Scientific sketching for collaborative VR visualization design

We present four studies investigating tools and methodologies for artist-scientist-technologist collaboration in designing multivariate, virtual reality (VR) visualizations. Design study 1 identifies the promise of 3D drawing-style interfaces for VR design and also establishes limitations of these tools with respect to precision and support for animation. Design study 2 explores animating artist-created visualization designs with scientific 3D fluid flow data. While results captured an accurate sense of flow that was advantageous as compared to the results of study 1, the potential for visual exploration using the design tools tested was limited. Design study 3 reveals the importance of a new 3D interface that overcomes the precision limitation found in study 1 while remaining accessible to artist collaborators. Drawing upon previous results, design study 4 engages collaborative teams in a design process that begins with traditional paper sketching and moves to animated, interactive, VR prototypes "sketched" by designers in VR using interactive 3D tools. Conclusions from these four studies identify important characteristics of effective artist-accessible VR visualization design tools and lead to a proposed formalized methodology for successful collaborative design that we expect to be useful in guiding future collaborations. We call this proposed methodology Scientific Sketching.     

Recording and interpretation/analysis of tilt signals with five ASKANIA borehole tiltmeters at the KTB

In June 2003, a large scale injection experiment started at the Continental Deep Drilling site (KTB) in Germany. A tiltmeter array was installed which consisted of five high resolution borehole tiltmeters of the ASKANIA type, also equipped with three dimensional seismometers. For the next 11 months, 86 000 m(3) were injected into the KTB pilot borehole 4000 m deep. The average injection rate was approximately 200 l/min. The research objective was to observe and to analyze deformation caused by the injection into the upper crust at the kilometer range. A new data acquisition system was developed by Geo-Research Center Potsdam (GFZ) to master the expected huge amount of seismic and tilt data. Furthermore, it was necessary to develop a new preprocessing software called PREANALYSE for long-period time series. This software includes different useful functions, such as step and spike correction, interpolation, filtering, and spectral analysis. This worldwide unique installation offers the excellent opportunity of the separation of signals due to injection and due to environment by correlation of the data of the five stations with the ground water table and meteorological data.     

The Dynamics of Syntactic Knowledge

The syntactic approach to epistemic logic avoids the logicalomniscience problem by taking knowledge as primary rather thanas defined in terms of possible worlds. In this study, we combinethe syntactic approach with modal logic, using transition systemsto model reasoning. We use two syntactic epistemic modalities:‘knowing at least’ a set of formulae and ‘knowingat most’ a set of formulae. We are particularly interestedin models restricting the set of formulae known by an agentat a point in time to be finite. The resulting systems are investigatedfrom the point of view of axiomatization and complexity. Weshow how these logics can be used to formalise non-omniscientagents who know some inference rules, and study their relationshipto other systems of syntactic epistemic logics, such as Ågotnesand Walicki (2004, Proc. 2nd EUMAS, pp. 1–10), Alechinaet al. (2004, Proc. 3rd AAMAS, pp. 601–613), Duc (1997,J. Logic Comput., 7, 633–648).     

Oscillatory networks: pattern recognition without a superposition catastrophe

Using an oscillatory network model that combines classical network models with phase dynamics, we demonstrate how the superposition catastrophe of pattern recognition may be avoided in the context of phase models. The model is designed to meet two requirements: on and off states should correspond, respectively, to high and low phase velocities, and patterns should be retrieved in coherent mode. Nonoverlapping patterns can be simultaneously active with mutually different phases. For overlapping patterns, competition can be used to reduce coherence to a subset of patterns. The model thereby solves the superposition problem.     

Distributed Symbolic Bounded Property Checking

In this paper we describe an algorithm for distributed, BDD-based bounded property checking and its implementation in the verification tool SymC. The distributed algorithm verifies larger models and returns results faster than the sequential version.The core algorithm distributes partitions of the state set to computation nodes after reaching a threshold size. The nodes proceed with image computation on the nodes asynchronously. The main scalability problem of this scheme is the overlap of state set partitions. We present static and dynamic overlap reduction techniques.     

H∞ ALMOST DISTURBANCE DECOUPLING FOR MIMO BILINEAR SYSTEMS

The H_∞ almost disturbance decoupling problem is considered. In this paper, a nonlinear design is proposed to find a state feedback controller for bilinear systems. The closed‐loop system is internally stable and achieves disturbance attenuation in nonlinear H_∞ sense. We defined a special form of Lyapunov function, which is constructed in terms of one or a set of positive definite constant matrices. If, except of the origin of system, the corresponding polynomial of the positive definite matrix (or several polynomials relevant to the positive definite constant matrices) has (have) no zero on a given subset of state space, then we can construct a controller to solve our problem. It is found that the controller structure could be complicated, but is feasible in computation and may require optimization technique to search the solution. We consider both SIMO and MIMO cases with illustrated examples.     

The influence of spin on second sound in superfluid3He-4He mixtures

The second-sound velocity of a superfluid mixture increases when a static and homogeneous magnetic field is applied. In particular, for dilute mixtures (molar ³ He concentration <0.1) and low temperatures, (0.1<T<0.6 K) the relative velocity increase is independent of concentration and is given by u ₂/u ₂5×10^–16 B _e ² T ^–2. It should be easily observed wheneverB _e T ^–1is larger than 10 ⁵ G K^–1 and can lead to a novel measurement of the magnetic susceptibility.