Data mining and visualization techniques

DOEpatents

Wong, Pak Chung [Richland, WA; Whitney, Paul [Richland, WA; Thomas, Jim [Richland, WA

2004-03-23

Disclosed are association rule identification and visualization methods, systems, and apparatus. An association rule in data mining is an implication of the form X.fwdarw.Y where X is a set of antecedent items and Y is the consequent item. A unique visualization technique that provides multiple antecedent, consequent, confidence, and support information is disclosed to facilitate better presentation of large quantities of complex association rules.

The Elicitation Interview Technique: Capturing People's Experiences of Data Representations.

PubMed

Hogan, Trevor; Hinrichs, Uta; Hornecker, Eva

2016-12-01

Information visualization has become a popular tool to facilitate sense-making, discovery and communication in a large range of professional and casual contexts. However, evaluating visualizations is still a challenge. In particular, we lack techniques to help understand how visualizations are experienced by people. In this paper we discuss the potential of the Elicitation Interview technique to be applied in the context of visualization. The Elicitation Interview is a method for gathering detailed and precise accounts of human experience. We argue that it can be applied to help understand how people experience and interpret visualizations as part of exploration and data analysis processes. We describe the key characteristics of this interview technique and present a study we conducted to exemplify how it can be applied to evaluate data representations. Our study illustrates the types of insights this technique can bring to the fore, for example, evidence for deep interpretation of visual representations and the formation of interpretations and stories beyond the represented data. We discuss general visualization evaluation scenarios where the Elicitation Interview technique may be beneficial and specify what needs to be considered when applying this technique in a visualization context specifically.

Teaching Biology to Visually Handicapped Students. Resource Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ricker, Kenneth S.

This resource manual presents numerous techniques for adapting science activities to the visually handicapped student, applicable to introductory biology courses in which microscopes are used extensively in the laboratory. Chapters include information on the following: alternative microscopic viewing techniques, physical models, tactile diagrams,…

A survey of visualization systems for network security.

PubMed

Shiravi, Hadi; Shiravi, Ali; Ghorbani, Ali A

2012-08-01

Security Visualization is a very young term. It expresses the idea that common visualization techniques have been designed for use cases that are not supportive of security-related data, demanding novel techniques fine tuned for the purpose of thorough analysis. Significant amount of work has been published in this area, but little work has been done to study this emerging visualization discipline. We offer a comprehensive review of network security visualization and provide a taxonomy in the form of five use-case classes encompassing nearly all recent works in this area. We outline the incorporated visualization techniques and data sources and provide an informative table to display our findings. From the analysis of these systems, we examine issues and concerns regarding network security visualization and provide guidelines and directions for future researchers and visual system developers.

The Geometric Organizer: A Study Technique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derr, Alice M.; Peters, Chris L.

1986-01-01

The geometric organizer, a multisensory technique using visual mnemonic devices that key information to color-coded geometric shapes, can help learning disabled students read, organize, and study information in content subject textbooks. (CL)

Retinal Information Processing for Minimum Laser Lesion Detection and Cumulative Damage

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-09-17

TAL3Unaqr~orJ:ccd [] J ,;--Wicic tion --------------... MYRON....... . ................... ... ....... ...........................MYRON L. WOLBARSHT B D ist...possible beneficial visual function of the small retinal image movements. B . Visual System Models Prior models of visual system information processing have...against standard secondary sources whose calibrations can be traced to the National Bureau of Standards. B . Electrophysiological Techniques Extracellular

Discussing State-of-the-Art Spatial Visualization Techniques Applicable for the Epidemiological Surveillance Data on the Example of Campylobacter spp. in Raw Chicken Meat.

PubMed

Plaza-Rodríguez, C; Appel, B; Kaesbohrer, A; Filter, M

2016-08-01

Within the European activities for the 'Monitoring and Collection of Information on Zoonoses', annually EFSA publishes a European report, including information related to the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in Germany. Spatial epidemiology becomes here a fundamental tool for the generation of these reports, including the representation of prevalence as an essential element. Until now, choropleth maps are the default visualization technique applied in epidemiological monitoring and surveillance reports made by EFSA and German authorities. However, due to its limitations, it seems to be reasonable to explore alternative chart type. Four maps including choropleth, cartogram, graduated symbols and dot-density maps were created to visualize real-world sample data on the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in raw chicken meat samples in Germany in 2011. In addition, adjacent and coincident maps were created to visualize also the associated uncertainty. As an outcome, we found that there is not a single data visualization technique that encompasses all the necessary features to visualize prevalence data alone or prevalence data together with their associated uncertainty. All the visualization techniques contemplated in this study demonstrated to have both advantages and disadvantages. To determine which visualization technique should be used for future reports, we recommend to create a dialogue between end-users and epidemiologists on the basis of sample data and charts. The final decision should also consider the knowledge and experience of end-users as well as the specific objective to be achieved with the charts. © 2015 The Authors. Zoonoses and Public Health Published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Information Landscaping: Information Mapping, Charting, Querying and Reporting Techniques for Total Quality Knowledge Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Bor-sheng

2003-01-01

Total quality management and knowledge management are merged and used as a conceptual model to direct and develop information landscaping techniques through the coordination of information mapping, charting, querying, and reporting. Goals included: merge citation analysis and data mining, and apply data visualization and information architecture…

Basic examination of a technique to visualize space filled with dense smoke using millimeter-wave radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omine, Yukio; Sakai, Masaki; Aoki, Yoshimitsu; Takagi, Mikio

2004-10-01

In recent years, crisis management in response to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, as well as accelerating rescue operations has become an important issue. Rescue operations greatly influence human lives, and require the ability to accurately and swiftly communicate information as well as assess the status of the site. Currently, considerable amount of research is being conducted for assisting rescue operations, with the application of various engineering techniques such as information technology and radar technology. In the present research, we believe that assessing the status of the site is most crucial in rescue and firefighting operations at a fire disaster site, and aim to visualize the space that is smothered with dense smoke. In a space filled with dense smoke, where visual or infrared sensing techniques are not feasible, three-dimensional measurements can be realized using a compact millimeter wave radar device combined with directional information from a gyro sensor. Using these techniques, we construct a system that can build and visualize a three-dimensional geometric model of the space. The final objective is to implement such a system on a wearable computer, which will improve the firefighters' spatial perception, assisting them in the baseline assessment and the decision-making process. In the present paper, we report the results of the basic experiments on three-dimensional measurement and visualization of a space that is smoke free, using a millimeter wave radar.

Information visualization of the minority game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, W.; Herbert, R. D.; Webber, R.

2008-02-01

Many dynamical systems produce large quantities of data. How can the system be understood from the output data? Often people are simply overwhelmed by the data. Traditional tools such as tables and plots are often not adequate, and new techniques are needed to help people to analyze the system. In this paper, we propose the use of two spacefilling visualization tools to examine the output from a complex agent-based financial model. We measure the effectiveness and performance of these tools through usability experiments. Based on the experimental results, we develop two new visualization techniques that combine the advantages and discard the disadvantages of the information visualization tools. The model we use is an evolutionary version of the Minority Game which simulates a financial market.

Application of Information Visualization Techniques in Representing Patients' Temporal Personal History Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noah, Shahrul Azman; Yaakob, Suraya; Shahar, Suzana

The anthropometries and nutrients records of patients are usually vast in quantity, complex and exhibit temporal features. Therefore, the information acceptance among users will become blur and give cognitive burden if such data is not displayed using effective techniques. The aim of this study is to apply, use and evaluate Information Visualization (IV) techniques for displaying the Personal History Data (PHD) of patients for dietitians during counseling sessions. Since PHD values change consistently with the counseling session, our implementation mainly focused on quantitative temporal data such as Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure and blood glucose readings. This data is mapped into orientation circle type of visual representation, whereas data about medicinal and supplement intake are mapped into timeline segment which is based on the thickness of lines as well as the colors. A usability testing has been conducted among dietitians at Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, UKM. The result of the testing has shown that the use of visual representations capable of summarising complex data which ease the dietitian task of checking the PHD.

Diversification of visual media retrieval results using saliency detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muratov, Oleg; Boato, Giulia; De Natale, Franesco G. B.

2013-03-01

Diversification of retrieval results allows for better and faster search. Recently there has been proposed different methods for diversification of image retrieval results mainly utilizing text information and techniques imported from natural language processing domain. However, images contain visual information that is impossible to describe in text and the use of visual features is inevitable. Visual saliency is information about the main object of an image implicitly included by humans while creating visual content. For this reason it is naturally to exploit this information for the task of diversification of the content. In this work we study whether visual saliency can be used for the task of diversification and propose a method for re-ranking image retrieval results using saliency. The evaluation has shown that the use of saliency information results in higher diversity of retrieval results.

Air traffic control specialist visual scanning II : task load, visual noise, and intrusions into controlled airspace.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-12-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) started an Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) information-scanning program a number : of years ago. The goal is to learn about how controllers use information displays and develop techniques for reducing a...

On avoiding framing effects in experienced decision makers.

PubMed

Garcia-Retamero, Rocio; Dhami, Mandeep K

2013-01-01

The present study aimed to (a) demonstrate the effect of positive-negative framing on experienced criminal justice decision makers, (b) examine the debiasing effect of visually structured risk messages, and (c) investigate whether risk perceptions mediate the debiasing effect of visual aids on decision making. In two phases, 60 senior police officers estimated the accuracy of a counterterrorism technique in identifying whether a known terror suspect poses an imminent danger and decided whether they would recommend the technique to policy makers. Officers also rated their confidence in this recommendation. When information about the effectiveness of the counterterrorism technique was presented in a numerical format, officers' perceptions of accuracy and recommendation decisions were susceptible to the framing effect: The technique was perceived to be more accurate and was more likely to be recommended when its effectiveness was presented in a positive than in a negative frame. However, when the information was represented visually using icon arrays, there were no such framing effects. Finally, perceptions of accuracy mediated the debiasing effect of visual aids on recommendation decisions. We offer potential explanations for the debiasing effect of visual aids and implications for communicating risk to experienced, professional decision makers.

Parallel Visualization Co-Processing of Overnight CFD Propulsion Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, David E.; Haimes, Robert

1999-01-01

An interactive visualization system pV3 is being developed for the investigation of advanced computational methodologies employing visualization and parallel processing for the extraction of information contained in large-scale transient engineering simulations. Visual techniques for extracting information from the data in terms of cutting planes, iso-surfaces, particle tracing and vector fields are included in this system. This paper discusses improvements to the pV3 system developed under NASA's Affordable High Performance Computing project.

Water tunnel flow visualization using a laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beckner, C.; Curry, R. E.

1985-01-01

Laser systems for flow visualization in water tunnels (similar to the vapor screen technique used in wind tunnels) can provide two-dimensional cross-sectional views of complex flow fields. This parametric study documents the practical application of the laser-enhanced visualization (LEV) technique to water tunnel testing. Aspects of the study include laser power levels, flow seeding (using flourescent dyes and embedded particulates), model preparation, and photographic techniques. The results of this study are discussed to provide potential users with basic information to aid in the design and setup of an LEV system.

Toward Model Building for Visual Aesthetic Perception

PubMed Central

Lughofer, Edwin; Zeng, Xianyi

2017-01-01

Several models of visual aesthetic perception have been proposed in recent years. Such models have drawn on investigations into the neural underpinnings of visual aesthetics, utilizing neurophysiological techniques and brain imaging techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography, and electroencephalography. The neural mechanisms underlying the aesthetic perception of the visual arts have been explained from the perspectives of neuropsychology, brain and cognitive science, informatics, and statistics. Although corresponding models have been constructed, the majority of these models contain elements that are difficult to be simulated or quantified using simple mathematical functions. In this review, we discuss the hypotheses, conceptions, and structures of six typical models for human aesthetic appreciation in the visual domain: the neuropsychological, information processing, mirror, quartet, and two hierarchical feed-forward layered models. Additionally, the neural foundation of aesthetic perception, appreciation, or judgement for each model is summarized. The development of a unified framework for the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the aesthetic perception of visual art and the validation of this framework via mathematical simulation is an interesting challenge in neuroaesthetics research. This review aims to provide information regarding the most promising proposals for bridging the gap between visual information processing and brain activity involved in aesthetic appreciation. PMID:29270194

Camouflage target detection via hyperspectral imaging plus information divergence measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yuheng; Chen, Xinhua; Zhou, Jiankang; Ji, Yiqun; Shen, Weimin

2016-01-01

Target detection is one of most important applications in remote sensing. Nowadays accurate camouflage target distinction is often resorted to spectral imaging technique due to its high-resolution spectral/spatial information acquisition ability as well as plenty of data processing methods. In this paper, hyper-spectral imaging technique together with spectral information divergence measure method is used to solve camouflage target detection problem. A self-developed visual-band hyper-spectral imaging device is adopted to collect data cubes of certain experimental scene before spectral information divergences are worked out so as to discriminate target camouflage and anomaly. Full-band information divergences are measured to evaluate target detection effect visually and quantitatively. Information divergence measurement is proved to be a low-cost and effective tool for target detection task and can be further developed to other target detection applications beyond spectral imaging technique.

How to Visualize and Communicate Challenges in Climate and Environmental Sciences?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vicari, R.; Schertzer, D. J. M.; Deutsch, J. C.

2014-12-01

The challenges of climate and environmental sciences need a renewed dialogue with a large spectrum of stakeholders, ranging from the general publics to specialists. This requires a better use of sophisticated visualization techniques to both forward the information and to follow the corresponding flow of information. A particular case of interest is the question of resilience to extreme weather events that also relies on increasing awareness of urban communities. This research looks at the development of exploration techniques of unstructured Big Data. Indeed access to information on environmental and climate sciences has hugely increased in terms of variety and quantity, as a consequence of different factors, among others the development of public relations by research institutes and the pervasive role of digital media (Bucchi 2013; Trench 2008). We are left with unthinkable amounts of information from blogs, social networks postings, public speeches, press releases, articles, etc. It is possible now to explore and visualize patterns followed by digital information with the support of automated analysis tools. On the other hand these techniques can provide important insights on how different techniques of visual communication can impact on urban resilience to extreme weather. The selected case studies correspond to several research projects under the umbrella of the Chair "Hydrology for resilient cities" aimed to develop and test new solutions in urban hydrology that will contribute to the resilience of our cities to extreme weather. These research projects - ranging from regional projects (e.g. RadX@IdF), European projects (e.g. Blue Green Dream and RainGain), to worldwide collaborations (e.g. TOMACS) - include awareness raising and capacity building activities aimed to foster cooperation between scientists, professionals, and beneficiaries. This presentation will explore how visualization techniques can be used in the above mentioned projects in order to support outreach activities as well as to illustrate the impact of digital communication on urban resilience.

Localization Using Visual Odometry and a Single Downward-Pointing Camera

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swank, Aaron J.

2012-01-01

Stereo imaging is a technique commonly employed for vision-based navigation. For such applications, two images are acquired from different vantage points and then compared using transformations to extract depth information. The technique is commonly used in robotics for obstacle avoidance or for Simultaneous Localization And Mapping, (SLAM). Yet, the process requires a number of image processing steps and therefore tends to be CPU-intensive, which limits the real-time data rate and use in power-limited applications. Evaluated here is a technique where a monocular camera is used for vision-based odometry. In this work, an optical flow technique with feature recognition is performed to generate odometry measurements. The visual odometry sensor measurements are intended to be used as control inputs or measurements in a sensor fusion algorithm using low-cost MEMS based inertial sensors to provide improved localization information. Presented here are visual odometry results which demonstrate the challenges associated with using ground-pointing cameras for visual odometry. The focus is for rover-based robotic applications for localization within GPS-denied environments.

Spatial Paradigm for Information Retrieval and Exploration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The SPIRE system consists of software for visual analysis of primarily text based information sources. This technology enables the content analysis of text documents without reading all the documents. It employs several algorithms for text and word proximity analysis. It identifies the key themes within the text documents. From this analysis, it projects the results onto a visual spatial proximity display (Galaxies or Themescape) where items (documents and/or themes) visually close to each other are known to have content which is close to each other. Innovative interaction techniques then allow for dynamic visual analysis of large text based information spaces.

SPIRE1.03. Spatial Paradigm for Information Retrieval and Exploration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Adams, K.J.; Bohn, S.; Crow, V.

The SPIRE system consists of software for visual analysis of primarily text based information sources. This technology enables the content analysis of text documents without reading all the documents. It employs several algorithms for text and word proximity analysis. It identifies the key themes within the text documents. From this analysis, it projects the results onto a visual spatial proximity display (Galaxies or Themescape) where items (documents and/or themes) visually close to each other are known to have content which is close to each other. Innovative interaction techniques then allow for dynamic visual analysis of large text based information spaces.

Development of image processing techniques for applications in flow visualization and analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Disimile, Peter J.; Shoe, Bridget; Toy, Norman; Savory, Eric; Tahouri, Bahman

1991-01-01

A comparison between two flow visualization studies of an axi-symmetric circular jet issuing into still fluid, using two different experimental techniques, is described. In the first case laser induced fluorescence is used to visualize the flow structure, whilst smoke is utilized in the second. Quantitative information was obtained from these visualized flow regimes using two different digital imaging systems. Results are presented of the rate at which the jet expands in the downstream direction and these compare favorably with the more established data.

D Visualization of Volcanic Ash Dispersion Prediction with Spatial Information Open Platform in Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youn, J.; Kim, T.

2016-06-01

Visualization of disaster dispersion prediction enables decision makers and civilian to prepare disaster and to reduce the damage by showing the realistic simulation results. With advances of GIS technology and the theory of volcanic disaster prediction algorithm, the predicted disaster dispersions are displayed in spatial information. However, most of volcanic ash dispersion predictions are displayed in 2D. 2D visualization has a limitation to understand the realistic dispersion prediction since its height could be presented only by colour. Especially for volcanic ash, 3D visualization of dispersion prediction is essential since it could bring out big aircraft accident. In this paper, we deals with 3D visualization techniques of volcanic ash dispersion prediction with spatial information open platform in Korea. First, time-series volcanic ash 3D position and concentrations are calculated with WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model and Modified Fall3D algorithm. For 3D visualization, we propose three techniques; those are 'Cube in the air', 'Cube in the cube', and 'Semi-transparent plane in the air' methods. In the 'Cube in the Air', which locates the semitransparent cubes having different color depends on its particle concentration. Big cube is not realistic when it is zoomed. Therefore, cube is divided into small cube with Octree algorithm. That is 'Cube in the Cube' algorithm. For more realistic visualization, we apply 'Semi-transparent Volcanic Ash Plane' which shows the ash as fog. The results are displayed in the 'V-world' which is a spatial information open platform implemented by Korean government. Proposed techniques were adopted in Volcanic Disaster Response System implemented by Korean Ministry of Public Safety and Security.

Illustrative visualization of 3D city models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doellner, Juergen; Buchholz, Henrik; Nienhaus, Marc; Kirsch, Florian

2005-03-01

This paper presents an illustrative visualization technique that provides expressive representations of large-scale 3D city models, inspired by the tradition of artistic and cartographic visualizations typically found in bird"s-eye view and panoramic maps. We define a collection of city model components and a real-time multi-pass rendering algorithm that achieves comprehensible, abstract 3D city model depictions based on edge enhancement, color-based and shadow-based depth cues, and procedural facade texturing. Illustrative visualization provides an effective visual interface to urban spatial information and associated thematic information complementing visual interfaces based on the Virtual Reality paradigm, offering a huge potential for graphics design. Primary application areas include city and landscape planning, cartoon worlds in computer games, and tourist information systems.

Augmented Virtuality: A Real-time Process for Presenting Real-world Visual Sensory Information in an Immersive Virtual Environment for Planetary Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McFadden, D.; Tavakkoli, A.; Regenbrecht, J.; Wilson, B.

2017-12-01

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications have recently seen an impressive growth, thanks to the advent of commercial Head Mounted Displays (HMDs). This new visualization era has opened the possibility of presenting researchers from multiple disciplines with data visualization techniques not possible via traditional 2D screens. In a purely VR environment researchers are presented with the visual data in a virtual environment, whereas in a purely AR application, a piece of virtual object is projected into the real world with which researchers could interact. There are several limitations to the purely VR or AR application when taken within the context of remote planetary exploration. For example, in a purely VR environment, contents of the planet surface (e.g. rocks, terrain, or other features) should be created off-line from a multitude of images using image processing techniques to generate 3D mesh data that will populate the virtual surface of the planet. This process usually takes a tremendous amount of computational resources and cannot be delivered in real-time. As an alternative, video frames may be superimposed on the virtual environment to save processing time. However, such rendered video frames will lack 3D visual information -i.e. depth information. In this paper, we present a technique to utilize a remotely situated robot's stereoscopic cameras to provide a live visual feed from the real world into the virtual environment in which planetary scientists are immersed. Moreover, the proposed technique will blend the virtual environment with the real world in such a way as to preserve both the depth and visual information from the real world while allowing for the sensation of immersion when the entire sequence is viewed via an HMD such as Oculus Rift. The figure shows the virtual environment with an overlay of the real-world stereoscopic video being presented in real-time into the virtual environment. Notice the preservation of the object's shape, shadows, and depth information. The distortions shown in the image are due to the rendering of the stereoscopic data into a 2D image for the purposes of taking screenshots.

Counseling the Blind or Visually Impaired Child: An Examination of Behavioral Techniques.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brame, Cynthia M.; Martin, Don; Martin, Paige

1998-01-01

Presents information concerning stereotypical mannerisms and relationship development of legally blind and visually impaired children. Discusses counseling methods that are useful with this population. (MKA)

Photogrammetry for Archaeology: Collecting Pieces Together

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chibunichev, A. G.; Knyaz, V. A.; Zhuravlev, D. V.; Kurkov, V. M.

2018-05-01

The complexity of retrieving and understanding the archaeological data requires to apply different techniques, tools and sensors for information gathering, processing and documenting. Archaeological research now has the interdisciplinary nature involving technologies based on different physical principles for retrieving information about archaeological findings. The important part of archaeological data is visual and spatial information which allows reconstructing the appearance of the findings and relation between them. Photogrammetry has a great potential for accurate acquiring of spatial and visual data of different scale and resolution allowing to create archaeological documents of new type and quality. The aim of the presented study is to develop an approach for creating new forms of archaeological documents, a pipeline for their producing and collecting in one holistic model, describing an archaeological site. A set of techniques is developed for acquiring and integration of spatial and visual data of different level of details. The application of the developed techniques is demonstrated for documenting of Bosporus archaeological expedition of Russian State Historical Museum.

Climate Science Communications - Video Visualization Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reisman, J. P.; Mann, M. E.

2010-12-01

Communicating Climate science is challenging due to it's complexity. But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Visualization techniques can be merely graphical or combine multimedia so as to make graphs come alive in context with other visual and auditory cues. This can also make the information come alive in a way that better communicates what the science is all about. What types of graphics to use depends on your audience, some graphs are great for scientists but if you are trying to communicate to a less sophisticated audience, certain visuals translate information in a more easily perceptible manner. Hollywood techniques and style can be applied to these graphs to give them even more impact. Video is one of the most powerful communication tools in its ability to combine visual and audio through time. Adding music and visual cues such as pans and zooms can greatly enhance the ability to communicate your concepts. Video software ranges from relatively simple to very sophisticated. In reality, you don't need the best tools to get your point across. In fact, with relatively inexpensive software, you can put together powerful videos that more effectively convey the science you are working on with greater sophistication, and in an entertaining way. We will examine some basic techniques to increase the quality of video visualization to make it more effective in communicating complexity. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a decent video with music, and a bit of narration is priceless.

Visualizing Mobility of Public Transportation System.

PubMed

Zeng, Wei; Fu, Chi-Wing; Arisona, Stefan Müller; Erath, Alexander; Qu, Huamin

2014-12-01

Public transportation systems (PTSs) play an important role in modern cities, providing shared/massive transportation services that are essential for the general public. However, due to their increasing complexity, designing effective methods to visualize and explore PTS is highly challenging. Most existing techniques employ network visualization methods and focus on showing the network topology across stops while ignoring various mobility-related factors such as riding time, transfer time, waiting time, and round-the-clock patterns. This work aims to visualize and explore passenger mobility in a PTS with a family of analytical tasks based on inputs from transportation researchers. After exploring different design alternatives, we come up with an integrated solution with three visualization modules: isochrone map view for geographical information, isotime flow map view for effective temporal information comparison and manipulation, and OD-pair journey view for detailed visual analysis of mobility factors along routes between specific origin-destination pairs. The isotime flow map linearizes a flow map into a parallel isoline representation, maximizing the visualization of mobility information along the horizontal time axis while presenting clear and smooth pathways from origin to destinations. Moreover, we devise several interactive visual query methods for users to easily explore the dynamics of PTS mobility over space and time. Lastly, we also construct a PTS mobility model from millions of real passenger trajectories, and evaluate our visualization techniques with assorted case studies with the transportation researchers.

Visual Analytics for Law Enforcement: Deploying a Service-Oriented Analytic Framework for Web-based Visualization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dowson, Scott T.; Bruce, Joseph R.; Best, Daniel M.

2009-04-14

This paper presents key components of the Law Enforcement Information Framework (LEIF) that provides communications, situational awareness, and visual analytics tools in a service-oriented architecture supporting web-based desktop and handheld device users. LEIF simplifies interfaces and visualizations of well-established visual analytical techniques to improve usability. Advanced analytics capability is maintained by enhancing the underlying processing to support the new interface. LEIF development is driven by real-world user feedback gathered through deployments at three operational law enforcement organizations in the US. LEIF incorporates a robust information ingest pipeline supporting a wide variety of information formats. LEIF also insulates interface and analyticalmore » components from information sources making it easier to adapt the framework for many different data repositories.« less

Innovative Visualization Techniques applied to a Flood Scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falcão, António; Ho, Quan; Lopes, Pedro; Malamud, Bruce D.; Ribeiro, Rita; Jern, Mikael

2013-04-01

The large and ever-increasing amounts of multi-dimensional, time-varying and geospatial digital information from multiple sources represent a major challenge for today's analysts. We present a set of visualization techniques that can be used for the interactive analysis of geo-referenced and time sampled data sets, providing an integrated mechanism and that aids the user to collaboratively explore, present and communicate visually complex and dynamic data. Here we present these concepts in the context of a 4 hour flood scenario from Lisbon in 2010, with data that includes measures of water column (flood height) every 10 minutes at a 4.5 m x 4.5 m resolution, topography, building damage, building information, and online base maps. Techniques we use include web-based linked views, multiple charts, map layers and storytelling. We explain two of these in more detail that are not currently in common use for visualization of data: storytelling and web-based linked views. Visual storytelling is a method for providing a guided but interactive process of visualizing data, allowing more engaging data exploration through interactive web-enabled visualizations. Within storytelling, a snapshot mechanism helps the author of a story to highlight data views of particular interest and subsequently share or guide others within the data analysis process. This allows a particular person to select relevant attributes for a snapshot, such as highlighted regions for comparisons, time step, class values for colour legend, etc. and provide a snapshot of the current application state, which can then be provided as a hyperlink and recreated by someone else. Since data can be embedded within this snapshot, it is possible to interactively visualize and manipulate it. The second technique, web-based linked views, includes multiple windows which interactively respond to the user selections, so that when selecting an object and changing it one window, it will automatically update in all the other windows. These concepts can be part of a collaborative platform, where multiple people share and work together on the data, via online access, which also allows its remote usage from a mobile platform. Storytelling augments analysis and decision-making capabilities allowing to assimilate complex situations and reach informed decisions, in addition to helping the public visualize information. In our visualization scenario, developed in the context of the VA-4D project for the European Space Agency (see http://www.ca3-uninova.org/project_va4d), we make use of the GAV (GeoAnalytics Visualization) framework, a web-oriented visual analytics application based on multiple interactive views. The final visualization that we produce includes multiple interactive views, including a dynamic multi-layer map surrounded by other visualizations such as bar charts, time graphs and scatter plots. The map provides flood and building information, on top of a base city map (street maps and/or satellite imagery provided by online map services such as Google Maps, Bing Maps etc.). Damage over time for selected buildings, damage for all buildings at a chosen time period, correlation between damage and water depth can be analysed in the other views. This interactive web-based visualization that incorporates the ideas of storytelling, web-based linked views, and other visualization techniques, for a 4 hour flood event in Lisbon in 2010, can be found online at http://www.ncomva.se/flash/projects/esa/flooding/.

Changing Libraries: Facilitating Self-Reflection and Action Research on Organizational Change in Academic Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitworth, Andrew; Torras I Calvo, Maria Carme; Moss, Bodil; Amlesom Kifle, Nazareth; Blåsternes, Terje

2014-01-01

Visualization and mapping techniques can build a dynamic picture of information practices, including action research, within libraries, raising awareness of how the information landscape at each library may both support and retard research into the library's information practices. These techniques have implications for researchers as they generate…

Tools for Visualizing HIV in Cure Research.

PubMed

Niessl, Julia; Baxter, Amy E; Kaufmann, Daniel E

2018-02-01

The long-lived HIV reservoir remains a major obstacle for an HIV cure. Current techniques to analyze this reservoir are generally population-based. We highlight recent developments in methods visualizing HIV, which offer a different, complementary view, and provide indispensable information for cure strategy development. Recent advances in fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques enabled key developments in reservoir visualization. Flow cytometric detection of HIV mRNAs, concurrently with proteins, provides a high-throughput approach to study the reservoir on a single-cell level. On a tissue level, key spatial information can be obtained detecting viral RNA and DNA in situ by fluorescence microscopy. At total-body level, advancements in non-invasive immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) detection of HIV proteins may allow an encompassing view of HIV reservoir sites. HIV imaging approaches provide important, complementary information regarding the size, phenotype, and localization of the HIV reservoir. Visualizing the reservoir may contribute to the design, assessment, and monitoring of HIV cure strategies in vitro and in vivo.

Visual mining geo-related data using pixel bar charts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Ming C.; Keim, Daniel A.; Dayal, Umeshwar; Wright, Peter; Schneidewind, Joern

2005-03-01

A common approach to analyze geo-related data is using bar charts or x-y plots. They are intuitive and easy to use. But important information often gets lost. In this paper, we introduce a new interactive visualization technique called Geo Pixel Bar Charts, which combines the advantages of Pixel Bar Charts and interactive maps. This technique allows analysts to visualize large amounts of spatial data without aggregation and shows the geographical regions corresponding to the spatial data attribute at the same time. In this paper, we apply Geo Pixel Bar Charts to visually mining sales transactions and Internet usage from different locations. Our experimental results show the effectiveness of this technique for providing data distribution and exceptions from the map.

Shaded computer graphic techniques for visualizing and interpreting analytic fluid flow models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parke, F. I.

1981-01-01

Mathematical models which predict the behavior of fluid flow in different experiments are simulated using digital computers. The simulations predict values of parameters of the fluid flow (pressure, temperature and velocity vector) at many points in the fluid. Visualization of the spatial variation in the value of these parameters is important to comprehend and check the data generated, to identify the regions of interest in the flow, and for effectively communicating information about the flow to others. The state of the art imaging techniques developed in the field of three dimensional shaded computer graphics is applied to visualization of fluid flow. Use of an imaging technique known as 'SCAN' for visualizing fluid flow, is studied and the results are presented.

The Location of Sources of Human Computer Processed Cerebral Potentials for the Automated Assessment of Visual Field Impairment

PubMed Central

Leisman, Gerald; Ashkenazi, Maureen

1979-01-01

Objective psychophysical techniques for investigating visual fields are described. The paper concerns methods for the collection and analysis of evoked potentials using a small laboratory computer and provides efficient methods for obtaining information about the conduction pathways of the visual system.

Managing Construction Operations Visually: 3-D Techniques for Complex Topography and Restricted Visibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Walter; Opdenbosh, Augusto; Santamaria, Juan Carlos

2006-01-01

Visual information is vital in planning and managing construction operations, particularly, where there is complex terrain topography and salvage operations with limited accessibility and visibility. From visually-assessing site operations and preventing equipment collisions to simulating material handling activities to supervising remotes sites…

Visualizing the Heliosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bridgman, William T.; Shirah, Greg W.; Mitchell, Horace G.

2008-01-01

Today, scientific data and models can combine with modern animation tools to produce compelling visualizations to inform and educate. The Scientific Visualization Studio at Goddard Space Flight Center merges these techniques from the very different worlds of entertainment and science to enable scientists and the general public to 'see the unseeable' in new ways.

Are visual cue masking and removal techniques equivalent for studying perceptual skills in sport?

PubMed

Mecheri, Sami; Gillet, Eric; Thouvarecq, Regis; Leroy, David

2011-01-01

The spatial-occlusion paradigm makes use of two techniques (masking and removing visual cues) to provide information about the anticipatory cues used by viewers. The visual scene resulting from the removal technique appears to be incongruous, but the assumed equivalence of these two techniques is spreading. The present study was designed to address this issue by combining eye-movement recording with the two types of occlusion (removal versus masking) in a tennis serve-return task. Response accuracy and decision onsets were analysed. The results indicated that subjects had longer reaction times under the removal condition, with an identical proportion of correct responses. Also, the removal technique caused the subjects to rely on atypical search patterns. Our findings suggest that, when the removal technique was used, viewers were unable to systematically count on stored memories to help them accomplish the interception task. The persistent failure to question some of the assumptions about the removal technique in applied visual research is highlighted, and suggestions for continued use of the masking technique are advanced.

Multivariate spatiotemporal visualizations for mobile devices in Flyover Country

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loeffler, S.; Thorn, R.; Myrbo, A.; Roth, R.; Goring, S. J.; Williams, J.

2017-12-01

Visualizing and interacting with complex multivariate and spatiotemporal datasets on mobile devices is challenging due to their smaller screens, reduced processing power, and limited data connectivity. Pollen data require visualizing pollen assemblages spatially, temporally, and across multiple taxa to understand plant community dynamics through time. Drawing from cartography, information visualization, and paleoecology, we have created new mobile-first visualization techniques that represent multiple taxa across many sites and enable user interaction. Using pollen datasets from the Neotoma Paleoecology Database as a case study, the visualization techniques allow ecological patterns and trends to be quickly understood on a mobile device compared to traditional pollen diagrams and maps. This flexible visualization system can be used for datasets beyond pollen, with the only requirements being point-based localities and multiple variables changing through time or depth.

The Effect of Visual and Auditory Enhancements on Excitability of the Primary Motor Cortex during Motor Imagery: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ikeda, Kohei; Higashi, Toshio; Sugawara, Kenichi; Tomori, Kounosuke; Kinoshita, Hiroshi; Kasai, Tatsuya

2012-01-01

The effect of visual and auditory enhancements of finger movement on corticospinal excitability during motor imagery (MI) was investigated using the transcranial magnetic stimulation technique. Motor-evoked potentials were elicited from the abductor digit minimi muscle during MI with auditory, visual and, auditory and visual information, and no…

Multifield-graphs: an approach to visualizing correlations in multifield scalar data.

PubMed

Sauber, Natascha; Theisel, Holger; Seidel, Hans-Peter

2006-01-01

We present an approach to visualizing correlations in 3D multifield scalar data. The core of our approach is the computation of correlation fields, which are scalar fields containing the local correlations of subsets of the multiple fields. While the visualization of the correlation fields can be done using standard 3D volume visualization techniques, their huge number makes selection and handling a challenge. We introduce the Multifield-Graph to give an overview of which multiple fields correlate and to show the strength of their correlation. This information guides the selection of informative correlation fields for visualization. We use our approach to visually analyze a number of real and synthetic multifield datasets.

Applying the metro map to software development management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguirregoitia, Amaia; Dolado, J. Javier; Presedo, Concepción

2010-01-01

This paper presents MetroMap, a new graphical representation model for controlling and managing the software development process. Metromap uses metaphors and visual representation techniques to explore several key indicators in order to support problem detection and resolution. The resulting visualization addresses diverse management tasks, such as tracking of deviations from the plan, analysis of patterns of failure detection and correction, overall assessment of change management policies, and estimation of product quality. The proposed visualization uses a metaphor with a metro map along with various interactive techniques to represent information concerning the software development process and to deal efficiently with multivariate visual queries. Finally, the paper shows the implementation of the tool in JavaFX with data of a real project and the results of testing the tool with the aforementioned data and users attempting several information retrieval tasks. The conclusion shows the results of analyzing user response time and efficiency using the MetroMap visualization system. The utility of the tool was positively evaluated.

Experiences using Visualization Techniques to Present Requirements, Risks to Them, and Options for Risk Mitigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feather, Martin S.; Cornford, Steven L.; Kiper, James D.; Menzies, Tim

2006-01-01

For several years we have been employing a risk-based decision process to guide development and application of advanced technologies, and for research and technology portfolio planning. The process is supported by custom software, in which visualization plays an important role. During requirements gathering, visualization is used to help scrutinize the status (completeness, extent) of the information. During decision making based on the gathered information, visualization is used to help decisionmakers understand the space of options and their consequences. In this paper we summarize the visualization capabilities that we have employed, indicating when and how they have proven useful.

Domino: Extracting, Comparing, and Manipulating Subsets across Multiple Tabular Datasets

PubMed Central

Gratzl, Samuel; Gehlenborg, Nils; Lex, Alexander; Pfister, Hanspeter; Streit, Marc

2016-01-01

Answering questions about complex issues often requires analysts to take into account information contained in multiple interconnected datasets. A common strategy in analyzing and visualizing large and heterogeneous data is dividing it into meaningful subsets. Interesting subsets can then be selected and the associated data and the relationships between the subsets visualized. However, neither the extraction and manipulation nor the comparison of subsets is well supported by state-of-the-art techniques. In this paper we present Domino, a novel multiform visualization technique for effectively representing subsets and the relationships between them. By providing comprehensive tools to arrange, combine, and extract subsets, Domino allows users to create both common visualization techniques and advanced visualizations tailored to specific use cases. In addition to the novel technique, we present an implementation that enables analysts to manage the wide range of options that our approach offers. Innovative interactive features such as placeholders and live previews support rapid creation of complex analysis setups. We introduce the technique and the implementation using a simple example and demonstrate scalability and effectiveness in a use case from the field of cancer genomics. PMID:26356916

Correction techniques for depth errors with stereo three-dimensional graphic displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parrish, Russell V.; Holden, Anthony; Williams, Steven P.

1992-01-01

Three-dimensional (3-D), 'real-world' pictorial displays that incorporate 'true' depth cues via stereopsis techniques have proved effective for displaying complex information in a natural way to enhance situational awareness and to improve pilot/vehicle performance. In such displays, the display designer must map the depths in the real world to the depths available with the stereo display system. However, empirical data have shown that the human subject does not perceive the information at exactly the depth at which it is mathematically placed. Head movements can also seriously distort the depth information that is embedded in stereo 3-D displays because the transformations used in mapping the visual scene to the depth-viewing volume (DVV) depend intrinsically on the viewer location. The goal of this research was to provide two correction techniques; the first technique corrects the original visual scene to the DVV mapping based on human perception errors, and the second (which is based on head-positioning sensor input data) corrects for errors induced by head movements. Empirical data are presented to validate both correction techniques. A combination of the two correction techniques effectively eliminates the distortions of depth information embedded in stereo 3-D displays.

Seeing Cells: Teaching the Visual/Verbal Rhetoric of Biology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinolfo, John; Heifferon, Barbara; Temesvari, Lesly A.

2007-01-01

This pilot study obtained baseline information on verbal and visual rhetorics to teach microscopy techniques to college biology majors. We presented cell images to students in cell biology and biology writing classes and then asked them to identify textual, verbal, and visual cues that support microscopy learning. Survey responses suggest that…

Mapping the Idea: A Notetaking System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Driskell, Jeanette

"Mapping" is a note-taking technique by which students use visual cues to isolate, emphasize, and group information meaningfully. Features of this technique include: organizing the note page laterally, so that general topics are on the left side and supportive information is on the right side; separating topics by horizontal lines;…

Dynamic visual noise reduces confidence in short-term memory for visual information.

PubMed

Kemps, Eva; Andrade, Jackie

2012-05-01

Previous research has shown effects of the visual interference technique, dynamic visual noise (DVN), on visual imagery, but not on visual short-term memory, unless retention of precise visual detail is required. This study tested the prediction that DVN does also affect retention of gross visual information, specifically by reducing confidence. Participants performed a matrix pattern memory task with three retention interval interference conditions (DVN, static visual noise and no interference control) that varied from trial to trial. At recall, participants indicated whether or not they were sure of their responses. As in previous research, DVN did not impair recall accuracy or latency on the task, but it did reduce recall confidence relative to static visual noise and no interference. We conclude that DVN does distort visual representations in short-term memory, but standard coarse-grained recall measures are insensitive to these distortions.

Visual pattern image sequence coding

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silsbee, Peter; Bovik, Alan C.; Chen, Dapang

1990-01-01

The visual pattern image coding (VPIC) configurable digital image-coding process is capable of coding with visual fidelity comparable to the best available techniques, at compressions which (at 30-40:1) exceed all other technologies. These capabilities are associated with unprecedented coding efficiencies; coding and decoding operations are entirely linear with respect to image size and entail a complexity that is 1-2 orders of magnitude faster than any previous high-compression technique. The visual pattern image sequence coding to which attention is presently given exploits all the advantages of the static VPIC in the reduction of information from an additional, temporal dimension, to achieve unprecedented image sequence coding performance.

Audio-Visual Situational Awareness for General Aviation Pilots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly; Lodha, Suresh K.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Weather is one of the major causes of general aviation accidents. Researchers are addressing this problem from various perspectives including improving meteorological forecasting techniques, collecting additional weather data automatically via on-board sensors and "flight" modems, and improving weather data dissemination and presentation. We approach the problem from the improved presentation perspective and propose weather visualization and interaction methods tailored for general aviation pilots. Our system, Aviation Weather Data Visualization Environment (AWE), utilizes information visualization techniques, a direct manipulation graphical interface, and a speech-based interface to improve a pilot's situational awareness of relevant weather data. The system design is based on a user study and feedback from pilots.

Intuitive color-based visualization of multimedia content as large graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delest, Maylis; Don, Anthony; Benois-Pineau, Jenny

2004-06-01

Data visualization techniques are penetrating in various technological areas. In the field of multimedia such as information search and retrieval in multimedia archives, or digital media production and post-production, data visualization methodologies based on large graphs give an exciting alternative to conventional storyboard visualization. In this paper we develop a new approach to visualization of multimedia (video) documents based both on large graph clustering and preliminary video segmenting and indexing.

Secure information display with limited viewing zone by use of multi-color visual cryptography.

PubMed

Yamamoto, Hirotsugu; Hayasaki, Yoshio; Nishida, Nobuo

2004-04-05

We propose a display technique that ensures security of visual information by use of visual cryptography. A displayed image appears as a completely random pattern unless viewed through a decoding mask. The display has a limited viewing zone with the decoding mask. We have developed a multi-color encryption code set. Eight colors are represented in combinations of a displayed image composed of red, green, blue, and black subpixels and a decoding mask composed of transparent and opaque subpixels. Furthermore, we have demonstrated secure information display by use of an LCD panel.

Visual Analytics and Storytelling through Video

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wong, Pak C.; Perrine, Kenneth A.; Mackey, Patrick S.

2005-10-31

This paper supplements a video clip submitted to the Video Track of IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization 2005. The original video submission applies a two-way storytelling approach to demonstrate the visual analytics capabilities of a new visualization technique. The paper presents our video production philosophy, describes the plot of the video, explains the rationale behind the plot, and finally, shares our production experiences with our readers.

Visual communication of engineering and scientific data in the courtroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jackson, Gerald W.; Henry, Andrew C.

1993-01-01

Presenting engineering and scientific information in the courtroom is challenging. Quite often the data is voluminous and, therefore, difficult to digest by engineering experts, let alone a lay judge, lawyer, or jury. This paper discusses computer visualization techniques designed to provide the court methods of communicating data in visual formats thus allowing a more accurate understanding of complicated concepts and results. Examples are presented that include accident reconstructions, technical concept illustration, and engineering data visualization. Also presented is the design of an electronic courtroom which facilitates the display and communication of information to the courtroom.

Behavioral indicators of pilot workload

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galanter, E.; Hochberg, J.

1983-01-01

Using a technique that requires a subject to consult an imagined or remembered spatial array while performing a visual task, a reliable reduction in the number of directed eye movements that are available for the acquisition of visual information is shown.

Principal components colour display of ERTS imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, M. M.

1974-01-01

In the technique presented, colours are not derived from single bands, but rather from independent linear combinations of the bands. Using a simple model of the processing done by the visual system, three informationally independent linear combinations of the four ERTS bands are mapped onto the three visual colour dimensions of brightness, redness-greenness and blueness-yellowness. The technique permits user-specific transformations which enhance particular features, but this is not usually needed, since a single transformation provides a picture which conveys much of the information implicit in the ERTS data. Examples of experimental vector images with matched individual band images are shown.

Protocol for monitoring standing crop in grasslands using visual obstruction

Treesearch

Lakhdar Benkobi; Daniel W. Uresk; Greg Schenbeck; Rudy M. King

2000-01-01

Assessment of standing crop on grasslands using a visual obstruction technique provides valuable information to help plan livestock grazing management and indicate the status of wildlife habitat. The objectives of this study were to: (1) develop a simple regression model using easily measured visual obstruction to estimate standing crop on sandy lowland range sites in...

Visualization of Concurrent Program Executions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Artho, Cyrille; Havelund, Klaus; Honiden, Shinichi

2007-01-01

Various program analysis techniques are efficient at discovering failures and properties. However, it is often difficult to evaluate results, such as program traces. This calls for abstraction and visualization tools. We propose an approach based on UML sequence diagrams, addressing shortcomings of such diagrams for concurrency. The resulting visualization is expressive and provides all the necessary information at a glance.

The role of the landscape architect in applied forest landscape management: a case study on process

Treesearch

Wayne Tlusty

1979-01-01

Land planning allocations are often multi-resource concepts, with visual quality objectives addressing the appropriate level of visual resource management. Current legislation and/or regulations often require interdisciplinary teams to implement planning decisions. A considerable amount of information is currently avail-able on visual assessment techniques both for...

Assessing clutter reduction in parallel coordinates using image processing techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alhamaydh, Heba; Alzoubi, Hussein; Almasaeid, Hisham

2018-01-01

Information visualization has appeared as an important research field for multidimensional data and correlation analysis in recent years. Parallel coordinates (PCs) are one of the popular techniques to visual high-dimensional data. A problem with the PCs technique is that it suffers from crowding, a clutter which hides important data and obfuscates the information. Earlier research has been conducted to reduce clutter without loss in data content. We introduce the use of image processing techniques as an approach for assessing the performance of clutter reduction techniques in PC. We use histogram analysis as our first measure, where the mean feature of the color histograms of the possible alternative orderings of coordinates for the PC images is calculated and compared. The second measure is the extracted contrast feature from the texture of PC images based on gray-level co-occurrence matrices. The results show that the best PC image is the one that has the minimal mean value of the color histogram feature and the maximal contrast value of the texture feature. In addition to its simplicity, the proposed assessment method has the advantage of objectively assessing alternative ordering of PC visualization.

How the blind "see" Braille: lessons from functional magnetic resonance imaging.

PubMed

Sadato, Norihiro

2005-12-01

What does the visual cortex of the blind do during Braille reading? This process involves converting simple tactile information into meaningful patterns that have lexical and semantic properties. The perceptual processing of Braille might be mediated by the somatosensory system, whereas visual letter identity is accomplished within the visual system in sighted people. Recent advances in functional neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, have enabled exploration of the neural substrates of Braille reading. The primary visual cortex of early-onset blind subjects is functionally relevant to Braille reading, suggesting that the brain shows remarkable plasticity that potentially permits the additional processing of tactile information in the visual cortical areas.

Visualizing Simulated Electrical Fields from Electroencephalography and Transcranial Electric Brain Stimulation: A Comparative Evaluation

PubMed Central

Eichelbaum, Sebastian; Dannhauer, Moritz; Hlawitschka, Mario; Brooks, Dana; Knösche, Thomas R.; Scheuermann, Gerik

2014-01-01

Electrical activity of neuronal populations is a crucial aspect of brain activity. This activity is not measured directly but recorded as electrical potential changes using head surface electrodes (electroencephalogram - EEG). Head surface electrodes can also be deployed to inject electrical currents in order to modulate brain activity (transcranial electric stimulation techniques) for therapeutic and neuroscientific purposes. In electroencephalography and noninvasive electric brain stimulation, electrical fields mediate between electrical signal sources and regions of interest (ROI). These fields can be very complicated in structure, and are influenced in a complex way by the conductivity profile of the human head. Visualization techniques play a central role to grasp the nature of those fields because such techniques allow for an effective conveyance of complex data and enable quick qualitative and quantitative assessments. The examination of volume conduction effects of particular head model parameterizations (e.g., skull thickness and layering), of brain anomalies (e.g., holes in the skull, tumors), location and extent of active brain areas (e.g., high concentrations of current densities) and around current injecting electrodes can be investigated using visualization. Here, we evaluate a number of widely used visualization techniques, based on either the potential distribution or on the current-flow. In particular, we focus on the extractability of quantitative and qualitative information from the obtained images, their effective integration of anatomical context information, and their interaction. We present illustrative examples from clinically and neuroscientifically relevant cases and discuss the pros and cons of the various visualization techniques. PMID:24821532

Visualizing second order tensor fields with hyperstreamlines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delmarcelle, Thierry; Hesselink, Lambertus

1993-01-01

Hyperstreamlines are a generalization to second order tensor fields of the conventional streamlines used in vector field visualization. As opposed to point icons commonly used in visualizing tensor fields, hyperstreamlines form a continuous representation of the complete tensor information along a three-dimensional path. This technique is useful in visulaizing both symmetric and unsymmetric three-dimensional tensor data. Several examples of tensor field visualization in solid materials and fluid flows are provided.

Designing stereoscopic information visualization for 3D-TV: What can we can learn from S3D gaming?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schild, Jonas; Masuch, Maic

2012-03-01

This paper explores graphical design and spatial alignment of visual information and graphical elements into stereoscopically filmed content, e.g. captions, subtitles, and especially more complex elements in 3D-TV productions. The method used is a descriptive analysis of existing computer- and video games that have been adapted for stereoscopic display using semi-automatic rendering techniques (e.g. Nvidia 3D Vision) or games which have been specifically designed for stereoscopic vision. Digital games often feature compelling visual interfaces that combine high usability with creative visual design. We explore selected examples of game interfaces in stereoscopic vision regarding their stereoscopic characteristics, how they draw attention, how we judge effect and comfort and where the interfaces fail. As a result, we propose a list of five aspects which should be considered when designing stereoscopic visual information: explicit information, implicit information, spatial reference, drawing attention, and vertical alignment. We discuss possible consequences, opportunities and challenges for integrating visual information elements into 3D-TV content. This work shall further help to improve current editing systems and identifies a need for future editing systems for 3DTV, e.g., live editing and real-time alignment of visual information into 3D footage.

Geovisualization for Smart Video Surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oves García, R.; Valentín, L.; Serrano, S. A.; Palacios-Alonso, M. A.; Sucar, L. Enrique

2017-09-01

Nowadays with the emergence of smart cities and the creation of new sensors capable to connect to the network, it is not only possible to monitor the entire infrastructure of a city, including roads, bridges, rail/subways, airports, communications, water, power, but also to optimize its resources, plan its preventive maintenance and monitor security aspects while maximizing services for its citizens. In particular, the security aspect is one of the most important issues due to the need to ensure the safety of people. However, if we want to have a good security system, it is necessary to take into account the way that we are going to present the information. In order to show the amount of information generated by sensing devices in real time in an understandable way, several visualization techniques are proposed for both local (involves sensing devices in a separated way) and global visualization (involves sensing devices as a whole). Taking into consideration that the information is produced and transmitted from a geographic location, the integration of a Geographic Information System to manage and visualize the behavior of data becomes very relevant. With the purpose of facilitating the decision-making process in a security system, we have integrated the visualization techniques and the Geographic Information System to produce a smart security system, based on a cloud computing architecture, to show relevant information about a set of monitored areas with video cameras.

Information Visualization Techniques for Effective Cross-Discipline Communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, Ward

2013-04-01

Collaboration between research groups in different fields is a common occurrence, but it can often be frustrating due to the absence of a common vocabulary. This lack of a shared context can make expressing important concepts and discussing results difficult. This problem may be further exacerbated when communicating to an audience of laypeople. Without a clear frame of reference, simple concepts are often rendered difficult-to-understand at best, and unintelligible at worst. An easy way to alleviate this confusion is with the use of clear, well-designed visualizations to illustrate an idea, process or conclusion. There exist a number of well-described machine-learning and statistical techniques which can be used to illuminate the information present within complex high-dimensional datasets. Once the information has been separated from the data, clear communication becomes a matter of selecting an appropriate visualization. Ideally, the visualization is information-rich but data-scarce. Anything from a simple bar chart, to a line chart with confidence intervals, to an animated set of 3D point-clouds can be used to render a complex idea as an easily understood image. Several case studies will be presented in this work. In the first study, we will examine how a complex statistical analysis was applied to a high-dimensional dataset, and how the results were succinctly communicated to an audience of microbiologists and chemical engineers. Next, we will examine a technique used to illustrate the concept of the singular value decomposition, as used in the field of computer vision, to a lay audience of undergraduate students from mixed majors. We will then examine a case where a simple animated line plot was used to communicate an approach to signal decomposition, and will finish with a discussion of the tools available to create these visualizations.

Integrated data visualisation: an approach to capture older adults’ wellness

PubMed Central

Wilamowska, Katarzyna; Demiris, George; Thompson, Hilaire

2013-01-01

Informatics tools can help support the health and independence of older adults. In this paper, we present an approach towards integrating health-monitoring data and describe several techniques for the assessment and visualisation of integrated health and well-being of older adults. We present three different visualisation techniques to provide distinct alternatives towards display of the same information, focusing on reducing the cognitive load of data interpretation. We demonstrate the feasibility of integrating health-monitoring information into a comprehensive measure of wellness, while also highlighting the challenges of designing visual displays targeted at multiple user groups. These visual displays of wellness can be incorporated into personal health records and can be an effective support for informed decision-making. PMID:23079025

Halftone visual cryptography.

PubMed

Zhou, Zhi; Arce, Gonzalo R; Di Crescenzo, Giovanni

2006-08-01

Visual cryptography encodes a secret binary image (SI) into n shares of random binary patterns. If the shares are xeroxed onto transparencies, the secret image can be visually decoded by superimposing a qualified subset of transparencies, but no secret information can be obtained from the superposition of a forbidden subset. The binary patterns of the n shares, however, have no visual meaning and hinder the objectives of visual cryptography. Extended visual cryptography [1] was proposed recently to construct meaningful binary images as shares using hypergraph colourings, but the visual quality is poor. In this paper, a novel technique named halftone visual cryptography is proposed to achieve visual cryptography via halftoning. Based on the blue-noise dithering principles, the proposed method utilizes the void and cluster algorithm [2] to encode a secret binary image into n halftone shares (images) carrying significant visual information. The simulation shows that the visual quality of the obtained halftone shares are observably better than that attained by any available visual cryptography method known to date.

Hierarchical Spatio-temporal Visual Analysis of Cluster Evolution in Electrocorticography Data

DOE PAGES

Murugesan, Sugeerth; Bouchard, Kristofer; Chang, Edward; ...

2016-10-02

Here, we present ECoG ClusterFlow, a novel interactive visual analysis tool for the exploration of high-resolution Electrocorticography (ECoG) data. Our system detects and visualizes dynamic high-level structures, such as communities, using the time-varying spatial connectivity network derived from the high-resolution ECoG data. ECoG ClusterFlow provides a multi-scale visualization of the spatio-temporal patterns underlying the time-varying communities using two views: 1) an overview summarizing the evolution of clusters over time and 2) a hierarchical glyph-based technique that uses data aggregation and small multiples techniques to visualize the propagation of clusters in their spatial domain. ECoG ClusterFlow makes it possible 1) tomore » compare the spatio-temporal evolution patterns across various time intervals, 2) to compare the temporal information at varying levels of granularity, and 3) to investigate the evolution of spatial patterns without occluding the spatial context information. Lastly, we present case studies done in collaboration with neuroscientists on our team for both simulated and real epileptic seizure data aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of our approach.« less

Visualization techniques for computer network defense

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaver, Justin M.; Steed, Chad A.; Patton, Robert M.; Cui, Xiaohui; Schultz, Matthew

2011-06-01

Effective visual analysis of computer network defense (CND) information is challenging due to the volume and complexity of both the raw and analyzed network data. A typical CND is comprised of multiple niche intrusion detection tools, each of which performs network data analysis and produces a unique alerting output. The state-of-the-practice in the situational awareness of CND data is the prevalent use of custom-developed scripts by Information Technology (IT) professionals to retrieve, organize, and understand potential threat events. We propose a new visual analytics framework, called the Oak Ridge Cyber Analytics (ORCA) system, for CND data that allows an operator to interact with all detection tool outputs simultaneously. Aggregated alert events are presented in multiple coordinated views with timeline, cluster, and swarm model analysis displays. These displays are complemented with both supervised and semi-supervised machine learning classifiers. The intent of the visual analytics framework is to improve CND situational awareness, to enable an analyst to quickly navigate and analyze thousands of detected events, and to combine sophisticated data analysis techniques with interactive visualization such that patterns of anomalous activities may be more easily identified and investigated.

SnapShot: Visualization to Propel Ice Hockey Analytics.

PubMed

Pileggi, H; Stolper, C D; Boyle, J M; Stasko, J T

2012-12-01

Sports analysts live in a world of dynamic games flattened into tables of numbers, divorced from the rinks, pitches, and courts where they were generated. Currently, these professional analysts use R, Stata, SAS, and other statistical software packages for uncovering insights from game data. Quantitative sports consultants seek a competitive advantage both for their clients and for themselves as analytics becomes increasingly valued by teams, clubs, and squads. In order for the information visualization community to support the members of this blossoming industry, it must recognize where and how visualization can enhance the existing analytical workflow. In this paper, we identify three primary stages of today's sports analyst's routine where visualization can be beneficially integrated: 1) exploring a dataspace; 2) sharing hypotheses with internal colleagues; and 3) communicating findings to stakeholders.Working closely with professional ice hockey analysts, we designed and built SnapShot, a system to integrate visualization into the hockey intelligence gathering process. SnapShot employs a variety of information visualization techniques to display shot data, yet given the importance of a specific hockey statistic, shot length, we introduce a technique, the radial heat map. Through a user study, we received encouraging feedback from several professional analysts, both independent consultants and professional team personnel.

Visualizing turbulent mixing of gases and particles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, Kwan-Liu; Smith, Philip J.; Jain, Sandeep

1995-01-01

A physical model and interactive computer graphics techniques have been developed for the visualization of the basic physical process of stochastic dispersion and mixing from steady-state CFD calculations. The mixing of massless particles and inertial particles is visualized by transforming the vector field from a traditionally Eulerian reference frame into a Lagrangian reference frame. Groups of particles are traced through the vector field for the mean path as well as their statistical dispersion about the mean position by using added scalar information about the root mean square value of the vector field and its Lagrangian time scale. In this way, clouds of particles in a turbulent environment are traced, not just mean paths. In combustion simulations of many industrial processes, good mixing is required to achieve a sufficient degree of combustion efficiency. The ability to visualize this multiphase mixing can not only help identify poor mixing but also explain the mechanism for poor mixing. The information gained from the visualization can be used to improve the overall combustion efficiency in utility boilers or propulsion devices. We have used this technique to visualize steady-state simulations of the combustion performance in several furnace designs.

Hyperspectral image visualization based on a human visual model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hongqin; Peng, Honghong; Fairchild, Mark D.; Montag, Ethan D.

2008-02-01

Hyperspectral image data can provide very fine spectral resolution with more than 200 bands, yet presents challenges for visualization techniques for displaying such rich information on a tristimulus monitor. This study developed a visualization technique by taking advantage of both the consistent natural appearance of a true color image and the feature separation of a PCA image based on a biologically inspired visual attention model. The key part is to extract the informative regions in the scene. The model takes into account human contrast sensitivity functions and generates a topographic saliency map for both images. This is accomplished using a set of linear "center-surround" operations simulating visual receptive fields as the difference between fine and coarse scales. A difference map between the saliency map of the true color image and that of the PCA image is derived and used as a mask on the true color image to select a small number of interesting locations where the PCA image has more salient features than available in the visible bands. The resulting representations preserve hue for vegetation, water, road etc., while the selected attentional locations may be analyzed by more advanced algorithms.

The NAS Computational Aerosciences Archive

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miceli, Kristina D.; Globus, Al; Lasinski, T. A. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

In order to further the state-of-the-art in computational aerosciences (CAS) technology, researchers must be able to gather and understand existing work in the field. One aspect of this information gathering is studying published work available in scientific journals and conference proceedings. However, current scientific publications are very limited in the type and amount of information that they can disseminate. Information is typically restricted to text, a few images, and a bibliography list. Additional information that might be useful to the researcher, such as additional visual results, referenced papers, and datasets, are not available. New forms of electronic publication, such as the World Wide Web (WWW), limit publication size only by available disk space and data transmission bandwidth, both of which are improving rapidly. The Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center is in the process of creating an archive of CAS information on the WWW. This archive will be based on the large amount of information produced by researchers associated with the NAS facility. The archive will contain technical summaries and reports of research performed on NAS supercomputers, visual results (images, animations, visualization system scripts), datasets, and any other supporting meta-information. This information will be available via the WWW through the NAS homepage, located at http://www.nas.nasa.gov/, fully indexed for searching. The main components of the archive are technical summaries and reports, visual results, and datasets. Technical summaries are gathered every year by researchers who have been allotted resources on NAS supercomputers. These summaries, together with supporting visual results and references, are browsable by interested researchers. Referenced papers made available by researchers can be accessed through hypertext links. Technical reports are in-depth accounts of tools and applications research projects performed by NAS staff members and collaborators. Visual results, which may be available in the form of images, animations, and/or visualization scripts, are generated by researchers with respect to a certain research project, depicting dataset features that were determined important by the investigating researcher. For example, script files for visualization systems (e.g. FAST, PLOT3D, AVS) are provided to create visualizations on the user's local workstation to elucidate the key points of the numerical study. Users can then interact with the data starting where the investigator left off. Datasets are intended to give researchers an opportunity to understand previous work, 'mine' solutions for new information (for example, have you ever read a paper thinking "I wonder what the helicity density looks like?"), compare new techniques with older results, collaborate with remote colleagues, and perform validation. Supporting meta-information associated with the research projects is also important to provide additional context for research projects. This may include information such as the software used in the simulation (e.g. grid generators, flow solvers, visualization). In addition to serving the CAS research community, the information archive will also be helpful to students, visualization system developers and researchers, and management. Students (of any age) can use the data to study fluid dynamics, compare results from different flow solvers, learn about meshing techniques, etc., leading to better informed individuals. For these users it is particularly important that visualization be integrated into dataset archives. Visualization researchers can use dataset archives to test algorithms and techniques, leading to better visualization systems, Management can use the data to figure what is really going on behind the viewgraphs. All users will benefit from fast, easy, and convenient access to CFD datasets. The CAS information archive hopes to serve as a useful resource to those interested in computational sciences. At present, only information that may be distributed internationally is made available via the archive. Studies are underway to determine security requirements and solutions to make additional information available. By providing access to the archive via the WWW, the process of information gathering can be more productive and fruitful due to ease of access and ability to manage many different types of information. As the archive grows, additional resources from outside NAS will be added, providing a dynamic source of research results.

Mapping and Manipulating Facial Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theobald, Barry-John; Matthews, Iain; Mangini, Michael; Spies, Jeffrey R.; Brick, Timothy R.; Cohn, Jeffrey F.; Boker, Steven M.

2009-01-01

Nonverbal visual cues accompany speech to supplement the meaning of spoken words, signify emotional state, indicate position in discourse, and provide back-channel feedback. This visual information includes head movements, facial expressions and body gestures. In this article we describe techniques for manipulating both verbal and nonverbal facial…

Visual Modelling of Data Warehousing Flows with UML Profiles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pardillo, Jesús; Golfarelli, Matteo; Rizzi, Stefano; Trujillo, Juan

Data warehousing involves complex processes that transform source data through several stages to deliver suitable information ready to be analysed. Though many techniques for visual modelling of data warehouses from the static point of view have been devised, only few attempts have been made to model the data flows involved in a data warehousing process. Besides, each attempt was mainly aimed at a specific application, such as ETL, OLAP, what-if analysis, data mining. Data flows are typically very complex in this domain; for this reason, we argue, designers would greatly benefit from a technique for uniformly modelling data warehousing flows for all applications. In this paper, we propose an integrated visual modelling technique for data cubes and data flows. This technique is based on UML profiling; its feasibility is evaluated by means of a prototype implementation.

Cognitive approaches for patterns analysis and security applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogiela, Marek R.; Ogiela, Lidia

2017-08-01

In this paper will be presented new opportunities for developing innovative solutions for semantic pattern classification and visual cryptography, which will base on cognitive and bio-inspired approaches. Such techniques can be used for evaluation of the meaning of analyzed patterns or encrypted information, and allow to involve such meaning into the classification task or encryption process. It also allows using some crypto-biometric solutions to extend personalized cryptography methodologies based on visual pattern analysis. In particular application of cognitive information systems for semantic analysis of different patterns will be presented, and also a novel application of such systems for visual secret sharing will be described. Visual shares for divided information can be created based on threshold procedure, which may be dependent on personal abilities to recognize some image details visible on divided images.

Rethinking Visual Analytics for Streaming Data Applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crouser, R. Jordan; Franklin, Lyndsey; Cook, Kris

In the age of data science, the use of interactive information visualization techniques has become increasingly ubiquitous. From online scientific journals to the New York Times graphics desk, the utility of interactive visualization for both storytelling and analysis has become ever more apparent. As these techniques have become more readily accessible, the appeal of combining interactive visualization with computational analysis continues to grow. Arising out of a need for scalable, human-driven analysis, primary objective of visual analytics systems is to capitalize on the complementary strengths of human and machine analysis, using interactive visualization as a medium for communication between themore » two. These systems leverage developments from the fields of information visualization, computer graphics, machine learning, and human-computer interaction to support insight generation in areas where purely computational analyses fall short. Over the past decade, visual analytics systems have generated remarkable advances in many historically challenging analytical contexts. These include areas such as modeling political systems [Crouser et al. 2012], detecting financial fraud [Chang et al. 2008], and cybersecurity [Harrison et al. 2012]. In each of these contexts, domain expertise and human intuition is a necessary component of the analysis. This intuition is essential to building trust in the analytical products, as well as supporting the translation of evidence into actionable insight. In addition, each of these examples also highlights the need for scalable analysis. In each case, it is infeasible for a human analyst to manually assess the raw information unaided, and the communication overhead to divide the task between a large number of analysts makes simple parallelism intractable. Regardless of the domain, visual analytics tools strive to optimize the allocation of human analytical resources, and to streamline the sensemaking process on data that is massive, complex, incomplete, and uncertain in scenarios requiring human judgment.« less

High-level user interfaces for transfer function design with semantics.

PubMed

Salama, Christof Rezk; Keller, Maik; Kohlmann, Peter

2006-01-01

Many sophisticated techniques for the visualization of volumetric data such as medical data have been published. While existing techniques are mature from a technical point of view, managing the complexity of visual parameters is still difficult for non-expert users. To this end, this paper presents new ideas to facilitate the specification of optical properties for direct volume rendering. We introduce an additional level of abstraction for parametric models of transfer functions. The proposed framework allows visualization experts to design high-level transfer function models which can intuitively be used by non-expert users. The results are user interfaces which provide semantic information for specialized visualization problems. The proposed method is based on principal component analysis as well as on concepts borrowed from computer animation.

Automated generation of individually customized visualizations of diagnosis-specific medical information using novel techniques of information extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Andrew A.; Meng, Frank; Morioka, Craig A.; Churchill, Bernard M.; Kangarloo, Hooshang

2005-04-01

Managing pediatric patients with neurogenic bladder (NGB) involves regular laboratory, imaging, and physiologic testing. Using input from domain experts and current literature, we identified specific data points from these tests to develop the concept of an electronic disease vector for NGB. An information extraction engine was used to extract the desired data elements from free-text and semi-structured documents retrieved from the patient"s medical record. Finally, a Java-based presentation engine created graphical visualizations of the extracted data. After precision, recall, and timing evaluation, we conclude that these tools may enable clinically useful, automatically generated, and diagnosis-specific visualizations of patient data, potentially improving compliance and ultimately, outcomes.

Concept Mapping: A Graphical System for Understanding the Relationship between Concepts. ERIC Digest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plotnick, Eric

This ERIC Digest discusses concept mapping, a technique for representing the structure of information visually. Concept mapping can be used to brainstorm, design complex structures, communicate complex ideas, aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge, and assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding. Visual representation…

Drowning in Data: Going Beyond Traditional Data Archival to Educate Data Users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weigel, A. M.; Smith, T.; Smith, D. K.; Bugbee, K.; Sinclair, L.

2017-12-01

Increasing quantities of Earth science data and information prove overwhelming to new and unfamiliar users. Data discovery and use challenges faced by these users are compounded with atmospheric science field campaign data collected by a variety of instruments and stored, visualized, processed and analyzed in different ways. To address data and user needs assessed through annual surveys and user questions, the NASA Global Hydrology Resource Center Distributed Active Archive Center (GHRC DAAC), in collaboration with a graphic designer, has developed a series of resources to help users learn about GHRC science focus areas, field campaigns, instruments, data, and data processing techniques. In this talk, GHRC data recipes, micro articles, interactive data visualization techniques, and artistic science outreach and education efforts, such as ESRI story maps and research as art, will be overviewed. The objective of this talk is to stress the importance artistic information visualization has in communicating with and educating Earth science data users.

The influence of surface finishing methods on touch-sensitive reactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kukhta, M. S.; Sokolov, A. P.; Krauinsh, P. Y.; Kozlova, A. D.; Bouchard, C.

2017-02-01

This paper describes the modern technological development trends in jewelry design. In the jewelry industry, new trends, associated with the introduction of updated non-traditional materials and finishing techniques, are appearing. The existing information-oriented society enhances the visual aesthetics of new jewelry forms, decoration techniques (depth and surface), synthesis of different materials, which, all in all, reveal a bias towards positive effects of visual design. Today, the jewelry industry includes not only traditional techniques, but also such improved techniques as computer-assisted design, 3D-prototyping and other alternatives to produce an updated level of jewelry material processing. The authors present the specific features of ornamental pattern designing, decoration types (depth and surface) and comparative analysis of different approaches in surface finishing. Identifying the appearance or the effect of jewelry is based on proposed evaluation criteria, providing an advanced visual aesthetics basis is predicated on touch-sensitive responses.

Effects of frequency shifts and visual gender information on vowel category judgments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glidden, Catherine; Assmann, Peter F.

2003-10-01

Visual morphing techniques were used together with a high-quality vocoder to study the audiovisual contribution of talker gender to the identification of frequency-shifted vowels. A nine-step continuum ranging from ``bit'' to ``bet'' was constructed from natural recorded syllables spoken by an adult female talker. Upward and downward frequency shifts in spectral envelope (scale factors of 0.85 and 1.0) were applied in combination with shifts in fundamental frequency, F0 (scale factors of 0.5 and 1.0). Downward frequency shifts generally resulted in malelike voices whereas upward shifts were perceived as femalelike. Two separate nine-step visual continua from ``bit'' to ``bet'' were also constructed, one from a male face and the other a female face, each producing the end-point words. Each step along the two visual continua was paired with the corresponding step on the acoustic continuum, creating natural audiovisual utterances. Category boundary shifts were found for both acoustic cues (F0 and formant frequency shifts) and visual cues (visual gender). The visual gender effect was larger when acoustic and visual information were matched appropriately. These results suggest that visual information provided by the speech signal plays an important supplemental role in talker normalization.

Sequential Super-Resolution Imaging of Bacterial Regulatory Proteins: The Nucleoid and the Cell Membrane in Single, Fixed E. coli Cells.

PubMed

Spahn, Christoph; Glaesmann, Mathilda; Gao, Yunfeng; Foo, Yong Hwee; Lampe, Marko; Kenney, Linda J; Heilemann, Mike

2017-01-01

Despite their small size and the lack of compartmentalization, bacteria exhibit a striking degree of cellular organization, both in time and space. During the last decade, a group of new microscopy techniques emerged, termed super-resolution microscopy or nanoscopy, which facilitate visualizing the organization of proteins in bacteria at the nanoscale. Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is especially well suited to reveal a wide range of new information regarding protein organization, interaction, and dynamics in single bacterial cells. Recent developments in click chemistry facilitate the visualization of bacterial chromatin with a resolution of ~20 nm, providing valuable information about the ultrastructure of bacterial nucleoids, especially at short generation times. In this chapter, we describe a simple-to-realize protocol that allows determining precise structural information of bacterial nucleoids in fixed cells, using direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). In combination with quantitative photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM), the spatial relationship of proteins with the bacterial chromosome can be studied. The position of a protein of interest with respect to the nucleoids and the cell cylinder can be visualized by super-resolving the membrane using point accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography (PAINT). The combination of the different SMLM techniques in a sequential workflow maximizes the information that can be extracted from single cells, while maintaining optimal imaging conditions for each technique.

Higher Level Visual Cortex Represents Retinotopic, Not Spatiotopic, Object Location

PubMed Central

Kanwisher, Nancy

2012-01-01

The crux of vision is to identify objects and determine their locations in the environment. Although initial visual representations are necessarily retinotopic (eye centered), interaction with the real world requires spatiotopic (absolute) location information. We asked whether higher level human visual cortex—important for stable object recognition and action—contains information about retinotopic and/or spatiotopic object position. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging multivariate pattern analysis techniques, we found information about both object category and object location in each of the ventral, dorsal, and early visual regions tested, replicating previous reports. By manipulating fixation position and stimulus position, we then tested whether these location representations were retinotopic or spatiotopic. Crucially, all location information was purely retinotopic. This pattern persisted when location information was irrelevant to the task, and even when spatiotopic (not retinotopic) stimulus position was explicitly emphasized. We also conducted a “searchlight” analysis across our entire scanned volume to explore additional cortex but again found predominantly retinotopic representations. The lack of explicit spatiotopic representations suggests that spatiotopic object position may instead be computed indirectly and continually reconstructed with each eye movement. Thus, despite our subjective impression that visual information is spatiotopic, even in higher level visual cortex, object location continues to be represented in retinotopic coordinates. PMID:22190434

Modeling human comprehension of data visualizations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matzen, Laura E.; Haass, Michael Joseph; Divis, Kristin Marie

This project was inspired by two needs. The first is a need for tools to help scientists and engineers to design effective data visualizations for communicating information, whether to the user of a system, an analyst who must make decisions based on complex data, or in the context of a technical report or publication. Most scientists and engineers are not trained in visualization design, and they could benefit from simple metrics to assess how well their visualization's design conveys the intended message. In other words, will the most important information draw the viewer's attention? The second is the need formore » cognition-based metrics for evaluating new types of visualizations created by researchers in the information visualization and visual analytics communities. Evaluating visualizations is difficult even for experts. However, all visualization methods and techniques are intended to exploit the properties of the human visual system to convey information efficiently to a viewer. Thus, developing evaluation methods that are rooted in the scientific knowledge of the human visual system could be a useful approach. In this project, we conducted fundamental research on how humans make sense of abstract data visualizations, and how this process is influenced by their goals and prior experience. We then used that research to develop a new model, the Data Visualization Saliency Model, that can make accurate predictions about which features in an abstract visualization will draw a viewer's attention. The model is an evaluation tool that can address both of the needs described above, supporting both visualization research and Sandia mission needs.« less

Comparison of path visualizations and cognitive measures relative to travel technique in a virtual environment.

PubMed

Zanbaka, Catherine A; Lok, Benjamin C; Babu, Sabarish V; Ulinski, Amy C; Hodges, Larry F

2005-01-01

We describe a between-subjects experiment that compared four different methods of travel and their effect on cognition and paths taken in an immersive virtual environment (IVE). Participants answered a set of questions based on Crook's condensation of Bloom's taxonomy that assessed their cognition of the IVE with respect to knowledge, understanding and application, and higher mental processes. Participants also drew a sketch map of the IVE and the objects within it. The users' sense of presence was measured using the Steed-Usoh-Slater Presence Questionnaire. The participants' position and head orientation were automatically logged during their exposure to the virtual environment. These logs were later used to create visualizations of the paths taken. Path analysis, such as exploring the overlaid path visualizations and dwell data information, revealed further differences among the travel techniques. Our results suggest that, for applications where problem solving and evaluation of information is important or where opportunity to train is minimal, then having a large tracked space so that the participant can walk around the virtual environment provides benefits over common virtual travel techniques.

A Novel Image Steganography Technique for Secured Online Transaction Using DWT and Visual Cryptography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anitha Devi, M. D.; ShivaKumar, K. B.

2017-08-01

Online payment eco system is the main target especially for cyber frauds. Therefore end to end encryption is very much needed in order to maintain the integrity of secret information related to transactions carried online. With access to payment related sensitive information, which enables lot of money transactions every day, the payment infrastructure is a major target for hackers. The proposed system highlights, an ideal approach for secure online transaction for fund transfer with a unique combination of visual cryptography and Haar based discrete wavelet transform steganography technique. This combination of data hiding technique reduces the amount of information shared between consumer and online merchant needed for successful online transaction along with providing enhanced security to customer’s account details and thereby increasing customer’s confidence preventing “Identity theft” and “Phishing”. To evaluate the effectiveness of proposed algorithm Root mean square error, Peak signal to noise ratio have been used as evaluation parameters

Texture characterization for joint compression and classification based on human perception in the wavelet domain.

PubMed

Fahmy, Gamal; Black, John; Panchanathan, Sethuraman

2006-06-01

Today's multimedia applications demand sophisticated compression and classification techniques in order to store, transmit, and retrieve audio-visual information efficiently. Over the last decade, perceptually based image compression methods have been gaining importance. These methods take into account the abilities (and the limitations) of human visual perception (HVP) when performing compression. The upcoming MPEG 7 standard also addresses the need for succinct classification and indexing of visual content for efficient retrieval. However, there has been no research that has attempted to exploit the characteristics of the human visual system to perform both compression and classification jointly. One area of HVP that has unexplored potential for joint compression and classification is spatial frequency perception. Spatial frequency content that is perceived by humans can be characterized in terms of three parameters, which are: 1) magnitude; 2) phase; and 3) orientation. While the magnitude of spatial frequency content has been exploited in several existing image compression techniques, the novel contribution of this paper is its focus on the use of phase coherence for joint compression and classification in the wavelet domain. Specifically, this paper describes a human visual system-based method for measuring the degree to which an image contains coherent (perceptible) phase information, and then exploits that information to provide joint compression and classification. Simulation results that demonstrate the efficiency of this method are presented.

Visualization Techniques for Computer Network Defense

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beaver, Justin M; Steed, Chad A; Patton, Robert M

2011-01-01

Effective visual analysis of computer network defense (CND) information is challenging due to the volume and complexity of both the raw and analyzed network data. A typical CND is comprised of multiple niche intrusion detection tools, each of which performs network data analysis and produces a unique alerting output. The state-of-the-practice in the situational awareness of CND data is the prevalent use of custom-developed scripts by Information Technology (IT) professionals to retrieve, organize, and understand potential threat events. We propose a new visual analytics framework, called the Oak Ridge Cyber Analytics (ORCA) system, for CND data that allows an operatormore » to interact with all detection tool outputs simultaneously. Aggregated alert events are presented in multiple coordinated views with timeline, cluster, and swarm model analysis displays. These displays are complemented with both supervised and semi-supervised machine learning classifiers. The intent of the visual analytics framework is to improve CND situational awareness, to enable an analyst to quickly navigate and analyze thousands of detected events, and to combine sophisticated data analysis techniques with interactive visualization such that patterns of anomalous activities may be more easily identified and investigated.« less

Seeing is believing: on the use of image databases for visually exploring plant organelle dynamics.

PubMed

Mano, Shoji; Miwa, Tomoki; Nishikawa, Shuh-ichi; Mimura, Tetsuro; Nishimura, Mikio

2009-12-01

Organelle dynamics vary dramatically depending on cell type, developmental stage and environmental stimuli, so that various parameters, such as size, number and behavior, are required for the description of the dynamics of each organelle. Imaging techniques are superior to other techniques for describing organelle dynamics because these parameters are visually exhibited. Therefore, as the results can be seen immediately, investigators can more easily grasp organelle dynamics. At present, imaging techniques are emerging as fundamental tools in plant organelle research, and the development of new methodologies to visualize organelles and the improvement of analytical tools and equipment have allowed the large-scale generation of image and movie data. Accordingly, image databases that accumulate information on organelle dynamics are an increasingly indispensable part of modern plant organelle research. In addition, image databases are potentially rich data sources for computational analyses, as image and movie data reposited in the databases contain valuable and significant information, such as size, number, length and velocity. Computational analytical tools support image-based data mining, such as segmentation, quantification and statistical analyses, to extract biologically meaningful information from each database and combine them to construct models. In this review, we outline the image databases that are dedicated to plant organelle research and present their potential as resources for image-based computational analyses.

Artificial Intelligence Applications to Videodisc Technology

PubMed Central

Vries, John K.; Banks, Gordon; McLinden, Sean; Moossy, John; Brown, Melanie

1985-01-01

Much of medical information is visual in nature. Since it is not easy to describe pictorial information in linguistic terms, it has been difficult to store and retrieve this type of information. Coupling videodisc technology with artificial intelligence programming techniques may provide a means for solving this problem.

Facial recognition using multisensor images based on localized kernel eigen spaces.

PubMed

Gundimada, Satyanadh; Asari, Vijayan K

2009-06-01

A feature selection technique along with an information fusion procedure for improving the recognition accuracy of a visual and thermal image-based facial recognition system is presented in this paper. A novel modular kernel eigenspaces approach is developed and implemented on the phase congruency feature maps extracted from the visual and thermal images individually. Smaller sub-regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are then projected into higher dimensional spaces using kernel methods. The proposed localized nonlinear feature selection procedure helps to overcome the bottlenecks of illumination variations, partial occlusions, expression variations and variations due to temperature changes that affect the visual and thermal face recognition techniques. AR and Equinox databases are used for experimentation and evaluation of the proposed technique. The proposed feature selection procedure has greatly improved the recognition accuracy for both the visual and thermal images when compared to conventional techniques. Also, a decision level fusion methodology is presented which along with the feature selection procedure has outperformed various other face recognition techniques in terms of recognition accuracy.

The Accessible Pantry: Food Identification Tips, Tools, and Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sokol-McKay, Debra A.; Michels, Dianne

2006-01-01

For individuals with visual impairments, poorly designed labels can be barriers to receiving safe and independent access to important information about products in daily use. The authors discuss how organization and proper lighting can reduce the amount of labeling needed on food products and indicate how individuals with visual impairments can…

The Impact of Integrating Visuals in an Elementary Creative Writing Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Margaret; And Others

Most children's books are filled with pictures, yet when schools design curricula to teach writing, they often ignore the role of visual images in the writing process. Historically, methods for teaching writing have focused on text. Even relatively recent techniques like brainstorming and story webbing still focus on verbal information. In some…

Constructing Concept Maps to Encourage Meaningful Learning in Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akcay, Hakan

2017-01-01

The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate science teaching and assessing what is learned via using concept maps. Concept mapping is a technique for visually representing the structure of information. Concept mapping allows students to understand the relationships between concepts of science by creating a visual map of the connections. Concept…

Toward interactive search in remote sensing imagery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Porter, Reid B; Hush, Do; Harvey, Neal

2010-01-01

To move from data to information in almost all science and defense applications requires a human-in-the-loop to validate information products, resolve inconsistencies, and account for incomplete and potentially deceptive sources of information. This is a key motivation for visual analytics which aims to develop techniques that complement and empower human users. By contrast, the vast majority of algorithms developed in machine learning aim to replace human users in data exploitation. In this paper we describe a recently introduced machine learning problem, called rare category detection, which may be a better match to visual analytic environments. We describe a new designmore » criteria for this problem, and present comparisons to existing techniques with both synthetic and real-world datasets. We conclude by describing an application in broad-area search of remote sensing imagery.« less

How do schizophrenia patients use visual information to decode facial emotion?

PubMed

Lee, Junghee; Gosselin, Frédéric; Wynn, Jonathan K; Green, Michael F

2011-09-01

Impairment in recognizing facial emotions is a prominent feature of schizophrenia patients, but the underlying mechanism of this impairment remains unclear. This study investigated the specific aspects of visual information that are critical for schizophrenia patients to recognize emotional expression. Using the Bubbles technique, we probed the use of visual information during a facial emotion discrimination task (fear vs. happy) in 21 schizophrenia patients and 17 healthy controls. Visual information was sampled through randomly located Gaussian apertures (or "bubbles") at 5 spatial frequency scales. Online calibration of the amount of face exposed through bubbles was used to ensure 75% overall accuracy for each subject. Least-square multiple linear regression analyses between sampled information and accuracy were performed to identify critical visual information that was used to identify emotional expression. To accurately identify emotional expression, schizophrenia patients required more exposure of facial areas (i.e., more bubbles) compared with healthy controls. To identify fearful faces, schizophrenia patients relied less on bilateral eye regions at high-spatial frequency compared with healthy controls. For identification of happy faces, schizophrenia patients relied on the mouth and eye regions; healthy controls did not utilize eyes and used the mouth much less than patients did. Schizophrenia patients needed more facial information to recognize emotional expression of faces. In addition, patients differed from controls in their use of high-spatial frequency information from eye regions to identify fearful faces. This study provides direct evidence that schizophrenia patients employ an atypical strategy of using visual information to recognize emotional faces.

Natural Inspired Intelligent Visual Computing and Its Application to Viticulture.

PubMed

Ang, Li Minn; Seng, Kah Phooi; Ge, Feng Lu

2017-05-23

This paper presents an investigation of natural inspired intelligent computing and its corresponding application towards visual information processing systems for viticulture. The paper has three contributions: (1) a review of visual information processing applications for viticulture; (2) the development of natural inspired computing algorithms based on artificial immune system (AIS) techniques for grape berry detection; and (3) the application of the developed algorithms towards real-world grape berry images captured in natural conditions from vineyards in Australia. The AIS algorithms in (2) were developed based on a nature-inspired clonal selection algorithm (CSA) which is able to detect the arcs in the berry images with precision, based on a fitness model. The arcs detected are then extended to perform the multiple arcs and ring detectors information processing for the berry detection application. The performance of the developed algorithms were compared with traditional image processing algorithms like the circular Hough transform (CHT) and other well-known circle detection methods. The proposed AIS approach gave a Fscore of 0.71 compared with Fscores of 0.28 and 0.30 for the CHT and a parameter-free circle detection technique (RPCD) respectively.

Kristi Potter | NREL

Science.gov Websites

on methods to improve visualization techniques by adding qualitative information regarding sketch-based methods for conveying levels of reliability in architectural renderings. Dr. Potter

Information measures for terrain visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonaventura, Xavier; Sima, Aleksandra A.; Feixas, Miquel; Buckley, Simon J.; Sbert, Mateu; Howell, John A.

2017-02-01

Many quantitative and qualitative studies in geoscience research are based on digital elevation models (DEMs) and 3D surfaces to aid understanding of natural and anthropogenically-influenced topography. As well as their quantitative uses, the visual representation of DEMs can add valuable information for identifying and interpreting topographic features. However, choice of viewpoints and rendering styles may not always be intuitive, especially when terrain data are augmented with digital image texture. In this paper, an information-theoretic framework for object understanding is applied to terrain visualization and terrain view selection. From a visibility channel between a set of viewpoints and the component polygons of a 3D terrain model, we obtain three polygonal information measures. These measures are used to visualize the information associated with each polygon of the terrain model. In order to enhance the perception of the terrain's shape, we explore the effect of combining the calculated information measures with the supplementary digital image texture. From polygonal information, we also introduce a method to select a set of representative views of the terrain model. Finally, we evaluate the behaviour of the proposed techniques using example datasets. A publicly available framework for both the visualization and the view selection of a terrain has been created in order to provide the possibility to analyse any terrain model.

StreamSqueeze: a dynamic stream visualization for monitoring of event data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansmann, Florian; Krstajic, Milos; Fischer, Fabian; Bertini, Enrico

2012-01-01

While in clear-cut situations automated analytical solution for data streams are already in place, only few visual approaches have been proposed in the literature for exploratory analysis tasks on dynamic information. However, due to the competitive or security-related advantages that real-time information gives in domains such as finance, business or networking, we are convinced that there is a need for exploratory visualization tools for data streams. Under the conditions that new events have higher relevance and that smooth transitions enable traceability of items, we propose a novel dynamic stream visualization called StreamSqueeze. In this technique the degree of interest of recent items is expressed through an increase in size and thus recent events can be shown with more details. The technique has two main benefits: First, the layout algorithm arranges items in several lists of various sizes and optimizes the positions within each list so that the transition of an item from one list to the other triggers least visual changes. Second, the animation scheme ensures that for 50 percent of the time an item has a static screen position where reading is most effective and then continuously shrinks and moves to the its next static position in the subsequent list. To demonstrate the capability of our technique, we apply it to large and high-frequency news and syslog streams and show how it maintains optimal stability of the layout under the conditions given above.

Visual guidance of mobile platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blissett, Rodney J.

1993-12-01

Two systems are described and results presented demonstrating aspects of real-time visual guidance of autonomous mobile platforms. The first approach incorporates prior knowledge in the form of rigid geometrical models linking visual references within the environment. The second approach is based on a continuous synthesis of information extracted from image tokens to generate a coarse-grained world model, from which potential obstacles are inferred. The use of these techniques in workplace applications is discussed.

Evaluation of New Visualization Approaches for Representing Uncertainty in the Recognized Maritime Picture

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-01

and Risley , 2006) provided an invaluable insight into the scope and capability of emerging visualization techniques. While the latter provided some...Richmond BC (CAN);MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd, Dartmouth NS (CAN). Davenport, M. and Risley , C. (2006). Information Visualization: The...Spatial Time Late 7 Color of square Size of ellipse/circle Color of circle 8 Color of wedge Angular width of wedge Hourglass fill 9

Survey of Visual and Force/Tactile Control of Robots for Physical Interaction in Spain

PubMed Central

Garcia, Gabriel J.; Corrales, Juan A.; Pomares, Jorge; Torres, Fernando

2009-01-01

Sensors provide robotic systems with the information required to perceive the changes that happen in unstructured environments and modify their actions accordingly. The robotic controllers which process and analyze this sensory information are usually based on three types of sensors (visual, force/torque and tactile) which identify the most widespread robotic control strategies: visual servoing control, force control and tactile control. This paper presents a detailed review on the sensor architectures, algorithmic techniques and applications which have been developed by Spanish researchers in order to implement these mono-sensor and multi-sensor controllers which combine several sensors. PMID:22303146

Music to knowledge: A visual programming environment for the development and evaluation of music information retrieval techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ehmann, Andreas F.; Downie, J. Stephen

2005-09-01

The objective of the International Music Information Retrieval Systems Evaluation Laboratory (IMIRSEL) project is the creation of a large, secure corpus of audio and symbolic music data accessible to the music information retrieval (MIR) community for the testing and evaluation of various MIR techniques. As part of the IMIRSEL project, a cross-platform JAVA based visual programming environment called Music to Knowledge (M2K) is being developed for a variety of music information retrieval related tasks. The primary objective of M2K is to supply the MIR community with a toolset that provides the ability to rapidly prototype algorithms, as well as foster the sharing of techniques within the MIR community through the use of a standardized set of tools. Due to the relatively large size of audio data and the computational costs associated with some digital signal processing and machine learning techniques, M2K is also designed to support distributed computing across computing clusters. In addition, facilities to allow the integration of non-JAVA based (e.g., C/C++, MATLAB, etc.) algorithms and programs are provided within M2K. [Work supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and NSF Grants No. IIS-0340597 and No. IIS-0327371.

Novel Scientific Visualization Interfaces for Interactive Information Visualization and Sharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.; Krajewski, W. F.

2012-12-01

As geoscientists are confronted with increasingly massive datasets from environmental observations to simulations, one of the biggest challenges is having the right tools to gain scientific insight from the data and communicate the understanding to stakeholders. Recent developments in web technologies make it easy to manage, visualize and share large data sets with general public. Novel visualization techniques and dynamic user interfaces allow users to interact with data, and modify the parameters to create custom views of the data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. This requires developing new data models and intelligent knowledge discovery techniques to explore and extract information from complex computational simulations or large data repositories. Scientific visualization will be an increasingly important component to build comprehensive environmental information platforms. This presentation provides an overview of the trends and challenges in the field of scientific visualization, and demonstrates information visualization and communication tools in the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS), developed within the light of these challenges. The IFIS is a web-based platform developed by the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) to provide access to and visualization of flood inundation maps, real-time flood conditions, flood forecasts both short-term and seasonal, and other flood-related data for communities in Iowa. The key element of the system's architecture is the notion of community. Locations of the communities, those near streams and rivers, define basin boundaries. The IFIS provides community-centric watershed and river characteristics, weather (rainfall) conditions, and streamflow data and visualization tools. Interactive interfaces allow access to inundation maps for different stage and return period values, and flooding scenarios with contributions from multiple rivers. Real-time and historical data of water levels, gauge heights, and rainfall conditions are available in the IFIS. 2D and 3D interactive visualizations in the IFIS make the data more understandable to general public. Users are able to filter data sources for their communities and selected rivers. The data and information on IFIS is also accessible through web services and mobile applications. The IFIS is optimized for various browsers and screen sizes to provide access through multiple platforms including tablets and mobile devices. Multiple view modes in the IFIS accommodate different user types from general public to researchers and decision makers by providing different level of tools and details. River view mode allows users to visualize data from multiple IFC bridge sensors and USGS stream gauges to follow flooding condition along a river. The IFIS will help communities make better-informed decisions on the occurrence of floods, and will alert communities in advance to help minimize damage of floods.

Conceptual recurrence plots: revealing patterns in human discourse.

PubMed

Angus, Daniel; Smith, Andrew; Wiles, Janet

2012-06-01

Human discourse contains a rich mixture of conceptual information. Visualization of the global and local patterns within this data stream is a complex and challenging problem. Recurrence plots are an information visualization technique that can reveal trends and features in complex time series data. The recurrence plot technique works by measuring the similarity of points in a time series to all other points in the same time series and plotting the results in two dimensions. Previous studies have applied recurrence plotting techniques to textual data; however, these approaches plot recurrence using term-based similarity rather than conceptual similarity of the text. We introduce conceptual recurrence plots, which use a model of language to measure similarity between pairs of text utterances, and the similarity of all utterances is measured and displayed. In this paper, we explore how the descriptive power of the recurrence plotting technique can be used to discover patterns of interaction across a series of conversation transcripts. The results suggest that the conceptual recurrence plotting technique is a useful tool for exploring the structure of human discourse.

Receptive Field Vectors of Genetically-Identified Retinal Ganglion Cells Reveal Cell-Type-Dependent Visual Functions

PubMed Central

Katz, Matthew L.; Viney, Tim J.; Nikolic, Konstantin

2016-01-01

Sensory stimuli are encoded by diverse kinds of neurons but the identities of the recorded neurons that are studied are often unknown. We explored in detail the firing patterns of eight previously defined genetically-identified retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types from a single transgenic mouse line. We first introduce a new technique of deriving receptive field vectors (RFVs) which utilises a modified form of mutual information (“Quadratic Mutual Information”). We analysed the firing patterns of RGCs during presentation of short duration (~10 second) complex visual scenes (natural movies). We probed the high dimensional space formed by the visual input for a much smaller dimensional subspace of RFVs that give the most information about the response of each cell. The new technique is very efficient and fast and the derivation of novel types of RFVs formed by the natural scene visual input was possible even with limited numbers of spikes per cell. This approach enabled us to estimate the 'visual memory' of each cell type and the corresponding receptive field area by calculating Mutual Information as a function of the number of frames and radius. Finally, we made predictions of biologically relevant functions based on the RFVs of each cell type. RGC class analysis was complemented with results for the cells’ response to simple visual input in the form of black and white spot stimulation, and their classification on several key physiological metrics. Thus RFVs lead to predictions of biological roles based on limited data and facilitate analysis of sensory-evoked spiking data from defined cell types. PMID:26845435

Developing Visualization Techniques for Semantics-based Information Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, Richard M.; Hall, David R.

2003-01-01

Information systems incorporating complex network structured information spaces with a semantic underpinning - such as hypermedia networks, semantic networks, topic maps, and concept maps - are being deployed to solve some of NASA s critical information management problems. This paper describes some of the human interaction and navigation problems associated with complex semantic information spaces and describes a set of new visual interface approaches to address these problems. A key strategy is to leverage semantic knowledge represented within these information spaces to construct abstractions and views that will be meaningful to the human user. Human-computer interaction methodologies will guide the development and evaluation of these approaches, which will benefit deployed NASA systems and also apply to information systems based on the emerging Semantic Web.

Information Management for a Large Multidisciplinary Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Kennie H.; Randall, Donald P.; Cronin, Catherine K.

1992-01-01

In 1989, NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC) initiated the High-Speed Airframe Integration Research (HiSAIR) Program to develop and demonstrate an integrated environment for high-speed aircraft design using advanced multidisciplinary analysis and optimization procedures. The major goals of this program were to evolve the interactions among disciplines and promote sharing of information, to provide a timely exchange of information among aeronautical disciplines, and to increase the awareness of the effects each discipline has upon other disciplines. LaRC historically has emphasized the advancement of analysis techniques. HiSAIR was founded to synthesize these advanced methods into a multidisciplinary design process emphasizing information feedback among disciplines and optimization. Crucial to the development of such an environment are the definition of the required data exchanges and the methodology for both recording the information and providing the exchanges in a timely manner. These requirements demand extensive use of data management techniques, graphic visualization, and interactive computing. HiSAIR represents the first attempt at LaRC to promote interdisciplinary information exchange on a large scale using advanced data management methodologies combined with state-of-the-art, scientific visualization techniques on graphics workstations in a distributed computing environment. The subject of this paper is the development of the data management system for HiSAIR.

Analyzing Earth Science Research Networking through Visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasnain, S.; Stephan, R.; Narock, T.

2017-12-01

Using D3.js we visualize collaboration amongst several geophysical science organizations, such as the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP). We look at historical trends in Earth Science research topics, cross-domain collaboration, and topics of interest to the general population. The visualization techniques used provide an effective way for non-experts to easily explore distributed and heterogeneous Big Data. Analysis of these visualizations provides stakeholders with insights into optimizing meetings, performing impact evaluation, structuring outreach efforts, and identifying new opportunities for collaboration.

Computer-aided visual assessment in mine planning and design

Treesearch

Michael Hatfield; A. J. LeRoy Balzer; Roger E. Nelson

1979-01-01

A computer modeling technique is described for evaluating the visual impact of a proposed surface mine located within the viewshed of a national park. A computer algorithm analyzes digitized USGS baseline topography and identifies areas subject to surface disturbance visible from the park. Preliminary mine and reclamation plan information is used to describe how the...

"Whoa! We're Going Deep in the Trees!": Patterns of Collaboration around an Interactive Information Visualization Exhibit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Pryce; Horn, Michael; Block, Florian; Phillips, Brenda; Evans, E. Margaret; Diamond, Judy; Shen, Chia

2015-01-01

In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of natural history museum visitor interaction around a multi-touch tabletop exhibit called "DeepTree" that we designed around concepts of evolution and common descent. DeepTree combines several large scientific datasets and an innovative visualization technique to display a phylogenetic…

Techniques of remote sensing and GIS as tools for visualizing impact of climate change-induced flood in the southern African region.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study employs remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data to visualize the impact of climate change caused by flooding in the Southern African region in order to assist decision makers’ plans for future occurrences. In pursuit of this objective, this study uses Digital Elevat...

A Survey of Colormaps in Visualization

PubMed Central

Zhou, Liang; Hansen, Charles D.

2016-01-01

Colormaps are a vital method for users to gain insights into data in a visualization. With a good choice of colormaps, users are able to acquire information in the data more effectively and efficiently. In this survey, we attempt to provide readers with a comprehensive review of colormap generation techniques and provide readers a taxonomy which is helpful for finding appropriate techniques to use for their data and applications. Specifically, we first briefly introduce the basics of color spaces including color appearance models. In the core of our paper, we survey colormap generation techniques, including the latest advances in the field by grouping these techniques into four classes: procedural methods, user-study based methods, rule-based methods, and data-driven methods; we also include a section on methods that are beyond pure data comprehension purposes. We then classify colormapping techniques into a taxonomy for readers to quickly identify the appropriate techniques they might use. Furthermore, a representative set of visualization techniques that explicitly discuss the use of colormaps is reviewed and classified based on the nature of the data in these applications. Our paper is also intended to be a reference of colormap choices for readers when they are faced with similar data and/or tasks. PMID:26513793

Insensitivity of visual short-term memory to irrelevant visual information.

PubMed

Andrade, Jackie; Kemps, Eva; Werniers, Yves; May, Jon; Szmalec, Arnaud

2002-07-01

Several authors have hypothesized that visuo-spatial working memory is functionally analogous to verbal working memory. Irrelevant background speech impairs verbal short-term memory. We investigated whether irrelevant visual information has an analogous effect on visual short-term memory, using a dynamic visual noise (DVN) technique known to disrupt visual imagery (Quinn & McConnell, 1996b). Experiment I replicated the effect of DVN on pegword imagery. Experiments 2 and 3 showed no effect of DVN on recall of static matrix patterns, despite a significant effect of a concurrent spatial tapping task. Experiment 4 showed no effect of DVN on encoding or maintenance of arrays of matrix patterns, despite testing memory by a recognition procedure to encourage visual rather than spatial processing. Serial position curves showed a one-item recency effect typical of visual short-term memory. Experiment 5 showed no effect of DVN on short-term recognition of Chinese characters, despite effects of visual similarity and a concurrent colour memory task that confirmed visual processing of the characters. We conclude that irrelevant visual noise does not impair visual short-term memory. Visual working memory may not be functionally analogous to verbal working memory, and different cognitive processes may underlie visual short-term memory and visual imagery.

Mapping historical landscape changes with the use of a space-time cube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogucka, Edyta P.; Jahnke, Mathias

2018-05-01

In this contribution, we introduce geographic concepts in the humanities and present the results of a spacetime visualization of ancient buildings over the last centuries. The techniques and approaches used were based on cartographic research to visualize spatio-temporal information. As a case study, we applied cartographic styling techniques to a model of the Royal Castle in Warsaw and its different spatial elements, which were constructed and destroyed during their eventful history. In our case, the space-time cube approach seems to be the most suitable representation of this spatio-temporal information. Therefore, we digitized the different footprints of the castle during the ancient centuries as well as the landscape structure around, and annotated them with monarchies, epochs and time. During the digitization process, we had to cope with difficulties like sources in various scales and map projections, which resulted in varying accuracies. The results were stored in KML to support a wide variety of visualization platforms.

A navigation system for the visually impaired an intelligent white cane.

PubMed

Fukasawa, A Jin; Magatani, Kazusihge

2012-01-01

In this paper, we describe about a developed navigation system that supports the independent walking of the visually impaired in the indoor space. Our developed instrument consists of a navigation system and a map information system. These systems are installed on a white cane. Our navigation system can follow a colored navigation line that is set on the floor. In this system, a color sensor installed on the tip of a white cane, this sensor senses a color of navigation line and the system informs the visually impaired that he/she is walking along the navigation line by vibration. This color recognition system is controlled by a one-chip microprocessor. RFID tags and a receiver for these tags are used in the map information system. RFID tags are set on the colored navigation line. An antenna for RFID tags and a tag receiver are also installed on a white cane. The receiver receives the area information as a tag-number and notifies map information to the user by mp3 formatted pre-recorded voice. And now, we developed the direction identification technique. Using this technique, we can detect a user's walking direction. A triaxiality acceleration sensor is used in this system. Three normal subjects who were blindfolded with an eye mask were tested with our developed navigation system. All of them were able to walk along the navigation line perfectly. We think that the performance of the system is good. Therefore, our system will be extremely valuable in supporting the activities of the visually impaired.

Road boundary detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sowers, J.; Mehrotra, R.; Sethi, I. K.

1989-01-01

A method for extracting road boundaries using the monochrome image of a visual road scene is presented. The statistical information regarding the intensity levels present in the image along with some geometrical constraints concerning the road are the basics of this approach. Results and advantages of this technique compared to others are discussed. The major advantages of this technique, when compared to others, are its ability to process the image in only one pass, to limit the area searched in the image using only knowledge concerning the road geometry and previous boundary information, and dynamically adjust for inconsistencies in the located boundary information, all of which helps to increase the efficacy of this technique.

Bring It to the Pitch: Combining Video and Movement Data to Enhance Team Sport Analysis.

PubMed

Stein, Manuel; Janetzko, Halldor; Lamprecht, Andreas; Breitkreutz, Thorsten; Zimmermann, Philipp; Goldlucke, Bastian; Schreck, Tobias; Andrienko, Gennady; Grossniklaus, Michael; Keim, Daniel A

2018-01-01

Analysts in professional team sport regularly perform analysis to gain strategic and tactical insights into player and team behavior. Goals of team sport analysis regularly include identification of weaknesses of opposing teams, or assessing performance and improvement potential of a coached team. Current analysis workflows are typically based on the analysis of team videos. Also, analysts can rely on techniques from Information Visualization, to depict e.g., player or ball trajectories. However, video analysis is typically a time-consuming process, where the analyst needs to memorize and annotate scenes. In contrast, visualization typically relies on an abstract data model, often using abstract visual mappings, and is not directly linked to the observed movement context anymore. We propose a visual analytics system that tightly integrates team sport video recordings with abstract visualization of underlying trajectory data. We apply appropriate computer vision techniques to extract trajectory data from video input. Furthermore, we apply advanced trajectory and movement analysis techniques to derive relevant team sport analytic measures for region, event and player analysis in the case of soccer analysis. Our system seamlessly integrates video and visualization modalities, enabling analysts to draw on the advantages of both analysis forms. Several expert studies conducted with team sport analysts indicate the effectiveness of our integrated approach.

A graph algebra for scalable visual analytics.

PubMed

Shaverdian, Anna A; Zhou, Hao; Michailidis, George; Jagadish, Hosagrahar V

2012-01-01

Visual analytics (VA), which combines analytical techniques with advanced visualization features, is fast becoming a standard tool for extracting information from graph data. Researchers have developed many tools for this purpose, suggesting a need for formal methods to guide these tools' creation. Increased data demands on computing requires redesigning VA tools to consider performance and reliability in the context of analysis of exascale datasets. Furthermore, visual analysts need a way to document their analyses for reuse and results justification. A VA graph framework encapsulated in a graph algebra helps address these needs. Its atomic operators include selection and aggregation. The framework employs a visual operator and supports dynamic attributes of data to enable scalable visual exploration of data.

3D visualization techniques for the STEREO-mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiegelmann, T.; Podlipnik, B.; Inhester, B.; Feng, L.; Ruan, P.

The forthcoming STEREO-mission will observe the Sun from two different viewpoints We expect about 2GB data per day which ask for suitable data presentation techniques A key feature of STEREO is that it will provide for the first time a 3D-view of the Sun and the solar corona In our normal environment we see objects three dimensional because the light from real 3D objects needs different travel times to our left and right eye As a consequence we see slightly different images with our eyes which gives us information about the depth of objects and a corresponding 3D impression Techniques for the 3D-visualization of scientific and other data on paper TV computer screen cinema etc are well known e g two colour anaglyph technique shutter glasses polarization filters and head-mounted displays We discuss advantages and disadvantages of these techniques and how they can be applied to STEREO-data The 3D-visualization techniques are not limited to visual images but can be also used to show the reconstructed coronal magnetic field and energy and helicity distribution In the advent of STEREO we test the method with data from SOHO which provides us different viewpoints by the solar rotation This restricts the analysis to structures which remain stationary for several days Real STEREO-data will not be affected by these limitations however

The Concept of C2 Communication and Information Support

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

communication and information literacy , • Sensors: technology and systematic development as a branch, • Military prognosis research (combat models...intelligence, • Visualization of actions, suitable forms of information presentation, • Techniques of learning CIS users communication and information ... literacy , • Sensors: technology and systematic development as a branch, • Military prognosis research (combat models), • Man - machine interface. CISu

Design and implementation of visualization methods for the CHANGES Spatial Decision Support System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cristal, Irina; van Westen, Cees; Bakker, Wim; Greiving, Stefan

2014-05-01

The CHANGES Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) is a web-based system aimed for risk assessment and the evaluation of optimal risk reduction alternatives at local level as a decision support tool in long-term natural risk management. The SDSS use multidimensional information, integrating thematic, spatial, temporal and documentary data. The role of visualization in this context becomes of vital importance for efficiently representing each dimension. This multidimensional aspect of the required for the system risk information, combined with the diversity of the end-users imposes the use of sophisticated visualization methods and tools. The key goal of the present work is to exploit efficiently the large amount of data in relation to the needs of the end-user, utilizing proper visualization techniques. Three main tasks have been accomplished for this purpose: categorization of the end-users, the definition of system's modules and the data definition. The graphical representation of the data and the visualization tools were designed to be relevant to the data type and the purpose of the analysis. Depending on the end-users category, each user should have access to different modules of the system and thus, to the proper visualization environment. The technologies used for the development of the visualization component combine the latest and most innovative open source JavaScript frameworks, such as OpenLayers 2.13.1, ExtJS 4 and GeoExt 2. Moreover, the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern is used in order to ensure flexibility of the system at the implementation level. Using the above technologies, the visualization techniques implemented so far offer interactive map navigation, querying and comparison tools. The map comparison tools are of great importance within the SDSS and include the following: swiping tool for comparison of different data of the same location; raster subtraction for comparison of the same phenomena varying in time; linked views for comparison of data from different locations and a time slider tool for monitoring changes in spatio-temporal data. All these techniques are part of the interactive interface of the system and make use of spatial and spatio-temporal data. Further significant aspects of the visualization component include conventional cartographic techniques and visualization of non-spatial data. The main expectation from the present work is to offer efficient visualization of risk-related data in order to facilitate the decision making process, which is the final purpose of the CHANGES SDSS. This work is part of the "CHANGES" project, funded by the European Community's 7th Framework Programme.

Visual attention shift to printed words during spoken word recognition in Chinese: The role of phonological information.

PubMed

Shen, Wei; Qu, Qingqing; Tong, Xiuhong

2018-05-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which phonological information mediates the visual attention shift to printed Chinese words in spoken word recognition by using an eye-movement technique with a printed-word paradigm. In this paradigm, participants are visually presented with four printed words on a computer screen, which include a target word, a phonological competitor, and two distractors. Participants are then required to select the target word using a computer mouse, and the eye movements are recorded. In Experiment 1, phonological information was manipulated at the full-phonological overlap; in Experiment 2, phonological information at the partial-phonological overlap was manipulated; and in Experiment 3, the phonological competitors were manipulated to share either fulloverlap or partial-overlap with targets directly. Results of the three experiments showed that the phonological competitor effects were observed at both the full-phonological overlap and partial-phonological overlap conditions. That is, phonological competitors attracted more fixations than distractors, which suggested that phonological information mediates the visual attention shift during spoken word recognition. More importantly, we found that the mediating role of phonological information varies as a function of the phonological similarity between target words and phonological competitors.

Acquisition and Visualization Techniques of Human Motion Using Master-Slave System and Haptograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katsura, Seiichiro; Ohishi, Kiyoshi

Artificial acquisition and reproduction of human sensations are basic technologies of communication engineering. For example, auditory information is obtained by a microphone, and a speaker reproduces it by artificial means. Furthermore, a video camera and a television make it possible to transmit visual sensation by broadcasting. On the contrary, since tactile or haptic information is subject to the Newton's “law of action and reaction” in the real world, a device which acquires, transmits, and reproduces the information has not been established. From the point of view, real-world haptics is the key technology for future haptic communication engineering. This paper proposes a novel acquisition method of haptic information named “haptograph”. The haptograph visualizes the haptic information like photograph. Since temporal and spatial analyses are conducted to represent haptic information as the haptograph, it is possible to be recognized and to be evaluated intuitively. In this paper, the proposed haptograph is applied to visualization of human motion. It is possible to represent the motion characteristics, the expert's skill and the personal habit, and so on. In other words, a personal encyclopedia is attained. Once such a personal encyclopedia is stored in ubiquitous environment, the future human support technology will be developed.

Acquired Codes of Meaning in Data Visualization and Infographics: Beyond Perceptual Primitives.

PubMed

Byrne, Lydia; Angus, Daniel; Wiles, Janet

2016-01-01

While information visualization frameworks and heuristics have traditionally been reluctant to include acquired codes of meaning, designers are making use of them in a wide variety of ways. Acquired codes leverage a user's experience to understand the meaning of a visualization. They range from figurative visualizations which rely on the reader's recognition of shapes, to conventional arrangements of graphic elements which represent particular subjects. In this study, we used content analysis to codify acquired meaning in visualization. We applied the content analysis to a set of infographics and data visualizations which are exemplars of innovative and effective design. 88% of the infographics and 71% of data visualizations in the sample contain at least one use of figurative visualization. Conventions on the arrangement of graphics are also widespread in the sample. In particular, a comparison of representations of time and other quantitative data showed that conventions can be specific to a subject. These results suggest that there is a need for information visualization research to expand its scope beyond perceptual channels, to include social and culturally constructed meaning. Our paper demonstrates a viable method for identifying figurative techniques and graphic conventions and integrating them into heuristics for visualization design.

Three-dimensional venous visualization with phase-lag computed tomography angiography for reconstructive microsurgery.

PubMed

Sakakibara, Shunsuke; Onishi, Hiroyuki; Hashikawa, Kazunobu; Akashi, Masaya; Sakakibara, Akiko; Nomura, Tadashi; Terashi, Hiroto

2015-05-01

Most free flap reconstruction complications involve vascular compromise. Evaluation of vascular anatomy provides considerable information that can potentially minimize these complications. Previous reports have shown that contrast-enhanced computed tomography is effective for understanding three-dimensional arterial anatomy. However, most vascular complications result from venous thromboses, making imaging of venous anatomy highly desirable. The phase-lag computed tomography angiography (pl-CTA) technique involves 64-channel (virtually, 128-channel) multidetector CT and is used to acquire arterial images using conventional CTA. Venous images are three-dimensionally reconstructed using a subtraction technique involving combined venous phase and arterial phase images, using a computer workstation. This technique was used to examine 48 patients (12 lower leg reconstructions, 34 head and neck reconstructions, and 2 upper extremity reconstructions) without complications. The pl-CTA technique can be used for three-dimensional visualization of peripheral veins measuring approximately 1 mm in diameter. The pl-CTA information was especially helpful for secondary free flap reconstructions in the head and neck region after malignant tumor recurrence. In such cases, radical dissection of the neck was performed as part of the first operation, and many vessels, including veins, were resected and used in the first free-tissue transfer. The pl-CTA images also allowed visualization of varicose changes in the lower leg region and helped us avoid selecting those vessels for anastomosis. Thus, the pl-CTA-derived venous anatomy information was useful for exact evaluations during the planning of free-tissue transfers. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Evaluation of in-vehicle HMI using occlusion techniques: experimental results and practical implications.

PubMed

Baumann, Martin; Keinath, Andreas; Krems, Josef F; Bengler, Klaus

2004-05-01

Despite the usefulness of new on-board information systems one has to be concerned about the potential distraction effects that they impose on the driver. Therefore, methods and procedures are necessary to assess the visual demand that is connected to the usage of an on-board system. The occlusion-method is considered a strong candidate as a procedure for evaluating display designs with regard to their visual demand. This paper reports results from two experimental studies conducted to further evaluate this method. In the first study, performance in using an in-car navigation system was measured under three conditions: static (parking lot), occlusion (shutter glasses), and driving. The results show that the occlusion-procedure can be used to simulate visual requirements of real traffic conditions. In a second study the occlusion method was compared to a global evaluation criterion based on the total task time. It can be demonstrated that the occlusion method can identify tasks which meet this criterion, but are yet irresolvable under driving conditions. It is concluded that the occlusion technique seems to be a reliable and valid method for evaluating visual and dialogue aspects of in-car information systems.

Novel Web-based Education Platforms for Information Communication utilizing Gamification, Virtual and Immersive Reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2015-12-01

Recent developments in internet technologies make it possible to manage and visualize large data on the web. Novel visualization techniques and interactive user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. This presentation showcase information communication interfaces, games, and virtual and immersive reality applications for supporting teaching and learning of concepts in atmospheric and hydrological sciences. The information communication platforms utilizes latest web technologies and allow accessing and visualizing large scale data on the web. The simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive learning environment for teaching hydrological and atmospheric processes and concepts. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain and weather information, and water simulation. The web-based simulation system provides an environment for students to learn about the earth science processes, and effects of development and human activity on the terrain. Users can access the system in three visualization modes including virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive reality using heads-up display. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of various users.

Information technology aided exploration of system design spaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feather, Martin S.; Kiper, James D.; Kalafat, Selcuk

2004-01-01

We report on a practical application of information technology techniques to aid system engineers effectively explore large design spaces. We make use of heuristic search, visualization and data mining, the combination of which we have implemented wtihin a risk management tool in use at JPL and NASA.

The use of computer imaging techniques to visualize cardiac muscle cells in three dimensions.

PubMed

Marino, T A; Cook, P N; Cook, L T; Dwyer, S J

1980-11-01

Atrial muscle cells and atrioventricular bundle cells were reconstructed using a computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstruction system. This reconstruction technique permitted these cells to be viewed from any direction. The cell surfaces were approximated using triangular tiles, and this optimization technique for cell reconstruction allowed for the computation of cell surface area and cell volume. A transparent mode is described which enables the investigator to examine internal cellular features such as the shape and location of the nucleus. In addition, more than one cell can be displayed simultaneously, and, therefore, spatial relationships are preserved and intercellular relationships viewed directly. The use of computer imaging techniques allows for a more complete collection of quantitative morphological data and also the visualization of the morphological information gathered.

Multi-focus and multi-level techniques for visualization and analysis of networks with thematic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cossalter, Michele; Mengshoel, Ole J.; Selker, Ted

2013-01-01

Information-rich data sets bring several challenges in the areas of visualization and analysis, even when associated with node-link network visualizations. This paper presents an integration of multi-focus and multi-level techniques that enable interactive, multi-step comparisons in node-link networks. We describe NetEx, a visualization tool that enables users to simultaneously explore different parts of a network and its thematic data, such as time series or conditional probability tables. NetEx, implemented as a Cytoscape plug-in, has been applied to the analysis of electrical power networks, Bayesian networks, and the Enron e-mail repository. In this paper we briefly discuss visualization and analysis of the Enron social network, but focus on data from an electrical power network. Specifically, we demonstrate how NetEx supports the analytical task of electrical power system fault diagnosis. Results from a user study with 25 subjects suggest that NetEx enables more accurate isolation of complex faults compared to an especially designed software tool.

A computational visual saliency model based on statistics and machine learning.

PubMed

Lin, Ru-Je; Lin, Wei-Song

2014-08-01

Identifying the type of stimuli that attracts human visual attention has been an appealing topic for scientists for many years. In particular, marking the salient regions in images is useful for both psychologists and many computer vision applications. In this paper, we propose a computational approach for producing saliency maps using statistics and machine learning methods. Based on four assumptions, three properties (Feature-Prior, Position-Prior, and Feature-Distribution) can be derived and combined by a simple intersection operation to obtain a saliency map. These properties are implemented by a similarity computation, support vector regression (SVR) technique, statistical analysis of training samples, and information theory using low-level features. This technique is able to learn the preferences of human visual behavior while simultaneously considering feature uniqueness. Experimental results show that our approach performs better in predicting human visual attention regions than 12 other models in two test databases. © 2014 ARVO.

SoundView: an auditory guidance system based on environment understanding for the visually impaired people.

PubMed

Nie, Min; Ren, Jie; Li, Zhengjun; Niu, Jinhai; Qiu, Yihong; Zhu, Yisheng; Tong, Shanbao

2009-01-01

Without visual information, the blind people live in various hardships with shopping, reading, finding objects and etc. Therefore, we developed a portable auditory guide system, called SoundView, for visually impaired people. This prototype system consists of a mini-CCD camera, a digital signal processing unit and an earphone, working with built-in customizable auditory coding algorithms. Employing environment understanding techniques, SoundView processes the images from a camera and detects objects tagged with barcodes. The recognized objects in the environment are then encoded into stereo speech signals for the blind though an earphone. The user would be able to recognize the type, motion state and location of the interested objects with the help of SoundView. Compared with other visual assistant techniques, SoundView is object-oriented and has the advantages of cheap cost, smaller size, light weight, low power consumption and easy customization.

Three-dimensional computer visualization of forensic pathology data.

PubMed

March, Jack; Schofield, Damian; Evison, Martin; Woodford, Noel

2004-03-01

Despite a decade of use in US courtrooms, it is only recently that forensic computer animations have become an increasingly important form of communication in legal spheres within the United Kingdom. Aims Research at the University of Nottingham has been influential in the critical investigation of forensic computer graphics reconstruction methodologies and techniques and in raising the profile of this novel form of data visualization within the United Kingdom. The case study presented demonstrates research undertaken by Aims Research and the Department of Forensic Pathology at the University of Sheffield, which aims to apply, evaluate, and develop novel 3-dimensional computer graphics (CG) visualization and virtual reality (VR) techniques in the presentation and investigation of forensic information concerning the human body. The inclusion of such visualizations within other CG or VR environments may ultimately provide the potential for alternative exploratory directions, processes, and results within forensic pathology investigations.

Improved automatic optic nerve radius estimation from high resolution MRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrigan, Robert L.; Smith, Alex K.; Mawn, Louise A.; Smith, Seth A.; Landman, Bennett A.

2017-02-01

The optic nerve (ON) is a vital structure in the human visual system and transports all visual information from the retina to the cortex for higher order processing. Due to the lack of redundancy in the visual pathway, measures of ON damage have been shown to correlate well with visual deficits. These measures are typically taken at an arbitrary anatomically defined point along the nerve and do not characterize changes along the length of the ON. We propose a fully automated, three-dimensionally consistent technique building upon a previous independent slice-wise technique to estimate the radius of the ON and surrounding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on high-resolution heavily T2-weighted isotropic MRI. We show that by constraining results to be three-dimensionally consistent this technique produces more anatomically viable results. We compare this technique with the previously published slice-wise technique using a short-term reproducibility data set, 10 subjects, follow-up <1 month, and show that the new method is more reproducible in the center of the ON. The center of the ON contains the most accurate imaging because it lacks confounders such as motion and frontal lobe interference. Long-term reproducibility, 5 subjects, follow-up of approximately 11 months, is also investigated with this new technique and shown to be similar to short-term reproducibility, indicating that the ON does not change substantially within 11 months. The increased accuracy of this new technique provides increased power when searching for anatomical changes in ON size amongst patient populations.

Improved Automatic Optic Nerve Radius Estimation from High Resolution MRI.

PubMed

Harrigan, Robert L; Smith, Alex K; Mawn, Louise A; Smith, Seth A; Landman, Bennett A

2017-02-11

The optic nerve (ON) is a vital structure in the human visual system and transports all visual information from the retina to the cortex for higher order processing. Due to the lack of redundancy in the visual pathway, measures of ON damage have been shown to correlate well with visual deficits. These measures are typically taken at an arbitrary anatomically defined point along the nerve and do not characterize changes along the length of the ON. We propose a fully automated, three-dimensionally consistent technique building upon a previous independent slice-wise technique to estimate the radius of the ON and surrounding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) on high-resolution heavily T2-weighted isotropic MRI. We show that by constraining results to be three-dimensionally consistent this technique produces more anatomically viable results. We compare this technique with the previously published slice-wise technique using a short-term reproducibility data set, 10 subjects, follow-up <1 month, and show that the new method is more reproducible in the center of the ON. The center of the ON contains the most accurate imaging because it lacks confounders such as motion and frontal lobe interference. Long-term reproducibility, 5 subjects, follow-up of approximately 11 months, is also investigated with this new technique and shown to be similar to short-term reproducibility, indicating that the ON does not change substantially within 11 months. The increased accuracy of this new technique provides increased power when searching for anatomical changes in ON size amongst patient populations.

Wood Condition Assessment Manual: Second Edition

Treesearch

Robert J. Ross; Robert H. White

2014-01-01

This report summarizes information on condition assessment of in-service wood, including visual inspection of wood and timbers, use of ultrasound and probing/boring techniques for inspection, and assessment of wood and timbers that have been exposed to fire. The report also includes information on assigning allowable design values for in-service wood.

Visualization of Computational Fluid Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gerald-Yamasaki, Michael; Hultquist, Jeff; Bryson, Steve; Kenwright, David; Lane, David; Walatka, Pamela; Clucas, Jean; Watson, Velvin; Lasinski, T. A. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

Scientific visualization serves the dual purpose of exploration and exposition of the results of numerical simulations of fluid flow. Along with the basic visualization process which transforms source data into images, there are four additional components to a complete visualization system: Source Data Processing, User Interface and Control, Presentation, and Information Management. The requirements imposed by the desired mode of operation (i.e. real-time, interactive, or batch) and the source data have their effect on each of these visualization system components. The special requirements imposed by the wide variety and size of the source data provided by the numerical simulation of fluid flow presents an enormous challenge to the visualization system designer. We describe the visualization system components including specific visualization techniques and how the mode of operation and source data requirements effect the construction of computational fluid dynamics visualization systems.

The design and implementation of hydrographical information management system (HIMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sui, Haigang; Hua, Li; Wang, Qi; Zhang, Anming

2005-10-01

With the development of hydrographical work and information techniques, the large variety of hydrographical information including electronic charts, documents and other materials are widely used, and the traditional management mode and techniques are unsuitable for the development of the Chinese Marine Safety Administration Bureau (CMSAB). How to manage all kinds of hydrographical information has become an important and urgent problem. A lot of advanced techniques including GIS, RS, spatial database management and VR techniques are introduced for solving these problems. Some design principles and key techniques of the HIMS including the mixed mode base on B/S, C/S and stand-alone computer mode, multi-source & multi-scale data organization and management, multi-source data integration and diverse visualization of digital chart, efficient security control strategies are illustrated in detail. Based on the above ideas and strategies, an integrated system named Hydrographical Information Management System (HIMS) was developed. And the HIMS has been applied in the Shanghai Marine Safety Administration Bureau and obtained good evaluation.

Netgram: Visualizing Communities in Evolving Networks

PubMed Central

Mall, Raghvendra; Langone, Rocco; Suykens, Johan A. K.

2015-01-01

Real-world complex networks are dynamic in nature and change over time. The change is usually observed in the interactions within the network over time. Complex networks exhibit community like structures. A key feature of the dynamics of complex networks is the evolution of communities over time. Several methods have been proposed to detect and track the evolution of these groups over time. However, there is no generic tool which visualizes all the aspects of group evolution in dynamic networks including birth, death, splitting, merging, expansion, shrinkage and continuation of groups. In this paper, we propose Netgram: a tool for visualizing evolution of communities in time-evolving graphs. Netgram maintains evolution of communities over 2 consecutive time-stamps in tables which are used to create a query database using the sql outer-join operation. It uses a line-based visualization technique which adheres to certain design principles and aesthetic guidelines. Netgram uses a greedy solution to order the initial community information provided by the evolutionary clustering technique such that we have fewer line cross-overs in the visualization. This makes it easier to track the progress of individual communities in time evolving graphs. Netgram is a generic toolkit which can be used with any evolutionary community detection algorithm as illustrated in our experiments. We use Netgram for visualization of topic evolution in the NIPS conference over a period of 11 years and observe the emergence and merging of several disciplines in the field of information processing systems. PMID:26356538

Visualization-by-Sketching: An Artist's Interface for Creating Multivariate Time-Varying Data Visualizations.

PubMed

Schroeder, David; Keefe, Daniel F

2016-01-01

We present Visualization-by-Sketching, a direct-manipulation user interface for designing new data visualizations. The goals are twofold: First, make the process of creating real, animated, data-driven visualizations of complex information more accessible to artists, graphic designers, and other visual experts with traditional, non-technical training. Second, support and enhance the role of human creativity in visualization design, enabling visual experimentation and workflows similar to what is possible with traditional artistic media. The approach is to conceive of visualization design as a combination of processes that are already closely linked with visual creativity: sketching, digital painting, image editing, and reacting to exemplars. Rather than studying and tweaking low-level algorithms and their parameters, designers create new visualizations by painting directly on top of a digital data canvas, sketching data glyphs, and arranging and blending together multiple layers of animated 2D graphics. This requires new algorithms and techniques to interpret painterly user input relative to data "under" the canvas, balance artistic freedom with the need to produce accurate data visualizations, and interactively explore large (e.g., terabyte-sized) multivariate datasets. Results demonstrate a variety of multivariate data visualization techniques can be rapidly recreated using the interface. More importantly, results and feedback from artists support the potential for interfaces in this style to attract new, creative users to the challenging task of designing more effective data visualizations and to help these users stay "in the creative zone" as they work.

Quality metrics in high-dimensional data visualization: an overview and systematization.

PubMed

Bertini, Enrico; Tatu, Andrada; Keim, Daniel

2011-12-01

In this paper, we present a systematization of techniques that use quality metrics to help in the visual exploration of meaningful patterns in high-dimensional data. In a number of recent papers, different quality metrics are proposed to automate the demanding search through large spaces of alternative visualizations (e.g., alternative projections or ordering), allowing the user to concentrate on the most promising visualizations suggested by the quality metrics. Over the last decade, this approach has witnessed a remarkable development but few reflections exist on how these methods are related to each other and how the approach can be developed further. For this purpose, we provide an overview of approaches that use quality metrics in high-dimensional data visualization and propose a systematization based on a thorough literature review. We carefully analyze the papers and derive a set of factors for discriminating the quality metrics, visualization techniques, and the process itself. The process is described through a reworked version of the well-known information visualization pipeline. We demonstrate the usefulness of our model by applying it to several existing approaches that use quality metrics, and we provide reflections on implications of our model for future research. © 2010 IEEE

Visualizing Spatially Varying Distribution Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, David; Luo, Alison; Dungan, Jennifer L.; Pang, Alex; Biegel, Bryan A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Box plot is a compact representation that encodes the minimum, maximum, mean, median, and quarters information of a distribution. In practice, a single box plot is drawn for each variable of interest. With the advent of more accessible computing power, we are now facing the problem of visual icing data where there is a distribution at each 2D spatial location. Simply extending the box plot technique to distributions over 2D domain is not straightforward. One challenge is reducing the visual clutter if a box plot is drawn over each grid location in the 2D domain. This paper presents and discusses two general approaches, using parametric statistics and shape descriptors, to present 2D distribution data sets. Both approaches provide additional insights compared to the traditional box plot technique

Steady-state visual evoked potentials as a research tool in social affective neuroscience

PubMed Central

Wieser, Matthias J.; Miskovic, Vladimir; Keil, Andreas

2017-01-01

Like many other primates, humans place a high premium on social information transmission and processing. One important aspect of this information concerns the emotional state of other individuals, conveyed by distinct visual cues such as facial expressions, overt actions, or by cues extracted from the situational context. A rich body of theoretical and empirical work has demonstrated that these socio-emotional cues are processed by the human visual system in a prioritized fashion, in the service of optimizing social behavior. Furthermore, socio-emotional perception is highly dependent on situational contexts and previous experience. Here, we review current issues in this area of research and discuss the utility of the steady-state visual evoked potential (ssVEP) technique for addressing key empirical questions. Methodological advantages and caveats are discussed with particular regard to quantifying time-varying competition among multiple perceptual objects, trial-by-trial analysis of visual cortical activation, functional connectivity, and the control of low-level stimulus features. Studies on facial expression and emotional scene processing are summarized, with an emphasis on viewing faces and other social cues in emotional contexts, or when competing with each other. Further, because the ssVEP technique can be readily accommodated to studying the viewing of complex scenes with multiple elements, it enables researchers to advance theoretical models of socio-emotional perception, based on complex, quasi-naturalistic viewing situations. PMID:27699794

[The study of functional status in the perception of visual information depending on the method of technical color mixing on LCD and DLP projectors technology].

PubMed

Merkulova, A G; Osokina, E S; Bukhtiiarov, I V

2014-10-01

The case of compare two ways of projection color visual images, characterized by different spatial-temporal characteristics of visual stimuli, presents the methodology and the set of techniques. Received comparative data, identifying risks of regulation disorder of the functional state and development general, mental and visual fatigue during prolonged strenuous visual activity, according to two types of test tasks, which are the most typical for the use of modern projectors to work with the audience, both inthe process of implementation of learning technologies and the collective take responsible decisions by expert groups that control of complex technological processes.

Intuitive tactile zooming for graphics accessed by individuals who are blind and visually impaired.

PubMed

Rastogi, Ravi; Pawluk, T V Dianne; Ketchum, Jessica

2013-07-01

One possibility of providing access to visual graphics for those who are visually impaired is to present them tactually: unfortunately, details easily available to vision need to be magnified to be accessible through touch. For this, we propose an "intuitive" zooming algorithm to solve potential problems with directly applying visual zooming techniques to haptic displays that sense the current location of a user on a virtual diagram with a position sensor and, then, provide the appropriate local information either through force or tactile feedback. Our technique works by determining and then traversing the levels of an object tree hierarchy of a diagram. In this manner, the zoom steps adjust to the content to be viewed, avoid clipping and do not zoom when no object is present. The algorithm was tested using a small, "mouse-like" display with tactile feedback on pictures representing houses in a community and boats on a lake. We asked the users to answer questions related to details in the pictures. Comparing our technique to linear and logarithmic step zooming, we found a significant increase in the correctness of the responses (odds ratios of 2.64:1 and 2.31:1, respectively) and usability (differences of 36% and 19%, respectively) using our "intuitive" zooming technique.

Brain Friendly Techniques: Mind Mapping

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldberg, Cristine

2004-01-01

Mind Mapping can be called the Swiss Army Knife for the brain, a total visual thinking tool or a multi-handed thought catcher. Invented by Tony Buzan in the early 1970s and used by millions around the world, it is a method that can be a part of a techniques repertoire when teaching information literacy, planning, presenting, thinking, and so…

[Evolution of the audio-visual technologies of production and diffusion and the conditions of their application in the Third World].

PubMed

Lefebvre, M

1979-01-01

The present information production techniques are so inefficient that it is out of the question to generalize them. On the other hand audio-visual communication raises a major political problem, especially for developing countries. Audio-visual equipment has gone through adjustment phases; the example of the tape and cassette recorder is given: 2 technological improvements have completely modified its use; the transistors have allowed considerable reduction in volume and weight as well as the energy necessary; the invention of the cassette has simplified its use. Technological research is following 3 major directions: the production of equipment which consumes little energy; the improvement of electronic component production techniques (towards cheaper electronic components); finally, the designing of systems allowing to stock large quantities of information. The communication systems will probably make so much progress in the areas of technology and programming, that they will soon have very different uses than the present ones. The question is whether our civilizations will let themselves be dominated by these new systems, or whether they will succeed to turn them into progress tools.

Multisource data fusion for documenting archaeological sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knyaz, Vladimir; Chibunichev, Alexander; Zhuravlev, Denis

2017-10-01

The quality of archaeological sites documenting is of great importance for cultural heritage preserving and investigating. The progress in developing new techniques and systems for data acquisition and processing creates an excellent basis for achieving a new quality of archaeological sites documenting and visualization. archaeological data has some specific features which have to be taken into account when acquiring, processing and managing. First of all, it is a needed to gather as full as possible information about findings providing no loss of information and no damage to artifacts. Remote sensing technologies are the most adequate and powerful means which satisfy this requirement. An approach to archaeological data acquiring and fusion based on remote sensing is proposed. It combines a set of photogrammetric techniques for obtaining geometrical and visual information at different scales and detailing and a pipeline for archaeological data documenting, structuring, fusion, and analysis. The proposed approach is applied for documenting of Bosporus archaeological expedition of Russian State Historical Museum.

Global Visualization in Water using AnodizedAluminum PressureSensitive Paint and Dissolved Oxygen as Tracer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozaki, Tatsuya; Ishikawa, Hitoshi; Sakaue, Hirotaka

2009-11-01

We have developed anodized-aluminum pressuresensitive paint (AA-PSP) for flow visualization in water using dissolved oxygen as a tracer. Developed AA-PSP is characterized using water calibration setup by controlling a dissolved oxygen concentration. It is shown that the developed AA-PSP gives 4.0 percent change in luminescence per 1 mg/l of oxygen concentration. This AA-PSP is applied to visualize flows in a water tunnel. Oxygen concentrations of the water tunnel and the dissolved oxygen are 9.5 mg/l and 20 mg/l, respectively. We can capture horseshoe vortices over the base of 10 mm cylinder by using this technique at Reynolds number of 1000 and a water speed of 100 mm/s, respectively. Unlike conventional tracers such as ink, milk, and fluorescent dyes, this visualization technique gives flow information on the AA-PSP coated surface without integrating flows between the AA-PSP and an optical detector. Because of using dissolved oxygen as a tracer, it holds the material properties of testing water except for the amount of oxygen. The tracer does not interfere with optical measurements and it does not contaminate the testing water. A conventional visualization technique using milk as a tracer is also employed for comparison.

Improving IT Portfolio Management Decision Confidence Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Hypervariate Display Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landmesser, John Andrew

2014-01-01

Information technology (IT) investment decision makers are required to process large volumes of complex data. An existing body of knowledge relevant to IT portfolio management (PfM), decision analysis, visual comprehension of large volumes of information, and IT investment decision making suggest Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and…

Visualization of hyperspectral imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hogervorst, Maarten A.; Bijl, Piet; Toet, Alexander

2007-04-01

We developed four new techniques to visualize hyper spectral image data for man-in-the-loop target detection. The methods respectively: (1) display the subsequent bands as a movie ("movie"), (2) map the data onto three channels and display these as a colour image ("colour"), (3) display the correlation between the pixel signatures and a known target signature ("match") and (4) display the output of a standard anomaly detector ("anomaly"). The movie technique requires no assumptions about the target signature and involves no information loss. The colour technique produces a single image that can be displayed in real-time. A disadvantage of this technique is loss of information. A display of the match between a target signature and pixels and can be interpreted easily and fast, but this technique relies on precise knowledge of the target signature. The anomaly detector signifies pixels with signatures that deviate from the (local) background. We performed a target detection experiment with human observers to determine their relative performance with the four techniques,. The results show that the "match" presentation yields the best performance, followed by "movie" and "anomaly", while performance with the "colour" presentation was the poorest. Each scheme has its advantages and disadvantages and is more or less suited for real-time and post-hoc processing. The rationale is that the final interpretation is best done by a human observer. In contrast to automatic target recognition systems, the interpretation of hyper spectral imagery by the human visual system is robust to noise and image transformations and requires a minimal number of assumptions (about signature of target and background, target shape etc.) When more knowledge about target and background is available this may be used to help the observer interpreting the data (aided target detection).

[Modern biology, imagery and forensic medicine: contributions and limitations in examination of skeletal remains].

PubMed

Lecomte, Dominique; Plu, Isabelle; Froment, Alain

2012-06-01

Forensic examination is often requested when skeletal remains are discovered. Detailed visual observation can provide much information, such as the human or animal origin, sex, age, stature, and ancestry, and approximate time since death. New three-dimensional imaging techniques can provide further information (osteometry, facial reconstruction). Bone chemistry, and particularly measurement of stable or unstable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, yields information on diet and time since death, respectively. Genetic analyses of ancient DNA are also developing rapidly. Although seldom used in a judicial context, these modern anthropologic techniques are nevertheless available for the most complex cases.

Visualization of risk structures for interactive planning of image guided radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rieder, Christian; Schwier, Michael; Weihusen, Andreas; Zidowitz, Stephan; Peitgen, Heinz-Otto

2009-02-01

Image guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is becoming a standard procedure as a minimally invasive method for tumor treatment in the clinical routine. The visualization of pathological tissue and potential risk structures like vessels or important organs gives essential support in image guided pre-interventional RFA planning. In this work our aim is to present novel visualization techniques for interactive RFA planning to support the physician with spatial information of pathological structures as well as the finding of trajectories without harming vitally important tissue. Furthermore, we illustrate three-dimensional applicator models of different manufactures combined with corresponding ablation areas in homogenous tissue, as specified by the manufacturers, to enhance the estimated amount of cell destruction caused by ablation. The visualization techniques are embedded in a workflow oriented application, designed for the use in the clinical routine. To allow a high-quality volume rendering we integrated a visualization method using the fuzzy c-means algorithm. This method automatically defines a transfer function for volume visualization of vessels without the need of a segmentation mask. However, insufficient visualization results of the displayed vessels caused by low data quality can be improved using local vessel segmentation in the vicinity of the lesion. We also provide an interactive segmentation technique of liver tumors for the volumetric measurement and for the visualization of pathological tissue combined with anatomical structures. In order to support coagulation estimation with respect to the heat-sink effect of the cooling blood flow which decreases thermal ablation, a numerical simulation of the heat distribution is provided.

How a surgeon becomes superman by visualization of intelligently fused multi-modalities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erat, Okan; Pauly, Olivier; Weidert, Simon; Thaller, Peter; Euler, Ekkehard; Mutschler, Wolf; Navab, Nassir; Fallavollita, Pascal

2013-03-01

Motivation: The existing visualization of the Camera augmented mobile C-arm (CamC) system does not have enough cues for depth information and presents the anatomical information in a confusing way to surgeons. Methods: We propose a method that segments anatomical information from X-ray and then augment it on the video images. To provide depth cues, pixels belonging to video images are classified as skin and object classes. The augmentation of anatomical information from X-ray is performed only when pixels have a larger probability of belonging to skin class. Results: We tested our algorithm by displaying the new visualization to 2 expert surgeons and 1 medical student during three surgical workflow sequences of the interlocking of intramedullary nail procedure, namely: skin incision, center punching, and drilling. Via a survey questionnaire, they were asked to assess the new visualization when compared to the current alphablending overlay image displayed by CamC. The participants all agreed (100%) that occlusion and instrument tip position detection were immediately improved with our technique. When asked if our visualization has potential to replace the existing alpha-blending overlay during interlocking procedures, all participants did not hesitate to suggest an immediate integration of the visualization for the correct navigation and guidance of the procedure. Conclusion: Current alpha blending visualizations lack proper depth cues and can be a source of confusion for the surgeons when performing surgery. Our visualization concept shows great potential in alleviating occlusion and facilitating clinician understanding during specific workflow steps of the intramedullary nailing procedure.

A Phytochemical-Sensing Strategy Based on Mass Spectrometry Imaging and Metabolic Profiling for Understanding the Functionality of the Medicinal Herb Green Tea.

PubMed

Fujimura, Yoshinori; Miura, Daisuke; Tachibana, Hirofumi

2017-09-27

Low-molecular-weight phytochemicals have health benefits and reduce the risk of diseases, but the mechanisms underlying their activities have remained elusive because of the lack of a methodology that can easily visualize the exact behavior of such small molecules. Recently, we developed an in situ label-free imaging technique, called mass spectrometry imaging, for visualizing spatially-resolved biotransformations based on simultaneous mapping of the major bioactive green tea polyphenol and its phase II metabolites. In addition, we established a mass spectrometry-based metabolic profiling technique capable of evaluating the bioactivities of diverse green tea extracts, which contain multiple phytochemicals, by focusing on their compositional balances. This methodology allowed us to simultaneously evaluate the relative contributions of the multiple compounds present in a multicomponent system to its bioactivity. This review highlights small molecule-sensing techniques for visualizing the complex behaviors of herbal components and linking such information to an enhanced understanding of the functionalities of multicomponent medicinal herbs.

aCGH-MAS: Analysis of aCGH by means of Multiagent System

PubMed Central

Benito, Rocío; Bajo, Javier; Rodríguez, Ana Eugenia; Abáigar, María

2015-01-01

There are currently different techniques, such as CGH arrays, to study genetic variations in patients. CGH arrays analyze gains and losses in different regions in the chromosome. Regions with gains or losses in pathologies are important for selecting relevant genes or CNVs (copy-number variations) associated with the variations detected within chromosomes. Information corresponding to mutations, genes, proteins, variations, CNVs, and diseases can be found in different databases and it would be of interest to incorporate information of different sources to extract relevant information. This work proposes a multiagent system to manage the information of aCGH arrays, with the aim of providing an intuitive and extensible system to analyze and interpret the results. The agent roles integrate statistical techniques to select relevant variations and visualization techniques for the interpretation of the final results and to extract relevant information from different sources of information by applying a CBR system. PMID:25874203

Computational mechanisms underlying cortical responses to the affordance properties of visual scenes

PubMed Central

Epstein, Russell A.

2018-01-01

Biologically inspired deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs), trained for computer vision tasks, have been found to predict cortical responses with remarkable accuracy. However, the internal operations of these models remain poorly understood, and the factors that account for their success are unknown. Here we develop a set of techniques for using CNNs to gain insights into the computational mechanisms underlying cortical responses. We focused on responses in the occipital place area (OPA), a scene-selective region of dorsal occipitoparietal cortex. In a previous study, we showed that fMRI activation patterns in the OPA contain information about the navigational affordances of scenes; that is, information about where one can and cannot move within the immediate environment. We hypothesized that this affordance information could be extracted using a set of purely feedforward computations. To test this idea, we examined a deep CNN with a feedforward architecture that had been previously trained for scene classification. We found that responses in the CNN to scene images were highly predictive of fMRI responses in the OPA. Moreover the CNN accounted for the portion of OPA variance relating to the navigational affordances of scenes. The CNN could thus serve as an image-computable candidate model of affordance-related responses in the OPA. We then ran a series of in silico experiments on this model to gain insights into its internal operations. These analyses showed that the computation of affordance-related features relied heavily on visual information at high-spatial frequencies and cardinal orientations, both of which have previously been identified as low-level stimulus preferences of scene-selective visual cortex. These computations also exhibited a strong preference for information in the lower visual field, which is consistent with known retinotopic biases in the OPA. Visualizations of feature selectivity within the CNN suggested that affordance-based responses encoded features that define the layout of the spatial environment, such as boundary-defining junctions and large extended surfaces. Together, these results map the sensory functions of the OPA onto a fully quantitative model that provides insights into its visual computations. More broadly, they advance integrative techniques for understanding visual cortex across multiple level of analysis: from the identification of cortical sensory functions to the modeling of their underlying algorithms. PMID:29684011

Image gathering, coding, and processing: End-to-end optimization for efficient and robust acquisition of visual information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huck, Friedrich O.; Fales, Carl L.

1990-01-01

Researchers are concerned with the end-to-end performance of image gathering, coding, and processing. The applications range from high-resolution television to vision-based robotics, wherever the resolution, efficiency and robustness of visual information acquisition and processing are critical. For the presentation at this workshop, it is convenient to divide research activities into the following two overlapping areas: The first is the development of focal-plane processing techniques and technology to effectively combine image gathering with coding, with an emphasis on low-level vision processing akin to the retinal processing in human vision. The approach includes the familiar Laplacian pyramid, the new intensity-dependent spatial summation, and parallel sensing/processing networks. Three-dimensional image gathering is attained by combining laser ranging with sensor-array imaging. The second is the rigorous extension of information theory and optimal filtering to visual information acquisition and processing. The goal is to provide a comprehensive methodology for quantitatively assessing the end-to-end performance of image gathering, coding, and processing.

Probabilistic visual and electromagnetic data fusion for robust drift-free sequential mosaicking: application to fetoscopy

PubMed Central

Tella-Amo, Marcel; Peter, Loic; Shakir, Dzhoshkun I.; Deprest, Jan; Iglesias, Juan Eugenio; Ourselin, Sebastien

2018-01-01

Abstract. The most effective treatment for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome is laser photocoagulation of the shared vascular anastomoses in the placenta. Vascular connections are extremely challenging to locate due to their caliber and the reduced field-of-view of the fetoscope. Therefore, mosaicking techniques are beneficial to expand the scene, facilitate navigation, and allow vessel photocoagulation decision-making. Local vision-based mosaicking algorithms inherently drift over time due to the use of pairwise transformations. We propose the use of an electromagnetic tracker (EMT) sensor mounted at the tip of the fetoscope to obtain camera pose measurements, which we incorporate into a probabilistic framework with frame-to-frame visual information to achieve globally consistent sequential mosaics. We parametrize the problem in terms of plane and camera poses constrained by EMT measurements to enforce global consistency while leveraging pairwise image relationships in a sequential fashion through the use of local bundle adjustment. We show that our approach is drift-free and performs similarly to state-of-the-art global alignment techniques like bundle adjustment albeit with much less computational burden. Additionally, we propose a version of bundle adjustment that uses EMT information. We demonstrate the robustness to EMT noise and loss of visual information and evaluate mosaics for synthetic, phantom-based and ex vivo datasets. PMID:29487889

Which technology to investigate visual perception in sport: video vs. virtual reality.

PubMed

Vignais, Nicolas; Kulpa, Richard; Brault, Sébastien; Presse, Damien; Bideau, Benoit

2015-02-01

Visual information uptake is a fundamental element of sports involving interceptive tasks. Several methodologies, like video and methods based on virtual environments, are currently employed to analyze visual perception during sport situations. Both techniques have advantages and drawbacks. The goal of this study is to determine which of these technologies may be preferentially used to analyze visual information uptake during a sport situation. To this aim, we compared a handball goalkeeper's performance using two standardized methodologies: video clip and virtual environment. We examined this performance for two response tasks: an uncoupled task (goalkeepers show where the ball ends) and a coupled task (goalkeepers try to intercept the virtual ball). Variables investigated in this study were percentage of correct zones, percentage of correct responses, radial error and response time. The results showed that handball goalkeepers were more effective, more accurate and started to intercept earlier when facing a virtual handball thrower than when facing the video clip. These findings suggested that the analysis of visual information uptake for handball goalkeepers was better performed by using a 'virtual reality'-based methodology. Technical and methodological aspects of these findings are discussed further. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visualization of spatial-temporal data based on 3D virtual scene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xianghong; Liu, Jiping; Wang, Yong; Bi, Junfang

2009-10-01

The main purpose of this paper is to realize the expression of the three-dimensional dynamic visualization of spatialtemporal data based on three-dimensional virtual scene, using three-dimensional visualization technology, and combining with GIS so that the people's abilities of cognizing time and space are enhanced and improved by designing dynamic symbol and interactive expression. Using particle systems, three-dimensional simulation, virtual reality and other visual means, we can simulate the situations produced by changing the spatial location and property information of geographical entities over time, then explore and analyze its movement and transformation rules by changing the interactive manner, and also replay history and forecast of future. In this paper, the main research object is the vehicle track and the typhoon path and spatial-temporal data, through three-dimensional dynamic simulation of its track, and realize its timely monitoring its trends and historical track replaying; according to visualization techniques of spatialtemporal data in Three-dimensional virtual scene, providing us with excellent spatial-temporal information cognitive instrument not only can add clarity to show spatial-temporal information of the changes and developments in the situation, but also be used for future development and changes in the prediction and deduction.

Retinal ganglion cell maps in the brain: implications for visual processing.

PubMed

Dhande, Onkar S; Huberman, Andrew D

2014-02-01

Everything the brain knows about the content of the visual world is built from the spiking activity of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). As the output neurons of the eye, RGCs include ∼20 different subtypes, each responding best to a specific feature in the visual scene. Here we discuss recent advances in identifying where different RGC subtypes route visual information in the brain, including which targets they connect to and how their organization within those targets influences visual processing. We also highlight examples where causal links have been established between specific RGC subtypes, their maps of central connections and defined aspects of light-mediated behavior and we suggest the use of techniques that stand to extend these sorts of analyses to circuits underlying visual perception. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Functional MRI Representational Similarity Analysis Reveals a Dissociation between Discriminative and Relative Location Information in the Human Visual System.

PubMed

Roth, Zvi N

2016-01-01

Neural responses in visual cortex are governed by a topographic mapping from retinal locations to cortical responses. Moreover, at the voxel population level early visual cortex (EVC) activity enables accurate decoding of stimuli locations. However, in many cases information enabling one to discriminate between locations (i.e., discriminative information) may be less relevant than information regarding the relative location of two objects (i.e., relative information). For example, when planning to grab a cup, determining whether the cup is located at the same retinal location as the hand is hardly relevant, whereas the location of the cup relative to the hand is crucial for performing the action. We have previously used multivariate pattern analysis techniques to measure discriminative location information, and found the highest levels in EVC, in line with other studies. Here we show, using representational similarity analysis, that availability of discriminative information in fMRI activation patterns does not entail availability of relative information. Specifically, we find that relative location information can be reliably extracted from activity patterns in posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS), but not from EVC, where we find the spatial representation to be warped. We further show that this variability in relative information levels between regions can be explained by a computational model based on an array of receptive fields. Moreover, when the model's receptive fields are extended to include inhibitory surround regions, the model can account for the spatial warping in EVC. These results demonstrate how size and shape properties of receptive fields in human visual cortex contribute to the transformation of discriminative spatial representations into relative spatial representations along the visual stream.

Functional MRI Representational Similarity Analysis Reveals a Dissociation between Discriminative and Relative Location Information in the Human Visual System

PubMed Central

Roth, Zvi N.

2016-01-01

Neural responses in visual cortex are governed by a topographic mapping from retinal locations to cortical responses. Moreover, at the voxel population level early visual cortex (EVC) activity enables accurate decoding of stimuli locations. However, in many cases information enabling one to discriminate between locations (i.e., discriminative information) may be less relevant than information regarding the relative location of two objects (i.e., relative information). For example, when planning to grab a cup, determining whether the cup is located at the same retinal location as the hand is hardly relevant, whereas the location of the cup relative to the hand is crucial for performing the action. We have previously used multivariate pattern analysis techniques to measure discriminative location information, and found the highest levels in EVC, in line with other studies. Here we show, using representational similarity analysis, that availability of discriminative information in fMRI activation patterns does not entail availability of relative information. Specifically, we find that relative location information can be reliably extracted from activity patterns in posterior intraparietal sulcus (pIPS), but not from EVC, where we find the spatial representation to be warped. We further show that this variability in relative information levels between regions can be explained by a computational model based on an array of receptive fields. Moreover, when the model's receptive fields are extended to include inhibitory surround regions, the model can account for the spatial warping in EVC. These results demonstrate how size and shape properties of receptive fields in human visual cortex contribute to the transformation of discriminative spatial representations into relative spatial representations along the visual stream. PMID:27242455

Entourage: Visualizing Relationships between Biological Pathways using Contextual Subsets

PubMed Central

Lex, Alexander; Partl, Christian; Kalkofen, Denis; Streit, Marc; Gratzl, Samuel; Wassermann, Anne Mai; Schmalstieg, Dieter; Pfister, Hanspeter

2014-01-01

Biological pathway maps are highly relevant tools for many tasks in molecular biology. They reduce the complexity of the overall biological network by partitioning it into smaller manageable parts. While this reduction of complexity is their biggest strength, it is, at the same time, their biggest weakness. By removing what is deemed not important for the primary function of the pathway, biologists lose the ability to follow and understand cross-talks between pathways. Considering these cross-talks is, however, critical in many analysis scenarios, such as judging effects of drugs. In this paper we introduce Entourage, a novel visualization technique that provides contextual information lost due to the artificial partitioning of the biological network, but at the same time limits the presented information to what is relevant to the analyst’s task. We use one pathway map as the focus of an analysis and allow a larger set of contextual pathways. For these context pathways we only show the contextual subsets, i.e., the parts of the graph that are relevant to a selection. Entourage suggests related pathways based on similarities and highlights parts of a pathway that are interesting in terms of mapped experimental data. We visualize interdependencies between pathways using stubs of visual links, which we found effective yet not obtrusive. By combining this approach with visualization of experimental data, we can provide domain experts with a highly valuable tool. We demonstrate the utility of Entourage with case studies conducted with a biochemist who researches the effects of drugs on pathways. We show that the technique is well suited to investigate interdependencies between pathways and to analyze, understand, and predict the effect that drugs have on different cell types. Fig. 1Entourage showing the Glioma pathway in detail and contextual information of multiple related pathways. PMID:24051820

Using 3D visualization and seismic attributes to improve structural and stratigraphic resolution of reservoirs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kerr, J.; Jones, G.L.

1996-01-01

Recent advances in hardware and software have given the interpreter and engineer new ways to view 3D seismic data and well bore information. Recent papers have also highlighted the use of various statistics and seismic attributes. By combining new 3D rendering technologies with recent trends in seismic analysis, the interpreter can improve the structural and stratigraphic resolution of hydrocarbon reservoirs. This paper gives several examples using 3D visualization to better define both the structural and stratigraphic aspects of several different structural types from around the world. Statistics, 3D visualization techniques and rapid animation are used to show complex faulting andmore » detailed channel systems. These systems would be difficult to map using either 2D or 3D data with conventional interpretation techniques.« less

Using 3D visualization and seismic attributes to improve structural and stratigraphic resolution of reservoirs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kerr, J.; Jones, G.L.

1996-12-31

Recent advances in hardware and software have given the interpreter and engineer new ways to view 3D seismic data and well bore information. Recent papers have also highlighted the use of various statistics and seismic attributes. By combining new 3D rendering technologies with recent trends in seismic analysis, the interpreter can improve the structural and stratigraphic resolution of hydrocarbon reservoirs. This paper gives several examples using 3D visualization to better define both the structural and stratigraphic aspects of several different structural types from around the world. Statistics, 3D visualization techniques and rapid animation are used to show complex faulting andmore » detailed channel systems. These systems would be difficult to map using either 2D or 3D data with conventional interpretation techniques.« less

Innovative application of virtual display technique in virtual museum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jiankang

2017-09-01

Virtual museum refers to display and simulate the functions of real museum on the Internet in the form of 3 Dimensions virtual reality by applying interactive programs. Based on Virtual Reality Modeling Language, virtual museum building and its effective interaction with the offline museum lie in making full use of 3 Dimensions panorama technique, virtual reality technique and augmented reality technique, and innovatively taking advantages of dynamic environment modeling technique, real-time 3 Dimensions graphics generating technique, system integration technique and other key virtual reality techniques to make sure the overall design of virtual museum.3 Dimensions panorama technique, also known as panoramic photography or virtual reality, is a technique based on static images of the reality. Virtual reality technique is a kind of computer simulation system which can create and experience the interactive 3 Dimensions dynamic visual world. Augmented reality, also known as mixed reality, is a technique which simulates and mixes the information (visual, sound, taste, touch, etc.) that is difficult for human to experience in reality. These technologies make virtual museum come true. It will not only bring better experience and convenience to the public, but also be conducive to improve the influence and cultural functions of the real museum.

Visual Exploration of Semantic Relationships in Neural Word Embeddings

DOE PAGES

Liu, Shusen; Bremer, Peer-Timo; Thiagarajan, Jayaraman J.; ...

2017-08-29

Constructing distributed representations for words through neural language models and using the resulting vector spaces for analysis has become a crucial component of natural language processing (NLP). But, despite their widespread application, little is known about the structure and properties of these spaces. To gain insights into the relationship between words, the NLP community has begun to adapt high-dimensional visualization techniques. Particularly, researchers commonly use t-distributed stochastic neighbor embeddings (t-SNE) and principal component analysis (PCA) to create two-dimensional embeddings for assessing the overall structure and exploring linear relationships (e.g., word analogies), respectively. Unfortunately, these techniques often produce mediocre or evenmore » misleading results and cannot address domain-specific visualization challenges that are crucial for understanding semantic relationships in word embeddings. We introduce new embedding techniques for visualizing semantic and syntactic analogies, and the corresponding tests to determine whether the resulting views capture salient structures. Additionally, we introduce two novel views for a comprehensive study of analogy relationships. Finally, we augment t-SNE embeddings to convey uncertainty information in order to allow a reliable interpretation. Combined, the different views address a number of domain-specific tasks difficult to solve with existing tools.« less

Visual Exploration of Semantic Relationships in Neural Word Embeddings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Shusen; Bremer, Peer-Timo; Thiagarajan, Jayaraman J.

Constructing distributed representations for words through neural language models and using the resulting vector spaces for analysis has become a crucial component of natural language processing (NLP). But, despite their widespread application, little is known about the structure and properties of these spaces. To gain insights into the relationship between words, the NLP community has begun to adapt high-dimensional visualization techniques. Particularly, researchers commonly use t-distributed stochastic neighbor embeddings (t-SNE) and principal component analysis (PCA) to create two-dimensional embeddings for assessing the overall structure and exploring linear relationships (e.g., word analogies), respectively. Unfortunately, these techniques often produce mediocre or evenmore » misleading results and cannot address domain-specific visualization challenges that are crucial for understanding semantic relationships in word embeddings. We introduce new embedding techniques for visualizing semantic and syntactic analogies, and the corresponding tests to determine whether the resulting views capture salient structures. Additionally, we introduce two novel views for a comprehensive study of analogy relationships. Finally, we augment t-SNE embeddings to convey uncertainty information in order to allow a reliable interpretation. Combined, the different views address a number of domain-specific tasks difficult to solve with existing tools.« less

Value-cell bar charts for visualizing large transaction data sets.

PubMed

Keim, Daniel A; Hao, Ming C; Dayal, Umeshwar; Lyons, Martha

2007-01-01

One of the common problems businesses need to solve is how to use large volumes of sales histories, Web transactions, and other data to understand the behavior of their customers and increase their revenues. Bar charts are widely used for daily analysis, but only show highly aggregated data. Users often need to visualize detailed multidimensional information reflecting the health of their businesses. In this paper, we propose an innovative visualization solution based on the use of value cells within bar charts to represent business metrics. The value of a transaction can be discretized into one or multiple cells: high-value transactions are mapped to multiple value cells, whereas many small-value transactions are combined into one cell. With value-cell bar charts, users can 1) visualize transaction value distributions and correlations, 2) identify high-value transactions and outliers at a glance, and 3) instantly display values at the transaction record level. Value-Cell Bar Charts have been applied with success to different sales and IT service usage applications, demonstrating the benefits of the technique over traditional charting techniques. A comparison with two variants of the well-known Treemap technique and our earlier work on Pixel Bar Charts is also included.

Human Factors in Streaming Data Analysis: Challenges and Opportunities for Information Visualization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dasgupta, Aritra; Arendt, Dustin L.; Franklin, Lyndsey

State-of-the-art visual analytics models and frameworks mostly assume a static snapshot of the data, while in many cases it is a stream with constant updates and changes. Exploration of streaming data poses unique challenges as machine-level computations and abstractions need to be synchronized with the visual representation of the data and the temporally evolving human insights. In the visual analytics literature, we lack a thorough characterization of streaming data and analysis of the challenges associated with task abstraction, visualization design, and adaptation of the role of human-in-the-loop for exploration of data streams. We aim to fill this gap by conductingmore » a survey of the state-of-the-art in visual analytics of streaming data for systematically describing the contributions and shortcomings of current techniques and analyzing the research gaps that need to be addressed in the future. Our contributions are: i) problem characterization for identifying challenges that are unique to streaming data analysis tasks, ii) a survey and analysis of the state-of-the-art in streaming data visualization research with a focus on the visualization design space for dynamic data and the role of the human-in-the-loop, and iii) reflections on the design-trade-offs for streaming visual analytics techniques and their practical applicability in real-world application scenarios.« less

Dietary Restriction Affects Neuronal Response Property and GABA Synthesis in the Primary Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Yang, Jinfang; Wang, Qian; He, Fenfen; Ding, Yanxia; Sun, Qingyan; Hua, Tianmiao; Xi, Minmin

2016-01-01

Previous studies have reported inconsistent effects of dietary restriction (DR) on cortical inhibition. To clarify this issue, we examined the response properties of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) of DR and control groups of cats using in vivo extracellular single-unit recording techniques, and assessed the synthesis of inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the V1 of cats from both groups using immunohistochemical and Western blot techniques. Our results showed that the response of V1 neurons to visual stimuli was significantly modified by DR, as indicated by an enhanced selectivity for stimulus orientations and motion directions, decreased visually-evoked response, lowered spontaneous activity and increased signal-to-noise ratio in DR cats relative to control cats. Further, it was shown that, accompanied with these changes of neuronal responsiveness, GABA immunoreactivity and the expression of a key GABA-synthesizing enzyme GAD67 in the V1 were significantly increased by DR. These results demonstrate that DR may retard brain aging by increasing the intracortical inhibition effect and improve the function of visual cortical neurons in visual information processing. This DR-induced elevation of cortical inhibition may favor the brain in modulating energy expenditure based on food availability.

Dietary Restriction Affects Neuronal Response Property and GABA Synthesis in the Primary Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Sun, Qingyan; Hua, Tianmiao; Xi, Minmin

2016-01-01

Previous studies have reported inconsistent effects of dietary restriction (DR) on cortical inhibition. To clarify this issue, we examined the response properties of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) of DR and control groups of cats using in vivo extracellular single-unit recording techniques, and assessed the synthesis of inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in the V1 of cats from both groups using immunohistochemical and Western blot techniques. Our results showed that the response of V1 neurons to visual stimuli was significantly modified by DR, as indicated by an enhanced selectivity for stimulus orientations and motion directions, decreased visually-evoked response, lowered spontaneous activity and increased signal-to-noise ratio in DR cats relative to control cats. Further, it was shown that, accompanied with these changes of neuronal responsiveness, GABA immunoreactivity and the expression of a key GABA-synthesizing enzyme GAD67 in the V1 were significantly increased by DR. These results demonstrate that DR may retard brain aging by increasing the intracortical inhibition effect and improve the function of visual cortical neurons in visual information processing. This DR-induced elevation of cortical inhibition may favor the brain in modulating energy expenditure based on food availability. PMID:26863207

Visualizing Ecosystem Energy Flow in Complex Food Web Networks: A Comparison of Three Alaskan Large Marine Ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kearney, K.; Aydin, K.

2016-02-01

Oceanic food webs are often depicted as network graphs, with the major organisms or functional groups displayed as nodes and the fluxes of between them as the edges. However, the large number of nodes and edges and high connectance of many management-oriented food webs coupled with graph layout algorithms poorly-suited to certain desired characteristics of food web visualizations often lead to hopelessly tangled diagrams that convey little information other than, "It's complex." Here, I combine several new graph visualization techniques- including a new node layout alorithm based on a trophic similarity (quantification of shared predator and prey) and trophic level, divided edge bundling for edge routing, and intelligent automated placement of labels- to create a much clearer visualization of the important fluxes through a food web. The technique will be used to highlight the differences in energy flow within three Alaskan Large Marine Ecosystems (the Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Aleutian Islands) that include very similar functional groups but unique energy pathways.

Proteomic data analysis of glioma cancer stem-cell lines based on novel nonlinear dimensional data reduction techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lespinats, Sylvain; Pinker-Domenig, Katja; Wengert, Georg; Houben, Ivo; Lobbes, Marc; Stadlbauer, Andreas; Meyer-Bäse, Anke

2016-05-01

Glioma-derived cancer stem cells (GSCs) are tumor-initiating cells and may be refractory to radiation and chemotherapy and thus have important implications for tumor biology and therapeutics. The analysis and interpretation of large proteomic data sets requires the development of new data mining and visualization approaches. Traditional techniques are insufficient to interpret and visualize these resulting experimental data. The emphasis of this paper lies in the application of novel approaches for the visualization, clustering and projection representation to unveil hidden data structures relevant for the accurate interpretation of biological experiments. These qualitative and quantitative methods are applied to the proteomic analysis of data sets derived from the GSCs. The achieved clustering and visualization results provide a more detailed insight into the protein-level fold changes and putative upstream regulators for the GSCs. However the extracted molecular information is insufficient in classifying GSCs and paving the pathway to an improved therapeutics of the heterogeneous glioma.

Automatic Detection of Optic Disc in Retinal Image by Using Keypoint Detection, Texture Analysis, and Visual Dictionary Techniques

PubMed Central

Bayır, Şafak

2016-01-01

With the advances in the computer field, methods and techniques in automatic image processing and analysis provide the opportunity to detect automatically the change and degeneration in retinal images. Localization of the optic disc is extremely important for determining the hard exudate lesions or neovascularization, which is the later phase of diabetic retinopathy, in computer aided eye disease diagnosis systems. Whereas optic disc detection is fairly an easy process in normal retinal images, detecting this region in the retinal image which is diabetic retinopathy disease may be difficult. Sometimes information related to optic disc and hard exudate information may be the same in terms of machine learning. We presented a novel approach for efficient and accurate localization of optic disc in retinal images having noise and other lesions. This approach is comprised of five main steps which are image processing, keypoint extraction, texture analysis, visual dictionary, and classifier techniques. We tested our proposed technique on 3 public datasets and obtained quantitative results. Experimental results show that an average optic disc detection accuracy of 94.38%, 95.00%, and 90.00% is achieved, respectively, on the following public datasets: DIARETDB1, DRIVE, and ROC. PMID:27110272

Visual attention in egocentric field-of-view using RGB-D data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olesova, Veronika; Benesova, Wanda; Polatsek, Patrik

2017-03-01

Most of the existing solutions predicting visual attention focus solely on referenced 2D images and disregard any depth information. This aspect has always represented a weak point since the depth is an inseparable part of the biological vision. This paper presents a novel method of saliency map generation based on results of our experiments with egocentric visual attention and investigation of its correlation with perceived depth. We propose a model to predict the attention using superpixel representation with an assumption that contrast objects are usually salient and have a sparser spatial distribution of superpixels than their background. To incorporate depth information into this model, we propose three different depth techniques. The evaluation is done on our new RGB-D dataset created by SMI eye-tracker glasses and KinectV2 device.

An effective visualization technique for depth perception in augmented reality-based surgical navigation.

PubMed

Choi, Hyunseok; Cho, Byunghyun; Masamune, Ken; Hashizume, Makoto; Hong, Jaesung

2016-03-01

Depth perception is a major issue in augmented reality (AR)-based surgical navigation. We propose an AR and virtual reality (VR) switchable visualization system with distance information, and evaluate its performance in a surgical navigation set-up. To improve depth perception, seamless switching from AR to VR was implemented. In addition, the minimum distance between the tip of the surgical tool and the nearest organ was provided in real time. To evaluate the proposed techniques, five physicians and 20 non-medical volunteers participated in experiments. Targeting error, time taken, and numbers of collisions were measured in simulation experiments. There was a statistically significant difference between a simple AR technique and the proposed technique. We confirmed that depth perception in AR could be improved by the proposed seamless switching between AR and VR, and providing an indication of the minimum distance also facilitated the surgical tasks. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Visual analytics of inherently noisy crowdsourced data on ultra high resolution displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huynh, Andrew; Ponto, Kevin; Lin, Albert Yu-Min; Kuester, Falko

The increasing prevalence of distributed human microtasking, crowdsourcing, has followed the exponential increase in data collection capabilities. The large scale and distributed nature of these microtasks produce overwhelming amounts of information that is inherently noisy due to the nature of human input. Furthermore, these inputs create a constantly changing dataset with additional information added on a daily basis. Methods to quickly visualize, filter, and understand this information over temporal and geospatial constraints is key to the success of crowdsourcing. This paper present novel methods to visually analyze geospatial data collected through crowdsourcing on top of remote sensing satellite imagery. An ultra high resolution tiled display system is used to explore the relationship between human and satellite remote sensing data at scale. A case study is provided that evaluates the presented technique in the context of an archaeological field expedition. A team in the field communicated in real-time with and was guided by researchers in the remote visual analytics laboratory, swiftly sifting through incoming crowdsourced data to identify target locations that were identified as viable archaeological sites.

Visualization tool for human-machine interface designers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prevost, Michael P.; Banda, Carolyn P.

1991-06-01

As modern human-machine systems continue to grow in capabilities and complexity, system operators are faced with integrating and managing increased quantities of information. Since many information components are highly related to each other, optimizing the spatial and temporal aspects of presenting information to the operator has become a formidable task for the human-machine interface (HMI) designer. The authors describe a tool in an early stage of development, the Information Source Layout Editor (ISLE). This tool is to be used for information presentation design and analysis; it uses human factors guidelines to assist the HMI designer in the spatial layout of the information required by machine operators to perform their tasks effectively. These human factors guidelines address such areas as the functional and physical relatedness of information sources. By representing these relationships with metaphors such as spring tension, attractors, and repellers, the tool can help designers visualize the complex constraint space and interacting effects of moving displays to various alternate locations. The tool contains techniques for visualizing the relative 'goodness' of a configuration, as well as mechanisms such as optimization vectors to provide guidance toward a more optimal design. Also available is a rule-based design checker to determine compliance with selected human factors guidelines.

Linking Reading and Writing: Concept Mapping as an Organizing Tactic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osman-Jouchoux, Rionda

Writers often must summarize others' texts as part of their own work. To succeed at this, they must first read and understand new information and then transform that information to fulfill a specific purpose. Concept mapping, used as a visual organizing technique, can be an effective link between the two processes. In a preliminary study, students…

Multimodal Neuroimaging: Basic Concepts and Classification of Neuropsychiatric Diseases.

PubMed

Tulay, Emine Elif; Metin, Barış; Tarhan, Nevzat; Arıkan, Mehmet Kemal

2018-06-01

Neuroimaging techniques are widely used in neuroscience to visualize neural activity, to improve our understanding of brain mechanisms, and to identify biomarkers-especially for psychiatric diseases; however, each neuroimaging technique has several limitations. These limitations led to the development of multimodal neuroimaging (MN), which combines data obtained from multiple neuroimaging techniques, such as electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and yields more detailed information about brain dynamics. There are several types of MN, including visual inspection, data integration, and data fusion. This literature review aimed to provide a brief summary and basic information about MN techniques (data fusion approaches in particular) and classification approaches. Data fusion approaches are generally categorized as asymmetric and symmetric. The present review focused exclusively on studies based on symmetric data fusion methods (data-driven methods), such as independent component analysis and principal component analysis. Machine learning techniques have recently been introduced for use in identifying diseases and biomarkers of disease. The machine learning technique most widely used by neuroscientists is classification-especially support vector machine classification. Several studies differentiated patients with psychiatric diseases and healthy controls with using combined datasets. The common conclusion among these studies is that the prediction of diseases increases when combining data via MN techniques; however, there remain a few challenges associated with MN, such as sample size. Perhaps in the future N-way fusion can be used to combine multiple neuroimaging techniques or nonimaging predictors (eg, cognitive ability) to overcome the limitations of MN.

Please mind the gap - Visual census and cryptic biodiversity assessment at central Red Sea coral reefs.

PubMed

Pearman, John K; Anlauf, Holger; Irigoien, Xabier; Carvalho, Susana

2016-07-01

Coral reefs harbor the most diverse assemblages in the ocean, however, a large proportion of the diversity is cryptic and, therefore, undetected by standard visual census techniques. Cryptic and exposed communities differ considerably in species composition and ecological function. This study compares three different coral reef assessment protocols: i) visual benthic reef surveys: ii) visual census of Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) plates; and iii) metabarcoding techniques of the ARMS (including sessile, 106-500 μm and 500-2000 μm size fractions), that target the cryptic and exposed communities of three reefs in the central Red Sea. Visual census showed a dominance of Cnidaria (Anthozoa) and Rhodophyta on the reef substrate, while Porifera, Bryozoa and Rhodophyta were the most abundant groups on the ARMS plates. Metabarcoding, targeting the 18S rRNA gene, significantly increased estimates of the species diversity (p < 0.001); revealing that Annelida were generally the dominant phyla (in terms of reads) of all fractions and reefs. Furthermore, metabarcoding detected microbial eukaryotic groups such as Syndiniophyceae, Mamiellophyceae and Bacillariophyceae as relevant components of the sessile fraction. ANOSIM analysis showed that the three reef sites showed no differences based on the visual census data. Metabarcoding showed a higher sensitivity for identifying differences between reef communities at smaller geographic scales than standard visual census techniques as significant differences in the assemblages were observed amongst the reefs. Comparison of the techniques showed no similar patterns for the visual techniques while the metabarcoding of the ARMS showed similar patterns amongst fractions. Establishing ARMS as a standard tool in reef monitoring will not only advance our understanding of local processes and ecological community response to environmental changes, as different faunal components will provide complementary information but also improve the estimates of biodiversity in coral reef benthic communities. This study lays the foundations for further studies looking at integrating traditional reef survey methodologies with complementary approaches, such as metabarcoding, which investigate other components of the reef community. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Visualization of usability and functionality of a professional website through web-mining.

PubMed

Jones, Josette F; Mahoui, Malika; Gopa, Venkata Devi Pragna

2007-10-11

Functional interface design requires understanding of the information system structure and the user. Web logs record user interactions with the interface, and thus provide some insight into user search behavior and efficiency of the search process. The present study uses a data-mining approach with techniques such as association rules, clustering and classification, to visualize the usability and functionality of a digital library through in depth analyses of web logs.

The forensic validity of visual analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erbacher, Robert F.

2008-01-01

The wider use of visualization and visual analytics in wide ranging fields has led to the need for visual analytics capabilities to be legally admissible, especially when applied to digital forensics. This brings the need to consider legal implications when performing visual analytics, an issue not traditionally examined in visualization and visual analytics techniques and research. While digital data is generally admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence [10][21], a comprehensive validation of the digital evidence is considered prudent. A comprehensive validation requires validation of the digital data under rules for authentication, hearsay, best evidence rule, and privilege. Additional issues with digital data arise when exploring digital data related to admissibility and the validity of what information was examined, to what extent, and whether the analysis process was sufficiently covered by a search warrant. For instance, a search warrant generally covers very narrow requirements as to what law enforcement is allowed to examine and acquire during an investigation. When searching a hard drive for child pornography, how admissible is evidence of an unrelated crime, i.e. drug dealing. This is further complicated by the concept of "in plain view". When performing an analysis of a hard drive what would be considered "in plain view" when analyzing a hard drive. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues of digital forensics and the related issues as they apply to visual analytics and identify how visual analytics techniques fit into the digital forensics analysis process, how visual analytics techniques can improve the legal admissibility of digital data, and identify what research is needed to further improve this process. The goal of this paper is to open up consideration of legal ramifications among the visualization community; the author is not a lawyer and the discussions are not meant to be inclusive of all differences in laws between states and countries.

A platform for proactive, risk-based slope asset management, phase II.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-03-01

The lidar visualization technique developed by this project enables highway managers to understand changes in slope characteristics : along highways. This change detection and analysis can be the basis of informed decisions for slope inspection and r...

A platform for proactive, risk-based slope asset management, phase II.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-08-01

The lidar visualization technique developed by this project enables highway managers to understand changes : in slope characteristics along highways. This change detection and analysis can be the basis of informed : decisions for slope inspection and...

Use of multidimensional, multimodal imaging and PACS to support neurological diagnoses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Stephen T. C.; Knowlton, Robert C.; Hoo, Kent S.; Huang, H. K.

1995-05-01

Technological advances in brain imaging have revolutionized diagnosis in neurology and neurological surgery. Major imaging techniques include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize structural anatomy, positron emission tomography (PET) to image metabolic function and cerebral blood flow, magnetoencephalography (MEG) to visualize the location of physiologic current sources, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure specific biochemicals. Each of these techniques studies different biomedical aspects of the brain, but there lacks an effective means to quantify and correlate the disparate imaging datasets in order to improve clinical decision making processes. This paper describes several techniques developed in a UNIX-based neurodiagnostic workstation to aid the noninvasive presurgical evaluation of epilepsy patients. These techniques include online access to the picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) multimedia archive, coregistration of multimodality image datasets, and correlation and quantitation of structural and functional information contained in the registered images. For illustration, we describe the use of these techniques in a patient case of nonlesional neocortical epilepsy. We also present out future work based on preliminary studies.

Using GIS Mapping to Target Public Health Interventions: Examining Birth Outcomes Across GIS Techniques.

PubMed

MacQuillan, E L; Curtis, A B; Baker, K M; Paul, R; Back, Y O

2017-08-01

With advances in spatial analysis techniques, there has been a trend in recent public health research to assess the contribution of area-level factors to health disparity for a number of outcomes, including births. Although it is widely accepted that health disparity is best addressed by targeted, evidence-based and data-driven community efforts, and despite national and local focus in the U.S. to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal-child health, there is little work exploring how choice of scale and specific GIS visualization technique may alter the perception of analyses focused on health disparity in birth outcomes. Retrospective cohort study. Spatial analysis of individual-level vital records data for low birthweight and preterm births born to black women from 2007 to 2012 in one mid-sized Midwest city using different geographic information systems (GIS) visualization techniques [geocoded address records were aggregated at two levels of scale and additionally mapped using kernel density estimation (KDE)]. GIS analyses in this study support our hypothesis that choice of geographic scale (neighborhood or census tract) for aggregated birth data can alter programmatic decision-making. Results indicate that the relative merits of aggregated visualization or the use of KDE technique depend on the scale of intervention. The KDE map proved useful in targeting specific areas for interventions in cities with smaller populations and larger census tracts, where they allow for greater specificity in identifying intervention areas. When public health programmers seek to inform intervention placement in highly populated areas, however, aggregated data at the census tract level may be preferred, since it requires lower investments in terms of time and cartographic skill and, unlike neighborhood, census tracts are standardized in that they become smaller as the population density of an area increases.

General visual robot controller networks via artificial evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cliff, David; Harvey, Inman; Husbands, Philip

1993-08-01

We discuss recent results from our ongoing research concerning the application of artificial evolution techniques (i.e., an extended form of genetic algorithm) to the problem of developing `neural' network controllers for visually guided robots. The robot is a small autonomous vehicle with extremely low-resolution vision, employing visual sensors which could readily be constructed from discrete analog components. In addition to visual sensing, the robot is equipped with a small number of mechanical tactile sensors. Activity from the sensors is fed to a recurrent dynamical artificial `neural' network, which acts as the robot controller, providing signals to motors governing the robot's motion. Prior to presentation of new results, this paper summarizes our rationale and past work, which has demonstrated that visually guided control networks can arise without any explicit specification that visual processing should be employed: the evolutionary process opportunistically makes use of visual information if it is available.

Visualizing deep neural network by alternately image blurring and deblurring.

PubMed

Wang, Feng; Liu, Haijun; Cheng, Jian

2018-01-01

Visualization from trained deep neural networks has drawn massive public attention in recent. One of the visualization approaches is to train images maximizing the activation of specific neurons. However, directly maximizing the activation would lead to unrecognizable images, which cannot provide any meaningful information. In this paper, we introduce a simple but effective technique to constrain the optimization route of the visualization. By adding two totally inverse transformations, image blurring and deblurring, to the optimization procedure, recognizable images can be created. Our algorithm is good at extracting the details in the images, which are usually filtered by previous methods in the visualizations. Extensive experiments on AlexNet, VGGNet and GoogLeNet illustrate that we can better understand the neural networks utilizing the knowledge obtained by the visualization. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can state-of-the-art HVS-based objective image quality criteria be used for image reconstruction techniques based on ROI analysis?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dostal, P.; Krasula, L.; Klima, M.

2012-06-01

Various image processing techniques in multimedia technology are optimized using visual attention feature of the human visual system. Spatial non-uniformity causes that different locations in an image are of different importance in terms of perception of the image. In other words, the perceived image quality depends mainly on the quality of important locations known as regions of interest. The performance of such techniques is measured by subjective evaluation or objective image quality criteria. Many state-of-the-art objective metrics are based on HVS properties; SSIM, MS-SSIM based on image structural information, VIF based on the information that human brain can ideally gain from the reference image or FSIM utilizing the low-level features to assign the different importance to each location in the image. But still none of these objective metrics utilize the analysis of regions of interest. We solve the question if these objective metrics can be used for effective evaluation of images reconstructed by processing techniques based on ROI analysis utilizing high-level features. In this paper authors show that the state-of-the-art objective metrics do not correlate well with subjective evaluation while the demosaicing based on ROI analysis is used for reconstruction. The ROI were computed from "ground truth" visual attention data. The algorithm combining two known demosaicing techniques on the basis of ROI location is proposed to reconstruct the ROI in fine quality while the rest of image is reconstructed with low quality. The color image reconstructed by this ROI approach was compared with selected demosaicing techniques by objective criteria and subjective testing. The qualitative comparison of the objective and subjective results indicates that the state-of-the-art objective metrics are still not suitable for evaluation image processing techniques based on ROI analysis and new criteria is demanded.

GLO-STIX: Graph-Level Operations for Specifying Techniques and Interactive eXploration

PubMed Central

Stolper, Charles D.; Kahng, Minsuk; Lin, Zhiyuan; Foerster, Florian; Goel, Aakash; Stasko, John; Chau, Duen Horng

2015-01-01

The field of graph visualization has produced a wealth of visualization techniques for accomplishing a variety of analysis tasks. Therefore analysts often rely on a suite of different techniques, and visual graph analysis application builders strive to provide this breadth of techniques. To provide a holistic model for specifying network visualization techniques (as opposed to considering each technique in isolation) we present the Graph-Level Operations (GLO) model. We describe a method for identifying GLOs and apply it to identify five classes of GLOs, which can be flexibly combined to re-create six canonical graph visualization techniques. We discuss advantages of the GLO model, including potentially discovering new, effective network visualization techniques and easing the engineering challenges of building multi-technique graph visualization applications. Finally, we implement the GLOs that we identified into the GLO-STIX prototype system that enables an analyst to interactively explore a graph by applying GLOs. PMID:26005315

Neutron and positron techniques for fluid transfer system analysis and remote temperature and stress measurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, P. A. E.

1987-05-01

Present and projected applications of penetrating radiation techniques to gas turbine research and development are considered. Approaches discussed include the visualization and measurement of metal component movement using high energy X-rays, the measurement of metal temperatures using epithermal neutrons, the measurement of metal stresses using thermal neutron diffraction, and the visualization and measurement of oil and fuel systems using either cold neutron radiography or emitting isotope tomography. By selecting the radiation appropriate to the problem, the desired data can be probed for and obtained through imaging or signal acquisition, and the necessary information can then be extracted with digital image processing or knowledge based image manipulation and pattern recognition.

Physics-based interactive volume manipulation for sharing surgical process.

PubMed

Nakao, Megumi; Minato, Kotaro

2010-05-01

This paper presents a new set of techniques by which surgeons can interactively manipulate patient-specific volumetric models for sharing surgical process. To handle physical interaction between the surgical tools and organs, we propose a simple surface-constraint-based manipulation algorithm to consistently simulate common surgical manipulations such as grasping, holding and retraction. Our computation model is capable of simulating soft-tissue deformation and incision in real time. We also present visualization techniques in order to rapidly visualize time-varying, volumetric information on the deformed image. This paper demonstrates the success of the proposed methods in enabling the simulation of surgical processes, and the ways in which this simulation facilitates preoperative planning and rehearsal.

Automatic video summarization driven by a spatio-temporal attention model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barland, R.; Saadane, A.

2008-02-01

According to the literature, automatic video summarization techniques can be classified in two parts, following the output nature: "video skims", which are generated using portions of the original video and "key-frame sets", which correspond to the images, selected from the original video, having a significant semantic content. The difference between these two categories is reduced when we consider automatic procedures. Most of the published approaches are based on the image signal and use either pixel characterization or histogram techniques or image decomposition by blocks. However, few of them integrate properties of the Human Visual System (HVS). In this paper, we propose to extract keyframes for video summarization by studying the variations of salient information between two consecutive frames. For each frame, a saliency map is produced simulating the human visual attention by a bottom-up (signal-dependent) approach. This approach includes three parallel channels for processing three early visual features: intensity, color and temporal contrasts. For each channel, the variations of the salient information between two consecutive frames are computed. These outputs are then combined to produce the global saliency variation which determines the key-frames. Psychophysical experiments have been defined and conducted to analyze the relevance of the proposed key-frame extraction algorithm.

Automatic classification of minimally invasive instruments based on endoscopic image sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Speidel, Stefanie; Benzko, Julia; Krappe, Sebastian; Sudra, Gunther; Azad, Pedram; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Gutt, Carsten; Dillmann, Rüdiger

2009-02-01

Minimally invasive surgery is nowadays a frequently applied technique and can be regarded as a major breakthrough in surgery. The surgeon has to adopt special operation-techniques and deal with difficulties like the complex hand-eye coordination and restricted mobility. To alleviate these constraints we propose to enhance the surgeon's capabilities by providing a context-aware assistance using augmented reality techniques. To analyze the current situation for context-aware assistance, we need intraoperatively gained sensor data and a model of the intervention. A situation consists of information about the performed activity, the used instruments, the surgical objects, the anatomical structures and defines the state of an intervention for a given moment in time. The endoscopic images provide a rich source of information which can be used for an image-based analysis. Different visual cues are observed in order to perform an image-based analysis with the objective to gain as much information as possible about the current situation. An important visual cue is the automatic recognition of the instruments which appear in the scene. In this paper we present the classification of minimally invasive instruments using the endoscopic images. The instruments are not modified by markers. The system segments the instruments in the current image and recognizes the instrument type based on three-dimensional instrument models.

Visualization of stratospheric ozone depletion and the polar vortex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Treinish, Lloyd A.

1995-01-01

Direct analysis of spacecraft observations of stratospheric ozone yields information about the morphology of annual austral depletion. Visual correlation of ozone with other atmospheric data illustrates the diurnal dynamics of the polar vortex and contributions from the upper troposphere, including the formation and breakup of the depletion region each spring. These data require care in their presentation to minimize the introduction of visualization artifacts that are erroneously interpreted as data features. Non geographically registered data of differing mesh structures can be visually correlated via cartographic warping of base geometries without interpolation. Because this approach is independent of the realization technique, it provides a framework for experimenting with many visualization strategies. This methodology preserves the fidelity of the original data sets in a coordinate system suitable for three-dimensional, dynamic examination of atmospheric phenomena.

Nanoscale visualization of redox activity at lithium-ion battery cathodes.

PubMed

Takahashi, Yasufumi; Kumatani, Akichika; Munakata, Hirokazu; Inomata, Hirotaka; Ito, Komachi; Ino, Kosuke; Shiku, Hitoshi; Unwin, Patrick R; Korchev, Yuri E; Kanamura, Kiyoshi; Matsue, Tomokazu

2014-11-17

Intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions at electrode surfaces are central to the operation of lithium-ion batteries. Yet, on the most important composite cathode surfaces, this is a rather complex process involving spatially heterogeneous reactions that have proved difficult to resolve with existing techniques. Here we report a scanning electrochemical cell microscope based approach to define a mobile electrochemical cell that is used to quantitatively visualize electrochemical phenomena at the battery cathode material LiFePO4, with resolution of ~100 nm. The technique measures electrode topography and different electrochemical properties simultaneously, and the information can be combined with complementary microscopic techniques to reveal new perspectives on structure and activity. These electrodes exhibit highly spatially heterogeneous electrochemistry at the nanoscale, both within secondary particles and at individual primary nanoparticles, which is highly dependent on the local structure and composition.

Visualization of conserved structures by fusing highly variable datasets.

PubMed

Silverstein, Jonathan C; Chhadia, Ankur; Dech, Fred

2002-01-01

Skill, effort, and time are required to identify and visualize anatomic structures in three-dimensions from radiological data. Fundamentally, automating these processes requires a technique that uses symbolic information not in the dynamic range of the voxel data. We were developing such a technique based on mutual information for automatic multi-modality image fusion (MIAMI Fuse, University of Michigan). This system previously demonstrated facility at fusing one voxel dataset with integrated symbolic structure information to a CT dataset (different scale and resolution) from the same person. The next step of development of our technique was aimed at accommodating the variability of anatomy from patient to patient by using warping to fuse our standard dataset to arbitrary patient CT datasets. A standard symbolic information dataset was created from the full color Visible Human Female by segmenting the liver parenchyma, portal veins, and hepatic veins and overwriting each set of voxels with a fixed color. Two arbitrarily selected patient CT scans of the abdomen were used for reference datasets. We used the warping functions in MIAMI Fuse to align the standard structure data to each patient scan. The key to successful fusion was the focused use of multiple warping control points that place themselves around the structure of interest automatically. The user assigns only a few initial control points to align the scans. Fusion 1 and 2 transformed the atlas with 27 points around the liver to CT1 and CT2 respectively. Fusion 3 transformed the atlas with 45 control points around the liver to CT1 and Fusion 4 transformed the atlas with 5 control points around the portal vein. The CT dataset is augmented with the transformed standard structure dataset, such that the warped structure masks are visualized in combination with the original patient dataset. This combined volume visualization is then rendered interactively in stereo on the ImmersaDesk in an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment. The accuracy of the fusions was determined qualitatively by comparing the transformed atlas overlaid on the appropriate CT. It was examined for where the transformed structure atlas was incorrectly overlaid (false positive) and where it was incorrectly not overlaid (false negative). According to this method, fusions 1 and 2 were correct roughly 50-75% of the time, while fusions 3 and 4 were correct roughly 75-100%. The CT dataset augmented with transformed dataset was viewed arbitrarily in user-centered perspective stereo taking advantage of features such as scaling, windowing and volumetric region of interest selection. This process of auto-coloring conserved structures in variable datasets is a step toward the goal of a broader, standardized automatic structure visualization method for radiological data. If successful it would permit identification, visualization or deletion of structures in radiological data by semi-automatically applying canonical structure information to the radiological data (not just processing and visualization of the data's intrinsic dynamic range). More sophisticated selection of control points and patterns of warping may allow for more accurate transforms, and thus advances in visualization, simulation, education, diagnostics, and treatment planning.

Attraction of posture and motion-trajectory elements of conspecific biological motion in medaka fish.

PubMed

Shibai, Atsushi; Arimoto, Tsunehiro; Yoshinaga, Tsukasa; Tsuchizawa, Yuta; Khureltulga, Dashdavaa; Brown, Zuben P; Kakizuka, Taishi; Hosoda, Kazufumi

2018-06-05

Visual recognition of conspecifics is necessary for a wide range of social behaviours in many animals. Medaka (Japanese rice fish), a commonly used model organism, are known to be attracted by the biological motion of conspecifics. However, biological motion is a composite of both body-shape motion and entire-field motion trajectory (i.e., posture or motion-trajectory elements, respectively), and it has not been revealed which element mediates the attractiveness. Here, we show that either posture or motion-trajectory elements alone can attract medaka. We decomposed biological motion of the medaka into the two elements and synthesized visual stimuli that contain both, either, or none of the two elements. We found that medaka were attracted by visual stimuli that contain at least one of the two elements. In the context of other known static visual information regarding the medaka, the potential multiplicity of information regarding conspecific recognition has further accumulated. Our strategy of decomposing biological motion into these partial elements is applicable to other animals, and further studies using this technique will enhance the basic understanding of visual recognition of conspecifics.

Visualizing complex hydrodynamic features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kempf, Jill L.; Marshall, Robert E.; Yen, Chieh-Cheng

1990-08-01

The Lake Erie Forecasting System is a cooperative project by university, private and governmental institutions to provide continuous forecasting of three-dimensional structure within the lake. The forecasts will include water velocity and temperature distributions throughout the body of water, as well as water level and wind-wave distributions at the lake's surface. Many hydrodynamic features can be extracted from this data, including coastal jets, large-scale thermocline motion and zones of upwelling and downwelling. A visualization system is being developed that will aid in understanding these features and their interactions. Because of the wide variety of features, they cannot all be adequately represented by a single rendering technique. Particle tracing, surface rendering, and volumetric techniques are all necessary. This visualization effortis aimed towards creating a system that will provide meaningful forecasts for those using the lake for recreational and commercial purposes. For example, the fishing industry needs to know about large-scale thermocline motion in order to find the best fishing areas and power plants need to know water intAke temperatures. The visualization system must convey this information in a manner that is easily understood by these users. Scientists must also be able to use this system to verify their hydrodynamic simulation. The focus of the system, therefore, is to provide the information to serve these diverse interests, without overwhelming any single user with unnecessary data.

Visual Sensing for Urban Flood Monitoring

PubMed Central

Lo, Shi-Wei; Wu, Jyh-Horng; Lin, Fang-Pang; Hsu, Ching-Han

2015-01-01

With the increasing climatic extremes, the frequency and severity of urban flood events have intensified worldwide. In this study, image-based automated monitoring of flood formation and analyses of water level fluctuation were proposed as value-added intelligent sensing applications to turn a passive monitoring camera into a visual sensor. Combined with the proposed visual sensing method, traditional hydrological monitoring cameras have the ability to sense and analyze the local situation of flood events. This can solve the current problem that image-based flood monitoring heavily relies on continuous manned monitoring. Conventional sensing networks can only offer one-dimensional physical parameters measured by gauge sensors, whereas visual sensors can acquire dynamic image information of monitored sites and provide disaster prevention agencies with actual field information for decision-making to relieve flood hazards. The visual sensing method established in this study provides spatiotemporal information that can be used for automated remote analysis for monitoring urban floods. This paper focuses on the determination of flood formation based on image-processing techniques. The experimental results suggest that the visual sensing approach may be a reliable way for determining the water fluctuation and measuring its elevation and flood intrusion with respect to real-world coordinates. The performance of the proposed method has been confirmed; it has the capability to monitor and analyze the flood status, and therefore, it can serve as an active flood warning system. PMID:26287201

Human Dimensions in Future Battle Command Systems: A Workshop Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-01

information processing). These dimensions can best be described anecdotally and metaphorically as: • Battle command is a human-centric...enhance information visualization techniques in the decision tools, including multimodal platforms: video, graphics, symbols, etc. This should be...organization members. Each dimension can metaphorically represent the spatial location of individuals and group thinking in a trajectory of social norms

Learning to Recognize Patterns: Changes in the Visual Field with Familiarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bebko, James M.; Uchikawa, Keiji; Saida, Shinya; Ikeda, Mitsuo

1995-01-01

Two studies were conducted to investigate changes which take place in the visual information processing of novel stimuli as they become familiar. Japanese writing characters (Hiragana and Kanji) which were unfamiliar to two native English speaking subjects were presented using a moving window technique to restrict their visual fields. Study time for visual recognition was recorded across repeated sessions, and with varying visual field restrictions. The critical visual field was defined as the size of the visual field beyond which further increases did not improve the speed of recognition performance. In the first study, when the Hiragana patterns were novel, subjects needed to see about half of the entire pattern simultaneously to maintain optimal performance. However, the critical visual field size decreased as familiarity with the patterns increased. These results were replicated in the second study with more complex Kanji characters. In addition, the critical field size decreased as pattern complexity decreased. We propose a three component model of pattern perception. In the first stage a representation of the stimulus must be constructed by the subject, and restricting of the visual field interferes dramatically with this component when stimuli are unfamiliar. With increased familiarity, subjects become able to reconstruct a previous representation from very small, unique segments of the pattern, analogous to the informativeness areas hypothesized by Loftus and Mackworth [J. Exp. Psychol., 4 (1978) 565].

Visual short-term memory: activity supporting encoding and maintenance in retinotopic visual cortex.

PubMed

Sneve, Markus H; Alnæs, Dag; Endestad, Tor; Greenlee, Mark W; Magnussen, Svein

2012-10-15

Recent studies have demonstrated that retinotopic cortex maintains information about visual stimuli during retention intervals. However, the process by which transient stimulus-evoked sensory responses are transformed into enduring memory representations is unknown. Here, using fMRI and short-term visual memory tasks optimized for univariate and multivariate analysis approaches, we report differential involvement of human retinotopic areas during memory encoding of the low-level visual feature orientation. All visual areas show weaker responses when memory encoding processes are interrupted, possibly due to effects in orientation-sensitive primary visual cortex (V1) propagating across extrastriate areas. Furthermore, intermediate areas in both dorsal (V3a/b) and ventral (LO1/2) streams are significantly more active during memory encoding compared with non-memory (active and passive) processing of the same stimulus material. These effects in intermediate visual cortex are also observed during memory encoding of a different stimulus feature (spatial frequency), suggesting that these areas are involved in encoding processes on a higher level of representation. Using pattern-classification techniques to probe the representational content in visual cortex during delay periods, we further demonstrate that simply initiating memory encoding is not sufficient to produce long-lasting memory traces. Rather, active maintenance appears to underlie the observed memory-specific patterns of information in retinotopic cortex. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A tactual display aid for primary flight training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gilson, R. D.

1979-01-01

A means of flight instruction is discussed. In addition to verbal assistance, control feedback was continously presented via a nonvisual means utilizing touch. A kinesthetic-tactile (KT) display was used as a readout and tracking device for a computer generated signal of desired angle of attack during the approach and landing. Airspeed and glide path information was presented via KT or visual heads up display techniques. Performance with the heads up display of pitch information was shown to be significantly better than performance with the KT pitch display. Testing without the displays showed that novice pilots who had received tactile pitch error information performed both pitch and throttle control tasks significantly better than those who had received the same information from the visual heads up display of pitch during the test series of approaches to landing.

Pyramidal neurovision architecture for vision machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Madan M.; Knopf, George K.

1993-08-01

The vision system employed by an intelligent robot must be active; active in the sense that it must be capable of selectively acquiring the minimal amount of relevant information for a given task. An efficient active vision system architecture that is based loosely upon the parallel-hierarchical (pyramidal) structure of the biological visual pathway is presented in this paper. Although the computational architecture of the proposed pyramidal neuro-vision system is far less sophisticated than the architecture of the biological visual pathway, it does retain some essential features such as the converging multilayered structure of its biological counterpart. In terms of visual information processing, the neuro-vision system is constructed from a hierarchy of several interactive computational levels, whereupon each level contains one or more nonlinear parallel processors. Computationally efficient vision machines can be developed by utilizing both the parallel and serial information processing techniques within the pyramidal computing architecture. A computer simulation of a pyramidal vision system for active scene surveillance is presented.

Real-time colouring and filtering with graphics shaders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vohl, D.; Fluke, C. J.; Barnes, D. G.; Hassan, A. H.

2017-11-01

Despite the popularity of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for general purpose computing, one should not forget about the practicality of the GPU for fast scientific visualization. As astronomers have increasing access to three-dimensional (3D) data from instruments and facilities like integral field units and radio interferometers, visualization techniques such as volume rendering offer means to quickly explore spectral cubes as a whole. As most 3D visualization techniques have been developed in fields of research like medical imaging and fluid dynamics, many transfer functions are not optimal for astronomical data. We demonstrate how transfer functions and graphics shaders can be exploited to provide new astronomy-specific explorative colouring methods. We present 12 shaders, including four novel transfer functions specifically designed to produce intuitive and informative 3D visualizations of spectral cube data. We compare their utility to classic colour mapping. The remaining shaders highlight how common computation like filtering, smoothing and line ratio algorithms can be integrated as part of the graphics pipeline. We discuss how this can be achieved by utilizing the parallelism of modern GPUs along with a shading language, letting astronomers apply these new techniques at interactive frame rates. All shaders investigated in this work are included in the open source software shwirl (Vohl 2017).

Preservation of visual cortical function following retinal pigment epithelium transplantation in the RCS rat using optical imaging techniques.

PubMed

Gias, Carlos; Jones, Myles; Keegan, David; Adamson, Peter; Greenwood, John; Lund, Ray; Martindale, John; Johnston, David; Berwick, Jason; Mayhew, John; Coffey, Peter

2007-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine the extent of cortical functional preservation following retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) transplantation in the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat using single-wavelength optical imaging and spectroscopy. The cortical responses to visual stimulation in transplanted rats at 6 months post-transplantation were compared with those from age-matched untreated dystrophic and non-dystrophic rats. Our results show that cortical responses were evoked in non-dystrophic rats to both luminance changes and pattern stimulation, whereas no response was found in untreated dystrophic animals to any of the visual stimuli tested. In contrast, a cortical response was elicited in most of the transplanted rats to luminance changes and in many of those a response was also evoked to pattern stimulation. Although the transplanted rats did not respond to high spatial frequency information we found evidence of preservation in the cortical processing of luminance changes and low spatial frequency stimulation. Anatomical sections of transplanted rat retinas confirmed the capacity of RPE transplantation to rescue photoreceptors. Good correlation was found between photoreceptor survival and the extent of cortical function preservation determined with optical imaging techniques. This study determined the efficacy of RPE transplantation to preserve visual cortical processing and established optical imaging as a powerful technique for its assessment.

Neural processing of visual information under interocular suppression: a critical review

PubMed Central

Sterzer, Philipp; Stein, Timo; Ludwig, Karin; Rothkirch, Marcus; Hesselmann, Guido

2014-01-01

When dissimilar stimuli are presented to the two eyes, only one stimulus dominates at a time while the other stimulus is invisible due to interocular suppression. When both stimuli are equally potent in competing for awareness, perception alternates spontaneously between the two stimuli, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry. However, when one stimulus is much stronger, e.g., due to higher contrast, the weaker stimulus can be suppressed for prolonged periods of time. A technique that has recently become very popular for the investigation of unconscious visual processing is continuous flash suppression (CFS): High-contrast dynamic patterns shown to one eye can render a low-contrast stimulus shown to the other eye invisible for up to minutes. Studies using CFS have produced new insights but also controversies regarding the types of visual information that can be processed unconsciously as well as the neural sites and the relevance of such unconscious processing. Here, we review the current state of knowledge in regard to neural processing of interocularly suppressed information. Focusing on recent neuroimaging findings, we discuss whether and to what degree such suppressed visual information is processed at early and more advanced levels of the visual processing hierarchy. We review controversial findings related to the influence of attention on early visual processing under interocular suppression, the putative differential roles of dorsal and ventral areas in unconscious object processing, and evidence suggesting privileged unconscious processing of emotional and other socially relevant information. On a more general note, we discuss methodological and conceptual issues, from practical issues of how unawareness of a stimulus is assessed to the overarching question of what constitutes an adequate operational definition of unawareness. Finally, we propose approaches for future research to resolve current controversies in this exciting research area. PMID:24904469

Preliminary thermal imaging of cotton impurities

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Discrepancies exist between the Advanced Fiber Information Systems (AFIS) seed coat nep measurements and the seed coat fragment count upon visual inspection. Various studies have indicated that the two techniques may not be sensing the same contaminants as seed coat entities. Thermal imaging is an...

Conceptual Modeling Techniques for Use Within the DoD Acquisition Community

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-14

auditory, or kinesthetic information, but are there people more naturally adept at thinking conceptually? For those who showed greater conceptually...thinking ability, does being a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner correlate to this in any statistically significant manner? Does field

Eden Revisited. Art across the Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sartorius, Tara Cady

2000-01-01

Provides information on china painting, focusing on Kurt Weiser, who paints on ceramics using china paints. Discusses his techniques and describes his work titled "Woman with Mongoose." Includes accompanying projects for art history, visual arts, language arts, natural science, and science or mathematics. (CMK)

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voos, Avery; Pelphrey, Kevin

2013-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with its excellent spatial resolution and ability to visualize networks of neuroanatomical structures involved in complex information processing, has become the dominant technique for the study of brain function and its development. The accessibility of in-vivo pediatric brain-imaging techniques…

Beyond visualization of big data: a multi-stage data exploration approach using visualization, sonification, and storification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rimland, Jeffrey; Ballora, Mark; Shumaker, Wade

2013-05-01

As the sheer volume of data grows exponentially, it becomes increasingly difficult for existing visualization techniques to keep pace. The sonification field attempts to address this issue by enlisting our auditory senses to detect anomalies or complex events that are difficult to detect via visualization alone. Storification attempts to improve analyst understanding by converting data streams into organized narratives describing the data at a higher level of abstraction than the input stream that they area derived from. While these techniques hold a great deal of promise, they also each have a unique set of challenges that must be overcome. Sonification techniques must represent a broad variety of distributed heterogeneous data and present it to the analyst/listener in a manner that doesn't require extended listening - as visual "snapshots" are useful but auditory sounds only exist over time. Storification still faces many human-computer interface (HCI) challenges as well as technical hurdles related to automatically generating a logical narrative from lower-level data streams. This paper proposes a novel approach that utilizes a service oriented architecture (SOA)-based hybrid visualization/ sonification / storification framework to enable distributed human-in-the-loop processing of data in a manner that makes optimized usage of both visual and auditory processing pathways while also leveraging the value of narrative explication of data streams. It addresses the benefits and shortcomings of each processing modality and discusses information infrastructure and data representation concerns required with their utilization in a distributed environment. We present a generalizable approach with a broad range of applications including cyber security, medical informatics, facilitation of energy savings in "smart" buildings, and detection of natural and man-made disasters.

Lightness Constancy in Surface Visualization

PubMed Central

Szafir, Danielle Albers; Sarikaya, Alper; Gleicher, Michael

2016-01-01

Color is a common channel for displaying data in surface visualization, but is affected by the shadows and shading used to convey surface depth and shape. Understanding encoded data in the context of surface structure is critical for effective analysis in a variety of domains, such as in molecular biology. In the physical world, lightness constancy allows people to accurately perceive shadowed colors; however, its effectiveness in complex synthetic environments such as surface visualizations is not well understood. We report a series of crowdsourced and laboratory studies that confirm the existence of lightness constancy effects for molecular surface visualizations using ambient occlusion. We provide empirical evidence of how common visualization design decisions can impact viewers’ abilities to accurately identify encoded surface colors. These findings suggest that lightness constancy aids in understanding color encodings in surface visualization and reveal a correlation between visualization techniques that improve color interpretation in shadow and those that enhance perceptions of surface depth. These results collectively suggest that understanding constancy in practice can inform effective visualization design. PMID:26584495

Modeling the Development of Audiovisual Cue Integration in Speech Perception

PubMed Central

Getz, Laura M.; Nordeen, Elke R.; Vrabic, Sarah C.; Toscano, Joseph C.

2017-01-01

Adult speech perception is generally enhanced when information is provided from multiple modalities. In contrast, infants do not appear to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech information early in development. This is true despite the fact that both modalities are important to speech comprehension even at early stages of language acquisition. How then do listeners learn how to process auditory and visual information as part of a unified signal? In the auditory domain, statistical learning processes provide an excellent mechanism for acquiring phonological categories. Is this also true for the more complex problem of acquiring audiovisual correspondences, which require the learner to integrate information from multiple modalities? In this paper, we present simulations using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) that learn cue weights and combine cues on the basis of their distributional statistics. First, we simulate the developmental process of acquiring phonological categories from auditory and visual cues, asking whether simple statistical learning approaches are sufficient for learning multi-modal representations. Second, we use this time course information to explain audiovisual speech perception in adult perceivers, including cases where auditory and visual input are mismatched. Overall, we find that domain-general statistical learning techniques allow us to model the developmental trajectory of audiovisual cue integration in speech, and in turn, allow us to better understand the mechanisms that give rise to unified percepts based on multiple cues. PMID:28335558

Modeling the Development of Audiovisual Cue Integration in Speech Perception.

PubMed

Getz, Laura M; Nordeen, Elke R; Vrabic, Sarah C; Toscano, Joseph C

2017-03-21

Adult speech perception is generally enhanced when information is provided from multiple modalities. In contrast, infants do not appear to benefit from combining auditory and visual speech information early in development. This is true despite the fact that both modalities are important to speech comprehension even at early stages of language acquisition. How then do listeners learn how to process auditory and visual information as part of a unified signal? In the auditory domain, statistical learning processes provide an excellent mechanism for acquiring phonological categories. Is this also true for the more complex problem of acquiring audiovisual correspondences, which require the learner to integrate information from multiple modalities? In this paper, we present simulations using Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) that learn cue weights and combine cues on the basis of their distributional statistics. First, we simulate the developmental process of acquiring phonological categories from auditory and visual cues, asking whether simple statistical learning approaches are sufficient for learning multi-modal representations. Second, we use this time course information to explain audiovisual speech perception in adult perceivers, including cases where auditory and visual input are mismatched. Overall, we find that domain-general statistical learning techniques allow us to model the developmental trajectory of audiovisual cue integration in speech, and in turn, allow us to better understand the mechanisms that give rise to unified percepts based on multiple cues.

Foveal analysis and peripheral selection during active visual sampling

PubMed Central

Ludwig, Casimir J. H.; Davies, J. Rhys; Eckstein, Miguel P.

2014-01-01

Human vision is an active process in which information is sampled during brief periods of stable fixation in between gaze shifts. Foveal analysis serves to identify the currently fixated object and has to be coordinated with a peripheral selection process of the next fixation location. Models of visual search and scene perception typically focus on the latter, without considering foveal processing requirements. We developed a dual-task noise classification technique that enables identification of the information uptake for foveal analysis and peripheral selection within a single fixation. Human observers had to use foveal vision to extract visual feature information (orientation) from different locations for a psychophysical comparison. The selection of to-be-fixated locations was guided by a different feature (luminance contrast). We inserted noise in both visual features and identified the uptake of information by looking at correlations between the noise at different points in time and behavior. Our data show that foveal analysis and peripheral selection proceeded completely in parallel. Peripheral processing stopped some time before the onset of an eye movement, but foveal analysis continued during this period. Variations in the difficulty of foveal processing did not influence the uptake of peripheral information and the efficacy of peripheral selection, suggesting that foveal analysis and peripheral selection operated independently. These results provide important theoretical constraints on how to model target selection in conjunction with foveal object identification: in parallel and independently. PMID:24385588

Designing a visualization system for hydrological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuhrmann, Sven

2000-02-01

The field of hydrology is, as any other scientific field, strongly affected by a massive technological evolution. The spread of modern information and communication technology within the last three decades has led to an increased collection, availability and use of spatial and temporal digital hydrological data. In a two-year research period a working group in Muenster applied and developed methods for the visualization of digital hydrological data and the documentation of hydrological models. A low-cost multimedial, hydrological visualization system (HydroVIS) for the Weser river catchment was developed. The research group designed HydroVIS under freeware constraints and tried to show what kind of multimedia visualization techniques can be effectively used with a nonprofit hydrological visualization system. The system's visual components include features such as electronic maps, temporal and nontemporal cartographic animations, the display of geologic profiles, interactive diagrams and hypertext, including photographs and tables.

Big data in medical informatics: improving education through visual analytics.

PubMed

Vaitsis, Christos; Nilsson, Gunnar; Zary, Nabil

2014-01-01

A continuous effort to improve healthcare education today is currently driven from the need to create competent health professionals able to meet healthcare demands. Limited research reporting how educational data manipulation can help in healthcare education improvement. The emerging research field of visual analytics has the advantage to combine big data analysis and manipulation techniques, information and knowledge representation, and human cognitive strength to perceive and recognise visual patterns. The aim of this study was therefore to explore novel ways of representing curriculum and educational data using visual analytics. Three approaches of visualization and representation of educational data were presented. Five competencies at undergraduate medical program level addressed in courses were identified to inaccurately correspond to higher education board competencies. Different visual representations seem to have a potential in impacting on the ability to perceive entities and connections in the curriculum data.

Combining textual and visual information for image retrieval in the medical domain.

PubMed

Gkoufas, Yiannis; Morou, Anna; Kalamboukis, Theodore

2011-01-01

In this article we have assembled the experience obtained from our participation in the imageCLEF evaluation task over the past two years. Exploitation on the use of linear combinations for image retrieval has been attempted by combining visual and textual sources of images. From our experiments we conclude that a mixed retrieval technique that applies both textual and visual retrieval in an interchangeably repeated manner improves the performance while overcoming the scalability limitations of visual retrieval. In particular, the mean average precision (MAP) has increased from 0.01 to 0.15 and 0.087 for 2009 and 2010 data, respectively, when content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is performed on the top 1000 results from textual retrieval based on natural language processing (NLP).

Real-Time Aerodynamic Flow and Data Visualization in an Interactive Virtual Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, Richard J.; Fleming, Gary A.

2005-01-01

Significant advances have been made to non-intrusive flow field diagnostics in the past decade. Camera based techniques are now capable of determining physical qualities such as surface deformation, surface pressure and temperature, flow velocities, and molecular species concentration. In each case, extracting the pertinent information from the large volume of acquired data requires powerful and efficient data visualization tools. The additional requirement for real time visualization is fueled by an increased emphasis on minimizing test time in expensive facilities. This paper will address a capability titled LiveView3D, which is the first step in the development phase of an in depth, real time data visualization and analysis tool for use in aerospace testing facilities.

Reproducibility of The Abdominal and Chest Wall Position by Voluntary Breath-Hold Technique Using a Laser-Based Monitoring and Visual Feedback System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nakamura, Katsumasa; Shioyama, Yoshiyuki; Nomoto, Satoru

2007-05-01

Purpose: The voluntary breath-hold (BH) technique is a simple method to control the respiration-related motion of a tumor during irradiation. However, the abdominal and chest wall position may not be accurately reproduced using the BH technique. The purpose of this study was to examine whether visual feedback can reduce the fluctuation in wall motion during BH using a new respiratory monitoring device. Methods and Materials: We developed a laser-based BH monitoring and visual feedback system. For this study, five healthy volunteers were enrolled. The volunteers, practicing abdominal breathing, performed shallow end-expiration BH (SEBH), shallow end-inspiration BH (SIBH), and deep end-inspirationmore » BH (DIBH) with or without visual feedback. The abdominal and chest wall positions were measured at 80-ms intervals during BHs. Results: The fluctuation in the chest wall position was smaller than that of the abdominal wall position. The reproducibility of the wall position was improved by visual feedback. With a monitoring device, visual feedback reduced the mean deviation of the abdominal wall from 2.1 {+-} 1.3 mm to 1.5 {+-} 0.5 mm, 2.5 {+-} 1.9 mm to 1.1 {+-} 0.4 mm, and 6.6 {+-} 2.4 mm to 2.6 {+-} 1.4 mm in SEBH, SIBH, and DIBH, respectively. Conclusions: Volunteers can perform the BH maneuver in a highly reproducible fashion when informed about the position of the wall, although in the case of DIBH, the deviation in the wall position remained substantial.« less

Stream specificity and asymmetries in feature binding and content-addressable access in visual encoding and memory.

PubMed

Huynh, Duong L; Tripathy, Srimant P; Bedell, Harold E; Ögmen, Haluk

2015-01-01

Human memory is content addressable-i.e., contents of the memory can be accessed using partial information about the bound features of a stored item. In this study, we used a cross-feature cuing technique to examine how the human visual system encodes, binds, and retains information about multiple stimulus features within a set of moving objects. We sought to characterize the roles of three different features (position, color, and direction of motion, the latter two of which are processed preferentially within the ventral and dorsal visual streams, respectively) in the construction and maintenance of object representations. We investigated the extent to which these features are bound together across the following processing stages: during stimulus encoding, sensory (iconic) memory, and visual short-term memory. Whereas all features examined here can serve as cues for addressing content, their effectiveness shows asymmetries and varies according to cue-report pairings and the stage of information processing and storage. Position-based indexing theories predict that position should be more effective as a cue compared to other features. While we found a privileged role for position as a cue at the stimulus-encoding stage, position was not the privileged cue at the sensory and visual short-term memory stages. Instead, the pattern that emerged from our findings is one that mirrors the parallel processing streams in the visual system. This stream-specific binding and cuing effectiveness manifests itself in all three stages of information processing examined here. Finally, we find that the Leaky Flask model proposed in our previous study is applicable to all three features.

Measuring the performance of visual to auditory information conversion.

PubMed

Tan, Shern Shiou; Maul, Tomás Henrique Bode; Mennie, Neil Russell

2013-01-01

Visual to auditory conversion systems have been in existence for several decades. Besides being among the front runners in providing visual capabilities to blind users, the auditory cues generated from image sonification systems are still easier to learn and adapt to compared to other similar techniques. Other advantages include low cost, easy customizability, and universality. However, every system developed so far has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. In order to improve these systems further, we propose an automated and quantitative method to measure the performance of such systems. With these quantitative measurements, it is possible to gauge the relative strengths and weaknesses of different systems and rank the systems accordingly. Performance is measured by both the interpretability and also the information preservation of visual to auditory conversions. Interpretability is measured by computing the correlation of inter image distance (IID) and inter sound distance (ISD) whereas the information preservation is computed by applying Information Theory to measure the entropy of both visual and corresponding auditory signals. These measurements provide a basis and some insights on how the systems work. With an automated interpretability measure as a standard, more image sonification systems can be developed, compared, and then improved. Even though the measure does not test systems as thoroughly as carefully designed psychological experiments, a quantitative measurement like the one proposed here can compare systems to a certain degree without incurring much cost. Underlying this research is the hope that a major breakthrough in image sonification systems will allow blind users to cost effectively regain enough visual functions to allow them to lead secure and productive lives.

Interactive visualization of public health indicators to support policymaking: An exploratory study

PubMed Central

Zakkar, Moutasem; Sedig, Kamran

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the use of interactive visualizations to represent data/information related to social determinants of health and public health indicators, and to investigate the benefits of such visualizations for health policymaking. Methods: The study developed a prototype for an online interactive visualization tool that represents the social determinants of health. The study participants explored and used the tool. The tool was evaluated using the informal user experience evaluation method. This method involves the prospective users of a tool to use and play with it and their feedback to be collected through interviews. Results: Using visualizations to represent and interact with health indicators has advantages over traditional representation techniques that do not allow users to interact with the information. Communicating healthcare indicators to policymakers is a complex task because of the complexity of the indicators, diversity of audiences, and different audience needs. This complexity can lead to information misinterpretation, which occurs when users of the health data ignore or do not know why, where, and how the data has been produced, or where and how it can be used. Conclusions: Public health policymaking is a complex process, and data is only one element among others needed in this complex process. Researchers and healthcare organizations should conduct a strategic evaluation to assess the usability of interactive visualizations and decision support tools before investing in these tools. Such evaluation should take into consideration the cost, ease of use, learnability, and efficiency of those tools, and the factors that influence policymaking. PMID:29026455

MindSeer: a portable and extensible tool for visualization of structural and functional neuroimaging data

PubMed Central

Moore, Eider B; Poliakov, Andrew V; Lincoln, Peter; Brinkley, James F

2007-01-01

Background Three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of multimodality neuroimaging data provides a powerful technique for viewing the relationship between structure and function. A number of applications are available that include some aspect of 3-D visualization, including both free and commercial products. These applications range from highly specific programs for a single modality, to general purpose toolkits that include many image processing functions in addition to visualization. However, few if any of these combine both stand-alone and remote multi-modality visualization in an open source, portable and extensible tool that is easy to install and use, yet can be included as a component of a larger information system. Results We have developed a new open source multimodality 3-D visualization application, called MindSeer, that has these features: integrated and interactive 3-D volume and surface visualization, Java and Java3D for true cross-platform portability, one-click installation and startup, integrated data management to help organize large studies, extensibility through plugins, transparent remote visualization, and the ability to be integrated into larger information management systems. We describe the design and implementation of the system, as well as several case studies that demonstrate its utility. These case studies are available as tutorials or demos on the associated website: . Conclusion MindSeer provides a powerful visualization tool for multimodality neuroimaging data. Its architecture and unique features also allow it to be extended into other visualization domains within biomedicine. PMID:17937818

MindSeer: a portable and extensible tool for visualization of structural and functional neuroimaging data.

PubMed

Moore, Eider B; Poliakov, Andrew V; Lincoln, Peter; Brinkley, James F

2007-10-15

Three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of multimodality neuroimaging data provides a powerful technique for viewing the relationship between structure and function. A number of applications are available that include some aspect of 3-D visualization, including both free and commercial products. These applications range from highly specific programs for a single modality, to general purpose toolkits that include many image processing functions in addition to visualization. However, few if any of these combine both stand-alone and remote multi-modality visualization in an open source, portable and extensible tool that is easy to install and use, yet can be included as a component of a larger information system. We have developed a new open source multimodality 3-D visualization application, called MindSeer, that has these features: integrated and interactive 3-D volume and surface visualization, Java and Java3D for true cross-platform portability, one-click installation and startup, integrated data management to help organize large studies, extensibility through plugins, transparent remote visualization, and the ability to be integrated into larger information management systems. We describe the design and implementation of the system, as well as several case studies that demonstrate its utility. These case studies are available as tutorials or demos on the associated website: http://sig.biostr.washington.edu/projects/MindSeer. MindSeer provides a powerful visualization tool for multimodality neuroimaging data. Its architecture and unique features also allow it to be extended into other visualization domains within biomedicine.

Visualizing Time-Varying Phenomena In Numerical Simulations Of Unsteady Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lane, David A.

1996-01-01

Streamlines, contour lines, vector plots, and volume slices (cutting planes) are commonly used for flow visualization. These techniques are sometimes referred to as instantaneous flow visualization techniques because calculations are based on an instant of the flowfield in time. Although instantaneous flow visualization techniques are effective for depicting phenomena in steady flows,they sometimes do not adequately depict time-varying phenomena in unsteady flows. Streaklines and timelines are effective visualization techniques for depicting vortex shedding, vortex breakdown, and shock waves in unsteady flows. These techniques are examples of time-dependent flow visualization techniques, which are based on many instants of the flowfields in time. This paper describes the algorithms for computing streaklines and timelines. Using numerically simulated unsteady flows, streaklines and timelines are compared with streamlines, contour lines, and vector plots. It is shown that streaklines and timelines reveal vortex shedding and vortex breakdown more clearly than instantaneous flow visualization techniques.

ActiviTree: interactive visual exploration of sequences in event-based data using graph similarity.

PubMed

Vrotsou, Katerina; Johansson, Jimmy; Cooper, Matthew

2009-01-01

The identification of significant sequences in large and complex event-based temporal data is a challenging problem with applications in many areas of today's information intensive society. Pure visual representations can be used for the analysis, but are constrained to small data sets. Algorithmic search mechanisms used for larger data sets become expensive as the data size increases and typically focus on frequency of occurrence to reduce the computational complexity, often overlooking important infrequent sequences and outliers. In this paper we introduce an interactive visual data mining approach based on an adaptation of techniques developed for web searching, combined with an intuitive visual interface, to facilitate user-centred exploration of the data and identification of sequences significant to that user. The search algorithm used in the exploration executes in negligible time, even for large data, and so no pre-processing of the selected data is required, making this a completely interactive experience for the user. Our particular application area is social science diary data but the technique is applicable across many other disciplines.

Interactive Classification of Construction Materials: Feedback Driven Framework for Annotation and Analysis of 3d Point Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hess, M. R.; Petrovic, V.; Kuester, F.

2017-08-01

Digital documentation of cultural heritage structures is increasingly more common through the application of different imaging techniques. Many works have focused on the application of laser scanning and photogrammetry techniques for the acquisition of threedimensional (3D) geometry detailing cultural heritage sites and structures. With an abundance of these 3D data assets, there must be a digital environment where these data can be visualized and analyzed. Presented here is a feedback driven visualization framework that seamlessly enables interactive exploration and manipulation of massive point cloud data. The focus of this work is on the classification of different building materials with the goal of building more accurate as-built information models of historical structures. User defined functions have been tested within the interactive point cloud visualization framework to evaluate automated and semi-automated classification of 3D point data. These functions include decisions based on observed color, laser intensity, normal vector or local surface geometry. Multiple case studies are presented here to demonstrate the flexibility and utility of the presented point cloud visualization framework to achieve classification objectives.

USL NASA/RECON project presentations at the 1985 ACM Computer Science Conference: Abstracts and visuals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Chum, Frank Y.; Gallagher, Suzy; Granier, Martin; Hall, Philip P.; Moreau, Dennis R.; Triantafyllopoulos, Spiros

1985-01-01

This Working Paper Series entry represents the abstracts and visuals associated with presentations delivered by six USL NASA/RECON research team members at the above named conference. The presentations highlight various aspects of NASA contract activities pursued by the participants as they relate to individual research projects. The titles of the six presentations are as follows: (1) The Specification and Design of a Distributed Workstation; (2) An Innovative, Multidisciplinary Educational Program in Interactive Information Storage and Retrieval; (3) Critical Comparative Analysis of the Major Commercial IS and R Systems; (4) Design Criteria for a PC-Based Common User Interface to Remote Information Systems; (5) The Design of an Object-Oriented Graphics Interface; and (6) Knowledge-Based Information Retrieval: Techniques and Applications.

Review of fluorescence guided surgery visualization and overlay techniques

PubMed Central

Elliott, Jonathan T.; Dsouza, Alisha V.; Davis, Scott C.; Olson, Jonathan D.; Paulsen, Keith D.; Roberts, David W.; Pogue, Brian W.

2015-01-01

In fluorescence guided surgery, data visualization represents a critical step between signal capture and display needed for clinical decisions informed by that signal. The diversity of methods for displaying surgical images are reviewed, and a particular focus is placed on electronically detected and visualized signals, as required for near-infrared or low concentration tracers. Factors driving the choices such as human perception, the need for rapid decision making in a surgical environment, and biases induced by display choices are outlined. Five practical suggestions are outlined for optimal display orientation, color map, transparency/alpha function, dynamic range compression, and color perception check. PMID:26504628

Self-Organizing Hidden Markov Model Map (SOHMMM): Biological Sequence Clustering and Cluster Visualization.

PubMed

Ferles, Christos; Beaufort, William-Scott; Ferle, Vanessa

2017-01-01

The present study devises mapping methodologies and projection techniques that visualize and demonstrate biological sequence data clustering results. The Sequence Data Density Display (SDDD) and Sequence Likelihood Projection (SLP) visualizations represent the input symbolical sequences in a lower-dimensional space in such a way that the clusters and relations of data elements are depicted graphically. Both operate in combination/synergy with the Self-Organizing Hidden Markov Model Map (SOHMMM). The resulting unified framework is in position to analyze automatically and directly raw sequence data. This analysis is carried out with little, or even complete absence of, prior information/domain knowledge.

Molecules to maps: tools for visualization and interaction in support of computational biology.

PubMed

Kraemer, E T; Ferrin, T E

1998-01-01

The volume of data produced by genome projects, X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and electron and confocal microscopy present the bioinformatics community with new challenges for analyzing, understanding, and exchanging this data. At the 1998 Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, a track entitled 'Molecules to Maps: Tools for Visualization and Interaction in Computational Biology' provided tool developers and users with the opportunity to discuss advances in tools and techniques to assist scientists in evaluating, absorbing, navigating, and correlating this sea of information, through visualization and user interaction. In this paper we present these advances and discuss some of the challenges that remain to be solved.

Tile-based parallel coordinates and its application in financial visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsakran, Jamal; Zhao, Ye; Zhao, Xinlei

2010-01-01

Parallel coordinates technique has been widely used in information visualization applications and it has achieved great success in visualizing multivariate data and perceiving their trends. Nevertheless, visual clutter usually weakens or even diminishes its ability when the data size increases. In this paper, we first propose a tile-based parallel coordinates, where the plotting area is divided into rectangular tiles. Each tile stores an intersection density that counts the total number of polylines intersecting with that tile. Consequently, the intersection density is mapped to optical attributes, such as color and opacity, by interactive transfer functions. The method visualizes the polylines efficiently and informatively in accordance with the density distribution, and thus, reduces visual cluttering and promotes knowledge discovery. The interactivity of our method allows the user to instantaneously manipulate the tiles distribution and the transfer functions. Specifically, the classic parallel coordinates rendering is a special case of our method when each tile represents only one pixel. A case study on a real world data set, U.S. stock mutual fund data of year 2006, is presented to show the capability of our method in visually analyzing financial data. The presented visual analysis is conducted by an expert in the domain of finance. Our method gains the support from professionals in the finance field, they embrace it as a potential investment analysis tool for mutual fund managers, financial planners, and investors.

From Information Center to Discovery System: Next Step for Libraries?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marcum, James W.

2001-01-01

Proposes a discovery system model to guide technology integration in academic libraries that fuses organizational learning, systems learning, and knowledge creation techniques with constructivist learning practices to suggest possible future directions for digital libraries. Topics include accessing visual and continuous media; information…

Bibliography on methods of atmospheric visibility measurements relevant to air traffic control and related subjects

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1973-11-30

The bibliographical survey provides reference information and background material to assist in the selection of principles and measuring techniques which may be used in the development of future systems to measure Runway Visual Range (RVR), Slant Vis...

Learning Dashboards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charleer, Sven; Klerkx, Joris; Duval, Erik

2014-01-01

This article explores how information visualization techniques can be applied to learning analytics data to help teachers and students deal with the abundance of learner traces. We also investigate how the affordances of large interactive surfaces can facilitate a collaborative sense-making environment for multiple students and teachers to explore…

The magnifying glass - A feature space local expansion for visual analysis. [and image enhancement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Juday, R. D.

1981-01-01

The Magnifying Glass Transformation (MGT) technique is proposed, as a multichannel spectral operation yielding visual imagery which is enhanced in a specified spectral vicinity, guided by the statistics of training samples. An application example is that in which the discrimination among spectral neighbors within an interactive display may be increased without altering distant object appearances or overall interpretation. A direct histogram specification technique is applied to the channels within the multispectral image so that a subset of the spectral domain occupies an increased fraction of the domain. The transformation is carried out by obtaining the training information, establishing the condition of the covariance matrix, determining the influenced solid, and initializing the lookup table. Finally, the image is transformed.

Visualization of the 3-D topography of the optic nerve head through a passive stereo vision model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramirez, Juan M.; Mitra, Sunanda; Morales, Jose

1999-01-01

This paper describes a system for surface recovery and visualization of the 3D topography of the optic nerve head, as support of early diagnosis and follow up to glaucoma. In stereo vision, depth information is obtained from triangulation of corresponding points in a pair of stereo images. In this paper, the use of the cepstrum transformation as a disparity measurement technique between corresponding windows of different block sizes is described. This measurement process is embedded within a coarse-to-fine depth-from-stereo algorithm, providing an initial range map with the depth information encoded as gray levels. These sparse depth data are processed through a cubic B-spline interpolation technique in order to obtain a smoother representation. This methodology is being especially refined to be used with medical images for clinical evaluation of some eye diseases such as open angle glaucoma, and is currently under testing for clinical evaluation and analysis of reproducibility and accuracy.

Intravascular ultrasound in coronary atherosclerosis: a new approach to clinical assessment.

PubMed

Liebson, P R; Klein, L W

1992-06-01

Intravascular ultrasound evaluation of the coronary arteries by means of a selective coronary catheter attached to an ultrasound unit has afforded precise depiction of coronary lumen diameter and area at the level of the catheter tip. The arterial wall at this level can be evaluated for lipid, fibrous tissue, calcification, wall dissections, and intraluminal thrombi. The technique has the advantage over coronary angioscopy and angiography in that it does not require infusions or injections to allow visualization, and it has the ability to depict the inside of the arterial wall. The current disadvantages include the inability to visualize the vessel segments distal to the catheter tip. Three-dimensional reconstruction techniques allow depiction of the segment of the artery traversed by the catheter tip. The use of Doppler ultrasound imaging provides information on coronary flow velocities through coronary obstructions. Intravascular ultrasound images may provide information that complements the coronary arteriogram and may have an impact on patient care and clinical investigation strategies.

Visual mining business service using pixel bar charts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Ming C.; Dayal, Umeshwar; Casati, Fabio

2004-06-01

Basic bar charts have been commonly available, but they only show highly aggregated data. Finding the valuable information hidden in the data is essential to the success of business. We describe a new visualization technique called pixel bar charts, which are derived from regular bar charts. The basic idea of a pixel bar chart is to present all data values directly instead of aggregating them into a few data values. Pixel bar charts provide data distribution and exceptions besides aggregated data. The approach is to represent each data item (e.g. a business transaction) by a single pixel in the bar chart. The attribute of each data item is encoded into the pixel color and can be accessed and drilled down to the detail information as needed. Different color mappings are used to represent multiple attributes. This technique has been prototyped in three business service applications-Business Operation Analysis, Sales Analysis, and Service Level Agreement Analysis at Hewlett Packard Laboratories. Our applications show the wide applicability and usefulness of this new idea.

Neural network based visualization of collaborations in a citizen science project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, Alessandra M. M.; Santos, Rafael D. C.; Raddick, M. Jordan

2014-05-01

Citizen science projects are those in which volunteers are asked to collaborate in scientific projects, usually by volunteering idle computer time for distributed data processing efforts or by actively labeling or classifying information - shapes of galaxies, whale sounds, historical records are all examples of citizen science projects in which users access a data collecting system to label or classify images and sounds. In order to be successful, a citizen science project must captivate users and keep them interested on the project and on the science behind it, increasing therefore the time the users spend collaborating with the project. Understanding behavior of citizen scientists and their interaction with the data collection systems may help increase the involvement of the users, categorize them accordingly to different parameters, facilitate their collaboration with the systems, design better user interfaces, and allow better planning and deployment of similar projects and systems. Users behavior can be actively monitored or derived from their interaction with the data collection systems. Records of the interactions can be analyzed using visualization techniques to identify patterns and outliers. In this paper we present some results on the visualization of more than 80 million interactions of almost 150 thousand users with the Galaxy Zoo I citizen science project. Visualization of the attributes extracted from their behaviors was done with a clustering neural network (the Self-Organizing Map) and a selection of icon- and pixel-based techniques. These techniques allows the visual identification of groups of similar behavior in several different ways.

Non-visual Web Browsing: Beyond Web Accessibility

PubMed Central

Ramakrishnan, I.V.; Ashok, Vikas

2017-01-01

People with vision impairments typically use screen readers to browse the Web. To facilitate non-visual browsing, web sites must be made accessible to screen readers, i.e., all the visible elements in the web site must be readable by the screen reader. But even if web sites are accessible, screen-reader users may not find them easy to use and/or easy to navigate. For example, they may not be able to locate the desired information without having to listen to a lot of irrelevant contents. These issues go beyond web accessibility and directly impact web usability. Several techniques have been reported in the accessibility literature for making the Web usable for screen reading. This paper is a review of these techniques. Interestingly, the review reveals that understanding the semantics of the web content is the overarching theme that drives these techniques for improving web usability. PMID:29202137

Non-visual Web Browsing: Beyond Web Accessibility.

PubMed

Ramakrishnan, I V; Ashok, Vikas; Billah, Syed Masum

2017-07-01

People with vision impairments typically use screen readers to browse the Web. To facilitate non-visual browsing, web sites must be made accessible to screen readers, i.e., all the visible elements in the web site must be readable by the screen reader. But even if web sites are accessible, screen-reader users may not find them easy to use and/or easy to navigate. For example, they may not be able to locate the desired information without having to listen to a lot of irrelevant contents. These issues go beyond web accessibility and directly impact web usability. Several techniques have been reported in the accessibility literature for making the Web usable for screen reading. This paper is a review of these techniques. Interestingly, the review reveals that understanding the semantics of the web content is the overarching theme that drives these techniques for improving web usability.

Applying projective techniques to formative research in health communication development.

PubMed

Wiehagen, Theresa; Caito, Nicole M; Thompson, Vetta Sanders; Casey, Christopher M; Weaver, Nancy L; Jupka, Keri; Kreuter, Matthew W

2007-04-01

This article describes a new approach to formative research in which projective techniques commonly used in psychological assessment were adapted for use in focus groups to help design colorectal-cancer screening materials for African American men and women. Participants (N = 20) were divided into six "design teams." Each team was given a selection of design supplies and asked to create and discuss a visual layout for screening materials. Participants chose design elements that reflected visual preferences that they felt would connect meaningfully with other African Americans. The dynamics within the design teams were different than in traditional focus groups, with participants having more control over the group's direction. Using projective techniques helped draw out unique information from participants by allowing them to "project" their opinions onto objects. This approach may be a valuable tool for health-promotion and health-communication practitioners seeking insight on the implicit values of a priority population.

Knowledge-Based Vision Techniques for the Autonomous Land Vehicle Program

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-10-01

Knowledge System The CKS is an object-oriented knowledge database that was originally designed to serve as the central information manager for a...34 Representation Space: An Approach to the Integra- tion of Visual Information ," Proc. of DARPA Image Understanding Workshop, Palo Alto, CA, pp. 263-272, May 1989...Strat, " Information Management in a Sensor-Based Au- tonomous System," Proc. DARPA Image Understanding Workshop, University of Southern CA, Vol.1, pp

Application of Data Provenance in Healthcare Analytics Software: Information Visualisation of User Activities

PubMed Central

Xu, Shen; Rogers, Toby; Fairweather, Elliot; Glenn, Anthony; Curran, James; Curcin, Vasa

2018-01-01

Data provenance is a technique that describes the history of digital objects. In health data settings, it can be used to deliver auditability and transparency, and to achieve trust in a software system. However, implementing data provenance in analytics software at an enterprise level presents a different set of challenges from the research environments where data provenance was originally devised. In this paper, the challenges of reporting provenance information to the user is presented. Provenance captured from analytics software can be large and complex and visualizing a series of tasks over a long period can be overwhelming even for a domain expert, requiring visual aggregation mechanisms that fit with complex human cognitive activities involved in the process. This research studied how provenance-based reporting can be integrated into a health data analytics software, using the example of Atmolytics visual reporting tool. PMID:29888084

Matching multiple rigid domain decompositions of proteins

PubMed Central

Flynn, Emily; Streinu, Ileana

2017-01-01

We describe efficient methods for consistently coloring and visualizing collections of rigid cluster decompositions obtained from variations of a protein structure, and lay the foundation for more complex setups that may involve different computational and experimental methods. The focus here is on three biological applications: the conceptually simpler problems of visualizing results of dilution and mutation analyses, and the more complex task of matching decompositions of multiple NMR models of the same protein. Implemented into the KINARI web server application, the improved visualization techniques give useful information about protein folding cores, help examining the effect of mutations on protein flexibility and function, and provide insights into the structural motions of PDB proteins solved with solution NMR. These tools have been developed with the goal of improving and validating rigidity analysis as a credible coarse-grained model capturing essential information about a protein’s slow motions near the native state. PMID:28141528

Mediated-reality magnification for macular degeneration rehabilitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin-Gonzalez, Anabel; Kotliar, Konstantin; Rios-Martinez, Jorge; Lanzl, Ines; Navab, Nassir

2014-10-01

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a gradually progressive eye condition, which is one of the leading causes of blindness and low vision in the Western world. Prevailing optical visual aids compensate part of the lost visual function, but omitting helpful complementary information. This paper proposes an efficient magnification technique, which can be implemented on a head-mounted display, for improving vision of patients with AMD, by preserving global information of the scene. Performance of the magnification approach is evaluated by simulating central vision loss in normally sighted subjects. Visual perception was measured as a function of text reading speed and map route following speed. Statistical analysis of experimental results suggests that our magnification method improves reading speed 1.2 times and spatial orientation to find routes on a map 1.5 times compared to a conventional magnification approach, being capable to enhance peripheral vision of AMD subjects along with their life quality.

Figure analysis: A teaching technique to promote visual literacy and active Learning.

PubMed

Wiles, Amy M

2016-07-08

Learning often improves when active learning techniques are used in place of traditional lectures. For many of these techniques, however, students are expected to apply concepts that they have already grasped. A challenge, therefore, is how to incorporate active learning into the classroom of courses with heavy content, such as molecular-based biology courses. An additional challenge is that visual literacy is often overlooked in undergraduate science education. To address both of these challenges, a technique called figure analysis was developed and implemented in three different levels of undergraduate biology courses. Here, students learn content while gaining practice in interpreting visual information by discussing figures with their peers. Student groups also make connections between new and previously learned concepts on their own while in class. The instructor summarizes the material for the class only after students grapple with it in small groups. Students reported a preference for learning by figure analysis over traditional lecture, and female students in particular reported increased confidence in their analytical abilities. There is not a technology requirement for this technique; therefore, it may be utilized both in classrooms and in nontraditional spaces. Additionally, the amount of preparation required is comparable to that of a traditional lecture. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 44(4):336-344, 2016. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Integrated Computational System for Aerodynamic Steering and Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesselink, Lambertus

1999-01-01

In February of 1994, an effort from the Fluid Dynamics and Information Sciences Divisions at NASA Ames Research Center with McDonnel Douglas Aerospace Company and Stanford University was initiated to develop, demonstrate, validate and disseminate automated software for numerical aerodynamic simulation. The goal of the initiative was to develop a tri-discipline approach encompassing CFD, Intelligent Systems, and Automated Flow Feature Recognition to improve the utility of CFD in the design cycle. This approach would then be represented through an intelligent computational system which could accept an engineer's definition of a problem and construct an optimal and reliable CFD solution. Stanford University's role focused on developing technologies that advance visualization capabilities for analysis of CFD data, extract specific flow features useful for the design process, and compare CFD data with experimental data. During the years 1995-1997, Stanford University focused on developing techniques in the area of tensor visualization and flow feature extraction. Software libraries were created enabling feature extraction and exploration of tensor fields. As a proof of concept, a prototype system called the Integrated Computational System (ICS) was developed to demonstrate CFD design cycle. The current research effort focuses on finding a quantitative comparison of general vector fields based on topological features. Since the method relies on topological information, grid matching and vector alignment is not needed in the comparison. This is often a problem with many data comparison techniques. In addition, since only topology based information is stored and compared for each field, there is a significant compression of information that enables large databases to be quickly searched. This report will (1) briefly review the technologies developed during 1995-1997 (2) describe current technologies in the area of comparison techniques, (4) describe the theory of our new method researched during the grant year (5) summarize a few of the results and finally (6) discuss work within the last 6 months that are direct extensions from the grant.

Orientation-Enhanced Parallel Coordinate Plots.

PubMed

Raidou, Renata Georgia; Eisemann, Martin; Breeuwer, Marcel; Eisemann, Elmar; Vilanova, Anna

2016-01-01

Parallel Coordinate Plots (PCPs) is one of the most powerful techniques for the visualization of multivariate data. However, for large datasets, the representation suffers from clutter due to overplotting. In this case, discerning the underlying data information and selecting specific interesting patterns can become difficult. We propose a new and simple technique to improve the display of PCPs by emphasizing the underlying data structure. Our Orientation-enhanced Parallel Coordinate Plots (OPCPs) improve pattern and outlier discernibility by visually enhancing parts of each PCP polyline with respect to its slope. This enhancement also allows us to introduce a novel and efficient selection method, the Orientation-enhanced Brushing (O-Brushing). Our solution is particularly useful when multiple patterns are present or when the view on certain patterns is obstructed by noise. We present the results of our approach with several synthetic and real-world datasets. Finally, we conducted a user evaluation, which verifies the advantages of the OPCPs in terms of discernibility of information in complex data. It also confirms that O-Brushing eases the selection of data patterns in PCPs and reduces the amount of necessary user interactions compared to state-of-the-art brushing techniques.

Volumetric three-dimensional intravascular ultrasound visualization using shape-based nonlinear interpolation

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a standard imaging modality for identification of plaque formation in the coronary and peripheral arteries. Volumetric three-dimensional (3D) IVUS visualization provides a powerful tool to overcome the limited comprehensive information of 2D IVUS in terms of complex spatial distribution of arterial morphology and acoustic backscatter information. Conventional 3D IVUS techniques provide sub-optimal visualization of arterial morphology or lack acoustic information concerning arterial structure due in part to low quality of image data and the use of pixel-based IVUS image reconstruction algorithms. In the present study, we describe a novel volumetric 3D IVUS reconstruction algorithm to utilize IVUS signal data and a shape-based nonlinear interpolation. Methods We developed an algorithm to convert a series of IVUS signal data into a fully volumetric 3D visualization. Intermediary slices between original 2D IVUS slices were generated utilizing the natural cubic spline interpolation to consider the nonlinearity of both vascular structure geometry and acoustic backscatter in the arterial wall. We evaluated differences in image quality between the conventional pixel-based interpolation and the shape-based nonlinear interpolation methods using both virtual vascular phantom data and in vivo IVUS data of a porcine femoral artery. Volumetric 3D IVUS images of the arterial segment reconstructed using the two interpolation methods were compared. Results In vitro validation and in vivo comparative studies with the conventional pixel-based interpolation method demonstrated more robustness of the shape-based nonlinear interpolation algorithm in determining intermediary 2D IVUS slices. Our shape-based nonlinear interpolation demonstrated improved volumetric 3D visualization of the in vivo arterial structure and more realistic acoustic backscatter distribution compared to the conventional pixel-based interpolation method. Conclusions This novel 3D IVUS visualization strategy has the potential to improve ultrasound imaging of vascular structure information, particularly atheroma determination. Improved volumetric 3D visualization with accurate acoustic backscatter information can help with ultrasound molecular imaging of atheroma component distribution. PMID:23651569

Use of multidimensional, multimodal imaging and PACS to support neurological diagnoses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wong, S.T.C.; Knowlton, R.; Hoo, K.S.

1995-12-31

Technological advances in brain imaging have revolutionized diagnosis in neurology and neurological surgery. Major imaging techniques include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize structural anatomy, positron emission tomography (PET) to image metabolic function and cerebral blood flow, magnetoencephalography (MEG) to visualize the location of physiologic current sources, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure specific biochemicals. Each of these techniques studies different biomedical aspects of the grain, but there lacks an effective means to quantify and correlate the disparate imaging datasets in order to improve clinical decision making processes. This paper describes several techniques developed in a UNIX-based neurodiagnostic workstationmore » to aid the non-invasive presurgical evaluation of epilepsy patients. These techniques include on-line access to the picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) multimedia archive, coregistration of multimodality image datasets, and correlation and quantitative of structural and functional information contained in the registered images. For illustration, the authors describe the use of these techniques in a patient case of non-lesional neocortical epilepsy. They also present the future work based on preliminary studies.« less

Quantifying and visualizing variations in sets of images using continuous linear optimal transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolouri, Soheil; Rohde, Gustavo K.

2014-03-01

Modern advancements in imaging devices have enabled us to explore the subcellular structure of living organisms and extract vast amounts of information. However, interpreting the biological information mined in the captured images is not a trivial task. Utilizing predetermined numerical features is usually the only hope for quantifying this information. Nonetheless, direct visual or biological interpretation of results obtained from these selected features is non-intuitive and difficult. In this paper, we describe an automatic method for modeling visual variations in a set of images, which allows for direct visual interpretation of the most significant differences, without the need for predefined features. The method is based on a linearized version of the continuous optimal transport (OT) metric, which provides a natural linear embedding for the image data set, in which linear combination of images leads to a visually meaningful image. This enables us to apply linear geometric data analysis techniques such as principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis in the linearly embedded space and visualize the most prominent modes, as well as the most discriminant modes of variations, in the dataset. Using the continuous OT framework, we are able to analyze variations in shape and texture in a set of images utilizing each image at full resolution, that otherwise cannot be done by existing methods. The proposed method is applied to a set of nuclei images segmented from Feulgen stained liver tissues in order to investigate the major visual differences in chromatin distribution of Fetal-Type Hepatoblastoma (FHB) cells compared to the normal cells.

Visual exploration and analysis of human-robot interaction rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hui; Boyles, Michael J.

2013-01-01

We present a novel interaction paradigm for the visual exploration, manipulation and analysis of human-robot interaction (HRI) rules; our development is implemented using a visual programming interface and exploits key techniques drawn from both information visualization and visual data mining to facilitate the interaction design and knowledge discovery process. HRI is often concerned with manipulations of multi-modal signals, events, and commands that form various kinds of interaction rules. Depicting, manipulating and sharing such design-level information is a compelling challenge. Furthermore, the closed loop between HRI programming and knowledge discovery from empirical data is a relatively long cycle. This, in turn, makes design-level verification nearly impossible to perform in an earlier phase. In our work, we exploit a drag-and-drop user interface and visual languages to support depicting responsive behaviors from social participants when they interact with their partners. For our principal test case of gaze-contingent HRI interfaces, this permits us to program and debug the robots' responsive behaviors through a graphical data-flow chart editor. We exploit additional program manipulation interfaces to provide still further improvement to our programming experience: by simulating the interaction dynamics between a human and a robot behavior model, we allow the researchers to generate, trace and study the perception-action dynamics with a social interaction simulation to verify and refine their designs. Finally, we extend our visual manipulation environment with a visual data-mining tool that allows the user to investigate interesting phenomena such as joint attention and sequential behavioral patterns from multiple multi-modal data streams. We have created instances of HRI interfaces to evaluate and refine our development paradigm. As far as we are aware, this paper reports the first program manipulation paradigm that integrates visual programming interfaces, information visualization, and visual data mining methods to facilitate designing, comprehending, and evaluating HRI interfaces.

Evaluation of stiffness feedback for hard nodule identification on a phantom silicone model

PubMed Central

Konstantinova, Jelizaveta; Xu, Guanghua; He, Bo; Aminzadeh, Vahid; Xie, Jun; Wurdemann, Helge; Althoefer, Kaspar

2017-01-01

Haptic information in robotic surgery can significantly improve clinical outcomes and help detect hard soft-tissue inclusions that indicate potential abnormalities. Visual representation of tissue stiffness information is a cost-effective technique. Meanwhile, direct force feedback, although considerably more expensive than visual representation, is an intuitive method of conveying information regarding tissue stiffness to surgeons. In this study, real-time visual stiffness feedback by sliding indentation palpation is proposed, validated, and compared with force feedback involving human subjects. In an experimental tele-manipulation environment, a dynamically updated color map depicting the stiffness of probed soft tissue is presented via a graphical interface. The force feedback is provided, aided by a master haptic device. The haptic device uses data acquired from an F/T sensor attached to the end-effector of a tele-manipulated robot. Hard nodule detection performance is evaluated for 2 modes (force feedback and visual stiffness feedback) of stiffness feedback on an artificial organ containing buried stiff nodules. From this artificial organ, a virtual-environment tissue model is generated based on sliding indentation measurements. Employing this virtual-environment tissue model, we compare the performance of human participants in distinguishing differently sized hard nodules by force feedback and visual stiffness feedback. Results indicate that the proposed distributed visual representation of tissue stiffness can be used effectively for hard nodule identification. The representation can also be used as a sufficient substitute for force feedback in tissue palpation. PMID:28248996

Evaluation of stiffness feedback for hard nodule identification on a phantom silicone model.

PubMed

Li, Min; Konstantinova, Jelizaveta; Xu, Guanghua; He, Bo; Aminzadeh, Vahid; Xie, Jun; Wurdemann, Helge; Althoefer, Kaspar

2017-01-01

Haptic information in robotic surgery can significantly improve clinical outcomes and help detect hard soft-tissue inclusions that indicate potential abnormalities. Visual representation of tissue stiffness information is a cost-effective technique. Meanwhile, direct force feedback, although considerably more expensive than visual representation, is an intuitive method of conveying information regarding tissue stiffness to surgeons. In this study, real-time visual stiffness feedback by sliding indentation palpation is proposed, validated, and compared with force feedback involving human subjects. In an experimental tele-manipulation environment, a dynamically updated color map depicting the stiffness of probed soft tissue is presented via a graphical interface. The force feedback is provided, aided by a master haptic device. The haptic device uses data acquired from an F/T sensor attached to the end-effector of a tele-manipulated robot. Hard nodule detection performance is evaluated for 2 modes (force feedback and visual stiffness feedback) of stiffness feedback on an artificial organ containing buried stiff nodules. From this artificial organ, a virtual-environment tissue model is generated based on sliding indentation measurements. Employing this virtual-environment tissue model, we compare the performance of human participants in distinguishing differently sized hard nodules by force feedback and visual stiffness feedback. Results indicate that the proposed distributed visual representation of tissue stiffness can be used effectively for hard nodule identification. The representation can also be used as a sufficient substitute for force feedback in tissue palpation.

Positive visualization of implanted devices with susceptibility gradient mapping using the original resolution.

PubMed

Varma, Gopal; Clough, Rachel E; Acher, Peter; Sénégas, Julien; Dahnke, Hannes; Keevil, Stephen F; Schaeffter, Tobias

2011-05-01

In magnetic resonance imaging, implantable devices are usually visualized with a negative contrast. Recently, positive contrast techniques have been proposed, such as susceptibility gradient mapping (SGM). However, SGM reduces the spatial resolution making positive visualization of small structures difficult. Here, a development of SGM using the original resolution (SUMO) is presented. For this, a filter is applied in k-space and the signal amplitude is analyzed in the image domain to determine quantitatively the susceptibility gradient for each pixel. It is shown in simulations and experiments that SUMO results in a better visualization of small structures in comparison to SGM. SUMO is applied to patient datasets for visualization of stent and prostate brachytherapy seeds. In addition, SUMO also provides quantitative information about the number of prostate brachytherapy seeds. The method might be extended to application for visualization of other interventional devices, and, like SGM, it might also be used to visualize magnetically labelled cells. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Visual servoing in medical robotics: a survey. Part I: endoscopic and direct vision imaging - techniques and applications.

PubMed

Azizian, Mahdi; Khoshnam, Mahta; Najmaei, Nima; Patel, Rajni V

2014-09-01

Intra-operative imaging is widely used to provide visual feedback to a clinician when he/she performs a procedure. In visual servoing, surgical instruments and parts of tissue/body are tracked by processing the acquired images. This information is then used within a control loop to manoeuvre a robotic manipulator during a procedure. A comprehensive search of electronic databases was completed for the period 2000-2013 to provide a survey of the visual servoing applications in medical robotics. The focus is on medical applications where image-based tracking is used for closed-loop control of a robotic system. Detailed classification and comparative study of various contributions in visual servoing using endoscopic or direct visual images are presented and summarized in tables and diagrams. The main challenges in using visual servoing for medical robotic applications are identified and potential future directions are suggested. 'Supervised automation of medical robotics' is found to be a major trend in this field. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Visualization maps for the evolution of research hotspots in the field of regional health information networks.

PubMed

Wang, Yanjun; Zheng, Jianzhong; Zhang, Ailian; Zhou, Wei; Dong, Haiyuan

2018-03-01

The aim of this study was to reveal research hotspots in the field of regional health information networks (RHINs) and use visualization techniques to explore their evolution over time and differences between countries. We conducted a literature review for a 50-year period and compared the prevalence of certain index terms during the periods 1963-1993 and 1994-2014 and in six countries. We applied keyword frequency analysis, keyword co-occurrence analysis, multidimensional scaling analysis, and network visualization technology. The total number of keywords was found to increase with time. From 1994 to 2014, the research priorities shifted from hospital planning to community health planning. The number of keywords reflecting information-based research increased. The density of the knowledge network increased significantly, and partial keywords condensed into knowledge groups. All six countries focus on keywords including Information Systems; Telemedicine; Information Service; Medical Records Systems, Computerized; Internet; etc.; however, the level of development and some research priorities are different. RHIN research has generally increased in popularity over the past 50 years. The research hotspots are evolving and are at different levels of development in different countries. Knowledge network mapping and perceptual maps provide useful information for scholars, managers, and policy-makers.

Mnemonic Strategies: Creating Schemata for Learning Enhancement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goll, Paulette S.

2004-01-01

This article investigates the process of remembering and presents techniques to improve memory retention. Examples of association, clustering, imagery, location, mnemonic devices and visualization illustrate strategies that can be used to encode and recall information from the long-term memory. Several memory games offer the opportunity to test…

Quality of Life Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gore, Peter H.

Explaining the use of overlay methodology in the assessment of rural social service this paper describes a technique of visual juxtaposition wherein information is matched with geographic location. To ascertain whether senior citizen centers are located in areas of client concentration, for example, this model superimposes the location of senior…

Crossroads: Modern Interactive Intersections and Accessible Pedestrian Signals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barlow, Janet M.; Franck, Lukas

2005-01-01

This article discusses the interactive nature of modern actuated intersections and the effect of that interface on pedestrians who are visually impaired. Information is provided about accessible pedestrian signals (APS), the role of blindness professionals in APS installation decisions, and techniques for crossing streets with APS.

GIS based model interfacing : incorporating existing software and new techniques into a streamlined interface package

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

The ability to visualize data has grown immensely as the speed and functionality of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have increased. Now, with modeling software and GIS, planners are able to view a prediction of the future traffic demands in thei...

The Case for Open Source Software: The Interactional Discourse Lab

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Seongsook

2016-01-01

Computational techniques and software applications for the quantitative content analysis of texts are now well established, and many qualitative data software applications enable the manipulation of input variables and the visualization of complex relations between them via interactive and informative graphical interfaces. Although advances in…

Qualitative Examination of Children's Naming Skills through Test Adaptations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fried-Oken, Melanie

1987-01-01

The Double Administration Naming Technique assists clinicians in obtaining qualitative information about a client's visual confrontation naming skills through administration of a standard naming test; readministration of the same test; identification of single and double errors; cuing for double naming errors; and qualitative analysis of naming…

Modality-Driven Classification and Visualization of Ensemble Variance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bensema, Kevin; Gosink, Luke; Obermaier, Harald

Advances in computational power now enable domain scientists to address conceptual and parametric uncertainty by running simulations multiple times in order to sufficiently sample the uncertain input space. While this approach helps address conceptual and parametric uncertainties, the ensemble datasets produced by this technique present a special challenge to visualization researchers as the ensemble dataset records a distribution of possible values for each location in the domain. Contemporary visualization approaches that rely solely on summary statistics (e.g., mean and variance) cannot convey the detailed information encoded in ensemble distributions that are paramount to ensemble analysis; summary statistics provide no informationmore » about modality classification and modality persistence. To address this problem, we propose a novel technique that classifies high-variance locations based on the modality of the distribution of ensemble predictions. Additionally, we develop a set of confidence metrics to inform the end-user of the quality of fit between the distribution at a given location and its assigned class. We apply a similar method to time-varying ensembles to illustrate the relationship between peak variance and bimodal or multimodal behavior. These classification schemes enable a deeper understanding of the behavior of the ensemble members by distinguishing between distributions that can be described by a single tendency and distributions which reflect divergent trends in the ensemble.« less

Visual-area coding technique (VACT): optical parallel implementation of fuzzy logic and its visualization with the digital-halftoning process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konishi, Tsuyoshi; Tanida, Jun; Ichioka, Yoshiki

1995-06-01

A novel technique, the visual-area coding technique (VACT), for the optical implementation of fuzzy logic with the capability of visualization of the results is presented. This technique is based on the microfont method and is considered to be an instance of digitized analog optical computing. Huge amounts of data can be processed in fuzzy logic with the VACT. In addition, real-time visualization of the processed result can be accomplished.

On the role of spatial phase and phase correlation in vision, illusion, and cognition

PubMed Central

Gladilin, Evgeny; Eils, Roland

2015-01-01

Numerous findings indicate that spatial phase bears an important cognitive information. Distortion of phase affects topology of edge structures and makes images unrecognizable. In turn, appropriately phase-structured patterns give rise to various illusions of virtual image content and apparent motion. Despite a large body of phenomenological evidence not much is known yet about the role of phase information in neural mechanisms of visual perception and cognition. Here, we are concerned with analysis of the role of spatial phase in computational and biological vision, emergence of visual illusions and pattern recognition. We hypothesize that fundamental importance of phase information for invariant retrieval of structural image features and motion detection promoted development of phase-based mechanisms of neural image processing in course of evolution of biological vision. Using an extension of Fourier phase correlation technique, we show that the core functions of visual system such as motion detection and pattern recognition can be facilitated by the same basic mechanism. Our analysis suggests that emergence of visual illusions can be attributed to presence of coherently phase-shifted repetitive patterns as well as the effects of acuity compensation by saccadic eye movements. We speculate that biological vision relies on perceptual mechanisms effectively similar to phase correlation, and predict neural features of visual pattern (dis)similarity that can be used for experimental validation of our hypothesis of “cognition by phase correlation.” PMID:25954190

On the role of spatial phase and phase correlation in vision, illusion, and cognition.

PubMed

Gladilin, Evgeny; Eils, Roland

2015-01-01

Numerous findings indicate that spatial phase bears an important cognitive information. Distortion of phase affects topology of edge structures and makes images unrecognizable. In turn, appropriately phase-structured patterns give rise to various illusions of virtual image content and apparent motion. Despite a large body of phenomenological evidence not much is known yet about the role of phase information in neural mechanisms of visual perception and cognition. Here, we are concerned with analysis of the role of spatial phase in computational and biological vision, emergence of visual illusions and pattern recognition. We hypothesize that fundamental importance of phase information for invariant retrieval of structural image features and motion detection promoted development of phase-based mechanisms of neural image processing in course of evolution of biological vision. Using an extension of Fourier phase correlation technique, we show that the core functions of visual system such as motion detection and pattern recognition can be facilitated by the same basic mechanism. Our analysis suggests that emergence of visual illusions can be attributed to presence of coherently phase-shifted repetitive patterns as well as the effects of acuity compensation by saccadic eye movements. We speculate that biological vision relies on perceptual mechanisms effectively similar to phase correlation, and predict neural features of visual pattern (dis)similarity that can be used for experimental validation of our hypothesis of "cognition by phase correlation."

D Modelling and Interactive Web-Based Visualization of Cultural Heritage Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koeva, M. N.

2016-06-01

Nowadays, there are rapid developments in the fields of photogrammetry, laser scanning, computer vision and robotics, together aiming to provide highly accurate 3D data that is useful for various applications. In recent years, various LiDAR and image-based techniques have been investigated for 3D modelling because of their opportunities for fast and accurate model generation. For cultural heritage preservation and the representation of objects that are important for tourism and their interactive visualization, 3D models are highly effective and intuitive for present-day users who have stringent requirements and high expectations. Depending on the complexity of the objects for the specific case, various technological methods can be applied. The selected objects in this particular research are located in Bulgaria - a country with thousands of years of history and cultural heritage dating back to ancient civilizations. This motivates the preservation, visualisation and recreation of undoubtedly valuable historical and architectural objects and places, which has always been a serious challenge for specialists in the field of cultural heritage. In the present research, comparative analyses regarding principles and technological processes needed for 3D modelling and visualization are presented. The recent problems, efforts and developments in interactive representation of precious objects and places in Bulgaria are presented. Three technologies based on real projects are described: (1) image-based modelling using a non-metric hand-held camera; (2) 3D visualization based on spherical panoramic images; (3) and 3D geometric and photorealistic modelling based on architectural CAD drawings. Their suitability for web-based visualization are demonstrated and compared. Moreover the possibilities for integration with additional information such as interactive maps, satellite imagery, sound, video and specific information for the objects are described. This comparative study discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these three approaches and their integration in multiple domains, such as web-based 3D city modelling, tourism and architectural 3D visualization. It was concluded that image-based modelling and panoramic visualisation are simple, fast and effective techniques suitable for simultaneous virtual representation of many objects. However, additional measurements or CAD information will be beneficial for obtaining higher accuracy.

Visualization and characterization of users in a citizen science project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, Alessandra M. M.; Raddick, Jordan; Coelho dos Santos, Rafael D.

2013-05-01

Recent technological advances allowed the creation and use of internet-based systems where many users can collaborate gathering and sharing information for specific or general purposes: social networks, e-commerce review systems, collaborative knowledge systems, etc. Since most of the data collected in these systems is user-generated, understanding of the motivations and general behavior of users is a very important issue. Of particular interest are citizen science projects, where users without scientific training are asked for collaboration labeling and classifying information (either automatically by giving away idle computer time or manually by actually seeing data and providing information about it). Understanding behavior of users of those types of data collection systems may help increase the involvement of the users, categorize users accordingly to different parameters, facilitate their collaboration with the systems, design better user interfaces, and allow better planning and deployment of similar projects and systems. Behavior of those users could be estimated through analysis of their collaboration track: registers of which user did what and when can be easily and unobtrusively collected in several different ways, the simplest being a log of activities. In this paper we present some results on the visualization and characterization of almost 150.000 users with more than 80.000.000 collaborations with a citizen science project - Galaxy Zoo I, which asked users to classify galaxies' images. Basic visualization techniques are not applicable due to the number of users, so techniques to characterize users' behavior based on feature extraction and clustering are used.

The 3D widgets for exploratory scientific visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herndon, Kenneth P.; Meyer, Tom

1995-01-01

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques are used to simulate flows of fluids like air or water around such objects as airplanes and automobiles. These techniques usually generate very large amounts of numerical data which are difficult to understand without using graphical scientific visualization techniques. There are a number of commercial scientific visualization applications available today which allow scientists to control visualization tools via textual and/or 2D user interfaces. However, these user interfaces are often difficult to use. We believe that 3D direct-manipulation techniques for interactively controlling visualization tools will provide opportunities for powerful and useful interfaces with which scientists can more effectively explore their datasets. A few systems have been developed which use these techniques. In this paper, we will present a variety of 3D interaction techniques for manipulating parameters of visualization tools used to explore CFD datasets, and discuss in detail various techniques for positioning tools in a 3D scene.

A 3D particle visualization system for temperature management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lange, B.; Rodriguez, N.; Puech, W.; Rey, H.; Vasques, X.

2011-01-01

This paper deals with a 3D visualization technique proposed to analyze and manage energy efficiency from a data center. Data are extracted from sensors located in the IBM Green Data Center in Montpellier France. These sensors measure different information such as hygrometry, pressure and temperature. We want to visualize in real-time the large among of data produced by these sensors. A visualization engine has been designed, based on particles system and a client server paradigm. In order to solve performance problems, a Level Of Detail solution has been developed. These methods are based on the earlier work introduced by J. Clark in 1976. In this paper we introduce a particle method used for this work and subsequently we explain different simplification methods applied to improve our solution.

Guided Text Search Using Adaptive Visual Analytics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steed, Chad A; Symons, Christopher T; Senter, James K

This research demonstrates the promise of augmenting interactive visualizations with semi- supervised machine learning techniques to improve the discovery of significant associations and insights in the search and analysis of textual information. More specifically, we have developed a system called Gryffin that hosts a unique collection of techniques that facilitate individualized investigative search pertaining to an ever-changing set of analytical questions over an indexed collection of open-source documents related to critical national infrastructure. The Gryffin client hosts dynamic displays of the search results via focus+context record listings, temporal timelines, term-frequency views, and multiple coordinate views. Furthermore, as the analyst interactsmore » with the display, the interactions are recorded and used to label the search records. These labeled records are then used to drive semi-supervised machine learning algorithms that re-rank the unlabeled search records such that potentially relevant records are moved to the top of the record listing. Gryffin is described in the context of the daily tasks encountered at the US Department of Homeland Security s Fusion Center, with whom we are collaborating in its development. The resulting system is capable of addressing the analysts information overload that can be directly attributed to the deluge of information that must be addressed in the search and investigative analysis of textual information.« less

Interactive Web-based Floodplain Simulation System for Realistic Experiments of Flooding and Flood Damage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2013-12-01

Recent developments in web technologies make it easy to manage and visualize large data sets with general public. Novel visualization techniques and dynamic user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. The floodplain simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive flood simulation environment to create real world flooding scenarios. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain information, and water simulation. Students can create and modify predefined scenarios, control environmental parameters, and evaluate flood mitigation techniques. The web-based simulation system provides an environment to children and adults learn about the flooding, flood damage, and effects of development and human activity in the floodplain. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of the users. This presentation provides an overview of the web-based flood simulation system, and demonstrates the capabilities of the system for various flooding and land use scenarios.

Applications of Phase-Based Motion Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Branch, Nicholas A.; Stewart, Eric C.

2018-01-01

Image pyramids provide useful information in determining structural response at low cost using commercially available cameras. The current effort applies previous work on the complex steerable pyramid to analyze and identify imperceptible linear motions in video. Instead of implicitly computing motion spectra through phase analysis of the complex steerable pyramid and magnifying the associated motions, instead present a visual technique and the necessary software to display the phase changes of high frequency signals within video. The present technique quickly identifies regions of largest motion within a video with a single phase visualization and without the artifacts of motion magnification, but requires use of the computationally intensive Fourier transform. While Riesz pyramids present an alternative to the computationally intensive complex steerable pyramid for motion magnification, the Riesz formulation contains significant noise, and motion magnification still presents large amounts of data that cannot be quickly assessed by the human eye. Thus, user-friendly software is presented for quickly identifying structural response through optical flow and phase visualization in both Python and MATLAB.

Visibility Equalizer Cutaway Visualization of Mesoscopic Biological Models.

PubMed

Le Muzic, M; Mindek, P; Sorger, J; Autin, L; Goodsell, D; Viola, I

2016-06-01

In scientific illustrations and visualization, cutaway views are often employed as an effective technique for occlusion management in densely packed scenes. We propose a novel method for authoring cutaway illustrations of mesoscopic biological models. In contrast to the existing cutaway algorithms, we take advantage of the specific nature of the biological models. These models consist of thousands of instances with a comparably smaller number of different types. Our method constitutes a two stage process. In the first step, clipping objects are placed in the scene, creating a cutaway visualization of the model. During this process, a hierarchical list of stacked bars inform the user about the instance visibility distribution of each individual molecular type in the scene. In the second step, the visibility of each molecular type is fine-tuned through these bars, which at this point act as interactive visibility equalizers. An evaluation of our technique with domain experts confirmed that our equalizer-based approach for visibility specification was valuable and effective for both, scientific and educational purposes.

Visibility Equalizer Cutaway Visualization of Mesoscopic Biological Models

PubMed Central

Le Muzic, M.; Mindek, P.; Sorger, J.; Autin, L.; Goodsell, D.; Viola, I.

2017-01-01

In scientific illustrations and visualization, cutaway views are often employed as an effective technique for occlusion management in densely packed scenes. We propose a novel method for authoring cutaway illustrations of mesoscopic biological models. In contrast to the existing cutaway algorithms, we take advantage of the specific nature of the biological models. These models consist of thousands of instances with a comparably smaller number of different types. Our method constitutes a two stage process. In the first step, clipping objects are placed in the scene, creating a cutaway visualization of the model. During this process, a hierarchical list of stacked bars inform the user about the instance visibility distribution of each individual molecular type in the scene. In the second step, the visibility of each molecular type is fine-tuned through these bars, which at this point act as interactive visibility equalizers. An evaluation of our technique with domain experts confirmed that our equalizer-based approach for visibility specification was valuable and effective for both, scientific and educational purposes. PMID:28344374

Coupled auralization and virtual video for immersive multimedia displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderson, Paul D.; Torres, Rendell R.; Shimizu, Yasushi; Radke, Richard; Lonsway, Brian

2003-04-01

The implementation of maximally-immersive interactive multimedia in exhibit spaces requires not only the presentation of realistic visual imagery but also the creation of a perceptually accurate aural experience. While conventional implementations treat audio and video problems as essentially independent, this research seeks to couple the visual sensory information with dynamic auralization in order to enhance perceptual accuracy. An implemented system has been developed for integrating accurate auralizations with virtual video techniques for both interactive presentation and multi-way communication. The current system utilizes a multi-channel loudspeaker array and real-time signal processing techniques for synthesizing the direct sound, early reflections, and reverberant field excited by a moving sound source whose path may be interactively defined in real-time or derived from coupled video tracking data. In this implementation, any virtual acoustic environment may be synthesized and presented in a perceptually-accurate fashion to many participants over a large listening and viewing area. Subject tests support the hypothesis that the cross-modal coupling of aural and visual displays significantly affects perceptual localization accuracy.

Using Visualization Science to Evaluate Effective Communication of Climate Indicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerst, M.; Kenney, M. A.; Wolfinger, F.; Lloyd, A.

2015-12-01

Indicators are observations or calculations that are used to track social and environmental conditions over time. For a large coupled system such as the economy and environment, the choice of indicators requires a structured process that involves co-production among facilitators, subject-matter experts, decision-makers, and the general public. This co-production is needed in part because such indicators serve a duel role of scientifically tracking change and of communicating to non-scientists important changes and information that may be useful in decision contexts. Because the goal is to communicate and inform decisions it is critical that indicators be understood by non-scientific audiences, which may require different visualization techniques than for scientific audiences. Here we describe a process of rigorously evaluating visual communication efficacy by using a simplified taxonomy of visualization design problems and trade-offs to assess existing and redesigned indicator images. The experimental design is three-part. It involves testing non-scientific audiences' understandability of scientific images found in the literature along with similar information shaped by a partial co-production process that informed the U.S. Global Change Research Program prototype indicators system, released in Spring 2015. These recommendations for physical, natural, and societal indicators of changes and impacts involved input from over 200 subject-matter experts, organized into 13 technical teams. Using results from the first two parts, we then explore visualization design improvements that may increase understandability to non-scientific audiences. We anticipate that this work will highlight important trade-offs in visualization design when moving between audiences that will be of great use to scientists who wish to communicate their results broader audiences.

Monitoring evolution of HIFU-induced lesions with backscattered ultrasound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anand, Ajay; Kaczkowski, Peter J.

2003-04-01

Backscattered radio frequency (rf) data from a modified commercial ultrasound scanner were collected in a series of in vitro experiments in which high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) was used to create lesions in freshly excised bovine liver tissue. Two signal processing approaches were used to visualize the temporal evolution of lesion formation. First, apparent tissue motion due to temperature rise was detected using cross-correlation techniques. Results indicate that differential processing of travel time can provide temperature change information throughout the therapy delivery phase and after HIFU has been turned off, over a relatively large spatial region. Second, changes in the frequency spectrum of rf echoes due to changes in the scattering properties of the heated region were observed well before the appearance of hyper-echogenic spots in the focal zone. Furthermore, the increase in attenuation in the lesion zone changes the measured backscatter spectrum from regions distal to it along the imaging beam. Both effects were visualized using spectral processing and display techniques that provide a color spatial map of these features for the clinician. Our results demonstrate potential for these ultrasound-based techniques in targeting and monitoring of HIFU therapy, and perhaps post-treatment visualization of HIFU-induced lesions.

Visualizing spatio-temporal war casualty data in Google Earth - A case study of Map the Fallen (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Askay, S.

2009-12-01

Published on Memorial Day 2009, Map the Fallen is a Google Earth visualization of the 5500+ US and international soldiers that have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. In addition to providing photos, stories and links for each solider, the time-animated map visually connects hometowns to places of death. This novel way of representing casualty data brings the geographic reach and magnitude of the issue into focus together with the very personal nature of individual stories. Innovative visualizations techniques were used that illustrate the spatio-temporal nature of this information and to show the global reach and interconnectivity of this issue. Several of advanced KML techniques employed to create this engaging and performance-conscious map will be discussed during this session. These include: 1) the use of HTML iframes and javascript to minimize the KML size, and extensive cross-linking throughout content; 2) the creation of a time-animated, on-screen casualty counter; 3) the use of parabolic arcs to connect each hometown to place of death; 4) the use of concentric spirals to represent chronological data; and 5) numerous performance optimizations to ensure the 23K placemarks, 2500 screen overlays and nearly 250k line vertices performed well in Google Earth. This session will include a demonstration of the map, conceptual discussions of the techniques used, and some in-depth technical explanation of the KML code.

Dynamic Visualization of Co-expression in Systems Genetics Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

New, Joshua Ryan; Huang, Jian; Chesler, Elissa J

2008-01-01

Biologists hope to address grand scientific challenges by exploring the abundance of data made available through modern microarray technology and other high-throughput techniques. The impact of this data, however, is limited unless researchers can effectively assimilate such complex information and integrate it into their daily research; interactive visualization tools are called for to support the effort. Specifically, typical studies of gene co-expression require novel visualization tools that enable the dynamic formulation and fine-tuning of hypotheses to aid the process of evaluating sensitivity of key parameters. These tools should allow biologists to develop an intuitive understanding of the structure of biologicalmore » networks and discover genes which reside in critical positions in networks and pathways. By using a graph as a universal data representation of correlation in gene expression data, our novel visualization tool employs several techniques that when used in an integrated manner provide innovative analytical capabilities. Our tool for interacting with gene co-expression data integrates techniques such as: graph layout, qualitative subgraph extraction through a novel 2D user interface, quantitative subgraph extraction using graph-theoretic algorithms or by querying an optimized b-tree, dynamic level-of-detail graph abstraction, and template-based fuzzy classification using neural networks. We demonstrate our system using a real-world workflow from a large-scale, systems genetics study of mammalian gene co-expression.« less

Finding Waldo: Learning about Users from their Interactions.

PubMed

Brown, Eli T; Ottley, Alvitta; Zhao, Helen; Quan Lin; Souvenir, Richard; Endert, Alex; Chang, Remco

2014-12-01

Visual analytics is inherently a collaboration between human and computer. However, in current visual analytics systems, the computer has limited means of knowing about its users and their analysis processes. While existing research has shown that a user's interactions with a system reflect a large amount of the user's reasoning process, there has been limited advancement in developing automated, real-time techniques that mine interactions to learn about the user. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can accurately predict a user's task performance and infer some user personality traits by using machine learning techniques to analyze interaction data. Specifically, we conduct an experiment in which participants perform a visual search task, and apply well-known machine learning algorithms to three encodings of the users' interaction data. We achieve, depending on algorithm and encoding, between 62% and 83% accuracy at predicting whether each user will be fast or slow at completing the task. Beyond predicting performance, we demonstrate that using the same techniques, we can infer aspects of the user's personality factors, including locus of control, extraversion, and neuroticism. Further analyses show that strong results can be attained with limited observation time: in one case 95% of the final accuracy is gained after a quarter of the average task completion time. Overall, our findings show that interactions can provide information to the computer about its human collaborator, and establish a foundation for realizing mixed-initiative visual analytics systems.

Static and dynamic views of visual cortical organization.

PubMed

Casagrande, Vivien A; Xu, Xiangmin; Sáry, Gyula

2002-01-01

Without the aid of modern techniques Cajal speculated that cells in the visual cortex were connected in circuits. From Cajal's time until fairly recently, the flow of information within the cells and circuits of visual cortex has been described as progressing from input to output, from sensation to action. In this chapter we argue that a paradigm shift in our concept of the visual cortical neuron is under way. The most important change in our view concerns the neuron's functional role. Visual cortical neurons do not have static functional signatures but instead function dynamically depending on the ongoing activity of the networks to which they belong. These networks are not merely top-down or bottom-up unidirectional transmission lines, but rather represent machinery that uses recurrent information and is dynamic and highly adaptable. With the advancement of technology for analyzing the conversations of multiple neurons at many levels in the visual system and higher resolution imaging, we predict that the paradigm shift will progress to the point where neurons are no longer viewed as independent processing units but as members of subsets of networks where their role is mapped in space-time coordinates in relationship to the other neuronal members. This view moves us far from Cajal's original views of the neuron. Nevertheless, we believe that understanding the basic morphology and wiring of networks will continue to contribute to our overall understanding of the visual cortex.

Forensic 3D Visualization of CT Data Using Cinematic Volume Rendering: A Preliminary Study.

PubMed

Ebert, Lars C; Schweitzer, Wolf; Gascho, Dominic; Ruder, Thomas D; Flach, Patricia M; Thali, Michael J; Ampanozi, Garyfalia

2017-02-01

The 3D volume-rendering technique (VRT) is commonly used in forensic radiology. Its main function is to explain medical findings to state attorneys, judges, or police representatives. New visualization algorithms permit the generation of almost photorealistic volume renderings of CT datasets. The objective of this study is to present and compare a variety of radiologic findings to illustrate the differences between and the advantages and limitations of the current VRT and the physically based cinematic rendering technique (CRT). Seventy volunteers were shown VRT and CRT reconstructions of 10 different cases. They were asked to mark the findings on the images and rate them in terms of realism and understandability. A total of 48 of the 70 questionnaires were returned and included in the analysis. On the basis of most of the findings presented, CRT appears to be equal or superior to VRT with respect to the realism and understandability of the visualized findings. Overall, in terms of realism, the difference between the techniques was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Most participants perceived the CRT findings to be more understandable than the VRT findings, but that difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). CRT, which is similar to conventional VRT, is not primarily intended for diagnostic radiologic image analysis, and therefore it should be used primarily as a tool to deliver visual information in the form of radiologic image reports. Using CRT for forensic visualization might have advantages over using VRT if conveying a high degree of visual realism is of importance. Most of the shortcomings of CRT have to do with the software being an early prototype.

Acid-etching technique of non-decalcified bone samples for visualizing osteocyte-lacuno-canalicular network using scanning electron microscope.

PubMed

Lampi, Tiina; Dekker, Hannah; Ten Bruggenkate, Chris M; Schulten, Engelbert A J M; Mikkonen, Jopi J W; Koistinen, Arto; Kullaa, Arja M

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to define the acid-etching technique for bone samples embedded in polymethyl metacrylate (PMMA) in order to visualize the osteocyte lacuno-canalicular network (LCN) for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Human jaw bone tissue samples (N = 18) were collected from the study population consisting of patients having received dental implant surgery. After collection, the bone samples were fixed in 70% ethanol and non-decalcified samples embedded routinely into polymethyl metacrylate (PMMA). The PMMA embedded specimens were acid-etched in either 9 or 37% phosphoric acid (PA) and prepared for SEM for further analysis. PMMA embedded bone specimens acid-etched by 9% PA concentration accomplishes the most informative and favorable visualization of the LCN to be observed by SEM. Etching of PMMA embedded specimens is recommendable to start with 30 s or 40 s etching duration in order to find the proper etching duration for the samples examined. Visualizing osteocytes and LCN provides a tool to study bone structure that reflects changes in bone metabolism and diseases related to bone tissue. By proper etching protocol of non-decalcified and using scanning electron microscope it is possible to visualize the morphology of osteocytes and the network supporting vitality of bone tissue.

Resolving the neural dynamics of visual and auditory scene processing in the human brain: a methodological approach

PubMed Central

Teng, Santani

2017-01-01

In natural environments, visual and auditory stimulation elicit responses across a large set of brain regions in a fraction of a second, yielding representations of the multimodal scene and its properties. The rapid and complex neural dynamics underlying visual and auditory information processing pose major challenges to human cognitive neuroscience. Brain signals measured non-invasively are inherently noisy, the format of neural representations is unknown, and transformations between representations are complex and often nonlinear. Further, no single non-invasive brain measurement technique provides a spatio-temporally integrated view. In this opinion piece, we argue that progress can be made by a concerted effort based on three pillars of recent methodological development: (i) sensitive analysis techniques such as decoding and cross-classification, (ii) complex computational modelling using models such as deep neural networks, and (iii) integration across imaging methods (magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging) and models, e.g. using representational similarity analysis. We showcase two recent efforts that have been undertaken in this spirit and provide novel results about visual and auditory scene analysis. Finally, we discuss the limits of this perspective and sketch a concrete roadmap for future research. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’. PMID:28044019

Resolving the neural dynamics of visual and auditory scene processing in the human brain: a methodological approach.

PubMed

Cichy, Radoslaw Martin; Teng, Santani

2017-02-19

In natural environments, visual and auditory stimulation elicit responses across a large set of brain regions in a fraction of a second, yielding representations of the multimodal scene and its properties. The rapid and complex neural dynamics underlying visual and auditory information processing pose major challenges to human cognitive neuroscience. Brain signals measured non-invasively are inherently noisy, the format of neural representations is unknown, and transformations between representations are complex and often nonlinear. Further, no single non-invasive brain measurement technique provides a spatio-temporally integrated view. In this opinion piece, we argue that progress can be made by a concerted effort based on three pillars of recent methodological development: (i) sensitive analysis techniques such as decoding and cross-classification, (ii) complex computational modelling using models such as deep neural networks, and (iii) integration across imaging methods (magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging) and models, e.g. using representational similarity analysis. We showcase two recent efforts that have been undertaken in this spirit and provide novel results about visual and auditory scene analysis. Finally, we discuss the limits of this perspective and sketch a concrete roadmap for future research.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'. © 2017 The Authors.

High-sensitivity visualization of localized electric fields using low-energy electron beam deflection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, Samuel; Ito, Yoshikazu; Edwards, Gary; Fujita, Jun-ichi

2018-06-01

The visualization of localized electronic charges on nanocatalysts is expected to yield fundamental information about catalytic reaction mechanisms. We have developed a high-sensitivity detection technique for the visualization of localized charges on a catalyst and their corresponding electric field distribution, using a low-energy beam of 1 to 5 keV electrons and a high-sensitivity scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) detector. The highest sensitivity for visualizing a localized electric field was ∼0.08 V/µm at a distance of ∼17 µm from a localized charge at 1 keV of the primary electron energy, and a weak local electric field produced by 200 electrons accumulated on the carbon nanotube (CNT) apex can be visualized. We also observed that Au nanoparticles distributed on a CNT forest tended to accumulate a certain amount of charges, about 150 electrons, at a ‑2 V bias.

Looking above the prairie: localized and upward acute vision in a native grassland bird.

PubMed

Tyrrell, Luke P; Moore, Bret A; Loftis, Christopher; Fernández-Juricic, Esteban

2013-12-02

Visual systems of open habitat vertebrates are predicted to have a band of acute vision across the retina (visual streak) and wide visual coverage to gather information along the horizon. We tested whether the eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna) had this visual configuration given that it inhabits open grasslands. Contrary to our expectations, the meadowlark retina has a localized spot of acute vision (fovea) and relatively narrow visual coverage. The fovea projects above rather than towards the horizon with the head at rest, and individuals modify their body posture in tall grass to maintain a similar foveal projection. Meadowlarks have relatively large binocular fields and can see their bill tips, which may help with their probe-foraging technique. Overall, meadowlark vision does not fit the profile of vertebrates living in open habitats. The binocular field may control foraging while the fovea may be used for detecting and tracking aerial stimuli (predators, conspecifics).

3D visualization of unsteady 2D airplane wake vortices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ma, Kwan-Liu; Zheng, Z. C.

1994-01-01

Air flowing around the wing tips of an airplane forms horizontal tornado-like vortices that can be dangerous to following aircraft. The dynamics of such vortices, including ground and atmospheric effects, can be predicted by numerical simulation, allowing the safety and capacity of airports to be improved. In this paper, we introduce three-dimensional techniques for visualizing time-dependent, two-dimensional wake vortex computations, and the hazard strength of such vortices near the ground. We describe a vortex core tracing algorithm and a local tiling method to visualize the vortex evolution. The tiling method converts time-dependent, two-dimensional vortex cores into three-dimensional vortex tubes. Finally, a novel approach calculates the induced rolling moment on the following airplane at each grid point within a region near the vortex tubes and thus allows three-dimensional visualization of the hazard strength of the vortices. We also suggest ways of combining multiple visualization methods to present more information simultaneously.

An improved algorithm of image processing technique for film thickness measurement in a horizontal stratified gas-liquid two-phase flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuntoro, Hadiyan Yusuf; Hudaya, Akhmad Zidni; Dinaryanto, Okto; Majid, Akmal Irfan; Deendarlianto

2016-06-01

Due to the importance of the two-phase flow researches for the industrial safety analysis, many researchers developed various methods and techniques to study the two-phase flow phenomena on the industrial cases, such as in the chemical, petroleum and nuclear industries cases. One of the developing methods and techniques is image processing technique. This technique is widely used in the two-phase flow researches due to the non-intrusive capability to process a lot of visualization data which are contain many complexities. Moreover, this technique allows to capture direct-visual information data of the flow which are difficult to be captured by other methods and techniques. The main objective of this paper is to present an improved algorithm of image processing technique from the preceding algorithm for the stratified flow cases. The present algorithm can measure the film thickness (hL) of stratified flow as well as the geometrical properties of the interfacial waves with lower processing time and random-access memory (RAM) usage than the preceding algorithm. Also, the measurement results are aimed to develop a high quality database of stratified flow which is scanty. In the present work, the measurement results had a satisfactory agreement with the previous works.

An improved algorithm of image processing technique for film thickness measurement in a horizontal stratified gas-liquid two-phase flow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuntoro, Hadiyan Yusuf, E-mail: hadiyan.y.kuntoro@mail.ugm.ac.id; Majid, Akmal Irfan; Deendarlianto, E-mail: deendarlianto@ugm.ac.id

Due to the importance of the two-phase flow researches for the industrial safety analysis, many researchers developed various methods and techniques to study the two-phase flow phenomena on the industrial cases, such as in the chemical, petroleum and nuclear industries cases. One of the developing methods and techniques is image processing technique. This technique is widely used in the two-phase flow researches due to the non-intrusive capability to process a lot of visualization data which are contain many complexities. Moreover, this technique allows to capture direct-visual information data of the flow which are difficult to be captured by other methodsmore » and techniques. The main objective of this paper is to present an improved algorithm of image processing technique from the preceding algorithm for the stratified flow cases. The present algorithm can measure the film thickness (h{sub L}) of stratified flow as well as the geometrical properties of the interfacial waves with lower processing time and random-access memory (RAM) usage than the preceding algorithm. Also, the measurement results are aimed to develop a high quality database of stratified flow which is scanty. In the present work, the measurement results had a satisfactory agreement with the previous works.« less

Applied Information Systems Research Program (AISRP) Workshop 3 meeting proceedings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

The third Workshop of the Applied Laboratory Systems Research Program (AISRP) met at the Univeristy of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in August of 1993. The presentations were organized into four sessions: Artificial Intelligence Techniques; Scientific Visualization; Data Management and Archiving; and Research and Technology.

Information Processing Abilities and Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samuels, S. Jay

1987-01-01

A major focus in reading difficulty is lack of automaticity in decoding, which overloads the attentional system, leads to the use of small, meaningless visual processing units such as the individual letter, places heavy demands on short-term memory, and interferes with comprehension. Techniques for diagnosis and remediation are noted. (Author/JW)

The Music of Mathematics: Toward a New Problem Typology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quarfoot, David

2015-01-01

Halmos (1980) once described problems and their solutions as "the heart of mathematics". Following this line of thinking, one might naturally ask: "What, then, is the heart of problems?" In this work, I attempt to answer this question using techniques from statistics, information visualization, and machine learning. I begin the…

Visual observation of fishes and aquatic habitat [Chapter 17

Treesearch

Russell F. Thurow; C. Andrew Dolloff; J. Ellen Marsden

2012-01-01

Whether accomplished above the water surface or performed underwater by snorkel, scuba, or hookah divers or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs); direct observation techniques are among the most effective means for obtaining accurate and often unique information on aquatic organisms in their natural surroundings. Many types of studies incorporate direct observation...

Scriptwriting for the Audio-Visual Media: Radio, Films, Television, Filmstrips, Slidefilms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmonds, Robert

Intended as a guide for prospective scriptwriters, this handbook provides information about and examples of scripts for radio, films, and television. The scriptwriter's role in the preparation of filmstrips, sound slidefilms, commercial announcements, and storyboards is also examined. The book offers guidance in the techniques of getting writing…

Putting Time in a Bottle--Or a Box!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Thomas N.

1989-01-01

Discusses the problems of teaching time concepts to children. Suggests alternatives to the traditional time line. Describes the use of bottles and boxes as symbols of units of time when encouraging children to visualize and understand time. Provides information which will assist teachers in using these techniques. (KO)

Analysis in Motion Initiative – Summarization Capability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arendt, Dustin; Pirrung, Meg; Jasper, Rob

2017-06-22

Analysts are tasked with integrating information from multiple data sources for important and timely decision making. What if sense making and overall situation awareness could be improved through visualization techniques? The Analysis in Motion initiative is advancing the ability to summarize and abstract multiple streams and static data sources over time.

Rate of Visual Information Pick-Up in Learning Disabled and Normal Boys.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryant, Susan K.; And Others

1983-01-01

A span-of-apprehension task and a backward masking technique were combined to allow measurement of the apprehension span of a sample of 34 learning disabled and normal boys about 8 to 13 years old at various time intervals following stimulus presentation. (Author/SW)

Image segmentation for enhancing symbol recognition in prosthetic vision.

PubMed

Horne, Lachlan; Barnes, Nick; McCarthy, Chris; He, Xuming

2012-01-01

Current and near-term implantable prosthetic vision systems offer the potential to restore some visual function, but suffer from poor resolution and dynamic range of induced phosphenes. This can make it difficult for users of prosthetic vision systems to identify symbolic information (such as signs) except in controlled conditions. Using image segmentation techniques from computer vision, we show it is possible to improve the clarity of such symbolic information for users of prosthetic vision implants in uncontrolled conditions. We use image segmentation to automatically divide a natural image into regions, and using a fixation point controlled by the user, select a region to phosphenize. This technique improves the apparent contrast and clarity of symbolic information over traditional phosphenization approaches.

Visual tracking using neuromorphic asynchronous event-based cameras.

PubMed

Ni, Zhenjiang; Ieng, Sio-Hoi; Posch, Christoph; Régnier, Stéphane; Benosman, Ryad

2015-04-01

This letter presents a novel computationally efficient and robust pattern tracking method based on a time-encoded, frame-free visual data. Recent interdisciplinary developments, combining inputs from engineering and biology, have yielded a novel type of camera that encodes visual information into a continuous stream of asynchronous, temporal events. These events encode temporal contrast and intensity locally in space and time. We show that the sparse yet accurately timed information is well suited as a computational input for object tracking. In this letter, visual data processing is performed for each incoming event at the time it arrives. The method provides a continuous and iterative estimation of the geometric transformation between the model and the events representing the tracked object. It can handle isometry, similarities, and affine distortions and allows for unprecedented real-time performance at equivalent frame rates in the kilohertz range on a standard PC. Furthermore, by using the dimension of time that is currently underexploited by most artificial vision systems, the method we present is able to solve ambiguous cases of object occlusions that classical frame-based techniques handle poorly.

Focusing on optic tectum circuitry through the lens of genetics.

PubMed

Nevin, Linda M; Robles, Estuardo; Baier, Herwig; Scott, Ethan K

2010-09-28

The visual pathway is tasked with processing incoming signals from the retina and converting this information into adaptive behavior. Recent studies of the larval zebrafish tectum have begun to clarify how the 'micro-circuitry' of this highly organized midbrain structure filters visual input, which arrives in the superficial layers and directs motor output through efferent projections from its deep layers. The new emphasis has been on the specific function of neuronal cell types, which can now be reproducibly labeled, imaged and manipulated using genetic and optical techniques. Here, we discuss recent advances and emerging experimental approaches for studying tectal circuits as models for visual processing and sensorimotor transformation by the vertebrate brain.

Calibration, reconstruction, and rendering of cylindrical millimeter-wave image data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheen, David M.; Hall, Thomas E.

2011-05-01

Cylindrical millimeter-wave imaging systems and technology have been under development at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for several years. This technology has been commercialized, and systems are currently being deployed widely across the United States and internationally. These systems are effective at screening for concealed items of all types; however, new sensor designs, image reconstruction techniques, and image rendering algorithms could potentially improve performance. At PNNL, a number of specific techniques have been developed recently to improve cylindrical imaging methods including wideband techniques, combining data from full 360-degree scans, polarimetric imaging techniques, calibration methods, and 3-D data visualization techniques. Many of these techniques exploit the three-dimensionality of the cylindrical imaging technique by optimizing the depth resolution of the system and using this information to enhance detection. Other techniques, such as polarimetric methods, exploit scattering physics of the millimeter-wave interaction with concealed targets on the body. In this paper, calibration, reconstruction, and three-dimensional rendering techniques will be described that optimize the depth information in these images and the display of the images to the operator.

Visual motherese? Signal-to-noise ratios in toddler-directed television

PubMed Central

Wass, Sam V; Smith, Tim J

2015-01-01

Younger brains are noisier information processing systems; this means that information for younger individuals has to allow clearer differentiation between those aspects that are required for the processing task in hand (the ‘signal’) and those that are not (the ‘noise’). We compared toddler-directed and adult-directed TV programmes (TotTV/ATV). We examined how low-level visual features (that previous research has suggested influence gaze allocation) relate to semantic information, namely the location of the character speaking in each frame. We show that this relationship differs between TotTV and ATV. First, we conducted Receiver Operator Characteristics analyses and found that feature congestion predicted speaking character location in TotTV but not ATV. Second, we used multiple analytical strategies to show that luminance differentials (flicker) predict face location more strongly in TotTV than ATV. Our results suggest that TotTV designers have intuited techniques for controlling toddler attention using low-level visual cues. The implications of these findings for structuring childhood learning experiences away from a screen are discussed. PMID:24702791

Visual motherese? Signal-to-noise ratios in toddler-directed television.

PubMed

Wass, Sam V; Smith, Tim J

2015-01-01

Younger brains are noisier information processing systems; this means that information for younger individuals has to allow clearer differentiation between those aspects that are required for the processing task in hand (the 'signal') and those that are not (the 'noise'). We compared toddler-directed and adult-directed TV programmes (TotTV/ATV). We examined how low-level visual features (that previous research has suggested influence gaze allocation) relate to semantic information, namely the location of the character speaking in each frame. We show that this relationship differs between TotTV and ATV. First, we conducted Receiver Operator Characteristics analyses and found that feature congestion predicted speaking character location in TotTV but not ATV. Second, we used multiple analytical strategies to show that luminance differentials (flicker) predict face location more strongly in TotTV than ATV. Our results suggest that TotTV designers have intuited techniques for controlling toddler attention using low-level visual cues. The implications of these findings for structuring childhood learning experiences away from a screen are discussed. © 2014 The Authors. Developmental Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Public health nurse perceptions of Omaha System data visualization.

PubMed

Lee, Seonah; Kim, Era; Monsen, Karen A

2015-10-01

Electronic health records (EHRs) provide many benefits related to the storage, deployment, and retrieval of large amounts of patient data. However, EHRs have not fully met the need to reuse data for decision making on follow-up care plans. Visualization offers new ways to present health data, especially in EHRs. Well-designed data visualization allows clinicians to communicate information efficiently and effectively, contributing to improved interpretation of clinical data and better patient care monitoring and decision making. Public health nurse (PHN) perceptions of Omaha System data visualization prototypes for use in EHRs have not been evaluated. To visualize PHN-generated Omaha System data and assess PHN perceptions regarding the visual validity, helpfulness, usefulness, and importance of the visualizations, including interactive functionality. Time-oriented visualization for problems and outcomes and Matrix visualization for problems and interventions were developed using PHN-generated Omaha System data to help PHNs consume data and plan care at the point of care. Eleven PHNs evaluated prototype visualizations. Overall PHNs response to visualizations was positive, and feedback for improvement was provided. This study demonstrated the potential for using visualization techniques within EHRs to summarize Omaha System patient data for clinicians. Further research is needed to improve and refine these visualizations and assess the potential to incorporate visualizations within clinical EHRs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Direct imaging of isofrequency contours in photonic structures

DOE PAGES

Regan, E. C.; Igarashi, Y.; Zhen, B.; ...

2016-11-25

The isofrequency contours of a photonic crystal are important for predicting and understanding exotic optical phenomena that are not apparent from high-symmetry band structure visualizations. We demonstrate a method to directly visualize the isofrequency contours of high-quality photonic crystal slabs that show quantitatively good agreement with numerical results throughout the visible spectrum. Our technique relies on resonance-enhanced photon scattering from generic fabrication disorder and surface roughness, so it can be applied to general photonic and plasmonic crystals or even quasi-crystals. We also present an analytical model of the scattering process, which explains the observation of isofrequency contours in our technique.more » Furthermore, the isofrequency contours provide information about the characteristics of the disorder and therefore serve as a feedback tool to improve fabrication processes.« less

Summary of Work for Joint Research Interchanges with DARWIN Integrated Product Team 1998

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesselink, Lambertus

1999-01-01

The intent of Stanford University's SciVis group is to develop technologies that enabled comparative analysis and visualization techniques for simulated and experimental flow fields. These techniques would then be made available under the Joint Research Interchange for potential injection into the DARWIN Workspace Environment (DWE). In the past, we have focused on techniques that exploited feature based comparisons such as shock and vortex extractions. Our current research effort focuses on finding a quantitative comparison of general vector fields based on topological features. Since the method relies on topological information, grid matching and vector alignment is not needed in the comparison. This is often a problem with many data comparison techniques. In addition, since only topology based information is stored and compared for each field, there is a significant compression of information that enables large databases to be quickly searched. This report will briefly (1) describe current technologies in the area of comparison techniques, (2) will describe the theory of our new method and finally (3) summarize a few of the results.

Summary of Work for Joint Research Interchanges with DARWIN Integrated Product Team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesselink, Lambertus

1999-01-01

The intent of Stanford University's SciVis group is to develop technologies that enabled comparative analysis and visualization techniques for simulated and experimental flow fields. These techniques would then be made available un- der the Joint Research Interchange for potential injection into the DARWIN Workspace Environment (DWE). In the past, we have focused on techniques that exploited feature based comparisons such as shock and vortex extractions. Our current research effort focuses on finding a quantitative comparison of general vector fields based on topological features. Since the method relies on topological information, grid matching an@ vector alignment is not needed in the comparison. This is often a problem with many data comparison techniques. In addition, since only topology based information is stored and compared for each field, there is a significant compression of information that enables large databases to be quickly searched. This report will briefly (1) describe current technologies in the area of comparison techniques, (2) will describe the theory of our new method and finally (3) summarize a few of the results.

Visual masking and the dynamics of human perception, cognition, and consciousness A century of progress, a contemporary synthesis, and future directions.

PubMed

Ansorge, Ulrich; Francis, Gregory; Herzog, Michael H; Oğmen, Haluk

2008-07-15

The 1990s, the "decade of the brain," witnessed major advances in the study of visual perception, cognition, and consciousness. Impressive techniques in neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, electrophysiology, psychophysics and brain-imaging were developed to address how the nervous system transforms and represents visual inputs. Many of these advances have dealt with the steady-state properties of processing. To complement this "steady-state approach," more recent research emphasized the importance of dynamic aspects of visual processing. Visual masking has been a paradigm of choice for more than a century when it comes to the study of dynamic vision. A recent workshop (http://lpsy.epfl.ch/VMworkshop/), held in Delmenhorst, Germany, brought together an international group of researchers to present state-of-the-art research on dynamic visual processing with a focus on visual masking. This special issue presents peer-reviewed contributions by the workshop participants and provides a contemporary synthesis of how visual masking can inform the dynamics of human perception, cognition, and consciousness.

Visual masking and the dynamics of human perception, cognition, and consciousness A century of progress, a contemporary synthesis, and future directions

PubMed Central

Ansorge, Ulrich; Francis, Gregory; Herzog, Michael H.; Öğmen, Haluk

2008-01-01

The 1990s, the “decade of the brain,” witnessed major advances in the study of visual perception, cognition, and consciousness. Impressive techniques in neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, electrophysiology, psychophysics and brain-imaging were developed to address how the nervous system transforms and represents visual inputs. Many of these advances have dealt with the steady-state properties of processing. To complement this “steady-state approach,” more recent research emphasized the importance of dynamic aspects of visual processing. Visual masking has been a paradigm of choice for more than a century when it comes to the study of dynamic vision. A recent workshop (http://lpsy.epfl.ch/VMworkshop/), held in Delmenhorst, Germany, brought together an international group of researchers to present state-of-the-art research on dynamic visual processing with a focus on visual masking. This special issue presents peer-reviewed contributions by the workshop participants and provides a contemporary synthesis of how visual masking can inform the dynamics of human perception, cognition, and consciousness. PMID:20517493

The computer treatment of remotely sensed data: An introduction to techniques which have geologic applications. [image enhancement and thematic classification in Brazil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parada, N. D. J. (Principal Investigator); Paradella, W. R.; Vitorello, I.

1982-01-01

Several aspects of computer-assisted analysis techniques for image enhancement and thematic classification by which LANDSAT MSS imagery may be treated quantitatively are explained. On geological applications, computer processing of digital data allows, possibly, the fullest use of LANDSAT data, by displaying enhanced and corrected data for visual analysis and by evaluating and assigning each spectral pixel information to a given class.

Instruments of scientific visual representation in atomic databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazakov, V. V.; Kazakov, V. G.; Meshkov, O. I.

2017-10-01

Graphic tools of spectral data representation provided by operating information systems on atomic spectroscopy—ASD NIST, VAMDC, SPECTR-W3, and Electronic Structure of Atoms—for the support of scientific-research and human-resource development are presented. Such tools of visual representation of scientific data as those of the spectrogram and Grotrian diagram plotting are considered. The possibility of comparative analysis of the experimentally obtained spectra and reference spectra of atomic systems formed according to the database of a resource is described. The access techniques to the mentioned graphic tools are presented.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alekseev, I. S.; Ivanov, I. E.; Strelkov, P. S., E-mail: strelkov@fpl.gpi.ru

A method based on the detection of emission of a dielectric screen with metal microinclusions in open air is applied to visualize the transverse structure of a high-power microwave beam. In contrast to other visualization techniques, the results obtained in this work provide qualitative information not only on the electric field strength, but also on the structure of electric field lines in the microwave beam cross section. The interpretation of the results obtained with this method is confirmed by numerical simulations of the structure of electric field lines in the microwave beam cross section by means of the CARAT code.

Image analysis in modern ophthalmology: from acquisition to computer assisted diagnosis and telemedicine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrugo, Andrés G.; Millán, María S.; Cristóbal, Gabriel; Gabarda, Salvador; Sorel, Michal; Sroubek, Filip

2012-06-01

Medical digital imaging has become a key element of modern health care procedures. It provides visual documentation and a permanent record for the patients, and most important the ability to extract information about many diseases. Modern ophthalmology thrives and develops on the advances in digital imaging and computing power. In this work we present an overview of recent image processing techniques proposed by the authors in the area of digital eye fundus photography. Our applications range from retinal image quality assessment to image restoration via blind deconvolution and visualization of structural changes in time between patient visits. All proposed within a framework for improving and assisting the medical practice and the forthcoming scenario of the information chain in telemedicine.

Experimental characterization of wingtip vortices in the near field using smoke flow visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serrano-Aguilera, J. J.; García-Ortiz, J. Hermenegildo; Gallardo-Claros, A.; Parras, L.; del Pino, C.

2016-08-01

In order to predict the axial development of the wingtip vortices strength, an accurate theoretical model is required. Several experimental techniques have been used to that end, e.g. PIV or hot-wire anemometry, but they imply a significant cost and effort. For this reason, we have performed experiments using the smoke-wire technique to visualize smoke streaks in six planes perpendicular to the main stream flow direction. Using this visualization technique, we obtained quantitative information regarding the vortex velocity field by means of Batchelor's model for two chord-based Reynolds numbers, Re_c=3.33× 10^4 and 10^5. Therefore, this theoretical vortex model has been introduced in the integration of ordinary differential equations which describe the temporal evolution of streak lines as function of two parameters: the swirl number, S, and the virtual axial origin, overline{z_0}. We have applied two different procedures to minimize the distance between experimental and theoretical flow patterns: individual curve fitting at six different control planes in the streamwise direction and the global curve fitting which corresponds to all the control planes simultaneously. Both sets of results have been compared with those provided by del Pino et al. (Phys Fluids 23(013):602, 2011b. doi: 10.1063/1.3537791), finding good agreement. Finally, we have observed a weak influence of the Reynolds number on the values S and overline{z_0} at low-to-moderate Re_c. This experimental technique is proposed as a low cost alternative to characterize wingtip vortices based on flow visualizations.

Evaluation of thresholding techniques for segmenting scaffold images in tissue engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajagopalan, Srinivasan; Yaszemski, Michael J.; Robb, Richard A.

2004-05-01

Tissue engineering attempts to address the ever widening gap between the demand and supply of organ and tissue transplants using natural and biomimetic scaffolds. The regeneration of specific tissues aided by synthetic materials is dependent on the structural and morphometric properties of the scaffold. These properties can be derived non-destructively using quantitative analysis of high resolution microCT scans of scaffolds. Thresholding of the scanned images into polymeric and porous phase is central to the outcome of the subsequent structural and morphometric analysis. Visual thresholding of scaffolds produced using stochastic processes is inaccurate. Depending on the algorithmic assumptions made, automatic thresholding might also be inaccurate. Hence there is a need to analyze the performance of different techniques and propose alternate ones, if needed. This paper provides a quantitative comparison of different thresholding techniques for segmenting scaffold images. The thresholding algorithms examined include those that exploit spatial information, locally adaptive characteristics, histogram entropy information, histogram shape information, and clustering of gray-level information. The performance of different techniques was evaluated using established criteria, including misclassification error, edge mismatch, relative foreground error, and region non-uniformity. Algorithms that exploit local image characteristics seem to perform much better than those using global information.

A medical application integrating remote 3D visualization tools to access picture archiving and communication system on mobile devices.

PubMed

He, Longjun; Ming, Xing; Liu, Qian

2014-04-01

With computing capability and display size growing, the mobile device has been used as a tool to help clinicians view patient information and medical images anywhere and anytime. However, for direct interactive 3D visualization, which plays an important role in radiological diagnosis, the mobile device cannot provide a satisfactory quality of experience for radiologists. This paper developed a medical system that can get medical images from the picture archiving and communication system on the mobile device over the wireless network. In the proposed application, the mobile device got patient information and medical images through a proxy server connecting to the PACS server. Meanwhile, the proxy server integrated a range of 3D visualization techniques, including maximum intensity projection, multi-planar reconstruction and direct volume rendering, to providing shape, brightness, depth and location information generated from the original sectional images for radiologists. Furthermore, an algorithm that changes remote render parameters automatically to adapt to the network status was employed to improve the quality of experience. Finally, performance issues regarding the remote 3D visualization of the medical images over the wireless network of the proposed application were also discussed. The results demonstrated that this proposed medical application could provide a smooth interactive experience in the WLAN and 3G networks.

Matisse: A Visual Analytics System for Exploring Emotion Trends in Social Media Text Streams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steed, Chad A; Drouhard, Margaret MEG G; Beaver, Justin M

Dynamically mining textual information streams to gain real-time situational awareness is especially challenging with social media systems where throughput and velocity properties push the limits of a static analytical approach. In this paper, we describe an interactive visual analytics system, called Matisse, that aids with the discovery and investigation of trends in streaming text. Matisse addresses the challenges inherent to text stream mining through the following technical contributions: (1) robust stream data management, (2) automated sentiment/emotion analytics, (3) interactive coordinated visualizations, and (4) a flexible drill-down interaction scheme that accesses multiple levels of detail. In addition to positive/negative sentiment prediction,more » Matisse provides fine-grained emotion classification based on Valence, Arousal, and Dominance dimensions and a novel machine learning process. Information from the sentiment/emotion analytics are fused with raw data and summary information to feed temporal, geospatial, term frequency, and scatterplot visualizations using a multi-scale, coordinated interaction model. After describing these techniques, we conclude with a practical case study focused on analyzing the Twitter sample stream during the week of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. The case study demonstrates the effectiveness of Matisse at providing guided situational awareness of significant trends in social media streams by orchestrating computational power and human cognition.« less

Progressive Visual Analytics: User-Driven Visual Exploration of In-Progress Analytics.

PubMed

Stolper, Charles D; Perer, Adam; Gotz, David

2014-12-01

As datasets grow and analytic algorithms become more complex, the typical workflow of analysts launching an analytic, waiting for it to complete, inspecting the results, and then re-Iaunching the computation with adjusted parameters is not realistic for many real-world tasks. This paper presents an alternative workflow, progressive visual analytics, which enables an analyst to inspect partial results of an algorithm as they become available and interact with the algorithm to prioritize subspaces of interest. Progressive visual analytics depends on adapting analytical algorithms to produce meaningful partial results and enable analyst intervention without sacrificing computational speed. The paradigm also depends on adapting information visualization techniques to incorporate the constantly refining results without overwhelming analysts and provide interactions to support an analyst directing the analytic. The contributions of this paper include: a description of the progressive visual analytics paradigm; design goals for both the algorithms and visualizations in progressive visual analytics systems; an example progressive visual analytics system (Progressive Insights) for analyzing common patterns in a collection of event sequences; and an evaluation of Progressive Insights and the progressive visual analytics paradigm by clinical researchers analyzing electronic medical records.

Visualization of bioelectric phenomena.

PubMed

Palmer, T C; Simpson, E V; Kavanagh, K M; Smith, W M

1992-01-01

Biomedical investigators are currently able to acquire and analyze physiological and anatomical data from three-dimensional structures in the body. Often, multiple kinds of data can be recorded simultaneously. The usefulness of this information, either for exploratory viewing or for presentation to others, is limited by the lack of techniques to display it in intuitive, accessible formats. Unfortunately, the complexity of scientific visualization techniques and the inflexibility of commercial packages deter investigators from using sophisticated visualization methods that could provide them added insight into the mechanisms of the phenomena under study. Also, the sheer volume of such data is a problem. High-performance computing resources are often required for storage and processing, in addition to visualization. This chapter describes a novel, language-based interface that allows scientists with basic programming skills to classify and render multivariate volumetric data with a modest investment in software training. The interface facilitates data exploration by enabling experimentation with various algorithms to compute opacity and color from volumetric data. The value of the system is demonstrated using data from cardiac mapping studies, in which multiple electrodes are placed in an on the heart to measure the cardiac electrical activity intrinsic to the heart and its response to external stimulation.

The Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Based System for Managing the Design and Pilot-Testing of Interactive Videodisc Programs. Training and Development Research Center, Project Number Forty-Three.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sayre, Scott Alan

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a computer-based system that would allow interactive video developers to integrate and manage the design components prior to production. These components of an interactive video (IVD) program include visual information in a variety of formats, audio information, and instructional techniques,…

Experiments using electronic display information in the NASA terminal configured vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morello, S. A.

1980-01-01

The results of research experiments concerning pilot display information requirements and visualization techniques for electronic display systems are presented. Topics deal with display related piloting tasks in flight controls for approach-to-landing, flight management for the descent from cruise, and flight operational procedures considering the display of surrounding air traffic. Planned research of advanced integrated display formats for primary flight control throughout the various phases of flight is also discussed.

Hybrid registration of PET/CT in thoracic region with pre-filtering PET sinogram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokri, S. S.; Saripan, M. I.; Marhaban, M. H.; Nordin, A. J.; Hashim, S.

2015-11-01

The integration of physiological (PET) and anatomical (CT) images in cancer delineation requires an accurate spatial registration technique. Although hybrid PET/CT scanner is used to co-register these images, significant misregistrations exist due to patient and respiratory/cardiac motions. This paper proposes a hybrid feature-intensity based registration technique for hybrid PET/CT scanner. First, simulated PET sinogram was filtered with a 3D hybrid mean-median before reconstructing the image. The features were then derived from the segmented structures (lung, heart and tumor) from both images. The registration was performed based on modified multi-modality demon registration with multiresolution scheme. Apart from visual observations improvements, the proposed registration technique increased the normalized mutual information index (NMI) between the PET/CT images after registration. All nine tested datasets show marked improvements in mutual information (MI) index than free form deformation (FFD) registration technique with the highest MI increase is 25%.

Incremental Support Vector Machine Framework for Visual Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Awad, Mariette; Jiang, Xianhua; Motai, Yuichi

2006-12-01

Motivated by the emerging requirements of surveillance networks, we present in this paper an incremental multiclassification support vector machine (SVM) technique as a new framework for action classification based on real-time multivideo collected by homogeneous sites. The technique is based on an adaptation of least square SVM (LS-SVM) formulation but extends beyond the static image-based learning of current SVM methodologies. In applying the technique, an initial supervised offline learning phase is followed by a visual behavior data acquisition and an online learning phase during which the cluster head performs an ensemble of model aggregations based on the sensor nodes inputs. The cluster head then selectively switches on designated sensor nodes for future incremental learning. Combining sensor data offers an improvement over single camera sensing especially when the latter has an occluded view of the target object. The optimization involved alleviates the burdens of power consumption and communication bandwidth requirements. The resulting misclassification error rate, the iterative error reduction rate of the proposed incremental learning, and the decision fusion technique prove its validity when applied to visual sensor networks. Furthermore, the enabled online learning allows an adaptive domain knowledge insertion and offers the advantage of reducing both the model training time and the information storage requirements of the overall system which makes it even more attractive for distributed sensor networks communication.

A novel visual-inertial monocular SLAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Wenjuan; Xu, Li; Liu, JiangGuo

2018-02-01

With the development of sensors and computer vision research community, cameras, which are accurate, compact, wellunderstood and most importantly cheap and ubiquitous today, have gradually been at the center of robot location. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using visual features, which is a system getting motion information from image acquisition equipment and rebuild the structure in unknown environment. We provide an analysis of bioinspired flights in insects, employing a novel technique based on SLAM. Then combining visual and inertial measurements to get high accuracy and robustness. we present a novel tightly-coupled Visual-Inertial Simultaneous Localization and Mapping system which get a new attempt to address two challenges which are the initialization problem and the calibration problem. experimental results and analysis show the proposed approach has a more accurate quantitative simulation of insect navigation, which can reach the positioning accuracy of centimeter level.

Presentation-Oriented Visualization Techniques.

PubMed

Kosara, Robert

2016-01-01

Data visualization research focuses on data exploration and analysis, yet the vast majority of visualizations people see were created for a different purpose: presentation. Whether we are talking about charts showing data to help make a presenter's point, data visuals created to accompany a news story, or the ubiquitous infographics, many more people consume charts than make them. Traditional visualization techniques treat presentation as an afterthought, but are there techniques uniquely suited to data presentation but not necessarily ideal for exploration and analysis? This article focuses on presentation-oriented techniques, considering their usefulness for presentation first and any other purposes as secondary.

Surface mapping of spike potential fields: experienced EEGers vs. computerized analysis.

PubMed

Koszer, S; Moshé, S L; Legatt, A D; Shinnar, S; Goldensohn, E S

1996-03-01

An EEG epileptiform spike focus recorded with scalp electrodes is clinically localized by visual estimation of the point of maximal voltage and the distribution of its surrounding voltages. We compared such estimated voltage maps, drawn by experienced electroencephalographers (EEGers), with a computerized spline interpolation technique employed in the commercially available software package FOCUS. Twenty-two spikes were recorded from 15 patients during long-term continuous EEG monitoring. Maps of voltage distribution from the 28 electrodes surrounding the points of maximum change in slope (the spike maximum) were constructed by the EEGer. The same points of maximum spike and voltage distributions at the 29 electrodes were mapped by computerized spline interpolation and a comparison between the two methods was made. The findings indicate that the computerized spline mapping techniques employed in FOCUS construct voltage maps with similar maxima and distributions as the maps created by experienced EEGers. The dynamics of spike activity, including correlations, are better visualized using the computerized technique than by manual interpretation alone. Its use as a technique for spike localization is accurate and adds information of potential clinical value.

Building a Data Science capability for USGS water research and communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Appling, A.; Read, E. K.

2015-12-01

Interpreting and communicating water issues in an era of exponentially increasing information requires a blend of domain expertise, computational proficiency, and communication skills. The USGS Office of Water Information has established a Data Science team to meet these needs, providing challenging careers for diverse domain scientists and innovators in the fields of information technology and data visualization. Here, we detail the experience of building a Data Science capability as a bridging element between traditional water resources analyses and modern computing tools and data management techniques. This approach includes four major components: 1) building reusable research tools, 2) documenting data-intensive research approaches in peer reviewed journals, 3) communicating complex water resources issues with interactive web visualizations, and 4) offering training programs for our peers in scientific computing. These components collectively improve the efficiency, transparency, and reproducibility of USGS data analyses and scientific workflows.

Acquisition and visualization techniques for narrow spectral color imaging.

PubMed

Neumann, László; García, Rafael; Basa, János; Hegedüs, Ramón

2013-06-01

This paper introduces a new approach in narrow-band imaging (NBI). Existing NBI techniques generate images by selecting discrete bands over the full visible spectrum or an even wider spectral range. In contrast, here we perform the sampling with filters covering a tight spectral window. This image acquisition method, named narrow spectral imaging, can be particularly useful when optical information is only available within a narrow spectral window, such as in the case of deep-water transmittance, which constitutes the principal motivation of this work. In this study we demonstrate the potential of the proposed photographic technique on nonunderwater scenes recorded under controlled conditions. To this end three multilayer narrow bandpass filters were employed, which transmit at 440, 456, and 470 nm bluish wavelengths, respectively. Since the differences among the images captured in such a narrow spectral window can be extremely small, both image acquisition and visualization require a novel approach. First, high-bit-depth images were acquired with multilayer narrow-band filters either placed in front of the illumination or mounted on the camera lens. Second, a color-mapping method is proposed, using which the input data can be transformed onto the entire display color gamut with a continuous and perceptually nearly uniform mapping, while ensuring optimally high information content for human perception.

Estimating Starch Content in Roots of Deciduous Trees--A Visual Technique

Treesearch

Philip M. Wargo; Philip M. Wargo

1975-01-01

A visual technique for determining starch content in roots of forest trees, based onz iodine-staining of starch granules, was compared with a chemical method. Although the chemical method was more precise, roots could be sorted with the visual method into groups that are probably biologically important. The visual technique is simple and can be adapted for use in the...

The Effectiveness of Screencasts and Cognitive Tools as Scaffolding for Novice Object-Oriented Programmers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Mark J. W.; Pradhan, Sunam; Dalgarno, Barney

2008-01-01

Modern information technology and computer science curricula employ a variety of graphical tools and development environments to facilitate student learning of introductory programming concepts and techniques. While the provision of interactive features and the use of visualization can enhance students' understanding and assist them in grasping…

Demonstrating a Web-Design Technique in a Distance-Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zdenek, Sean

2004-01-01

Objective: To lead a brief training session over a distance-learning network. Type of speech: Informative. Point value: 20% of course grade. Requirements: (a) References: Not specified; (b) Length: 15 minutes; (c) Visual aid: Yes; (d) Outline: No; (e) Prerequisite reading: Chapters 12-16, 18 (Bailey, 2002); (f) Additional requirements: None. This…

Geometric modeling for computer aided design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwing, James L.

1988-01-01

Research focused on two major areas. The first effort addressed the design and implementation of a technique that allows for the visualization of the real time variation of physical properties. The second effort focused on the design and implementation of an on-line help system with components designed for both authors and users of help information.

Audiovisual Resources in Formal and Informal Learning: Spanish and Mexican Students' Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fombona, Javier; Pascual, Maria Angeles

2013-01-01

This research analyses the evolution in the effectiveness of media messages and aims to optimize the use of ICTs in educational settings. The cultural impact of television and multimedia resources is increasing as they move to the Internet with ever greater quality. The integration of visual narrative techniques with multimedia playback…

Geography via Aerial Field Trips: Do It This Way, 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richason, Benjamin F., Jr.; Guell, Carl E.

To provide guidance for geography teachers, this booklet presents information on how to plan and execute aerial field trips. The aerial field trip can be employed as an effective visual aid technique in the teaching of geography, especially for presenting earth generalizations and interrelationships. The benefits of an aerial field trip are…

Event Related Brain Potentials and Cognitive Processing: Implications for Navy Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Gregory W.; And Others

The cognitive styles, aptitudes, and abilities of 50 right-handed subjects were measured through a battery of paper-and-pencil tests to determine the feasibility of using event related brain potentials (ERPs) in the development of adaptive training techniques keyed to the information processing styles of individual students. Visual, auditory, and…

Toward exploratory analysis of diversity unified across fields of study: an information visualization approach

Treesearch

Tuan Pham; Julia Jones; Ronald Metoyer; Frederick Colwell

2014-01-01

The study of the diversity of multivariate objects shares common characteristics and goals across disciplines, including ecology and organizational management. Nevertheless, subject-matter experts have adopted somewhat separate diversity concepts and analysis techniques, limiting the potential for sharing and comparing across disciplines. Moreover, while large and...

Cooperative Learning Technique through Internet Based Education: A Model Proposal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozkan, Hasan Huseyin

2010-01-01

Internet is gradually becoming the most valuable learning environment for the people which form the information society. That the internet provides written, oral and visual communication between the participants who are at different places, that it enables the students' interaction with other students and teachers, and that it does these so fast…

Data Mining in Earth System Science (DMESS 2011)

Treesearch

Forrest M. Hoffman; J. Walter Larson; Richard Tran Mills; Bhorn-Gustaf Brooks; Auroop R. Ganguly; William Hargrove; et al

2011-01-01

From field-scale measurements to global climate simulations and remote sensing, the growing body of very large and long time series Earth science data are increasingly difficult to analyze, visualize, and interpret. Data mining, information theoretic, and machine learning techniques—such as cluster analysis, singular value decomposition, block entropy, Fourier and...

Container Design and Packaging; Art Education: 6693.13.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dubocq, Edward R.

Offered as an exploratory course in the highly technical field of container and packaging design, emphasis is placed on refined knowledge of the basic techniques used in preparing visuals, color camps, and working drawings. Study of related information such as consumer psychology and color, layout, and lettering is included in this studio oriented…

Exploratory visualization software for reporting environmental survey results.

PubMed

Fisher, P; Arnot, C; Bastin, L; Dykes, J

2001-08-01

Environmental surveys yield three principal products: maps, a set of data tables, and a textual report. The relationships between these three elements, however, are often cumbersome to present, making full use of all the information in an integrated and systematic sense difficult. The published paper report is only a partial solution. Modern developments in computing, particularly in cartography, GIS, and hypertext, mean that it is increasingly possible to conceive of an easier and more interactive approach to the presentation of such survey results. Here, we present such an approach which links map and tabular datasets arising from a vegetation survey, allowing users ready access to a complex dataset using dynamic mapping techniques. Multimedia datasets equipped with software like this provide an exciting means of quick and easy visual data exploration and comparison. These techniques are gaining popularity across the sciences as scientists and decision-makers are presented with increasing amounts of diverse digital data. We believe that the software environment actively encourages users to make complex interrogations of the survey information, providing a new vehicle for the reader of an environmental survey report.

Visual Data Exploration and Analysis - Report on the Visualization Breakout Session of the SCaLeS Workshop

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bethel, E. Wes; Frank, Randy; Fulcomer, Sam

Scientific visualization is the transformation of abstract information into images, and it plays an integral role in the scientific process by facilitating insight into observed or simulated phenomena. Visualization as a discipline spans many research areas from computer science, cognitive psychology and even art. Yet the most successful visualization applications are created when close synergistic interactions with domain scientists are part of the algorithmic design and implementation process, leading to visual representations with clear scientific meaning. Visualization is used to explore, to debug, to gain understanding, and as an analysis tool. Visualization is literally everywhere--images are present in this report,more » on television, on the web, in books and magazines--the common theme is the ability to present information visually that is rapidly assimilated by human observers, and transformed into understanding or insight. As an indispensable part a modern science laboratory, visualization is akin to the biologist's microscope or the electrical engineer's oscilloscope. Whereas the microscope is limited to small specimens or use of optics to focus light, the power of scientific visualization is virtually limitless: visualization provides the means to examine data that can be at galactic or atomic scales, or at any size in between. Unlike the traditional scientific tools for visual inspection, visualization offers the means to ''see the unseeable.'' Trends in demographics or changes in levels of atmospheric CO{sub 2} as a function of greenhouse gas emissions are familiar examples of such unseeable phenomena. Over time, visualization techniques evolve in response to scientific need. Each scientific discipline has its ''own language,'' verbal and visual, used for communication. The visual language for depicting electrical circuits is much different than the visual language for depicting theoretical molecules or trends in the stock market. There is no ''one visualization too'' that can serve as a panacea for all science disciplines. Instead, visualization researchers work hand in hand with domain scientists as part of the scientific research process to define, create, adapt and refine software that ''speaks the visual language'' of each scientific domain.« less

Intelligent visual localization of wireless capsule endoscopes enhanced by color information.

PubMed

Dimas, George; Spyrou, Evaggelos; Iakovidis, Dimitris K; Koulaouzidis, Anastasios

2017-10-01

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is performed with a miniature swallowable endoscope enabling the visualization of the whole gastrointestinal (GI) tract. One of the most challenging problems in WCE is the localization of the capsule endoscope (CE) within the GI lumen. Contemporary, radiation-free localization approaches are mainly based on the use of external sensors and transit time estimation techniques, with practically low localization accuracy. Latest advances for the solution of this problem include localization approaches based solely on visual information from the CE camera. In this paper we present a novel visual localization approach based on an intelligent, artificial neural network, architecture which implements a generic visual odometry (VO) framework capable of estimating the motion of the CE in physical units. Unlike the conventional, geometric, VO approaches, the proposed one is adaptive to the geometric model of the CE used; therefore, it does not require any prior knowledge about and its intrinsic parameters. Furthermore, it exploits color as a cue to increase localization accuracy and robustness. Experiments were performed using a robotic-assisted setup providing ground truth information about the actual location of the CE. The lowest average localization error achieved is 2.70 ± 1.62 cm, which is significantly lower than the error obtained with the geometric approach. This result constitutes a promising step towards the in-vivo application of VO, which will open new horizons for accurate local treatment, including drug infusion and surgical interventions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Infrared and visible image fusion based on visual saliency map and weighted least square optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Jinlei; Zhou, Zhiqiang; Wang, Bo; Zong, Hua

2017-05-01

The goal of infrared (IR) and visible image fusion is to produce a more informative image for human observation or some other computer vision tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-scale fusion method based on visual saliency map (VSM) and weighted least square (WLS) optimization, aiming to overcome some common deficiencies of conventional methods. Firstly, we introduce a multi-scale decomposition (MSD) using the rolling guidance filter (RGF) and Gaussian filter to decompose input images into base and detail layers. Compared with conventional MSDs, this MSD can achieve the unique property of preserving the information of specific scales and reducing halos near edges. Secondly, we argue that the base layers obtained by most MSDs would contain a certain amount of residual low-frequency information, which is important for controlling the contrast and overall visual appearance of the fused image, and the conventional "averaging" fusion scheme is unable to achieve desired effects. To address this problem, an improved VSM-based technique is proposed to fuse the base layers. Lastly, a novel WLS optimization scheme is proposed to fuse the detail layers. This optimization aims to transfer more visual details and less irrelevant IR details or noise into the fused image. As a result, the fused image details would appear more naturally and be suitable for human visual perception. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can achieve a superior performance compared with other fusion methods in both subjective and objective assessments.

From informed consent to dissemination: Using participatory visual methods with young people with long-term conditions at different stages of research.

PubMed

Vindrola-Padros, Cecilia; Martins, Ana; Coyne, Imelda; Bryan, Gemma; Gibson, Faith

2016-01-01

Research with young people suffering from a long-term illness has more recently incorporated the use of visual methods to foster engagement of research participants from a wide age range, capture the longitudinal and complex factors involved in young people's experiences of care, and allow young people to express their views in multiple ways. Despite its contributions, these methods are not always easy to implement and there is a possibility that they might not generate the results or engagement initially anticipated by researchers. We hope to expand on the emerging discussion on the use of participatory visual methods by presenting the practical issues we have faced while using this methodology during different stages of research: informed assent/consent, data collection, and the dissemination of findings. We propose a combination of techniques to make sure that the research design is flexible enough to allow research participants to shape the research process according to their needs and interests.

Topological Cacti: Visualizing Contour-based Statistics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weber, Gunther H.; Bremer, Peer-Timo; Pascucci, Valerio

2011-05-26

Contours, the connected components of level sets, play an important role in understanding the global structure of a scalar field. In particular their nestingbehavior and topology-often represented in form of a contour tree-have been used extensively for visualization and analysis. However, traditional contour trees onlyencode structural properties like number of contours or the nesting of contours, but little quantitative information such as volume or other statistics. Here we use thesegmentation implied by a contour tree to compute a large number of per-contour (interval) based statistics of both the function defining the contour tree as well asother co-located functions. We introducemore » a new visual metaphor for contour trees, called topological cacti, that extends the traditional toporrery display of acontour tree to display additional quantitative information as width of the cactus trunk and length of its spikes. We apply the new technique to scalar fields ofvarying dimension and different measures to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.« less

Social Media Visual Analytics for Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diakopoulos, Nicholas; Naaman, Mor; Yazdani, Tayebeh; Kivran-Swaine, Funda

For large-scale multimedia events such as televised debates and speeches, the amount of content on social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter can easily become overwhelming, yet still contain information that may aid and augment understanding of the multimedia content via individual social media items, or aggregate information from the crowd's response. In this work we discuss this opportunity in the context of a social media visual analytic tool, Vox Civitas, designed to help journalists, media professionals, or other researchers make sense of large-scale aggregations of social media content around multimedia broadcast events. We discuss the design of the tool, present and evaluate the text analysis techniques used to enable the presentation, and detail the visual and interaction design. We provide an exploratory evaluation based on a user study in which journalists interacted with the system to analyze and report on a dataset of over one 100 000 Twitter messages collected during the broadcast of the U.S. State of the Union presidential address in 2010.

VISIBIOweb: visualization and layout services for BioPAX pathway models

PubMed Central

Dilek, Alptug; Belviranli, Mehmet E.; Dogrusoz, Ugur

2010-01-01

With recent advancements in techniques for cellular data acquisition, information on cellular processes has been increasing at a dramatic rate. Visualization is critical to analyzing and interpreting complex information; representing cellular processes or pathways is no exception. VISIBIOweb is a free, open-source, web-based pathway visualization and layout service for pathway models in BioPAX format. With VISIBIOweb, one can obtain well-laid-out views of pathway models using the standard notation of the Systems Biology Graphical Notation (SBGN), and can embed such views within one's web pages as desired. Pathway views may be navigated using zoom and scroll tools; pathway object properties, including any external database references available in the data, may be inspected interactively. The automatic layout component of VISIBIOweb may also be accessed programmatically from other tools using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The web site is free and open to all users and there is no login requirement. It is available at: http://visibioweb.patika.org. PMID:20460470

Visual search asymmetries within color-coded and intensity-coded displays.

PubMed

Yamani, Yusuke; McCarley, Jason S

2010-06-01

Color and intensity coding provide perceptual cues to segregate categories of objects within a visual display, allowing operators to search more efficiently for needed information. Even within a perceptually distinct subset of display elements, however, it may often be useful to prioritize items representing urgent or task-critical information. The design of symbology to produce search asymmetries (Treisman & Souther, 1985) offers a potential technique for doing this, but it is not obvious from existing models of search that an asymmetry observed in the absence of extraneous visual stimuli will persist within a complex color- or intensity-coded display. To address this issue, in the current study we measured the strength of a visual search asymmetry within displays containing color- or intensity-coded extraneous items. The asymmetry persisted strongly in the presence of extraneous items that were drawn in a different color (Experiment 1) or a lower contrast (Experiment 2) than the search-relevant items, with the targets favored by the search asymmetry producing highly efficient search. The asymmetry was attenuated but not eliminated when extraneous items were drawn in a higher contrast than search-relevant items (Experiment 3). Results imply that the coding of symbology to exploit visual search asymmetries can facilitate visual search for high-priority items even within color- or intensity-coded displays. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Rotation elastogram: a novel method to visualize local rigid body rotation under quasi-static compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sowmiya, C.; Kothawala, Ali Arshad; Thittai, Arun K.

2016-04-01

During manual palpation of breast masses, the perception of its stiffness and slipperiness are the two commonly used information by the physician. In order to reliably and quantitatively obtain this information several non-invasive elastography techniques have been developed that seek to provide an image of the underlying mechanical properties, mostly stiffness-related. Very few approaches have visualized the "slip" at the lesion-background boundary that only occurs for a loosely-bonded benign lesion. It has been shown that axial-shear strain distribution provides information about underlying slip. One such feature, referred to as "fill-in" was interpreted as a surrogate of the rotation undergone by an asymmetrically-oriented-loosely bonded-benign-lesion under quasi-static compression. However, imaging and direct visualization of the rotation itself has not been addressed yet. In order to accomplish this, the quality of lateral displacement estimation needs to be improved. In this simulation study, we utilize spatial compounding approach and assess the feasibility to obtain good quality rotation elastogram. The angular axial and lateral displacement estimates were obtained at different insonification angles from a phantom containing an elliptical inclusion oriented at 45°, subjected to 1% compression from the top. A multilevel 2D-block matching algorithm was used for displacement tracking and 2D-least square compounding of angular axial and lateral displacement estimates was employed. By varying the maximum steering angle and incremental angle, the improvement in the lateral motion tracking accuracy and its effects on the quality of rotational elastogram were evaluated. Results demonstrate significantly-improved rotation elastogram using this technique.

Live-cell CRISPR imaging in plants reveals dynamic telomere movements.

PubMed

Dreissig, Steven; Schiml, Simon; Schindele, Patrick; Weiss, Oda; Rutten, Twan; Schubert, Veit; Gladilin, Evgeny; Mette, Michael F; Puchta, Holger; Houben, Andreas

2017-08-01

Elucidating the spatiotemporal organization of the genome inside the nucleus is imperative to our understanding of the regulation of genes and non-coding sequences during development and environmental changes. Emerging techniques of chromatin imaging promise to bridge the long-standing gap between sequencing studies, which reveal genomic information, and imaging studies that provide spatial and temporal information of defined genomic regions. Here, we demonstrate such an imaging technique based on two orthologues of the bacterial clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9). By fusing eGFP/mRuby2 to catalytically inactive versions of Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus Cas9, we show robust visualization of telomere repeats in live leaf cells of Nicotiana benthamiana. By tracking the dynamics of telomeres visualized by CRISPR-dCas9, we reveal dynamic telomere movements of up to 2 μm over 30 min during interphase. Furthermore, we show that CRISPR-dCas9 can be combined with fluorescence-labelled proteins to visualize DNA-protein interactions in vivo. By simultaneously using two dCas9 orthologues, we pave the way for the imaging of multiple genomic loci in live plants cells. CRISPR imaging bears the potential to significantly improve our understanding of the dynamics of chromosomes in live plant cells. © 2017 The Authors The Plant Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Experimental Biology.

[Abdominal ultrasound course an introduction to the ultrasound technique. Physical basis. Ultrasound language].

PubMed

Segura-Grau, A; Sáez-Fernández, A; Rodríguez-Lorenzo, A; Díaz-Rodríguez, N

2014-01-01

Ultrasound is a non-invasive, accessible, and versatile diagnostic technique that uses high frequency ultrasound waves to define outline the organs of the human body, with no ionising radiation, in real time and with the capacity to visual several planes. The high diagnostic yield of the technique, together with its ease of uses plus the previously mentioned characteristics, has currently made it a routine method in daily medical practice. It is for this reason that the multidisciplinary character of this technique is being strengthened every day. To be able to perform the technique correctly requires knowledge of the physical basis of ultrasound, the method and the equipment, as well as of the human anatomy, in order to have the maximum information possible to avoid diagnostic errors due to poor interpretation or lack of information. Copyright © 2013 Sociedad Española de Médicos de Atención Primaria (SEMERGEN). Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Trajectory-Based Performance Assessment for Aviation Weather Information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vigeant-Langlois, Laurence; Hansman, R. John, Jr.

2003-01-01

Based on an analysis of aviation decision-makers' time-related weather information needs, an abstraction of the aviation weather decision task was developed, that involves 4-D intersection testing between aircraft trajectory hypertubes and hazardous weather hypervolumes. The framework builds on the hypothesis that hazardous meteorological fields can be simplified using discrete boundaries of surrogate threat attributes. The abstractions developed in the framework may be useful in studying how to improve the performance of weather forecasts from the trajectory-centric perspective, as well as for developing useful visualization techniques of weather information.

Inspection of a Medieval Wood Sculpture Using Computer Tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapitany, K.; Somogyi, A.; Barsi, A.

2016-06-01

Computer tomography (CT) is an excellent technique for obtaining accurate 3D information about the human body. It allows to visualize the organs, bones and blood vessels, furthermore it enables to diagnose anomalies and diseases. Its spatial reconstruction capability supports other interesting applications, such as inspecting different, even valuable objects like ancient sculptures. Current paper presents a methodology of evaluating CT and video imagery through the example of investigating a wood Madonna with infant Jesus sculpture from the 14th century. The developed techniques extract the outer boundary of the statue, which has been triangulated to derive the surface model. The interior of the sculpture has also been revealed: the iron bolts and rivets as well as the woodworm holes can be mapped. By merging the interior and outer data (geometry and texture) interesting visualizations (perspective views, sections etc.) have been created.

Finding Waldo: Learning about Users from their Interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Eli T.; Ottley, Alvitta; Zhao, Helen

Visual analytics is inherently a collaboration between human and computer. However, in current visual analytics systems, the computer has limited means of knowing about its users and their analysis processes. While existing research has shown that a user’s interactions with a system reflect a large amount of the user’s reasoning process, there has been limited advancement in developing automated, real-time techniques that mine interactions to learn about the user. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can accurately predict a user’s task performance and infer some user personality traits by using machine learning techniques to analyze interaction data. Specifically, wemore » conduct an experiment in which participants perform a visual search task and we apply well-known machine learning algorithms to three encodings of the users interaction data. We achieve, depending on algorithm and encoding, between 62% and 96% accuracy at predicting whether each user will be fast or slow at completing the task. Beyond predicting performance, we demonstrate that using the same techniques, we can infer aspects of the user’s personality factors, including locus of control, extraversion, and neuroticism. Further analyses show that strong results can be attained with limited observation time, in some cases, 82% of the final accuracy is gained after a quarter of the average task completion time. Overall, our findings show that interactions can provide information to the computer about its human collaborator, and establish a foundation for realizing mixed- initiative visual analytics systems.« less

Advanced technology development for image gathering, coding, and processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huck, Friedrich O.

1990-01-01

Three overlapping areas of research activities are presented: (1) Information theory and optimal filtering are extended to visual information acquisition and processing. The goal is to provide a comprehensive methodology for quantitatively assessing the end-to-end performance of image gathering, coding, and processing. (2) Focal-plane processing techniques and technology are developed to combine effectively image gathering with coding. The emphasis is on low-level vision processing akin to the retinal processing in human vision. (3) A breadboard adaptive image-coding system is being assembled. This system will be used to develop and evaluate a number of advanced image-coding technologies and techniques as well as research the concept of adaptive image coding.

Compression and accelerated rendering of volume data using DWT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamath, Preyas; Akleman, Ergun; Chan, Andrew K.

1998-09-01

2D images cannot convey information on object depth and location relative to the surfaces. The medical community is increasingly using 3D visualization techniques to view data from CT scans, MRI etc. 3D images provide more information on depth and location in the spatial domain to help surgeons making better diagnoses of the problem. 3D images can be constructed from 2D images using 3D scalar algorithms. With recent advances in communication techniques, it is possible for doctors to diagnose and plan treatment of a patient who lives at a remote location. It is made possible by transmitting relevant data of the patient via telephone lines. If this information is to be reconstructed in 3D, then 2D images must be transmitted. However 2D dataset storage occupies a lot of memory. In addition, visualization algorithms are slow. We describe in this paper a scheme which reduces the data transfer time by only transmitting information that the doctor wants. Compression is achieved by reducing the amount of data transfer. This is possible by using the 3D wavelet transform applied to 3D datasets. Since the wavelet transform is localized in frequency and spatial domain, we transmit detail only in the region where the doctor needs it. Since only ROM (Region of Interest) is reconstructed in detail, we need to render only ROI in detail, thus we can reduce the rendering time.

Analysis of CAD Model-based Visual Tracking for Microassembly using a New Block Set for MATLAB/Simulink

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtsev, Andrey V.; Laurent, Guillaume J.; Clévy, Cédric; Tamadazte, Brahim; Lutz, Philippe

2015-10-01

Microassembly is an innovative alternative to the microfabrication process of MOEMS, which is quite complex. It usually implies the use of microrobots controlled by an operator. The reliability of this approach has been already confirmed for micro-optical technologies. However, the characterization of assemblies has shown that the operator is the main source of inaccuracies in the teleoperated microassembly. Therefore, there is great interest in automating the microassembly process. One of the constraints of automation in microscale is the lack of high precision sensors capable to provide the full information about the object position. Thus, the usage of visual-based feedback represents a very promising approach allowing to automate the microassembly process. The purpose of this article is to characterize the techniques of object position estimation based on the visual data, i.e., visual tracking techniques from the ViSP library. These algorithms enables a 3-D object pose using a single view of the scene and the CAD model of the object. The performance of three main types of model-based trackers is analyzed and quantified: edge-based, texture-based and hybrid tracker. The problems of visual tracking in microscale are discussed. The control of the micromanipulation station used in the framework of our project is performed using a new Simulink block set. Experimental results are shown and demonstrate the possibility to obtain the repeatability below 1 µm.

Visualization of small scale structures on high resolution DEMs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kokalj, Žiga; Zakšek, Klemen; Pehani, Peter; Čotar, Klemen; Oštir, Krištof

2015-04-01

Knowledge on the terrain morphology is very important for observation of numerous processes and events and digital elevation models are therefore one of the most important datasets in geographic analyses. Furthermore, recognition of natural and anthropogenic microrelief structures, which can be observed on detailed terrain models derived from aerial laser scanning (lidar) or structure-from-motion photogrammetry, is of paramount importance in many applications. In this paper we thus examine and evaluate methods of raster lidar data visualization for the determination (recognition) of microrelief features and present a series of strategies to assist selecting the preferred visualization of choice for structures of various shapes and sizes, set in varied landscapes. Often the answer is not definite and more frequently a combination of techniques has to be used to map a very diverse landscape. Researchers can only very recently benefit from free software for calculation of advanced visualization techniques. These tools are often difficult to understand, have numerous options that confuse the user, or require and produce non-standard data formats, because they were written for specific purposes. We therefore designed the Relief Visualization Toolbox (RVT) as a free, easy-to-use, standalone application to create visualisations from high-resolution digital elevation data. It is tailored for the very beginners in relief interpretation, but it can also be used by more advanced users in data processing and geographic information systems. It offers a range of techniques, such as simple hillshading and its derivatives, slope gradient, trend removal, positive and negative openness, sky-view factor, and anisotropic sky-view factor. All included methods have been proven to be effective for detection of small scale features and the default settings are optimised to accomplish this task. However, the usability of the tool goes beyond computation for visualization purposes, as sky-view factor, for example, is an essential variable in many fields, e.g. in meteorology. RVT produces two types of results: 1) the original files have a full range of values and are intended for further analyses in geographic information systems, 2) the simplified versions are histogram stretched for visualization purposes and saved as 8-bit GeoTIFF files. This means that they can be explored in non-GIS software, e.g. with simple picture viewers, which is essential when a larger community of non-specialists needs to be considered, e.g. in public collaborative projects. The tool recognizes all frequently used single band raster formats and supports elevation raster file data conversion.

Radial sets: interactive visual analysis of large overlapping sets.

PubMed

Alsallakh, Bilal; Aigner, Wolfgang; Miksch, Silvia; Hauser, Helwig

2013-12-01

In many applications, data tables contain multi-valued attributes that often store the memberships of the table entities to multiple sets such as which languages a person masters, which skills an applicant documents, or which features a product comes with. With a growing number of entities, the resulting element-set membership matrix becomes very rich of information about how these sets overlap. Many analysis tasks targeted at set-typed data are concerned with these overlaps as salient features of such data. This paper presents Radial Sets, a novel visual technique to analyze set memberships for a large number of elements. Our technique uses frequency-based representations to enable quickly finding and analyzing different kinds of overlaps between the sets, and relating these overlaps to other attributes of the table entities. Furthermore, it enables various interactions to select elements of interest, find out if they are over-represented in specific sets or overlaps, and if they exhibit a different distribution for a specific attribute compared to the rest of the elements. These interactions allow formulating highly-expressive visual queries on the elements in terms of their set memberships and attribute values. As we demonstrate via two usage scenarios, Radial Sets enable revealing and analyzing a multitude of overlapping patterns between large sets, beyond the limits of state-of-the-art techniques.

Acting to gain information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenchein, Stanley J.; Burns, J. Brian; Chapman, David; Kaelbling, Leslie P.; Kahn, Philip; Nishihara, H. Keith; Turk, Matthew

1993-01-01

This report is concerned with agents that act to gain information. In previous work, we developed agent models combining qualitative modeling with real-time control. That work, however, focused primarily on actions that affect physical states of the environment. The current study extends that work by explicitly considering problems of active information-gathering and by exploring specialized aspects of information-gathering in computational perception, learning, and language. In our theoretical investigations, we analyzed agents into their perceptual and action components and identified these with elements of a state-machine model of control. The mathematical properties of each was developed in isolation and interactions were then studied. We considered the complexity dimension and the uncertainty dimension and related these to intelligent-agent design issues. We also explored active information gathering in visual processing. Working within the active vision paradigm, we developed a concept of 'minimal meaningful measurements' suitable for demand-driven vision. We then developed and tested an architecture for ongoing recognition and interpretation of visual information. In the area of information gathering through learning, we explored techniques for coping with combinatorial complexity. We also explored information gathering through explicit linguistic action by considering the nature of conversational rules, coordination, and situated communication behavior.

Visualizing Mars Using Virtual Reality: A State of the Art Mapping Technique Used on Mars Pathfinder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stoker, C.; Zbinden, E.; Blackmon, T.; Nguyen, L.

1999-01-01

We describe an interactive terrain visualization system which rapidly generates and interactively displays photorealistic three-dimensional (3-D) models produced from stereo images. This product, first demonstrated in Mars Pathfinder, is interactive, 3-D, and can be viewed in an immersive display which qualifies it for the name Virtual Reality (VR). The use of this technology on Mars Pathfinder was the first use of VR for geologic analysis. A primary benefit of using VR to display geologic information is that it provides an improved perception of depth and spatial layout of the remote site. The VR aspect of the display allows an operator to move freely in the environment, unconstrained by the physical limitations of the perspective from which the data were acquired. Virtual Reality offers a way to archive and retrieve information in a way that is intuitively obvious. Combining VR models with stereo display systems can give the user a sense of presence at the remote location. The capability, to interactively perform measurements from within the VR model offers unprecedented ease in performing operations that are normally time consuming and difficult using other techniques. Thus, Virtual Reality can be a powerful a cartographic tool. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

DICON: interactive visual analysis of multidimensional clusters.

PubMed

Cao, Nan; Gotz, David; Sun, Jimeng; Qu, Huamin

2011-12-01

Clustering as a fundamental data analysis technique has been widely used in many analytic applications. However, it is often difficult for users to understand and evaluate multidimensional clustering results, especially the quality of clusters and their semantics. For large and complex data, high-level statistical information about the clusters is often needed for users to evaluate cluster quality while a detailed display of multidimensional attributes of the data is necessary to understand the meaning of clusters. In this paper, we introduce DICON, an icon-based cluster visualization that embeds statistical information into a multi-attribute display to facilitate cluster interpretation, evaluation, and comparison. We design a treemap-like icon to represent a multidimensional cluster, and the quality of the cluster can be conveniently evaluated with the embedded statistical information. We further develop a novel layout algorithm which can generate similar icons for similar clusters, making comparisons of clusters easier. User interaction and clutter reduction are integrated into the system to help users more effectively analyze and refine clustering results for large datasets. We demonstrate the power of DICON through a user study and a case study in the healthcare domain. Our evaluation shows the benefits of the technique, especially in support of complex multidimensional cluster analysis. © 2011 IEEE

Universal in vivo Textural Model for Human Skin based on Optical Coherence Tomograms.

PubMed

Adabi, Saba; Hosseinzadeh, Matin; Noei, Shahryar; Conforto, Silvia; Daveluy, Steven; Clayton, Anne; Mehregan, Darius; Nasiriavanaki, Mohammadreza

2017-12-20

Currently, diagnosis of skin diseases is based primarily on the visual pattern recognition skills and expertise of the physician observing the lesion. Even though dermatologists are trained to recognize patterns of morphology, it is still a subjective visual assessment. Tools for automated pattern recognition can provide objective information to support clinical decision-making. Noninvasive skin imaging techniques provide complementary information to the clinician. In recent years, optical coherence tomography (OCT) has become a powerful skin imaging technique. According to specific functional needs, skin architecture varies across different parts of the body, as do the textural characteristics in OCT images. There is, therefore, a critical need to systematically analyze OCT images from different body sites, to identify their significant qualitative and quantitative differences. Sixty-three optical and textural features extracted from OCT images of healthy and diseased skin are analyzed and, in conjunction with decision-theoretic approaches, used to create computational models of the diseases. We demonstrate that these models provide objective information to the clinician to assist in the diagnosis of abnormalities of cutaneous microstructure, and hence, aid in the determination of treatment. Specifically, we demonstrate the performance of this methodology on differentiating basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) from healthy tissue.

MEMS-based system and image processing strategy for epiretinal prosthesis.

PubMed

Xia, Peng; Hu, Jie; Qi, Jin; Gu, Chaochen; Peng, Yinghong

2015-01-01

Retinal prostheses have the potential to restore some level of visual function to the patients suffering from retinal degeneration. In this paper, an epiretinal approach with active stimulation devices is presented. The MEMS-based processing system consists of an external micro-camera, an information processor, an implanted electrical stimulator and a microelectrode array. The image processing strategy combining image clustering and enhancement techniques was proposed and evaluated by psychophysical experiments. The results indicated that the image processing strategy improved the visual performance compared with direct merging pixels to low resolution. The image processing methods assist epiretinal prosthesis for vision restoration.

Visualizing biological reaction intermediates with DNA curtains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yiling; Jiang, Yanzhou; Qi, Zhi

2017-04-01

Single-molecule approaches have tremendous potential analyzing dynamic biological reaction with heterogeneity that cannot be effectively accessed via traditional ensemble-level biochemical approaches. The approach of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) curtains developed by Dr Eric Greene and his research team at Columbia University is a high-throughput single-molecule technique that utilizes fluorescent imaging to visualize protein-DNA interactions directly and allows the acquisition of statistically relevant information from hundreds or even thousands of individual reactions. This review aims to summarize the past, present, and future of DNA curtains, with an emphasis on its applications to solve important biological questions.

Multi-Intelligence Analytics for Next Generation Analysts (MIAGA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blasch, Erik; Waltz, Ed

2016-05-01

Current analysts are inundated with large volumes of data from which extraction, exploitation, and indexing are required. A future need for next-generation analysts is an appropriate balance between machine analytics from raw data and the ability of the user to interact with information through automation. Many quantitative intelligence tools and techniques have been developed which are examined towards matching analyst opportunities with recent technical trends such as big data, access to information, and visualization. The concepts and techniques summarized are derived from discussions with real analysts, documented trends of technical developments, and methods to engage future analysts with multiintelligence services. For example, qualitative techniques should be matched against physical, cognitive, and contextual quantitative analytics for intelligence reporting. Future trends include enabling knowledge search, collaborative situational sharing, and agile support for empirical decision-making and analytical reasoning.

Visual air quality simulation techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molenar, John V.; Malm, William C.; Johnson, Christopher E.

Visual air quality is primarily a human perceptual phenomenon beginning with the transfer of image-forming information through an illuminated, scattering and absorbing atmosphere. Visibility, especially the visual appearance of industrial emissions or the degradation of a scenic view, is the principal atmospheric characteristic through which humans perceive air pollution, and is more sensitive to changing pollution levels than any other air pollution effect. Every attempt to quantify economic costs and benefits of air pollution has indicated that good visibility is a highly valued and desired environmental condition. Measurement programs can at best approximate the state of the ambient atmosphere at a few points in a scenic vista viewed by an observer. To fully understand the visual effect of various changes in the concentration and distribution of optically important atmospheric pollutants requires the use of aerosol and radiative transfer models. Communication of the output of these models to scientists, decision makers and the public is best done by applying modern image-processing systems to generate synthetic images representing the modeled air quality conditions. This combination of modeling techniques has been under development for the past 15 yr. Initially, visual air quality simulations were limited by a lack of computational power to simplified models depicting Gaussian plumes or uniform haze conditions. Recent explosive growth in low cost, high powered computer technology has allowed the development of sophisticated aerosol and radiative transfer models that incorporate realistic terrain, multiple scattering, non-uniform illumination, varying spatial distribution, concentration and optical properties of atmospheric constituents, and relative humidity effects on aerosol scattering properties. This paper discusses these improved models and image-processing techniques in detail. Results addressing uniform and non-uniform layered haze conditions in both urban and remote pristine areas will be presented.

Evaluation of the 3d Urban Modelling Capabilities in Geographical Information Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dogru, A. O.; Seker, D. Z.

2010-12-01

Geographical Information System (GIS) Technology, which provides successful solutions to basic spatial problems, is currently widely used in 3 dimensional (3D) modeling of physical reality with its developing visualization tools. The modeling of large and complicated phenomenon is a challenging problem in terms of computer graphics currently in use. However, it is possible to visualize that phenomenon in 3D by using computer systems. 3D models are used in developing computer games, military training, urban planning, tourism and etc. The use of 3D models for planning and management of urban areas is very popular issue of city administrations. In this context, 3D City models are produced and used for various purposes. However the requirements of the models vary depending on the type and scope of the application. While a high level visualization, where photorealistic visualization techniques are widely used, is required for touristy and recreational purposes, an abstract visualization of the physical reality is generally sufficient for the communication of the thematic information. The visual variables, which are the principle components of cartographic visualization, such as: color, shape, pattern, orientation, size, position, and saturation are used for communicating the thematic information. These kinds of 3D city models are called as abstract models. Standardization of technologies used for 3D modeling is now available by the use of CityGML. CityGML implements several novel concepts to support interoperability, consistency and functionality. For example it supports different Levels-of-Detail (LoD), which may arise from independent data collection processes and are used for efficient visualization and efficient data analysis. In one CityGML data set, the same object may be represented in different LoD simultaneously, enabling the analysis and visualization of the same object with regard to different degrees of resolution. Furthermore, two CityGML data sets containing the same object in different LoD may be combined and integrated. In this study GIS tools used for 3D modeling issues were examined. In this context, the availability of the GIS tools for obtaining different LoDs of CityGML standard. Additionally a 3D GIS application that covers a small part of the city of Istanbul was implemented for communicating the thematic information rather than photorealistic visualization by using 3D model. An abstract model was created by using a commercial GIS software modeling tools and the results of the implementation were also presented in the study.

Image Analysis via Soft Computing: Prototype Applications at NASA KSC and Product Commercialization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominguez, Jesus A.; Klinko, Steve

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the use of "soft computing" which differs from "hard computing" in that it is more tolerant of imprecision, partial truth, uncertainty, and approximation and its use in image analysis. Soft computing provides flexible information processing to handle real life ambiguous situations and achieve tractability, robustness low solution cost, and a closer resemblance to human decision making. Several systems are or have been developed: Fuzzy Reasoning Edge Detection (FRED), Fuzzy Reasoning Adaptive Thresholding (FRAT), Image enhancement techniques, and visual/pattern recognition. These systems are compared with examples that show the effectiveness of each. NASA applications that are reviewed are: Real-Time (RT) Anomaly Detection, Real-Time (RT) Moving Debris Detection and the Columbia Investigation. The RT anomaly detection reviewed the case of a damaged cable for the emergency egress system. The use of these techniques is further illustrated in the Columbia investigation with the location and detection of Foam debris. There are several applications in commercial usage: image enhancement, human screening and privacy protection, visual inspection, 3D heart visualization, tumor detections and x ray image enhancement.

Software-based stacking techniques to enhance depth of field and dynamic range in digital photomicrography.

PubMed

Piper, Jörg

2010-01-01

Several software solutions are powerful tools to enhance the depth of field and improve focus in digital photomicrography. By these means, the focal depth can be fundamentally optimized so that three-dimensional structures within specimens can be documented with superior quality. Thus, images can be created in light microscopy which will be comparable with scanning electron micrographs. The remaining sharpness will no longer be dependent on the specimen's vertical dimension or its range in regional thickness. Moreover, any potential lack of definition associated with loss of planarity and unsteadiness in the visual accommodation can be mitigated or eliminated so that the contour sharpness and resolution can be strongly enhanced.Through the use of complementary software, ultrahigh ranges in brightness and contrast (the so-called high-dynamic range) can be corrected so that the final images will also be free from locally over- or underexposed zones. Furthermore, fine detail in low natural contrast can be visualized in much higher clarity. Fundamental enhancements of the global visual information will result from both techniques.

Visual enhancement of unmixed multispectral imagery using adaptive smoothing

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lemeshewsky, G.P.; Rahman, Z.-U.; Schowengerdt, R.A.; Reichenbach, S.E.

2004-01-01

Adaptive smoothing (AS) has been previously proposed as a method to smooth uniform regions of an image, retain contrast edges, and enhance edge boundaries. The method is an implementation of the anisotropic diffusion process which results in a gray scale image. This paper discusses modifications to the AS method for application to multi-band data which results in a color segmented image. The process was used to visually enhance the three most distinct abundance fraction images produced by the Lagrange constraint neural network learning-based unmixing of Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus multispectral sensor data. A mutual information-based method was applied to select the three most distinct fraction images for subsequent visualization as a red, green, and blue composite. A reported image restoration technique (partial restoration) was applied to the multispectral data to reduce unmixing error, although evaluation of the performance of this technique was beyond the scope of this paper. The modified smoothing process resulted in a color segmented image with homogeneous regions separated by sharpened, coregistered multiband edges. There was improved class separation with the segmented image, which has importance to subsequent operations involving data classification.

QR images: optimized image embedding in QR codes.

PubMed

Garateguy, Gonzalo J; Arce, Gonzalo R; Lau, Daniel L; Villarreal, Ofelia P

2014-07-01

This paper introduces the concept of QR images, an automatic method to embed QR codes into color images with bounded probability of detection error. These embeddings are compatible with standard decoding applications and can be applied to any color image with full area coverage. The QR information bits are encoded into the luminance values of the image, taking advantage of the immunity of QR readers against local luminance disturbances. To mitigate the visual distortion of the QR image, the algorithm utilizes halftoning masks for the selection of modified pixels and nonlinear programming techniques to locally optimize luminance levels. A tractable model for the probability of error is developed and models of the human visual system are considered in the quality metric used to optimize the luminance levels of the QR image. To minimize the processing time, the optimization techniques proposed to consider the mechanics of a common binarization method and are designed to be amenable for parallel implementations. Experimental results show the graceful degradation of the decoding rate and the perceptual quality as a function the embedding parameters. A visual comparison between the proposed and existing methods is presented.

Playing the electric light orchestra—how electrical stimulation of visual cortex elucidates the neural basis of perception

PubMed Central

Cicmil, Nela; Krug, Kristine

2015-01-01

Vision research has the potential to reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying sensory experience. Causal experimental approaches, such as electrical microstimulation, provide a unique opportunity to test the direct contributions of visual cortical neurons to perception and behaviour. But in spite of their importance, causal methods constitute a minority of the experiments used to investigate the visual cortex to date. We reconsider the function and organization of visual cortex according to results obtained from stimulation techniques, with a special emphasis on electrical stimulation of small groups of cells in awake subjects who can report their visual experience. We compare findings from humans and monkeys, striate and extrastriate cortex, and superficial versus deep cortical layers, and identify a number of revealing gaps in the ‘causal map′ of visual cortex. Integrating results from different methods and species, we provide a critical overview of the ways in which causal approaches have been used to further our understanding of circuitry, plasticity and information integration in visual cortex. Electrical stimulation not only elucidates the contributions of different visual areas to perception, but also contributes to our understanding of neuronal mechanisms underlying memory, attention and decision-making. PMID:26240421

The footprints of visual attention in the Posner cueing paradigm revealed by classification images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eckstein, Miguel P.; Shimozaki, Steven S.; Abbey, Craig K.

2002-01-01

In the Posner cueing paradigm, observers' performance in detecting a target is typically better in trials in which the target is present at the cued location than in trials in which the target appears at the uncued location. This effect can be explained in terms of a Bayesian observer where visual attention simply weights the information differently at the cued (attended) and uncued (unattended) locations without a change in the quality of processing at each location. Alternatively, it could also be explained in terms of visual attention changing the shape of the perceptual filter at the cued location. In this study, we use the classification image technique to compare the human perceptual filters at the cued and uncued locations in a contrast discrimination task. We did not find statistically significant differences between the shapes of the inferred perceptual filters across the two locations, nor did the observed differences account for the measured cueing effects in human observers. Instead, we found a difference in the magnitude of the classification images, supporting the idea that visual attention changes the weighting of information at the cued and uncued location, but does not change the quality of processing at each individual location.

Universality in eye movements and reading: A trilingual investigation.

PubMed

Liversedge, Simon P; Drieghe, Denis; Li, Xin; Yan, Guoli; Bai, Xuejun; Hyönä, Jukka

2016-02-01

Universality in language has been a core issue in the fields of linguistics and psycholinguistics for many years (e.g., Chomsky, 1965). Recently, Frost (2012) has argued that establishing universals of process is critical to the development of meaningful, theoretically motivated, cross-linguistic models of reading. In contrast, other researchers argue that there is no such thing as universals of reading (e.g., Coltheart & Crain, 2012). Reading is a complex, visually mediated psychological process, and eye movements are the behavioural means by which we encode the visual information required for linguistic processing. To investigate universality of representation and process across languages we examined eye movement behaviour during reading of very comparable stimuli in three languages, Chinese, English and Finnish. These languages differ in numerous respects (character based vs. alphabetic, visual density, informational density, word spacing, orthographic depth, agglutination, etc.). We used linear mixed modelling techniques to identify variables that captured common variance across languages. Despite fundamental visual and linguistic differences in the orthographies, statistical models of reading behaviour were strikingly similar in a number of respects, and thus, we argue that their composition might reflect universality of representation and process in reading. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visualizing weighted networks: a performance comparison of adjacency matrices versus node-link diagrams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McIntire, John P.; Osesina, O. Isaac; Bartley, Cecilia; Tudoreanu, M. Eduard; Havig, Paul R.; Geiselman, Eric E.

2012-06-01

Ensuring the proper and effective ways to visualize network data is important for many areas of academia, applied sciences, the military, and the public. Fields such as social network analysis, genetics, biochemistry, intelligence, cybersecurity, neural network modeling, transit systems, communications, etc. often deal with large, complex network datasets that can be difficult to interact with, study, and use. There have been surprisingly few human factors performance studies on the relative effectiveness of different graph drawings or network diagram techniques to convey information to a viewer. This is particularly true for weighted networks which include the strength of connections between nodes, not just information about which nodes are linked to other nodes. We describe a human factors study in which participants performed four separate network analysis tasks (finding a direct link between given nodes, finding an interconnected node between given nodes, estimating link strengths, and estimating the most densely interconnected nodes) on two different network visualizations: an adjacency matrix with a heat-map versus a node-link diagram. The results should help shed light on effective methods of visualizing network data for some representative analysis tasks, with the ultimate goal of improving usability and performance for viewers of network data displays.

No evidence for enhancements to visual working memory with transcranial direct current stimulation to prefrontal or posterior parietal cortices.

PubMed

Robison, Matthew K; McGuirk, William P; Unsworth, Nash

2017-08-01

The present study examined the relative contributions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) to visual working memory. Evidence from a number of different techniques has led to the theory that the PFC controls access to working memory (i.e., filtering), determining which information is encoded and maintained for later use whereas the parietal cortex determines how much information is held at 1 given time, regardless of relevance (i.e., capacity; McNab & Klingberg, 2008; Vogel, McCollough, & Machizawa, 2005). To test this theory, we delivered transcranial DC stimulation (tDCS) to the right PFC and right PPC and measured visual working memory capacity and filtering abilities both during and immediately following stimulation. We observed no evidence that tDCS to either the PFC or PPC significantly improved visual working memory. Although the present results did not allow us to make firm theoretical conclusions about the roles of the PFC and PPC in working memory, the results add to the growing body of literature surrounding tDCS and its associated behavioral and neurophysiological effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

C-fos induction in forebrain areas of two different visual pathways during consolidation of sexual imprinting in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata).

PubMed

Sadananda, Monika; Bischof, Hans-Joachim

2006-10-16

Two forebrain areas in the hyperpallium apicale and in the lateral nidopallium of isolated male zebra finches are highly active (2-deoxyglucose technique) on exposure to females for the first time, that is first courtship. These areas also demonstrate enhanced neuronal plasticity when screened with c-fos immunocytochemistry. Both are areas involved in the processing of visual information conveyed by the two major visual pathways in birds, strengthening our hypothesis that courtship in the zebra finch is a visually guided behaviour. First courtship and chased birds show enhanced c-fos induction in the hyperpallial area, which could represent neuronal activity reflecting changes in the immediate environment. The enhanced expression of fos in first courtship birds in lateral nidopallial neurons indicates imminent long-lasting changes at the synaptic level that form the substrate for imprinting, a stable form of learning in birds.

Immunological multimetal deposition for rapid visualization of sweat fingerprints.

PubMed

He, Yayun; Xu, Linru; Zhu, Yu; Wei, Qianhui; Zhang, Meiqin; Su, Bin

2014-11-10

A simple method termed immunological multimetal deposition (iMMD) was developed for rapid visualization of sweat fingerprints with bare eyes, by combining the conventional MMD with the immunoassay technique. In this approach, antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were used to specifically interact with the corresponding antigens in the fingerprint residue. The AuNPs serve as the nucleation sites for autometallographic deposition of silver particles from the silver staining solution, generating a dark ridge pattern for visual detection. Using fingerprints inked with human immunoglobulin G (hIgG), we obtained the optimal formulation of iMMD, which was then successfully applied to visualize sweat fingerprints through the detection of two secreted polypeptides, epidermal growth factor and lysozyme. In comparison with the conventional MMD, iMMD is faster and can provide additional information than just identification. Moreover, iMMD is facile and does not need expensive instruments. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Managing Spatial Selections With Contextual Snapshots

PubMed Central

Mindek, P; Gröller, M E; Bruckner, S

2014-01-01

Spatial selections are a ubiquitous concept in visualization. By localizing particular features, they can be analysed and compared in different views. However, the semantics of such selections often depend on specific parameter settings and it can be difficult to reconstruct them without additional information. In this paper, we present the concept of contextual snapshots as an effective means for managing spatial selections in visualized data. The selections are automatically associated with the context in which they have been created. Contextual snapshots can also be used as the basis for interactive integrated and linked views, which enable in-place investigation and comparison of multiple visual representations of data. Our approach is implemented as a flexible toolkit with well-defined interfaces for integration into existing systems. We demonstrate the power and generality of our techniques by applying them to several distinct scenarios such as the visualization of simulation data, the analysis of historical documents and the display of anatomical data. PMID:25821284

Assisting the visually impaired: obstacle detection and warning system by acoustic feedback.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Alberto; Yebes, J Javier; Alcantarilla, Pablo F; Bergasa, Luis M; Almazán, Javier; Cela, Andrés

2012-12-17

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system.

Visual analytics of large multidimensional data using variable binned scatter plots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Ming C.; Dayal, Umeshwar; Sharma, Ratnesh K.; Keim, Daniel A.; Janetzko, Halldór

2010-01-01

The scatter plot is a well-known method of visualizing pairs of two-dimensional continuous variables. Multidimensional data can be depicted in a scatter plot matrix. They are intuitive and easy-to-use, but often have a high degree of overlap which may occlude a significant portion of data. In this paper, we propose variable binned scatter plots to allow the visualization of large amounts of data without overlapping. The basic idea is to use a non-uniform (variable) binning of the x and y dimensions and plots all the data points that fall within each bin into corresponding squares. Further, we map a third attribute to color for visualizing clusters. Analysts are able to interact with individual data points for record level information. We have applied these techniques to solve real-world problems on credit card fraud and data center energy consumption to visualize their data distribution and cause-effect among multiple attributes. A comparison of our methods with two recent well-known variants of scatter plots is included.

Pycortex: an interactive surface visualizer for fMRI

PubMed Central

Gao, James S.; Huth, Alexander G.; Lescroart, Mark D.; Gallant, Jack L.

2015-01-01

Surface visualizations of fMRI provide a comprehensive view of cortical activity. However, surface visualizations are difficult to generate and most common visualization techniques rely on unnecessary interpolation which limits the fidelity of the resulting maps. Furthermore, it is difficult to understand the relationship between flattened cortical surfaces and the underlying 3D anatomy using tools available currently. To address these problems we have developed pycortex, a Python toolbox for interactive surface mapping and visualization. Pycortex exploits the power of modern graphics cards to sample volumetric data on a per-pixel basis, allowing dense and accurate mapping of the voxel grid across the surface. Anatomical and functional information can be projected onto the cortical surface. The surface can be inflated and flattened interactively, aiding interpretation of the correspondence between the anatomical surface and the flattened cortical sheet. The output of pycortex can be viewed using WebGL, a technology compatible with modern web browsers. This allows complex fMRI surface maps to be distributed broadly online without requiring installation of complex software. PMID:26483666

Assisting the Visually Impaired: Obstacle Detection and Warning System by Acoustic Feedback

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Alberto; Yebes, J. Javier; Alcantarilla, Pablo F.; Bergasa, Luis M.; Almazán, Javier; Cela, Andrés

2012-01-01

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system. PMID:23247413

Game theoretic approach for cooperative feature extraction in camera networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Redondi, Alessandro E. C.; Baroffio, Luca; Cesana, Matteo; Tagliasacchi, Marco

2016-07-01

Visual sensor networks (VSNs) consist of several camera nodes with wireless communication capabilities that can perform visual analysis tasks such as object identification, recognition, and tracking. Often, VSN deployments result in many camera nodes with overlapping fields of view. In the past, such redundancy has been exploited in two different ways: (1) to improve the accuracy/quality of the visual analysis task by exploiting multiview information or (2) to reduce the energy consumed for performing the visual task, by applying temporal scheduling techniques among the cameras. We propose a game theoretic framework based on the Nash bargaining solution to bridge the gap between the two aforementioned approaches. The key tenet of the proposed framework is for cameras to reduce the consumed energy in the analysis process by exploiting the redundancy in the reciprocal fields of view. Experimental results in both simulated and real-life scenarios confirm that the proposed scheme is able to increase the network lifetime, with a negligible loss in terms of visual analysis accuracy.

User-Centered Evaluation of Visual Analytics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Scholtz, Jean C.

Visual analytics systems are becoming very popular. More domains now use interactive visualizations to analyze the ever-increasing amount and heterogeneity of data. More novel visualizations are being developed for more tasks and users. We need to ensure that these systems can be evaluated to determine that they are both useful and usable. A user-centered evaluation for visual analytics needs to be developed for these systems. While many of the typical human-computer interaction (HCI) evaluation methodologies can be applied as is, others will need modification. Additionally, new functionality in visual analytics systems needs new evaluation methodologies. There is a difference betweenmore » usability evaluations and user-centered evaluations. Usability looks at the efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of users carrying out tasks with software applications. User-centered evaluation looks more specifically at the utility provided to the users by the software. This is reflected in the evaluations done and in the metrics used. In the visual analytics domain this is very challenging as users are most likely experts in a particular domain, the tasks they do are often not well defined, the software they use needs to support large amounts of different kinds of data, and often the tasks last for months. These difficulties are discussed more in the section on User-centered Evaluation. Our goal is to provide a discussion of user-centered evaluation practices for visual analytics, including existing practices that can be carried out and new methodologies and metrics that need to be developed and agreed upon by the visual analytics community. The material provided here should be of use for both researchers and practitioners in the field of visual analytics. Researchers and practitioners in HCI and interested in visual analytics will find this information useful as well as a discussion on changes that need to be made to current HCI practices to make them more suitable to visual analytics. A history of analysis and analysis techniques and problems is provided as well as an introduction to user-centered evaluation and various evaluation techniques for readers from different disciplines. The understanding of these techniques is imperative if we wish to support analysis in the visual analytics software we develop. Currently the evaluations that are conducted and published for visual analytics software are very informal and consist mainly of comments from users or potential users. Our goal is to help researchers in visual analytics to conduct more formal user-centered evaluations. While these are time-consuming and expensive to carryout, the outcomes of these studies will have a defining impact on the field of visual analytics and help point the direction for future features and visualizations to incorporate. While many researchers view work in user-centered evaluation as a less-than-exciting area to work, the opposite is true. First of all, the goal is user-centered evaluation is to help visual analytics software developers, researchers, and designers improve their solutions and discover creative ways to better accommodate their users. Working with the users is extremely rewarding as well. While we use the term “users” in almost all situations there are a wide variety of users that all need to be accommodated. Moreover, the domains that use visual analytics are varied and expanding. Just understanding the complexities of a number of these domains is exciting. Researchers are trying out different visualizations and interactions as well. And of course, the size and variety of data are expanding rapidly. User-centered evaluation in this context is rapidly changing. There are no standard processes and metrics and thus those of us working on user-centered evaluation must be creative in our work with both the users and with the researchers and developers.« less

[Digital administrative maps - a tool for visualization of epidemiological data].

PubMed

Niewiadomska, Ewa; Kowalska, Malgorzata; Czech, Elibieta; Skrzypek, Michal

2013-01-01

The aim of the study is to present the methods for visualization of epidemiological data using digital contour maps that take into account administrative division of Poland. The possibility of epidemiological data visualization in a geographical order, limited to the administrative level of the country, voivodeships and poviats (countics), are presented. They are crucial for the process of identifying and undertaking adequate prophylactic activities directed towards decreasing the risk and improving the population's health. This paper presents tools and techniques available in Geographic Information System ArcGIS and statistical software package R. The work includes our own data reflecting: 1) the values of specific mortality rates due to respiratory diseases, Poland, 2010, based on the Central Statistical Office data, using the R statistical software package; 2) the averaged registered incidence rates of sarcoidosis in 2006-2010 for the population aged 19+ in the Silesian voivodeship, using G(eographic Information System ArcGIS; and 3) the number of children with diagnosed respiratory diseases in the city of L.egnica in 2009, taking into account their place of residence, using layered maps in Geographic Information System ArcGIS. The tools presented and described in this paper make it possible to visualize the results of research, to increase attractiveness of courses for students, as well as to enhance the skills and competence of students and participants of courses.

Time Course of Attention and Decision Making during a Volleyball Set

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sibley, Benjamin A.; Etnier, Jennifer L.

2004-01-01

Attention is a term that has been used to describe a broad range of topics in the sport and exercise literature (Nougier, Stein, & Bonnel, 1991). Research focusing on attention has included studies on selectivity, concentration, mental set, visual search, arousal, and information processing (Abernethy, 2001), and a variety of techniques (e.g.,…

Exploring the Micro-Social Geography of Children's Interactions in Preschool: A Long-Term Observational Study and Analysis Using Geographic Information Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torrens, Paul M.; Griffin, William A.

2013-01-01

The authors describe an observational and analytic methodology for recording and interpreting dynamic microprocesses that occur during social interaction, making use of space--time data collection techniques, spatial-statistical analysis, and visualization. The scheme has three investigative foci: Structure, Activity Composition, and Clustering.…

A Randomised Test of Printed Educational Materials about Melanoma Detection: Varying Skin Self-Examination Technique and Visual Image Dose

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Andy J.; Carcioppolo, Nick; Grossman, Douglas; John, Kevin K.; Jensen, Jakob D.

2015-01-01

Objective: Melanoma incidence and mortality rates continue to rise globally, making it essential for researchers to identify effective approaches to disseminating information to the public that improve key outcomes. This study compared two skin self-examination (SSE) educational strategies: the ABCDE (asymmetry, border irregularity, multiple…

Investigating the capabilities of semantic enrichment of 3D CityEngine data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solou, Dimitra; Dimopoulou, Efi

2016-08-01

In recent years the development of technology and the lifting of several technical limitations, has brought the third dimension to the fore. The complexity of urban environments and the strong need for land administration, intensify the need of using a three-dimensional cadastral system. Despite the progress in the field of geographic information systems and 3D modeling techniques, there is no fully digital 3D cadastre. The existing geographic information systems and the different methods of three-dimensional modeling allow for better management, visualization and dissemination of information. Nevertheless, these opportunities cannot be totally exploited because of deficiencies in standardization and interoperability in these systems. Within this context, CityGML was developed as an international standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for 3D city models' representation and exchange. CityGML defines geometry and topology for city modeling, also focusing on semantic aspects of 3D city information. The scope of CityGML is to reach common terminology, also addressing the imperative need for interoperability and data integration, taking into account the number of available geographic information systems and modeling techniques. The aim of this paper is to develop an application for managing semantic information of a model generated based on procedural modeling. The model was initially implemented in CityEngine ESRI's software, and then imported to ArcGIS environment. Final goal was the original model's semantic enrichment and then its conversion to CityGML format. Semantic information management and interoperability seemed to be feasible by the use of the 3DCities Project ESRI tools, since its database structure ensures adding semantic information to the CityEngine model and therefore automatically convert to CityGML for advanced analysis and visualization in different application areas.

The Evolution of Three Dimensional Visualization for Commanding the Mars Rovers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartman, Frank R.; Wright, John; Cooper, Brian

2014-01-01

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has built and operated four rovers on the surface of Mars. Two and three dimensional visualization has been extensively employed to command both the mobility and robotic arm operations of these rovers. Stereo visualization has been an important component in this set of visualization techniques. This paper discusses the progression of the implementation and use of visualization techniques for in-situ operations of these robotic missions. Illustrative examples will be drawn from the results of using these techniques over more than ten years of surface operations on Mars.

Current trends in geomorphological mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seijmonsbergen, A. C.

2012-04-01

Geomorphological mapping is a world currently in motion, driven by technological advances and the availability of new high resolution data. As a consequence, classic (paper) geomorphological maps which were the standard for more than 50 years are rapidly being replaced by digital geomorphological information layers. This is witnessed by the following developments: 1. the conversion of classic paper maps into digital information layers, mainly performed in a digital mapping environment such as a Geographical Information System, 2. updating the location precision and the content of the converted maps, by adding more geomorphological details, taken from high resolution elevation data and/or high resolution image data, 3. (semi) automated extraction and classification of geomorphological features from digital elevation models, broadly separated into unsupervised and supervised classification techniques and 4. New digital visualization / cartographic techniques and reading interfaces. Newly digital geomorphological information layers can be based on manual digitization of polygons using DEMs and/or aerial photographs, or prepared through (semi) automated extraction and delineation of geomorphological features. DEMs are often used as basis to derive Land Surface Parameter information which is used as input for (un) supervised classification techniques. Especially when using high-res data, object-based classification is used as an alternative to traditional pixel-based classifications, to cluster grid cells into homogeneous objects, which can be classified as geomorphological features. Classic map content can also be used as training material for the supervised classification of geomorphological features. In the classification process, rule-based protocols, including expert-knowledge input, are used to map specific geomorphological features or entire landscapes. Current (semi) automated classification techniques are increasingly able to extract morphometric, hydrological, and in the near future also morphogenetic information. As a result, these new opportunities have changed the workflows for geomorphological mapmaking, and their focus have shifted from field-based techniques to using more computer-based techniques: for example, traditional pre-field air-photo based maps are now replaced by maps prepared in a digital mapping environment, and designated field visits using mobile GIS / digital mapping devices now focus on gathering location information and attribute inventories and are strongly time efficient. The resulting 'modern geomorphological maps' are digital collections of geomorphological information layers consisting of georeferenced vector, raster and tabular data which are stored in a digital environment such as a GIS geodatabase, and are easily visualized as e.g. 'birds' eye' views, as animated 3D displays, on virtual globes, or stored as GeoPDF maps in which georeferenced attribute information can be easily exchanged over the internet. Digital geomorphological information layers are increasingly accessed via web-based services distributed through remote servers. Information can be consulted - or even build using remote geoprocessing servers - by the end user. Therefore, it will not only be the geomorphologist anymore, but also the professional end user that dictates the applied use of digital geomorphological information layers.

GeoCrystal: graphic-interactive access to geodata archives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goebel, Stefan; Haist, Joerg; Jasnoch, Uwe

2002-03-01

Recently there is spent a lot of effort to establish information systems and global infrastructures enabling both data suppliers and users to describe (-> eCommerce, metadata) as well as to find appropriate data. Examples for this are metadata information systems, online-shops or portals for geodata. The main disadvantages of existing approaches are insufficient methods and mechanisms leading users to (e.g. spatial) data archives. This affects aspects concerning usability and personalization in general as well as visual feedback techniques in the different steps of the information retrieval process. Several approaches aim at the improvement of graphical user interfaces by using intuitive metaphors, but only some of them offer 3D interfaces in the form of information landscapes or geographic result scenes in the context of information systems for geodata. This paper presents GeoCrystal, which basic idea is to adopt Venn diagrams to compose complex queries and to visualize search results in a 3D information and navigation space for geodata. These concepts are enhanced with spatial metaphors and 3D information landscapes (library for geodata) wherein users can specify searches for appropriate geodata and are enabled to graphic-interactively communicate with search results (book metaphor).

Wetlands delineation by spectral signature analysis and legal implications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderon, R. R.; Carter, V.

1972-01-01

High altitude analysis of wetland resources and the use of such information in an operational mode to address specific problems of wetland preservation at a state level are discussed. Work efforts were directed toward: (1) developing techniques for using large scale color IR photography in state wetlands mapping program, (2) developing methods for obtaining wetlands ecology information from high altitude photography, (3) developing means by which spectral data can be more accurately analyzed visually, and (4) developing spectral data for automatic mapping of wetlands.

Vision, touch and object manipulation in Senegal parrots Poicephalus senegalus

PubMed Central

Demery, Zoe P.; Chappell, Jackie; Martin, Graham R.

2011-01-01

Parrots are exceptional among birds for their high levels of exploratory behaviour and manipulatory abilities. It has been argued that foraging method is the prime determinant of a bird's visual field configuration. However, here we argue that the topography of visual fields in parrots is related to their playful dexterity, unique anatomy and particularly the tactile information that is gained through their bill tip organ during object manipulation. We measured the visual fields of Senegal parrots Poicephalus senegalus using the ophthalmoscopic reflex technique and also report some preliminary observations on the bill tip organ in this species. We found that the visual fields of Senegal parrots are unlike those described hitherto in any other bird species, with both a relatively broad frontal binocular field and a near comprehensive field of view around the head. The behavioural implications are discussed and we consider how extractive foraging and object exploration, mediated in part by tactile cues from the bill, has led to the absence of visual coverage of the region below the bill in favour of more comprehensive visual coverage above the head. PMID:21525059

EdgeMaps: visualizing explicit and implicit relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dörk, Marian; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Williamson, Carey

2011-01-01

In this work, we introduce EdgeMaps as a new method for integrating the visualization of explicit and implicit data relations. Explicit relations are specific connections between entities already present in a given dataset, while implicit relations are derived from multidimensional data based on shared properties and similarity measures. Many datasets include both types of relations, which are often difficult to represent together in information visualizations. Node-link diagrams typically focus on explicit data connections, while not incorporating implicit similarities between entities. Multi-dimensional scaling considers similarities between items, however, explicit links between nodes are not displayed. In contrast, EdgeMaps visualize both implicit and explicit relations by combining and complementing spatialization and graph drawing techniques. As a case study for this approach we chose a dataset of philosophers, their interests, influences, and birthdates. By introducing the limitation of activating only one node at a time, interesting visual patterns emerge that resemble the aesthetics of fireworks and waves. We argue that the interactive exploration of these patterns may allow the viewer to grasp the structure of a graph better than complex node-link visualizations.

Mapping longitudinal scientific progress, collaboration and impact of the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative.

PubMed

Yao, Xiaohui; Yan, Jingwen; Ginda, Michael; Börner, Katy; Saykin, Andrew J; Shen, Li

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) is a landmark imaging and omics study in AD. ADNI research literature has increased substantially over the past decade, which poses challenges for effectively communicating information about the results and impact of ADNI-related studies. In this work, we employed advanced information visualization techniques to perform a comprehensive and systematic mapping of the ADNI scientific growth and impact over a period of 12 years. Citation information of ADNI-related publications from 01/01/2003 to 05/12/2015 were downloaded from the Scopus database. Five fields, including authors, years, affiliations, sources (journals), and keywords, were extracted and preprocessed. Statistical analyses were performed on basic publication data as well as journal and citations information. Science mapping workflows were conducted using the Science of Science (Sci2) Tool to generate geospatial, topical, and collaboration visualizations at the micro (individual) to macro (global) levels such as geospatial layouts of institutional collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence networks, and author collaboration networks evolving over time. During the studied period, 996 ADNI manuscripts were published across 233 journals and conference proceedings. The number of publications grew linearly from 2008 to 2015, so did the number of involved institutions. ADNI publications received much more citations than typical papers from the same set of journals. Collaborations were visualized at multiple levels, including authors, institutions, and research areas. The evolution of key ADNI research topics was also plotted over the studied period. Both statistical and visualization results demonstrate the increasing attention of ADNI research, strong citation impact of ADNI publications, the expanding collaboration networks among researchers, institutions and ADNI core areas, and the dynamic evolution of ADNI research topics. The visualizations presented here can help improve daily decision making based on a deep understanding of existing patterns and trends using proven and replicable data analysis and visualization methods. They have great potential to provide new insights and actionable knowledge for helping translational research in AD.

Mapping longitudinal scientific progress, collaboration and impact of the Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative

PubMed Central

Yao, Xiaohui; Yan, Jingwen; Ginda, Michael; Börner, Katy; Saykin, Andrew J.

2017-01-01

Background Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) is a landmark imaging and omics study in AD. ADNI research literature has increased substantially over the past decade, which poses challenges for effectively communicating information about the results and impact of ADNI-related studies. In this work, we employed advanced information visualization techniques to perform a comprehensive and systematic mapping of the ADNI scientific growth and impact over a period of 12 years. Methods Citation information of ADNI-related publications from 01/01/2003 to 05/12/2015 were downloaded from the Scopus database. Five fields, including authors, years, affiliations, sources (journals), and keywords, were extracted and preprocessed. Statistical analyses were performed on basic publication data as well as journal and citations information. Science mapping workflows were conducted using the Science of Science (Sci2) Tool to generate geospatial, topical, and collaboration visualizations at the micro (individual) to macro (global) levels such as geospatial layouts of institutional collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence networks, and author collaboration networks evolving over time. Results During the studied period, 996 ADNI manuscripts were published across 233 journals and conference proceedings. The number of publications grew linearly from 2008 to 2015, so did the number of involved institutions. ADNI publications received much more citations than typical papers from the same set of journals. Collaborations were visualized at multiple levels, including authors, institutions, and research areas. The evolution of key ADNI research topics was also plotted over the studied period. Conclusions Both statistical and visualization results demonstrate the increasing attention of ADNI research, strong citation impact of ADNI publications, the expanding collaboration networks among researchers, institutions and ADNI core areas, and the dynamic evolution of ADNI research topics. The visualizations presented here can help improve daily decision making based on a deep understanding of existing patterns and trends using proven and replicable data analysis and visualization methods. They have great potential to provide new insights and actionable knowledge for helping translational research in AD. PMID:29095836

Changes of Visual Pathway and Brain Connectivity in Glaucoma: A Systematic Review

PubMed Central

Nuzzi, Raffaele; Dallorto, Laura; Rolle, Teresa

2018-01-01

Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The increasing interest in the involvement of the cortical visual pathway in glaucomatous patients is due to the implications in recent therapies, such as neuroprotection and neuroregeneration. Objective: In this review, we outline the current understanding of brain structural, functional, and metabolic changes detected with the modern techniques of neuroimaging in glaucomatous subjects. Methods: We screened MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, LILACS, Trip Database, and NICE for original contributions published until 31 October 2017. Studies with at least six patients affected by any type of glaucoma were considered. We included studies using the following neuroimaging techniques: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), voxel- based Morphometry (VBM), surface-based Morphometry (SBM), diffusion tensor MRI (DTI). Results: Over a total of 1,901 studies, 56 case series with a total of 2,381 patients were included. Evidence of neurodegenerative process in glaucomatous patients was found both within and beyond the visual system. Structural alterations in visual cortex (mainly reduced cortex thickness and volume) have been demonstrated with SBM and VBM; these changes were not limited to primary visual cortex but also involved association visual areas. Other brain regions, associated with visual function, demonstrated a certain grade of increased or decreased gray matter volume. Functional and metabolic abnormalities resulted within primary visual cortex in all studies with fMRI and MRS. Studies with rs-fMRI found disrupted connectivity between the primary and higher visual cortex and between visual cortex and associative visual areas in the task-free state of glaucomatous patients. Conclusions: This review contributes to the better understanding of brain abnormalities in glaucoma. It may stimulate further speculation about brain plasticity at a later age and therapeutic strategies, such as the prevention of cortical degeneration in patients with glaucoma. Structural, functional, and metabolic neuroimaging methods provided evidence of changes throughout the visual pathway in glaucomatous patients. Other brain areas, not directly involved in the processing of visual information, also showed alterations. PMID:29896087

WHIDE—a web tool for visual data mining colocation patterns in multivariate bioimages

PubMed Central

Kölling, Jan; Langenkämper, Daniel; Abouna, Sylvie; Khan, Michael; Nattkemper, Tim W.

2012-01-01

Motivation: Bioimaging techniques rapidly develop toward higher resolution and dimension. The increase in dimension is achieved by different techniques such as multitag fluorescence imaging, Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption / Ionization (MALDI) imaging or Raman imaging, which record for each pixel an N-dimensional intensity array, representing local abundances of molecules, residues or interaction patterns. The analysis of such multivariate bioimages (MBIs) calls for new approaches to support users in the analysis of both feature domains: space (i.e. sample morphology) and molecular colocation or interaction. In this article, we present our approach WHIDE (Web-based Hyperbolic Image Data Explorer) that combines principles from computational learning, dimension reduction and visualization in a free web application. Results: We applied WHIDE to a set of MBI recorded using the multitag fluorescence imaging Toponome Imaging System. The MBI show field of view in tissue sections from a colon cancer study and we compare tissue from normal/healthy colon with tissue classified as tumor. Our results show, that WHIDE efficiently reduces the complexity of the data by mapping each of the pixels to a cluster, referred to as Molecular Co-Expression Phenotypes and provides a structural basis for a sophisticated multimodal visualization, which combines topology preserving pseudocoloring with information visualization. The wide range of WHIDE's applicability is demonstrated with examples from toponome imaging, high content screens and MALDI imaging (shown in the Supplementary Material). Availability and implementation: The WHIDE tool can be accessed via the BioIMAX website http://ani.cebitec.uni-bielefeld.de/BioIMAX/; Login: whidetestuser; Password: whidetest. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. Contact: tim.nattkemper@uni-bielefeld.de PMID:22390938

Human Factors Society, Annual Meeting, 35th, San Francisco, CA, Sept. 2-6, 1991, Proceedings. Vols. 1 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

These proceedings discuss human factor issues related to aerospace systems, aging, communications, computer systems, consumer products, education and forensic topics, environmental design, industrial ergonomics, international technology transfer, organizational design and management, personality and individual differences in human performance, safety, system development, test and evaluation, training, and visual performance. Particular attention is given to HUDs, attitude indicators, and sensor displays; human factors of space exploration; behavior and aging; the design and evaluation of phone-based interfaces; knowledge acquisition and expert systems; handwriting, speech, and other input techniques; interface design for text, numerics, and speech; and human factor issues in medicine. Also discussedmore » are cumulative trauma disorders, industrial safety, evaluative techniques for automation impacts on the human operators, visual issues in training, and interpreting and organizing human factor concepts and information.« less

Courses in Modern Physics for Non-science Majors, Future Science Teachers, and Biology Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zollman, Dean

2001-03-01

For the past 15 years Kansas State University has offered a course in modern physics for students who are not majoring in physics. This course carries a prerequisite of one physics course so that the students have a basic introduction in classical topics. The majors of students range from liberal arts to engineering. Future secondary science teachers whose first area of teaching is not physics can use the course as part of their study of science. The course has evolved from a lecture format to one which is highly interactive and uses a combination of hands-on activities, tutorials and visualizations, particularly the Visual Quantum Mechanics materials. Another course encourages biology students to continue their physics learning beyond the introductory course. Modern Miracle Medical Machines introduces the basic physics which underlie diagnosis techniques such as MRI and PET and laser surgical techniques. Additional information is available at http://www.phys.ksu.edu/perg/

Hyperspectral imaging for non-contact analysis of forensic traces.

PubMed

Edelman, G J; Gaston, E; van Leeuwen, T G; Cullen, P J; Aalders, M C G

2012-11-30

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) integrates conventional imaging and spectroscopy, to obtain both spatial and spectral information from a specimen. This technique enables investigators to analyze the chemical composition of traces and simultaneously visualize their spatial distribution. HSI offers significant potential for the detection, visualization, identification and age estimation of forensic traces. The rapid, non-destructive and non-contact features of HSI mark its suitability as an analytical tool for forensic science. This paper provides an overview of the principles, instrumentation and analytical techniques involved in hyperspectral imaging. We describe recent advances in HSI technology motivating forensic science applications, e.g. the development of portable and fast image acquisition systems. Reported forensic science applications are reviewed. Challenges are addressed, such as the analysis of traces on backgrounds encountered in casework, concluded by a summary of possible future applications. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visual management of large scale data mining projects.

PubMed

Shah, I; Hunter, L

2000-01-01

This paper describes a unified framework for visualizing the preparations for, and results of, hundreds of machine learning experiments. These experiments were designed to improve the accuracy of enzyme functional predictions from sequence, and in many cases were successful. Our system provides graphical user interfaces for defining and exploring training datasets and various representational alternatives, for inspecting the hypotheses induced by various types of learning algorithms, for visualizing the global results, and for inspecting in detail results for specific training sets (functions) and examples (proteins). The visualization tools serve as a navigational aid through a large amount of sequence data and induced knowledge. They provided significant help in understanding both the significance and the underlying biological explanations of our successes and failures. Using these visualizations it was possible to efficiently identify weaknesses of the modular sequence representations and induction algorithms which suggest better learning strategies. The context in which our data mining visualization toolkit was developed was the problem of accurately predicting enzyme function from protein sequence data. Previous work demonstrated that approximately 6% of enzyme protein sequences are likely to be assigned incorrect functions on the basis of sequence similarity alone. In order to test the hypothesis that more detailed sequence analysis using machine learning techniques and modular domain representations could address many of these failures, we designed a series of more than 250 experiments using information-theoretic decision tree induction and naive Bayesian learning on local sequence domain representations of problematic enzyme function classes. In more than half of these cases, our methods were able to perfectly discriminate among various possible functions of similar sequences. We developed and tested our visualization techniques on this application.

Object Recognition in Mental Representations: Directions for Exploring Diagnostic Features through Visual Mental Imagery.

PubMed

Roldan, Stephanie M

2017-01-01

One of the fundamental goals of object recognition research is to understand how a cognitive representation produced from the output of filtered and transformed sensory information facilitates efficient viewer behavior. Given that mental imagery strongly resembles perceptual processes in both cortical regions and subjective visual qualities, it is reasonable to question whether mental imagery facilitates cognition in a manner similar to that of perceptual viewing: via the detection and recognition of distinguishing features. Categorizing the feature content of mental imagery holds potential as a reverse pathway by which to identify the components of a visual stimulus which are most critical for the creation and retrieval of a visual representation. This review will examine the likelihood that the information represented in visual mental imagery reflects distinctive object features thought to facilitate efficient object categorization and recognition during perceptual viewing. If it is the case that these representational features resemble their sensory counterparts in both spatial and semantic qualities, they may well be accessible through mental imagery as evaluated through current investigative techniques. In this review, methods applied to mental imagery research and their findings are reviewed and evaluated for their efficiency in accessing internal representations, and implications for identifying diagnostic features are discussed. An argument is made for the benefits of combining mental imagery assessment methods with diagnostic feature research to advance the understanding of visual perceptive processes, with suggestions for avenues of future investigation.

Object Recognition in Mental Representations: Directions for Exploring Diagnostic Features through Visual Mental Imagery

PubMed Central

Roldan, Stephanie M.

2017-01-01

One of the fundamental goals of object recognition research is to understand how a cognitive representation produced from the output of filtered and transformed sensory information facilitates efficient viewer behavior. Given that mental imagery strongly resembles perceptual processes in both cortical regions and subjective visual qualities, it is reasonable to question whether mental imagery facilitates cognition in a manner similar to that of perceptual viewing: via the detection and recognition of distinguishing features. Categorizing the feature content of mental imagery holds potential as a reverse pathway by which to identify the components of a visual stimulus which are most critical for the creation and retrieval of a visual representation. This review will examine the likelihood that the information represented in visual mental imagery reflects distinctive object features thought to facilitate efficient object categorization and recognition during perceptual viewing. If it is the case that these representational features resemble their sensory counterparts in both spatial and semantic qualities, they may well be accessible through mental imagery as evaluated through current investigative techniques. In this review, methods applied to mental imagery research and their findings are reviewed and evaluated for their efficiency in accessing internal representations, and implications for identifying diagnostic features are discussed. An argument is made for the benefits of combining mental imagery assessment methods with diagnostic feature research to advance the understanding of visual perceptive processes, with suggestions for avenues of future investigation. PMID:28588538

National Dam Inspection Program. North Lake Dam (NDI I.D. Number PA-00268, PennDER I.D. Number 52-180), Delaware River Basin, Branch of Hornbecks Creek, Pike County, Pennsylvania. Phase I Inspection Report,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

12 6.1 Visual Observations ..... ............... . 12 6.2 Design and Construction Techniques .......... . 13 6.3 Past Performance...Techniques. No information is available that details the methods of design and/or construction. 6.3 Past Performance. No records relative to the...Inc., New York, 1959. 8. Weir Experiments, Coefficients, and Formulas, R. E. Horton, Water Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 200, Department of the

The use of positron emission tomography in pion radiotherapy.

PubMed

Goodman, G B; Lam, G K; Harrison, R W; Bergstrom, M; Martin, W R; Pate, B D

1986-10-01

The radioactive debris produced by pion radiotherapy can be imaged by the technique of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as a method of non-invasive in situ verification of the pion treatment. This paper presents the first visualization of the pion stopping distribution within a tumor in a human brain using PET. Together with the tissue functional information provided by the standard PET scans using radiopharmaceuticals, the combination of pion with PET technique can provide a much better form of radiotherapy than the use of conventional radiation in both treatment planning and verification.

Visualization of impact damage of composite plates by means of the Moire technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knauss, W. G.; Babcock, C. D.; Chai, H.

1980-01-01

The phenomenological aspects of propagation damage due to low velocity impact on heavily loaded graphite-epoxy composite laminates were investigated using high speed photography coupled with the moire fringe technique. High speed moire motion records of the impacted specimens are presented. The results provide information on the time scale and sequence of the failure process. While the generation of the initial damage cannot always be separated temporally from the spreading of the damage, the latter takes place on the average with a speed on the order of 200 m/sec.

Effects of ensemble and summary displays on interpretations of geospatial uncertainty data.

PubMed

Padilla, Lace M; Ruginski, Ian T; Creem-Regehr, Sarah H

2017-01-01

Ensemble and summary displays are two widely used methods to represent visual-spatial uncertainty; however, there is disagreement about which is the most effective technique to communicate uncertainty to the general public. Visualization scientists create ensemble displays by plotting multiple data points on the same Cartesian coordinate plane. Despite their use in scientific practice, it is more common in public presentations to use visualizations of summary displays, which scientists create by plotting statistical parameters of the ensemble members. While prior work has demonstrated that viewers make different decisions when viewing summary and ensemble displays, it is unclear what components of the displays lead to diverging judgments. This study aims to compare the salience of visual features - or visual elements that attract bottom-up attention - as one possible source of diverging judgments made with ensemble and summary displays in the context of hurricane track forecasts. We report that salient visual features of both ensemble and summary displays influence participant judgment. Specifically, we find that salient features of summary displays of geospatial uncertainty can be misunderstood as displaying size information. Further, salient features of ensemble displays evoke judgments that are indicative of accurate interpretations of the underlying probability distribution of the ensemble data. However, when participants use ensemble displays to make point-based judgments, they may overweight individual ensemble members in their decision-making process. We propose that ensemble displays are a promising alternative to summary displays in a geospatial context but that decisions about visualization methods should be informed by the viewer's task.

[Imaging Mass Spectrometry in Histopathologic Analysis].

PubMed

Yamazaki, Fumiyoshi; Seto, Mitsutoshi

2015-04-01

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) enables visualization of the distribution of a range of biomolecules by integrating biochemical information from mass spectrometry with positional information from microscopy. IMS identifies a target molecule. In addition, IMS enables global analysis of biomolecules containing unknown molecules by detecting the ratio of the molecular weight to electric charge without any target, which makes it possible to identify novel molecules. IMS generates data on the distribution of lipids and small molecules in tissues, which is difficult to visualize with either conventional counter-staining or immunohistochemistry. In this review, we firstly introduce the principle of imaging mass spectrometry and recent advances in the sample preparation method. Secondly, we present findings regarding biological samples, especially pathological ones. Finally, we discuss the limitations and problems of the IMS technique and clinical application, such as in drug development.

Missing data exploration: highlighting graphical presentation of missing pattern.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhongheng

2015-12-01

Functions shipped with R base can fulfill many tasks of missing data handling. However, because the data volume of electronic medical record (EMR) system is always very large, more sophisticated methods may be helpful in data management. The article focuses on missing data handling by using advanced techniques. There are three types of missing data, that is, missing completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR) and not missing at random (NMAR). This classification system depends on how missing values are generated. Two packages, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE) and Visualization and Imputation of Missing Values (VIM), provide sophisticated functions to explore missing data pattern. In particular, the VIM package is especially helpful in visual inspection of missing data. Finally, correlation analysis provides information on the dependence of missing data on other variables. Such information is useful in subsequent imputations.

How can knowledge discovery methods uncover spatio-temporal patterns in environmental data?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wachowicz, Monica

2000-04-01

This paper proposes the integration of KDD, GVis and STDB as a long-term strategy, which will allow users to apply knowledge discovery methods for uncovering spatio-temporal patterns in environmental data. The main goal is to combine innovative techniques and associated tools for exploring very large environmental data sets in order to arrive at valid, novel, potentially useful, and ultimately understandable spatio-temporal patterns. The GeoInsight approach is described using the principles and key developments in the research domains of KDD, GVis, and STDB. The GeoInsight approach aims at the integration of these research domains in order to provide tools for performing information retrieval, exploration, analysis, and visualization. The result is a knowledge-based design, which involves visual thinking (perceptual-cognitive process) and automated information processing (computer-analytical process).

Noninvasive Measurement of Vulnerability to Drought-Induced Embolism by X-Ray Microtomography1

PubMed Central

Choat, Brendan; Cochard, Herve; Jansen, Steven

2016-01-01

Hydraulic failure induced by xylem embolism is one of the primary mechanisms of plant dieback during drought. However, many of the methods used to evaluate the vulnerability of different species to drought-induced embolism are indirect and invasive, increasing the possibility that measurement artifacts may occur. Here, we utilize x-ray computed microtomography (microCT) to directly visualize embolism formation in the xylem of living, intact plants with contrasting wood anatomy (Quercus robur, Populus tremula × Populus alba, and Pinus pinaster). These observations were compared with widely used centrifuge techniques that require destructive sampling. MicroCT imaging provided detailed spatial information regarding the dimensions and functional status of xylem conduits during dehydration. Vulnerability curves based on microCT observations of intact plants closely matched curves based on the centrifuge technique for species with short vessels (P. tremula × P. alba) or tracheids (P. pinaster). For ring porous Q. robur, the centrifuge technique significantly overestimated vulnerability to embolism, indicating that caution should be used when applying this technique to species with long vessels. These findings confirm that microCT can be used to assess the vulnerability to embolism on intact plants by direct visualization. PMID:26527655

Transmitted light microscopy for visualizing the turbulent primary breakup of a microscale liquid jet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reddemann, Manuel A.; Mathieu, Florian; Kneer, Reinhold

2013-11-01

Aiming at a maximum spatial resolution and a minimum motion blur, a new simple double-imaging transmitted light microscopy technique is developed in this work enabling a fundamental investigation of primary breakup of a microscale liquid jet. Contrary to conventional far-field visualization techniques, the working distance is minimized to increase the numerical aperture. The resulting images provide information about shapes, length scales and velocities of primary liquid structures. The method is applied to an optically dense spray leaving a 109-μm diesel nozzle at various injection pressures under atmospheric conditions. A phenomenological study on the temporal spray evolution is done with focus on droplet and ligament formation. Different breakup processes are identified and described. It is found that the jet is characterized by long ligaments parallel or angular to the inner jet region. These ligaments result from collapsing films developing at the spray edge. A significant influence of outlet velocity variation on shape and velocity of these ligaments is observed. The experimental results prove that a transmitted light microscopy technique with reduced working distance is an appropriate tool for a better understanding of primary breakup for small-scaled diesel nozzles and a valuable complement to highly complex measurement techniques.

Regarding realities: Using photo-based projective techniques to elicit normative and alternative discourses on gender, relationships, and sexuality in Mozambique.

PubMed

Holman, Emily S; Harbour, Catherine K; Azevedo Said, Rosa Valéria; Figueroa, Maria Elena

2016-01-01

This paper argues for the methodological merit of photo-based projective techniques (PT) in formative HIV communication research. We used this technique in Mozambique to study multiple sexual partnerships (MSPs) and the roles of social and gender norms in promoting or discouraging these behaviours. Facilitators used ambiguous photographs and vignettes to ease adult men and women into discussions of sexual risk behaviour and HIV transmission. Visuals upheld a third-person perspective in discussions, enabling participants to safely project their worldviews onto the photographed characters, and indirectly share their attitudes, normative environments, personal and peer experiences, perceived risks and benefits, and theories about motivations for extramarital sex. Visually grounded storylines contained rich detail about the circumstances and interpersonal conversations that contextualise MSP behaviour and norms. The research yielded findings about conflicting social practices of public encouragement and private disapproval. Despite concerns around the verifiability of PTs, the repetition and convergence in the elicited conversations - and confirmation through subsequent campaign design and evaluation - suggest these techniques can reliably elicit information for formative public health and communication research on psychosocial and normative factors.

Noninvasive Measurement of Vulnerability to Drought-Induced Embolism by X-Ray Microtomography.

PubMed

Choat, Brendan; Badel, Eric; Burlett, Regis; Delzon, Sylvain; Cochard, Herve; Jansen, Steven

2016-01-01

Hydraulic failure induced by xylem embolism is one of the primary mechanisms of plant dieback during drought. However, many of the methods used to evaluate the vulnerability of different species to drought-induced embolism are indirect and invasive, increasing the possibility that measurement artifacts may occur. Here, we utilize x-ray computed microtomography (microCT) to directly visualize embolism formation in the xylem of living, intact plants with contrasting wood anatomy (Quercus robur, Populus tremula × Populus alba, and Pinus pinaster). These observations were compared with widely used centrifuge techniques that require destructive sampling. MicroCT imaging provided detailed spatial information regarding the dimensions and functional status of xylem conduits during dehydration. Vulnerability curves based on microCT observations of intact plants closely matched curves based on the centrifuge technique for species with short vessels (P. tremula × P. alba) or tracheids (P. pinaster). For ring porous Q. robur, the centrifuge technique significantly overestimated vulnerability to embolism, indicating that caution should be used when applying this technique to species with long vessels. These findings confirm that microCT can be used to assess the vulnerability to embolism on intact plants by direct visualization. © 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

Bottlenecks of Motion Processing during a Visual Glance: The Leaky Flask Model

PubMed Central

Öğmen, Haluk; Ekiz, Onur; Huynh, Duong; Bedell, Harold E.; Tripathy, Srimant P.

2013-01-01

Where do the bottlenecks for information and attention lie when our visual system processes incoming stimuli? The human visual system encodes the incoming stimulus and transfers its contents into three major memory systems with increasing time scales, viz., sensory (or iconic) memory, visual short-term memory (VSTM), and long-term memory (LTM). It is commonly believed that the major bottleneck of information processing resides in VSTM. In contrast to this view, we show major bottlenecks for motion processing prior to VSTM. In the first experiment, we examined bottlenecks at the stimulus encoding stage through a partial-report technique by delivering the cue immediately at the end of the stimulus presentation. In the second experiment, we varied the cue delay to investigate sensory memory and VSTM. Performance decayed exponentially as a function of cue delay and we used the time-constant of the exponential-decay to demarcate sensory memory from VSTM. We then decomposed performance in terms of quality and quantity measures to analyze bottlenecks along these dimensions. In terms of the quality of information, two thirds to three quarters of the motion-processing bottleneck occurs in stimulus encoding rather than memory stages. In terms of the quantity of information, the motion-processing bottleneck is distributed, with the stimulus-encoding stage accounting for one third of the bottleneck. The bottleneck for the stimulus-encoding stage is dominated by the selection compared to the filtering function of attention. We also found that the filtering function of attention is operating mainly at the sensory memory stage in a specific manner, i.e., influencing only quantity and sparing quality. These results provide a novel and more complete understanding of information processing and storage bottlenecks for motion processing. PMID:24391806

Bottlenecks of motion processing during a visual glance: the leaky flask model.

PubMed

Öğmen, Haluk; Ekiz, Onur; Huynh, Duong; Bedell, Harold E; Tripathy, Srimant P

2013-01-01

Where do the bottlenecks for information and attention lie when our visual system processes incoming stimuli? The human visual system encodes the incoming stimulus and transfers its contents into three major memory systems with increasing time scales, viz., sensory (or iconic) memory, visual short-term memory (VSTM), and long-term memory (LTM). It is commonly believed that the major bottleneck of information processing resides in VSTM. In contrast to this view, we show major bottlenecks for motion processing prior to VSTM. In the first experiment, we examined bottlenecks at the stimulus encoding stage through a partial-report technique by delivering the cue immediately at the end of the stimulus presentation. In the second experiment, we varied the cue delay to investigate sensory memory and VSTM. Performance decayed exponentially as a function of cue delay and we used the time-constant of the exponential-decay to demarcate sensory memory from VSTM. We then decomposed performance in terms of quality and quantity measures to analyze bottlenecks along these dimensions. In terms of the quality of information, two thirds to three quarters of the motion-processing bottleneck occurs in stimulus encoding rather than memory stages. In terms of the quantity of information, the motion-processing bottleneck is distributed, with the stimulus-encoding stage accounting for one third of the bottleneck. The bottleneck for the stimulus-encoding stage is dominated by the selection compared to the filtering function of attention. We also found that the filtering function of attention is operating mainly at the sensory memory stage in a specific manner, i.e., influencing only quantity and sparing quality. These results provide a novel and more complete understanding of information processing and storage bottlenecks for motion processing.

The Generation of Novel MR Imaging Techniques to Visualize Inflammatory/Degenerative Mechanisms and the Correlation of MR Data with 3D Microscopic Changes

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

existing MR scanning systems providing the ability to visualize structures that are impossible with current methods . Using techniques to concurrently...and unique system for analysis of affected brain regions and coupled with other imaging techniques and molecular measurements holds significant...scanning systems providing the ability to visualize structures that are impossible with current methods . Using techniques to concurrently stain

LOD map--A visual interface for navigating multiresolution volume visualization.

PubMed

Wang, Chaoli; Shen, Han-Wei

2006-01-01

In multiresolution volume visualization, a visual representation of level-of-detail (LOD) quality is important for us to examine, compare, and validate different LOD selection algorithms. While traditional methods rely on ultimate images for quality measurement, we introduce the LOD map--an alternative representation of LOD quality and a visual interface for navigating multiresolution data exploration. Our measure for LOD quality is based on the formulation of entropy from information theory. The measure takes into account the distortion and contribution of multiresolution data blocks. A LOD map is generated through the mapping of key LOD ingredients to a treemap representation. The ordered treemap layout is used for relative stable update of the LOD map when the view or LOD changes. This visual interface not only indicates the quality of LODs in an intuitive way, but also provides immediate suggestions for possible LOD improvement through visually-striking features. It also allows us to compare different views and perform rendering budget control. A set of interactive techniques is proposed to make the LOD adjustment a simple and easy task. We demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach on large scientific and medical data sets.

Automatic transfer function generation for volume rendering of high-resolution x-ray 3D digital mammography images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alyassin, Abdal M.

2002-05-01

3D Digital mammography (3DDM) is a new technology that provides high resolution X-ray breast tomographic data. Like any other tomographic medical imaging modalities, viewing a stack of tomographic images may require time especially if the images are of large matrix size. In addition, it may cause difficulty to conceptually construct 3D breast structures. Therefore, there is a need to readily visualize the data in 3D. However, one of the issues that hinder the usage of volume rendering (VR) is finding an automatic way to generate transfer functions that efficiently map the important diagnostic information in the data. We have developed a method that randomly samples the volume. Based on the mean and the standard deviation of these samples, the technique determines the lower limit and upper limit of a piecewise linear ramp transfer function. We have volume rendered several 3DDM data using this technique and compared visually the outcome with the result from a conventional automatic technique. The transfer function generated through the proposed technique provided superior VR images over the conventional technique. Furthermore, the improvement in the reproducibility of the transfer function correlated with the number of samples taken from the volume at the expense of the processing time.

Full-Mouth Intraoral Radiographic Survey in Rabbits.

PubMed

Regalado, Adriana; Legendre, Loïc

2017-09-01

Dental pathologies are highly prevalent in pet rabbit populations, making oral radiography an essential tool in the evaluation of lagomorph dentitions. The unique anatomy of the rabbit's mouth limits the examination of the conscious animal to the rostral portion of it's mouth. In addition, the oral examination of an aradicular hypsodont tooth is restricted to the short coronal fraction of its crown. Erstwhile images obtained by the extraoral technique were once considered the most practical and informative tool in rabbit dentistry; however, limited visualization of the key structures of individual teeth became the major drawback of this technique. As new imaging technologies are becoming widely available and affordable for veterinarians, intraoral radiography offers the ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat oral pathologies in lagomorphs. This article describes a step-by-step procedure to obtain a full-mouth radiographic survey in rabbits. For this technique, a standard dental X-ray generator and intraoral storage phosphor plates are used while applying the bisecting angle technique. Among the advantages of this technique are detailed visualization of internal and external dental structures, identification of early lesions, and detection of occult pathologies. Furthermore, intraoral images offer superior resolution and higher diagnostic quality with minimal radiation exposure, making this method safer for the veterinarian, staff members, and their patients.

Visualizing common operating picture of critical infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rummukainen, Lauri; Oksama, Lauri; Timonen, Jussi; Vankka, Jouko

2014-05-01

This paper presents a solution for visualizing the common operating picture (COP) of the critical infrastructure (CI). The purpose is to improve the situational awareness (SA) of the strategic-level actor and the source system operator in order to support decision making. The information is obtained through the Situational Awareness of Critical Infrastructure and Networks (SACIN) framework. The system consists of an agent-based solution for gathering, storing, and analyzing the information, and a user interface (UI) is presented in this paper. The UI consists of multiple views visualizing information from the CI in different ways. Different CI actors are categorized in 11 separate sectors, and events are used to present meaningful incidents. Past and current states, together with geographical distribution and logical dependencies, are presented to the user. The current states are visualized as segmented circles to represent event categories. Geographical distribution of assets is displayed with a well-known map tool. Logical dependencies are presented in a simple directed graph, and users also have a timeline to review past events. The objective of the UI is to provide an easily understandable overview of the CI status. Therefore, testing methods, such as a walkthrough, an informal walkthrough, and the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT), were used in the evaluation of the UI. Results showed that users were able to obtain an understanding of the current state of CI, and the usability of the UI was rated as good. In particular, the designated display for the CI overview and the timeline were found to be efficient.

Radiant thinking and the use of the mind map in nurse practitioner education.

PubMed

Spencer, Julie R; Anderson, Kelley M; Ellis, Kathryn K

2013-05-01

The concept of radiant thinking, which led to the concept of mind mapping, promotes all aspects of the brain working in synergy, with thought beginning from a central point. The mind map, which is a graphical technique to improve creative thinking and knowledge attainment, utilizes colors, images, codes, and dimensions to amplify and enhance key ideas. This technique augments the visualization of relationships and links between concepts, which aids in information acquisition, data retention, and overall comprehension. Faculty can promote students' use of the technique for brainstorming, organizing ideas, taking notes, learning collaboratively, presenting, and studying. These applications can be used in problem-based learning, developing plans of care, health promotion activities, synthesizing disease processes, and forming differential diagnoses. Mind mapping is a creative way for students to engage in a unique method of learning that can expand memory recall and help create a new environment for processing information. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

Tomographic techniques for the study of exceptionally preserved fossils

PubMed Central

Sutton, Mark D

2008-01-01

Three-dimensional fossils, especially those preserving soft-part anatomy, are a rich source of palaeontological information; they can, however, be difficult to work with. Imaging of serial planes through an object (tomography) allows study of both the inside and outside of three-dimensional fossils. Tomography may be performed using physical grinding or sawing coupled with photography, through optical techniques of serial focusing, or using a variety of scanning technologies such as neutron tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and most usefully X-ray computed tomography. This latter technique is applicable at a variety of scales, and when combined with a synchrotron X-ray source can produce very high-quality data that may be augmented by phase-contrast information to enhance contrast. Tomographic data can be visualized in several ways, the most effective of which is the production of isosurface-based ‘virtual fossils’ that can be manipulated and dissected interactively. PMID:18426749

A collection of flow visualization techniques used in the Aerodynamic Research Branch

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

Theoretical and experimental research on unsteady aerodynamic flows is discussed. Complex flow fields that involve separations, vortex interactions, and transonic flow effects were investigated. Flow visualization techniques are used to obtain a global picture of the flow phenomena before detailed quantitative studies are undertaken. A wide variety of methods are used to visualize fluid flow and a sampling of these methods is presented. It is emphasized that the visualization technique is a thorough quantitative analysis and subsequent physical understanding of these flow fields.

Auditory Processing in Infancy: Do Early Abnormalities Predict Disorders of Language and Cognitive Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guzzetta, Francesco; Conti, Guido; Mercuri, Eugenio

2011-01-01

Increasing attention has been devoted to the maturation of sensory processing in the first year of life. While the development of cortical visual function has been thoroughly studied, much less information is available on auditory processing and its early disorders. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the assessment techniques for…

English Listeners Use Suprasegmental Cues to Lexical Stress Early during Spoken-Word Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jesse, Alexandra; Poellmann, Katja; Kong, Ying-Yee

2017-01-01

Purpose: We used an eye-tracking technique to investigate whether English listeners use suprasegmental information about lexical stress to speed up the recognition of spoken words in English. Method: In a visual world paradigm, 24 young English listeners followed spoken instructions to choose 1 of 4 printed referents on a computer screen (e.g.,…

Teaching Students How to Study: A Workshop on Information Processing and Self-Testing Helps Students Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Shockley, Floyd W.; Wilson, Rachel E.

2011-01-01

We implemented a "how to study" workshop for small groups of students (6-12) for N = 93 consenting students, randomly assigned from a large introductory biology class. The goal of this workshop was to teach students self-regulating techniques with visualization-based exercises as a foundation for learning and critical thinking in two areas:…

Damage assessment using advanced non-intrusive inspection methods: integration of space, UAV, GPR, and field spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Themistocleous, Kyriacos; Neocleous, Kyriacos; Pilakoutas, Kypros; Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G.

2014-08-01

The predominant approach for conducting road condition surveys and analyses is still largely based on extensive field observations. However, visual assessment alone cannot identify the actual extent and severity of damage. New non-invasive and cost-effective non-destructive (NDT) remote sensing technologies can be used to monitor road pavements across their life cycle, including remotely sensed aerial and satellite visual and thermal image (AI) data, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Spectroscopy and Ground Penetrating Radar (GRP). These non-contact techniques can be used to obtain surface and sub-surface information about damage in road pavements, including the crack depth, and in-depth structural failure. Thus, a smart and cost-effective methodology is required that integrates several of these non-destructive/ no-contact techniques for the damage assessment and monitoring at different levels. This paper presents an overview of how an integration of the above technologies can be used to conduct detailed road condition surveys. The proposed approach can also be used to predict the future needs for road maintenance; this information is proven to be valuable to a strategic decision making tools that optimizes maintenance based on resources and environmental issues.

Visuo-spatial ability in colonoscopy simulator training.

PubMed

Luursema, Jan-Maarten; Buzink, Sonja N; Verwey, Willem B; Jakimowicz, J J

2010-12-01

Visuo-spatial ability is associated with a quality of performance in a variety of surgical and medical skills. However, visuo-spatial ability is typically assessed using Visualization tests only, which led to an incomplete understanding of the involvement of visuo-spatial ability in these skills. To remedy this situation, the current study investigated the role of a broad range of visuo-spatial factors in colonoscopy simulator training. Fifteen medical trainees (no clinical experience in colonoscopy) participated in two psycho-metric test sessions to assess four visuo-spatial ability factors. Next, participants trained flexible endoscope manipulation, and navigation to the cecum on the GI Mentor II simulator, for four sessions within 1 week. Visualization, and to a lesser degree Spatial relations were the only visuo-spatial ability factors to correlate with colonoscopy simulator performance. Visualization additionally covaried with learning rate for time on task on both simulator tasks. High Visualization ability indicated faster exercise completion. Similar to other endoscopic procedures, performance in colonoscopy is positively associated with Visualization, a visuo-spatial ability factor characterized by the ability to mentally manipulate complex visuo-spatial stimuli. The complexity of the visuo-spatial mental transformations required to successfully perform colonoscopy is likely responsible for the challenging nature of this technique, and should inform training- and assessment design. Long term training studies, as well as studies investigating the nature of visuo-spatial complexity in this domain are needed to better understand the role of visuo-spatial ability in colonoscopy, and other endoscopic techniques.

Enhanced visualization of MR angiogram with modified MIP and 3D image fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, JongHyo; Yeon, Kyoung M.; Han, Man Chung; Lee, Dong Hyuk; Cho, Han I.

1997-05-01

We have developed a 3D image processing and display technique that include image resampling, modification of MIP, volume rendering, and fusion of MIP image with volumetric rendered image. This technique facilitates the visualization of the 3D spatial relationship between vasculature and surrounding organs by overlapping the MIP image on the volumetric rendered image of the organ. We applied this technique to a MR brain image data to produce an MRI angiogram that is overlapped with 3D volume rendered image of brain. MIP technique was used to visualize the vasculature of brain, and volume rendering was used to visualize the other structures of brain. The two images are fused after adjustment of contrast and brightness levels of each image in such a way that both the vasculature and brain structure are well visualized either by selecting the maximum value of each image or by assigning different color table to each image. The resultant image with this technique visualizes both the brain structure and vasculature simultaneously, allowing the physicians to inspect their relationship more easily. The presented technique will be useful for surgical planning for neurosurgery.

Exploiting visual search theory to infer social interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rota, Paolo; Dang-Nguyen, Duc-Tien; Conci, Nicola; Sebe, Nicu

2013-03-01

In this paper we propose a new method to infer human social interactions using typical techniques adopted in literature for visual search and information retrieval. The main piece of information we use to discriminate among different types of interactions is provided by proxemics cues acquired by a tracker, and used to distinguish between intentional and casual interactions. The proxemics information has been acquired through the analysis of two different metrics: on the one hand we observe the current distance between subjects, and on the other hand we measure the O-space synergy between subjects. The obtained values are taken at every time step over a temporal sliding window, and processed in the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) domain. The features are eventually merged into an unique array, and clustered using the K-means algorithm. The clusters are reorganized using a second larger temporal window into a Bag Of Words framework, so as to build the feature vector that will feed the SVM classifier.

Use of optical aids by visually impaired students: social and cultural factors.

PubMed

Monteiro, Gelse Beatriz Martins; Temporini, Edméa Rita; de Carvalho, Keila Monteiro

2006-01-01

To identify conceptions, social and cultural factors regarding the use of optical aids by visually impaired students and to present information to health and educational professionals. Qualitative research using spontaneous theater (interactive theater modality based on improvisation) as research instrument. To analyze data, an adapted form of the collective subject discourse technique - procedures for organization of verbal data - was applied. Scenes, gestures, expressions, silences and behaviors were added to the original proposal. The study population included all visually impaired students from elementary public schools, aged 10 to 14 years who attended a resource room in a São Paulo state city. The students were examined at a university low vision service. Little knowledge about the impairment and difficult adaptation to use of optical aids were identified. The students' behavior showed denial of own problems, discomfort on public use of aids and lack of participation in own health decisions. Analysis through spontaneous theater session allows the professional to gather information which is not possible to acquire in the health assistance atmosphere. Needs, difficulties and barriers the users found before the prescribed treatment were identified.

Spatial partitioning algorithms for data visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devulapalli, Raghuveer; Quist, Mikael; Carlsson, John Gunnar

2013-12-01

Spatial partitions of an information space are frequently used for data visualization. Weighted Voronoi diagrams are among the most popular ways of dividing a space into partitions. However, the problem of computing such a partition efficiently can be challenging. For example, a natural objective is to select the weights so as to force each Voronoi region to take on a pre-defined area, which might represent the relevance or market share of an informational object. In this paper, we present an easy and fast algorithm to compute these weights of the Voronoi diagrams. Unlike previous approaches whose convergence properties are not well-understood, we give a formulation to the problem based on convex optimization with excellent performance guarantees in theory and practice. We also show how our technique can be used to control the shape of these partitions. More specifically we show how to convert undesirable skinny and long regions into fat regions while maintaining the areas of the partitions. As an application, we use these to visualize the amount of website traffic for the top 101 websites.

Technical Advances in Intracellular Detection Using Immuno-Gold Particles: Simple Cryofixation with Metal Contact Quick Freezing.

PubMed

Song, Chihong; Lee, Ju Huck; Jun, Sangmi; Chung, Jeong Min; Hyun, Jaekyung; Jung, Hyun Suk

2016-05-01

The preparation of biological specimens using cryofixation techniques ensures excellent visibility of intracellular structures and preserves the antigenic sites of subcellular molecules. Hence, cryofixation is an effective method of preparing samples for analyses using antibodies conjugated to gold nanoparticles that are designed to detect the localization of specific target molecules within cells. However, cryofixation cannot be utilized easily because it requires expensive equipment and skilled technologists, resulting in a high level of expense for researchers. Here, we describe a simple technical approach to cryofixation that uses metal contact quick freezing followed by a modified freeze substitution technique and immuno-gold labeling electron microscopy. Micrograph images of cells prepared using this modified cryofixation method demonstrated its superiority over chemical fixation for high contrast visualization of the morphologies of cellular components and preservation of antigenicity for immuno-gold labeling. This report provides valuable technical information related to the advancement of metal contact quick freezing techniques, which can be used to visualize biomedical events of interest in an easy, simple, and rapid manner.

Three-dimensional imaging from a unidirectional hologram: wide-viewing-zone projection type.

PubMed

Okoshi, T; Oshima, K

1976-04-01

In ordinary holography reconstructing a virtual image, the hologram must be wider than either the visual field or the viewing zone. In this paper, an economical method of recording a wide-viewing-zone wide-visual-field 3-D holographic image is proposed. In this method, many mirrors are used to collect object waves onto a small hologram. In the reconstruction, a real image from the hologram is projected onto a horizontally direction-selective stereoscreen through the same mirrors. In the experiment, satisfactory 3-D images have been observed from a wide viewing zone. The optimum design and information reduction techniques are also discussed.

Detection and characterization of atherosclerotic plaques by Raman probe spectroscopy and optical coherence tomography (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matthäus, Christian; Dochow, Sebastian; Egodage, Kokila D.; Schie, Iwan; Romeike, Bernd F.; Brehm, Bernhard R.; Popp, Jürgen

2017-02-01

Visualization and characterization of inner arterial plaque depositions is of vital diagnostic interest. Established intravascular imaging techniques provide valuable morphological information, but cannot deliver information about the chemical composition of individual plaques. Probe based Raman spectroscopy offers the possibility for a biochemical characterization of atherosclerotic plaque formations during an intravascular intervention. From post mortem studies it is well known that the severity of a plaque and its stability are strongly correlated with its biochemical composition. Especially the identification of vulnerable plaques remains one of the most important and challenging aspects in cardiology. Thus, specific information about the composition of a plaque would greatly improve the risk assessment and management. Furthermore, knowledge about the composition can offer new therapeutic and medication strategies. Plaque calcifications as well as major lipid components such as cholesterol, cholesterol esters and triglycerides can be spectroscopically easily differentiated. Intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) is currently a prominent catheter based imaging technique for the localization and visualization of atherosclerotic plaque depositions. The high resolution of OCT with 10 to 15 µm allows for very detailed characterization of morphological features such as different plaque formations, thin fibrous caps and accurate measurements of lesion lengths. In combination with OCT imaging the obtained spectral information can provide substantial information supporting on on-site diagnosis of various plaque types and therefor an improved risk assessment. The potential and feasibility of combining OCT with Raman spectroscopy is demonstrated on excised plaque samples, as well as under in vivo conditions. Acknowledgements: Financial support from the Carl Zeiss Foundation is greatly acknowledged.

Scientific Visualization and Computational Science: Natural Partners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Uselton, Samuel P.; Lasinski, T. A. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

Scientific visualization is developing rapidly, stimulated by computational science, which is gaining acceptance as a third alternative to theory and experiment. Computational science is based on numerical simulations of mathematical models derived from theory. But each individual simulation is like a hypothetical experiment; initial conditions are specified, and the result is a record of the observed conditions. Experiments can be simulated for situations that can not really be created or controlled. Results impossible to measure can be computed.. Even for observable values, computed samples are typically much denser. Numerical simulations also extend scientific exploration where the mathematics is analytically intractable. Numerical simulations are used to study phenomena from subatomic to intergalactic scales and from abstract mathematical structures to pragmatic engineering of everyday objects. But computational science methods would be almost useless without visualization. The obvious reason is that the huge amounts of data produced require the high bandwidth of the human visual system, and interactivity adds to the power. Visualization systems also provide a single context for all the activities involved from debugging the simulations, to exploring the data, to communicating the results. Most of the presentations today have their roots in image processing, where the fundamental task is: Given an image, extract information about the scene. Visualization has developed from computer graphics, and the inverse task: Given a scene description, make an image. Visualization extends the graphics paradigm by expanding the possible input. The goal is still to produce images; the difficulty is that the input is not a scene description displayable by standard graphics methods. Visualization techniques must either transform the data into a scene description or extend graphics techniques to display this odd input. Computational science is a fertile field for visualization research because the results vary so widely and include things that have no known appearance. The amount of data creates additional challenges for both hardware and software systems. Evaluations of visualization should ultimately reflect the insight gained into the scientific phenomena. So making good visualizations requires consideration of characteristics of the user and the purpose of the visualization. Knowledge about human perception and graphic design is also relevant. It is this breadth of knowledge that stimulates proposals for multidisciplinary visualization teams and intelligent visualization assistant software. Visualization is an immature field, but computational science is stimulating research on a broad front.

Visual Dependency and Dizziness after Vestibular Neuritis

PubMed Central

Cousins, Sian; Cutfield, Nicholas J.; Kaski, Diego; Palla, Antonella; Seemungal, Barry M.; Golding, John F.; Staab, Jeffrey P.; Bronstein, Adolfo M.

2014-01-01

Symptomatic recovery after acute vestibular neuritis (VN) is variable, with around 50% of patients reporting long term vestibular symptoms; hence, it is essential to identify factors related to poor clinical outcome. Here we investigated whether excessive reliance on visual input for spatial orientation (visual dependence) was associated with long term vestibular symptoms following acute VN. Twenty-eight patients with VN and 25 normal control subjects were included. Patients were enrolled at least 6 months after acute illness. Recovery status was not a criterion for study entry, allowing recruitment of patients with a full range of persistent symptoms. We measured visual dependence with a laptop-based Rod-and-Disk Test and severity of symptoms with the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI). The third of patients showing the worst clinical outcomes (mean DHI score 36–80) had significantly greater visual dependence than normal subjects (6.35° error vs. 3.39° respectively, p = 0.03). Asymptomatic patients and those with minor residual symptoms did not differ from controls. Visual dependence was associated with high levels of persistent vestibular symptoms after acute VN. Over-reliance on visual information for spatial orientation is one characteristic of poorly recovered vestibular neuritis patients. The finding may be clinically useful given that visual dependence may be modified through rehabilitation desensitization techniques. PMID:25233234

SmartAdP: Visual Analytics of Large-scale Taxi Trajectories for Selecting Billboard Locations.

PubMed

Liu, Dongyu; Weng, Di; Li, Yuhong; Bao, Jie; Zheng, Yu; Qu, Huamin; Wu, Yingcai

2017-01-01

The problem of formulating solutions immediately and comparing them rapidly for billboard placements has plagued advertising planners for a long time, owing to the lack of efficient tools for in-depth analyses to make informed decisions. In this study, we attempt to employ visual analytics that combines the state-of-the-art mining and visualization techniques to tackle this problem using large-scale GPS trajectory data. In particular, we present SmartAdP, an interactive visual analytics system that deals with the two major challenges including finding good solutions in a huge solution space and comparing the solutions in a visual and intuitive manner. An interactive framework that integrates a novel visualization-driven data mining model enables advertising planners to effectively and efficiently formulate good candidate solutions. In addition, we propose a set of coupled visualizations: a solution view with metaphor-based glyphs to visualize the correlation between different solutions; a location view to display billboard locations in a compact manner; and a ranking view to present multi-typed rankings of the solutions. This system has been demonstrated using case studies with a real-world dataset and domain-expert interviews. Our approach can be adapted for other location selection problems such as selecting locations of retail stores or restaurants using trajectory data.

Implementing Operational Analytics using Big Data Technologies to Detect and Predict Sensor Anomalies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coughlin, J.; Mital, R.; Nittur, S.; SanNicolas, B.; Wolf, C.; Jusufi, R.

2016-09-01

Operational analytics when combined with Big Data technologies and predictive techniques have been shown to be valuable in detecting mission critical sensor anomalies that might be missed by conventional analytical techniques. Our approach helps analysts and leaders make informed and rapid decisions by analyzing large volumes of complex data in near real-time and presenting it in a manner that facilitates decision making. It provides cost savings by being able to alert and predict when sensor degradations pass a critical threshold and impact mission operations. Operational analytics, which uses Big Data tools and technologies, can process very large data sets containing a variety of data types to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, and other relevant information. When combined with predictive techniques, it provides a mechanism to monitor and visualize these data sets and provide insight into degradations encountered in large sensor systems such as the space surveillance network. In this study, data from a notional sensor is simulated and we use big data technologies, predictive algorithms and operational analytics to process the data and predict sensor degradations. This study uses data products that would commonly be analyzed at a site. This study builds on a big data architecture that has previously been proven valuable in detecting anomalies. This paper outlines our methodology of implementing an operational analytic solution through data discovery, learning and training of data modeling and predictive techniques, and deployment. Through this methodology, we implement a functional architecture focused on exploring available big data sets and determine practical analytic, visualization, and predictive technologies.

Increased Complexities in Visual Search Behavior in Skilled Players for a Self-Paced Aiming Task

PubMed Central

Chia, Jingyi S.; Burns, Stephen F.; Barrett, Laura A.; Chow, Jia Y.

2017-01-01

The badminton serve is an important shot for winning a rally in a match. It combines good technique with the ability to accurately integrate visual information from the shuttle, racket, opponent, and intended landing point. Despite its importance and repercussive nature, to date no study has looked at the visual search behaviors during badminton service in the singles discipline. Unlike anticipatory tasks (e.g., shot returns), the serve presents an opportunity to explore the role of visual search behaviors in movement control for self-paced tasks. Accordingly, this study examined skill-related differences in visual behavior during the badminton singles serve. Skilled (n = 12) and less skilled (n = 12) participants performed 30 serves to a live opponent, while real-time eye movements were captured using a mobile gaze registration system. Frame-by-frame analyses of 662 serves were made and the skilled players took a longer preparatory time before serving. Visual behavior of the skilled players was characterized by significantly greater number of fixations on more areas of interest per trial than the less skilled. In addition, the skilled players spent a significantly longer time fixating on the court and net, whereas the less skilled players found the shuttle to be more informative. Quiet eye (QE) duration (indicative of superior sports performance) however, did not differ significantly between groups which has implications on the perceived importance of QE in the badminton serve. Moreover, while visual behavior differed by skill level, considerable individual differences were also observed especially within the skilled players. This augments the need for not just group-level analyses, but individualized analysis for a more accurate representation of visual behavior. Findings from this study thus provide an insight to the possible visual search strategies as players serve in net-barrier games. Moreover, this study highlighted an important aspect of badminton relating to deception and the implications of interpreting visual behavior of players. PMID:28659850

Increased Complexities in Visual Search Behavior in Skilled Players for a Self-Paced Aiming Task.

PubMed

Chia, Jingyi S; Burns, Stephen F; Barrett, Laura A; Chow, Jia Y

2017-01-01

The badminton serve is an important shot for winning a rally in a match. It combines good technique with the ability to accurately integrate visual information from the shuttle, racket, opponent, and intended landing point. Despite its importance and repercussive nature, to date no study has looked at the visual search behaviors during badminton service in the singles discipline. Unlike anticipatory tasks (e.g., shot returns), the serve presents an opportunity to explore the role of visual search behaviors in movement control for self-paced tasks. Accordingly, this study examined skill-related differences in visual behavior during the badminton singles serve. Skilled ( n = 12) and less skilled ( n = 12) participants performed 30 serves to a live opponent, while real-time eye movements were captured using a mobile gaze registration system. Frame-by-frame analyses of 662 serves were made and the skilled players took a longer preparatory time before serving. Visual behavior of the skilled players was characterized by significantly greater number of fixations on more areas of interest per trial than the less skilled. In addition, the skilled players spent a significantly longer time fixating on the court and net, whereas the less skilled players found the shuttle to be more informative. Quiet eye (QE) duration (indicative of superior sports performance) however, did not differ significantly between groups which has implications on the perceived importance of QE in the badminton serve. Moreover, while visual behavior differed by skill level, considerable individual differences were also observed especially within the skilled players. This augments the need for not just group-level analyses, but individualized analysis for a more accurate representation of visual behavior. Findings from this study thus provide an insight to the possible visual search strategies as players serve in net-barrier games. Moreover, this study highlighted an important aspect of badminton relating to deception and the implications of interpreting visual behavior of players.

Fossil Signatures Using Elemental Abundance Distributions and Bayesian Probabilistic Classification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoover, Richard B.; Storrie-Lombardi, Michael C.

2004-01-01

Elemental abundances (C6, N7, O8, Na11, Mg12, Al3, P15, S16, Cl17, K19, Ca20, Ti22, Mn25, Fe26, and Ni28) were obtained for a set of terrestrial fossils and the rock matrix surrounding them. Principal Component Analysis extracted five factors accounting for the 92.5% of the data variance, i.e. information content, of the elemental abundance data. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis provided unsupervised sample classification distinguishing fossil from matrix samples on the basis of either raw abundances or PCA input that agreed strongly with visual classification. A stochastic, non-linear Artificial Neural Network produced a Bayesian probability of correct sample classification. The results provide a quantitative probabilistic methodology for discriminating terrestrial fossils from the surrounding rock matrix using chemical information. To demonstrate the applicability of these techniques to the assessment of meteoritic samples or in situ extraterrestrial exploration, we present preliminary data on samples of the Orgueil meteorite. In both systems an elemental signature produces target classification decisions remarkably consistent with morphological classification by a human expert using only structural (visual) information. We discuss the possibility of implementing a complexity analysis metric capable of automating certain image analysis and pattern recognition abilities of the human eye using low magnification optical microscopy images and discuss the extension of this technique across multiple scales.

Recent Advances in Visualizing 3D Flow with LIC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Interrante, Victoria; Grosch, Chester

1998-01-01

Line Integral Convolution (LIC), introduced by Cabral and Leedom in 1993, is an elegant and versatile technique for representing directional information via patterns of correlation in a texture. Although most commonly used to depict 2D flow, or flow over a surface in 3D, LIC methods can equivalently be used to portray 3D flow through a volume. However, the popularity of LIC as a device for illustrating 3D flow has historically been limited both by the computational expense of generating and rendering such a 3D texture and by the difficulties inherent in clearly and effectively conveying the directional information embodied in the volumetric output textures that are produced. In an earlier paper, we briefly discussed some of the factors that may underlie the perceptual difficulties that we can encounter with dense 3D displays and outlined several strategies for more effectively visualizing 3D flow with volume LIC. In this article, we review in more detail techniques for selectively emphasizing critical regions of interest in a flow and for facilitating the accurate perception of the 3D depth and orientation of overlapping streamlines, and we demonstrate new methods for efficiently incorporating an indication of orientation into a flow representation and for conveying additional information about related scalar quantities such as temperature or vorticity over a flow via subtle, continuous line width and color variations.

Flow Charts: Visualization of Vector Fields on Arbitrary Surfaces

PubMed Central

Li, Guo-Shi; Tricoche, Xavier; Weiskopf, Daniel; Hansen, Charles

2009-01-01

We introduce a novel flow visualization method called Flow Charts, which uses a texture atlas approach for the visualization of flows defined over curved surfaces. In this scheme, the surface and its associated flow are segmented into overlapping patches, which are then parameterized and packed in the texture domain. This scheme allows accurate particle advection across multiple charts in the texture domain, providing a flexible framework that supports various flow visualization techniques. The use of surface parameterization enables flow visualization techniques requiring the global view of the surface over long time spans, such as Unsteady Flow LIC (UFLIC), particle-based Unsteady Flow Advection Convolution (UFAC), or dye advection. It also prevents visual artifacts normally associated with view-dependent methods. Represented as textures, Flow Charts can be naturally integrated into hardware accelerated flow visualization techniques for interactive performance. PMID:18599918

Raman Microscopy: A Noninvasive Method to Visualize the Localizations of Biomolecules in the Cornea.

PubMed

Kaji, Yuichi; Akiyama, Toshihiro; Segawa, Hiroki; Oshika, Tetsuro; Kano, Hideaki

2017-11-01

In vivo and in situ visualization of biomolecules without pretreatment will be important for diagnosis and treatment of ocular disorders in the future. Recently, multiphoton microscopy, based on the nonlinear interactions between molecules and photons, has been applied to reveal the localizations of various molecules in tissues. We aimed to use multimodal multiphoton microscopy to visualize the localizations of specific biomolecules in rat corneas. Multiphoton images of the corneas were obtained from nonlinear signals of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering, third-order sum frequency generation, and second-harmonic generation. The localizations of the adhesion complex-containing basement membrane and Bowman layer were clearly visible in the third-order sum frequency generation images. The fine structure of type I collagen was observed in the corneal stroma in the second-harmonic generation images. The localizations of lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) was obtained in the coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering images. Imaging technologies have progressed significantly and been applied in medical fields. Optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy are widely used but do not provide information on the molecular structure of the cornea. By contrast, multiphoton microscopy provides information on the molecular structure of living tissues. Using this technique, we successfully visualized the localizations of various biomolecules including lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids in the cornea. We speculate that multiphoton microscopy will provide essential information on the physiological and pathological conditions of the cornea, as well as molecular localizations in tissues without pretreatment.

Visual and efficient immunosensor technique for advancing biomedical applications of quantum dots on Salmonella detection and isolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Feng; Pang, Dai-Wen; Chen, Zhi; Shao, Jian-Bo; Xiong, Ling-Hong; Xiang, Yan-Ping; Xiong, Yan; Wu, Kai; Ai, Hong-Wu; Zhang, Hui; Zheng, Xiao-Li; Lv, Jing-Rui; Liu, Wei-Yong; Hu, Hong-Bing; Mei, Hong; Zhang, Zhen; Sun, Hong; Xiang, Yun; Sun, Zi-Yong

2016-02-01

It is a great challenge in nanotechnology for fluorescent nanobioprobes to be applied to visually detect and directly isolate pathogens in situ. A novel and visual immunosensor technique for efficient detection and isolation of Salmonella was established here by applying fluorescent nanobioprobes on a specially-designed cellulose-based swab (a solid-phase enrichment system). The selective and chromogenic medium used on this swab can achieve the ultrasensitive amplification of target bacteria and form chromogenic colonies in situ based on a simple biochemical reaction. More importantly, because this swab can serve as an attachment site for the targeted pathogens to immobilize and immunologically capture nanobioprobes, our mAb-conjugated QD bioprobes were successfully applied on the solid-phase enrichment system to capture the fluorescence of targeted colonies under a designed excitation light instrument based on blue light-emitting diodes combined with stereomicroscopy or laser scanning confocal microscopy. Compared with the traditional methods using 4-7 days to isolate Salmonella from the bacterial mixture, this method took only 2 days to do this, and the process of initial screening and preliminary diagnosis can be completed in only one and a half days. Furthermore, the limit of detection can reach as low as 101 cells per mL Salmonella on the background of 105 cells per mL non-Salmonella (Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis or Citrobacter freundii, respectively) in experimental samples, and even in human anal ones. The visual and efficient immunosensor technique may be proved to be a favorable alternative for screening and isolating Salmonella in a large number of samples related to public health surveillance.It is a great challenge in nanotechnology for fluorescent nanobioprobes to be applied to visually detect and directly isolate pathogens in situ. A novel and visual immunosensor technique for efficient detection and isolation of Salmonella was established here by applying fluorescent nanobioprobes on a specially-designed cellulose-based swab (a solid-phase enrichment system). The selective and chromogenic medium used on this swab can achieve the ultrasensitive amplification of target bacteria and form chromogenic colonies in situ based on a simple biochemical reaction. More importantly, because this swab can serve as an attachment site for the targeted pathogens to immobilize and immunologically capture nanobioprobes, our mAb-conjugated QD bioprobes were successfully applied on the solid-phase enrichment system to capture the fluorescence of targeted colonies under a designed excitation light instrument based on blue light-emitting diodes combined with stereomicroscopy or laser scanning confocal microscopy. Compared with the traditional methods using 4-7 days to isolate Salmonella from the bacterial mixture, this method took only 2 days to do this, and the process of initial screening and preliminary diagnosis can be completed in only one and a half days. Furthermore, the limit of detection can reach as low as 101 cells per mL Salmonella on the background of 105 cells per mL non-Salmonella (Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis or Citrobacter freundii, respectively) in experimental samples, and even in human anal ones. The visual and efficient immunosensor technique may be proved to be a favorable alternative for screening and isolating Salmonella in a large number of samples related to public health surveillance. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: One additional figure (Fig. S1), two additional tables (Tables S1 and S2) and additional information. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr07424j

An Interactive Visual Analytics Framework for Multi-Field Data in a Geo-Spatial Context

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Zhiyuan; Tong, Xiaonan; McDonnell, Kevin T.

2013-04-01

Climate research produces a wealth of multivariate data. These data often have a geospatial reference and so it is of interest to show them within their geospatial context. One can consider this configuration as a multi field visualization problem, where the geospace provides the expanse of the field. However, there is a limit on the amount of multivariate information that can be fit within a certain spatial location, and the use of linked multivari ate information displays has previously been devised to bridge this gap. In this paper we focus on the interactions in the geographical display, present an implementationmore » that uses Google Earth, and demonstrate it within a tightly linked parallel coordinates display. Several other visual representations, such as pie and bar charts are integrated into the Google Earth display and can be interactively manipulated. Further, we also demonstrate new brushing and visualization techniques for parallel coordinates, such as fixedwindow brushing and correlationenhanced display. We conceived our system with a team of climate researchers, who already made a few important discov eries using it. This demonstrates our system’s great potential to enable scientific discoveries, possibly also in oth er domains where data have a geospatial reference.« less

Comparison of three artificial intelligence techniques for discharge routing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khatibi, Rahman; Ghorbani, Mohammad Ali; Kashani, Mahsa Hasanpour; Kisi, Ozgur

2011-06-01

SummaryThe inter-comparison of three artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are presented using the results of river flow/stage timeseries, that are otherwise handled by traditional discharge routing techniques. These models comprise Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Adaptive Nero-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and Genetic Programming (GP), which are for discharge routing of Kizilirmak River, Turkey. The daily mean river discharge data with a period between 1999 and 2003 were used for training and testing the models. The comparison includes both visual and parametric approaches using such statistic as Coefficient of Correlation (CC), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Mean Square Relative Error (MSRE), as well as a basic scoring system. Overall, the results indicate that ANN and ANFIS have mixed fortunes in discharge routing, and both have different abilities in capturing and reproducing some of the observed information. However, the performance of GP displays a better edge over the other two modelling approaches in most of the respects. Attention is given to the information contents of recorded timeseries in terms of their peak values and timings, where one performance measure may capture some of the information contents but be ineffective in others. Thus, this makes a case for compiling knowledge base for various modelling techniques.

Visualization of 3D CT-based anatomical models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alaytsev, Innokentiy K.; Danilova, Tatyana V.; Manturov, Alexey O.; Mareev, Gleb O.; Mareev, Oleg V.

2018-04-01

Biomedical volumetric data visualization techniques for the exploration purposes are well developed. Most of the known methods are inappropriate for surgery simulation systems due to lack of realism. A segmented data visualization is a well-known approach for the visualization of the structured volumetric data. The research is focused on improvement of the segmented data visualization technique by the aliasing problems resolution and the use of material transparency modeling for better semitransparent structures rendering.

Advanced Visualization and Interactive Display Rapid Innovation and Discovery Evaluation Research (VISRIDER) Program Task 6: Point Cloud Visualization Techniques for Desktop and Web Platforms

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-04-01

ADVANCED VISUALIZATION AND INTERACTIVE DISPLAY RAPID INNOVATION AND DISCOVERY EVALUATION RESEARCH (VISRIDER) PROGRAM TASK 6: POINT CLOUD...To) OCT 2013 – SEP 2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE ADVANCED VISUALIZATION AND INTERACTIVE DISPLAY RAPID INNOVATION AND DISCOVERY EVALUATION RESEARCH...various point cloud visualization techniques for viewing large scale LiDAR datasets. Evaluate their potential use for thick client desktop platforms

Real-World Application of Robust Design Optimization Assisted by Response Surface Approximation and Visual Data-Mining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimoyama, Koji; Jeong, Shinkyu; Obayashi, Shigeru

A new approach for multi-objective robust design optimization was proposed and applied to a real-world design problem with a large number of objective functions. The present approach is assisted by response surface approximation and visual data-mining, and resulted in two major gains regarding computational time and data interpretation. The Kriging model for response surface approximation can markedly reduce the computational time for predictions of robustness. In addition, the use of self-organizing maps as a data-mining technique allows visualization of complicated design information between optimality and robustness in a comprehensible two-dimensional form. Therefore, the extraction and interpretation of trade-off relations between optimality and robustness of design, and also the location of sweet spots in the design space, can be performed in a comprehensive manner.

Translating novel findings of perceptual-motor codes into the neuro-rehabilitation of movement disorders.

PubMed

Pazzaglia, Mariella; Galli, Giulia

2015-01-01

The bidirectional flow of perceptual and motor information has recently proven useful as rehabilitative tool for re-building motor memories. We analyzed how the visual-motor approach has been successfully applied in neurorehabilitation, leading to surprisingly rapid and effective improvements in action execution. We proposed that the contribution of multiple sensory channels during treatment enables individuals to predict and optimize motor behavior, having a greater effect than visual input alone. We explored how the state-of-the-art neuroscience techniques show direct evidence that employment of visual-motor approach leads to increased motor cortex excitability and synaptic and cortical map plasticity. This super-additive response to multimodal stimulation may maximize neural plasticity, potentiating the effect of conventional treatment, and will be a valuable approach when it comes to advances in innovative methodologies.

Digital imaging information technology for biospeckle activity assessment relative to bacteria and parasites.

PubMed

Ramírez-Miquet, Evelio E; Cabrera, Humberto; Grassi, Hilda C; de J Andrades, Efrén; Otero, Isabel; Rodríguez, Dania; Darias, Juan G

2017-08-01

This paper reports on the biospeckle processing of biological activity using a visualization scheme based upon the digital imaging information technology. Activity relative to bacterial growth in agar plates and to parasites affected by a drug is monitored via the speckle patterns generated by a coherent source incident on the microorganisms. We present experimental results to demonstrate the potential application of this methodology for following the activity in time. The digital imaging information technology is an alternative visualization enabling the study of speckle dynamics, which is correlated to the activity of bacteria and parasites. In this method, the changes in Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color component density are considered as markers of the growth of bacteria and parasites motility in presence of a drug. The RGB data was used to generate a two-dimensional surface plot allowing an analysis of color distribution on the speckle images. The proposed visualization is compared to the outcomes of the generalized differences and the temporal difference. A quantification of the activity is performed using a parameterization of the temporal difference method. The adopted digital image processing technique has been found suitable to monitor motility and morphological changes in the bacterial population over time and to detect and distinguish a short term drug action on parasites.

MultiFacet: A Faceted Interface for Browsing Large Multimedia Collections

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Henry, Michael J.; Hampton, Shawn D.; Endert, Alexander

2013-10-31

Faceted browsing is a common technique for exploring collections where the data can be grouped into a number of pre-defined categories, most often generated from textual metadata. Historically, faceted browsing has been applied to a single data type such as text or image data. However, typical collections contain multiple data types, such as information from web pages that contain text, images, and video. Additionally, when browsing a collection of images and video, facets are often created based on the metadata which may be incomplete, inaccurate, or missing altogether instead of the actual visual content contained within those images and video.more » In this work we address these limitations by presenting MultiFacet, a faceted browsing interface that supports multiple data types. MultiFacet constructs facets for images and video in a collection from the visual content using computer vision techniques. These visual facets can then be browsed in conjunction with text facets within a single interface to reveal relationships and phenomena within multimedia collections. Additionally, we present a use case based on real-world data, demonstrating the utility of this approach towards browsing a large multimedia data collection.« less

People-oriented Information Visualization Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Zhiyong; Zhang, Bolun

2018-04-01

In the 21st century with rapid development, in the wake of the continuous progress of science and technology, human society enters the information era and the era of big data, and the lifestyle and aesthetic system also change accordingly, so the emerging field of information visualization is increasingly popular. Information visualization design is the process of visualizing all kinds of tedious information data, so as to quickly accept information and save time-cost. Along with the development of the process of information visualization, information design, also becomes hotter and hotter, and emotional design, people-oriented design is an indispensable part of in the design of information. This paper probes information visualization design through emotional analysis of information design based on the social context of people-oriented experience from the perspective of art design. Based on the three levels of emotional information design: instinct level, behavior level and reflective level research, to explore and discuss information visualization design.

Creative user-centered visualization design for energy analysts and modelers.

PubMed

Goodwin, Sarah; Dykes, Jason; Jones, Sara; Dillingham, Iain; Dove, Graham; Duffy, Alison; Kachkaev, Alexander; Slingsby, Aidan; Wood, Jo

2013-12-01

We enhance a user-centered design process with techniques that deliberately promote creativity to identify opportunities for the visualization of data generated by a major energy supplier. Visualization prototypes developed in this way prove effective in a situation whereby data sets are largely unknown and requirements open - enabling successful exploration of possibilities for visualization in Smart Home data analysis. The process gives rise to novel designs and design metaphors including data sculpting. It suggests: that the deliberate use of creativity techniques with data stakeholders is likely to contribute to successful, novel and effective solutions; that being explicit about creativity may contribute to designers developing creative solutions; that using creativity techniques early in the design process may result in a creative approach persisting throughout the process. The work constitutes the first systematic visualization design for a data rich source that will be increasingly important to energy suppliers and consumers as Smart Meter technology is widely deployed. It is novel in explicitly employing creativity techniques at the requirements stage of visualization design and development, paving the way for further use and study of creativity methods in visualization design.