Using visualization for visualization : an ecological interface design approach to inputting data

Visualization is experiencing growing use by a diverse community, with continuing improvements in the availability and usability of systems. In spite of these developments the problem of how first to get the data in has received scant attention: the established approach of pre-defined readers and programming aids has changed little in the last two decades. This paper proposes a novel way of inputting data for scientific visualization that employs rapid interaction and visual feedback in order to understand how the data is stored. The approach draws on ideas from the discipline of ecological interface design to extract and control important parameters describing the data, at the same time harnessing our innate human ability to recognize patterns. Crucially, the emphasis is on file format discovery rather than file format description, so the method can therefore still work when nothing is known initially of how the file was originally written, as is often the case with legacy binary data. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Basins of attraction in forced systems with time-varying dissipation

We consider dissipative periodically forced systems and investigate cases in which having information as to how the system behaves for constant dissipation may be used when dissipation varies in time before settling at a constant final value. First, we consider situations where one is interested in the basins of attraction for damping coefficients varying linearly between two given values over many different time intervals: we outline a method to reduce the computation time required to estimate numerically the relative areas of the basins and discuss its range of applicability. Second, we observe that sometimes very slight changes in the time interval may produce abrupt large variations in the relative areas of the basins of attraction of the surviving attractors: we show how comparing the contracted phase space at a time after the final value of dissipation has been reached with the basins of attraction corresponding to that value of constant dissipation can explain the presence of such variations. Both procedures are illustrated by application to a pendulum with periodically oscillating support.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, 7 table

3-Body Dynamics in a (1+1) Dimensional Relativistic Self-Gravitating System

The results of our study of the motion of a three particle, self-gravitating system in general relativistic lineal gravity is presented for an arbitrary ratio of the particle masses. We derive a canonical expression for the Hamiltonian of the system and discuss the numerical solution of the resulting equations of motion. This solution is compared to the corresponding non-relativistic and post-Newtonian approximation solutions so that the dynamics of the fully relativistic system can be interpretted as a correction to the one-dimensional Newtonian self-gravitating system. We find that the structure of the phase space of each of these systems yields a large variety of interesting dynamics that can be divided into three distinct regions: annulus, pretzel, and chaotic; the first two being regions of quasi-periodicity while the latter is a region of chaos. By changing the relative masses of the three particles we find that the relative sizes of these three phase space regions changes and that this deformation can be interpreted physically in terms of the gravitational interactions of the particles. Furthermore, we find that many of the interesting characteristics found in the case where all of the particles share the same mass also appears in our more general study. We find that there are additional regions of chaos in the unequal mass system which are not present in the equal mass case. We compare these results to those found in similar systems.Comment: latex, 26 pages, 17 figures, high quality figures available upon request; typos and grammar correcte

IceVal DatAssistant: An Interactive, Automated Icing Data Management System

As with any scientific endeavor, the foundation of icing research at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is the data acquired during experimental testing. In the case of the GRC Icing Branch, an important part of this data consists of ice tracings taken following tests carried out in the GRC Icing Research Tunnel (IRT), as well as the associated operational and environmental conditions during those tests. Over the years, the large number of experimental runs completed has served to emphasize the need for a consistent strategy to manage the resulting data. To address this situation, the Icing Branch has recently elected to implement the IceVal DatAssistant automated data management system. With the release of this system, all publicly available IRT-generated experimental ice shapes with complete and verifiable conditions have now been compiled into one electronically-searchable database; and simulation software results for the equivalent conditions, generated using the latest version of the LEWICE ice shape prediction code, are likewise included and linked to the corresponding experimental runs. In addition to this comprehensive database, the IceVal system also includes a graphically-oriented database access utility, which provides reliable and easy access to all data contained in the database. In this paper, the issues surrounding historical icing data management practices are discussed, as well as the anticipated benefits to be achieved as a result of migrating to the new system. A detailed description of the software system features and database content is also provided; and, finally, known issues and plans for future work are presented

Lithium and carbon isotopic fractionations between the alteration assemblages of Nakhla and Lafayette

Nakhla and Lafayette delta 7Li values for samples and extracts (4.1-14.2�) are consistent with brine evaporation. Relatively 13C-poor siderite in Lafayette suggests more than one carbon source was sampled

Research with children and young people: not on them

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Bounding the dimensions of rational cohomology groups

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p > 0$, and let $G$ be a simple simply-connected algebraic group over $k$ that is defined and split over the prime field $\mathbb{F}_p$. In this paper we investigate situations where the dimension of a rational cohomology group for $G$ can be bounded by a constant times the dimension of the coefficient module. We then demonstrate how our results can be applied to obtain effective bounds on the first cohomology of the symmetric group. We also show how, for finite Chevalley groups, our methods permit significant improvements over previous estimates for the dimensions of second cohomology groups.Comment: 13 page