Arctos: ctsex_cde values

[dustymc]

http://arctos.database.museum/info/ctDocumentation.cfm?table=CTSEX_CDE

I don't understand the use case for various flavors of "we don't know" in sex. Can we either elaborate in the documentation or eliminate some/all of these?

"not recorded" and "unknown" look like NULL (absence of a "sex" attribute) to me.

"sexes mixed" seems better recorded as "male" + "female" determinations (and doesn't limit the determination to "both" - I think many organisms typically cataloged as lots have more complexity than that).

"We looked and still can't tell" does seem useful, but I'm not sure why that would be dependent on the presence of "a label or field notes."

Help!

not recorded: There is data in the form of a label or field notes, and there is no mention of sex.

recorded as unknown: There are data in the form of a label or field notes, and these indicate that the examiner was unable to determine the sex.

sexes mixed: Lot contains individuals of both sexes.

unknown: There are no data in the form of a label or field notes. That is, no determination, or attempted determination is available.

[ekrimmel]

For collections with legacy data scattered in disparate sources (catalog tags on specimens, catalog books, field notebooks, etc.) the values "not recorded" vs "recorded as unknown" vs "unknown" can be useful as a proxy of transcription effort. When I see "not recorded" I read that as "don't bother looking" whereas if I see "unknown" then I begrudgingly go on a wild goose chase depending on who wants to know the sex and how important it is. I'd be fine with nixing "unknown," but I do not see "not recorded" as equivalent to NULL.

I agree that sexes mixed should be two attributes of "male" and "female."

[campmlc]

I agree with Erica, and I would propose keeping the following:

not recorded: There is data in the form of a label or field notes, and there is no mention of sex.

recorded as unknown: There are data in the form of a label or field notes, and these indicate that the examiner was unable to determine the sex.

and unknown = NULL

[dustymc]

• Can we update "sexes mixed" to "male" + "female"?
• Can we update "in copula" to "male" + "female"?

  guid_prefix,
  count(*) c
from
  cataloged_item,
  collection,
  attributes
where
  cataloged_item.collection_object_id=attributes.collection_object_id and
  cataloged_item.collection_id=collection.collection_id and
  ATTRIBUTE_TYPE='sex' and
  ATTRIBUTE_value='sexes mixed' 
group by guid_prefix
 14  ;

GUID_PREFIX                               C
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
CHAS:Ento                                97
HWML:Para                               361
MSB:Para                                 12


select
  guid_prefix,
  count(*) c
from
  cataloged_item,
  collection,
  attributes
where
  cataloged_item.collection_object_id=attributes.collection_object_id and
  cataloged_item.collection_id=collection.collection_id and
  ATTRIBUTE_TYPE='sex' and
  ATTRIBUTE_value='in copula' 
group by guid_prefix
 14  ;

GUID_PREFIX                               C
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
MSB:Para                                  2

@droberts49

[campmlc]

Agree, except "in copula" should also be added to "reproductive data" attribute.

[droberts49]

Yes, I think we should specify 'male and female' rather than 'sexes mixed'
and agree with Mariel's suggestion for the reproductive information.

Dawn

On Mon, Aug 6, 2018 at 1:30 PM Mariel Campbell [e-mail]
wrote:

Agree, except "in copula" should also be added to "reproductive data"
attribute.

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[dustymc]

in copula

It's only http://arctos.database.museum/guid/MSB:Para:171 and it's there twice for some reason. I fixed it manually.

I cleaned up "sexes mixed."