Protovis Protovis composes custom views of data with simple marks such as bars and dots. Unlike low-level graphics libraries that quickly become tedious for visualization, Protovis defines marks through dynamic properties that encode data, allowing inheritance, scales and layouts to simplify construction. Protovis is free and open-source, provided under the BSD License. It uses JavaScript and SVG for web-native visualizations; no plugin required (though you will need a modern web browser)! Although programming experience is helpful, Protovis is mostly declarative and designed to be learned by example. Protovis is no longer under active development.The final release of Protovis was v3.3.1 (4.7 MB). This project was led by Mike Bostock and Jeff Heer of the Stanford Visualization Group, with significant help from Vadim Ogievetsky. Updates June 28, 2011 - Protovis is no longer under active development. September 17, 2010 - Release 3.3 is available on GitHub. May 28, 2010 - ZOMG! Getting Started
3 Steps to Identify Blog Topics that are Relevant to Your Audience The author's posts are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz. If you're reading this post right now, chances are that you have experienced this (or know someone who has): You have the deadline of a blog post coming, but you still don't know what to write about. Sometimes you get away by writing about breaking news or a trend in your field, by doing a review of a new product or service, or by covering a recent conference or meetup that you have attended, but you can't do this all the time. You also want to write about something that is not only useful but also attractive, something that allows you to connect with your audience. And you might be an experienced blogger, copywriter, or marketer. You might also know your audience pretty well; you have built your personas, completed and developed keyword research, and have already tried some techniques to get through the "writer's block." Step 1: Gather the relevant data
Lieberman dictates the terms on health reform | Muckety - See th Call him Judas Lieberman. Democrats are accustomed to Sen. Joe Lieberman voting with Republicans on defense. But he has mostly hewed to his Democratic roots on domestic issues. Recall that as a vice-presidential candidate running with Al Gore in 2000, he championed a plan to allow people aged 55 and older to buy into Medicare. Joe Lieberman “My proposals were to basically expand the existing successful public health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid,” he told The Connecticut Post. So the Connecticut independent who still caucuses with the Democrats stunned many when he announced on a Sunday talk show that he opposed a compromise plan to allow uninsured individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy into Medicare, and threatened to join a Republican filibuster to stop it. By a strange quirk of fate, the onetime Democrat who campaigned tirelessly for GOP presidential candidate John McCain in 2008 now controls the fate of President Obama’s most important domestic policy promise.
The innovators: Britain's economic future relies on seeking out the new | Business If one word links great British industrial figures through history, from George Stephenson to Alexander Graham Bell, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, then it is innovation. Without that spark, railways would not have run, factories would not have been lit and the world as we know it would not have been created. But economic growth and social progress will atrophy unless Britain overhauls its approach to innovation. With the digital revolution hammering at the door, and George Osborne's aim for £1tn in exports by 2020 posing an intimidating challenge, there is no room for hiding now. Innovation is accelerating among new technologies that have ever more uses. A society, political class and business community steeped in innovation – and how it is changing – would force such questions to the forefront of national debate. But if innovation is a key to building a modern economy, then agility, or keeping ahead, is another. What constitutes a good innovator?
Graphics & Imaging - OpenGL Sprite Kit Sprite Kit is a powerful graphics framework for 2D games such as side-scrolling shooters, puzzle games, and platformers. A flexible API lets developers control sprite attributes such as position, size, rotation, gravity, and mass. Sprite Kit’s OpenGL-based renderer efficiently animates 2D scenes. Built-in support for physics makes animations look real, and particle systems create essential game effects such as fire, explosions, and smoke. Scene Kit Scene Kit is a high-level Objective-C framework that enables your app to efficiently load, manipulate and render 3D scenes. Core Animation Core Animation lets you build dynamic, animated user experiences using an easy programming model based on compositing independent layers of media. Core Image Core Image is, simply put, “image effects made easy.” Quartz Quartz provides essential graphics services for applications in two integral parts: the Quartz 2D graphics API and the Quartz Extreme windowing environment. OpenGL
UK SMEs increasingly confident in adoption of latest IT technology Node4 research has shown that 60 per cent of UK SMEs have partly or fully outsourced their IT infrastructure - with over 31,000 SMEs in the UK. This means that there are now more than 18,600 businesses that have moved some part of their IT provision off premises. The findings also highlight that one in ten SMEs have already deployed a fully cloud-based IT infrastructure - meaning that over 300,000 employees in the UK are already experiencing the full flexibility and efficiency benefits of cloud-based IT solutions. Increasingly companies see technology and IT as a business enabler, something that their organisations can’t do without. Paul Bryce, Business Development Director, Node4, commented: "Many studies continue to claim SMEs are struggling to adapt to this new landscape and are at risk of being left behind. "SMEs are not ‘making do’ with out-of-date infrastructure. Image source
JUNG - Java Universal Network/Graph Framework Java Universal Network/Graph Framework All examples require JDK 1.4.x or better; Jung2 demos require JDK 1.5.x or better; ensure you have a recent Java plugin installed. Note: If you have installed a new JRE version over an old one, make sure you update your plug-in settings so that your browser uses the correct JRE. In Windows XP/NT/2k/9x, go to Start→Control Panel→Java Plug-in→Advanced and choose the latest version of the JRE from the drop-down list. Jung-2.0 Demos WorldMapGraphDemo The background image transforms along with the graph. AnimatingAddNodeDemo The old AddNodeDemo, but with animated transitions ShowLayouts2 The old ShowLayouts demo, but with animated transitions Tree Node Collapse Demo Demonstrates how to hide/show children of tree nodes. Vertex Collapse Demo Demonstrates how to collapse vertices into a single vertex Label As Vertex Demo Demonstrates how to use the vertex labels as the vertex shape. Annotations Demo Demonstrates an annotations layer for a graph.
Emergency admissions to hospital: managing the demand |National Audit Office “Many emergency admissions to hospital are avoidable and many patients stay in hospital longer than is necessary. This places additional financial pressure on the NHS as the costs of hospitalization are high. Growth in emergency admissions is a sign that the rest of the health system may not be working properly. Making sure patients are treated in the most appropriate setting and in a timely manner is essential to taking the pressure off emergency hospital admissions.” Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, 31 October 2013 Many emergency admissions to hospital are avoidable and many patients stay in hospital longer than is necessary, according to a report today by the National Audit Office. Today’s report points out that, at a time when NHS budgets are under significant pressure, the number of emergency admissions to hospitals is continuing to rise, albeit at a slower rate than in the past. Publication details: ISBN: 9780102986990 [Buy from TSO]
Using NASA's World Wind Component in Your Java Technology Applic Oracle Technology Network > Java Software Downloads View All Downloads Top Downloads New Downloads What's New Java in the Cloud: Rapidly develop and deploy Java business applications in the cloud. Essential Links Developer Spotlight Java EE—the Most Lightweight Enterprise Framework? Blogs Technologies Contact Us About Oracle Cloud Events Top Actions News Key Topics Oracle Integrated Cloud Applications & Platform Services
Small business growth hampered by fears about technology risk Smaller business owners identified online marketing and e-commerce as key opportunities for future growth, but 39% were concerned about the risks associated with the use of technology, according to the latest SME Risk Index by Zurich Insurance. The main technology risks cited by respondents were failure of local network systems, cyber attacks and damage to their social media reputation. Richard Coleman, Director of SMEs at Zurich Insurance, commented that while it was important for firms to take the opportunity to grow, it is also “important that they plan sufficiently ahead for the long-term risks on the horizon, such as the significant changes underway in technology”. Read more Where next? Take the next step into high-quality business advice and support If you are ready to take the next step towards getting help with issues, problems and opportunities you may be facing or new business ideas you would like to explore, there are THREE ways we can help you:
How can I read PNG Metadata from PHP untitled Monitor Monitor is becoming the sector regulator for health care. Its primary role will be to protect and promote the interest of people who use health care services. It will do this by making sure that the health services provided by the NHS are effective and offer value for money, while maintaining or improving the quality of patient care. Monitor is a Non-Departmental Public Body of the Department of Health. More information: www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk Human Tissue Authority The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regulates human tissue, such as donated organs, to ensure it is used safely and ethically, and with proper consent. It works to promote the interests of the public by regulating organisations that remove, store and use human tissue for research, medical treatment, post-mortem examination, teaching and display in public. The HTA is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Department of Health. More information: www.hta.gov.uk Care Quality Commission More information: www.cqc.org.uk
Visualization Services - SCEC - Vector Viz Research How does one display vector field? How would one visualize a time evolution of ground motion for an earthquake? Vector visualization is an important area to investigate scientific data in many domains. Prior visualization strategies have primarily focused on low resolution and discrete glyph plots or volumetric rendering of scalar fields, which do not permit a full characterization of underlying phenomena. We have developed an interactive glyph visualization application that allows scientists to explore vector fields. We implement a novel technique of procedural dipole texturing to encode and display vector data which shows magnitude and direction.
ICT estate to shrink with consumerisation IT Trends 2013/14 published today by Socitm, the professional association for IT leaders in local public services, says economic pressures, societal changes and technological advances are combining to put huge pressure onlocal public service managers to reconfigure what they offer to their organisations and to do so at lower cost. Against this background, service managers need modernised services that will run at much lower cost. "The ICT function will have a smaller estate to run, but one that calls on cloud services to meet cyclical peaks and troughs of demand," the report says. As in previous years, Socitm¹s IT Trends 2013/14 is compiled from a number of information sources, but principally a detailed questionnaire sent to heads of IT in local authorities and other local public services during last year. Organisations appear weak on the proactive aspects of ICT staff skill and career development, leaving this to employees.