Visualization for the Mind’s Eye

Software visualization has been almost exclusively tackled from the visual point of view; this means visualization occurs exclusively through the visual channel. This approach has its limitations. Considering previous work for blind people we propose that complementing usual approaches with those techniques used to develop interfaces for non-sighted people can enhance user awareness of logical structures or data types using different perception chan-nels. To achieve better comprehension, we deal with new or augmented inter-faces built on top of standard systems for data visualization and algorithm ani-mation. The notion of specific concept keyboards is introduced. As a conse-quence, modern information and learning systems can be designed in such a way that not only sighted but also blind users can navigate within these sys-tems. 1 Value and Problems of Software Visualization Software visualization deals with the animation of algorithms, including numerical, geometric, graphic, and graph algorithms, as well as the visualization of data struc

Effect of a seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) meadow on wave propagation

10 pages, 8 figures, 1 tableWe demonstrate the utility of using the equivalent bottom roughness for calculating the friction factor and the drag coefficient of a seagrass meadow for conditions in which the meadow height is small compared to the water depth. Wave attenuation induced by the seagrass Posidonia oceanica is evaluated using field data from bottom-mounted acoustic doppler velocimeters (ADVs). Using the data from one storm event, the equivalent bottom roughness is calculated for the meadow as ks ~ 0.40 m. This equivalent roughness is used to predict the wave friction factor ƒw, the drag coefficient on the plant, CD, and ultimately the wave attenuation for other storms. Root mean squared wave height (Hrms) is reduced by around 50% for incident waves of 1.1 m propagating over ~1000 m of a meadow of P. oceanica with shoot density of ~600 shoots m−2E. Infantes acknowledges the financial support received from the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia, FPI scholarship program (BES-2006-12850). G. Simarro is supported by the Spanish government through the Ramón y Cajal program. A. Orfila and G. Simarro are grateful for financial support from Spanish MICINN through project CTM2010-12072. M. Luhar was supported on grant number 0751358 from the U.S. National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences DivisionPeer reviewe