Information visualization: from petroglyphs to CoDe Graphs

2016 - 2017Data visualization concerns the communication of data through visual representations and techniques. It aims at enhancing perception and support data-driven decision making so enabling insights otherwise hard to achieve. A good visualization of data makes it possible to identify patterns and enables better understanding of phenomena. In other words, data visualization is related to an innate human ability to quickly comprehend, discern and convert patterns into useful and usable information. Humans have used visual graphical representations as early as 35.000 B.C., through cave drawings. Indeed, human ancestors already reasoned in terms of models or schemata: the visual representation of information is an ancient concept, as witnessed by the rock carvings found. Over the centuries, information visualization has evolved to take into account the changing human needs and its use has become more and more conscious. The first data visualization techniques have been developed to observe and represent physical quantities, geography and celestial positions. Successively, the combined use of euclidean geometry and algebra improved accuracy and complexity of information representation, in different fields, such as astronomy, physics and engineering. Finally, in the last century most modern forms of data representations were invented: starting from charts, histograms, and graphs up to high dimensional data, and dynamic and interactive visualizations of temporal data [41]. Nowadays, the huge amount of information enables more precise interpretation of phenomena so fostering the adoption of infographic techniques, in particular, for supporting managerial decision-making in the business area... [edited by author]XVI n.s

3D Information Technologies in Cultural Heritage Preservation and Popularisation

This Special Issue of the journal Applied Sciences presents recent advances and developments in the use of digital 3D technologies to protect and preserve cultural heritage. While most of the articles focus on aspects of 3D scanning, modeling, and presenting in VR of cultural heritage objects from buildings to small artifacts and clothing, part of the issue is devoted to 3D sound utilization in the cultural heritage field

Combining Unsupervised Clustering with a Non-Linear Deformation Model for Efficient Petroglyph Recognition

Petroglyphs are prehistoric engravings in stone unrevealing stories of ancient life and describing a conception of the world transmitted till today. In the current paper we consider the problem of developing tools that automate their recognition. This is a challenging problem mainly due to the high level of distortion and variability of petroglyph reliefs. To address these issues, we pro- pose a two-stage approach that combines unsupervised clustering, for quickly obtaining a raw classification of the query image, and a non-linear deformation model, for accurately evaluating the shape similarity between the query and the images of the more appropriate classes

Aiding the conservation of two wooden Buddhist sculptures with 3D imaging and spectroscopic techniques

The conservation of Buddhist sculptures that were transferred to Europe at some point during their lifetime raises numerous questions: while these objects historically served a religious, devotional purpose, many of them currently belong to museums or private collections, where they are detached from their original context and often adapted to western taste. A scientific study was carried out to address questions from Museo d'Arte Orientale of Turin curators in terms of whether these artifacts might be forgeries or replicas, and how they may have transformed over time. Several analytical techniques were used for materials identification and to study the production technique, ultimately aiming to discriminate the original materials from those added within later interventions

SPICA:revealing the hearts of galaxies and forming planetary systems : approach and US contributions

How did the diversity of galaxies we see in the modern Universe come to be? When and where did stars within them forge the heavy elements that give rise to the complex chemistry of life? How do planetary systems, the Universe's home for life, emerge from interstellar material? Answering these questions requires techniques that penetrate dust to reveal the detailed contents and processes in obscured regions. The ESA-JAXA Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) mission is designed for this, with a focus on sensitive spectroscopy in the 12 to 230 micron range. SPICA offers massive sensitivity improvements with its 2.5-meter primary mirror actively cooled to below 8 K. SPICA one of 3 candidates for the ESA's Cosmic Visions M5 mission, and JAXA has is committed to their portion of the collaboration. ESA will provide the silicon-carbide telescope, science instrument assembly, satellite integration and testing, and the spacecraft bus. JAXA will provide the passive and active cooling system (supporting the

The Apertif Surveys:The First Six Months

Apertif is a new phased-array feed for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT), greatly increasing its field of view and turning it into a natural survey instrument. In July 2019, the Apertif legacy surveys commenced; these are a time-domain survey and a two-tiered imaging survey, with a shallow and medium-deep component. The time-domain survey searches for new (millisecond) pulsars and fast radio bursts (FRBs). The imaging surveys provide neutral hydrogen (HI), radio continuum and polarization data products. With a bandwidth of 300 MHz, Apertif can detect HI out to a redshift of 0.26. The key science goals to be accomplished by Apertif include localization of FRBs (including real-time public alerts), the role of environment and interaction on galaxy properties and gas removal, finding the smallest galaxies, connecting cold gas to AGN, understanding the faint radio population, and studying magnetic fields in galaxies. After a proprietary period, survey data products will be publicly available through the Apertif Long Term Archive (ALTA, https://alta.astron.nl). I will review the progress of the surveys and present the first results from the Apertif surveys, including highlighting the currently available public data