A visual method for high-dimensional data cluster exploration

Visualization is helpful for clustering high dimensional data. The goals of visualization in data mining are exploration, confirmation and presentation of the clustering results. However, the most of visual techniques developed for cluster analysis are primarily focused on cluster presentation rather than cluster exploration. Several techniques have been proposed to explore cluster information by visualization, but most of them depend heavily on the individual user's experience. Inevitably, this incurs subjectivity and randomness in the clustering process. In this paper, we employ the statistical features of datasets as predictions to estimate the number of clusters by a visual technique called HOV3. This approach mitigates the problem of the randomness and subjectivity of the user during the process of cluster exploration by other visual techniques. As a result, our approach provides an effective visual method for cluster exploration. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Exploring Music Collections by Browsing Different Views

The availability of large music collections calls for ways to efficiently access and explore them. We present a new approach which uses descriptors derived from audio analysis and meta-information to create different views of a collection. Such views can have a focus on timbre, rhythm, artist, style or other aspects of music. For each view the pieces of music are organized on a map in such a way that similar pieces are located close to each other. The maps are visualized using an Islands of Music metaphor where islands represent groups of similar pieces. The different maps are linked to each other using a new technique to align Self-Organizing Maps. The user is able to browse the collection and explore different aspects by gradually changing focus from one view to another. We demonstrate our approach on a small collection using a user defined view and two views generated from audio analysis, namely, beat periodicity as an aspect of rhythm and spectral information as an aspect of timbre

Document Collection Visualization and Clustering Using An Atom Metaphor for Display and Interaction

Visual Data Mining have proven to be of high value in exploratory data analysis and data mining because it provides an intuitive feedback on data analysis and support decision-making activities. Several visualization techniques have been developed for cluster discovery such as Grand Tour, HD-Eye, Star Coordinates, etc. They are very useful tool which are visualized in 2D or 3D; however, they have not simple for users who are not trained. This thesis proposes a new approach to build a 3D clustering visualization system for document clustering by using k-mean algorithm. A cluster will be represented by a neutron (centroid) and electrons (documents) which will keep a distance with neutron by force. Our approach employs quantified domain knowledge and explorative observation as prediction to map high dimensional data onto 3D space for revealing the relationship among documents. User can perform an intuitive visual assessment of the consistency of the cluster structure

Princípios de visualização de dados aplicados no software de gestão financeira Binfolio

Project Work presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Knowledge Management and Business IntelligenceA capacidade de análise e monotorização da informação é, atualmente, um dos focos principais das empresas. Propriedade da empresa portuguesa Novabase, o Binfolio é um software de Gestão Financeira utilizado por seguradoras, bancos, fundos de investimento e outras entidades gestores de património em Portugal para fazer a gestão das suas carteiras de investimento. Esta gestão implica a análise e monitorização de diversas métricas e indicadores sendo que a aplicação Binfolio é dotada de ferramentas para esse fim, estando povoado de um conjunto de interfaces gráficos e representações visuais. A partir da base teórica da temática de visualização de dados, este Trabalho de Projeto visa conferir a conformidade das representações visuais constantes no Binfolio com os princípios de visualização de dados. Adicionalmente, como aplicação prática dos conceitos retidos, foi construído um dashboard à luz dos princípios definidos que permitiu alargar o leque de ferramentas ao dispor na aplicação.The ability to analyze information is currently one of the companies' main focuses. Owned by technology company Novabase, Binfolio is a financial management software used by insurance companies, banks, investment funds and other entities managing wealth to manage their investment portfolios. That management implies the analysis and monitor of several crucial metrics and indicators and Binfolio application are endowed with tools for this purpose, being populated by a set of data visualization elements. Based on the theoretical basis of Data Visualization and Dashboards, this Project aims to verify the compliance of the data visualizations present in Binfolio with principles of data visualization defined a priori. In addition, a new data visualization was implemented in Binfolio, namely a dashboard, in the light of the defined principles that allowed to extend the range of tools available

Social Media – Grupo Lusiaves

A análise de dados e a Inteligência de Negócio (Business Intelligence) têm vindo a ganhar cada vez mais importância nas organizações, com a tomada de decisões estratégicas. Atualmente, observa-se uma tendência crescente de descentralização do acesso e análise de dados em toda a organização, o que leva a que as empresas reconheçam o Business Intelligence como uma componente estratégica. Neste sentido, este projeto tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um sistema de analytics para auxílio à gestão e análise de informação de múltiplas fontes de dados no meio empresarial. De tal modo, para o desenvolvimento deste projeto, foi utilizado como caso de estudo a informação retirada das redes sociais do Grupo Lusiaves, utilizando a plataforma Domo. O projeto segue uma abordagem metodológica baseada no CRISP-DM, comumente utilizada na construção de sistemas de análise de dados. Todo o processo que foi seguido com base na metodologia CRISP-DM foi desenvolvida através da plataforma Domo, desde o processo de recolha e preparação dos dados até ao desenvolvimento de dashboards. Através da análise descritiva e prescritiva dos dados, foi possível comprovar o enorme potencial do Domo como ferramenta de suporte ao Business Intelligence, tanto do ponto de vista económico como no que diz respeito à análise de dados

A glyph and animation-based visualization system for evaluation and comparison of soccer players

The dimensionality of soccer statistics relating to both player and goalkeeper specific data can be difficult to interpret. Attempting to formulate an analysis of large sums of soccer statistics can be extremely challenging if the data is not presented graphically. As a result, we developed an application, titled Soccer Scoop, which provides two separate visualizations that can aid a soccer team manager. With this application, a team manager can compare two players on different teams, analyze a particular player before signing them to a contract, measure the performance of a particular player at different positions, generate practice exercises, and determine if a particular player plays better on the road or at home. Leveraging our existing statistical analytics tool, Soccer Scoop, we developed a goalkeeper visualization add-on that can also assist a team manager. With the goalkeeper visualization tool, a team manager can compare a single goalkeeper between two games, measure the overall performance of the goalkeeper both for games played at home or away, as well as to devise the appropriate training exercises needed to strengthen any visible weakness. The visualizations used in this application apply information visualization techniques, such as glyphs, modified star plots, details on demand, color, and gestalt principles

Valores Públicos e Performance Financeira das Entidades Públicas: Proposta de Modelo de Análise na Perspetiva do Relato

Tese de Doutoramento em Administração Pública Especialização em Administração e Políticas PúblicasA criação de valor público, na qual a Administração Pública assume um papel fundamental, deverá traduzir o interesse dos cidadãos e nortear-se por um conjunto abrangente de valores públicos. Estes valores públicos, amplos, complexos e divergentes, devem integrar o modelo de governança democrática, suportar a tomada de decisão e servir de referência para a Administração Pública, na prossecução do interesse público. Tendo por base os modelos de governação pública, a Teoria do Valor Público e a Teoria do Interesse Público, bem como as dimensões dos valores públicos apontadas por stakeholders e influencers da informação financeira pública, procurou estudar-se de que forma os valores públicos, que materializam o interesse público, podem integrar na sua função de accountability, a avaliação e a análise da performance financeira na perspetiva da prestação de contas das entidades públicas. Nesse sentido, o estudo pretendeu identificar quais os valores públicos de natureza económica e financeira que interessam aos stakeholders e enquadrá-los num modelo estruturado de análise da financeira, que contribua para o reforço da performance accountability e transparência do relato financeiro público. A partir de uma estratégia de investigação mista, materializada na realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas e no ensaio aplicado sobre os dados financeiros do Município de Cascais, a investigação desenvolveu um modelo de análise e relato da performance financeira com vista a integrar a prestação de contas das entidades públicas, tendo como referência basilar não a ótica contabilística da estrutura e conteúdo das demonstrações financeiras, mas os «valores públicos» que consubstanciam o «interesse público». Conclui-se que este modelo favorece a adequação do relato financeiro público aos valores públicos, bem como representa um contributo para a normalização da avaliação da performance, reduzindo a discricionariedade do relato, melhorando o benchmarking financeiro e o robustecimento do sistema de avaliação do desempenho das entidades públicas previsto na Lei de Enquadramento Orçamental.The creation of public value, in which the Public Administration plays a key role, should translate the citizens' interest and be guided by a comprehensive set of public values. These public values, broad, complex and divergent, should integrate the democratic governance model, support decision-making, and serve as a reference for the Public Administration in the pursuit of public interest. Based on the models of public governance, the Public Interest Theory and the Theory of Public Values, as well as the dimensions of public values pointed out by stakeholders and influencers of public financial information, we sought to study how public values, which materialize public interest, can integrate into the function of accountability, the evaluation and analysis of financial performance from the perspective of accountability of public entities. In this sense, the study intended to identify which public values of economic and financial nature are of interest to the stakeholders and frame them in a structured model of financial performance analysis, which contributes to the strengthening of accountability and transparency of public financial reporting. Based on a mixed research strategy, materialized in semi-structured interviews and the test applied on the financial data of the Municipality of Cascais, the research developed a model of analysis and reporting of the financial performance to integrate the accountability of public entities. This was done having as an essential reference not the accounting perspective of the structure and content of the financial statements, but the "public values" that embody the "public interest". The conclusion is that this model favours the adequacy of public financial reporting to public values and represents a contribution to the standardization of performance evaluation, reducing the discretion of reporting, improving financial benchmarking, and strengthening the performance evaluation system of public entities foreseen in the Budgetary Framework Law.N/

Visualizing Changes in the Structure of Data for Exploratory Feature Selection

Using visualization techniques to explore and understand high-dimensional data is an efficient way to combine human intelligence with the immense brute force computation power available nowadays. Several visualization techniques have been developed to study the cluster structure of data, i.e., the existence of distinctive groups in the data and how these clusters are related to each other. However, only few of these techniques lend themselves to studying how this structure changes if the features describing the data are changed. Understanding this relationship between the features and the cluster structure means understanding the features themselves and is thus a useful tool in the feature extraction phase. In this paper we present a novel approach to visualizing how modification of the features with respect to weighting or normalization changes the clusters structure. We demonstrate the application of our approach in two music related data mining projects

Interacting With Dynamic Social Knowledge: Revealing Challenges Through An Analysis Of Pragmatic Aspects Of Problem Solving

In the Social Web users interact with each other in multiple contexts expressing meanings and intentions. Knowledge production in this context can be understood as a dynamic socio-cultural process. Mechanisms that support users to explore this knowledge in an effective and efficient way may bring benefits from a personal and social perspective. However, the construction of these interaction mechanisms is dependent on new models and techniques to dynamically represent and visualize the shared knowledge. The interpretation of the content by users is influenced by meanings and intentions, as well as by the understanding of the evolution of these aspects over time. This paper analyses the evolution of meaning and intentions in collaborative problem solving scenarios using Social Network Systems. The analysis method has its roots in Semiotics and Speech Act Theory. 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