The dataflow model : a characterization and a data exploration tool

Doctoral ColloquiumInternational audienceCurrent Air Traffic Control (ATC) activities employ two kinds of visualization systems: real-time traffic views, which are used by Air Traffic Controllers (ATCos) to monitor aircraft positions, and data analysis systems, used by experts to analyze past traffic recording (e.g. conflict analysis or traffic workload forecast). Both types of systems employ complex and dynamic visualizations, displaying hundreds of data that must be understandable with the minimum of cognitive workload

The culture of data use in the management structures of a rural health district in the Western Cape Province

Background: Health information system (HIS) performance has been defined as “data quality and the continuous use of information †. The quality of data, as well as the culture of data use in an organisation has been shown to shape the way data is used. In order to fully understand data use practices with the aim of strengthening the HIS, one needs to first understand whether the context and “culture†in the organisation is conducive to data use. Are the policies, structures, processes and people within the organisation aiding data use? In what ways do managers view and use data? Aim: In this study, we sought to explore the culture of health information use on a district and sub district management level. The aim was to contribute to the wider knowledge on information use by exploring the data use practices and factors that shape its use among these managers. What is the culture of data use in the district management structures? When, why and in what way does data get brought into the management discussion? Do managers feel that the information produced are useful in aiding their decision making, and what do they recommend be changed? What are the key factors that affect data use practices? Methods: This thesis comprises a literature review of published articles, conducted in order to provide context for the study of the culture of data use, whilst defining the problem to be investigated. The full thesis comprises the literature review, the original study protocol, a full manuscript in the format of a publishable article and a set of appendices. The study was granted ethical approval and permission from the provincial department of health. Given the exploratory purpose of the study, we conducted a mini ethnographic case study using qualitative research methods in a rural health district of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The researcher employed ethnographic methods that included participant observation, in depth key informant interviews, document reviews as well as informal conversations to collect data. We used the PRISM framework as a guide for analysing our findings. Findings: Our findings suggest that there is a strong focus in this district on reporting requirements and technical aspects of producing good quality data. The drive to achieve excellence in production of quality data may be in tension with another important organisational value, which is the need of managers, for ease of access to relevant data, to facilitate decision-making and improvement of health service delivery. Managers’ overall experience is of not receiving the health information support they require. Instead, they experienced an organisational culture of using health information to narrowly measure targets and performance, which left them feeling unsupported and frustrated. Managers were resilient in managing these challenges and created alternative ways of accessing the data they needed for decision-making. Conclusion: We conclude that in our setting where the technical component of producing good data was well performed, this was not sufficient to guarantee effective use of data for quality improvements. Behavioural and organisational factors were found to play an important role as both obstacles and facilitators in shaping the culture of data use, information that is useful to inform design of interventions for health information strengthening

No one ‘owns’ the genome: The United States Supreme Court rules that human DNA cannot be patented

Modern biotechnological innovation has been fertile ground for profound and critical debate – and policy consideration – regarding its associated legal, social, ethical and moral issues. Patent laws exist to encourage the progress of science, innovation and discovery, but battle to provide a clear and stable regulatory framework. In a decision that looks set to shape the future, the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that isolated human DNA cannot be patented. It is argued that this decision will have a potentially serious negative impact on future biotechnological innovation and discovery, and that the more expansive European approach to ‘gene patenting’ is sounder and enables progres

Techniques de bundling : un cas d'étude pour l'exploration de grandes quantités d'informations

We present a fast and simple method to compute bundled layouts of general graphs, dynamic graphs and temporal paths. For this, we first transform a given graph drawing into a density map using kernel density estimation. Next, we apply an image sharpening technique which progressively merges local height maxima by moving the convolved graph edges into the height gradient flow. We show how these techniques can produce simplified visualizations of static, streaming and sequence graphs. We illustrate our techniques with datasets from aircraft monitoring, software engineering, and eye-tracking of static and dynamic scenes

Krediet – Verskeie aspekte daarvan

Krediet speel ’n magtige rol in enige moderne geld-ekonomie. Dit gee aan die verbruiker die moontlikheid om toekomstige inkome te bestee en aan die ondernemer bied dit die geleentheid om sy onderneming uit te brei sonder dat vooraf vir dié doel gespaar is. Vanweë die kredietskeppingsvermoë van banke — kredietverlening geskied hoofsaaklik deur die bankstelsel — kan die totale omvang van krediet afhangende van die likiditeitsposisie van die banke aansienlik verhoog word. Sodoende kan ’n toestand in die sakelewe van ’n land geskep word waar in totaal meer bestee word as wat ’n land op die korttermyn in staat is om te produseer; of anders gestel: ’n volk word deur middel van kredietuitbreiding in die posisie geplaas om bo sy vermoë te leef en te ontwikkel

Cross-cultural differences in electronic word-of-mouth engagement: the role of social capital, trust and tie strength in a sample of German and Portuguese Millennials

Nowadays consumers spread and seek opinions of peers through social networks like Facebook. Marketeers need to understand consumers’ online engagement and the factors that influence such electronic word-of-mouth behaviour (eWOM). Culture specifically plays a vital role, however, has been paid limited attention in previous research studies. This study undertook an online survey with 107 German and 48 Portuguese Facebook users, focusing on Millennials, to understand how engagement in opinion seeking, giving and passing differs between both nationalities and which factors influence the behaviours respectively, namely the social relationship variables bridging and bonding social capital, trust and tie strength. The findings revealed no significant differences for Germans and Portuguese in the engagement and for the factor social capital. More importantly, differences were found in the characteristics of the social relationships within the network. For German eWOM, key influencing factors are bridging and bonding social capital, perceived tie strength and strong ties. Bridging social capital and weak ties regression wise predicted German opinion seeking and passing. For Portuguese, only strong ties and bridging social capital were found to influence eWOM, while regression analysis revealed no significant predictors. The findings suggest that users’ eWOM engagement needs to be fostered by marketeers with targeted, engaging content