Method of Design Through Structuring of Meanings

This research shows a new approach and development of a design methodology, based on the perspective of meanings. In this study the design process is explored as a development of the structure of meanings. The processes of search and evaluation of meanings form the foundations of developing this structure. In order to facilitate the use and operation of the meanings, the WordNet lexical database and an existing visualization of WordNet — Visuwords — is used for the process of meaning search. The basic tool used for evaluation process is the WordNet::Similarity software, measuring the relatedness of meanings in the database. In this way it is measuring the degree of interconnections between different meanings. This kind of search and evaluation techniques are later on incorporated into our methodology of the structure of meanings to support the design process. The measures of relatedness of meanings are developed as convergence criteria for application in the processes of evaluation. Further on, the methodology for the structure of meanings developed here is used to construct meanings in a verification of product design. The steps of the design methodology, including the search and evaluation processes involved in developing the structure of the meanings, are elucidated. The choices, made by the designer in terms of meanings are supported by consequent searches and evaluations of meanings to be implemented in the designed product. In conclusion, the paper presents directions for developing and further extensions of the proposed design methodology.

Image fusion in GRDSS for Land use Mapping

Image fusion techniques are useful to integrate the geometric detail of a high-resolution panchromatic (PAN) image and the spectral information of a low-resolution multispectral (MSS) image, particularly important for understanding land use dynamics at larger scale (1:25000 or lower), which is required by the decision makers to adopt holistic approaches for regional planning. Fused images can extract features from source images and provide more information than one scene of MSS image. High spectral resolution aids in identification of objects more distinctly while high spatial resolution allows locating the objects more clearly. The geoinformatics technologies with an ability to provide high-spatial-spectral-resolution data helps in inventorying, mapping, monitoring and sustainable management of natural resources. Fusion module in GRDSS, taking into consideration the limitations in spatial resolution of MSS data and spectral resolution of PAN data, provide high-spatial-spectral-resolution remote sensing images required for land use mapping on regional scale. GRDSS is a freeware GIS Graphic User Interface (GUI) developed in Tcl/Tk is based on command line arguments of GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System) with the functionalities for raster analysis, vector analysis, site analysis, image processing, modeling and graphics visualization. It has the capabilities to capture, store, process, analyse, prioritize and display spatial and temporal data.

Geoinformatics for Urbanisation and Urban Sprawl Pattern Analysis

Urbanisation is the increase in the population of cities in proportion to the region's rural population. Urbanisation in India is very rapid with urban population growing at around 2.3 percent per annum. Urban sprawl refers to the dispersed development along highways or surrounding the city and in rural countryside with implications such as loss of agricultural land, open space and ecologically sensitive habitats. Sprawl is thus a pattern and pace of land use in which the rate of land consumed for urban purposes exceeds the rate of population growth resulting in an inefficient and consumptive use of land and its associated resources. This unprecedented urbanisation trend due to burgeoning population has posed serious challenges to the decision makers in the city planning and management process involving plethora of issues like infrastructure development, traffic congestion, and basic amenities (electricity, water, and sanitation), etc. In this context, to aid the decision makers in following the holistic approaches in the city and urban planning, the pattern, analysis, visualization of urban growth and its impact on natural resources has gained importance. This communication, analyses the urbanisation pattern and trends using temporal remote sensing data based on supervised learning using maximum likelihood estimation of multivariate normal density parameters and Bayesian classification approach. The technique is implemented for Greater Bangalore – one of the fastest growing city in the World, with Landsat data of 1973, 1992 and 2000, IRS LISS-3 data of 1999, 2006 and MODIS data of 2002 and 2007. The study shows that there has been a growth of 466% in urban areas of Greater Bangalore across 35 years (1973 to 2007). The study unravels the pattern of growth in Greater Bangalore and its implication on local climate and also on the natural resources, necessitating appropriate strategies for the sustainable management.

Symmetry in Scalar Field Topology

Study of symmetric or repeating patterns in scalar fields is important in scientific data analysis because it gives deep insights into the properties of the underlying phenomenon. Though geometric symmetry has been well studied within areas like shape processing, identifying symmetry in scalar fields has remained largely unexplored due to the high computational cost of the associated algorithms. We propose a computationally efficient algorithm for detecting symmetric patterns in a scalar field distribution by analysing the topology of level sets of the scalar field. Our algorithm computes the contour tree of a given scalar field and identifies subtrees that are similar. We define a robust similarity measure for comparing subtrees of the contour tree and use it to group similar subtrees together. Regions of the domain corresponding to subtrees that belong to a common group are extracted and reported to be symmetric. Identifying symmetry in scalar fields finds applications in visualization, data exploration, and feature detection. We describe two applications in detail: symmetry-aware transfer function design and symmetry-aware isosurface extraction.

Output-Sensitive Construction of Reeb Graphs

The Reeb graph of a scalar function represents the evolution of the topology of its level sets. This paper describes a near-optimal output-sensitive algorithm for computing the Reeb graph of scalar functions defined over manifolds or non-manifolds in any dimension. Key to the simplicity and efficiency of the algorithm is an alternate definition of the Reeb graph that considers equivalence classes of level sets instead of individual level sets. The algorithm works in two steps. The first step locates all critical points of the function in the domain. Critical points correspond to nodes in the Reeb graph. Arcs connecting the nodes are computed in the second step by a simple search procedure that works on a small subset of the domain that corresponds to a pair of critical points. The paper also describes a scheme for controlled simplification of the Reeb graph and two different graph layout schemes that help in the effective presentation of Reeb graphs for visual analysis of scalar fields. Finally, the Reeb graph is employed in four different applications-surface segmentation, spatially-aware transfer function design, visualization of interval volumes, and interactive exploration of time-varying data.

H-DBUG: A High-level Debugging Framework for Protocol Verification using Assertions

The success of an ABV IP depends highly on the associated debugging environment. An efficient debugging environment helps the user to find out the exact location of the failure. Moreover, it provides information to the user in a refined detail of abstraction and permit adequate interaction. It has also been realized that adequate visualization support helps in tracking the behavioral aspects of the Design Under Test (DUT). Currently, the debugging tools provide information in the signal level and do not provide any information about the high-level behavior of the DUT. We present a debugging framework that takes the design specification, assertions and the user intent in a simple format and provides detailed information by processing the design trace on-line, or off-line. We also present a visualization framework to ease the debugging procedure. We have experimented with industrial standard on-chip bus protocols that ensure that this utility can be incorporated successfully in the present functional verification flow.

Parallel Computation of 2D Morse-Smale Complexes

The Morse-Smale complex is a useful topological data structure for the analysis and visualization of scalar data. This paper describes an algorithm that processes all mesh elements of the domain in parallel to compute the Morse-Smale complex of large two-dimensional data sets at interactive speeds. We employ a reformulation of the Morse-Smale complex using Forman's Discrete Morse Theory and achieve scalability by computing the discrete gradient using local accesses only. We also introduce a novel approach to merge gradient paths that ensures accurate geometry of the computed complex. We demonstrate that our algorithm performs well on both multicore environments and on massively parallel architectures such as the GPU.

Oneand twodimensional single quantumand multiplequantumNMR methodologies: tools for chiral analyses

It is well known that enantiomers cannot be distinguished by NMR spectroscopy unless diastereomorphic interactions are imposed. Several chiral aligning media have therefore been reported for their visualization, although extensive studies are carried out using the liquid crystal made of polypeptide poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBLG) in organic solvent. In PBLG medium the spin systems are weakly coupled and the first order analyses of the spectra are generally possible. But due to large number of pair wise interactions of nuclear spins resulting in many degenerate transitions the 1H NMR spectra are not only complex but also broad and featureless, in addition to an indistinguishable overlap of the spectra of enantiomers. This enormous loss of resolution severely hinders the analyses of proton spectra, even for spin systems with 5–6 interacting protons, thereby restricting itsroutine application. In this review we discuss our recently developed several one and multidimensional NMR experiments to circumvent these difficulties taking specific examples of the molecules containing a single chiral centre.

Three-Component Chiral Derivatizing Protocols for NMR Spectroscopic Enantiodiscrimination of Hydroxy Acids and Primary Amines

The novel three-component chiral derivatization protocols have been derived for (1)H and (19)F NMR spectroscopic discrimination of a series of chiral hydroxy acids by their coordination and self-assembly with optically active a-methylbenzylamine and 2-formylphenylboronic acid. In addition, the optically pure (S)-mandelic acid in combination with 2-formylphenylboronic acid permits visualization of enantiomers of primary amines. These protocols have been demonstrated on enantiodiscrimination of chiral amines and hydroxy acids.

Real source-sink pair

This work is concerned with the interaction of a source-sink pair. The main parameters of the problem are source and sink flow rates, the axial and lateral separations of the source and sink, and the angle between the axes of source and sink. Of concern is the percentage of source fluid that enters the sink as a function of these parameters. The experiments have been carried using the source nozzle diameter of 6 mm and the sink pipe diameter of two sizes: 10 mm and 20 mm. The Reynolds numbers of the source jet is about 3200. The main diagnostics are flow visualization using dye, laser induced fluorescence (LIF), particle streak photographs and particle image velocimetry (Ply). To obtain the removal effectiveness (that is percentage of source fluid that is going through the sink pipe), titration method is used. The sink diameter and the angle between source and the sink axes do not influence efficiencies as do the sink flow rate and the lateral separation. Data from experiments have been consolidated so that these results can be used for designing sinks for removal of heat and pollutants. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Planform structure of turbulent free convection on horizontal surfaces

The planform structure of turbulent free convection over a heated horizontal surface has been visualized and analyzed for different boundary conditions at the top and for different aspect ratios, for flux Rayleigh numbers ranging from 10 exp 8 - 10 exp 10. The different boundary conditions correspond to Rayleigh-Benard convection, open convection with evaporation at the top and with an imposed external flow on the heated boundary. Without the external flow the planform is one randomly oriented line plume. At large Ra, these line plumes seem to align along the diagonal, persumably due to a large-scale flow along as visualized in the side view. When the external flow is imposed, the line plumes clearly align in the direction of external flow. Flow visualization reveals that at these Ra, the shear tends to break the plumes which otherwise would reach the opposite boundary. (Author)

In-situ measurements of concentration and temperature during transient solidification of aqueous solution of ammonium chloride using laser interferometry

The variation in temperature and concentration plays a crucial role in predicting the final microstructure during solidification of a binary alloy. Most of the experimental techniques used to measure concentration and temperature are intrusive in nature and affect the flow field. In this paper, the main focus is laid on in-situ, non-intrusive, transient measurement of concentration and temperature during the solidification of a binary mixture of aqueous ammonium chloride solution (a metal-analog system) in a top cooled cavity using laser based Mach-Zehnder Interferometric technique. It was found from the interferogram, that the angular deviation of fringe pattern and the total number of fringes exhibit significant sensitivity to refractive index and hence are functions of the local temperature and concentration of the NH4Cl solution inside the cavity. Using the fringe characteristics, calibration curves were established for the range of temperature and concentration levels expected during the solidification process. In the actual solidification experiment, two hypoeutectic solutions (5% and 15% NH4Cl) were chosen. The calibration curves were used to determine the temperature and concentration of the solution inside the cavity during solidification of 5% and 15% NH4Cl solution at different instants of time. The measurement was carried out at a fixed point in the cavity, and the concentration variation with time was recorded as the solid-liquid interface approached the measurement point. The measurement exhibited distinct zones of concentration distribution caused by solute rejection and Rayleigh Benard convection. Further studies involving flow visualization with laser scattering confirmed the Rayleigh Benard convection. Computational modeling was also performed, which corroborated the experimental findings. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental Studies on High-Pressure Spray Structure of Biofuels

The high-pressure spray characteristics of biofuels, specifically, Pongamia oil and its blends with diesel are studied for various gas pressures. Two single-hole solenoid injectors with nozzle diameters of 200 and 260 mu m are used along with a high-pressure common-rail direct-injection system to inject fuel into a high-pressure spray visualization chamber. The spray structure is characterized using a high-speed laser-based shadowgraphy technique. The spray structure of Pongamia oil revealed the presence of an intact liquid core at low gas pressure. At high gas pressures, the spray atomization of the Pongamia oil showed marked improvement. The spray tip penetration of Pongamia oil and its blends with diesel is higher compared to that of diesel for all test conditions. The spray cone angle of Pongamia oil and 50% Pongamia oil blend with diesel is lower as compared to that of diesel. Both these observations are attributed to the presence of large droplets carrying higher momentum in oil and blend. The droplet size is measured at an injection pressure of 1000 bar and gas pressure of 30 bar at 25 mm below the nozzle tip using the particle/droplet image.analysis (PDIA) method. The droplet size measurements have shown that the Sauter mean diameter (SMD) in the spray core of Pongamia oil is more than twice that of diesel. The spray tip penetration of the 20% blend of Pongamia with diesel (P20) is similar to that of diesel but the SMD is 50% higher. Based on experimental data, appropriate spray tip penetration correlation is proposed for the vegetable oil fuels such as Pongamia.

Plumes Dynamics and Heat Transfer over Horizontal Grooved Surfaces

This study investigates the free convection and plumes dynamics over horizontal surfaces with parallel V-grooves. The convection is studied in a tank of water with the bottom surface being a smooth or grooved surface and the top of the water surface exposed to ambient. Two groove heights were used-10 mm and 3 mm-and the experiment was done with two values of aspect ratio-2.9 and 1.8 (aspect ratio is the width of the fluid layer/height of fluid layer). Heat flux at the bottom surface was from electrical heating. Beyond a certain critical temperature difference, enhanced heat transfer is obtained on the grooved surface compared to a smooth surface. Nusselt numbers are evaluated for both smooth and grooved surfaces and correlated using modified Rayleigh numbers. Visualization shows that the enhanced heat transport in the rough cavities cannot be ascribed to the increase in the contact area; rather, it must be the local dynamics of the thermal boundary layer.

Fragment Finder 2.0: a computing server to identify structurally similar fragments

Fragment Finder 2.0 is a web-based interactive computing server which can be used to retrieve structurally similar protein fragments from 25 and 90% nonredundant data sets. The computing server identifies structurally similar fragments using the protein backbone C alpha angles. In addition, the identified fragments can be superimposed using either of the two structural superposition programs, STAMP and PROFIT, provided in the server. The freely available Java plug-in Jmol has been interfaced with the server for the visualization of the query and superposed fragments. The server is the updated version of a previously developed search engine and employs an in-house-developed fast pattern matching algorithm. This server can be accessed freely over the World Wide Web through the URL http://cluster.physics.iisc.ernet.in/ff/.