1. Shawn
Liner1
,
Chris
Hynes2
,
Gerald
L.
Knapp3
,
Les
Butler4
1
Parkview
Bap@st
School,
Baton
Rouge,
LA
2
Louisiana
School
for
Math,
Science,
and
the
Arts,
Natchitoches,
LA
3
Louisiana
State
University,
Baton
Rouge,
LA
4
Department
of
Chemistry,
Louisiana
State
University,
Baton
Rouge,
LA
While the use of Computer Tomography (CT) has been prevalent for some time, there is little in the way of formal education about tomography, imaging, and visualization at the high school level or underclassmen college classes. In
addition, many industry scientists are discovering the potential of CT, but have missed the introduction into tomography due to their timing of graduation. We present a method of teaching visualization to these audiences and pursue
a method of making visualization and tomography more available by implementing free software to bring that ability to handheld devices such as laptops, iPads, and Android powered tablets.
Acknowledgements
The current work is funded by the NSF EPSCoR LA-SiGMA project under award #EPS-1003897, a
Louisiana Board of Regents Industrial Ties Research Subprogram (ITRS) grant with an Albemarle cost
match, NSF (CHE-0910937), NSF (DMR-0923440), and NSF (CNS-1126739)
Abstract
• Gain experience and knowledge in Computer Tomography (CT).
• Assist in an ongoing project involving tomography data workflow,
visualization, and iPad/Android Collaboration.
• Develop Labview Programs to aid in the imaging of batteries during
charging and discharging.
• Develop an iBook to aid in teaching visualization concepts to high
school students, college students, and uninitiated industry
collaborators.
• Incorporate iBook and its content into STEM courses at Parkview
Baptist High School and Louisiana School for Math Science and the
Arts in the 2013-2014 school year.
Objectives
Dr. Butler’s group utilizes 4D visualization of tomography data in two
specific branches of research.
• Studying the heat induced dissolution of flame retardant in a
polymer blend.
• Studying defects and efficiency of Lithium-ion polymer batteries
during discharge and charge.
Before this research can be done, we must first educate our scientists
on the basics of imaging. Our approach is an interactive, basic-level
iBook allowing for students and industry to get a self-paced background
understanding of the data they will be observing.
Background and Motivation for iBook
(Demo on iPads 6, 7 & 8)
• After you’ve managed to create your images, you need to present
them.
• Preferably we would be able to visualize this data in multiple ways
with different manipulatives.
• KiwiViewer by Kitware is an iOS/Android app for visualizing 3D
data.
• This software has the potential to provide that connection to tablet
devices that would allow handheld manipulation of 3D/4D data.
• Also has the possibility to tie into remote machine as a viewer for
files on that machine. This could open up a “back of the napkin”
style interaction between viewers.
• Some Features are shown below.
Surface Plot iPad 6 Orthoslices iPad 7 Slices iPad 8
iPad Data visualization.
Students use the line draw tool in ImageJ on a photograph of CuSO4
dilutions. A plot profile is generated from which Beer’s Law graph can be
derived using Excel
Example Lesson Beer’s Law:
Increasing the Accessibility of Visualization
Through Education and Innovation.
Using ImageJ and Mathematica two pictures of an object are turned into
a 3D model of the object.
Example Lesson 3D Model Generation:
First students are shown an example of using image subtraction to find
the difference in two images, then they are shown the math behind it
with a simple example in Mathematica.
Example Lesson Image Subtraction:
• Checkpoint quizzes check students’ understanding with feedback.
• Galleries allow for easy comparison of several pictures
• Interactives point out specific parts of a picture with descriptions.
• Glossary allows for instant definitions without loss of place.
• Zoomable pictures render even small displays useful.
• Video Lessons walk students through difficult concepts
Checkpoint iPad 1 Gallery iPad 2 Interactive iPad 3
Zoomable Pictures iPad 4 Video iPad 5
iBook Features
Glossary All iPads