Emerging from the MIST: A Connector Tool for Supporting Programming by Non-programmers

Software development is an iterative process. As user re-quirements emerge software applications must be extended to support the new requirements. Typically, a programmer will add new code to an existing code base of an application to provide a new functionality. Previous research has shown that such extensions are easier when application logic is clearly separated from the user interface logic. Assuming that a programmer is already familiar with the existing code base, the task of writing the new code can be considered to be split into two sub-tasks: writing code for the application logic; that is, the actual functionality of the application; and writing code for the user interface that will expose the functionality to the end user. The goal of this research is to reduce the effort required to create a user interface once the application logic has been created, toward supporting scientists with minimal pro-gramming knowledge to be able to create and modify pro-grams. Using a Model View Controller based architecture, various model components which contain the application logic can be built and extended. The process of creating and extending the views (user interfaces) on these model components is simplified through the use of our Malleable Interactive Software Toolkit (MIST), a tool set an infrastructure intended to simplify the design and extension of dynamically reconfigurable interfaces. This paper focuses on one tool in the MIST suite, a connec-tor tool that enables the programmer to evolve the user interface as the application logic evolves by connecting related pieces of code together; either through simple drag-and-drop interactions or through the authoring of Python code. The connector tool exemplifies the types of tools in the MIST suite, which we expect will encourage collabora-tive development of applications by allowing users to inte-grate various components and minimizing the cost of de-veloping new user interfaces for the combined compo-nents

Une approche par composants pour l'analyse visuelle interactive de résultats issus de simulations numériques

Component-based approaches are increasingly studied and used for the effective development of the applications in software engineering. They offer, on the one hand, safe architecture to developers, and on the other one, a separation of the various functional parts and particularly in the interactive scientific visualization applications. Modeling such applications enables the behavior description of each component and the global system’s actions. Moreover, the interactions between components are expressed through a communication schemes sometimes very complex with, for example, the possibility to lose messages to enhance performance. This thesis describes ComSA model (Component-based approach for Scientific Applications) that relies on a component-based approach dedicated to interactive and dynamic scientific visualization applications and its formalization in strict Colored FIFO Nets (sCFN). The main contributions of this thesis are, first, the definition of a set of tools to model the component’s behaviors and the various application communication policies. Second, providing some properties on the application to guarantee it starts properly. It is done by analyzing and detecting deadlocks. This ensures the liveness throughout the application execution. Finally, we present dynamic reconfiguration of visual analytics applications by adding or removing on the fly of a component without stopping the whole application. This reconfiguration minimizes the number of unavailable services.Les architectures par composants sont de plus en plus étudiées et utilisées pour le développement efficace des applications en génie logiciel. Elles offrent, d’un côté, une architecture claire aux développeurs, et de l’autre, une séparation des différentes parties fonctionnelles et en particulier dans les applications de visualisation scientifique interactives. La modélisation de ces applications doit permettre la description des comportements de chaque composant et les actions globales du système. De plus, les interactions entre composants s’expriment par des schémas de communication qui peuvent être très complexes avec, par exemple, la possibilité de perdre des messages pour gagner en performance. Cette thèse décrit le modèle ComSA (Component-based approach for Scientific Applications) qui est basé sur une approche par composants dédiée aux applications de visualisation scientifique interactive et dynamique formalisée par les réseaux FIFO colorés stricts (sCFN). Les principales contributions de cette thèse sont dans un premier temps, un ensemble d’outils pour modéliser les différents comportements des composants ainsi que les différentes politiques de communication au sein de l’application. Dans un second temps, la définition de propriétés garantissant un démarrage propre de l’application en analysant et détectant les blocages. Cela permet de garantir la vivacité tout au long de l’exécution de l’application. Finalement l’étude de la reconfiguration dynamique des applications d’analyse visuelle par ajout ou suppression à la volée d’un composant sans arrêter toute l’application. Cette reconfiguration permet de minimiser le nombre de services non disponibles

Scientists in the MIST: Simplifying Interface Design for End Users

We are building a Malleable Interactive Software Toolkit (MIST), a tool set and infrastructure to simplify the design and construction of dynamically-reconfigurable (malleable) interactive software. Malleable software offers the end-user powerful tools to reshape their interactive environment on the fly. We aim to make the construction of such software straightforward, and to make reconfiguration of the resulting systems approachable and manageable to an educated, but non-specialist, user. To do so, we draw on a diverse body of existing research on alternative approaches to user interface (UI) and interactive software construction, including declarative UI languages, constraint-based programming and UI management, reflection and data-driven programming, and visual programming techniques

Visualization and Tracking of Parallel CFD Simulations

We describe a system for interactive visualization and tracking of a 3-D unsteady computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation on a parallel computer. CM/AVS, a distributed, parallel implementation of a visualization environment (AVS) runs on the CM-5 parallel supercomputer. A CFD solver is run as a CM/AVS module on the CM-5. Data communication between the solver, other parallel visualization modules, and a graphics workstation, which is running AVS, are handled by CM/AVS. Partitioning of the visualization task, between CM-5 and the workstation, can be done interactively in the visual programming environment provided by AVS. Flow solver parameters can also be altered by programmable interactive widgets. This system partially removes the requirement of storing large solution files at frequent time steps, a characteristic of the traditional 'simulate (yields) store (yields) visualize' post-processing approach

Foveated Encoding for Large High-Resolution Displays

Collaborative exploration of scientific data sets across large high-resolution displays requires both high visual detail as well as low-latency transfer of image data (oftentimes inducing the need to trade one for the other). In this work, we present a system that dynamically adapts the encoding quality in such systems in a way that reduces the required bandwidth without impacting the details perceived by one or more observers. Humans perceive sharp, colourful details, in the small foveal region around the centre of the field of view, while information in the periphery is perceived blurred and colourless. We account for this by tracking the gaze of observers, and respectively adapting the quality parameter of each macroblock used by the H.264 encoder, considering the so-called visual acuity fall-off. This allows to substantially reduce the required bandwidth with barely noticeable changes in visual quality, which is crucial for collaborative analysis across display walls at different locations. We demonstrate the reduced overall required bandwidth and the high quality inside the foveated regions using particle rendering and parallel coordinates

On-the-Fly Workspace Visualization for Redundant Manipulators

This thesis explores the possibilities of on-line workspace rendering for redundant robotic manipulators via parallelized computation on the graphics card. Several visualization schemes for different workspace types are devised, implemented and evaluated. Possible applications are visual support for the operation of manipulators, fast workspace analyses in time-critical scenarios and interactive workspace exploration for design and comparison of robots and tools

A-Train Data Depot - Bringing Atmospheric Measurements Together

This paper describes the satellite data processing and services that constitute current functionalities of the A-Train Data Depot. We first provide a brief introduction to the original geometrical intricacies of the platforms and instruments of the A-Train constellation, and then proceed with description of our ATrain collocation processing algorithm that provides subsets that facilitate synergistic use of the various instruments. Finally, we present some sample image products from our web-based Giovanni tool which allows users to display, compare and download coregistered A-Train related data

Introducing distributed dynamic data-intensive (D3) science: Understanding applications and infrastructure

A common feature across many science and engineering applications is the amount and diversity of data and computation that must be integrated to yield insights. Data sets are growing larger and becoming distributed; and their location, availability and properties are often time-dependent. Collectively, these characteristics give rise to dynamic distributed data-intensive applications. While "static" data applications have received significant attention, the characteristics, requirements, and software systems for the analysis of large volumes of dynamic, distributed data, and data-intensive applications have received relatively less attention. This paper surveys several representative dynamic distributed data-intensive application scenarios, provides a common conceptual framework to understand them, and examines the infrastructure used in support of applications.Comment: 38 pages, 2 figure

Visualizing Astrophysical N-body Systems

I begin with a brief history of N-body simulation and visualization and then go on to describe various methods for creating images and animations of modern simulations in cosmology and galactic dynamics. These techniques are incorporated into a specialized particle visualization software library called MYRIAD that is designed to render images within large parallel N-body simulations as they run. I present several case studies that explore the application of these methods to animations of star clusters, interacting galaxies and cosmological structure formation.Comment: 25 pages, accepted in the New Journal of Physics for upcoming Focus issue on Visualization in Physics. Accompanying animations including a free bittorrent download of the DVD GRAVITAS are available at http://www.galaxydynamics.org/gravitas.htm

Data-to-music API: Real-time data-agnostic sonification with musical structure models

Presented at the 21st International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2015), July 6-10, 2015, Graz, Styria, Austria.In sonification methodologies that aim to represent the underlying data accurately, musical or artistic approaches are often dismissed as being not transparent, likely to distort the data, not generalizable, or not reusable for different data types. Scientific applications for sonification have been, therefore, hesitant to use approaches guided by artistic aesthetics and musical expressivity. All sonifications, however, may have musical effects on listeners, as our trained ears with daily exposure to music tend to naturally distinguish musical and non-musical sound relationships, such as harmony, rhythmic stability, or timbral balance. This study proposes to take advantage of the musical effects of sonification in a systematic manner. Data may be mapped to high-level musical parameters rather than to one-to-one low-level audio parameters. An approach to create models that encapsulate modulatable musical structures is proposed in the context of the new DataTo- Music JavaScript API. The API provides an environment for rapid development of data-agnostic sonification applications in a web browser, with a model-based modular musical structure system. The proposed model system is compared to existing sonification frameworks as well as music theory and composition models. Also, issues regarding the distortion of original data, transparency, and reusability of musical models are discussed