Examining Effort in 1D Uncertainty Communication Using Individual Differences in Working Memory and NASA-TLX.

As uncertainty visualizations for general audiences become increasingly common, designers must understand the full impact of uncertainty communication techniques on viewers' decision processes. Prior work demonstrates mixed performance outcomes with respect to how individuals make decisions using various visual and textual depictions of uncertainty. Part of the inconsistency across findings may be due to an over-reliance on task accuracy, which cannot, on its own, provide a comprehensive understanding of how uncertainty visualization techniques support reasoning processes.

Toward Objective Evaluation of Working Memory in Visualizations: A Case Study Using Pupillometry and a Dual-Task Paradigm.

Cognitive science has established widely used and validated procedures for evaluating working memory in numerous applied domains, but surprisingly few studies have employed these methodologies to assess claims about the impacts of visualizations on working memory. The lack of information visualization research that uses validated procedures for measuring working memory may be due, in part, to the absence of cross-domain methodological guidance tailored explicitly to the unique needs of visualization research. This paper presents a set of clear, practical, and empirically validated methods for evaluating working memory during visualization tasks and provides readers with guidance in selecting an appropriate working memory evaluation paradigm.

Evaluating the Impact of Binning 2D Scalar Fields.

The expressiveness principle for visualization design asserts that a visualization should encode all of the available data, and only the available data, implying that continuous data types should be visualized with a continuous encoding channel. And yet, in many domains binning continuous data is not only pervasive, but it is accepted as standard practice. Prior work provides no clear guidance for when encoding continuous data continuously is preferable to employing binning techniques or how this choice affects data interpretation and decision making.

Visually Comparing Weather Features in Forecasts.

Meteorologists process and analyze weather forecasts using visualization in order to examine the behaviors of and relationships among weather features. In this design study conducted with meteorologists in decision support roles, we identified and attempted to address two significant common challenges in weather visualization: the employment of inconsistent and often ineffective visual encoding practices across a wide range of visualizations, and a lack of support for directly visualizing how different weather features relate across an ensemble of possible forecast outcomes. In this work, we present a characterization of the problems and data associated with meteorological forecasting, we propose a set of informed default encoding choices that integrate existing meteorological conventions with effective visualization practice, and we extend a set of techniques as an initial step toward directly visualizing the interactions of multiple features over an ensemble forecast.

A three-step approach to conversion of prevalent catheter-dependent hemodialysis patients to arteriovenous access.

Background And Objectives: Prevalent central venous catheter (CVC) rates among hemodialysis (HD) patients in Canada remain high. In October 2006, we implemented a three-step multidisciplinary quality improvement project in our in-centre HD unit. The primary objective was to convert 50% of suitable patients to arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) or arteriovenous grafts (AVGs).

Seeing eye to eye: the key to reducing catheter use.

Purpose: Hemodialysis central venous catheters (CVCs) are increasingly used, despite a prevalence target of <10%. The primary aim of our study was to understand why patients persistently use their CVCs.

Methods: A multicenter prospective observational study surveyed 322 patients and their vascular access coordinators (VACs) to determine the reasons patients use CVCs.

Control and coping for individuals with end stage renal disease on hemodialysis: a position paper.

The hemodialysis regimen required to treat end stage renal disease (ESRD) can be extremely rigid, requiring individuals to adapt to and cope with multiple acute and chronic stressors. Stressors for individuals on hemodialysis can be treatment-related such as dietary and fluid restrictions and ingesting handfuls of medications, or psychosocial in nature such as alterations in sexual function, changes in self-perception, and fear of death. Coping for individuals with ESRD can be adaptive or maladaptive.

Sodium citrate 4% locking solution for central venous dialysis catheters--an effective, more cost-efficient alternative to heparin.

Background: Thrombosis of the central venous haemodialysis catheter compromises dialysis adequacy and catheter survival. Heparin containing catheter-locking solution has been associated with bleeding, interferes with INR (prothrombin time/international normalized ratio) measurements and is costly. Sodium citrate has been used successfully as a catheter-locking solution, but long-term experience with its use as the exclusive locking solution has not been published.