Adaptive multiresolution visualization of large multidimensional multivariate scientific datasets

The sizes of today\u27s scientific datasets range from megabytes to terabytes, making it impossible to directly browse the raw datasets visually. This presents significant challenges for visualization scientists who are interested in supporting these datasets. In this thesis, we present an adaptive data representation model which can be utilized with many of the commonly employed visualization techniques when dealing with large amounts of data. Our hierarchical design also alleviates the long standing visualization problem due to limited display space. The idea is based on using compactly supported orthogonal wavelets and additional downsizing techniques to generate a hierarchy of fine to coarse approximations of a very large dataset for visualization. An adaptive data hierarchy, which contains authentic multiresolution approximations and the corresponding error, has many advantages over the original data. First, it allows scientists to visualize the overall structure of a dataset by browsing its coarse approximations. Second, the fine approximations of the hierarchy provide local details of the interesting data subsets. Third, the error of the data representation can provide the scientist with information about the authenticity of the data approximation. Finally, in a client-server network environment, a coarse representation can increase the efficiency of a visualization process by quickly giving users a rough idea of the dataset before they decide whether to continue the transmission or to abort it. For datasets which require long rendering time, an authentic approximation of a very large dataset can speed up the visualization process greatly. Variations on the main wavelet-based multiresolution hierarchy described in this thesis also lead to other multiresolution representation mechanisms. For example, we investigate the uses of norm projections and principal components to build multiresolution data hierarchies of large multivariate datasets. This leads to the development of a more flexible dual multiresolution visualization environment for large data exploration. We present the results of experimental studies of our adaptive multiresolution representation using wavelets. Utilizing a multiresolution data hierarchy, we illustrate that information access from a dataset with tens of millions of data values can be achieved in real time. Based on these results, we propose procedures to assist in generating a multiresolution hierarchy of a large dataset. For example, the findings indicate that an ordinary computed tomography volume dataset can be represented effectively for some tasks by an adaptive data hierarchy with less than 1.5% of its original size

Extreme-scale visual analytics

pre-printThe September/October 2004 CG&A introduced the term visual analytics (VA) to the computer science literature.1 In 2005, an international advisory panel with representatives from academia, industry, and government defined VA as "the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces."2 VA has grown rapidly into a vibrant R&D community offering data analytics and exploration solutions to both scientific and nonscientific problems in diverse domains and platforms. This special issue further examines advances related to extreme-scale VA problems, their analytical and computational challenges, and their real-world applications

Report on the Dagstuhl Seminar on Visualization and Monitoring of Network Traffic

The Dagstuhl Seminar on Visualization and Monitoring of Network Traffic took place May 17-20, 2009 in Dagstuhl, Germany. Dagstuhl seminars promote personal interaction and open discussion of results as well as new ideas. Unlike at most conferences, the focus is not solely on the presentation of established results but also, and in equal parts, to presentation of results, ideas, sketches, and open problems. The aim of this particular seminar was to bring together experts from the information visualization community and the networking community in order to discuss the state of the art of monitoring and visualization of network traffic. People from the different research communities involved jointly organized the seminar. The co-chairs of the seminar from the networking community were Aiko Pras (University of Twente) and Jürgen Schönwälder (Jacobs University Bremen). The co-chairs from the visualization community were Daniel A. Keim (University of Konstanz) and Pak Chung Wong (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory). Florian Mansmann (University of Konstanz) helped with producing this report. The seminar was organized and supported by Schloss Dagstuhl and the European Network of Excellence for the Management of Internet Technologies and Complex Systems (EMANICS)

09211 Abstracts Collection -- Visualization and Monitoring of Network Traffic

From 17.05. to 20.05.2009, the Dagstuhl Seminar 09211 ``Visualization and Monitoring of Network Traffic \u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Farmer\u27s Life: an age-friendly toy 「農夫歲月」: 以長者為主題的全齡玩具

...The board game involves four kinds of cards that indicate matters of fate, opportunities, scenarios and challenges, all of which are related to elderly people’s daily lives. The ‘Farmer’s Life’ has been revised to a third edition, and has been published and tested on various public or industry-related platforms for the elderly. 這項桌上遊戲設有四款遊戲卡牌，分別代表命運、機會、情景和挑戰，全都與長者的日常生活息息相關。「農夫歲月」已修訂至第三版，推出後已在為長者而設的不同公眾及產業相關平台接受測試。 Award: Silver奬項: 銀

Genetic study of congenital bile-duct dilatation identifies de novo and inherited variants in functionally related genes

Background: Congenital dilatation of the bile-duct (CDD) is a rare, mostly sporadic, disorder that results in bile retention with severe associated complications. CDD affects mainly Asians. To our knowledge, no genetic study has ever been conducted. Methods: We aim to identify genetic risk factors by a “trio-based” exome-sequencing approach, whereby 31 CDD probands and their unaffected parents were exome-sequenced. Seven-hundred controls from the local population were used to detect gene-sets significantly enriched with rare variants in CDD patients. Results: Twenty-one predicted damaging de novo variants (DNVs; 4 protein truncating and 17 missense) were identified in several evolutionarily constrained genes (p < 0.01). Six genes carrying DNVs were associated with human developmental disorders involving epithelial, connective or bone morphologies (PXDN, RTEL1, ANKRD11, MAP2K1, CYLD, ACAN) and four linked with cholangio- and hepatocellular carcinomas (PIK3CA, TLN1 CYLD, MAP2K1). Importantly, CDD patients have an excess of DNVs in cancer-related genes (p < 0.025). Thirteen genes were recurrently mutated at different sites, forming compound heterozygotes or functionally related complexes within patients. Conclusions: Our data supports a strong genetic basis for CDD and show that CDD is not only genetically heterogeneous but also non-monogenic, requiring mutations in more than one genes for the disease to develop. The data is consistent with the rarity and sporadic presentation of CDD

Discovering the structure and organization of a free Cantonese emotion-label word association graph to understand mental lexicons of emotions

Emotions are not necessarily universal across different languages and cultures. Mental lexicons of emotions depend strongly on contextual factors, such as language and culture. The Chinese language has unique linguistic properties that are different from other languages. As a main variant of Chinese, Cantonese has some emotional expressions that are only used by Cantonese speakers. Previous work on Chinese emotional vocabularies focused primarily on Mandarin. However, little is known about Cantonese emotion vocabularies. This is important since both language variants might have distinct emotional expressions, despite sharing the same writing system. To explore the structure and organization of Cantonese-label emotion words, we selected 79 highly representative emotion cue words from an ongoing large-scale Cantonese word association study (SWOW-HK). We aimed to identify the categories of these emotion words and non-emotion words that related to emotion concepts. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to generate word clusters and investigate the underlying emotion dimensions. As the cluster quality was low in hierarchical clustering, we further constructed an emotion graph using a network approach to explore how emotions are organized in the Cantonese mental lexicon. With the support of emotion knowledge, the emotion graph defined more distinct emotion categories. The identified network communities covered basic emotions such as love, happiness, and sadness. Our results demonstrate that mental lexicon graphs constructed from free associations of Cantonese emotion-label words can reveal fine categories of emotions and their relevant concepts

The relationship between physical activity, physical health, and mental health among older Chinese adults: A scoping review

The aging Chinese population is growing fast, and the proportion of the population aged 60 years old is projected to reach 28% by 2040, estimated 402 million. With increased life expectancy, the aging population tends to suffer from health risks and diseases, which create a burden on public health policy. Hence, it is essential to promote healthy and active aging, which includes improving older adults' physical and mental capacities and advocating for the achievement of a healthy life expectancy. Despite the rapidly growing aging population in China, there have been no reviews investigating the effect of physical activity on physical and mental health among older Chinese adults. Therefore, the current study aimed to review studies from the past 15 years that illustrate the effect of physical activity on physical and mental health among Chinese older adults. Based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), this review addresses the associations between physical activity, physical health and mental health among older Chinese adults. A total of 371 studies were included in the scoping review, which covered the relationships between physical activity, physical health and mental health variables. The scoping review also revealed the impact of various kinds of physical activity affecting older adults' physical health, such as functional fitness, body composition, fall risk and balance, and mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, cognitive function and quality of life. Moreover, studies have identified innovative forms of physical activity as emerging trends in physical activity interventions for older adults. To conclude, this scoping review captured the common effects between physical activity and overall wellbeing, including physical, mental, and cognitive health. Additionally, diverse forms of physical activity intervention, such as group-based and supervised individual interventions, should be supported, and cross-cultural exercise comparisons should be made in future explorations

Genome-Wide Association Study of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Southern Chinese Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

One of the most relevant risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development is chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, but only a fraction of chronic HBV carriers develop HCC, indicating that complex interactions among viral, environmental and genetic factors lead to HCC in HBV-infected patients. So far, host genetic factors have incompletely been characterized. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association (GWA) study in a Southern Chinese cohort consisting of 95 HBV-infected HCC patients (cases) and 97 HBV-infected patients without HCC (controls) using the Illumina Human610-Quad BeadChips. The top single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were then validated in an independent cohort of 500 cases and 728 controls. 4 SNPs (rs12682266, rs7821974, rs2275959, rs1573266) at chromosome 8p12 showed consistent association in both the GWA and replication phases (ORcombined = 1.31–1.39; pcombined = 2.71×10−5–5.19×10−4; PARcombined = 26–31%). We found a 2.3-kb expressed sequence tag (EST) in the region using in-silico data mining and verified the existence of the full-length EST experimentally. The expression level of the EST was significantly reduced in human HCC tumors in comparison to the corresponding non-tumorous liver tissues (P<0.001). Results from sequence analysis and in-vitro protein translation study suggest that the transcript might function as a long non-coding RNA. In summary, our study suggests that variations at chromosome 8p12 may promote HCC in patients with HBV. Further functional studies of this region may help understand HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis

Promoting influenza prevention for elderly people in Hong Kong using health action process approach: Study protocol

Background: People 65 years or older are at greater risk of serious complications from the seasonal influenza compared with young. To promote elderly people's behavioral compliance toward influenza prevention, the aim of the current project is to develop, implement, and evaluate a theory-based low-administration-cost intervention building on a leading psychological theory, the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA). Methods: The target group is Hong Kong Chinese elderly people aged 65 or older who rarely or never adopt any preventive actions. This project will be conducted in three phases over 24 months. In phase 1, intervention program will be developed building on the HAPA theoretical framework which comprises both the initiation and maintenance of influenza prevention behaviors. In phase 2, intervention will be implemented and evaluated using a randomized controlled trial, including: (a) behavior initiation only, (b) behavior initiation + behavior maintenance, and (c) control group. Both the initiation and maintenance components will comprise weekly-delivered telephone-based individual intervention sessions in 3 months. In phase 3, outcome evaluation of behavioral and psychological variables and process evaluation will be conducted. The effectiveness of the intervention will be analyzed using a series of linear mixed models on each behavioral and psychological outcome variable. Structural equation modelling will be used to test the hypothesized theoretical sequence in the HAPA model. Discussion: The proposed project is expected to design theory-based intervention materials to promote the influenza prevention behaviors in Hong Kong elderly people and provide information on its effectiveness and the potential changing mechanism of behavior initiation and maintenance. Trial registration: This randomized controlled trial was funded by the Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF), Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Ref: 16151222) and was registered on 13/10/2017 at CCRB Clinical Trials Registry of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a Partner Registry of a WHO Primary Registry (Ref: CUHK-CCRB00567)