Recent research shows that infrared cameras can help students visualize and interpret notoriously challenging thermal concepts. This chapter describes the application of thermal visualization in a public setting. Specifically, we present the design and implementation of an augmented reality system for the real-time projection of thermal imagery onto objects. Examples of hands-on activities for visualizing thermal processes with the system include conduction and insulation, rubber band thermodynamics, friction, impact heating, enthalpy of chemical reactions, radiation wavelength, mixing liquids, and heat of evaporation. We discuss how the interactive activities might provide pedagogical opportunities for accessing and engaging with thermal phenomena in a science center context. Practical considerations of the system for public exhibition spaces are also given attention.

The roles of human operators are changing due to increased intelligence and autonomy of computer systems. Humans will interact with systems at a more overarching level or only in specific situations. This involves learning new practices and changing habitual ways of thinking and acting, including reconsidering human autonomy in relation to autonomous systems. This paper describes a design case of a future autonomous management system for drone traffic in cities in a key scenario we call The Computer in Brussels. Our approach to designing for human collaboration with autonomous systems builds on scenario-based design and cognitive work analysis facilitated by computer simulations. We use a temporal method, called the Joint Control Framework to describe human and automated work in an abstraction hierarchy labeled Levels of Autonomy in Cognitive Control. We use the Score notation to analyze patterns of temporal developments that span levels of the abstraction hierarchy and discuss implications for human-automation communication in traffic management. We discuss how autonomy at a lower level can prevent autonomy on higher levels, and vice versa. We also discuss the temporal nature of autonomy in minute-to-minute operative work. Our conclusion is that human autonomy in relation to autonomous systems is based on fundamental trade-offs between technological opportunities to automate and values of what human actors find meaningful.

Keywords: data visualisation;geographic information systems;stereo image processing;touch sensitive screens;user interfaces;geographic visualizations;touch tables;rural areas-focusing;urban areas-focusing;stereoscopic touch table;monoscopic display;touch interaction;stereocopic display;visual cues;alternative interaction design;immersive touch table display systems;3D geographic visualization;vertical navigation

Current hand-held smart devices are supplied with powerful processors, high resolution screens, and sharp cameras that make them suitable for Augmented Reality (AR) applications. Such applications commonly use interaction techniques adapted for touch, such as touch selection and multi-touch pose manipulation, mapping 2D gestures to 3D action. To enable direct 3D interaction for hand-held AR, an alternative is to use the changes of the device pose for 6 degrees-of-freedom interaction. In this article we explore selection and pose manipulation techniques that aim to minimize the amount of touch. For this, we explore and study the characteristics of both non-touch selection and non-touch pose manipulation techniques. We present two studies that, on the one hand, compare selection techniques with the common touch selection and, on the other, investigate the effect of user gaze control on the non-touch pose manipulation techniques.

Future societal and economic impacts of nanoscience and nanotechnology raise the demand for a nano-literate public as well as a nano-competent workforce. This translates into the urgent need for nano education interventions in schools and informal learning contexts. In seeking to meet this mandate, we have developed and investigated a virtual reality environment that induces immersive presence (feeling as being in the virtual world) and exploits bodily movements (e.g. hand gestures to control virtual objects) for students and citizens to learn nano concepts. In this article, we argue that such scientifically-informed immersive and interactive visualizations have a unique potential in communicating nanoscale ideas to students as well as the general public.

Keywords: Nano education, Public understanding, Science education, Nano literacy, Interactive visualization, Virtual reality

The advent of nanoscientific applications in modern life is swiftly in progress. Nanoscale innovation comes with the pressing need to provide citizens and learners with scientific knowledge for judging the societal impact of nanotechnology. In rising to the challenge, this paper reports the developmental phase of a research agenda concerned with building and investigating a virtual environment for communicating nano-ideas. Methods involved elucidating core nano-principles through two purposefully contrasting nano "risk" and "benefit" scenarios for incorporation into an immersive system. The authors implemented the resulting 3D virtual architecture through an exploration of citizens' and school students' interaction with the virtual nanoworld. Findings suggest that users' interactive experiences of conducting the two tasks based on gestural interaction with the system serve as a cognitive gateway for engendering nano-related understanding underpinning perceived hopes and fears and as a stimulating pedagogical basis from which to teach complex science concepts.

Keywords: augmented reality, device interaction, device perspective, user study, user-perspective, video see-through

Keywords: Spatial Augmented Reality; Thermal Imaging; Real-time Projection Mapping; Science Education

Keywords: Augmented Reality;Video see-through;Dynamic frustum;User-perspective

Keywords: Pseudo-haptics; Perception; Cross-modal effects; Multimodal integration