Visual analytics for the interpretation of fluency tests during Alzheimer evaluation

International audienceA possible way to evaluate the progress of Alzheimer disease is to conduct the Isaac set test [13, 14]. In this activity, patients are asked to cite the largest possible number of city names within a minute. Since the city names are handwritten very quickly by a medical practitioner some cities are abbreviated or poorly written. In order to analyze such data, medical practitioners need to digitize the notes first and clean the dataset. Because these tasks are intricate and error prone we propose a novel set of tools, involving interactive visualization techniques, to help medical practitioners in the digitization and data-cleaning process. This system will be tested as part of an ongoing longitudinal study involving 9500 patients

Peacock Bundles: Bundle Coloring for Graphs with Globality-Locality Trade-off

Bundling of graph edges (node-to-node connections) is a common technique to enhance visibility of overall trends in the edge structure of a large graph layout, and a large variety of bundling algorithms have been proposed. However, with strong bundling, it becomes hard to identify origins and destinations of individual edges. We propose a solution: we optimize edge coloring to differentiate bundled edges. We quantify strength of bundling in a flexible pairwise fashion between edges, and among bundled edges, we quantify how dissimilar their colors should be by dissimilarity of their origins and destinations. We solve the resulting nonlinear optimization, which is also interpretable as a novel dimensionality reduction task. In large graphs the necessary compromise is whether to differentiate colors sharply between locally occurring strongly bundled edges ("local bundles"), or also between the weakly bundled edges occurring globally over the graph ("global bundles"); we allow a user-set global-local tradeoff. We call the technique "peacock bundles". Experiments show the coloring clearly enhances comprehensibility of graph layouts with edge bundling.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016

Broadening access to problem-based learning : design of the shell eco-marathon car-in-a-box concept

Abstract: Problem-based learning has proven to develop teamwork, problem solving skills, communication and critical thinking skills amongst learners. Due to these advantages, secondary schools in South Africa engage with problem-based events to promote the participation of learners in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). However, many schools face lack of time, lack of available funds and lack of the required technical skill set, which limits them from participating in these events. The Car-In-a-Box concept was developed to broaden access to a STEM problem-based learning event, called the Shell Eco-Marathon. The Car-In-A-Box concept addresses the three challenges that would normally prevent a school from entering the Shell Eco-Marathon, disenabling learners to harness the advantages of problem-based learning. The impact of the Car-In-A-Box concept for broadening access to problem-based learning is discussed

Application opportunities of geographic information systems analysis to support achievement of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets in South Africa

In an effort to achieve control of the HIV epidemic, 90-90-90 targets have been proposed whereby 90% of the HIV-infected population should know their status, 90% of those diagnosed should be receiving antiretroviral therapy, and 90% of those on treatment should be virologically suppressed. In this article we present approaches for using relatively simple geographic information systems (GIS) analyses of routinely available data to support HIV programme management towards achieving the 90-90-90 targets, with a focus on South Africa (SA) and other high-prevalence settings in low- and middle-income countries. We present programme-level GIS applications to map aggregated health data and individual-level applications to track distinct patients. We illustrate these applications using data from City of Johannesburg Region D, demonstrating that GIS has great potential to guide HIV programme operations and assist in achieving the 90-90-90 targets in SA

Visual scanning as a reference framework for interactive representation design

International audienceWhen designing a representation, the designer implicitly formulates a sequence of visual tasks required to understand and use the representation effectively. This paper aims at making the sequence of visual tasks explicit in order to help designers elicit their design choices. In particular, we present a set of concepts to systematically analyse what a user must theoretically do to decipher representations. The analysis consists of a decomposition of the activity of scanning into elementary visualization operations. We show how the analysis applies to various existing representations, and how expected benefits can be expressed in terms of elementary operations. The set of elementary operations form the basis of a shared language for representation designers. The decomposition highlights the challenges encountered by a user when deciphering a representation and helps designers to exhibit possible flaws in their design, justify their choices, and compare designs. We also show that interaction with a representation can be considered as facilitation to perform the elementary operations

Visualization of Frequent Itemsets with Nested Circular Layout and Bundling Algorithm

International audienceFrequent itemset mining is one of the major data mining issues. Once generated by algorithms, the itemsets can be automatically processed, for instance to extract association rules. They can also be explored with visual tools, in order to analyze the emerging patterns. Graphical itemsets representation is a convenient way to obtain an overview of the global interaction structure. However, when the complexity of the database increases, the network may become unreadable. In this paper, we propose to display itemsets on concentric circles, each one being organized to lower the intricacy of the graph through an optimization process. Thanks to a graph bundling algorithm, we finally obtain a compact representation of a large set of itemsets that is easier to exploit. Colors accumulation and interaction operators facilitate the exploration of the new bundle graph and to illustrate how much an itemset is supported by the data

Argonne National Laboratory Reports

This report is designed to analyze the commercialization potential of various concepts of community-scale energy systems that have been termed Integrated Community Energy Systems (ICES). A case analysis of alternative ICES concepts applied to a major metropolitan development complex is documented. The intent of this study is twofold: (1) to develop a framework for comparing ICES technologies to conventional energy supply systems and (2) to identify potential problems in the commercialization of new systems approaches to energy conservation. In brief, the ICES Program of the ERDA Office of Energy Conservation is intended to identify the opportunities for energy conservation in the community context through analysis, development, and/or demonstration of: location and design of buildings, building complexes, and infrastructure links; engineering and systems design of existing, emerging, and advanced energy production and delivery technologies and systems; regulatory designs for public planning, administration, and regulation of energy-conserving community development and energy services; and financial planning for energy-conserving community development and energy supply systems

Implementation of an electronic monitoring and evaluation system for the antiretroviral treatment programme in the Cape Winelands district, South Africa: a qualitative evaluation

BACKGROUND: A pragmatic three-tiered approach to monitor the world's largest antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme was adopted by the South African National Department of Health in 2010. With the rapid expansion of the programme, the limitations of the paper-based register (tier 1) were the catalyst for implementation of the stand-alone electronic register (tier 2), which offers simple digitisation of the paper-based register. This article engages with theory on implementation to identify and contextualise enabling and constraining factors for implementation of the electronic register, to describe experiences and use of the register, and to make recommendations for implementation in similar settings where standardisation of ART monitoring and evaluation has not been achieved. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative evaluation of the roll-out of the register. This comprised twenty in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of stakeholders at facility, sub-district, and district levels of the health system. Facility-level participants were selected across five sub-districts, including one facility per sub-district. Responses were coded and analysed using a thematic approach. An implementation science framework guided interpretation of the data. Results & DISCUSSION: We identified the following seven themes: 1) ease of implementation, 2) perceived value of an electronic M&E system, 3) importance of stakeholder engagement, 4) influence of a data champion, 5) operational and logistical factors, 6) workload and role clarity, and 7) importance of integrating the electronic register with routine facility monitoring and evaluation. Interpreting our findings through an implementation theory enabled us to construct the scaffolding for implementation across the five facility-settings. This approach illustrated that implementation was not a linear process but occurred at two nodes: at the adoption of the register for roll-out, and at implementation at facility-level. CONCLUSION: In this study we found that relative advantage of an intervention and stakeholder engagement are critical to implementation. We suggest that without these aspects of implementation, formative and summative outcomes of implementation at both the adoption and coalface stages of implementation would be negatively affected