Computer Visualization Research Articles

Transformed Shell Structures Determined by Regular Networks as a Complex Material for Roofing.

The article presents a comprehensive extension of the proprietary basic method for shaping innovative systems of corrugated shell roof structures by means of a specific complex material that comprises regular transformable shell units limited by spatial quadrangles. The units are made up of nominally plane folded sheets transformed into shell shapes. The similar shell units are regularly and effectively arranged in the three-dimensional space in an orderly manner with a universal regular reference surface, polyhedral network, and polygonal network. The extended method leads to the increase in the variety of the designed complex shell roof forms and plane-walled elevation forms of buildings. For this purpose, the rules governing the creation of the continuous roof shell structures of many shells arranged in different unconventional visually attractive patterns and their discontinuous regular modifications are sought. To obtain several novel groups of similar unconventional parametric roof forms, single division coefficients and double division coefficients are used. The easy and intuitive modifications of the positions of the vertices belonging to the polygonal network on the side edges of the polyhedral network accomplished by means of a parametric algorithm allow one to adjust the geometry of the complete shell units to the geometric and material constraints related to the orthotropic properties of the transformed sheeting by means of these coefficients. The innovative approach to the shaping of the diverse unconventional roof structures requires the solving of many interdisciplinary problems in the field of mathematics, civil engineering, construction, morphology, architecture, mechanics, computer visualization, and programming.

Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection Analysis of Soccer Players.

In professional soccer, the choices made in forming a team lineup are crucial for achieving good results. Players are characterized by different skills and their relevance depends on the position that they occupy on the pitch. Experts can recognize similarities between players and their styles, but the procedures adopted are often subjective and prone to misclassification. The automatic recognition of players’ styles based on their diversity of skills can help coaches and technical directors to prepare a team for a competition, to substitute injured players during a season, or to hire players to fill gaps created by teammates that leave. The paper adopts dimensionality reduction, clustering and computer visualization tools to compare soccer players based on a set of attributes. The players are characterized by numerical vectors embedding their particular skills and these objects are then compared by means of suitable distances. The intermediate data is processed to generate meaningful representations of the original dataset according to the (dis)similarities between the objects. The results show that the adoption of dimensionality reduction, clustering and visualization tools for processing complex datasets is a key modeling option with current computational resources.

Multidimensional scaling and visualization of patterns in distribution of nontrivial zeros of the zeta-function

In this paper, we analyze the nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta-function using the multidimensional scaling (MDS) algorithm and computational visualization features. The nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta-function as well as the vectors with several neighboring zeros are interpreted as the basic elements (points or objects) of a data set. Then we employ a variety of different metrics, such as the Jeffreys and Lorentzian ones, to calculate the distances between the objects. The set of the calculated distances is then processed by the MDS algorithm that produces the loci, organized according to the objects features. Then they are analyzed from the perspective of the emerging patterns. Surprisingly, in the case of the Lorentzian metric, this procedure leads to the very clear periodical structures both in the case of the objects in form of the single nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta-function and in the case of the vectors with a given number of neighboring zeros. The other tested metrics do not produce such periodical structures, but rather chaotic ones. In this paper, we restrict ourselves to numerical experiments and the visualization of the produced results. An analytical explanation of the obtained periodical structures is an open problem worth for investigation by the experts in the analytical number theory.

Netgsa: Fast computation and interactive visualization for topology-based pathway enrichment analysis.

Existing software tools for topology-based pathway enrichment analysis are either computationally inefficient, have undesirable statistical power, or require expert knowledge to leverage the methods’ capabilities. To address these limitations, we have overhauled NetGSA, an existing topology-based method, to provide a computationally-efficient user-friendly tool that offers interactive visualization. Pathway enrichment analysis for thousands of genes can be performed in minutes on a personal computer without sacrificing statistical power. The new software also removes the need for expert knowledge by directly curating gene-gene interaction information from multiple external databases. Lastly, by utilizing the capabilities of Cytoscape, the new software also offers interactive and intuitive network visualization.

Natural environment statistics in the upper and lower visual field are reflected in mouse retinal specializations

Pressures for survival make sensory circuits adapted to a species' natural habitat and its behavioral challenges. Thus, to advance our understanding of the visual system, it is essential to consider an animal's specific visual environment by capturing natural scenes, characterizing their statistical regularities, and using them to probe visual computations. Mice, a prominent visual system model, have salient visual specializations, being dichromatic with enhanced sensitivity to green and UV in the dorsal and ventral retina, respectively. However, the characteristics of their visual environment that likely have driven these adaptations are rarely considered. Here, we built a UV-green-sensitive camera to record footage from mouse habitats. This footage is publicly available as a resource for mouse vision research. We found chromatic contrast to greatly diverge in the upper, but not the lower, visual field. Moreover, training a convolutional autoencoder on upper, but not lower, visual field scenes was sufficient for the emergence of color-opponent filters, suggesting that this environmental difference might have driven superior chromatic opponency in the ventral mouse retina, supporting color discrimination in the upper visual field. Furthermore, the upper visual field was biased toward dark UV contrasts, paralleled by more light-offset-sensitive ganglion cells in the ventral retina. Finally, footage recorded at twilight suggests that UV promotes aerial predator detection. Our findings support that natural scene statistics shaped early visual processing in evolution.

A Multi-Scale Virtual Terrain for Hierarchically Structured Non-Location Data

Metaphor are commonly used rhetorical devices in linguistics. Among the various types, spatial metaphors are relatively common because of their intuitive and sensible nature. There are also many studies that use spatial metaphors to express non-location data in the field of visualization. For instance, some virtual terrains can be built based on computer technologies and visualization methods. In virtual terrains, the original abstract data can obtain specific positions, shapes, colors, etc. and people’s visual and image thinking can play a role. In addition, the theories and methods used in the space field could be applied to help people observe and analyze abstract data. However, current research has limited the use of these space theories and methods. For instance, many existing map theories and methods are not well combined. In addition, it is difficult to fully display data in virtual terrains, such as showing the structure and relationship at the same time. Facing the above problems, this study takes hierarchical data as the research object and expresses both the data structure and relationship from a spatial perspective. First, the conversion from high-dimensional non-location data to two-dimensional discrete points is achieved by a dimensionality reduction algorithm to reflect the data relationship. Based on this, kernel density estimation interpolation and fractal noise algorithms are used to construct terrain features in the virtual terrains. Under the control of the kernel density search radius and noise proportion, a multi-scale terrain model is built with the help of level of detail (LOD) technology to express the hierarchical structure and support the multi-scale analysis of data. Finally, experiments with actual data are carried out to verify the proposed method.

Assessing the Effect of Laboratory Activities on Core Curricular Units of an Engineering Master’s Program: A Multivariate Analysis

This paper studies the effect of laboratory activities on the results obtained by the students on 7 core curricular units (CUs) of an Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering. Each CU is characterized by means of 4 performance indices, over the 6-year period 2014/2015–2019/2020. Firstly, individual indices in a per semester basis are compared. Secondly, the CUs are regarded as objects defined in a 4-dimensional space of features, and the multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique is adopted for clustering and computer visualization. The MDS is powerful for analyzing the multivariate dataset, unveiling patterns not perceived by standard statistical methods.

СУТНІСТЬ ТА СТРУКТУРА ВІЗУАЛЬНО-ІНФОРМАЦІЙНОЇ КУЛЬТУРИ МАЙБУТНІХ УЧИТЕЛІВ МАТЕМАТИКИ ТА ІНФОРМАТИКИ

The development of information technologies, the widespread use of Internet content have led to a situation where the skills of working with visual materials are becoming more popular and make a necessary component of education in the XXI century. The would-be teacher, operating with visual images, must form the younger generation’s skills to evaluate critically, interpret and summarize information, i.e. must have a high level of visual and information culture. This problem is in focus for the preparation of wouldbe mathematics and computer science teachers, because their activities are designed to form students’ information picture of the world, scientifically competently and quickly to convey basic ideas and form fundamental ideas about the world and its laws under conditions of the intensification of the educational process. The nature of the phenomenon of “visual and information culture” is dualistic. It is a synthesis of two phenomena – visual culture and information culture. Analysis of the essence of the concepts “visual culture” and “information culture” allowed revealing the essence of the phenomenon “visual and information culture of would-be mathematics and computer science teachers”. The visual and information culture of would-be mathematics and computer science teachers is the integrative quality of personality, which combines values, aspirations for development in the field of visualization and informatization of education; computer and mathematical, psychological and pedagogical, technological knowledge; ability to perceive, analyze, compare, interpret, produce with the use of information technology, structure, integrate, evaluate visually presented educational material; ability to analyze, predict and reflect on their own professional activities in the visualization of educational material using computer visualization means, which provides professional self-development and self-improvement. So, it should include various components, among which we distinguish the following: professional-motivational, cognitive, operational-activity, and reflexive. The content of each of these components and the mechanism of their formation is developed both individually and in teams. The cognitive component is characterized by developed visual thinking, which we see in the ability to transform various problem situations in the structure of new knowledge, in the creation of cognitive structures in which information is presented by creating models, schemes and more. The operational component is also characterized by a communicative aspect: the ability to transmit educational information by visual means, on the one hand, and the ability to perceive and understand educational information presented visually, on the other. The components are characterized in full and quite widely, which makes it difficult to determine the levels of their formation. This determines the prospects for further exploration, which is to find criteria for determining the levels of formation of visual and information culture of pre-service mathematics and computer science teachers.

ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ГРАФИЧЕСКИХ РЕДАКТОРОВ AUTOCAD AUTODESK И AUTODESK INVENTOR В КАЧЕСТВЕ ИНСТРУМЕНТОВ ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИЯ В ТРЕХМЕРНОЙ СИСТЕМЕ АВТОМАТИЗИРОВАННОГО ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИЯ

Initially, the computers and software were supposed to complement the engineer’s traditional techniques, replacing the drawing board and calculator. Today, the computers with spe-cialized software almost completely replace the traditional methods. There is given an overview of the graphic editors AutoCAD Autodesk and Autodesk Inventor, possibilities of performing designs in three-dimensional space using parametric modeling. The advantages and disadvantages of each program are analyzed. An example of using AutoCAD Autodesk and Autodesk Inventor for computer visualization of a 3D object is given. To evaluate the work in both programs, 13 users were involved, who noted the ease of mastering AutoCAD Autodesk, which is important for the young engineers, as well as for the students.

Advanced multichannel submersible probe for autonomous high-resolution in situ monitoring of the cycling of the potentially bioavailable fraction of a range of trace metals

We report here on the development and application of a submersible, compact, low power consumption, integrated multichannel trace metal sensing probe (TracMetal). This probe is unique in that it allows high-resolution, simultaneous in-situ measurements of the potentially bioavailable (so-called dynamic) fraction of Hg(II), As(III), Cd(II), Pb(II), Cu(II), Zn(II). The TracMetal incorporates nanostructured Au-plated and Hg-plated gel-integrated microelectrode arrays. In addition to be selective to the fraction of metal potentially bioavailable, they offer protection against fouling and ill-controlled convective interferences. Sensitivities in the low pM for Hg(II) and sub-nM for the other target trace metals is achieved with precision ≤ 12%. The TracMetal is capable of autonomous operation during deployment, with routines for repetitive measurements (1-2 h−1), data storage and management, data computer visualization, and wireless data transfer. The system was successfully applied in the Arcachon Bay, to study the temporal variation of the dynamic fraction of the trace metals targeted. The in situ autonomous TracMetal measurements were combined with in situ measurements of the master bio-physicochemical parameters and sample collection for complementary measurements of the dissolved metal concentrations, organic matter concentrations and proxy for biological activities. The integration of all data revealed that various biotic and abiotic processes control the temporal variation of the dynamic fractions of the target metals (Medyn). The difference in the percentage of the dynamic forms of the metals studied and the short-term processes influencing their variation highlight the TracMetal potentiality as metal bioavailability-assessment sentinel to achieve comprehensive environmental monitoring of dynamic aquatic systems.

Rapid methods for the evaluation of fluorescent reporters in tissue clearing and the segmentation of large vascular structures

SummaryLight sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) of large tissue samples does not require mechanical sectioning and allows efficient visualization of spatially complex or rare structures. Therefore, LSFM has become invaluable in developmental and biomedical research. Because sample size may limit whole-mount staining, LSFM benefits from transgenic reporter organisms expressing fluorescent proteins (FPs) and, however, requires optical clearing and computational data visualization and analysis. The former often interferes with FPs, while the latter requires massive computing resources. Here, we describe 3D-polymerized cell dispersions, a rapid and straightforward method, based on recombinant FP expression in freely selectable tester cells, to evaluate and compare fluorescence retention in different tissue-clearing protocols. For the analysis of large LSFM data, which usually requires huge computing resources, we introduce a refined, interactive, hierarchical random walker approach that is capable of efficient segmentation of the vasculature in data sets even on a consumer grade PC.

COMPUTER TOOLS FOR SOLVING MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS: A REVIEW

The rapid development of digital computer hardware and software has had a dramatic influence on mathematics, and contrary. The advanced hardware and modern sophistical software such as computer visualization, symbolic computation, computerassisted proofs, multi-precision arithmetic and powerful libraries, have provided resolving many open problems, a huge very difficult mathematical problems, and discovering new patterns and relationships, far beyond a human capability. In the first part of the paper we give a short review of some typical mathematical problems solved by computer tools. In the second part we present some new original contributions, such as intriguing consequence of the presence of roundoff errors, distribution of zeros of random polynomials, dynamic study of zero-finding methods, a new three-point family of methods for solving nonlinear equations and two algorithms for the inclusion of a simple complex zero of a polynomial.

Feedback Analysis of Geotechnical Structure Simulation Based on 3D Modeling and Visualization

In geotechnical engineering, the analysis and calculation of numerical data of geotechnical engineering has great reference value and has been widely used in various fields. In the development of computer technology, 3D modeling and visualization technology plays an important role in geotechnical engineering, in which numerical data is the basis and important data of geotechnical engineering, which plays an important role in the future development of geotechnical engineering. In this paper, the numerical data simulation of geotechnical engineering structure is studied and analyzed.

An investigation of NMR‐Derived Structures for the SARS Coronavirus E Channel Protein

During the current Covid‐19 pandemic, college laboratories are shut down and undergraduate students who need research experience are having a hard time gaining those skills. Against this backdrop we developed a pilot project that would introduce students to internationally available online biochemical databases, open‐source modeling software and animation tools. The students received individual hands‐on training to generate data allowing them to engage in discovery and contextualize learning as they would in a face‐to face laboratory setting. We describe an investigation of NMR‐based structures of a SARS coronavirus E channel protein, structures found in the 5X29 pdb file deposited by Surya, Li, &, Torres, and described in (2018) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1860: 1309‐1317. These small proteins form ion channels that are of interest because live attenuated vaccines target these channels promising prevention and treatment for coronavirus infections. The SARS coronavirus E channel protein, a right‐handed alpha‐helical bundle, is composed of 5 chains, A through E. Each chain has 16 NMR structures in the database. Incorporating computational and molecular visualization tools students generate data to observe, measure, and communicate the dihedral angle backbone movement of the whole pentamer, the separate chains, and individual amino acid residues on a bond‐by‐bond basis. All the open access software and programs used worked within a Windows/Mac environment except one program that used Linux command lines to create models from the PDB file. Afterwards these models were animated to demonstrate and analyze dihedral angle movement within structures. The students used this work to fulfill the laboratory component of their undergraduate independent study program at in the Biological Sciences and Chemistry Departments of Lehman College, a 4‐year college within the CUNY system.

Subcortical regions of the human visual system do not process faces holistically

Face perception is considered to be evolutionarily adaptive and conserved across species. While subcortical visual brain areas are implicated in face perception based on existing evidence from phylogenetic and ontogenetic studies, whether these subcortical structures contribute to more complex visual computations such as the holistic processing (HP) of faces in humans is unknown. To address this issue, we used a well-established marker of HP, the composite face effect (CFE), with a group of adult human observers, and presented two sequential faces in a trial monocularly or interocularly using a Wheatstone stereoscope. HP refers to the finding that two identical top (or bottom) halves of a face are judged to be different when their task-irrelevant bottom (or top) halves belong to different faces. Because humans process faces holistically, they are unable to ignore the information from the irrelevant half of the composite face, and this is true to an even greater extent when the two halves of the faces are aligned compared with when they are misaligned (‘Alignment effect’). The results revealed the HP effect and also uncovered the Alignment effect, a key marker of the CFE. The findings also indicated a monocular advantage, replicating the known subcortical contribution to face perception. There was, however, no statistically significant difference in the CFE when the images were presented in the monocular versus interocular conditions. These findings indicate that HP is not necessarily mediated by the subcortical visual pathway, and suggest that further investigation of cortical, rather than subcortical, structures might advance our understanding of HP and its role in face processing.

METHODS OF INTERPRETATION OF DATA FROM ISOKINETIC TESTS AND MRI STUDIES DURING REHABILITATION OF PATIENTS AFTER RECONSTRUCTIVE SHOULDER JOINT SURGERY

Abstract. The research results in the field of computer visualization of the shoulder joint biomechanics are presented. The possibilities of using biomechanical robotic mechanotherapy on the CON-TREX complex in the rehabilitation treatment of patients after arthroscopic shoulder surgery are shown. The possibilities of additional visualization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data using spectral decomposition methods (Shearlet transform and contrasting with color coding) are studied. Experiments with the use of the proposed diagnostic technique are described. The relationship between the MRI data and CON-TREX protocols in planning and implementation of the rehabilitation procedures is demonstrated. The technique which allows to improve the quality and availability of the MRI data in the study of the shoulder joint biomechanics during restorative treatment is described.

Metrology and Computer Visualization Analysis of Taijiquan’s International Communication Research in the Big Data Era

As a traditional Chinese Wushu integrating various functions such as temperament maintenance, physical fitness, and skill of fighting, Taijiquan takes Taiji thought, the dialectical concept of Yin and Yang in traditional Chinese Confucianism and Taoism as its core ideas. Also, its formation combines the theory of Yin and Yang, five elements of thought in Yi Jing, the theory of TCM meridians and collaterals, as well as the ancient physical and breathing exercises. The international communication of Taijiquan has built a bridge of Chinese excellent Wushu culture and the world. Taijiquan is one of the outstanding representatives of Chinese Wushu culture, and the research of its international communication has a vital significance for understanding the status quo and problems of the traditional culture of our country, and promoting correct understanding of westerns in it. In this paper, the method of computer visualization is adopted to carry out statistical analysis of related journal articles collected in CNKI database in China in the past two decades, which aims at finding the hot topics, research status and research methods of Taijiquan’s international communication, and providing references for future research.

Teaching underwater acoustics and sonar during the COVID pandemic

USNA’s Underwater Acoustics and Sonar (SP411) course, taught in a studio classroom, can seat 36 students with 5 experimental/computer workstations on each side of the classroom. This non-laboratory course relies on hands-on demos and in-class mini-laboratory experiences bringing theoretical concepts and experimental aspects of sound propagation and detection theory to life. Experiments include: (a) sound speed versus temperature in water, (b) beam pattern functions versus angle for multi-element arrays, (c) Fourier analysis of periodic waveforms including rectangular pulses, and (d) square law detection of signals plus noise—generating receiving operating characteristic ROC curves. Computer visualizations using Mathematica included phasor addition of signals, N-element array superposition for directivity analysis and a user friendly ray tracing program implementing any sound speed versus depth profile. On 20 March, 2020, the USNA entered the pandemic era by requiring remote learning for all 4100 midshipman, commencing shortly after spring break. Remote learning in SP411 was asynchronous, devoid of lectures, including handouts and videos of wave effects and worked examples. Mathematica visualizations replaced experiments and extra instruction (in different time zones) was always available. Co-author LEB’s photoacoustic imaging experiments, done remotely, used homemade electronics (pulsed LED driver and low-noise amplifiers)—keeping future midshipmen research going.

Motor Imagery Training of Reaching-to-Grasp Movement Supplemented by a Virtual Environment in an Individual With Congenital Bilateral Transverse Upper-Limb Deficiency.

This study explored the effect of kinesthetic motor imagery training on reaching-to-grasp movement supplemented by a virtual environment in a patient with congenital bilateral transverse upper-limb deficiency. Based on a theoretical assumption, it is possible to conduct such training in this patient. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether cortical activity related to motor imagery of reaching and motor imagery of grasping of the right upper limb was changed by computer-aided imagery training (CAIT) in a patient who was born without upper limbs compared to a healthy control subject, as characterized by multi-channel electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded before and 4, 8, and 12 weeks after CAIT. The main task during CAIT was to kinesthetically imagine the execution of reaching-to-grasp movements without any muscle activation, supplemented by computer visualization of movements provided by a special headset. Our experiment showed that CAIT can be conducted in the patient with higher vividness of imagery for reaching than grasping tasks. Our results confirm that CAIT can change brain activation patterns in areas related to motor planning and the execution of reaching and grasping movements, and that the effect was more pronounced in the patient than in the healthy control subject. The results show that CAIT has a different effect on the cortical activity related to the motor imagery of a reaching task than on the cortical activity related to the motor imagery of a grasping task. The change observed in the activation patterns could indicate CAIT-induced neuroplasticity, which could potentially be useful in rehabilitation or brain-computer interface purposes for such patients, especially before and after transplantation. This study was part of a registered experiment (ID: NCT04048083).

High throughput screening of native species for tailings eco-restoration using novel computer visualization for plant phenotyping.

Historical hard-rock mine activities have resulted in nearly half a million mining-impacted sites scattered around the US. Compared to conventional remediation, (aided) phytostabilization is generally cost-effective and ecologically productive approach, particularly for large-scale sites. Native species act to maintain higher local biodiversity, providing a foundation for natural ecological succession. Due to heterogeneity of mine waste, revegetation strategies are inconsistent in approach, and to avoid failure scenarios, greenhouse screening studies can identify candidate plants and amendment strategies before scaling up. This greenhouse study aimed to concurrently screen a variety of native species for their potential to revegetate Cu/Pb/Zn mine tailings and develop a high throughput and non-destructive approach utilizing computer vision and image-based phenotyping technologies to quantify plant responses. A total number of 34 species were screened in this study, which included: 5 trees, 8 grasses, and 21 forbs and legumes. Most of the species tested were Missouri native and prairie species. Plants were non-destructively imaged, and 15 shape and color phenotypic attributes were extracted utilizing computer vision techniques of PlantCV. Compared to reference soil, all species tested were negatively impacted by the tailings' characteristics, with lowest tolerance generally observed in tree species. However, significant improvement in plant growth and tolerance generally observed with biosolids addition with biomass surpassing reference soil for most legumes. Accumulation of Cu, Pb, and Zn was below Domestic Animal Toxicity Limits in most species. Statistically robust differences in species responses were observed using phenotypic data, such as area, height, width, color, and 9 other morphological attributes. Correlations with destructive data indicated that area displayed the greatest positive correlation with biomass and color the greatest negative correlation with shoot metals. Computer visualization greatly increased the phenotypic data and offers a breakthrough in rapid, high throughput data collection to project site-specific phytostabilization strategies to efficiently restore mine-impacted sites.