Advanced Visualization and Intuitive User Interface Systems for Biomedical Applications

Modern scientific research produces data at rates that far outpace our ability to comprehend and analyze it. Such sources include medical imaging data and computer simulations, where technological advancements and spatiotemporal resolution generate increasing amounts of data from each scan or simulation. A bottleneck has developed whereby medical professionals and researchers are unable to fully use the advanced information available to them. By integrating computer science, computer graphics, artistic ability and medical expertise, scientific visualization of medical data has become a new field of study. The objective of this thesis is to develop two visualization systems that use advanced visualization, natural user interface technologies and the large amount of biomedical data available to produce results that are of clinical utility and overcome the data bottleneck that has developed. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a tool used to study the quantities associated with the movement of blood by computer simulation. We developed methods of processing spatiotemporal CFD data and displaying it in stereoscopic 3D with the ability to spatially navigate through the data. We used this method with two sets of display hardware: a full-scale visualization environment and a small-scale desktop system. The advanced display and data navigation abilities provide the user with the means to better understand the relationship between the vessel\u27s form and function. Low-cost 3D, depth-sensing cameras capture and process user body motion to recognize motions and gestures. Such devices allow users to use hand motions as an intuitive interface to computer applications. We developed algorithms to process and prepare the biomedical and scientific data for use with a custom control application. The application interprets user gestures as commands to a visualization tool and allows the user to control the visualization of multi-dimensional data. The intuitive interface allows the user to control the visualization of data without manual contact with an interaction device. In developing these methods and software tools we have leveraged recent trends in advanced visualization and intuitive interfaces in order to efficiently visualize biomedical data in such a way that provides meaningful information that can be used to further appreciate it

Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers as a media project works as a diptych. There are two – seemingly identical – pieces of the project that must both be experienced to understand the project as a whole. The first piece of the project is the linear documentary. This part captures the experience as it exists in the past. It exists as a master copy of the original story of mine and my foster brother’s relationship. This version of the story will always exist in the past. The second part is the live-cinema documentary performance. In this version of the story, my foster brother and I are no longer only images on a screen; we are living, breathing, and emotional subjects in the present. Our presence alters how the audience consumes the material

Immersive Visualization for Enhanced Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis

Modern biomedical computer simulations produce spatiotemporal results that are often viewed at a single point in time on standard 2D displays. An immersive visualization environment (IVE) with 3D stereoscopic capability can mitigate some shortcomings of 2D displays via improved depth cues and active movement to further appreciate the spatial localization of imaging data with temporal computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results. We present a semi-automatic workflow for the import, processing, rendering, and stereoscopic visualization of high resolution, patient-specific imaging data, and CFD results in an IVE. Versatility of the workflow is highlighted with current clinical sequelae known to be influenced by adverse hemodynamics to illustrate potential clinical utility

The Resurgence of the International Will: A Call for Federal Legislation

Recent Development-- In August 1991, eighteen years after diplomats and scholars completed the Convention Providing a Uniform Law on the Form of an International Will (Washington Convention), the United States Senate consented to ratification. Before the Washington Convention enters into force, however, the United States Congress must enact federal legislation that requires each of the fifty states to recognize the Convention and its prescribed form of an international will. The Washington Convention is the result of the Diplomatic Conference on Wills which convened in Washington, D.C., in October 1973. Its primary objective is to provide testators with a common means of meeting multiple international jurisdictions will formality requirements. To meet this objective, the Washington Convention established a document that certifies the International Will as a valid will that must be accorded full recognition and compliance in those states that are parties to the Convention

A Guide for the Teaching of Vocal Technique in the High School Chorus

In general, high school choruses do not reach their potential as far as choral tone is concerned. The tone is generally characterized by either a completely undisciplined and labored sound or a pseudo mature sound imposed upon the students by a director seeking to emulate his college choir. When high school choruses sing freely and naturally, they do so because they are taught and inspired to do so by their director. Therefore, the director must understand the concepts of correct singing and must have in his possession practical techniques that will develop a program of correct singing in the high school chorus. The literature pertaining to the concepts of vocal technique and their application in the chorus rehearsal will be reviewed. A guide that can be used by the directors in teaching vocal technique in the high school chorus rehearsal will be prepared