Teaching and Learning Data Visualization: Ideas and Assignments

This article discusses how to make statistical graphics a more prominent element of the undergraduate statistics curricula. The focus is on several different types of assignments that exemplify how to incorporate graphics into a course in a pedagogically meaningful way. These assignments include having students deconstruct and reconstruct plots, copy masterful graphs, create one-minute visual revelations, convert tables into `pictures', and develop interactive visualizations with, e.g., the virtual earth as a plotting canvas. In addition to describing the goals and details of each assignment, we also discuss the broader topic of graphics and key concepts that we think warrant inclusion in the statistics curricula. We advocate that more attention needs to be paid to this fundamental field of statistics at all levels, from introductory undergraduate through graduate level courses. With the rapid rise of tools to visualize data, e.g., Google trends, GapMinder, ManyEyes, and Tableau, and the increased use of graphics in the media, understanding the principles of good statistical graphics, and having the ability to create informative visualizations is an ever more important aspect of statistics education

BUSINESS INCUBATORS AND SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

Innovative businesses are often the result of collective action of organisations involved in many-sided market structures, which can be found in and around business incubators or tech¬no¬logy centres. Within such frame environments, many group interests beyond those of single producers and their immediate clients exist and interfere. Rather generically, important economic outcomes of innovations are se¬quen¬ces of cost reduc¬¬tion events at the level of econo¬mic sectors, where the na¬ture of (sector-wise) technology is influencing the pace of these events. At the conceptual le¬vel, we describe the social learning and social innovation process which leads to sustainable in¬no¬¬va¬tion by means of the influence exerted by firms on each other within constrained envi¬ronments such as business incubators. These environments need not to be organized according to any sector logic. We propose that the influ¬ence exerted between firms is increasing in firm simila¬rity, in the degree of product com¬plementarity, and also to depend on (mutual) trust relations. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nWe note that, very much in symmetry with the role of sustainability in society as a whole, in the world of firms and markets, the incubation process may be viewed as a "moderator," which attempts to overcome the disadvantages of highly paced, short-term oriented capitalist economies. In sections 2 and 3 a concept for representing the societal forces shaping sustainability and incubation for the innovating firm is described and ways of transforming the concept into concrete tools of assessment and valuation are pointed at. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nInnovation, Incubators, Learning, Networks, Sustainability

XNOR Neural Engine: a Hardware Accelerator IP for 21.6 fJ/op Binary Neural Network Inference

Binary Neural Networks (BNNs) are promising to deliver accuracy comparable to conventional deep neural networks at a fraction of the cost in terms of memory and energy. In this paper, we introduce the XNOR Neural Engine (XNE), a fully digital configurable hardware accelerator IP for BNNs, integrated within a microcontroller unit (MCU) equipped with an autonomous I/O subsystem and hybrid SRAM / standard cell memory. The XNE is able to fully compute convolutional and dense layers in autonomy or in cooperation with the core in the MCU to realize more complex behaviors. We show post-synthesis results in 65nm and 22nm technology for the XNE IP and post-layout results in 22nm for the full MCU indicating that this system can drop the energy cost per binary operation to 21.6fJ per operation at 0.4V, and at the same time is flexible and performant enough to execute state-of-the-art BNN topologies such as ResNet-34 in less than 2.2mJ per frame at 8.9 fps.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, 3 listings. Accepted for presentation at CODES'18 and for publication in IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Circuits and Systems (TCAD) as part of the ESWEEK-TCAD special issu

Beyond the binding : exploring the future book

We have reached a special moment in the story of the book: today’s youngest generation will experience literature in a vastly different way than the generation preceding. What we call a book has always morphed over time, but digital capabilities and the ubiquity of mobile electronics are changing the landscape at an unprecedented pace. This workshop will be a forum for creative exploration and discussion of the future of the book, motivated by this particular historical moment and a desire to bring together researchers from diverse backgrounds who are working on book-related technologies. We will share and document visions, approaches, and techniques.(undefined

BiplotGUI: Interactive Biplots in R

Biplots simultaneously provide information on both the samples and the variables of a data matrix in two- or three-dimensional representations. The BiplotGUI package provides a graphical user interface for the construction of, interaction with, and manipulation of biplots in R. The samples are represented as points, with coordinates determined either by the choice of biplot, principal coordinate analysis or multidimensional scaling. Various transformations and dissimilarity metrics are available. Information on the original variables is incorporated by linear or non-linear calibrated axes. Goodness-of-fit measures are provided. Additional descriptors can be superimposed, including convex hulls, alpha-bags, point densities and classification regions. Amongst the interactive features are dynamic variable value prediction, zooming and point and axis drag-and-drop. Output can easily be exported to the R workspace for further manipulation. Three-dimensional biplots are incorporated via the rgl package. The user requires almost no knowledge of R syntax.

Envisioning the Next-Gen Document Reader

People read digital documents on a daily basis to share, exchange, and understand information in electronic settings. However, current document readers create a static, isolated reading experience, which does not support users' goals of gaining more knowledge and performing additional tasks through document interaction. In this work, we present our vision for the next-gen document reader that strives to enhance user understanding and create a more connected, trustworthy information experience. We describe 18 NLP-powered features to add to existing document readers and propose a novel plug-in marketplace that allows users to further customize their reading experience, as demonstrated through 3 exploratory UI prototypes available at https://github.com/catherinesyeh/nextgen-prototypesComment: Paper accepted at the AAAI 2023 Workshop on Scientific Document Understandin

Transformation of propositional calculus statements into integer and mixed integer programs: An approach towards automatic reformulation

A systematic procedure for transforming a set of logical statements or logical conditions imposed on a model into an Integer Linear Progamming (ILP) formulation Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) formulation is presented. An ILP stated as a system of linear constraints involving integer variables and an objective function, provides a powerful representation of decision problems through a tightly interrelated closed system of choices. It supports direct representation of logical (Boolean or prepositional calculus) expressions. Binary variables (hereafter called logical variables) are first introduced and methods of logically connecting these to other variables are then presented. Simple constraints can be combined to construct logical relationships and the methods of formulating these are discussed. A reformulation procedure which uses the extended reverse polish representation of a compound logical form is then described. These reformulation procedures are illustrated by two examples. A scheme of implementation.ithin an LP modelling system is outlined