Octilinear Force-Directed Layout with Mental Map Preservation for Schematic Diagrams

We present an algorithm for automatically laying out metro map style schematics using a force-directed approach, where we use a localized version of the standard spring embedder forces combined with an octilinear magnetic force. The two types of forces used during layout are naturally conflicting, and the existing method of simply combining these to generate a resultant force does not give satisfactory results. Hence we vary the forces, emphasizing the standard forces in the beginning to produce a well distributed graph, with the octilinear forces becoming prevalent at the end of the layout, to ensure that the key requirement of line angles at intervals of 45? is obtained. Our method is considerably faster than the more commonly used search-based approaches, and we believe the results are superior to the previous force-directed approach. We have further developed this technique to address the issues of dynamic schematic layout. We use a Delaunay triangulation to construct a schematic “frame”, which is used to retain relative node positions and permits full control of the level of mental map preservation. This technique is the first to combine mental map preservation techniques with the additional layout criteria of schematic diagrams. To conclude, we present the results of a study to investigate the relationship between the level of mental map preservation and the user response time and accuracy

Modelling an orientation system based on speculative computation

Progress is inherent to a living society, which may occur in several different areas (e.g. computation, healthcare) and manners. The present (or now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, making, for example, the society to be very inquisitive on assistive technologies and how they may improve the human beings quality of living. This application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes may help the user in his/her diminished capabilities, and, usually, implies a small adaptation on the part of the individual in the use of devices; indeed one of the die down potentials of people with cognitive disabilities is the one of spatial orientation. On the other hand several were the authors that have developed systems to help an human being to travel between two locations. However, once the system is set up the change in the configurations have to be done manually in order to better adjust the system to the user. In order to go round this drawback, in this work it is presented a framework of speculative computation to set up the computation of the next user step using default values. When the information is obtained the computation is revised. Thus, the system may have a faster reaction to the user stimulus or it may start warning the user before he/she takes the wrong direction.This work is part-funded by ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT Fundac¸ ˜ao para a Ciˆencia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980 (PTDC/EEISII/ 1386/2012). The work of Jo˜ao Ramos is supported by a doctoral grant by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) SFRH/BD/89530/- 2012

Rituximab monitoring and redosing in pediatric neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To study rituximab in pediatric neuromyelitis optica (NMO)/NMO spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and the relationship between rituximab, B cell repopulation, and relapses in order to improve rituximab monitoring and redosing. METHODS: Multicenter retrospective study of 16 children with NMO/NMOSD receiving 652 rituximab courses. According to CD19 counts, events during rituximab were categorized as "repopulation," "depletion," or "depletion failure" relapses (repopulation threshold CD19 6510 7 10(6) cells/L). RESULTS: The 16 patients (14 girls; mean age 9.6 years, range 1.8-15.3) had a mean of 6.1 events (range 1-11) during a mean follow-up of 6.1 years (range 1.6-13.6) and received a total of 76 rituximab courses (mean 4.7, range 2-9) in 42.6-year cohort treatment. Before rituximab, 62.5% had received azathioprine, mycophenolate mofetil, or cyclophosphamide. Mean time from rituximab to last documented B cell depletion and first repopulation was 4.5 and 6.8 months, respectively, with large interpatient variability. Earliest repopulations occurred with the lowest doses. Significant reduction between pre- and post-rituximab annualized relapse rate (ARR) was observed (p = 0.003). During rituximab, 6 patients were relapse-free, although 21 relapses occurred in 10 patients, including 13 "repopulation," 3 "depletion," and 4 "depletion failure" relapses. Of the 13 "repopulation" relapses, 4 had CD19 10-50 7 10(6) cells/L, 10 had inadequate monitoring ( 641 CD19 in the 4 months before relapses), and 5 had delayed redosing after repopulation detection. CONCLUSION: Rituximab is effective in relapse prevention, but B cell repopulation creates a risk of relapse. Redosing before B cell repopulation could reduce the relapse risk further. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class IV evidence that rituximab significantly reduces ARR in pediatric NMO/NMOSD. This study also demonstrates a relationship between B cell repopulation and relapses

A Semantic Grid Oriented to E-Tourism

With increasing complexity of tourism business models and tasks, there is a clear need of the next generation e-Tourism infrastructure to support flexible automation, integration, computation, storage, and collaboration. Currently several enabling technologies such as semantic Web, Web service, agent and grid computing have been applied in the different e-Tourism applications, however there is no a unified framework to be able to integrate all of them. So this paper presents a promising e-Tourism framework based on emerging semantic grid, in which a number of key design issues are discussed including architecture, ontologies structure, semantic reconciliation, service and resource discovery, role based authorization and intelligent agent. The paper finally provides the implementation of the framework.Comment: 12 PAGES, 7 Figure

The information sources and journals consulted or read by UK paediatricians to inform their clinical practice and those which they consider important: a questionnaire survey

Background: Implementation of health research findings is important for medicine to be evidence-based. Previous studies have found variation in the information sources thought to be of greatest importance to clinicians but publication in peer-reviewed journals is the traditional route for dissemination of research findings. There is debate about whether the impact made on clinicians should be considered as part of the evaluation of research outputs. We aimed to determine first which information sources are generally most consulted by paediatricians to inform their clinical practice, and which sources they considered most important, and second, how many and which peer-reviewed journals they read. Methods: We enquired, by questionnaire survey, about the information sources and academic journals that UK medical paediatric specialists generally consulted, attended or read and considered important to their clinical practice. Results: The same three information sources – professional meetings & conferences, peerreviewed journals and medical colleagues – were, overall, the most consulted or attended and ranked the most important. No one information source was found to be of greatest importance to all groups of paediatricians. Journals were widely read by all groups, but the proportion ranking them first in importance as an information source ranged from 10% to 46%. The number of journals read varied between the groups, but Archives of Disease in Childhood and BMJ were the most read journals in all groups. Six out of the seven journals previously identified as containing best paediatric evidence are the most widely read overall by UK paediatricians, however, only the two most prominent are widely read by those based in the community. Conclusion: No one information source is dominant, therefore a variety of approaches to Continuing Professional Development and the dissemination of research findings to paediatricians should be used. Journals are an important information source. A small number of key ones can be identified and such analysis could provide valuable additional input into the evaluation of clinical research outputs

Comparing optimization strategies for force field parameterization

Classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations enable modeling of materials and examination of microscopic details that are not accessible experimentally. The predictive capability of MD relies on the force field (FF) used to describe interatomic interactions. FF parameters are typically determined to reproduce selected material properties computed from density functional theory (DFT) and/or measured experimentally. A common practice in parameterizing FFs is to use least-squares local minimization algorithms. Genetic algorithms (GAs) have also been demonstrated as a viable global optimization approach, even for complex FFs. However, an understanding of the relative effectiveness and efficiency of different optimization techniques for the determination of FF parameters is still lacking. In this work, we evaluate various FF parameter optimization schemes, using as example a training data set calculated from DFT for different polymorphs of Ir$O_2$. The Morse functional form is chosen for the pairwise interactions and the optimization of the parameters against the training data is carried out using (1) multi-start local optimization algorithms: Simplex, Levenberg-Marquardt, and POUNDERS, (2) single-objective GA, and (3) multi-objective GA. Using random search as a baseline, we compare the algorithms in terms of reaching the lowest error, and number of function evaluations. We also compare the effectiveness of different approaches for FF parameterization using a test data set with known ground truth (i.e generated from a specific Morse FF). We find that the performance of optimization approaches differs when using the Test data vs. the DFT data. Overall, this study provides insight for selecting a suitable optimization method for FF parameterization, which in turn can enable more accurate prediction of material properties and chemical phenomena

On Embeddability of Buses in Point Sets

Set membership of points in the plane can be visualized by connecting corresponding points via graphical features, like paths, trees, polygons, ellipses. In this paper we study the \emph{bus embeddability problem} (BEP): given a set of colored points we ask whether there exists a planar realization with one horizontal straight-line segment per color, called bus, such that all points with the same color are connected with vertical line segments to their bus. We present an ILP and an FPT algorithm for the general problem. For restricted versions of this problem, such as when the relative order of buses is predefined, or when a bus must be placed above all its points, we provide efficient algorithms. We show that another restricted version of the problem can be solved using 2-stack pushall sorting. On the negative side we prove the NP-completeness of a special case of BEP.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, conference version at GD 201