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Description
Over 2 billion people are using online social network services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Users update their status, post their photos, share their information, and chat with others in these social network sites every day; however, not everyone shares the same amount of information. This thesis

Over 2 billion people are using online social network services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Users update their status, post their photos, share their information, and chat with others in these social network sites every day; however, not everyone shares the same amount of information. This thesis explores methods of linking publicly available data sources as a means of extrapolating missing information of Facebook. An application named "Visual Friends Income Map" has been created on Facebook to collect social network data and explore geodemographic properties to link publicly available data, such as the US census data. Multiple predictors are implemented to link data sets and extrapolate missing information from Facebook with accurate predictions. The location based predictor matches Facebook users' locations with census data at the city level for income and demographic predictions. Age and relationship based predictors are created to improve the accuracy of the proposed location based predictor utilizing social network link information. In the case where a user does not share any location information on their Facebook profile, a kernel density estimation location predictor is created. This predictor utilizes publicly available telephone record information of all people with the same surname of this user in the US to create a likelihood distribution of the user's location. This is combined with the user's IP level information in order to narrow the probability estimation down to a local regional constraint.
ContributorsMao, Jingxian (Author) / Maciejewski, Ross (Thesis advisor) / Farin, Gerald (Committee member) / Wang, Yalin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
In this thesis, the application of pixel-based vertical axes used within parallel coordinate plots is explored in an attempt to improve how existing tools can explain complex multivariate interactions across temporal data. Several promising visualization techniques are combined, such as: visual boosting to allow for quicker consumption of large data

In this thesis, the application of pixel-based vertical axes used within parallel coordinate plots is explored in an attempt to improve how existing tools can explain complex multivariate interactions across temporal data. Several promising visualization techniques are combined, such as: visual boosting to allow for quicker consumption of large data sets, the bond energy algorithm to find finer patterns and anomalies through contrast, multi-dimensional scaling, flow lines, user guided clustering, and row-column ordering. User input is applied on precomputed data sets to provide for real time interaction. General applicability of the techniques are tested against industrial trade, social networking, financial, and sparse data sets of varying dimensionality.
ContributorsHayden, Thomas (Author) / Maciejewski, Ross (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Yalin (Committee member) / Runger, George C. (Committee member) / Mack, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
In visualizing information hierarchies, icicle plots are efficient diagrams in that they provide the user a straightforward layout for different levels of data in a hierarchy and enable the user to compare items based on the item width. However, as the size of the hierarchy grows large, the items in

In visualizing information hierarchies, icicle plots are efficient diagrams in that they provide the user a straightforward layout for different levels of data in a hierarchy and enable the user to compare items based on the item width. However, as the size of the hierarchy grows large, the items in an icicle plot end up being small and indistinguishable. In this thesis, by maintaining the positive characteristics of traditional

icicle plots and incorporating new features such as dynamic diagram and active layer, we developed an interactive visualization that allows the user to selectively drill down or roll up to review different levels of data in a large hierarchy, to change the hierarchical

structure to detect potential patterns, and to maintain an overall understanding of the

current hierarchical structure.
ContributorsWu, Bi (Author) / Maciejewski, Ross (Thesis advisor) / Runger, George C. (Committee member) / Davulcu, Hasan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Quad-dominant (QD) meshes, i.e., three-dimensional, 2-manifold polygonal meshes comprising mostly four-sided faces (i.e., quads), are a popular choice for many applications such as polygonal shape modeling, computer animation, base meshes for spline and subdivision surface, simulation, and architectural design. This thesis investigates the topic of connectivity control, i.e., exploring different

Quad-dominant (QD) meshes, i.e., three-dimensional, 2-manifold polygonal meshes comprising mostly four-sided faces (i.e., quads), are a popular choice for many applications such as polygonal shape modeling, computer animation, base meshes for spline and subdivision surface, simulation, and architectural design. This thesis investigates the topic of connectivity control, i.e., exploring different choices of mesh connectivity to represent the same 3D shape or surface. One key concept of QD mesh connectivity is the distinction between regular and irregular elements: a vertex with valence 4 is regular; otherwise, it is irregular. In a similar sense, a face with four sides is regular; otherwise, it is irregular. For QD meshes, the placement of irregular elements is especially important since it largely determines the achievable geometric quality of the final mesh.

Traditionally, the research on QD meshes focuses on the automatic generation of pure quadrilateral or QD meshes from a given surface. Explicit control of the placement of irregular elements can only be achieved indirectly. To fill this gap, in this thesis, we make the following contributions. First, we formulate the theoretical background about the fundamental combinatorial properties of irregular elements in QD meshes. Second, we develop algorithms for the explicit control of irregular elements and the exhaustive enumeration of QD mesh connectivities. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of connectivity control for QD meshes in a wide range of applications.
ContributorsPeng, Chi-Han (Author) / Wonka, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Maciejewski, Ross (Committee member) / Farin, Gerald (Committee member) / Razdan, Anshuman (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) is an integrated assessment tool for exploring consequences and responses to global change. However, the current iteration of GCAM relies on NetCDF file outputs which need to be exported for visualization and analysis purposes. Such a requirement limits the uptake of this modeling platform

The Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) is an integrated assessment tool for exploring consequences and responses to global change. However, the current iteration of GCAM relies on NetCDF file outputs which need to be exported for visualization and analysis purposes. Such a requirement limits the uptake of this modeling platform for analysts that may wish to explore future scenarios. This work has focused on a web-based geovisual analytics interface for GCAM. Challenges of this work include enabling both domain expert and model experts to be able to functionally explore the model. Furthermore, scenario analysis has been widely applied in climate science to understand the impact of climate change on the future human environment. The inter-comparison of scenario analysis remains a big challenge in both the climate science and visualization communities. In a close collaboration with the Global Change Assessment Model team, I developed the first visual analytics interface for GCAM with a series of interactive functions to help users understand the simulated impact of climate change on sectors of the global economy, and at the same time allow them to explore inter comparison of scenario analysis with GCAM models. This tool implements a hierarchical clustering approach to allow inter-comparison and similarity analysis among multiple scenarios over space, time, and multiple attributes through a set of coordinated multiple views. After working with this tool, the scientists from the GCAM team agree that the geovisual analytics tool can facilitate scenario exploration and enable scientific insight gaining process into scenario comparison. To demonstrate my work, I present two case studies, one of them explores the potential impact that the China south-north water transportation project in the Yangtze River basin will have on projected water demands. The other case study using GCAM models demonstrates how the impact of spatial variations and scales on similarity analysis of climate scenarios varies at world, continental, and country scales.
ContributorsChang, Zheng (Author) / Maciejewski, Ross (Thesis advisor) / Sarjoughian, Hessam S. (Committee member) / White, Dave (Committee member) / Luo, Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
The proper quantification and visualization of uncertainty requires a high level of domain knowledge. Despite this, few studies have collected and compared the roles, experiences and opinions of scientists in different types of uncertainty analysis. I address this gap by conducting two types of studies: 1) a domain characterization study

The proper quantification and visualization of uncertainty requires a high level of domain knowledge. Despite this, few studies have collected and compared the roles, experiences and opinions of scientists in different types of uncertainty analysis. I address this gap by conducting two types of studies: 1) a domain characterization study with general questions for experts from various fields based on a recent literature review in ensemble analysis and visualization, and; 2) a long-term interview with domain experts focusing on specific problems and challenges in uncertainty analysis. From the domain characterization, I identified the most common metrics applied for uncertainty quantification and discussed the current visualization applications of these methods. Based on the interviews with domain experts, I characterized the background and intents of the experts when performing uncertainty analysis. This enables me to characterize domain needs that are currently underrepresented or unsupported in the literature. Finally, I developed a new framework for visualizing uncertainty in climate ensembles.
ContributorsLiang, Xing (Author) / Maciejewski, Ross (Thesis advisor) / Mascaro, Giuseppe (Committee member) / Sarjoughian, Hessam S. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
Vectorization is an important process in the fields of graphics and image processing. In computer-aided design (CAD), drawings are scanned, vectorized and written as CAD files in a process called paper-to-CAD conversion or drawing conversion. In geographic information systems (GIS), satellite or aerial images are vectorized to create maps. In

Vectorization is an important process in the fields of graphics and image processing. In computer-aided design (CAD), drawings are scanned, vectorized and written as CAD files in a process called paper-to-CAD conversion or drawing conversion. In geographic information systems (GIS), satellite or aerial images are vectorized to create maps. In graphic design and photography, raster graphics can be vectorized for easier usage and resizing. Vector arts are popular as online contents. Vectorization takes raster images, point clouds, or a series of scattered data samples in space, outputs graphic elements of various types including points, lines, curves, polygons, parametric curves and surface patches. The vectorized representations consist of a different set of components and elements from that of the inputs. The change of representation is the key difference between vectorization and practices such as smoothing and filtering. Compared to the inputs, the vector outputs provide higher order of control and attributes such as smoothness. Their curvatures or gradients at the points are scale invariant and they are more robust data sources for downstream applications and analysis. This dissertation explores and broadens the scope of vectorization in various contexts. I propose a novel vectorization algorithm on raster images along with several new applications for vectorization mechanism in processing and analysing both 2D and 3D data sets. The main components of the research are: using vectorization in generating 3D models from 2D floor plans; a novel raster image vectorization methods and its applications in computer vision, image processing, and animation; and vectorization in visualizing and information extraction in 3D laser scan data. I also apply vectorization analysis towards human body scans and rock surface scans to show insights otherwise difficult to obtain.
ContributorsYin, Xuetao (Author) / Razdan, Anshuman (Thesis advisor) / Wonka, Peter (Committee member) / Femiani, John (Committee member) / Maciejewski, Ross (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016