TY - JOUR AU - Henry, Michael J. AU - Charles-Smith, Lauren AU - Han, Kyungsik AU - Corley, Courtney D. PY - 2017/05/02 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Novel Analysis and Visualization of Chemical Events for Public Health Surveillance JF - Online Journal of Public Health Informatics JA - OJPHI VL - 9 IS - 1 SE - Information system architectures, development and implementation DO - 10.5210/ojphi.v9i1.7644 UR - https://ojphi.org/ojs/index.php/ojphi/article/view/7644 SP - AB - <div style="left: 82px; top: 292.246px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.08211);" data-canvas-width="58.10914814814815">Objective</div><div style="left: 95.6667px; top: 305.868px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00521);" data-canvas-width="346.89948148148136">Pacific Northwest National Laboratory hosted an intern-based</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 321.054px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.990407);" data-canvas-width="358.1805555555556">web application development contest in the summer of 2016 centered</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 336.239px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00266);" data-canvas-width="358.636187037037">around developing novel chemical surveillance applications to aid in</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 351.424px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02964);" data-canvas-width="359.3267333333336">health situational awareness. Making up the three teams were three</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 366.609px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03657);" data-canvas-width="355.1976537037036">graduate students (n=9) from various US schools majoring in non-</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 381.794px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.983771);" data-canvas-width="358.1908814814814">public health domains, such as computer sicence and user design. The</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 396.98px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00162);" data-canvas-width="358.59746481481477">interns suc- cessfully developed three applications that demonstrated</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 412.165px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.04661);" data-canvas-width="364.23671111111076">a value-add to chemical surveillance—ChemAnalyzer (text</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 427.35px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.983819);" data-canvas-width="359.89724074074076">analytics), RetroSpect (retrospective analysis of chemical events),</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 442.535px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.99834);" data-canvas-width="360.434188888889">and ToxicBusters (geo-based trend analytics). These applications</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 457.72px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02119);" data-canvas-width="359.06729444444454">will be the basis for the first chemical surveillance application to be</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 472.905px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00178);" data-canvas-width="337.34799999999996">incorporated into the DTRA Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE).</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 501.802px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.11815);" data-canvas-width="75.28890740740741">Introduction</div><div style="left: 95.6667px; top: 515.424px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.995442);" data-canvas-width="346.7291037037035">Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), on behalf the</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 530.609px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.967593);" data-canvas-width="357.7029814814815">Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA; project number CB10190),</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 545.794px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.993739);" data-canvas-width="358.27607037037023">hosts an annual intern- based web app development contest. Previous</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 560.979px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.974179);" data-canvas-width="359.6829777777774">competitions have focused on mobile biosurveillance applications.</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 576.165px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.994766);" data-canvas-width="358.2980129629629">The 2016 competition pivoted away from biosurveillance to focus on</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 591.35px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03188);" data-canvas-width="359.4196666666664">addressing challenges within the field of chemical surveillance and</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 606.535px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.990654);" data-canvas-width="358.13796111111105">increasing public health chemical situational awareness. The result of</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 621.72px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00137);" data-canvas-width="264.22753703703717">the app will be integrated within the DTRA BSVE.</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 650.617px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.07341);" data-canvas-width="53.062351851851844">Methods</div><div style="left: 95.6667px; top: 664.239px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01762);" data-canvas-width="347.63520370370355">PNNL hosted nine graduate interns for a 10-week period in</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 679.424px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.968602);" data-canvas-width="360.14248148148147">the summer of 2016 as participants in a summer web application</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 694.609px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02233);" data-canvas-width="361.3583592592593">development contest. Students were drawn from such fields as</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 709.794px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.99063);" data-canvas-width="360.3748148148147">software engineering and user experience and design and placed</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 724.979px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.963444);" data-canvas-width="359.83012222222237">into three teams of three students. The challenge presented to the</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 740.165px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00835);" data-canvas-width="358.8375425925925">interns was to design and develop a fully-functional web application</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 755.35px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03902);" data-canvas-width="359.2583240740742">that would address a critical need within the chemical surveillance</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 770.535px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00726);" data-canvas-width="358.7007240740741">community. The interns developed their own ideas (vetted by PNNL</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 785.72px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.986707);" data-canvas-width="360.36190740740716">and DTRA), discovered and inte- grated their own data sources,</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 800.905px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03504);" data-canvas-width="359.4170851851852">and produced their own visualizations and an- alytics, independent</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 816.091px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.953405);" data-canvas-width="359.43386481481485">of any assistence outside of that provided in an advisory capacity.</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 831.276px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.953499);" data-canvas-width="359.96177777777774">The competition end with a judging event with a panel of subject</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 846.461px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0014);" data-canvas-width="316.8768518518517">matter experts and cash awards were distributed to the teams.</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 875.357px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.08548);" data-canvas-width="46.62155555555556">Results</div><div style="left: 95.6667px; top: 888.979px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.982676);" data-canvas-width="346.5406555555558">Each team produced a unique application. Although there was</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 904.165px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01308);" data-canvas-width="361.0124407407407">mild overlap between some of the ideas, the applications were</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 919.35px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00362);" data-canvas-width="358.5948833333332">developed independently and each reflected the unique contributions</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 934.535px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.972819);" data-canvas-width="359.84561111111117">of the teams. ChemAnalyzer is a text-analytics platform designed</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 949.72px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03991);" data-canvas-width="359.23638148148166">to facilitate more data- driven decision, given a corpus of text data</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 964.905px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.990064);" data-canvas-width="360.5813333333333">about a chemical event. Their plat- form provided the ability to</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 980.091px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0095);" data-canvas-width="358.895625925926">automatically identify and highlight key words in documents related</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 995.276px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.975738);" data-canvas-width="360.2586481481481">to chemical events. The keywords are drawn from an on- tology</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1010.46px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.04696);" data-canvas-width="359.61327777777757">installed with the system, as well as any user-identified keywords.</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1025.65px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.985566);" data-canvas-width="358.08891296296287">The ChemAnalyzer team finished in third place. The RetroSpect team</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1040.83px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.972854);" data-canvas-width="357.97790925925915">developed a visual analytic tool for performing retrospec- tive analysis</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1056.02px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00821);" data-canvas-width="358.8039833333332">and monitoring of chemical events. Their app provided the ability to</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1071.2px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02933);" data-canvas-width="359.25187037037006">search and analyze past events, as well as visualization of state and</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1086.39px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.992989);" data-canvas-width="358.2373481481482">county information for the recorded chemical events. The RetroSpect</div><div style="left: 82px; top: 1101.57px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02251);" data-canvas-width="359.2234740740741">team finished in second place. The Toxicbusters team—the winners</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 290.683px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03121);" data-canvas-width="359.5306703703703">of the competition—created a geo-based situational awareness tool</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 305.868px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02354);" data-canvas-width="359.3460944444445">for tracking chemical events. Their app featured an updateable map</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 321.054px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.970292);" data-canvas-width="359.7358981481478">overlay, search functionality for finding specific or related events,</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 336.239px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.99108);" data-canvas-width="360.19152962962994">incident and city/state/national-level statistics and trends, as well</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 351.424px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0386);" data-canvas-width="359.5616481481481">as news and social media integration based on keywords related to</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 366.609px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00175);" data-canvas-width="115.41803703703705">chemical surveillance.</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 395.505px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.10391);" data-canvas-width="77.45735185185185">Conclusions</div><div style="left: 478.333px; top: 409.128px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.962914);" data-canvas-width="346.2799259259259">Each of the apps developed by the teams provides value to an</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 424.313px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.0063);" data-canvas-width="358.7794592592592">analyst tasked with monitoring chemical events. The apps integrated</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 439.498px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.984713);" data-canvas-width="358.12376296296287">unique data sources to provides a full picture of a chemical event, and</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 454.683px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00219);" data-canvas-width="358.5987555555555">its effects upon the surrounding population. This integrated analytics</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 469.868px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.01954);" data-canvas-width="359.13183148148147">provides a valuable benefit over existing workflows, where analysts</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 485.054px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02475);" data-canvas-width="359.17442592592585">must monitor news, social, and other information sources manually</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 500.239px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.04349);" data-canvas-width="359.72686296296285">for real-time information. The apps developed by these interns are</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 515.424px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.999795);" data-canvas-width="360.9091814814813">designed to enable identification and analysis of the incident as</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 530.609px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.979535);" data-canvas-width="360.3218944444447">quickly as possible, allowing for more timely assessments of the</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 545.794px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00489);" data-canvas-width="358.69427037037036">incident and its impacts. The web app development contest provided</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 560.979px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.02799);" data-canvas-width="361.319637037037">a unique opportunity for students to learn about the emerging</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 576.165px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.972972);" data-canvas-width="360.2754277777776">needs in chemical surveillance as it relates to health sit- uational</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 591.35px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.951939);" data-canvas-width="359.5474499999999">awareness. Students were drawn from a variety of fields and were</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 606.535px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00684);" data-canvas-width="358.7717148148148">tasked with developing novel web apps addressing some of the most</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 621.72px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.03424);" data-canvas-width="359.48549444444444">pressing challenges in the field of chemical surveillance. The ideas</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 636.905px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.993025);" data-canvas-width="358.3496425925926">generated by the students will help form the basis for future chemical</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 652.091px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.987104);" data-canvas-width="357.9895259259259">surveillance application development to be integrated with the DTRA</div><div style="left: 464.667px; top: 667.276px; font-size: 12.9074px; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(1.00189);" data-canvas-width="36.21818518518518">BSVE.</div> ER -