On October the 20th Helwig Hauser will give a talk about future challenges in Visualization.

Abstract

Since 2007, Helwig Hauser is professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, where he is leading the research group on visualization. During the first four years, the group grew to a size of 15 researchers, working on projects in medical visualization, the visualization of geological data and models, flow visualization, the visualization of biological data, marine data visualization, and others. Since then, the group is continuously contributing to the field. Helwig Hauser's interests are diverse in visualization and related fields, including interactive visual analysis, illustrative visualization, and the combination of scientific and information visualization, as well as many other related topics. Helwig Hauser is also particularly interested in the application of visualization to the fields of medicine, geoscience, climatology, biology, engineering, and others.

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On September the 15th Hanneke Meijer will give a talk at VCF, with the title "3D Imaging of Museum Collections".

Abstract

3D imaging techniques can provide a range of exciting opportunities for museum collections, research, exhibits, education and outreach. In this talk, I will highlight some of the potential uses of 3D imaging techniques for the Bergen University Museum. For instance, digital models of specimens can reduce damage that occurs when delicate or rare specimens are handled by researchers. Rather than loaning specimens to researchers, (high-res) 3D models of specimens can easily be shared with researchers worldwide, thereby facilitating research and reducing the need for travel. Furthermore, with only a small portion of collections on display in museum exhibits, digitization affords the opportunity to bring the remainder of the collection into the virtual light and allows the public to interact with museum collections. Finally, with 3D printing, educators can integrate 3D technologies into their classrooms.

Hanneke Meijer is an Associate Professor and Curator of Osteology at the Natural History Museum in Bergen. She is a vertebrate paleontologist with a background in vertebrate functional morphology and an interest in insular evolution, biogeography, paleoecology and extinction. Her research focuses on dispersal, turnover and extinction of prehistoric bird communities. A main focus of her work is Island Southeast Asia and Mauritius, where she uses fossil bird remains to document prehistoric avian biodiversity and the impact of natural and non-natural disturbances on an insular ecosystem, but she also works on bird remains from Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On August the 11th Daniel Patel will give a talk at VCF, with the title "The Computer Graphics Curriculum at Høgskolen på Vestlandet".

Abstract

This talk presents the computer graphics cirruculum at HVL and the experiences after introducing a new course on advanced computer graphics covering both geometry, 3D printing and real time ray tracing using the Unity game engine.

Daniel Patel is a senior resarcher at CMR and an adjunct assosiate professor at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On June the 23rd Ivan Kolesar, a PhD student at the visualization group successfully defended his Thesis. This marked the completion of a four year long PhD study. The title the thesis was “Partial Spatio-temporal Abstraction for Comparative Visualization of Molecular Processes”, while the presentation part of the defense was about "How to fit a lot of molecular spatial data into your screen." Doctor Kolesar was supervised by Prof. Helwig Hauser from the visualization group at the University of Bergen and Prof. Ines Heiland from UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

The opponents for the defense were assistant professor Michael Sedlmair from the Visualization and Data Analysis Group (VDA) at the University of Vienna and Doctor Michael Krone from the Visualization group of the University of Stuttgart. The defense went very smoothly and the committee remarked on the quality and importance of Doctor Kolesars contribution in creating a model for comperative visualization using user specified similarity measures.

On May the 5th Nils Martin Engebretsen will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Data visualization in society: creating meanings and feelings through the visualization of numbers".

Abstract

We witness today an increased use of data visualization (DV) in a number of fields and genres: in journalism, in education, in commerce and industry etc. DV – in the forms of colorful graphs, maps and diagrams – are used to inform, convince and tell stories, and they promise to make both statistical material and unstructured flowing data accessible and intelligible even for untrained users. New affordances of dynamics and interaction introduced by digital media technology, make the landscape of DV-design even more rich and complex, and call for new and updated descriptions, models for learning and investigations concerning semiotic qualities and social functions. Martin Engebretsen, professor at UiA and leader of the NFR-funded project INDVIL (Innovative Data Visualization and Visual-numeric Literacy) will share future plans and preliminary results from the project (see www.indvil.org) He will focus specifically on the use of DV on online news sites. The main questions are: What characterizes the use of data visualizations on major Scandinavian news sites today and how do they create meanings and feelings?

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On April the 7th Tobias Isenberg will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Abstraction in Non-Photorealistic Rendering and Illustrative Visualizations".

Abstract

Abstraction is a concept that is fundamental in both non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) and (illustrative) visualization. In NPR, abstraction is introduced by choosing a subset of elements to depict, by simplifying the depicted elements, by choosing a particular style of depiction, or by even changing the underlying geometric model. Here, abstraction typically serves an aesthetic goal. In illustrative visualization, abstraction is often used to emphasize important parts and de-emphasize less important ones. Traditionally, however, most authors argue that by simply using an NPR style or by using methods from illustrative rendering they automatically abstract---only few approaches actually discuss how the abstraction is introduced, what types of abstraction exist, and how abstraction can be controlled. I will discuss three approaches that not only rely on abstraction but also allow users to control it. First, I will discuss an approach for the abstraction of visualizations of molecular structures in which a continuous abstraction space between structural abstraction, abstraction through spatial perception, and abstraction by means of "illustrativeness" is created. Users can navigate this space to adjust visualization to their specific needs. Then I will talk about the abstraction of brain connectivity though the contraction of fiber tracks based on local similarity. And finally, I will discuss an example from NPR in which different abstraction strategies are used to affect map data in order to create an abstract map representation that is guided by each person's individual aesthetics.

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On March the 10th Thomas Spengler will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Weather and Climate, a Playground for Big Data and Visualisation".

Abstract

Weather and climate science is among the most demanding in terms of challenges for computation and data. Terabytes of data are produced every day for operational forecasting, but at the end most people are only interested in a few symbols on their favourite weather app worth a few kilobytes. I will touch on the principles of weather forecasting and the computational demands and challenges for data input and transfer. In particular, I will also focus on current research questions with respect to storm development and state-of-the-art analysis techniques, including feature detection and data reduction using theoretical assessments of the flow evolution. I will also highlight challenges in visualising our conceptual understanding of the workings of the weather and point to open questions regarding best use of the available data given the current research questions, also with respect to ensemble prediction. As an outlook, I will also touch on data availability at our institute for possible collaboration and close with open questions from the atmospheric science side.

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On February the 10th Morten Fjeld will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Content Delivery for Tomorrow: From Vibrotactile Notifications to Mid-Air Displays".

Abstract

Vibrotactile notifications can be supportive as our visual attention is often overtaxed, both in mobile and fixed settings. In the first part of this talk, we investigate how users perceive spatiotemporal vibrotactile patterns on the arm, palm, thigh, and waist. Results of the first two experiments indicate that precise recognition of either position or orientation is difficult across multiple body parts. Nonetheless, users were able to distinguish whether two vibration pulses were from the same location when played in quick succession. Based on this finding, we designed eight spatiotemporal vibrotactile patterns and evaluated them in two additional experiments. In the second part of this talk, we present HaptiColor, an assistive wristband that encodes discrete color information into spatiotemporal vibrations to support colorblind users to recognize and compare colors. In the third part of this talk, we speculate around how advances in display technologies could soon make wearable mid-air displays—devices that present dynamic images floating in mid-air relative to a mobile user—available.

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

The Department of Informatics is now recruiting 3 research fellows (PhD candidates) and 1 postdoctoral fellow in informatics/computer science.

This is an excellent opportunity to pursue cutting-edge research in the field of visualization, including a stimulating and dynamic international working environment.

Furthermore, there are currently two vacancies for permanent positions as professor/associate professor in machine learning within the Department of Informatics.

The University of Bergen (UiB) is an internationally recognised research university with more than 14,000 students and close to 3,500 employees at six faculties. The university is located in the heart of Bergen. Our main contribution to society is excellent basic research and education across a wide range of disciplines.

For further information please follow the links to the
PhD positions , the postdoctoral position and the (associate) professor in machine learning positions.

  Questions to Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On November the 18th Alexander Lundervold will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Modeling the human larynx for simulation of airflow during exercise".

Abstract

Obstruction of the central airways is typically expressed by exercise-induced inspiratory symptoms (EIIS) and is an important cause of exercise induced dyspnea in young and otherwise healthy individuals. We are constructing a computational model for the larynx that will be used to simulate the airflow. The aim is to understand the larynx’s role for breathing problems: which obstructions leads to problems, and why. To obtain the proper laryngeal geometry we use a combination of MRI and CT data acquired at HUS and NMBU. Our computational model is based on image and laryngoscopy data, and constructed using COMSOL Multiphysics, a finite-element based software package widely used in computer-aided engineering. The simulations aim to uncover the effect of geometry changes in the supraglottic region on the characteristics of the airflow through the larynx.

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On October the 14th Marc Baaden will give a talk at VCF, with the title "An update on seeing and touching molecules in motion through interactive molecular graphics".

Abstract

For several years now, our team pursues the goal to study complex molecular assemblies through interactive visualization, manipulation and analysis approaches to aid hypothesis generation and exploration of complex datasets. The UnityMol framework [1] forms a central tool for these investigations and is based on the Unity3D game engine. A first line of research tries to help with the 3D context, for instance through content-guided navigation, exploded views and semantic links between molecular objects and their analysis data [2]. Concerning the molecular representations, we extended the UnityMol repertoire to include specific visualizations for sugar molecules [3] and are now including coarse-grained systems by default. These are particularly apt for interactive simulations, even in the classroom or via crowdsourcing. A particular focus lies on the integration of dedicated hardware such as large, high-resolution display walls, or more recently head-mounted virtual reality headsets or augmented reality setups.

[1] Lv et al., Game on, Science - how video game technology may help biologists tackle visualization challenges, PLoS ONE 8(3):e57990, 2013 (http://unitymol.sourceforge.net)

[2] Trellet et al., Interactive Visual Analytics of Molecular Data in Immersive Environments via a Semantic Definition of the Content and the Context, IEEE VR 2016/VR 2016 Workshop on Immersive Analytics

[3] Pérez et al., Three-Dimensional Representations of Complex Carbohydrates and Polysaccharides. SweetUnityMol: A Video Game Based Computer Graphic Software, Glycobiology 25, 2015, 483-491; doi: 10.1093/glycob/cwu133

  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On September the 27th Marc Vaudel will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Analyzing Complex Biomedical Data to Improve Patient Care".

Abstract
High throughput sample characterization techniques like genomic sequencing have revolutionized modern patient care and led to the paradigms of personalized and precision medicine. However, comprehensive analytical approaches, the so-called omics fields, have also revealed the overwhelming complexity of biological systems, and require the interpretation of massive amounts of data. As a result, there is currently a major gap between what can be inferred from patient samples and what is actually used in the clinics. This presentation will introduce key concepts in using omics techniques for precision medicine, and underline some of the challenges associated with patient data interpretation. A particular emphasis will be given to the complexity of associating the omics data with disease mechanisms, and to the importance of making the results intelligible to all. Interactive data visualization plays a crucial role in this process, yet much remains to be done before patients can fully benefit from these modern approaches. Talents, ideas and expertise are much needed to overcome the challenges ahead. You are warmly invited to join the effort!


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

We are pleased to invite you all to the joint MedViz conference and the Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine which will take place on September 7-9 in Bergen.

MedViz has one impressive decade of exciting experiences from annually assembling more than 100 technologists and physicians from Bergen, Norway, and from abroad for the MedViz conference. During Sept. 7-9, the MedViz Conference comes together with the 6th edition of the Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM). VCBM was first organized in 2008 in Delft, The Netherlands, then becoming a very successful series of events, happening again in 2010 in Leipzig, Germany, then in 2012 in Norrköping, Sweden, and then in 2014 in Vienna, Austria. Due to its increased success, VCBM was then improved into an annual event—organized in 2015 in Chester, UK, before then coming to Bergen, Norway, in 2016.

For more information check out the events dedicated webpage: MedVizVCBM.uib.no or facebook webpage .
  Questions to Stefan.Bruckneruib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On August th 18th Jaakko Peltonen will give a talk at the UIB Infromatikk Department Seminar, with the title "Lost in Publications? - How to Find Your Way in 50 Million Scientific Documents by Machine Learning and Interactive Intent Modelling".

Abstract
Before one can analyze relevant data one must first find it from among the huge amount of available data. The most common example is information seeking from large masses of documents, whether it is from the general web or from large collections. Often the search is exploratory, and it may be hard to formulate a good query, but traditional information retrieval systems do not sufficiently help users to improve unsatisfactory results. In this talk I discuss an improved system for exploratory search, where users are given power to direct their search by interacting visually with a model of their search intent. My talk concentrates on a particular domain: information seeking of scientific documents. Finding relevant documents is a common task for researchers, who must navigate big data to keep up to date with ongoing research and place their own work in context. Current scientific knowledge includes more than 50 million published articles -- among such a huge mass of data, how can a system help a researcher find relevant documents in their field? We introduce SciNet, an interactive search system that anticipates the user’s search intents by estimating them from the user’s interaction with the interface. The estimated intents are visualized on an intent radar, a radial layout that organizes potential intents as directions in the information space. The system assists users to direct their search by allowing feedback to be targeted on keywords representing the potential intents. Users can provide feedback by moving the keywords on the intent radar. The system then learns and visualizes improved estimates and corresponding documents. The resulting user models are explicit open user models curated by the user during the interactive information seeking. SciNet has been shown to significantly improve users’ task performance and the quality of retrieved information without compromising task execution time. We also show how user models learned in SciNet can be used to help cold-start recommendation in another system, the CoMeT talk management system, by cross-system user model transfer across the systems.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On August th 12th Paul Rosenthal will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Reproducibility in Visual Computing".

Abstract
Reproducibility is the basis of all sciences. Without reproducibility, there is no advancement by building on previous knowledge and there can be no judgment of the reliability of current knowledge. As all fields of visual computing have matured, procedures for verifying and evaluating techniques have been introduced also in these field. While many individuals are making their code and procedures available, there are no established guidelines for reproducibility in the communities. However, introducing such practices would increase the acceptance of visual computing methods in other communities, make contributions more well-grounded, and expedite future innovation by making comparisons and improvements easier. In this talk, I will discuss this important role and the benefits of a strong culture of reproducibility. The explanations will be carried out with special focus on the fields of visualization, human-computer interaction, and computer graphics. Still, they can be transferred to other disciplines in many aspects and stimulate the respective discussion there.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On May 27nd Erik Hanson will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Perfusion modeling - The link between reservoir simulation and medical compartment modeling".

Abstract
Perfusion, the amount of blood feeding a volume of tissue, has for decades been possible to measure using medical imaging techniques and simple mathematical models. The imaging technology and the mathematical and numerical tools needed to solve the models have evolved rapidly over this period. At the same time, the models themselves have not changed accordingly. In this talk we will se how methods for modeling of porous media flow may contribute to a better mathematical understanding of perfusion modeling. The pressure driven flow trough a capillary system is an essential concept both in perfusion and reservoir/porous media simulation. We will discuss how this link may contribute to an improved modeling framework suited to make use of the extensive amount of information accessible through modern 4D medical imaging.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On April 22nd Bjørn Tore Gjertsen will give a talk at VCF, with the title " Untangling intracellular signaling network in cancer".

Abstract
Protein and gene networks centered on the regulatory tumor suppressor proteins may be of crucial importance both in carcinogenesis and in the response to chemotherapy. Tumor suppressor protein p53 integrates intracellular data in stress responses, receiving signals and translating these into differential gene expression. Interpretation of the data integrated on p53 may therefore reveal the response to therapy in cancer. Proteomics offers more specific data – closer to “the real action” – than the hitherto more frequently used gene expression profiling.
We are currently working with single cell immune profiles that include information about intracellular signaling systems. Patient cancer cells are sampled before and under therapy to determine response or therapy failure as early as possible, thereby adjusting therapy to the benefit of the patient. Data visualization tools have been imperative for our interpretation of measurements. The question open for discussion is if we need better data visualization tools to easy grasp the dynamics of cancer, and if we have these tools available for visualization with exponentially increasing data density.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On March 18th Ola Kristoffer Øye will give a talk at VCF, with the title " Seismic imaging and model building".

Abstract
Seismic imaging is an important tool for understanding the subsurface in oil and gas exploration and production. Going from recorded seismic data to a high resolution seismic image requires several steps of data processing, model building and migration, often run through several iterations. In this talk I will cover some of the techniques involved in the seismic imaging pipeline, with focus on data driven model building and migration. I will cover how data and images can be analyzed in different domains, and discuss some of the challenges in producing high quality seismic images.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On February 19th Rasmus Slaattelid will give a talk at VCF, with the title " Visualization, story telling, and the big picture".

Abstract
At the University of Bergen, there exists several research environments that focus on visualizations. Visualizations of data, or of scientific knowledge more generally, visual cultures, diagrammatic thinking, and story-telling in visual media. If we look beyond the UoB, the picture grows even more diverse. This multitude of approaches and interests already suggests that a comprehensive understanding of visualization as a cognitive tool within one discipline is difficult, and that more collaboration across these disciplinary divides would be fruitful. The aim of my talk is to present some possible common areas of interest between different disciplines studying visualizations.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On January 29th Rodica Mihai and Geir Nævdal will give a talk at VCF, with the title " What is going on at the IRIS offices in the 8th floor?".

Abstract
IRIS has an extensive research activity within energy, social sciences and marine biology. Main areas for IRIS Energy are drilling and well technology, reservoir technology, green technologies and research testing facilities. We will give a short introduction to our work within real time modelling of the drilling process and name some of its challenges. Products of this work are among others, an unique simulation environment called Virtual Rig as well as automated drilling solutions which have been successfully implemented offshore. In the second part of the presentation we will introduce shortly our work on ensemble based methods for large scale parameter estimation and optimizations problems, with a particular focus on flow in porous media, namely oil reservoirs. Main research area in IRIS has been so far oil related but we have currently increasing ongoing research activity to apply similar techniques within other research areas such as medicine research, i.e. blood flow modelling


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

In Sept. 2016, the annual MedViz conference and the Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (EG VCBM) are coming together and form a joint, interdisciplinary meeting of experts from technology, medicine, biology, and related fields.

MedViz has one impressive decade of exciting experiences from annually assembling more than 100 technologists and physicians from Bergen, Norway, and from abroad for the MedViz conference. Next year, 2016, during Sept. 7-9, the MedViz conference comes together with the 6th edition of the Eurographics Workshop on Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM). VCBM was first organized in 2008 in Delft, The Netherlands, then becoming a very successful series of events, happening again in 2010 in Leipzig, Germany, then in 2012 in Norrköping, Sweden, and then in 2014 in Vienna, Austria. Due to its increased success, VCBM was then improved into an annual event-organized in 2015 in Chester, UK, before then coming to Bergen, Norway, in 2016.

Please go to the following web site for more information: http://medvizvcbm.uib.no/
Or go to the VCBM facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/medvizvcbm/ and https://www.facebook.com/events/770818463024537/

  Questions to Helwig.Hauseruib.no

SINTEF has organized an annual winter school in Geilo since 2001, on different topics within eScience and computational mathematics. This year schools topis is scientific visualization, and is organized with the help of the Visualization Group in Bergen.

The schools have been funded by the Research Council of Norway, and have provided hundreds of lectures on topics relevant to the Norwegian eScience community, ranging from parallel computing and Big Data to Monte Carlo simulations and continuum mechanics. The first fifteen winter schools have attracted over 800 participants from industry, research, and academic institutions in Norway, Scandinavia, and the world.

Visualization is an integral part of science, and a necessity for our understanding of complex processes and data. The word visualization can have a broad interpretation, including creating trivial plots of values, advanced rendering techniques, and complex statistical data reasoning. This winter school will target the process of understanding data through scientific visualization, and focus on extracting knowledge from data. With hands-on exercises you will during the course of this winter school learn techniques, tools, and best practices for extracting knowledge from data.

Questions to Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On December 11th MedViz and VCF will again join their forces and have a joint seminar! The seminar will be opened by Eivind Hansen. The first speaker will be Paolo Angelelli (former PostDoc of our Visualization group), with the title "Improving the Visualization of Cardiax Ultrasound", followed by Daniel hammenfors and Preben G. Nes, with the title "Automated Digital Analysis of major Salivary Gland Ultrasound Images". At the end of the seminar Ragnar Nortvedt has a MedViz surprise. In the spirit of the upcoming holidays, some extra delicous finger food will be served after the program!

Abstracts:
Paolo Angelelli:
In 2013 the GE Vingmed Ultrasound started a BIA project together with three other partners including the Bergen VisGroup, to create the next generation GE platform for cardiac ultrasound. This project, which is still ongoing, has an explicit focus on delivering improved image quality and visualizations, and has led to Vingmed latest product, the successful Vivid E95 scanner. The Bergen VisGroup contributed to different technologies already present in the Vivid E95 or soon to be integrated. The aim of the talk is to give an overview of the visual computing research that has been carried out in Bergen in the context of this project.

Daniel hammenfors and Preben G. Nes
We will present our project in which we use the windowed scattering transform and multi scale wavelet transform to classify ultrasonographic images of salivary glands of patients with Sjögrens syndrome.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On October 13th Morten Brun will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Topological methods for data analysis".

Abstract
I will explain how we have used persistent homology to examine meteorological data. In particular we have studied patterns of weather fronts that have reached Bergen. This is an ongoing joint project between the department of geophysics and the department of mathematics here in Bergen. If time permits, at the end of the talk I will sketch how we envision to use topological data analysis in the study of the stress imposed on cod liver by pollution.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On October 16th Junyong You will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Perceived visual quality assessment".

Abstract
Visual signals are often distorted due to unavoidable factors, e.g., lossy compression, transmission over error prone networks. Accurate assessment of visual quality plays an important role in multimedia services in order to provide the best viewing experience to end-users. Traditionally used quality metrics, e.g., PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio) often cannot accurately represent the actual distortions perceived by human users. For example, the distorted images below all have same PSNR values with respect to the original reference image, while they present different levels of perceived distortions. This talk presents methodologies of perceived visual quality assessment, including visual mechanism modelling and applications in objective visual quality metrics. A video quality metric driven visual attention and foveation mechanism that was developed by the presenter will be introduced as an example. Applications in other areas will also be briefly mentioned.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On September 18th Jan Byska will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Visualizations for conveying biochemical properties across and along protein voids".

Abstract
Proteins are highly complex systems contributing to all functions in living organisms. Understanding their function helps to reveal the fundamentals of biochemical processes that are taking place in living cells. This search process, however, consumes an enormous amount of time and resources, due to the internal protein dynamics, which constantly change structural and biochemical characteristics of the protein over time. Thus, several in-silico predictive methods already appeared, which focus mostly on the analysis of the protein structure. In this talk we will mainly focus on methods for interactive exploration of protein inner void space including its geometry, physico chemical properties and dynamics to evaluate or modify the reactivity of the protein with other small molecules.


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

At this year's St. Tropez International Film Festival in Nice, France, our former colleague Pina Kingman won the Scientific and Educational Award. The Nice in South of France International Film and Television Festival of World Cinema was held in the south of France at the same time as the World famous Cannes film festival. In its 4th year, it is a global industry event that will reach out to the many filmmakers. All the details can be found on our Physioillustration project webpage.

On August 28th Ivan Viola will give a talk at VCF, with the title "Bridging Spatial and Temporal Scales in Biological Data Visualization".

Abstract
"The study of biological processes carried out in living organisms is among the central foci of modern science. The field is nowadays by large extent computational, there are many kinds of digital models that characterize particular aspects of life. To provide a comprehensive view on biological phenomena, visualization offers itself for integrating multiple models into one visual environment. One of the interesting challenges, associated with such a visual integration, is to communicate phenomena that are simultaneously described on several spatial and temporal scales. In my talk I will discuss visualization techniques that bridge five orders of magnitude of spatial scale by interactively displaying structural information from a single atom level up to entire bacteria cell size with complete molecular machinery When dealing with simulation of molecular interactions in living organisms, agent-based models are used to model long sequences of Brownian motion that randomly carry out several physiologically relevant events. One such event occurs on average every thousandth simulation iteration in the agent based simulation. In order to perceive random motion but also to see relevant events simultaneously, we bridge two temporal scales that are three orders of magnitude apart from each other. The approach is based on a special timelapse approach inspired from scientific animation techniques. In the last part of my talk I will present a technique for interactive 3D visualization of molecular reaction pathways that is controlled in a top-down manner by quantitative simulation and is simultaneously covisualized. In such visual environment the viewer can interactively control the visualization as well as simulation parameters."


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On May 21st Lars Linsen will gave a talk at VCF/UIB depatpent seminar, with the title "Visual Analysis of Ensembe Simulations".

Abstract
Mathematical models are used for the description and the understanding of phenomena in all sciences. Numerical simulations support the validation of the models and data assimilation purposes. Such simulations often depend on a number of simulation parameters and initial configurations. The selection of these parameters and configurations is often not exactly known or their impact is part of the underlying research tasks. Therefore, multiple simulation runs with varying parameter settings or ensembles of simulations with varying configurations are executed. The analysis of such simulation ensembles is complex, especially when each simulation run represents a four-dimensional spatio-temporal phenomenon. The amount of data of a simulation ensemble often adds up to hundreds of Gigabytes or even Terabytes. The analysis of such complex data is no longer possible without the use of computers. On the other hand, such an analysis typically requires the expertise of a human. As visual representations are intuitive and can be processed efficiently by humans, it is a suitable approach to combine visual representations and interaction mechanisms with automatic analysis steps. In this talk, I will present novel visualization methods that allow for an interactive comparative analysis of such large and complex data stemming from simulation ensembles. The methods are applied for the analysis of data stemming from biology, climate research, astrophysics, and medicine.
  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

Application Deadline: June 1st, 2015

Interested in getting a PhD in visualization? The Department of Informatics at the University of Bergen is offering several 4-year PhD fellowship positions with an application deadline of June 1st, 2015. Please see the jobs section of our website for further information.


  Questions to Stefan.Bruckneruib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On April 10th Julius Parulek gave a talk at VCF, with the title "Visual analysis for leakage detection in subsea acoustic monitoring.".

Abstract
"In situ analysis of streamed acoustic data is crucial for sub sea environmental monitoring tasks. One of the crucial applications is represented by detection of oil and gas leakages from subsea installations. On the software level, the monitoring system is based on semi-automatic and also on fully-automatic data analysis pipeline, which incorporate challenges related to big data analysis, visualization and machine learning. In this presentation, I will aim mainly at the role of visualization and machine learning in the detection of gas plumes."


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On March 13th Barbora Kozlikova gave a talk at VCF, with the title "CAVER Analysis and VisualizationOf Protein Structure".

Abstract
"The talk aims to present the background of the CAVER project which is dedicated to analysis and visualization of proteins. Our algorithms are focusing namely on the detection and classification of inner void space. This long-term project is baed on a tight cooperation with the group of biochemists. In the talk I'll concentrate on the main principle and future challenges of this project."


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

On Febraury 6th Erlend Hodneland gave a talk at VCF, with the title "Quantitative analysis of dynamic contrast enhanced MR (DCE-MRI) data of the kidney".

Abstract
"Quantitative analysis of DCE-MRI data from the kidney has the potential to become a clinically highly useful imaging modality for the non-invasive investigation of organ function. There are major challenges related to perfusion imaging of the human kidney that I want to address. The processing pipeline has several components: choice of MR sequence, breathing pattern, conversion to tracer concentrations, motion correction, segmentation of kidney and arterial input function (AIF), and compartment modelling for estimating the filtration and perfusion. The reproducibility between repeated MR scans is high, but a comparison to clinical standards for kidney filtration reveals that the MR estimates for filtration are still not within the range for active clinical use. In this presentation I will address the challenges related to the processing pipeline."


  Questions to Sergej.Stoppeluib.no Helwig.Hauseruib.no or Stefan.Bruckneruib.no

Due to technical issues we could not publish news for quite some time, so here is a summary of the most important events of the last couple of months.

On October 31, our student Geir Smestad successfully defended his master thesis, entitled Interactive Visual Analysis of Streaming Data . Geir was supervised by Helwig Hauser, and his opponent was Kresimir Matkovic, from the VRVis research center in Vienna.


Our colleague Pina Kingman completed a short animation entitled Our Resilient Genome. The movie was presented at a dedicated art exhibition here in Bergen, from November 15 to 21. If you'd like to know more, here are some related links:
Event's page on Facebook
Pictures from the event
Pina's page on Vimeo


It is by now a tradition that Medviz and the Visual Computing Forum organize a joint seminar at the end of the semester. This time the seminar took place on December 12 and we had talks from 4 eminents speakers: Bernhard Kainz (Imperial College London) , Torfinn Taxt (Univ. of Bergen) , Radovan Jirik and Ivan Viola (TU Wien). All the details about the seminar are summarized here.

Our colleague, Andrea Brambilla, held his trial lecture on Video Visualization on November 28. Three weeks later he managed to succesfully defend his PhD thesis, entitled Visibility-oriented Visualization Design for Flow Illustration. His opponents were Prof. Gerik Scheuermann (Univ. of Leipzig) and Dr. Tino Weinkauf (Max Planck Inst. of Informatics).

After this dense update, the VisGroup wishes you all a nice holiday holiday season and a great start for 2015!   Questions to Stefan.Bruckneruib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

We are currently looking for a Postdoctoral fellow to join our group. The position is for a fixed term of 4 years, of which 25% will be dedicated to teaching and/or administrative tasks. For more information and for applying, please refer to the official announcement on Jobbnorge. The deadline for applying is November 2, 2014.
  Questions to Stefan.Bruckneruib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

We express our sincere congratulations to our colleague Mattia Natali, who has succesfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on Friday, September 19. His thesis, entitled Sketch-based Modelling and Conceptual Visualization of Geomorphological Processes for Interactive Scientific Communication , can be found on our publications page. The details about Mattia's defence are summarized in the official announcement.
We would also like to thank the opponents, Prof. Dr. Bernd Fröhlich (Bauhaus-Universität in Weimar, Germany) and Dr. André Brodtkorb (SINTEF, Oslo), who gave two highly interesting talks in the afternoon. More information about their talks are available here.
  Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no

Next Wednesday (Sept. 17), our colleague Andrea Brambilla (VisGroup, UiB) will give an introductory talk on Integration-based flow visualization. The talk will take place in the Lille auditorium (2nd floor, Høyteknologisenteret), from 4pm until 5pm. All the information are summarized in the flyer.
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no

We are happy to announce that our colleagues Veronika Šoltészová, Åsmund Birkeland, Ivan Viola and Stefan Bruckner have won the best paper award at the VCBM conferencefor their paper Visibility-Driven Processing of Streaming Volume Data (check this pagefor some picture of the awarding ceremony). Stefan was also co-author of the paper Visual and Quantitative Analysis of Higher Order Arborization Overlaps for Neural Circuit Research , that was awarded as a honarble mention. Our sincere congratulations to the authors!

After the summer break, the Visual Computing Forum seminar series will resume this Friday. Our speaker, Mattia Natali (Visualization Group, UiB), will present an introduction to the visualization of functional medical data. Mattia is going to complete his PhD in September and this talk is also his trial lecture.
All the details can be found on our seminar page
  Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com

Teknisk Ukeblad has dedicated an article to the IllustraSound project. Congratulation to the IllustraSound team!
The full article can be found here.  

We are pleased to announce that the MedViz Workshop and the MedViz+MedIm Conference will take place in June at Hotel Grand Terminus.
June 16: MedViz Workshop (500kr, students free)
June 17-18: MedViz+MedIm Conference (500kr, students free)
Participants at the Conference may also join our sailship trip and dinner on board Statsraad Lehmkuhl, Tuesday afternoon 17.06 (500kr, students free)
The official announcement can be found here .
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no

We are glad to announce the upcoming VCF seminar by Anselm Spoerri, professor at Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA). He will present searchCrystal, a tool for the visualization and manipulation of sets. The seminar will take place on Monday, May 26, at 14.15 in room 3137. All the details can be found on our seminar page.
Questions to vcg.bergengmail.com

The MedViz seminar series will host two prominent researcher from the medical visualization field. Marc Streit (Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria) will talk about Visual Analysis in the context of molecular biology. Paolo Angelelli (University of Bergen, Norway) instead will focus on cohort study data. More details can be found here or on the MedViz webpage.
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no

We are currently preparing the announcement of two open positions, a PhD Fellowship and a Postdoctoral Fellowship. Find out more on our dedicated page or contact us if you have any questions. There is also a flyer for distribution to potentially interested candidates.
Questions to Stefan.Bruckneruib.no or Helwig.Hauseruib.no

Nathalie Reuter (professor at the Dept. of Molecular Biology - UiB) will give a presentation at this Friday's VCF seminar. The title of her talk is Molecular dynamics simulations for biomolecules: principles and examples Find more on our dedicated page.
Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com

As part of our VCF seminar series, Lasse Løvstakken (Dept. Circulation and Medical imaging, NTNU) will present an overview of the state-of-the-art in ultrasound blood flow imaging. The seminar will take place next week, on Friday, March 7.
All the details can be found on our dedicated page .
Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com

MedViz and VCF have worked together for organizing the last seminar of 2013. We will host a remarkable speaker, Professor Jos Roerdink (Bernoulli Inst. for Mathematics and Univ. of Groningen), whose talk is entitled Brain Patterns: from EEG Coherence Networks to Prediction of Neurodegenerative Diseases .
All the details can be found on our seminar page .
Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com

We congratulate our colleague Cagatay Turkay who has successfully defended his PhD thesis on November 22. His thesis is entitled Integrating Computational Tools in Interactive and Visual Methods for Enhancing High-dimensional Data and Cluster Analysis .
We would also like to thank Jean-Daniel Fekete, Jörn Kohlhammer and Peter Filzmoser, who entertained us for the rest of the day with three very interesting talks.
More details can be found in the flyer and in the official announcement .
Questions to Helwig.Hauseruib.no

This Friday, Cagatay Turkay (Visualization Group, UiB) will give an overview of visualization techniques targeted at the geographical domain. The talk, which is also Cagatay's trial lecture, will take place on Nov. 8., from 10.15 to 11.15. All the details are summarized on our seminar page !
Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com

We would like to invite all of you to a two-days seminar on Tensor Algebra in the context of Continuum Mechanics. The speaker, Øyvind Andreassen , is a professor at the Univ. Graduate Centre at Kjeller (UNIK) and researcher at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI).
The seminar will take place next Thursday (Oct 31) and Friday (Nov 1) from 13.00 to 16.00, in rooms:
- Datalab 1130, Høyteknologisenter, d. blokk (Thursday)
- Konferanserom B, floor 3, VilVite (Friday)
All the details are summarized here. Feel free to forward this invitation to whoever might be interested in the subject. Questions to andrea.brambillauib.no

As part of the VCF series, Erlend Hodneland (Dept. of Biomedicine, UiB) will give a seminar on algorithms for deformable image registration. The event is scheduled for this Friday, Oct. 4, from 10.15 to 11.15. All the details are summarized on our dedicated page !
Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com

We are glad to announce that our ex-student Øyvind Sture has succesfully defended his master thesis in visualization. Congratulations!
Title: Illustrative 3D visualization of seismic data
Supervisors: Helwig Hauser and Daniel Patel
Sensor: Dag Magne Ulvang
Time: Friday, Oct. 11, starting at 9.00am
Place: room 2103 (1st floor, data blokk, Høyteknologisenteret)
Abstract:
Seismic datasets are usually large and noisy, with no apparent structures, at least to the untrained eye. Geo-illustrators and geologist use a set of 2D textures, lithological patterns, to show the interpreted information in seismic data. Lithological patterns are illustrations of the contents of a rock unit or a rock formation. For 2D slice viewing, and for 2D planar cuts in a 3D object, a 2D texture is sufficient.
But to fully take advantage of the information found in 3D seismic datasets, we want to explore the use of specially designed 3D textures to show the interpreted information. This opens up some new possibilities, such as viewing the interior of the seismic volume, by using traditional tools for handling of occlusion. Unfortunately, no such 3D lithological textures exists.
This thesis deal with the process of creating the 3D textures. We analyse and break the 2D lithological patterns down into symbols and their integration. Then each 2D symbol is manually extended to its plausible 3D counterpart, and finally the 3D objects are placed in the texture as dened by its integration. The control over this synthesis process is placed in a XML schema for flexibility. The lithological patterns covers a variety of di erent textures from stochastic such as sand to the structural limestone, and thus follows the two main types of textures that we are able to create, structured textures and stochastic textures.
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no

We are pleased to invite you all to the first VisBio Workshop, which will take place on September 19 in the VilVite Auditorium. The aim of the workshop is to bring together experts from biology, bioinformatics and visualization to discuss common challenges and opportunities. The VisBio workshop is organized by the Visualization Group and funded by the SPIRE programme.
All the details can be found on the dedicated page !
Questions to Stefan.BrucknerUiB.no .

We are glad to announce that the Visual Computing Forum (VCF) seminar series will resume this Friday, August 23, entering its 3rd year. The VCF, is a series of monthly seminars, organized by the VisGroup at the UiB Department of Informatics with selected talks from visual computing, addressing the fields of visualization, image processing, computer graphics, etc. This Friday, our speaker will be Stefan Bruckner, professor at the VisGroup and an awarded scientist in the international visualization research community. You are invited to join the seminar, which will be focused on Smart Visualization in Medicine.   All the details can be found in the flyer or on the VCF seminar webpage!

The seminar will be preceded by the Master defense of Andreas Lind. Check the related post here.
Questions to vcf.bergengmail.com .

Our M.Sc. student Andreas will defend his master thesis this Friday, August 23. You are all invited to join!
Title: Selected Opportunities for the Semiautomatic Analysis of Spectrally Decomposed Seismic Data
Abstract: Seismic imaging/visualization of the subterranean is an important part in the process of identifying and extracting hydrocarbons such as oil and gas. One promising method that is used to assist in visualizing seismic reflection data is spectral decomposition. Spectral decomposition is a contrast enhancing technique that helps in identifying subterranean features. This thesis presents a set of new opportunities for visualizing spectrally decomposed seismic based on techniques known from visualization and image Segmentation. In particular it focuses on presenting a new technique based on Interactive Visual Analysis (IVA) and feature extraction based image segmentation. In addition to the visualization and segmentation techniques, pre-processing steps for making the data more suitable for visualization are suggested. Some of the pre-processing techniques are well known from the image processing field. Time: Friday, August 23, 2013, 08h45
Place: room 2143, Høyteknologisenteret, floor 2
The thesis was supervised by professor Helwig Hauser. The sensor will be Dr. Armin Pobitzer from Christian Michelsen Research.
All the details are summarized in the flyer
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

We are happy to congratulate our colleague Endre M. Lidal, who has succesfully defended his PhD thesis, entitled Sketch-based Storytelling for Cognitive Problem Solving - Externalization, Evaluation, and Communication in Geology . Congratulations! All the details are summarized in the flyer and in the official announcement ).
Questions to violacg.tuwien.ac.at

In connection with the Ph.D. defense of Endre M. Lidal, his opponents Marie-Paule Cani and Joaquim A. Jorge presented an overview about their research, related to sketch-based interaction, tangible interfaces, and expressive graphics and visualization. More details about the seminar can be found in the flyer . We would like to thank the speakers for their impressive talks!
Questions to violacg.tuwien.ac.at

A four year PhD position is available in our group. We are looking for candidates with a strong background in computer graphics or visualization. Competence in GPU programming, software engineering and web development will be particularly emphasized.
The application deadline is July 10, 2013. All the details and the application form can be found here .
Questions to Stefan.BrucknerUiB.no or Helwig.HauserUiB.no.

We are happy to congratulate our colleague Åsmund Birkeland, who has succesfully defended his PhD thesis, entitled Ultrasonic Vessel Visualization: From Extraction to Perception . Congratulations! All the details are summarized in the flyer.
 

At this year's Eurographics conference in Girona , Spain, professor Ivan Viola and his team received the prestigious Eurographics Medical Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine (named after Dirk Bartz). Eurographics is the annual top-conference in computer graphics in Europe and the Dirk Bartz Prize is bi-annually awarded in order to acknowledge top-contributions to the field of visual computing in medicine. The visualization research group in Bergen, and in particular the IllustraSound project, with its interdisciplinary team of researchers, is honored and moved for having received this important award for their recent efforts to contribute technological progress for the high-quality visualization of data from 3D ultrasonography.  

On Friday March 15, Aleksandra Sima will defend her PhD thesis, entitled An improved workflow for image- and laser-based virtual geological outcrop modelling The defence will take place at 10.15 in the Stort auditorium, Høyteknologisenteret, Thormøhlensgate 55. For more information check the flyer or the official announcement .
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no

For almost one year, the department of informatics have been looking for new professors, and this process is producing its first results. We are proud to announce that Stefan Bruckner has been recently appointed professor in group!
We would also like to welcome two other new members of our group: Anne-Kristin Stavrum and Ivan Kolesar, who are respectively researcher and PhD student in the context of the PhisioIllustrator Project.
Congratulation and welcome to all of you!  

Congratulation to our student Morten Bendiksen, who succesfully defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled Rapid Modeling of Geology .
Abstract: "Drawing three dimensional models of geological phenomena is today a process requiring training in specific programs that can be very time consuming. For illustration and communication of geological concepts, geologists therefore often limit themselves to drawing on paper or to two dimensional drawing applications. In this thesis I propose an approach for making rapid geologic illustrations in 3D. The novel idea for the approach consists of sketch based input on a cube in order to create a layered geological structure. Further details can be added to the layers by sketching geological concepts such as rivers, mountains and valleys. Sedimentary deposits can be created through a procedural modeling approach that employs a volume preserving diffusion algorithm to simulate the flow of depositional material on top of the terrain. Awareness of the geologic domain enables a sparse amount of input strokes to be interpreted into geological structures. Results show that the proposed approach can be used with success to model geological layers. Compared with a 2D sketch, the creation of a 3D geometry on a computer gives advantages such as perspective control, ease of making changes to the model, etc. The approach shows great promise and can be useful in many situations. A program based on the proposed approach could become a standard way for geologists to draw their illustrations."
For more information check out the flyer.
 

A four year PhD position is available in our group. We are looking for candidates with a strong background in computer graphics or visualization. Competence in GPU programmin, software engineering and web development will be particularly emphasized.
The application deadline is March 14, 2013. All the details and the application form can be found on here .
Questions to Stefan.BrucknerUiB.no or Helwig.HauserUiB.no.

Visualization and Visual Analysis of Multifaceted Scientific Data: A Survey by Johannes Kehrer and Helwig Hauser, is currently featured on the TVCG webpage . The paper will be published in the TVCG issue of March 2013.
Congratulation to the authors!
 

The 7th MedViz conference was held January 15 in Hotel Grand Terminus Hall in Bergen. It has been an event of great relevance in the local visualization community, with 7 invited international speakers and more that one hundred participants!
More information can be found on http://medviz.uib.no/ .
 

An illustrator position is available at our group in the context of the Physioillustration research project. Application deadline is January 10. The announcement and application form can be found here, do not hesitate to contact us for additional information.
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no or Ivan.ViolaUiB.no

In a new research project, coordinated by GE Vingmed Ultrasound and supported by the Norwegian Research Council in its BIA programme, a three year position as PostDoc or PhD candidate is available. The focus of this position is on advanced 3D visualization of ultrasound data. The application deadline is December 20, 2012. The announcement text is available as PDF. Applications need to be done via the jobbnorge portal here .
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no or Ivan.ViolaUiB.no

A Ph.D. position is available at our group in the context of the Physioillustration project. Application deadline is December 10. The announcement and application form can be found here , do not hesitate to contact us for additional information.
Questions to Ivan.Viola UiB.no

We are happy to congratulate our colleague Veronika Šoltészová who successfully defended her PhD thesis, entitled Perception-Augmenting Illumination . Her defence was held on October 4, 2012, and was the opening talk of the MedVis Day . Congratulations!
For more information check the flyer or the official announcement .
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

Congratulation to our student Stian Sivertsen, who succesfully defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled Ridge Extraction, and Illustrative Visualization of an FTLE Flow Field .
Abstract: "Illustrative visualization of a flow is an area that is proving to be interesting and in later years something that have been somewhat explored, it can provide some very interesting results and in this thesis we find the required structures needed for such a visualization. Lagrangian coherent structures are now commonly used in flow visualization and we establish a simplistic approach to creating them in this thesis. The problem of occlusion and the general complexity of both the data and the visual results are still a common thing when working with a structured flow. This thesis presents a solution that identifies the complex and often large amounts of data that is inherent in a flow and tries to find a good way of extracting the structures within. By using the FTLE values found in the flow data we define these structures so that we can see what is going on in these complex systems, as well as combining it with an illustrative approach that will provide an interesting visual aspect to the integral structures found in flows. By using mathematical analysis of the raw data we obtain the necessary tools we need to define and extract ridges that form LCS that we can then model.We use a simple approach by focusing on the basic components of such complex structures as well as utilizing often long standing principles in an interesting way. Combining the strengths of both illustrative visualization and the clarity of integral structures we can create a more visual sound model that loses some of its cluttering complexities but is still capable of generating a pleasing visual end result."
For more information check the flyer.

        

Five papers with contribution from our group have been presented at VisWeek 2012 , the worldwide largest and most important scientific conference in visualization This year VisWeek has been held in Seattle (WA), US. The papers will be published in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics . Congratulation to the authors!

The 4th of October will be a day full of events for the local visualization community!
First thing in the morning, Veronika Šoltészová will defend her Ph.D thesis, entitled Perception-Augmenting Illumination . The defence will be at 9.00am at the VilVite Auditorium.
Later in the afternoon there will be a series of vis-related seminar jointly organized by MedViz and VCF. They will be held in the same auditorium, from 2.00pm until 4.00pm.
More details can be found on the VCF seminar page!
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

The IllustraSound project will make a substantial contribution to the Forskningsdagene here in Bergen.
First of all, our colleague Veronika Šoltészová will compete in the Forsker grand prix on Friday evening at Grieghallen. We wish her the best of luck!
On Saturday, IllustraSound will be also present with a stand in Festplassen , showcasing the most recent advancement in acquisition and display of 3D ultrasound data.
Moreover, just yesterday, Bergen's Tidende published an article about Veronika's work the IllustraSound project.
Congratulations for the great success!

Congratulation to our student Sondre Hisdal, who succesfully defended his M.Sc. thesis entitled Frequency Modulated Shading .
Abstract: "In this thesis we describe a frequency modulated shading technique. The goal is to improve the visualization of 3D ultrasound data by combining depth cues from shadows, and structural information from gradient-based shading. The computation of gradients suffer from noise, and since ultrasound data has a low signalto- noise ration straight forward gradient computation gives poor results. To improve the gradient-based shading we use frequency modulation to get smoothed gradient. The technique performs a local area analysis for each voxel in the volume. The analysis creates a local subvolume around the voxel currently being investigated. This subvolume is transformed into frequency domain, where some frequencies are filtered out. The filtered volume is transformed back into spatial domain, where it is used to compute gradients. The filtered gradients are then used in combination with a shadow renderer, to provide both gradient based shading and shadows."
For more information check the flyer.

We congratulate our student Kari Ringdal who has successfully defended her M.Sc. thesis entitled Flow-based Segmentation of Seismic Data.
Abstract: "This thesis presents an image processing method for identifying separation layers in seismic 3D reflection volumes. This is done by applying techniques from flow visualization and using GPU acceleration. In geology sound waves are used for exploring the earth beneath the surface. The resulting seismic reflection data gives us a representation of sedimentary rocks. Analyzing sedimentary rocks and their layering can reveal major historical events, such as earth crust movement, climate change or evolutionary change. Sedimentary rocks arc also important as a source of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water and ores. The first step in analyzing seismic reflection data is to find the borders between sedimentary units that originated at different times. This thesis presents a technique for detecting separating borders in 3D seismic data. Layers belonging to different units can not always be detected by looking in a local neighborhood. Our presented technique avoids the shortcoming of existing methods that work on a local scale by addressing the data globally. We utilize methods from the fields of flow visualization and image processing. We describe a border detection algorithm, as well as a general programming pipeline for preprocessing the data on the graphics card. Our GPU processing supports fast filtering of the data and a real-time update of the viewed volume slice when parameters are adjusted."
For more information check the flyer.

A Ph.D. position is available at the Department of Informatics, University of Bergen. Application deadline is August 10. If you are interested in applying and you want to focus on Visualization or related topic, make sure that it is clearly stated in your application!
The announcement and application form can be found here , do not hesitate to contact us for additional information.
Questions to Helwig.Hauser UiB.no

We congratulate both Armin Pobitzer and Paolo Angelelli from our VisGroup to their successful PhD defenses, which happened June 22, this year. Congratulations!
For more information check the flyers (Angelelli, Pobitzer) or the official announcements (Angelelli, Pobitzer). Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

We are pleased to report that the EC-funded FET-Open project SemSeg, which we also coordinated here in Bergen, was successfully finished by the end of June, this year.  As result of the final review meeting (2nd of July in Zürich, Switzerland), the European Commission concluded that they found the project successful and finished.  Results from the SemSeg project can be found at the respective results page on the SemSeg project web page. 
Questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

Two Ph.D. positions are available at the Department of Informatics, University of Bergen. Application deadlines are June 10 for one position, and August 10 for the other one.
If you are interested in applying and you want to focus on Visualization or related topic, make sure that it is clearly stated in your application!
The announcements and application forms can be found at http://www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=83699 and http://www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=83896 , do not hesitate to contact us for additional information.
questions to Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

Visual Computing Forum and MedViz have organized a joint event to conclude both the seminar series before the summer holiday! The final seminar will be held on Friday 15 June on board the Galeasen Loyal! There is only a limited number of places available, check our seminar page for the registration and the seminar details.
contact vcf.bergengmail.com .

We are pleased to announce the invited talk by André Brodtkorb, which will take place next Thursday, 2012-05-31, in the Lille Auditorium.
André is currently a research scientist at SINTEF and associate professor (førsteamanuensis) at the Norwegian School of Information Technology . He will present an overview of GPU computing and current research topics at the Department of Applied Mathematics at SINTEF.
More information available in the flyer.
contact Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

Several of our papers have been recently accepted for publication at international journals or conferences; here is a run down:

• "Geological Storytelling - Graphically Exploring and Communicating Geological Sketches", by Lidal et al., has been accepted at the SBIM conference 2012
• "Real time image-based tracking of 4D ultrasound data", by Øye et al., has been conditionally accepted at the MICCAI conference 2012
• "A Hierarchical Splitting Scheme to Reveal Insight into Highly Self-Occluded Integral Surfaces", by Brambilla et al., has been accepted at the WSCG 2012

The papers will be soon available in our publications section .  

This Thursday, 2012-04-26, we get the chance to attend a highly interesting talk by Stefan Bruckner from Vienna Univ. of Technology.
Stefan has not only revolutionized volume rendering, for ex. with his style transfer functions, but also pioneered the interactive visual analysis of volumetric data, more recently. Don't miss this chance!
More information available in the flyer.
contact Helwig.HauserUiB.no .

Every 10 years, Norway's Research Council is organizing an evaluation of all research groups in informatics in Norway, which is worked out by an international board of experts. Being still relatively young, the visualization research group in Bergen was now evaluated for the first time. In total, 62 research groups were evaluated. Five of them received the best possible grade (5) and we are proud that two of them are also from the Dept. of Informatics in Bergen. The VisGroup Bergen was rated 4-5 which places it amongst the top-15% of all informatics research groups in the country -- a good start, as we think! :-)
The full evaluation can be found here.

Several of our papers have been recently accepted for publication at international journals or conferences; here is a run down:

• "Illustrative Flow Visualization: State of the Art, Trends and Challenges", by Brambilla et al., has been accepted at the Eurographics conference 2012.
• "Illustrative Membrane Clipping", by Birkeland et al., has been accepted at the EuroVis conference 2012.
• "Visualization and Visual Analysis of Multi-faceted Scientific Data: a Survey", by Kehrer and Hauser, has been accepted for publication in IEEE TVCG.
• "Design Principles for Cutaway Visualization of Geological Models", by Lidal et al., and "Stylized Volume Visualization of Streamed Sonar Data", by Šoltészová et al., have been accepted at the SCCG conference 2012.

The papers will be soon available in our publications section .  

Our recent paper Scientific Storytelling Using Visualization made it to the cover of the last issue of CG&A. Congratulation to the authors for this nice success!

 

We are looking for a brilliant researcher to join our group as a postdoctoral fellow. All the details can be found at http://www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=81303

Contacts: Helwig.Hauser uib.no, Ivan.Viola uib.no

The book Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization II with Editors Ronald Peikert, Helwig Hauser, Hamish Carr, and Raphael Fuchs has finally been published. It part of Springer's series Mathematics and Visualization.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

Ove Daae Lampe have successfully defended his PhD on the Interactive Visual Analysis of Process Data . More details can be found here.

Ola Kristoffer Øye and Yngve Heggelund, from CMR Computing, described two ongoing R&D projects in their talk CMR Computing – Visual computing and applications .
Fri, Nov. 4, 11:00 , Konferanserom C, VilVite.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

        

Four papers with contributions from Bergen have been presented at VisWeek 2011, the worl-wide largest and most important scientific event in visualization this year held in Providence, Rhode Island, US.  The papers are published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics .  What a nice success ;-)

Ove Daae Lampe gave his trial lecture on Web-based visualization: web technologies suitable for (interactive) visualization and related opportunities .  Wed., 2011-10-26, 14h15, room 2143 @ HiB.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

Prof. Arvid Lundervold from the Department of Biomedicine, UiB gave an interesting talk on Assessing brain connectivity using RS-fMRI and graph theory in the context of open discovery science .
Fri, Sept. 30, 11:00 , Store Auditorium, HiB.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

Ivan Viola had his keynote talk Passing Through the Trough of Disillusionment of Illustrative Visualization at the Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics Conference at the University of Warwick, September 7–9.  The program can be found here.  Questions to Ivan Viola.

The book Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization II with Editors Ronald Peikert, Helwig Hauser, Hamish Carr, and Raphael Fuchs will be published by Springer in the series Mathematics and Visualization.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

With satisfaction we are looking back at a very successful EuroVis 2011, which was highly appreciated by its participants.  It is notable that new dimensions were conquered with this year's EuroVis:  never ever more participants joined (we recorded an up of about 15% compared to 2009 and 2010) ;  no other high-quality conference on visualization (world-wide) received more submissions than EuroVis 2011;  and more than half of the (significantly larger than ever) conference budget was covered by supporters and sponsors. Many reasons, actually, to be very glad to having had EuroVis 2011 in Bergen!  Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

   
Three papers with contributions from Bergen have been presented at EuroVis 2011, Europe's largest Visualization Conference this year organized by our group. The papers are published in a special issue of Computer Graphics Forum, the International Journal of the Eurographics Association. 
Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

We congratulate Johannes Kehrer who successfully defended his PhD project at UiB. 

   trial lecture : Mai 18, 2011, ICT Research School, Solstrand Hotel, Os; given topic:
" Computational Analysis of data in meteorology and climatology "

   PhD defense : May 27, 2011, 3pm, Large Auditorium, room 2144,
Interactive Visual Analysis of Multi-faceted Scientific Data
Evaluation committee: Heidrun Schumann, Min Chen, Marcus A. Bezem.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

The Fourth Workshop on Topology-Based Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization, TopoInVis 2011, took place in Zurich, Switzerland, April 4–6, 2011.  We are looking back on the nice week including many high-level scientific contributions and SemSeg-related activities. The program is available here. 

Questions to Helwig Hauser.

The annual MedViz conference and 2^nd National PhD conference in Medical imaging was held in Bergen, January 17–18, 2011.  The seminar offered a high-quality program with many excellent speakers (see program).  The event was jointly organized by the Norwegian Research School in Medical Imaging and the MedViz network .

Questions to Helwig Hauser.

The visualization group is entrusted to organize Europe's biggest and most important visualization conference, EuroVis 2011, May 31–June 3, in Bergen next year. We are excited about this big honor and challenge at the same time. We have started to organize the conference and are preparing the event's public relations including flyers, posters, web pages, etc.  Questions to Helwig Hauser and Ivan Viola.

Prof. Oliver Deussen from the University of Konstanz, Germany, was visiting Bergen and we could listen to his interesting talk on

• Computational Aesthetics – science or art? [abstract]
• Fr., September 24, 11:00, Aud. π ("pi", room 307, UiB Math Dept., Johannes Bruns gate 12, ground floor).

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

On Fr., 2010-09-24, at 2pm, Stian Eikeland successfully defended his Master thesis on " Multi-Volume Visualization and Exploration ".  See the official announcement for more details. 

Questions to Helwig Hauser.

We have two interesting talks at the upcomming MedViz seminar , September 10, 2010, 12:15 , Store Aud. (room 2144), Høyteknologisenteret (data blokk, 2nd floor) , Thormøhlensgate 55:

• Stein Inge Rabben (Group Leader Display & Image Analysis Group, GE Vingmed Ultrasound) will talk about
  Visualization and Image Analysis of Cardiac 3D Ultrasound Data   [abstract] .
• Paolo Angelelli (Visualization Group, UiB) will talk about the Visualization for Ultrasonography   [abstract] .

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

We are happy to report that the VRVis Conference Calendar is back in an up-to-date state. Now it is even easier to stay tuned with your favorite conferences and deadlines. Also the updating procedure has been optimized in order to facilitate the future maintenance of the calendar.  Questions to Helwig Hauser.

The special issue with Guest Editors Ivan Viola, Helwig Hauser, and David Ebert is published in the Computers & Graphics journal, vol. 34, issue 4, August 2010.
Questions to Helwig Hauser and Ivan Viola.

Three papers with contributions from Bergen have been presented at EuroVis 2010, Europe's largest Visualization Conference this year held in Bordeaux, France. The papers are published in a special issue of Computer Graphics Forum, the International Journal of the Eurographics Association. 
Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

Philipp Muigg from SimVis GmbH in Vienna, Austria, was visiting Bergen and we enjoyed the fruitful research exchange with him.  We were also lucky to listen to him in the

   Institute seminar : June 17 , 2010, 14:15, on " Data Challenges in Visualization " [abstract] .

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

 

Mario Costa Sousa from the University of Calgary was visiting Bergen and we had a very interesting time with him, talking about illustrative visualization and sketch-based modeling. We also were lucky to listen to him in the

   Institute seminar : May 27 , 2010, 14:15, on " Illustrative Modeling " [abstract] .

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

The Visualization Group is grateful about the visit of Master E. Gröller last week.  He gave several interesting and inspiring talks, including:

   Institute seminar : May 20, 2010, 14:15, on " Integrated Views ". [ read abstract ]

   MedViz seminar : May 21, 2010, 12:15, on " Comprehensive Visualization of Cardiac MRI Data ". [ read abstract ]

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

The SCCG 2010 conference was held in Budmerice Castle, Slovak Republic during May 13-15, 2010.  The programme of full of very interesting paper presentations and excellent invited talks (by Alfred Inselberg, Milos Sramek, and Michael Goesele).  The atmosphere was excellent and we are looking forward to the next SCCG already now.  [ read more !]
Questions to Helwig Hauser.

We congratulate Jean-Paul Balabanian, Ivan Viola, and M. Eduard Gröller to their paper Interactive Illustrative Visualization of Hierarchical Volume Data that won the best student paper award at the Graphics Interface conference 2010 and made it to the cover of the proceedings.
Questions to Ivan Viola.

We congratuate Jean-Paul Balabanian who finish his PhD project at UiB.  His thesis defense was on " Multi-Aspect Visualization: Going from Linked Views to Integrated Views " and his trial lecture on "Mobile Graphics: Visualization opportunities for a multitude of data sources on hand held devices".

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

Daniel Patel has finished his PhD project here at UiB with a successful PhD thesis defense.  We congratulate the first visualization PhD from the University of Bergen! 

Still available here for your reference:
  the abstract from the trial lecture
  the abstract from the thesis defense

Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

We thank our guest Dieter Hönigmann for his nice invited talk '' Cute Images of Nasty Data -  The Art of Ultrasound Data Visualization '' (Oct. 1st, 2009). An abstract is available here.
Questions to Helwig Hauser or Ivan Viola.

The gathering on illustrative visualization has been captured for those who have missed the opportunity to participate.  To find the videos from talks, please visit speakers' pages accessible from the IllustraVis09 webpage. 
Questions to Ivan Viola (or Helwig Hauser).

We are excited that our new cooperative IllustraSound project had a great start and we thank the Norwegian Research Council and the VERDIKT programme for supporting this line of research!

In that respect, we are especially happy to welcome three new research colleagues to our group: Veronika Šoltészová (new PhD stip.), Åsmund Birkeland (new PhD stip.), and Svein Brekke (new senior researcher). 
Welcome to the team!

Questions to Ivan Viola (or Helwig Hauser).

We thank Timo Ropinski (from the the VisCG group at the Univ. of Münster, Germany) for a wonderful invited talk about Multimodal Vessel Visualization of Mouse Aorta PET/CT Scans on Sept. 4th, 2009. An abstract is available.
Questions to Ivan Viola (or Helwig Hauser).

We are glad to report that the new SemSeg project was successfully started.  A first draft of a project home page has been set up.  We acknowledge the support from the European Commission in the context of the 7th Framework Programme. 
Questions to Ivan Viola (or Helwig Hauser).

Jean-Paul Balabanian has published an online volume raycaster on our web page -- have a look and enjoy!
For more information contact Jean-Paul Balabanian (contact information on our team page) .

We are glad to report that the Bergen VisGroup is participating in a new EU-project (coordination action VisMaster ) to establish visual analytics research in Europe.  Questions should be directed to Helwig.HauserUiB.no.

For older ''news'' messages, which previously showed up at this page, see a separate page (old news).