'Shall I compare thee to a network?': Visualizing the Topological Structure of Shakespeare’s Plays

Many of the plays of William Shakespeare are almost universally known and continue to be played even 400 years after his death. Although the plots of the plays are in general very different, scholars are still discussing similarities in their language, their structure, and many other aspects. In this paper, we demonstrate that visualization approaches may support such an analysis. The presence of machine-readable annotations for each of the plays permits us to construct a set of weighted networks. Every network describes co-occurrence relations between individual characters of a play; its weights may be used to indicate the importance of a connection between two characters, for instance. We subject the networks to a topology-based analysis that permits us to assess their structural similarity. Moreover, we use the dissimilarity values to obtain a topology-based embedding of all the plays. We then proceed to show how features in the dramatic structure of the play manifest themselves in the embedding. This paper is thus a first step towards a more in-depth analysis of the plays, demonstrating the benefits of topology-based visualizations for the digital humanities

Is Smaller Always Better? - Evaluating Video Compression Techniques for Simulation Ensembles

We provide an evaluation of the applicability of video compression techniques for compressing visualization image databases that are often used for in situ visualization. Considering relevant practical implementation aspects, we identify relevant compression parameters, and evaluate video compression for several test cases, involving several data sets and visualization methods; we use three different video codecs. To quantify the benefits and drawbacks of video compression, we employ metrics for image quality, compression rate, and performance. The experiments discussed provide insight into good choices of parameter values, working well in the considered cases

Smart Sirens - Civil Protection in Rural Areas

Germany carried out a nationwide “Alert Day” in 2020 to test its civil alarm systems. The test revealed some problems. Heterogeneous development structures and topography can be limiting factors for sound propagation. In consequence, sirens could be heard inadequately, depending on their location. Furthermore, the reason of warning remains unknown to the public. In terms of civil protection, warnings with the code of behavior by general available media is desired. Smart sirens can transmit additional spoken information and be installed on already-existing streetlights. In this study, we analyze how smart sirens could lead to an improved civil protection. Exemplarily, a detailed analysis is made for a different structured rural area, Dansenberg in Germany, whereas the influence of local conditions on the sound propagation is considered. We analyzed with the software CadnaA - a software for calculation, assessment and prediction of environmental sound - how the location and number of smart sirens can be optimized in order to produce a full coverage of the study area. We modeled the coverage in different scenarios and compared four scenarios: (a) current situation with two E57 type sirens; (b) replacing the existing sirens with two high-performance sirens; (c) one high-performance siren at the more central point; and (d) optimized network of smart sirens of the type Telegrafia Bono. The aim was to achieve a full coverage with a minimum of warning sirens. We could show that the current situation with two E57 type sirens fails to reach out to the whole population whereas the optimized network of smart sirens results in a better coverage. Therefore, a reconsideration of the existing warning system of civil protection with smart sirens could result in a better coverage and improved information of warning

Interactive Quality Inspection of Measured Deviations in Sheet Metal Assemblies

We present an exploratory data analysis approach for finite element (FE) simulations to interactively inspect measured deviations in sheet metals arising in automotive applications. Exterior car body parts consist of large visible surfaces, and strict tolerances must be met by them to satisfy both aesthetic requirements and quality performance requirements. To fulfill quality requirements like gap and flushness, exterior vehicle components have adjustable mechanical boundaries. These boundaries are used to influence the shape and position of a sheet metal part relative to its chassis. We introduce a method that supports an inspection engineer with an interactive framework that makes possible a detailed analysis of measured sheet metal deviation fields generated from 3D scans. An engineer can interactively change boundary conditions and obtains the resulting deviation field in real-time. Thus, it is possible to determine viable and desirable adjustments efficiently, leading to time and cost savings in the assembly process

Ein automatisches und virtuelles 3D-Puzzle von Khmer-Tempeln im Angkorstil

In Banteay Chhmar, Kambodscha, befindet sich eine der größten Tempelanlagen weltweit. Jedoch sind von vielen Mauern heute nur noch Steinhaufen vorhanden, viele scheinbar intakte Mauern benötigen dringend ein neues Fundament. Ein neu entwickeltes Verfahren zur automatisierten und virtuellen Rekonstruktion einer Mauer auf der Grundlage von 3D-Scans gewährleistet, dass solche annähernd quaderförmigen Steine beim Wiederaufbau möglichst wenig bewegt werden müssen. Im ersten Schritt wird jedes hochauflösende 3D-Steinmodell auf die wesentlichen Merkmale, die Ecken, Kanten und Seitenflächen reduziert. Das Verfahren ermittelt auf Grundlage des Winkels zwischen benachbarten Flächen Kombinationsmöglichkeiten von Mauersteinen. Schließlich erfolgt im dritten Arbeitsschritt die Validierung dieser Vorschläge durch den Experten.One of the largest temple complexes in the world is located in Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia. However, many of the temple walls are currently only piles of stone blocks and many of the seemingly intact walls are in urgent need of new foundations. A new method was developed for the automated virtual reconstruction of a stone wall on the basis of 3D scans allowing to limit the moving of the nearly cube-shaped stones to a minimum during reconstruction work. In a first step, each high-resolution 3D stone model is reduced to its essential features, namely vertices, edges and faces. The method then suggests pairs of fitting stone blocks on the basis of the angle between adjacent surfaces. Finally, the expert has to validate the suggested fitting in a third step

Viscous Fingering: A Topological Visual Analytic Approach

International audienceWe present a methodology to analyze and visualize an ensemble of finite pointset method (FPM) simulations that model the viscous fingering process of salt solutions inside water. In course of the simulations the solutions form structures with increased salt concentration called viscous fingers. These structures are of primary interest to domain scientists as it is not clear when and where viscous fingers appear and how they evolve. To explore the aleatoric uncertainty embedded in the simulations we analyze an ensemble of simulation runs which differ due to stochastic effects. To detect and track the viscous fingers we derive a voxel volume for each simulation where fingers are identified as subvolumes that satisfy geometrical and topological constraints. Properties and the evolution of fingers are illustrated through tracking graphs that visualize when fingers form, dissolve, merge, and split. We provide multiple linked views to compare, browse, and analyze the ensemble in real-time. Fig. 1: Detail view of our visualization tool consisting of the 3D rendering of viscous fingers (left), and the tracking graph showing their evolution (right)

Associations between air temperature and cardio-respiratory mortality in the urban area of Beijing, China: a time-series analysis

Background: Associations between air temperature and mortality have been consistently observed in Europe and the United States; however, there is a lack of studies for Asian countries. Our study investigated the association between air temperature and cardio-respiratory mortality in the urban area of Beijing, China. Methods: Death counts for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases for adult residents (≥15 years), meteorological parameters and concentrations of particulate air pollution were obtained from January 2003 to August 2005. The effects of two-day and 15-day average temperatures were estimated by Poisson regression models, controlling for time trend, relative humidity and other confounders if necessary. Effects were explored for warm (April to September) and cold periods (October to March) separately. The lagged effects of daily temperature were investigated by polynomial distributed lag (PDL) models. Results: We observed a J-shaped exposure-response function only for 15-day average temperature and respiratory mortality in the warm period, with 21.3°C as the threshold temperature. All other exposure-response functions could be considered as linear. In the warm period, a 5°C increase of two-day average temperature was associated with a RR of 1.098 (95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.057-1.140) for cardiovascular and 1.134 (95%CI: 1.050-1.224) for respiratory mortality; a 5°C decrease of 15-day average temperature was associated with a RR of 1.040 (95%CI: 0.990-1.093) for cardiovascular mortality. In the cold period, a 5°C increase of two-day average temperature was associated with a RR of 1.149 (95%CI: 1.078-1.224) for respiratory mortality; a 5°C decrease of 15-day average temperature was associated with a RR of 1.057 (95%CI: 1.022-1.094) for cardiovascular mortality. The effects remained robust after considering particles as additional confounders. Conclusions: Both increases and decreases in air temperature are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. The effects of heat were immediate while the ones of cold became predominant with longer time lags. Increases in air temperature are also associated with an immediate increased risk of respiratory mortality