Browsing by Author "Boulanger, Pierre"
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- ItemOpen AccessA Socio-Technical Approach to Designing a Visual Analytics Decision Support Tool for Wind Farm Placement Planning in Alberta(2016-02-03) Adagha, Ogheneovo; Levy, Richard; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Gates, Cormack; Lindquist, Mark; Keenan, Thomas; Boulanger, PierreWind energy is recognized as an important component of the world’s energy mix. Despite its widely acknowledged advantage as a renewable energy resource, the development of wind farms in the last 20 years has posed a critical challenge for land use planning in Alberta. In view of this, there are compelling arguments that effective, place-specific decision support tools would enable stakeholders identify appropriate placement locations for wind farms in Alberta. The research presented in thesis empirically examined ways in which a decision support tool can be developed to achieve the goal stated above. A socio-technical approach was used to identify the decision support requirements of wind energy stakeholders in Alberta and to develop a conceptual framework in response to the requirements. Further research was conducted to determine the underlying attributes of effective visual analytics decision support tools, and how those attributes can be applied to the design of the proposed tool. Based on the established requirements, attributes, and conceptual framework, a proof-of-concept, web-based Alberta Wind decision support tool (AB–WINDEC) tool was implemented using iterative prototyping techniques. The prototype was first assessed through an expert appraisal. It was subsequently evaluated in focus groups with wind energy stakeholders in Alberta. Focus group participants reviewed the conceptual system design in the following areas: usability, usefulness, analytical support, and capability to support tasks and data management. These findings suggest that AB–WINDEC can be useful for educational purposes, public engagement, high-level analysis, risk assessment, and collaboration. The main contributions of this thesis and the research described in it are four-fold: It extends current knowledge by bringing together, for the first time, the decision support requirements of stakeholders involved in planning the placement of wind farms in Alberta. Thus, it was possible to develop a conceptual framework that integrated the dual aspects of AB–WINDEC as a social and technical decision support tool. Progress was made in multi-disciplinary areas of visual analytics, product design, product experience, prototyping, and design research. Finally, the thesis shows that knowledge gained from empirical research can inform the development of an effective visual analytics decision support tool.
- ItemOpen AccessInformation Visualization for Exploration and Self-Reflection in Social Media(2021-06) Lapides, Paul; Carpendale, Sheelagh; Isenberg, Petra; Willett, Wesley; Boulanger, Pierre; Katz, Larry; Aycock, JohnThe emergence of global social media platforms in the last decade has changed how people communicate and inform themselves. Today, people use social media during work and leisure time to send messages, browse current events, and keep up with friends and family both near and far. Virtually every platform uses reverse chronological lists to prioritize and deliver content throughout the network. This presentation modality implicitly puts the viewer's focus on the present moment, on the newest content available. Lists may be effective for the purposes of real-time content viewing but other representations are better suited to see our social media activity in aggregate and to focus the viewer's attention on the past. This dissertation investigates the potential of information visualization to show people their social media data to gain awareness about their online social history. Unlike many visualizations for social media that use graph representations and focus on the structure of the network, our approach focuses on showing the broad temporal characteristics of personal social media activity. We present design studies that focus on three different parts of a social media platform, specifically Facebook: the news feed, the personal profile, and private messages. In our first study, participants were observed while they browsed their news feed and were interviewed in situ about their reactions and opinions. Next, we present Friend Bubbles, an interactive visualization that shows the connections between friends and posted content on the personal profile. Finally, we present TextVis, an online survey tool that asks participants to explore their instant message history with a large-scale temporal visualization. This dissertation ends with reflections about how social media and computer interfaces may influence people's attention and awareness, and how information visualization can be used to support exploration and deeper knowledge about personal social media experiences.
- ItemOpen AccessMediating Experiential Learning in Interactive Immersive Environments(2018-01-22) Mostafa, Ahmed; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mário; Chan, Sonny; Takashima, Kazuki; Boulanger, Pierre; El-Sheimy, NaserSimulation and immersive environments are gaining popularity in various contexts. Arguably, such interactive systems have the potential to benefit many users in a variety of education and training scenarios. However, some of these systems especially with the lack of skilled instructors are still faced by challenges of operational complexity, the incorporation of different technologies and features, and the limited availability of performance measures and feedback. Therefore, the design of these systems would benefit from integrating experiential aspects and essential educational aids. For example, users of such learning systems, especially the novice ones, can be better supported by a smoother learning curve, detailed guidance features, the availability of feedback and performance reporting, and the integration of engaging & reflective capabilities. In essence, we recognize a need to re-explore learning aids and how they impact design, usage, and overall learning experience in interactive immersive environments. The goal of this dissertation is to mediate experiential learning in interactive immersive environments. This includes exploring existing and novel learning aids that would facilitate learning with improved engagement and immersion, enrich learners with insightful reflections, better support novice users’ learning and training needs, and ultimately enhance the overall experience. To achieve this goal, we utilized existing learning models and simulation-based training approaches and proposed a framework of learning aids to mediate learning in interactive immersive environments. Working closely with domain expert collaborators, we designed, implemented and evaluated four new interactive immersive prototypes in an attempt to validate the practicality of our aids. The first prototype, NeuroSimVR, is a stereoscopic visualization augmented with educational aids to support how medical users learn about a common back surgery procedure. The second prototype, ReflectiveSpineVR, is an immersive virtual reality surgical simulation with innovative interaction history capabilities that aim to empower users’ memories and enable deliberate repetitive practice as needed. The third prototype, JackVR, is an interactive immersive training system, utilizing novel gamification elements, and aims to support oil-and-gas experts in the process of landing oil rigs. Our fourth prototype, RoboTeacher, involves a humanoid robot instructor for teaching people industrial assembly tasks. In our prototypes, we presented novel learning aids, visualization, and interaction techniques that are new to many of the current immersive learning tools. We conclude this dissertation with lessons learned and guidelines for designing with learning aids in future research directions that target interactive experiential environments.
- ItemOpen AccessThree-dimensional morphological changes of the temporomandibular joint and functional effects after mandibulotomy(2017-01-28) Al-Saleh, Mohammed A Q; Punithakumar, Kumaradevan; Lagravere, Manuel; Boulanger, Pierre; Jaremko, Jacob L; Wolfaardt, John; Major, Paul W; Seikaly, HadiAbstract Background The midline and paramedian mandibulotomy are surgical procedures that divide the mandibular bone into two halves and disconnects the condylar heads of the TMJ from each other. This study aimed to prospectively evaluate the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) functional and morphological changes after mandibulotomy using a reconstructed 3D models of the TMJ. Methods Sixteen adult patients diagnosed with oral and oropharyngeal tumors with planned surgical mandibulotomy (test group, 9 patients) or transoral (control group, seven patients) treatments were included in the study. MRI and CBCT images were obtained immediately preceeding surgery and 6–8 weeks after surgery. Using the MRI-CBCT registered images, TMJ tissues were segmented at the two occasions by the same operator and 3D models were reconstructed for morphological assessment. Changes across time were measured using the volume overlap and Hausdorff distance of the disc and condyle 3D models. Disc-condyle relationship was measured using point-based and color map analysis. To assess the early functional changes, the Jaw function limitation scale (JFLS) and the maximum mouth opening were measured. Two-sample Hotelling T2 t-test was performed to determine the significance of the morphological and clinical outcomes’ differences between the two groups. Results The two-sample Hotelling T2 t-test showed significant differences (T2 (df1,df2) = 0.97 (5,26), p <0.01) between the mean values of all outcomes among the 2 groups. The change in disc displacement was significantly different between the two groups (p <0.05). However, the condylar displacement was not significantly different between the two groups (p =0.3). The average of the JFLS score was five times larger after mandibulotomy, and was 2 times larger after transoral surgery (p < 0.01). Patients showed decrease in the average of the maximum interincisal mouth opening by 11 mm after mandibulotomy, and by 5.4 mm after transoral surgery. Conclusion The quantitative assessment of the TMJ showed minimal changes of the condylar position and variable degrees of articular disc displacement associated with the paramedian split mandibulotomy. As well, limited jaw functions and vertical mouth opening were noticed more in the mandibultomy group compared to the transoral group in 6- weeks after surgery.
- ItemOpen AccessVisualizing 4D Spatiotemporal Vortex Behavior Through Evolution Surfaces(2019-03-20) Ferrari, Simon; Hu, Yaoping; Krishnamurthy, Diwakar; Helaoui, Mohamed; Johansen, Craig T.; Boulanger, PierreTurbulent fluid flow data is often 4-dimensional (4D), spatially and temporally complex, and requires specific techniques for visualization. Common visualization techniques neglect the temporal aspect of the data, limiting their ability to convey feature motion. Existing spatiotemporal visualization techniques either do not support 3D vortices, or they must reduce temporal resolution to preserve visual clarity. In sacrificing temporal resolution these techniques can no longer accurately detect or portray feature evolution events. The objective of this thesis is to develop a method to present the spatiotemporal behavior of vortices with a focus on temporal fidelity. To achieve this goal this thesis presents an approach – evolution surfaces – which abstracts the spatial representation of vortices to render their spatiotemporal behavior with reduced visual complexity. The behavior of vortex features are presented as surfaces, with textures indicating properties of motion and evolution events (e.g., bifurcation and amalgamation) represented by the surface topology. This approach has been implemented in a prototype software system and used to examine empirical and computer-simulated turbulent flow datasets ranging from Reynolds number Re = 300 to Re = 86000. Additionally, the reduction in visual complexity offered by evolution surfaces has enabled simultaneous rendering of multiple shedding cycles for analysis of long-term vortex shedding behavior patterns. These results have been compared to existing spatiotemporal visualization techniques using qualitative and quantitative metrics. This approach has been assessed by fluid dynamicists to assert its validity and future potential. Evolution surfaces offer a compact visualization of spatiotemporal vortex behaviors, opening potential avenues for exploration and analysis of turbulent fluid flows.