Information visualisation and data analysis using web mash-up systems

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThe arrival of E-commerce systems have contributed greatly to the economy and have played a vital role in collecting a huge amount of transactional data. It is becoming difficult day by day to analyse business and consumer behaviour with the production of such a colossal volume of data. Enterprise 2.0 has the ability to store and create an enormous amount of transactional data; the purpose for which data was collected could quite easily be disassociated as the essential information goes unnoticed in large and complex data sets. The information overflow is a major contributor to the dilemma. In the current environment, where hardware systems have the ability to store such large volumes of data and the software systems have the capability of substantial data production, data exploration problems are on the rise. The problem is not with the production or storage of data but with the effectiveness of the systems and techniques where essential information could be retrieved from complex data sets in a comprehensive and logical approach as the data questions are asked. Using the existing information retrieval systems and visualisation tools, the more specific questions are asked, the more definitive and unambiguous are the visualised results that could be attained, but when it comes to complex and large data sets there are no elementary or simple questions. Therefore a profound information visualisation model and system is required to analyse complex data sets through data analysis and information visualisation, to make it possible for the decision makers to identify the expected and discover the unexpected. In order to address complex data problems, a comprehensive and robust visualisation model and system is introduced. The visualisation model consists of four major layers, (i) acquisition and data analysis, (ii) data representation, (iii) user and computer interaction and (iv) results repositories. There are major contributions in all four layers but particularly in data acquisition and data representation. Multiple attribute and dimensional data visualisation techniques are identified in Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0 environment. Transactional tagging and linked data are unearthed which is a novel contribution in information visualisation. The visualisation model and system is first realised as a tangible software system, which is then validated through different and large types of data sets in three experiments. The first experiment is based on the large Royal Mail postcode data set. The second experiment is based on a large transactional data set in an enterprise environment while the same data set is processed in a non-enterprise environment. The system interaction facilitated through new mashup techniques enables users to interact more fluently with data and the representation layer. The results are exported into various reusable formats and retrieved for further comparison and analysis purposes. The information visualisation model introduced in this research is a compact process for any size and type of data set which is a major contribution in information visualisation and data analysis. Advanced data representation techniques are employed using various web mashup technologies. New visualisation techniques have emerged from the research such as transactional tagging visualisation and linked data visualisation. The information visualisation model and system is extremely useful in addressing complex data problems with strategies that are easy to interact with and integrate

Feedback 2.0: An Investigation into Using Sharable Feedback Tags as Programming Feedback

Objectives: Learning and teaching computer programming is a recognised challenge in Higher Education. Since feedback is regarded as being the most important part of the learning process, it is expected that improving it could support students' learning. This thesis aims to investigate how new forms of feedback can improve student learning of programming and how feedback sharing can further enhance the students' learning experience. Methods: This thesis investigates the use of new forms of feedback for programming courses. The work explores the use of collaborative tagging often found in Web 2.0 software systems and a feedback approach that requires examiners to annotate students source code with short, potentially reusable feedback. The thesis utilises a variety of research methods including questionnaires, focus groups and collection of system usage data recorded from student interactions with their feedback. Sentiment and thematic analysis are used to investigate how well feedback tags communicate the intended message from examiners to students. The approaches used are tested and refined over two preliminary investigations before use in the final investigation. Results: The work identified that a majority of students responded positively to the new feedback approach described. Student engagement was high with up to 100% viewing their feedback and at least 42% of students opting to share their feedback. Students in the cohort who achieved either the lower or higher marks for the assignment appeared more likely to share their feedback. Conclusions: This thesis has demonstrated that sharing of feedback can be useful for disseminating good practice and common pitfalls. Provision of feedback which is contextually rich and textually concise has resulted in higher engagement from students. However, the outcomes of this research have been shown to be influenced by the assessment process adopted by the University. For example, students were more likely to engage with their feedback if marks are unavailable at the time of feedback release. This issue and many others are proposed as further work

Learning and mining from personal digital archives

Given the explosion of new sensing technologies, data storage has become significantly cheaper and consequently, people increasingly rely on wearable devices to create personal digital archives. Lifelogging is the act of recording aspects of life in digital format for a variety of purposes such as aiding human memory, analysing human lifestyle and diet monitoring. In this dissertation we are concerned with Visual Lifelogging, a form of lifelogging based on the passive capture of photographs by a wearable camera. Cameras, such as Microsoft's SenseCam can record up to 4,000 images per day as well as logging data from several incorporated sensors. Considering the volume, complexity and heterogeneous nature of such data collections, it is a signifcant challenge to interpret and extract knowledge for the practical use of lifeloggers and others. In this dissertation, time series analysis methods have been used to identify and extract useful information from temporal lifelogging images data, without benefit of prior knowledge. We focus, in particular, on three fundamental topics: noise reduction, structure and characterization of the raw data; the detection of multi-scale patterns; and the mining of important, previously unknown repeated patterns in the time series of lifelog image data. Firstly, we show that Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) highlights the feature of very high correlation in lifelogging image collections. Secondly, we show that study of equal-time Cross-Correlation Matrix demonstrates atypical or non-stationary characteristics in these images. Next, noise reduction in the Cross-Correlation Matrix is addressed by Random Matrix Theory (RMT) before Wavelet multiscaling is used to characterize the `most important' or `unusual' events through analysis of the associated dynamics of the eigenspectrum. A motif discovery technique is explored for detection of recurring and recognizable episodes of an individual's image data. Finally, we apply these motif discovery techniques to two known lifelog data collections, All I Have Seen (AIHS) and NTCIR-12 Lifelog, in order to examine multivariate recurrent patterns of multiple-lifelogging users

Stratigraphic visualisation for archaeological investigation

The principal objective of archaeology is to reconstruct in all possible ways the life of a community at a specific physical location throughout a specific time period. Distinctly separate layers of soil provide evidence for a specific time period. Discovered artefacts are most frequently used to date the layer. An artefact taken out of context is virtually worthless; hence the correct registration of the layer in which they were uncovered is of great importance. The most popular way to record temporal relationships between stratigraphic layers is through the use of the 2D Harris Matrix method. Without accurate 3D spatial recording of the layers, it is difficult if not impossible, to form new stratigraphic correspondences or correlations. New techniques for archaeological recording, reconstruction, visualisation and interpretation in 3D space are described in these works and as a result software has been developed. Within the developed software system, legacy stratigraphy data, reconstructed from archaeological notebooks can be integrated with contemporary photogrammetric models and theodolite point data representations to provide as comprehensive a reconstruction as possible. The new methods developed from this research have the capability to illustrate the progression of the excavation over time. This is made possible after the entry of only two or more strata. Sophisticated, yet easy-to-use tools allow the navigation of the entire site in 3D. Through the use of an animation-bar it is possible to replay through time both the excavation period and the occupation period, that is to say the various time periods in antiquity when human beings occupied these locations. The lack of complete and consistent recording of the soil layers was an issue that proved to be an obstacle for complete reconstruction during the development of these methods. A lack of worldwide archaeological consensus on the methods of stratigraphic recording inhibited development of a universal scientific tool. As a result, new recording methods are suggested to allow more scientific stratigraphic reconstruction.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Factors effecting basic needs service design and innovation at the bottom of the pyramid

The research carried out in thesis is sub-set of a longer on-going project to facilitate a sustainable ‘demand driven’ approach to water and sanitation product and service development. The project aims to achieve public and private health benefits where urban low-income tenant households, typically living in slums and informal housing areas, cannot access the conventional infrastructure. These families that rent a single room in a slum for $10 per month and who may be earning an uncertain wage of$2 per day. Unable to afford to invest in fixed assets when they might be required to move at very short notice. The project seeks to deliver desirable products to the local market, the one billion growing to two billion slum dwellers, which will be available for years to come. This is irrespective of any on-going donor involvement and possibly in advance of formal recognition and infrastructure investment by conventional service providers. Cont/d

Exploring Pedestrianism in Contemporary Streetscape Planning: A Scrutiny of the YongeTOmorrrow Initiative in Downtown Toronto

In a study of Toronto’s YongeTOmorrow plan, my thesis explains the significance of pedestrianism and the role that it plays in the planning and regulation of the urban streetscape. However, the plan under scrutiny proposes an overhaul to the streetscape that creates a reinvented pedestrianism. This is a danger to publicness, as its benefits will be limited to businesses and their middle-class consumers, whose presence and interests are prioritized. Meanwhile, street-present non-consumers will be urged to move along under the regulatory absolutism of The Safe Streets Act, 1999. In this context, efficient flow is being reshaped to privilege consumption while continuing to restrain the liberty it alleges to cultivate

Making Time For Space At Çatalhöyük: GIS as a tool for exploring intra-site spatiotemporality within complex stratigraphic sequences

This thesis explores the inherent temporality embedded within the complex stratigraphic sequence of the ‘tell’ site of Çatalhöyük, an important Anatolian Neolithic settlement situated upon the Konya Plain, South-Central Turkey. Recently the Çatalhöyük Research Project has digitized all of its single context excavation data, fully integrating their digital archive within an intra-site GIS, as an aid to analysis and interpretation. This process of digitisation excludes the Harris matrix, which, despite being integral to the recording system, and the main source of relative temporal data for the development of the site, remains an analogue mode of analysis. This research digitally visualises the stratigraphic sequence, both dynamically and intuitively (moving beyond conventional archaeological methods of phasing and periodisation), utilising the temporal capabilities of ArcGIS 10 to generate robust and dynamic intra-site spatiotemporal models. By focusing upon two case studies as a ‘proof-of-method’ (a ‘typical’ sequence of two fully excavated superjacent buildings – Buildings 65 and 56, and one unusually large and well preserved burnt building – Building 77), the experimental appending of stratigraphically-based temporal data onto the spatial component of an excavation dataset within a GIS, and subsequent analysis of associated material culture within its spatiotemporal context, has proved an innovative way to articulate and visualise the site’s space through time. This represents a transparent, repeatable and critical approach to post-excavation analysis, using current computing technologies. Focusing upon integrated spatiotemporal analysis of excavation data and associated material culture within these models also facilitates greater understanding of the relationship between space and time in archaeology within the data structure of primary recording in archaeological excavations. The resultant spatiotemporal animations combine this data as a new type of ‘visual narrative’ that may help illustrate the social meaning of these structures, potentially telling the bigger story of the site within its wider context of the Anatolian Neolithic

An investigation of integrated woven electronic textiles (e-textiles) via design led processes

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonElectronic textiles (e­‐textiles) are created by the amalgamation of electronics and textiles, where electronics are integrated into or onto fabric substrates. Woven textiles are specifically considered in this thesis to integrate electronics into textiles' orthogonal architecture. This thesis investigates 'How can the weaving process be manipulated to make woven e-­textiles with integrated electronics?' The methodological approach taken is practice based research carried out via a technical materials approach and creative craft methods. An investigation of woven e-­textiles through design led practice and woven expertise is presented. Previously, woven e-­textiles have been investigated either via technical material approaches, (where the main emphasis remains on function) or via creative craft methods, (which emphasise experimental forms, manipulate integration methods and apply craft based knowledge). Both of these approaches have presented only limited investigation of unobtrusive integrated electronics in woven e-­textiles, and woven structures have not been fully utilised to support the integration. The research applies reflective practice through a design process model; this is based on the researcher's previous weaving expertise and designing methods. The work investigates how woven construction may be manipulated to develop novel integrated woven e-­textiles. It was found that five woven approaches were particularly of value for electronics integration. These were the use of double cloth, the integration of multiple functions into the textiles as part of the weaving, the use of complex weaving techniques to attach and integrate components, the use of inlay weft weaving and the manipulation of floats (free floating threads). The thesis makes original contributions to knowledge, including identification of key stages in the woven e-­textile design process, identification and application of advanced weaving techniques to facilitate integrated woven e-­textiles, and compilation of a systematic record of woven e-­‐textile techniques as a technical woven repository. Underpinning design principles that influence the developed e-­textile outcomes are identified. A range of woven e-­textile samples are designed and made. Three specific examples including an actuator ('RGB colour mixer'), a circuit ('corrugated pleat LED v2') and a soft module ('battery holder module v4'), are described in detail to illustrate their development using the e-­textile design process model. The knowledge gained has potential to be applied to industrial woven processes for e-­textiles.Brunel University EPSRC (DTA) bursar

Making participatory land policy in Pune, India

Land is significant to politics in India. The Slum Rehabilitation Policy (SRP) of the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) seeks to rehabilitate slum-dwellers by using land as a resource. Whereas there are many theoretical and practical ways of conceptualising, using, and politicising land, how people subjected to the slum rehabilitations imagine, use and politicise land remains underexplored. This thesis explores people’s land subjectivities during the implementation of the state-sanctioned SRP in India. To do so, I draw from postcolonial theory and subaltern studies to interrogate a socially made ‘participatory land policy’ (PLP). This socially made PLP is visible through my proposed postcolonial sensory field, which constitutes people’s contextually articulated land subjectivities and participatory encounters between government and the governed. This shows that the Indian state institutions are not the sovereign authors, but participants in socially making PLP. The socially made PLP is society’s intentional conduct regarding land that shapes people’s own land subjectivities and policies. By critically examining slum rehabilitations in Pune, this thesis uncovers a socially made PLP in which various bodily, material, and textual encounters and people’s postcolonial and subaltern land subjectivities are made visible. Empirically, I focus on two settlements undergoing slum rehabilitation in the city of Pune, India. Using an abductive research strategy, ethnographic data generation and discourse analyses methods, I show that the SRP principally considers land as property and commodity. Alternatively, some of people’s articulations of land straddle between modernity and tradition (therefore postcolonial), while others remain unrecognisable using prevailing vocabularies (therefore subaltern). This thesis uncovers three subaltern meanings of land, namely: an anchor for interpersonal metonyms, inseparable from spatial morphology, and flesh of the community. Effectively, this thesis presents a theory of a socially made participatory land policy attentive to postcolonial and subaltern land subjectivities in Pune