Visual Analytics of Multivariate Networks with Representation Learning and Composite Variable Construction.

Multivariate networks are commonly found in realworld data-driven applications. Uncovering and understanding the relations of interest in multivariate networks is not a trivial task. This paper presents a visual analytics workflow for studying multivariate networks to extract associations between different structural and semantic characteristics of the networks (e.

Using contact tracing from interlocking diaries to map mood contagion along network chains.

Both viruses and moods are transmitted through interpersonal contacts, but it has been extremely difficult to track each unique chain of contacts through which particular moods diffuse. By analyzing 56,060 contact records from 113 interlocking, yearlong diaries collected through a web-based platform in Taiwan, we traced mood states before and after each specific contact along a triplet of persons where B contacts C and subsequently contacts A. Multilevel analyses show that both positive and negative emotions are contagious, but the two paths diverge markedly in how the diffusion stops.

From indirect to direct contacts on Facebook: A big-data approach to the making of triadic network closure.

The rise of the Big Data paradigm has made it more feasible to track how personal networks evolve on social media, where auto-generated contact records and fine-grained temporal data sequences help capture how and when interpersonal ties and contacts change their roles. Using a sample of matched survey data and social media records, we investigated the mechanisms by which indirect contacts ("degree-2 alters") transform into direct contacts ("degree-1 alters") from a Facebook user's (ego's) point of view. To highlight the temporal sequences, we assigned different roles to the same alters depending on how each of them is connected with ego at different periods of time.

Quality of Life and Multilevel Contact Network Structures Among Healthy Adults in Taiwan: Online Participatory Cohort Study.

Background: People's quality of life diverges on their demographics, socioeconomic status, and social connections.

Objective: By taking both demographic and socioeconomic features into account, we investigated how quality of life varied on social networks using data from both longitudinal surveys and contact diaries in a year-long (2015-2016) study.

Methods: Our 4-wave, repeated measures of quality of life followed the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL-BREF).

Detecting concurrent mood in daily contact networks: an online participatory cohort study with a diary approach.

Objectives: This paper examines how people express personal mood concurrently with those connected with them by one or two degrees of separation.

Design: Participatory cohort study.

Setting: Online contact diary.

Analyzing Personal Happiness from Global Survey and Weather Data: A Geospatial Approach.

Past studies have shown that personal subjective happiness is associated with various macro- and micro-level background factors, including environmental conditions, such as weather and the economic situation, and personal health behaviors, such as smoking and exercise. We contribute to this literature of happiness studies by using a geospatial approach to examine both macro and micro links to personal happiness. Our geospatial approach incorporates two major global datasets: representative national survey data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) and corresponding world weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Contact Trees: Network Visualization beyond Nodes and Edges.

Node-Link diagrams make it possible to take a quick glance at how nodes (or actors) in a network are connected by edges (or ties). A conventional network diagram of a "contact tree" maps out a root and branches that represent the structure of nodes and edges, often without further specifying leaves or fruits that would have grown from small branches. By furnishing such a network structure with leaves and fruits, we reveal details about "contacts" in our ContactTrees upon which ties and relationships are constructed.

ClickDiary: Online Tracking of Health Behaviors and Mood.

Background: Traditional studies of health behaviors are typically conducted using one-shot, cross-sectional surveys. Thus, participants' recall bias may undermine the reliability and validity of the data. To capture mood changes and health behaviors in everyday life, we designed an online survey platform, ClickDiary, which helped collect more complete information for comprehensive data analyses.

Determinants of receiving the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccine and intention to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine in Taiwan.

Objectives: The paper examines the factors associated with both receiving pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccines and individuals' intentions to get the next seasonal influenza vaccine in Taiwan.

Methods: We conducted a representative nationwide survey with in-person household interviews during April-July 2010. Multivariate logistic regression incorporated socio-demographic background, household characteristics, health status, behaviors, and perceptions of influenza and vaccination.

Representative contact diaries for modeling the spread of infectious diseases in Taiwan.

Recent studies of infectious diseases have attempted to construct more realistic parameters of interpersonal contact patterns from diary-approach surveys. To ensure that such diary-based contact patterns provide accurate baseline data for policy implementation in densely populated Taiwan, we collected contact diaries from a national sample, using 3-stage systematic probability sampling and rigorous in-person interviews. A representative sample of 1,943 contact diaries recorded a total of 24,265 wide-range, face-to-face interpersonal contacts during a 24-hour period.

Alternative splicing in Acad8 resulting a mitochondrial defect and progressive hepatic steatosis in mice.

Using a combination of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-mediated mutagenesis and metabolomics-guided screening, we identified mice with elevated blood levels of short-chain C4-acylcarnitine and increased urine isobutyryl-glycine. Genome-wide homozygosity screening, followed by fine mapping, located the disease gene to 15-25 Mb of mouse chromosome 9 where a candidate gene, Acad8, encoding mitochondrial isobutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase was located. Genomic DNA sequencing revealed a single-nucleotide mutation at -17 of the first intron of Acad8 in affected mice.

Internet use and academic achievement: gender differences in early adolescence.

As a new medium of learning readily connected with the outside world, the Internet has brought unprecedented opportunities to students on the one hand, while becoming a major concern for parents on the other. For parents and educators alike, it is thus critical to stipulate whether and how Internet use is linked to academic achievement. Using panel survey data from middle-school students in northern Taiwan (N = 1,409), this study examines how patterns of Internet use in the 8th grade affect students' performance on their high school entrance exam a year later.