Out of the plane: Flower vs. star glyphs to support high-dimensional exploration in two-dimensional embeddings

Exploring high-dimensional data is a common task in many scientific disciplines. To address this task, two-dimensional embeddings, such as tSNE and UMAP, are widely used. While these determine the 2D position of data items, effectively encoding the first two dimensions, suitable visual encodings can be employed to communicate higher-dimensional features. To investigate such encodings, we have evaluated two commonly used glyph types, namely flower glyphs and star glyphs. To evaluate their capabilities for communicating higher-dimensional features in two-dimensional embeddings, we ran a large set of crowd-sourced user studies using real-world data obtained from data.gov. During these studies, participants completed a broad set of relevant tasks derived from related research. This paper describes the evaluated glyph designs, details our tasks, and the quantitative study setup before discussing the results. Finally, we will present insights and provide guidance on the choice of glyph encodings when exploring high-dimensional data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

La Casa de les arts de Torelló : transformació de l'antic conjunt de Can Parrella en un equipament cultural multifuncional i obertura dels jardins a la Plaça Vella de Torelló

El projecte es basa en la rehabilitació d'una antiga casa senyorial al centre de Torelló, Can Parrella, i la seva transformació en un equipament cultural multifuncional donant resposta als programes de l'escola d'arts plàstiques, l'escola de música i altres usos demandats pels torellonencs. A més a més, el projecte està dotat d'un important vector de recuperació patrimonial, ja que es tracta d'un edifici clau del nucli antic de Torelló sobre el qual existeix una gran voluntat popular i administrativa de rehabilitar-lo.El proyecto se basa en la rehabilitación de una antigua casa señorial en el centro de Torelló, Can Parrella, y su transformación en un equipamiento cultural multifuncional dando respuesta a los programas de la escuela de artes plásticas, la escuela de música y otros usos demandados por los torellonenses. Además, el proyecto está dotado de un importante vector de recuperación patrimonial, puesto que se trata de un edificio clave del casco antiguo de Torelló sobre el que existe una gran voluntad popular y administrativa de rehabilitarlo.The project is based on the rehabilitation of an old manor house in the center of Torelló, Can Parrella, and its transformation into a multifunctional cultural facility responding to the programs of a plastic arts school, a music school and other uses demanded by the people of Torelló. In addition, the project is endowed with an important vector of heritage recovery, since it is a key building in the old town of Torelló on which there is a great popular and administrative will to rehabilitate it

Learning human viewpoint preferences from sparsely annotated models

View quality measures compute scores for given views and are used to determine an optimal view in viewpoint selection tasks. Unfortunately, despite the wide adoption of these measures, they are rather based on computational quantities, such as entropy, than human preferences. To instead tailor viewpoint measures towards humans, view quality measures need to be able to capture human viewpoint preferences. Therefore, we introduce a large-scale crowdsourced data set, which contains 58k annotated viewpoints for 3220 ModelNet40 models. Based on this data, we derive a neural view quality measure abiding to human preferences. We further demonstrate that this view quality measure not only generalizes to models unseen during training, but also to unseen model categories. We are thus able to predict view qualities for single images, and directly predict human preferred viewpoints for 3D models by exploiting point-based learning technology, without requiring to generate intermediate images or sampling the view sphere. We will detail our data collection procedure, describe the data analysis and model training and will evaluate the predictive quality of our trained viewpoint measure on unseen models and categories. To our knowledge, this is the first deep learning approach to predict a view quality measure solely based on human preferences.This work was supported in part by The Federal Ministry of Education and Research funding program - AuCity 3 - Kollaborative und adaptive Mixed Reality in der Hochschullehre am Beispiel des Bauingenieurwesens, between Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, the Bauhaus University Weimar and Ulm University. Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The type semigroup, comparison and almost finiteness for ample groupoids

In this article we prove that a minimal second countable ample groupoid has dynamical comparison if and only if its type semigroup is almost unperforated. Moreover, we investigate to what extent a not necessarily minimal almost finite groupoid has an almost unperforated type semigroup. Finally, we build a bridge between coarse geometry and topological dynamics by characterizing almost finiteness of the coarse groupoid in terms of a new coarsely invariant property for metric spaces, which might be of independent interest in coarse geometry. As a consequence, we are able to construct new examples of almost finite principal groupoids lacking other desirable properties, such as amenability or even a-T-menability. This behaviour is in stark contrast to the case of principal transformation groupoids associated to group actions.Comment: Added appendix and improved Theorem B. 37 page

Strict comparison for C*-algebras arising from almost finite groupoids

In this paper we show that for an almost finite minimal ample groupoid G, its reduced C∗-algebra C∗r(G) has real rank zero and strict comparison even though C∗r(G) may not be nuclear in general. Moreover, if we further assume G being also second countable and non-elementary, then its Cuntz semigroup Cu(C∗r(G)) is almost divisible and Cu(C∗r(G)) and Cu(C∗r(G)⊗Z) are canonically order-isomorphic, where Z denotes the Jiang-Su algebra

Apport des réalités virtuelles et augmentées dans la planification et le suivi in situ de travaux de rénovation.

Ce mémoire de thèse de doctorat présente l'évaluation d'un système de réalité mixte dans le cadre d'une utilisation sur le site d'opération de construction. Il s'agit notamment de déterminer la pertinence d'un tel outil mobile pour des opérateurs pour les assister dans leurs tâches quotidiennes, et notamment dans la préparation et le suivi des opérations de construction ou rénovation. Cet outil se voudrait être un outil d'aide à la décision pour les maîtres d'ouvrages et maîtres d'œuvre. Le cas d'étude porte sur la rénovation virtuelle des baies anciennes (datées du XVIIIème siècle) dans une cellule des bâtiments conventuels de Cluny (Saône et Loire, France). L'approche consiste à comparer l'efficacité, la précision et la rapidité d'opérateurs dans la réalisation de tâches identiques. Trois méthodes liées à l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies dans le domaine de l'AIC (Architecture Ingénierie et Construction) sont comparées, elles ont guidé la définition du protocole expérimental. La première méthode traditionnelle fournit à l'opérateur de la documentation papier. La seconde met en œuvre la dématérialisation des données constructives, accessibles depuis un ordinateur de bureau. La troisième méthode plus innovante ajoute à la précédente l'accès colocalisé à la base de données grâce à un terminal mobile. Une étude qui a suivi a porté sur la visualisation et l'interprétation de résultats de simulation thermique, en réalité virtuelle. La comparaison des trois premières méthodes a donné lieu à une première expérimentation dont les résultats ont montré la légère prédominance du second scénario (travail sur ordinateur de bureau). Cependant, au-delà des aspects d'ergonomie et d'interface utilisateur, des investigations complémentaires doivent être menées pour étudier l'opportunité du développement du BIM in situ, c'est-à-dire l'utilisation du modèle de données du bâtiment (BIM- Building Information Model) sur le chantier.This dissertation presents the evaluation of an onsite augmented reality tool and its relevance for helping construction agents to prepare and monitor the progress of a building's construction or renovation through a mobile device. The case study focuses on virtual renovation works regarding an ancient window dated eighteenth century- in a room of the Cluny (Saone et Loire, France) abbey buildings. The study aims at comparing the efficiency and the precision of users' behavior in four situations while performing identical sets of tasks. Three methods related to the ICT uses of onsite AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) guided the experiment: the first method focuses on paper-based content; the second method provides a digital model of the project on a workstation. The third method consists in using a full digital model with colocation access to the database on a mobile device. The fourth method considers working in an immersive room to interpret thermal simulation data. The result of this work is dedicated mainly as a decision-aid tool for project owners and constructors. The comparison between these methods led to a first experiment whose results favor the second method, which implies working on a desktop workstation. However, beyond the aspect of ergonomics and user interface, further investigations are necessary to study the propriety of using the Building Information Model (BIM) on the construction site.PARIS-Arts et Métiers (751132303) / SudocSudocFranceF

Simulation and Visualization of Thermal Metaphors in a Virtual Environment for Thermal Building Assessment

The current application of the design process through energy efficiency in virtual reality (VR) systems is limited mostly to building performance predictions, as the issue of the data formats and the workflow used for 3D modeling, thermal calculation and VR visualization. The importance of energy efficiency and integration of advances in building design and VR technology have lead this research to focus on thermal simulation results visualized in a virtual environment to optimize building design, particularly concerning heritage buildings. The emphasis is on the representation of thermal data of a room simulated in a virtual environment (VE) in order to improve the ways in which thermal analysis data are presented to the building stakeholder, with the aim of increasing accuracy and efficiency. The approach is to present more immersive thermal simulation and to project the calculation results in projective displays particularly in Immersion room (CAVE-like). The main idea concerning the experiment is to provide an instrument of visualization and interaction concerning the thermal conditions in a virtual building. Thus the user can immerge, interact, and perceive the impact of the modifications generated by the system, regarding the thermal simulation results. The research has demonstrated it is possible to improve the representation and interpretation of building performance data, particularly for thermal results using visualization techniques