the research lifecycle. Specifically, for data collection (i) the Collaborative Storage Framework promotes teamwork among users and offers a collaborative space to share digital objects. For data analytics, (ii) the Analytics Engine Framework equips VREs with Cloud Computing Platforms. For data publishing, (iii) the Publishing Framework facilitates the dissemination of research outcomes by means of the Metadata Catalogue and the Spatial Data Catalogue, which help organise and make research results available to the broader scientific community. Moreover, VREs are planned with a modular structure with semantic services for data discovery, harmonization and interoperability, and will contribute to share workflows, procedures and analysis tools which could be applied to analyse new datasets by the members of the VRE. Data from multiple sources, analysis and modelling tools will be integrated into the VREs, allowing users to gain insights into the problems at hand and add their data and analysis methods to respond to the changing scientific and practical needs.DOI: 10.3301/absgi.2024.02
Metrics:
See at:
doi.org | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS | www.socgeol.it
2024
Dataset
Open Access
An overview of Open Science in Italy - Data set
Bardi A., Candela L., Mangione D., Pavone G.
Data sets accompanying the paper "An Overview of Open Science in Italy", an overview of the current state of open science implementation in Italy. See the readme.txt for a detailed description of the data sets. The data sets atenei.csv and altri-istituti-ricerca.csv document the organisation selection resulting from the list of Italian universities recognised by the Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca, the aggregation of data from a crowdsourcing activity born within the Open Access Italia mailing list, from the catalogue of policies of the open-science.it portal, as well as from the survey by the Open Science Working Group of CoPER on the monitoring of institutional policies for the management of scientific data. The data set policies.csv consists of the list of documents (among policies, guidelines and regulations) that are related to the observed organisations. The data set ita_publications_openaire.csv.zip includes records about italian publications selected from the OpenAIRE Graph based on affiliation relationships. The data set is created via the Zeppelin Note available at 10.5281/zenodo.10640721. The data set openaire_observatory_it.csv reports the aggregated data with respect to the Italian open access (OA) and closed research products, from 2015 to 2023, retrieved from the OpenAIRE Open Science Observatory. The data set openaire_observatory_eu.csv consists of the aggregated data on the top eleven European countries for the OA research production (publications, data sets, software, and other research products), from 2015 to 2023, retrieved from the OpenAIRE Open Science Observatory. The data set coki_years.csv consists of the aggregated indicators on the Italian OA production from 2000 to 2023. The data set coki_it.csv consists of the selection of indicators on open and closed publications (from 2015 to 2023) from the coki_years.csv. The data sets services_re3data.csv, services_opendoar.csv, services_eoscmarketplace.csv, and services_fairsharing.csv consist of the records identifying italian services for open science downloaded from re3data, OpenDOAR, the EOSC Marketplace, and FAIRsharing respectively.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10611000
Project(s): Skills4EOSC, SoBigData RI PPP
Metrics:
Bardi A., Candela L., Mangione D., Pavone G.
Data sets accompanying the paper "An Overview of Open Science in Italy", an overview of the current state of open science implementation in Italy. See the readme.txt for a detailed description of the data sets. The data sets atenei.csv and altri-istituti-ricerca.csv document the organisation selection resulting from the list of Italian universities recognised by the Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca, the aggregation of data from a crowdsourcing activity born within the Open Access Italia mailing list, from the catalogue of policies of the open-science.it portal, as well as from the survey by the Open Science Working Group of CoPER on the monitoring of institutional policies for the management of scientific data. The data set policies.csv consists of the list of documents (among policies, guidelines and regulations) that are related to the observed organisations. The data set ita_publications_openaire.csv.zip includes records about italian publications selected from the OpenAIRE Graph based on affiliation relationships. The data set is created via the Zeppelin Note available at 10.5281/zenodo.10640721. The data set openaire_observatory_it.csv reports the aggregated data with respect to the Italian open access (OA) and closed research products, from 2015 to 2023, retrieved from the OpenAIRE Open Science Observatory. The data set openaire_observatory_eu.csv consists of the aggregated data on the top eleven European countries for the OA research production (publications, data sets, software, and other research products), from 2015 to 2023, retrieved from the OpenAIRE Open Science Observatory. The data set coki_years.csv consists of the aggregated indicators on the Italian OA production from 2000 to 2023. The data set coki_it.csv consists of the selection of indicators on open and closed publications (from 2015 to 2023) from the coki_years.csv. The data sets services_re3data.csv, services_opendoar.csv, services_eoscmarketplace.csv, and services_fairsharing.csv consist of the records identifying italian services for open science downloaded from re3data, OpenDOAR, the EOSC Marketplace, and FAIRsharing respectively.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10611000
Project(s): Skills4EOSC
, SoBigData RI PPP Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | zenodo.org | CNR IRIS
2024
Other
Open Access
Introducing Janet: early findings on a conversational agent for Virtual Research Environments
Ibrahim A. S. T., Candela L.
Conversational agents have the potential to streamline tasks, provide support, and enhance user experience across various domains including Virtual Research Environments (VREs). The recent progress in conversational artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) offers novel strategies for the development of these agents. Janet is an attempt to develop an agent that, by leveraging the resources within the VRE, can engage in natural language conversations with VRE users to help them manage their daily activities, find relevant information, and use what the specific environment offers. It is developed following the Retrieval-Augmented Generation paradigm, a technique that reduces the effect of one of the limitations affecting LLMs; namely, hallucination. This talk highlights the lessons learned during the development of Janet.Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026, Skills4EOSC, SoBigData RI PPP
Ibrahim A. S. T., Candela L.
Conversational agents have the potential to streamline tasks, provide support, and enhance user experience across various domains including Virtual Research Environments (VREs). The recent progress in conversational artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) offers novel strategies for the development of these agents. Janet is an attempt to develop an agent that, by leveraging the resources within the VRE, can engage in natural language conversations with VRE users to help them manage their daily activities, find relevant information, and use what the specific environment offers. It is developed following the Retrieval-Augmented Generation paradigm, a technique that reduces the effect of one of the limitations affecting LLMs; namely, hallucination. This talk highlights the lessons learned during the development of Janet.Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026, Skills4EOSC
, SoBigData RI PPP
2024
Other
Open Access
Dataset per il Geoportale Nazionale per l'Archeologia - Guida al Data-Viewer
Vannini G. L., Mangiacrapa F., Pagano P., Candela L.
The Dataset for the National Geoportal for Archeology (D4GNA) is a digital platform that allows access and consultation of archaeological data coming from 'Surveys carried out under concession regime (in Italian territory)' and from 'Italian archaeological missions to abroad'. This guide provides the necessary instructions to consult the datasets, navigate the interactive cartography and download the data. To access the D4GNA, you need to connect to the official website https://gna.d4science.org/.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12531823
Project(s): ARIADNEplus
Metrics:
Vannini G. L., Mangiacrapa F., Pagano P., Candela L.
The Dataset for the National Geoportal for Archeology (D4GNA) is a digital platform that allows access and consultation of archaeological data coming from 'Surveys carried out under concession regime (in Italian territory)' and from 'Italian archaeological missions to abroad'. This guide provides the necessary instructions to consult the datasets, navigate the interactive cartography and download the data. To access the D4GNA, you need to connect to the official website https://gna.d4science.org/.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12531823
Project(s): ARIADNEplus
Metrics:
2024
Other
Open Access
L'infrastruttura D4Science e i servizi a supporto dell'Open Science
Candela L.
Presentazione dell'infrastruttura D4Science e dei servizi a supporto dell'Open Science
Candela L.
Presentazione dell'infrastruttura D4Science e dei servizi a supporto dell'Open Science
See at:
CNR IRIS | openscience.unige.it | CNR IRIS
2024
Other
Open Access
Dataset per il Geoportale Nazionale per l’Archeologia - Guida al sistema D4GNA
Vannini G. L., Mangiacrapa F., Candela L., Pagano P.
The Dataset for the National Geoportal for Archeology (D4GNA) is a digital platform that allows access and consultation of archaeological data coming from 'Surveys carried out under concession regime (in Italian territory)' and from 'Italian archaeological missions to abroad'. This guide provides the necessary instructions for consulting the datasets, navigating the interactive cartography and inserting, modifying or deleting a survey project by excavation concessionaires. To access the D4GNA, it is necessary to connect to the official website https://gna.d4science.org/ and authenticate using credentials provided by the authorized institutions.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12530857
Project(s): ARIADNEplus
Metrics:
Vannini G. L., Mangiacrapa F., Candela L., Pagano P.
The Dataset for the National Geoportal for Archeology (D4GNA) is a digital platform that allows access and consultation of archaeological data coming from 'Surveys carried out under concession regime (in Italian territory)' and from 'Italian archaeological missions to abroad'. This guide provides the necessary instructions for consulting the datasets, navigating the interactive cartography and inserting, modifying or deleting a survey project by excavation concessionaires. To access the D4GNA, it is necessary to connect to the official website https://gna.d4science.org/ and authenticate using credentials provided by the authorized institutions.DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12530857
Project(s): ARIADNEplus
Metrics:
2024
Contribution to conference
Open Access
Blue-Cloud 2026 - Virtual Research Environment service
Assante M., Candela L., Frosini L., Mangiacrapa F., Molinaro E., Pagano P.
BlueCloud Virtual Research Environment Service The BlueCloud Virtual Research Environment (VRE) is one of the two main components of the BlueCloud technical framework, next to the BlueCloud Data Discovery and Access Service (DDAS). The BlueCloud VRE components are developed and operated by relying on the D4Science infrastructure [Assante et al., 2019; 2023; Candela et al., 2023] and range from services to promote the collaboration among its users to services supporting the execution of analytics tasks embedded in a distributed computing infrastructure, and to services enabling the cocreation of entire Virtual Laboratories (VLabs), also interoperable with the BlueCloud DDAS. The VRE services are instrumental in advancing Open Science practices within VLabs, empowering researchers to harness the advantages of stateoftheart einfrastructures. By leveraging these services, researchers can capitalise on the power of the Cloud and of einfrastructures, driving scientific progress and enabling collaborative research efforts within the realm of Open Science.Source: MISCELLANEA INGV, vol. 80, pp. 240-241. Bergen, Norway, 27-29/05/2024
DOI: 10.13127/misc/80/91
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
Metrics:
Assante M., Candela L., Frosini L., Mangiacrapa F., Molinaro E., Pagano P.
BlueCloud Virtual Research Environment Service The BlueCloud Virtual Research Environment (VRE) is one of the two main components of the BlueCloud technical framework, next to the BlueCloud Data Discovery and Access Service (DDAS). The BlueCloud VRE components are developed and operated by relying on the D4Science infrastructure [Assante et al., 2019; 2023; Candela et al., 2023] and range from services to promote the collaboration among its users to services supporting the execution of analytics tasks embedded in a distributed computing infrastructure, and to services enabling the cocreation of entire Virtual Laboratories (VLabs), also interoperable with the BlueCloud DDAS. The VRE services are instrumental in advancing Open Science practices within VLabs, empowering researchers to harness the advantages of stateoftheart einfrastructures. By leveraging these services, researchers can capitalise on the power of the Cloud and of einfrastructures, driving scientific progress and enabling collaborative research efforts within the realm of Open Science.Source: MISCELLANEA INGV, vol. 80, pp. 240-241. Bergen, Norway, 27-29/05/2024
DOI: 10.13127/misc/80/91
Project(s): Blue-Cloud 2026
Metrics:
See at:
editoria.ingv.it | CNR IRIS | doi.org | IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS
2024
Other
Restricted
FOSSR D6.8A - VRE catalogue release
Assante M., Candela L., Frosini L., Lelii L., Mangiacrapa F., Oliviero A., Paratore M. T.
The purpose of this document is to outline the software solution for the VRE Catalogue, enabling to effectively find, access and reuse every research artefact, offering the possibility to publish results as digital objects in Zenodo.org so as to ensure FAIR preservation, citation, and DOI minting for such objects. Scientists will be supported in this process by the VRE, which will transparently make sure the objects are deposited in Zenodo.org with links between them (e.g. workflow linked to methods objects used and to input and output datasets) and to the FOSSR project;Project(s): Fostering Open Science in Social Science Research
Assante M., Candela L., Frosini L., Lelii L., Mangiacrapa F., Oliviero A., Paratore M. T.
The purpose of this document is to outline the software solution for the VRE Catalogue, enabling to effectively find, access and reuse every research artefact, offering the possibility to publish results as digital objects in Zenodo.org so as to ensure FAIR preservation, citation, and DOI minting for such objects. Scientists will be supported in this process by the VRE, which will transparently make sure the objects are deposited in Zenodo.org with links between them (e.g. workflow linked to methods objects used and to input and output datasets) and to the FOSSR project;Project(s): Fostering Open Science in Social Science Research
2023
Other
Open Access
Implementation of a drug discovery pipeline on the D4Science platform
Orro A, D'Ursi P, Fossa P, Candela L, Panichi G
This report documents the implementation of drug discovery pipeline in the D4Science platform realised in the context of the EOSC-Pillar project. In particular, it documents the pipeline and its constituents. Moreover, it describes how this pipeline has been integrated into the D4Science platform and exploited to create a dedicated Virtual Research Environment facilitating its exploitation and promoting a collaborative oriented approach for screening activities.DOI: 10.32079/isti-tr-2023/001
Project(s): EOSC-Pillar
Metrics:
Orro A, D'Ursi P, Fossa P, Candela L, Panichi G
This report documents the implementation of drug discovery pipeline in the D4Science platform realised in the context of the EOSC-Pillar project. In particular, it documents the pipeline and its constituents. Moreover, it describes how this pipeline has been integrated into the D4Science platform and exploited to create a dedicated Virtual Research Environment facilitating its exploitation and promoting a collaborative oriented approach for screening activities.DOI: 10.32079/isti-tr-2023/001
Project(s): EOSC-Pillar
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Journal article
Open Access
D4SCIENCE: a unique infrastructure delivering virtual research environments as a service
Candela L, Castelli D, Pagano P
Nowadays, research challenges - often based on the collaborative analysis of a large amount of data - require suitable infrastructures and user-facing solutions promoting multidisciplinary collaboration and appropriate communication and sharing of data, processes, and outcomes. The D4Science infrastructure and its virtual research environments proved to be a viable and effective solution for many communities of practice and use cases.Source: ERCIM NEWS, vol. 133, pp. 6-7
Project(s): Blue Cloud, SoBigData-PlusPlus
Candela L, Castelli D, Pagano P
Nowadays, research challenges - often based on the collaborative analysis of a large amount of data - require suitable infrastructures and user-facing solutions promoting multidisciplinary collaboration and appropriate communication and sharing of data, processes, and outcomes. The D4Science infrastructure and its virtual research environments proved to be a viable and effective solution for many communities of practice and use cases.Source: ERCIM NEWS, vol. 133, pp. 6-7
Project(s): Blue Cloud
, SoBigData-PlusPlus
See at:
ercim-news.ercim.eu | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Other
Open Access
Roadmap Scienza Aperta
Castelli D, De Simone G, Cancedda F, Candela L, Colcelli V, Conte R, Di Donato F, Giannini S, Lazzeri E, Mangiaracina S, Puccinelli R, Ranchino Ma
La scienza aperta è un paradigma che influenza le pratiche di produzione e condivisione di conoscenza. Obiettivo di questa roadmap è delineare un percorso per la realizzazione e diffusione di pratiche e politiche di scienza aperta all'interno del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.
Castelli D, De Simone G, Cancedda F, Candela L, Colcelli V, Conte R, Di Donato F, Giannini S, Lazzeri E, Mangiaracina S, Puccinelli R, Ranchino Ma
La scienza aperta è un paradigma che influenza le pratiche di produzione e condivisione di conoscenza. Obiettivo di questa roadmap è delineare un percorso per la realizzazione e diffusione di pratiche e politiche di scienza aperta all'interno del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.
See at:
CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR ExploRA