LifeWatch Italy DataLabs is a collaborative coding platform for biodiversity and ecosystem research. It allows you to create your research projects, edit your scripts and set up a team to work on them. It has never been easier to code with your team in R, Matlab and Python. The platform is integrated with the LifeWatch Italy Data Portal and Metadata Catalogue allowing you to publish your research products (e.g., scripts, datasets, etc.) and deploy web services in a single place by means of user-friendly interfaces. As well as promoting collaboration in coding and data science, LifeWatch Italy DataLabs is in line with the FAIR principles and open science practices.

This workflow integrates the MEDA Toolbox for Matlab and Octave, focusing on data simulation, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and result visualization. Key steps include simulating multivariate data, applying PCA for data modeling, and creating interactive visualizations. The MEDA Toolbox combines traditional and advanced methods, such as ANOVA Simultaneous Component Analysis (ASCA). The aim is to integrate the MEDA Toolbox into LifeWatch, providing tools for enhanced data analysis and visualization in research. Background This workflow is a template for the integration of the Multivariate Exploratory Data Analysis Toolbox (MEDA Toolbox, https://github.com/codaslab/MEDA-Toolbox) in LifeWatch. The MEDA Toolbox for Matlab and Octave is a set of multivariate analysis tools for the exploration of data sets. There are several alternative tools in the market for that purpose, both commercial and free. The PLS_Toolbox from Eigenvector Inc. is a very nice example. The MEDA Toolbox is not intended to replace or compete with any of these toolkits. Rather, the MEDA Toolbox is a complementary tool that includes several contributions of the Computational Data Science Laboratory (CoDaS Lab) to the field of data analysis. Thus, traditional exploratory plots based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or Partial Least Squares (PLS), such as score, loading, and residual plots, are combined with new methods: MEDA, oMEDA, SVI plots, ADICOV, EKF & CKF cross-validation, CSP, GPCA, etc. A main tool in the MEDA Toolbox which has received a lot of attention lately is ANOVA Simultaneous Component Analysis (ASCA). The ASCA code in the MEDA Toolbox is one of the most advanced internationally. Introduction The workflow integrates three examples of functionality within the MEDA Toolbox. First, there is a data simulation step, in which a matrix of random data is simulated with a user-defined correlation level. The output is sent to a modeling step, in which Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is computed. The PCA model is then sent to a visualization module. Aims The main goal of this template is the integration of the MEDA Toolbox in LifeWatch, including data simulation, data modeling, and data visualization routines. Scientific Questions This workflow only exemplifies the integration of the MEDA Toolbox. No specific questions are addressed.