Graphical Aids Research Articles

The Competition Box: A Graphical Aid to Forecasting Pollinator Performance

1. Three major determinants of bees' nectar-foraging patterns are the maximum depth at which nectar is accessible (dependent on bee tongue length) ; the minimum profitable energy content per flower (dependent on foraging costs and hence on bee body mass) ; and the minimum threshold temperature for flight. These form the axes of a three-dimensional template, the competition box. 2. Thresholds of depth, cost and temperature can be identified for each species of bee, delimiting domains within the box compatible with foraging by each bee species. 3. Changes through a day in temperature and in the depth and sugar content of nectar define the nectar trajectory through the box for a flower species in relation to microclimate and bee activity. 4. This approach allows systematic appraisal of the roles of accessibility, energy content and temperature in interspecific competition among bees for nectar, and draws attention to situations in which additional factors may be important. 5. By superimposing a bee-species-specific template on a representative nectar trajectory for a given flower species in a given situation, it is possible to make reasoned guesses about the expected interactions of foraging bee species with a novel flower species and with each other in a novel situation. Such guesses are required for evaluating the expected impact of honey-bees and other introduced pollinators on the pollination system of crops and natural vegetation. 6. Use of the competition box is illustrated in relation to dawn-to-dusk studies involving measurements of nectar concentration and volume, microclimate, flower form, and the tongue lengths and foraging activity of bees of different species.

On the problem of visualizing point distributions in high dimensional spaces

Exploring dynamical systems with the aid of computer graphics requires that the relevant structures can be seen and be noticed. This poses special problems if the system is multidimensional, and it has to be decided which kind of projection serves the purpose. I propose using the mathematical frame of categories and functors to describe the process of visualization. This allows detecting and analyzing possible sources of misinterpretation in a formal way. The distribution of distances of embedded electroencephalographic data from a fixed reference point is used as an example for discussing some aspects of the visualization process. The multidimensional p-norms are an example of a property with a semigroup structure that can be visualized easily.

High-Resolution FTIR Spectrum of Vinyl Fluoride: Rovibrational Analysis of the Torsion Mode at 712 cm−1

The high-resolution infrared spectra of vinyl fluoride have been recorded using a Fourier transform spectrometer with a resolution of 0.0016 cm−1. The rovibrational structure of the ν12 fundamental (torsion mode) at 712.3 cm−1, which gives rise to a c-type band, was analyzed in detail employing modern methods of computations and graphical aids. A comprehensive set of molecular constants for the first excited vibrational energy level of this band was obtained from the overall rovibrational assignment of almost 2500 transitions covering J and Ka values up to 40 and 16, respectively, in the region 640-770 cm−1. The rotational and centrifugal distortion parameters obtained compare reasonably well with those of the ground state, thus confirming that the ν12 fundamental is essentially unperturbed.

A learning aid for power electronics with knowledge based components

In this paper we have presented a self-study expert system based power electronics instruction aid for selection and analysis of suitable power electronic converter configurations. Converter input output specifications, analysis, and converter design methodologies are interactively pursued with extensive graphical aid to guide the user (student, engineers, etc.) in the study process. Furthermore, transient, steady-state, and harmonic analysis are possible with an integrated simulator within the instruction module. A fault diagnosis expert system based module for converter-fed motor-drives, which can be chained with the expert learning aid, has also been developed. This is in the process of development to diagnose faults on all converters available in the package.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Modeling cation/anion-water interactions in functional aluminosilicate structures

A need for the computer simulation of hydration/dehydration processes in functional aluminosilicate structures has been noted. Full and realistic simulations of these systems can be somewhat ambitious and require the aid of interactive computer graphics to identify key structural/chemical units, both in the devising of suitable water-ion simulation potentials and in the analysis of hydrogen-bonding schemes in the subsequent simulation studies. In this article, the former is demonstrated by the assembling of a range of essential water-ion potentials. These span the range of formal charges from +4 e to −2 e, and are evaluated in the context of three types of structure: a porous zeolite, calcium silicate cement, and layered clay. As an example of the latter, the computer graphics output from Monte Carlo computer simulation studies of hydration/dehydration in calcium-zeolite A is presented.

113 ビデオ「円柱まわりの流れ」の制作

This video film is produced for the purpose of lecturing on 'The flow around a body' in fluid dynamics. The film consists of three ports as follows. The first is an animation filem of two dimentional potential flow patterns around a circular with the aid of computer graphics. The second is the water flow patterns around a circular cylinder visualized using the hydrogen bubble method at Reynold's number 314. The third is the air flow patterns around a circular cylinder visualized using the mist streamline method at Reynold's number 3×104.This paper describers how to produce the video filems mentioned above.

An upper-bound approach to static stress analysis of pipelines

In the stress analysis of pipelines, it is common practice to ignore the effect of shearing and axial forces on the design section and consider only the bending moment, the torque, and sometimes the internal pressure. But in a pipeline network, which is a complex system, the shearing and/or axial forces may be great enough to considerably contribute to the design stress. Consideration of all the above loads in the stress analysis of pipelines requires the application of finite element methods. This paper describes a simple approach to the problem which covers the effect of all the above loads and provides the designer with an upper-bound design stress. Alternatively, it may be used to quickly locate the design section and then apply finite element methods to this section only, to determine a more exact design stress. The upper-bound design stress may be considered as a lower-bound to the yield stress of the pipeline material. The approach requires no illustration of loads on the design section, therefore it can be easily incorporated into a computer program without any graphical aid and interaction of the designer.

A plain man's guide to the FFT

Provides a visual interpretation of the Cooley-Tukey family of FFT algorithms (Cooley and Tukey, 1965) in terms of the shifting properties of the Fourier-transform which equate shifts in one domain to proportional rotations in the alternative domain. This approach was proposed in an appendix to Chapter 6 of Kraniauskas (1992). The arguments presented in the article were developed with the aid of 3-dimensional graphics.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Graphic aids in electronic texts

Abstract The authors analyze the use of graphic aids in electronic texts by using four conceptual differences that distinguish printed and electronic texts. The four differences relate to the control of textual presentations, the interaction between readers and texts, the structure of texts, and the variety of symbolic elements that may be integrated with written prose. The authors propose that these four conceptual differences can act as a theoretical framework useful to researchers and instructional designers interested in the use of graphic aids in electronic texts. The authors contend that such a theoretical framework is needed because the current literature related to electronic texts has tended to focus on visual as opposed to more critical conceptual factors. They argue that the key to understanding the effects of graphic aids in electronic texts is found in considering the functional relations between graphical information, written prose, and reading strategies. Examples are provided to illustrate...

The Effectiveness of Decision Support Systems: The Implications of Task Complexity and Dss Sophistication

All Decision Support Systems (DSS) are, by their nature, designed to improve decision making effectiveness, yet a review of the experimental literature reveals that achievement of this objective is mixed. We propose that this is because DSS effectiveness is contingent upon a number of factors related to the task and DSS under investigation. This paper reports a longitudinal experiment designed to evaluate the relationship between DSS effectiveness and two such factors: DSS sophistication and task complexity. In comparison to unaided human judgement, two levels of DSS were evaluated: a deterministic spreadsheet model and a probabilistic model with a graphical risk analysis aid. Our subjects made decisions in a business simulation providing two successive phases of increasing task complexity. Initially, when task complexity was low, we found that neither DSS affected subjects’ performance. In the more complex phase, both types of DSS users performed significantly better than unaided subjects. However, risk analysis users performed no better than model-only users. Interestingly, DSS users performed less homogeneously than unaided subjects in the complex phase. DSS users had greater confidence and considered more alternatives than their unaided counterparts. Risk analysis users took longer making decisions in the early stages, while model-only users became the most efficient in the later stages.

Design considerations for highway sight-hidden dips

Vertical alignment in which a short section of roadway is hidden from the driver's view should be avoided in design because hidden-dip profiles contribute to passing maneuver accidents. These profiles can be examined only graphically because no analytical method is available. In this paper, an analytical method for evaluating hidden-dip profiles is developed. The locations on the traveled path where the sight-hidden dip starts and ends are related to the roadway and vehicle parameters. The roadway parameters are the algebraic difference in grades and lengths of the crest and sag arcs, the common tangent length, and the second tangent length. The vehicle parameters are the driver's eye height and the height of the roof of the opposing vehicle. Exact relationships and graphical aids for finding the locations of the start and end of the sight-hidden dip for existing profiles and the combinations of parameters that avoid these dips in design are developed. The adequacy of the minimum rates of vertical curvature of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is examined. In practice, the locations of the start and end of sight-hidden dips can be delineated on the highway using appropriate signing to achieve safer operations.

MacELLIPSE, A Graphical Aid to the Problem of the Joint Confidence Region: a Practical Example for Ligand Binding Experiments

The analysis of receptor binding experiments involving saturation or displacement curves may represent a problem when data are obtained from a number of experimental groups characterized by different tissues or different treatments. The conceptual difficulty of comparing such binding parameters and the complexity in graphically representing many curves is often overcome using tables and statistical tests for uncorrelated parameters. These, however, might be misleading. In fact, computing parameters using a nonlinear least squares (NLLS) technique may yield a significant covariance or correlation in the parameter estimates. In the present paper we suggest a practical method for comparing curves from different experimental groups using the LIGAND program and present the program MacELLIPSE that permits the graphical representation of the binding results together with the correlation existing between the estimated parameters.

Unravelling the spirals: a serial thin‐section study and three‐dimensional computer‐aided reconstruction of spiral‐shaped inclusion trails in garnet porphyroblasts

Abstract Seventy‐seven spatially orientated, serial thin sections cut from a single rock reveal changes in the geometry of spiral‐shaped inclusion trails (SSITs) in garnet porphyroblasts. The observed SSITs are doubly curved, non‐cylindrical surfaces, with total inclusion‐trail curvature decreasing systematically from the cores to the rims of porphyroblasts. The three‐dimensional geometry of the SSITs, reconstructed with the aid of computer graphics, shows that the orientations of spiral axes defined by the SSITs are not related in any expected nor predictable way to the main foliation in the matrix. This suggests continued deformation after or during the latest stages of porphyroblast growth, which has important implications for the use of SSITs as shear‐sense indicators. Whether the formation of SSITs involves significant porphyroblast rotation with respect to a geographically fixed reference frame cannot be determined from the available data.

Structure design: An artificial intelligence-based method for the design of molecules under geometrical constraints

This study presents an algorithm that implements artificial-intelligence 1 1 In the scope of the following study, the term artificial intelligence is used to describe the parameterization and subsequent computation of the decision-making processes involved in drug design. techniques for automated, and site-directed drug design. The aim of the method is to link two or more predetermined functional groups into a sensible molecular structure. The proposed designing process mimics the classical manual design method, in which the drug designer sits in front of the computer screen and with the aid of computer graphics attempts to design the new drug. Therefore, the key principle of the algorithm is the parameterization of some criteria that affect the decision-making process carried out by the drug designer. This parameterization is based on the generation of weighting factors that reflect the knowledge and knowledge-based intuition of the drug designer, and thus add further rationalization to the drug design process. The proposed algorithm has been shown to yield a large variety of different structures, of which the drug designer may choose the most sensible. Performance tests indicate that with the proper set of parameters, the method generates a new structure within a short time.

Some graphical aids for univariate exploratory data analysis

The main parts of exploratory data analysis (EDA) are discussed. For data presentation the quantile plot and quantile-box plot are proposed. Special techniques for empirical probability density construction and empirical quantile-quantile plot creation are described. Some graphically oriented methods for selection of optimum power transformations are presented. These graphical aids in EDA are demonstrated on Hinkley's well known data.

Space-based tactical ballistic missile launch parameter estimation

The author explores the influence of a priori uncertainties in launch time and trajectory fly-out profiles, along with sensor angle measurement errors, on the estimation of missile launch location and heading angle. An error model is developed to compute the statistics of the estimation errors using a single pair of angle measurements, one from each of two satellites, or both from the same satellite platform. The measurements and estimation methods are described, followed by a derivation of the estimation errors for the hypothetical case of perfect knowledge of trajectory and launch time. Using the ideal case as a framework, the errors are generalized to include trajectory and launch time uncertainties. The results are discussed with the aid of graphics which were run parametrically to highlight important dependencies and sensitivities.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Considerateness of Fifth-Grade Social Studies Texts

Abstract This article describes an investigation which examined the “considerateness” of five recently published fifth-grade social studies textbooks using the following selected elements of considerateness: (1) “readability” level; (2) placement of relevant pictures/illustrations; (3) use of subtitles; and (4) use of words and phrases to connect ideas within and between sentences. The results revealed that the publishers of the analyzed social texts made extensive use of relevant pictures/illustrations and subtitles; however, they rarely used words which connected ideas between and within sentences, and readability level determinations were considered appropriate for these fifth-grade texts in only 8 of 25 analyses. We determined that these textbooks were considerate of the reader when dealing with factors other than those related to connected discourse. Subtitles and graphic aids were numerous, compensating for inconsiderate text. The discussion concludes with an examination of the implications for writ...

Modeling Theory and Composing Process Models

In 1914, near the beginning of World War I, philosopher Pierre Duhem expressed a profound disdain for scientists who used models as conceptual aids. In Duhem's view, models were a kind of mental crutch, needed only by those poor souls who were burdened with an English mind-a mind that was careless, unexacting, and unable to manage complex systems of abstract representation. The French mind, on the other hand, which was characterized by straitness, clarity, and method, did not require the clumsy simplifications provided by models in order to apprehend reality (68-73). Intricate formulae were its daily fare, if not its raison d'ttre. This ability of the mind to handle complex representational systems without the assistance of mechanical or graphic aids was, to Duhem's way of thinking, not only a requisite for true thought but also another clear testament to the superiority of the race over that of the English. Duhem's argument, developed in The Aim and Structure ofPhysical Theory, is interesting for a variety of reasons, not merely because it manages to combine philosophy with a rather quaint form of Frankish nationalism. It is also noteworthy for the contrast it provides to current critiques of writing process models and their underlying epistemologies. To Duhem, meaningful understanding was intimately linked to rigor, mathematical exactitude, and representational precision; since models were simplifications, their descriptions were unreliable and their utility questionable at best. In an age when positivism had not yet been supplanted as the dominant ideology guiding inquiry, Duhem criticized models for their failure to be positivistic enough. To a number of present-day composition scholars such as Patricia Bizzell, Marilyn Cooper and Michael Holzman (Talking, Reply), and William Irmscher, this view of models-in light of poststructuralist epistemology and reflexive methodological criticism-seems naive, a relic of a past age when scientific subjectivism masked itself as objectivity. In their critiques of cognitive writing process models, notably those models offered by John Hayes and Linda Flower (Identifying, Writing), Robert de Beaugrande, and Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter, these scholars suggest that the epistemological

Flexural stiffness-based optimum design of hybrid laminated composites

A new design method of designing hybrid laminated composite plates with required flexural stiffness is proposed. The objective function is the cost of the plates and the constraints are imposed on their thicknesses and their flexural stiffnesses. New parameters which are functions of the stacking sequence of the plate and control the flexural stiffness are proposed and they are called hybrid lamination parameters. The optimum design is performed by investigating the feasible design region on the hybrid lamination parameter plane. This is easily done with the aid of computer graphics. The illustrative example is given for graphite and glass hybrid composites.

Seasonal-hour sundials on vertical and horizontal planes, with an explanation of the scratch dial

Summary The true form of the seasonal-hour sundial, in both vertical and horizontal planes, has been calculated by spherical trigonometry and displayed with the aid of computer graphics. These grids are presented, and show that the hour lines are in fact shallow curves at sites not on the equator. The curvature becomes very apparent at latitudes exceeding 50°. The true seasonal-hour pattern for a vertical dial at a latitude of 52·6°N is compared with the equiangular scratch dial.