Thesis (M.S.)--Washington State University, May 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 257-278)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Interactive visual analysis has been a key component of gaining insights in information visualization area. However, the amount of data has increased exponentially in the past few years. Existing information visualization techniques lack scalability to deal with big data, such as graphs with millions of nodes, or millions of multidimensional data records. Recently, the remarkable development of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) makes GPU useful for general-purpose computation. Researchers have proposed GPU based solutions for visualizing big data in graphics and scientific visualization areas. However, GPU based big data solutions in information visualization area are not well investigated. In this thesis, I concentrate on the visualization of big data in information visualization area. More specifically, I focus on visual exploration of large graphs and multidimensional datasets based on the GPU technology. My work demonstrates that GPU based methods are useful for sensemaking of big data in information visualization area. / Master of Science

We are besieged with information every day, our inboxes overflow with spam and our search queries return a great deal of irrelevant information. In most cases there is no malicious intent, just simply too much information. However, if we consider active malicious entities, the picture darkens. Denial of information (DoI) attacks assail the human through their computer system and manifest themselves as attacks that target the human's perceptual, cognitive and motor capabilities. By exploiting these capabilities, attackers reduce our ability to acquire and act upon desired information. Even if a traditional denial of service attack against a machine is not possible, the human utilizing the machine may still succumb to DoI attack. When successful, DoI attacks actively alter our decision making, often without our knowledge. In this dissertation, we address the problem of countering DoI attacks. We begin by presenting a taxonomy and framework of DoI attacks and countermeasures to add structure to the problem space. We then closely examine the use of information visualization as a countermeasure. Information visualization is a powerful technique that taps into the high bandwidth visual recognition capability of the human and is well suited to resist DoI attack. Unfortunately, most information visualization systems are designed without a clear emphasis on protecting the human from malicious activity. To address this issue we present a general framework for information visualization system security analysis. We then delve deeply into countering DoI in the network security domain using carefully crafted information visualization techniques to build a DoI attack resistant security visualization system. By creating such a system, we raise the bar on adversaries who now must cope with visualization enhanced humans in addition to traditional automated intrusion detection systems and text-based analysis tools. We conclude with a human-centric evaluation to demonstrate our systems effectiveness.

Scientific data visualizations are the products, and increasingly a core practice, of modern computational science across all domains. With recent science education standards emphasizing student engagement in practices, these scientific visualizations will only increase in their availability and use for K-12 science instruction. But teacher practice is key to the successful learning outcomes for these, and any, educational technology. This study follows eleven science teachers from initial exposure in a PD program through classroom use of scientific data visualizations that address topics in Earth and Space science. The framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) is used to examine key dimensions of teacher knowledge that are activated as they seek to understand the data visualizations and the conceptual models that they represent, select and integrate them into their curriculum, and ultimately use them for instruction. Baseline measures of select dimensions of TPCK are measured for all teachers. Two representative case studies allow for a deep analysis of TPCK in action throughout their professional and instructional experience, and finally the impact on teachers’ knowledge from the experience is examined, with implications for educative curricular material and PD program design.

A study on using colors to represent the floating population of tourists and local residents on the map by each hour in each month. The resulting visualization can assist the decision-making in various areas by providing a vivid description of the movement of people in a day.

A visualização computacional de informação é um campo em expansão por oferecer meios de se interpretar e analisar vários tipos de dados em grande quantidade e/ou de grande complexidade, compreendendo diversas técnicas e ferramentas para fornecer a um usuário formas de interagir e explorar conjuntos de dados a fim de se obter informações úteis ou importantes. A música, por sua vez, é um domínio complexo e de difícil estudo sob o ponto de vista computacional devido à análise de seu conteúdo possuir caráter muitas vezes subjetivo e dependente da interpretação humana. Embora vários trabalhos tenham sido publicados a respeito do assunto nos últimos anos, a maior parte das aplicações de visualização de informação relativas a música tende a analisar conjuntos de composições musicais a fim de agrupar ou classificar dados de acordo com algum tipo de critério. Assim, a visualização das informações contidas em uma única peça musical por si só é uma área que ainda pode ser melhor explorada, sobretudo visando compreender a informação musical envolvida o conteúdo extraído por um músico a partir de partituras e tablaturas. Esta dissertação relata o desenvolvimento de uma abordagem para visualização de dados musicais referentes a melodias em guitarra, com a capacidade de exibir elementos como variações de harmonia, melodia e tempo, tendo como objetivo auxiliar um músico (ou aprendiz de músico) na tarefa de interpretar tais dados. / Information visualization is an expanding research field due to its offering of novel approaches to analyze data of great size or complexity, referring to many techniques and tools in order to offer ways to interact and explore data sets to find important or useful information. Music is a domain of high complexity and hard to study and analyze by computer due to its sometimes subjective features, dependant of human interpretation. Although many research initiatives have been published regarding this subject recently, most of the music-related information visualization applications tend to analyze datasets composed by many different musical pieces, aiming to classify or group the data according to certain criteria. Thus, visualization of the information contained in a single musical piece is an area that still could be better explored, especially regarding to the comprehension of the musical information involved information extracted by a musician by reading musical scores. This document reports the development of a novel approach to musical data visualization based on electric guitar melodies, capable of showing elements such as harmony, melody and timing variations, aiming to aid a musician in the task of understanding such data.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:22:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Guilherme Blaia DAvila.pdf: 1840808 bytes, checksum: 1c9061f1bf634734e2fb50f29b7ce8b6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-12 / The goal of this research is the construction of an interface prototype for the visualization of changes in the territorial configuration, having as its starting point information from the Macro tool, whose author is Prof. Dr. Nelson Brissac Peixoto. A tool that enables the user to visualize and understand the relations among regional and global processes and their changes along time was created, turning large scale processes that were inaccessible to the individual experience into comprehensive information. To do so, it was made necessary the effort to synthesize the information contained on Macro, extracting its basic attributes and enabling its clustering and categorization. It was also necessary to create a versatile visual representation system that is capable of referencing each and every element of information. The prototype that was developed during this research can be used with different goals. It can be viable either for academic use or could be used by the government and companies. Its utilization as a tool could help the comprehension of the dynamics of territorial configuration, its cause and effect relations and connections between regional and global processes / Esta pesquisa tem como meta a construção de um protótipo de interface para a visualização de alterações na configuração territorial, tendo como ponto de partida informações contidas na ferramenta Macro, de autoria do Prof. Dr. Nelson Brissac Peixoto. Foi criada uma ferramenta que possibilita ao usuário visualizar e compreender relações entre processos regionais e globais e suas modificações ao longo do tempo, tornando apreensíveis processos em grande escala que são inacessíveis à experiência individual. Para tanto, tornou-se necessário sintetizar a informação inerente à ferramenta Macro, extraindo seus atributos básicos e possibilitando seu agrupamento e categorização, e também criar um sistema de representação visual abrangente e versátil que fosse capaz de referenciar todo e qualquer elemento de informação. O protótipo desenvolvido mostrou-se factível de introdução para diversos fins. Pode ser viável tanto para uso acadêmico como para o uso por instâncias governamentais e empresariais. Sua utilização como ferramenta pode auxiliar na compreensão das dinâmicas de configuração territorial, suas relações de causa e efeito, ligações entre processos regionais e locais

Words need a context to be understood. Visual patterns also need a context to convey their meaning. When patterns represent quantities in business graphics, decision makers (DMs) depend on contrasting visual contexts to discern patterns and discover relationships. Depending on the context in which DMs see trends, differences between two trends may point to a problem, to continuity, or to an opportunity. Can enhancing the context in computer graphics help DMs visualize problems? To answer this research question, three experiments were done in the field on computer graphics. One hundred five DMs tried 17 different contexts for time-series trends displayed on a microcomputer monitor. The research objective was to find out whether changing the context in graphics affected the decision efficiency (accuracy/response time) of DMs in determining relationships among trends. Essential for measuring the effect were interactive computer programs that displayed random trends in graphics of differing contexts, collected the DMs' answers to questions about the trends, and graded 1133 graphics based on the answers, response times, and trend data. The experimental results supported the hypothesis that computers can enhance the visual context surrounding time-series trends so that DMs can better visualize problems. Results were based on comparisons of DMs' decision efficiencies between trial graphics with differing contextual enhancements and based on answers to questions about the trial graphics. The results were tested with nonparametric statistics at the 0.05 significance level. Specific findings were: (1) Computer-supplied forecasts, as an enhancement, significantly helped DMs discover differences among trends. (2) Although not statistically significant, stratified presentation of trends and fading chartjunk tended to increase DMs' efficiencies. (3) Adding two colors, as an enhancement, made no difference in efficiency over black and white. (4) Paired trends in windows did not affect efficiency significantly. (5) Sequentially traced trends and composites of enhancements did not affect efficiency significantly. (6) DMs preferred stratified trends most and had the most confidence in graphics with fading context. They least liked and had the least confidence in black-and-white graphics.