Obvious: a meta-toolkit to encapsulate information visualization toolkits. One toolkit to bind them all

This article describes “Obvious”: a meta-toolkit that abstracts and encapsulates information visualization toolkits implemented in the Java language. It intends to unify their use and postpone the choice of which concrete toolkit(s) to use later-on in the development of visual analytics applications. We also report on the lessons we have learned when wrapping popular toolkits with Obvious, namely Prefuse, the InfoVis Toolkit, partly Improvise, JUNG and other data management libraries. We show several examples on the uses of Obvious, how the different toolkits can be combined, for instance sharing their data models. We also show how Weka and RapidMiner, two popular machine-learning toolkits, have been wrapped with Obvious and can be used directly with all the other wrapped toolkits. We expect Obvious to start a co-evolution process: Obvious is meant to evolve when more components of Information Visualization systems will become consensual. It is also designed to help information visualization systems adhere to the best practices to provide a higher level of interoperability and leverage the domain of visual analytics

Débroussaillements réglementaires et potentiel apicole - Premiers résultats en Provence calcaire et perspectives -

Le débroussaillement réglementaire obligatoire contre les incendies représente plusieurs dizaines de milliers d’hectares à l’échelle d’un département comme les Bouches-du-Rhône et le Var. Dans cette étude, nous montrons qu’en Provence calcaire ce débroussaillement a un impact très défavorable sur le potentiel mellifère lorsqu’il est réalisé avec des engins mécaniques lourds et sans sélectivité. Ce potentiel est quasiment nul au cours des 3 années qui suivent le débroussaillement et ne remonte que très progressivement par la suite. La très forte diminution du nombre d’individus, de la taille et de la floraison des principales espèces mellifères, essentiellement des plantes ligneuses fleurissant au printemps, n’est pas compensée par une légère augmentation des mellifères herbacées et parfois des floraisons automnales. La situation semble un peu moins critique en Provence siliceuse, mais l’étude doit y être poursuivie, car le nombre de sites étudiés y est encore trop faible. Le débroussaillement mécanique le long des voies de communication et des réseaux publics, et dans les grandes coupures de combustible, ne représente cependant qu’une petite partie des obligations légales de débroussaillement (OLD). Une grande majorité des surfaces concerne les habitations privées et bâtiments publics en milieux périurbains, dont les alentours sont souvent traités manuellement ou avec des engins plus légers, et des conséquences moins néfastes

Tissue perfusion alterations correlate with mortality in patients admitted to the intensive care unit for acute pulmonary embolism

We aimed to assess the relationship between alterations of tissue perfusion parameters at admission (highly predictive of mortality in septic shock) and outcome in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We conducted a retrospective study to analyze the association between arterial lactate level, skin mottling and urinary output, and 28-day mortality. Over a 22-year period, 317 patients with PE were identified but we finally analyzed 108 patients whose main diagnosis for ICU admission was acute PE. At admission, the sequential organ failure assessment score was 2 (0–6) and the simplified acute physiology score II was 29 (16–43). Thirty patients (28%) received vasopressors and 37 patients (34%) received thrombolytic therapy. Day 28 mortality rate was 25% (n = 27). When compared to 28-day survivors, nonsurvivor patients had higher lactate level (4.5 [2.3–10.3] mmol/L vs 1.4 [1–2.9] mmol/L, P < .0001), more frequent mottling around the knee area (56% vs 25%, P = .003) and a lower urinary output (during the first 6 hours) (0.35 [0–1] mL/kg/h vs. 0.88 [0.62–1.677] mL/kg/h, P = .0002). Mortality increased with the number of tissue perfusion alterations present upon admission, 8% for none, 21% for 1, 28% for 2, and finally reached 85% for 3 tissue perfusion alterations (P < .0001). In a multivariate analysis, the relationship between the number of tissue perfusion alterations and 28-day mortality was maintained after adjustment on the presence of shock and right ventricular dilation at admission. In ICU patients admitted for acute PE, tissue perfusion alterations correlated with 28-day mortality independently of blood pressure and right ventricular dilation

Transforming Last-Mile Logistics: Opportunities for more Sustainable Deliveries

Road congestion, air pollution and sustainability are increasingly important in major cities. We look to understand how last-mile deliveries in the parcel sector are impacting our roads. Using formative field work and quantitative analysis of consignment manifests and location data, we identify how the effectiveness of life-style couriers is contributing to both environmental and non-environmental externalities. This paper presents an analysis of delivery performances and practices in last-mile logistics in central London, quantifying the impacts differing levels of experience have on overall round efficiency. We identify eleven key opportunities for technological support for last-mile parcel deliveries that could contribute to both driver eectiveness and sustainability. We finish by examining how HCI can lead to improved environmental and social justice by re-considering and realizing future collaborative visions in last-mile logistics

Comparing Input Modalities for Peripheral Interaction: A Case Study on Peripheral Music Control

Abstract. In graphical user interfaces, every application usually asks for the user’s full attention during interaction with it. Even marginal side activities often force the user to switch windows, which results in attention shifts and increased cognitive load. Peripheral interaction addresses this problem by providing input facilities in the periphery of the user’s attention by relying on divided attention and human capabilities such as proprioception and spatial memory. Recent work shows promising results by shifting tasks to the periphery for parallel task execution. Up to now, most of these interfaces rely on tag-based objects, tokens or wearable devices, which need to be grasped and manipulated, e.g., by turning, moving or pressing the device. To explore this design space further, we implemented three modalities for peripheral interaction with a desktop audio player application – graspable interaction, touch and freehand gestures. In an eight-week in-situ deployment, we compared the three modalities to each other and to media keys (as the state-ofthe-art approach). We found that all modalities can be successfully used in the (visual and attentional) periphery and reduce the amount of cognitive load when interacting with an audio player. With this work we intend to (1) illustrate the variety of possible modalities beyond graspable interfaces, (2) give insights on manual peripheral interaction in general and the respective modalities in particular and (3) elaborate on paper based prototypes for the evaluation of peripheral interaction

Débroussaillements réglementaires et potentiel apicole. Premiers résultats en Provence calcaire et perspectives.

The statutory clearing against wildfires represents several dozens thousand hectares on the scale departments as the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var. In this study, we showed that in limestone based Provence this clearing is highly detrimental to vegetation melliferous potential when it is realized with heavy mechanical machines and without selectivity. This potential is almost nil during 3 years after clearing and increases only slowly afterward. The very strong decrease in the number of individuals, the size and the bloom of main melliferous species, essentially ligneous plants blooming in spring, is not compensated with a light increase of the herbaceous species and sometimes autumnal blooms. The situation seems a little less critical on acidic soils, but the study must be continued there because the number of studied site is too small. However, mechanical clearings along the public roads and networks, and in large fuelbreaks, represent only a small part of statutory clearings. Most of them concern private houses and public buildings in periurban environments, which surroundings are generally cleared manually or with lighter machines, with fewer consequences.Le débroussaillement règlementaire obligatoire contre les incendies représente plusieurs dizaines de milliers d'hectares à l'échelle d'un département comme les bouches du Rhône et du Var. Dans cette étude, nous montrons qu'en Provence calcaire ce débroussaillement a un impact très défavorable sur le potentiel mellifère lorsqu'il est réalisé avec des engins mécaniques lourds et sans sélectivité. Ce potentiel est quasiment nul au cours des 3 années qui suivent le débroussaillement et ne remonte que très progressivement par la suite. La très forte diminution du nombre d'individus, de la taille et de la floraison des principales espèces mellifères, essentiellement des plantes ligneuses fleurissant au printemps, n'est pas compensée par une légère augmentation des mellifères herbacées et parfois des floraisons automnales. La situation semble un peu moins critique en Provence siliceuse, mais l'étude doit y être poursuivie car le nombre de site étudiés y est encore trop faible. Le débroussaillement mécanique le long des voies de communication et des réseaux publics, et dans les grandes coupures de combustible, ne représentent cependant qu'une petite partie des obligations légales de débroussaillement (OLD). Une grande majorité des surfaces concerne les habitations privées et bâtiments publics en milieux périurbains, dont les alentours sont souvent traités manuellement ou avec des engins plus légers, et des conséquences moins néfastes

The Issues of 3D Hand Gesture and Posture Recognition Using the Kinect

International audienceBesides the emergence of many input devices and sensors, they are still unable to provide good and simple recognition of human postures and gestures. The recognition using simple algorithms implemented on top of these devices (like the Kinect) enlarges use cases for these gestures and postures to newer domains and systems. Our methods cuts the needed computation and allow the integration of other algorithms to run in parallel. We present a system able to track the hand in 3D, log its position and surface information during the time, and recognize hand postures and gestures. We present our solution based on simple geometric algorithms, other tried algorithms, and we discuss some concepts raised from our tests