Online news sites are some of the most useful and popular information retrieval systems in use today. Thousands of articles in different languages and on a variety of subjects are posted every day and updated every hour. Most articles are uninteresting and unimportant to a particular individual, and individuals may not want to review entire websites for stories of interest. Systems have been developed that provide summaries from online news websites but finding a means to rapidly scan stories of potential interest remains an open problem. In this thesis, we introduce a novel visualization system that uses geographical location combined with image collages and tag clouds to provide a tool for rapidly reviewing news stories. Tag clouds are arrangements of tags with the most important tags allocated a bigger font size or otherwise more prominent visual properties; and image collages provide a compact, effective and attractive representation for photos on one page. Bringing these media representations together over a geographic map offers a new style of interaction for online news browsing. The usability of our application was evaluated with two user studies. We aimed to determine how best to configure our visualization to communicate more information in less time to users than traditional feed-based news aggregators. We were particularly interested in knowing whether users interpret text/image size and placement as indications of a news item’s prominence. We also wanted to establish whether users understand the semantic relationship between zoom level on the map and the regional relevance (municipal, provincial, national) of news items displayed at that zoom level. The results of user feedback and data analysis (e.g., eye tracking logs) were examined to improve the usability of the system. Data analysis from the second user study suggests that, in general, the system is highly effective in helping users achieve an immediate and effortless bird’s-eye-view of news summaries within a large geographic region. However, users had varying opinions about the level of detail in the user interface (e.g., the number of images).

Vertical Takeoff-and-Landing (VTOL) Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) provide a versatile operational platform which combines the capabilities of fixed wing and rotary wing MAVs. In order to improve performance of these vehicles, a better understanding of the rapid transition between horizontal and vertical flight is required. This study examines the flow structures around the Mini-Vertigo VTOL MAV using flow visualization techniques. This will gives an understanding of the flow structures which dominate the flight dynamics of rapid pitching maneuvers. This study consists of three objectives: develop an experimental facility, use flow visualization to investigate the flow around the experimental subject during pitching, and analyze the results. The model used for testing features a low aspect ratio (AR), low Reynolds number (Re) Zimmerman planform wing with two contra-rotating propellers in a tractor configuration. The experimental facility, located at the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at The University of Arizona, consists of: a closed loop open test section wind tunnel capable of airspeeds up to 15m/s and controlled with a variable frequency drive (VFD); a power source and wire to generate vapor from a mixture of turbine oil, petroleum jelly, and iron powder, which is placed across the wind tunnel nozzle outlet; a five axis robotic arm mounted below the test section capable of controlling the experimental subject for pitching maneuvers; and, a pair of video cameras capable of recording the flow visualization at 600 frames per second. The flow within the wind tunnel was carefully examined in order to insure that the experimental subject was placed within a region of flow unaffected by boundary effects and that there were no significant disturbances or oscillations within the flow. The flow around the experimental subject was studied in both static and dynamic testing. For the static tests, the angle of attack (AOA) of the experimental subject was varied across a range of AOA from 15 to 70 degrees. For each range of AOA, the Re was varied to 10700, 22600, and 35500, and advance ratio (J) was varied from undefined, 0.60, to 0.47. Several conclusions can be drawn from the static testing. The flow is dominated by the propeller slipstream effects. The slipstream drastically delayed leading edge (LE) separation and vortex shedding. It also causes flow to be either deflected downward into the slipstream or to deflect outward towards the wing tip before passing over the LE. The slipstream strength also increases the turbulence in the slipstream and relative velocity of the flow at the wing surface compared to freestream. The Re affects the LE (visible only without slipstream) and trailing edge (TE) vortex shedding frequencies, increased Re increases the frequency. Additionally, it appears that the non-dimensional LE and TE vortex shedding frequencies are constant at a value of 0.216, irrespective of both Re and advance ratio. This is important because it means that these observations are likely valid across a broad range of flight conditions. Dynamic testing also varied the advance ratio and the Re. It also varied the reduced frequency. Both positive and negative pitching was examined. Many of the conclusions drawn were the same as those from static testing. Increasing the Re increased the vortex shedding frequency. The slipstream delayed LE separation and caused significant deflection downward and towards the wingtip, as well as increasing turbulence and relative flow speed at the top surface prior to separation. Dynamic testing also found that in the presence of the slipstream, increased Re decreases the AOA of LE separation, while without the slipstream, increased Re increases the AOA of LE separation. In addition, the pitching rate has several effects on the flow. For positive pitching, increasing the pitch rate decreases the AOA of separation and for negative pitching; increasing the pitch rate has no apparent effect on the AOA of separation. This is contrary to expectations. Previous study1 has shown that increasing the pitching rate delays stall and nose down pitching hastens stall. Additionally, greater positive pitching rate slightly increases the TE vortex shedding frequency. In the absence of a slipstream, LE and TE vortex-shedding frequency are generally the same. Some interesting phenomena were found at the LE. In the presence of a pulsating slipstream from the propellers, the LE separation bubble oscillates in both height and length. It does so at the same frequency as the propeller rotation and is due to variation in the flow speed at the LE. During pitch down maneuvers, the flow reattaches at the LE first and then the region of attached flow moves aft, opposite of the characteristics of pitch up. With only minimal variation, the non-dimensional TE vortex shedding frequency remains constant at an average value of 0.229. However, it appears that increasing the pitching rate increases this value slightly. Re and advance ratio have no appreciable effect on this data. It is therefore possible to extend this result to a large range of flight conditions. A comparison of the static and dynamic testing resulted in several findings that correlated very well with previous research on this model. During positive, nose-up, pitching, the increase in lift found previously was due to the increased downward deflection of the flow and the delay of stall was due to the delay in LE separation. The opposite effects were found in negative, nose-down, pitching. There was disagreement in the findings based on the size of the turbulent separation wake and the increase and decrease in drag. Positive pitching was found to increase the drag on the model however positive pitching reduces the size of the turbulent separation wake which should decrease drag. The increase in downward flow deflection caused by pitching rate was significantly less than that due to the slipstream. Therefore the increase in lift due to the slipstream is greater than that due to pitching. The flow around the Mini-Vertigo VTOL MAV is dominated by the slipstream from its propellers. The slipstream delays LE separation and causes drastic deflection in the flow. While the frequency of the vortices shed from the LE and TE varies with flow speed, the non-dimensional frequency does not. It does, however, vary slightly with the pitching rate. These results are applicable across a wide range of flight conditions.

In this dissertation, I investigate interactive visual history for collaborative exploratory data analysis (EDA). In particular, I examine use of analysis history for improving the awareness of the dimension space coverage 1 2 3 to better support data exploration. Commonly, interactive history tools facilitate data analysis by capturing and representing information about the analysis process. These tools can support a wide range of use-cases from simple undo and redo to complete reconstructions of the visualization pipeline. In the con- text of exploratory collaborative Visual Analytics (VA), history tools are commonly used for reviewing and reusing past states/actions and do not efficiently support other use-cases such as understanding the past analysis from the angle of dimension space coverage. How- ever, such knowledge is essential for exploratory analysis which requires constant formulation of new questions about data. To carry out exploration, an analyst needs to understand “what has been done” versus “what is remaining” to explore. Lack of such insight can result in premature fixation on certain questions, compromising the coverage of the data set and breadth of exploration [80]. In addition, exploration of large data sets sometimes requires collaboration between a group of analysts who might be in different time/location settings. In this case, in addition to personal analysis history, each team member needs to understand what aspects of the problem his or her collaborators have explored. Such scenarios are common in domains such as science and business [34] where analysts explore large multi-dimensional data sets in search of relationships, patterns and trends. Currently, analysts typically rely on memory and/or externalization to keep track of investigated versus uninvestigated aspects of the problem. Although analysis history 4 mechanisms have the potential to assist analyst(s) with this problem, most common visual representations of history are geared towards reviewing & reusing the visualization pipeline or visualization states. I started this research with an observational user study to gain a better understanding of analysts’ history needs in the context of collaborative exploratory VA. This study showed that understanding the coverage of dimension space by using linear history 5 was cumbersome and inefficient. To address this problem, I investigated how alternate visual representations of analysis history could support this use-case. First, I designed and evaluated Footprint-I, a visual history tool that represented analysis from the angle of dimension space coverage (i.e. history of investigation of data dimensions; specifically, this approach revealed which dimensions had been previously investigated and in which combinations). I performed a user study that evaluated participants’ ability to recall the scope of past analysis using my proposed design versus a linear representation of analysis history. I measured participants’ task duration and accuracy in answering questions about a past exploratory VA session. Findings of this study showed that participants with access to dimension space coverage information were both faster and more accurate in understanding dimension space coverage information. Next, I studied the effects of providing coverage information on collaboration. To investigate this question, I designed and implemented Footprint-II, the next version of Footprint-I. In this version, I redesigned the representation of dimension space coverage to be more usable and scalable. I conducted a user study that measured the effects of presenting history from the angle of dimension space coverage on task coordination (tacit breakdown of a common task between collaborators). I asked each participant to assume the role of a business data analyst and continue a exploratory analysis work which was started by a collaborator. The results of this study showed that providing dimension space coverage information helped participants to focus on dimensions that were not investigated in the initial analysis, hence improving tacit task coordination. Finally, I investigated the effects of providing live dimension space coverage information on VA outcomes. To this end, I designed and implemented a standalone prototype VA tool with a visual history module. I used scented widgets [76] to incorporate real-time dimension space coverage information into the GUI widgets. Results of a user study showed that providing live dimension space coverage information increased the number of top-level findings. Moreover, it expanded the breadth of exploration (without compromising the depth) and helped analysts to formulate and ask more questions about their data. / Graduate / 0984 / ali.sarvghad@gmail.com

Predictive Analysis is a process for extracting information from large amounts of data and using it to make qualified predictions about future results. While previously the lack of available data has been a challenge within the field, big questions today are instead how to use the results, and the way in which these are presented in order for the user to be able to take advantage of the information. The purpose of this thesis has been to create hypotheses for how predictive analysis can be used in practical decision-making contexts, whereby the decision- maker is under time pressure, especially with regard to how the result can be visualized. This has been done through a case study at the Uppsala Ambulance Monitoring Center. The method used for the study is called Contextual Design, which has helped create an understanding of the users and the system they work in. Using this understanding, a prototype has been created, which has been tested on the users to see how well they have been able to interpret the information that has been visualized. Predictive analysis has proved to be helpful primarily in less urgent cases and to help the decision maker to differentiate matters similar to each other. For visualization of the predictive results, it has been found that these is better shown as a comparison between the user's decision hypothesis and historical decision results rather than only as an absolute value. Furthermore, it has been found that a high degree of transparency in the information on which the results are based is preferable, but that it is important that clear explanations are given for the results shown.

Smart Grid research is growing around the world due to the need to replace the ageing old electricity grid with an intelligent, reliable electricity network. The smart grid aims at creating a reliable power distribution and efficient power usage in homes. One of the key issues focused in this project is providing real time energy feedback to users, which is minimal or non-existent in the current grid system. This thesis investigates about using smart TVs to provide real time energy feedback in homes. Since its introduction in 2009 smart TVs are growing in popularity in European market. To provide real time energy feedback on smart TVs three features are identified Smart TV application, ambilighting and push notification. The Human-centered design process is used for designing the Smart TV interface system using the identified features. A literature study is conducted to gather the user requirements for the smart TV interface. The information gathered during the study is used for the design and implementation of the interface prototype. As an example platform the Philips smart TV 2013 is chosen to demonstrate the various features that can be used to provide energy feedback. The usability of the Smart TV interface is evaluated with users and the results are recorded. The smart TV application, ambient lighting and push notification system in Smart TVs is demonstrated for providing real-time energy feedback. The interface is evaluated with users and results are discussed. The result suggests that Smart TVs can serve as an informational display in homes. The Smart TV interface should be interlinked with Smart Phone and Tablet applications to be effective, further the users prefer the Smart Phone over the Smart TV application to control the household devices. / The thesis work evaluates the potential of using smart TVs to provide real time energy feedback in homes. The results of the thesis showed that smart phone are the primary interaction medium suitable for home environment while smart TVs can serve as an informative medium to provide ambient feedback in homes. / praveenjelish@ymail.com +46727700788

This is a study of computer technology's impact on the theatrical design process. The tools of communication provided by technology were studied, and an analysis was conducted in the classroom of Digital Rendering, Digital Rendering Videos, and 3d CADD. After-wards, these tools were applied to an actual production of West Side Story where, with the addition of 3d light simulation software, the tools were used to communicate the design ideas from the lighting designer to the director. The goal of this process was to provide a 'real to life' virtual representation of the show to the director with the least amount of confusion. An additional goal was to test the limits and functions of the software; trying to learn all the benefits that could be provided to the process of mounting a theatrical production.