PROFIT-PC: a program for estimating maximum net revenue from multiproduct harvests in Appalachian hardwoods

Treesearch

Chris B. LeDoux; John E. Baumgras; R. Bryan Selbe

1989-01-01

PROFIT-PC is a menu driven, interactive PC (personal computer) program that estimates optimum product mix and maximum net harvesting revenue based on projected product yields and stump-to-mill timber harvesting costs. Required inputs include the number of trees/acre by species and 2 inches diameter at breast-height class, delivered product prices by species and product...

Providing Assistive Technology Applications as a Service Through Cloud Computing.

PubMed

Mulfari, Davide; Celesti, Antonio; Villari, Massimo; Puliafito, Antonio

2015-01-01

Users with disabilities interact with Personal Computers (PCs) using Assistive Technology (AT) software solutions. Such applications run on a PC that a person with a disability commonly uses. However the configuration of AT applications is not trivial at all, especially whenever the user needs to work on a PC that does not allow him/her to rely on his / her AT tools (e.g., at work, at university, in an Internet point). In this paper, we discuss how cloud computing provides a valid technological solution to enhance such a scenario.With the emergence of cloud computing, many applications are executed on top of virtual machines (VMs). Virtualization allows us to achieve a software implementation of a real computer able to execute a standard operating system and any kind of application. In this paper we propose to build personalized VMs running AT programs and settings. By using the remote desktop technology, our solution enables users to control their customized virtual desktop environment by means of an HTML5-based web interface running on any computer equipped with a browser, whenever they are.

A Computer Spreadsheet for Locating Assistive Devices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palmer, Catherine V.; Garstecki, Dean C.

1988-01-01

The article presents a directory of assistive devices for persons with hearing impairments in a grid format by distributor and type of device (alerting devices, telephone, TV/radio/stereo, personal communication, group communication, and other). The product locator is also available in spreadsheet form for either the Macintosh or IBM-PC computers.…

Design of Multimedia Situational Awareness Training for Pilots.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Homan, Willem J.

1998-01-01

A recent development in aviation is the personal computer aviation training device (PC-ATD). This article provides an overview of instructional multimedia for pilot training, specifically for enhancing situational awareness (SA), a state in which a pilot's perceptions match reality. Discusses how PC-based trainers can be used to familiarize pilots…

Organizational Characteristics and Use of Personal Computer Software by Graduate Students in Makerere University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bakkabulindi, Fred Edward K.; Adebanjo, Oyebade Stephen

2011-01-01

This paper reports a survey that sought to establish levels of use of PC (personal computer) software by graduate students in Makerere University and to link the same to organizational characteristics, related to a given respondent's "unit", that is school, faculty or institute, namely its ability to absorb change, its ICT (Information…

The use of PC based VR in clinical medicine: the VREPAR projects.

PubMed

Riva, G; Bacchetta, M; Baruffi, M; Borgomainerio, E; Defrance, C; Gatti, F; Galimberti, C; Fontaneto, S; Marchi, S; Molinari, E; Nugues, P; Rinaldi, S; Rovetta, A; Ferretti, G S; Tonci, A; Wann, J; Vincelli, F

1999-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology that alters the way individuals interact with computers: a 3D computer-generated environment in which a person can move about and interact as if he actually was inside it. Given to the high computational power required to create virtual environments, these are usually developed on expensive high-end workstations. However, the significant advances in PC hardware that have been made over the last three years, are making PC-based VR a possible solution for clinical assessment and therapy. VREPAR - Virtual Reality Environments for Psychoneurophysiological Assessment and Rehabilitation - are two European Community funded projects (Telematics for health - HC 1053/HC 1055 - http://www.psicologia.net) that are trying to develop a modular PC-based virtual reality system for the medical market. The paper describes the rationale of the developed modules and the preliminary results obtained.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hopwood, J.E.; Affeldt, B.

An IBM personal computer (PC), a Gerber coordinate digitizer, and a collection of other instruments make up a system known as the Coordinate Digitizer Interactive Processor (CDIP). The PC extracts coordinate data from the digitizer through a special interface, and then, after reformatting, transmits the data to a remote VAX computer, a floppy disk, and a display terminal. This system has improved the efficiency of producing printed circuit-board artwork and extended the useful life of the Gerber GCD-1 Digitizer. 1 ref., 12 figs.

Fortran Program for X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Data Reformatting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abel, Phillip B.

1989-01-01

A FORTRAN program has been written for use on an IBM PC/XT or AT or compatible microcomputer (personal computer, PC) that converts a column of ASCII-format numbers into a binary-format file suitable for interactive analysis on a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer running the VGS-5000 Enhanced Data Processing (EDP) software package. The incompatible floating-point number representations of the two computers were compared, and a subroutine was created to correctly store floating-point numbers on the IBM PC, which can be directly read by the DEC computer. Any file transfer protocol having provision for binary data can be used to transmit the resulting file from the PC to the DEC machine. The data file header required by the EDP programs for an x ray photoelectron spectrum is also written to the file. The user is prompted for the relevant experimental parameters, which are then properly coded into the format used internally by all of the VGS-5000 series EDP packages.

[A skin cell segregating control system based on PC].

PubMed

Liu, Wen-zhong; Zhou, Ming; Zhang, Hong-bing

2005-11-01

A skin cell segregating control system based on PC (personal computer) is presented in this paper. Its front controller is a single-chip microcomputer which enables the manipulation for 6 patients simultaneously, and thus provides a great convenience for clinical treatments for vitiligo. With the use of serial port communication technology, it's possible to monitor and control the front controller in a PC terminal. And the application of computer image acquisition technology realizes the synchronous acquisition of pathologic shin cell images pre/after the operation and a case history. Clinical tests prove its conformity with national standards and the pre-set technological requirements.

Two schemes for rapid generation of digital video holograms using PC cluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Hanhoon; Song, Joongseok; Kim, Changseob; Park, Jong-Il

2017-12-01

Computer-generated holography (CGH), which is a process of generating digital holograms, is computationally expensive. Recently, several methods/systems of parallelizing the process using graphic processing units (GPUs) have been proposed. Indeed, use of multiple GPUs or a personal computer (PC) cluster (each PC with GPUs) enabled great improvements in the process speed. However, extant literature has less often explored systems involving rapid generation of multiple digital holograms and specialized systems for rapid generation of a digital video hologram. This study proposes a system that uses a PC cluster and is able to more efficiently generate a video hologram. The proposed system is designed to simultaneously generate multiple frames and accelerate the generation by parallelizing the CGH computations across a number of frames, as opposed to separately generating each individual frame while parallelizing the CGH computations within each frame. The proposed system also enables the subprocesses for generating each frame to execute in parallel through multithreading. With these two schemes, the proposed system significantly reduced the data communication time for generating a digital hologram when compared with that of the state-of-the-art system.

CARE+ user study: usability and attitudes towards a tablet pc computer counseling tool for HIV+ men and women.

PubMed

Skeels, Meredith M; Kurth, Ann; Clausen, Marc; Severynen, Anneleen; Garcia-Smith, Hal

2006-01-01

CARE+ is a tablet PC-based computer counseling tool designed to support medication adherence and secondary HIV prevention for people living with HIV. Thirty HIV+ men and women participated in our user study to assess usability and attitudes towards CARE+. We observed them using CARE+ for the first time and conducted a semi-structured interview afterwards. Our findings suggest computer counseling may reduce social bias and encourage participants to answer questions honestly. Participants felt that discussing sensitive subjects with a computer instead of a person reduced feelings of embarrassment and being judged, and promoted privacy. Results also confirm that potential users think computers can provide helpful counseling, and that many also want human counseling interaction. Our study also revealed that tablet PC-based applications are usable by our population of mixed experience computer users. Computer counseling holds great potential for providing assessment and health promotion to individuals with chronic conditions such as HIV.

Faster, Better, Cheaper: A Decade of PC Progress.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Walt

1997-01-01

Reviews the development of personal computers and how computer components have changed in price and value. Highlights include disk drives; keyboards; displays; memory; color graphics; modems; CPU (central processing unit); storage; direct mail vendors; and future possibilities. (LRW)

Personal computer security: part 1. Firewalls, antivirus software, and Internet security suites.

PubMed

Caruso, Ronald D

2003-01-01

Personal computer (PC) security in the era of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) involves two interrelated elements: safeguarding the basic computer system itself and protecting the information it contains and transmits, including personal files. HIPAA regulations have toughened the requirements for securing patient information, requiring every radiologist with such data to take further precautions. Security starts with physically securing the computer. Account passwords and a password-protected screen saver should also be set up. A modern antivirus program can easily be installed and configured. File scanning and updating of virus definitions are simple processes that can largely be automated and should be performed at least weekly. A software firewall is also essential for protection from outside intrusion, and an inexpensive hardware firewall can provide yet another layer of protection. An Internet security suite yields additional safety. Regular updating of the security features of installed programs is important. Obtaining a moderate degree of PC safety and security is somewhat inconvenient but is necessary and well worth the effort. Copyright RSNA, 2003

Choice of Human-Computer Interaction Mode in Stroke Rehabilitation.

PubMed

Mousavi Hondori, Hossein; Khademi, Maryam; Dodakian, Lucy; McKenzie, Alison; Lopes, Cristina V; Cramer, Steven C

2016-03-01

Advances in technology are providing new forms of human-computer interaction. The current study examined one form of human-computer interaction, augmented reality (AR), whereby subjects train in the real-world workspace with virtual objects projected by the computer. Motor performances were compared with those obtained while subjects used a traditional human-computer interaction, that is, a personal computer (PC) with a mouse. Patients used goal-directed arm movements to play AR and PC versions of the Fruit Ninja video game. The 2 versions required the same arm movements to control the game but had different cognitive demands. With AR, the game was projected onto the desktop, where subjects viewed the game plus their arm movements simultaneously, in the same visual coordinate space. In the PC version, subjects used the same arm movements but viewed the game by looking up at a computer monitor. Among 18 patients with chronic hemiparesis after stroke, the AR game was associated with 21% higher game scores (P = .0001), 19% faster reaching times (P = .0001), and 15% less movement variability (P = .0068), as compared to the PC game. Correlations between game score and arm motor status were stronger with the AR version. Motor performances during the AR game were superior to those during the PC game. This result is due in part to the greater cognitive demands imposed by the PC game, a feature problematic for some patients but clinically useful for others. Mode of human-computer interface influences rehabilitation therapy demands and can be individualized for patients. © The Author(s) 2015.

Aircraft noise prediction program propeller analysis system IBM-PC version user's manual version 2.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nolan, Sandra K.

1988-01-01

The IBM-PC version of the Aircraft Noise Prediction Program (ANOPP) Propeller Analysis System (PAS) is a set of computational programs for predicting the aerodynamics, performance, and noise of propellers. The ANOPP-PAS is a subset of a larger version of ANOPP which can be executed on CDC or VAX computers. This manual provides a description of the IBM-PC version of the ANOPP-PAS and its prediction capabilities, and instructions on how to use the system on an IBM-XT or IBM-AT personal computer. Sections within the manual document installation, system design, ANOPP-PAS usage, data entry preprocessors, and ANOPP-PAS functional modules and procedures. Appendices to the manual include a glossary of ANOPP terms and information on error diagnostics and recovery techniques.

A Method of Predicting Queuing at Library Online PCs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beranek, Lea G.

2006-01-01

On-campus networked personal computer (PC) usage at La Trobe University Library was surveyed during September 2005. The survey's objectives were to confirm peak usage times, to measure some of the relevant parameters of online PC usage, and to determine the effect that 24 new networked PCs had on service quality. The survey found that clients…

The IBM PC as an Online Search Machine--Part 2: Physiology for Searchers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolner, Stuart J.

1985-01-01

Enumerates "hardware problems" associated with use of the IBM personal computer as an online search machine: purchase of machinery, unpacking of parts, and assembly into a properly functioning computer. Components that allow transformations of computer into a search machine (combination boards, printer, modem) and diagnostics software…

Personal computer wallpaper user segmentation based on Sasang typology.

PubMed

Lee, Joung-Youn

2015-03-01

As human-computer interaction (HCI) is becoming a significant part of all human life, the user's emotional satisfaction is an important factor to consider. These changes have been pointed out by several researchers who claim that a user's personality may become the most important factor in the design. The objective of this study is to examine Sasang typology as a user segmentation method in the area of HCI design. To test HCI usage patterns in terms of the user's personality and temperament, this study focuses on personal computer (PC) or lap-top wallpaper settings. One hundred and four Facebook friends completed a QSCC II survey assessing Sasang typology type and sent a captured image of their personal PC or lap-top wallpaper. To classify the computer usage pattern, folder organization and wallpaper setting were investigated. The research showed that So-Yang type organized folders and icons in an orderly manner, whereas So-Eum type did not organize folders and icons at all. With regard to wallpaper settings, So-Yang type used the default wallpaper provided by the PC but So-Eum type used landscape images. Because So-Yang type was reported to be emotionally stable and extrovert, they tended to be highly concerned with online privacy compared with So-Eum type. So-Eum type use a lot of images of landscapes as the background image, which demonstrates So-Eum's low emotional stability, anxiety, and the desire to obtain analogy throughout the computer screen. Also, So-Yang's wallpapers display family or peripheral figures and this is due to the sociability that extrovert So-Yang types possess. By proposing the Sasang typology as a factor in influencing an HCI usage pattern in this study, it can be used to predict the user's HCI experience, or suggest a native design methodology that can actively cope with the user's psychological environment.

An overview of the evaluation plan for PC/MISI: PC-based Multiple Information System Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Lim, Bee Lee; Hall, Philip P.

1985-01-01

An initial evaluation plan for the personal computer multiple information system interface (PC/MISI) project is discussed. The document is intend to be used as a blueprint for the evaluation of this system. Each objective of the design project is discussed along with the evaluation parameters and methodology to be used in the evaluation of the implementation's achievement of those objectives. The potential of the system for research activities related to more general aspects of information retrieval is also discussed.

[Features of control of electromagnetic radiation emitted by personal computers].

PubMed

Pal'tsev, Iu P; Buzov, A L; Kol'chugin, Iu I

1996-01-01

Measurements of PC electromagnetic irradiation show that the main sources are PC blocks emitting the waves of certain frequencies. Use of wide-range detectors measuring field intensity in assessment of PC electromagnetic irradiation gives unreliable results. More precise measurements by selective devices are required. Thus, it is expedient to introduce a term "spectral density of field intensity" and its maximal allowable level. In this case a frequency spectrum of PC electromagnetic irradiation is divided into 4 ranges, one of which is subjected to calculation of field intensity for each harmonic frequency, and others undergo assessment of spectral density of field intensity.

An Amphibious Ship-To-Shore Simulation for Use on an IBM PC (Personal Computer)

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-01

CA : «< <- j Special ■ *- amphibious ship- an IBM Personal ion of the phy- he logic used analysis, and a DD | JAM 11 1473 COITION...research, for instance, wiL1 be geared toward a technically oriented person who is familiar with computers, programming and the associated logic. A...problem, often vaguely stated by the decision aaker , into precise and operational terms [Ref. Hz p.51]. The analysis begins with specification of the

[Use of personal computers by diplomats of anesthesiology in Japan].

PubMed

Yamamoto, K; Ohmura, S; Tsubokawa, T; Kita, M; Kushida, Y; Kobayashi, T

1999-04-01

Use of personal computers by diplomats of the Japanese Board of Anesthesiology working in Japanese university hospitals was investigated. Unsigned questionnaires were returned from 232 diplomats of 18 anesthesia departments. The age of responders ranged from twenties to sixties. Personal computer systems are used by 223 diplomats (96.1%), while nine (3.9%) do not use them. The computer systems used are: Apple Macintosh 77%, IBM compatible PC 21% and UNIX 2%. Although 197 diplomats have e-mail addresses, only 162 of them actually send and receive e-mails. Diplomats in fifties use e-mail most actively and those in sixties come second.

Spelling Practice Intervention: A Comparison of Tablet PC and Picture Cards as Spelling Practice Methods for Students with Developmental Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seok, Soonhwa; DaCosta, Boaventura; Yu, Byeong Min

2015-01-01

The present study compared a spelling practice intervention using a tablet personal computer (PC) and picture cards with three students diagnosed with developmental disabilities. An alternating-treatments design with a non-concurrent multiple-baseline across participants was used. The aims of the present study were: (a) to determine if…

Mathematics Instruction and the Tablet PC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fister, K. Renee; McCarthy, Maeve L.

2008-01-01

The use of tablet PCs in teaching is a relatively new phenomenon. A cross between a notebook computer and a personal digital assistant (PDA), the tablet PC has all of the features of a notebook with the additional capability that the screen can also be used for input. Tablet PCs are usually equipped with a stylus that allows the user to write on…

Personal Computer-less (PC-less) Microcontroller Training Kit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Somantri, Y.; Wahyudin, D.; Fushilat, I.

2018-02-01

The need of microcontroller training kit is necessary for practical work of students of electrical engineering education. However, to use available training kit not only costly but also does not meet the need of laboratory requirements. An affordable and portable microcontroller kit could answer such problem. This paper explains the design and development of Personal Computer Less (PC-Less) Microcontroller Training Kit. It was developed based on Lattepanda processor and Arduino microcontroller as target. The training kit equipped with advanced input-output interfaces that adopted the concept of low cost and low power system. The preliminary usability testing proved this device can be used as a tool for microcontroller programming and industrial automation training. By adopting the concept of portability, the device could be operated in the rural area which electricity and computer infrastructure are limited. Furthermore, the training kit is suitable for student of electrical engineering student from university and vocational high school.

Setting new standards for customer advocacy.

PubMed

McDonald, L

1993-01-01

Dell Computer Corporation pioneered the direct marketing of personal computers in 1984 and became the first company in the PC industry to offer manufacturer-direct technical support. According to surveys of corporate buyers, the company provides the best after-sale service and support of any computer maker. Here's how Dell has institutionalized the delivery of customer satisfaction.

Personal computer versus personal computer/mobile device combination users' preclinical laboratory e-learning activity.

PubMed

Kon, Haruka; Kobayashi, Hiroshi; Sakurai, Naoki; Watanabe, Kiyoshi; Yamaga, Yoshiro; Ono, Takahiro

2017-11-01

The aim of the present study was to clarify differences between personal computer (PC)/mobile device combination and PC-only user patterns. We analyzed access frequency and time spent on a complete denture preclinical website in order to maximize website effectiveness. Fourth-year undergraduate students (N=41) in the preclinical complete denture laboratory course were invited to participate in this survey during the final week of the course to track login data. Students accessed video demonstrations and quizzes via our e-learning site/course program, and were instructed to view online demonstrations before classes. When the course concluded, participating students filled out a questionnaire about the program, their opinions, and devices they had used to access the site. Combination user access was significantly more frequent than PC-only during supplementary learning time, indicating that students with mobile devices studied during lunch breaks and before morning classes. Most students had favorable opinions of the e-learning site, but a few combination users commented that some videos were too long and that descriptive answers were difficult on smartphones. These results imply that mobile devices' increased accessibility encouraged learning by enabling more efficient time use between classes. They also suggest that e-learning system improvements should cater to mobile device users by reducing video length and including more short-answer questions. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Unobtrusive Social Network Data From Email

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

PERSON Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 outlook archived files and stores that data into an SQL - database. Communication...Applications ( VBA ) program was installed on the personal computers (PC) of all participants, in the session window of their Microsoft Outlook. Details of

DFLOW USER'S MANUAL

EPA Science Inventory

DFLOW is a computer program for estimating design stream flows for use in water quality studies. The manual describes the use of the program on both the EPA's IBM mainframe system and on a personal computer (PC). The mainframe version of DFLOW can extract a river's daily flow rec...

A performance evaluation of the IBM 370/XT personal computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Triantafyllopoulos, Spiros

1984-01-01

An evaluation of the IBM 370/XT personal computer is given. This evaluation focuses primarily on the use of the 370/XT for scientific and technical applications and applications development. A measurement of the capabilities of the 370/XT was performed by means of test programs which are presented. Also included is a review of facilities provided by the operating system (VM/PC), along with comments on the IBM 370/XT hardware configuration.

MAPPER: A personal computer map projection tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, Steven A.

1993-01-01

MAPPER is a set of software tools designed to let users create and manipulate map projections on a personal computer (PC). The capability exists to generate five popular map projections. These include azimuthal, cylindrical, mercator, lambert, and sinusoidal projections. Data for projections are contained in five coordinate databases at various resolutions. MAPPER is managed by a system of pull-down windows. This interface allows the user to intuitively create, view and export maps to other platforms.

An on-line reactivity and power monitor for a TRIGA reactor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Binney, Stephen E.; Bakir, Alia J.

1988-07-01

As the personal computer (PC) becomes more and more of a significant influence on modern technology, it is reasonable that at some point in time they would be used to interface with TRIGA reactors. A personal computer with a special interface board has been used to monitor key parameters during operation of the Oregon State University TRIGA Reactor (OSTR). A description of the apparatus used and sample results are included.

NFDRSPC: The National Fire-Danger Rating System on a Personal Computer

Treesearch

Bryan G. Donaldson; James T. Paul

1990-01-01

This user's guide is an introductory manual for using the 1988 version (Burgan 1988) of the National Fire-Danger Rating System on an IBM PC or compatible computer. NFDRSPC is a window-oriented, interactive computer program that processes observed and forecast weather with fuels data to produce NFDRS indices. Other program features include user-designed display...

Ergonomic guidelines for using notebook personal computers. Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction, International Ergonomics Association.

PubMed

Saito, S; Piccoli, B; Smith, M J; Sotoyama, M; Sweitzer, G; Villanueva, M B; Yoshitake, R

2000-10-01

In the 1980's, the visual display terminal (VDT) was introduced in workplaces of many countries. Soon thereafter, an upsurge in reported cases of related health problems, such as musculoskeletal disorders and eyestrain, was seen. Recently, the flat panel display or notebook personal computer (PC) became the most remarkable feature in modern workplaces with VDTs and even in homes. A proactive approach must be taken to avert foreseeable ergonomic and occupational health problems from the use of this new technology. Because of its distinct physical and optical characteristics, the ergonomic requirements for notebook PCs in terms of machine layout, workstation design, lighting conditions, among others, should be different from the CRT-based computers. The Japan Ergonomics Society (JES) technical committee came up with a set of guidelines for notebook PC use following exploratory discussions that dwelt on its ergonomic aspects. To keep in stride with this development, the Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction under the auspices of the International Ergonomics Association worked towards the international issuance of the guidelines. This paper unveils the result of this collaborative effort.

Personal Computer (PC) Thermal Analyzer

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-03-01

demonstrate the power of the PC Thermal Analyzer, it was compared with an existing thermal analysis method. Specifically, the PC Thermal Analyzer was...34Intelligence" I T Kowledge 1 User I Inference e Base I Interface 1i FMechanisms H 1 asI I II - I L m m m m m m - m m i m m - m m - m I- m i m Expert...Temperature in degrees centi- grade? (2) What is the total Heat Output ( power dissipation) in watts?). 25 BOARD ASSEMBLY ~UI U2 aooo 0i0000t00 U15

Personal Computer System for Automatic Coronary Venous Flow Measurement

PubMed Central

Dew, Robert B.

1985-01-01

We developed an automated system based on an IBM PC/XT Personal computer to measure coronary venous blood flow during cardiac catheterization. Flow is determined by a thermodilution technique in which a cold saline solution is infused through a catheter into the coronary venous system. Regional temperature fluctuations sensed by the catheter are used to determine great cardiac vein and coronary sinus blood flow. The computer system replaces manual methods of acquiring and analyzing temperature data related to flow measurement, thereby increasing the speed and accuracy with which repetitive flow determinations can be made.

High performance, low cost, self-contained, multipurpose PC based ground systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forman, Michael; Nickum, William; Troendly, Gregory

1993-01-01

The use of embedded processors greatly enhances the capabilities of personal computers when used for telemetry processing and command control center functions. Parallel architectures based on the use of transputers are shown to be very versatile and reusable, and the synergism between the PC and the embedded processor with transputers results in single unit, low cost workstations of 20 less than MIPS less than or equal to 1000.

What Can You Learn from a Cell Phone? Almost Anything!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prensky, Marc

2005-01-01

Today's high-end cell phones have the computing power of a mid-1990s personal computer (PC)--while consuming only one one-hundredth of the energy. Even the simplest, voice-only phones have more complex and powerful chips than the 1969 on-board computer that landed a spaceship on the moon. In the United States, it is almost universally acknowledged…

A PC-based single-ADC multi-parameter data acquisition system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Woodring, M.; Kegel, G.H.R.; Egan, J.J.

1995-10-01

A personal computer (PC) based mult parameter data acquisition system using the Microsoft Window operating environment has been designed and constructed. An IBI AT compatible personal computer with an Intel 486DX5 microprocessor was combined with a National Instruments ATIDIO 32 digital I/O card, a single Canberra 8713 ADC with 13-bit resolution and a modified Canberra 8223 8-input analog multiplexer to acquil data from experiments carried out at the UML Van de Graa accelerator. The accelerator data acquisition (ADAC) computer environment was programmed in Microsoft Visual BASIC for use i Windows. ADAC allows event-mode data acquisition with up to eight parametersmore » (modifiable to 64) and the simultaneous display parameters during acquisition. Additional features of ADAC include replay of event-mode data and graphical analysis/display of data. TV ADAC environment is easy to upgrade or expand, inexpensive 1 implement, and is specifically designed to meet the needs of nuclei spectroscopy.« less

Hard Hitters!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dupont, Stephen

2000-01-01

Presents a selection of computers and peripherals designed to enhance the classroom. They include personal digital assistants (the AlphaSmart 30001R, CalcuScribe Duo, and DreamWriter IT); new Apple products (the iBook laptop, improved iMac, and OS 9 operating system); PC options (new Gateway and Compaq computers); and gadgets (imagiLab, the QX3…

Cloud Computing and the Power to Choose

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bristow, Rob; Dodds, Ted; Northam, Richard; Plugge, Leo

2010-01-01

Some of the most significant changes in information technology are those that have given the individual user greater power to choose. The first of these changes was the development of the personal computer. The PC liberated the individual user from the limitations of the mainframe and minicomputers and from the rules and regulations of centralized…

ROTRAN 1 - SOLUTION OF EQUATIONS FOR ROTARY TRANSFORMERS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salomon, P. M.

1994-01-01

ROTRAN1 is a computer program to calculate the impedance and current gain of a simple transformer. Inputs to the program are primary resistance, primary inductance, secondary (load) resistance, secondary inductance, and mutual inductance. ROTRAN1 was written in BASICA for execution on the IBM PC personal computer. It was written in 1986.

Learning from Home: Implementing Technical Infrastructure for Distributed Learning via Home-PC within Telenor.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Folkman, Kristian; Berge, Zane L.

2002-01-01

Presents results from a study conducted at Telenor, a Norwegian telecom operator, regarding the distribution of home personal computers to employees to encourage professional development outside working hours on an individual basis. Findings from a survey suggest that home computers can contribute positively to increasing employee's knowledge…

Buying Your Next (or First) PC: What Matters Now?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Walt

1993-01-01

Discussion of factors to consider in purchasing a personal computer covers present and future needs, computing environments, memory, processing performance, disk size, and display quality. Issues such as bundled systems, where and when to purchase, and vendor support are addressed; and an annotated bibliography of 28 recent articles is included.…

Trusted Computing Management Server Making Trusted Computing User Friendly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sothmann, Sönke; Chaudhuri, Sumanta

Personal Computers (PC) with build in Trusted Computing (TC) technology are already well known and widely distributed. Nearly every new business notebook contains now a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and could be used with increased trust and security features in daily application and use scenarios. However in real life the number of notebooks and PCs where the TPM is really activated and used is still very small.

Implementing Realistic Helicopter Physics in 3D Game Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-09-01

developed a highly realistic and innovative PC video game that puts you inside an Army unit. You’ll face your first tour of duty along with your fellow...helicopter physics. Many other video games include helicopters but omit realistic third person helicopter behaviors in their applications. Of the 48...to be too computationally expensive for a PC based video game . Generally, some basic parts of blade element theory are present in any attempt to

A Low Cost Remote Sensing System Using PC and Stereo Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, Joel F.; Flood, Michael A.; Prasad, Narasimha S.; Hodson, Wade D.

2011-01-01

A system using a personal computer, speaker, and a microphone is used to detect objects, and make crude measurements using a carrier modulated by a pseudorandom noise (PN) code. This system can be constructed using a personal computer and audio equipment commonly found in the laboratory or at home, or more sophisticated equipment that can be purchased at reasonable cost. We demonstrate its value as an instructional tool for teaching concepts of remote sensing and digital signal processing.

Combating adverse selection in secondary PC markets.

PubMed

Hickey, Stewart W; Fitzpatrick, Colin

2008-04-15

Adverse selection is a significant contributor to market failure in secondary personal computer (PC) markets. Signaling can act as a potential solution to adverse selection and facilitate superior remarketing of second-hand PCs. Signaling is a means whereby usage information can be utilized to enhance consumer perception of both value and utility of used PCs and, therefore, promote lifetime extension for these systems. This can help mitigate a large portion of the environmental impact associated with PC system manufacture. In this paper, the computer buying and selling behavior of consumers is characterized via a survey of 270 Irish residential users. Results confirm the existence of adverse selection in the Irish market with 76% of potential buyers being unwilling to purchase and 45% of potential vendors being unwilling to sell a used PC. The so-called "closet affect" is also apparent with 78% of users storing their PC after use has ceased. Results also indicate that consumers place a higher emphasis on specifications when considering a second-hand purchase. This contradicts their application needs which are predominantly Internet and word-processing/spreadsheet/presentation applications, 88% and 60% respectively. Finally, a market solution utilizing self monitoring and reporting technology (SMART) sensors for the purpose of real time usage monitoring is proposed, that can change consumer attitudes with regard to second-hand computer equipment.

PC graphics generation and management tool for real-time applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truong, Long V.

1992-01-01

A graphics tool was designed and developed for easy generation and management of personal computer graphics. It also provides methods and 'run-time' software for many common artificial intelligence (AI) or expert system (ES) applications.

ARDS User Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleming, David P.

2001-01-01

Personal computers (PCs) are now used extensively for engineering analysis. their capability exceeds that of mainframe computers of only a few years ago. Programs originally written for mainframes have been ported to PCs to make their use easier. One of these programs is ARDS (Analysis of Rotor Dynamic Systems) which was developed at Arizona State University (ASU) by Nelson et al. to quickly and accurately analyze rotor steady state and transient response using the method of component mode synthesis. The original ARDS program was ported to the PC in 1995. Several extensions were made at ASU to increase the capability of mainframe ARDS. These extensions have also been incorporated into the PC version of ARDS. Each mainframe extension had its own user manual generally covering only that extension. Thus to exploit the full capability of ARDS required a large set of user manuals. Moreover, necessary changes and enhancements for PC ARDS were undocumented. The present document is intended to remedy those problems by combining all pertinent information needed for the use of PC ARDS into one volume.

Calculation of Weibull strength parameters, Batdorf flaw density constants and related statistical quantities using PC-CARES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szatmary, Steven A.; Gyekenyesi, John P.; Nemeth, Noel N.

1990-01-01

This manual describes the operation and theory of the PC-CARES (Personal Computer-Ceramic Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Structures) computer program for the IBM PC and compatibles running PC-DOS/MS-DOR OR IBM/MS-OS/2 (version 1.1 or higher) operating systems. The primary purpose of this code is to estimate Weibull material strength parameters, the Batdorf crack density coefficient, and other related statistical quantities. Included in the manual is the description of the calculation of shape and scale parameters of the two-parameter Weibull distribution using the least-squares analysis and maximum likelihood methods for volume- and surface-flaw-induced fracture in ceramics with complete and censored samples. The methods for detecting outliers and for calculating the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit statistics and 90 percent confidence bands about the Weibull line, as well as the techniques for calculating the Batdorf flaw-density constants are also described.

Real-time polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography data processing with parallel computing

PubMed Central

Liu, Gangjun; Zhang, Jun; Yu, Lingfeng; Xie, Tuqiang; Chen, Zhongping

2010-01-01

With the increase of the A-line speed of optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems, real-time processing of acquired data has become a bottleneck. The shared-memory parallel computing technique is used to process OCT data in real time. The real-time processing power of a quad-core personal computer (PC) is analyzed. It is shown that the quad-core PC could provide real-time OCT data processing ability of more than 80K A-lines per second. A real-time, fiber-based, swept source polarization-sensitive OCT system with 20K A-line speed is demonstrated with this technique. The real-time 2D and 3D polarization-sensitive imaging of chicken muscle and pig tendon is also demonstrated. PMID:19904337

Controlling Laboratory Processes From A Personal Computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Will, H.; Mackin, M. A.

1991-01-01

Computer program provides natural-language process control from IBM PC or compatible computer. Sets up process-control system that either runs without operator or run by workers who have limited programming skills. Includes three smaller programs. Two of them, written in FORTRAN 77, record data and control research processes. Third program, written in Pascal, generates FORTRAN subroutines used by other two programs to identify user commands with device-driving routines written by user. Also includes set of input data allowing user to define user commands to be executed by computer. Requires personal computer operating under MS-DOS with suitable hardware interfaces to all controlled devices. Also requires FORTRAN 77 compiler and device drivers written by user.

PC-assisted translation of photogrammetric papers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Güthner, Karlheinz; Peipe, Jürgen

A PC-based system for machine translation of photogrammetric papers from the English into the German language and vice versa is described. The computer-assisted translating process is not intended to create a perfect interpretation of a text but to produce a rough rendering of the content of a paper. Starting with the original text, a continuous data flow is effected into the translated version by means of hardware (scanner, personal computer, printer) and software (OCR, translation, word processing, DTP). An essential component of the system is a photogrammetric microdictionary which is being established at present. It is based on several sources, including e.g. the ISPRS Multilingual Dictionary.

Easy PC Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffett-Smith, Peter

1996-11-01

Easy PC Astronomy is the perfect book for everyone who wants to make easy and accurate astronomical calculations. The author supplies a simple but powerful script language called AstroScript on a disk, ready to use on any IBM PC-type computer. Equipped with this software, readers can compute complex but interesting astronomical results within minutes: from the time of moonrise or moonset anywhere in the world on any date, to the display of a lunar or solar eclipse on the computer screen--all within a few minutes of opening the book! The Sky Graphics feature of the software displays a detailed image of the sky as seen from any point on earth--at any time in the future or past--showing the constellations, planets, and a host of other features. Readers need no expert knowledge of astronomy, math or programming; the author provides full details of the calculations and formulas, which the reader can absorb or ignore as desired, and a comprehensive glossary of astronomical terms. Easy PC Astronomy is of immediate practical use to beginning and advanced amateur astronomers, students at all levels, science teachers, and research astronomers. Peter Duffett-Smith is at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge and is the author of Astronomy with Your Personal Computer (Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator (Cambridge University Press, 1989).

A Personal Computer-Based Head-Spine Model

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-09-01

the CHSM. CHSM was comprised of the pelvis, the thoracolumbar spine, a single beam representation of the cervical spine, the head, the rib cage , and...developing the private sector HSM-PC project follows the Phase II program Work Plan , but continues into a Phase m SBIR program internally funded by...on completing the head and neck portion of HSM-PC, which as described in the Confidence Assessment Plan (CA Plan ) will be known as the Head Cervical

Performance of Wireless Unattended Sensor Network in Maritime Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

longevity. Crossbow Technologies produces a number of gateways for use with their motes which include the MIB510, the MIB600 and the Stargate . The...MIB510 and MIB600 gateways require interface directly with a PC while he Stargate gateway interfaces remotely using the IEEE 802.11 standard for access...dedicated PC is unfeasible, the Stargate gateway allows remote access using the IEEE 802.11 standard. This can be accomplished via a Personal Computer

ELIPGRID-PC: A PC program for calculating hot spot probabilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davidson, J.R.

1994-10-01

ELIPGRID-PC, a new personal computer program has been developed to provide easy access to Singer`s 1972 ELIPGRID algorithm for hot-spot detection probabilities. Three features of the program are the ability to determine: (1) the grid size required for specified conditions, (2) the smallest hot spot that can be sampled with a given probability, and (3) the approximate grid size resulting from specified conditions and sampling cost. ELIPGRID-PC also provides probability of hit versus cost data for graphing with spread-sheets or graphics software. The program has been successfully tested using Singer`s published ELIPGRID results. An apparent error in the original ELIPGRIDmore » code has been uncovered and an appropriate modification incorporated into the new program.« less

DDN (Defense Data Network) Protocol Implementations and Vendors Guide

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-02-01

Announcement 286-259 6/16/86 MACHINE-TYPE/CPU: IBM RT/PC O/S: AIX DISTRIBUTOR: 1. IBM Marketing 2. IBM Authorized VAR’s 3. Authorized Personal Computer...Vendors Guide 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) Dorio, Nan; Johnson, Marlyn; Lederman. Sol; Redfield, Elizabeth; Ward, Carol 13a. TYPE OF REPORT 13b. TIME COVERED 114...documentation, contact person , and distributor. The fourth section describes analysis tools. It includes information about network analysis products

The USL NASA PC R and D project: Detailed specifications of objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Chum, Frank Y.; Hall, Philip P.; Moreau, Dennis R.; Triantafyllopoulos, Spiros

1984-01-01

The specifications for a number of projects which are to be implemented within the University of Southwestern Louisiana NASA PC R and D Project are discussed. The goals and objectives of the PC development project and the interrelationships of the various components are discussed. Six projects are described. They are a NASA/RECON simulator, a user interface to multiple remote information systems, evaluation of various personal computer systems, statistical analysis software development, interactive presentation system development, and the development of a distributed processing environment. The relationships of these projects to one another and to the goals and objectives of the overall project are discussed.

An interactive program to display user-generated or file-based maps on a personal computer monitor

USGS Publications Warehouse

Langer, W.H.; Stephens, R.W.

1987-01-01

PC MAP-MAKER is an ADVANCED BASIC program written to provide users of IBM XT, IBM AT, and compatible computers with a straight-forward, flexible method to display geographical data on a color or monochrome PC (personal computer) monitor. Data can be political boundaries such as State and county boundaries; natural curvilinear features such as rivers, drainage areas, and geological contacts; and points such as well locations and mineral localities. Essentially any point defined by a latitude and longitude and any line defined by a series of latitude and longitude values can be displayed using the program. PC MAP MAKER allows users to view tabular data from U.S. Geological Survey files such as WATSTORE (National Water Data Storage and Retrieval System) in a map format in a time much shorter than required by sending the data to a line plotter. The screen image can be saved to disk for recall at a later date, and hard copies can be printed with a dot matrix printer. The program is user-friendly, using menus or prompts to guide user input. It is fully documented and structured to allow the user to tailor the program to the user 's specific needs. The documentation includes a tutorial designed to introduce users to the capabilities of the program using the State of Colorado as a demonstration map area. (Author 's abstract)

QUEST Hanford Site Computer Users - What do they do?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

WITHERSPOON, T.T.

2000-03-02

The Fluor Hanford Chief Information Office requested that a computer-user survey be conducted to determine the user's dependence on the computer and its importance to their ability to accomplish their work. Daily use trends and future needs of Hanford Site personal computer (PC) users was also to be defined. A primary objective was to use the data to determine how budgets should be focused toward providing those services that are truly needed by the users.

Server-Based and Server-Less Byod Solutions to Support Electronic Learning

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

Knowledge Online NSD National Security Directive OS operating system OWA Outlook Web Access PC personal computer PED personal electronic device PDA...mobile devices, institute mobile device policies and standards, and promote the development and use of DOD mobile and web -enabled applications” (DOD...with an isolated BYOD web server, properly educated system administrators must carry out and execute the necessary, pre-defined network security

Potential-Field Geophysical Software for the PC

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1995-01-01

The computer programs of the Potential-Field Software Package run under the DOS operating system on IBM-compatible personal computers. They are used for the processing, display, and interpretation of potential-field geophysical data (gravity- and magnetic-field measurements) and other data sets that can be represented as grids or profiles. These programs have been developed on a variety of computer systems over a period of 25 years by the U.S. Geological Survey.

COATING ALTERNATIVES GUIDE (CAGE) USER'S GUIDE

EPA Science Inventory

The guide provides instructions for using the Coating Alternatives GuidE (CAGE) software program, version 1.0. It assumes that the user is familiar with the fundamentals of operating an IBM-compatible personal computer (PC) under the Microsoft disk operating system (MS-DOS). CAGE...

Heliport noise model (HNM) version 1 user's guide

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1988-02-01

This document contains the instructions to execute the Heliport Noise Model (HNM), Version 1. HNM Version 1 is a computer tool for determining the total impact of helicopter noise at and around heliports. The model runs on IBM PC/XT/AT personal compu...

Upper extremity musculoskeletal discomfort among occupational notebook personal computer users: work interference, associations with risk factors and the use of notebook computer stand and docking station.

PubMed

Erdinc, Oguzhan

2011-01-01

This study explored the prevalence and work interference (WI) of upper extremity musculoskeletal discomfort (UEMSD) and investigated the associations of individual and work-related risk factors and using a notebook stand or docking station with UEMSD among symptomatic occupational notebook personal computer (PC) users. The participant group included 45 Turkish occupational notebook PC users. The study used self-reports of participants. The Turkish version of the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (T-CMDQ) was used to collect symptom data. UEMSD prevailed mostly in the neck, the upper back, and the lower back with prevalence rates of 77.8%, 73.3%, and 60.0% respectively, and with WI rates of 28.9%, 24.4%, and 26.7% respectively. Aggregated results showed that 44% of participants reported WI due to UEMSD in at least one body region. Significant risk factors were: being female, being aged <31 years, having computer work experience <10 years, and physical discomfort during computer use. UEMSD prevalence and WI rates were considerable in the neck, the upper back, and the lower back. Significant associations between certain risk factors and UEMSD were identified, but no association was found between using notebook stand and docking station and UEMSD among participants.

LEOPARD on a personal computer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lancaster, D.B.

1988-01-01

The LEOPARD code is very widely used to produce four- or two-group cross sections for water reactors. Although it is heavily used it had not been downloaded to the PC. This paper has been written to announce the completion of downloading LEOPARD. LEOPARD can now be run on anything from the early PC to the most advanced 80386 machines. The only requirements are 512 Kbytes of memory (LEOPARD actually only needs 235, but with buffers, 256 Kbytes may not be enough) and two disk rives (preferably, one is a hard drive). The run times for various machines and configurations aremore » summarized. The accuracy of the PC-LEOPARD results are documented.« less

A PC based fault diagnosis expert system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marsh, Christopher A.

1990-01-01

The Integrated Status Assessment (ISA) prototype expert system performs system level fault diagnosis using rules and models created by the user. The ISA evolved from concepts to a stand-alone demonstration prototype using OPS5 on a LISP Machine. The LISP based prototype was rewritten in C and the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) to run on a Personal Computer (PC) and a graphics workstation. The ISA prototype has been used to demonstrate fault diagnosis functions of Space Station Freedom's Operation Management System (OMS). This paper describes the development of the ISA prototype from early concepts to the current PC/workstation version used today and describes future areas of development for the prototype.

Stellar Inertial Navigation Workstation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, W.; Johnson, B.; Swaminathan, N.

1989-01-01

Software and hardware assembled to support specific engineering activities. Stellar Inertial Navigation Workstation (SINW) is integrated computer workstation providing systems and engineering support functions for Space Shuttle guidance and navigation-system logistics, repair, and procurement activities. Consists of personal-computer hardware, packaged software, and custom software integrated together into user-friendly, menu-driven system. Designed to operate on IBM PC XT. Applied in business and industry to develop similar workstations.

Personal Computer Based Controller For Switched Reluctance Motor Drives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mang, X.; Krishnan, R.; Adkar, S.; Chandramouli, G.

1987-10-01

Th9, switched reluctance motor (SRM) has recently gained considerable attention in the variable speed drive market. Two important factors that have contributed to this are, the simplicity of construction and the possibility of developing low cost con-trollers with minimum number of switching devices in the drive circuits. This is mainly due to the state-of-art of the present digital circuits technology and the low cost of switching devices. The control of this motor drive is under research. Optimized performance of the SRM motor drive is very dependent on the integration of the controller, converter and the motor. This research on system integration involves considerable changes in the control algorithms and their implementation. A Personal computer (PC) based controller is very appropriate for this purpose. Accordingly, the present paper is concerned with the design of a PC based controller for a SRM. The PC allows for real-time microprocessor control with the possibility of on-line system parameter modifications. Software reconfiguration of this controller is easier than a hardware based controller. User friendliness is a natural consequence of such a system. Considering the low cost of PCs, this controller will offer an excellent cost-effective means of studying the control strategies for the SRM drive intop greater detail than in the past.

Computer program for the IBM personal computer which searches for approximate matches to short oligonucleotide sequences in long target DNA sequences.

PubMed Central

Myers, E W; Mount, D W

1986-01-01

We describe a program which may be used to find approximate matches to a short predefined DNA sequence in a larger target DNA sequence. The program predicts the usefulness of specific DNA probes and sequencing primers and finds nearly identical sequences that might represent the same regulatory signal. The program is written in the C programming language and will run on virtually any computer system with a C compiler, such as the IBM/PC and other computers running under the MS/DOS and UNIX operating systems. The program has been integrated into an existing software package for the IBM personal computer (see article by Mount and Conrad, this volume). Some examples of its use are given. PMID:3753785

COATING ALTERNATIVES GUIDE (CAGE) USER'S GUIDE (EPA/600/R-01/030)

EPA Science Inventory

The guide provides instructions for using the Coating Alternatives GuidE (CAGE) software program, version 1.0. It assumes that the user is familiar with the fundamentals of operating an IBM-compatible personal computer (PC) under the Microsoft disk operating system (MS-DOS). CAGE...

An Evaluation of PC-Based Optical Character Recognition Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schreier, E. M.; Uslan, M. M.

1991-01-01

The review examines six personal computer-based optical character recognition (OCR) systems designed for use by blind and visually impaired people. Considered are OCR components and terms, documentation, scanning and reading, command structure, conversion, unique features, accuracy of recognition, scanning time, speed, and cost. (DB)

Using a Personal Device to Strengthen Password Authentication from an Untrusted Computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mannan, Mohammad; van Oorschot, P. C.

Keylogging and phishing attacks can extract user identity and sensitive account information for unauthorized access to users' financial accounts. Most existing or proposed solutions are vulnerable to session hijacking attacks. We propose a simple approach to counter these attacks, which cryptographically separates a user's long-term secret input from (typically untrusted) client PCs; a client PC performs most computations but has access only to temporary secrets. The user's long-term secret (typically short and low-entropy) is input through an independent personal trusted device such as a cellphone. The personal device provides a user's long-term secrets to a client PC only after encrypting the secrets using a pre-installed, "correct" public key of a remote service (the intended recipient of the secrets). The proposed protocol (MP-Auth) realizes such an approach, and is intended to safeguard passwords from keyloggers, other malware (including rootkits), phishing attacks and pharming, as well as to provide transaction security to foil session hijacking. We report on a prototype implementation of MP-Auth, and provide a comparison of web authentication techniques that use an additional factor of authentication (e.g. a cellphone, PDA or hardware token).

Experiment on a novel user input for computer interface utilizing tongue input for the severely disabled.

PubMed

Kencana, Andy Prima; Heng, John

2008-11-01

This paper introduces a novel passive tongue control and tracking device. The device is intended to be used by the severely disabled or quadriplegic person. The main focus of this device when compared to the other existing tongue tracking devices is that the sensor employed is passive which means it requires no powered electrical sensor to be inserted into the user's mouth and hence no trailing wires. This haptic interface device employs the use of inductive sensors to track the position of the user's tongue. The device is able perform two main PC functions that of the keyboard and mouse function. The results show that this device allows the severely disabled person to have some control in his environment, such as to turn on and off or control daily electrical devices or appliances; or to be used as a viable PC Human Computer Interface (HCI) by tongue control. The operating principle and set-up of such a novel passive tongue HCI has been established with successful laboratory trials and experiments. Further clinical trials will be required to test out the device on disabled persons before it is ready for future commercial development.

39 CFR 501.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Definitions. 501.1 Section 501.1 Postal Service... EVIDENCING SYSTEMS § 501.1 Definitions. (a) Postage Evidencing Systems regulated by part 501 produce evidence... Evidencing Systems that use a personal computer as an integral part of the system. PC Postage products may...

39 CFR 501.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Definitions. 501.1 Section 501.1 Postal Service... EVIDENCING SYSTEMS § 501.1 Definitions. (a) Postage Evidencing Systems regulated by part 501 produce evidence... Evidencing Systems that use a personal computer as an integral part of the system. PC Postage products may...

39 CFR 501.1 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Definitions. 501.1 Section 501.1 Postal Service... EVIDENCING SYSTEMS § 501.1 Definitions. (a) Postage Evidencing Systems regulated by part 501 produce evidence... Evidencing Systems that use a personal computer as an integral part of the system. PC Postage products may...

Using ZWDOS to Communicate in Chinese on PC.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xie, Tianwei

1995-01-01

Describes the availability, installation, and use of the ZhonWen Disk Operating System (ZWDOS) to display, print, and transmit Chinese characters on conventional International Business Machines (IBM) personal computers and IBM-compatible machines. Also discussed is the use of ZWDOS to compose electronic mail messages, read newsgroups, and access…

Go Figure: Computer Database Adds the Personal Touch.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaffney, Jean; Crawford, Pat

1992-01-01

A database for recordkeeping for a summer reading club was developed for a public library system using an IBM PC and Microsoft Works. Use of the database resulted in more efficient program management, giving librarians more time to spend with patrons and enabling timely awarding of incentives. (LAE)

Automated Bilingual Circulation System Using PC Local Area Networks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iskanderani, A. I.; Anwar, M. A.

1992-01-01

Describes a personal computer and LAN-based automated circulation system capable of handling both Arabic and Latin characters that was developed for use at King Abdullaziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). Outlines system requirements, system structure, hardware needs, and individual functional modules of the system. Numerous examples and flow…

Improved programs for DNA and protein sequence analysis on the IBM personal computer and other standard computer systems.

PubMed Central

Mount, D W; Conrad, B

1986-01-01

We have previously described programs for a variety of types of sequence analysis (1-4). These programs have now been integrated into a single package. They are written in the standard C programming language and run on virtually any computer system with a C compiler, such as the IBM/PC and other computers running under the MS/DOS and UNIX operating systems. The programs are widely distributed and may be obtained from the authors as described below. PMID:3753780

Development of a personal-computer-based intelligent tutoring system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mueller, Stephen J.

1988-01-01

A large number of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) have been built since they were first proposed in the early 1970's. Research conducted on the use of the best of these systems has demonstrated their effectiveness in tutoring in selected domains. A prototype ITS for tutoring students in the use of CLIPS language: CLIPSIT (CLIPS Intelligent Tutor) was developed. For an ITS to be widely accepted, not only must it be effective, flexible, and very responsive, it must also be capable of functioning on readily available computers. While most ITSs have been developed on powerful workstations, CLIPSIT is designed for use on the IBM PC/XT/AT personal computer family (and their clones). There are many issues to consider when developing an ITS on a personal computer such as the teaching strategy, user interface, knowledge representation, and program design methodology. Based on experiences in developing CLIPSIT, results on how to address some of these issues are reported and approaches are suggested for maintaining a powerful learning environment while delivering robust performance within the speed and memory constraints of the personal computer.

Implementation of data acquisition interface using on-board field-programmable gate array (FPGA) universal serial bus (USB) link

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yussup, N.; Ibrahim, M. M.; Lombigit, L.; Rahman, N. A. A.; Zin, M. R. M.

2014-02-01

Typically a system consists of hardware as the controller and software which is installed in the personal computer (PC). In the effective nuclear detection, the hardware involves the detection setup and the electronics used, with the software consisting of analysis tools and graphical display on PC. A data acquisition interface is necessary to enable the communication between the controller hardware and PC. Nowadays, Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become a standard connection method for computer peripherals and has replaced many varieties of serial and parallel ports. However the implementation of USB is complex. This paper describes the implementation of data acquisition interface between a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) board and a PC by exploiting the USB link of the FPGA board. The USB link is based on an FTDI chip which allows direct access of input and output to the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) signals from a USB host and a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) with a 24 MHz clock input to the USB link. The implementation and results of using the USB link of FPGA board as the data interfacing are discussed.

Implementation of data acquisition interface using on-board field-programmable gate array (FPGA) universal serial bus (USB) link

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yussup, N.; Ibrahim, M. M.; Lombigit, L.

Typically a system consists of hardware as the controller and software which is installed in the personal computer (PC). In the effective nuclear detection, the hardware involves the detection setup and the electronics used, with the software consisting of analysis tools and graphical display on PC. A data acquisition interface is necessary to enable the communication between the controller hardware and PC. Nowadays, Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become a standard connection method for computer peripherals and has replaced many varieties of serial and parallel ports. However the implementation of USB is complex. This paper describes the implementation of datamore » acquisition interface between a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) board and a PC by exploiting the USB link of the FPGA board. The USB link is based on an FTDI chip which allows direct access of input and output to the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) signals from a USB host and a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) with a 24 MHz clock input to the USB link. The implementation and results of using the USB link of FPGA board as the data interfacing are discussed.« less

PCACE-Personal-Computer-Aided Cabling Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Billitti, Joseph W.

1987-01-01

PCACE computer program developed to provide inexpensive, interactive system for learning and using engineering approach to interconnection systems. Basically database system that stores information as files of individual connectors and handles wiring information in circuit groups stored as records. Directly emulates typical manual engineering methods of handling data, thus making interface between user and program very natural. Apple version written in P-Code Pascal and IBM PC version of PCACE written in TURBO Pascal 3.0

Computer program for the reservoir model of metabolic crossroads.

PubMed

Ribeiro, J M; Juzgado, D; Crespo, E; Sillero, A

1990-01-01

A program containing 344 sentences, written in BASIC and adapted to run in personal computers (PC) has been developed to simulate the reservoir model of metabolic crossroads. The program draws the holes of the reservoir with shapes reflecting the Vmax, Km (S0.5) and cooperativity coefficients (n) of the enzymes and calculates both the actual velocities and the percentage of contribution of every enzyme to the overall removal of their common substrate.

The IBM PC as an Online Search Machine. Part 5: Searching through Crosstalk.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kolner, Stuart J.

1985-01-01

This last of a five-part series on using the IBM personal computer for online searching highlights a brief review, search process, making the connection, switching between screens and modes, online transaction, capture buffer controls, coping with options, function keys, script files, processing downloaded information, note to TELEX users, and…

Lay Hold! Heave! Building Speed: Excitement and Satisfaction in Pushing the BGE Flywheel

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

future. Accessions has stirred up a significant review of how the Army runs the business of bringing in new lieutenants and leveraging their academic ...occasional plagiarism . Tablet personal computers (PCs) have been purchased for one ECCC small group, and the sec- ond pilot of use of the Tablet PC

Computer simulation of space charge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, K. W.; Chung, W. K.; Mak, S. S.

1991-05-01

Using the particle-mesh (PM) method, a one-dimensional simulation of the well-known Langmuir-Child's law is performed on an INTEL 80386-based personal computer system. The program is coded in turbo basic (trademark of Borland International, Inc.). The numerical results obtained were in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions and the computational time required is quite modest. This simulation exercise demonstrates that some simple computer simulation using particles may be implemented successfully on PC's that are available today, and hopefully this will provide the necessary incentives for newcomers to the field who wish to acquire a flavor of the elementary aspects of the practice.

[Personal computer-based computer monitoring system of the anesthesiologist (2-year experience in development and use)].

PubMed

Buniatian, A A; Sablin, I N; Flerov, E V; Mierbekov, E M; Broĭtman, O G; Shevchenko, V V; Shitikov, I I

1995-01-01

Creation of computer monitoring systems (CMS) for operating rooms is one of the most important spheres of personal computer employment in anesthesiology. The authors developed a PC RS/AT-based CMS and effectively used it for more than 2 years. This system permits comprehensive monitoring in cardiosurgical operations by real time processing the values of arterial and central venous pressure, pressure in the pulmonary artery, bioelectrical activity of the brain, and two temperature values. Use of this CMS helped appreciably improve patients' safety during surgery. The possibility to assess brain function by computer monitoring the EEF simultaneously with central hemodynamics and body temperature permit the anesthesiologist to objectively assess the depth of anesthesia and to diagnose cerebral hypoxia. Automated anesthesiological chart issued by the CMS after surgery reliably reflects the patient's status and the measures taken by the anesthesiologist.

41 CFR 128-1.5002-8 - Property custodian (PC).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Property custodian (PC... Personal Property Management § 128-1.5002-8 Property custodian (PC). An individual responsible for the... required on all actions affecting the personal property within his jurisdiction. The designation as PC may...

41 CFR 128-1.5002-8 - Property custodian (PC).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Property custodian (PC... Personal Property Management § 128-1.5002-8 Property custodian (PC). An individual responsible for the... required on all actions affecting the personal property within his jurisdiction. The designation as PC may...

A Plan for Air Force Use of the World Wide Web

DTIC Science & Technology

1995-01-01

Communications Tool Eschewing personal computers in this day and age is like saying "~no * * thanky ’ to refrigeration. Bill Machrone, PC Magazine 4I... in 1989.’𔃺 Omni Magazine is now available only on CD-ROM or online. Some, like New York Magazine , have begun an electronic bulletin board to - reach...One person with 10 years experience running an electronic bulletin board system for magazines explains, "It’s a pain in the arse to keep them running

Rapid, Value-based, Evolutionary Acquisition and Its Application to a USMC Tactical Service Oriented Architecture

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

Availability C2PC Command and Control Personal Computer CAS Close Air Support CCA Clinger-Cohen Act CDR Critical Design Review CJCSI Chairman of the Joint... kids , Jackie and Anna and my future boy whose name is TBD, I think my time at NPS has made me a better person and hopefully a better father. Thank... can the USMC apply the essential principles of rapid, value-based, evolutionary acquisition to the development and procurement of a TSOA? 4 THIS

CIM for 300-mm semiconductor fab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luk, Arthur

1997-08-01

Five years ago, factory automation (F/A) was not prevalent in the fab. Today facing the drastically changed market and the intense competition, management request the plant floor data be forward to their desktop computer. This increased demand rapidly pushed F/A to the computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). Through personalization, we successfully reduced a computer size, let them can be stored on our desktop. PC initiates a computer new era. With the advent of the network, the network computer (NC) creates fresh problems for us. When we plan to invest more than $3 billion to build new 300 mm fab, the next generation technology raises a challenging bar.

PC-BASED MIE SCATTERING PROGRAM FOR THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS AS A FUNCTION OF COMPOSITION AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY

EPA Science Inventory

Over the past decade there has been interest in exploring possible relationships between atmospheric visibility (extinction of light) and the chemical form of aerosols in the atmosphere. ser-friendly, menu-driven program for the personal computer (AT 286 with math co-processor or...

Software Products for Temperature Data Reduction of Platinum Resistance Thermometers (PRT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sherrod, Jerry K.

1998-01-01

The main objective of this project is to create user-friendly personal computer (PC) software for reduction/analysis of platinum resistance thermometer (PRT) data. Software products were designed and created to help users of PRT data with the tasks of using the Callendar-Van Dusen method. Sample runs are illustrated in this report.

General-Purpose Ada Software Packages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpp, Allan R.

1991-01-01

Collection of subprograms brings to Ada many features from other programming languages. All generic packages designed to be easily instantiated for types declared in user's facility. Most packages have widespread applicability, although some oriented for avionics applications. All designed to facilitate writing new software in Ada. Written on IBM/AT personal computer running under PC DOS, v.3.1.

Wrist display concept demonstration based on 2-in. color AMOLED

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Frederick M.; Longo, Sam J.; Hopper, Darrel G.

2004-09-01

The wrist watch needs an upgrade. Recent advances in optoelectronics, microelectronics, and communication theory have established a technology base that now make the multimedia Dick Tracy watch attainable during the next decade. As a first step towards stuffing the functionality of an entire personnel computer (PC) and television receiver under a watch face, we have set a goal of providing wrist video capability to warfighters. Commercial sector work on the wrist form factor already includes all the functionality of a personal digital assistant (PDA) and full PC operating system. Our strategy is to leverage these commercial developments. In this paper we describe our use of a 2.2 in. diagonal color active matrix light emitting diode (AMOLED) device as a wrist-mounted display (WMD) to present either full motion video or computer generated graphical image formats.

Rotordynamics on the PC: Further Capabilities of ARDS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleming, David P.

1997-01-01

Rotordynamics codes for personal computers are now becoming available. One of the most capable codes is Analysis of RotorDynamic Systems (ARDS) which uses the component mode synthesis method to analyze a system of up to 5 rotating shafts. ARDS was originally written for a mainframe computer but has been successfully ported to a PC; its basic capabilities for steady-state and transient analysis were reported in an earlier paper. Additional functions have now been added to the PC version of ARDS. These functions include: 1) Estimation of the peak response following blade loss without resorting to a full transient analysis; 2) Calculation of response sensitivity to input parameters; 3) Formulation of optimum rotor and damper designs to place critical speeds in desirable ranges or minimize bearing loads; 4) Production of Poincard plots so the presence of chaotic motion can be ascertained. ARDS produces printed and plotted output. The executable code uses the full array sizes of the mainframe version and fits on a high density floppy disc. Examples of all program capabilities are presented and discussed.

Development of embedded real-time and high-speed vision platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouyang, Zhenxing; Dong, Yimin; Yang, Hua

2015-12-01

Currently, high-speed vision platforms are widely used in many applications, such as robotics and automation industry. However, a personal computer (PC) whose over-large size is not suitable and applicable in compact systems is an indispensable component for human-computer interaction in traditional high-speed vision platforms. Therefore, this paper develops an embedded real-time and high-speed vision platform, ER-HVP Vision which is able to work completely out of PC. In this new platform, an embedded CPU-based board is designed as substitution for PC and a DSP and FPGA board is developed for implementing image parallel algorithms in FPGA and image sequential algorithms in DSP. Hence, the capability of ER-HVP Vision with size of 320mm x 250mm x 87mm can be presented in more compact condition. Experimental results are also given to indicate that the real-time detection and counting of the moving target at a frame rate of 200 fps at 512 x 512 pixels under the operation of this newly developed vision platform are feasible.

The impact of Internet and PC addiction in school performance of Cypriot adolescents.

PubMed

Siomos, Konstantinos; Paradeisioti, Anna; Hadjimarcou, Michalis; Mappouras, Demetrios G; Kalakouta, Olga; Avagianou, Penelope; Floros, Georgios

2013-01-01

In this paper we present the results of a cross-sectional survey designed to ascertain Internet and personal computer (PC) addiction in the Republic of Cyprus. This is a follow-up to a pilot study conducted one year earlier. Data were collected from a representative sample of the adolescent student population of the first and fourth grades of high school. Total sample was 2684 students, 48.5% of them male and 51.5% female. Research material included extended demographics and an Internet security questionnaire, the Young's Diagnostic questionnaire (YDQ), the Adolescent Computer Addiction Test (ACAT). Results indicated that the Cypriot population had comparable addiction statistics with other Greek-speaking populations in Greece; 15.3% of the students were classified as Internet addicted by their YDQ scores and 16.3% as PC addicted by their ACAT scores. Those results are among the highest in Europe. Our results were alarming and have led to the creation of an Internet and PC addiction prevention program which will focus on high-school professor training and the creation of appropriate prevention material for all high-schools, starting immediately after the conclusion of the pan-Cypriot survey, focusing especially on those areas where the frequency of addictive behaviors will be highest.

Effects of pollution from personal computers on perceived air quality, SBS symptoms and productivity in offices.

PubMed

Bakó-Biró, Z; Wargocki, P; Weschler, C J; Fanger, P O

2004-06-01

In groups of six, 30 female subjects were exposed for 4.8 h in a low-polluting office to each of two conditions--the presence or absence of 3-month-old personal computers (PCs). These PCs were placed behind a screen so that they were not visible to the subjects. Throughout the exposure the outdoor air supply was maintained at 10 l/s per person. Under each of the two conditions the subjects performed simulated office work using old low-polluting PCs. They also evaluated the air quality and reported Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms. The PCs were found to be strong indoor pollution sources, even after they had been in service for 3 months. The sensory pollution load of each PC was 3.4 olf, more than three times the pollution of a standard person. The presence of PCs increased the percentage of people dissatisfied with the perceived air quality from 13 to 41% and increased by 9% the time required for text processing. Chemical analyses were performed to determine the pollutants emitted by the PCs. The most significant chemicals detected included phenol, toluene, 2-ethylhexanol, formaldehyde, and styrene. The identified compounds were, however, insufficient in concentration and kind to explain the observed adverse effects. This suggests that chemicals other than those detected, so-called 'stealth chemicals', may contribute to the negative effects. PCs are an important, but hitherto overlooked, source of pollution indoors. They can decrease the perceived air quality, increase SBS symptoms and decrease office productivity. The ventilation rate in an office with a 3-month-old PC would need to be increased several times to achieve the same perceived air quality as in a low-polluting office with the PC absent. Pollution from PCs has an important negative impact on the air quality, not only in offices but also in many other spaces, including homes. PCs may have played a role in previously published studies on SBS and perceived air quality, where PCs were overlooked as a possible pollution source in the indoor environment. The fact that the chemicals identified in the office air and in the chamber experiments were insufficient to explain the adverse effects observed during human exposures illustrates the inadequacy of the analytical chemical methods commonly used in indoor air quality investigations. For certain chemicals the human senses are much more sensitive than the chemical methods routinely used in indoor air quality investigations. The adverse effects of PC-generated air pollutants could be reduced by modifications in the manufacturing process, increased ventilation, localized PC exhaust, or personalized ventilation systems.

Living Color Frame System: PC graphics tool for data visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truong, Long V.

1993-01-01

Living Color Frame System (LCFS) is a personal computer software tool for generating real-time graphics applications. It is highly applicable for a wide range of data visualization in virtual environment applications. Engineers often use computer graphics to enhance the interpretation of data under observation. These graphics become more complicated when 'run time' animations are required, such as found in many typical modern artificial intelligence and expert systems. Living Color Frame System solves many of these real-time graphics problems.

The ISOLDE control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deloose, I.; Pace, A.

1994-12-01

The two CERN isotope separators named ISOLDE have been running on the new Personal Computer (PC) based control system since April 1992. The new architecture that makes heavy use of the commercial software and hardware of the PC market has been implemented on the 1700 geographically distributed control channels of the two separators and their experimental area. Eleven MSDOS Intel-based PCs with approximately 80 acquisition and control boards are used to access the equipment and are controlled from three PCs running Microsoft Windows used as consoles through a Novell Local Area Network. This paper describes the interesting solutions found and discusses the reduced programming workload and costs that have been obtained.

[A survey of information literacy for undergraduate students in the department of radiological technology].

PubMed

Ohba, Hisateru; Matsutani, Hideya; Kashiwakura, Ikuo

2009-01-20

The purpose of this study was to clarify the information literacy of undergraduate students and problems in information education. An annual questionnaire survey was carried out by an anonymous method from 2003 to 2006. The survey was intended for third-year students in the Department of Radiological Technology. The questionnaire items were as follows: (1) ownership of a personal computer (PC), (2) usage purpose and frequency of PC operation, (3) operation frequency and mechanism of the Internet, and (4) IT terminology. The response rate was 100% in each year. The ratio of PC possession exceeded 80%. The ratio of students who replied "nearly every day" for the use of a PC and the Internet increased twofold and threefold in four years, respectively. More than 70% of students did not understand the mechanism of the Internet, and more than 60% of students did not know about TCP/IP. In the future, we need to consider information literacy education in undergraduate education.

An Ada Linear-Algebra Software Package Modeled After HAL/S

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klumpp, Allan R.; Lawson, Charles L.

1990-01-01

New avionics software written more easily. Software package extends Ada programming language to include linear-algebra capabilities similar to those of HAL/S programming language. Designed for such avionics applications as Space Station flight software. In addition to built-in functions of HAL/S, package incorporates quaternion functions used in Space Shuttle and Galileo projects and routines from LINPAK solving systems of equations involving general square matrices. Contains two generic programs: one for floating-point computations and one for integer computations. Written on IBM/AT personal computer running under PC DOS, v.3.1.

The Lenovo X-60 Convertible Notebook Tablet PC: An Assistive Technology Tool Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey-Carter, Liz

2007-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine the suitability of the newest generation of Lenovo X60 tablet personal computers (PCs) as assistive technology (AT) devices for students with disabilities. Because of the vast selection of tablet PCs and convertible notebooks currently available on the market, this paper will confine itself to assessing one…

Uncertainty quantification for personalized analyses of human proximal femurs.

PubMed

Wille, Hagen; Ruess, Martin; Rank, Ernst; Yosibash, Zohar

2016-02-29

Computational models for the personalized analysis of human femurs contain uncertainties in bone material properties and loads, which affect the simulation results. To quantify the influence we developed a probabilistic framework based on polynomial chaos (PC) that propagates stochastic input variables through any computational model. We considered a stochastic E-ρ relationship and a stochastic hip contact force, representing realistic variability of experimental data. Their influence on the prediction of principal strains (ϵ1 and ϵ3) was quantified for one human proximal femur, including sensitivity and reliability analysis. Large variabilities in the principal strain predictions were found in the cortical shell of the femoral neck, with coefficients of variation of ≈40%. Between 60 and 80% of the variance in ϵ1 and ϵ3 are attributable to the uncertainty in the E-ρ relationship, while ≈10% are caused by the load magnitude and 5-30% by the load direction. Principal strain directions were unaffected by material and loading uncertainties. The antero-superior and medial inferior sides of the neck exhibited the largest probabilities for tensile and compression failure, however all were very small (pf<0.001). In summary, uncertainty quantification with PC has been demonstrated to efficiently and accurately describe the influence of very different stochastic inputs, which increases the credibility and explanatory power of personalized analyses of human proximal femurs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Personal Computer (PC) based image processing applied to fluid mechanics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cho, Y.-C.; Mclachlan, B. G.

1987-01-01

A PC based image processing system was employed to determine the instantaneous velocity field of a two-dimensional unsteady flow. The flow was visualized using a suspension of seeding particles in water, and a laser sheet for illumination. With a finite time exposure, the particle motion was captured on a photograph as a pattern of streaks. The streak pattern was digitized and processed using various imaging operations, including contrast manipulation, noise cleaning, filtering, statistical differencing, and thresholding. Information concerning the velocity was extracted from the enhanced image by measuring the length and orientation of the individual streaks. The fluid velocities deduced from the randomly distributed particle streaks were interpolated to obtain velocities at uniform grid points. For the interpolation a simple convolution technique with an adaptive Gaussian window was used. The results are compared with a numerical prediction by a Navier-Stokes computation.

Multimodal browsing using VoiceXML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caccia, Giuseppe; Lancini, Rosa C.; Peschiera, Giuseppe

2003-06-01

With the increasing development of devices such as personal computers, WAP and personal digital assistants connected to the World Wide Web, end users feel the need to browse the Internet through multiple modalities. We intend to investigate on how to create a user interface and a service distribution platform granting the user access to the Internet through standard I/O modalities and voice simultaneously. Different architectures are evaluated suggesting the more suitable for each client terminal (PC o WAP). In particular the design of the multimodal usermachine interface considers the synchronization issue between graphical and voice contents.

Computer-based desktop system for surgical videotape editing.

PubMed

Vincent-Hamelin, E; Sarmiento, J M; de la Puente, J M; Vicente, M

1997-05-01

The educational role of surgical video presentations should be optimized by linking surgical images to graphic evaluation of indications, techniques, and results. We describe a PC-based video production system for personal editing of surgical tapes, according to the objectives of each presentation. The hardware requirement is a personal computer (100 MHz processor, 1-Gb hard disk, 16 Mb RAM) with a PC-to-TV/video transfer card plugged into a slot. Computer-generated numerical data, texts, and graphics are transformed into analog signals displayed on TV/video. A Genlock interface (a special interface card) synchronizes digital and analog signals, to overlay surgical images to electronic illustrations. The presentation is stored as digital information or recorded on a tape. The proliferation of multimedia tools is leading us to adapt presentations to the objectives of lectures and to integrate conceptual analyses with dynamic image-based information. We describe a system that handles both digital and analog signals, production being recorded on a tape. Movies may be managed in a digital environment, with either an "on-line" or "off-line" approach. System requirements are high, but handling a single device optimizes editing without incurring such complexity that management becomes impractical to surgeons. Our experience suggests that computerized editing allows linking surgical scientific and didactic messages on a single communication medium, either a videotape or a CD-ROM.

Rotordynamics on the PC: Transient Analysis With ARDS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleming, David P.

1997-01-01

Personal computers can now do many jobs that formerly required a large mainframe computer. An example is NASA Lewis Research Center's program Analysis of RotorDynamic Systems (ARDS), which uses the component mode synthesis method to analyze the dynamic motion of up to five rotating shafts. As originally written in the early 1980's, this program was considered large for the mainframe computers of the time. ARDS, which was written in Fortran 77, has been successfully ported to a 486 personal computer. Plots appear on the computer monitor via calls programmed for the original CALCOMP plotter; plots can also be output on a standard laser printer. The executable code, which uses the full array sizes of the mainframe version, easily fits on a high-density floppy disk. The program runs under DOS with an extended memory manager. In addition to transient analysis of blade loss, step turns, and base acceleration, with simulation of squeeze-film dampers and rubs, ARDS calculates natural frequencies and unbalance response.

A comparison between digital images viewed on a picture archiving and communication system diagnostic workstation and on a PC-based remote viewing system by emergency physicians.

PubMed

Parasyn, A; Hanson, R M; Peat, J K; De Silva, M

1998-02-01

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) make possible the viewing of radiographic images on computer workstations located where clinical care is delivered. By the nature of their work this feature is particularly useful for emergency physicians who view radiographic studies for information and use them to explain results to patients and their families. However, the high cost of PACS diagnostic workstations with fuller functionality places limits on the number of and therefore the accessibility to workstations in the emergency department. This study was undertaken to establish how well less expensive personal computer-based workstations would work to support these needs of emergency physicians. The study compared the outcome of observations by 5 emergency physicians on a series of radiographic studies containing subtle abnormalities displayed on both a PACS diagnostic workstation and on a PC-based workstation. The 73 digitized radiographic studies were randomly arranged on both types of workstation over four separate viewing sessions for each emergency physician. There was no statistical difference between a PACS diagnostic workstation and a PC-based workstation in this trial. The mean correct ratings were 59% on the PACS diagnostic workstations and 61% on the PC-based workstations. These findings also emphasize the need for prompt reporting by a radiologist.

The IEA/ORAU Long-Term Global Energy- CO2 Model: Personal Computer Version A84PC

DOE Data Explorer

Edmonds, Jae A.; Reilly, John M.; Boden, Thomas A. [CDIAC; Reynolds, S. E. [CDIAC; Barns, D. W.

1995-01-01

The IBM A84PC version of the Edmonds-Reilly model has the capability to calculate both CO2 and CH4 emission estimates by source and region. Population, labor productivity, end-use energy efficiency, income effects, price effects, resource base, technological change in energy production, environmental costs of energy production, market-penetration rate of energy-supply technology, solar and biomass energy costs, synfuel costs, and the number of forecast periods may be interactively inspected and altered producing a variety of global and regional CO2 and CH4 emission scenarios for 1975 through 2100. Users are strongly encouraged to see our instructions for downloading, installing, and running the model.

Computer skills and internet use in adults aged 50-74 years: influence of hearing difficulties.

PubMed

Henshaw, Helen; Clark, Daniel P A; Kang, Sujin; Ferguson, Melanie A

2012-08-24

The use of personal computers (PCs) and the Internet to provide health care information and interventions has increased substantially over the past decade. Yet the effectiveness of such an approach is highly dependent upon whether the target population has both access and the skill set required to use this technology. This is particularly relevant in the delivery of hearing health care because most people with hearing loss are over 50 years (average age for initial hearing aid fitting is 74 years). Although PC skill and Internet use by demographic factors have been examined previously, data do not currently exist that examine the effects of hearing difficulties on PC skill or Internet use in older adults. To explore the effect that hearing difficulty has on PC skill and Internet use in an opportunistic sample of adults aged 50-74 years. Postal questionnaires about hearing difficulty, PC skill, and Internet use (n=3629) were distributed to adults aged 50-74 years through three family physician practices in Nottingham, United Kingdom. A subsample of 84 respondents completed a second detailed questionnaire on confidence in using a keyboard, mouse, and track pad. Summed scores were termed the "PC confidence index." The PC confidence index was used to verify the PC skill categories in the postal questionnaire (ie, never used a computer, beginner, and competent). The postal questionnaire response rate was 36.78% (1298/3529) and 95.15% (1235/1298) of these contained complete information. There was a significant between-category difference for PC skill by PC confidence index (P<.001), thus verifying the three-category PC skill scale. PC and Internet use was greater in the younger respondents (50-62 years) than in the older respondents (63-74 years). The younger group's PC and Internet use was 81.0% and 60.9%, respectively; the older group's PC and Internet use was 54.0% and 29.8%, respectively. Those with slight hearing difficulties in the older group had significantly greater odds of PC use compared to those with no hearing difficulties (odds ratio [OR]=1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-2.30, P=.02). Those with moderate+ hearing difficulties had lower odds of PC use compared with those with no hearing difficulties, both overall (OR=0.58, 95% CI 0.39-0.87, P=.008) and in the younger group (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.86, P=.008). Similar results were demonstrated for Internet use by age group (older: OR=1.57, 95% CI 0.99-2.47, P=.05; younger: OR=0.32, 95% CI 0.16-0.62, P=.001). Hearing health care is of particular relevance to older adults because of the prevalence of age-related hearing loss. Our data show that older adults experiencing slight hearing difficulty have increased odds of greater PC skill and Internet use than those reporting no difficulty. These findings suggest that PC and Internet delivery of hearing screening, information, and intervention is feasible for people between 50-74 years who have hearing loss, but who would not typically present to an audiologist.

Data Acquisition System for Multi-Frequency Radar Flight Operations Preparation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leachman, Jonathan

2010-01-01

A three-channel data acquisition system was developed for the NASA Multi-Frequency Radar (MFR) system. The system is based on a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) industrial PC (personal computer) and two dual-channel 14-bit digital receiver cards. The decimated complex envelope representations of the three radar signals are passed to the host PC via the PCI bus, and then processed in parallel by multiple cores of the PC CPU (central processing unit). The innovation is this parallelization of the radar data processing using multiple cores of a standard COTS multi-core CPU. The data processing portion of the data acquisition software was built using autonomous program modules or threads, which can run simultaneously on different cores. A master program module calculates the optimal number of processing threads, launches them, and continually supplies each with data. The benefit of this new parallel software architecture is that COTS PCs can be used to implement increasingly complex processing algorithms on an increasing number of radar range gates and data rates. As new PCs become available with higher numbers of CPU cores, the software will automatically utilize the additional computational capacity.

A person-centered integrated care quality framework, based on a qualitative study of patients' evaluation of care in light of chronic care ideals.

PubMed

Berntsen, Gro; Høyem, Audhild; Lettrem, Idar; Ruland, Cornelia; Rumpsfeld, Markus; Gammon, Deede

2018-06-20

Person-Centered Integrated Care (PC-IC) is believed to improve outcomes and experience for persons with multiple long-term and complex conditions. No broad consensus exists regarding how to capture the patient-experienced quality of PC-IC. Most PC-IC evaluation tools focus on care events or care in general. Building on others' and our previous work, we outlined a 4-stage goal-oriented PC-IC process ideal: 1) Personalized goal setting 2) Care planning aligned with goals 3) Care delivery according to plan, and 4) Evaluation of goal attainment. We aimed to explore, apply, refine and operationalize this quality of care framework. This paper is a qualitative evaluative review of the individual Patient Pathways (iPP) experiences of 19 strategically chosen persons with multimorbidity in light of ideals for chronic care. The iPP includes all care events, addressing the persons collected health issues, organized by time. We constructed iPPs based on the electronic health record (from general practice, nursing services, and hospital) with patient follow-up interviews. The application of the framework and its refinement were parallel processes. Both were based on analysis of salient themes in the empirical material in light of the PC-IC process ideal and progressively more informed applications of themes and questions. The informants consistently reviewed care quality by how care supported/ threatened their long-term goals. Personal goals were either implicit or identified by "What matters to you?" Informants expected care to address their long-term goals and placed responsibility for care quality and delivery at the system level. The PC-IC process framework exposed system failure in identifying long-term goals, provision of shared long-term multimorbidity care plans, monitoring of care delivery and goal evaluation. The PC-IC framework includes descriptions of ideal care, key questions and literature references for each stage of the PC-IC process. This first version of a PC-IC process framework needs further validation in other settings. Gaps in care that are invisible with event-based quality of care frameworks become apparent when evaluated by a long-term goal-driven PC-IC process framework. The framework appears meaningful to persons with multimorbidity.

[Examinations and exercises in medical technology utilizing a personal computer and the web].

PubMed

Niwa, Toshifumi

2006-03-01

The practice of e-learning in our department utilizing freeware without additional cost has been introduced: 1) Examinations and exercises are performed on the Web. Using the form-filling format of HTML, multiple-choice questions are asked. When the examinee submits the answers, the server will process the data using active server pages and send the result to the examinee with the score and explanations. So far, the students have given the Web examination (exercise) system a good evaluation. Concerning the effect of the explanations given in the Web exercises on the written test, some improvements were observed in the enumeration-type questions. On the other hand, no such improvements were clearly observed in the explanation-type questions, which require essential understanding of the principle. This suggests that effective utilization of the materials strongly depends on the students' eagerness to study. 2) To understand the chemical structures of body constituents, an exercise to draw structural formulae on the personal computer (PC) is performed. The students had difficulty in the fine control of arranging the whole shape of the formula, in addition to setting the format of characters such as super- and subscripts. In respect of understanding, they had significant difficulty in finding the structures and in distinguishing stereoisomers; however, the students had fun with the structure-drawing software and found it convenient to draw structures. These findings suggest that PC exercises will be attractive to students of the "PC generation", and thus helpful for the understanding of and training in data analysis in medical technology.

GPR data processing computer software for the PC

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lucius, Jeffrey E.; Powers, Michael H.

2002-01-01

The computer software described in this report is designed for processing ground penetrating radar (GPR) data on Intel-compatible personal computers running the MS-DOS operating system or MS Windows 3.x/95/98/ME/2000. The earliest versions of these programs were written starting in 1990. At that time, commercially available GPR software did not meet the processing and display requirements of the USGS. Over the years, the programs were refined and new features and programs were added. The collection of computer programs presented here can perform all basic processing of GPR data, including velocity analysis and generation of CMP stacked sections and data volumes, as well as create publication quality data images.

[Dutch computer domestication, 1975-1990].

PubMed

Veraart, Frank

2008-01-01

A computer seems an indispensable tool among twenty-first century households. Computers however, did not come as manna from heaven. The domestication and appropriation of computers in Dutch households was a result of activities by various intermediary actors. Computers became household commodities only gradually. Technophile computer hobbyists imported the first computers into the Netherlands from the USA, and started small businesses from 1975 onwards. They developed a social network in which computer technology was made available for use by individuals. This network extended itself via shops, clubs, magazines, and other means of acquiring and exchanging computer hard- and software. Hobbyist culture established the software-copying habits of private computer users as well as their ambivalence to commercial software. They also made the computer into a game machine. Under the impulse of a national policy that aimed at transforming society into an 'Information Society', clubs and other actors extended their activities and tailored them to this new agenda. Hobby clubs presented themselves as consumer organizations and transformed into intermediary actors that filled the gap between suppliers and a growing group of users. They worked hard to give meaning to (proper) use of computers. A second impulse to the increasing use of computers in the household came from so-called 'private-PC' projects in the late 1980s. In these projects employers financially aided employees in purchasing their own private PCs'. The initially important intermediary actors such as hobby clubs lost control and the agenda for personal computers was shifted to interoperability with office equipment. IBM compatible PC's flooded the households. In the household the new equipment blended with the established uses, such as gaming. The copying habits together with the PC standard created a risky combination in which computer viruses could spread easily. New roles arose for intermediary actors in guiding and educating computer users. The activities of intermediaries had a lasting influence on contemporary computer use and user preferences. Technical choices and the nature of Dutch computer use in households can be explained by analyzing the historical developments of intermediaries and users.

Multi-kanban mechanism for personal computer disassembly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Udomsawat, Gun; Gupta, Surendra M.; Kamarthi, Sagar V.

2004-12-01

The use of personal computers (PCs) continues to increase every year. According to a 1999 figure, 50 percent of all US households owned PCs, a figure that continues to rise every year. With continuous development of sophisticated software, PCs are becoming increasingly powerful. In addition, the price of a PC continues to steadily decline. Furthermore, the typical life of a PC in the workplace is approximately two to three years while in the home it is three to five years. As these PCs become obsolete, they are replaced and the old PCs are disposed of. It is estimated that between 14 and 20 million PCs are retired annually in the US. While 20 to 30% of the units may be resold, the others are discarded. These discards represent a significant potential source of lead for the waste stream. In some communities, waste cathode ray tubes (CRTs) represent the second largest source of lead in the waste stream after vehicular lead acid batteries. PCs are, therefore, not suitable for dumping in landfills. Besides, several components of a PC can be reused and then there are other valuable materials that can also be harvested. And with the advent of product stewardship, product recovery is the best solution for manufacturers. Disassembly line is perhaps the most suitable set up for disassembling PCs. However, planning and scheduling of disassembly on a disassembly line is complicated. In this paper, we discuss some of the complications including product arrival, demand arrival, inventory fluctuation and production control mechanisms. We then show how to overcome them by implementing a multi-kanban mechanism in the PC disassembly line setting. The multi-kanban mechanism relies on dynamic routing of kanbans according to the state of the system. We investigate the multi-kanban mechanism using simulation and demonstrate that this mechanism is superior to the traditional push system in terms of controlling the system"s inventory while maintaining a decent customer service level.

15Mcps photon-counting X-ray computed tomography system using a ZnO-MPPC detector and its application to gadolinium imaging.

PubMed

Sato, Eiichi; Sugimura, Shigeaki; Endo, Haruyuki; Oda, Yasuyuki; Abudurexiti, Abulajiang; Hagiwara, Osahiko; Osawa, Akihiro; Matsukiyo, Hiroshi; Enomoto, Toshiyuki; Watanabe, Manabu; Kusachi, Shinya; Sato, Shigehiro; Ogawa, Akira; Onagawa, Jun

2012-01-01

15Mcps photon-counting X-ray computed tomography (CT) system is a first-generation type and consists of an X-ray generator, a turntable, a translation stage, a two-stage controller, a detector consisting of a 2mm-thick zinc-oxide (ZnO) single-crystal scintillator and an MPPC (multipixel photon counter) module, a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). High-speed photon counting was carried out using the detector in the X-ray CT system. The maximum count rate was 15Mcps (mega counts per second) at a tube voltage of 100kV and a tube current of 1.95mA. Tomography is accomplished by repeated translations and rotations of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the translation. The pulses of the event signal from the module are counted by the CC in conjunction with the PC. The minimum exposure time for obtaining a tomogram was 15min, and photon-counting CT was accomplished using gadolinium-based contrast media. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Requirements Analysis Model for Selection of Personal Computer (PC) software in Air Force Organizations

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-01

Institute of Technology Air University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Systems Management Dexter R... management system software Diag/Prob Diagnosis and problem solving or problem finding GR Graphics software Int/Transp Interoperability and...language software Plan/D.S. Planning and decision support or decision making PM Program management software SC Systems for Command, Control, Communications

Application of a Musical Whistling Certificate Examination System as a Group Examination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mori, Mikio; Ogihara, Mitsuhiro; Sugahara, Shin-Ichi; Taniguchi, Shuji; Kato, Shozo; Araki, Chikahiro

Recently, some professional whistlers have set up music schools to teach musical whistling. However, so far, there is no licensed examination for musical whistling. In this paper, we propose an examination system for evaluating musical whistling. The system conducts an examination in musical whistling on a personal computer (PC). It can be used to award four grades, from the second to the fifth. These grades are designed according to the standards adopted by the school for musical whistling established by the Japanese professional whistler Moku-San. It is expected that the group examination of this examination is held in the examination center where other general certification examinations are held. Thus, the influence of the whistle sound on the PC microphone normally used should be considered. For this purpose, we examined the feasibility of using a bone-conductive microphone for a musical whistling certificate examination system. This paper shows that the proposed system in which bone-transmitted sounds are considered gives good performance under a noisy environment, as demonstrated in a group examination of musical whistling using bone-transmitted sounds. The timing of a candidates whistling tends to not match because the applause sound output from the PC was inaudible for a person older than 60 years.

Computer Skills and Internet Use in Adults Aged 50-74 Years: Influence of Hearing Difficulties

PubMed Central

Clark, Daniel P A; Kang, Sujin; Ferguson, Melanie A

2012-01-01

Background The use of personal computers (PCs) and the Internet to provide health care information and interventions has increased substantially over the past decade. Yet the effectiveness of such an approach is highly dependent upon whether the target population has both access and the skill set required to use this technology. This is particularly relevant in the delivery of hearing health care because most people with hearing loss are over 50 years (average age for initial hearing aid fitting is 74 years). Although PC skill and Internet use by demographic factors have been examined previously, data do not currently exist that examine the effects of hearing difficulties on PC skill or Internet use in older adults. Objective To explore the effect that hearing difficulty has on PC skill and Internet use in an opportunistic sample of adults aged 50-74 years. Methods Postal questionnaires about hearing difficulty, PC skill, and Internet use (n=3629) were distributed to adults aged 50-74 years through three family physician practices in Nottingham, United Kingdom. A subsample of 84 respondents completed a second detailed questionnaire on confidence in using a keyboard, mouse, and track pad. Summed scores were termed the “PC confidence index.” The PC confidence index was used to verify the PC skill categories in the postal questionnaire (ie, never used a computer, beginner, and competent). Results The postal questionnaire response rate was 36.78% (1298/3529) and 95.15% (1235/1298) of these contained complete information. There was a significant between-category difference for PC skill by PC confidence index (P<.001), thus verifying the three-category PC skill scale. PC and Internet use was greater in the younger respondents (50-62 years) than in the older respondents (63-74 years). The younger group’s PC and Internet use was 81.0% and 60.9%, respectively; the older group’s PC and Internet use was 54.0% and 29.8%, respectively. Those with slight hearing difficulties in the older group had significantly greater odds of PC use compared to those with no hearing difficulties (odds ratio [OR]=1.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-2.30, P=.02). Those with moderate+ hearing difficulties had lower odds of PC use compared with those with no hearing difficulties, both overall (OR=0.58, 95% CI 0.39-0.87, P=.008) and in the younger group (OR=0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.86, P=.008). Similar results were demonstrated for Internet use by age group (older: OR=1.57, 95% CI 0.99-2.47, P=.05; younger: OR=0.32, 95% CI 0.16-0.62, P=.001). Conclusions Hearing health care is of particular relevance to older adults because of the prevalence of age-related hearing loss. Our data show that older adults experiencing slight hearing difficulty have increased odds of greater PC skill and Internet use than those reporting no difficulty. These findings suggest that PC and Internet delivery of hearing screening, information, and intervention is feasible for people between 50-74 years who have hearing loss, but who would not typically present to an audiologist. PMID:22954484

Determination of high temperature strains using a PC based vision system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeill, Stephen R.; Sutton, Michael A.; Russell, Samuel S.

1992-09-01

With the widespread availability of video digitizers and cheap personal computers, the use of computer vision as an experimental tool is becoming common place. These systems are being used to make a wide variety of measurements that range from simple surface characterization to velocity profiles. The Sub-Pixel Digital Image Correlation technique has been developed to measure full field displacement and gradients of the surface of an object subjected to a driving force. The technique has shown its utility by measuring the deformation and movement of objects that range from simple translation to fluid velocity profiles to crack tip deformation of solid rocket fuel. This technique has recently been improved and used to measure the surface displacement field of an object at high temperature. The development of a PC based Sub-Pixel Digital Image Correlation system has yielded an accurate and easy to use system for measuring surface displacements and gradients. Experiments have been performed to show the system is viable for measuring thermal strain.

Computer system for scanning tunneling microscope automation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar, M.; García, A.; Pascual, P. J.; Presa, J.; Santisteban, A.

1987-03-01

A computerized system for the automation of a scanning tunneling microscope is presented. It is based on an IBM personal computer (PC) either an XT or an AT, which performs the control, data acquisition and storage operations, displays the STM "images" in real time, and provides image processing tools for the restoration and analysis of data. It supports different data acquisition and control cards and image display cards. The software has been designed in a modular way to allow the replacement of these cards and other equipment improvements as well as the inclusion of user routines for data analysis.

Symplectic molecular dynamics simulations on specially designed parallel computers.

PubMed

Borstnik, Urban; Janezic, Dusanka

2005-01-01

We have developed a computer program for molecular dynamics (MD) simulation that implements the Split Integration Symplectic Method (SISM) and is designed to run on specialized parallel computers. The MD integration is performed by the SISM, which analytically treats high-frequency vibrational motion and thus enables the use of longer simulation time steps. The low-frequency motion is treated numerically on specially designed parallel computers, which decreases the computational time of each simulation time step. The combination of these approaches means that less time is required and fewer steps are needed and so enables fast MD simulations. We study the computational performance of MD simulation of molecular systems on specialized computers and provide a comparison to standard personal computers. The combination of the SISM with two specialized parallel computers is an effective way to increase the speed of MD simulations up to 16-fold over a single PC processor.

Medical Students' Personal Qualities and Values as Correlates of Primary Care Interest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borges, Nicole J.; Jones, Bonnie J.

2004-01-01

Medical schools must use selection methods that validly measure applicants' noncognitive qualities, but primary-care (PC) schools have a particular need. This study correlated entering students' personality and values scores with their professed interest in PC. 93 medical students completed instruments assessing personality (16PF & PSP), values,…

Parallelized computation for computer simulation of electrocardiograms using personal computers with multi-core CPU and general-purpose GPU.

PubMed

Shen, Wenfeng; Wei, Daming; Xu, Weimin; Zhu, Xin; Yuan, Shizhong

2010-10-01

Biological computations like electrocardiological modelling and simulation usually require high-performance computing environments. This paper introduces an implementation of parallel computation for computer simulation of electrocardiograms (ECGs) in a personal computer environment with an Intel CPU of Core (TM) 2 Quad Q6600 and a GPU of Geforce 8800GT, with software support by OpenMP and CUDA. It was tested in three parallelization device setups: (a) a four-core CPU without a general-purpose GPU, (b) a general-purpose GPU plus 1 core of CPU, and (c) a four-core CPU plus a general-purpose GPU. To effectively take advantage of a multi-core CPU and a general-purpose GPU, an algorithm based on load-prediction dynamic scheduling was developed and applied to setting (c). In the simulation with 1600 time steps, the speedup of the parallel computation as compared to the serial computation was 3.9 in setting (a), 16.8 in setting (b), and 20.0 in setting (c). This study demonstrates that a current PC with a multi-core CPU and a general-purpose GPU provides a good environment for parallel computations in biological modelling and simulation studies. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Method and apparatus for determination of material residual stress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chern, Engmin J. (Inventor); Flom, Yury (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A device for the determination of residual stress in a material sample consisting of a sensor coil, adjacent to the material sample, whose resistance varies according to the amount of stress within the material sample, a mechanical push-pull machine for imparting a gradually increasing compressional and tensional force on the material sample, and an impedance gain/phase analyzer and personal computer (PC) for sending an input signal to and receiving an input signal from the sensor coil is presented. The PC will measure and record the change in resistance of the sensor coil and the corresponding amount of strain of the sample. The PC will then determine, from the measurements of change of resistance and corresponding strain of the sample, the point at which the resistance of the sensor coil is at a minimum and the corresponding value and type of strain of the sample at that minimum resistance point, thereby, enabling a calculation of the residual stress in the sample.

Proposals for the implementation of the variants of automatic control of the telescope AZT-2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shavlovskyi, V. I.; Puha, S. P.; Vidmachenko, A. P.; Volovyk, D. V.; Puha, G. P.; Obolonskyi, V. O.; Kratko, O. O.; Stefurak, M. V.

2018-05-01

Based on the experience of astronomical observations, structural features and results of the review of the technical state of the mechanism of the telescope AZT-2 in the Main Astronomical Observatory of NAS of Ukraine, in 2012 it was decided to carry out works on its modernization. To this end, it was suggested that the telescope control system should consist of angle sensors on the time axis "alpha" and the axis "delta", personal computer (PC), corresponding software, power control unit, and rotation system of telescope. The angle sensor should be absolute, with a resolution of better than 10 angular minutes. The PC should perform the functions of data processing from the angle sensor, and control the power node. The developed software allows the operator to direct the telescope in an automatic mode, and to set the necessary parameters of the system. With using of PC, the power control node will directly control the engine of the rotation system.

Design and Prototyping of a Satellite Antenna Slew Testbed

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

polycarbonate plastic PC personal computer PD proportional derivative PDO process data objects PVC polyvinyl chloride PVT position...part. The CAD model of the current design iteration can be exported to 3D printer to produce a plastic prototype of the testbed assembly. The 3D... extruded shaft) and connected by set screws as shown in Figure 8. The set screws translate the force from motor to gears to shaft, thus creating an

A PIC microcontroller-based system for real-life interfacing of external peripherals with a mobile robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, N. Nirmal; Chatterjee, Amitava; Rakshit, Anjan

2010-02-01

The present article describes the development of a peripheral interface controller (PIC) microcontroller-based system for interfacing external add-on peripherals with a real mobile robot, for real life applications. This system serves as an important building block of a complete integrated vision-based mobile robot system, integrated indigenously in our laboratory. The system is composed of the KOALA mobile robot in conjunction with a personal computer (PC) and a two-camera-based vision system where the PIC microcontroller is used to drive servo motors, in interrupt-driven mode, to control additional degrees of freedom of the vision system. The performance of the developed system is tested by checking it under the control of several user-specified commands, issued from the PC end.

Mcps-range photon-counting x-ray computed tomography system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Eiichi; Oda, Yasuyuki; Abudurexiti, Abulajiang; Hagiwara, Osahiko; Enomoto, Toshiyuki; Sugimura, Shigeaki; Endo, Haruyuki; Sato, Shigehiro; Ogawa, Akira; Onagawa, Jun

2011-10-01

10 Mcps photon counting was carried out using a detector consisting of a 2.0 mm-thick ZnO (zinc oxide) single-crystal scintillator and an MPPC (multipixel photon counter) module in an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system. The maximum count rate was 10 Mcps (mega counts per second) at a tube voltage of 70 kV and a tube current of 2.0 mA. Next, a photon-counting X-ray CT system consists of an X-ray generator, a turntable, a scan stage, a two-stage controller, the ZnO-MPPC detector, a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). Tomography is accomplished by repeated linear scans and rotations of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the linear scan with a scan velocity of 25 mm/s. The pulses of the event signal from the module are counted by the CC in conjunction with the PC. The exposure time for obtaining a tomogram was 600 s at a scan step of 0.5 mm and a rotation step of 1.0°, and photon-counting CT was accomplished using iodine-based contrast media.

Benchmarked analyses of gamma skyshine using MORSE-CGA-PC and the DABL69 cross-section set

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reichert, P.T.; Golshani, M.

1991-01-01

Design for gamma-ray skyshine is a common consideration for a variety of nuclear and accelerator facilities. Many of these designs can benefit from a more accurate and complete treatment than can be provided by simple skyshine analysis tools. Those methods typically require a number of conservative, simplifying assumptions in modeling the radiation source and shielding geometry. This paper considers the benchmarking of one analytical option. The MORSE-CGA Monte Carlo radiation transport code system provides the capability for detailed treatment of virtually any source and shielding geometry. Unfortunately, the mainframe computer costs of MORSE-CGA analyses can prevent cost-effective application to smallmore » projects. For this reason, the MORSE-CGA system was converted to run on IBM personal computer (PC)-compatible computers using the Intel 80386 or 80486 microprocessors. The DLC-130/DABL69 cross-section set (46n,23g) was chosen as the most suitable, readily available, broad-group library. The most important reason is the relatively high (P{sub 5}) Legendre order of expansion for angular distribution. This is likely to be beneficial in the deep-penetration conditions modeled in some skyshine problems.« less

Identifying Factors That Predict Promotion Time to E-4 and Re-Enlistment Eligibility for U.S. Marine Corps Field Radio Operators

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

Primary Military Occupational Specialty PRO Proficiency Q-Q Quantile - Quantile RSS Residual Sum of Squares SI Shop Information T&R Training and...construct multivariate linear regression models to estimate Marines’ Computed Tier Score and time to achieve E-4 based on their individual personal...Science (GS) score, ASVAB Mathematics Knowledge (MK) score, ASVAB Paragraph Comprehension (PC) score, weight , and whether a Marine receives a weight

Learning in the cloud: a new challenge for a global teaching system in optics and photonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sultana, Razia; Christ, Andreas; Feisst, Markus; Curticapean, Dan

2014-07-01

Nowadays, it is assumed of many applications, companies and parts of the society to be always available online. However, according to [Times, Oct, 31 2011], 73% of the world population do not use the internet and thus aren't "online" at all. The most common reasons for not being "online" are expensive personal computer equipment and high costs for data connections, especially in developing countries that comprise most of the world's population (e.g. parts of Africa, Asia, Central and South America). However it seems that these countries are leap-frogging the "PC and landline" age and moving directly to the "mobile" age. Decreasing prices for smart phones with internet connectivity and PC-like operating systems make it more affordable for these parts of the world population to join the "always-online" community. Storing learning content in a way accessible to everyone, including mobile and smart phones, seems therefore to be beneficial. This way, learning content can be accessed by personal computers as well as by mobile and smart phones and thus be accessible for a big range of devices and users. A new trend in the Internet technologies is to go to "the cloud". This paper discusses the changes, challenges and risks of storing learning content in the "cloud". The experiences were gathered during the evaluation of the necessary changes in order to make our solutions and systems "cloud-ready".

A Tutorial for SPSS/PC+ Studentware. Study Guide for the Doctor of Arts in Computer-Based Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacFarland, Thomas W.; Hou, Cheng-I

The purpose of this tutorial is to provide the basic information needed for success with SPSS/PC+ Studentware, a student version of the statistical analysis software offered by SPSS, Inc., for the IBM PC+ and compatible computers. It is intended as a convenient summary of how to organize and conduct the most common computer-based statistical…

Recycling of WEEE: Characterization of spent printed circuit boards from mobile phones and computers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yamane, Luciana Harue, E-mail: lucianayamane@uol.com.br; Tavares de Moraes, Viviane, E-mail: tavares.vivi@gmail.com; Crocce Romano Espinosa, Denise, E-mail: espinosa@usp.br

Highlights: > This paper presents new and important data on characterization of wastes of electric and electronic equipments. > Copper concentration is increasing in mobile phones and remaining constant in personal computers. > Printed circuit boards from mobile phones and computers would not be mixed prior treatment. - Abstract: This paper presents a comparison between printed circuit boards from computers and mobile phones. Since printed circuits boards are becoming more complex and smaller, the amount of materials is constantly changing. The main objective of this work was to characterize spent printed circuit boards from computers and mobile phones applying mineralmore » processing technique to separate the metal, ceramic, and polymer fractions. The processing was performed by comminution in a hammer mill, followed by particle size analysis, and by magnetic and electrostatic separation. Aqua regia leaching, loss-on-ignition and chemical analysis (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy - ICP-OES) were carried out to determine the composition of printed circuit boards and the metal rich fraction. The composition of the studied mobile phones printed circuit boards (PCB-MP) was 63 wt.% metals; 24 wt.% ceramics and 13 wt.% polymers; and of the printed circuit boards from studied personal computers (PCB-PC) was 45 wt.% metals; 27 wt.% polymers and ceramics 28 wt.% ceramics. The chemical analysis showed that copper concentration in printed circuit boards from personal computers was 20 wt.% and in printed circuit boards from mobile phones was 34.5 wt.%. According to the characteristics of each type of printed circuit board, the recovery of precious metals may be the main goal of the recycling process of printed circuit boards from personal computers and the recovery of copper should be the main goal of the recycling process of printed circuit boards from mobile phones. Hence, these printed circuit boards would not be mixed prior treatment. The results of this paper show that copper concentration is increasing in mobile phones and remaining constant in personal computers.« less

Incorporating CLIPS into a personal-computer-based Intelligent Tutoring System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mueller, Stephen J.

1990-01-01

A large number of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS's) have been built since they were first proposed in the early 1970's. Research conducted on the use of the best of these systems has demonstrated their effectiveness in tutoring in selected domains. Computer Sciences Corporation, Applied Technology Division, Houston Operations has been tasked by the Spacecraft Software Division at NASA/Johnson Space Center (NASA/JSC) to develop a number of lTS's in a variety of domains and on many different platforms. This paper will address issues facing the development of an ITS on a personal computer using the CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System) language. For an ITS to be widely accepted, not only must it be effective, flexible, and very responsive, it must also be capable of functioning on readily available computers. There are many issues to consider when using CLIPS to develop an ITS on a personal computer. Some of these issues are the following: when to use CLIPS and when to use a procedural language such as C, how to maximize speed and minimize memory usage, and how to decrease the time required to load your rule base once you are ready to deliver the system. Based on experiences in developing the CLIPS Intelligent Tutoring System (CLIPSITS) on an IBM PC clone and an intelligent Physics Tutor on a Macintosh 2, this paper reports results on how to address some of these issues. It also suggests approaches for maintaining a powerful learning environment while delivering robust performance within the speed and memory constraints of the personal computer.

The Design of PC/MISI, a PC-Based Common User Interface to Remote Information Storage and Retrieval Systems. M.S. ThesisFinal Report, 1 Jul. 1985 - 31 Dec. 1987

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Hall, Philip P.

1985-01-01

The amount of information contained in the data bases of large-scale information storage and retrieval systems is very large and growing at a rapid rate. The methods available for assessing this information have not been successful in making the information easily available to the people who have the greatest need for it. This thesis describes the design of a personal computer based system which will provide a means for these individuals to retrieve this data through one standardized interface. The thesis identifies each of the major problems associated with providing access to casual users of IS and R systems and describes the manner in which these problems are to be solved by the utilization of the local processing power of a PC. Additional capabilities, not available with standard access methods, are also provided to improve the user's ability to make use of this information. The design of PC/MISI is intended to facilitate its use as a research vehicle. Evaluation mechanisms and possible areas of future research are described. The PC/MISI development effort is part of a larger research effort directed at improving access to remote IS and R systems. This research effort, supported in part by NASA, is also reviewed.

Graphics supercomputer for computational fluid dynamics research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liaw, Goang S.

1994-11-01

The objective of this project is to purchase a state-of-the-art graphics supercomputer to improve the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) research capability at Alabama A & M University (AAMU) and to support the Air Force research projects. A cutting-edge graphics supercomputer system, Onyx VTX, from Silicon Graphics Computer Systems (SGI), was purchased and installed. Other equipment including a desktop personal computer, PC-486 DX2 with a built-in 10-BaseT Ethernet card, a 10-BaseT hub, an Apple Laser Printer Select 360, and a notebook computer from Zenith were also purchased. A reading room has been converted to a research computer lab by adding some furniture and an air conditioning unit in order to provide an appropriate working environments for researchers and the purchase equipment. All the purchased equipment were successfully installed and are fully functional. Several research projects, including two existing Air Force projects, are being performed using these facilities.

Eigen Spreading

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-27

between the PHY layer and for example a host PC computer . The PC wants to generate and receive a sequence of data packets. The PC may also want to send...the testbed is quite similar. Given the intense computational requirements of SVD and other matrix mode operations needed to support eigen spreading a...platform for real time operation. This task is probably the major challenge in the development of the testbed. All compute intensive tasks will be

Naver: a PC-cluster-based VR system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, ChangHoon; Ko, HeeDong; Kim, TaiYun

2003-04-01

In this paper, we present a new framework NAVER for virtual reality application. The NAVER is based on a cluster of low-cost personal computers. The goal of NAVER is to provide flexible, extensible, scalable and re-configurable framework for the virtual environments defined as the integration of 3D virtual space and external modules. External modules are various input or output devices and applications on the remote hosts. From the view of system, personal computers are divided into three servers according to its specific functions: Render Server, Device Server and Control Server. While Device Server contains external modules requiring event-based communication for the integration, Control Server contains external modules requiring synchronous communication every frame. And, the Render Server consists of 5 managers: Scenario Manager, Event Manager, Command Manager, Interaction Manager and Sync Manager. These managers support the declaration and operation of virtual environment and the integration with external modules on remote servers.

Real-time image reconstruction and display system for MRI using a high-speed personal computer.

PubMed

Haishi, T; Kose, K

1998-09-01

A real-time NMR image reconstruction and display system was developed using a high-speed personal computer and optimized for the 32-bit multitasking Microsoft Windows 95 operating system. The system was operated at various CPU clock frequencies by changing the motherboard clock frequency and the processor/bus frequency ratio. When the Pentium CPU was used at the 200 MHz clock frequency, the reconstruction time for one 128 x 128 pixel image was 48 ms and that for the image display on the enlarged 256 x 256 pixel window was about 8 ms. NMR imaging experiments were performed with three fast imaging sequences (FLASH, multishot EPI, and one-shot EPI) to demonstrate the ability of the real-time system. It was concluded that in most cases, high-speed PC would be the best choice for the image reconstruction and display system for real-time MRI. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Recycling of WEEE: characterization of spent printed circuit boards from mobile phones and computers.

PubMed

Yamane, Luciana Harue; de Moraes, Viviane Tavares; Espinosa, Denise Crocce Romano; Tenório, Jorge Alberto Soares

2011-12-01

This paper presents a comparison between printed circuit boards from computers and mobile phones. Since printed circuits boards are becoming more complex and smaller, the amount of materials is constantly changing. The main objective of this work was to characterize spent printed circuit boards from computers and mobile phones applying mineral processing technique to separate the metal, ceramic, and polymer fractions. The processing was performed by comminution in a hammer mill, followed by particle size analysis, and by magnetic and electrostatic separation. Aqua regia leaching, loss-on-ignition and chemical analysis (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy - ICP-OES) were carried out to determine the composition of printed circuit boards and the metal rich fraction. The composition of the studied mobile phones printed circuit boards (PCB-MP) was 63 wt.% metals; 24 wt.% ceramics and 13 wt.% polymers; and of the printed circuit boards from studied personal computers (PCB-PC) was 45 wt.% metals; 27 wt.% polymers and ceramics 28 wt.% ceramics. The chemical analysis showed that copper concentration in printed circuit boards from personal computers was 20 wt.% and in printed circuit boards from mobile phones was 34.5 wt.%. According to the characteristics of each type of printed circuit board, the recovery of precious metals may be the main goal of the recycling process of printed circuit boards from personal computers and the recovery of copper should be the main goal of the recycling process of printed circuit boards from mobile phones. Hence, these printed circuit boards would not be mixed prior treatment. The results of this paper show that copper concentration is increasing in mobile phones and remaining constant in personal computers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of an open interface PC scene generator using COTS DVI converter hardware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nordland, Todd; Lyles, Patrick; Schultz, Bret

2006-05-01

Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) personal computer (PC) hardware is increasingly capable of computing high dynamic range (HDR) scenes for military sensor testing at high frame rates. New electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) scene projectors feature electrical interfaces that can accept the DVI output of these PC systems. However, military Hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) facilities such as those at the US Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) utilize a sizeable inventory of existing projection systems that were designed to use the Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) digital video port (DVP, also known as DVP2 or DD02) interface. To mate the new DVI-based scene generation systems to these legacy projection systems, CG2 Inc., a Quantum3D Company (CG2), has developed a DVI-to-DVP converter called Delta DVP. This device takes progressive scan DVI input, converts it to digital parallel data, and combines and routes color components to derive a 16-bit wide luminance channel replicated on a DVP output interface. The HWIL Functional Area of AMRDEC has developed a suite of modular software to perform deterministic real-time, wave band-specific rendering of sensor scenes, leveraging the features of commodity graphics hardware and open source software. Together, these technologies enable sensor simulation and test facilities to integrate scene generation and projection components with diverse pedigrees.

"On-screen" writing and composing: two years experience with Manuscript Manager, Apple II and IBM-PC versions.

PubMed

Offerhaus, L

1989-06-01

The problems of the direct composition of a biomedical manuscript on a personal computer are discussed. Most word processing software is unsuitable because literature references, once stored, cannot be rearranged if major changes are necessary. These obstacles have been overcome in Manuscript Manager, a combination of word processing and database software. As it follows Council of Biology Editors and Vancouver rules, the printouts should be technically acceptable to most leading biomedical journals.

SMART Fires: A COTS Approach to Tactical Fire Support Using a Smartphone

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

Battalion Landing Team C2 Command and Control C2PC Command and Control Personal Computer CAC Common Access Card COC Combat Operation Center COIN...functionality to way-points. It is currently available on the iTunes App Store for $5.99 (Tactical NAV, 2010). 11 MILS are a unit...download on both the iTunes App Store and the Android Marketplace. Apps for the Army (A4A) also created a repository for the applications submitted, along

A PC-controlled microwave tomographic scanner for breast imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padhi, Shantanu; Howard, John; Fhager, A.; Bengtsson, Sebastian

2011-01-01

This article presents the design and development of a personal computer based controller for a microwave tomographic system for breast cancer detection. The system uses motorized, dual-polarized antennas and a custom-made GUI interface to control stepper motors, a wideband vector network analyzer (VNA) and to coordinate data acquisition and archival in a local MDSPlus database. Both copolar and cross-polar scattered field components can be measured directly. Experimental results are presented to validate the various functionalities of the scanner.

Toward information management in corporations (11)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamanaka, Yoshiaki

PC/WS's proleferation on to the despk top of endusers result in high level of computer literacies to them, networking between host/departmental/personal equipments also prevails entire organizations. In these circumstance, information architecture and environments will rapidly change in 1990's. Information manager's roles would change in these informated organization. Their roles and responsibilities will shifts to similer ones as other managers roles like human/asset/purchase/financial resources management. Sprit responsibilities between Cief Information Officer and MIS manager also will be seen in 1990's.

Experiences Using OpenMP Based on Compiler Directed Software DSM on a PC Cluster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hess, Matthias; Jost, Gabriele; Mueller, Matthias; Ruehle, Roland; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In this work we report on our experiences running OpenMP (message passing) programs on a commodity cluster of PCs (personal computers) running a software distributed shared memory (DSM) system. We describe our test environment and report on the performance of a subset of the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Parallel Benchmarks that have been automatically parallelized for OpenMP. We compare the performance of the OpenMP implementations with that of their message passing counterparts and discuss performance differences.

Analysis and Simulation of Narrowband GPS Jamming Using Digital Excision Temporal Filtering.

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-12-01

the sequence of stored values from the P- code sampled at a 20 MHz rate. When correlated with a reference vector of the same length to simulate a GPS ...rate required for the GPS signals, (20 MHz sampling rate for the P- code signal), the personal computer (PC) used run the simulation could not perform...This subroutine is used to perform a fast FFT based 168 biased cross correlation . Written by Capt Gerry Falen, USAF, 16 AUG 94 % start of code

Generating Effective Facilitation Questions for Team-Building/Personal-Challenge Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabbei, Ritchie

2004-01-01

Team-building/personal-challenge (TB/PC) activities have become popular ways to address students' interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and abilities associated with the affective domain. The outcomes associated with TB/PC activities are often best experienced and learned through the use of indirect methods of instruction. Typically, many…

Software package for performing experiments about the convolutionally encoded Voyager 1 link

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cheng, U.

1989-01-01

A software package enabling engineers to conduct experiments to determine the actual performance of long constraint-length convolutional codes over the Voyager 1 communication link directly from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has been developed. Using this software, engineers are able to enter test data from the Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The software encodes the data and then sends the encoded data to a personal computer (PC) at the Goldstone Deep Space Complex (GDSC) over telephone lines. The encoded data are sent to the transmitter by the PC at GDSC. The received data, after being echoed back by Voyager 1, are first sent to the PC at GDSC, and then are sent back to the PC at the Laboratory over telephone lines for decoding and further analysis. All of these operations are fully integrated and are completely automatic. Engineers can control the entire software system from the Laboratory. The software encoder and the hardware decoder interface were developed for other applications, and have been modified appropriately for integration into the system so that their existence is transparent to the users. This software provides: (1) data entry facilities, (2) communication protocol for telephone links, (3) data displaying facilities, (4) integration with the software encoder and the hardware decoder, and (5) control functions.

Application of eye movement measuring system OBER 2 to medicine and technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ober, Jozef; Hajda, Janusz; Loska, Jacek; Jamicki, Michal

1997-08-01

The OBER 2 is an infrared light eye movement measuring system and it works with IBM PC compatible computers. As one of the safest systems for measuring of eye movement it uses a very short period of infrared light flashing time (80 microsecond for each measure point). System has an advanced analog-digital controller, which includes background suppression and prediction mechanisms guaranteeing elimination of slow changes and fluctuations of external illumination frequency up to 100 Hz, with effectiveness better than 40 dB. Setting from PC the active measure axis, sampling rate (25 - 4000 Hz) and making start and stop the measure, make it possible to control the outside environment in real-time. By proper controlling of gain it is possible to get high time and position resolution of 0.5 minute of arc even for big amplitude of eye movement (plus or minus 20 degree of visual angle). The whole communication system can also be driven directly by eye movement in real time. The possibility of automatic selection of the most essential elements of eye movement, individual for each person and those that take place for each person in determined situations of life independently from personal features, is a key to practical application. Hence one of conducted research topic is a personal identification based on personal features. Another task is a research project of falling asleep detection, which can be applied to warn the drivers before falling asleep while driving. This measuring system with a proper expert system can also be used to detect a dyslexia and other disabilities of the optic system.

Germline mutation prevalence in individuals with pancreatic cancer and a history of previous malignancy.

PubMed

Dudley, Beth; Karloski, Eve; Monzon, Federico A; Singhi, Aatur D; Lincoln, Stephen E; Bahary, Nathan; Brand, Randall E

2018-04-15

Approximately 10% of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PC) cases are attributed to hereditary causes. Individuals with PC and a personal history of another cancer associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) or Lynch syndrome (LS) may be more likely to carry germline mutations. Participants with PC and a history of cancer were selected from a pancreatic disease registry. Of 1296 individuals with PC, 149 had a relevant history of cancer. If banked DNA was available, a multigene panel was performed for individuals who had not 1) previously had a mutation identified through clinical testing or 2) undergone clinical multigene panel testing with no mutations detected. Twenty-two of 124 individuals with PC and another HBOC- or LS-related cancer who underwent genetic testing had a mutation identified in a PC susceptibility gene (18%). If prostate cancer is excluded, the mutation prevalence increased to 23% (21/93). Mutation carriers were more likely to have more than 1 previous cancer diagnosis (P = .001), to have had clinical genetic testing (P = .001), and to meet National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) genetic testing criteria (P < .001). Approximately 23% of mutation carriers did not meet NCCN HBOC or LS testing guidelines based on their personal cancer history and reported cancer history in first-degree relatives. At least 18% of individuals with PC and a personal history of other HBOC- or LS-related cancers carry mutations in a PC susceptibility gene based on our data, suggesting that criteria for genetic testing in individuals with PC should include consideration of previous cancer history. Cancer 2018;124:1691-700. © 2018 American Cancer Society. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

WATEQ4F - a personal computer Fortran translation of the geochemical model WATEQ2 with revised data base

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ball, J.W.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Zachmann, D.W.

1987-01-01

A FORTRAN 77 version of the PL/1 computer program for the geochemical model WATEQ2, which computes major and trace element speciation and mineral saturation for natural waters has been developed. The code (WATEQ4F) has been adapted to execute on an IBM PC or compatible microcomputer. Two versions of the code are available, one operating with IBM Professional FORTRAN and an 8087 or 89287 numeric coprocessor, and one which operates without a numeric coprocessor using Microsoft FORTRAN 77. The calculation procedure is identical to WATEQ2, which has been installed on many mainframes and minicomputers. Limited data base revisions include the addition of the following ions: AlHS04(++), BaS04, CaHS04(++), FeHS04(++), NaF, SrC03, and SrHCO3(+). This report provides the reactions and references for the data base revisions, instructions for program operation, and an explanation of the input and output files. Attachments contain sample output from three water analyses used as test cases and the complete FORTRAN source listing. U.S. Geological Survey geochemical simulation program PHREEQE and mass balance program BALANCE also have been adapted to execute on an IBM PC or compatible microcomputer with a numeric coprocessor and the IBM Professional FORTRAN compiler. (Author 's abstract)

6 Mcps photon-counting X-ray computed tomography system using a 25 mm/s-scan linear LSO-MPPC detector and its application to gadolinium imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Eiichi; Oda, Yasuyuki; Abudurexiti, Abulajiang; Hagiwara, Osahiko; Matsukiyo, Hiroshi; Osawa, Akihiro; Enomoto, Toshiyuki; Watanabe, Manabu; Kusachi, Shinya; Sugimura, Shigeaki; Endo, Haruyuki; Sato, Shigehiro; Ogawa, Akira; Onagawa, Jun

2011-12-01

6 Mcps photon counting was carried out using a detector consisting of a 1.0 mm-thick LSO [Lu 2(SiO 4)O] single-crystal scintillator and an MPPC (multipixel photon counter) module in an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system. The maximum count rate was 6 Mcps (mega counts per second) at a tube voltage of 100 kV and a tube current of 0.91 mA. Next, a photon-counting X-ray CT system consists of an X-ray generator, a turntable, a scan stage, a two-stage controller, the LSO-MPPC detector, a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). Tomography is accomplished by repeated linear scans and rotations of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the linear scan with a scan velocity of 25 mm/s. The pulses of the event signal from the module are counted by the CC in conjunction with the PC. The exposure time for obtaining a tomogram was 600 s at a scan step of 0.5 mm and a rotation step of 1.0°, and photon-counting CT was accomplished using gadolinium-based contrast media.

Mcps-range photon-counting X-ray computed tomography system utilizing an oscillating linear-YAP(Ce) photon detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oda, Yasuyuki; Sato, Eiichi; Abudurexiti, Abulajiang; Hagiwara, Osahiko; Osawa, Akihiro; Matsukiyo, Hiroshi; Enomoto, Toshiyuki; Watanabe, Manabu; Kusachi, Shinya; Sugimura, Shigeaki; Endo, Haruyuki; Sato, Shigehiro; Ogawa, Akira; Onagawa, Jun

2011-07-01

High-speed X-ray photon counting is useful for discriminating photon energy, and the counting can be used for constructing an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system. A photon-counting X-ray CT system consists of an X-ray generator, a turntable, an oscillation linear detector, a two-stage controller, a multipixel photon counter (MPPC) module, a 1.0 mm-thick crystal (scintillator) of YAP(Ce) (cerium-doped yttrium aluminum perovskite), a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). Tomography is accomplished by repeating the linear scanning and the rotation of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the linear scanning using the detector consisting of an MPPC module, the YAP(Ce), and a scan stage. The pulses of the event signal from the module are counted by the CC in conjunction with the PC. Because the lower level of the photon energy was roughly determined by a comparator in the module, the average photon energy of the X-ray spectra increased with increase in the lower-level voltage of the comparator at a constant tube voltage. The maximum count rate was approximately 3 Mcps (mega counts per second), and photon-counting CT was carried out.

High-speed photon-counting x-ray computed tomography system utilizing a multipixel photon counter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, Eiichi; Enomoto, Toshiyuki; Watanabe, Manabu; Hitomi, Keitaro; Takahashi, Kiyomi; Sato, Shigehiro; Ogawa, Akiro; Onagawa, Jun

2009-07-01

High-speed photon counting is useful for discriminating photon energy and for decreasing absorbed dose for patients in medical radiography, and the counting is usable for constructing an x-ray computed tomography (CT) system. A photon-counting x-ray CT system is of the first generation type and consists of an x-ray generator, a turn table, a translation stage, a two-stage controller, a multipixel photon counter (MPPC) module, a 1.0-mm-thick LSO crystal (scintillator), a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). Tomography is accomplished by repeating the linear scanning and the rotation of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the linear scanning using the detector consisting of a MPPC module and the LSO. The pulses of the event signal from the module are counted by the CC in conjunction with the PC. The lower level of the photon energy is roughly determined by a comparator circuit in the module, and the unit of the level is the photon equivalent (pe). Thus, the average photon energy of the x-ray spectra increases with increasing the lower-level voltage of the comparator. The maximum count rate was approximately 20 Mcps, and energy-discriminated CT was roughly carried out.

Energy-discrimination X-ray computed tomography system utilizing a silicon-PIN detector and its application to 2.0-keV-width K-edge imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagiwara, Osahiko; Watanabe, Manabu; Sato, Eiichi; Matsukiyo, Hiroshi; Osawa, Akihiro; Enomoto, Toshiyuki; Nagao, Jiro; Sato, Shigehiro; Ogawa, Akira; Onagawa, Jun

2011-05-01

Demonstration of narrow-energy-width computed tomography (CT) was carried out by means of energy-discrimination. An X-ray CT system is of a first-generation type and consists of an X-ray generator, a turntable, a translation stage, a two-stage controller, a silicon-PIN detector system with amplifiers, a multi-channel analyzer (MCA), a counter card (CC), and a personal computer (PC). CT is accomplished by repeating the translation and the rotation of an object, and projection curves of the object are obtained by the translation of the moving object. Both photon-energy level and energy width are determined by the MCA, and the pulses of the discriminated event signal from the MCA are counted by CC in conjunction with PC. The maximum count rate was approximately 300 cps (counts per second) with energy widths of 2.0 keV, and energy-discrimination CT was carried out with a photon-energy resolution of 0.15 keV. To perform iodine K-edge CT, X-ray photons with an energy range from 33.2 to 35.2 keV were used. Next, to carry out cerium K-edge CT, an energy range from 40.3 to 42.3 keV was selected.

Climate Ocean Modeling on a Beowulf Class System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cheng, B. N.; Chao, Y.; Wang, P.; Bondarenko, M.

2000-01-01

With the growing power and shrinking cost of personal computers. the availability of fast ethernet interconnections, and public domain software packages, it is now possible to combine them to build desktop parallel computers (named Beowulf or PC clusters) at a fraction of what it would cost to buy systems of comparable power front supercomputer companies. This led as to build and assemble our own sys tem. specifically for climate ocean modeling. In this article, we present our experience with such a system, discuss its network performance, and provide some performance comparison data with both HP SPP2000 and Cray T3E for an ocean Model used in present-day oceanographic research.

A performance analysis of advanced I/O architectures for PC-based network file servers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huynh, K. D.; Khoshgoftaar, T. M.

1994-12-01

In the personal computing and workstation environments, more and more I/O adapters are becoming complete functional subsystems that are intelligent enough to handle I/O operations on their own without much intervention from the host processor. The IBM Subsystem Control Block (SCB) architecture has been defined to enhance the potential of these intelligent adapters by defining services and conventions that deliver command information and data to and from the adapters. In recent years, a new storage architecture, the Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), has been quickly gaining acceptance in the world of computing. In this paper, we would like to discuss critical system design issues that are important to the performance of a network file server. We then present a performance analysis of the SCB architecture and disk array technology in typical network file server environments based on personal computers (PCs). One of the key issues investigated in this paper is whether a disk array can outperform a group of disks (of same type, same data capacity, and same cost) operating independently, not in parallel as in a disk array.

Historical review of computer-assisted cognitive retraining.

PubMed

Lynch, Bill

2002-10-01

This article details the introduction and development of the use of microcomputers as adjuncts to traditional cognitive rehabilitation of persons with acquired brain injury. The initial application of video games as therapeutic recreation in the late 1970s was soon followed in the early 1980s by the use of the first personal computers and available educational software. By the mid-1980s, both the IBM PC and Macintosh platforms were established, along with simplified programming languages that allowed individuals without extensive technical expertise to develop their own software. Several rehabilitation clinicians began to produce and market specially written cognitive retraining software for one or the other platform. Their work was detailed and reviewed, as was recently released software from commercial sources. The latter discussion included the latest developments in the rehabilitation applications of personal digital assistants and related organizing, reminding, and dictation devices. A summary of research on the general and specific efficacy of computer-assisted cognitive retraining illustrated the lingering controversy and skepticism that have been associated with this field since its inception. Computer-assisted cognitive retraining (CACR) can be an effective adjunct to a comprehensive program of cognitive rehabilitation. Training needs to be focused, structured, monitored, and as ecologically relevant as possible for optimum effect. Transfer or training or generalizability of skills remains a key issue in the field and should be considered the key criterion in evaluating whether to initiate or continue CACR.

Optimal design of structures with multiple design variables per group and multiple loading conditions on the personal computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, D. T.; Rogers, J. L., Jr.

1986-01-01

A finite element based programming system for minimum weight design of a truss-type structure subjected to displacement, stress, and lower and upper bounds on design variables is presented. The programming system consists of a number of independent processors, each performing a specific task. These processors, however, are interfaced through a well-organized data base, thus making the tasks of modifying, updating, or expanding the programming system much easier in a friendly environment provided by many inexpensive personal computers. The proposed software can be viewed as an important step in achieving a 'dummy' finite element for optimization. The programming system has been implemented on both large and small computers (such as VAX, CYBER, IBM-PC, and APPLE) although the focus is on the latter. Examples are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the code. The present programming system can be used stand-alone or as part of the multilevel decomposition procedure to obtain optimum design for very large scale structural systems. Furthermore, other related research areas such as developing optimization algorithms (or in the larger level: a structural synthesis program) for future trends in using parallel computers may also benefit from this study.

Wireless Augmented Reality Prototype (WARP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Devereaux, A. S.

1999-01-01

Initiated in January, 1997, under NASA's Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, the Wireless Augmented Reality Prototype (WARP) is a means to leverage recent advances in communications, displays, imaging sensors, biosensors, voice recognition and microelectronics to develop a hands-free, tetherless system capable of real-time personal display and control of computer system resources. Using WARP, an astronaut may efficiently operate and monitor any computer-controllable activity inside or outside the vehicle or station. The WARP concept is a lightweight, unobtrusive heads-up display with a wireless wearable control unit. Connectivity to the external system is achieved through a high-rate radio link from the WARP personal unit to a base station unit installed into any system PC. The radio link has been specially engineered to operate within the high- interference, high-multipath environment of a space shuttle or space station module. Through this virtual terminal, the astronaut will be able to view and manipulate imagery, text or video, using voice commands to control the terminal operations. WARP's hands-free access to computer-based instruction texts, diagrams and checklists replaces juggling manuals and clipboards, and tetherless computer system access allows free motion throughout a cabin while monitoring and operating equipment.

Conclusions and suggestions on completing work on automation and modernization of the AZT-2 telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shavlovskyi, V. I.; Puha, S. P.; Vidmachenko, A. P.; Volovyk, D. V.; Puha, G. P.; Obolonskyi, V. O.; Kratko, O. O.; Stefurak, M. V.

2018-05-01

The telescope AZT-2 of the MAO of NAS of Ukraine in recent years has been widely use for photometric, spectral and polarimetric observations of celestial objects. In 2012-2017 at automation of the operation of telescope AZT-2, we created a control program for a personal computer (PC), which is now used to control as separate nodes of the telescope AZT-2, and for control of the telescope, in remote access mode. Also in 2017, a number of astronomical observations with spectropolarimetric equipment and other astronomical devices were carried out. The results obtained by us have shown that in order to complete work on management of telescope under astronomical observations in the mode of remote access with the help of a PC - need to further refine the control nodes by powerful servo motors of reducer drive for the rapid transfer of the AZT-2 telescope to a new position.

Personal computer (PC) based image processing applied to fluid mechanics research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cho, Y.-C.; Mclachlan, B. G.

1987-01-01

A PC based image processing system was employed to determine the instantaneous velocity field of a two-dimensional unsteady flow. The flow was visualized using a suspension of seeding particles in water, and a laser sheet for illumination. With a finite time exposure, the particle motion was captured on a photograph as a pattern of streaks. The streak pattern was digitized and processsed using various imaging operations, including contrast manipulation, noise cleaning, filtering, statistical differencing, and thresholding. Information concerning the velocity was extracted from the enhanced image by measuring the length and orientation of the individual streaks. The fluid velocities deduced from the randomly distributed particle streaks were interpolated to obtain velocities at uniform grid points. For the interpolation a simple convolution technique with an adaptive Gaussian window was used. The results are compared with a numerical prediction by a Navier-Stokes commputation.

Single-chip pulse programmer for magnetic resonance imaging using a 32-bit microcontroller.

PubMed

Handa, Shinya; Domalain, Thierry; Kose, Katsumi

2007-08-01

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pulse programmer has been developed using a single-chip microcontroller (ADmicroC7026). The microcontroller includes all the components required for the MRI pulse programmer: a 32-bit RISC CPU core, 62 kbytes of flash memory, 8 kbytes of SRAM, two 32-bit timers, four 12-bit DA converters, and 40 bits of general purpose I/O. An evaluation board for the microcontroller was connected to a host personal computer (PC), an MRI transceiver, and a gradient driver using interface circuitry. Target (embedded) and host PC programs were developed to enable MRI pulse sequence generation by the microcontroller. The pulse programmer achieved a (nominal) time resolution of approximately 100 ns and a minimum time delay between successive events of approximately 9 micros. Imaging experiments using the pulse programmer demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.

Single-chip pulse programmer for magnetic resonance imaging using a 32-bit microcontroller

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handa, Shinya; Domalain, Thierry; Kose, Katsumi

2007-08-01

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) pulse programmer has been developed using a single-chip microcontroller (ADμC7026). The microcontroller includes all the components required for the MRI pulse programmer: a 32-bit RISC CPU core, 62kbytes of flash memory, 8kbytes of SRAM, two 32-bit timers, four 12-bit DA converters, and 40bits of general purpose I/O. An evaluation board for the microcontroller was connected to a host personal computer (PC), an MRI transceiver, and a gradient driver using interface circuitry. Target (embedded) and host PC programs were developed to enable MRI pulse sequence generation by the microcontroller. The pulse programmer achieved a (nominal) time resolution of approximately 100ns and a minimum time delay between successive events of approximately 9μs. Imaging experiments using the pulse programmer demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.

A combined system for measuring animal motion activities.

PubMed

Young, M S; Young, C W; Li, Y C

2000-01-31

In this study, we have developed a combined animal motion activity measurement system that combines an infrared light matrix subsystem with an ultrasonic phase shift subsystem for animal activity measurement. Accordingly, in conjunction with an IBM PC/AT compatible personal computer, the combined system has the advantages of both infrared and ultrasonic subsystems. That is, it can at once measure and directly analyze detailed changes in animal activity ranging from locomotion to tremor. The main advantages of this combined system are that it features real time data acquisition with the option of animated real time or recorded display/playback of the animal's motion. Additionally, under the multi-task operating condition of IBM PC, it can acquire and process behavior using both IR and ultrasound systems simultaneously. Traditional systems have had to make separate runs for gross and fine movement recording. This combined system can be profitably employed for normative behavioral activity studies and for neurological and pharmacological research.

The Trans-Visible Navigator: A See-Through Neuronavigation System Using Augmented Reality.

PubMed

Watanabe, Eiju; Satoh, Makoto; Konno, Takehiko; Hirai, Masahiro; Yamaguchi, Takashi

2016-03-01

The neuronavigator has become indispensable for brain surgery and works in the manner of point-to-point navigation. Because the positional information is indicated on a personal computer (PC) monitor, surgeons are required to rotate the dimension of the magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography scans to match the surgical field. In addition, they must frequently alternate their gaze between the surgical field and the PC monitor. To overcome these difficulties, we developed an augmented reality-based navigation system with whole-operation-room tracking. A tablet PC is used for visualization. The patient's head is captured by the back-face camera of the tablet. Three-dimensional images of intracranial structures are extracted from magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography and are superimposed on the video image of the head. When viewed from various directions around the head, intracranial structures are displayed with corresponding angles as viewed from the camera direction, thus giving the surgeon the sensation of seeing through the head. Whole-operation-room tracking is realized using a VICON tracking system with 6 cameras. A phantom study showed a spatial resolution of about 1 mm. The present system was evaluated in 6 patients who underwent tumor resection surgery, and we showed that the system is useful for planning skin incisions as well as craniotomy and the localization of superficial tumors. The main advantage of the present system is that it achieves volumetric navigation in contrast to conventional point-to-point navigation. It extends augmented reality images directly onto real surgical images, thus helping the surgeon to integrate these 2 dimensions intuitively. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Computer (PC/Network) Coordinator.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ohio State Univ., Columbus. Center on Education and Training for Employment.

This publication contains 22 subjects appropriate for use in a competency list for the occupation of computer (PC/network) coordinator, 1 of 12 occupations within the business/computer technologies cluster. Each unit consists of a number of competencies; a list of competency builders is provided for each competency. Titles of the 22 units are as…

Computers in Post-Secondary Developmental Education and Learning Assistance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christ, Frank L.; McLaughlin, Richard C.

This update on computer technology--as it affects learning assistance directors and developmental education personnel--begins by reporting on new developments and changes that have taken place during the past two years in five areas: (1) hardware (microcomputer systems, low cost PC clones, combination Apple/PC machines, lab computer controllers…

Development of a PC-based ground support system for a small satellite instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deschambault, Robert L.; Gregory, Philip R.; Spenler, Stephen; Whalen, Brian A.

1993-11-01

The importance of effective ground support for the remote control and data retrieval of a satellite instrument cannot be understated. Problems with ground support may include the need to base personnel at a ground tracking station for extended periods, and the delay between the instrument observation and the processing of the data by the science team. Flexible solutions to such problems in the case of small satellite systems are provided by using low-cost, powerful personal computers and off-the-shelf software for data acquisition and processing, and by using Internet as a communication pathway to enable scientists to view and manipulate satellite data in real time at any ground location. The personal computer based ground support system is illustrated for the case of the cold plasma analyzer flown on the Freja satellite. Commercial software was used as building blocks for writing the ground support equipment software. Several levels of hardware support, including unit tests and development, functional tests, and integration were provided by portable and desktop personal computers. Satellite stations in Saskatchewan and Sweden were linked to the science team via phone lines and Internet, which provided remote control through a central point. These successful strategies will be used on future small satellite space programs.

Integrating a Single Tablet PC in Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, James W.; Cox, James R.

2008-01-01

A tablet PC is a versatile computer that combines the computing power of a notebook with the pen functionality of a PDA (Cox and Rogers 2005b). The authors adopted tablet PC technology in order to improve the process and product of the lecture format in their chemistry, engineering, and physics courses. In this high-tech model, a single tablet PC…

"Smart" Sensor Module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mahajan, Ajay

2007-01-01

An assembly that contains a sensor, sensor-signal-conditioning circuitry, a sensor-readout analog-to-digital converter (ADC), data-storage circuitry, and a microprocessor that runs special-purpose software and communicates with one or more external computer(s) has been developed as a prototype of "smart" sensor modules for monitoring the integrity and functionality (the "health") of engineering systems. Although these modules are now being designed specifically for use on rocket-engine test stands, it is anticipated that they could also readily be designed to be incorporated into health-monitoring subsystems of such diverse engineering systems as spacecraft, aircraft, land vehicles, bridges, buildings, power plants, oilrigs, and defense installations. The figure is a simplified block diagram of the "smart" sensor module. The analog sensor readout signal is processed by the ADC, the digital output of which is fed to the microprocessor. By means of a standard RS-232 cable, the microprocessor is connected to a local personal computer (PC), from which software is downloaded into a randomaccess memory in the microprocessor. The local PC is also used to debug the software. Once the software is running, the local PC is disconnected and the module is controlled by, and all output data from the module are collected by, a remote PC via an Ethernet bus. Several smart sensor modules like this one could be connected to the same Ethernet bus and controlled by the single remote PC. The software running in the microprocessor includes driver programs for operation of the sensor, programs that implement self-assessment algorithms, programs that implement protocols for communication with the external computer( s), and programs that implement evolutionary methodologies to enable the module to improve its performance over time. The design of the module and of the health-monitoring system of which it is a part reflects the understanding that the main purpose of a health-monitoring system is to detect damage and, therefore, the health-monitoring system must be able to function effectively in the presence of damage and should be capable of distinguishing between damage to itself and damage to the system being monitored. A major benefit afforded by the self-assessment algorithms is that in the output of the module, the sensor data indicative of the health of the engineering system being monitored are coupled with a confidence factor that quantifies the degree of reliability of the data. Hence, the output includes information on the health of the sensor module itself in addition to information on the health of the engineering system being monitored.

Building an Integrated Environment for Multimedia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Multimedia courseware on the solar system and earth science suitable for use in elementary, middle, and high schools was developed under this grant. The courseware runs on Silicon Graphics, Incorporated (SGI) workstations and personal computers (PCs). There is also a version of the courseware accessible via the World Wide Web. Accompanying multimedia database systems were also developed to enhance the multimedia courseware. The database systems accompanying the PC software are based on the relational model, while the database systems accompanying the SGI software are based on the object-oriented model.

IRDS prototyping with applications to the representation of EA/RA models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lekkos, Anthony A.; Greenwood, Bruce

1988-01-01

The requirements and system overview for the Information Resources Dictionary System (IRDS) are described. A formal design specification for a scaled down IRDS implementation compatible with the proposed FIPS IRDS standard is contained. The major design objectives for this IRDS will include a menu driven user interface, implementation of basic IRDS operations, and PC compatibility. The IRDS was implemented using Smalltalk/5 object oriented programming system and an ATT 6300 personal computer running under MS-DOS 3.1. The difficulties encountered in using Smalltalk are discussed.

Personal Computer Program for Chemical Hazard Prediction (D2PC)

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-01

20, LENGTH OF SURFACE DOWNWIND (m) LEN ..... 17 3.21 Question 21, FMW, FMV, VAP (mm Hg), BPT (deg K) ............ 17 3.22 Question 22, TIME AFTER...Temperature of stack (CC) VAP Vapor pressure (mm Hg) "VST Velocity of effluent from stack (m/sec WND Transport wind speed (m/sec) WOO Woods type, see...LEN. This is the estimated fetch of the vapor over the wetted surface of the puddle. 3.21 Question 21, FtiW, FMV, VAP (mm Hg), BPT (deg K). If the

Acoustic Response of Underwater Munitions near a Sediment Interface: Measurement Model Comparisons and Classification Schemes

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-23

12 Figure 4. Pulse- compressed baseband signals for sequence 40 from TREX13 …… 13 Figure 5. SAS image for sequence 40 from TREX13...12 meshes with data …………… 28 Figure 14. FE simulations for aluminum and steel replicas of an 100-mm UXO …… 28 Figure 15. FE meshes for two targets...PCB Pulse- compressed and baseband PC SWAT Personal Computer Shallow Water Acoustic Toolset PondEx09 Pond Experiment 2009 PondEx10 Pond Experiment

Telemetry Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

In 1990, Avtec Systems, Inc. developed its first telemetry boards for Goddard Space Flight Center. Avtec products now include PC/AT, PCI and VME-based high speed I/O boards and turn-key systems. The most recent and most successful technology transfer from NASA to Avtec is the Programmable Telemetry Processor (PTP), a personal computer- based, multi-channel telemetry front-end processing system originally developed to support the NASA communication (NASCOM) network. The PTP performs data acquisition, real-time network transfer, and store and forward operations. There are over 100 PTP systems located in NASA facilities and throughout the world.

Increasing Rates of Obesity Among HIV-Infected Persons During the HIV Epidemic

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

weight. N Engl J Med 341: 427–34. 37. Duran AC, Almeida LB, Segurado AA, Jaime PC (2008) Diet quality of persons living with HIV/AIDS on highly active...correlates. J Am Coll Nutr 25: 321–31. 39. Jaime PC, Florindo AA, Latorre Mdo R, Segurado AA (2006) Central obesity and dietary intake in HIV/AIDS patients

Performance Comparison of Mainframe, Workstations, Clusters, and Desktop Computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farley, Douglas L.

2005-01-01

A performance evaluation of a variety of computers frequently found in a scientific or engineering research environment was conducted using a synthetic and application program benchmarks. From a performance perspective, emerging commodity processors have superior performance relative to legacy mainframe computers. In many cases, the PC clusters exhibited comparable performance with traditional mainframe hardware when 8-12 processors were used. The main advantage of the PC clusters was related to their cost. Regardless of whether the clusters were built from new computers or whether they were created from retired computers their performance to cost ratio was superior to the legacy mainframe computers. Finally, the typical annual maintenance cost of legacy mainframe computers is several times the cost of new equipment such as multiprocessor PC workstations. The savings from eliminating the annual maintenance fee on legacy hardware can result in a yearly increase in total computational capability for an organization.

Compressible or incompressible blend of interacting monodisperse linear polymers near a surface.

PubMed

Batman, Richard; Gujrati, P D

2007-08-28

We consider a lattice model of a mixture of repulsive, attractive, or neutral monodisperse linear polymers of two species, A and B, with a third monomeric species C, which may be taken to represent free volume. The mixture is confined between two hard, parallel plates of variable separation whose interactions with A and C may be attractive, repulsive, or neutral, and may be different from each other. The interactions with A and C are all that are required to completely specify the effect of each surface on all three components. We numerically study various density profiles as we move away from the surface, by using the recursive method of Gujrati and Chhajer [J. Chem. Phys. 106, 5599 (1997)] that has already been previously applied to study polydisperse solutions and blends next to surfaces. The resulting density profiles show the oscillations that are seen in Monte Carlo simulations and the enrichment of the smaller species at a neutral surface. The method is computationally ultrafast and can be carried out on a personal computer (PC), even in the incompressible case, when Monte Carlo simulations are not feasible. The calculations of density profiles usually take less than 20 min on a PC.

AltiVec performance increases for autonomous robotics for the MARSSCAPE architecture program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gothard, Benny M.

2002-02-01

One of the main tall poles that must be overcome to develop a fully autonomous vehicle is the inability of the computer to understand its surrounding environment to a level that is required for the intended task. The military mission scenario requires a robot to interact in a complex, unstructured, dynamic environment. Reference A High Fidelity Multi-Sensor Scene Understanding System for Autonomous Navigation The Mobile Autonomous Robot Software Self Composing Adaptive Programming Environment (MarsScape) perception research addresses three aspects of the problem; sensor system design, processing architectures, and algorithm enhancements. A prototype perception system has been demonstrated on robotic High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle and All Terrain Vehicle testbeds. This paper addresses the tall pole of processing requirements and the performance improvements based on the selected MarsScape Processing Architecture. The processor chosen is the Motorola Altivec-G4 Power PC(PPC) (1998 Motorola, Inc.), a highly parallized commercial Single Instruction Multiple Data processor. Both derived perception benchmarks and actual perception subsystems code will be benchmarked and compared against previous Demo II-Semi-autonomous Surrogate Vehicle processing architectures along with desktop Personal Computers(PC). Performance gains are highlighted with progress to date, and lessons learned and future directions are described.

Pre-Hardware Optimization of Spacecraft Image Processing Algorithms and Hardware Implementation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kizhner, Semion; Petrick, David J.; Flatley, Thomas P.; Hestnes, Phyllis; Jentoft-Nilsen, Marit; Day, John H. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Spacecraft telemetry rates and telemetry product complexity have steadily increased over the last decade presenting a problem for real-time processing by ground facilities. This paper proposes a solution to a related problem for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Spacecraft (GOES-8) image data processing and color picture generation application. Although large super-computer facilities are the obvious heritage solution, they are very costly, making it imperative to seek a feasible alternative engineering solution at a fraction of the cost. The proposed solution is based on a Personal Computer (PC) platform and synergy of optimized software algorithms, and reconfigurable computing hardware (RC) technologies, such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and Digital Signal Processors (DSP). It has been shown that this approach can provide superior inexpensive performance for a chosen application on the ground station or on-board a spacecraft.

Rotary engine performance computer program (RCEMAP and RCEMAPPC): User's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bartrand, Timothy A.; Willis, Edward A.

1993-01-01

This report is a user's guide for a computer code that simulates the performance of several rotary combustion engine configurations. It is intended to assist prospective users in getting started with RCEMAP and/or RCEMAPPC. RCEMAP (Rotary Combustion Engine performance MAP generating code) is the mainframe version, while RCEMAPPC is a simplified subset designed for the personal computer, or PC, environment. Both versions are based on an open, zero-dimensional combustion system model for the prediction of instantaneous pressures, temperature, chemical composition and other in-chamber thermodynamic properties. Both versions predict overall engine performance and thermal characteristics, including bmep, bsfc, exhaust gas temperature, average material temperatures, and turbocharger operating conditions. Required inputs include engine geometry, materials, constants for use in the combustion heat release model, and turbomachinery maps. Illustrative examples and sample input files for both versions are included.

A Method for Transferring Photoelectric Photometry Data from Apple II+ to IBM PC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Powell, Harry D.; Miller, James R.; Stephenson, Kipp

1989-06-01

A method is presented for transferring photoelectric photometry data files from an Apple II computer to an IBM PC computer in a form which is compatible with the AAVSO Photoelectric Photometry data collection process.

Single software platform used for high speed data transfer implementation in a 65k pixel camera working in single photon counting mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maj, P.; Kasiński, K.; Gryboś, P.; Szczygieł, R.; Kozioł, A.

2015-12-01

Integrated circuits designed for specific applications generally use non-standard communication methods. Hybrid pixel detector readout electronics produces a huge amount of data as a result of number of frames per seconds. The data needs to be transmitted to a higher level system without limiting the ASIC's capabilities. Nowadays, the Camera Link interface is still one of the fastest communication methods, allowing transmission speeds up to 800 MB/s. In order to communicate between a higher level system and the ASIC with a dedicated protocol, an FPGA with dedicated code is required. The configuration data is received from the PC and written to the ASIC. At the same time, the same FPGA should be able to transmit the data from the ASIC to the PC at the very high speed. The camera should be an embedded system enabling autonomous operation and self-monitoring. In the presented solution, at least three different hardware platforms are used—FPGA, microprocessor with real-time operating system and the PC with end-user software. We present the use of a single software platform for high speed data transfer from 65k pixel camera to the personal computer.

Monitoring of WEEE plastics in regards to brominated flame retardants using handheld XRF.

PubMed

Aldrian, Alexia; Ledersteger, Alfred; Pomberger, Roland

2015-02-01

This contribution is focused on the on-site determination of the bromine content in waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), in particular waste plastics from television sets (TV) and personal computer monitors (PC) using a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device. The described approach allows the examination of samples in regards to the compliance with legal specifications for polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) directly after disassembling and facilitates the sorting out of plastics with high contents of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). In all, over 3000 pieces of black (TV) and 1600 pieces of grey (PC) plastic waste were analysed with handheld XRF technique for this study. Especially noticeable was the high percentage of pieces with a bromine content of over 50,000ppm for TV (7%) and PC (39%) waste plastics. The applied method was validated by comparing the data of handheld XRF with results obtained by GC-MS. The results showed the expected and sufficiently accurate correlation between these two methods. It is shown that handheld XRF technique is an effective tool for fast monitoring of large volumes of WEEE plastics in regards to BFRs for on-site measurements. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Utilising Raspberry Pi as a cheap and easy do it yourself streaming device for astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maulana, F.; Soegijoko, W.; Yamani, A.

2016-11-01

Recent developments in personal computing platforms have been revolutionary. With the advent of the Raspberry Pi series and the Arduino series, sub USD 100 computing platforms have changed the playing field altogether. It used to be that you would need a PC or an FPGA platform costing thousands of USD to create a dedicated device for a a dedicated task. Combining a PiCam with the Raspberry Pi allows for smaller budgets to be able to stream live images to the internet and to the public in general. This paper traces our path in designing and adapting the PiCam to a common sized eyepiece and telescope in preparation for the TSE in Indonesia this past March.

A PC-based simulation of the National Transonic Facitity's safety microprocessor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thibodeaux, J. J.; Kilgore, W. A.; Balakrishna, S.

1993-01-01

A brief study was undertaken to demonstrate the feasibility of using a state-of-the-art off-the-shelf high speed personal computer for simulating a microprocessor presently used for wind tunnel safety purposes at Langley Research Center's National Transonic Facility (NTF). Currently, there is no active display of tunnel alarm/alert safety information provided to the tunnel operators, but rather such information is periodically recorded on a process monitoring computer printout. This does not provide on-line situational information nor permit rapid identification of safety operational violations which are able to halt tunnel operations. It was therefore decided to simulate the existing algorithms and briefly evaluate a real-time display which could provide both position and trouble shooting information.

Implementation of the force decomposition machine for molecular dynamics simulations.

PubMed

Borštnik, Urban; Miller, Benjamin T; Brooks, Bernard R; Janežič, Dušanka

2012-09-01

We present the design and implementation of the force decomposition machine (FDM), a cluster of personal computers (PCs) that is tailored to running molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the distributed diagonal force decomposition (DDFD) parallelization method. The cluster interconnect architecture is optimized for the communication pattern of the DDFD method. Our implementation of the FDM relies on standard commodity components even for networking. Although the cluster is meant for DDFD MD simulations, it remains general enough for other parallel computations. An analysis of several MD simulation runs on both the FDM and a standard PC cluster demonstrates that the FDM's interconnect architecture provides a greater performance compared to a more general cluster interconnect. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A remote monitoring system for patients with implantable ventricular assist devices with a personal handy phone system.

PubMed

Okamoto, E; Shimanaka, M; Suzuki, S; Baba, K; Mitamura, Y

1999-01-01

The usefulness of a remote monitoring system that uses a personal handy phone for artificial heart implanted patients was investigated. The type of handy phone used in this study was a personal handy phone system (PHS), which is a system developed in Japan that uses the NTT (Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, Inc.) telephone network service. The PHS has several advantages: high-speed data transmission, low power output, little electromagnetic interference with medical devices, and easy locating of patients. In our system, patients have a mobile computer (Toshiba, Libretto 50, Kawasaki, Japan) for data transmission control between an implanted controller and a host computer (NEC, PC-9821V16) in the hospital. Information on the motor rotational angle (8 bits) and motor current (8 bits) of the implanted motor driven heart is fed into the mobile computer from the implanted controller (Hitachi, H8/532, Yokohama, Japan) according to 32-bit command codes from the host computer. Motor current and motor rotational angle data from inside the body are framed together by a control code (frame number and parity) for data error checking and correcting at the receiving site, and the data are sent through the PHS connection to the mobile computer. The host computer calculates pump outflow and arterial pressure from the motor rotational angle and motor current values and displays the data in real-time waveforms. The results of this study showed that accurate data on motor rotational angle and current could be transmitted from the subjects while they were walking or driving a car to the host computer at a data transmission rate of 9600 bps. This system is useful for remote monitoring of patients with an implanted artificial heart.

IBM PC enhances the world's future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, Jozelle

1988-01-01

Although the purpose of this research is to illustrate the importance of computers to the public, particularly the IBM PC, present examinations will include computers developed before the IBM PC was brought into use. IBM, as well as other computing facilities, began serving the public years ago, and is continuing to find ways to enhance the existence of man. With new developments in supercomputers like the Cray-2, and the recent advances in artificial intelligence programming, the human race is gaining knowledge at a rapid pace. All have benefited from the development of computers in the world; not only have they brought new assets to life, but have made life more and more of a challenge everyday.

Dose Comparisons for a Site-specific Representative Person Using the Age-dependent Dose Coefficients in CAP88-PC Version 4.

PubMed

Stagich, Brooke H; Moore, Kelsey R; Newton, Joseph R; Dixon, Kenneth L; Jannik, G Timothy

2017-04-01

Most U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities with radiological airborne releases use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) environmental dosimetry code CAP88-PC to demonstrate compliance with regulations in 40CFR61, subpart H [National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Radiological (NESHAP)]. In 2015, EPA released Version 4 of CAP88-PC, which included significant modifications that improved usability and age-dependent dose coefficients and usage factors for six age groups (infant, 1 y, 5 y, 10 y, 15 y, and adult). However, EPA has not yet provided specific guidance on how to use these age-dependent factors. For demonstrating compliance with DOE public dose regulations, the Savannah River Site (SRS) recently changed from using the maximally exposed individual (MEI) concept (adult male) to the representative person concept (age- and gender-averaged reference person). In this study, dose comparisons are provided between the MEI and a SRS-specific representative person using the age-specific dose coefficients and usage factors in CAP88-PC V.4. Dose comparisons also are provided for each of the six age groups using five radionuclides of interest at SRS (tritium oxide, Cs, Sr, Pu, and I). In general, the total effective dose increases about 11% for the representative person as compared to the current NESHAP MEI because of the inclusion of the more radiosensitive age groups.

Strategies for Promoting High-Quality Care and Personal Resilience in Palliative Care.

PubMed

Heinze, Katherine E; Holtz, Heidi K; Rushton, Cynda H

2017-06-01

Palliative care (PC) clinicians are faced with ever-expanding pressures, which can make it difficult to fulfill their duties to self and others and lead to moral distress. Understanding the pressures that PC clinicians face and the resources that could be employed to ease their moral distress is crucial to maintaining a healthy PC workforce and to providing necessary PC services to patients. In this paper, we discuss recommendations related to two promising pathways for supporting PC clinicians in providing high-quality PC: (1) improving systemic PC delivery and (2) strategies to promote ethical practice environments and individual resilience. Enacting these recommendations holds promise for sustaining higher-quality and accessible PC and a more engaged PC workforce. © 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

High-tech breakthrough DNA scanner for reading sequence and detecting gene mutation: A powerful 1 lb, 20 {mu}m resolution, 16-bit personal scanner (PS) that scans 17inch x 14inch x-ray film in 48 s, with laser, uv and white light sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zeineh, J.A.; Zeineh, M.M.; Zeineh, R.A.

1993-06-01

The 17inch x 14inch X-ray film, gels, and blots are widely used in DNA research. However, DNA laser scanners are costly and unaffordable for the majority of surveyed biotech scientists who need it. The high-tech breakthrough analytical personal scanner (PS) presented in this report is an inexpensive 1 lb hand-held scanner priced at 2-4% of the bulky and costly 30-95 lb conventional laser scanners. This PS scanner is affordable from an operation budget and biotechnologists, who originate most science breakthroughs, can acquire it to enhance their speed, accuracy, and productivity. Compared to conventional laser scanners that are currently available onlymore » through hard-to-get capital-equipment budgets, the new PS scanner offers improved spatial resolution of 20 {mu}m, higher speed (scan up to 17inch x 14inch molecular X-ray film in 48 s), 1-32,768 gray levels (16-bits), student routines, versatility, and, most important, affordability. Its programs image the film, read DNA sequences automatically, and detect gene mutation. In parallel to the wide laboratory use of PC computers instead of mainframes, this PS scanner might become an integral part of a PC-PS powerful and cost-effective system where the PS performs the digital imaging and the PC acts on the data.« less

Portable Electromyograph

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

De Luca, Gianluca; De Luca, Carlo J.; Bergman, Per

2004-01-01

A portable electronic apparatus records electromyographic (EMG) signals in as many as 16 channels at a sampling rate of 1,024 Hz in each channel. The apparatus (see figure) includes 16 differential EMG electrodes (each electrode corresponding to one channel) with cables and attachment hardware, reference electrodes, an input/output-and-power-adapter unit, a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter, and a hand-held computer that contains a removable 256-MB flash memory card. When all 16 EMG electrodes are in use, full-bandwidth data can be recorded in each channel for as long as 8 hours. The apparatus is powered by a battery and is small enough that it can be carried in a waist pouch. The computer is equipped with a small screen that can be used to display the incoming signals on each channel. Amplitude and time adjustments of this display can be made easily by use of touch buttons on the screen. The user can also set up a data-acquisition schedule to conform to experimental protocols or to manage battery energy and memory efficiently. Once the EMG data have been recorded, the flash memory card is removed from the EMG apparatus and placed in a flash-memory- card-reading external drive unit connected to a personal computer (PC). The PC can then read the data recorded in the 16 channels. Preferably, before further analysis, the data should be stored in the hard drive of the PC. The data files are opened and viewed on the PC by use of special- purpose software. The software for operation of the apparatus resides in a random-access memory (RAM), with backup power supplied by a small internal lithium cell. A backup copy of this software resides on the flash memory card. In the event of loss of both main and backup battery power and consequent loss of this software, the backup copy can be used to restore the RAM copy after power has been restored. Accessories for this device are also available. These include goniometers, accelerometers, foot switches, and force gauges.

IBM PC/IX operating system evaluation plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Granier, Martin; Hall, Philip P.; Triantafyllopoulos, Spiros

1984-01-01

An evaluation plan for the IBM PC/IX Operating System designed for IBM PC/XT computers is discussed. The evaluation plan covers the areas of performance measurement and evaluation, software facilities available, man-machine interface considerations, networking, and the suitability of PC/IX as a development environment within the University of Southwestern Louisiana NASA PC Research and Development project. In order to compare and evaluate the PC/IX system, comparisons with other available UNIX-based systems are also included.

A general formula for computing maximum proportion correct scores in various psychophysical paradigms with arbitrary probability distributions of stimulus observations.

PubMed

Dai, Huanping; Micheyl, Christophe

2015-05-01

Proportion correct (Pc) is a fundamental measure of task performance in psychophysics. The maximum Pc score that can be achieved by an optimal (maximum-likelihood) observer in a given task is of both theoretical and practical importance, because it sets an upper limit on human performance. Within the framework of signal detection theory, analytical solutions for computing the maximum Pc score have been established for several common experimental paradigms under the assumption of Gaussian additive internal noise. However, as the scope of applications of psychophysical signal detection theory expands, the need is growing for psychophysicists to compute maximum Pc scores for situations involving non-Gaussian (internal or stimulus-induced) noise. In this article, we provide a general formula for computing the maximum Pc in various psychophysical experimental paradigms for arbitrary probability distributions of sensory activity. Moreover, easy-to-use MATLAB code implementing the formula is provided. Practical applications of the formula are illustrated, and its accuracy is evaluated, for two paradigms and two types of probability distributions (uniform and Gaussian). The results demonstrate that Pc scores computed using the formula remain accurate even for continuous probability distributions, as long as the conversion from continuous probability density functions to discrete probability mass functions is supported by a sufficiently high sampling resolution. We hope that the exposition in this article, and the freely available MATLAB code, facilitates calculations of maximum performance for a wider range of experimental situations, as well as explorations of the impact of different assumptions concerning internal-noise distributions on maximum performance in psychophysical experiments.

Software Reviews. PC Software for Artificial Intelligence Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Epp, Helmut; And Others

1988-01-01

Contrasts artificial intelligence and conventional programming languages. Reviews Personal Consultant Plus, Smalltalk/V, and Nexpert Object, which are PC-based products inspired by problem-solving paradigms. Provides information on background and operation of each. (RT)

A PDA-based Network for Telemonitoring Asthma Triggering Gases in the El Paso School Districts of the US - Mexico Border Region.

PubMed

Shenoy, Namdev; Nazeran, Homer

2005-01-01

In this paper we describe the application of a personal digital assistant (PDA) or pocket PC as an effective communication device to telemonitor levels of asthma triggering gases collected from a remote location under test to a workstation which has a personal computer (PC) running on Windows XP® as the operating system. The Bluetooth® features of the PDA are explored to transmit data collected by a Direct™ Sense Tox toxic gas monitor equipped with five toxic gas probes and one temperature sensor in real time, thereby making this telemonitoring system an innovative instrument in monitoring levels of asthma triggering gases in the El Paso-border metropolitan region, a region in which asthma is highly prevalent especially in children. At the workstation or fixed location these readings are displayed using a custom made, user friendly graphical user interface (GUI) developed using software tools like action scripting with Macromedia® Flash™. The growing advancement in technology and ever diminishing sizes of handheld devices encouraged us to opt for this configuration. Moreover, the PDA and toxic gas monitor were also chosen for their light weight, portability, flexibility, low cost and data collection and transmission capabilities.

SAHARA: A package of PC computer programs for estimating both log-hyperbolic grain-size parameters and standard moments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christiansen, Christian; Hartmann, Daniel

This paper documents a package of menu-driven POLYPASCAL87 computer programs for handling grouped observations data from both sieving (increment data) and settling tube procedures (cumulative data). The package is designed deliberately for use on IBM-compatible personal computers. Two of the programs solve the numerical problem of determining the estimates of the four (main) parameters of the log-hyperbolic distribution and their derivatives. The package also contains a program for determining the mean, sorting, skewness. and kurtosis according to the standard moments. Moreover, the package contains procedures for smoothing and grouping of settling tube data. A graphic part of the package plots the data in a log-log plot together with the estimated log-hyperbolic curve. Along with the plot follows all estimated parameters. Another graphic option is a plot of the log-hyperbolic shape triangle with the (χ,ζ) position of the sample.

A remote access ecg monitoring system - biomed 2009.

PubMed

Ogawa, Hidekuni; Yonezawa, Yoshiharu; Maki, Hiromichi; Iwamoto, Junichi; Hahn, Allen W; Caldwell, W Morton

2009-01-01

We have developed a remotely accessible telemedicine system for monitoring a patient's electrocardiogram (ECG). The system consists of an ECG recorder mounted on chest electrodes and a physician's laptop personal computer. This ECG recorder is designed with a variable gain instrumentation amplifier; a low power 8-bit single-chip microcomputer; two 128KB EEPROMs and 2.4 GHz low transmit power mobile telephone. When the physician wants to monitor the patient's ECG, he/she calls directly from the laptop PC to the ECG recorder's phone and the recorder sends the ECG to the computer. The electrode-mounted recorder continuously samples the ECG. Additionally, when the patient feels a heart discomfort, he/she pushes a data transmission switch on the recorder and the recorder sends the recorded ECG waveforms of the two prior minutes, and for two minutes after the switch is pressed. The physician can display and monitor the data on the computer's liquid crystal display.

Comparison of Different Methods of Grading a Level Turn Task on a Flight Simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heath, Bruce E.; Crier, tomyka

2003-01-01

With the advancements in the computing power of personal computers, pc-based flight simulators and trainers have opened new avenues in the training of airplane pilots. It may be desirable to have the flight simulator make a quantitative evaluation of the progress of a pilot's training thereby reducing the physical requirement of the flight instructor who must, in turn, watch every flight. In an experiment, University students conducted six different flights, each consisting of two level turns. The flights were three minutes in duration. By evaluating videotapes, two certified flight instructors provided separate letter grades for each turn. These level turns were also evaluated using two other computer based grading methods. One method determined automated grades based on prescribed tolerances in bank angle, airspeed and altitude. The other method used was deviations in altitude and bank angle for performance index and performance grades.

Creation and application of three-dimensional computer-graphic animations for introduction to radiological physics and technology.

PubMed

Hasegawa, Tomoyuki; Kojima, Haruna; Masu, Chisato; Fukushima, Yasuhiro; Kojima, Hironori; Konokawa, Kiminori; Isobe, Tomonori; Sato, Eisuke; Murayama, Hideo; Maruyama, Koichi; Umeda, Tokuo

2010-01-01

Physics-related subjects are important in the educational fields of radiological physics and technology. However, conventional teaching tools, for example texts, equations, and two-dimensional figures, are not very effective in attracting the interest of students. Therefore, we have created several multimedia educational materials covering radiological physics and technology. Each educational presentation includes several segments of high-quality computer-graphic animations designed to attract students' interest. We used personal computers (PCs) and commercial software to create and compile these. Undergraduate and graduate students and teachers and related professionals contributed to the design and creation of the educational materials as part of student research. The educational materials can be displayed on a PC monitor and manipulated with popular free software. Opinion surveys conducted in undergraduate courses at Kitasato University support the effectiveness of our educational tools in helping students gain a better understanding of the subjects offered and in raising their interest.

KERNELHR: A program for estimating animal home ranges

USGS Publications Warehouse

Seaman, D.E.; Griffith, B.; Powell, R.A.

1998-01-01

Kernel methods are state of the art for estimating animal home-range area and utilization distribution (UD). The KERNELHR program was developed to provide researchers and managers a tool to implement this extremely flexible set of methods with many variants. KERNELHR runs interactively or from the command line on any personal computer (PC) running DOS. KERNELHR provides output of fixed and adaptive kernel home-range estimates, as well as density values in a format suitable for in-depth statistical and spatial analyses. An additional package of programs creates contour files for plotting in geographic information systems (GIS) and estimates core areas of ranges.

Innovation in the personal care industry.

PubMed

Knaggs, Helen

2010-09-01

When considering opportunities to develop novel, eye-catching and consumer-relevant personal care (PC) products, it is important to understand and reflect on how science has changed over the last two decades and how this has generated a new body of data from which to draw ideas and technologies. This article outlines some advances in scientific technologies and new ways of thinking in science, which lead to new insights into skin biology. How these innovations may impact and be leveraged into the development of new products in PC is also discussed. For example, fundamental discoveries in skin biology and the advancement of scientific methodologies are enabling step changes in technology in PC. Two examples of areas where we have seen much advancement are discussed. This article is based on and summarizes a presentation given at the HBA in Sep 2009 as part of a session entitled "Emerging Technologies and New Opportunities in Antiaging in PC." © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Walking robot: A design project for undergraduate students

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The objective of the University of Maryland walking robot project was to design, analyze, assemble, and test an intelligent, mobile, and terrain-adaptive system. The robot incorporates existing technologies in novel ways. The legs emulate the walking path of a human by an innovative modification of a crank-and-rocker mechanism. The body consists of two tripod frames connected by a turning mechanism. The two sets of three legs are mounted so as to allow the robot to walk with stability in its own footsteps. The computer uses a modular hardware design and distributed processing. Dual-port RAM is used to allow communication between a supervisory personal computer and seven microcontrollers. The microcontrollers provide low-level control for the motors and relieve the processing burden on the PC.

METLIN-PC: An applications-program package for problems of mathematical programming

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pshenichnyi, B.N.; Sobolenko, L.A.; Sosnovskii, A.A.

1994-05-01

The METLIN-PC applications-program package (APP) was developed at the V.M. Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on IBM PC XT and AT computers. The present version of the package was written in Turbo Pascal and Fortran-77. The METLIN-PC is chiefly designed for the solution of smooth problems of mathematical programming and is a further development of the METLIN prototype, which was created earlier on a BESM-6 computer. The principal property of the previous package is retained - the applications modules employ a single approach based on the linearization method of B.N. Pschenichnyi. Hence the namemore » {open_quotes}METLIN.{close_quotes}« less

a Linux PC Cluster for Lattice QCD with Exact Chiral Symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiu, Ting-Wai; Hsieh, Tung-Han; Huang, Chao-Hsi; Huang, Tsung-Ren

A computational system for lattice QCD with overlap Dirac quarks is described. The platform is a home-made Linux PC cluster, built with off-the-shelf components. At present the system constitutes of 64 nodes, with each node consisting of one Pentium 4 processor (1.6/2.0/2.5 GHz), one Gbyte of PC800/1066 RDRAM, one 40/80/120 Gbyte hard disk, and a network card. The computationally intensive parts of our program are written in SSE2 codes. The speed of our system is estimated to be 70 Gflops, and its price/performance ratio is better than $1.0/Mflops for 64-bit (double precision) computations in quenched QCD. We discuss how to optimize its hardware and software for computing propagators of overlap Dirac quarks.

PCI/iRMX-Based Front-End Data Acquisition for the HT-7U Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shu, Yantai; Luo, Jiarong; Yan, Jianbing; Zhao, Feng; Zhang, Liang

2004-06-01

A PCI/iRMX-based front-end system is being designed to serve as data acquisition (DAQ) subsystem for the HT-7U superconducting tokamak. The diagnostic instruments are connected to four analog-to-digital converter (ADC) boards that are directly plugged into the peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus of a personal computer (PC) running the iRMX real-time operating system. Each ADC board has eight channels. The sampling rate of each channel can be up to 125 K samples per second. The acquired data are directly transferred from the ADC board into the memory of the PC, and then transferred to servers through the network. As a testbed, one PCI/iRMX subsystem has been built and has acquired data from the existing HT-7 tokamak. The DAQ can easily support a wide range of pulse lengths, even matching extremely long pulse and steady-state operation. This paper describes the system design and performance evaluation in detail.

INFIBRA: machine vision inspection of acrylic fiber production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davies, Roger; Correia, Bento A. B.; Contreiras, Jose; Carvalho, Fernando D.

1998-10-01

This paper describes the implementation of INFIBRA, a machine vision system for the inspection of acrylic fiber production lines. The system was developed by INETI under a contract from Fisipe, Fibras Sinteticas de Portugal, S.A. At Fisipe there are ten production lines in continuous operation, each approximately 40 m in length. A team of operators used to perform periodic manual visual inspection of each line in conditions of high ambient temperature and humidity. It is not surprising that failures in the manual inspection process occurred with some frequency, with consequences that ranged from reduced fiber quality to production stoppages. The INFIBRA system architecture is a specialization of a generic, modular machine vision architecture based on a network of Personal Computers (PCs), each equipped with a low cost frame grabber. Each production line has a dedicated PC that performs automatic inspection, using specially designed metrology algorithms, via four video cameras located at key positions on the line. The cameras are mounted inside custom-built, hermetically sealed water-cooled housings to protect them from the unfriendly environment. The ten PCs, one for each production line, communicate with a central PC via a standard Ethernet connection. The operator controls all aspects of the inspection process, from configuration through to handling alarms, via a simple graphical interface on the central PC. At any time the operator can also view on the central PC's screen the live image from any one of the 40 cameras employed by the system.

Stereoscopic-3D display design: a new paradigm with Intel Adaptive Stable Image Technology [IA-SIT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Sunil

2012-03-01

Stereoscopic-3D (S3D) proliferation on personal computers (PC) is mired by several technical and business challenges: a) viewing discomfort due to cross-talk amongst stereo images; b) high system cost; and c) restricted content availability. Users expect S3D visual quality to be better than, or at least equal to, what they are used to enjoying on 2D in terms of resolution, pixel density, color, and interactivity. Intel Adaptive Stable Image Technology (IA-SIT) is a foundational technology, successfully developed to resolve S3D system design challenges and deliver high quality 3D visualization at PC price points. Optimizations in display driver, panel timing firmware, backlight hardware, eyewear optical stack, and synch mechanism combined can help accomplish this goal. Agnostic to refresh rate, IA-SIT will scale with shrinking of display transistors and improvements in liquid crystal and LED materials. Industry could profusely benefit from the following calls to action:- 1) Adopt 'IA-SIT S3D Mode' in panel specs (via VESA) to help panel makers monetize S3D; 2) Adopt 'IA-SIT Eyewear Universal Optical Stack' and algorithm (via CEA) to help PC peripheral makers develop stylish glasses; 3) Adopt 'IA-SIT Real Time Profile' for sub-100uS latency control (via BT Sig) to extend BT into S3D; and 4) Adopt 'IA-SIT Architecture' for Monitors and TVs to monetize via PC attach.

[MapDraw: a microsoft excel macro for drawing genetic linkage maps based on given genetic linkage data].

PubMed

Liu, Ren-Hu; Meng, Jin-Ling

2003-05-01

MAPMAKER is one of the most widely used computer software package for constructing genetic linkage maps.However, the PC version, MAPMAKER 3.0 for PC, could not draw the genetic linkage maps that its Macintosh version, MAPMAKER 3.0 for Macintosh,was able to do. Especially in recent years, Macintosh computer is much less popular than PC. Most of the geneticists use PC to analyze their genetic linkage data. So a new computer software to draw the same genetic linkage maps on PC as the MAPMAKER for Macintosh to do on Macintosh has been crying for. Microsoft Excel,one component of Microsoft Office package, is one of the most popular software in laboratory data processing. Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is one of the most powerful functions of Microsoft Excel. Using this program language, we can take creative control of Excel, including genetic linkage map construction, automatic data processing and more. In this paper, a Microsoft Excel macro called MapDraw is constructed to draw genetic linkage maps on PC computer based on given genetic linkage data. Use this software,you can freely construct beautiful genetic linkage map in Excel and freely edit and copy it to Word or other application. This software is just an Excel format file. You can freely copy it from ftp://211.69.140.177 or ftp://brassica.hzau.edu.cn and the source code can be found in Excel's Visual Basic Editor.

Simulation Learning PC Screen-Based vs. High Fidelity

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

D., Burgess, L., Berg, B . and Connolly, K . (2009). Teaching mass casualty triage skills using iterative multimanikin simulations. Prehospital...SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON USAMRMC a. REPORT U b . ABSTRACT U...learning PC screen-based vs. high fidelity – progress chart Attachment B . Approved Protocol - Simulation Learning: PC-Screen Based (PCSB) versus High

Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool: Clinical utility for inpatient rehabilitation.

PubMed

Darzins, Susan W; Imms, Christine; Stefano, Marilyn Di; Radia-George, Camilla A

2016-10-01

Evidence supports validity of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART), but clinical utility remains unverified. This study aimed to investigate occupational therapists' perceptions about the PC-PART's clinical utility for inpatient rehabilitation. Using mixed methods, occupational therapists who had used the PC-PART as part of a research study in an inpatient rehabilitation setting completed a questionnaire ( n = 9) and participated in a focus group ( n = 6) to explore their perspectives about its clinical utility. Quantitative data were summarized and qualitative data analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Quantitative data highlighted both positive and negative aspects of the PC-PART's clinical utility. Five themes emerged from the qualitative data: nature of information gathered; familiarity with the instrument; perceived time and effort; item phrasing, interpretation, and presentation; and external influences on clinical use. The PC-PART was perceived to support gathering of clinically useful information, helpful to intervention and discharge planning. Recommendations for improving some item phrasing, operational definitions, and instructions were identified. Although standardized assessments were valued, use in routine practice was challenging, requiring a knowledge translation strategy.

Evaluation of the internal construct validity of the Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART) using Rasch analysis.

PubMed

Darzins, Susan; Imms, Christine; Di Stefano, Marilyn; Taylor, Nicholas F; Pallant, Julie F

2014-11-05

The Personal Care Participation Assessment and Resource Tool (PC-PART) is a 43-item, clinician-administered assessment, designed to identify patients' unmet needs (participation restrictions) in activities of daily living (ADL) required for community life. This information is important for identifying problems that need addressing to enable, for example, discharge from inpatient settings to community living. The objective of this study was to evaluate internal construct validity of the PC-PART using Rasch methods. Fit to the Rasch model was evaluated for 41 PC-PART items, assessing threshold ordering, overall model fit, individual item fit, person fit, internal consistency, Differential Item Functioning (DIF), targeting of items and dimensionality. Data used in this research were taken from admission data from a randomised controlled trial conducted at two publically funded inpatient rehabilitation units in Melbourne, Australia, with 996 participants (63% women; mean age 74 years) and with various impairment types. PC-PART items assessed as one scale, and original PC-PART domains evaluated as separate scales, demonstrated poor fit to the Rasch model. Adequate fit to the Rasch model was achieved in two newly formed PC-PART scales: Self-Care (16 items) and Domestic Life (14 items). Both scales were unidimensional, had acceptable internal consistency (PSI =0.85, 0.76, respectively) and well-targeted items. Rasch analysis did not support conventional summation of all PC-PART item scores to create a total score. However, internal construct validity of the newly formed PC-PART scales, Self-Care and Domestic Life, was supported. Their Rasch-derived scores provided interval-level measurement enabling summation of scores to form a total score on each scale. These scales may assist clinicians, managers and researchers in rehabilitation settings to assess and measure changes in ADL participation restrictions relevant to community living. Data used in this research were gathered during a registered randomised controlled trial: Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12609000973213. Ethics committee approval was gained for secondary analysis of data for this study.

Evaluation of Manual Spelling, Observational and Incidental Learning Using Computer-Based Instruction with a Tablet PC, Large Screen Projection, and a Forward Chaining Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purrazzella, Kimberly; Mechling, Linda C.

2013-01-01

The study employed a multiple probe design to investigate the effects of computer-based instruction (CBI) and a forward chaining procedure to teach manual spelling of words to three young adults with moderate intellectual disability in a small group arrangement. The computer-based program included a tablet PC whereby students wrote words directly…

PC-PVT 2.0: An updated platform for psychomotor vigilance task testing, analysis, prediction, and visualization.

PubMed

Reifman, Jaques; Kumar, Kamal; Khitrov, Maxim Y; Liu, Jianbo; Ramakrishnan, Sridhar

2018-07-01

The psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) has been widely used to assess the effects of sleep deprivation on human neurobehavioral performance. To facilitate research in this field, we previously developed the PC-PVT, a freely available software system analogous to the "gold-standard" PVT-192 that, in addition to allowing for simple visual reaction time (RT) tests, also allows for near real-time PVT analysis, prediction, and visualization in a personal computer (PC). Here we present the PC-PVT 2.0 for Windows 10 operating system, which has the capability to couple PVT tests of a study protocol with the study's sleep/wake and caffeine schedules, and make real-time individualized predictions of PVT performance for such schedules. We characterized the accuracy and precision of the software in measuring RT, using 44 distinct combinations of PC hardware system configurations. We found that 15 system configurations measured RTs with an average delay of less than 10 ms, an error comparable to that of the PVT-192. To achieve such small delays, the system configuration should always use a gaming mouse as the means to respond to visual stimuli. We recommend using a discrete graphical processing unit for desktop PCs and an external monitor for laptop PCs. This update integrates a study's sleep/wake and caffeine schedules with the testing software, facilitating testing and outcome visualization, and provides near-real-time individualized PVT predictions for any sleep-loss condition considering caffeine effects. The software, with its enhanced PVT analysis, visualization, and prediction capabilities, can be freely downloaded from https://pcpvt.bhsai.org. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Modelling copper-phthalocyanine/cobalt-phthalocyanine chains: towards magnetic quantum metamaterials.

PubMed

Wu, Wei

2014-07-23

The magnetic properties of a theoretically designed molecular chain structure CuCoPc2, in which copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc) and cobalt-phthalocyanine (CoPc) alternate, have been investigated across a range of chain structures. The computed exchange interaction for the α-phase CuCoPc2 is ∼ 5 K (ferromagnetic), in strong contrast to the anti-ferromagnetic interaction recently observed in CuPc and CoPc. The computed exchange interactions are strongly dependent on the stacking angle but weakly on the sliding angle, and peak at 20 K (ferromagnetic). These ferromagnetic interactions are expected to arise from direct exchange with the strong suppression of super-exchange interaction. These first-principles calculations show that π-conjugated molecules, such as phthalocyanine, could be used as building blocks for the design of magnetic materials. This therefore extends the concept of quantum metamaterials further into magnetism. The resulting new magnetic materials could find applications in the studies such as organic spintronics.

TDRSS-user orbit determination using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Hakimi, M.; Samii, Mina V.; Doll, C. E.; Mistretta, G. D.; Hart, R. C.

1993-02-01

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) commissioned Applied Technology Associates, Incorporated, to develop the Real-Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system on a Disk Operating System (DOS)-based personal computer (PC) as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination of spacecraft. This paper presents the results of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) user spacecraft, Landsat-4, obtained using RTOD/E, operating on a PC, with the accuracy of an established batch least-squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), and operating on a mainframe computer. The results of Landsat-4 orbit determination will provide useful experience for the Earth Observing System (EOS) series of satellites. The Landsat-4 ephemerides were estimated for the January 17-23, 1991, timeframe, during which intensive TDRSS tracking data for Landsat-4 were available. Independent assessments were made of the consistencies (overlap comparisons for the batch case and covariances and the first measurement residuals for the sequential case) of solutions produced by the batch and sequential methods. The forward-filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions were compared with the definitive GTDS orbit solutions for Landsat-4; the solution differences were less than 40 meters after the filter had reached steady state.

Comparison of ERBS orbit determination accuracy using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Fabien, S. M.; Mistretta, G. D.; Hart, R. C.; Doll, C. E.

1991-01-01

The Flight Dynamics Div. (FDD) at NASA-Goddard commissioned a study to develop the Real Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination of spacecraft on a DOS based personal computer (PC). An overview is presented of RTOD/E capabilities and the results are presented of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) user spacecraft obtained using RTOS/E on a PC with the accuracy of an established batch least squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), operating on a mainframe computer. RTOD/E was used to perform sequential orbit determination for the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), and the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS) was used to perform the batch least squares orbit determination. The estimated ERBS ephemerides were obtained for the Aug. 16 to 22, 1989, timeframe, during which intensive TDRSS tracking data for ERBS were available. Independent assessments were made to examine the consistencies of results obtained by the batch and sequential methods. Comparisons were made between the forward filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions and definitive GTDS orbit solutions for ERBS; the solution differences were less than 40 meters after the filter had reached steady state.

TDRSS-user orbit determination using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Hakimi, M.; Samii, Mina V.; Doll, C. E.; Mistretta, G. D.; Hart, R. C.

1993-01-01

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) commissioned Applied Technology Associates, Incorporated, to develop the Real-Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system on a Disk Operating System (DOS)-based personal computer (PC) as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination of spacecraft. This paper presents the results of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) user spacecraft, Landsat-4, obtained using RTOD/E, operating on a PC, with the accuracy of an established batch least-squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), and operating on a mainframe computer. The results of Landsat-4 orbit determination will provide useful experience for the Earth Observing System (EOS) series of satellites. The Landsat-4 ephemerides were estimated for the January 17-23, 1991, timeframe, during which intensive TDRSS tracking data for Landsat-4 were available. Independent assessments were made of the consistencies (overlap comparisons for the batch case and covariances and the first measurement residuals for the sequential case) of solutions produced by the batch and sequential methods. The forward-filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions were compared with the definitive GTDS orbit solutions for Landsat-4; the solution differences were less than 40 meters after the filter had reached steady state.

Comparison of ERBS orbit determination accuracy using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Fabien, S. M.; Mistretta, G. D.; Hart, R. C.; Doll, C. E.

1991-10-01

The Flight Dynamics Div. (FDD) at NASA-Goddard commissioned a study to develop the Real Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination of spacecraft on a DOS based personal computer (PC). An overview is presented of RTOD/E capabilities and the results are presented of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) user spacecraft obtained using RTOS/E on a PC with the accuracy of an established batch least squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), operating on a mainframe computer. RTOD/E was used to perform sequential orbit determination for the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), and the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS) was used to perform the batch least squares orbit determination. The estimated ERBS ephemerides were obtained for the Aug. 16 to 22, 1989, timeframe, during which intensive TDRSS tracking data for ERBS were available. Independent assessments were made to examine the consistencies of results obtained by the batch and sequential methods. Comparisons were made between the forward filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions and definitive GTDS orbit solutions for ERBS; the solution differences were less than 40 meters after the filter had reached steady state.

Comparison of fMRI data analysis by SPM99 on different operating systems.

PubMed

Shinagawa, Hideo; Honda, Ei-ichi; Ono, Takashi; Kurabayashi, Tohru; Ohyama, Kimie

2004-09-01

The hardware chosen for fMRI data analysis may depend on the platform already present in the laboratory or the supporting software. In this study, we ran SPM99 software on multiple platforms to examine whether we could analyze fMRI data by SPM99, and to compare their differences and limitations in processing fMRI data, which can be attributed to hardware capabilities. Six normal right-handed volunteers participated in a study of hand-grasping to obtain fMRI data. Each subject performed a run that consisted of 98 images. The run was measured using a gradient echo-type echo planar imaging sequence on a 1.5T apparatus with a head coil. We used several personal computer (PC), Unix and Linux machines to analyze the fMRI data. There were no differences in the results obtained on several PC, Unix and Linux machines. The only limitations in processing large amounts of the fMRI data were found using PC machines. This suggests that the results obtained with different machines were not affected by differences in hardware components, such as the CPU, memory and hard drive. Rather, it is likely that the limitations in analyzing a huge amount of the fMRI data were due to differences in the operating system (OS).

Open modular architecture controls at GM Powertrain: technology and implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bailo, Clark P.; Yen, C. J.

1997-01-01

General Motors Powertrain Group (GMPTG) has been the leader in implementing open, modular architecture controller (OMAC) technologies in its manufacturing applications since 1986. The interest in OMAC has been greatly expanded for the past two years because of the advancement of personal computer technologies and the publishing of the OMAC whitepaper by the US automotive companies stating the requirements of OMAC technologies in automotive applications. The purpose of this paper is to describe the current OMAC projects and the future direction of implementation at GMPTG. An overview of the OMAC project and the definition of the OMAC concept are described first. The rationale of pursuing open technologies is explained from the perspective of GMPTG in lieu of its agile manufacturing strategy. Examples of existing PC-based control applications are listed to demonstrate the extensive commitment to PC-based technologies that has already been put in place. A migration plan form PC-based to OMAC-based systems with the thorough approach of validation are presented next to convey the direction that GMPTG is taking in implementing OMAC technologies. Leveraged technology development projects are described to illustrate the philosophy and approaches toward the development of OMAC technologies at GMPTG. Finally, certain implementation issues are discussed to emphasize efforts that are still required to have successful implementations of OMAC systems.

Expert System Enhancement to the Resource Allocation Modules of the NCS Emergency Preparedness Management Information System (EPMIS)

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-01

after the MYCIN expert system. Host Computer PC+ is available on both symbolic and numeric computers. It operates on: the IBM PC AT, TI Bus- Pro (IBM PC...suppose that the data baseTool picks up pace contains 100 motors, and in only one case does a lightweight motor pro . duce more power than heavier units...every sor, ART 2.0. In the bargain it con - the figure). decision point takes time. More sub- sumes 10 times less storage. ART 3.0 reduces the comparison

Maxdose-SR and popdose-SR routine release atmospheric dose models used at SRS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jannik, G. T.; Trimor, P. P.

MAXDOSE-SR and POPDOSE-SR are used to calculate dose to the offsite Reference Person and to the surrounding Savannah River Site (SRS) population respectively following routine releases of atmospheric radioactivity. These models are currently accessed through the Dose Model Version 2014 graphical user interface (GUI). MAXDOSE-SR and POPDOSE-SR are personal computer (PC) versions of MAXIGASP and POPGASP, which both resided on the SRS IBM Mainframe. These two codes follow U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) Regulatory Guides 1.109 and 1.111 (1977a, 1977b). The basis for MAXDOSE-SR and POPDOSE-SR are USNRC developed codes XOQDOQ (Sagendorf et. al 1982) and GASPAR (Eckerman et. almore » 1980). Both of these codes have previously been verified for use at SRS (Simpkins 1999 and 2000). The revisions incorporated into MAXDOSE-SR and POPDOSE-SR Version 2014 (hereafter referred to as MAXDOSE-SR and POPDOSE-SR unless otherwise noted) were made per Computer Program Modification Tracker (CPMT) number Q-CMT-A-00016 (Appendix D). Version 2014 was verified for use at SRS in Dixon (2014).« less

CD-ROM source data uploaded to the operating and storage devices of an IBM 3090 mainframe through a PC terminal.

PubMed

Boros, L G; Lepow, C; Ruland, F; Starbuck, V; Jones, S; Flancbaum, L; Townsend, M C

1992-07-01

A powerful method of processing MEDLINE and CINAHL source data uploaded to the IBM 3090 mainframe computer through an IBM/PC is described. Data are first downloaded from the CD-ROM's PC devices to floppy disks. These disks then are uploaded to the mainframe computer through an IBM/PC equipped with WordPerfect text editor and computer network connection (SONNGATE). Before downloading, keywords specifying the information to be accessed are typed at the FIND prompt of the CD-ROM station. The resulting abstracts are downloaded into a file called DOWNLOAD.DOC. The floppy disks containing the information are simply carried to an IBM/PC which has a terminal emulation (TELNET) connection to the university-wide computer network (SONNET) at the Ohio State University Academic Computing Services (OSU ACS). The WordPerfect (5.1) processes and saves the text into DOS format. Using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP, 130,000 bytes/s) of SONNET, the entire text containing the information obtained through the MEDLINE and CINAHL search is transferred to the remote mainframe computer for further processing. At this point, abstracts in the specified area are ready for immediate access and multiple retrieval by any PC having network switch or dial-in connection after the USER ID, PASSWORD and ACCOUNT NUMBER are specified by the user. The system provides the user an on-line, very powerful and quick method of searching for words specifying: diseases, agents, experimental methods, animals, authors, and journals in the research area downloaded. The user can also copy the TItles, AUthors and SOurce with optional parts of abstracts into papers under edition. This arrangement serves the special demands of a research laboratory by handling MEDLINE and CINAHL source data resulting after a search is performed with keywords specified for ongoing projects. Since the Ohio State University has a centrally founded mainframe system, the data upload, storage and mainframe operations are free.

Palliative Care Social Work In India: Current Status and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Ragesh, G; Zacharias, Lithin; Thomas, Priya Treesa

2017-01-01

Palliative care (PC) involves total care for persons suffering from life-threatening illnesses and their families. Social work as a profession and an academic discipline is gaining momentum in India for the past few decades. A large number of professional social workers are working with individuals, families, and communities to provide PC in India. Authors have presented the current status of PC social work interventions and discussed the future directions in the practice, research, and training in PC and end-of-life care. PMID:28216870

A robust and efficient stepwise regression method for building sparse polynomial chaos expansions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abraham, Simon, E-mail: Simon.Abraham@ulb.ac.be; Raisee, Mehrdad; Ghorbaniasl, Ghader

2017-03-01

Polynomial Chaos (PC) expansions are widely used in various engineering fields for quantifying uncertainties arising from uncertain parameters. The computational cost of classical PC solution schemes is unaffordable as the number of deterministic simulations to be calculated grows dramatically with the number of stochastic dimension. This considerably restricts the practical use of PC at the industrial level. A common approach to address such problems is to make use of sparse PC expansions. This paper presents a non-intrusive regression-based method for building sparse PC expansions. The most important PC contributions are detected sequentially through an automatic search procedure. The variable selectionmore » criterion is based on efficient tools relevant to probabilistic method. Two benchmark analytical functions are used to validate the proposed algorithm. The computational efficiency of the method is then illustrated by a more realistic CFD application, consisting of the non-deterministic flow around a transonic airfoil subject to geometrical uncertainties. To assess the performance of the developed methodology, a detailed comparison is made with the well established LAR-based selection technique. The results show that the developed sparse regression technique is able to identify the most significant PC contributions describing the problem. Moreover, the most important stochastic features are captured at a reduced computational cost compared to the LAR method. The results also demonstrate the superior robustness of the method by repeating the analyses using random experimental designs.« less

Field evaluation of personal sampling methods for multiple bioaerosols.

PubMed

Wang, Chi-Hsun; Chen, Bean T; Han, Bor-Cheng; Liu, Andrew Chi-Yeu; Hung, Po-Chen; Chen, Chih-Yong; Chao, Hsing Jasmine

2015-01-01

Ambient bioaerosols are ubiquitous in the daily environment and can affect health in various ways. However, few studies have been conducted to comprehensively evaluate personal bioaerosol exposure in occupational and indoor environments because of the complex composition of bioaerosols and the lack of standardized sampling/analysis methods. We conducted a study to determine the most efficient collection/analysis method for the personal exposure assessment of multiple bioaerosols. The sampling efficiencies of three filters and four samplers were compared. According to our results, polycarbonate (PC) filters had the highest relative efficiency, particularly for bacteria. Side-by-side sampling was conducted to evaluate the three filter samplers (with PC filters) and the NIOSH Personal Bioaerosol Cyclone Sampler. According to the results, the Button Aerosol Sampler and the IOM Inhalable Dust Sampler had the highest relative efficiencies for fungi and bacteria, followed by the NIOSH sampler. Personal sampling was performed in a pig farm to assess occupational bioaerosol exposure and to evaluate the sampling/analysis methods. The Button and IOM samplers yielded a similar performance for personal bioaerosol sampling at the pig farm. However, the Button sampler is more likely to be clogged at high airborne dust concentrations because of its higher flow rate (4 L/min). Therefore, the IOM sampler is a more appropriate choice for performing personal sampling in environments with high dust levels. In summary, the Button and IOM samplers with PC filters are efficient sampling/analysis methods for the personal exposure assessment of multiple bioaerosols.

Sr$sup 90$ CONTAMINATION OF MEN CAUSED BY FOOD UPTAKE (in German)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seidler, H.; Haertig, M.; Siebert, K.

During 1961 in determined periods, the total food of 4 groups of persons was collected and investigated for Sr/sup 90/. Parallel to that, analytical determinations were made of the Sr/sup 90/ contents of the chief foods and the statistically determined consumed amount and the daily Sr/sup 90/ load to various groups of persons were calculated. There was very little difference between the calculated and measured values of Sr/sup 90/ activity in food. For babies and small children it amounted to about 5 pC Sr/sup 90/ per person per day and for children, youths, and adults about 10 pC Sr/sup 90/more » per person per day. (tr- auth)« less

PC Vendor Viability, or Whatever Happened to HiTech International?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Walt

1993-01-01

Reports on the feasibility of vendors of IBM PC compatible computers based on issues of "PC Magazine" from September 1985 to the present. Results by year are given in tabular and text form. Implications of orphan systems for libraries, advertising problems, and predictors of success are discussed. (EAM)

Palliative Care Bedside Teaching: A Qualitative Analysis of Medical Students' Reflective Writings after Clinical Practices.

PubMed

Rojí, Rocío; Noguera-Tejedor, Antonio; Pikabea-Díaz, Fernando; Carrasco, José Miguel; Centeno, Carlos

2017-02-01

A mandatory course in palliative care (PC) is organized for all final-year medical students at the University of Navarre. It consists of 24 lectures, 4 workshops, and 1 scheduled five hour clinical PC service experience at two different sites. In the 48 hours after the visit and related to the clinical experience, each student has to complete a 500-word reflective writing (RW) piece. To investigate how a brief PC clinical experience helps equip the medical student. Qualitative study of RW. Two researchers produced a content analysis of students' RW. They collaboratively developed themes and categories with a constant review of the classification tree and an exhaustive collection of quotes. Differences between services were analyzed (λ 2 ). One hundred sixty-seven RW were analyzed from the 197 students on the course (response rate 85%). Six major themes emerged: All the students identified central aspects of PC work dynamics; students acquired specific PC knowledge (86%); the personal influence of the experience was reported (68%); students described how patients and their caregivers deal with the patients' illness (68%); students talked about the essence of PC and essential aspects of medicine (42%); students reported spontaneously having changed their assumptions about PC (15%); and they realized that the experience was relevant to all clinical practice. Categories such as teamwork, the expression of patients' and caregivers' feelings, and family devotion showed statistical differences between services (λ 2 p < 0.05). A short bedside clinical experience in PC, encouraging student reflection, provides a deeper understanding of PC and even of core medicine values. The data we gather cannot explain only new skill acquisition but seems to suggest a life-changing personal experience for the student.

Digital data, composite video multiplexer and demultiplexer boards for an IBM PC/AT compatible computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Dean Lance

1993-01-01

Work continued on the design of two IBM PC/AT compatible computer interface boards. The boards will permit digital data to be transmitted over a composite video channel from the Orbiter. One board combines data with a composite video signal. The other board strips the data from the video signal.

Correlational analysis of neck/shoulder pain and low back pain with the use of digital products, physical activity and psychological status among adolescents in Shanghai.

PubMed

Shan, Zhi; Deng, Guoying; Li, Jipeng; Li, Yangyang; Zhang, Yongxing; Zhao, Qinghua

2013-01-01

This study investigates the neck/shoulder pain (NSP) and low back pain (LBP) among current high school students in Shanghai and explores the relationship between these pains and their possible influences, including digital products, physical activity, and psychological status. An anonymous self-assessment was administered to 3,600 students across 30 high schools in Shanghai. This questionnaire examined the prevalence of NSP and LBP and the level of physical activity as well as the use of mobile phones, personal computers (PC) and tablet computers (Tablet). The CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression) scale was also included in the survey. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test, univariate logistic analyses and a multivariate logistic regression model. Three thousand sixteen valid questionnaires were received including 1,460 (48.41%) from male respondents and 1,556 (51.59%) from female respondents. The high school students in this study showed NSP and LBP rates of 40.8% and 33.1%, respectively, and the prevalence of both influenced by the student's grade, use of digital products, and mental status; these factors affected the rates of NSP and LBP to varying degrees. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that Gender, grade, soreness after exercise, PC using habits, tablet use, sitting time after school and academic stress entered the final model of NSP, while the final model of LBP consisted of gender, grade, soreness after exercise, PC using habits, mobile phone use, sitting time after school, academic stress and CES-D score. High school students in Shanghai showed high prevalence of NSP and LBP that were closely related to multiple factors. Appropriate interventions should be implemented to reduce the occurrences of NSP and LBP.

Computing Operating Characteristics Of Bearing/Shaft Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, James D.

1996-01-01

SHABERTH computer program predicts operating characteristics of bearings in multibearing load-support system. Lubricated and nonlubricated bearings modeled. Calculates loads, torques, temperatures, and fatigue lives of ball and/or roller bearings on single shaft. Provides for analysis of reaction of system to termination of supply of lubricant to bearings and other lubricated mechanical elements. Valuable in design and analysis of shaft/bearing systems. Two versions of SHABERTH available. Cray version (LEW-14860), "Computing Thermal Performances Of Shafts and Bearings". IBM PC version (MFS-28818), written for IBM PC-series and compatible computers running MS-DOS.

Pre-Hardware Optimization of Spacecraft Image Processing Software Algorithms and Hardware Implementation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kizhner, Semion; Flatley, Thomas P.; Hestnes, Phyllis; Jentoft-Nilsen, Marit; Petrick, David J.; Day, John H. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Spacecraft telemetry rates have steadily increased over the last decade presenting a problem for real-time processing by ground facilities. This paper proposes a solution to a related problem for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Spacecraft (GOES-8) image processing application. Although large super-computer facilities are the obvious heritage solution, they are very costly, making it imperative to seek a feasible alternative engineering solution at a fraction of the cost. The solution is based on a Personal Computer (PC) platform and synergy of optimized software algorithms and re-configurable computing hardware technologies, such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and Digital Signal Processing (DSP). It has been shown in [1] and [2] that this configuration can provide superior inexpensive performance for a chosen application on the ground station or on-board a spacecraft. However, since this technology is still maturing, intensive pre-hardware steps are necessary to achieve the benefits of hardware implementation. This paper describes these steps for the GOES-8 application, a software project developed using Interactive Data Language (IDL) (Trademark of Research Systems, Inc.) on a Workstation/UNIX platform. The solution involves converting the application to a PC/Windows/RC platform, selected mainly by the availability of low cost, adaptable high-speed RC hardware. In order for the hybrid system to run, the IDL software was modified to account for platform differences. It was interesting to examine the gains and losses in performance on the new platform, as well as unexpected observations before implementing hardware. After substantial pre-hardware optimization steps, the necessity of hardware implementation for bottleneck code in the PC environment became evident and solvable beginning with the methodology described in [1], [2], and implementing a novel methodology for this specific application [6]. The PC-RC interface bandwidth problem for the class of applications with moderate input-output data rates but large intermediate multi-thread data streams has been addressed and mitigated. This opens a new class of satellite image processing applications for bottleneck problems solution using RC technologies. The issue of a science algorithm level of abstraction necessary for RC hardware implementation is also described. Selected Matlab functions already implemented in hardware were investigated for their direct applicability to the GOES-8 application with the intent to create a library of Matlab and IDL RC functions for ongoing work. A complete class of spacecraft image processing applications using embedded re-configurable computing technology to meet real-time requirements, including performance results and comparison with the existing system, is described in this paper.

PCASSO: a design for secure communication of personal health information via the internet.

PubMed

Baker, D B; Masys, D R

1999-05-01

The Internet holds both promise and peril for the communications of person-identifiable health information. Because of technical features designed to promote accessibility and interoperability rather than security, Internet addressing conventions and transport protocols are vulnerable to compromise by malicious persons and programs. In addition, most commonly used personal computer (PC) operating systems currently lack the hardware-based system software protection and process isolation that are essential for ensuring the integrity of trusted applications. Security approaches designed for electronic commerce, that trade known security weaknesses for limited financial liability, are not sufficient for personal health data, where the personal damage caused by unintentional disclosure may be far more serious. To overcome these obstacles, we are developing and evaluating an Internet-based communications system called PCASSO (Patient-centered access to secure systems online) that applies state of the art security to health information. PCASSO includes role-based access control, multi-level security, strong device and user authentication, session-specific encryption and audit trails. Unlike Internet-based electronic commerce 'solutions,' PCASSO secures data end-to-end: in the server; in the data repository; across the network; and on the client. PCASSO is designed to give patients as well as providers access to personal health records via the Internet.

Development and Flight Results of a PC104/QNX-Based On-Board Computer and Software for the YES2 Tether Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spiliotopoulos, I.; Mirmont, M.; Kruijff, M.

2008-08-01

This paper highlights the flight preparation and mission performance of a PC104-based On-Board Computer for ESA's second Young Engineer's Satellite (YES2), with additional attention to the flight software design and experience of QNX as multi-process real-time operating system. This combination of Commercial-Of-The-Shelf (COTS) technologies is an accessible option for small satellites with high computational demands.

Person-Centeredness in Home- and Community-Based Services and Supports: Domains, Attributes, and Assisted Living Indicators.

PubMed

Zimmerman, Sheryl; Love, Karen; Cohen, Lauren W; Pinkowitz, Jackie; Nyrop, Kirsten A

2014-01-01

As a result of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) interest in creating a unifying definition of "community living" for its Medicaid Home and Community Based Services and Support (HCBS) programs, it needed clarifying descriptors of person-centered (PC) practices in assisted living to distinguish them from institutional ones. Additionally, CMS's proposed language defining "community living" had the unintended potential to exclude many assisted living communities and disadvantage residents who receive Medicaid. This manuscript describes the consensus process through which clarifying language for "community living" and a framework for HCBS PC domains, attributes, and indicators specific to assisted living were developed. It examines the validity of those domains based on literature review, surveys, and stakeholder focus groups, and identifies nine domains and 43 indicators that provide a foundation for defining and measuring PC practice in assisted living. Ongoing efforts using community-based participatory research methods are further refining and testing PC indicators for assisted living to advance knowledge, operational policies, practices, and quality outcomes.

Automated dredging and disposal alternatives management system (ADDAMS). Environmental effects of dredging. Technical note

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

This technical note describes the current capabilities and availability of the Automated Dredging and Disposal Alternatives Management System (ADDAMS). The technical note replaces the earlier Technical Note EEDP-06-12, which should be discarded. Planning, design, and management of dredging and dredged material disposal projects often require complex or tedious calculations or involve complex decision-making criteria. In addition, the evaluations often must be done for several disposal alternatives or disposal sites. ADDAMS is a personal computer (PC)-based system developed to assist in making such evaluations in a timely manner. ADDAMS contains a collection of computer programs (applications) designed to assist in managingmore » dredging projects. This technical note describes the system, currently available applications, mechanisms for acquiring and running the system, and provisions for revision and expansion.« less

Program For Evaluation Of Reliability Of Ceramic Parts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nemeth, N.; Janosik, L. A.; Gyekenyesi, J. P.; Powers, Lynn M.

1996-01-01

CARES/LIFE predicts probability of failure of monolithic ceramic component as function of service time. Assesses risk that component fractures prematurely as result of subcritical crack growth (SCG). Effect of proof testing of components prior to service also considered. Coupled to such commercially available finite-element programs as ANSYS, ABAQUS, MARC, MSC/NASTRAN, and COSMOS/M. Also retains all capabilities of previous CARES code, which includes estimation of fast-fracture component reliability and Weibull parameters from inert strength (without SCG contributing to failure) specimen data. Estimates parameters that characterize SCG from specimen data as well. Written in ANSI FORTRAN 77 to be machine-independent. Program runs on any computer in which sufficient addressable memory (at least 8MB) and FORTRAN 77 compiler available. For IBM-compatible personal computer with minimum 640K memory, limited program available (CARES/PC, COSMIC number LEW-15248).

Non-invasive measurement of pulse wave velocity using transputer-based analysis of Doppler flow audio signals.

PubMed

Stewart, W R; Ramsey, M W; Jones, C J

1994-08-01

A system for the measurement of arterial pulse wave velocity is described. A personal computer (PC) plug-in transputer board is used to process the audio signals from two pocket Doppler ultrasound units. The transputer is used to provide a set of bandpass digital filters on two channels. The times of excursion of power through thresholds in each filter are recorded and used to estimate the onset of systolic flow. The system does not require an additional spectrum analyser and can work in real time. The transputer architecture provides for easy integration into any wider physiological measurement system.

Sensitivity to Social Contingency in Adults with High-Functioning Autism during Computer-Mediated Embodied Interaction.

PubMed

Zapata-Fonseca, Leonardo; Froese, Tom; Schilbach, Leonhard; Vogeley, Kai; Timmermans, Bert

2018-02-08

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can be understood as a social interaction disorder. This makes the emerging "second-person approach" to social cognition a more promising framework for studying ASD than classical approaches focusing on mindreading capacities in detached, observer-based arrangements. According to the second-person approach, embodied, perceptual, and embedded or interactive capabilities are also required for understanding others, and these are hypothesized to be compromised in ASD. We therefore recorded the dynamics of real-time sensorimotor interaction in pairs of control participants and participants with High-Functioning Autism (HFA), using the minimalistic human-computer interface paradigm known as "perceptual crossing" (PC). We investigated whether HFA is associated with impaired detection of social contingency, i.e., a reduced sensitivity to the other's responsiveness to one's own behavior. Surprisingly, our analysis reveals that, at least under the conditions of this highly simplified, computer-mediated, embodied form of social interaction, people with HFA perform equally well as controls. This finding supports the increasing use of virtual reality interfaces for helping people with ASD to better compensate for their social disabilities. Further dynamical analyses are necessary for a better understanding of the mechanisms that are leading to the somewhat surprising results here obtained.

Development of a triage engine enabling behavior recognition and lethal arrhythmia detection for remote health care system.

PubMed

Sugano, Hiroto; Hara, Shinsuke; Tsujioka, Tetsuo; Inoue, Tadayuki; Nakajima, Shigeyoshi; Kozaki, Takaaki; Namkamura, Hajime; Takeuchi, Kazuhide

2011-01-01

For ubiquitous health care systems which continuously monitor a person's vital signs such as electrocardiogram (ECG), body surface temperature and three-dimensional (3D) acceleration by wireless, it is important to accurately detect the occurrence of an abnormal event in the data and immediately inform a medical doctor of its detail. In this paper, we introduce a remote health care system, which is composed of a wireless vital sensor, multiple receivers and a triage engine installed in a desktop personal computer (PC). The middleware installed in the receiver, which was developed in C++, supports reliable data handling of vital data to the ethernet port. On the other hand, the human interface of the triage engine, which was developed in JAVA, shows graphics on his/her ECG data, 3D acceleration data, body surface temperature data and behavior status in the display of the desktop PC and sends an urgent e-mail containing the display data to a pre-registered medical doctor when it detects the occurrence of an abnormal event. In the triage engine, the lethal arrhythmia detection algorithm based on short time Fourier transform (STFT) analysis can achieve 100 % sensitivity and 99.99 % specificity, and the behavior recognition algorithm based on the combination of the nearest neighbor method and the Naive Bayes method can achieve more than 71 % classification accuracy.

A PC-based computer package for automatic detection and location of earthquakes: Application to a seismic network in eastern sicity (Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patanè, Domenico; Ferrari, Ferruccio; Giampiccolo, Elisabetta; Gresta, Stefano

Few automated data acquisition and processing systems operate on mainframes, some run on UNIX-based workstations and others on personal computers, equipped with either DOS/WINDOWS or UNIX-derived operating systems. Several large and complex software packages for automatic and interactive analysis of seismic data have been developed in recent years (mainly for UNIX-based systems). Some of these programs use a variety of artificial intelligence techniques. The first operational version of a new software package, named PC-Seism, for analyzing seismic data from a local network is presented in Patanè et al. (1999). This package, composed of three separate modules, provides an example of a new generation of visual object-oriented programs for interactive and automatic seismic data-processing running on a personal computer. In this work, we mainly discuss the automatic procedures implemented in the ASDP (Automatic Seismic Data-Processing) module and real time application to data acquired by a seismic network running in eastern Sicily. This software uses a multi-algorithm approach and a new procedure MSA (multi-station-analysis) for signal detection, phase grouping and event identification and location. It is designed for an efficient and accurate processing of local earthquake records provided by single-site and array stations. Results from ASDP processing of two different data sets recorded at Mt. Etna volcano by a regional network are analyzed to evaluate its performance. By comparing the ASDP pickings with those revised manually, the detection and subsequently the location capabilities of this software are assessed. The first data set is composed of 330 local earthquakes recorded in the Mt. Etna erea during 1997 by the telemetry analog seismic network. The second data set comprises about 970 automatic locations of more than 2600 local events recorded at Mt. Etna during the last eruption (July 2001) at the present network. For the former data set, a comparison of the automatic results with the manual picks indicates that the ASDP module can accurately pick 80% of the P-waves and 65% of S-waves. The on-line application on the latter data set shows that automatic locations are affected by larger errors, due to the preliminary setting of the configuration parameters in the program. However, both automatic ASDP and manual hypocenter locations are comparable within the estimated error bounds. New improvements of the PC-Seism software for on-line analysis are also discussed.

Using a Tablet PC to Enhance Student Engagement and Learning in an Introductory Organic Chemistry Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derting, Terry L.; Cox, James R.

2008-01-01

Over the past three decades, computer-based technologies have influenced all aspects of chemistry, including chemical education. Pen-based computing applications, such as the tablet PC, have reemerged in the past few years and are providing new ways for educators to deliver content and engage students inside and outside the classroom and…

Operating a Geiger-Muller Tube Using a PC Sound Card

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Azooz, A. A.

2009-01-01

In this paper, a simple MATLAB-based PC program that enables the computer to function as a replacement for the electronic scalar-counter system associated with a Geiger-Muller (GM) tube is described. The program utilizes the ability of MATLAB to acquire data directly from the computer sound card. The signal from the GM tube is applied to the…

Shortcomings of low-cost imaging systems for viewing computed radiographs.

PubMed

Ricke, J; Hänninen, E L; Zielinski, C; Amthauer, H; Stroszczynski, C; Liebig, T; Wolf, M; Hosten, N

2000-01-01

To assess potential advantages of a new PC-based viewing tool featuring image post-processing for viewing computed radiographs on low-cost hardware (PC) with a common display card and color monitor, and to evaluate the effect of using color versus monochrome monitors. Computed radiographs of a statistical phantom were viewed on a PC, with and without post-processing (spatial frequency and contrast processing), employing a monochrome or a color monitor. Findings were compared with the viewing on a radiological Workstation and evaluated with ROC analysis. Image post-processing improved the perception of low-contrast details significantly irrespective of the monitor used. No significant difference in perception was observed between monochrome and color monitors. The review at the radiological Workstation was superior to the review done using the PC with image processing. Lower quality hardware (graphic card and monitor) used in low cost PCs negatively affects perception of low-contrast details in computed radiographs. In this situation, it is highly recommended to use spatial frequency and contrast processing. No significant quality gain has been observed for the high-end monochrome monitor compared to the color display. However, the color monitor was affected stronger by high ambient illumination.

Audiovisual Presentations on a Handheld PC are Preferred As an Educational Tool by NICU Parents.

PubMed

Alur, P; Cirelli, J; Goodstein, M; Bell, T; Liss, J

2010-01-01

Health literacy is critical for understanding complex medical problems and necessary for the well being of the patient. Printed educational materials (PM) have limitations in explaining the dynamics of a disease process. Multimedia formats may be useful for enhancing the educational process. To evaluate whether a printed format or animation with commentary on a handheld personal computer (PC) is preferred as an educational tool by parents of a baby in the NICU. PARENTS EVALUATED TWO FORMATS: A 1-page illustrated document from the American Heart Association explaining patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and animation with commentary on a handheld PC that explained the physiology of PDA in 1 minute. The reading grade level of the PM was 8.6 versus 18.6 for the audio portion of the animated presentation. Parents viewed each format and completed a four-item questionnaire. Parents rated both formats and indicated their preference as printed, animation, or both. Forty-six parents participated in the survey. Parents preferred animation over PM (50% vs. 17.4%. p = 0.02); 39.1% expressed that the animation was excellent; whereas 4.3% expressed that the PM was excellent (p<0.001). The order of presentation of formats, sex, age, and educational level of parents did not influence the method preferred (p>0.05). Parents preferred animation on a small screen handheld PC despite a much higher language level. Because handheld PCs are portable and inexpensive, they can be used effectively at the bedside with low-cost animation to enhance understanding of complex disease conditions.

Audiovisual Presentations on a Handheld PC are Preferred As an Educational Tool by NICU Parents

PubMed Central

Alur, P.; Cirelli, J.; Goodstein, M.; Bell, T.; Liss, J.

2010-01-01

Background Health literacy is critical for understanding complex medical problems and necessary for the well being of the patient. Printed educational materials (PM) have limitations in explaining the dynamics of a disease process. Multimedia formats may be useful for enhancing the educational process. Objective To evaluate whether a printed format or animation with commentary on a handheld personal computer (PC) is preferred as an educational tool by parents of a baby in the NICU. Methods Parents evaluated two formats: A 1-page illustrated document from the American Heart Association explaining patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and animation with commentary on a handheld PC that explained the physiology of PDA in 1 minute. The reading grade level of the PM was 8.6 versus 18.6 for the audio portion of the animated presentation. Parents viewed each format and completed a four-item questionnaire. Parents rated both formats and indicated their preference as printed, animation, or both. Results Forty-six parents participated in the survey. Parents preferred animation over PM (50% vs. 17.4%. p = 0.02); 39.1% expressed that the animation was excellent; whereas 4.3% expressed that the PM was excellent (p<0.001). The order of presentation of formats, sex, age, and educational level of parents did not influence the method preferred (p>0.05). Conclusion Parents preferred animation on a small screen handheld PC despite a much higher language level. Because handheld PCs are portable and inexpensive, they can be used effectively at the bedside with low-cost animation to enhance understanding of complex disease conditions. PMID:23616833

A ground track control algorithm for the Topographic Mapping Laser Altimeter (TMLA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blaes, V.; Mcintosh, R.; Roszman, L.; Cooley, J.

1993-01-01

The results of an analysis of an algorithm that will provide autonomous onboard orbit control using orbits determined with Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The algorithm uses the GPS data to (1) compute the ground track error relative to a fixed longitude grid, and (2) determine the altitude adjustment required to correct the longitude error. A program was written on a personal computer (PC) to test the concept for numerous altitudes and values of solar flux using a simplified orbit model including only the J sub 2 zonal harmonic and simple orbit decay computations. The algorithm was then implemented in a precision orbit propagation program having a full range of perturbations. The analysis showed that, even with all perturbations (including actual time histories of solar flux variation), the algorithm could effectively control the spacecraft ground track and yield more than 99 percent Earth coverage in the time required to complete one coverage cycle on the fixed grid (220 to 230 days depending on altitude and overlap allowance).

ZOOM: a generic personal computer-based teaching program for public health and its application in schistosomiasis control.

PubMed Central

Martin, G. T.; Yoon, S. S.; Mott, K. E.

1991-01-01

Schistosomiasis, a group of parasitic diseases caused by Schistosoma parasites, is associated with water resources development and affects more than 200 million people in 76 countries. Depending on the species of parasite involved, disease of the liver, spleen, gastrointestinal or urinary tract, or kidneys may result. A computer-assisted teaching package has been developed by WHO for use in the training of public health workers involved in schistosomiasis control. The package consists of the software, ZOOM, and a schistosomiasis information file, Dr Schisto, and uses hypermedia technology to link pictures and text. ZOOM runs on the IBM-PC and IBM-compatible computers, is user-friendly, requires a minimal hardware configuration, and can interact with the user in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. The information files for ZOOM can be created or modified by the instructor using a word processor, and thus can be designed to suit the need of students. No programming knowledge is required to create the stacks. PMID:1786618

Deciding when It's Time to Buy a New PC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldsborough, Reid

2004-01-01

How to best decide when it's time to replace your PC, whether at home or at work, is always tricky. Spending on computers can make you more productive, but it's money you otherwise cannot spend, invest or save, and faster systems always await you in the future. What is clear is that the computer industry really wants you to buy, and the computer…

Computation of Nonretarded London Dispersion Coefficients and Hamaker Constants of Copper Phthalocyanine.

PubMed

Zhao, Yan; Ng, Hou T; Hanson, Eric; Dong, Jiannan; Corti, David S; Franses, Elias I

2010-02-09

A time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) scheme has been validated for predictions of the dispersion coefficients of five molecules (H2O, NH3, CO2, C6H6, and pentane) and for predictions of the static dipole polarizabilities of three organometallic compounds (TiCl4, OsO4, and Ge(CH3)4). The convergence of grid spacing has been examined, and two types of pseudopotentials and 13 density functionals have been tested. The nonretarded Hamaker constants A11 are calculated by employing a semiempirical parameter a along with the standard Hamaker constant equation. The parameter a is optimized against six accurate Hamaker constants obtained from the full Lifshitz theory. The dispersion coefficients of copper phthalocyanine CuPc and CuPc-SO3H are then computed. Using the theoretical densities of ρ1 = 1.63 and 1.62 g/cm(3), the Hamaker constants A11 of crystalline α-CuPc and β-CuPc are found to be 14.73 × 10(-20) and 14.66 × 10(-20) J, respectively. Using the experimentally derived density of ρ1 = 1.56 g/cm(3) for a commercially available β-CuPc (nanoparticles of ∼90 nm hydrodynamic diameter), A11 = 13.52 × 10(-20) J is found. Its corresponding effective Hamaker constant in water (A121) is calculated to be 3.07 × 10(-20) J. All computed A11 values for CuPc are noted to be higher than those reported previously.

Using a PC and external media to quantitatively investigate electromagnetic induction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonanno, A.; Bozzo, G.; Camarca, M.; Sapia, P.

2011-07-01

In this article we describe an experimental learning path about electromagnetic induction which uses an Atwood machine where one of the two hanging bodies is a cylindrical magnet falling through a plexiglass guide, surrounded either by a coil or by a copper pipe. The first configuration (magnet falling across a coil) allows students to quantitatively study the Faraday-Neumann-Lenz law, while the second configuration (falling through a copper pipe) permits learners to investigate the complex phenomena of induction by quantifying the amount of electric power dissipated through the pipe as a result of Foucault eddy currents, when the magnet travels through the pipe. The magnet's fall acceleration can be set by adjusting the counterweight of the Atwood machine so that both the kinematic quantities associated with it and the electromotive force induced within the coil are continuously and quantitatively monitored (respectively, by a common personal computer (PC) equipped with a webcam and by freely available software that makes it possible to use the audio card to convert the PC into an oscilloscope). Measurements carried out when the various experimental parameters are changed provide a useful framework for a thorough understanding and clarification of the conceptual nodes related to electromagnetic induction. The proposed learning path is under evaluation in various high schools participating in the project 'Lauree Scientifiche' promoted by the Italian Department of Education.

A novel paradigm for telemedicine using the personal bio-monitor.

PubMed

Bhatikar, Sanjay R; Mahajan, Roop L; DeGroff, Curt

2002-01-01

The foray of solid-state technology in the medical field has yielded an arsenal of sophisticated healthcare tools. Personal, portable computing power coupled with the information superhighway open up the possibility of sophisticated healthcare management that will impact the medical field just as much. The full synergistic potential of three interwoven technologies: (1) compact electronics, (2) World Wide Web, and (3) Artificial Intelligence is yet to be realized. The system presented in this paper integrates these technologies synergistically, providing a new paradigm for healthcare. Our idea is to deploy internet-enabled, intelligent, handheld personal computers for medical diagnosis. The salient features of the 'Personal Bio-Monitor' we envisage are: (1) Utilization of the peripheral signals of the body which may be acquired non-invasively and with ease, for diagnosis of medical conditions; (2) An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based approach for diagnosis; (3) Configuration of the diagnostic device as a handheld for personal use; (4) Internet connectivity, following the emerging bluetooth protocol, for prompt conveyance of information to a patient's health care provider via the World Wide Web. The proposal is substantiated with an intelligent handheld device developed by the investigators for pediatric cardiac auscultation. This device performed accurate diagnoses of cardiac abnormalities in pediatrics using an artificial neural network to process heart sounds acquired by a low-frequency microphone and transmitted its diagnosis to a desktop PC via infrared. The idea of the personal biomonitor presented here has the potential to streamline healthcare by optimizing two valuable resources: physicians' time and sophisticated equipment time. We show that the elements of such a system are in place, with our prototype. Our novel contribution is the synergistic integration of compact electronics' technology, artificial neural network methodology and the wireless web resulting in a revolutionary new paradigm for healthcare management.

A low-cost digital filing system for echocardiography data with MPEG4 compression and its application to remote diagnosis.

PubMed

Umeda, Akira; Iwata, Yasushi; Okada, Yasumasa; Shimada, Megumi; Baba, Akiyasu; Minatogawa, Yasuyuki; Yamada, Takayasu; Chino, Masao; Watanabe, Takafumi; Akaishi, Makoto

2004-12-01

The high cost of digital echocardiographs and the large size of data files hinder the adoption of remote diagnosis of digitized echocardiography data. We have developed a low-cost digital filing system for echocardiography data. In this system, data from a conventional analog echocardiograph are captured using a personal computer (PC) equipped with an analog-to-digital converter board. Motion picture data are promptly compressed using a moving pictures expert group (MPEG) 4 codec. The digitized data with preliminary reports obtained in a rural hospital are then sent to cardiologists at distant urban general hospitals via the internet. The cardiologists can evaluate the data using widely available movie-viewing software (Windows Media Player). The diagnostic accuracy of this double-check system was confirmed by comparison with ordinary super-VHS videotapes. We have demonstrated that digitization of echocardiography data from a conventional analog echocardiograph and MPEG 4 compression can be performed using an ordinary PC-based system, and that this system enables highly efficient digital storage and remote diagnosis at low cost.

Public awareness of palliative care in Sweden.

PubMed

Westerlund, Caroline; Tishelman, Carol; Benkel, Inger; Fürst, Carl Johan; Molander, Ulla; Rasmussen, Birgit H; Sauter, Sylvia; Lindqvist, Olav

2018-06-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the awareness of palliative care (PC) in a general Swedish population. We developed an e-survey based on a similar study conducted in Northern Ireland, consisting of 10 questions. Closed questions were primarily analyzed using descriptive statistics. Open questions were subject to inductive qualitative analysis. The study utilized a population sample of 7684 persons aged 18-66, of which 2020 responded, stratified by gender, age and region. Most participants reported 'no' ( n = 827, 41%) or 'some' ( n = 863, 43%) awareness of PC. Being female or older were associated with higher levels of awareness, as was a university-level education, working in a healthcare setting and having a friend or family member receiving PC. Most common sources of knowledge were the media, close friends and relatives receiving PC, as well as working in a healthcare setting. Aims of PC were most frequently identified as 'care before death', 'pain relief', 'dignity' and a 'peaceful death'. The preferred place of care and death was one's own home. The main barriers to raising awareness about PC were fear, shame and taboo, along with perceived lack of information and/or personal relevance. The term 'palliative care' was said to be unfamiliar by many. A number of strategies to enhance awareness and access to PC were suggested, largely reflecting the previously identified barriers. This survey found limited awareness of palliative care in an adult sample of the Swedish general public ≤ 66 years, and points to a more widespread disempowerment surrounding end-of-life issues.

A Computational Study of Laminate Transparent Armor Impacted by FSP

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

of Hsieh et al [1], on targets consisting of 3mm PC-12mm PMMA-3mm PC impacted by 17-gr, 0.22 caliber fragment simulating projectile (FSP) at impact...results from the experiments of Hsieh et al [1], on targets consisting of 3mm PC-12mm PMMA-3mm PC impacted by 17-gr, 0.22 caliber fragment simulating...investigate several different analysis techniques to qualitatively determine their accuracy when compared with experiments of Hsieh et al [1]. The

Development of TGS2611 methane sensor and SHT11 humidity and temperature sensor for measuring greenhouse gas on peatlands in south kalimantan, indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugriwan, I.; Soesanto, O.

2017-05-01

The research was focused on development of data acquisition system to monitor the content of methane, relative humidity and temperature on peatlands in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Methane is one of greenhouse gases that emitted from peatlands; while humidity and temperature are important parameters of microclimate on peatlands. The content of methane, humidity and temperature are three parameters were monitored digitally, real time, continuously and automatically record by data acquisition systems that interfaced to the personal computer. The hardware of data acquisition system consists of power supply unit, TGS2611 methane gas sensor, SHT11 humidity and temperature sensors, voltage follower, ATMega8535 microcontroller, 16 × 2 LCD character and personal computer. ATMega8535 module is a device to manage all part in measuring instrument. The software which is responsible to take sensor data, calculate characteristic equation and send data to 16 × 2 LCD character are Basic Compiler. To interface between measuring instrument and personal computer is maintained by Delphi 7. The result of data acquisition showed on 16 × 2 LCD characters, PC monitor and database with developed by XAMPP. Methane, humidity, and temperature which release from peatlands are trapped by Closed-Chamber Measurement with dimension 60 × 50 × 40 cm3. TGS2611 methane gas sensor and SHT11 humidity and temperature sensor are calibrated to determine transfer function used to data communication between sensors and microcontroller and integrated into ATMega8535 Microcontroller. Calculation of RS and RL of TGS2611 methane gas sensor refer to data sheet and obtained respectively 1360 ohm and 905 ohm. The characteristic equation of TGS2611 satisfies equation VRL = 0.561 ln n - 2.2641 volt, with n is a various concentrations and VRL in volt. The microcontroller maintained the voltage signal than interfaced it to liquid crystal displays and personal computer (laptop) to display result of the measurement. The result of data acquisition saved on excels and database format.

The application of Big Data in medicine: current implications and future directions.

PubMed

Austin, Christopher; Kusumoto, Fred

2016-10-01

Since the mid 1980s, the world has experienced an unprecedented explosion in the capacity to produce, store, and communicate data, primarily in digital formats. Simultaneously, access to computing technologies in the form of the personal PC, smartphone, and other handheld devices has mirrored this growth. With these enhanced capabilities of data storage and rapid computation as well as real-time delivery of information via the internet, the average daily consumption of data by an individual has grown exponentially. Unbeknownst to many, Big Data has silently crept into our daily routines and, with continued development of cheap data storage and availability of smart devices both regionally and in developing countries, the influence of Big Data will continue to grow. This influence has also carried over to healthcare. This paper will provide an overview of Big Data, its benefits, potential pitfalls, and the projected impact on the future of medicine in general and cardiology in particular.

Los Alamos radiation transport code system on desktop computing platforms

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Briesmeister, J.F.; Brinkley, F.W.; Clark, B.A.

The Los Alamos Radiation Transport Code System (LARTCS) consists of state-of-the-art Monte Carlo and discrete ordinates transport codes and data libraries. These codes were originally developed many years ago and have undergone continual improvement. With a large initial effort and continued vigilance, the codes are easily portable from one type of hardware to another. The performance of scientific work-stations (SWS) has evolved to the point that such platforms can be used routinely to perform sophisticated radiation transport calculations. As the personal computer (PC) performance approaches that of the SWS, the hardware options for desk-top radiation transport calculations expands considerably. Themore » current status of the radiation transport codes within the LARTCS is described: MCNP, SABRINA, LAHET, ONEDANT, TWODANT, TWOHEX, and ONELD. Specifically, the authors discuss hardware systems on which the codes run and present code performance comparisons for various machines.« less

A review of the use of handheld computers in medical nutrition.

PubMed

Holubar, Stefan; Harvey-Banchik, Lillian

2007-08-01

Handheld computers, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), have been used to assist clinicians in medical nutrition since the early 1980s. The term PDA was originally applied to programmable calculators; over time, the capabilities of these devices were expanded to allow for the use of more complicated programs such as databases, spreadsheets, and electronic books. Slowly, the device evolved into what is more commonly thought of as a PDA, that is, a device such as a PalmOS (PalmSource, Inc, Tokyo, Japan) or PocketPC (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) unit. We present a review of the literature about the use of PDAs in medical nutrition, followed by a discussion of the different types of PDAs and mobile technologies that are commercially available. This is followed by a discussion of software applications that are currently available for use by nutrition clinicians, focusing on freeware applications. Finally, future technologies and applications are discussed.

Computing Equilibrium Chemical Compositions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcbride, Bonnie J.; Gordon, Sanford

1995-01-01

Chemical Equilibrium With Transport Properties, 1993 (CET93) computer program provides data on chemical-equilibrium compositions. Aids calculation of thermodynamic properties of chemical systems. Information essential in design and analysis of such equipment as compressors, turbines, nozzles, engines, shock tubes, heat exchangers, and chemical-processing equipment. CET93/PC is version of CET93 specifically designed to run within 640K memory limit of MS-DOS operating system. CET93/PC written in FORTRAN.

Remote media vision-based computer input device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arabnia, Hamid R.; Chen, Ching-Yi

1991-11-01

In this paper, we introduce a vision-based computer input device which has been built at the University of Georgia. The user of this system gives commands to the computer without touching any physical device. The system receives input through a CCD camera; it is PC- based and is built on top of the DOS operating system. The major components of the input device are: a monitor, an image capturing board, a CCD camera, and some software (developed by use). These are interfaced with a standard PC running under the DOS operating system.

PC-based note taking in patient-centred diagnostic interviews: a thematic analysis of patient opinion elicited using a pilot survey instrument.

PubMed

Barker, Fiona; Court, Gemma

2011-01-01

Computers are used increasingly in patient-clinician consultations. There is the potential for PC use to have an effect on the communication process. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate patient opinion regarding the use of PC-based note taking during diagnostic vestibular assessments. We gave a simple four-item questionnaire to 100 consecutive patients attending for vestibular assessment at a secondary referral level primary care trust audiology service. Written responses to two of the questionnaire items were subject to an inductive thematic analysis. The questionnaire was acceptable to patients, none refused to complete it. Dominant themes identified suggest that patients do perceive consistent positive benefits from the use of PC-based note taking. This pilot study's short survey instrument is usable and may provide insights into patients' perceptions of computer use in a clinical setting.

An Embedded Reconfigurable Logic Module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tucker, Jerry H.; Klenke, Robert H.; Shams, Qamar A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A Miniature Embedded Reconfigurable Computer and Logic (MERCAL) module has been developed and verified. MERCAL was designed to be a general-purpose, universal module that that can provide significant hardware and software resources to meet the requirements of many of today's complex embedded applications. This is accomplished in the MERCAL module by combining a sub credit card size PC in a DIMM form factor with a XILINX Spartan I1 FPGA. The PC has the ability to download program files to the FPGA to configure it for different hardware functions and to transfer data to and from the FPGA via the PC's ISA bus during run time. The MERCAL module combines, in a compact package, the computational power of a 133 MHz PC with up to 150,000 gate equivalents of digital logic that can be reconfigured by software. The general architecture and functionality of the MERCAL hardware and system software are described.

Collaborative Simulation Grid: Multiscale Quantum-Mechanical/Classical Atomistic Simulations on Distributed PC Clusters in the US and Japan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kikuchi, Hideaki; Kalia, Rajiv; Nakano, Aiichiro; Vashishta, Priya; Iyetomi, Hiroshi; Ogata, Shuji; Kouno, Takahisa; Shimojo, Fuyuki; Tsuruta, Kanji; Saini, Subhash;

The IBM PC at NASA Ames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peredo, James P.

1988-01-01

Like many large companies, Ames relies very much on its computing power to get work done. And, like many other large companies, finding the IBM PC a reliable tool, Ames uses it for many of the same types of functions as other companies. Presentation and clarification needs demand much of graphics packages. Programming and text editing needs require simpler, more-powerful packages. The storage space needed by NASA's scientists and users for the monumental amounts of data that Ames needs to keep demand the best database packages that are large and easy to use. Availability to the Micom Switching Network combines the powers of the IBM PC with the capabilities of other computers and mainframes and allows users to communicate electronically. These four primary capabilities of the PC are vital to the needs of NASA's users and help to continue and support the vast amounts of work done by the NASA employees.

Integrated editing system for Japanese text and image information "Linernote"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Kazuto

Integrated Japanese text editing system "Linernote" developed by Toyo Industries Co. is explained. The system has been developed on the concept of electronic publishing. It is composed of personal computer NEC PC-9801 VX and other peripherals. Sentence, drawing and image data is inputted and edited under the integrated operating environment in the system and final text is printed out by laser printer. Handling efficiency of time consuming work such as pattern input or page make up has been improved by draft image data indication method on CRT. It is the latest DTP system equipped with three major functions, namly, typesetting for high quality text editing, easy drawing/tracing and high speed image processing.

Management software for a universal device communication controller: application to monitoring and computerized infusions.

PubMed

Coussaert, E J; Cantraine, F R

1996-11-01

We designed a virtual device for a local area network observing, operating and connecting devices to a personal computer. To keep the widest field of application, we proceeded by using abstraction and specification rules of software engineering in the design and implementation of the hardware and software for the Infusion Monitor. We specially built a box of hardware to interface multiple medical instruments with different communication protocols to a PC via a single serial port. We called that box the Universal Device Communication Controller (UDCC). The use of the virtual device driver is illustrated by the Infusion Monitor implemented for the anaesthesia and intensive care workstation.

Simulink-aided Design and Implementation of Sensorless BLDC Motor Digital Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhilenkov, A. A.; Tsvetkov, Y. N.; Chistov, V. B.; Nyrkov, A. P.; Sokolov, S. S.

2017-07-01

The paper describes the process of creating of brushless direct current motor’s digital control system. The target motor has no speed sensor, so back-EMF method is used for commutation control. Authors show how to model the control system in MatLab/Simulink and to test it onboard STM32F4 microcontroller.This technology allows to create the most flexible system, which will control possible with a personal computer by communication lines. It is possible to examine the signals in the circuit of the actuator without any external measuring instruments - testers, oscilloscopes, etc. - and output waveforms and measured values of signals directly on the host PC.

[An Introduction to A Newly-developed "Acupuncture Needle Manipulation Training-evaluation System" Based on Optical Motion Capture Technique].

PubMed

Zhang, Ao; Yan, Xing-Ke; Liu, An-Guo

2016-12-25

In the present paper, the authors introduce a newly-developed "Acupuncture Needle Manipulation Training-evaluation System" based on optical motion capture technique. It is composed of two parts, sensor and software, and overcomes some shortages of mechanical motion capture technique. This device is able to analyze the data of operations of the pressing-hand and needle-insertion hand during acupuncture performance and its software contains personal computer (PC) version, Android version, and Internetwork Operating System (IOS) Apple version. It is competent in recording and analyzing information of any ope-rator's needling manipulations, and is quite helpful for teachers in teaching, training and examining students in clinical practice.

SMP93-PC: Standard Ship Motion Program for Personal Computer with Small Boat Capability

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-06-01

1 DO 20 J=1,NP P (I,.J) =Y(J,K)I ~ ~~ P (2.3) =Z(J,K)P.NDI 20 CONTINUE CALL SPINT2 ~PSEGS ( 11,K), NS5, AREA, 1, ZERO , IS, ONE, 0)I ASTAT(K) = TWO...NDIC2) ,ENDI(2,25 DATA ZEROONE /0.0,1.0/£ DATA NDI,ENDI /2*1,4*0.0/ CALL SPt.1T2 (PSEGS , P ,NPTS ,NDI ,ENDI) CALL SPINT2- (PSEGS,NS,SPAREA,1, ZERO ,NS...spline * and a plane defined by a point and a direction vector I * INPUTS * P (i) = X-COORDINATE OF POINT USED TO DEFINE THE PLANE * = -COORDINATE OF

AQUIS: A PC-based air inventory and permit manager

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, A.E.; Huber, C.C.; Tschanz, J.

1992-01-01

The Air Quality Utility Information System (AQUIS) was developed to calculate and track sources, emissions, stacks, permits, and related information. The system runs on IBM-compatible personal computers with dBASE IV and tracks more than 1,200 data items distributed among various source categories. AQUIS is currently operating at nine US Air Force facilities that have up to 1,000 sources. The system provides a flexible reporting capability that permits users who are unfamiliar with database structure to design and prepare reports containing user-specified information. In addition to six criteria pollutants, AQUIS calculates compound-specific emissions and allows users to enter their own emissionmore » estimates.« less

The visible ear simulator: a public PC application for GPU-accelerated haptic 3D simulation of ear surgery based on the visible ear data.

PubMed

Sorensen, Mads Solvsten; Mosegaard, Jesper; Trier, Peter

2009-06-01

Existing virtual simulators for middle ear surgery are based on 3-dimensional (3D) models from computed tomographic or magnetic resonance imaging data in which image quality is limited by the lack of detail (maximum, approximately 50 voxels/mm3), natural color, and texture of the source material.Virtual training often requires the purchase of a program, a customized computer, and expensive peripherals dedicated exclusively to this purpose. The Visible Ear freeware library of digital images from a fresh-frozen human temporal bone was segmented, and real-time volume rendered as a 3D model of high-fidelity, true color, and great anatomic detail and realism of the surgically relevant structures. A haptic drilling model was developed for surgical interaction with the 3D model. Realistic visualization in high-fidelity (approximately 125 voxels/mm3) and true color, 2D, or optional anaglyph stereoscopic 3D was achieved on a standard Core 2 Duo personal computer with a GeForce 8,800 GTX graphics card, and surgical interaction was provided through a relatively inexpensive (approximately $2,500) Phantom Omni haptic 3D pointing device. This prototype is published for download (approximately 120 MB) as freeware at http://www.alexandra.dk/ves/index.htm.With increasing personal computer performance, future versions may include enhanced resolution (up to 8,000 voxels/mm3) and realistic interaction with deformable soft tissue components such as skin, tympanic membrane, dura, and cholesteatomas-features some of which are not possible with computed tomographic-/magnetic resonance imaging-based systems.

Parallelizing flow-accumulation calculations on graphics processing units—From iterative DEM preprocessing algorithm to recursive multiple-flow-direction algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Cheng-Zhi; Zhan, Lijun

2012-06-01

As one of the important tasks in digital terrain analysis, the calculation of flow accumulations from gridded digital elevation models (DEMs) usually involves two steps in a real application: (1) using an iterative DEM preprocessing algorithm to remove the depressions and flat areas commonly contained in real DEMs, and (2) using a recursive flow-direction algorithm to calculate the flow accumulation for every cell in the DEM. Because both algorithms are computationally intensive, quick calculation of the flow accumulations from a DEM (especially for a large area) presents a practical challenge to personal computer (PC) users. In recent years, rapid increases in hardware capacity of the graphics processing units (GPUs) provided in modern PCs have made it possible to meet this challenge in a PC environment. Parallel computing on GPUs using a compute-unified-device-architecture (CUDA) programming model has been explored to speed up the execution of the single-flow-direction algorithm (SFD). However, the parallel implementation on a GPU of the multiple-flow-direction (MFD) algorithm, which generally performs better than the SFD algorithm, has not been reported. Moreover, GPU-based parallelization of the DEM preprocessing step in the flow-accumulation calculations has not been addressed. This paper proposes a parallel approach to calculate flow accumulations (including both iterative DEM preprocessing and a recursive MFD algorithm) on a CUDA-compatible GPU. For the parallelization of an MFD algorithm (MFD-md), two different parallelization strategies using a GPU are explored. The first parallelization strategy, which has been used in the existing parallel SFD algorithm on GPU, has the problem of computing redundancy. Therefore, we designed a parallelization strategy based on graph theory. The application results show that the proposed parallel approach to calculate flow accumulations on a GPU performs much faster than either sequential algorithms or other parallel GPU-based algorithms based on existing parallelization strategies.

Monitoring of WEEE plastics in regards to brominated flame retardants using handheld XRF

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aldrian, Alexia, E-mail: alexia.aldrian@unileoben.ac.at; Ledersteger, Alfred, E-mail: a.ledersteger@saubermacher.at; Pomberger, Roland, E-mail: roland.pomberger@unileoben.ac.at

Highlights: • Specification of an empirical factor for conversion from bromine to PBB and PBDE. • The handheld XRF device was validated for this particular application. • A very large number of over 4600 pieces of monitor housings was analysed. • The recyclable fraction mounts up to 85% for TV but only 53% of PC waste plastics. • A high percentage of pieces with bromine contents of over 50,000 ppm was obtained. - Abstract: This contribution is focused on the on-site determination of the bromine content in waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), in particular waste plastics from television setsmore » (TV) and personal computer monitors (PC) using a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device. The described approach allows the examination of samples in regards to the compliance with legal specifications for polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) directly after disassembling and facilitates the sorting out of plastics with high contents of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). In all, over 3000 pieces of black (TV) and 1600 pieces of grey (PC) plastic waste were analysed with handheld XRF technique for this study. Especially noticeable was the high percentage of pieces with a bromine content of over 50,000 ppm for TV (7%) and PC (39%) waste plastics. The applied method was validated by comparing the data of handheld XRF with results obtained by GC–MS. The results showed the expected and sufficiently accurate correlation between these two methods. It is shown that handheld XRF technique is an effective tool for fast monitoring of large volumes of WEEE plastics in regards to BFRs for on-site measurements.« less

PC_Eyewitness and the sequential superiority effect: computer-based lineup administration.

PubMed

MacLin, Otto H; Zimmerman, Laura A; Malpass, Roy S

2005-06-01

Computer technology has become an increasingly important tool for conducting eyewitness identifications. In the area of lineup identifications, computerized administration offers several advantages for researchers and law enforcement. PC_Eyewitness is designed specifically to administer lineups. To assess this new lineup technology, two studies were conducted in order to replicate the results of previous studies comparing simultaneous and sequential lineups. One hundred twenty university students participated in each experiment. Experiment 1 used traditional paper-and-pencil lineup administration methods to compare simultaneous to sequential lineups. Experiment 2 used PC_Eyewitness to administer simultaneous and sequential lineups. The results of these studies were compared to the meta-analytic results reported by N. Steblay, J. Dysart, S. Fulero, and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001). No differences were found between paper-and-pencil and PC_Eyewitness lineup administration methods. The core findings of the N. Steblay et al. (2001) meta-analysis were replicated by both administration procedures. These results show that computerized lineup administration using PC_Eyewitness is an effective means for gathering eyewitness identification data.

A scalable PC-based parallel computer for lattice QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fodor, Z.; Katz, S. D.; Pappa, G.

2003-05-01

A PC-based parallel computer for medium/large scale lattice QCD simulations is suggested. The Eo¨tvo¨s Univ., Inst. Theor. Phys. cluster consists of 137 Intel P4-1.7GHz nodes. Gigabit Ethernet cards are used for nearest neighbor communication in a two-dimensional mesh. The sustained performance for dynamical staggered (wilson) quarks on large lattices is around 70(110) GFlops. The exceptional price/performance ratio is below $1/Mflop.

Partial correlation-based functional connectivity analysis for functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akın, Ata

2017-12-01

A theoretical framework, a partial correlation-based functional connectivity (PC-FC) analysis to functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data, is proposed. This is based on generating a common background signal from a high passed version of fNIRS data averaged over all channels as the regressor in computing the PC between pairs of channels. This approach has been employed to real data collected during a Stroop task. The results show a strong significance in the global efficiency (GE) metric computed by the PC-FC analysis for neutral, congruent, and incongruent stimuli (NS, CS, IcS; GEN=0.10±0.009, GEC=0.11±0.01, GEIC=0.13±0.015, p=0.0073). A positive correlation (r=0.729 and p=0.0259) is observed between the interference of reaction times (incongruent-neutral) and interference of GE values (GEIC-GEN) computed from [HbO] signals.

PUZZLE - A program for computer-aided design of printed circuit artwork

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harrell, D. A. W.; Zane, R.

1971-01-01

Program assists in solving spacing problems encountered in printed circuit /PC/ design. It is intended to have maximum use for two-sided PC boards carrying integrated circuits, and also aids design of discrete component circuits.

Using commercial software products for atmospheric remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kristl, Joseph A.; Tibaudo, Cheryl; Tang, Kuilian; Schroeder, John W.

2002-02-01

The Ontar Corporation (www.Ontar.com) has developed several products for atmospheric remote sensing to calculate radiative transport, atmospheric transmission, and sensor performance in both the normal atmosphere and the atmosphere disturbed by battlefield conditions of smoke, dust, explosives and turbulence. These products include: PcModWin: Uses the USAF standard MODTRAN model to compute the atmospheric transmission and radiance at medium spectral resolution (2 cm-1) from the ultraviolet/visible into the infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum. It can be used for any geometry and atmospheric conditions such as aerosols, clouds and rain. PcLnWin: Uses the USAF standard FASCOD model to compute atmospheric transmission and emission at high (line-by-line) spectral resolution using the HITRAN 2000 database. It can be used over the same spectrum from the UV/visible into the infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum. HitranPC: Computes the absolute high (line-by-line) spectral resolution transmission spectrum of the atmosphere for different temperatures and pressures. HitranPC is a user-friendly program developed by the University of South Florida (USF) and uses the international standard molecular spectroscopic database, HITRAN. LidarPC: A computer program to calculate the Laser Radar/L&n Equation for hard targets and atmospheric backscatter using manual input atmospheric parameters or HitranPC and BETASPEC - transmission and backscatter calculations of the atmosphere. Also developed by the University of South Florida (USF). PcEosael: is a library of programs that mathematically describe aspects of electromagnetic propagation in battlefield environments. 25 modules are connected but can be exercised individually. Covers eight general categories of atmospheric effects, including gases, aerosols and laser propagation. Based on codes developed by the Army Research Lab. NVTherm: NVTherm models parallel scan, serial scan, and staring thermal imagers that operate in the mid and far infrared spectral bands (3 to 12 micrometers wavelength). It predicts the Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference (MRTD) or just MRT) that can be discriminated by a human when using a thermal imager. NVTherm also predicts the target acquisition range performance likely to be achieved using the sensor.

Public awareness of palliative care in Sweden

PubMed Central

Westerlund, Caroline; Benkel, Inger; Fürst, Carl Johan; Molander, Ulla; Rasmussen, Birgit H.; Sauter, Sylvia; Lindqvist, Olav

2018-01-01

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the awareness of palliative care (PC) in a general Swedish population. Design: We developed an e-survey based on a similar study conducted in Northern Ireland, consisting of 10 questions. Closed questions were primarily analyzed using descriptive statistics. Open questions were subject to inductive qualitative analysis. Subjects: The study utilized a population sample of 7684 persons aged 18–66, of which 2020 responded, stratified by gender, age and region. Results: Most participants reported ‘no’ (n = 827, 41%) or ‘some’ (n = 863, 43%) awareness of PC. Being female or older were associated with higher levels of awareness, as was a university-level education, working in a healthcare setting and having a friend or family member receiving PC. Most common sources of knowledge were the media, close friends and relatives receiving PC, as well as working in a healthcare setting. Aims of PC were most frequently identified as ‘care before death’, ‘pain relief’, ‘dignity’ and a ‘peaceful death’. The preferred place of care and death was one’s own home. The main barriers to raising awareness about PC were fear, shame and taboo, along with perceived lack of information and/or personal relevance. The term ‘palliative care’ was said to be unfamiliar by many. A number of strategies to enhance awareness and access to PC were suggested, largely reflecting the previously identified barriers. Conclusions: This survey found limited awareness of palliative care in an adult sample of the Swedish general public ≤ 66 years, and points to a more widespread disempowerment surrounding end-of-life issues. PMID:29301481

“I Can Only Work So Hard Before I Burn Out.” A Time Sensitive Conceptual Integration of Ideological Psychological Contract Breach, Work Effort, and Burnout

PubMed Central

Jones, Samantha K.; Griep, Yannick

2018-01-01

Employees often draw meaning from personal experiences and contributions in their work, particularly when engaging in organizational activities that align with their personal identity or values. However, recent empirical findings have demonstrated how meaningful work can also have a negative effect on employee’s well-being as employees feel so invested in their work, they push themselves beyond their limits resulting in strain and susceptibility to burnout. We develop a framework to understand this “double edged” role of meaningful work by drawing from ideological psychological contracts (iPCs), which are characterized by employees and their employer who are working to contribute to a shared ideology or set of values. Limited iPC research has demonstrated employees may actually work harder in response to an iPC breach. In light of these counterintuitive findings, we propose the following conceptual model to theoretically connect our understanding of iPCs, perceptions of breach, increases in work effort, and the potential “dark side” of repeated occurrences of iPC breach. We argue that time plays a central role in the unfolding process of employees’ reactions to iPC breach over time. Further, we propose how perceptions of iPC breach relate to strain and, eventually, burnout. This model contributes to our understanding of the role of time in iPC development and maintenance, expands our exploration of ideology in the PC literature, and provides a framework to understanding why certain occupations are more susceptible to instances of strain and burnout. This framework has the potential to guide future employment interventions in ideology-infused organizations to help mitigate negative employee outcomes. PMID:29479334

"I Can Only Work So Hard Before I Burn Out." A Time Sensitive Conceptual Integration of Ideological Psychological Contract Breach, Work Effort, and Burnout.

PubMed

Jones, Samantha K; Griep, Yannick

2018-01-01

Employees often draw meaning from personal experiences and contributions in their work, particularly when engaging in organizational activities that align with their personal identity or values. However, recent empirical findings have demonstrated how meaningful work can also have a negative effect on employee's well-being as employees feel so invested in their work, they push themselves beyond their limits resulting in strain and susceptibility to burnout. We develop a framework to understand this "double edged" role of meaningful work by drawing from ideological psychological contracts (iPCs), which are characterized by employees and their employer who are working to contribute to a shared ideology or set of values. Limited iPC research has demonstrated employees may actually work harder in response to an iPC breach. In light of these counterintuitive findings, we propose the following conceptual model to theoretically connect our understanding of iPCs, perceptions of breach, increases in work effort, and the potential "dark side" of repeated occurrences of iPC breach. We argue that time plays a central role in the unfolding process of employees' reactions to iPC breach over time. Further, we propose how perceptions of iPC breach relate to strain and, eventually, burnout. This model contributes to our understanding of the role of time in iPC development and maintenance, expands our exploration of ideology in the PC literature, and provides a framework to understanding why certain occupations are more susceptible to instances of strain and burnout. This framework has the potential to guide future employment interventions in ideology-infused organizations to help mitigate negative employee outcomes.

Tablet PC as a mobil PACS terminal using wireless LAN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsao, Bo-Shen; Ching, Yu-Tai; Lee, Wen-Jeng; Chen, Shyh-Jye; Chang, Chia-Hung; Chen, Chien-Jung; Yen, York; Lee, Yuan-Ten

2003-05-01

A PACS mobile terminal has applications in ward round, emergency room and remote teleradiology consultation. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) have the highest mobility and are used for many medical applications. However, their roles are limited in the field of radiology due to small screen size. In this study, we built a wireless PACS terminal using a hand-held tablet-PC. A tablet PC (X-pilot, LEO systems, Taiwan) running the WinCE operating systems was used as our mobile PACS terminal. This device is equipped with 800×600 resolution 10.4 inch TFT monitor. The network connection between the tablet PC and the server was linked via wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b).

Computational fluid dynamic comparison between patch-based and primary closure techniques after carotid endarterectomy.

PubMed

Domanin, Maurizio; Bissacco, Daniele; Le Van, Davide; Vergara, Christian

2018-03-01

The aim of the study was to provide, by means of computational fluid dynamics, a comparative analysis after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) between patch graft (PG) and primary closure (PC) techniques performed in real carotid geometries to identify disturbed flow conditions potentially involved in the development of restenosis. Eight carotid geometries in seven asymptomatic patients who underwent CEA were analyzed. In six cases (A-F), CEA was performed using PG closure; in two cases (G and H), PC was performed. Three-dimensional carotid geometries, derived from postoperative magnetic resonance angiography, were reconstructed, and a computational fluid dynamics analysis was performed. A virtual scenario with PC closure was designed in patients in whom PG was originally inserted and vice versa. This allowed us to compare for each patient hemodynamic effects in the PG and PC scenarios in terms of oscillatory shear index (OSI) and relative residence time (RRT), considered indicators of disturbed flow. For the six original PG cases, the mean averaged-in-space OSI was 0.07 ± 0.01 for PG and 0.03 ± 0.02 for virtual-PC (difference, 0.04 ± 0.01; P = .0016). The mean of the percentage of area (%A) with OSI >0.2 resulted in 10.08% ± 3.38% for PG and 3.80% ± 3.22% for virtual-PC (difference, 6.28 ± 1.91; P = .008). For the same cases, the mean of the averaged-in-space RRT resulted in 5.48 ± 3.40 1/Pa for PG and 2.62 ± 1.12 1/Pa for virtual-PC (difference, 2.87 ± 1.46; P = .097). The mean of %A RRT >4.0 1/Pa resulted in 26.53% ± 12.98% for PG and 9.95% ± 6.53% for virtual-PC (difference, 16.58 ± 5.93; P = .025). For the two original PC cases, the averaged-in-space OSIs were 0.02 and 0.04 for PC and 0.03 and 0.02 for virtual-PG; the %A OSIs >0.2 were 0.9% and 7.6% for PC and 3.0% and 2.2% for virtual-PG; the averaged-in-space RRTs were 1.8 and 2.0 1/Pa for PC and 2.9 and 1.9 1/Pa for virtual-PG; the %A RRTs >4.0 1/Pa were 6.8% and 9.8% for PC and 9.4% and 6.2% for virtual-PG. These results revealed generally higher disturbed flows in the PG configurations with respect to the PC ones. OSI and RRT values were generally higher in PG cases with respect to PC, especially for high carotids or when the arteriotomy is mainly at the bulb region. Thus, an elective use of patch should be considered to prevent disturbed flows. Copyright © 2017 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inmarsat and personal mobile satellite services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDougal, Patrick; Barendse, Victor

Personal communications - mobile satellite services (PC-MSS) hold much promise as a profitable business opportunity for a number of interested operators and manufacturers. What will be their impact on the overall mobile communications landscape, and what role will they play in the drive towards the universal personal communicator? It is the thesis of this paper that PC-MSS can provide one of the critical enabling technologies to allow a more rapid, global assimilation of personal mobile communications. Terrestrial mobile communications are local by definition, both in terms of service reach and regulatory oversight. It is estimated that cellular, and other forms of terrestrial mobile communications, will cover over 50% of the world's population, but only 15% of the land mass area by the year 2000. PC-MSS will allow 'cellular extension' to interested users in the uncovered parts of the world. The market opportunity is established and technical solutions are available. However 'user cooperation' will be required and cross mapping of market needs to the technology solutions is the key to financially viable solutions. The potential political and regulatory hurdles are daunting. Inmarsat, as the existing global MSS partnership, is already introducing PC-MSS products and services in the 1990s. The widespread use of briefcase satphones (Inm-M), laptop-sized data terminals (Inm-C), and pocket satpagers (Inm-paging) will break new ground in reshaping the international regulatory context of mobile communications, and in initiating the optimal public switched network integration necessary for global interconnect. It is suggested that this evolutionary approach, by means of international consensus-building within a global partnership of operators, is an effective and proven method to ensure both a sufficient financial return for investors, and fair and equitable access of these services for all countries and users.

IPEG- IMPROVED PRICE ESTIMATION GUIDELINES (IBM PC VERSION)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aster, R. W.

1994-01-01

The Improved Price Estimation Guidelines, IPEG, program provides a simple yet accurate estimate of the price of a manufactured product. IPEG facilitates sensitivity studies of price estimates at considerably less expense than would be incurred by using the Standard Assembly-line Manufacturing Industry Simulation, SAMIS, program (COSMIC program NPO-16032). A difference of less than one percent between the IPEG and SAMIS price estimates has been observed with realistic test cases. However, the IPEG simplification of SAMIS allows the analyst with limited time and computing resources to perform a greater number of sensitivity studies than with SAMIS. Although IPEG was developed for the photovoltaics industry, it is readily adaptable to any standard assembly line type of manufacturing industry. IPEG estimates the annual production price per unit. The input data includes cost of equipment, space, labor, materials, supplies, and utilities. Production on an industry wide basis or a process wide basis can be simulated. Once the IPEG input file is prepared, the original price is estimated and sensitivity studies may be performed. The IPEG user selects a sensitivity variable and a set of values. IPEG will compute a price estimate and a variety of other cost parameters for every specified value of the sensitivity variable. IPEG is designed as an interactive system and prompts the user for all required information and offers a variety of output options. The IPEG/PC program is written in TURBO PASCAL for interactive execution on an IBM PC computer under DOS 2.0 or above with at least 64K of memory. The IBM PC color display and color graphics adapter are needed to use the plotting capabilities in IPEG/PC. IPEG/PC was developed in 1984. The original IPEG program is written in SIMSCRIPT II.5 for interactive execution and has been implemented on an IBM 370 series computer with a central memory requirement of approximately 300K of 8 bit bytes. The original IPEG was developed in 1980.

An Evaluation of Training Interventions and Computed Scoring Techniques for Grading a Level Turn Task and a Straight In Landing Approach on a PC-Based Flight Simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heath, Bruce E.

2007-01-01

One result of the relatively recent advances in computing technology has been the decreasing cost of computers and increasing computational power. This has allowed high fidelity airplane simulations to be run on personal computers (PC). Thus, simulators are now used routinely by pilots to substitute real flight hours for simulated flight hours for training for an aircraft type rating thereby reducing the cost of flight training. However, FAA regulations require that such substitution training must be supervised by Certified Flight Instructors (CFI). If the CFI presence could be reduced or eliminated for certain tasks this would mean a further cost savings to the pilot. This would require that the flight simulator have a certain level of 'intelligence' in order to provide feedback on pilot perfolmance similar to that of a CFI. The 'intelligent' flight sinlulator would have at least the capability to use data gathered from the flight to create a measure for the performance of the student pilot. Also, to fully utilize the advances in computational power, the sinlulator would be capable of interacting with the student pilot using the best possible training interventions. This thesis reposts on the two studies conducted at Tuskegee University investigating the effects of interventions on the learning of two flight maneuvers on a flight sinlulator and the robustness and accuracy of calculated perfornlance indices as compared to CFI evaluations of performance. The intent of these studies is to take a step in the direction of creating an 'intelligent' flight simulator. The first study deals with the comparisons of novice pilot performance trained at different levels of above real-time to execute a level S-turn. The second study examined the effect of out-of-the-window (OTW) visual cues in the form of hoops on the performance of novice pilots learning to fly a landing approach on the flight simulator. The reliability/robustness of the computed performance metrics was assessed by comparing them with the evaluations of the landing approach maneuver by a number of CFIs.

Program Processes Thermocouple Readings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quave, Christine A.; Nail, William, III

1995-01-01

Digital Signal Processor for Thermocouples (DART) computer program implements precise and fast method of converting voltage to temperature for large-temperature-range thermocouple applications. Written using LabVIEW software. DART available only as object code for use on Macintosh II FX or higher-series computers running System 7.0 or later and IBM PC-series and compatible computers running Microsoft Windows 3.1. Macintosh version of DART (SSC-00032) requires LabVIEW 2.2.1 or 3.0 for execution. IBM PC version (SSC-00031) requires LabVIEW 3.0 for Windows 3.1. LabVIEW software product of National Instruments and not included with program.

P ≠NP Millenium-Problem(MP) TRIVIAL Physics Proof Via NATURAL TRUMPS Artificial-``Intelligence'' Via: Euclid Geometry, Plato Forms, Aristotle Square-of-Opposition, Menger Dimension-Theory Connections!!! NO Computational-Complexity(CC)/ANYthing!!!: Geometry!!!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clay, London; Menger, Karl; Rota, Gian-Carlo; Euclid, Alexandria; Siegel, Edward

P ≠NP MP proof is by computer-''science''/SEANCE(!!!)(CS) computational-''intelligence'' lingo jargonial-obfuscation(JO) NATURAL-Intelligence(NI) DISambiguation! CS P =(?) =NP MEANS (Deterministic)(PC) = (?) =(Non-D)(PC) i.e. D(P) =(?) = N(P). For inclusion(equality) vs. exclusion (inequality) irrelevant (P) simply cancels!!! (Equally any/all other CCs IF both sides identical). Crucial question left: (D) =(?) =(ND), i.e. D =(?) = N. Algorithmics[Sipser[Intro. Thy.Comp.(`97)-p.49Fig.1.15!!!

Operating a Geiger Müller tube using a PC sound card

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azooz, A. A.

2009-01-01

In this paper, a simple MATLAB-based PC program that enables the computer to function as a replacement for the electronic scalar-counter system associated with a Geiger-Müller (GM) tube is described. The program utilizes the ability of MATLAB to acquire data directly from the computer sound card. The signal from the GM tube is applied to the computer sound card via the line in port. All standard GM experiments, pulse shape and statistical analysis experiments can be carried out using this system. A new visual demonstration of dead time effects is also presented.

A novel anisotropic fast marching method and its application to blood flow computation in phase-contrast MRI.

PubMed

Schwenke, M; Hennemuth, A; Fischer, B; Friman, O

2012-01-01

Phase-contrast MRI (PC MRI) can be used to assess blood flow dynamics noninvasively inside the human body. The acquired images can be reconstructed into flow vector fields. Traditionally, streamlines can be computed based on the vector fields to visualize flow patterns and particle trajectories. The traditional methods may give a false impression of precision, as they do not consider the measurement uncertainty in the PC MRI images. In our prior work, we incorporated the uncertainty of the measurement into the computation of particle trajectories. As a major part of the contribution, a novel numerical scheme for solving the anisotropic Fast Marching problem is presented. A computing time comparison to state-of-the-art methods is conducted on artificial tensor fields. A visual comparison of healthy to pathological blood flow patterns is given. The comparison shows that the novel anisotropic Fast Marching solver outperforms previous schemes in terms of computing time. The visual comparison of flow patterns directly visualizes large deviations of pathological flow from healthy flow. The novel anisotropic Fast Marching solver efficiently resolves even strongly anisotropic path costs. The visualization method enables the user to assess the uncertainty of particle trajectories derived from PC MRI images.

Reading disc-based bioassays with standard computer drives.

PubMed

Yu, Hua-Zhong; Li, Yunchao; Ou, Lily M-L

2013-02-19

Traditional methods of disease diagnosis are both time-consuming and labor-intensive, and many tests require expensive instrumentation and trained professionals, which restricts their use to biomedical laboratories. Because patients can wait several days (even weeks) for the results, the consequences of delayed treatment could be disastrous. Therefore, affordable and simple point-of-care (POC) biosensor devices could fill a diagnostic niche in the clinic or even at home, as personal glucose meters do for diabetics. These devices would allow patients to check their own health conditions and enable physicians to make prompt treatment decisions, which could improve the chances for rapid recovery and cure. Compact discs (CDs) provide inexpensive substrate materials for the preparation of microarray biochips, and conventional computer drives/disc players can be adapted as precise optical reading devices for signal processing. Researchers can employ the polycarbonate (PC) base of a CD as an alternative substrate to glass slides or silicon wafers for the preparation of microanalytical devices. Using the characteristic optical phenomena occurring on the metal layer of a CD, researchers can develop biosensors based on advanced spectroscopic readout (interferometry or surface plasmon resonance). If researchers integrate microfluidic functions with CD mechanics, they can control fluid transfer through the spinning motion of the disc, leading to "lab-on-a-CD" devices. Over the last decade, our laboratory has focused on the construction of POC biosensor devices from off-the-shelf CDs or DVDs and standard computer drives. Besides the initial studies of the suitability of CDs for surface and materials chemistry research (fabrication of self-assembled monolayers and oxide nanostructures), we have demonstrated that an ordinary optical drive, without modification of either the hardware or the software driver, can function as the signal transducing element for reading disc-based bioassays quantitatively. In this Account, we first provide a brief introduction to CD-related materials chemistry and microfluidics research. Then we describe the mild chemistry developed in our laboratory for the preparation of computer-readable biomolecular screening assays: photochemical activation of the polycarbonate (PC) disc surface and immobilization and delivery of probe and target biomolecules. We thoroughly discuss the analysis of the molecular recognition events: researchers can "read" these devices quantitatively with an unmodified optical drive of any personal computer. Finally, and critically, we illustrate our digitized molecular diagnosis approach with three trial systems: DNA hybridization, antibody-antigen binding, and ultrasensitive lead detection with a DNAzyme assay. These examples demonstrate the broad potential of this new analytical/diagnostic tool for medical screening, on-site food/water safety testing, and remote environmental monitoring.

Recurrent triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tissues contain a higher amount of phosphatidylcholine (32:1) than non-recurrent TNBC tissues

PubMed Central

Masaki, Noritaka; Takei, Shiro; Horikawa, Makoto; Matsushita, Shoko; Sugiyama, Eiji; Ogura, Hiroyuki; Shiiya, Norihiko; Setou, Mitsutoshi

2017-01-01

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is one of the breast cancer subtype that displays a high risk of early recurrence and short overall survival. Improvement of the prognosis of patients with TNBC requires identifying a predictive factor of recurrence, which would make it possible to provide beneficial personalized treatment. However, no clinically reliable predictive factor is currently known. In this study, we investigated the predictive factor of recurrence in TNBC using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-imaging mass spectrometry for lipid profiling of breast cancer specimens obtained from three and six patients with recurrent and non-recurrent TNBC, respectively. The signal for phosphatidylcholine (PC) (32:1) at m/z 732.5 was significantly higher in the recurrence group compared to the non-recurrence group (P = 0.024). PC (32:1) was more abundant in the cancer epithelial area than it was in the surrounding stroma, suggesting that abnormal lipid metabolism was associated with malignant transformation. Our results indicate PC (32:1) as a candidate predictive factor of TNBC recurrence. A future prospective study investigating whether personalized therapy based on PC (32:1) intensity improves the prognosis of patients with TNBC is recommended. PMID:28832678

The Linux operating system: An introduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bokhari, Shahid H.

1995-01-01

Linux is a Unix-like operating system for Intel 386/486/Pentium based IBM-PCs and compatibles. The kernel of this operating system was written from scratch by Linus Torvalds and, although copyrighted by the author, may be freely distributed. A world-wide group has collaborated in developing Linux on the Internet. Linux can run the powerful set of compilers and programming tools of the Free Software Foundation, and XFree86, a port of the X Window System from MIT. Most capabilities associated with high performance workstations, such as networking, shared file systems, electronic mail, TeX, LaTeX, etc. are freely available for Linux. It can thus transform cheap IBM-PC compatible machines into Unix workstations with considerable capabilities. The author explains how Linux may be obtained, installed and networked. He also describes some interesting applications for Linux that are freely available. The enormous consumer market for IBM-PC compatible machines continually drives down prices of CPU chips, memory, hard disks, CDROMs, etc. Linux can convert such machines into powerful workstations that can be used for teaching, research and software development. For professionals who use Unix based workstations at work, Linux permits virtually identical working environments on their personal home machines. For cost conscious educational institutions Linux can create world-class computing environments from cheap, easily maintained, PC clones. Finally, for university students, it provides an essentially cost-free path away from DOS into the world of Unix and X Windows.

Cigarette smoking and risk of pancreatic cancer: a clinic-based case-control study in the San Francisco Bay Area.

PubMed

Lea, C Suzanne; Holly, Elizabeth A; Bracci, Paige M

2015-11-01

Cigarette smoking is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer (PC). We examined the association between cigarette smoking and PC in a San Francisco Bay Area clinic-based, case-control study. A total of 536 cases and sex and age frequency-matched controls (n = 869) were recruited predominately from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) medical clinics between 2006 and 2011. Participants were interviewed in-person using structured questionnaires. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were computed. Forty-eight percent of cases and controls reported never having smoked cigarettes; 39% of cases and 40% of controls were former smokers; 13% of cases and 12% of controls were current smokers. No association was found for either former (OR = 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.66-1.1) or current cigarette smoking (men: OR = 1.0, 95% CI = 0.60-1.7; women: OR = 1.2, 95% CI = 0.73-2.1). No dose-response relationships were detected with number of cigarettes/day, smoking intensity, duration, or years since last smoked. Comparisons with a 1995-1999 population-based UCSF study demonstrated a significantly increased proportion of never smokers in this study (P < .001). This study revealed no significant associations between cigarette smoking and PC in the San Francisco Bay Area during 2006-2011. Data suggest a reduction in the duration of smoking within the referral population. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Disk-based k-mer counting on a PC

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The k-mer counting problem, which is to build the histogram of occurrences of every k-symbol long substring in a given text, is important for many bioinformatics applications. They include developing de Bruijn graph genome assemblers, fast multiple sequence alignment and repeat detection. Results We propose a simple, yet efficient, parallel disk-based algorithm for counting k-mers. Experiments show that it usually offers the fastest solution to the considered problem, while demanding a relatively small amount of memory. In particular, it is capable of counting the statistics for short-read human genome data, in input gzipped FASTQ file, in less than 40 minutes on a PC with 16 GB of RAM and 6 CPU cores, and for long-read human genome data in less than 70 minutes. On a more powerful machine, using 32 GB of RAM and 32 CPU cores, the tasks are accomplished in less than half the time. No other algorithm for most tested settings of this problem and mammalian-size data can accomplish this task in comparable time. Our solution also belongs to memory-frugal ones; most competitive algorithms cannot efficiently work on a PC with 16 GB of memory for such massive data. Conclusions By making use of cheap disk space and exploiting CPU and I/O parallelism we propose a very competitive k-mer counting procedure, called KMC. Our results suggest that judicious resource management may allow to solve at least some bioinformatics problems with massive data on a commodity personal computer. PMID:23679007

Comparison of 4D Phase-Contrast MRI Flow Measurements to Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of Cerebrospinal Fluid Motion in the Cervical Spine

PubMed Central

Yiallourou, Theresia I.; Kröger, Jan Robert; Stergiopulos, Nikolaos; Maintz, David

2012-01-01

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics in the cervical spinal subarachnoid space (SSS) have been thought to be important to help diagnose and assess craniospinal disorders such as Chiari I malformation (CM). In this study we obtained time-resolved three directional velocity encoded phase-contrast MRI (4D PC MRI) in three healthy volunteers and four CM patients and compared the 4D PC MRI measurements to subject-specific 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The CFD simulations considered the geometry to be rigid-walled and did not include small anatomical structures such as nerve roots, denticulate ligaments and arachnoid trabeculae. Results were compared at nine axial planes along the cervical SSS in terms of peak CSF velocities in both the cranial and caudal direction and visual interpretation of thru-plane velocity profiles. 4D PC MRI peak CSF velocities were consistently greater than the CFD peak velocities and these differences were more pronounced in CM patients than in healthy subjects. In the upper cervical SSS of CM patients the 4D PC MRI quantified stronger fluid jets than the CFD. Visual interpretation of the 4D PC MRI thru-plane velocity profiles showed greater pulsatile movement of CSF in the anterior SSS in comparison to the posterior and reduction in local CSF velocities near nerve roots. CFD velocity profiles were relatively uniform around the spinal cord for all subjects. This study represents the first comparison of 4D PC MRI measurements to CFD of CSF flow in the cervical SSS. The results highlight the utility of 4D PC MRI for evaluation of complex CSF dynamics and the need for improvement of CFD methodology. Future studies are needed to investigate whether integration of fine anatomical structures and gross motion of the brain and/or spinal cord into the computational model will lead to a better agreement between the two techniques. PMID:23284970

Acceptance of Internet Banking Systems among Young Managers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ariff, Mohd Shoki Md; M, Yeow S.; Zakuan, Norhayati; Zaidi Bahari, Ahamad

2013-06-01

The aim of this paper is to determine acceptance of internet banking system among potential young users, specifically future young managers. The relationships and the effects of computer self-efficacy (CSE) and extended technology acceptance model (TAM) on the behavioural intention (BI) to use internet banking system were examined. Measurement of CSE, TAM and BI were adapted from previous studies. However construct for TAM has been extended by adding a new variable which is perceived credibility (PC). A survey through questionnaire was conducted to determine the acceptance level of CSE, TAM and BI. Data were obtained from 275 Technology Management students, who are pursuing their undergraduate studies in a Malaysia's public university. The confirmatory factor analysis performed has identified four variables as determinant factors of internet banking acceptance. The first variable is computer self-efficacy (CSE), and another three variables from TAM constructs which are perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PE) and perceived credibility (PC). The finding of this study indicated that CSE has a positive effect on PU and PE of the Internet banking systems. Respondents' CSE was positively affecting their PC of the systems, indicating that the higher the ability of one in computer skills, the higher the security and privacy issues of PC will be concerned. The multiple regression analysis indicated that only two construct of TAM; PU and PC were significantly associated with BI. It was found that the future managers' CSE indirectly affects their BI to use the internet banking systems through PU and PC of TAM. TAM was found to have direct effects on respondents' BI to use the systems. Both CSE and the PU and PC of TAM were good predictors in understanding individual responses to information technology. The role of PE of the original TAM to predict the attitude of users towards the use of information technology systems was surprisingly insignificant.

Correlational Analysis of neck/shoulder Pain and Low Back Pain with the Use of Digital Products, Physical Activity and Psychological Status among Adolescents in Shanghai

PubMed Central

Li, Jipeng; Li, Yangyang; Zhang, Yongxing; Zhao, Qinghua

2013-01-01

Purpose This study investigates the neck/shoulder pain (NSP) and low back pain (LBP) among current high school students in Shanghai and explores the relationship between these pains and their possible influences, including digital products, physical activity, and psychological status. Methods An anonymous self-assessment was administered to 3,600 students across 30 high schools in Shanghai. This questionnaire examined the prevalence of NSP and LBP and the level of physical activity as well as the use of mobile phones, personal computers (PC) and tablet computers (Tablet). The CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression) scale was also included in the survey. The survey data were analyzed using the chi-square test, univariate logistic analyses and a multivariate logistic regression model. Results Three thousand sixteen valid questionnaires were received including 1,460 (48.41%) from male respondents and 1,556 (51.59%) from female respondents. The high school students in this study showed NSP and LBP rates of 40.8% and 33.1%, respectively, and the prevalence of both influenced by the student’s grade, use of digital products, and mental status; these factors affected the rates of NSP and LBP to varying degrees. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that Gender, grade, soreness after exercise, PC using habits, tablet use, sitting time after school and academic stress entered the final model of NSP, while the final model of LBP consisted of gender, grade, soreness after exercise, PC using habits, mobile phone use, sitting time after school, academic stress and CES-D score. Conclusions High school students in Shanghai showed high prevalence of NSP and LBP that were closely related to multiple factors. Appropriate interventions should be implemented to reduce the occurrences of NSP and LBP. PMID:24147114

Evaluation of Landsat-4 orbit determination accuracy using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Feiertag, R.; Samii, M. V.; Doll, C. E.; Mistretta, G. D.; Hart, R. C.

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) commissioned Applied Technology Associates, Incorporated, to develop the Real-Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system on a Disk Operating System (DOS)-based personal computer (PC) as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination of spacecraft. This paper presents the results of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) System (TDRSS) user spacecraft, Landsat-4, obtained using RTOD/E, operating on a PC, with the accuracy of an established batch least-squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), operating on a mainframe computer. The results of Landsat-4 orbit determination will provide useful experience for the Earth Observing System (EOS) series of satellites. The Landsat-4 ephemerides were estimated for the May 18-24, 1992, timeframe, during which intensive TDRSS tracking data for Landsat-4 were available. During this period, there were two separate orbit-adjust maneuvers on one of the TDRSS spacecraft (TDRS-East) and one small orbit-adjust maneuver for Landsat-4. Independent assessments were made of the consistencies (overlap comparisons for the batch case and covariances and the first measurement residuals for the sequential case) of solutions produced by the batch and sequential methods. The forward-filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions were compared with the definitive GTDS orbit solutions for Landsat-4; the solution differences were generally less than 30 meters after the filter had reached steady state.

Evaluation of Landsat-4 orbit determination accuracy using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Feiertag, R.; Samii, M. V.; Doll, C. E.; Mistretta, G. D.; Hart, R. C.

1993-01-01

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) commissioned Applied Technology Associates, Incorporated, to develop the Real-Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system on a Disk Operating System (DOS)-based personal computer (PC) as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination of spacecraft. This paper presents the results of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy for a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) System (TDRSS) user spacecraft, Landsat-4, obtained using RTOD/E, operating on a PC, with the accuracy of an established batch least-squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), operating on a mainframe computer. The results of Landsat-4 orbit determination will provide useful experience for the Earth Observing System (EOS) series of satellites. The Landsat-4 ephemerides were estimated for the May 18-24, 1992, timeframe, during which intensive TDRSS tracking data for Landsat-4 were available. During this period, there were two separate orbit-adjust maneuvers on one of the TDRSS spacecraft (TDRS-East) and one small orbit-adjust maneuver for Landsat-4. Independent assessments were made of the consistencies (overlap comparisons for the batch case and covariances and the first measurement residuals for the sequential case) of solutions produced by the batch and sequential methods. The forward-filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions were compared with the definitive GTDS orbit solutions for Landsat-4; the solution differences were generally less than 30 meters after the filter had reached steady state.

Perceived control and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation for oral self-care: a full factorial experimental test of theory-based persuasive messages.

PubMed

Staunton, Liam; Gellert, Paul; Knittle, Keegan; Sniehotta, Falko F

2015-04-01

Correlational evidence suggests that perceived control (PC) and intrinsic motivation (IM), key constructs in social cognitive and self-determination theories, may interact to reinforce behavior change. This proof-of-principle study examines the independent and synergistic effects of interventions to increase PC and IM upon dental flossing frequency. University students (n = 185) were randomized in a 2 × 2 full factorial design to receive two computer-based interventions: one to either increase or decrease PC and another to increase either IM or extrinsic motivation. These constructs were measured immediately post-intervention; flossing behavior was measured 1 week later. The interventions to increase PC and PC/IM had main and interaction effects on flossing, respectively. The PC/IM interaction effect was mediated by increases in PC and IM. Combining interventions to increase PC and IM seems to be a promising avenue of research, which has implications for both theory and intervention development.

Reviews.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of Chemical Education, 1988

1988-01-01

Reviews two computer programs: "Molecular Graphics," which allows molecule manipulation in three-dimensional space (requiring IBM PC with 512K, EGA monitor, and math coprocessor); and "Periodic Law," a database which contains up to 20 items of information on each of the first 103 elements (Apple II or IBM PC). (MVL)

A stochastic asymptotic-preserving scheme for a kinetic-fluid model for disperse two-phase flows with uncertainty

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jin, Shi, E-mail: sjin@wisc.edu; Institute of Natural Sciences, School of Mathematical Science, MOELSEC and SHL-MAC, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240; Shu, Ruiwen, E-mail: rshu2@math.wisc.edu

In this paper we consider a kinetic-fluid model for disperse two-phase flows with uncertainty. We propose a stochastic asymptotic-preserving (s-AP) scheme in the generalized polynomial chaos stochastic Galerkin (gPC-sG) framework, which allows the efficient computation of the problem in both kinetic and hydrodynamic regimes. The s-AP property is proved by deriving the equilibrium of the gPC version of the Fokker–Planck operator. The coefficient matrices that arise in a Helmholtz equation and a Poisson equation, essential ingredients of the algorithms, are proved to be positive definite under reasonable and mild assumptions. The computation of the gPC version of a translation operatormore » that arises in the inversion of the Fokker–Planck operator is accelerated by a spectrally accurate splitting method. Numerical examples illustrate the s-AP property and the efficiency of the gPC-sG method in various asymptotic regimes.« less

Intelligent control system based on ARM for lithography tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Changlong; Tang, Xiaoping; Hu, Song; Wang, Nan

2014-08-01

The control system of traditional lithography tool is based on PC and MCU. The PC handles the complex algorithm, human-computer interaction, and communicates with MCU via serial port; The MCU controls motors and electromagnetic valves, etc. This mode has shortcomings like big volume, high power consumption, and wasting of PC resource. In this paper, an embedded intelligent control system of lithography tool, based on ARM, is provided. The control system used S5PV210 as processor, completing the functions of PC in traditional lithography tool, and provided a good human-computer interaction by using LCD and capacitive touch screen. Using Android4.0.3 as operating system, the equipment provided a cool and easy UI which made the control more user-friendly, and implemented remote control and debug, pushing video information of product by network programming. As a result, it's convenient for equipment vendor to provide technical support for users. Finally, compared with traditional lithography tool, this design reduced the PC part, making the hardware resources efficiently used and reducing the cost and volume. Introducing embedded OS and the concepts in "The Internet of things" into the design of lithography tool can be a development trend.

Eye gaze correction with stereovision for video-teleconferencing.

PubMed

Yang, Ruigang; Zhang, Zhengyou

2004-07-01

The lack of eye contact in desktop video teleconferencing substantially reduces the effectiveness of video contents. While expensive and bulky hardware is available on the market to correct eye gaze, researchers have been trying to provide a practical software-based solution to bring video-teleconferencing one step closer to the mass market. This paper presents a novel approach: Based on stereo analysis combined with rich domain knowledge (a personalized face model), we synthesize, using graphics hardware, a virtual video that maintains eye contact. A 3D stereo head tracker with a personalized face model is used to compute initial correspondences across two views. More correspondences are then added through template and feature matching. Finally, all the correspondence information is fused together for view synthesis using view morphing techniques. The combined methods greatly enhance the accuracy and robustness of the synthesized views. Our current system is able to generate an eye-gaze corrected video stream at five frames per second on a commodity 1 GHz PC.

Computer soundcard as an AC signal generator and oscilloscope for the physics laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinlapanuntakul, Jinda; Kijamnajsuk, Puchong; Jetjamnong, Chanthawut; Chotikaprakhan, Sutharat

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop both an AC signal generator and a dual-channel oscilloscope based on standard personal computer equipped with sound card as parts of the laboratory of the fundamental physics and the introduction to electronics classes. The setup turns the computer into the two channel measured device which can provides sample rate, simultaneous sampling, frequency range, filters and others essential capabilities required to perform amplitude, phase and frequency measurements of AC signal. The AC signal also generate from the same computer sound card output simultaneously in any waveform such as sine, square, triangle, saw-toothed pulsed, swept sine and white noise etc. These can convert an inexpensive PC sound card into powerful device, which allows the students to measure physical phenomena with their own PCs either at home or at university attendance. A graphic user interface software was developed for control and analysis, including facilities for data recording, signal processing and real time measurement display. The result is expanded utility of self-learning for the students in the field of electronics both AC and DC circuits, including the sound and vibration experiments.

A user view of office automation or the integrated workstation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmerling, E. R.

1984-01-01

Central data bases are useful only if they are kept up to date and easily accessible in an interactive (query) mode rather than in monthly reports that may be out of date and must be searched by hand. The concepts of automatic data capture, data base management and query languages require good communications and readily available work stations to be useful. The minimal necessary work station is a personal computer which can be an important office tool if connected into other office machines and properly integrated into an office system. It has a great deal of flexibility and can often be tailored to suit the tastes, work habits and requirements of the user. Unlike dumb terminals, there is less tendency to saturate a central computer, since its free standing capabilities are available after down loading a selection of data. The PC also permits the sharing of many other facilities, like larger computing power, sophisticated graphics programs, laser printers and communications. It can provide rapid access to common data bases able to provide more up to date information than printed reports. Portable computers can access the same familiar office facilities from anywhere in the world where a telephone connection can be made.

Fine-grained parallel RNAalifold algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction on FPGA

PubMed Central

Xia, Fei; Dou, Yong; Zhou, Xingming; Yang, Xuejun; Xu, Jiaqing; Zhang, Yang

2009-01-01

Background In the field of RNA secondary structure prediction, the RNAalifold algorithm is one of the most popular methods using free energy minimization. However, general-purpose computers including parallel computers or multi-core computers exhibit parallel efficiency of no more than 50%. Field Programmable Gate-Array (FPGA) chips provide a new approach to accelerate RNAalifold by exploiting fine-grained custom design. Results RNAalifold shows complicated data dependences, in which the dependence distance is variable, and the dependence direction is also across two dimensions. We propose a systolic array structure including one master Processing Element (PE) and multiple slave PEs for fine grain hardware implementation on FPGA. We exploit data reuse schemes to reduce the need to load energy matrices from external memory. We also propose several methods to reduce energy table parameter size by 80%. Conclusion To our knowledge, our implementation with 16 PEs is the only FPGA accelerator implementing the complete RNAalifold algorithm. The experimental results show a factor of 12.2 speedup over the RNAalifold (ViennaPackage – 1.6.5) software for a group of aligned RNA sequences with 2981-residue running on a Personal Computer (PC) platform with Pentium 4 2.6 GHz CPU. PMID:19208138

Transient Heat Conduction Simulation around Microprocessor Die

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishi, Koji

This paper explains about fundamental formula of calculating power consumption of CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) devices and its voltage and temperature dependency, then introduces equation for estimating power consumption of the microprocessor for notebook PC (Personal Computer). The equation is applied to heat conduction simulation with simplified thermal model and evaluates in sub-millisecond time step calculation. In addition, the microprocessor has two major heat conduction paths; one is from the top of the silicon die via thermal solution and the other is from package substrate and pins via PGA (Pin Grid Array) socket. Even though the dominant factor of heat conduction is the former path, the latter path - from package substrate and pins - plays an important role in transient heat conduction behavior. Therefore, this paper tries to focus the path from package substrate and pins, and to investigate more accurate method of estimating heat conduction paths of the microprocessor. Also, cooling performance expression of heatsink fan is one of key points to assure result with practical accuracy, while finer expression requires more computation resources which results in longer computation time. Then, this paper discusses the expression to minimize computation workload with a practical accuracy of the result.

Automated Liquid-Level Control of a Nutrient Reservoir for a Hydroponic System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Boris; Asumadu, Johnson A.; Dogan, Numan S.

1997-01-01

A microprocessor-based system for control of the liquid level of a nutrient reservoir for a plant hydroponic growing system has been developed. The system uses an ultrasonic transducer to sense the liquid level or height. A National Instruments' Multifunction Analog and Digital Input/Output PC Kit includes NI-DAQ DOS/Windows driver software for an IBM 486 personal computer. A Labview Full Development system for Windows is the graphical programming system being used. The system allows liquid level control to within 0.1 cm for all levels tried between 8 and 36 cm in the hydroponic system application. The detailed algorithms have been developed and a fully automated microprocessor based nutrient replenishment system has been described for this hydroponic system.

PC based temporary shielding administrative procedure (TSAP)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Olsen, D.E.; Pederson, G.E.; Hamby, P.N.

1995-03-01

A completely new Administrative Procedure for temporary shielding was developed for use at Commonwealth Edison`s six nuclear stations. This procedure promotes the use of shielding, and addresses industry requirements for the use and control of temporary shielding. The importance of an effective procedure has increased since more temporary shielding is being used as ALARA goals become more ambitious. To help implement the administrative procedure, a personal computer software program was written to incorporate the procedural requirements. This software incorporates the useability of a Windows graphical user interface with extensive help and database features. This combination of a comprehensive administrative proceduremore » and user friendly software promotes the effective use and management of temporary shielding while ensuring that industry requirements are met.« less

AQUIS: A PC-based source information manager

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, A.E.; Huber, C.C.; Tschanz, J.

1993-05-01

The Air Quality Utility Information System (AQUIS) was developed to calculate emissions and track them along with related information about sources, stacks, controls, and permits. The system runs on IBM- compatible personal computers with dBASE IV and tracks more than 1, 200 data items distributed among various source categories. AQUIS is currently operating at 11 US Air Force facilities, which have up to 1, 000 sources, and two headquarters. The system provides a flexible reporting capability that permits users who are unfamiliar with database structure to design and prepare reports containing user- specified information. In addition to the criteria pollutants,more » AQUIS calculates compound-specific emissions and allows users to enter their own emission estimates.« less

AQUIS: A PC-based source information manager

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, A.E.; Huber, C.C.; Tschanz, J.

1993-01-01

The Air Quality Utility Information System (AQUIS) was developed to calculate emissions and track them along with related information about sources, stacks, controls, and permits. The system runs on IBM- compatible personal computers with dBASE IV and tracks more than 1, 200 data items distributed among various source categories. AQUIS is currently operating at 11 US Air Force facilities, which have up to 1, 000 sources, and two headquarters. The system provides a flexible reporting capability that permits users who are unfamiliar with database structure to design and prepare reports containing user- specified information. In addition to the criteria pollutants,more » AQUIS calculates compound-specific emissions and allows users to enter their own emission estimates.« less

A PC-based inverse design method for radial and mixed flow turbomachinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Skoe, Ivar Helge

1991-01-01

An Inverse Design Method suitable for radial and mixed flow turbomachinery is presented. The codes are based on the streamline curvature concept; therefore, it is applicable for current personal computers from the 286/287 range. In addition to the imposed aerodynamic constraints, mechanical constraints are imposed during the design process to ensure that the resulting geometry satisfies production consideration and that structural considerations are taken into account. By the use of Bezier Curves in the geometric modeling, the same subroutine is used to prepare input for both aero and structural files since it is important to ensure that the geometric data is identical to both structural analysis and production. To illustrate the method, a mixed flow turbine design is shown.

Estimation of future outflows of e-waste in India.

PubMed

Dwivedy, Maheshwar; Mittal, R K

2010-03-01

The purpose of this study is to construct an approach and a methodology to estimate the future outflows of electronic waste (e-waste) in India. Consequently, the study utilizes a time-series multiple lifespan end-of-life model proposed by Peralta and Fontanos for estimating the current and future quantities of e-waste in India. The model estimates future e-waste generation quantities by modeling their usage and disposal. The present work considers two scenarios for the approximation of e-waste generation based on user preferences to store or to recycle the e-waste. This model will help formal recyclers in India to make strategic decisions in planning for appropriate recycling infrastructure and institutional capacity building. Also an extension of the model proposed by Peralta and Fontanos is developed with the objective of helping decision makers to conduct WEEE estimates under a variety of assumptions to suit their region of study. During 2007-2011, the total WEEE estimates will be around 2.5 million metric tons which include waste from personal computers (PC), television, refrigerators and washing machines. During the said period, the waste from PC will account for 30% of total units of WEEE generated. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimation of future outflows of e-waste in India

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dwivedy, Maheshwar, E-mail: dwivedy_m@bits-pilani.ac.i; Mittal, R.K.

2010-03-15

The purpose of this study is to construct an approach and a methodology to estimate the future outflows of electronic waste (e-waste) in India. Consequently, the study utilizes a time-series multiple lifespan end-of-life model proposed by Peralta and Fontanos for estimating the current and future quantities of e-waste in India. The model estimates future e-waste generation quantities by modeling their usage and disposal. The present work considers two scenarios for the approximation of e-waste generation based on user preferences to store or to recycle the e-waste. This model will help formal recyclers in India to make strategic decisions in planningmore » for appropriate recycling infrastructure and institutional capacity building. Also an extension of the model proposed by Peralta and Fontanos is developed with the objective of helping decision makers to conduct WEEE estimates under a variety of assumptions to suit their region of study. During 2007-2011, the total WEEE estimates will be around 2.5 million metric tons which include waste from personal computers (PC), television, refrigerators and washing machines. During the said period, the waste from PC will account for 30% of total units of WEEE generated.« less

Low-cost, email-based system for self blood pressure monitoring at home.

PubMed

Nakajima, Kazuki; Nambu, Masayuki; Kiryu, Tohru; Tamura, Toshiyo; Sasaki, Kazuo

2006-01-01

We have developed a low-cost monitoring system, which allows subjects to send blood pressure (BP) data obtained at home to health-care professionals by email. The system consists of a wrist BP monitor and a personal computer (PC) with an Internet connection. The wrist BP monitor includes an advanced positioning sensor to verify that the wrist is placed properly at heart level. Subjects at home can self-measure their BP every day, automatically transfer the BP data to their PC each week, and then send a comma-separated values (CSV) file to their health-care professional by email. In a feasibility study, 10 subjects used the system for a mean period of 207 days (SD 149). The mean percent achievement of measurement in the 10 subjects was 84% (SD 12). There was a seasonal variation in systolic and diastolic BP, which was inversely correlated with temperature. Eight of the 10 subjects evaluated the system favourably. The results of the present study demonstrate the feasibility of our email-based system for self-monitoring of blood pressure. Its low cost means that it may have widespread application in future home telecare studies.

Numerical methods for stochastic differential equations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kloeden, Peter; Platen, Eckhard

1991-06-01

The numerical analysis of stochastic differential equations differs significantly from that of ordinary differential equations due to the peculiarities of stochastic calculus. This book provides an introduction to stochastic calculus and stochastic differential equations, both theory and applications. The main emphasise is placed on the numerical methods needed to solve such equations. It assumes an undergraduate background in mathematical methods typical of engineers and physicists, through many chapters begin with a descriptive summary which may be accessible to others who only require numerical recipes. To help the reader develop an intuitive understanding of the underlying mathematicals and hand-on numerical skills exercises and over 100 PC Exercises (PC-personal computer) are included. The stochastic Taylor expansion provides the key tool for the systematic derivation and investigation of discrete time numerical methods for stochastic differential equations. The book presents many new results on higher order methods for strong sample path approximations and for weak functional approximations, including implicit, predictor-corrector, extrapolation and variance-reduction methods. Besides serving as a basic text on such methods. the book offers the reader ready access to a large number of potential research problems in a field that is just beginning to expand rapidly and is widely applicable.

A compact electroencephalogram recording device with integrated audio stimulation system.

PubMed

Paukkunen, Antti K O; Kurttio, Anttu A; Leminen, Miika M; Sepponen, Raimo E

2010-06-01

A compact (96 x 128 x 32 mm(3), 374 g), battery-powered, eight-channel electroencephalogram recording device with an integrated audio stimulation system and a wireless interface is presented. The recording device is capable of producing high-quality data, while the operating time is also reasonable for evoked potential studies. The effective measurement resolution is about 4 nV at 200 Hz sample rate, typical noise level is below 0.7 microV(rms) at 0.16-70 Hz, and the estimated operating time is 1.5 h. An embedded audio decoder circuit reads and plays wave sound files stored on a memory card. The activities are controlled by an 8 bit main control unit which allows accurate timing of the stimuli. The interstimulus interval jitter measured is less than 1 ms. Wireless communication is made through bluetooth and the data recorded are transmitted to an external personal computer (PC) interface in real time. The PC interface is implemented with LABVIEW and in addition to data acquisition it also allows online signal processing, data storage, and control of measurement activities such as contact impedance measurement, for example. The practical application of the device is demonstrated in mismatch negativity experiment with three test subjects.

A compact electroencephalogram recording device with integrated audio stimulation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paukkunen, Antti K. O.; Kurttio, Anttu A.; Leminen, Miika M.; Sepponen, Raimo E.

2010-06-01

A compact (96×128×32 mm3, 374 g), battery-powered, eight-channel electroencephalogram recording device with an integrated audio stimulation system and a wireless interface is presented. The recording device is capable of producing high-quality data, while the operating time is also reasonable for evoked potential studies. The effective measurement resolution is about 4 nV at 200 Hz sample rate, typical noise level is below 0.7 μVrms at 0.16-70 Hz, and the estimated operating time is 1.5 h. An embedded audio decoder circuit reads and plays wave sound files stored on a memory card. The activities are controlled by an 8 bit main control unit which allows accurate timing of the stimuli. The interstimulus interval jitter measured is less than 1 ms. Wireless communication is made through bluetooth and the data recorded are transmitted to an external personal computer (PC) interface in real time. The PC interface is implemented with LABVIEW® and in addition to data acquisition it also allows online signal processing, data storage, and control of measurement activities such as contact impedance measurement, for example. The practical application of the device is demonstrated in mismatch negativity experiment with three test subjects.

An evaluation of Turbo Prolog with an emphasis on its application to the development of expert systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loftin, Richard B.

1987-01-01

Turbo Prolog is a recently available, compiled version of the programming language Prolog. Turbo Prolog is designed to provide not only a Prolog compiler, but also a program development environment for the IBM Personal Computer family. An evaluation of Turbo Prolog was made, comparing its features to other versions of Prolog and to the community of languages commonly used in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development. Three programs were employed to determine the execution speed of Turbo Prolog applied to various problems. The results of this evaluation demonstrated that Turbo Prolog can perform much better than many commonly employed AI languages for numerically intensive problems and can equal the speed of development languages such as OPS5+ and CLIPS, running on the IBM PC. Applications for which Turbo Prolog is best suited include those which (1) lend themselves naturally to backward-chaining approaches, (2) require extensive use of mathematics, (3) contain few rules, (4) seek to make use of the window/color graphics capabilities of the IBM PC, and (5) require linkage to programs in other languages to form a complete executable image.

Systolic array IC for genetic computation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, D.

1991-01-01

Measuring similarities between large sequences of genetic information is a formidable task requiring enormous amounts of computer time. Geneticists claim that nearly two months of CRAY-2 time are required to run a single comparison of the known database against the new bases that will be found this year, and more than a CRAY-2 year for next year's genetic discoveries, and so on. The DNA IC, designed at HP-ICBD in cooperation with the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is being implemented in order to move the task of genetic comparison onto workstations and personal computers, while vastly improving performance. The chip is a systolic (pumped) array comprised of 16 processors, control logic, and global RAM, totaling 400,000 FETS. At 12 MHz, each chip performs 2.7 billion 16 bit operations per second. Using 35 of these chips in series on one PC board (performing nearly 100 billion operations per second), a sequence of 560 bases can be compared against the eventual total genome of 3 billion bases, in minutes--on a personal computer. While the designed purpose of the DNA chip is for genetic research, other disciplines requiring similarity measurements between strings of 7 bit encoded data could make use of this chip as well. Cryptography and speech recognition are two examples. A mix of full custom design and standard cells, in CMOS34, were used to achieve these goals. Innovative test methods were developed to enhance controllability and observability in the array. This paper describes these techniques as well as the chip's functionality. This chip was designed in the 1989-90 timeframe.

Evaluation of user input methods for manipulating a tablet personal computer in sterile techniques.

PubMed

Yamada, Akira; Komatsu, Daisuke; Suzuki, Takeshi; Kurozumi, Masahiro; Fujinaga, Yasunari; Ueda, Kazuhiko; Kadoya, Masumi

2017-02-01

To determine a quick and accurate user input method for manipulating tablet personal computers (PCs) in sterile techniques. We evaluated three different manipulation methods, (1) Computer mouse and sterile system drape, (2) Fingers and sterile system drape, and (3) Digitizer stylus and sterile ultrasound probe cover with a pinhole, in terms of the central processing unit (CPU) performance, manipulation performance, and contactlessness. A significant decrease in CPU score ([Formula: see text]) and an increase in CPU temperature ([Formula: see text]) were observed when a system drape was used. The respective mean times taken to select a target image from an image series (ST) and the mean times for measuring points on an image (MT) were [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] s for the computer mouse method, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] s for the finger method, and [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] s for the digitizer stylus method, respectively. The ST for the finger method was significantly longer than for the digitizer stylus method ([Formula: see text]). The MT for the computer mouse method was significantly longer than for the digitizer stylus method ([Formula: see text]). The mean success rate for measuring points on an image was significantly lower for the finger method when the diameter of the target was equal to or smaller than 8 mm than for the other methods. No significant difference in the adenosine triphosphate amount at the surface of the tablet PC was observed before, during, or after manipulation via the digitizer stylus method while wearing starch-powdered sterile gloves ([Formula: see text]). Quick and accurate manipulation of tablet PCs in sterile techniques without CPU load is feasible using a digitizer stylus and sterile ultrasound probe cover with a pinhole.

Stopping computer crimes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Denning, Peter J.

1989-01-01

Two new books about intrusions and computer viruses remind us that attacks against our computers on networks are the actions of human beings. Cliff Stoll's book about the hacker who spent a year, beginning in Aug. 1986, attempting to use the Lawrence Berkeley Computer as a stepping-stone for access to military secrets is a spy thriller that illustrates the weaknesses of our password systems and the difficulties in compiling evidence against a hacker engaged in espionage. Pamela Kane's book about viruses that attack IBM PC's shows that viruses are the modern version of the old problem of a Trojan horse attack. It discusses the most famous viruses and their countermeasures, and it comes with a floppy disk of utility programs that will disinfect your PC and thwart future attack.

Mathematics Programming on the Apple II and IBM PC.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Roy E.; Schneider, David I.

1987-01-01

Details the features of BASIC used in mathematics programming and provides the information needed to translate between the Apple II and IBM PC computers. Discusses inputing a user-defined function, setting scroll windows, displaying subscripts and exponents, variable names, mathematical characters and special symbols. (TW)

Creating Security System Models Using SNAP-PC.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-05-01

Submodel ATTGRD Prompts ............ 228 x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SNAP was originally developed in the late 1970’s by Pritsker & Associates, Inc., for Sandia...systems. The other was to simplify the simulation process so that a person knowledgeable in security planning and who had little experience in ...simulation techniques could use simulation in his evaluation of security systems. SNAP-PC was developed by Pritsker & Associates, Inc., for Sandia with

Detection of Post-Therapeutic Effects in Breast Carcinoma Using Hard X-Ray Index of Refraction Computed Tomography - A Feasibility Study.

PubMed

Grandl, Susanne; Sztrókay-Gaul, Anikó; Mittone, Alberto; Gasilov, Sergey; Brun, Emmanuel; Bravin, Alberto; Mayr, Doris; Auweter, Sigrid D; Hellerhoff, Karin; Reiser, Maximilian; Coan, Paola

2016-01-01

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the state-of-the-art treatment in advanced breast cancer. A correct visualization of the post-therapeutic tumor size is of high prognostic relevance. X-ray phase-contrast computed tomography (PC-CT) has been shown to provide improved soft-tissue contrast at a resolution formerly restricted to histopathology, at low doses. This study aimed at assessing ex-vivo the potential use of PC-CT for visualizing the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on breast carcinoma. The analysis was performed on two ex-vivo formalin-fixed mastectomy samples containing an invasive carcinoma removed from two patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Images were matched with corresponding histological slices. The visibility of typical post-therapeutic tissue changes was assessed and compared to results obtained with conventional clinical imaging modalities. PC-CT depicted the different tissue types with an excellent correlation to histopathology. Post-therapeutic tissue changes were correctly visualized and the residual tumor mass could be detected. PC-CT outperformed clinical imaging modalities in the detection of chemotherapy-induced tissue alterations including post-therapeutic tumor size. PC-CT might become a unique diagnostic tool in the prediction of tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. PC-CT might be used to assist during histopathological diagnosis, offering a high-resolution and high-contrast virtual histological tool for the accurate delineation of tumor boundaries.

Validity of computational hemodynamics in human arteries based on 3D time-of-flight MR angiography and 2D electrocardiogram gated phase contrast images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Huidan (Whitney); Chen, Xi; Chen, Rou; Wang, Zhiqiang; Lin, Chen; Kralik, Stephen; Zhao, Ye

2015-11-01

In this work, we demonstrate the validity of 4-D patient-specific computational hemodynamics (PSCH) based on 3-D time-of-flight (TOF) MR angiography (MRA) and 2-D electrocardiogram (ECG) gated phase contrast (PC) images. The mesoscale lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is employed to segment morphological arterial geometry from TOF MRA, to extract velocity profiles from ECG PC images, and to simulate fluid dynamics on a unified GPU accelerated computational platform. Two healthy volunteers are recruited to participate in the study. For each volunteer, a 3-D high resolution TOF MRA image and 10 2-D ECG gated PC images are acquired to provide the morphological geometry and the time-varying flow velocity profiles for necessary inputs of the PSCH. Validation results will be presented through comparisons of LBM vs. 4D Flow Software for flow rates and LBM simulation vs. MRA measurement for blood flow velocity maps. Indiana University Health (IUH) Values Fund.

Impact of collaborative care on survival time for dogs with congestive heart failure and revenue for attending primary care veterinarians.

PubMed

Lefbom, Bonnie K; Peckens, Neal K

2016-07-01

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of in-person collaborative care by primary care veterinarians (pcDVMs) and board-certified veterinary cardiologists (BCVCs) on survival time of dogs after onset of congestive heart failure (CHF) and on associated revenue for the attending pcDVMs. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. ANIMALS 26 small-breed dogs treated for naturally occurring CHF secondary to myxomatous mitral valve disease at a multilocation primary care veterinary hospital between 2008 and 2013. PROCEDURES Electronic medical records were reviewed to identify dogs with confirmed CHF secondary to myxomatous mitral valve disease and collect information on patient care, survival time, and pcDVM revenue. Data were compared between dogs that received collaborative care from the pcDVM and a BCVC and dogs that received care from the pcDVM alone. RESULTS Dogs that received collaborative care had a longer median survival time (254 days) than did dogs that received care from the pcDVM alone (146 days). A significant positive correlation was identified between pcDVM revenue and survival time for dogs that received collaborative care (ie, the longer the dog survived, the greater the pcDVM revenue generated from caring for that patient). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Findings suggested that collaborative care provided to small-breed dogs with CHF by a BCVC and pcDVM could result in survival benefits for affected dogs and increased revenue for pcDVMs, compared with care provided by a pcDVM alone.

Grid and basis adaptive polynomial chaos techniques for sensitivity and uncertainty analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perkó, Zoltán, E-mail: Z.Perko@tudelft.nl; Gilli, Luca, E-mail: Gilli@nrg.eu; Lathouwers, Danny, E-mail: D.Lathouwers@tudelft.nl

2014-03-01

The demand for accurate and computationally affordable sensitivity and uncertainty techniques is constantly on the rise and has become especially pressing in the nuclear field with the shift to Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty methodologies in the licensing of nuclear installations. Besides traditional, already well developed methods – such as first order perturbation theory or Monte Carlo sampling – Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE) has been given a growing emphasis in recent years due to its simple application and good performance. This paper presents new developments of the research done at TU Delft on such Polynomial Chaos (PC) techniques. Our work ismore » focused on the Non-Intrusive Spectral Projection (NISP) approach and adaptive methods for building the PCE of responses of interest. Recent efforts resulted in a new adaptive sparse grid algorithm designed for estimating the PC coefficients. The algorithm is based on Gerstner's procedure for calculating multi-dimensional integrals but proves to be computationally significantly cheaper, while at the same it retains a similar accuracy as the original method. More importantly the issue of basis adaptivity has been investigated and two techniques have been implemented for constructing the sparse PCE of quantities of interest. Not using the traditional full PC basis set leads to further reduction in computational time since the high order grids necessary for accurately estimating the near zero expansion coefficients of polynomial basis vectors not needed in the PCE can be excluded from the calculation. Moreover the sparse PC representation of the response is easier to handle when used for sensitivity analysis or uncertainty propagation due to the smaller number of basis vectors. The developed grid and basis adaptive methods have been implemented in Matlab as the Fully Adaptive Non-Intrusive Spectral Projection (FANISP) algorithm and were tested on four analytical problems. These show consistent good performance both in terms of the accuracy of the resulting PC representation of quantities and the computational costs associated with constructing the sparse PCE. Basis adaptivity also seems to make the employment of PC techniques possible for problems with a higher number of input parameters (15–20), alleviating a well known limitation of the traditional approach. The prospect of larger scale applicability and the simplicity of implementation makes such adaptive PC algorithms particularly appealing for the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of complex systems and legacy codes.« less

Parallel Computation of the Jacobian Matrix for Nonlinear Equation Solvers Using MATLAB

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rose, Geoffrey K.; Nguyen, Duc T.; Newman, Brett A.

2017-01-01

Demonstrating speedup for parallel code on a multicore shared memory PC can be challenging in MATLAB due to underlying parallel operations that are often opaque to the user. This can limit potential for improvement of serial code even for the so-called embarrassingly parallel applications. One such application is the computation of the Jacobian matrix inherent to most nonlinear equation solvers. Computation of this matrix represents the primary bottleneck in nonlinear solver speed such that commercial finite element (FE) and multi-body-dynamic (MBD) codes attempt to minimize computations. A timing study using MATLAB's Parallel Computing Toolbox was performed for numerical computation of the Jacobian. Several approaches for implementing parallel code were investigated while only the single program multiple data (spmd) method using composite objects provided positive results. Parallel code speedup is demonstrated but the goal of linear speedup through the addition of processors was not achieved due to PC architecture.

SU-D-BRD-01: Cloud-Based Radiation Treatment Planning: Performance Evaluation of Dose Calculation and Plan Optimization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Na, Y; Kapp, D; Kim, Y

2014-06-01

Purpose: To report the first experience on the development of a cloud-based treatment planning system and investigate the performance improvement of dose calculation and treatment plan optimization of the cloud computing platform. Methods: A cloud computing-based radiation treatment planning system (cc-TPS) was developed for clinical treatment planning. Three de-identified clinical head and neck, lung, and prostate cases were used to evaluate the cloud computing platform. The de-identified clinical data were encrypted with 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm. VMAT and IMRT plans were generated for the three de-identified clinical cases to determine the quality of the treatment plans and computationalmore » efficiency. All plans generated from the cc-TPS were compared to those obtained with the PC-based TPS (pc-TPS). The performance evaluation of the cc-TPS was quantified as the speedup factors for Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations and large-scale plan optimizations, as well as the performance ratios (PRs) of the amount of performance improvement compared to the pc-TPS. Results: Speedup factors were improved up to 14.0-fold dependent on the clinical cases and plan types. The computation times for VMAT and IMRT plans with the cc-TPS were reduced by 91.1% and 89.4%, respectively, on average of the clinical cases compared to those with pc-TPS. The PRs were mostly better for VMAT plans (1.0 ≤ PRs ≤ 10.6 for the head and neck case, 1.2 ≤ PRs ≤ 13.3 for lung case, and 1.0 ≤ PRs ≤ 10.3 for prostate cancer cases) than for IMRT plans. The isodose curves of plans on both cc-TPS and pc-TPS were identical for each of the clinical cases. Conclusion: A cloud-based treatment planning has been setup and our results demonstrate the computation efficiency of treatment planning with the cc-TPS can be dramatically improved while maintaining the same plan quality to that obtained with the pc-TPS. This work was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute (1R01 CA133474) and by Leading Foreign Research Institute Recruitment Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) (Grant No.2009-00420)« less

Object-oriented design and implementation of CFDLab: a computer-assisted learning tool for fluid dynamics using dual reciprocity boundary element methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedrich, J.

1999-08-01

As lecturers, our main concern and goal is to develop more attractive and efficient ways of communicating up-to-date scientific knowledge to our students and facilitate an in-depth understanding of physical phenomena. Computer-based instruction is very promising to help both teachers and learners in their difficult task, which involves complex cognitive psychological processes. This complexity is reflected in high demands on the design and implementation methods used to create computer-assisted learning (CAL) programs. Due to their concepts, flexibility, maintainability and extended library resources, object-oriented modeling techniques are very suitable to produce this type of pedagogical tool. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) enjoys not only a growing importance in today's research, but is also very powerful for teaching and learning fluid dynamics. For this purpose, an educational PC program for university level called 'CFDLab 1.1' for Windows™ was developed with an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) for multitasking and point-and-click operations. It uses the dual reciprocity boundary element method as a versatile numerical scheme, allowing to handle a variety of relevant governing equations in two dimensions on personal computers due to its simple pre- and postprocessing including 2D Laplace, Poisson, diffusion, transient convection-diffusion.

Using a decade of data on medical student computer literacy for strategic planning

PubMed Central

Seago, Brenda L.; Schlesinger, Jeanne B.; Hampton, Carol L.

2002-01-01

Purpose: From 1991 through 2000, incoming medical students (M-Is) at the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University have been surveyed with a written questionnaire on their computer literacy. The survey's purpose is to learn the students' levels of knowledge, skill, and experience with computer technology to guide instructional services and facilities. Methodology: The questionnaire was administered during M-I orientation or mailed to students' homes after matriculation. It evolved from sixteen questions in 1991 to twenty-three questions in 2000, with fifteen questions common to all. Results: The average survey response rate was 81% from an average of 177 students. Six major changes were introduced based on information collected from the surveys and advances in technology: production of CD-ROMs distributed to students containing required computer-based instructional programs, delivery of evaluation instruments to students via the Internet, modification of the lab to a mostly PC-based environment, development of an electronic curriculum Website, development of computerized examinations for medical students to prepare them for the computerized national board examinations, and initiation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) project for students to evaluate PDAs' usefulness in clinical settings. Conclusion: The computer literacy survey provides a snapshot of students' past and present use of technology and guidance for the development of services and facilities. PMID:11999178

Using a decade of data on medical student computer literacy for strategic planning.

PubMed

Seago, Brenda L; Schlesinger, Jeanne B; Hampton, Carol L

2002-04-01

From 1991 through 2000, incoming medical students (M-Is) at the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University have been surveyed with a written questionnaire on their computer literacy. The survey's purpose is to learn the students' levels of knowledge, skill, and experience with computer technology to guide instructional services and facilities. The questionnaire was administered during M-I orientation or mailed to students' homes after matriculation. It evolved from sixteen questions in 1991 to twenty-three questions in 2000, with fifteen questions common to all. The average survey response rate was 81% from an average of 177 students. Six major changes were introduced based on information collected from the surveys and advances in technology: production of CD-ROMs distributed to students containing required computer-based instructional programs, delivery of evaluation instruments to students via the Internet, modification of the lab to a mostly PC-based environment, development of an electronic curriculum Website, development of computerized examinations for medical students to prepare them for the computerized national board examinations, and initiation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) project for students to evaluate PDAs' usefulness in clinical settings. The computer literacy survey provides a snapshot of students' past and present use of technology and guidance for the development of services and facilities.

What's New with MS Office Suites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldsborough, Reid

2012-01-01

If one buys a new PC, laptop, or netbook computer today, it probably comes preloaded with Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition. This is a significantly limited, advertising-laden version of Microsoft's suite of productivity programs, Microsoft Office. This continues the trend of PC makers providing ever more crippled versions of Microsoft's…

Building a Better Biology Lab? Testing Tablet PC Technology in a Core Laboratory Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pryor, Gregory; Bauer, Vernon

2008-01-01

Tablet PC technology can enliven the classroom environment because it is dynamic, interactive, and "organic," relative to the rigidity of chalkboards, whiteboards, overhead projectors, and PowerPoint presentations. Unlike traditional computers, tablet PCs employ "digital linking," allowing instructors and students to freehand annotate, clarify,…

One Big Happy Family? Unraveling the Relationship between Shared Perceptions of Team Psychological Contracts, Person-Team Fit and Team Performance.

PubMed

Gibbard, Katherine; Griep, Yannick; De Cooman, Rein; Hoffart, Genevieve; Onen, Denis; Zareipour, Hamidreza

2017-01-01

With the knowledge that team work is not always associated with high(er) performance, we draw from the Multi-Level Theory of Psychological Contracts, Person-Environment Fit Theory, and Optimal Distinctiveness Theory to study shared perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breach in relation to shared perceptions of complementary and supplementary fit to explain why some teams perform better than other teams. We collected three repeated survey measures in a sample of 128 respondents across 46 teams. After having made sure that we met all statistical criteria, we aggregated our focal variables to the team-level and analyzed our data by means of a longitudinal three-wave autoregressive moderated-mediation model in which each relationship was one-time lag apart. We found that shared perceptions of PC breach were directly negatively related to team output and negatively related to perceived team member effectiveness through a decrease in shared perceptions of supplementary fit. However, we also demonstrated a beneficial process in that shared perceptions of PC breach were positively related to shared perceptions of complementary fit, which in turn were positively related to team output. Moreover, best team output appeared in teams that could combine high shared perceptions of complementary fit with modest to high shared perceptions of supplementary fit. Overall, our findings seem to indicate that in terms of team output there may be a bright side to perceptions of PC breach and that perceived person-team fit may play an important role in this process.

One Big Happy Family? Unraveling the Relationship between Shared Perceptions of Team Psychological Contracts, Person-Team Fit and Team Performance

PubMed Central

Gibbard, Katherine; Griep, Yannick; De Cooman, Rein; Hoffart, Genevieve; Onen, Denis; Zareipour, Hamidreza

2017-01-01

With the knowledge that team work is not always associated with high(er) performance, we draw from the Multi-Level Theory of Psychological Contracts, Person-Environment Fit Theory, and Optimal Distinctiveness Theory to study shared perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breach in relation to shared perceptions of complementary and supplementary fit to explain why some teams perform better than other teams. We collected three repeated survey measures in a sample of 128 respondents across 46 teams. After having made sure that we met all statistical criteria, we aggregated our focal variables to the team-level and analyzed our data by means of a longitudinal three-wave autoregressive moderated-mediation model in which each relationship was one-time lag apart. We found that shared perceptions of PC breach were directly negatively related to team output and negatively related to perceived team member effectiveness through a decrease in shared perceptions of supplementary fit. However, we also demonstrated a beneficial process in that shared perceptions of PC breach were positively related to shared perceptions of complementary fit, which in turn were positively related to team output. Moreover, best team output appeared in teams that could combine high shared perceptions of complementary fit with modest to high shared perceptions of supplementary fit. Overall, our findings seem to indicate that in terms of team output there may be a bright side to perceptions of PC breach and that perceived person-team fit may play an important role in this process. PMID:29170648

DNA Repair in Prostate Cancer: Biology and Clinical Implications.

PubMed

Mateo, Joaquin; Boysen, Gunther; Barbieri, Christopher E; Bryant, Helen E; Castro, Elena; Nelson, Pete S; Olmos, David; Pritchard, Colin C; Rubin, Mark A; de Bono, Johann S

2017-03-01

For more precise, personalized care in prostate cancer (PC), a new classification based on molecular features relevant for prognostication and treatment stratification is needed. Genomic aberrations in the DNA damage repair pathway are common in PC, particularly in late-stage disease, and may be relevant for treatment stratification. To review current knowledge on the prevalence and clinical significance of aberrations in DNA repair genes in PC, particularly in metastatic disease. A literature search up to July 2016 was conducted, including clinical trials and preclinical basic research studies. Keywords included DNA repair, BRCA, ATM, CRPC, prostate cancer, PARP, platinum, predictive biomarkers, and hereditary cancer. We review how the DNA repair pathway is relevant to prostate carcinogenesis and progression. Data on how this may be relevant to hereditary cancer and genetic counseling are included, as well as data from clinical trials of PARP inhibitors and platinum therapeutics in PC. Relevant studies have identified genomic defects in DNA repair in PCs in 20-30% of advanced castration-resistant PC cases, a proportion of which are germline aberrations and heritable. Phase 1/2 clinical trial data, and other supporting clinical data, support the development of PARP inhibitors and DNA-damaging agents in this molecularly defined subgroup of PC following success in other cancer types. These studies may be an opportunity to improve patient care with personalized therapeutic strategies. Key literature on how genomic defects in the DNA damage repair pathway are relevant for prostate cancer biology and clinical management is reviewed. Potential implications for future changes in patient care are discussed. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computed Tomography Perfusion Improves Diagnostic Accuracy in Acute Posterior Circulation Stroke.

PubMed

Sporns, Peter; Schmidt, Rene; Minnerup, Jens; Dziewas, Rainer; Kemmling, André; Dittrich, Ralf; Zoubi, Tarek; Heermann, Philipp; Cnyrim, Christian; Schwindt, Wolfram; Heindel, Walter; Niederstadt, Thomas; Hanning, Uta

2016-01-01

Computed tomography perfusion (CTP) has a high diagnostic value in the detection of acute ischemic stroke in the anterior circulation. However, the diagnostic value in suspected posterior circulation (PC) stroke is uncertain, and whole brain volume perfusion is not yet in widespread use. We therefore studied the additional value of whole brain volume perfusion to non-contrast CT (NCCT) and CT angiography source images (CTA-SI) for infarct detection in patients with suspected acute ischemic PC stroke. This is a retrospective review of patients with suspected stroke in the PC in a database of our stroke center (n = 3,011) who underwent NCCT, CTA and CTP within 9 h after stroke onset and CT or MRI on follow-up. Images were evaluated for signs and pc-ASPECTS locations of ischemia. Three imaging models - A (NCCT), B (NCCT + CTA-SI) and C (NCCT + CTA-SI + CTP) - were compared with regard to the misclassification rate relative to gold standard (infarction in follow-up imaging) using the McNemar's test. Of 3,011 stroke patients, 267 patients had a suspected stroke in the PC and 188 patients (70.4%) evidenced a PC infarct on follow-up imaging. The sensitivity of Model C (76.6%) was higher compared with that of Model A (21.3%) and Model B (43.6%). CTP detected significantly more ischemic lesions, especially in the cerebellum, posterior cerebral artery territory and thalami. Our findings in a large cohort of consecutive patients show that CTP detects significantly more ischemic strokes in the PC than CTA and NCCT alone. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A PCA-Based method for determining craniofacial relationship and sexual dimorphism of facial shapes.

PubMed

Shui, Wuyang; Zhou, Mingquan; Maddock, Steve; He, Taiping; Wang, Xingce; Deng, Qingqiong

2017-11-01

Previous studies have used principal component analysis (PCA) to investigate the craniofacial relationship, as well as sex determination using facial factors. However, few studies have investigated the extent to which the choice of principal components (PCs) affects the analysis of craniofacial relationship and sexual dimorphism. In this paper, we propose a PCA-based method for visual and quantitative analysis, using 140 samples of 3D heads (70 male and 70 female), produced from computed tomography (CT) images. There are two parts to the method. First, skull and facial landmarks are manually marked to guide the model's registration so that dense corresponding vertices occupy the same relative position in every sample. Statistical shape spaces of the skull and face in dense corresponding vertices are constructed using PCA. Variations in these vertices, captured in every principal component (PC), are visualized to observe shape variability. The correlations of skull- and face-based PC scores are analysed, and linear regression is used to fit the craniofacial relationship. We compute the PC coefficients of a face based on this craniofacial relationship and the PC scores of a skull, and apply the coefficients to estimate a 3D face for the skull. To evaluate the accuracy of the computed craniofacial relationship, the mean and standard deviation of every vertex between the two models are computed, where these models are reconstructed using real PC scores and coefficients. Second, each PC in facial space is analysed for sex determination, for which support vector machines (SVMs) are used. We examined the correlation between PCs and sex, and explored the extent to which the choice of PCs affects the expression of sexual dimorphism. Our results suggest that skull- and face-based PCs can be used to describe the craniofacial relationship and that the accuracy of the method can be improved by using an increased number of face-based PCs. The results show that the accuracy of the sex classification is related to the choice of PCs. The highest sex classification rate is 91.43% using our method. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effective use of principal component analysis with high resolution remote sensing data to delineate hydrothermal alteration and carbonate rocks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feldman, Sandra C.

1987-01-01

Methods of applying principal component (PC) analysis to high resolution remote sensing imagery were examined. Using Airborne Imaging Spectrometer (AIS) data, PC analysis was found to be useful for removing the effects of albedo and noise and for isolating the significant information on argillic alteration, zeolite, and carbonate minerals. An effective technique for using PC analysis using an input the first 16 AIS bands, 7 intermediate bands, and the last 16 AIS bands from the 32 flat field corrected bands between 2048 and 2337 nm. Most of the significant mineralogical information resided in the second PC. PC color composites and density sliced images provided a good mineralogical separation when applied to a AIS data set. Although computer intensive, the advantage of PC analysis is that it employs algorithms which already exist on most image processing systems.

Monte Carlo tests of the ELIPGRID-PC algorithm

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davidson, J.R.

1995-04-01

The standard tool for calculating the probability of detecting pockets of contamination called hot spots has been the ELIPGRID computer code of Singer and Wickman. The ELIPGRID-PC program has recently made this algorithm available for an IBM{reg_sign} PC. However, no known independent validation of the ELIPGRID algorithm exists. This document describes a Monte Carlo simulation-based validation of a modified version of the ELIPGRID-PC code. The modified ELIPGRID-PC code is shown to match Monte Carlo-calculated hot-spot detection probabilities to within {plus_minus}0.5% for 319 out of 320 test cases. The one exception, a very thin elliptical hot spot located within a rectangularmore » sampling grid, differed from the Monte Carlo-calculated probability by about 1%. These results provide confidence in the ability of the modified ELIPGRID-PC code to accurately predict hot-spot detection probabilities within an acceptable range of error.« less

Living with chronic illness scale: international validation of a new self-report measure in Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Ambrosio, Leire; Portillo, Mari Carmen; Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen; Rodriguez-Violante, Mayela; Castrillo, Juan Carlos Martínez; Arillo, Víctor Campos; Garretto, Nélida Susana; Arakaki, Tomoko; Dueñas, Marcos Serrano; Álvarez, Mario; Ibáñez, Ivonne Pedroso; Carvajal, Ana; Martínez-Martín, Pablo

2016-01-01

Understanding how a person lives with a chronic illness, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), is necessary to provide individualized care and professionals role in person-centered care at clinical and community levels is paramount. The present study was aimed to analyze the psychometric properties of the Living with Chronic Illness-PD Scale (EC-PC) in a wide Spanish-speaking population with PD. International cross-sectional study with retest was carried out with 324 patients from four Latin American countries and Spain. Feasibility, acceptability, scaling assumptions, reliability, precision, and construct validity were tested. The study included 324 patients, with age (mean±s.d.) 66.67±10.68 years. None of the EC-PC items had missing values and all acceptability parameters fulfilled the standard criteria. Around two-third of the items (61.54%) met scaling assumptions standards. Concerning internal consistency, Cronbach’s alpha values were 0.68–0.88; item-total correlation was >0.30, except for two items; item homogeneity index was >0.30, and inter-item correlation values 0.14–0.76. Intraclass correlation coefficient for EC-PC stability was 0.76 and standard error of measurement (s.e.m.) for precision was 8.60 (for a EC-PC s.d.=18.57). EC-PC presented strong correlation with social support (rS=0.61) and moderate correlation with life satisfaction (rS=0.46). Weak and negligible correlations were found with the other scales. Internal validity correlations ranged from 0.46 to 0.78. EC-PC total scores were significantly different for each severity level based on Hoehn and Yahr and Clinical Impression of Severity Index, but not for Patient Global Impression of Severity. The EC-PC has satisfactory acceptability, reliability, precision, and validity to evaluate living with PD. PMID:28725703

A Way to Measure Success in the Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinlund, Stephen J.

1974-01-01

Persons concerned about drug addiction and who seek to help addicts must learn to distinguish between types of addicts. Three cases are reviewed. Those offering help to addicts in need should look beyond simple abstinence to the development of the total person. (Author/PC)

Leveraging retained physical capabilities to improve quality of life as assessed by persons with severe motor impairments.

PubMed

Felzer, Torsten; Beckerle, Philipp; Rinderknecht, Stephan; Nordmann, Rainer

2010-07-01

The main objective of this article is to present an alternative method of interacting with a computer which empowers persons with very severe motor impairments to leverage retained capabilities in order to independently control parts of their daily lives. The input strategy is based on tiny intentional contractions of a single muscle of choice (requiring a minimum of physical contribution only) which are used as selection markers in the context of scanning. To demonstrate the usefulness of the idea, two applications (combined in a single software system) have been implemented (initially): a module turning the PC into a Universal Remote Control and a Text-To-Speech module. The system has finally been supplemented by a third application offering to effortlessly make telephone calls. A simple experiment requesting the speed of the scanning scheme shows that the theoretical concept really works. Furthermore, the usability by novice users from the target population is proven in a user study focusing on the telephony application. It is concluded that the approach has a large potential for persons with severe physical disabilities, meaning that the resulting system is indeed able to improve its users' quality of life.

Message Passing vs. Shared Address Space on a Cluster of SMPs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shan, Hongzhang; Singh, Jaswinder Pal; Oliker, Leonid; Biswas, Rupak

2000-01-01

The convergence of scalable computer architectures using clusters of PCs (or PC-SMPs) with commodity networking has become an attractive platform for high end scientific computing. Currently, message-passing and shared address space (SAS) are the two leading programming paradigms for these systems. Message-passing has been standardized with MPI, and is the most common and mature programming approach. However message-passing code development can be extremely difficult, especially for irregular structured computations. SAS offers substantial ease of programming, but may suffer from performance limitations due to poor spatial locality, and high protocol overhead. In this paper, we compare the performance of and programming effort, required for six applications under both programming models on a 32 CPU PC-SMP cluster. Our application suite consists of codes that typically do not exhibit high efficiency under shared memory programming. due to their high communication to computation ratios and complex communication patterns. Results indicate that SAS can achieve about half the parallel efficiency of MPI for most of our applications: however, on certain classes of problems SAS performance is competitive with MPI. We also present new algorithms for improving the PC cluster performance of MPI collective operations.

Numerical investigation of diffraction of acoustic waves by phononic crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moiseyenko, Rayisa P.; Declercq, Nico F.; Laude, Vincent

2012-05-01

Diffraction as well as transmission of acoustic waves by two-dimensional phononic crystals (PCs) composed of steel rods in water are investigated in this paper. The finite element simulations were performed in order to compute pressure fields generated by a line source that are incident on a finite size PC. Such field maps are analyzed based on the complex band structure for the infinite periodic PC. Finite size computations indicate that the exponential decrease of the transmission at deaf frequencies is much stronger than that in Bragg band gaps.

An initial melanoma diagnosis may increase the subsequent risk of prostate cancer: Results from the New South Wales Cancer Registry.

PubMed

Cole-Clark, D; Nair-Shalliker, V; Bang, A; Rasiah, K; Chalasani, V; Smith, D P

2018-05-08

Emerging evidence suggests that a diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma (CM) may be associated with prostate cancer (PC) incidence. We examined if the incidence of CM was associated with an increased subsequent risk of PC. We used data from the New South Wales Cancer Registry for all CM and PC cases diagnosed between January 1972 and December 2008. We calculated the age standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for PC incidence following a CM diagnosis, applying age- and calendar- specific rates to the appropriate person years at risk. We determined rate ratio (RR) and 95% CI of PC incidence according to specified socio-demographic categories and disease related characteristics, using a negative binomial model. There were 143,594 men diagnosed with PC or CM in the study period and of these 101,198 and 42,396 were diagnosed with PC and CM, respectively, as first primary cancers. Risk of PC incidence increased following CM diagnosis (n = 2,114; SIR = 1.25; 95% CI:1.20.8-1.31: p < 0.0001), with the increased risk apparent in men diagnosed with localised CM (n = 1,862;SIR = 1.26; 95% CI:1.20-1.32). CM diagnosis increased the subsequent risk of PC incidence. This raises the potential for future PC risk to be discussed with newly diagnosed males with CM.

A Development of a System Enables Character Input and PC Operation via Voice for a Physically Disabled Person with a Speech Impediment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanioka, Toshimasa; Egashira, Hiroyuki; Takata, Mayumi; Okazaki, Yasuhisa; Watanabe, Kenzi; Kondo, Hiroki

We have designed and implemented a PC operation support system for a physically disabled person with a speech impediment via voice. Voice operation is an effective method for a physically disabled person with involuntary movement of the limbs and the head. We have applied a commercial speech recognition engine to develop our system for practical purposes. Adoption of a commercial engine reduces development cost and will contribute to make our system useful to another speech impediment people. We have customized commercial speech recognition engine so that it can recognize the utterance of a person with a speech impediment. We have restricted the words that the recognition engine recognizes and separated a target words from similar words in pronunciation to avoid misrecognition. Huge number of words registered in commercial speech recognition engines cause frequent misrecognition for speech impediments' utterance, because their utterance is not clear and unstable. We have solved this problem by narrowing the choice of input down in a small number and also by registering their ambiguous pronunciations in addition to the original ones. To realize all character inputs and all PC operation with a small number of words, we have designed multiple input modes with categorized dictionaries and have introduced two-step input in each mode except numeral input to enable correct operation with small number of words. The system we have developed is in practical level. The first author of this paper is physically disabled with a speech impediment. He has been able not only character input into PC but also to operate Windows system smoothly by using this system. He uses this system in his daily life. This paper is written by him with this system. At present, the speech recognition is customized to him. It is, however, possible to customize for other users by changing words and registering new pronunciation according to each user's utterance.

A PC-based bus monitor program for use with the transport systems research vehicle RS-232 communication interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Easley, Wesley C.

1991-01-01

Experiment critical use of RS-232 data busses in the Transport Systems Research Vehicle (TSRV) operated by the Advanced Transport Operating Systems Program Office at the NASA Langley Research Center has recently increased. Each application utilizes a number of nonidentical computer and peripheral configurations and requires task specific software development. To aid these development tasks, an IBM PC-based RS-232 bus monitoring system was produced. It can simultaneously monitor two communication ports of a PC or clone, including the nonstandard bus expansion of the TSRV Grid laptop computers. Display occurs in a separate window for each port's input with binary display being selectable. A number of other features including binary log files, screen capture to files, and a full range of communication parameters are provided.

77 FR 54912 - Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-06

... prepaid card transactions, credit card transactions, mobile payments, and transactions involving third... a remote scanner attached to a PC or point-of-sale device, smartphone or other mobile device, or ATM... mobile payments, including the number and value of relevant bill pay transactions and person-to- person...

Self-Admitted Pretensions of Mac Users on a Predominantly PC University Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Firmin, Michael W.; Wood, Whitney L. Muhlenkamp; Firmin, Ruth L.; Wood, Jordan C.

2010-01-01

The present qualitative research study addressed the overall research question of college students' pretention dynamics in the context of a university setting. Thirty-five Mac users were interviewed on a university campus that exclusively supports PC machines. Mac users shared four self-admitted pretensions related to using Macintosh computers.…

PC vs. Mac--Which Way Should You Go?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wodarz, Nan

1997-01-01

Outlines the factors in hardware, software, and administration to consider in developing specifications for choosing a computer operating system. Compares Microsoft Windows 95/NT that runs on PC/Intel-based systems and System 7.5 that runs on the Apple-based systems. Lists reasons why the Microsoft platform clearly stands above the Apple platform.…

Poor computer access hinders use of web forums to exchange ideas.

PubMed

Duffin, Christian

2010-09-29

'There WaS one PC between seven in my team when I was in district nursing. It's not changed a lot.' 'I am sharing a PC with an unknown number of people - until recently, we did not even have access to the intranet, we had to go to another building.'

PC Games and the Teaching of History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMichael, Andrew

2007-01-01

Although the use of PC games in the history classroom might be relatively new, the ideas for these assignments and the theory behind their use borrows heavily from a number of areas and combines different pedagogical techniques. Using computer games allows teachers to recombine disparate teaching threads into something novel that will serve…

A Simulation of AI Programming Techniques in BASIC.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandell, Alan

1986-01-01

Explains the functions of and the techniques employed in expert systems. Offers the program "The Periodic Table Expert," as a model for using artificial intelligence techniques in BASIC. Includes the program listing and directions for its use on: Tandy 1000, 1200, and 2000; IBM PC; PC Jr; TRS-80; and Apple computers. (ML)

Decimetre Waves and Cerebellar Cortex Key Element - Purkinje Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maharramov, Akif A.

2007-04-01

Acute experiments have been carried out on both decerebrated and anaesthetized adult cats exposed to Decimetre Range Microwaves (DRM) (λ=65 cm, duration of exposition -10 min., at least) by the help of a 2 cm radius contact applicator located on the temple part of the head with cerebellum in the centre of projection of irradiation conducted from portable physiotherapeutic apparatus ``Romashka''. Extracelullar registration of Purkinje Cells (PC) impulse activities have been led by glass microelectrodes. Statistical and computational analyses of PC activities have been realized by the help of histograms - the characteristic distribution of the number of interimpulse intervals (II) between electrical discharges of a neuron on the II durations, drawn up by the help of a computer. The results obtained revealed the reaction of PC to DRM as a succession of starting to react of PC electrophysiological parameters, beginning from decreasing of known ``Inhibitory Pause'' duration, and further, at first, ``Simple Spikes'' then ``Complex Spikes'' frequencies' increase, and furthermore, durations' increase in ``Big Interimpulse Intervals'', parameter, introduced for the first time by us, in this way, showing the ``evolutionary'' nature of Electromagnetic Fields and Living object interactions.

Bayesian bivariate meta-analysis of diagnostic test studies with interpretable priors.

PubMed

Guo, Jingyi; Riebler, Andrea; Rue, Håvard

2017-08-30

In a bivariate meta-analysis, the number of diagnostic studies involved is often very low so that frequentist methods may result in problems. Using Bayesian inference is particularly attractive as informative priors that add a small amount of information can stabilise the analysis without overwhelming the data. However, Bayesian analysis is often computationally demanding and the selection of the prior for the covariance matrix of the bivariate structure is crucial with little data. The integrated nested Laplace approximations method provides an efficient solution to the computational issues by avoiding any sampling, but the important question of priors remain. We explore the penalised complexity (PC) prior framework for specifying informative priors for the variance parameters and the correlation parameter. PC priors facilitate model interpretation and hyperparameter specification as expert knowledge can be incorporated intuitively. We conduct a simulation study to compare the properties and behaviour of differently defined PC priors to currently used priors in the field. The simulation study shows that the PC prior seems beneficial for the variance parameters. The use of PC priors for the correlation parameter results in more precise estimates when specified in a sensible neighbourhood around the truth. To investigate the usage of PC priors in practice, we reanalyse a meta-analysis using the telomerase marker for the diagnosis of bladder cancer and compare the results with those obtained by other commonly used modelling approaches. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Computer Virus Bibliography, 1988-1989.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bologna, Jack, Comp.

This bibliography lists 14 books, 154 journal articles, 34 newspaper articles, and 3 research papers published during 1988-1989 on the subject of computer viruses, software protection and 'cures', virus hackers, and other related issues. Some of the sources listed include Computers and Security, Computer Security Digest, PC Week, Time, the New…

IPEG- IMPROVED PRICE ESTIMATION GUIDELINES (IBM 370 VERSION)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamberlain, R. G.

1994-01-01

The Improved Price Estimation Guidelines, IPEG, program provides a simple yet accurate estimate of the price of a manufactured product. IPEG facilitates sensitivity studies of price estimates at considerably less expense than would be incurred by using the Standard Assembly-line Manufacturing Industry Simulation, SAMIS, program (COSMIC program NPO-16032). A difference of less than one percent between the IPEG and SAMIS price estimates has been observed with realistic test cases. However, the IPEG simplification of SAMIS allows the analyst with limited time and computing resources to perform a greater number of sensitivity studies than with SAMIS. Although IPEG was developed for the photovoltaics industry, it is readily adaptable to any standard assembly line type of manufacturing industry. IPEG estimates the annual production price per unit. The input data includes cost of equipment, space, labor, materials, supplies, and utilities. Production on an industry wide basis or a process wide basis can be simulated. Once the IPEG input file is prepared, the original price is estimated and sensitivity studies may be performed. The IPEG user selects a sensitivity variable and a set of values. IPEG will compute a price estimate and a variety of other cost parameters for every specified value of the sensitivity variable. IPEG is designed as an interactive system and prompts the user for all required information and offers a variety of output options. The IPEG/PC program is written in TURBO PASCAL for interactive execution on an IBM PC computer under DOS 2.0 or above with at least 64K of memory. The IBM PC color display and color graphics adapter are needed to use the plotting capabilities in IPEG/PC. IPEG/PC was developed in 1984. The original IPEG program is written in SIMSCRIPT II.5 for interactive execution and has been implemented on an IBM 370 series computer with a central memory requirement of approximately 300K of 8 bit bytes. The original IPEG was developed in 1980.

Basic ICT adoption and use by general practitioners: an analysis of primary care systems in 31 European countries.

PubMed

De Rosis, Sabina; Seghieri, Chiara

2015-08-22

There is general consensus that appropriate development and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) are crucial in the delivery of effective primary care (PC). Several countries are defining policies to support and promote a structural change of the health care system through the introduction of ICT. This study analyses the state of development of basic ICT in PC systems of 31 European countries with the aim to describe the extent of, and main purposes for, computer use by General Practitioners (GPs) across Europe. Additionally, trends over time have been analysed. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on data from the QUALICOPC (Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe) survey, to describe the geographic differences in the general use of computer, and in specific computerized clinical functions for different health-related purposes such as prescribing, medication checking, generating health records and research for medical information on the Internet. While all the countries have achieved a near-universal adoption of a computer in their primary care practices, with only a few countries near or under the boundary of 90 %, the computerisation of primary care clinical functions presents a wide variability of adoption within and among countries and, in several cases (such as in the southern and central-eastern Europe), a large room for improvement. At European level, more efforts could be done to support southern and central-eastern Europe in closing the gap in adoption and use of ICT in PC. In particular, more attention seems to be need on the current usages of the computer in PC, by focusing policies and actions on the improvement of the appropriate usages that can impact on quality and costs of PC and can facilitate an interconnected health care system. However, policies and investments seem necessary but not sufficient to achieve these goals. Organizational, behavioural and also networking aspects should be taken in consideration.

Computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstructions of ( sup 14 C)-2-deoxy-D-glucose metabolism in cat lumbosacral spinal cord following cutaneous stimulation of the hindfoot

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crockett, D.P.; Smith, W.K.; Proshansky, E.

1989-10-08

We report on computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstruction of spinal cord activity associated with stimulation of the plantar cushion (PC) as revealed by (14C)-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) serial autoradiographs. Moderate PC stimulation in cats elicits a reflex phasic plantar flexion of the toes. Four cats were chronically spinalized at about T6 under barbiturate anesthesia. Four to 11 days later, the cats were injected (i.v.) with 2-DG (100 microCi/kg) and the PC was electrically stimulated with needle electrodes at 2-5 times threshold for eliciting a reflex. Following stimulation, the spinal cord was processed for autoradiography. Subsequently, autoradiographs, representing approximately 8-18 mm from spinal segments L6-S1,more » were digitized for computer analysis and 3-D reconstruction. Several strategies of analysis were employed: (1) Three-dimensional volume images were color-coded to represent different levels of functional activity. (2) On the reconstructed volumes, virtual sections were made in the horizontal, sagittal, and transverse planes to view regions of 2-DG activity. (3) In addition, we were able to sample different regions within the grey and white matter semi-quantitatively (i.e., pixel intensity) from section to section to reveal differences between ipsi- and contralateral activity, as well as possible variation between sections. These analyses revealed 2-DG activity associated with moderate PC stimulation, not only in the ipsilateral dorsal horn as we had previously demonstrated, but also in both the ipsilateral and contralateral ventral horns, as well as in the intermediate grey matter. The use of novel computer analysis techniques--combined with an unanesthetized preparation--enabled us to demonstrate that the increased metabolic activity in the lumbosacral spinal cord associated with PC stimulation was much more extensive than had heretofore been observed.« less

Primary care in Switzerland--no longer attractive for young physicians?

PubMed

Buddeberg-Fischer, Barbara; Klaghofer, Richard; Stamm, Martina; Marty, Franz; Dreiding, Philip; Zoller, Marco; Buddeberg, Claus

2006-07-08

A trend away from primary care (PC) to other specialties has been noted in Switzerland, as well as in the health-care systems of many other Western countries. The objective of the present study was to ascertain how many third-year residents graduating in 2001/02 from medical schools in German-speaking Switzerland wanted to become PC physicians (PCPs), whether this career goal was continuously followed, and how many subjects switched to or away from PC during residency. Data reported are from the third assessment of the longitudinal Swiss physicians' career development study, begun in 2001. In 2005, at the third assessment, 515 residents (53.8% females, 46.2% males) were asked what specialty qualifications and career goals they aspired to. In addition, participants' socio-demographic, personality, and career-related characteristics as well as their life goals were addressed. Of n = 515 (total sample) third-year residents, 81 had not yet decided on the medical field in which they wished to specialise, while 434 had made this decision. Of the latter, only 42 (9.7%) aspired to become PCPs. Twelve of the 42 future PCPs consistently mentioned PC as a career goal from graduation throughout residency. The other 30 subjects only decided on PC during the course of their residencies. A switch away from PC was also noted in the case of 19 subjects who on graduation or after the first year of residency aspired to become PCPs, but abandoned this goal after three years of residency. Future PCPs differ from those pursuing other specialties in terms of personal and career-related characteristics, as well as in their life goals, insofar as they are less career-orientated and regard having more time outside work a priority. There are few gender-based differences between female and male future PCPs. Primary care seems to hold little attraction as a career goal for young physicians. Residency experiences would seem to have more of an effect on choice of specialty than teaching experiences during medical school. The percentage of subjects qualifying in PC is far too low to fill the need for the future generation of PCPs. In addition to efforts to incorporate PC issues into medical school curricula, structured residency programs should be established to promote PC.

Reducing cooling energy consumption in data centres and critical facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cross, Gareth

Given the rise of our everyday reliance on computers in all walks of life, from checking the train times to paying our credit card bills online, the need for computational power is ever increasing. Other than the ever-increasing performance of home Personal Computers (PC's) this reliance has given rise to a new phenomenon in the last 10 years ago. The data centre. Data centres contain vast arrays of IT cabinets loaded with servers that perform millions of computational equations every second. It is these data centres that allow us to continue with our reliance on the internet and the PC. As more and more data centres become necessary due to the increase in computing processing power required for the everyday activities we all take for granted so the energy consumed by these data centres rises. Not only are more and more data centres being constructed daily, but operators are also looking at ways to squeeze more processing from their existing data centres. This in turn leads to greater heat outputs and therefore requires more cooling. Cooling data centres requires a sizeable energy input, indeed to many megawatts per data centre site. Given the large amounts of money dependant on the successful operation of data centres, in particular for data centres operated by financial institutions, the onus is predominantly on ensuring the data centres operate with no technical glitches rather than in an energy conscious fashion. This report aims to investigate the ways and means of reducing energy consumption within data centres without compromising the technology the data centres are designed to house. As well as discussing the individual merits of the technologies and their implementation technical calculations will be undertaken where necessary to determine the levels of energy saving, if any, from each proposal. To enable comparison between each proposal any design calculations within this report will be undertaken against a notional data facility. This data facility will nominally be considered to require 1000 kW. Refer to Section 2.1 'Outline of Notional data Facility for Calculation Purposes' for details of the design conditions and constraints of the energy consumption calculations.

LCFM - LIVING COLOR FRAME MAKER: PC GRAPHICS GENERATION AND MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR REAL-TIME APPLICATIONS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truong, L. V.

1994-01-01

Computer graphics are often applied for better understanding and interpretation of data under observation. These graphics become more complicated when animation is required during "run-time", as found in many typical modern artificial intelligence and expert systems. Living Color Frame Maker is a solution to many of these real-time graphics problems. Living Color Frame Maker (LCFM) is a graphics generation and management tool for IBM or IBM compatible personal computers. To eliminate graphics programming, the graphic designer can use LCFM to generate computer graphics frames. The graphical frames are then saved as text files, in a readable and disclosed format, which can be easily accessed and manipulated by user programs for a wide range of "real-time" visual information applications. For example, LCFM can be implemented in a frame-based expert system for visual aids in management of systems. For monitoring, diagnosis, and/or controlling purposes, circuit or systems diagrams can be brought to "life" by using designated video colors and intensities to symbolize the status of hardware components (via real-time feedback from sensors). Thus status of the system itself can be displayed. The Living Color Frame Maker is user friendly with graphical interfaces, and provides on-line help instructions. All options are executed using mouse commands and are displayed on a single menu for fast and easy operation. LCFM is written in C++ using the Borland C++ 2.0 compiler for IBM PC series computers and compatible computers running MS-DOS. The program requires a mouse and an EGA/VGA display. A minimum of 77K of RAM is also required for execution. The documentation is provided in electronic form on the distribution medium in WordPerfect format. A sample MS-DOS executable is provided on the distribution medium. The standard distribution medium for this program is one 5.25 inch 360K MS-DOS format diskette. The contents of the diskette are compressed using the PKWARE archiving tools. The utility to unarchive the files, PKUNZIP.EXE, is included. The Living Color Frame Maker tool was developed in 1992.

Commercial counterboard for 10 ns software correlator for photon and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy.

PubMed

Molteni, Matteo; Ferri, Fabio

2016-11-01

A 10 ns time resolution, multi-tau software correlator, capable of computing simultaneous autocorrelation (A-A, B-B) and cross (A-B) correlation functions at count rates up to ∼10 MHz, with no data loss, has been developed in LabVIEW and C++ by using the National Instrument timer/counterboard (NI PCIe-6612) and a fast Personal Computer (PC) (Intel Core i7-4790 Processor 3.60 GHz ). The correlator works by using two algorithms: for large lag times (τ ≳ 1 μs), a classical time-mode scheme, based on the measure of the number of pulses per time interval, is used; differently, for τ ≲ 1 μs a photon-mode (PM) scheme is adopted and the correlation function is retrieved from the sequence of the photon arrival times. Single auto- and cross-correlation functions can be processed online in full real time up to count rates of ∼1.8 MHz and ∼1.2 MHz, respectively. Two autocorrelation (A-A, B-B) and a cross correlation (A-B) functions can be simultaneously processed in full real time only up to count rates of ∼750 kHz. At higher count rates, the online processing takes place in a delayed modality, but with no data loss. When tested with simulated correlation data and latex spheres solutions, the overall performances of the correlator appear to be comparable with those of commercial hardware correlators, but with several nontrivial advantages related to its flexibility, low cost, and easy adaptability to future developments of PC and data acquisition technology.

Commercial counterboard for 10 ns software correlator for photon and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molteni, Matteo; Ferri, Fabio

2016-11-01

A 10 ns time resolution, multi-tau software correlator, capable of computing simultaneous autocorrelation (A-A, B-B) and cross (A-B) correlation functions at count rates up to ˜10 MHz, with no data loss, has been developed in LabVIEW and C++ by using the National Instrument timer/counterboard (NI PCIe-6612) and a fast Personal Computer (PC) (Intel Core i7-4790 Processor 3.60 GHz ). The correlator works by using two algorithms: for large lag times (τ ≳ 1 μs), a classical time-mode scheme, based on the measure of the number of pulses per time interval, is used; differently, for τ ≲ 1 μs a photon-mode (PM) scheme is adopted and the correlation function is retrieved from the sequence of the photon arrival times. Single auto- and cross-correlation functions can be processed online in full real time up to count rates of ˜1.8 MHz and ˜1.2 MHz, respectively. Two autocorrelation (A-A, B-B) and a cross correlation (A-B) functions can be simultaneously processed in full real time only up to count rates of ˜750 kHz. At higher count rates, the online processing takes place in a delayed modality, but with no data loss. When tested with simulated correlation data and latex spheres solutions, the overall performances of the correlator appear to be comparable with those of commercial hardware correlators, but with several nontrivial advantages related to its flexibility, low cost, and easy adaptability to future developments of PC and data acquisition technology.

Development of a Nanotechnology Platform for Prostate Cancer Gene Therapy

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON USAMRMC a. REPORT U b . ABSTRACT U c. THIS PAGE U UU 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (include...condense pDNA into nano-size particles (nanocarriers), b ) a PC-3 specific targeting motif (TM) to target prostate cancer cells, c) an endosome...particles (nanocarriers), b ) a PC-3 specific targeting motif (TM) to target prostate cancer cells, c) an endosome disrupting motif (EDM) to disrupt

PCDAS Version 2. 2: Remote network control and data acquisition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fishbaugher, M.J.

1987-09-01

This manual is intended for both technical and non-technical people who want to use the PCDAS remote network control and data acquisition software. If you are unfamiliar with remote data collection hardware systems designed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), this introduction should answer your basic questions. Even if you have some experience with the PNL-designed Field Data Acquisition Systems (FDAS), it would be wise to review this material before attempting to set up a network. This manual was written based on the assumption that you have a rudimentary understanding of personal computer (PC) operations using Disk Operating System (DOS) versionmore » 2.0 or greater (IBM 1984). You should know how to create subdirectories and get around the subdirectory tree.« less

Using Raspberry Pi to Teach Computing "Inside Out"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaokar, Ajit

2013-01-01

This article discusses the evolution of computing education in preparing for the next wave of computing. With the proliferation of mobile devices, most agree that we are living in a "post-PC" world. Using the Raspberry Pi computer platform, based in the UK, as an example, the author discusses computing education in a world where the…

A Novel Method for Characterization of Superconductors: Physical Measurements and Modeling of Thin Films

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, B. F.; Moorjani, K.; Phillips, T. E.; Adrian, F. J.; Bohandy, J.; Dolecek, Q. E.

1993-01-01

A method for characterization of granular superconducting thin films has been developed which encompasses both the morphological state of the sample and its fabrication process parameters. The broad scope of this technique is due to the synergism between experimental measurements and their interpretation using numerical simulation. Two novel technologies form the substance of this system: the magnetically modulated resistance method for characterizing superconductors; and a powerful new computer peripheral, the Parallel Information Processor card, which provides enhanced computing capability for PC computers. This enhancement allows PC computers to operate at speeds approaching that of supercomputers. This makes atomic scale simulations possible on low cost machines. The present development of this system involves the integration of these two technologies using mesoscale simulations of thin film growth. A future stage of development will incorporate atomic scale modeling.

Teaching Mathematics in the PC Lab--The Students' Viewpoints

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, Karsten; Kohler, Anke

2013-01-01

The Matrix Algebra portion of the intermediate mathematics course at the Schmalkalden University Faculty of Business and Economics has been moved from a traditional classroom setting to a technology-based setting in the PC lab. A Computer Algebra System license was acquired that also allows its use on the students' own PCs. A survey was carried…

A Mobile Computing Solution for Collecting Functional Analysis Data on a Pocket PC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, James; Dixon, Mark R.

2007-01-01

The present paper provides a task analysis for creating a computerized data system using a Pocket PC and Microsoft Visual Basic. With Visual Basic software and any handheld device running the Windows MOBLE operating system, this task analysis will allow behavior analysts to program and customize their own functional analysis data-collection…

Examples of Data Analysis with SPSS/PC+ Studentware.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacFarland, Thomas W.

Intended for classroom use only, these unpublished notes contain computer lessons on descriptive statistics with files previously created in WordPerfect 4.2 and Lotus 1-2-3 Version 1.A for the IBM PC+. The statistical measures covered include Student's t-test with two independent samples; Student's t-test with a paired sample; Chi-square analysis;…

[Cardiology for the veterinary practice--information processing with the help of a computer program, with a working example].

PubMed

Bohn, F K; Emmerichs, H; Müller, H

1991-06-01

Description of a PC-Program "Cardiology for the Veterinary Practice", title "Kardiag", with Illustrations and a report of a congenital heart disease in a one year old, male, Newfoundland dog, with the use of the described PC-Program. After euthanasia an autopsy was performed which verified the clinical diagnosis.

Real-Time Assessment of Problem-Solving of Physics Students Using Computer-Based Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gok, Tolga

2012-01-01

The change in students' problem solving ability in upper-level course through the application of a technological interactive environment--Tablet PC running InkSurvey--was investigated in present study. Tablet PC/InkSurvey interactive technology allowing the instructor to receive real-time formative assessment as the class works through the problem…

Longterm Work Productivity Costs Due to Absenteeism and Permanent Work Disability in Patients with Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Nationwide Register Study of 7831 Patients.

PubMed

Martikainen, Janne A; Kautiainen, Hannu; Rantalaiho, Vappu; Puolakka, Kari T

2016-12-01

To estimate the development and potential disproportional distribution of longterm productivity costs (PC) and their determinants leading to work absenteeism and permanent work disability in working-aged patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A cohort of subjects with early RA was created by identifying the new cases of RA from the national drug reimbursement register that had been granted a special reimbursement for their antirheumatic medications for RA from 2000-2007. The dataset was enriched by cross-linking with other national registries detailing work absenteeism days and permanent disability pensions. In the base case, the human capital approach was applied to estimate PC based on subjects' annual number of absenteeism days and incomes. Hurdle regression analysis was applied to study the determinants of PC. Among the 7831 subjects with early RA, the mean (bootstrapped 95% CI) annual PC per person-observation year was €4800 (4547-5070). The annual PC declined after the first year of RA diagnosis, but increased significantly in subsequent years. In addition, the PC was heavily disproportionally concentrated in a small fraction of patients with RA, because only around 20% of patients accounted for the majority of total annual PC. The initiation of active drug treatment during the first 3 months after RA diagnosis significantly reduced the cumulative PC when compared with no drug treatment. The longterm PC increased significantly in parallel with years elapsing after RA diagnosis. Further, the majority of these PC are incurred by a small proportion of patients.

Lane Detection on the iPhone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Feixiang; Huang, Jinsheng; Terauchi, Mutsuhiro; Jiang, Ruyi; Klette, Reinhard

A robust and efficient lane detection system is an essential component of Lane Departure Warning Systems, which are commonly used in many vision-based Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) in intelligent transportation. Various computation platforms have been proposed in the past few years for the implementation of driver assistance systems (e.g., PC, laptop, integrated chips, PlayStation, and so on). In this paper, we propose a new platform for the implementation of lane detection, which is based on a mobile phone (the iPhone). Due to physical limitations of the iPhone w.r.t. memory and computing power, a simple and efficient lane detection algorithm using a Hough transform is developed and implemented on the iPhone, as existing algorithms developed based on the PC platform are not suitable for mobile phone devices (currently). Experiments of the lane detection algorithm are made both on PC and on iPhone.

Performance characteristics of the Cooper PC-9 centrifugal compressor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Foster, R.E.; Neely, R.F.

1988-06-30

Mathematical performance modeling of the PC-9 centrifugal compressor has been completed. Performance characteristics curves have never been obtained for them in test loops with the same degree of accuracy as for the uprated axial compressors and, consequently, computer modeling of the top cascade and purge cascades has been very difficult and of limited value. This compressor modeling work has been carried out in an attempt to generate data which would more accurately define the compressor's performance and would permit more accurate cascade modeling. A computer code, COMPAL, was used to mathematically model the PC-9 performance with variations in gas composition,more » flow ratios, pressure ratios, speed and temperature. The results of this effort, in the form of graphs, with information about the compressor and the code, are the subject of this report. Compressor characteristic curves are featured. 13 figs.« less

How Teachers' Personality Affect on Their Behavioral Intention to Use Tablet PC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camadan, Fatih; Reisoglu, Ilknur; Ursavas, Ömer Faruk; Mcilroy, David

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of personality traits on teachers' technology acceptance. Design/methodology/approach To this end, a demographic information survey, Five-Factor inventory, and technology acceptance measure were used for data collection. The data were analyzed via structural equation modeling. Findings:…

Early Palliative Care for Patients With Brain Metastases Decreases Inpatient Admissions and Need for Imaging Studies.

PubMed

Habibi, Akram; Wu, S Peter; Gorovets, Daniel; Sansosti, Alexandra; Kryger, Marc; Beaudreault, Cameron; Chung, Wei-Yi; Shelton, Gary; Silverman, Joshua; Lowy, Joseph; Kondziolka, Douglas

2018-01-01

Early encounters with palliative care (PC) can influence health-care utilization, clinical outcome, and cost. To study the effect of timing of PC encounters on brain metastasis patients at an academic medical center. All patients diagnosed with brain metastases from January 2013 to August 2015 at a single institution with inpatient and/or outpatient PC records available for review (N = 145). Early PC was defined as having a PC encounter within 8 weeks of diagnosis with brain metastases; late PC was defined as having PC after 8 weeks of diagnosis. Propensity score matched cohorts of early (n = 46) and late (n = 46) PC patients were compared to control for differences in age, gender, and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) at diagnosis. Details of the palliative encounter, patient outcomes, and health-care utilization were collected. Early PC versus late PC patients had no differences in baseline KPS, age, or gender. Early PC patients had significantly fewer number of inpatient visits per patient (1.5 vs 2.9; P = .004), emergency department visits (1.2 vs 2.1; P = .006), positron emission tomography/computed tomography studies (1.2 vs 2.7, P = .005), magnetic resonance imaging scans (5.8 vs 8.1; P = .03), and radiosurgery procedures (0.6 vs 1.3; P < .001). There were no differences in overall survival (median 8.2 vs 11.2 months; P = .2). Following inpatient admissions, early PC patients were more likely to be discharged home (59% vs 35%; P = .04). Timely PC consultations are advisable in this patient population and can reduce health-care utilization.

Imaging first impressions: distinct neural processing of verbal and nonverbal social information.

PubMed

Kuzmanovic, Bojana; Bente, Gary; von Cramon, D Yves; Schilbach, Leonhard; Tittgemeyer, Marc; Vogeley, Kai

2012-03-01

First impressions profoundly influence our attitudes and behavior toward others. However, little is known about whether and to what degree the cognitive processes that underlie impression formation depend on the domain of the available information about the target person. To investigate the neural bases of the influence of verbal as compared to nonverbal information on interpersonal judgments, we identified brain regions where the BOLD signal parametrically increased with increasing strength of evaluation based on either short text vignettes or mimic and gestural behavior. While for verbal stimuli the increasing strength of subjective evaluation was correlated with increased neural activation of precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex (PC/PCC), a similar effect was observed for nonverbal stimuli in the amygdala. These findings support the assumption that qualitatively different cognitive operations underlie person evaluation depending upon the stimulus domain: while the processing of nonverbal person information may be more strongly associated with affective processing as indexed by recruitment of the amygdala, verbal person information engaged the PC/PCC that has been related to social inferential processing. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

76 FR 43278 - Privacy Act; System of Records

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-20

... computer (PC). The Security Management Officer's office remains locked when not in use. RETENTION AND... records to include names, addresses, social security numbers, service computation dates, leave usage data... that resides on a desktop computer. RETRIEVABILITY: Records maintained in file folders are indexed and...

MORPH-I (Ver 1.0) a software package for the analysis of scanning electron micrograph (binary formatted) images for the assessment of the fractal dimension of enclosed pore surfaces

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mossotti, Victor G.; Eldeeb, A. Raouf; Oscarson, Robert

1998-01-01

MORPH-I is a set of C-language computer programs for the IBM PC and compatible minicomputers. The programs in MORPH-I are used for the fractal analysis of scanning electron microscope and electron microprobe images of pore profiles exposed in cross-section. The program isolates and traces the cross-sectional profiles of exposed pores and computes the Richardson fractal dimension for each pore. Other programs in the set provide for image calibration, display, and statistical analysis of the computed dimensions for highly complex porous materials. Requirements: IBM PC or compatible; minimum 640 K RAM; mathcoprocessor; SVGA graphics board providing mode 103 display.

Directory of Energy Information Administration model abstracts 1988

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1988-01-01

This directory contains descriptions about each basic and auxiliary model, including the title, acronym, purpose, and type, followed by more detailed information on characteristics, uses, and requirements. For developing models, limited information is provided. Sources for additional information are identified. Included in this directory are 44 EIA models active as of February 1, 1988; 16 of which operate on personal computers. Models that run on personal computers are identified by ''PC'' as part of the acronyms. The main body of this directory is an alphabetical listing of all basic and auxiliary EIA models. Appendix A identifies major EIA modeling systemsmore » and the models within these systems, and Appendix B identifies EIA models by type (basic or auxiliary). Appendix C lists developing models and contact persons for those models. A basic model is one designated by the EIA Administrator as being sufficiently important to require sustained support and public scrutiny. An auxiliary model is one designated by the EIA Administrator as being used only occasionally in analyses, and therefore requires minimal levels of documentation. A developing model is one designated by the EIA Administrator as being under development and yet of sufficient interest to require a basic level of documentation at a future date. EIA also leases models developed by proprietary software vendors. Documentation for these ''proprietary'' models is the responsibility of the companies from which they are leased. EIA has recently leased models from Chase Econometrics, Inc., Data Resources, Inc. (DRI), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates (WEFA). Leased models are not abstracted here.« less

Heuristic Modeling for TRMM Lifetime Predictions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jordan, P. S.; Sharer, P. J.; DeFazio, R. L.

1996-01-01

Analysis time for computing the expected mission lifetimes of proposed frequently maneuvering, tightly altitude constrained, Earth orbiting spacecraft have been significantly reduced by means of a heuristic modeling method implemented in a commercial-off-the-shelf spreadsheet product (QuattroPro) running on a personal computer (PC). The method uses a look-up table to estimate the maneuver frequency per month as a function of the spacecraft ballistic coefficient and the solar flux index, then computes the associated fuel use by a simple engine model. Maneuver frequency data points are produced by means of a single 1-month run of traditional mission analysis software for each of the 12 to 25 data points required for the table. As the data point computations are required only a mission design start-up and on the occasion of significant mission redesigns, the dependence on time consuming traditional modeling methods is dramatically reduced. Results to date have agreed with traditional methods to within 1 to 1.5 percent. The spreadsheet approach is applicable to a wide variety of Earth orbiting spacecraft with tight altitude constraints. It will be particularly useful to such missions as the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission scheduled for launch in 1997, whose mission lifetime calculations are heavily dependent on frequently revised solar flux predictions.

Management considerations to implementing pharmaceutical care.

PubMed

Wichman, K; Hales, B; O'Brodovich, M; Paton, T; Wielenga, J

1993-12-01

Progressing towards the goal of PC requires a fundamental change to pharmacy practice. Strong leadership and management skills will be needed to facilitate this change. Even with enthusiastic and capable staff, implementation of the PC model will require considerable effort. Changes to the department's mission statement and organizational structure will be required. From this beginning, an action plan for the department can be developed. This plan includes the training of individuals and/or recruiting the necessary personnel. An ongoing education program, as well as determining the value of your service, is required. With successful implementation the PC model will lead to the acceptance of the pharmacist's role as the person responsible for identifying, preventing, and resolving drug-related problems.

LDEF data: Comparisons with existing models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coombs, Cassandra R.; Watts, Alan J.; Wagner, John D.; Atkinson, Dale R.

1993-04-01

The relationship between the observed cratering impact damage on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) versus the existing models for both the natural environment of micrometeoroids and the man-made debris was investigated. Experimental data was provided by several LDEF Principal Investigators, Meteoroid and Debris Special Investigation Group (M&D SIG) members, and by the Kennedy Space Center Analysis Team (KSC A-Team) members. These data were collected from various aluminum materials around the LDEF satellite. A PC (personal computer) computer program, SPENV, was written which incorporates the existing models of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environment. This program calculates the expected number of impacts per unit area as functions of altitude, orbital inclination, time in orbit, and direction of the spacecraft surface relative to the velocity vector, for both micrometeoroids and man-made debris. Since both particle models are couched in terms of impact fluxes versus impactor particle size, and much of the LDEF data is in the form of crater production rates, scaling laws have been used to relate the two. Also many hydrodynamic impact computer simulations were conducted, using CTH, of various impact events, that identified certain modes of response, including simple metallic target cratering, perforations and delamination effects of coatings.

A PC program to optimize system configuration for desired reliability at minimum cost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hills, Steven W.; Siahpush, Ali S.

1994-01-01

High reliability is desired in all engineered systems. One way to improve system reliability is to use redundant components. When redundant components are used, the problem becomes one of allocating them to achieve the best reliability without exceeding other design constraints such as cost, weight, or volume. Systems with few components can be optimized by simply examining every possible combination but the number of combinations for most systems is prohibitive. A computerized iteration of the process is possible but anything short of a super computer requires too much time to be practical. Many researchers have derived mathematical formulations for calculating the optimum configuration directly. However, most of the derivations are based on continuous functions whereas the real system is composed of discrete entities. Therefore, these techniques are approximations of the true optimum solution. This paper describes a computer program that will determine the optimum configuration of a system of multiple redundancy of both standard and optional components. The algorithm is a pair-wise comparative progression technique which can derive the true optimum by calculating only a small fraction of the total number of combinations. A designer can quickly analyze a system with this program on a personal computer.

LDEF data: Comparisons with existing models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coombs, Cassandra R.; Watts, Alan J.; Wagner, John D.; Atkinson, Dale R.

1993-01-01

The relationship between the observed cratering impact damage on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) versus the existing models for both the natural environment of micrometeoroids and the man-made debris was investigated. Experimental data was provided by several LDEF Principal Investigators, Meteoroid and Debris Special Investigation Group (M&D SIG) members, and by the Kennedy Space Center Analysis Team (KSC A-Team) members. These data were collected from various aluminum materials around the LDEF satellite. A PC (personal computer) computer program, SPENV, was written which incorporates the existing models of the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environment. This program calculates the expected number of impacts per unit area as functions of altitude, orbital inclination, time in orbit, and direction of the spacecraft surface relative to the velocity vector, for both micrometeoroids and man-made debris. Since both particle models are couched in terms of impact fluxes versus impactor particle size, and much of the LDEF data is in the form of crater production rates, scaling laws have been used to relate the two. Also many hydrodynamic impact computer simulations were conducted, using CTH, of various impact events, that identified certain modes of response, including simple metallic target cratering, perforations and delamination effects of coatings.

AccessScope project: Accessible light microscope for users with upper limb mobility or visual impairments.

PubMed

Mansoor, Awais; Ahmed, Wamiq M; Samarapungavan, Ala; Cirillo, John; Schwarte, David; Robinson, J Paul; Duerstock, Bradley S

2010-01-01

A web-based application was developed to remotely view slide specimens and control all functions of a research-level light microscopy workstation, called AccessScope. Students and scientists with upper limb mobility and visual impairments are often unable to use a light microscope by themselves and must depend on others in its operation. Users with upper limb mobility impairments and low vision were recruited to assist in the design process of the AccessScope personal computer (PC) user interface. Participants with these disabilities were evaluated in their ability to use AccessScope to perform microscopical tasks. AccessScope usage was compared with inspecting prescanned slide images by grading participants' identification and understanding of histological features and knowledge of microscope operation. With AccessScope subjects were able to independently perform common light microscopy functions through an Internet browser by employing different PC pointing devices or accessibility software according to individual abilities. Subjects answered more histology and microscope usage questions correctly after first participating in an AccessScope test session. AccessScope allowed users with upper limb or visual impairments to successfully perform light microscopy without assistance. This unprecedented capability is crucial for students and scientists with disabilities to perform laboratory coursework or microscope-based research and pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

[A prognostic model of a cholera epidemic].

PubMed

Boev, B V; Bondarenko, V M; Prokop'eva, N V; San Román, R T; Raygoza-Anaya, M; García de Alba, R

1994-01-01

A new model for the prognostication of cholera epidemic on the territory of a large city is proposed. This model reflects the characteristic feature of contacting infection by sensitive individuals due to the preservation of Vibrio cholerae in their water habitat. The mathematical model of the epidemic quantitatively reflects the processes of the spread of infection by kinetic equations describing the interaction of the streams of infected persons, the causative agents and susceptible persons. The functions and parameters of the model are linked with the distribution of individuals according to the duration of the incubation period and infectious process, as well as the period of asymptomatic carrier state. The computer realization of the model by means of IBM PC/AT made it possible to study the cholera epidemic which took place in Mexico in 1833. The verified model of the cholera epidemic was used for the prognostication of the possible spread of this infection in Guadalajara, taking into account changes in the epidemiological situation and the size of the population, as well as improvements in sanitary and hygienic conditions, in the city.

Prospective study of clinician-entered research data in the Emergency Department using an Internet-based system after the HIPAA Privacy Rule

PubMed Central

Kline, Jeffrey A; Johnson, Charles L; Webb, William B; Runyon, Michael S

2004-01-01

Background Design and test the reliability of a web-based system for multicenter, real-time collection of data in the emergency department (ED), under waiver of authorization, in compliance with HIPAA. Methods This was a phase I, two-hospital study of patients undergoing evaluation for possible pulmonary embolism. Data were collected by on-duty clinicians on an HTML data collection form (prospective e-form), populated using either a personal digital assistant (PDA) or personal computer (PC). Data forms were uploaded to a central, offsite server using secure socket protocol transfer. Each form was assigned a unique identifier, and all PHI data were encrypted, but were password-accessible by authorized research personnel to complete a follow-up e-form. Results From April 15, 2003-April 15 2004, 1022 prospective e-forms and 605 follow-up e-forms were uploaded. Complexities of PDA use compelled clinicians to use PCs in the ED for data entry for most forms. No data were lost and server log query revealed no unauthorized entry. Prospectively obtained PHI data, encrypted upon server upload, were successfully decrypted using password-protected access to allow follow-up without difficulty in 605 cases. Non-PHI data from prospective and follow-up forms were available to the study investigators via standard file transfer protocol. Conclusions Data can be accurately collected from on-duty clinicians in the ED using real-time, PC-Internet data entry in compliance with the Privacy Rule. Deidentification-reidentification of PHI was successfully accomplished by a password-protected encryption-deencryption mechanism to permit follow-up by approved research personnel. PMID:15479471

LABORATORY PROCESS CONTROLLER USING NATURAL LANGUAGE COMMANDS FROM A PERSONAL COMPUTER

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Will, H.

1994-01-01

The complex environment of the typical research laboratory requires flexible process control. This program provides natural language process control from an IBM PC or compatible machine. Sometimes process control schedules require changes frequently, even several times per day. These changes may include adding, deleting, and rearranging steps in a process. This program sets up a process control system that can either run without an operator, or be run by workers with limited programming skills. The software system includes three programs. Two of the programs, written in FORTRAN77, record data and control research processes. The third program, written in Pascal, generates the FORTRAN subroutines used by the other two programs to identify the user commands with the user-written device drivers. The software system also includes an input data set which allows the user to define the user commands which are to be executed by the computer. To set the system up the operator writes device driver routines for all of the controlled devices. Once set up, this system requires only an input file containing natural language command lines which tell the system what to do and when to do it. The operator can make up custom commands for operating and taking data from external research equipment at any time of the day or night without the operator in attendance. This process control system requires a personal computer operating under MS-DOS with suitable hardware interfaces to all controlled devices. The program requires a FORTRAN77 compiler and user-written device drivers. This program was developed in 1989 and has a memory requirement of about 62 Kbytes.

Tablet computer enhanced training improves internal medicine exam performance.

PubMed

Baumgart, Daniel C; Wende, Ilja; Grittner, Ulrike

2017-01-01

Traditional teaching concepts in medical education do not take full advantage of current information technology. We aimed to objectively determine the impact of Tablet PC enhanced training on learning experience and MKSAP® (medical knowledge self-assessment program) exam performance. In this single center, prospective, controlled study final year medical students and medical residents doing an inpatient service rotation were alternatingly assigned to either the active test (Tablet PC with custom multimedia education software package) or traditional education (control) group, respectively. All completed an extensive questionnaire to collect their socio-demographic data, evaluate educational status, computer affinity and skills, problem solving, eLearning knowledge and self-rated medical knowledge. Both groups were MKSAP® tested at the beginning and the end of their rotation. The MKSAP® score at the final exam was the primary endpoint. Data of 55 (tablet n = 24, controls n = 31) male 36.4%, median age 28 years, 65.5% students, were evaluable. The mean MKSAP® score improved in the tablet PC (score Δ + 8 SD: 11), but not the control group (score Δ- 7, SD: 11), respectively. After adjustment for baseline score and confounders the Tablet PC group showed on average 11% better MKSAP® test results compared to the control group (p<0.001). The most commonly used resources for medical problem solving were journal articles looked up on PubMed or Google®, and books. Our study provides evidence, that tablet computer based integrated training and clinical practice enhances medical education and exam performance. Larger, multicenter trials are required to independently validate our data. Residency and fellowship directors are encouraged to consider adding portable computer devices, multimedia content and introduce blended learning to their respective training programs.

Tablet computer enhanced training improves internal medicine exam performance

PubMed Central

Wende, Ilja; Grittner, Ulrike

2017-01-01

Background Traditional teaching concepts in medical education do not take full advantage of current information technology. We aimed to objectively determine the impact of Tablet PC enhanced training on learning experience and MKSAP® (medical knowledge self-assessment program) exam performance. Methods In this single center, prospective, controlled study final year medical students and medical residents doing an inpatient service rotation were alternatingly assigned to either the active test (Tablet PC with custom multimedia education software package) or traditional education (control) group, respectively. All completed an extensive questionnaire to collect their socio-demographic data, evaluate educational status, computer affinity and skills, problem solving, eLearning knowledge and self-rated medical knowledge. Both groups were MKSAP® tested at the beginning and the end of their rotation. The MKSAP® score at the final exam was the primary endpoint. Results Data of 55 (tablet n = 24, controls n = 31) male 36.4%, median age 28 years, 65.5% students, were evaluable. The mean MKSAP® score improved in the tablet PC (score Δ + 8 SD: 11), but not the control group (score Δ- 7, SD: 11), respectively. After adjustment for baseline score and confounders the Tablet PC group showed on average 11% better MKSAP® test results compared to the control group (p<0.001). The most commonly used resources for medical problem solving were journal articles looked up on PubMed or Google®, and books. Conclusions Our study provides evidence, that tablet computer based integrated training and clinical practice enhances medical education and exam performance. Larger, multicenter trials are required to independently validate our data. Residency and fellowship directors are encouraged to consider adding portable computer devices, multimedia content and introduce blended learning to their respective training programs. PMID:28369063

Contrasting Diffusion Patterns for PC and Mobile Videos: A User-Centric View of the Influencing Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Baixue

2010-01-01

As both computer and mobile phone reach nearly ubiquity in the U.S. market, the slow uptake of mobile video, in contrast to the thriving usage of PC-based video, warrants a deeper understanding of user-oriented factors contributing to the two diffusion paths. Unlike the majority of existing diffusion research practices, the dissertation…

Students' Acceptance of Tablet PCs in Italian High Schools: Profiles and Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villani, Daniela; Morganti, Laura; Carissoli, Claudia; Gatti, Elena; Bonanomi, Andrea; Cacciamani, Stefano; Confalonieri, Emanuela; Riva, Giuseppe

2018-01-01

The tablet PC represents a very popular mobile computing device, and together with other technologies it is changing the world of education. This study aimed to explore the acceptance of tablet PC of Italian high school students in order to outline the typical students' profiles and to compare the acceptance conveyed in two types of use (learning…

[Emergency department as final destination: perception and reception of the palliative patient" concept as well as approach toward improving interdisciplinary collaboration - a survey of emergency personnel of a Swiss emergency department].

PubMed

Klenk, Laurence; Iucolano, Nicoletta M; Braun, Christian Tasso; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K; Eychmüller, Steffen

2015-01-02

As the demand for palliative care (PC) in emergency wards continues to increase, emergency medicine is increasingly focusing on the care of extremely ill patients with incurable, chronic and/or advanced diseases. There is no consistent definition of the profile of PC or understanding of what PC involves. The mistake is often made of confusing PC with end-of-life or terminal care. The present study was intended to assess the situation at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital (UNZ), which cares for about 32 400 patients annually. The plan was to find out how much staff members knew about PC and to survey their personal attitudes. The employees of the UNZ were surveyed with an online questionnaire by a special institution outside the hospital. This is based on an instrument [1] developed in a comparative study in an emergency ward in the USA and used for physicians. 60 of 154 staff members (physicians and nurses) completed the questionnaire, corresponding to a response rate of 39%. The definition of palliative care (n=60) was very mixed and could be classified into 6 areas. In response to questions about specific services, the staff members mentioned that their access to existing patient data should be facilitated. They also expressed the wish for a 24 h palliative consultation service and thought that, during normal working days, more time should be allotted to discussing issues related to palliative care. It has been confirmed that the definition of palliative care is not consistent. Within the UNZ, there is no clear procedure, but lack of time for detailed discussions with patients needing palliative care. Patient wishes or living wills with the DNR/DNI procedure do not contradict the personal ethics of most staff members. UNZ staff members would welcome the 24 h availability of a specialized PC team, as well as the development of guidelines and increased training in PC.

BALANCER: A Computer Program for Balancing Chemical Equations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, R. David; Schwab, A. Paul

1989-01-01

Describes the theory and operation of a computer program which was written to balance chemical equations. Software consists of a compiled file of 46K for use under MS-DOS 2.0 or later on IBM PC or compatible computers. Additional specifications of courseware and availability information are included. (Author/RT)

Computer Series, 102: Bits and Pieces, 40.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birk, James P., Ed.

1989-01-01

Discussed are seven computer programs: (1) a computer graphics experiment for organic chemistry laboratory; (2) a gel filtration simulation; (3) judging spelling correctness; (4) interfacing the TLC548 ADC; (5) a digitizing circuit for the Apple II game port; (6) a chemical information base; and (7) an IBM PC article database. (MVL)

Three-dimensional quantification of vorticity and helicity from 3D cine PC-MRI using finite-element interpolations.

PubMed

Sotelo, Julio; Urbina, Jesús; Valverde, Israel; Mura, Joaquín; Tejos, Cristián; Irarrazaval, Pablo; Andia, Marcelo E; Hurtado, Daniel E; Uribe, Sergio

2018-01-01

We propose a 3D finite-element method for the quantification of vorticity and helicity density from 3D cine phase-contrast (PC) MRI. By using a 3D finite-element method, we seamlessly estimate velocity gradients in 3D. The robustness and convergence were analyzed using a combined Poiseuille and Lamb-Ossen equation. A computational fluid dynamics simulation was used to compared our method with others available in the literature. Additionally, we computed 3D maps for different 3D cine PC-MRI data sets: phantom without and with coarctation (18 healthy volunteers and 3 patients). We found a good agreement between our method and both the analytical solution of the combined Poiseuille and Lamb-Ossen. The computational fluid dynamics results showed that our method outperforms current approaches to estimate vorticity and helicity values. In the in silico model, we observed that for a tetrahedral element of 2 mm of characteristic length, we underestimated the vorticity in less than 5% with respect to the analytical solution. In patients, we found higher values of helicity density in comparison to healthy volunteers, associated with vortices in the lumen of the vessels. We proposed a novel method that provides entire 3D vorticity and helicity density maps, avoiding the used of reformatted 2D planes from 3D cine PC-MRI. Magn Reson Med 79:541-553, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Automatic control of a negative ion source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saadatmand, K.; Sredniawski, J.; Solensten, L.

1989-04-01

A CAMAC based control architecture is devised for a Berkeley-type H - volume ion source [1]. The architecture employs three 80386 TM PCs. One PC is dedicated to control and monitoring of source operation. The other PC functions with digitizers to provide data acquisition of waveforms. The third PC is used for off-line analysis. Initially, operation of the source was put under remote computer control (supervisory). This was followed by development of an automated startup procedure. Finally, a study of the physics of operation is now underway to establish a data base from which automatic beam optimization can be derived.

Opportunities and Needs for Mobile-Computing Technology to Support U.S. Geological Survey Fieldwork

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wood, Nathan J.; Halsing, David L.

2006-01-01

To assess the opportunities and needs for mobile-computing technology at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), we conducted an internal, Internet-based survey of bureau scientists whose research includes fieldwork. In summer 2005, 144 survey participants answered 65 questions about fieldwork activities and conditions, technology to support field research, and postfieldwork data processing and analysis. Results suggest that some types of mobile-computing technology are already commonplace, such as digital cameras and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, whereas others are not, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and tablet-based personal computers (tablet PCs). The potential for PDA use in the USGS is high: 97 percent of respondents record field observations (primarily environmental conditions and water-quality data), and 87 percent take field samples (primarily water-quality data, water samples, and sediment/soil samples). The potential for tablet PC use in the USGS is also high: 59 percent of respondents map environmental features in the field, primarily by sketching in field notebooks, on aerial photographs, or on topographic-map sheets. Results also suggest that efficient mobile-computing-technology solutions could benefit many USGS scientists because most respondents spend at least 1 week per year in the field, conduct field sessions that are least 1 week in duration, have field crews of one to three people, and typically travel on foot about 1 mi from their field vehicles. By allowing researchers to enter data directly into digital databases while in the field, mobile-computing technology could also minimize postfieldwork data processing: 93 percent of respondents enter collected field data into their office computers, and more than 50 percent spend at least 1 week per year on postfieldwork data processing. Reducing postfieldwork data processing could free up additional time for researchers and result in cost savings for the bureau. Generally, respondents support greater use of mobile-computing technology at the USGS and are interested in training opportunities and further discussions related to data archiving, access to additional digital data types, and technology development.

Absolute and relative risk of cardiovascular disease in men with prostate cancer: results from the Population-Based PCBaSe Sweden.

PubMed

Van Hemelrijck, Mieke; Garmo, Hans; Holmberg, Lars; Ingelsson, Erik; Bratt, Ola; Bill-Axelson, Anna; Lambe, Mats; Stattin, Pär; Adolfsson, Jan

2010-07-20

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a potential adverse effect of endocrine treatment (ET) for prostate cancer (PC). We investigated absolute and relative CVD risk in 76,600 patients with PC undergoing ET, curative treatment, or surveillance. PCBaSe Sweden is based on the National Prostate Cancer Register, which covers more than 96% of PC cases. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) of ischemic heart disease (IHD), acute myocardial infarction (MI), arrhythmia, heart failure, and stroke were calculated to compare observed and expected (using total Swedish population) numbers of CVD, taking into account age, calendar time, and previous CVD. Between 1997 and 2007, 30,642 patients with PC received primary ET, 26,432 curative treatment, and 19,527 surveillance. SIRs for CVD were elevated in all men with the highest for those undergoing ET, independent of circulatory disease history (SIR MI for men without circulatory disease history: 1.40 [95% CI, 1.31 to 1.49], 1.15 [95% CI, 1.01 to 1.31], and 1.20 [95% CI, 1.11 to 1.30] for men undergoing ET, curative treatment, and surveillance, respectively). Absolute risk differences (ARD) showed that two (arrhythmia) to eight (IHD) extra cases of CVD would occur per 1,000 person-years. SMRs showed similar patterns, with ARD of zero (arrhythmia) to three (IHD) per 1,000 person-years. Increased relative risks of nonfatal and fatal CVD were found among all men with PC, especially those treated with ET. Because ET is currently the only effective treatment for metastatic disease and the ARDs were rather small, our findings indicate that CVD risk should be considered when prescribing ET but should not constitute a contraindication when the expected gain is tangible.

Diagnostic Challenges in Prostate Cancer and 68Ga-PSMA PET Imaging: A Game Changer?

PubMed

Zaman, Maseeh uz; Fatima, Nosheen; Zaman, Areeba; Sajid, Mahwsih; Zaman, Unaiza; Zaman, Sidra

2017-10-26

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most frequent solid tumor in men and the third most common cause of cancer mortality among men in developed countries. Current imaging modalities like ultrasound (US), computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and choline based positron emission (PET) tracing have disappointing sensitivity for detection of nodal metastasis and small tumor recurrence. This poses a diagnostic challenge in staging of intermediate to high risk PC and restaging of patients with biochemical recurrence (PSA >0.2 ng/ml). Gallium-68 labeled prostate specific membrane antigen (68Ga-PSMA) PET imaging has now emerged with a higher diagnostic yield. 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT or PET/MRI can be expected to offer a one-stop-shop for staging and restaging of PC. PSMA ligands labeled with alpha and beta emitters have also shown promising therapeutic efficacy for nodal, bone and visceral metastasis. Therefore a PSMA based theranostics approach for detection, staging, treatment, and follow-up of PC would appear to be highly valuable to achieve personalized PC treatment. Creative Commons Attribution License

Automated speech recognition for time recording in out-of-hospital emergency medicine-an experimental approach.

PubMed

Gröschel, J; Philipp, F; Skonetzki, St; Genzwürker, H; Wetter, Th; Ellinger, K

2004-02-01

Precise documentation of medical treatment in emergency medical missions and for resuscitation is essential from a medical, legal and quality assurance point of view [Anästhesiologie und Intensivmedizin, 41 (2000) 737]. All conventional methods of time recording are either too inaccurate or elaborate for routine application. Automated speech recognition may offer a solution. A special erase programme for the documentation of all time events was developed. Standard speech recognition software (IBM ViaVoice 7.0) was adapted and installed on two different computer systems. One was a stationary PC (500MHz Pentium III, 128MB RAM, Soundblaster PCI 128 Soundcard, Win NT 4.0), the other was a mobile pen-PC that had already proven its value during emergency missions [Der Notarzt 16, p. 177] (Fujitsu Stylistic 2300, 230Mhz MMX Processor, 160MB RAM, embedded soundcard ESS 1879 chipset, Win98 2nd ed.). On both computers two different microphones were tested. One was a standard headset that came with the recognition software, the other was a small microphone (Lavalier-Kondensatormikrofon EM 116 from Vivanco), that could be attached to the operators collar. Seven women and 15 men spoke a text with 29 phrases to be recognised. Two emergency physicians tested the system in a simulated emergency setting using the collar microphone and the pen-PC with an analogue wireless connection. Overall recognition was best for the PC with a headset (89%) followed by the pen-PC with a headset (85%), the PC with a microphone (84%) and the pen-PC with a microphone (80%). Nevertheless, the difference was not statistically significant. Recognition became significantly worse (89.5% versus 82.3%, P<0.0001 ) when numbers had to be recognised. The gender of speaker and the number of words in a sentence had no influence. Average recognition in the simulated emergency setting was 75%. At no time did false recognition appear. Time recording with automated speech recognition seems to be possible in emergency medical missions. Although results show an average recognition of only 75%, it is possible that missing elements may be reconstructed more precisely. Future technology should integrate a secure wireless connection between microphone and mobile computer. The system could then prove its value for real out-of-hospital emergencies.

Integrating Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) graphics and extended memory packages with CLIPS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callegari, Andres C.

1990-01-01

This paper addresses the question of how to mix CLIPS with graphics and how to overcome PC's memory limitations by using the extended memory available in the computer. By adding graphics and extended memory capabilities, CLIPS can be converted into a complete and powerful system development tool, on the other most economical and popular computer platform. New models of PCs have amazing processing capabilities and graphic resolutions that cannot be ignored and should be used to the fullest of their resources. CLIPS is a powerful expert system development tool, but it cannot be complete without the support of a graphics package needed to create user interfaces and general purpose graphics, or without enough memory to handle large knowledge bases. Now, a well known limitation on the PC's is the usage of real memory which limits CLIPS to use only 640 Kb of real memory, but now that problem can be solved by developing a version of CLIPS that uses extended memory. The user has access of up to 16 MB of memory on 80286 based computers and, practically, all the available memory (4 GB) on computers that use the 80386 processor. So if we give CLIPS a self-configuring graphics package that will automatically detect the graphics hardware and pointing device present in the computer, and we add the availability of the extended memory that exists in the computer (with no special hardware needed), the user will be able to create more powerful systems at a fraction of the cost and on the most popular, portable, and economic platform available such as the PC platform.

Conversion of the Aeronautics Interactive Workstation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riveras, Nykkita L.

2004-01-01

This summer I am working in the Educational Programs Office. My task is to convert the Aeronautics Interactive Workstation from a Macintosh (Mac) platform to a Personal Computer (PC) platform. The Aeronautics Interactive Workstation is a workstation in the Aerospace Educational Laboratory (AEL), which is one of the three components of the Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA). The AEL is a state-of-the-art, electronically enhanced, computerized classroom that puts cutting-edge technology at the fingertips of participating students. It provides a unique learning experience regarding aerospace technology that features activities equipped with aerospace hardware and software that model real-world challenges. The Aeronautics Interactive Workstation, in particular, offers a variety of activities pertaining to the history of aeronautics. When the Aeronautics Interactive Workstation was first implemented into the AEL it was designed with Macromedia Director 4 for a Mac. Today it is being converted to Macromedia DirectorMX2004 for a PC. Macromedia Director is the proven multimedia tool for building rich content and applications for CDs, DVDs, kiosks, and the Internet. It handles the widest variety of media and offers powerful features for building rich content that delivers red results, integrating interactive audio, video, bitmaps, vectors, text, fonts, and more. Macromedia Director currently offers two programmingkripting languages: Lingo, which is Director's own programmingkripting language and JavaScript. In the workstation, Lingo is used in the programming/scripting since it was the only language in use when the workstation was created. Since the workstation was created with an older version of Macromedia Director it hosted significantly different programming/scripting protocols. In order to successfully accomplish my task, the final product required correction of Xtra and programming/scripting errors. I also had to convert the Mac platform file extensions into compatible file extensions for a PC.

Influence of Telecommunication Modality, Internet Transmission Quality, and Accessories on Speech Perception in Cochlear Implant Users

PubMed Central

Koller, Roger; Guignard, Jérémie; Caversaccio, Marco; Kompis, Martin; Senn, Pascal

2017-01-01

Background Telecommunication is limited or even impossible for more than one-thirds of all cochlear implant (CI) users. Objective We sought therefore to study the impact of voice quality on speech perception with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) under real and adverse network conditions. Methods Telephone speech perception was assessed in 19 CI users (15-69 years, average 42 years), using the German HSM (Hochmair-Schulz-Moser) sentence test comparing Skype and conventional telephone (public switched telephone networks, PSTN) transmission using a personal computer (PC) and a digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) telephone dual device. Five different Internet transmission quality modes and four accessories (PC speakers, headphones, 3.5 mm jack audio cable, and induction loop) were compared. As a secondary outcome, the subjective perceived voice quality was assessed using the mean opinion score (MOS). Results Speech telephone perception was significantly better (median 91.6%, P<.001) with Skype compared with PSTN (median 42.5%) under optimal conditions. Skype calls under adverse network conditions (data packet loss > 15%) were not superior to conventional telephony. In addition, there were no significant differences between the tested accessories (P>.05) using a PC. Coupling a Skype DECT phone device with an audio cable to the CI, however, resulted in higher speech perception (median 65%) and subjective MOS scores (3.2) than using PSTN (median 7.5%, P<.001). Conclusions Skype calls significantly improve speech perception for CI users compared with conventional telephony under real network conditions. Listening accessories do not further improve listening experience. Current Skype DECT telephone devices do not fully offer technical advantages in voice quality. PMID:28438727

[Telematics equipment for poison control surveillance. Its applications in the health management of relevant chemical incidents].

PubMed

Butera, R; Locatelli, C; Gandini, C; Minuco, G; Mazzoleni, M C; Giordano, A; Zanuti, M; Varango, C; Petrolini, V; Candura, S M; Manzo, L

1997-01-01

Health management of major chemical incidents requires a close collaboration between rescuers (on the disaster site and in the emergency department) and the poison center. The study tested telematic technologies allowing telepresence and teleconsulting, a real time and continuous connection among health care personnel and toxicologists involved in the management of the emergency. The link between the poison center (PC) and the emergency department in the local hospital is provided by a ISDN operating video conferencing system, while the data transmission from the site of the accident to the PC is achieved with a personal computer and GSM cellular data transmission. Toxicological databases and risk assessment software are integrated in the system, to support information sharing. To test such instruments in operative nearly realistic conditions, the main phase of the study has implemented simulated chemical disasters in different locations in Italy. Instruments for telepresence and teleconsulting have been effectively utilized to evaluate from a remote location the scenario and the severity of the accident, by inspecting either specific details or the whole scene, to enable PC guiding the triage of the victims before and after hospitalization, to utilize and share data, such as intervention protocols or patient records, and to document all the activities. In summary, this experience shows that the telematic link allows the toxicologists of the poison center to rapidly understand the situation, and to correctly learn about the conditions of patients with the help of images. The results of this study indicate the valuable benefits of telematic instruments for the health care in case of major chemical disasters occurring in a remote geographical location or in an area which lacks local toxicological experts, where specialized expertise can be achieved by the use of telematic technologies.

Influence of Telecommunication Modality, Internet Transmission Quality, and Accessories on Speech Perception in Cochlear Implant Users.

PubMed

Mantokoudis, Georgios; Koller, Roger; Guignard, Jérémie; Caversaccio, Marco; Kompis, Martin; Senn, Pascal

2017-04-24

Telecommunication is limited or even impossible for more than one-thirds of all cochlear implant (CI) users. We sought therefore to study the impact of voice quality on speech perception with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) under real and adverse network conditions. Telephone speech perception was assessed in 19 CI users (15-69 years, average 42 years), using the German HSM (Hochmair-Schulz-Moser) sentence test comparing Skype and conventional telephone (public switched telephone networks, PSTN) transmission using a personal computer (PC) and a digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) telephone dual device. Five different Internet transmission quality modes and four accessories (PC speakers, headphones, 3.5 mm jack audio cable, and induction loop) were compared. As a secondary outcome, the subjective perceived voice quality was assessed using the mean opinion score (MOS). Speech telephone perception was significantly better (median 91.6%, P<.001) with Skype compared with PSTN (median 42.5%) under optimal conditions. Skype calls under adverse network conditions (data packet loss > 15%) were not superior to conventional telephony. In addition, there were no significant differences between the tested accessories (P>.05) using a PC. Coupling a Skype DECT phone device with an audio cable to the CI, however, resulted in higher speech perception (median 65%) and subjective MOS scores (3.2) than using PSTN (median 7.5%, P<.001). Skype calls significantly improve speech perception for CI users compared with conventional telephony under real network conditions. Listening accessories do not further improve listening experience. Current Skype DECT telephone devices do not fully offer technical advantages in voice quality. ©Georgios Mantokoudis, Roger Koller, Jérémie Guignard, Marco Caversaccio, Martin Kompis, Pascal Senn. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 24.04.2017.

Comparison of phase-contrast MR and flow simulations for the study of CSF dynamics in the cervical spine.

PubMed

Lindstrøm, Erika Kristina; Schreiner, Jakob; Ringstad, Geir Andre; Haughton, Victor; Eide, Per Kristian; Mardal, Kent-Andre

2018-06-01

Background Investigators use phase-contrast magnetic resonance (PC-MR) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to assess cerebrospinal fluid dynamics. We compared qualitative and quantitative results from the two methods. Methods Four volunteers were imaged with a heavily T2-weighted volume gradient echo scan of the brain and cervical spine at 3T and with PC-MR. Velocities were calculated from PC-MR for each phase in the cardiac cycle. Mean pressure gradients in the PC-MR acquisition through the cardiac cycle were calculated with the Navier-Stokes equations. Volumetric MR images of the brain and upper spine were segmented and converted to meshes. Models of the subarachnoid space were created from volume images with the Vascular Modeling Toolkit. CFD simulations were performed with a previously verified flow solver. The flow patterns, velocities and pressures were compared in PC-MR and CFD flow images. Results PC-MR images consistently revealed more inhomogeneous flow patterns than CFD, especially in the anterolateral subarachnoid space where spinal nerve roots are located. On average, peak systolic and diastolic velocities in PC-MR exceeded those in CFD by 31% and 41%, respectively. On average, systolic and diastolic pressure gradients calculated from PC-MR exceeded those of CFD by 11% and 39%, respectively. Conclusions PC-MR shows local flow disturbances that are not evident in typical CFD. The velocities and pressure gradients calculated from PC-MR are systematically larger than those calculated from CFD.

Searching for Faint Companions to Nearby Stars with the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, Daniel J.; Golimowski, David A.

1996-01-01

A search for faint companions (FC's) to selected stars within 5 pc of the Sun using the Hubble Space Telescope's Planetary Camera (PC) has been initiated. To assess the PC's ability to detect FCs, we have constructed both model and laboratory-simulated images and compared them to actual PC images. We find that the PC's point-spread function (PSF) is 3-4 times brighter over the angular range 2-5 sec than the PSF expected for a perfect optical system. Azimuthal variations of the PC's PSF are 10-20 times larger than expected for a perfect PSF. These variations suggest that light is scattered nonuniformly from the surface of the detector. Because the anomalies in the PC's PSF cannot be precisely simulated, subtracting a reference PSF from the PC image is problematic. We have developed a computer algorithm that identifies local brightness anomalies within the PSF as potential FCs. We find that this search algorithm will successfully locate FCs anywhere within the circumstellar field provided that the average pixel signal from the FC is at least 10 sigma above the local background. This detection limit suggests that a comprehensive search for extrasolar Jovian planets with the PC is impractical. However, the PC is useful for detecting other types of substellar objects. With a stellar signal of 10(exp 9) e(-), for example, we may detect brown dwarfs as faint as M(sub I) = 16.7 separated by 1 sec from alpha Cen A.

A computational system for lattice QCD with overlap Dirac quarks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiu, Ting-Wai; Hsieh, Tung-Han; Huang, Chao-Hsi; Huang, Tsung-Ren

2003-05-01

We outline the essential features of a Linux PC cluster which is now being developed at National Taiwan University, and discuss how to optimize its hardware and software for lattice QCD with overlap Dirac quarks. At present, the cluster constitutes of 30 nodes, with each node consisting of one Pentium 4 processor (1.6/2.0 GHz), one Gbyte of PC800 RDRAM, one 40/80 Gbyte hard disk, and a network card. The speed of this system is estimated to be 30 Gflops, and its price/performance ratio is better than $1.0/Mflops for 64-bit (double precision) computations in quenched lattice QCD with overlap Dirac quarks.

Webcam mouse using face and eye tracking in various illumination environments.

PubMed

Lin, Yuan-Pin; Chao, Yi-Ping; Lin, Chung-Chih; Chen, Jyh-Horng

2005-01-01

Nowadays, due to enhancement of computer performance and popular usage of webcam devices, it has become possible to acquire users' gestures for the human-computer-interface with PC via webcam. However, the effects of illumination variation would dramatically decrease the stability and accuracy of skin-based face tracking system; especially for a notebook or portable platform. In this study we present an effective illumination recognition technique, combining K-Nearest Neighbor classifier and adaptive skin model, to realize the real-time tracking system. We have demonstrated that the accuracy of face detection based on the KNN classifier is higher than 92% in various illumination environments. In real-time implementation, the system successfully tracks user face and eyes features at 15 fps under standard notebook platforms. Although KNN classifier only initiates five environments at preliminary stage, the system permits users to define and add their favorite environments to KNN for computer access. Eventually, based on this efficient tracking algorithm, we have developed a "Webcam Mouse" system to control the PC cursor using face and eye tracking. Preliminary studies in "point and click" style PC web games also shows promising applications in consumer electronic markets in the future.

A microbased shared virtual world prototype

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, Gerald; Robinson, Mark; Strange, Steve

1993-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) allows sensory immersion and interaction with a computer-generated environment. The user adopts a physical interface with the computer, through Input/Output devices such as a head-mounted display, data glove, mouse, keyboard, or monitor, to experience an alternate universe. What this means is that the computer generates an environment which, in its ultimate extension, becomes indistinguishable from the real world. 'Imagine a wraparound television with three-dimensional programs, including three-dimensional sound, and solid objects that you can pick up and manipulate, even feel with your fingers and hands.... 'Imagine that you are the creator as well as the consumer of your artificial experience, with the power to use a gesture or word to remold the world you see and hear and feel. That part is not fiction... three-dimensional computer graphics, input/output devices, computer models that constitute a VR system make it possible, today, to immerse yourself in an artificial world and to reach in and reshape it.' Our research's goal was to propose a feasibility experiment in the construction of a networked virtual reality system, making use of current personal computer (PC) technology. The prototype was built using Borland C compiler, running on an IBM 486 33 MHz and a 386 33 MHz. Each game currently is represented as an IPX client on a non-dedicated Novell server. We initially posed the two questions: (1) Is there a need for networked virtual reality? (2) In what ways can the technology be made available to the most people possible?

Thermal Vacuum Control Systems Options for Test Facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marchetti, John

2008-01-01

This presentation suggests several Thermal Vacuum System (TVAC) control design approach methods for TVAC facilities. Over the past several years many aerospace companies have or are currently upgrading their TVAC testing facilities whether it be by upgrading old equipment or purchasing new. In doing so they are updating vacuum pumping and thermal capabilities of their chambers as well as their control systems. Although control systems are sometimes are considered second to the vacuum or thermal system upgrade process, they should not be taken lightly and must be planned and implemented with the equipment it is to control. Also, emphasis should be placed on how the operators will use the system as well as the requirements of "their" customers. Presented will be various successful methods of TVAC control systems from Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based to personal computer (PC) based control.

A PC program for estimating measurement uncertainty for aeronautics test instrumentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blumenthal, Philip Z.

1995-01-01

A personal computer program was developed which provides aeronautics and operations engineers at Lewis Research Center with a uniform method to quickly provide values for the uncertainty in test measurements and research results. The software package used for performing the calculations is Mathcad 4.0, a Windows version of a program which provides an interactive user interface for entering values directly into equations with immediate display of results. The error contribution from each component of the system is identified individually in terms of the parameter measured. The final result is given in common units, SI units, and percent of full scale range. The program also lists the specifications for all instrumentation and calibration equipment used for the analysis. It provides a presentation-quality printed output which can be used directly for reports and documents.

Evaluation of TDRSS-user orbit determination accuracy using batch least-squares and sequential methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oza, D. H.; Jones, T. L.; Hodjatzadeh, M.; Samii, M. V.; Doll, C. E.; Hart, R. C.; Mistretta, G. D.

1991-01-01

The development of the Real-Time Orbit Determination/Enhanced (RTOD/E) system as a prototype system for sequential orbit determination on a Disk Operating System (DOS) based Personal Computer (PC) is addressed. The results of a study to compare the orbit determination accuracy of a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) user spacecraft obtained using RTOD/E with the accuracy of an established batch least squares system, the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS), is addressed. Independent assessments were made to examine the consistencies of results obtained by the batch and sequential methods. Comparisons were made between the forward filtered RTOD/E orbit solutions and definitive GTDS orbit solutions for the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS); the maximum solution differences were less than 25 m after the filter had reached steady state.

WinTICS-24 --- A Telescope Control Interface for MS Windows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hawkins, R. Lee

1995-12-01

WinTICS-24 is a telescope control system interface and observing assistant written in Visual Basic for MS Windows. It provides the ability to control a telescope and up to 3 other instruments via the serial ports on an IBM-PC compatible computer, all from one consistent user interface. In addition to telescope control, WinTICS contains an observing logbook, trouble log (which can automatically email its entries to a responsible person), lunar phase display, object database (which allows the observer to type in the name of an object and automatically slew to it), a time of minimum calculator for eclipsing binary stars, and an interface to the Guide CD-ROM for bringing up finder charts of the current telescope coordinates. Currently WinTICS supports control of DFM telescopes, but is easily adaptable to other telescopes and instrumentation.

PC Software graphics tool for conceptual design of space/planetary electrical power systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truong, Long V.

1995-01-01

This paper describes the Decision Support System (DSS), a personal computer software graphics tool for designing conceptual space and/or planetary electrical power systems. By using the DSS, users can obtain desirable system design and operating parameters, such as system weight, electrical distribution efficiency, and bus power. With this tool, a large-scale specific power system was designed in a matter of days. It is an excellent tool to help designers make tradeoffs between system components, hardware architectures, and operation parameters in the early stages of the design cycle. The DSS is a user-friendly, menu-driven tool with online help and a custom graphical user interface. An example design and results are illustrated for a typical space power system with multiple types of power sources, frequencies, energy storage systems, and loads.

Reviews.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Journal of Chemical Education, 1988

1988-01-01

Reviews three computer software packages for chemistry education including "Osmosis and Diffusion" and "E.M.E. Titration Lab" for Apple II and "Simplex-V: An Interactive Computer Program for Experimental Optimization" for IBM PC. Summary ratings include ease of use, content, pedagogic value, student reaction, and…

The Computer Bulletin Board.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batt, Russell H., Ed.

1989-01-01

Describes two chemistry computer programs: (1) "Eureka: A Chemistry Problem Solver" (problem files may be written by the instructor, MS-DOS 2.0, IBM with 384K); and (2) "PC-File+" (database management, IBM with 416K and two floppy drives). (MVL)

I Am So Tired… How Fatigue May Exacerbate Stress Reactions to Psychological Contract Breach

PubMed Central

Achnak, Safâa; Griep, Yannick; Vantilborgh, Tim

2018-01-01

Previous research showed that perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breach have undesirable individual and organizational consequences. Surprisingly, the PC literature has paid little to no attention to the relationship between PC breach perceptions and stress. A better understanding of how PC breach may elicit stress seems crucial, given that stress plays a key role in employees' physical and mental well-being. Based on Conservation of Resources Theory, we suggest that PC breach perceptions represent a perceived loss of valued resources, subsequently leading employees to experience higher stress levels resulting from emerging negative emotions. Moreover, we suggest that this mediated relationship is moderated by initial levels of fatigue, due to fatigue lowering the personal resources necessary to cope with breach events. To tests our hypotheses, we analyzed the multilevel data we obtained from two experience sampling designs (Study 1: 51 Belgian employees; Study 2: 53 US employees). Note that the unit of analysis is “observations” rather than “respondents,” resulting in an effective sample size of 730 (Study 1) and 374 (Study 2) observations. In both studies, we found evidence for the mediating role of negative emotions in the PC breach—stress relationship. In the second study, we also found evidence for the moderating role of fatigue in the mediated PC breach—stress relationship. Implications for research and practice are discussed. PMID:29559935

I Am So Tired… How Fatigue May Exacerbate Stress Reactions to Psychological Contract Breach.

PubMed

Achnak, Safâa; Griep, Yannick; Vantilborgh, Tim

2018-01-01

Previous research showed that perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breach have undesirable individual and organizational consequences. Surprisingly, the PC literature has paid little to no attention to the relationship between PC breach perceptions and stress. A better understanding of how PC breach may elicit stress seems crucial, given that stress plays a key role in employees' physical and mental well-being. Based on Conservation of Resources Theory, we suggest that PC breach perceptions represent a perceived loss of valued resources, subsequently leading employees to experience higher stress levels resulting from emerging negative emotions. Moreover, we suggest that this mediated relationship is moderated by initial levels of fatigue, due to fatigue lowering the personal resources necessary to cope with breach events. To tests our hypotheses, we analyzed the multilevel data we obtained from two experience sampling designs (Study 1: 51 Belgian employees; Study 2: 53 US employees). Note that the unit of analysis is "observations" rather than "respondents," resulting in an effective sample size of 730 (Study 1) and 374 (Study 2) observations. In both studies, we found evidence for the mediating role of negative emotions in the PC breach-stress relationship. In the second study, we also found evidence for the moderating role of fatigue in the mediated PC breach-stress relationship. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

[Dietetic factors associated with prostate cancer: protective effects of Mediterranean diet].

PubMed

Ferrís-Tortajada, J; Berbel-Tornero, O; García-Castell, J; Ortega-García, J A; López-Andreu, J A

2012-04-01

To review diet risk factors (RF) implied, more or less evidence-based, in the etiopathology of prostate carcinoma (PC), especially those that characterize the traditional Mediterranean diet (MD). Literature review of PC related diet RF in MedLine, CancerLit, Science Citation Index y Embase. Search profiles were "Dietetic Factors/Nutritional Factors/Mediterranean Diet/Primary Prevention", and "Prostate Cancer". Diet RF are associated with 35% of cancer mortality and 10-12% of PC mortality. The main diet RF, implied in the development of PC but with a protective effect, which are considered characteristic of MD are: high daily ingestion of vegetarian products (cereals, legumes, dried and fresh fruits, tubers, vegetables..); olive oil as main lipid source; low intake of animal saturated fat, processed red meat, milk and dairy products; regular consumption of small fish; and low alcohol intake (wine with meals). The MD contains many phytoactive compounds (lycopene, lupeol, quercetin, genistein, carnosol, resveratrol, catechins, vitamins..) with PC protective effects. Diet RF have a role on prostatic carcinogenesis. Further epidemiologic studies with better designs are needed to clarify PC related diet RF. PC risk is reduced in persons on MD compared with those on Western diet. The preventive effect of MD is due to the great number and quality of phytochemicals with antioxidant and antinflammatory properties that contains. Copyright © 2011 AEU. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Quantitative phase imaging method based on an analytical nonparaxial partially coherent phase optical transfer function.

PubMed

Bao, Yijun; Gaylord, Thomas K

2016-11-01

Multifilter phase imaging with partially coherent light (MFPI-PC) is a promising new quantitative phase imaging method. However, the existing MFPI-PC method is based on the paraxial approximation. In the present work, an analytical nonparaxial partially coherent phase optical transfer function is derived. This enables the MFPI-PC to be extended to the realistic nonparaxial case. Simulations over a wide range of test phase objects as well as experimental measurements on a microlens array verify higher levels of imaging accuracy compared to the paraxial method. Unlike the paraxial version, the nonparaxial MFPI-PC with obliquity factor correction exhibits no systematic error. In addition, due to its analytical expression, the increase in computation time compared to the paraxial version is negligible.

Falling PC Solitaire Cards: An Open-Inquiry Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Espada, Wilson J.

2012-01-01

Many of us have played the PC Solitaire game that comes as standard software in many computers. Although I am not a great player, occasionally I win a game or two. The game celebrates my accomplishment by pushing the cards forward, one at a time, falling gracefully in what appears to look like a parabolic path in a drag-free environment. One day,…

CMOS Image Sensor with a Built-in Lane Detector.

PubMed

Hsiao, Pei-Yung; Cheng, Hsien-Chein; Huang, Shih-Shinh; Fu, Li-Chen

2009-01-01

This work develops a new current-mode mixed signal Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) imager, which can capture images and simultaneously produce vehicle lane maps. The adopted lane detection algorithm, which was modified to be compatible with hardware requirements, can achieve a high recognition rate of up to approximately 96% under various weather conditions. Instead of a Personal Computer (PC) based system or embedded platform system equipped with expensive high performance chip of Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), the proposed imager, without extra Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) circuits to transform signals, is a compact, lower cost key-component chip. It is also an innovative component device that can be integrated into intelligent automotive lane departure systems. The chip size is 2,191.4 × 2,389.8 μm, and the package uses 40 pin Dual-In-Package (DIP). The pixel cell size is 18.45 × 21.8 μm and the core size of photodiode is 12.45 × 9.6 μm; the resulting fill factor is 29.7%.

An efficient and scalable deformable model for virtual reality-based medical applications.

PubMed

Choi, Kup-Sze; Sun, Hanqiu; Heng, Pheng-Ann

2004-09-01

Modeling of tissue deformation is of great importance to virtual reality (VR)-based medical simulations. Considerable effort has been dedicated to the development of interactively deformable virtual tissues. In this paper, an efficient and scalable deformable model is presented for virtual-reality-based medical applications. It considers deformation as a localized force transmittal process which is governed by algorithms based on breadth-first search (BFS). The computational speed is scalable to facilitate real-time interaction by adjusting the penetration depth. Simulated annealing (SA) algorithms are developed to optimize the model parameters by using the reference data generated with the linear static finite element method (FEM). The mechanical behavior and timing performance of the model have been evaluated. The model has been applied to simulate the typical behavior of living tissues and anisotropic materials. Integration with a haptic device has also been achieved on a generic personal computer (PC) platform. The proposed technique provides a feasible solution for VR-based medical simulations and has the potential for multi-user collaborative work in virtual environment.

On Fast Post-Processing of Global Positioning System Simulator Truth Data and Receiver Measurements and Solutions Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kizhner, Semion; Day, John H. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

Post-Processing of data related to a Global Positioning System (GPS) simulation is an important activity in qualification of a GPS receiver for space flight. Because a GPS simulator is a critical resource it is desirable to move off the pertinent simulation data from the simulator as soon as a test is completed. The simulator data files are usually moved to a Personal Computer (PC), where the post-processing of the receiver logged measurements and solutions data and simulated data is performed. Typically post-processing is accomplished using PC-based commercial software languages and tools. Because of commercial software systems generality their general-purpose functions are notoriously slow and more than often are the bottleneck problem even for short duration experiments. For example, it may take 8 hours to post-process data from a 6-hour simulation. There is a need to do post-processing faster, especially in order to use the previous test results as feedback for a next simulation setup. This paper demonstrates that a fast software linear interpolation algorithm is applicable to a large class of engineering problems, like GPS simulation data post-processing, where computational time is a critical resource and is one of the most important considerations. An approach is developed that allows to speed-up post-processing by an order of magnitude. It is based on improving the post-processing bottleneck interpolation algorithm using apriori information that is specific to the GPS simulation application. The presented post-processing scheme was used in support of a few successful space flight missions carrying GPS receivers. A future approach to solving the post-processing performance problem using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology is described.

The diagnostic accuracy of neck ultrasound, 4D-Computed tomographyand sestamibi imaging in parathyroid carcinoma.

PubMed

Christakis, Ioannis; Vu, Thinh; Chuang, Hubert H; Fellman, Bryan; Figueroa, Angelica M Silva; Williams, Michelle D; Busaidy, Naifa L; Perrier, Nancy D

2017-10-01

Our aim was to investigate the accuracy of available imaging modalities for parathyroid carcinoma (PC) in our institution and to identify which imaging modality, or combination thereof, is optimal in preoperative determination of precise tumor location. All operated PC patients in our institution between 2000 and 2015 that had at least one of the following in-house preoperative scans: neck ultrasonography (US), neck 4D-Computed Tomography (4DCT) and 99mTc Sestamibi SPECT/CT (MIBI). Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of PC tumor localization were assessed individually and in combination. 20 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were analysed. There were 18 US, 18 CT and 9 MIBI scans. The sensitivity and accuracy for tumor localisation of US was 80% (CI 56-94%) and 73% respectively, of 4DCT was 79% (CI 58-93%) and 82%, and of MIBI was 81% (CI 54-96%) and 78%. The sensitivity and accuracy of the combination of CT and MIBI was 94% (CI 73-100%) and 95% and for the combination of US, CT and MIBI was 100% (CI 72-100%) and 100% respectively. The wash-out of the PC lesions, expressed as a percentage change in Hounsfield Units from the arterial phase to early delayed phase was -9.29% and to the late delayed phase was -16.88% (n=11). The sensitivity of solitary preoperative imaging of PC patients, whether by US, CT or MIBI, is approximately 80%. Combinations of CT with MIBI and US increase the sensitivity to 95% or better. Combined preoperative imaging of patients with clinical possibility of PC is therefore recommended. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using PC Software To Enhance the Student's Ability To Learn the Exporting Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckles, Tom A.; Lange, Irene

This paper describes the advantages of using computer simulations in the classroom or managerial environment and the major premise and principal components of Export to Win!, a computer simulation used in international marketing seminars. A rationale for using computer simulations argues that they improve the quality of teaching by building…

Tablet PCs: A Physical Educator's New Clipboard

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nye, Susan B.

2010-01-01

Computers in education have come a long way from the abacus of 5,000 years ago to the desktop and laptop computers of today. Computers have transformed the educational environment, and with each new iteration of smaller and more powerful machines come additional advantages for teaching practices. The Tablet PC is one. Tablet PCs are fully…

Software Solution Saves Dollars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trotter, Andrew

2004-01-01

This article discusses computer software that can give classrooms and computer labs the capabilities of costly PC's at a small fraction of the cost. A growing number of cost-conscious school districts are finding budget relief in low-cost computer software known as "open source" that can do everything from manage school Web sites to equip…

Optimisation of multiplet identifier processing on a PLAYSTATION® 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hattori, Masami; Mizuno, Takashi

2010-02-01

To enable high-performance computing (HPC) for applications with large datasets using a Sony® PLAYSTATION® 3 (PS3™) video game console, we configured a hybrid system consisting of a Windows® PC and a PS3™. To validate this system, we implemented the real-time multiplet identifier (RTMI) application, which identifies multiplets of microearthquakes in terms of the similarity of their waveforms. The cross-correlation computation, which is a core algorithm of the RTMI application, was optimised for the PS3™ platform, while the rest of the computation, including data input and output remained on the PC. With this configuration, the core part of the algorithm ran 69 times faster than the original program, accelerating total computation speed more than five times. As a result, the system processed up to 2100 total microseismic events, whereas the original implementation had a limit of 400 events. These results indicate that this system enables high-performance computing for large datasets using the PS3™, as long as data transfer time is negligible compared with computation time.

GPU-accelerated FDTD modeling of radio-frequency field-tissue interactions in high-field MRI.

PubMed

Chi, Jieru; Liu, Feng; Weber, Ewald; Li, Yu; Crozier, Stuart

2011-06-01

The analysis of high-field RF field-tissue interactions requires high-performance finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computing. Conventional CPU-based FDTD calculations offer limited computing performance in a PC environment. This study presents a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based parallel-computing framework, producing substantially boosted computing efficiency (with a two-order speedup factor) at a PC-level cost. Specific details of implementing the FDTD method on a GPU architecture have been presented and the new computational strategy has been successfully applied to the design of a novel 8-element transceive RF coil system at 9.4 T. Facilitated by the powerful GPU-FDTD computing, the new RF coil array offers optimized fields (averaging 25% improvement in sensitivity, and 20% reduction in loop coupling compared with conventional array structures of the same size) for small animal imaging with a robust RF configuration. The GPU-enabled acceleration paves the way for FDTD to be applied for both detailed forward modeling and inverse design of MRI coils, which were previously impractical.

Wide-bandwidth high-resolution search for extraterrestrial intelligence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horowitz, Paul

1993-01-01

A third antenna was added to the system. It is a terrestrial low-gain feed, to act as a veto for local interference. The 3-chip design for a 4 megapoint complex FFT was reduced to finished working hardware. The 4-Megachannel circuit board contains 36 MByte of DRAM, 5 CPLDs, the three large FFT ASICs, and 74 ICs in all. The Austek FDP-based Spectrometer/Power Accumulator (SPA) has now been implemented as a 4-layer printed circuit. A PC interface board has been designed and together with its associated user interface and control software allows an IBM compatible computer to control the SPA board, and facilitates the transfer of spectra to the PC for display, processing, and storage. The Feature Recognizer Array cards receive the stream of modulus words from the 4M FFT cards, and forward a greatly thinned set of reports to the PC's in whose backplane they reside. In particular, a powerful ROM-based state-machine architecture has been adopted, and DRAM has been added to permit integration modes when tracking or reobserving source candidates. The general purpose (GP) array consists of twenty '486 PC class computers, each of which receives and processes the data from a feature extractor/correlator board set. The array performs a first analysis on the provided 'features' and then passes this information on to the workstation. The core workstation software is now written. That is, the communication channels between the user interface, the backend monitor program and the PC's have working software.

Microcosm to Cosmos: The Growth of a Divisional Computer Network

PubMed Central

Johannes, R.S.; Kahane, Stephen N.

1987-01-01

In 1982, we reported the deployment of a network of microcomputers in the Division of Gastroenterology[1]. This network was based upon Corvus Systems Omninet®. Corvus was one of the very first firms to offer networking products for PC's. This PC development occurred coincident with the planning phase of the Johns Hopkins Hospital's multisegment ethernet project. A rich communications infra-structure is now in place at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions[2,3]. Shortly after the hospital development under the direction of the Operational and Clinical Systems Division (OCS) development began, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine began an Integrated Academic Information Management Systems (IAIMS) planning effort. We now present a model that uses aspects of all three planning efforts (PC networks, Hospital Information Systems & IAIMS) to build a divisional computing facility. This facility is viewed as a terminal leaf on then institutional network diagram. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that this leaf, the divisional resource in the Division of Gastroenterology (GASNET), has a rich substructure and functionality of its own, perhaps revealing the recursive nature of network architecture. The current status, design and function of the GASNET computational facility is discussed. Among the major positive aspects of this design are the sharing and centralization of MS-DOS software, the high-speed DOS/Unix link that makes available most of the our institution's computing resources.

Constipation in specialized palliative care: factors related to constipation when applying different definitions.

PubMed

Erichsén, E; Milberg, A; Jaarsma, T; Friedrichsen, M

2016-02-01

For patients in palliative care, constipation is primarily a result of opioid treatment. Impacts from other factors related to constipation in palliative care are rarely studied. The aim was to identify factors related to constipation in patients in palliative care, and then to compare these factors between patients with different types of constipation and patients without constipation. Cross-sectional data on constipation was collected with a 26-item questionnaire from 485 patients in 38 specialist palliative care units in Sweden. Three different constipation groups were used; MC ONLY, PC ONLY, and MC & PC. Logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios. Patients with <3 defecations/week, MC ONLY, (n = 36) had higher odds of being hospitalized, bed-restricted, in need of personal assistance for toilet visits, and of having a poor fluid intake. Patients with the perception of being constipated, PC ONLY, (n = 93) had higher odds of having poor appetite, hemorrhoids, hard stool, more opioid treatment, less laxative treatment and of being more dissatisfied with constipation information. Patients with both <3 defecations/week and a perception of being constipated, MC & PC, (n = 78) had higher odds of having cancer- disease. There were several significant factors related to constipation with higher odds than opioid- treatment, for patients in palliative care, such as; hard stool, cancer diagnosis, dissatisfaction with information, low fluid intake, hemorrhoids, bed restriction, hospitalization, and need of personal assistance for toilet visits.

Four-Channel PC/104 MIL-STD-1553 Circuit Board

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, Gary L.

2004-01-01

The mini bus interface card (miniBIC) is the first four-channel electronic circuit board that conforms to MIL-STD-1553 and to the electrical-footprint portion of PC/104. [MIL-STD-1553 is a military standard that encompasses a method of communication and electrical- interface requirements for digital electronic subsystems connected to a data bus. PC/104 is an industry standard for compact, stackable modules that are fully compatible (in architecture, hardware, and software) with personal-computer data- and power-bus circuitry.] Prior to the development of the miniBIC, only one- and two-channel PC/104 MIL-STD-1553 boards were available. To obtain four channels, it was necessary to include at least two boards in a PC/104 stack. In comparison with such a two-board stack, the miniBIC takes up less space, consumes less power, and is more reliable. In addition, the miniBIC includes 32 digital input/output channels. The miniBIC (see figure) contains four MIL-STD-1553B hybrid integrated circuits (ICs), four transformers, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) interface. Each hybrid IC includes a MILSTD-1553 dual transceiver, memory-management circuitry, processor interface logic circuitry, and 64Kx16 bits of shared static random access memory. The memory is used to configure message and data blocks. In addition, 23 16-bit registers are available for (1) configuring the hybrid IC for, and starting it in, various modes of operation; (2) reading the status of the functionality of the hybrid IC; and (3) resetting the hybrid IC to a known state. The miniBIC can operate as a remote terminal, bus controller, or bus monitor. The FPGA provides the chip-select and data-strobe signals needed for operation of the hybrid ICs. The FPGA also receives interruption signals and forwards them to the ISA bus. The ISA interface connects the address, data, and control interfaces of the hybrid ICs to the ISA backplane. Each channel is, in effect, a MIL-STD-1553 interface that can operate either independently of the others or else as a redundant version of one of the others. The transformer in each channel provides electrical isolation between the rest of the miniBIC circuitry and the bus to which that channel is connected.

Assessment of diet and physical activity of brazilian schoolchildren: usability testing of a web-based questionnaire.

PubMed

da Costa, Filipe Ferreira; Schmoelz, Camilie Pacheco; Davies, Vanessa Fernandes; Di Pietro, Patrícia Faria; Kupek, Emil; de Assis, Maria Alice Altenburg

2013-08-19

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been used with increasing frequency for the assessment of diet and physical activity in health surveys. A number of Web-based questionnaires have been developed for children and adolescents. However, their usability characteristics have scarcely been reported, despite their potential importance for improving the feasibility and validity of ICT-based methods. The objective of this study was to describe the usability evaluation of the Consumo Alimentar e Atividade Física de Escolares (CAAFE) questionnaire (Food Consumption and Physical Activity Questionnaire for schoolchildren), a new Web-based survey tool for the self-assessment of diet and physical activity by schoolchildren. A total of 114 schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years took part in questionnaire usability testing carried out in computer classrooms at five elementary schools in the city of Florianopolis, Brazil. Schoolchildren used a personal computer (PC) equipped with software for recording what is on the computer screen and the children's speech during usability testing. Quantitative and qualitative analyses took into account objective usability metrics such as error counts and time to complete a task. Data on the main difficulties in accomplishing the task and the level of satisfaction expressed by the children were assessed by the observers using a standardized form and interviews with the children. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to summarize both the quantitative and the qualitative aspects of the data obtained. The mean time for completing the questionnaire was 13.7 minutes (SD 3.68). Compared to the children in 2nd or 3rd grades, those in 4th or 5th grades spent less time completing the questionnaire (median 12.4 vs 13.3 minutes, P=.022), asked for help less frequently (median 0 vs 1.0 count, P=.005), had a lower error count (median 2.0 vs 8.0 count, P<.001), and obtained a higher overall performance score (median 73.0 vs 68.0, P=.005). Children with a PC at home spent less time completing the questionnaire (median 12.3 vs 14.9 minutes, P<.001), had a lower overall error count (median 2.0 vs 9.0 count, P=.03), and had a higher performance score (median 72.0 vs 64.0, P=.005) compared to the children without a PC at home. The most common difficulty in completing the questionnaire was in using the scroll bar. The majority of children reported a positive evaluation (liked a lot or liked) for the four design elements, which were evaluated. The results of the present study provided feedback to improve the final version of the CAAFE questionnaire. Quantitative data showed minor errors and system failures, while qualitative data indicated that, overall, the children enjoyed the CAAFE questionnaire. Grade levels and PC use must be taken into account in Web-based tools designed for children.

Factor VIII, Protein C and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke Study (REGARDS).

PubMed

Zakai, Neil A; Judd, Suzanne E; Kissela, Brett; Howard, George; Safford, Monika M; Cushman, Mary

2018-06-11

 Haemostatic balance represented by low protein C (PC) and elevated factor VIII (FVIII) has been inconsistently associated with stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk.  This article assesses whether an elevated FVIII and a low PC would increase cardiovascular risk more than either individually.  REGARDS recruited 30,239 black and white U.S. participants aged ≥ 45 years between 2003 and 2007. FVIII and PC were measured in a case-cohort sample of 646 stroke, 654 CHD, and a 1,104-person random sample with follow-up for approximately 4.5 years. Hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated using Cox models adjusted for demographic and cardiovascular risk factors.  Elevated FVIII (per standard deviation [SD] increase) was associated with increased risk of both stroke (HR, 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08, 1.46) and CHD (HR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.29, 1.79), while there was no association of PC per SD decrease. For PC, there was a trend towards increased cardiovascular disease risk in the lowest values (bottom 5%). For stroke, there was no interaction between FVIII and low PC ( p interaction  = 0.55). For CHD, the adjusted HR of FVIII per SD increase was significantly greater with PC in the bottom 5% (HR, 3.59; 95% CI, 1.39, 8.29) than PC in the upper 95% (HR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.23, 1.71; p interaction  = 0.07).  Higher FVIII was associated with both CHD and stroke risk and the risk potentiated by low PC for CHD. Findings demonstrate that risks for cardiovascular diseases conferred by adverse levels of haemostasis biomarkers may be augmented by levels of other biomarkers. Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.

Real-time spectral analysis of HRV signals: an interactive and user-friendly PC system.

PubMed

Basano, L; Canepa, F; Ottonello, P

1998-01-01

We present a real-time system, built around a PC and a low-cost data acquisition board, for the spectral analysis of the heart rate variability signal. The Windows-like operating environment on which it is based makes the computer program very user-friendly even for non-specialized personnel. The Power Spectral Density is computed through the use of a hybrid method, in which a classical FFT analysis follows an autoregressive finite-extension of data; the stationarity of the sequence is continuously checked. The use of this algorithm gives a high degree of robustness of the spectral estimation. Moreover, always in real time, the FFT of every data block is computed and displayed in order to corroborate the results as well as to allow the user to interactively choose a proper AR model order.

A PC-based generator of surface ECG potentials for computer electrocardiograph testing.

PubMed

Franchi, D; Palagi, G; Bedini, R

1994-02-01

The system is composed of an electronic circuit, connected to a PC, whose outputs, starting from ECGs digitally collected by commercial interpretative electrocardiographs, simulate virtual patients' limb and chest electrode potentials. Appropriate software manages the D/A conversion and lines up the original short-term signal in a ring buffer to generate continuous ECG traces. The device also permits the addition of artifacts and/or baseline wanders/shifts on each lead separately. The system has been accurately tested and statistical indexes have been computed to quantify the reproduction accuracy analyzing, in the generated signal, both the errors induced on the fiducial point measurements and the capability to retain the diagnostic significance. The device integrated with an annotated ECG data base constitutes a reliable and powerful system to be used in the quality assurance testing of computer electrocardiographs.

Predictive Models for Dynamic Brittle Fracture and Damage at High-velocity Impact in Multilayered Targets

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-01

layered glass/PC systems,Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs), polycrystalline AlON, and fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) materials. For the first time we...multi-layered glass/PC systems,Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs), polycrystalline AlON, and fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) materials. For the... Composite Lamina with Peridynamics, International Journal for Multiscale Computational Engineering, (12 2011): 0. doi: Florin Bobaru, Youn Doh Ha

Teaching mathematics in the PC lab - the students' viewpoints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Karsten; Köhler, Anke

2013-04-01

The Matrix Algebra portion of the intermediate mathematics course at the Schmalkalden University Faculty of Business and Economics has been moved from a traditional classroom setting to a technology-based setting in the PC lab. A Computer Algebra System license was acquired that also allows its use on the students' own PCs. A survey was carried out to analyse the students' attitudes towards the use of technology in mathematics teaching.

PC/AT-based architecture for shared telerobotic control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schinstock, Dale E.; Faddis, Terry N.; Barr, Bill G.

1993-03-01

A telerobotic control system must include teleoperational, shared, and autonomous modes of control in order to provide a robot platform for incorporating the rapid advances that are occurring in telerobotics and associated technologies. These modes along with the ability to modify the control algorithms are especially beneficial for telerobotic control systems used for research purposes. The paper describes an application of the PC/AT platform to the control system of a telerobotic test cell. The paper provides a discussion of the suitability of the PC/AT as a platform for a telerobotic control system. The discussion is based on the many factors affecting the choice of a computer platform for a real time control system. The factors include I/O capabilities, simplicity, popularity, computational performance, and communication with external systems. The paper also includes a description of the actuation, measurement, and sensor hardware of both the master manipulator and the slave robot. It also includes a description of the PC-Bus interface cards. These cards were developed by the researchers in the KAT Laboratory, specifically for interfacing to the master manipulator and slave robot. Finally, a few different versions of the low level telerobotic control software are presented. This software incorporates shared control by supervisory systems and the human operator and traded control between supervisory systems and the human operator.

Muscle Velocity and Inertial Force from Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging

PubMed Central

Wentland, Andrew L.; McWalter, Emily J.; Pal, Saikat; Delp, Scott L.; Gold, Garry E.

2014-01-01

Purpose To evaluate velocity waveforms in muscle and to create a tool and algorithm for computing and analyzing muscle inertial forces derived from 2D phase contrast (PC) MRI. Materials and Methods PC MRI was performed in the forearm of four healthy volunteers during 1 Hz cycles of wrist flexion-extension as well as in the lower leg of six healthy volunteers during 1 Hz cycles of plantarflexion-dorsiflexion. Inertial forces (F) were derived via the equation F = ma. The mass, m, was derived by multiplying voxel volume by voxel-by-voxel estimates of density via fat-water separation techniques. Acceleration, a, was obtained via the derivative of the PC MRI velocity waveform. Results Mean velocities in the flexors of the forearm and lower leg were 1.94 ± 0.97 cm/s and 5.57 ± 2.72 cm/s, respectively, as averaged across all subjects; the inertial forces in the flexors of the forearm and lower leg were 1.9 × 10-3 ± 1.3 × 10-3 N and 1.1 × 10-2 ± 6.1 × 10-3 N, respectively, as averaged across all subjects. Conclusion PC MRI provided a promising means of computing muscle velocities and inertial forces—providing the first method for quantifying inertial forces. PMID:25425185

Paradigm Paralysis and the Plight of the PC in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Neil, Mick

1998-01-01

Examines the varied factors involved in providing Internet access in K-12 education, including expense, computer installation and maintenance, and security, and explores how the network computer could be useful in this context. Operating systems and servers are discussed. (MSE)

On the predictive potential of Pc5 ULF waves to forecast relativistic electrons based on their relationships over two solar cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Hing-Lan

2017-01-01

A statistical study of relativistic electron (>2 MeV) fluence derived from geosynchronous satellites and Pc5 ultralow frequency (ULF) wave power computed from a ground magnetic observatory data located in Canada's auroral zone has been carried out. The ground observations were made near the foot points of field lines passing through the GOESs from 1987 to 2009 (cycles 22 and 23). We determine statistical relationships between the two quantities for different phases of a solar cycle and validate these relationships in two different cycles. There is a positive linear relationship between log fluence and log Pc5 power for all solar phases; however, the power law indices vary for different phases of the cycle. High index values existed during the descending phase. The Pearson's cross correlation between electron fluence and Pc5 power indicates fluence enhancement 2-3 days after strong Pc5 wave activity for all solar phases. The lag between the two quantities is shorter for extremely high fluence (due to high Pc5 power), which tends to occur during the declining phases of both cycles. Most occurrences of extremely low fluence were observed during the extended solar minimum of cycle 23. The precursory attribute of Pc5 power with respect to fluence and the enhancement of fluence due to rising Pc5 power both support the notion of an electron acceleration mechanism by Pc5 ULF waves. This precursor behavior establishes the potential of using Pc5 power to predict relativistic electron fluence.

Minia, Egypt: Principal Component Analysis

PubMed

Abdelrehim, Marwa G; Mahfouz, Eman M; Ewis, Ashraf A; Seedhom, Amany E; Afifi, Hassan M; Shebl, Fatma M

2018-02-26

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a serious and rapidly progressing malignancy. Identifying risk factors including dietary elements is important to develop preventive strategies. This study focused on possible links between diet and PC. Methods: We conducted a case-control study including all PC patients diagnosed at Minia Cancer Center and controls from general population from June 2014 to December 2015. Dietary data were collected directly through personal interviews. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to identify dietary groups. The data were analyzed using crude odds ratios (ORs) and multivariable logistic regression with adjusted ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: A total of 75 cases and 149 controls were included in the study. PCA identified six dietary groups, labeled as cereals and grains, vegetables, proteins, dairy products, fruits, and sugars. Bivariate analysis showed that consumption of vegetables, fruits, sugars, and total energy intake were associated with change in PC risk. In multivariable-adjusted models comparing highest versus lowest levels of intake, we observed significant lower odds of PC in association with vegetable intake (OR 0.24; 95% CI, 0.07-0.85, P=0.012) and a higher likelihood with the total energy intake (OR 9.88; 95% CI, 2.56-38.09, P<0.0001). There was also a suggested link between high fruit consumption and reduced odds of PC. Conclusions: The study supports the association between dietary factors and the odds of PC development in Egypt. It was found that higher energy intake is associated with an increase in likelihood of PC, while increased vegetable consumption is associated with a lower odds ratio. Creative Commons Attribution License

An Integrated Approach to the Selection Process of Independent Research and Development Projects

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

11Q.Tr’Pc 12 PERSONAL AUTHOR($) Larson, Carol L. 1j& TYPE QF REPORT 13b TIME COVERED 14 DATE OF REPORT (Year, Month, Day) S1 PAGE COUNT Master’s Thesis...the miodel will be improved. In the area of subjective decision-making, researchers have shown that group consensus is superior to the single person ...criteria and their relative weights is to provide scoring sheets to a number of specialists, who make independent, personal subjective decisions on

Does long time spending on the electronic devices affect the reading abilities? A cross-sectional study among Chinese school-aged children.

PubMed

He, Zhen; Shao, Shanshan; Zhou, Jie; Ke, Juntao; Kong, Rui; Guo, Shengnan; Zhang, Jiajia; Song, Ranran

2014-12-01

Home literacy environment (HLE) is one of most important modifiable risk factors to dyslexia. With the development in technology, we include the electronic devices usage at home, such as computers and televisions, to the definition of HLE and investigate its impact on dyslexia based on the on-going project of Tongji's Reading Environment and Dyslexia Study. The data include 5063 children, primary school students (grade 3-grade 6), from a middle-sized city in China. We apply the principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the large dimension of variables in HLE, and find the first three components, denoted as PC1, PC2 and PC3, can explain 95.45% of HLE information. PC1 and PC2 demonstrate strong positive association with 'total time spending on electronic devices' and 'literacy-related activity', respectively. PC3 demonstrates strong negative association with 'restrictions on using electronic devices'. From the generalized linear model, we find that PC1 significantly increases the risk of dyslexia (OR = 1.043, 95% CI: 1.018-1.070), while PC2 significantly decreases the risk of dyslexia (OR = 0.839, 95% CI: 0.795-0.886). Therefore, reducing the total time spending on electronic devices and increasing the literacy-related activity would be the potential protective factors for dyslexic children in China. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variational data assimilation system "INM RAS - Black Sea"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parmuzin, Eugene; Agoshkov, Valery; Assovskiy, Maksim; Giniatulin, Sergey; Zakharova, Natalia; Kuimov, Grigory; Fomin, Vladimir

2013-04-01

Development of Informational-Computational Systems (ICS) for Data Assimilation Procedures is one of multidisciplinary problems. To study and solve these problems one needs to apply modern results from different disciplines and recent developments in: mathematical modeling; theory of adjoint equations and optimal control; inverse problems; numerical methods theory; numerical algebra and scientific computing. The problems discussed above are studied in the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Science (INM RAS) in ICS for Personal Computers (PC). Special problems and questions arise while effective ICS versions for PC are being developed. These problems and questions can be solved with applying modern methods of numerical mathematics and by solving "parallelism problem" using OpenMP technology and special linear algebra packages. In this work the results on the ICS development for PC-ICS "INM RAS - Black Sea" are presented. In the work the following problems and questions are discussed: practical problems that can be studied by ICS; parallelism problems and their solutions with applying of OpenMP technology and the linear algebra packages used in ICS "INM - Black Sea"; Interface of ICS. The results of ICS "INM RAS - Black Sea" testing are presented. Efficiency of technologies and methods applied are discussed. The work was supported by RFBR, grants No. 13-01-00753, 13-05-00715 and by The Ministry of education and science of Russian Federation, project 8291, project 11.519.11.1005 References: [1] V.I. Agoshkov, M.V. Assovskii, S.A. Lebedev, Numerical simulation of Black Sea hydrothermodynamics taking into account tide-forming forces. Russ. J. Numer. Anal. Math. Modelling (2012) 27, No.1, 5-31 [2] E.I. Parmuzin, V.I. Agoshkov, Numerical solution of the variational assimilation problem for sea surface temperature in the model of the Black Sea dynamics. Russ. J. Numer. Anal. Math. Modelling (2012) 27, No.1, 69-94 [3] V.B. Zalesny, N.A. Diansky, V.V. Fomin, S.N. Moshonkin, S.G. Demyshev, Numerical model of the circulation of Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Russ. J. Numer. Anal. Math. Modelling (2012) 27, No.1, 95-111 [4] V.I. Agoshkov, S.V. Giniatulin, G.V. Kuimov. OpenMP technology and linear algebra packages in the variation data assimilation systems. - Abstracts of the 1-st China-Russia Conference on Numerical Algebra with Applications in Radiactive Hydrodynamics, Beijing, China, October 16-18, 2012. [5] Zakharova N.B., Agoshkov V.I., Parmuzin E.I., The new method of ARGO buoys system observation data interpolation. Russian Journal of Numerical Analysis and Mathematical Modelling. Vol. 28, Issue 1, 2013.

Ocean Models and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salas-de-Leon, D. A.

2007-05-01

The increasing computational developments and the better understanding of mathematical and physical systems resulted in an increasing number of ocean models. Long time ago, modelers were like a secret organization and recognize each other by using secret codes and languages that only a select group of people was able to recognize and understand. The access to computational systems was reduced, on one hand equipment and the using time of computers were expensive and restricted, and on the other hand, they required an advance computational languages that not everybody wanted to learn. Now a days most college freshman own a personal computer (PC or laptop), and/or have access to more sophisticated computational systems than those available for research in the early 80's. The resource availability resulted in a mayor access to all kind models. Today computer speed and time and the algorithms does not seem to be a problem, even though some models take days to run in small computational systems. Almost every oceanographic institution has their own model, what is more, in the same institution from one office to the next there are different models for the same phenomena, developed by different research member, the results does not differ substantially since the equations are the same, and the solving algorithms are similar. The algorithms and the grids, constructed with algorithms, can be found in text books and/or over the internet. Every year more sophisticated models are constructed. The Proper Orthogonal Decomposition is a technique that allows the reduction of the number of variables to solve keeping the model properties, for which it can be a very useful tool in diminishing the processes that have to be solved using "small" computational systems, making sophisticated models available for a greater community.

The Present and Future of Biomarkers in Prostate Cancer: Proteomics, Genomics, and Immunology Advancements

PubMed Central

Gaudreau, Pierre-Olivier; Stagg, John; Soulières, Denis; Saad, Fred

2016-01-01

Prostate cancer (PC) is the second most common form of cancer in men worldwide. Biomarkers have emerged as essential tools for treatment and assessment since the variability of disease behavior, the cost and diversity of treatments, and the related impairment of quality of life have given rise to a need for a personalized approach. High-throughput technology platforms in proteomics and genomics have accelerated the development of biomarkers. Furthermore, recent successes of several new agents in PC, including immunotherapy, have stimulated the search for predictors of response and resistance and have improved the understanding of the biological mechanisms at work. This review provides an overview of currently established biomarkers in PC, as well as a selection of the most promising biomarkers within these particular fields of development. PMID:27168728

The automation of an inlet mass flow control system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Supplee, Frank; Tcheng, Ping; Weisenborn, Michael

1989-01-01

The automation of a closed-loop computer controlled system for the inlet mass flow system (IMFS) developed for a wind tunnel facility at Langley Research Center is presented. This new PC based control system is intended to replace the manual control system presently in use in order to fully automate the plug positioning of the IMFS during wind tunnel testing. Provision is also made for communication between the PC and a host-computer in order to allow total animation of the plug positioning and data acquisition during the complete sequence of predetermined plug locations. As extensive running time is programmed for the IMFS, this new automated system will save both manpower and tunnel running time.

Second-Language Composition Instruction, Computers and First-Language Pedagogy: A Descriptive Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvey, T. Edward

1987-01-01

A national survey of full-time instructional faculty (N=208) at universities, 2-year colleges, and high schools regarding attitudes toward using computers in second-language composition instruction revealed a predomination of Apple and IBM-PC computers used, a major frustration in lack of foreign character support, and mixed opinions about real…

Computer Aided Drafting Packages for Secondary Education. Edition 2. PC DOS Compatible Programs. A MicroSIFT Quarterly Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollard, Jim

This report reviews eight IBM-compatible software packages that are available to secondary schools to teach computer-aided drafting (CAD). Software packages to be considered were selected following reviews of CAD periodicals, computers in education periodicals, advertisements, and recommendations of teachers. The packages were then rated by…

Impacts of Mobile Computing on Student Learning in the University: A Comparison of Course Assessment Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkes, Mark; Hategekimana, Claver

2010-01-01

This study focuses on the impact of wireless, mobile computing tools on student assessment outcomes. In a campus-wide wireless, mobile computing environment at an upper Midwest university, an empirical analysis is applied to understand the relationship between student performance and Tablet PC use. An experimental/control group comparison of…