CSI 758
Visualization and Modeling of Complex Systems
J.H. Beall
The course will consider elements of modeling and analysis of complex systems, including earth and space sciences data and systems. We shall concentrate on both sample projects and student-initiated projects as a means of illustrating visualization and graphical analysis techniques. Students are welcome to work with ongoing (thesis) projects as part the course. Ideally, several different analysis and visualization packages will be used. Spacecraft data sets from the Naval Research Laboratory Backgrounds Data Center and other NRL data sets are available for course projects. These data include a number of current and past satellite missions. A perusal of data sets from the World Wide Web is also possible. We shall also read a series of papers on visualization and modeling. While there will be some lectures, the primary format of the course will be that of a graduate seminar.
Fall Semester - 3 semester hours
Course Work
The work of the semester will consist of readings of selected papers, some work in the texts, some sample data analysis projects, one or two (short) papers, and a course project which may consist of an elaboration of ongoing work. Papers will be taken from some journals, notably Science and Nature, and chapters of some conference proceedings. Grades will be determined from daily work in the seminars, presentations of sample projects, the short papers, and the course project. Please provide me with a 1 page description of the course project by the 6th week of class.
Text
Applied Chaos Theory: a paradigm for complexity , by A.B. Cambel
References:
Visualizing Data,
by William s. Cleveland The
Visual Display of Quantitative Information
by E. Tufte
The
Data Handbook, by
Brad Fortner, Spyglass, Inc.
Statistical
Graphics and Visualization,
by E.J. Wegman and D.B. Carr
The
Image Processing Handbook, by
John C. Russ, CRC Press.
Practical
Data Visualization, by
P.R. Keller and M.M. Keller
How to contact me:
J.H. Beall
CSI
Science and Tech 1, Room 107,
GMU
Fairfax Campus, Fairfax, VA
email: jbeall@gmu.edu
Office phone: 703.993.1996
Office hours by appointment
Analysis Tools :
I have no preference for which of the many available packages you use for the modeling and analysis you do for this course. Some of the available packages include SPLUS, AVS, Vis-5D, XV, and IDL, among many others. I recommend, however, that you investigate IDL or PV-Wave (which are clones of one another), since they are a nice compromise between ease of use of graphical tools and transparency of code for manipulating data.. IDL is currently installed on the cluster of machines for the College of Science.
To run IDL, simply type idl at the login prompt.
Initial Data Sets:
Three types of data sets are
described in this link: data
These will be
interesting as test samples for your initial work with your chosen
data analysis system.
Data sets and papers for the
class can be found in the following link: data
files
CSI
758: Visualization and Modeling of Complex Systems
Instructor:
J.H. Beall
Syllabus:
Week 1: Modeling and Visualization: Overview of Some Elements of Modeling.
Week
2:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
"Verification, Validation, and Confirmation of Numerical
Models..."
Week
3:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
"Complicated Behavior of Simple Dynamical Systems," by
Robert May
Week
4:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
"Persistence of Transients in Spatially Structured Ecological
Models," by Hastings and Higgins
Week
5:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
Paper on Solutions of Systems of Coupled Differential Equations
Week
6:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
Elements of Visualization Methods
Week
7:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
Methods of Analysis of Various Types of Data
Week
8:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
More on Data Types: Univariate Data, Bivariate, and Multivarite Data
Week
9:
a) Discussion
of Lab Work
b)
Analysis of Images: Processing Images in Frequency Space,
Segmentation and Thresholding, Image Reconstruction, etc
Week
10:
a)
Discussion of Lab Work
b)
Modeling: Visualization of Wave and Diffusion Equations, etc
Week
11:
a)
Discussion of Lab Work
b)
Issues of Graphical Excellence: Color tables and contour plots,
periodic phenomena, information density
Week
12:
a)
Discussion of Lab Work and Analysis Packages
b)
Methods of Projection, 3- and 4-dimensional images, animation,
multi-dimensional data sets
Week
13:
a)
Discussion of Lab Work and NRL/BDC Vista Orbital Analysis Program
b) Case Study of NGC 6814:
Short Time Scale Variability of an Active Galaxy
Week
14:
a)
Discussion of Lab Work
b)
Case Study of a Jet in 3c390.3
Week
15:
a)
Discussion of Lab Work
b)
Discussion of Projects
Week
16:
Discussion
of Projects;
End of Semester