Content-based Interactive Multimedia Systems for Rheological Science

Multimedia environments are utilised to construct presentation systems, introducing some advanced interactive features. Aspects of this research involve the organisation, presentation and interaction of complex industrial case-study data, arising from Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations and experimental trials (multimedia streams and static instances). Also, the development of rheological courseware is addressed. Modular interface constructs are employed to facilitate rapid and sound system-development. Object-oriented practices are deployed, based on underlying graph structures. The multimedia nature of the implementation promotes interaction with synchronised animated flow-visualisation data and enhances understanding of the underlying data. The resulting implementation can be ported to a variety of computerplatforms, or streamed over Internet connections without compromise in quality or interactivity. Such flexibility of distribution renders these systems ideal for publishing scientific content between virtual research communities and industrialists, making e-Learning and e-Research widely accessible in a media-rich interactive form. It is shown how distinct individual multimedia implementations are constructed and utilised, through a range of industrially-based and educational case-studies. In addition, the semantic linking of content is discussed. Multimedia systems may be linked externally, locally (single computer), or via Internet, aiding presentation and detailed data interrogation.