Importance of visualization in advancement of science and technology

Even in our daily life, it is very important to see things. It helps us understand what is going on and also gives us new insight. Similarly, to visualize phenomena has a significant meaning in the fields of science and technology. Visualization technique has been mainly developed in fluid dynamics. Recently, however, the concept of visualization has been extended to various areas and has been becoming an emerging research field, particularly in life science. I strongly believe that visualization will continue to play an important role in advancement of science and technology in the future. In this regard, the Journal of Visualization provides a great opportunity to provide the most current information in visualization. It is my pleasure to present you the Journal of Visualization, Vol. 8, NO. 4. This issue includes eight papers and one report on VSJ-SPIE conference. The paper covers different types of flow phenomena such as turbulent buoyant plumes, flow around a rotating grooved circular cylinder, shear flow, vortices. The last paper was a report on International Conference on Advanced Optical Diagnostics in Fluids, Solids and Combustion (VSJ-SPIE), which was held at the University of Tokyo, Japan from December 4th to 6th, 2004. Finally, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the authors and editors as well as reviewers for their cooperation. Without your continuous support, this issue cannot be materialized.