Visually guiding and controlling the search while mining chemical structures

In this paper we present the work in progress on LogCHEM, an ILP based tool for discriminative interactive mining of chemical fragments. In particular, we describe the integration with a molecule visualisation software that allows the chemist to graphically control the search for interesting patterns in chemical fragments. Furthermore, we show how structured information, such as rings, functional groups like carboxyl, amine, methyl, ester, etc are integrated and exploited in LogCHEM

Guidelines and Methods for Conducting Porperty Transfer Site Histories

HWRIC Project 90-077NTIS PB91-10508

GUARDIANS final report

Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for firefghters. The large dimensions together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The Guardians robot swarm is designed to assist fire fighters in searching a large warehouse. In this report we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots searching and assisting fire fighters. We explain the swarming algorithms which provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also one of the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus the robot swarm is able to locate itself and provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the re ghters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm based information to human beings

Explicit and implicit geological modelling methods on resource definition and resource utilisation-sishen iron ore deposit case study

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Engineering. 1 October 2017Technological advances make geological modelling easier and more intuitive than ever before. There is a clear shift in the mining industry concerning the needs of the geological model and its function. Geological modelling is one of the first steps in the resource evaluation process; its primary function is to define the orebody’s physical properties and characteristics. It can, therefore, be argued that the geological model has a commanding impact on the entire resource evaluation process. Although many publications exist regarding modelling conventions, few truly compare the explicit versus implicit approaches and document the observed differences. This case study on the Sishen iron ore deposit shows that modern implicit modelling techniques can create geological models comparable to those created using traditional wireframing techniques. In many aspects, these implicit models are superior to their explicit counterparts due to their increased modelling speed and multiple data source inclusion. The implicit modelling process delivered a geological model with modelled ore volumes equivalent to those of the traditional explicit geological model. However, spatial reconciliation between the explicit and implicit versions of the Sishen geological models showed substantial discrepancies due to fundamental differences in geometry and connectivity, and modelling conventions. These differences in the geological models are manifested in considerable change in the final, defined Sishen resource. This case study for the Sishen iron ore deposit confirms that geological models are critical to the entire resource definition and extraction process. Any resource evaluation and planned extraction activity is only as accurate as the geological model used to define the resource originally. This study also shows how critical it is to test geological model performance through the entire mining value chain. Basic volumetric comparisons or tonnage reconciliations can mask the effects of geological modelling approaches on resource definition and extraction.MT 201

The visual uncertainty paradigm for controlling screen-space information in visualization

The information visualization pipeline serves as a lossy communication channel for presentation of data on a screen-space of limited resolution. The lossy communication is not just a machine-only phenomenon due to information loss caused by translation of data, but also a reflection of the degree to which the human user can comprehend visual information. The common entity in both aspects is the uncertainty associated with the visual representation. However, in the current linear model of the visualization pipeline, visual representation is mostly considered as the ends rather than the means for facilitating the analysis process. While the perceptual side of visualization is also being studied, little attention is paid to the way the visualization appears on the display. Thus, we believe there is a need to study the appearance of the visualization on a limited-resolution screen in order to understand its own properties and how they influence the way they represent the data. I argue that the visual uncertainty paradigm for controlling screen-space information will enable us in achieving user-centric optimization of a visualization in different application scenarios. Conceptualization of visual uncertainty enables us to integrate the encoding and decoding aspects of visual representation into a holistic framework facilitating the definition of metrics that serve as a bridge between the last stages of the visualization pipeline and the user's perceptual system. The goal of this dissertation is three-fold: i) conceptualize a visual uncertainty taxonomy in the context of pixel-based, multi-dimensional visualization techniques that helps systematic definition of screen-space metrics, ii) apply the taxonomy for identifying sources of useful visual uncertainty that helps in protecting privacy of sensitive data and also for identifying the types of uncertainty that can be reduced through interaction techniques, and iii) application of the metrics for designing information-assisted models that help in visualization of high-dimensional, temporal data

The Problem of Mental Action

In mental action there is no motor output to be controlled and no sensory input vector that could be manipulated by bodily movement. It is therefore unclear whether this specific target phenomenon can be accommodated under the predictive processing framework at all, or if the concept of “active inference” can be adapted to this highly relevant explanatory domain. This contribution puts the phenomenon of mental action into explicit focus by introducing a set of novel conceptual instruments and developing a first positive model, concentrating on epistemic mental actions and epistemic self-control. Action initiation is a functionally adequate form of self-deception; mental actions are a specific form of predictive control of effective connectivity, accompanied and possibly even functionally mediated by a conscious “epistemic agent model”. The overall process is aimed at increasing the epistemic value of pre-existing states in the conscious self-model, without causally looping through sensory sheets or using the non-neural body as an instrument for active inference