Please read below for frequently asked questions (FAQ) about ADDI and AD Workbench. Can't find what you're looking for? Post in forum or email support@alzheimersdata.org.
Table of Contents
- What type of data are available?
- How do I access data?
- Where do I find my requested dataset?
- Why can't I find my requested dataset in my workspace?
- Why is having a workspace important?
- How do I request a workspace?
- How do I request a virtual machine (VM)?
- What kind of analysis can I perform with the workspace?
- What kind of data analysis tools can I find in my workspace?
- What kind of analyses can I perform with the Virtual Machine?
- Can I upload my own data to the workspace for analysis?
- Can I download datasets to my own local machine?
- How do I acknowledge or cite ADDI and AD Workbench?
What type of data are available?
ADDI enables access to data types including: clinical (including cognitive assessments), epigenetics, gene expression, genotype, imaging, immunoassay, placebo, proteomics, genome sequencing and synthetic data. A variety of imaging, immunoassay and sequencing data such as MRI, PET, CT, qPCR, GWAS, RNA-seq ang WGS, among others, can also be found.
Datasets AD Workbench users can access focus on a number of different conditions under the dementia umbrella, including Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment, among others.
Some datasets encompass human subjects from different clinical trial phases and intervention modalities. Additionally, a broad selection of biochemical, genetic, inflammatory, neuroimaging and neuropsychological biomarkers can help users discover datasets specific to their research question of interest.
How do I access data?
Please read this article that details the dataset access process.
Where do I find my requested dataset?
Please read this article that details how to access data files once a request has been approved.
Why can't I find my requested dataset in my workspace?
The dataset may take a few moments to load in your workspace. It could be necessary to refresh the page or retry after a few minutes for the files to appear in the Inbox.
Why is having a workspace important?
Workspaces are free, private, collaborative analytic environments where users can manage data and perform analysis including modelling, data cleaning, filtering and sharing. Workspaces allow you to manage core data assets such as database files and tables, documents, and scripts. Once uploaded, files, database and data files are readable and writable via both the web interface and the optional virtual desktop environment. You may also add other members of your research team to your workspace and customize their roles for optimal shareability.
How do I request a workspace?
Please submit a request for a workspace here.
How do I request a virtual machine (VM)?
As part of the workspace request form, you are able to specify whether you would like a VM installed along with your workspace. If you have already submitted your workspace request but skipped the VM installation, you can still request a VM by emailing servicedesk@aridhia.com.
What kind of analysis can I perform with the workspace?
With your workspace, you can quickly visualize and analyze data using the point and click statistical modules. A variety of data analytics modules can help you perform data visualization, calculate descriptive statistics, perform statistical testing and statistical modeling.
Your workspace also comes equipped with two Built-in applications, Jupyter Notebook so you can combine live code, computational output, visualizations, and explanatory text in a single document, and RStudio, an integrated development environment for the R programming language. RStudio makes using R easier, as it includes a console, code editor, tools for plotting and other features useful for development and debugging.
What kind of data analysis tools can I find in my workspace?
Please read this article that details many of the tools accessible from within the workspace.
Additionally, if you check the box next to a .csv file, you will see the Analyze Data option on the right menu panel. Selecting Analyze Data will open the Data table analytics toolkit which includes an analytics side bar with more than 20 modules that enable quick visualization and analysis of data. You can either select the modules and then select the columns from the dataset or select the data or columns that will be used as variables in the module you want to use. Please read more here.
What kind of analyses can I perform with the Virtual Machine?
Once your Virtual Machine (VM) is provisioned, you can use it much like a normal desktop, such as install software or access your workspace files; all instructions can be found here. For security reasons, access to the internet is restricted, however, a list of the current whitelisted sites can be found here. If you would like to access other sites not found in this list, you may request so by emailing servicedesk@aridhia.com.
If you have requested a data science VM, you additionally have some pre-installed common software and packages. Read more in this article.
Can I upload my own data to the workspace for analysis?
Yes, please read this article that outlines best practices and options for uploading files to the workspace.
Can I download datasets to my own local machine?
You may download files and/or datasets to your local computer or to another one of your workspaces by submitting a download/copy request through the Airlock feature. If you are a Workspace Administrator, you can instantaneously approve the request yourself by clicking the 'Approve' button. If you are a Standard User, you will not have this option, so you need to click 'Request approval' and wait until the administrator approved it.
How do I acknowledge or cite ADDI and AD Workbench?
To publish the work created leveraging AD Workbench, please cite ADDI website. Here is an example in APA format.
Alzheimer’s disease workbench. (2020) . Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative [Web site]. Retrieved from
https://www.alzheimersdata.org/
If datasets made available via AD Workbench are used during the analysis, it is required to cite them separately. Please contact the respective data owners for the specifics of the citation information.
Data owner information can be found in the metadata section of the dataset on FAIR portal.
To cite tools used while working in AD Workbench, please refer to the specific tool citation guidelines. For tools included in the TDrive, please refer to the README file.