A Demonstration of Delay and Constructive Modeling Effects in Distributed Interactive Simulation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-02-01

with the Armstrong Laboratory Design Technology Branch, Veda Incorporated, and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). SAIC was working...The authors express special thanks to Mr. Dave O’Quinn of Veda Incorporated who provided quality simulation engineering support, and to Mr. David...platform employed in the study was the Engineering Design Simulator (EDSM) shown in Figure 3. Developed by Veda Inc., the EDSM is a single-seat

Design of penicillin fermentation process simulation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Xiaoyu; Yuan, Zhonghu; Qi, Xiaoxuan; Zhang, Wenqi

2011-10-01

Real-time monitoring for batch process attracts increasing attention. It can ensure safety and provide products with consistent quality. The design of simulation system of batch process fault diagnosis is of great significance. In this paper, penicillin fermentation, a typical non-linear, dynamic, multi-stage batch production process, is taken as the research object. A visual human-machine interactive simulation software system based on Windows operation system is developed. The simulation system can provide an effective platform for the research of batch process fault diagnosis.

The simcyp population based simulator: architecture, implementation, and quality assurance.

PubMed

Jamei, Masoud; Marciniak, Steve; Edwards, Duncan; Wragg, Kris; Feng, Kairui; Barnett, Adrian; Rostami-Hodjegan, Amin

2013-01-01

Developing a user-friendly platform that can handle a vast number of complex physiologically based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PBPK/PD) models both for conventional small molecules and larger biologic drugs is a substantial challenge. Over the last decade the Simcyp Population Based Simulator has gained popularity in major pharmaceutical companies (70% of top 40 - in term of R&D spending). Under the Simcyp Consortium guidance, it has evolved from a simple drug-drug interaction tool to a sophisticated and comprehensive Model Based Drug Development (MBDD) platform that covers a broad range of applications spanning from early drug discovery to late drug development. This article provides an update on the latest architectural and implementation developments within the Simulator. Interconnection between peripheral modules, the dynamic model building process and compound and population data handling are all described. The Simcyp Data Management (SDM) system, which contains the system and drug databases, can help with implementing quality standards by seamless integration and tracking of any changes. This also helps with internal approval procedures, validation and auto-testing of the new implemented models and algorithms, an area of high interest to regulatory bodies.

A positional misalignment correction method for Fourier ptychographic microscopy based on simulated annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Jiasong; Zhang, Yuzhen; Chen, Qian; Zuo, Chao

2017-02-01

Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM) is a newly developed super-resolution technique, which employs angularly varying illuminations and a phase retrieval algorithm to surpass the diffraction limit of a low numerical aperture (NA) objective lens. In current FPM imaging platforms, accurate knowledge of LED matrix's position is critical to achieve good recovery quality. Furthermore, considering such a wide field-of-view (FOV) in FPM, different regions in the FOV have different sensitivity of LED positional misalignment. In this work, we introduce an iterative method to correct position errors based on the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. To improve the efficiency of this correcting process, large number of iterations for several images with low illumination NAs are firstly implemented to estimate the initial values of the global positional misalignment model through non-linear regression. Simulation and experimental results are presented to evaluate the performance of the proposed method and it is demonstrated that this method can both improve the quality of the recovered object image and relax the LED elements' position accuracy requirement while aligning the FPM imaging platforms.

SU-E-T-36: A GPU-Accelerated Monte-Carlo Dose Calculation Platform and Its Application Toward Validating a ViewRay Beam Model

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

Wang, Y; Mazur, T; Green, O

Purpose: To build a fast, accurate and easily-deployable research platform for Monte-Carlo dose calculations. We port the dose calculation engine PENELOPE to C++, and accelerate calculations using GPU acceleration. Simulations of a Co-60 beam model provided by ViewRay demonstrate the capabilities of the platform. Methods: We built software that incorporates a beam model interface, CT-phantom model, GPU-accelerated PENELOPE engine, and GUI front-end. We rewrote the PENELOPE kernel in C++ (from Fortran) and accelerated the code on a GPU. We seamlessly integrated a Co-60 beam model (obtained from ViewRay) into our platform. Simulations of various field sizes and SSDs using amore » homogeneous water phantom generated PDDs, dose profiles, and output factors that were compared to experiment data. Results: With GPU acceleration using a dated graphics card (Nvidia Tesla C2050), a highly accurate simulation – including 100*100*100 grid, 3×3×3 mm3 voxels, <1% uncertainty, and 4.2×4.2 cm2 field size – runs 24 times faster (20 minutes versus 8 hours) than when parallelizing on 8 threads across a new CPU (Intel i7-4770). Simulated PDDs, profiles and output ratios for the commercial system agree well with experiment data measured using radiographic film or ionization chamber. Based on our analysis, this beam model is precise enough for general applications. Conclusions: Using a beam model for a Co-60 system provided by ViewRay, we evaluate a dose calculation platform that we developed. Comparison to measurements demonstrates the promise of our software for use as a research platform for dose calculations, with applications including quality assurance and treatment plan verification.« less

A micro-vibration generated method for testing the imaging quality on ground of space remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Yingying; Wang, Li; Wu, Qingwen

2018-03-01

In this paper, a novel method is proposed, which can simulate satellite platform micro-vibration and test the impact of satellite micro-vibration on imaging quality of space optical remote sensor on ground. The method can generate micro-vibration of satellite platform in orbit from vibrational degrees of freedom, spectrum, magnitude, and coupling path. Experiment results show that the relative error of acceleration control is within 7%, in frequencies from 7Hz to 40Hz. Utilizing this method, the system level test about the micro-vibration impact on imaging quality of space optical remote sensor can be realized. This method will have an important applications in testing micro-vibration tolerance margin of optical remote sensor, verifying vibration isolation and suppression performance of optical remote sensor, exploring the principle of micro-vibration impact on imaging quality of optical remote sensor.

Enhanced automated platform for 2D characterization of RFID communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vuza, Dan Tudor; Vlǎdescu, Marian

2016-12-01

The characterization of the quality of communication between an RFID reader and a transponder at all expected positions of the latter on the reader antenna is of primal importance for the evaluation of performance of an RFID system. Continuing the line of instruments developed for this purpose by the authors, the present work proposes an enhanced version of a previously introduced automated platform for 2D evaluation. By featuring higher performance in terms of mechanical speed, the new version allows to obtain 2D maps of communication with a higher resolution that would have been prohibitive in terms of test duration with the previous version. The list of measurement procedures that can be executed with the platform is now enlarged with additional ones, such as the determination of the variation of the magnetic coupling between transponder and antenna across the antenna surface and the utilization of transponder simulators for evaluation of the quality of communication.

Implementation of a WRF-CMAQ Air Quality Modeling System in Bogotá, Colombia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nedbor-Gross, R.; Henderson, B. H.; Pachon, J. E.; Davis, J. R.; Baublitz, C. B.; Rincón, A.

2014-12-01

Due to a continuous economic growth Bogotá, Colombia has experienced air pollution issues in recent years. The local environmental authority has implemented several strategies to curb air pollution that have resulted in the decrease of PM10 concentrations since 2010. However, more activities are necessary in order to meet international air quality standards in the city. The University of Florida Air Quality and Climate group is collaborating with the Universidad de La Salle to prioritize regulatory strategies for Bogotá using air pollution simulations. To simulate pollution, we developed a modeling platform that combines the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), local emissions, and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality model (CMAQ). This platform is the first of its kind to be implemented in the megacity of Bogota, Colombia. The presentation will discuss development and evaluation of the air quality modeling system, highlight initial results characterizing photochemical conditions in Bogotá, and characterize air pollution under proposed regulatory strategies. The WRF model has been configured and applied to Bogotá, which resides in a tropical climate with complex mountainous topography. Developing the configuration included incorporation of local topography and land-use data, a physics sensitivity analysis, review, and systematic evaluation. The threshold, however, was set based on synthesis of model performance under less mountainous conditions. We will evaluate the impact that differences in autocorrelation contribute to the non-ideal performance. Air pollution predictions are currently under way. CMAQ has been configured with WRF meteorology, global boundary conditions from GEOS-Chem, and a locally produced emission inventory. Preliminary results from simulations show promising performance of CMAQ in Bogota. Anticipated results include a systematic performance evaluation of ozone and PM10, characterization of photochemical sensitivity, and air quality predictions under proposed regulatory scenarios.

In-flight evaluation of a fiber optic helmet-mounted display

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jennings, Sion A.; Gubbels, Arthur W.; Swail, Carl P.; Craig, Greg

1998-08-01

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), in conjunction with the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND), is investigating the use of helmet-mounted displays (HMD) to improve pilot situational awareness in all-weather search and rescue helicopter operations. The National Research Council has installed a visually coupled HMD system in the NRC Bell 205 Airborne Simulator. Equipped with a full authority fly-by-wire control system, the Bell 205 has variable stability characteristics, which makes the airborne simulator the ideal platform for the integrated flight testing of HMDs in a simulated operational environment. This paper presents preliminary results from flight test of the NRC HMD. These results are in the form of numerical head tracker data, and subjective handling qualities ratings. Flight test results showed that the HMD degraded handling qualities due to reduced acuity, limited field-of-view, time delays in the sensor platform, and fatigue caused by excessive helmet inertia. Some evidence was found to support the hypothesis of an opto-kinetic cervical reflex whereby a pilot pitches and rolls his head in response to aircraft movements to maintain a level horizon in their field-of- view.

A new definition of pharmaceutical quality: assembly of a risk simulation platform to investigate the impact of manufacturing/product variability on clinical performance.

PubMed

Short, Steven M; Cogdill, Robert P; D'Amico, Frank; Drennen, James K; Anderson, Carl A

2010-12-01

The absence of a unanimous, industry-specific definition of quality is, to a certain degree, impeding the progress of ongoing efforts to "modernize" the pharmaceutical industry. This work was predicated on requests by Dr. Woodcock (FDA) to re-define pharmaceutical quality in terms of risk by linking production characteristics to clinical attributes. A risk simulation platform that integrates population statistics, drug delivery system characteristics, dosing guidelines, patient compliance estimates, production metrics, and pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and in vitro-in vivo correlation models to investigate the impact of manufacturing variability on clinical performance of a model extended-release theophylline solid oral dosage system was developed. Manufacturing was characterized by inter- and intra-batch content uniformity and dissolution variability metrics, while clinical performance was described by a probabilistic pharmacodynamic model that expressed the probability of inefficacy and toxicity as a function of plasma concentrations. Least-squares regression revealed that both patient compliance variables, percent of doses taken and dosing time variability, significantly impacted efficacy and toxicity. Additionally, intra-batch content uniformity variability elicited a significant change in risk scores for the two adverse events and, therefore, was identified as a critical quality attribute. The proposed methodology demonstrates that pharmaceutical quality can be recast to explicitly reflect clinical performance. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association

Research on quality metrics of wireless adaptive video streaming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xuefei

2018-04-01

With the development of wireless networks and intelligent terminals, video traffic has increased dramatically. Adaptive video streaming has become one of the most promising video transmission technologies. For this type of service, a good QoS (Quality of Service) of wireless network does not always guarantee that all customers have good experience. Thus, new quality metrics have been widely studies recently. Taking this into account, the objective of this paper is to investigate the quality metrics of wireless adaptive video streaming. In this paper, a wireless video streaming simulation platform with DASH mechanism and multi-rate video generator is established. Based on this platform, PSNR model, SSIM model and Quality Level model are implemented. Quality Level Model considers the QoE (Quality of Experience) factors such as image quality, stalling and switching frequency while PSNR Model and SSIM Model mainly consider the quality of the video. To evaluate the performance of these QoE models, three performance metrics (SROCC, PLCC and RMSE) which are used to make a comparison of subjective and predicted MOS (Mean Opinion Score) are calculated. From these performance metrics, the monotonicity, linearity and accuracy of these quality metrics can be observed.

Application of GIS to modified models of vehicle emission dispersion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Taosheng; Fu, Lixin

This paper reports on a preliminary study of the forecast and evaluation of transport-related air pollution dispersion in urban areas. Some modifications of the traditional Gauss dispersion models are provided, and especially a crossroad model is built, which considers the great variation of vehicle emission attributed to different driving patterns at the crossroad. The above models are combined with a self-developed geographic information system (GIS) platform, and a simulative system with graphical interfaces is built. The system aims at visually describing the influences on the urban environment by urban traffic characteristics and therefore gives a reference to the improvement of urban air quality. Due to the introduction of a self-developed GIS platform and a creative crossroad model, the system is more effective, flexible and accurate. Finally, a comparison of the simulated (predicted) and observed hourly concentration is given, which indicates a good simulation.

Pilot-Induced Oscillation Prediction With Three Levels of Simulation Motion Displacement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, Jeffery A.; Chung, William W. Y.; Tran, Duc T.; Laforce, Soren; Bengford, Norman J.

2001-01-01

Simulator motion platform characteristics were examined to determine if the amount of motion affects pilot-induced oscillation (PIO) prediction. Five test pilots evaluated how susceptible 18 different sets of pitch dynamics were to PIOs with three different levels of simulation motion platform displacement: large, small, and none. The pitch dynamics were those of a previous in-flight experiment, some of which elicited PIOs These in-flight results served as truth data for the simulation. As such, the in-flight experiment was replicated as much as possible. Objective and subjective data were collected and analyzed With large motion, PIO and handling qualities ratings matched the flight data more closely than did small motion or no motion. Also, regardless of the aircraft dynamics, large motion increased pilot confidence in assigning handling qualifies ratings, reduced safety pilot trips, and lowered touchdown velocities. While both large and small motion provided a pitch rate cue of high fidelity, only large motion presented the pilot with a high fidelity vertical acceleration cue.

Inverse simulation system for evaluating handling qualities during rendezvous and docking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Wanmeng; Wang, Hua; Thomson, Douglas; Tang, Guojin; Zhang, Fan

2017-08-01

The traditional method used for handling qualities assessment of manned space vehicles is too time-consuming to meet the requirements of an increasingly fast design process. In this study, a rendezvous and docking inverse simulation system to assess the handling qualities of spacecraft is proposed using a previously developed model-predictive-control architecture. By considering the fixed discrete force of the thrusters of the system, the inverse model is constructed using the least squares estimation method with a hyper-ellipsoidal restriction, the continuous control outputs of which are subsequently dispersed by pulse width modulation with sensitivity factors introduced. The inputs in every step are deemed constant parameters, and the method could be considered as a general method for solving nominal, redundant, and insufficient inverse problems. The rendezvous and docking inverse simulation is applied to a nine-degrees-of-freedom platform, and a novel handling qualities evaluation scheme is established according to the operation precision and astronauts' workload. Finally, different nominal trajectories are scored by the inverse simulation and an established evaluation scheme. The scores can offer theoretical guidance for astronaut training and more complex operation missions.

1:50 Scale Testing of Three Floating Wind Turbines at MARIN and Numerical Model Validation Against Test Data

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

Dagher, Habib; Viselli, Anthony; Goupee, Andrew

The primary goal of the basin model test program discussed herein is to properly scale and accurately capture physical data of the rigid body motions, accelerations and loads for different floating wind turbine platform technologies. The intended use for this data is for performing comparisons with predictions from various aero-hydro-servo-elastic floating wind turbine simulators for calibration and validation. Of particular interest is validating the floating offshore wind turbine simulation capabilities of NREL’s FAST open-source simulation tool. Once the validation process is complete, coupled simulators such as FAST can be used with a much greater degree of confidence in design processesmore » for commercial development of floating offshore wind turbines. The test program subsequently described in this report was performed at MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands) in Wageningen, the Netherlands. The models considered consisted of the horizontal axis, NREL 5 MW Reference Wind Turbine (Jonkman et al., 2009) with a flexible tower affixed atop three distinct platforms: a tension leg platform (TLP), a spar-buoy modeled after the OC3 Hywind (Jonkman, 2010) and a semi-submersible. The three generic platform designs were intended to cover the spectrum of currently investigated concepts, each based on proven floating offshore structure technology. The models were tested under Froude scale wind and wave loads. The high-quality wind environments, unique to these tests, were realized in the offshore basin via a novel wind machine which exhibits negligible swirl and low turbulence intensity in the flow field. Recorded data from the floating wind turbine models included rotor torque and position, tower top and base forces and moments, mooring line tensions, six-axis platform motions and accelerations at key locations on the nacelle, tower, and platform. A large number of tests were performed ranging from simple free-decay tests to complex operating conditions with irregular sea states and dynamic winds.« less

A review of simulation platforms in surgery of the temporal bone.

PubMed

Bhutta, M F

2016-10-01

Surgery of the temporal bone is a high-risk activity in an anatomically complex area. Simulation enables rehearsal of such surgery. The traditional simulation platform is the cadaveric temporal bone, but in recent years other simulation platforms have been created, including plastic and virtual reality platforms. To undertake a review of simulation platforms for temporal bone surgery, specifically assessing their educational value in terms of validity and in enabling transition to surgery. Systematic qualitative review. Search of the Pubmed, CINAHL, BEI and ERIC databases. Assessment of reported outcomes in terms of educational value. A total of 49 articles were included, covering cadaveric, animal, plastic and virtual simulation platforms. Cadaveric simulation is highly rated as an educational tool, but there may be a ceiling effect on educational outcomes after drilling 8-10 temporal bones. Animal models show significant anatomical variation from man. Plastic temporal bone models offer much potential, but at present lack sufficient anatomical or haptic validity. Similarly, virtual reality platforms lack sufficient anatomical or haptic validity, but with technological improvements they are advancing rapidly. At present, cadaveric simulation remains the best platform for training in temporal bone surgery. Technological advances enabling improved materials or modelling mean that in the future plastic or virtual platforms may become comparable to cadaveric platforms, and also offer additional functionality including patient-specific simulation from CT data. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Air Quality Science and Regulatory Efforts Require Geostationary Satellite Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pickering, Kenneth E.; Allen, D. J.; Stehr, J. W.

2006-01-01

Air quality scientists and regulatory agencies would benefit from the high spatial and temporal resolution trace gas and aerosol data that could be provided by instruments on a geostationary platform. More detailed time-resolved data from a geostationary platform could be used in tracking regional transport and in evaluating mesoscale air quality model performance in terms of photochemical evolution throughout the day. The diurnal cycle of photochemical pollutants is currently missing from the data provided by the current generation of atmospheric chemistry satellites which provide only one measurement per day. Often peak surface ozone mixing ratios are reached much earlier in the day during major regional pollution episodes than during local episodes due to downward mixing of ozone that had been transported above the boundary layer overnight. The regional air quality models often do not simulate this downward mixing well enough and underestimate surface ozone in regional episodes. Having high time-resolution geostationary data will make it possible to determine the magnitude of this lower-and mid-tropospheric transport that contributes to peak eight-hour average ozone and 24-hour average PM2.5 concentrations. We will show ozone and PM(sub 2.5) episodes from the CMAQ model and suggest ways in which geostationary satellite data would improve air quality forecasting. Current regulatory modeling is typically being performed at 12 km horizontal resolution. State and regional air quality regulators in regions with complex topography and/or land-sea breezes are anxious to move to 4-km or finer resolution simulations. Geostationary data at these or finer resolutions will be useful in evaluating such models.

On the Feasibility of Monitoring Carbon Monoxide in the Lower Troposphere from a Constellation of Northern Hemisphere Geostationary Satellites (PART 1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barre, Jerome; Edwards, David; Worden, Helen; Da Silva, Arlindo; Lahoz, William

2015-01-01

By the end of the current decade, there are plans to deploy several geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite missions for atmospheric composition over North America, East Asia and Europe with additional missions proposed. Together, these present the possibility of a constellation of geostationary platforms to achieve continuous time-resolved high-density observations over continental domains for mapping pollutant sources and variability at diurnal and local scales. In this paper, we use a novel approach to sample a very high global resolution model (GEOS-5 at 7 km horizontal resolution) to produce a dataset of synthetic carbon monoxide pollution observations representative of those potentially obtainable from a GEO satellite constellation with predicted measurement sensitivities based on current remote sensing capabilities. Part 1 of this study focuses on the production of simulated synthetic measurements for air quality OSSEs (Observing System Simulation Experiments). We simulate carbon monoxide nadir retrievals using a technique that provides realistic measurements with very low computational cost. We discuss the sampling methodology: the projection of footprints and areas of regard for geostationary geometries over each of the North America, East Asia and Europe regions; the regression method to simulate measurement sensitivity; and the measurement error simulation. A detailed analysis of the simulated observation sensitivity is performed, and limitations of the method are discussed. We also describe impacts from clouds, showing that the efficiency of an instrument making atmospheric composition measurements on a geostationary platform is dependent on the dominant weather regime over a given region and the pixel size resolution. These results demonstrate the viability of the "instrument simulator" step for an OSSE to assess the performance of a constellation of geostationary satellites for air quality measurements.

Helicopter flight simulation motion platform requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schroeder, Jeffery Allyn

Flight simulators attempt to reproduce in-flight pilot-vehicle behavior on the ground. This reproduction is challenging for helicopter simulators, as the pilot is often inextricably dependent on external cues for pilot-vehicle stabilization. One important simulator cue is platform motion; however, its required fidelity is unknown. To determine the required motion fidelity, several unique experiments were performed. A large displacement motion platform was used that allowed pilots to fly tasks with matched motion and visual cues. Then, the platform motion was modified to give cues varying from full motion to no motion. Several key results were found. First, lateral and vertical translational platform cues had significant effects on fidelity. Their presence improved performance and reduced pilot workload. Second, yaw and roll rotational platform cues were not as important as the translational platform cues. In particular, the yaw rotational motion platform cue did not appear at all useful in improving performance or reducing workload. Third, when the lateral translational platform cue was combined with visual yaw rotational cues, pilots believed the platform was rotating when it was not. Thus, simulator systems can be made more efficient by proper combination of platform and visual cues. Fourth, motion fidelity specifications were revised that now provide simulator users with a better prediction of motion fidelity based upon the frequency responses of their motion control laws. Fifth, vertical platform motion affected pilot estimates of steady-state altitude during altitude repositionings. This refutes the view that pilots estimate altitude and altitude rate in simulation solely from visual cues. Finally, the combined results led to a general method for configuring helicopter motion systems and for developing simulator tasks that more likely represent actual flight. The overall results can serve as a guide to future simulator designers and to today's operators.

SEASONAL MODELING OF THE EXPORT OF POLLUTANTS FROM NORTH AMERICA USING THE MULTI-SCALE AIR QUALITY SIMULATION PLATFORM (MAQSIP)

EPA Science Inventory

Attention in recent years has focused on the trans-boundary transport of ozone and fine particulate matte between the United States and Mexico and Canada and across state boundaries in the United States. In a similar manner, but on a larger spatial scale, the export of pollutant...

Power in the loop real time simulation platform for renewable energy generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yang; Shi, Wenhui; Zhang, Xing; He, Guoqing

2018-02-01

Nowadays, a large scale of renewable energy sources has been connecting to power system and the real time simulation platform is widely used to carry out research on integration control algorithm, power system stability etc. Compared to traditional pure digital simulation and hardware in the loop simulation, power in the loop simulation has higher accuracy and degree of reliability. In this paper, a power in the loop analog digital hybrid simulation platform has been built and it can be used not only for the single generation unit connecting to grid, but also for multiple new energy generation units connecting to grid. A wind generator inertia control experiment was carried out on the platform. The structure of the inertia control platform was researched and the results verify that the platform is up to need for renewable power in the loop real time simulation.

A pilot study of surgical training using a virtual robotic surgery simulator.

PubMed

Tergas, Ana I; Sheth, Sangini B; Green, Isabel C; Giuntoli, Robert L; Winder, Abigail D; Fader, Amanda N

2013-01-01

Our objectives were to compare the utility of learning a suturing task on the virtual reality da Vinci Skills Simulator versus the da Vinci Surgical System dry laboratory platform and to assess user satisfaction among novice robotic surgeons. Medical trainees were enrolled prospectively; one group trained on the virtual reality simulator, and the other group trained on the da Vinci dry laboratory platform. Trainees received pretesting and post-testing on the dry laboratory platform. Participants then completed an anonymous online user experience and satisfaction survey. We enrolled 20 participants. Mean pretest completion times did not significantly differ between the 2 groups. Training with either platform was associated with a similar decrease in mean time to completion (simulator platform group, 64.9 seconds [P = .04]; dry laboratory platform group, 63.9 seconds [P < .01]). Most participants (58%) preferred the virtual reality platform. The majority found the training "definitely useful" in improving robotic surgical skills (mean, 4.6) and would attend future training sessions (mean, 4.5). Training on the virtual reality robotic simulator or the dry laboratory robotic surgery platform resulted in significant improvements in time to completion and economy of motion for novice robotic surgeons. Although there was a perception that both simulators improved performance, there was a preference for the virtual reality simulator. Benefits unique to the simulator platform include autonomy of use, computerized performance feedback, and ease of setup. These features may facilitate more efficient and sophisticated simulation training above that of the conventional dry laboratory platform, without loss of efficacy.

A Truthful Incentive Mechanism for Online Recruitment in Mobile Crowd Sensing System.

PubMed

Chen, Xiao; Liu, Min; Zhou, Yaqin; Li, Zhongcheng; Chen, Shuang; He, Xiangnan

2017-01-01

We investigate emerging mobile crowd sensing (MCS) systems, in which new cloud-based platforms sequentially allocate homogenous sensing jobs to dynamically-arriving users with uncertain service qualities. Given that human beings are selfish in nature, it is crucial yet challenging to design an efficient and truthful incentive mechanism to encourage users to participate. To address the challenge, we propose a novel truthful online auction mechanism that can efficiently learn to make irreversible online decisions on winner selections for new MCS systems without requiring previous knowledge of users. Moreover, we theoretically prove that our incentive possesses truthfulness, individual rationality and computational efficiency. Extensive simulation results under both real and synthetic traces demonstrate that our incentive mechanism can reduce the payment of the platform, increase the utility of the platform and social welfare.

Helicopter Flight Simulation Motion Platform Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, Jeffery Allyn

1999-01-01

To determine motion fidelity requirements, a series of piloted simulations was performed. Several key results were found. First, lateral and vertical translational platform cues had significant effects on fidelity. Their presence improved performance and reduced pilot workload. Second, yaw and roll rotational platform cues were not as important as the translational platform cues. In particular, the yaw rotational motion platform cue did not appear at all useful in improving performance or reducing workload. Third, when the lateral translational platform cue was combined with visual yaw rotational cues, pilots believed the platform was rotating when it was not. Thus, simulator systems can be made more efficient by proper combination of platform and visual cues. Fourth, motion fidelity specifications were revised that now provide simulator users with a better prediction of motion fidelity based upon the frequency responses of their motion control laws. Fifth, vertical platform motion affected pilot estimates of steady-state altitude during altitude repositioning. Finally, the combined results led to a general method for configuring helicopter motion systems and for developing simulator tasks that more likely represent actual flight. The overall results can serve as a guide to future simulator designers and to today's operators.

Global Environmental Multiscale model - a platform for integrated environmental predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaminski, Jacek W.; Struzewska, Joanna; Neary, Lori; Dearden, Frank

2017-04-01

The Global Environmental Multiscale model was developed by the Government of Canada as an operational weather prediction model in the mid-1990s. Subsequently, it was used as the host meteorological model for an on-line implementation of air quality chemistry and aerosols from global to the meso-gamma scale. Further model developments led to the vertical extension of the modelling domain to include stratospheric chemistry, aerosols, and formation of polar stratospheric clouds. In parallel, the modelling platform was used for planetary applications where dynamical, radiative transfer and chemical processes in the atmosphere of Mars were successfully simulated. Undoubtedly, the developed modelling platform can be classified as an example capable of the seamless and coupled modelling of the dynamics and chemistry of planetary atmospheres. We will present modelling results for global, regional, and local air quality episodes and the long-term air quality trends. Upper troposphere and lower stratosphere modelling results will be presented in terms of climate change and subsonic aviation emissions modelling. Model results for the atmosphere of Mars will be presented in the context of the 2016 ExoMars mission and the anticipated observations from the NOMAD instrument. Also, we will present plans and the design to extend the GEM model to the F region with further coupling with a magnetospheric model that extends to 15 Re.

SU-D-206-01: Employing a Novel Consensus Optimization Strategy to Achieve Iterative Cone Beam CT Reconstruction On a Multi-GPU Platform

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

Li, B; Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong; Tian, Z

Purpose: While compressed sensing-based cone-beam CT (CBCT) iterative reconstruction techniques have demonstrated tremendous capability of reconstructing high-quality images from undersampled noisy data, its long computation time still hinders wide application in routine clinic. The purpose of this study is to develop a reconstruction framework that employs modern consensus optimization techniques to achieve CBCT reconstruction on a multi-GPU platform for improved computational efficiency. Methods: Total projection data were evenly distributed to multiple GPUs. Each GPU performed reconstruction using its own projection data with a conventional total variation regularization approach to ensure image quality. In addition, the solutions from GPUs were subjectmore » to a consistency constraint that they should be identical. We solved the optimization problem with all the constraints considered rigorously using an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm. The reconstruction framework was implemented using OpenCL on a platform with two Nvidia GTX590 GPU cards, each with two GPUs. We studied the performance of our method and demonstrated its advantages through a simulation case with a NCAT phantom and an experimental case with a Catphan phantom. Result: Compared with the CBCT images reconstructed using conventional FDK method with full projection datasets, our proposed method achieved comparable image quality with about one third projection numbers. The computation time on the multi-GPU platform was ∼55 s and ∼ 35 s in the two cases respectively, achieving a speedup factor of ∼ 3.0 compared with single GPU reconstruction. Conclusion: We have developed a consensus ADMM-based CBCT reconstruction method which enabled performing reconstruction on a multi-GPU platform. The achieved efficiency made this method clinically attractive.« less

A software platform for continuum modeling of ion channels based on unstructured mesh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tu, B.; Bai, S. Y.; Chen, M. X.; Xie, Y.; Zhang, L. B.; Lu, B. Z.

2014-01-01

Most traditional continuum molecular modeling adopted finite difference or finite volume methods which were based on a structured mesh (grid). Unstructured meshes were only occasionally used, but an increased number of applications emerge in molecular simulations. To facilitate the continuum modeling of biomolecular systems based on unstructured meshes, we are developing a software platform with tools which are particularly beneficial to those approaches. This work describes the software system specifically for the simulation of a typical, complex molecular procedure: ion transport through a three-dimensional channel system that consists of a protein and a membrane. The platform contains three parts: a meshing tool chain for ion channel systems, a parallel finite element solver for the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations describing the electrodiffusion process of ion transport, and a visualization program for continuum molecular modeling. The meshing tool chain in the platform, which consists of a set of mesh generation tools, is able to generate high-quality surface and volume meshes for ion channel systems. The parallel finite element solver in our platform is based on the parallel adaptive finite element package PHG which wass developed by one of the authors [1]. As a featured component of the platform, a new visualization program, VCMM, has specifically been developed for continuum molecular modeling with an emphasis on providing useful facilities for unstructured mesh-based methods and for their output analysis and visualization. VCMM provides a graphic user interface and consists of three modules: a molecular module, a meshing module and a numerical module. A demonstration of the platform is provided with a study of two real proteins, the connexin 26 and hemolysin ion channels.

Binary Associative Memories as a Benchmark for Spiking Neuromorphic Hardware

PubMed Central

Stöckel, Andreas; Jenzen, Christoph; Thies, Michael; Rückert, Ulrich

2017-01-01

Large-scale neuromorphic hardware platforms, specialized computer systems for energy efficient simulation of spiking neural networks, are being developed around the world, for example as part of the European Human Brain Project (HBP). Due to conceptual differences, a universal performance analysis of these systems in terms of runtime, accuracy and energy efficiency is non-trivial, yet indispensable for further hard- and software development. In this paper we describe a scalable benchmark based on a spiking neural network implementation of the binary neural associative memory. We treat neuromorphic hardware and software simulators as black-boxes and execute exactly the same network description across all devices. Experiments on the HBP platforms under varying configurations of the associative memory show that the presented method allows to test the quality of the neuron model implementation, and to explain significant deviations from the expected reference output. PMID:28878642

An application framework of three-dimensional reconstruction and measurement for endodontic research.

PubMed

Gao, Yuan; Peters, Ove A; Wu, Hongkun; Zhou, Xuedong

2009-02-01

The purpose of this study was to customize an application framework by using the MeVisLab image processing and visualization platform for three-dimensional reconstruction and assessment of tooth and root canal morphology. One maxillary first molar was scanned before and after preparation with ProTaper by using micro-computed tomography. With a customized application framework based on MeVisLab, internal and external anatomy was reconstructed. Furthermore, the dimensions of root canal and radicular dentin were quantified, and effects of canal preparation were assessed. Finally, a virtual preparation with risk analysis was performed to simulate the removal of a broken instrument. This application framework provided an economical platform and met current requirements of endodontic research. The broad-based use of high-quality free software and the resulting exchange of experience might help to improve the quality of endodontic research with micro-computed tomography.

A Truthful Incentive Mechanism for Online Recruitment in Mobile Crowd Sensing System

PubMed Central

Chen, Xiao; Liu, Min; Zhou, Yaqin; Li, Zhongcheng; Chen, Shuang; He, Xiangnan

2017-01-01

We investigate emerging mobile crowd sensing (MCS) systems, in which new cloud-based platforms sequentially allocate homogenous sensing jobs to dynamically-arriving users with uncertain service qualities. Given that human beings are selfish in nature, it is crucial yet challenging to design an efficient and truthful incentive mechanism to encourage users to participate. To address the challenge, we propose a novel truthful online auction mechanism that can efficiently learn to make irreversible online decisions on winner selections for new MCS systems without requiring previous knowledge of users. Moreover, we theoretically prove that our incentive possesses truthfulness, individual rationality and computational efficiency. Extensive simulation results under both real and synthetic traces demonstrate that our incentive mechanism can reduce the payment of the platform, increase the utility of the platform and social welfare. PMID:28045441

Simulation platform of LEO satellite communication system based on OPNET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Yong; Li, Xiaozhuo; Wang, Chuqiao; Li, Haihao

2018-02-01

For the purpose of verifying communication protocol in the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication system, an Optimized Network Engineering Tool (OPNET) based simulation platform is built. Using the three-layer modeling mechanism, the network model, the node model and the process model of the satellite communication system are built respectively from top to bottom, and the protocol will be implemented by finite state machine and Proto-C language. According to satellite orbit parameters, orbit files are generated via Satellite Tool Kit (STK) and imported into OPNET, and the satellite nodes move along their orbits. The simulation platform adopts time-slot-driven mode, divides simulation time into continuous time slots, and allocates slot number for each time slot. A resource allocation strategy is simulated on this platform, and the simulation results such as resource utilization rate, system throughput and packet delay are analyzed, which indicate that this simulation platform has outstanding versatility.

Developing a calibrated CONUS-wide watershed-scale simulation platform for quantifying the influence of different sources of uncertainty on streamflow forecast skill

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, A. J.; Sampson, K. M.; Wood, A. W.; Hopson, T. M.; Brekke, L. D.; Arnold, J.; Raff, D. A.; Clark, M. P.

2013-12-01

Skill in model-based hydrologic forecasting depends on the ability to estimate a watershed's initial moisture and energy conditions, to forecast future weather and climate inputs, and on the quality of the hydrologic model's representation of watershed processes. The impact of these factors on prediction skill varies regionally, seasonally, and by model. We are investigating these influences using a watershed simulation platform that spans the continental US (CONUS), encompassing a broad range of hydroclimatic variation, and that uses the current simulation models of National Weather Service streamflow forecasting operations. The first phase of this effort centered on the implementation and calibration of the SNOW-17 and Sacramento soil moisture accounting (SAC-SMA) based hydrologic modeling system for a range of watersheds. The base configuration includes 630 basins in the United States Geological Survey's Hydro-Climatic Data Network 2009 (HCDN-2009, Lins 2012) conterminous U.S. basin subset. Retrospective model forcings were derived from Daymet (http://daymet.ornl.gov/), and where available, a priori parameter estimates were based on or compared with the operational NWS model parameters. Model calibration was accomplished by several objective, automated strategies, including the shuffled complex evolution (SCE) optimization approach developed within the NWS in the early 1990s (Duan et al. 1993). This presentation describes outcomes from this effort, including insights about measuring simulation skill, and on relationships between simulation skill and model parameters, basin characteristics (climate, topography, vegetation, soils), and the quality of forcing inputs. References: %Z Thornton, P.; Thornton, M.; Mayer, B.; Wilhelmi, N.; Wei, Y.; Devarakonda, R; Cook, R. Daymet: Daily Surface Weather on a 1 km Grid for North America. 1980-2008; Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center: Oak Ridge, TN, USA, 2012; Volume 10.

Multiple Experimental Platform Consistency at NIF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedetti, L. R.; Barrios, M. A.; Bradley, D. K.; Eder, D. C.; Khan, S. F.; Izumi, N.; Jones, O. S.; Ma, T.; Nagel, S. R.; Peterson, J. L.; Rygg, J. R.; Spears, B. K.; Town, R. P.

2013-10-01

ICF experiments at NIF utilize several platforms to assess different metrics of implosion quality. In addition to the point design-a target capsule of DT ice inside a thin plastic ablator-notable platforms include: (i) Symmetry Capsules(SymCaps), mass-adjusted CH capsules filled with DT gas for similar hydrodynamic performance without the need for a DT crystal; (ii) D:3He filled SymCaps, designed for low neutron yield implosions to accommodate a variety of x-ray and optical diagnostics; and (iii) Convergent Ablators, SymCaps coupled with x-radiography to assess in-flight velocity and symmetry of the implosion over ~1 ns before stagnation and burn. These platforms are expected to be good surrogates for one another, and their hohlraum and implosion performance variations have been simulated in detail. By comparing results of similar experiments, we isolate platform-specific variations. We focus on the symmetry, convergence, and timing of x-ray emission as observed in each platform as this can be used to infer stagnation pressure and temperature. This work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-640865.

Principled Design of an Augmented Reality Trainer for Medics

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-04-13

retake test is scheduled. In addition, extensive simulation capstone scenarios are run with a full body manikin that includes airway management...platform so they could run with high quality graphical resolution. We updated the underlying data models to reflect the training scenario parameters...Sedeh, P., Schumann, M., & Groeben, H. (2009). Laryngoscopy via Macintosh blade versus GlideScope: Success rate and time for endotracheal intubation

Water quality impact assessment of agricultural Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) simulated for a regional catchment in Quebec, Eastern Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rousseau, Alain N.; Hallema, Dennis W.; Gumiere, Silvio J.; Savary, Stéphane; Hould Gosselin, Gabriel

2014-05-01

Water quality has become a matter of increasing concern over the past four decades as a result of the intensification of agriculture, and more particularly so in Canada where agriculture has evolved into the largest non-point source of surface water pollution. The Canadian WEBs project (Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial Management Practices, BMPs) was initiated in order to determine the efficiency of BMPs in improving the surface water quality of rural catchments, and the economic aspects related to their implementation on the same scale. In this contribution we use the integrated watershed modelling platform GIBSI (Gestion Intégrée des Bassins versants à l'aide d'un Système Informatisé) to evaluate the effects of various BMPs on sediment and nutrient yields and, in close relation to this, the surface water quality for the Beaurivage River catchment (718 km2) in Quebec, eastern Canada. A base scenario of the catchment is developed by calibrating the different models of the GIBSI platform, namely HYDROTEL for hydrology, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) for soil erosion, the Erosion-Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for contaminant transport and fate, and QUAL2E for stream water quality. Four BMPs were analysed: (1) vegetated riparian buffer strips, (2) precision slurry application, (3) transition of all cereal and corn fields to grassland (grassland conversion), and (4) no-tillage on corn fields. Simulations suggest that riparian buffer strips and grassland conversion are more effective in terms of phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment load reduction than precision slurry application and no-tillage on corn fields. The results furthermore indicate the need for a more profound understanding of sediment dynamics in streams and on riparian buffer strips.

On the feasibility of monitoring carbon monoxide in the lower troposphere from a constellation of Northern Hemisphere geostationary satellites. (Part 1)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barré, Jérôme; Edwards, David; Worden, Helen; Da Silva, Arlindo; Lahoz, William

2015-07-01

By the end of the current decade, there are plans to deploy several geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite missions for atmospheric composition over North America, East Asia and Europe with additional missions proposed. Together, these present the possibility of a constellation of geostationary platforms to achieve continuous time-resolved high-density observations over continental domains for mapping pollutant sources and variability at diurnal and local scales. In this paper, we use a novel approach to sample a very high global resolution model (GEOS-5 at 7 km horizontal resolution) to produce a dataset of synthetic carbon monoxide pollution observations representative of those potentially obtainable from a GEO satellite constellation with predicted measurement sensitivities based on current remote sensing capabilities. Part 1 of this study focuses on the production of simulated synthetic measurements for air quality OSSEs (Observing System Simulation Experiments). We simulate carbon monoxide nadir retrievals using a technique that provides realistic measurements with very low computational cost. We discuss the sampling methodology: the projection of footprints and areas of regard for geostationary geometries over each of the North America, East Asia and Europe regions; the regression method to simulate measurement sensitivity; and the measurement error simulation. A detailed analysis of the simulated observation sensitivity is performed, and limitations of the method are discussed. We also describe impacts from clouds, showing that the efficiency of an instrument making atmospheric composition measurements on a geostationary platform is dependent on the dominant weather regime over a given region and the pixel size resolution. These results demonstrate the viability of the ;instrument simulator; step for an OSSE to assess the performance of a constellation of geostationary satellites for air quality measurements. We describe the OSSE results in a follow up paper (Part 2 of this study).

Upgrades to the Probabilistic NAS Platform Air Traffic Simulation Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, George; Boisvert, Benjamin

2013-01-01

This document is the final report for the project entitled "Upgrades to the Probabilistic NAS Platform Air Traffic Simulation Software." This report consists of 17 sections which document the results of the several subtasks of this effort. The Probabilistic NAS Platform (PNP) is an air operations simulation platform developed and maintained by the Saab Sensis Corporation. The improvements made to the PNP simulation include the following: an airborne distributed separation assurance capability, a required time of arrival assignment and conformance capability, and a tactical and strategic weather avoidance capability.

Urban water-quality modelling: implementing an extension to Multi-Hydro platform for real case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Yi; Giangola-Murzyn, Agathe; Bonhomme, Celine; Chebbo, Ghassan; Schertzer, Daniel

2015-04-01

During the last few years, the physically based and fully distributed numerical platform Multi-Hydro (MH) has been developed to simulate hydrological behaviours in urban/peri-urban areas (El-Tabach et al. , 2009 ; Gires et al., 2013 ; Giangola-Murzyn et al., 2014). This hydro-dynamical platform is open-access and has a modular structure, which is designed to be easily scalable and transportable, in order to simulate the dynamics and complex interactions of the water cycle processes in urban or peri-urban environment (surface hydrology, urban groundwater infrastructures and infiltration). Each hydrological module relies on existing and widely validated open source models, such as TREX model (Velleux, 2005) for the surface module, SWMM model (Rossman, 2010) for the drainage module and VS2DT model (Lappala et al., 1987) for the soil module. In our recent studies, an extension of MH has been set up by connecting the already available water-quality computational components among different modules, to introduce a pollutant transport modelling into the hydro-dynamical platform. As for the surface module in two-dimensions, the concentration of particles in flow is expressed by sediment advection equation, the settling of suspended particles is calculated with a simplified settling velocity formula, while the pollutant wash-off from a given land-use is represented as a mass rate of particle removal from the bottom boundary over time, based on transport capacity, which is computed by a modified form of Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Considering that the USLE is originally conceived to predict soil losses caused by runoff in agriculture areas, several adaptations were needed to use it for urban areas, such as the alterations of USLE parameters according to different criterions, the definition of the appropriate initial dust thickness corresponding to various land-uses, etc. Concerning the drainage module, water quality routing within pipes assumes that the conduit behaves as a continuously stirred tank reactor. This extension of Multi-Hydro was tested on two peri-urban catchments located near Paris, the Villecresnes (France, 0.7 km²) and the Le Perreux-sur-Marne (France, 0.2 km²). As the Villecresnes had been analyzed within several European projects (FP7 SMARTeST, KIC-Climate BlueGreenDream, Interreg RainGain), the robustness of the new extension of MH was firstly tested on this basin by comparing the water quantity simulation outcomes with the results already obtained in previous works. Benefiting from the large datasets that are collected in the framework of the ANR (French National Agency for Research) Trafipollu project, the water quality modelling performance of the extension was then illustrated on the catchment of Le Perreux-sur-Marne.

Using Kokkos for Performant Cross-Platform Acceleration of Liquid Rocket Simulations

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-08

NUMBER (Include area code) 08 May 2017 Briefing Charts 05 April 2017 - 08 May 2017 Using Kokkos for Performant Cross-Platform Acceleration of Liquid ...ERC Incorporated RQRC AFRL-West Using Kokkos for Performant Cross-Platform Acceleration of Liquid Rocket Simulations 2DISTRIBUTION A: Approved for... Liquid Rocket Combustion Simulation SPACE simulation of rotating detonation engine (courtesy of Dr. Christopher Lietz) 3DISTRIBUTION A: Approved

Operation quality assessment model for video conference system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Bangshi; Qi, Feng; Shao, Sujie; Wang, Ying; Li, Weijian

2018-01-01

Video conference system has become an important support platform for smart grid operation and management, its operation quality is gradually concerning grid enterprise. First, the evaluation indicator system covering network, business and operation maintenance aspects was established on basis of video conference system's operation statistics. Then, the operation quality assessment model combining genetic algorithm with regularized BP neural network was proposed, which outputs operation quality level of the system within a time period and provides company manager with some optimization advice. The simulation results show that the proposed evaluation model offers the advantages of fast convergence and high prediction accuracy in contrast with regularized BP neural network, and its generalization ability is superior to LM-BP neural network and Bayesian BP neural network.

The design of real time infrared image generation software based on Creator and Vega

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Rui-feng; Wu, Wei-dong; Huo, Jun-xiu

2013-09-01

Considering the requirement of high reality and real-time quality dynamic infrared image of an infrared image simulation, a method to design real-time infrared image simulation application on the platform of VC++ is proposed. This is based on visual simulation software Creator and Vega. The functions of Creator are introduced simply, and the main features of Vega developing environment are analyzed. The methods of infrared modeling and background are offered, the designing flow chart of the developing process of IR image real-time generation software and the functions of TMM Tool and MAT Tool and sensor module are explained, at the same time, the real-time of software is designed.

GATE Monte Carlo simulation of dose distribution using MapReduce in a cloud computing environment.

PubMed

Liu, Yangchuan; Tang, Yuguo; Gao, Xin

2017-12-01

The GATE Monte Carlo simulation platform has good application prospects of treatment planning and quality assurance. However, accurate dose calculation using GATE is time consuming. The purpose of this study is to implement a novel cloud computing method for accurate GATE Monte Carlo simulation of dose distribution using MapReduce. An Amazon Machine Image installed with Hadoop and GATE is created to set up Hadoop clusters on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Macros, the input files for GATE, are split into a number of self-contained sub-macros. Through Hadoop Streaming, the sub-macros are executed by GATE in Map tasks and the sub-results are aggregated into final outputs in Reduce tasks. As an evaluation, GATE simulations were performed in a cubical water phantom for X-ray photons of 6 and 18 MeV. The parallel simulation on the cloud computing platform is as accurate as the single-threaded simulation on a local server and the simulation correctness is not affected by the failure of some worker nodes. The cloud-based simulation time is approximately inversely proportional to the number of worker nodes. For the simulation of 10 million photons on a cluster with 64 worker nodes, time decreases of 41× and 32× were achieved compared to the single worker node case and the single-threaded case, respectively. The test of Hadoop's fault tolerance showed that the simulation correctness was not affected by the failure of some worker nodes. The results verify that the proposed method provides a feasible cloud computing solution for GATE.

RootJS: Node.js Bindings for ROOT 6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beffart, Theo; Früh, Maximilian; Haas, Christoph; Rajgopal, Sachin; Schwabe, Jonas; Wolff, Christoph; Szuba, Marek

2017-10-01

We present rootJS, an interface making it possible to seamlessly integrate ROOT 6 into applications written for Node.js, the JavaScript runtime platform increasingly commonly used to create high-performance Web applications. ROOT features can be called both directly from Node.js code and by JIT-compiling C++ macros. All rootJS methods are invoked asynchronously and support callback functions, allowing non-blocking operation of Node.js applications using them. Last but not least, our bindings have been designed to platform-independent and should therefore work on all systems supporting both ROOT 6 and Node.js. Thanks to rootJS it is now possible to create ROOT-aware Web applications taking full advantage of the high performance and extensive capabilities of Node.js. Examples include platforms for the quality assurance of acquired, reconstructed or simulated data, book-keeping and e-log systems, and even Web browser-based data visualisation and analysis.

Flight Simulator Platform Motion and Air Transport Pilot Training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Alfred T.; Bussolari, Steven R.

1989-01-01

The influence of flight simulator platform motion on pilot training and performance was examined In two studies utilizing a B-727-200 aircraft simulator. The simulator, located at Ames Research Center, Is certified by the FAA for upgrade and transition training in air carrier operations. Subjective ratings and objective performance of experienced B-727 pilots did not reveal any reliable effects of wide variations In platform motion de- sign. Motion platform variations did, however, affect the acquisition of control skill by pilots with no prior heavy aircraft flying experience. The effect was limited to pitch attitude control inputs during the early phase of landing training. Implications for the definition of platform motion requirements in air transport pilot training are discussed.

SU-G-BRC-10: Feasibility of a Web-Based Monte Carlo Simulation Tool for Dynamic Electron Arc Radiotherapy (DEAR)

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

Rodrigues, A; Wu, Q; Sawkey, D

Purpose: DEAR is a radiation therapy technique utilizing synchronized motion of gantry and couch during delivery to optimize dose distribution homogeneity and penumbra for treatment of superficial disease. Dose calculation for DEAR is not yet supported by commercial TPSs. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of using a web-based Monte Carlo (MC) simulation tool (VirtuaLinac) to calculate dose distributions for a DEAR delivery. Methods: MC simulations were run through VirtuaLinac, which is based on the GEANT4 platform. VirtuaLinac utilizes detailed linac head geometry and material models, validated phase space files, and a voxelized phantom. The inputmore » was expanded to include an XML file for simulation of varying mechanical axes as a function of MU. A DEAR XML plan was generated and used in the MC simulation and delivered on a TrueBeam in Developer Mode. Radiographic film wrapped on a cylindrical phantom (12.5 cm radius) measured dose at a depth of 1.5 cm and compared to the simulation results. Results: A DEAR plan was simulated using an energy of 6 MeV and a 3×10 cm{sup 2} cut-out in a 15×15 cm{sup 2} applicator for a delivery of a 90° arc. The resulting data were found to provide qualitative and quantitative evidence that the simulation platform could be used as the basis for DEAR dose calculations. The resulting unwrapped 2D dose distributions agreed well in the cross-plane direction along the arc, with field sizes of 18.4 and 18.2 cm and penumbrae of 1.9 and 2.0 cm for measurements and simulations, respectively. Conclusion: Preliminary feasibility of a DEAR delivery using a web-based MC simulation platform has been demonstrated. This tool will benefit treatment planning for DEAR as a benchmark for developing other model based algorithms, allowing efficient optimization of trajectories, and quality assurance of plans without the need for extensive measurements.« less

[Review on HSPF model for simulation of hydrology and water quality processes].

PubMed

Li, Zhao-fu; Liu, Hong-Yu; Li, Yan

2012-07-01

Hydrological Simulation Program-FORTRAN (HSPF), written in FORTRAN, is one ol the best semi-distributed hydrology and water quality models, which was first developed based on the Stanford Watershed Model. Many studies on HSPF model application were conducted. It can represent the contributions of sediment, nutrients, pesticides, conservatives and fecal coliforms from agricultural areas, continuously simulate water quantity and quality processes, as well as the effects of climate change and land use change on water quantity and quality. HSPF consists of three basic application components: PERLND (Pervious Land Segment) IMPLND (Impervious Land Segment), and RCHRES (free-flowing reach or mixed reservoirs). In general, HSPF has extensive application in the modeling of hydrology or water quality processes and the analysis of climate change and land use change. However, it has limited use in China. The main problems with HSPF include: (1) some algorithms and procedures still need to revise, (2) due to the high standard for input data, the accuracy of the model is limited by spatial and attribute data, (3) the model is only applicable for the simulation of well-mixed rivers, reservoirs and one-dimensional water bodies, it must be integrated with other models to solve more complex problems. At present, studies on HSPF model development are still undergoing, such as revision of model platform, extension of model function, method development for model calibration, and analysis of parameter sensitivity. With the accumulation of basic data and imorovement of data sharing, the HSPF model will be applied more extensively in China.

Benchmarking of dynamic simulation predictions in two software platforms using an upper limb musculoskeletal model

PubMed Central

Saul, Katherine R.; Hu, Xiao; Goehler, Craig M.; Vidt, Meghan E.; Daly, Melissa; Velisar, Anca; Murray, Wendy M.

2014-01-01

Several opensource or commercially available software platforms are widely used to develop dynamic simulations of movement. While computational approaches are conceptually similar across platforms, technical differences in implementation may influence output. We present a new upper limb dynamic model as a tool to evaluate potential differences in predictive behavior between platforms. We evaluated to what extent differences in technical implementations in popular simulation software environments result in differences in kinematic predictions for single and multijoint movements using EMG- and optimization-based approaches for deriving control signals. We illustrate the benchmarking comparison using SIMM-Dynamics Pipeline-SD/Fast and OpenSim platforms. The most substantial divergence results from differences in muscle model and actuator paths. This model is a valuable resource and is available for download by other researchers. The model, data, and simulation results presented here can be used by future researchers to benchmark other software platforms and software upgrades for these two platforms. PMID:24995410

Benchmarking of dynamic simulation predictions in two software platforms using an upper limb musculoskeletal model.

PubMed

Saul, Katherine R; Hu, Xiao; Goehler, Craig M; Vidt, Meghan E; Daly, Melissa; Velisar, Anca; Murray, Wendy M

2015-01-01

Several opensource or commercially available software platforms are widely used to develop dynamic simulations of movement. While computational approaches are conceptually similar across platforms, technical differences in implementation may influence output. We present a new upper limb dynamic model as a tool to evaluate potential differences in predictive behavior between platforms. We evaluated to what extent differences in technical implementations in popular simulation software environments result in differences in kinematic predictions for single and multijoint movements using EMG- and optimization-based approaches for deriving control signals. We illustrate the benchmarking comparison using SIMM-Dynamics Pipeline-SD/Fast and OpenSim platforms. The most substantial divergence results from differences in muscle model and actuator paths. This model is a valuable resource and is available for download by other researchers. The model, data, and simulation results presented here can be used by future researchers to benchmark other software platforms and software upgrades for these two platforms.

The SCEC Broadband Platform: A Collaborative Open-Source Software Package for Strong Ground Motion Simulation and Validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, F.; Maechling, P. J.; Goulet, C. A.; Somerville, P.; Jordan, T. H.

2014-12-01

The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Broadband Platform is a collaborative software development project involving geoscientists, earthquake engineers, graduate students, and the SCEC Community Modeling Environment. The SCEC Broadband Platform (BBP) is open-source scientific software that can generate broadband (0-100Hz) ground motions for earthquakes, integrating complex scientific modules that implement rupture generation, low and high-frequency seismogram synthesis, non-linear site effects calculation, and visualization into a software system that supports easy on-demand computation of seismograms. The Broadband Platform operates in two primary modes: validation simulations and scenario simulations. In validation mode, the Platform runs earthquake rupture and wave propagation modeling software to calculate seismograms for a well-observed historical earthquake. Then, the BBP calculates a number of goodness of fit measurements that quantify how well the model-based broadband seismograms match the observed seismograms for a certain event. Based on these results, the Platform can be used to tune and validate different numerical modeling techniques. In scenario mode, the Broadband Platform can run simulations for hypothetical (scenario) earthquakes. In this mode, users input an earthquake description, a list of station names and locations, and a 1D velocity model for their region of interest, and the Broadband Platform software then calculates ground motions for the specified stations. Working in close collaboration with scientists and research engineers, the SCEC software development group continues to add new capabilities to the Broadband Platform and to release new versions as open-source scientific software distributions that can be compiled and run on many Linux computer systems. Our latest release includes 5 simulation methods, 7 simulation regions covering California, Japan, and Eastern North America, the ability to compare simulation results against GMPEs, and several new data products, such as map and distance-based goodness of fit plots. As the number and complexity of scenarios simulated using the Broadband Platform increases, we have added batching utilities to substantially improve support for running large-scale simulations on computing clusters.

Assessing Fatigue and Ultimate Load Uncertainty in Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Due to Varying Simulation Length

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

Stewart, G.; Lackner, M.; Haid, L.

2013-07-01

With the push towards siting wind turbines farther offshore due to higher wind quality and less visibility, floating offshore wind turbines, which can be located in deep water, are becoming an economically attractive option. The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) 61400-3 design standard covers fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines, but there are a number of new research questions that need to be answered to modify these standards so that they are applicable to floating wind turbines. One issue is the appropriate simulation length needed for floating turbines. This paper will discuss the results from a study assessing the impact of simulation lengthmore » on the ultimate and fatigue loads of the structure, and will address uncertainties associated with changing the simulation length for the analyzed floating platform. Recommendations of required simulation length based on load uncertainty will be made and compared to current simulation length requirements.« less

A multiple pointing-mount control strategy for space platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, C. D.

1992-01-01

A new disturbance-adaptive control strategy for multiple pointing-mount space platforms is proposed and illustrated by consideration of a simplified 3-link dynamic model of a multiple pointing-mount space platform. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the new platform control strategy. The simulation results also reveal a system 'destabilization phenomena' that can occur if the set of individual platform-mounted experiment controllers are 'too responsive.'

Simulation Study of Effects of the Blind Deconvolution on Ultrasound Image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xingwu; You, Junchen

2018-03-01

Ultrasonic image restoration is an essential subject in Medical Ultrasound Imaging. However, without enough and precise system knowledge, some traditional image restoration methods based on the system prior knowledge often fail to improve the image quality. In this paper, we use the simulated ultrasound image to find the effectiveness of the blind deconvolution method for ultrasound image restoration. Experimental results demonstrate that the blind deconvolution method can be applied to the ultrasound image restoration and achieve the satisfactory restoration results without the precise prior knowledge, compared with the traditional image restoration method. And with the inaccurate small initial PSF, the results shows blind deconvolution could improve the overall image quality of ultrasound images, like much better SNR and image resolution, and also show the time consumption of these methods. it has no significant increasing on GPU platform.

SU-E-J-45: Design and Study of An In-House Respiratory Gating Phantom Platform for Gated Radiotherapy

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

Senthilkumar, S

2014-06-01

Purpose: The main purpose of this work was to develop an in-house low cost respiratory motion phantom platform for testing the accuracy of the gated radiotherapy system and analyze the dosimetric difference during gated radiotherapy. Methods: An in-house respiratory motion platform(RMP) was designed and constructed for testing the targeting accuracy of respiratory tracking system. The RMP consist of acrylic Chest Wall Platform, 2 DC motors, 4 IR sensors, speed controller circuit, 2 LED and 2 moving rods inside the RMP. The velocity of the movement can be varied from 0 to 30 cycles per minute. The platform mounted to amore » base using precision linear bearings. The base and platform are made of clear, 15mm thick polycarbonate plastic and the linear ball bearings are oriented to restrict the platform to a movement of approximately 50mm up and down with very little friction. Results: The targeting accuracy of the respiratory tracking system was evaluated using phantom with and without respiratory movement with varied amplitude. We have found the 5% dose difference to the PTV during the movement in comparison with stable PTV. The RMP can perform sinusoidal motion in 1D with fixed peak to peak motion of 5 to 50mm and cycle interval from 2 to 6 seconds. The RMP was designed to be able to simulate the gross anatomical anterior posterior motion attributable to respiration-induced motion of the thoracic region. Conclusion: The unique RMP simulates breathing providing the means to create a comprehensive program for commissioning, training, quality assurance and dose verification of gated radiotherapy treatments. Create the anterior/posterior movement of a target over a 5 to 50 mm distance to replicate tumor movement. The targeting error of the respiratory tracking system is less than 1.0 mm which shows suitable for clinical treatment with highly performance.« less

Influence of boundary conditions to multi-model simulations of ozone and PM2.5 levels over Europe and North America in frame of AQMEII3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Im, Ulas; Hansen, Kaj M.; Geels, Camilla; Christensen, Jesper H.; Brandt, Jørgen; Hogrefe, Christian; Galmarini, Stefano

2016-04-01

AQMEII (Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative) promotes research on regional air quality model evaluation across the European and North American atmospheric modelling communities, providing the ideal platform for advancing the evaluation of air quality models at the regional scale. In frame of the AQMEII3 model evaluation exercise, thirteen regional chemistry and transport models have simulated the air pollutant levels over Europe and/or North America for the year 2010, along with various sensitivity simulations of reductions in anthropogenic emissions and boundary conditions. All participating groups have performed sensitivity simulation with 20% reductions in global (GLO) anthropogenic emissions. In addition, various groups simulated sensitivity scenarios of 20% reductions in anthropogenic emissions in different HTAP-defined regions such as North America (NAM), Europe (EUR) and East Asia (EAS). The boundary conditions for the base case and the perturbation scenarios were derived from the MOZART-IFS global chemical model. The present study will evaluate the impact of these emission perturbations on regional surface ozone and PM2.5 levels as well as over individual surface measurement stations over both continents and vertical profiles over the radiosonde stations from the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre (WOUDC) and the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations for ozone and for PM2.5, respectively.

Rover Attitude and Pointing System Simulation Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanelli, Charles A.; Grinblat, Jonathan F.; Sirlin, Samuel W.; Pfister, Sam

2009-01-01

The MER (Mars Exploration Rover) Attitude and Pointing System Simulation Testbed Environment (RAPSSTER) provides a simulation platform used for the development and test of GNC (guidance, navigation, and control) flight algorithm designs for the Mars rovers, which was specifically tailored to the MERs, but has since been used in the development of rover algorithms for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) as well. The software provides an integrated simulation and software testbed environment for the development of Mars rover attitude and pointing flight software. It provides an environment that is able to run the MER GNC flight software directly (as opposed to running an algorithmic model of the MER GNC flight code). This improves simulation fidelity and confidence in the results. Further more, the simulation environment allows the user to single step through its execution, pausing, and restarting at will. The system also provides for the introduction of simulated faults specific to Mars rover environments that cannot be replicated in other testbed platforms, to stress test the GNC flight algorithms under examination. The software provides facilities to do these stress tests in ways that cannot be done in the real-time flight system testbeds, such as time-jumping (both forwards and backwards), and introduction of simulated actuator faults that would be difficult, expensive, and/or destructive to implement in the real-time testbeds. Actual flight-quality codes can be incorporated back into the development-test suite of GNC developers, closing the loop between the GNC developers and the flight software developers. The software provides fully automated scripting, allowing multiple tests to be run with varying parameters, without human supervision.

A methodology towards virtualisation-based high performance simulation platform supporting multidisciplinary design of complex products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Lei; Zhang, Lin; Tao, Fei; (Luke) Zhang, Xiaolong; Luo, Yongliang; Zhang, Yabin

2012-08-01

Multidisciplinary design of complex products leads to an increasing demand for high performance simulation (HPS) platforms. One great challenge is how to achieve high efficient utilisation of large-scale simulation resources in distributed and heterogeneous environments. This article reports a virtualisation-based methodology to realise a HPS platform. This research is driven by the issues concerning large-scale simulation resources deployment and complex simulation environment construction, efficient and transparent utilisation of fine-grained simulation resources and high reliable simulation with fault tolerance. A framework of virtualisation-based simulation platform (VSIM) is first proposed. Then the article investigates and discusses key approaches in VSIM, including simulation resources modelling, a method to automatically deploying simulation resources for dynamic construction of system environment, and a live migration mechanism in case of faults in run-time simulation. Furthermore, the proposed methodology is applied to a multidisciplinary design system for aircraft virtual prototyping and some experiments are conducted. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology can (1) significantly improve the utilisation of fine-grained simulation resources, (2) result in a great reduction in deployment time and an increased flexibility for simulation environment construction and (3)achieve fault tolerant simulation.

Across-Platform Imputation of DNA Methylation Levels Incorporating Nonlocal Information Using Penalized Functional Regression.

PubMed

Zhang, Guosheng; Huang, Kuan-Chieh; Xu, Zheng; Tzeng, Jung-Ying; Conneely, Karen N; Guan, Weihua; Kang, Jian; Li, Yun

2016-05-01

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic mark involved in both normal development and disease progression. Recent advances in high-throughput technologies have enabled genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation. However, DNA methylation profiling often employs different designs and platforms with varying resolution, which hinders joint analysis of methylation data from multiple platforms. In this study, we propose a penalized functional regression model to impute missing methylation data. By incorporating functional predictors, our model utilizes information from nonlocal probes to improve imputation quality. Here, we compared the performance of our functional model to linear regression and the best single probe surrogate in real data and via simulations. Specifically, we applied different imputation approaches to an acute myeloid leukemia dataset consisting of 194 samples and our method showed higher imputation accuracy, manifested, for example, by a 94% relative increase in information content and up to 86% more CpG sites passing post-imputation filtering. Our simulated association study further demonstrated that our method substantially improves the statistical power to identify trait-associated methylation loci. These findings indicate that the penalized functional regression model is a convenient and valuable imputation tool for methylation data, and it can boost statistical power in downstream epigenome-wide association study (EWAS). © 2016 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

A novel approach for simulating the optical misalignment caused by satellite platform vibration in the ground test of satellite optical communication systems.

PubMed

Wang, Qiang; Tan, Liying; Ma, Jing; Yu, Siyuan; Jiang, Yijun

2012-01-16

Satellite platform vibration causes the misalignment between incident direction of the beacon and optical axis of the satellite optical communication system, which also leads to the instability of the laser link and reduces the precision of the system. So how to simulate the satellite platform vibration is a very important work in the ground test of satellite optical communication systems. In general, a vibration device is used for simulating the satellite platform vibration, but the simulation effect is not ideal because of the limited randomness. An approach is reasonable, which uses a natural random process for simulating the satellite platform vibration. In this paper, we discuss feasibility of the concept that the effect of angle of arrival fluctuation is taken as an effective simulation of satellite platform vibration in the ground test of the satellite optical communication system. Spectrum characteristic of satellite platform vibration is introduced, referring to the model used by the European Space Agency (ESA) in the SILEX program and that given by National Aeronautics and Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan. Spectrum characteristic of angle of arrival fluctuation is analyzed based on the measured data from an 11.16km bi-directional free space laser transmission experiment. Spectrum characteristic of these two effects is compared. The results show that spectra of these two effects have similar variation trend with the variation of frequency and feasibility of the concept is proved by the comparison results. At last the procedure of this method is proposed, which uses the power spectra of angle of arrival fluctuation to simulate that of the satellite platform vibration. The new approach is good for the ground test of satellite optical communication systems.

Simulator fidelity : the effect of platform motion.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-07-31

As part of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) initiative towards affordable flight simulators for U.S. commuter airlines, this study empirically examined the effect of six-degree-of-freedom simulator platform motion on recurrent pilot traini...

The effects of simulated fog and motion on simulator sickness in a driving simulator and the duration of after-effects.

PubMed

Dziuda, Lukasz; Biernacki, Marcin P; Baran, Paulina M; Truszczyński, Olaf E

2014-05-01

In the study, we checked: 1) how the simulator test conditions affect the severity of simulator sickness symptoms; 2) how the severity of simulator sickness symptoms changes over time; and 3) whether the conditions of the simulator test affect the severity of these symptoms in different ways, depending on the time that has elapsed since the performance of the task in the simulator. We studied 12 men aged 24-33 years (M = 28.8, SD = 3.26) using a truck simulator. The SSQ questionnaire was used to assess the severity of the symptoms of simulator sickness. Each of the subjects performed three 30-minute tasks running along the same route in a driving simulator. Each of these tasks was carried out in a different simulator configuration: A) fixed base platform with poor visibility; B) fixed base platform with good visibility; and C) motion base platform with good visibility. The measurement of the severity of the simulator sickness symptoms took place in five consecutive intervals. The results of the analysis showed that the simulator test conditions affect in different ways the severity of the simulator sickness symptoms, depending on the time which has elapsed since performing the task on the simulator. The simulator sickness symptoms persisted at the highest level for the test conditions involving the motion base platform. Also, when performing the tasks on the motion base platform, the severity of the simulator sickness symptoms varied depending on the time that had elapsed since performing the task. Specifically, the addition of motion to the simulation increased the oculomotor and disorientation symptoms reported as well as the duration of the after-effects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Grace: A cross-platform micromagnetic simulator on graphics processing units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Ru

2015-12-01

A micromagnetic simulator running on graphics processing units (GPUs) is presented. Different from GPU implementations of other research groups which are predominantly running on NVidia's CUDA platform, this simulator is developed with C++ Accelerated Massive Parallelism (C++ AMP) and is hardware platform independent. It runs on GPUs from venders including NVidia, AMD and Intel, and achieves significant performance boost as compared to previous central processing unit (CPU) simulators, up to two orders of magnitude. The simulator paved the way for running large size micromagnetic simulations on both high-end workstations with dedicated graphics cards and low-end personal computers with integrated graphics cards, and is freely available to download.

A haptic interface for virtual simulation of endoscopic surgery.

PubMed

Rosenberg, L B; Stredney, D

1996-01-01

Virtual reality can be described as a convincingly realistic and naturally interactive simulation in which the user is given a first person illusion of being immersed within a computer generated environment While virtual reality systems offer great potential to reduce the cost and increase the quality of medical training, many technical challenges must be overcome before such simulation platforms offer effective alternatives to more traditional training means. A primary challenge in developing effective virtual reality systems is designing the human interface hardware which allows rich sensory information to be presented to users in natural ways. When simulating a given manual procedure, task specific human interface requirements dictate task specific human interface hardware. The following paper explores the design of human interface hardware that satisfies the task specific requirements of virtual reality simulation of Endoscopic surgical procedures. Design parameters were derived through direct cadaver studies and interviews with surgeons. Final hardware design is presented.

CISP: Simulation Platform for Collective Instabilities in the BRing of HIAF project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Yang, J. C.; Xia, J. W.; Yin, D. Y.; Shen, G. D.; Li, P.; Zhao, H.; Ruan, S.; Wu, B.

2018-02-01

To simulate collective instabilities during the complicated beam manipulation in the BRing (Booster Ring) of HIAF (High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility) or other high intensity accelerators, a code, named CISP (Simulation Platform for Collective Instabilities), is designed and constructed in China's IMP (Institute of Modern Physics). The CISP is a scalable multi-macroparticle simulation platform that can perform longitudinal and transverse tracking when chromaticity, space charge effect, nonlinear magnets and wakes are included. And due to its well object-oriented design, the CISP is also a basic platform used to develop many other applications (like feedback). Several simulations, completed by the CISP in this paper, agree with analytical results very well, which shows that the CISP is fully functional now and it is a powerful platform for the further collective instability research in the BRing or other accelerators. In the future, the CISP can also be extended easily into a physics control system for HIAF or other facilities.

Establishing a convention for acting in healthcare simulation: merging art and science.

PubMed

Sanko, Jill S; Shekhter, Ilya; Kyle, Richard R; Di Benedetto, Stephen; Birnbach, David J

2013-08-01

Among the most powerful tools available to simulation instructors is a confederate. Although technical and logical realism is dictated by the simulation platform and setting, the quality of role playing by confederates strongly determines psychological or emotional fidelity of simulation. The highest level of realism, however, is achieved when the confederates are properly trained. Theater and acting methodology can provide simulation educators a framework from which to establish an acting convention specific to the discipline of healthcare simulation. This report attempts to examine simulation through the lens of theater arts and represents an opinion on acting in healthcare simulation for both simulation educators and confederates. It aims to refine the practice of simulation by embracing the lessons of the theater community. Although the application of these approaches in healthcare education has been described in the literature, a systematic way of organizing, publicizing, or documenting the acting within healthcare simulation has never been completed. Therefore, we attempt, for the first time, to take on this challenge and create a resource, which infuses theater arts into the practice of healthcare simulation.

Comparison of Online Survey Recruitment Platforms for Hard-to-Reach Pregnant Smoking Populations: Feasibility Study

PubMed Central

Agas, Jessica Marie; Lee, Melissa; Pan, Julia Lily; Buttenheim, Alison Meredith

2018-01-01

Background Recruiting hard-to-reach populations for health research is challenging. Web-based platforms offer one way to recruit specific samples for research purposes, but little is known about the feasibility of online recruitment and the representativeness and comparability of samples recruited through different Web-based platforms. Objective The objectives of this study were to determine the feasibility of recruiting a hard-to-reach population (pregnant smokers) using 4 different Web-based platforms and to compare participants recruited through each platform. Methods A screener and survey were distributed online through Qualtrics Panel, Soapbox Sample, Reddit, and Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize results of each recruitment platform, including eligibility yield, quality yield, income, race, age, and gestational age. Results Of the 3847 participants screened for eligibility across all 4 Web-based platforms, 535 were eligible and 308 completed the survey. Amazon mTurk yielded the fewest completed responses (n=9), 100% (9/9) of which passed several quality metrics verifying pregnancy and smoking status. Qualtrics Panel yielded 14 completed responses, 86% (12/14) of which passed the quality screening. Soapbox Sample produced 107 completed surveys, 67% (72/107) of which were found to be quality responses. Advertising through Reddit produced the highest completion rate (n=178), but only 29.2% (52/178) of those surveys passed the quality metrics. We found significant differences in eligibility yield, quality yield, age, number of previous pregnancies, age of smoking initiation, current smokers, race, education, and income (P<.001). Conclusions Although each platform successfully recruited pregnant smokers, results varied in quality, cost, and percentage of complete responses. Moving forward, investigators should pay careful attention to the percentage yield and cost of online recruitment platforms to maximize internal and external validity. PMID:29661751

Study on photon transport problem based on the platform of molecular optical simulation environment.

PubMed

Peng, Kuan; Gao, Xinbo; Liang, Jimin; Qu, Xiaochao; Ren, Nunu; Chen, Xueli; Ma, Bin; Tian, Jie

2010-01-01

As an important molecular imaging modality, optical imaging has attracted increasing attention in the recent years. Since the physical experiment is usually complicated and expensive, research methods based on simulation platforms have obtained extensive attention. We developed a simulation platform named Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE) to simulate photon transport in both biological tissues and free space for optical imaging based on noncontact measurement. In this platform, Monte Carlo (MC) method and the hybrid radiosity-radiance theorem are used to simulate photon transport in biological tissues and free space, respectively, so both contact and noncontact measurement modes of optical imaging can be simulated properly. In addition, a parallelization strategy for MC method is employed to improve the computational efficiency. In this paper, we study the photon transport problems in both biological tissues and free space using MOSE. The results are compared with Tracepro, simplified spherical harmonics method (SP(n)), and physical measurement to verify the performance of our study method on both accuracy and efficiency.

Study on Photon Transport Problem Based on the Platform of Molecular Optical Simulation Environment

PubMed Central

Peng, Kuan; Gao, Xinbo; Liang, Jimin; Qu, Xiaochao; Ren, Nunu; Chen, Xueli; Ma, Bin; Tian, Jie

2010-01-01

As an important molecular imaging modality, optical imaging has attracted increasing attention in the recent years. Since the physical experiment is usually complicated and expensive, research methods based on simulation platforms have obtained extensive attention. We developed a simulation platform named Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE) to simulate photon transport in both biological tissues and free space for optical imaging based on noncontact measurement. In this platform, Monte Carlo (MC) method and the hybrid radiosity-radiance theorem are used to simulate photon transport in biological tissues and free space, respectively, so both contact and noncontact measurement modes of optical imaging can be simulated properly. In addition, a parallelization strategy for MC method is employed to improve the computational efficiency. In this paper, we study the photon transport problems in both biological tissues and free space using MOSE. The results are compared with Tracepro, simplified spherical harmonics method (S P n), and physical measurement to verify the performance of our study method on both accuracy and efficiency. PMID:20445737

The SCEC Broadband Platform: A Collaborative Open-Source Software Package for Strong Ground Motion Simulation and Validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, F.; Maechling, P. J.; Goulet, C.; Somerville, P.; Jordan, T. H.

2013-12-01

The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Broadband Platform is a collaborative software development project involving SCEC researchers, graduate students, and the SCEC Community Modeling Environment. The SCEC Broadband Platform is open-source scientific software that can generate broadband (0-100Hz) ground motions for earthquakes, integrating complex scientific modules that implement rupture generation, low and high-frequency seismogram synthesis, non-linear site effects calculation, and visualization into a software system that supports easy on-demand computation of seismograms. The Broadband Platform operates in two primary modes: validation simulations and scenario simulations. In validation mode, the Broadband Platform runs earthquake rupture and wave propagation modeling software to calculate seismograms of a historical earthquake for which observed strong ground motion data is available. Also in validation mode, the Broadband Platform calculates a number of goodness of fit measurements that quantify how well the model-based broadband seismograms match the observed seismograms for a certain event. Based on these results, the Platform can be used to tune and validate different numerical modeling techniques. During the past year, we have modified the software to enable the addition of a large number of historical events, and we are now adding validation simulation inputs and observational data for 23 historical events covering the Eastern and Western United States, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, and Italy. In scenario mode, the Broadband Platform can run simulations for hypothetical (scenario) earthquakes. In this mode, users input an earthquake description, a list of station names and locations, and a 1D velocity model for their region of interest, and the Broadband Platform software then calculates ground motions for the specified stations. By establishing an interface between scientific modules with a common set of input and output files, the Broadband Platform facilitates the addition of new scientific methods, which are written by earth scientists in a number of languages such as C, C++, Fortran, and Python. The Broadband Platform's modular design also supports the reuse of existing software modules as building blocks to create new scientific methods. Additionally, the Platform implements a wrapper around each scientific module, converting input and output files to and from the specific formats required (or produced) by individual scientific codes. Working in close collaboration with scientists and research engineers, the SCEC software development group continues to add new capabilities to the Broadband Platform and to release new versions as open-source scientific software distributions that can be compiled and run on many Linux computer systems. Our latest release includes the addition of 3 new simulation methods and several new data products, such as map and distance-based goodness of fit plots. Finally, as the number and complexity of scenarios simulated using the Broadband Platform increase, we have added batching utilities to substantially improve support for running large-scale simulations on computing clusters.

The Outdoor Atmospheric Simulation Chamber of Orleans-France (HELIOS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mellouki, A.; Véronique, D.; Grosselin, B.; Peyroux, F.; Benoit, R.; Ren, Y.; Idir, M.

2016-12-01

Atmospheric simulation chambers are among the most advanced tools for investigating the atmospheric processes to derive physico-chemical parameters which are required for air quality and climate models. Recently, the ICARE-CNRS at Orléans (France) has set up a new large outdoor simulation chamber, HELIOS. HELIOS is one of the most advanced simulation chambers in Europe. It is one of the largest outdoor chambers and is especially suited to processes studies performed under realistic atmospheric conditions. HELIOS is a large hemispherical outdoor simulation chamber (volume of 90 m3) positioned on the top of ICARE-CNRS building at Orléans (47°50'18.39N; 1°56'40.03E). The chamber is made of FEP film ensuring more than 90 % solar light transmission. The chamber is protected against severe meteorological conditions by a moveable "box" which contains a series of Xenon lamps enabling to conduct experiments using artificial light. This special design makes HELIOS a unique platform where experiments can be made using both types of irradiations. HELIOS is dedicated mainly to the investigation of the chemical processes under different conditions (sunlight, artificial light and dark). The platform allows conducting the same type of experiments under both natural and artificial light irradiation. The available large range of complementary and highly sensitive instruments allows investigating the radical chemistry, gas phase processes and aerosol formation under realistic conditions. The characteristics of HELIOS will be presented as well as the first series of experimental results obtained so far.

SU-F-T-149: Development of the Monte Carlo Simulation Platform Using Geant4 for Designing Heavy Ion Therapy Beam Nozzle

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

Shin, Jae-ik; Yoo, SeungHoon; Cho, Sungho

Purpose: The significant issue of particle therapy such as proton and carbon ion was a accurate dose delivery from beam line to patient. For designing the complex delivery system, Monte Carlo simulation can be used for the simulation of various physical interaction in scatters and filters. In this report, we present the development of Monte Carlo simulation platform to help design the prototype of particle therapy nozzle and performed the Monte Carlo simulation using Geant4. Also we show the prototype design of particle therapy beam nozzle for Korea Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (KHIMA) project in Korea Institute of Radiological andmore » Medical Science(KIRAMS) at Republic of Korea. Methods: We developed a simulation platform for particle therapy beam nozzle using Geant4. In this platform, the prototype nozzle design of Scanning system for carbon was simply designed. For comparison with theoretic beam optics, the beam profile on lateral distribution at isocenter is compared with Mont Carlo simulation result. From the result of this analysis, we can expected the beam spot property of KHIMA system and implement the spot size optimization for our spot scanning system. Results: For characteristics study of scanning system, various combination of the spot size from accerlator with ridge filter and beam monitor was tested as simple design for KHIMA dose delivery system. Conclusion: In this report, we presented the part of simulation platform and the characteristics study. This study is now on-going in order to develop the simulation platform including the beam nozzle and the dose verification tool with treatment planning system. This will be presented as soon as it is become available.« less

Architecture of a platform for hardware-in-the-loop simulation of flying vehicle control systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belokon', S. A.; Zolotukhin, Yu. N.; Filippov, M. N.

2017-07-01

A hardware-software platform is presented, which is designed for the development and hardware-in-the-loop simulation of flying vehicle control systems. This platform ensures the construction of the mathematical model of the plant, development of algorithms and software for onboard radioelectronic equipment and ground control station, and visualization of the three-dimensional model of the vehicle and external environment of the cockpit in the simulator training mode.

A holistic approach to SIM platform and its application to early-warning satellite system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Fuyu; Zhou, Jianping; Xu, Zheyao

2018-01-01

This study proposes a new simulation platform named Simulation Integrated Management (SIM) for the analysis of parallel and distributed systems. The platform eases the process of designing and testing both applications and architectures. The main characteristics of SIM are flexibility, scalability, and expandability. To improve the efficiency of project development, new models of early-warning satellite system were designed based on the SIM platform. Finally, through a series of experiments, the correctness of SIM platform and the aforementioned early-warning satellite models was validated, and the systematical analyses for the orbital determination precision of the ballistic missile during its entire flight process were presented, as well as the deviation of the launch/landing point. Furthermore, the causes of deviation and prevention methods will be fully explained. The simulation platform and the models will lay the foundations for further validations of autonomy technology in space attack-defense architecture research.

Evaluation of external RNA controls for the standardisation of gene expression biomarker measurements.

PubMed

Devonshire, Alison S; Elaswarapu, Ramnath; Foy, Carole A

2010-11-24

Gene expression profiling is an important approach for detecting diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, and predicting drug safety. The development of a wide range of technologies and platforms for measuring mRNA expression makes the evaluation and standardization of transcriptomic data problematic due to differences in protocols, data processing and analysis methods. Thus, universal RNA standards, such as those developed by the External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC), are proposed to aid validation of research findings from diverse platforms such as microarrays and RT-qPCR, and play a role in quality control (QC) processes as transcriptomic profiling becomes more commonplace in the clinical setting. Panels of ERCC RNA standards were constructed in order to test the utility of these reference materials (RMs) for performance characterization of two selected gene expression platforms, and for discrimination of biomarker profiles between groups. The linear range, limits of detection and reproducibility of microarray and RT-qPCR measurements were evaluated using panels of RNA standards. Transcripts of low abundance (≤ 10 copies/ng total RNA) showed more than double the technical variability compared to higher copy number transcripts on both platforms. Microarray profiling of two simulated 'normal' and 'disease' panels, each consisting of eight different RNA standards, yielded robust discrimination between the panels and between standards with varying fold change ratios, showing no systematic effects due to different labelling and hybridization runs. Also, comparison of microarray and RT-qPCR data for fold changes showed agreement for the two platforms. ERCC RNA standards provide a generic means of evaluating different aspects of platform performance, and can provide information on the technical variation associated with quantification of biomarkers expressed at different levels of physiological abundance. Distinct panels of standards serve as an ideal quality control tool kit for determining the accuracy of fold change cut-off threshold and the impact of experimentally-derived noise on the discrimination of normal and disease profiles.

As accessible as a book on a library shelf: the imperative of routine simulation in modern health care.

PubMed

Gordon, James A

2012-01-01

Technology-enhanced patient simulation has emerged as an important new modality for teaching and learning in medicine. In particular, immersive simulation platforms that replicate the clinical environment promise to revolutionize medical education by enabling an enhanced level of safety, standardization, and efficiency across health-care training. Such an experiential approach seems unique in reliably catalyzing a level of emotional engagement that fosters immediate and indelible learning and allows for increasingly reliable levels of performance evaluation-all in a completely risk-free environment. As such, medical simulation is poised to emerge as a critical component of training and certification throughout health care, promising to fundamentally enhance quality and safety across disciplines. To encourage routine simulation-based practice as part of its core quality and safety mission, Massachusetts General Hospital now incorporates simulation resources within its historic medical library (est. 1847), located at the center of the campus. In this new model, learners go to the library not only to read about a patient's illness, but also to take care of their "patient." Such an approach redefines and advances the central role of the library on the campus and ensures that simulation-based practice is centrally available as part of everyday hospital operations. This article describes the reasons for identifying simulation as an institutional priority leading up to the Massachusetts General Hospital Bicentennial Celebration (1811-2011) and for creating a simulation-based learning laboratory within a hospital library.

Performance modeling of the effects of aperture phase error, turbulence, and thermal blooming on tiled subaperture systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leakeas, Charles L.; Capehart, Shay R.; Bartell, Richard J.; Cusumano, Salvatore J.; Whiteley, Matthew R.

2011-06-01

Laser weapon systems comprised of tiled subapertures are rapidly emerging in importance in the directed energy community. Performance models of these laser weapon systems have been developed from numerical simulations of a high fidelity wave-optics code called WaveTrain which is developed by MZA Associates. System characteristics such as mutual coherence, differential jitter, and beam quality rms wavefront error are defined for a focused beam on the target. Engagement scenarios are defined for various platform and target altitudes, speeds, headings, and slant ranges along with the natural wind speed and heading. Inputs to the performance model include platform and target height and velocities, Fried coherence length, Rytov number, isoplanatic angle, thermal blooming distortion number, Greenwood and Tyler frequencies, and atmospheric transmission. The performance model fit is based on power-in-the-bucket (PIB) values against the PIB from the simulation results for the vacuum diffraction-limited spot size as the bucket. The goal is to develop robust performance models for aperture phase error, turbulence, and thermal blooming effects in tiled subaperture systems.

An open source platform for multi-scale spatially distributed simulations of microbial ecosystems

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

Segre, Daniel

2014-08-14

The goal of this project was to develop a tool for facilitating simulation, validation and discovery of multiscale dynamical processes in microbial ecosystems. This led to the development of an open-source software platform for Computation Of Microbial Ecosystems in Time and Space (COMETS). COMETS performs spatially distributed time-dependent flux balance based simulations of microbial metabolism. Our plan involved building the software platform itself, calibrating and testing it through comparison with experimental data, and integrating simulations and experiments to address important open questions on the evolution and dynamics of cross-feeding interactions between microbial species.

Global and local waveform simulations using the VERCE platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garth, Thomas; Saleh, Rafiq; Spinuso, Alessandro; Gemund, Andre; Casarotti, Emanuele; Magnoni, Federica; Krischner, Lion; Igel, Heiner; Schlichtweg, Horst; Frank, Anton; Michelini, Alberto; Vilotte, Jean-Pierre; Rietbrock, Andreas

2017-04-01

In recent years the potential to increase resolution of seismic imaging by full waveform inversion has been demonstrated on a range of scales from basin to continental scales. These techniques rely on harnessing the computational power of large supercomputers, and running large parallel codes to simulate the seismic wave field in a three-dimensional geological setting. The VERCE platform is designed to make these full waveform techniques accessible to a far wider spectrum of the seismological community. The platform supports the two widely used spectral element simulation programs SPECFEM3D Cartesian, and SPECFEM3D globe, allowing users to run a wide range of simulations. In the SPECFEM3D Cartesian implementation the user can run waveform simulations on a range of pre-loaded meshes and velocity models for specific areas, or upload their own velocity model and mesh. In the new SPECFEM3D globe implementation, the user will be able to select from a number of continent scale model regions, or perform waveform simulations for the whole earth. Earthquake focal mechanisms can be downloaded within the platform, for example from the GCMT catalogue, or users can upload their own focal mechanism catalogue through the platform. The simulations can be run on a range of European supercomputers in the PRACE network. Once a job has been submitted and run through the platform, the simulated waveforms can be manipulated or downloaded for further analysis. The misfit between the simulated and recorded waveforms can then be calculated through the platform through three interoperable workflows, for raw-data access (FDSN) and caching, pre-processing and finally misfit. The last workflow makes use of the Pyflex analysis software. In addition, the VERCE platform can be used to produce animations of waveform propagation through the velocity model, and synthetic shakemaps. All these data-products are made discoverable and re-usable thanks to the VERCE data and metadata management layer. We demonstrate the functionality of the VERCE platform with two use cases, one using the pre-loaded velocity model and mesh for the Maule area of Chile using the SPECFEM3D Cartesian workflow, and one showing the output of a global simulation using the SPECFEM3D globe workflow. It is envisioned that this tool will allow a much greater range of seismologists to access these full waveform inversion tools, and aid full waveform tomographic and source inversion, synthetic shakemap production and other full waveform applications, in a wide range of tectonic settings.

Stochastic Characterization of Communication Network Latency for Wide Area Grid Control Applications.

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

Ameme, Dan Selorm Kwami; Guttromson, Ross

This report characterizes communications network latency under various network topologies and qualities of service (QoS). The characterizations are probabilistic in nature, allowing deeper analysis of stability for Internet Protocol (IP) based feedback control systems used in grid applications. The work involves the use of Raspberry Pi computers as a proxy for a controlled resource, and an ns-3 network simulator on a Linux server to create an experimental platform (testbed) that can be used to model wide-area grid control network communications in smart grid. Modbus protocol is used for information transport, and Routing Information Protocol is used for dynamic route selectionmore » within the simulated network.« less

Effect of Antenna Pointing Errors on SAR Imaging Considering the Change of the Point Target Location

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xin; Liu, Shijie; Yu, Haifeng; Tong, Xiaohua; Huang, Guoman

2018-04-01

Towards spaceborne spotlight SAR, the antenna is regulated by the SAR system with specific regularity, so the shaking of the internal mechanism is inevitable. Moreover, external environment also has an effect on the stability of SAR platform. Both of them will cause the jitter of the SAR platform attitude. The platform attitude instability will introduce antenna pointing error on both the azimuth and range directions, and influence the acquisition of SAR original data and ultimate imaging quality. In this paper, the relations between the antenna pointing errors and the three-axis attitude errors are deduced, then the relations between spaceborne spotlight SAR imaging of the point target and antenna pointing errors are analysed based on the paired echo theory, meanwhile, the change of the azimuth antenna gain is considered as the spotlight SAR platform moves ahead. The simulation experiments manifest the effects on spotlight SAR imaging caused by antenna pointing errors are related to the target location, that is, the pointing errors of the antenna beam will severely influence the area far away from the scene centre of azimuth direction in the illuminated scene.

The effect of stress on haematologic response and physicochemical parameters of muscle meat in rabbits.

PubMed

Reséndiz-Cruz, V; Ramírez-Bribiesca, J E; Mota-Rojas, D; Guerrero-Legarreta, I; Cruz-Monterrosa, R G; Hernandez-Sanchez, D

2018-02-01

Ante-mortem studies of stress in rabbits are few and can potentially impact the haematologic response and physicochemical parameters of muscle meat. The aim of this study was to investigate the induction of stress by transport and simulation at two different times. Two hundred rabbits divided in a similar proportion of male and female were stressed by vehicular transportation and with motion simulation, using a vibration platform. They were divided into five groups: Control (without stress), Stress with Short Transportation (30 min), Stress with Long Transportation (60 min), Stress with Short Vibration Platform (30 min) and Stress with Long Vibration Platform (60 min). Transportation caused a decrease in the haematic potassium in both sexes (<5.2 mmol/L). The glucose and lactate concentrations increased in the transported rabbits (>219 and >61 mg/dl respectively). The differences between sexes showed that the P CO 2 in males decreased <8.5 mmHg in stress groups compared to without stress group. Glucose concentration was 61.5 mg/dl for females and 38.0 mg/dl for males (p < .01). We concluded that in rabbits induced stress by transport increased the energetic metabolites in the blood tissue. This increase did not affect the production parameters and the quality of muscle meat. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Immersive virtual reality used as a platform for perioperative training for surgical residents.

PubMed

Witzke, D B; Hoskins, J D; Mastrangelo, M J; Witzke, W O; Chu, U B; Pande, S; Park, A E

2001-01-01

Perioperative preparations such as operating room setup, patient and equipment positioning, and operating port placement are essential to operative success in minimally invasive surgery. We developed an immersive virtual reality-based training system (REMIS) to provide residents (and other health professionals) with training and evaluation in these perioperative skills. Our program uses the qualities of immersive VR that are available today for inclusion in an ongoing training curriculum for surgical residents. The current application consists of a primary platform for patient positioning for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Having completed this module we can create many different simulated problems for other procedures. As a part of the simulation, we have devised a computer-driven real-time data collection system to help us in evaluating trainees and providing feedback during the simulation. The REMIS program trains and evaluates surgical residents and obviates the need to use expensive operating room and surgeon time. It also allows residents to train based on their schedule and does not put patients at increased risk. The method is standardized, allows for repetition if needed, evaluates individual performance, provides the possible complications of incorrect choices, provides training in 3-D environment, and has the capability of being used for various scenarios and professions.

Comparison of Online Survey Recruitment Platforms for Hard-to-Reach Pregnant Smoking Populations: Feasibility Study.

PubMed

Ibarra, Jose Luis; Agas, Jessica Marie; Lee, Melissa; Pan, Julia Lily; Buttenheim, Alison Meredith

2018-04-16

Recruiting hard-to-reach populations for health research is challenging. Web-based platforms offer one way to recruit specific samples for research purposes, but little is known about the feasibility of online recruitment and the representativeness and comparability of samples recruited through different Web-based platforms. The objectives of this study were to determine the feasibility of recruiting a hard-to-reach population (pregnant smokers) using 4 different Web-based platforms and to compare participants recruited through each platform. A screener and survey were distributed online through Qualtrics Panel, Soapbox Sample, Reddit, and Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize results of each recruitment platform, including eligibility yield, quality yield, income, race, age, and gestational age. Of the 3847 participants screened for eligibility across all 4 Web-based platforms, 535 were eligible and 308 completed the survey. Amazon mTurk yielded the fewest completed responses (n=9), 100% (9/9) of which passed several quality metrics verifying pregnancy and smoking status. Qualtrics Panel yielded 14 completed responses, 86% (12/14) of which passed the quality screening. Soapbox Sample produced 107 completed surveys, 67% (72/107) of which were found to be quality responses. Advertising through Reddit produced the highest completion rate (n=178), but only 29.2% (52/178) of those surveys passed the quality metrics. We found significant differences in eligibility yield, quality yield, age, number of previous pregnancies, age of smoking initiation, current smokers, race, education, and income (P<.001). Although each platform successfully recruited pregnant smokers, results varied in quality, cost, and percentage of complete responses. Moving forward, investigators should pay careful attention to the percentage yield and cost of online recruitment platforms to maximize internal and external validity. ©Jose Luis Ibarra, Jessica Marie Agas, Melissa Lee, Julia Lily Pan, Alison Meredith Buttenheim. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 16.04.2018.

Basic Simulation Environment for Highly Customized Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Kinematic Scenarios.

PubMed

Chai, Linguo; Cai, Baigen; ShangGuan, Wei; Wang, Jian; Wang, Huashen

2017-08-23

To enhance the reality of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) kinematic simulation scenarios and to guarantee the accuracy and reliability of the verification, a four-layer CAVs kinematic simulation framework, which is composed with road network layer, vehicle operating layer, uncertainties modelling layer and demonstrating layer, is proposed in this paper. Properties of the intersections are defined to describe the road network. A target position based vehicle position updating method is designed to simulate such vehicle behaviors as lane changing and turning. Vehicle kinematic models are implemented to maintain the status of the vehicles when they are moving towards the target position. Priorities for individual vehicle control are authorized for different layers. Operation mechanisms of CAVs uncertainties, which are defined as position error and communication delay in this paper, are implemented in the simulation to enhance the reality of the simulation. A simulation platform is developed based on the proposed methodology. A comparison of simulated and theoretical vehicle delay has been analyzed to prove the validity and the creditability of the platform. The scenario of rear-end collision avoidance is conducted to verify the uncertainties operating mechanisms, and a slot-based intersections (SIs) control strategy is realized and verified in the simulation platform to show the supports of the platform to CAVs kinematic simulation and verification.

Basic Simulation Environment for Highly Customized Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Kinematic Scenarios

PubMed Central

Chai, Linguo; Cai, Baigen; ShangGuan, Wei; Wang, Jian; Wang, Huashen

2017-01-01

To enhance the reality of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) kinematic simulation scenarios and to guarantee the accuracy and reliability of the verification, a four-layer CAVs kinematic simulation framework, which is composed with road network layer, vehicle operating layer, uncertainties modelling layer and demonstrating layer, is proposed in this paper. Properties of the intersections are defined to describe the road network. A target position based vehicle position updating method is designed to simulate such vehicle behaviors as lane changing and turning. Vehicle kinematic models are implemented to maintain the status of the vehicles when they are moving towards the target position. Priorities for individual vehicle control are authorized for different layers. Operation mechanisms of CAVs uncertainties, which are defined as position error and communication delay in this paper, are implemented in the simulation to enhance the reality of the simulation. A simulation platform is developed based on the proposed methodology. A comparison of simulated and theoretical vehicle delay has been analyzed to prove the validity and the creditability of the platform. The scenario of rear-end collision avoidance is conducted to verify the uncertainties operating mechanisms, and a slot-based intersections (SIs) control strategy is realized and verified in the simulation platform to show the supports of the platform to CAVs kinematic simulation and verification. PMID:28832518

Concurrent Flow Lanes - Phase II

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-04-17

This report provides the findings from a research effort designed to ascertain whether or not a chosen simulation software platform, the VISSIM micro-simulation platform, provides a suitable environment for modeling and analyzing traffic operations, ...

Modelling transport of storm-water pollutants using the distributed Multi-Hydro platform on an urban catchment near Paris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Yi; Bonhomme, Celine; Giangola-Murzyn, Agathe; Schertzer, Daniel; Chebbo, Ghassan

2015-04-01

Nowadays, the increasingly use of vehicles causes expanding contaminated storm-water runoff from roads and the associated quarters. Besides, the current utilization of city's separated sewer systems underlines the needs for evaluating precisely the growing impact of these polluted effluents on receiving water bodies. Nevertheless, traditional means of water quality modelling had shown its limits (Kanso, 2004), more accurate modelling schemes are hence required. In this paper, we found that the application of physically based and fully distributed model coupled with detailed high-resolution data is a promising approach to reproduce the various dynamics and interactions of water quantity/quality processes in urban or peri-urban environment. Over recent years, the physically based and spatially distributed numerical platform Multi-Hydro (MH) has been developed at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech (El-Tabach et al. , 2009 ; Gires et al., 2013 ; Giangola-Murzyn et al., 2014). This platform is particularly adapted for representing the hydrological processes for medium size watersheds, including the surface runoff, drainage water routing and the infiltrations on permeable zones. It is formed by the interactive coupling of several independent modules, which depend on generally used open-access models. In the framework of the ANR (French National Agency for Research) Trafipollu project, a new extension of MH, MH-quality, was set up for the water-quality modelling. MH-quality was used for the simulation of pollutant transport on a peri-urban and highly trafficked catchment located near Paris (Le Perreux-sur-Marne, 0.2 km2). The set-up of this model is based on the detailed description of urban land use features. For this purpose, 15 classes of urban land uses relevant to water quality modelling were defined in collaboration with the National Institute of Geography of France (IGN) using Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles (5cm). The delimitation of the urban catchment was then performed by operating a Digital Terrain Model which was generated by applying Lidar data (20cm), and by using GIS information of the drainage system. In addition to land use information, the implementation of different human activities allows a better evaluation of contamination. Experimental data such as rainfall intensities, particle size distribution and dry weather depositions are also used, in order to feed the model with realistic input data and parameters. The runoff and water quality are then simulated for a few rainfall events. Taking advantage of the available data of the continuous observations of precipitation, water discharges and turbidity at the outlet of the drainage systems, the sensitivity analysis is carried out in order to evaluate the performance of MH-quality and the most sensitive parameters. Using appropriate parameters, we are now able to follow the pollutant transport on our experimental urban catchment. The limitations and the perspectives of MH-quality are discussed as well.

Publishing Platform for Scientific Software - Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammitzsch, Martin; Fritzsch, Bernadette; Reusser, Dominik; Brembs, Björn; Deinzer, Gernot; Loewe, Peter; Fenner, Martin; van Edig, Xenia; Bertelmann, Roland; Pampel, Heinz; Klump, Jens; Wächter, Joachim

2015-04-01

Scientific software has become an indispensable commodity for the production, processing and analysis of empirical data but also for modelling and simulation of complex processes. Software has a significant influence on the quality of research results. For strengthening the recognition of the academic performance of scientific software development, for increasing its visibility and for promoting the reproducibility of research results, concepts for the publication of scientific software have to be developed, tested, evaluated, and then transferred into operations. For this, the publication and citability of scientific software have to fulfil scientific criteria by means of defined processes and the use of persistent identifiers, similar to data publications. The SciForge project is addressing these challenges. Based on interviews a blueprint for a scientific software publishing platform and a systematic implementation plan has been designed. In addition, the potential of journals, software repositories and persistent identifiers have been evaluated to improve the publication and dissemination of reusable software solutions. It is important that procedures for publishing software as well as methods and tools for software engineering are reflected in the architecture of the platform, in order to improve the quality of the software and the results of research. In addition, it is necessary to work continuously on improving specific conditions that promote the adoption and sustainable utilization of scientific software publications. Among others, this would include policies for the development and publication of scientific software in the institutions but also policies for establishing the necessary competencies and skills of scientists and IT personnel. To implement the concepts developed in SciForge a combined bottom-up / top-down approach is considered that will be implemented in parallel in different scientific domains, e.g. in earth sciences, climate research and the life sciences. Based on the developed blueprints a scientific software publishing platform will be iteratively implemented, tested, and evaluated. Thus the platform should be developed continuously on the basis of gained experiences and results. The platform services will be extended one by one corresponding to the requirements of the communities. Thus the implemented platform for the publication of scientific software can be improved and stabilized incrementally as a tool with software, science, publishing, and user oriented features.

The Personal Motion Platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Brian Vandellyn

1993-01-01

The Neutral Body Posture experienced in microgravity creates a biomechanical equilibrium by enabling the internal forces within the body to find their own balance. A patented reclining chair based on this posture provides a minimal stress environment for interfacing with computer systems for extended periods. When the chair is mounted on a 3 or 6 axis motion platform, a generic motion simulator for simulated digital environments is created. The Personal Motion Platform provides motional feedback to the occupant in synchronization with their movements inside the digital world which enhances the simulation experience. Existing HMD based simulation systems can be integrated to the turnkey system. Future developments are discussed.

Clustering of reads with alignment-free measures and quality values.

PubMed

Comin, Matteo; Leoni, Andrea; Schimd, Michele

2015-01-01

The data volume generated by Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies is growing at a pace that is now challenging the storage and data processing capacities of modern computer systems. In this context an important aspect is the reduction of data complexity by collapsing redundant reads in a single cluster to improve the run time, memory requirements, and quality of post-processing steps like assembly and error correction. Several alignment-free measures, based on k-mers counts, have been used to cluster reads. Quality scores produced by NGS platforms are fundamental for various analysis of NGS data like reads mapping and error detection. Moreover future-generation sequencing platforms will produce long reads but with a large number of erroneous bases (up to 15 %). In this scenario it will be fundamental to exploit quality value information within the alignment-free framework. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study that incorporates quality value information and k-mers counts, in the context of alignment-free measures, for the comparison of reads data. Based on this principles, in this paper we present a family of alignment-free measures called D (q) -type. A set of experiments on simulated and real reads data confirms that the new measures are superior to other classical alignment-free statistics, especially when erroneous reads are considered. Also results on de novo assembly and metagenomic reads classification show that the introduction of quality values improves over standard alignment-free measures. These statistics are implemented in a software called QCluster (http://www.dei.unipd.it/~ciompin/main/qcluster.html).

Real-time visual simulation of APT system based on RTW and Vega

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Shuai; Fu, Chengyu; Tang, Tao

2012-10-01

The Matlab/Simulink simulation model of APT (acquisition, pointing and tracking) system is analyzed and established. Then the model's C code which can be used for real-time simulation is generated by RTW (Real-Time Workshop). Practical experiments show, the simulation result of running the C code is the same as running the Simulink model directly in the Matlab environment. MultiGen-Vega is a real-time 3D scene simulation software system. With it and OpenGL, the APT scene simulation platform is developed and used to render and display the virtual scenes of the APT system. To add some necessary graphics effects to the virtual scenes real-time, GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language) shaders are used based on programmable GPU. By calling the C code, the scene simulation platform can adjust the system parameters on-line and get APT system's real-time simulation data to drive the scenes. Practical application shows that this visual simulation platform has high efficiency, low charge and good simulation effect.

Simulation Platform: a cloud-based online simulation environment.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Tadashi; Ikeno, Hidetoshi; Okumura, Yoshihiro; Satoh, Shunji; Kamiyama, Yoshimi; Hirata, Yutaka; Inagaki, Keiichiro; Ishihara, Akito; Kannon, Takayuki; Usui, Shiro

2011-09-01

For multi-scale and multi-modal neural modeling, it is needed to handle multiple neural models described at different levels seamlessly. Database technology will become more important for these studies, specifically for downloading and handling the neural models seamlessly and effortlessly. To date, conventional neuroinformatics databases have solely been designed to archive model files, but the databases should provide a chance for users to validate the models before downloading them. In this paper, we report our on-going project to develop a cloud-based web service for online simulation called "Simulation Platform". Simulation Platform is a cloud of virtual machines running GNU/Linux. On a virtual machine, various software including developer tools such as compilers and libraries, popular neural simulators such as GENESIS, NEURON and NEST, and scientific software such as Gnuplot, R and Octave, are pre-installed. When a user posts a request, a virtual machine is assigned to the user, and the simulation starts on that machine. The user remotely accesses to the machine through a web browser and carries out the simulation, without the need to install any software but a web browser on the user's own computer. Therefore, Simulation Platform is expected to eliminate impediments to handle multiple neural models that require multiple software. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reprint of: Simulation Platform: a cloud-based online simulation environment.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Tadashi; Ikeno, Hidetoshi; Okumura, Yoshihiro; Satoh, Shunji; Kamiyama, Yoshimi; Hirata, Yutaka; Inagaki, Keiichiro; Ishihara, Akito; Kannon, Takayuki; Usui, Shiro

2011-11-01

For multi-scale and multi-modal neural modeling, it is needed to handle multiple neural models described at different levels seamlessly. Database technology will become more important for these studies, specifically for downloading and handling the neural models seamlessly and effortlessly. To date, conventional neuroinformatics databases have solely been designed to archive model files, but the databases should provide a chance for users to validate the models before downloading them. In this paper, we report our on-going project to develop a cloud-based web service for online simulation called "Simulation Platform". Simulation Platform is a cloud of virtual machines running GNU/Linux. On a virtual machine, various software including developer tools such as compilers and libraries, popular neural simulators such as GENESIS, NEURON and NEST, and scientific software such as Gnuplot, R and Octave, are pre-installed. When a user posts a request, a virtual machine is assigned to the user, and the simulation starts on that machine. The user remotely accesses to the machine through a web browser and carries out the simulation, without the need to install any software but a web browser on the user's own computer. Therefore, Simulation Platform is expected to eliminate impediments to handle multiple neural models that require multiple software. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Real-time software-based end-to-end wireless visual communications simulation platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ting-Chung; Chang, Li-Fung; Wong, Andria H.; Sun, Ming-Ting; Hsing, T. Russell

1995-04-01

Wireless channel impairments pose many challenges to real-time visual communications. In this paper, we describe a real-time software based wireless visual communications simulation platform which can be used for performance evaluation in real-time. This simulation platform consists of two personal computers serving as hosts. Major components of each PC host include a real-time programmable video code, a wireless channel simulator, and a network interface for data transport between the two hosts. The three major components are interfaced in real-time to show the interaction of various wireless channels and video coding algorithms. The programmable features in the above components allow users to do performance evaluation of user-controlled wireless channel effects without physically carrying out these experiments which are limited in scope, time-consuming, and costly. Using this simulation platform as a testbed, we have experimented with several wireless channel effects including Rayleigh fading, antenna diversity, channel filtering, symbol timing, modulation, and packet loss.

An Effective Construction Method of Modular Manipulator 3D Virtual Simulation Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xianhua; Lv, Lei; Sheng, Rui; Sun, Qing; Zhang, Leigang

2018-06-01

This work discusses about a fast and efficient method of constructing an open 3D manipulator virtual simulation platform which make it easier for teachers and students to learn about positive and inverse kinematics of a robot manipulator. The method was carried out using MATLAB. In which, the Robotics Toolbox, MATLAB GUI and 3D animation with the help of modelling using SolidWorks, were fully applied to produce a good visualization of the system. The advantages of using quickly build is its powerful function of the input and output and its ability to simulate a 3D manipulator realistically. In this article, a Schunk six DOF modular manipulator was constructed by the author's research group to be used as example. The implementation steps of this method was detailed described, and thereafter, a high-level open and realistic visualization manipulator 3D virtual simulation platform was achieved. With the graphs obtained from simulation, the test results show that the manipulator 3D virtual simulation platform can be constructed quickly with good usability and high maneuverability, and it can meet the needs of scientific research and teaching.

Cyber Physical System Modelling of Distribution Power Systems for Dynamic Demand Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, Xiaodong; Zhang, Rongxiang; Tang, Maosen; Huang, Haoyi; Zhang, Lei

2018-01-01

Dynamic demand response (DDR) is a package of control methods to enhance power system security. A CPS modelling and simulation platform for DDR in distribution power systems is presented in this paper. CPS modelling requirements of distribution power systems are analyzed. A coupled CPS modelling platform is built for assessing DDR in the distribution power system, which combines seamlessly modelling tools of physical power networks and cyber communication networks. Simulations results of IEEE 13-node test system demonstrate the effectiveness of the modelling and simulation platform.

Reusable Component Model Development Approach for Parallel and Distributed Simulation

PubMed Central

Zhu, Feng; Yao, Yiping; Chen, Huilong; Yao, Feng

2014-01-01

Model reuse is a key issue to be resolved in parallel and distributed simulation at present. However, component models built by different domain experts usually have diversiform interfaces, couple tightly, and bind with simulation platforms closely. As a result, they are difficult to be reused across different simulation platforms and applications. To address the problem, this paper first proposed a reusable component model framework. Based on this framework, then our reusable model development approach is elaborated, which contains two phases: (1) domain experts create simulation computational modules observing three principles to achieve their independence; (2) model developer encapsulates these simulation computational modules with six standard service interfaces to improve their reusability. The case study of a radar model indicates that the model developed using our approach has good reusability and it is easy to be used in different simulation platforms and applications. PMID:24729751

Building an Open-source Simulation Platform of Acoustic Radiation Force-based Breast Elastography

PubMed Central

Wang, Yu; Peng, Bo; Jiang, Jingfeng

2017-01-01

Ultrasound-based elastography including strain elastography (SE), acoustic radiation force Impulse (ARFI) imaging, point shear wave elastography (pSWE) and supersonic shear imaging (SSI) have been used to differentiate breast tumors among other clinical applications. The objective of this study is to extend a previously published virtual simulation platform built for ultrasound quasi-static breast elastography toward acoustic radiation force-based breast elastography. Consequently, the extended virtual breast elastography simulation platform can be used to validate image pixels with known underlying soft tissue properties (i.e. “ground truth”) in complex, heterogeneous media, enhancing confidence in elastographic image interpretations. The proposed virtual breast elastography system inherited four key components from the previously published virtual simulation platform: an ultrasound simulator (Field II), a mesh generator (Tetgen), a finite element solver (FEBio) and a visualization and data processing package (VTK). Using a simple message passing mechanism, functionalities have now been extended to acoustic radiation force-based elastography simulations. Examples involving three different numerical breast models with increasing complexity – one uniform model, one simple inclusion model and one virtual complex breast model derived from magnetic resonance imaging data, were used to demonstrate capabilities of this extended virtual platform. Overall, simulation results were compared with the published results. In the uniform model, the estimated shear wave speed (SWS) values were within 4% compared to the predetermined SWS values. In the simple inclusion and the complex breast models, SWS values of all hard inclusions in soft backgrounds were slightly underestimated, similar to what has been reported. The elastic contrast values and visual observation show that ARFI images have higher spatial resolution, while SSI images can provide higher inclusion-to-background contrast. In summary, our initial results were consistent with our expectations and what have been reported in the literature. The proposed (open-source) simulation platform can serve as a single gateway to perform many elastographic simulations in a transparent manner, thereby promoting collaborative developments. PMID:28075330

Building an open-source simulation platform of acoustic radiation force-based breast elastography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yu; Peng, Bo; Jiang, Jingfeng

2017-03-01

Ultrasound-based elastography including strain elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging, point shear wave elastography and supersonic shear imaging (SSI) have been used to differentiate breast tumors among other clinical applications. The objective of this study is to extend a previously published virtual simulation platform built for ultrasound quasi-static breast elastography toward acoustic radiation force-based breast elastography. Consequently, the extended virtual breast elastography simulation platform can be used to validate image pixels with known underlying soft tissue properties (i.e. ‘ground truth’) in complex, heterogeneous media, enhancing confidence in elastographic image interpretations. The proposed virtual breast elastography system inherited four key components from the previously published virtual simulation platform: an ultrasound simulator (Field II), a mesh generator (Tetgen), a finite element solver (FEBio) and a visualization and data processing package (VTK). Using a simple message passing mechanism, functionalities have now been extended to acoustic radiation force-based elastography simulations. Examples involving three different numerical breast models with increasing complexity—one uniform model, one simple inclusion model and one virtual complex breast model derived from magnetic resonance imaging data, were used to demonstrate capabilities of this extended virtual platform. Overall, simulation results were compared with the published results. In the uniform model, the estimated shear wave speed (SWS) values were within 4% compared to the predetermined SWS values. In the simple inclusion and the complex breast models, SWS values of all hard inclusions in soft backgrounds were slightly underestimated, similar to what has been reported. The elastic contrast values and visual observation show that ARFI images have higher spatial resolution, while SSI images can provide higher inclusion-to-background contrast. In summary, our initial results were consistent with our expectations and what have been reported in the literature. The proposed (open-source) simulation platform can serve as a single gateway to perform many elastographic simulations in a transparent manner, thereby promoting collaborative developments.

A tutorial platform suitable for surgical simulator training (SimMentor).

PubMed

Røtnes, Jan Sigurd; Kaasa, Johannes; Westgaard, Geir; Eriksen, Eivind Myrold; Hvidsten, Per Oyvind; Strøm, Kyrre; Sørhus, Vidar; Halbwachs, Yvon; Haug, Einar; Grimnes, Morten; Fontenelle, Hugues; Ekeberg, Tom; Thomassen, Jan B; Elle, Ole Jakob; Fosse, Erik

2002-01-01

The introduction of simulators in surgical training entails the need to develop pedagogic platforms adapted to the potentials and limitations provided by the information technology. As a solution to the technical challenges in treating all possible interaction events and to obtain a suitable pedagogic approach, we have developed a pedagogic platform for surgical training, SimMentor. In SimMentor the procedure to be practiced is divided into a number of natural phases. The trainee will practice on one phase at a time, however he can select the sequence of phases arbitrarily. A phase is taught by letting the trainee alternate freely between 2 modes: 1: A 3-dimensional animated guidance designed for learning the objectives and challenges in a procedure. 2: An interactive training session through the instrument manipulator device designed for training motoric responses based on visual and tactile responses produced by the simulator. The two modes are interfaced with the same virtual reality platform, thus SimMentor allows a seamless transition between the modes. We have developed a prototype simulator for robotic assisted endoscopic CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting) procedure by first focusing on the anastomosis part of the operation. Tissue, suture and instrument models have been developed and integrated with a simulated model of a beating heart comprises the elements in the simulator engine that is used in construction a training platform for learning different methods for performing a coronary anastomosis procedure. The platform is designed for integrating the following features: 1) practical approach to handle interactivity events with flexible-objects 3D simulators, 2) methods for quantitative evaluations of performance, 3) didactic presentations, 4) effective ways of producing diversity of clinical and pathological training scenarios.

A DVE Time Management Simulation and Verification Platform Based on Causality Consistency Middleware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Hangjun; Zhang, Wei; Peng, Yuxing; Li, Sikun

During the course of designing a time management algorithm for DVEs, the researchers always become inefficiency for the distraction from the realization of the trivial and fundamental details of simulation and verification. Therefore, a platform having realized theses details is desirable. However, this has not been achieved in any published work to our knowledge. In this paper, we are the first to design and realize a DVE time management simulation and verification platform providing exactly the same interfaces as those defined by the HLA Interface Specification. Moreover, our platform is based on a new designed causality consistency middleware and might offer the comparison of three kinds of time management services: CO, RO and TSO. The experimental results show that the implementation of the platform only costs small overhead, and that the efficient performance of it is highly effective for the researchers to merely focus on the improvement of designing algorithms.

Application of online measures to monitor and evaluate multiplatform fusion performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stubberud, Stephen C.; Kowalski, Charlene; Klamer, Dale M.

1999-07-01

A primary concern of multiplatform data fusion is assessing the quality and utility of data shared among platforms. Constraints such as platform and sensor capability and task load necessitate development of an on-line system that computes a metric to determine which other platform can provide the best data for processing. To determine data quality, we are implementing an approach based on entropy coupled with intelligent agents. To determine data quality, we are implementing an approach based on entropy coupled with intelligent agents. Entropy measures quality of processed information such as localization, classification, and ambiguity in measurement-to-track association. Lower entropy scores imply less uncertainty about a particular target. When new information is provided, we compuete the level of improvement a particular track obtains from one measurement to another. The measure permits us to evaluate the utility of the new information. We couple entropy with intelligent agents that provide two main data gathering functions: estimation of another platform's performance and evaluation of the new measurement data's quality. Both functions result from the entropy metric. The intelligent agent on a platform makes an estimate of another platform's measurement and provides it to its own fusion system, which can then incorporate it, for a particular target. A resulting entropy measure is then calculated and returned to its own agent. From this metric, the agent determines a perceived value of the offboard platform's measurement. If the value is satisfactory, the agent requests the measurement from the other platform, usually by interacting with the other platform's agent. Once the actual measurement is received, again entropy is computed and the agent assesses its estimation process and refines it accordingly.

A better sequence-read simulator program for metagenomics.

PubMed

Johnson, Stephen; Trost, Brett; Long, Jeffrey R; Pittet, Vanessa; Kusalik, Anthony

2014-01-01

There are many programs available for generating simulated whole-genome shotgun sequence reads. The data generated by many of these programs follow predefined models, which limits their use to the authors' original intentions. For example, many models assume that read lengths follow a uniform or normal distribution. Other programs generate models from actual sequencing data, but are limited to reads from single-genome studies. To our knowledge, there are no programs that allow a user to generate simulated data following non-parametric read-length distributions and quality profiles based on empirically-derived information from metagenomics sequencing data. We present BEAR (Better Emulation for Artificial Reads), a program that uses a machine-learning approach to generate reads with lengths and quality values that closely match empirically-derived distributions. BEAR can emulate reads from various sequencing platforms, including Illumina, 454, and Ion Torrent. BEAR requires minimal user input, as it automatically determines appropriate parameter settings from user-supplied data. BEAR also uses a unique method for deriving run-specific error rates, and extracts useful statistics from the metagenomic data itself, such as quality-error models. Many existing simulators are specific to a particular sequencing technology; however, BEAR is not restricted in this way. Because of its flexibility, BEAR is particularly useful for emulating the behaviour of technologies like Ion Torrent, for which no dedicated sequencing simulators are currently available. BEAR is also the first metagenomic sequencing simulator program that automates the process of generating abundances, which can be an arduous task. BEAR is useful for evaluating data processing tools in genomics. It has many advantages over existing comparable software, such as generating more realistic reads and being independent of sequencing technology, and has features particularly useful for metagenomics work.

GATE simulation of a new design of pinhole SPECT system for small animal brain imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzun Ozsahin, D.; Bläckberg, L.; El Fakhri, G.; Sabet, H.

2017-01-01

Small animal SPECT imaging has gained an increased interest over the past decade since it is an excellent tool for developing new drugs and tracers. Therefore, there is a huge effort on the development of cost-effective SPECT detectors with high capabilities. The aim of this study is to simulate the performance characteristics of new designs for a cost effective, stationary SPECT system dedicated to small animal imaging with a focus on mice brain. The conceptual design of this SPECT system platform, Stationary Small Animal SSA-SPECT, is to use many pixelated CsI:TI detector modules with 0.4 mm × 0.4 mm pixels in order to achieve excellent intrinsic detector resolution where each module is backed by a single pinhole collimator with 0.3 mm hole diameter. In this work, we present the simulation results of four variations of the SSA-SPECT platform where the number of detector modules and FOV size is varied while keeping the detector size and collimator hole size constant. Using the NEMA NU-4 protocol, we performed spatial resolution, sensitivity, image quality simulations followed by a Derenzo-like phantom evaluation. The results suggest that all four SSA-SPECT systems can provide better than 0.063% system sensitivity and < 1.5 mm FWHM spatial resolution without resolution recovery or other correction techniques. Specifically, SSA-SPECT-1 showed a system sensitivity of 0.09% in combination with 1.1 mm FWHM spatial resolution.

Simulation of cooperating robot manipulators on a mobile platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Stephen H.; Wen, John Ting-Yung; Saridis, George N.

1991-01-01

The dynamic equations of motion are presented for two or more cooperating manipulators on a freely moving mobile platform. The system of cooperating robot manipulators forms a closed kinematic chain where the force of interaction must be included in the formulation of robot and platform dynamics. The formulation includes the full dynamic interactions from arms to platform and arm tip to arm tip, and the possible translation and rotation of the platform. The equations of motion are shown to be identical in structure to the fixed-platform cooperative manipulator dynamics. The number of DOFs of the system is sufficiently large to make recursive dynamic calculation methods potentially more efficient than closed-form solutions. A complete simulation with two 6-DOF manipulators of a free-floating platform is presented along a with a multiple-arm controller to position the common load.

The AirQuality SenseBox

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demuth, Dustin; Nuest, Daniel; Bröring, Arne; Pebesma, Edzer

2013-04-01

In the past year, a group of open hardware enthusiasts and citizen scientists had large success in the crowd-funding of an open hardware-based sensor platform for air quality monitoring, called the Air Quality Egg. Via the kickstarter platform, the group was able to collect triple the amount of money than needed to fulfill their goals. Data generated by the Air Quality Egg is pushed to the data logging platform cosm.com, which makes the devices a part of the Internet of Things. The project aims at increasing the participation of citizens in the collection of data, the development of sensors, the operation of sensor stations, and, as data on cosm is publicly available, the sharing, visualization and analysis of data. Air Quality Eggs can measure NO2 and CO concentrations, as well as relative humidity and temperature. The chosen sensors are low-cost and have limited precision and accurracy. The Air Quality Egg consists of a stationary outdoor and a stationary indoor unit. Each outdoor unit will wirelessly transmit air quality measurements to the indoor unit, which forwards the data to cosm. Most recent versions of the Air Quality Egg allow a rough calibration of the gas sensors and on-the-fly conversion from raw sensor readings (impedance) to meaningful air quality data expressed in units of parts per billion. Data generated by these low-cost platforms are not intended to replace well-calibrated official monitoring stations, but rather augment the density of the total monitoring network with citizen sensors. To improve the usability of the Air Quality Egg, we present a new and more advanced concept, called the AirQuality SenseBox. We made the outdoor platform more autonomous and location-aware by adding solarpanels and rechargeable batteries as a power source. The AirQuality SenseBox knows its own position from a GPS device attached to the platform. As a mobile sensor platform, it can for instance be attached to vehicles. A low-cost and low-power wireless chipset reads the sensors and broadcasts the data. The data is received by gateways that convert the data and forward it to services. Although cosm is still supported, we also use services that are more common in the scientific domain, in particular the OGC Sensor Observation Service. In contrast to the ``One Sender - One Receiver'' (pair) setup proposed by the platform developers, we follow a ``Many Senders - Many Receivers'' (mesh) solution. As data is broadcasted by the platforms, it can be received and processed by any gateway, and, as the sender is not bound to the receiver, applications different from the gateways can receive and evaluate the data measured by the platform. Advantages of our solution are: (i) prepared gateways, which have more precise data at hand, can send calibration instructions to the mobile sensor platforms when those are in proximity; (ii) redundancy is obtained by adding additional gateways, to avoid the loss of data if a gateway fails; (iii) autonomous stations can be ubiquitous, are robust, do not require frequent maintenance, and can be placed at arbitrary locations; (iv) the standardized interface is vendor-independent and allows direct integration into existing analysis software.

Effects of Changing Emissions on Ozone and Particulates in the Northeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frost, G. J.; McKeen, S.; Trainer, M.; Ryerson, T.; Holloway, J.; Brock, C.; Middlebrook, A.; Wollny, A.; Matthew, B.; Williams, E.; Lerner, B.; Fortin, T.; Sueper, D.; Parrish, D.; Fehsenfeld, F.; Peckham, S.; Grell, G.; Peltier, R.; Weber, R.; Quinn, P.; Bates, T.

2004-12-01

Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from electric power generation have decreased in recent years due to changes in burner technology and fuels used. Mobile NOx emissions assessments are less certain, since they must account for increases in vehicle miles traveled, changes in the proportion of diesel and gasoline vehicles, and more stringent controls on engines and fuels. The impact of these complicated emission changes on a particular region's air quality must be diagnosed by a combination of observation and model simulation. The New England Air Quality Study - Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation 2004 (NEAQS-ITCT 2004) program provides an opportunity to test the effects of changes in emissions of NOx and other precursors on air quality in the northeastern United States. An array of ground, marine, and airborne observation platforms deployed during the study offer checks on emission inventories and air quality model simulations, like those of the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with online chemistry (WRF-Chem). Retrospective WRF-Chem runs are carried out with two EPA inventories, one compiled for base year 1999 and an update for 2004 incorporating projected and known changes in emissions during the past 5 years. Differences in model predictions of ozone, particulates, and other tracers using the two inventories are investigated. The inventories themselves and the model simulations are compared with the extensive observations available during NEAQS-ITCT 2004. Preliminary insights regarding the sensitivity of the model to NOx emission changes are discussed.

POLYVIEW-MM: web-based platform for animation and analysis of molecular simulations

PubMed Central

Porollo, Aleksey; Meller, Jaroslaw

2010-01-01

Molecular simulations offer important mechanistic and functional clues in studies of proteins and other macromolecules. However, interpreting the results of such simulations increasingly requires tools that can combine information from multiple structural databases and other web resources, and provide highly integrated and versatile analysis tools. Here, we present a new web server that integrates high-quality animation of molecular motion (MM) with structural and functional analysis of macromolecules. The new tool, dubbed POLYVIEW-MM, enables animation of trajectories generated by molecular dynamics and related simulation techniques, as well as visualization of alternative conformers, e.g. obtained as a result of protein structure prediction methods or small molecule docking. To facilitate structural analysis, POLYVIEW-MM combines interactive view and analysis of conformational changes using Jmol and its tailored extensions, publication quality animation using PyMol, and customizable 2D summary plots that provide an overview of MM, e.g. in terms of changes in secondary structure states and relative solvent accessibility of individual residues in proteins. Furthermore, POLYVIEW-MM integrates visualization with various structural annotations, including automated mapping of known inter-action sites from structural homologs, mapping of cavities and ligand binding sites, transmembrane regions and protein domains. URL: http://polyview.cchmc.org/conform.html. PMID:20504857

Design of underwater robot lines based on a hybrid automatic optimization strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyu, Wenjing; Luo, Weilin

2014-09-01

In this paper, a hybrid automatic optimization strategy is proposed for the design of underwater robot lines. Isight is introduced as an integration platform. The construction of this platform is based on the user programming and several commercial software including UG6.0, GAMBIT2.4.6 and FLUENT12.0. An intelligent parameter optimization method, the particle swarm optimization, is incorporated into the platform. To verify the strategy proposed, a simulation is conducted on the underwater robot model 5470, which originates from the DTRC SUBOFF project. With the automatic optimization platform, the minimal resistance is taken as the optimization goal; the wet surface area as the constraint condition; the length of the fore-body, maximum body radius and after-body's minimum radius as the design variables. With the CFD calculation, the RANS equations and the standard turbulence model are used for direct numerical simulation. By analyses of the simulation results, it is concluded that the platform is of high efficiency and feasibility. Through the platform, a variety of schemes for the design of the lines are generated and the optimal solution is achieved. The combination of the intelligent optimization algorithm and the numerical simulation ensures a global optimal solution and improves the efficiency of the searching solutions.

Assessing the Quality, Feasibility, and Efficacy of Electronic Patient Platforms Designed to Support Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer: A Systematic Review Protocol

PubMed Central

McCann, Lisa

2017-01-01

Background A range of innovative websites, mobile technologies, eHealth and mHealth platforms have emerged to support adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with cancer. Previous reviews have identified these various applications and solutions, but no review has summarized the quality, feasibility, and efficacy of existing patient platforms (inclusive of websites, mobile technologies, mHealth and eHealth platforms) developed specifically for young people with cancer. Objective This paper describes the design of a protocol to conduct a review of published studies or reports which describe or report on an existing platform designed specifically for AYAs who have had a cancer diagnosis. Methods A search string was developed using a variety of key words and Medical Subject Heading and applied to bibliographic databases. General data (sample characteristics, patient platform development, design and, if applicable, pilot testing outcomes) will be extracted from reports and studies. Drawing on a previously developed coding schematic, the identified patient platforms will be coded for mode of delivery into (1) automated functions, (2) communicative functions, and (3) use of supplementary modes. An adapted version of the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) will be used to assess the of quality of each identified patient platform. The methodological quality of included studies will be assessed using the Quality Assessment Criteria for Evaluating Primary Research Papers from a Variety of Fields (QualSyst). Both authors will independently screen eligible studies for final inclusion and will both be responsible for data extraction and appraisal. Data will be synthesized narratively to provide an overview of identified patient platforms. Results The review began in October 2016 and is currently in progress. The review paper will be submitted for peer-review and publication in the summer of 2017. Conclusions This review will be unique in its focus on assessing, where possible, the quality and efficacy of patient platforms for adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer. Results generated from this review will provide an invaluable insight into the utility of modern technology in supporting young people with cancer. PMID:28096067

A three-axis flight simulator. [for testing and evaluating inertial measuring units, and flight platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mason, M. G.

1975-01-01

A simulator is described, which was designed for testing and evaluating inertial measuring units, and flight platforms. Mechanical and electrical specifications for the outer, middle, and inner axis are presented. Test results are included.

A Platform for Simulating Language Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vogel, Carl; Woods, Justin

A platform for conducting experiments in the simulation of natural language evolution is presented. The system is paramaterized for independent specification of important features like: number of agents, communication attempt frequency, agent short term memory capacity, communicative urgency, etc. Representative experiments are demonstrated.

Visual cueing aids for rotorcraft landings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Walter W.; Andre, Anthony D.

1993-01-01

The present study used a rotorcraft simulator to examine descents-to-hover at landing pads with one of three approach lighting configurations. The impact of simulator platform motion upon descents to hover was also examined. The results showed that the configuration with the most useful optical information led to the slowest final approach speeds, and that pilots found this configuration, together with the presence of simulator platform motion, most desirable. The results also showed that platform motion led to higher rates of approach to the landing pad in some cases. Implications of the results for the design of vertiport approach paths are discussed.

Research the simulation model of the passenger travel behavior in urban rail platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yujia; Yin, Xiangyong

2017-05-01

Based on the results of the research on the platform of the Beijing Chegongzhuang subway station in the line 2, the passenger travel behavior in urban rail platform is divided into 4 parts, which are the enter passenger walking, the passenger waiting distribution and queuing up before the door, passenger boarding and alighting and the alighting passengers walking, according to the social force model, simulation model was built based on Matlab software. Combined with the actual data of subway the Chegongzhuang subway station in the line 2, the simulation results show that the social force model is effective.

The Effectiveness of Simulator Motion in the Transfer of Performance on a Tracking Task Is Influenced by Vision and Motion Disturbance Cues.

PubMed

Grundy, John G; Nazar, Stefan; O'Malley, Shannon; Mohrenshildt, Martin V; Shedden, Judith M

2016-06-01

To examine the importance of platform motion to the transfer of performance in motion simulators. The importance of platform motion in simulators for pilot training is strongly debated. We hypothesized that the type of motion (e.g., disturbance) contributes significantly to performance differences. Participants used a joystick to perform a target tracking task in a pod on top of a MOOG Stewart motion platform. Five conditions compared training without motion, with correlated motion, with disturbance motion, with disturbance motion isolated to the visual display, and with both correlated and disturbance motion. The test condition involved the full motion model with both correlated and disturbance motion. We analyzed speed and accuracy across training and test as well as strategic differences in joystick control. Training with disturbance cues produced critical behavioral differences compared to training without disturbance; motion itself was less important. Incorporation of disturbance cues is a potentially important source of variance between studies that do or do not show a benefit of motion platforms in the transfer of performance in simulators. Potential applications of this research include the assessment of the importance of motion platforms in flight simulators, with a focus on the efficacy of incorporating disturbance cues during training. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Early Experiences Porting the NAMD and VMD Molecular Simulation and Analysis Software to GPU-Accelerated OpenPOWER Platforms

PubMed Central

Stone, John E.; Hynninen, Antti-Pekka; Phillips, James C.; Schulten, Klaus

2017-01-01

All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules provide a powerful tool for exploring the structure and dynamics of large protein complexes within realistic cellular environments. Unfortunately, such simulations are extremely demanding in terms of their computational requirements, and they present many challenges in terms of preparation, simulation methodology, and analysis and visualization of results. We describe our early experiences porting the popular molecular dynamics simulation program NAMD and the simulation preparation, analysis, and visualization tool VMD to GPU-accelerated OpenPOWER hardware platforms. We report our experiences with compiler-provided autovectorization and compare with hand-coded vector intrinsics for the POWER8 CPU. We explore the performance benefits obtained from unique POWER8 architectural features such as 8-way SMT and its value for particular molecular modeling tasks. Finally, we evaluate the performance of several GPU-accelerated molecular modeling kernels and relate them to other hardware platforms. PMID:29202130

A Multi-Paradigm Modeling Framework to Simulate Dynamic Reciprocity in a Bioreactor

PubMed Central

Kaul, Himanshu; Cui, Zhanfeng; Ventikos, Yiannis

2013-01-01

Despite numerous technology advances, bioreactors are still mostly utilized as functional black-boxes where trial and error eventually leads to the desirable cellular outcome. Investigators have applied various computational approaches to understand the impact the internal dynamics of such devices has on overall cell growth, but such models cannot provide a comprehensive perspective regarding the system dynamics, due to limitations inherent to the underlying approaches. In this study, a novel multi-paradigm modeling platform capable of simulating the dynamic bidirectional relationship between cells and their microenvironment is presented. Designing the modeling platform entailed combining and coupling fully an agent-based modeling platform with a transport phenomena computational modeling framework. To demonstrate capability, the platform was used to study the impact of bioreactor parameters on the overall cell population behavior and vice versa. In order to achieve this, virtual bioreactors were constructed and seeded. The virtual cells, guided by a set of rules involving the simulated mass transport inside the bioreactor, as well as cell-related probabilistic parameters, were capable of displaying an array of behaviors such as proliferation, migration, chemotaxis and apoptosis. In this way the platform was shown to capture not only the impact of bioreactor transport processes on cellular behavior but also the influence that cellular activity wields on that very same local mass transport, thereby influencing overall cell growth. The platform was validated by simulating cellular chemotaxis in a virtual direct visualization chamber and comparing the simulation with its experimental analogue. The results presented in this paper are in agreement with published models of similar flavor. The modeling platform can be used as a concept selection tool to optimize bioreactor design specifications. PMID:23555740

Scaling and application of commercial, feature-rich, modular mixed-signal technology platforms for large format ROICs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kar-Roy, Arjun; Racanelli, Marco; Howard, David; Miyagi, Glenn; Bowler, Mark; Jordan, Scott; Zhang, Tao; Krieger, William

2010-04-01

Today's modular, mixed-signal CMOS process platforms are excellent choices for manufacturing of highly integrated, large-format read out integrated circuits (ROICs). Platform features, that can be used for both cooled and un-cooled ROIC applications, can include (1) quality passives such as 4fFμm2 stacked MIM capacitors for linearity and higher density capacitance per pixel, 1kOhm high-value poly-silicon resistors, 2.8μm thick metals for efficient power distribution and reduced I-R drop; (2) analog active devices such as low noise single gate 3.3V, and 1.8V/3.3V or 1.8V/5V dual gate configurations, 40V LDMOS FETs, and NPN and PNP devices, deep n-well for substrate isolation for analog blocks and digital logic; (3) tools to assist the circuit designer such as models for cryogenic temperatures, CAD assistance for metal density uniformity determination, statistical, X-sigma and PCM-based models for corner validation and to simulate design sensitivity, and (4) sub-field stitching for large die. The TowerJazz platform of technology for 0.50μm, 0.25μm and 0.18μm CMOS nodes, with features as described above, is described in detail in this paper.

Campus Energy Model for Control and Performance Validation

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

2014-09-19

The core of the modeling platform is an extensible block library for the MATLAB/Simulink software suite. The platform enables true co-simulation (interaction at each simulation time step) with NREL's state-of-the-art modeling tools and other energy modeling software.

A piloted simulation investigation of yaw dynamics requirements for turreted gun use in low-level helicopter air combat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Decker, William A.; Morris, Patrick M.; Williams, Jeffrey N.

1988-01-01

A piloted, fixed-base simulation study was conducted to investigate the handling qualities requirements for helicopter air-to-air combat using turreted guns in the near-terrain environment. The study used a version of the helicopter air combat system developed at NASA Ames Research Center for one-on-one air combat. The study focused on the potential trade-off between gun angular movement capability and required yaw axis response. Experimental variables included yaw axis response frequency and damping and the size of the gun-movement envelope. A helmet position and sighting system was used for pilot control of gun aim. Approximately 340 simulated air combat engagements were evaluated by pilots from the Army and industry. Results from the experiment indicate that a highly-damped, high frequency yaw response was desired for Level I handling qualities. Pilot preference for those characteristics became more pronounced as gun turret movement was restricted; however, a stable, slow-reacting platform could be used with a large turret envelope. Most pilots preferred to engage with the opponent near the own-ship centerline. Turret elevation restriction affected the engagement more than azimuth restrictions.

TU-G-204-04: A Unified Strategy for Bi-Factorial Optimization of Radiation Dose and Contrast Dose in CT Imaging

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

Sahbaee, P; Zhang, Y; Solomon, J

Purpose: To substantiate the interdependency of contrast dose, radiation dose, and image quality in CT towards the patient- specific optimization of the imaging protocols Methods: The study deployed two phantom platforms. A variable sized (12, 18, 23, 30, 37 cm) phantom (Mercury-3.0) containing an iodinated insert (8.5 mgI/ml) was imaged on a representative CT scanner at multiple CTDI values (0.7–22.6 mGy). The contrast and noise were measured from the reconstructed images for each phantom diameter. Linearly related to iodine-concentration, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), were calculated for 16 iodine-concentration levels (0–8.5 mgI/ml). The analysis was extended to a recently developed suit ofmore » 58 virtual human models (5D XCAT) with added contrast dynamics. Emulating a contrast-enhanced abdominal image procedure and targeting a peak-enhancement in aorta, each XCAT phantom was “imaged” using a simulation platform (CatSim, GE). 3D surfaces for each patient/size established the relationship between iodine-concentration, dose, and CNR. The ratios of change in iodine-concentration versus dose (IDR) to yield a constant change in CNR were calculated for each patient size. Results: Mercury phantom results show the image-quality size- dependence on CTDI and IC levels. For desired image-quality values, the iso-contour-lines reflect the trade off between contrast-material and radiation doses. For a fixed iodine-concentration (4 mgI/mL), the IDR values for low (1.4 mGy) and high (11.5 mGy) dose levels were 1.02, 1.07, 1.19, 1.65, 1.54, and 3.14, 3.12, 3.52, 3.76, 4.06, respectively across five sizes. The simulation data from XCAT models confirmed the empirical results from Mercury phantom. Conclusion: The iodine-concentration, image quality, and radiation dose are interdependent. The understanding of the relationships between iodine-concentration, image quality, and radiation dose will allow for a more comprehensive optimization of CT imaging devices and techniques, providing the methodology to balance iodine-concentration and dose based on patient’s attributes.« less

Importance of A Priori Vertical Ozone Profiles for TEMPO Air Quality Retrievals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, M. S.; Sullivan, J. T.; Liu, X.; Zoogman, P.; Newchurch, M.; Kuang, S.; McGee, T. J.; Leblanc, T.

2017-12-01

Ozone (O3) is a toxic pollutant which plays a major role in air quality. Typically, monitoring of surface air quality and O3 mixing ratios is conducted using in situ measurement networks. This is partially due to high-quality information related to air quality being limited from space-borne platforms due to coarse spatial resolution, limited temporal frequency, and minimal sensitivity to lower tropospheric and surface-level O3. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite is designed to address the limitations of current space-based platforms and to improve our ability to monitor North American air quality. TEMPO will provide hourly data of total column and vertical profiles of O3 with high spatial resolution to be used as a near-real-time air quality product. TEMPO O3 retrievals will apply the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory profile algorithm developed based on work from GOME, GOME-2, and OMI. This algorithm is suggested to use a priori O3 profile information from a climatological data-base developed from long-term ozone-sonde measurements (tropopause-based (TB-Clim) O3 climatology). This study evaluates the TB-Clim dataset and model simulated O3 profiles, which could potentially serve as a priori O3 profile information in TEMPO retrievals, from near-real-time data assimilation model products (NASA GMAO's operational GEOS-5 FP model and reanalysis data from MERRA2) and a full chemical transport model (CTM), GEOS-Chem. In this study, vertical profile products are evaluated with surface (0-2 km) and tropospheric (0-10 km) TOLNet observations and the theoretical impact of individual a priori profile sources on the accuracy of TEMPO O3 retrievals in the troposphere and at the surface are presented. Results indicate that while the TB-Clim climatological dataset can replicate seasonally-averaged tropospheric O3 profiles, model-simulated profiles from a full CTM resulted in more accurate tropospheric and surface-level O3 retrievals from TEMPO when compared to hourly and daily-averaged TOLNet observations. Furthermore, it is shown that when large surface O3 mixing ratios are observed, TEMPO retrieval values at the surface are most accurate when applying CTM a priori profile information compared to all other data products.

Analysis of geologic terrain models for determination of optimum SAR sensor configuration and optimum information extraction for exploration of global non-renewable resources. Pilot study: Arkansas Remote Sensing Laboratory, part 1, part 2, and part 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaupp, V. H.; Macdonald, H. C.; Waite, W. P.; Stiles, J. A.; Frost, F. S.; Shanmugam, K. S.; Smith, S. A.; Narayanan, V.; Holtzman, J. C. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

Computer-generated radar simulations and mathematical geologic terrain models were used to establish the optimum radar sensor operating parameters for geologic research. An initial set of mathematical geologic terrain models was created for three basic landforms and families of simulated radar images were prepared from these models for numerous interacting sensor, platform, and terrain variables. The tradeoffs between the various sensor parameters and the quantity and quality of the extractable geologic data were investigated as well as the development of automated techniques of digital SAR image analysis. Initial work on a texture analysis of SEASAT SAR imagery is reported. Computer-generated radar simulations are shown for combinations of two geologic models and three SAR angles of incidence.

Development of a computer model to predict platform station keeping requirements in the Gulf of Mexico using remote sensing data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barber, Bryan; Kahn, Laura; Wong, David

1990-01-01

Offshore operations such as oil drilling and radar monitoring require semisubmersible platforms to remain stationary at specific locations in the Gulf of Mexico. Ocean currents, wind, and waves in the Gulf of Mexico tend to move platforms away from their desired locations. A computer model was created to predict the station keeping requirements of a platform. The computer simulation uses remote sensing data from satellites and buoys as input. A background of the project, alternate approaches to the project, and the details of the simulation are presented.

Assessment of immigrant certified nursing assistants' communication when responding to standardized care challenges.

PubMed

Massey, Meredith; Roter, Debra L

2016-01-01

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) provide 80% of the hands-on care in US nursing homes; a significant portion of this work is performed by immigrants with limited English fluency. This study is designed to assess immigrant CNA's communication behavior in response to a series of virtual simulated care challenges. A convenience sample of 31 immigrant CNAs verbally responded to 9 care challenges embedded in an interactive computer platform. The responses were coded with the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS), CNA instructors rated response quality and spoken English was rated. CNA communication behaviors varied across care challenges and a broad repertoire of communication was used; 69% of response content was characterized as psychosocial. Communication elements (both instrumental and psychosocial) were significant predictors of response quality for 5 of 9 scenarios. Overall these variables explained between 13% and 36% of the adjusted variance in quality ratings. Immigrant CNAs responded to common care challenges using a variety of communication strategies despite fluency deficits. Virtual simulation-based observation is a feasible, acceptable and low cost method of communication assessment with implications for supervision, training and evaluation of a para-professional workforce. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion system design method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Le; Lin, Yu-chi; Chen, Yan-hua; Zhao, Mei-rong

2011-08-01

Taking the advantages of FPGA's low cost and compact structure, an FPGA-based heterogeneous image fusion platform is established in this study. Altera's Cyclone IV series FPGA is adopted as the core processor of the platform, and the visible light CCD camera and infrared thermal imager are used as the image-capturing device in order to obtain dualchannel heterogeneous video images. Tailor-made image fusion algorithms such as gray-scale weighted averaging, maximum selection and minimum selection methods are analyzed and compared. VHDL language and the synchronous design method are utilized to perform a reliable RTL-level description. Altera's Quartus II 9.0 software is applied to simulate and implement the algorithm modules. The contrast experiments of various fusion algorithms show that, preferably image quality of the heterogeneous image fusion can be obtained on top of the proposed system. The applied range of the different fusion algorithms is also discussed.

Based on the rainfall system platform raindrops research and analysis of pressure loss

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Gang; Sun, Jian

2018-01-01

With the rapid development of China’s military career, land, sea and air force all services and equipment of modern equipment need to be in the rain test, and verify its might suffer during transportation, storage or use a different environment temperature lower water or use underwater, the water is derived from the heavy rain, the wind and rain, sprinkler system, splash water, water wheel, a violent shock waves or use underwater, etcTest the product performance and quality, under the condition of rainfall system platform in the process of development, how to control the raindrops pressure loss becomes the key to whether the system can simulate the real rainfall [1], this paper is according to the rainfall intensity, nozzle flow resistance, meet water flow of rain pressure loss calculation and analysis, and system arrangement of the optimal solution of rainfall is obtained [2].

Commercial potential of remote sensing data from the Earth observing system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merry, Carolyn J.; Tomlin, Sandra M.

1992-01-01

The purpose was to assess the market potential of remote sensing value-added products from the Earth Observing System (EOS) platform. Sensors on the EOS platform were evaluated to determine which qualities and capabilities could be useful to the commercial user. The approach was to investigate past and future satellite data distribution programs. A questionnaire was developed for use in a telephone survey. Based on the results of the survey of companies that add value to remotely sensed data, conversations with the principal investigators in charge of each EOS sensor, a study of past commercial satellite data ventures, and reading from the commercial remote sensing industry literature, three recommendations were developed: develop a strategic plan for commercialization of EOS data, define a procedure for commercial users within the EOS data stream, and develop an Earth Observations Commercial Applications Program-like demonstration program within NASA using EOS simulated data.

Surviving sepsis--a 3D integrative educational simulator.

PubMed

Ježek, Filip; Tribula, Martin; Kulhánek, Tomáš; Mateják, Marek; Privitzer, Pavol; Šilar, Jan; Kofránek, Jiří; Lhotská, Lenka

2015-08-01

Computer technology offers greater educational possibilities, notably simulation and virtual reality. This paper presents a technology which serves to integrate multiple modalities, namely 3D virtual reality, node-based simulator, Physiomodel explorer and explanatory physiological simulators employing Modelica language and Unity3D platform. This emerging tool chain should allow the authors to concentrate more on educational content instead of application development. The technology is demonstrated through Surviving sepsis educational scenario, targeted on Microsoft Windows Store platform.

The Prodiguer Messaging Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denvil, S.; Greenslade, M. A.; Carenton, N.; Levavasseur, G.; Raciazek, J.

2015-12-01

CONVERGENCE is a French multi-partner national project designed to gather HPC and informatics expertise to innovate in the context of running French global climate models with differing grids and at differing resolutions. Efficient and reliable execution of these models and the management and dissemination of model output are some of the complexities that CONVERGENCE aims to resolve.At any one moment in time, researchers affiliated with the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) climate modeling group, are running hundreds of global climate simulations. These simulations execute upon a heterogeneous set of French High Performance Computing (HPC) environments. The IPSL's simulation execution runtime libIGCM (library for IPSL Global Climate Modeling group) has recently been enhanced so as to support hitherto impossible realtime use cases such as simulation monitoring, data publication, metrics collection, simulation control, visualizations … etc. At the core of this enhancement is Prodiguer: an AMQP (Advanced Message Queue Protocol) based event driven asynchronous distributed messaging platform. libIGCM now dispatches copious amounts of information, in the form of messages, to the platform for remote processing by Prodiguer software agents at IPSL servers in Paris. Such processing takes several forms: Persisting message content to database(s); Launching rollback jobs upon simulation failure; Notifying downstream applications; Automation of visualization pipelines; We will describe and/or demonstrate the platform's: Technical implementation; Inherent ease of scalability; Inherent adaptiveness in respect to supervising simulations; Web portal receiving simulation notifications in realtime.

A technique for multi-dimensional optimization of radiation dose, contrast dose, and image quality in CT imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahbaee, Pooyan; Abadi, Ehsan; Sanders, Jeremiah; Becchetti, Marc; Zhang, Yakun; Agasthya, Greeshma; Segars, Paul; Samei, Ehsan

2016-03-01

The purpose of this study was to substantiate the interdependency of image quality, radiation dose, and contrast material dose in CT towards the patient-specific optimization of the imaging protocols. The study deployed two phantom platforms. First, a variable sized phantom containing an iodinated insert was imaged on a representative CT scanner at multiple CTDI values. The contrast and noise were measured from the reconstructed images for each phantom diameter. Linearly related to iodine-concentration, contrast to noise ratio (CNR), was calculated for different iodine-concentration levels. Second, the analysis was extended to a recently developed suit of 58 virtual human models (5D-XCAT) with added contrast dynamics. Emulating a contrast-enhanced abdominal image procedure and targeting a peak-enhancement in aorta, each XCAT phantom was "imaged" using a CT simulation platform. 3D surfaces for each patient/size established the relationship between iodine-concentration, dose, and CNR. The Sensitivity of Ratio (SR), defined as ratio of change in iodine-concentration versus dose to yield a constant change in CNR was calculated and compared at high and low radiation dose for both phantom platforms. The results show that sensitivity of CNR to iodine concentration is larger at high radiation dose (up to 73%). The SR results were highly affected by radiation dose metric; CTDI or organ dose. Furthermore, results showed that the presence of contrast material could have a profound impact on optimization results (up to 45%).

Photonic crystal ring resonator-based four-channel dense wavelength division multiplexing demultiplexer on silicon on insulator platform: design and analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sreenivasulu, Tupakula; Bhowmick, Kaustav; Samad, Shafeek A.; Yadunath, Thamerassery Illam R.; Badrinarayana, Tarimala; Hegde, Gopalkrishna; Srinivas, Talabattula

2018-04-01

A micro/nanofabrication feasible compact photonic crystal (PC) ring-resonator-based channel drop filter has been designed and analyzed for operation in C and L bands of communication window. The four-channel demultiplexer consists of ring resonators of holes in two-dimensional PC slab. The proposed assembly design of dense wavelength division multiplexing setup is shown to achieve optimal quality factor, without altering the lattice parameters or resonator size or inclusion of scattering holes. Transmission characteristics are analyzed using the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulation approach. The radiation loss of the ring resonator was minimized by forced cancelation of radiation fields by fine-tuning the air holes inside the ring resonator. An average cross talk of -34 dB has been achieved between the adjacent channels maintaining an average quality factor of 5000. Demultiplexing is achieved by engineering only the air holes inside the ring, which makes it a simple and tolerant design from the fabrication perspective. Also, the device footprint of 500 μm2 on silicon on insulator platform makes it easy to fabricate the device using e-beam lithography technique.

Flight simulator platform motion and air transport pilot training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Alfred T.; Bussolari, Steven R.

1987-01-01

The effect of a flight simulator platform motion on the performance and training of a pilot was evaluated using subjective ratings and objective performance data obtained on experienced B-727 pilots and pilots with no prior heavy aircraft flying experience flying B-727-200 aircraft simulator used by the FAA in the upgrade and transition training for air carrier operations. The results on experienced pilots did not reveal any reliable effects of wide variations in platform motion design. On the other hand, motion variations significantly affected the behavior of pilots without heavy-aircraft experience. The effect was limited to pitch attitude control inputs during the early phase of landing training.

Simulation of cooperating robot manipulators on a mobile platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Murphy, Steve H.; Wen, John T.; Saridis, George N.

1990-01-01

The dynamic equations of motion for two manipulators holding a common object on a freely moving mobile platform are developed. The full dynamic interactions from arms to platform and arm-tip to arm-tip are included in the formulation. The development of the closed chain dynamics allows for the use of any solution for the open topological tree of base and manipulator links. In particular, because the system has 18 degrees of freedom, recursive solutions for the dynamic simulation become more promising for efficient calculations of the motion. Simulation of the system is accomplished through a MATLAB program, and the response is visualized graphically using the SILMA Cimstation.

Line-scan Raman imaging and spectroscopy platform for surface and subsurface evaluation of food safety and quality

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Both surface and subsurface food inspection is important since interesting safety and quality attributes can be at different sample locations. This paper presents a multipurpose line-scan Raman platform for food safety and quality research, which can be configured for Raman chemical imaging (RCI) mo...

Evaluation of Emerging Energy-Efficient Heterogeneous Computing Platforms for Biomolecular and Cellular Simulation Workloads.

PubMed

Stone, John E; Hallock, Michael J; Phillips, James C; Peterson, Joseph R; Luthey-Schulten, Zaida; Schulten, Klaus

2016-05-01

Many of the continuing scientific advances achieved through computational biology are predicated on the availability of ongoing increases in computational power required for detailed simulation and analysis of cellular processes on biologically-relevant timescales. A critical challenge facing the development of future exascale supercomputer systems is the development of new computing hardware and associated scientific applications that dramatically improve upon the energy efficiency of existing solutions, while providing increased simulation, analysis, and visualization performance. Mobile computing platforms have recently become powerful enough to support interactive molecular visualization tasks that were previously only possible on laptops and workstations, creating future opportunities for their convenient use for meetings, remote collaboration, and as head mounted displays for immersive stereoscopic viewing. We describe early experiences adapting several biomolecular simulation and analysis applications for emerging heterogeneous computing platforms that combine power-efficient system-on-chip multi-core CPUs with high-performance massively parallel GPUs. We present low-cost power monitoring instrumentation that provides sufficient temporal resolution to evaluate the power consumption of individual CPU algorithms and GPU kernels. We compare the performance and energy efficiency of scientific applications running on emerging platforms with results obtained on traditional platforms, identify hardware and algorithmic performance bottlenecks that affect the usability of these platforms, and describe avenues for improving both the hardware and applications in pursuit of the needs of molecular modeling tasks on mobile devices and future exascale computers.

Impact analysis of air gap motion with respect to parameters of mooring system for floating platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Zhong-xiang; Huo, Fa-li; Nie, Yan; Liu, Yin-dong

2017-04-01

In this paper, the impact analysis of air gap concerning the parameters of mooring system for the semi-submersible platform is conducted. It is challenging to simulate the wave, current and wind loads of a platform based on a model test simultaneously. Furthermore, the dynamic equivalence between the truncated and full-depth mooring system is still a tuff work. However, the wind and current loads can be tested accurately in wind tunnel model. Furthermore, the wave can be simulated accurately in wave tank test. The full-scale mooring system and the all environment loads can be simulated accurately by using the numerical model based on the model tests simultaneously. In this paper, the air gap response of a floating platform is calculated based on the results of tunnel test and wave tank. Meanwhile, full-scale mooring system, the wind, wave and current load can be considered simultaneously. In addition, a numerical model of the platform is tuned and validated by ANSYS AQWA according to the model test results. With the support of the tuned numerical model, seventeen simulation cases about the presented platform are considered to study the wave, wind, and current loads simultaneously. Then, the impact analysis studies of air gap motion regarding the length, elasticity, and type of the mooring line are performed in the time domain under the beam wave, head wave, and oblique wave conditions.

Evaluation of Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems Performance on Oak Ridge National Laboratory s Flexible Research Platform: Part 3 Simulation Analysis

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

Im, Piljae; Cho, Heejin; Kim, Dongsu

2016-08-01

This report provides second-year project simulation results for the multi-year project titled “Evaluation of Variable Refrigeration Flow (VRF) system on Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)’s Flexible Research Platform (FRP).”

Can commercial low-cost sensor platforms contribute to air quality monitoring and exposure estimates?

PubMed

Castell, Nuria; Dauge, Franck R; Schneider, Philipp; Vogt, Matthias; Lerner, Uri; Fishbain, Barak; Broday, David; Bartonova, Alena

2017-02-01

The emergence of low-cost, user-friendly and very compact air pollution platforms enable observations at high spatial resolution in near-real-time and provide new opportunities to simultaneously enhance existing monitoring systems, as well as engage citizens in active environmental monitoring. This provides a whole new set of capabilities in the assessment of human exposure to air pollution. However, the data generated by these platforms are often of questionable quality. We have conducted an exhaustive evaluation of 24 identical units of a commercial low-cost sensor platform against CEN (European Standardization Organization) reference analyzers, evaluating their measurement capability over time and a range of environmental conditions. Our results show that their performance varies spatially and temporally, as it depends on the atmospheric composition and the meteorological conditions. Our results show that the performance varies from unit to unit, which makes it necessary to examine the data quality of each node before its use. In general, guidance is lacking on how to test such sensor nodes and ensure adequate performance prior to marketing these platforms. We have implemented and tested diverse metrics in order to assess if the sensor can be employed for applications that require high accuracy (i.e., to meet the Data Quality Objectives defined in air quality legislation, epidemiological studies) or lower accuracy (i.e., to represent the pollution level on a coarse scale, for purposes such as awareness raising). Data quality is a pertinent concern, especially in citizen science applications, where citizens are collecting and interpreting the data. In general, while low-cost platforms present low accuracy for regulatory or health purposes they can provide relative and aggregated information about the observed air quality. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Supervising simulations with the Prodiguer Messaging Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenslade, Mark; Carenton, Nicolas; Denvil, Sebastien

2015-04-01

At any one moment in time, researchers affiliated with the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) climate modeling group, are running hundreds of global climate simulations. These simulations execute upon a heterogeneous set of High Performance Computing (HPC) environments spread throughout France. The IPSL's simulation execution runtime is called libIGCM (library for IPSL Global Climate Modeling group). libIGCM has recently been enhanced so as to support realtime operational use cases. Such use cases include simulation monitoring, data publication, environment metrics collection, automated simulation control … etc. At the core of this enhancement is the Prodiguer messaging platform. libIGCM now emits information, in the form of messages, for remote processing at IPSL servers in Paris. The remote message processing takes several forms, for example: 1. Persisting message content to database(s); 2. Notifying an operator of changes in a simulation's execution status; 3. Launching rollback jobs upon simulation failure; 4. Dynamically updating controlled vocabularies; 5. Notifying downstream applications such as the Prodiguer web portal; We will describe how the messaging platform has been implemented from a technical perspective and demonstrate the Prodiguer web portal receiving realtime notifications.

Real-time Simulation of Turboprop Engine Control System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheng, Hanlin; Zhang, Tianhong; Zhang, Yi

2017-05-01

On account of the complexity of turboprop engine control system, real-time simulation is the technology, under the prerequisite of maintaining real-time, to effectively reduce development cost, shorten development cycle and avert testing risks. The paper takes RT-LAB as a platform and studies the real-time digital simulation of turboprop engine control system. The architecture, work principles and external interfaces of RT-LAB real-time simulation platform are introduced firstly. Then based on a turboprop engine model, the control laws of propeller control loop and fuel control loop are studied. From that and on the basis of Matlab/Simulink, an integrated controller is designed which can realize the entire process control of the engine from start-up to maximum power till stop. At the end, on the basis of RT-LAB platform, the real-time digital simulation of the designed control system is studied, different regulating plans are tried and more ideal control effects have been obtained.

OpenACC performance for simulating 2D radial dambreak using FVM HLLE flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gunawan, P. H.; Pahlevi, M. R.

2018-03-01

The aim of this paper is to investigate the performances of openACC platform for computing 2D radial dambreak. Here, the shallow water equation will be used to describe and simulate 2D radial dambreak with finite volume method (FVM) using HLLE flux. OpenACC is a parallel computing platform based on GPU cores. Indeed, from this research this platform is used to minimize computational time on the numerical scheme performance. The results show the using OpenACC, the computational time is reduced. For the dry and wet radial dambreak simulations using 2048 grids, the computational time of parallel is obtained 575.984 s and 584.830 s respectively for both simulations. These results show the successful of OpenACC when they are compared with the serial time of dry and wet radial dambreak simulations which are collected 28047.500 s and 29269.40 s respectively.

Ground Simulation of an Autonomous Satellite Rendezvous and Tracking System Using Dual Robotic Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trube, Matthew J.; Hyslop, Andrew M.; Carignan, Craig R.; Easley, Joseph W.

2012-01-01

A hardware-in-the-loop ground system was developed for simulating a robotic servicer spacecraft tracking a target satellite at short range. A relative navigation sensor package "Argon" is mounted on the end-effector of a Fanuc 430 manipulator, which functions as the base platform of the robotic spacecraft servicer. Machine vision algorithms estimate the pose of the target spacecraft, mounted on a Rotopod R-2000 platform, relay the solution to a simulation of the servicer spacecraft running in "Freespace", which performs guidance, navigation and control functions, integrates dynamics, and issues motion commands to a Fanuc platform controller so that it tracks the simulated servicer spacecraft. Results will be reviewed for several satellite motion scenarios at different ranges. Key words: robotics, satellite, servicing, guidance, navigation, tracking, control, docking.

Research on the laser transmission characteristics simulation and comprehensive test in complex channel environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Qiang; Liu, Jianhua; Wang, Xiaoman; Jiang, Huilin; Liu, Zhi

2014-12-01

The laser transmission characteristics affected in the complex channel environment, which limits the performance of laser equipment and engineering application severely. The article aim at the influence of laser transmission in atmospheric and seawater channels, summarizes the foreign researching work of the simulation and comprehensive test regarding to the laser transmission characteristics in complex environment. And researched the theory of atmospheric turbulence effect, water attenuation features, and put forward the corresponding theoretical model. And researched the simulate technology of atmospheric channel and sea water channel, put forward the analog device plan, adopt the similar theory of flowing to simulate the atmosphere turbulence .When the flowing has the same condition of geometric limits including the same Reynolds, they must be similar to each other in the motivation despite of the difference in the size, speed, and intrinsic quality. On this basis, set up a device for complex channel simulation and comprehensive testing, the overall design of the structure of the device, Hot and Cold Air Convection Simulation of Atmospheric Turbulence, mainly consists of cell body, heating systems, cooling systems, automatic control system. he simulator provides platform and method for the basic research of laser transmission characteristics in the domestic.

Software platform for simulation of a prototype proton CT scanner.

PubMed

Giacometti, Valentina; Bashkirov, Vladimir A; Piersimoni, Pierluigi; Guatelli, Susanna; Plautz, Tia E; Sadrozinski, Hartmut F-W; Johnson, Robert P; Zatserklyaniy, Andriy; Tessonnier, Thomas; Parodi, Katia; Rosenfeld, Anatoly B; Schulte, Reinhard W

2017-03-01

Proton computed tomography (pCT) is a promising imaging technique to substitute or at least complement x-ray CT for more accurate proton therapy treatment planning as it allows calculating directly proton relative stopping power from proton energy loss measurements. A proton CT scanner with a silicon-based particle tracking system and a five-stage scintillating energy detector has been completed. In parallel a modular software platform was developed to characterize the performance of the proposed pCT. The modular pCT software platform consists of (1) a Geant4-based simulation modeling the Loma Linda proton therapy beam line and the prototype proton CT scanner, (2) water equivalent path length (WEPL) calibration of the scintillating energy detector, and (3) image reconstruction algorithm for the reconstruction of the relative stopping power (RSP) of the scanned object. In this work, each component of the modular pCT software platform is described and validated with respect to experimental data and benchmarked against theoretical predictions. In particular, the RSP reconstruction was validated with both experimental scans, water column measurements, and theoretical calculations. The results show that the pCT software platform accurately reproduces the performance of the existing prototype pCT scanner with a RSP agreement between experimental and simulated values to better than 1.5%. The validated platform is a versatile tool for clinical proton CT performance and application studies in a virtual setting. The platform is flexible and can be modified to simulate not yet existing versions of pCT scanners and higher proton energies than those currently clinically available. © 2017 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

6 DOF Nonlinear AUV Simulation Toolbox

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-01-01

is to supply a flexible 3D -simulation platform for motion visualization, in-lab debugging and testing of mission-specific strategies as well as those...Explorer are modular designed [Smith] in order to cut time and cost for vehicle recontlguration. A flexible 3D -simulation platform is desired to... 3D models. Current implemented modules include a nonlinear dynamic model for the OEX, shared memory and semaphore manager tools, shared memory monitor

Micromagnetics on high-performance workstation and mobile computational platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, S.; Chang, R.; Couture, S.; Menarini, M.; Escobar, M. A.; Kuteifan, M.; Lubarda, M.; Gabay, D.; Lomakin, V.

2015-05-01

The feasibility of using high-performance desktop and embedded mobile computational platforms is presented, including multi-core Intel central processing unit, Nvidia desktop graphics processing units, and Nvidia Jetson TK1 Platform. FastMag finite element method-based micromagnetic simulator is used as a testbed, showing high efficiency on all the platforms. Optimization aspects of improving the performance of the mobile systems are discussed. The high performance, low cost, low power consumption, and rapid performance increase of the embedded mobile systems make them a promising candidate for micromagnetic simulations. Such architectures can be used as standalone systems or can be built as low-power computing clusters.

The Prodiguer Messaging Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greenslade, Mark; Denvil, Sebastien; Raciazek, Jerome; Carenton, Nicolas; Levavasseur, Guillame

2014-05-01

CONVERGENCE is a French multi-partner national project designed to gather HPC and informatics expertise to innovate in the context of running French climate models with differing grids and at differing resolutions. Efficient and reliable execution of these models and the management and dissemination of model output (data and meta-data) are just some of the complexities that CONVERGENCE aims to resolve. The Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) is responsible for running climate simulations upon a set of heterogenous HPC environments within France. With heterogeneity comes added complexity in terms of simulation instrumentation and control. Obtaining a global perspective upon the state of all simulations running upon all HPC environments has hitherto been problematic. In this presentation we detail how, within the context of CONVERGENCE, the implementation of the Prodiguer messaging platform resolves complexity and permits the development of real-time applications such as: 1. a simulation monitoring dashboard; 2. a simulation metrics visualizer; 3. an automated simulation runtime notifier; 4. an automated output data & meta-data publishing pipeline; The Prodiguer messaging platform leverages a widely used open source message broker software called RabbitMQ. RabbitMQ itself implements the Advanced Message Queue Protocol (AMPQ). Hence it will be demonstrated that the Prodiguer messaging platform is built upon both open source and open standards.

Lattice QCD simulations using the OpenACC platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majumdar, Pushan

2016-10-01

In this article we will explore the OpenACC platform for programming Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The OpenACC platform offers a directive based programming model for GPUs which avoids the detailed data flow control and memory management necessary in a CUDA programming environment. In the OpenACC model, programs can be written in high level languages with OpenMP like directives. We present some examples of QCD simulation codes using OpenACC and discuss their performance on the Fermi and Kepler GPUs.

Helios: a Multi-Purpose LIDAR Simulation Framework for Research, Planning and Training of Laser Scanning Operations with Airborne, Ground-Based Mobile and Stationary Platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bechtold, S.; Höfle, B.

2016-06-01

In many technical domains of modern society, there is a growing demand for fast, precise and automatic acquisition of digital 3D models of a wide variety of physical objects and environments. Laser scanning is a popular and widely used technology to cover this demand, but it is also expensive and complex to use to its full potential. However, there might exist scenarios where the operation of a real laser scanner could be replaced by a computer simulation, in order to save time and costs. This includes scenarios like teaching and training of laser scanning, development of new scanner hardware and scanning methods, or generation of artificial scan data sets to support the development of point cloud processing and analysis algorithms. To test the feasibility of this idea, we have developed a highly flexible laser scanning simulation framework named Heidelberg LiDAR Operations Simulator (HELIOS). HELIOS is implemented as a Java library and split up into a core component and multiple extension modules. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is used to define scanner, platform and scene models and to configure the behaviour of modules. Modules were developed and implemented for (1) loading of simulation assets and configuration (i.e. 3D scene models, scanner definitions, survey descriptions etc.), (2) playback of XML survey descriptions, (3) TLS survey planning (i.e. automatic computation of recommended scanning positions) and (4) interactive real-time 3D visualization of simulated surveys. As a proof of concept, we show the results of two experiments: First, a survey planning test in a scene that was specifically created to evaluate the quality of the survey planning algorithm. Second, a simulated TLS scan of a crop field in a precision farming scenario. The results show that HELIOS fulfills its design goals.

Development of water environment information management and water pollution accident response system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, J.; Ruan, H.

2009-12-01

In recent years, many water pollution accidents occurred with the rapid economical development. In this study, water environment information management and water pollution accident response system are developed based on geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The system integrated spatial database, attribute database, hydraulic model, and water quality model under a user-friendly interface in a GIS environment. System ran in both Client/Server (C/S) and Browser/Server (B/S) platform which focused on model and inquiry respectively. System provided spatial and attribute data inquiry, water quality evaluation, statics, water pollution accident response case management (opening reservoir etc) and 2D and 3D visualization function, and gave assistant information to make decision on water pollution accident response. Polluted plume in Huaihe River were selected to simulate the transport of pollutes.

A measure of the signal-to-noise ratio of microarray samples and studies using gene correlations.

PubMed

Venet, David; Detours, Vincent; Bersini, Hugues

2012-01-01

The quality of gene expression data can vary dramatically from platform to platform, study to study, and sample to sample. As reliable statistical analysis rests on reliable data, determining such quality is of the utmost importance. Quality measures to spot problematic samples exist, but they are platform-specific, and cannot be used to compare studies. As a proxy for quality, we propose a signal-to-noise ratio for microarray data, the "Signal-to-Noise Applied to Gene Expression Experiments", or SNAGEE. SNAGEE is based on the consistency of gene-gene correlations. We applied SNAGEE to a compendium of 80 large datasets on 37 platforms, for a total of 24,380 samples, and assessed the signal-to-noise ratio of studies and samples. This allowed us to discover serious issues with three studies. We show that signal-to-noise ratios of both studies and samples are linked to the statistical significance of the biological results. We showed that SNAGEE is an effective way to measure data quality for most types of gene expression studies, and that it often outperforms existing techniques. Furthermore, SNAGEE is platform-independent and does not require raw data files. The SNAGEE R package is available in BioConductor.

Development of jacket platform tsunami risk rating system in waters offshore North Borneo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, H. E.; Liew, M. S.; Mardi, N. H.; Na, K. L.; Toloue, Iraj; Wong, S. K.

2016-09-01

This work details the simulation of tsunami waves generated by seaquakes in the Manila Trench and their effect on fixed oil and gas jacket platforms in waters offshore North Borneo. For this study, a four-leg living quarter jacket platform located in a water depth of 63m is modelled in SACS v5.3. Malaysia has traditionally been perceived to be safe from the hazards of earthquakes and tsunamis. Local design practices tend to neglect tsunami waves and include no such provisions. In 2004, a 9.3 M w seaquake occurred off the northwest coast of Aceh, which generated tsunami waves that caused destruction in Malaysia totalling US 25 million and 68 deaths. This event prompted an awareness of the need to study the reliability of fixed offshore platforms scattered throughout Malaysian waters. In this paper, we present a review of research on the seismicity of the Manila Trench, which is perceived to be high risk for Southeast Asia. From the tsunami numerical model TUNA-M2, we extract computer-simulated tsunami waves at prescribed grid points in the vicinity of the platforms in the region. Using wave heights as input, we simulate the tsunami using SACS v5.3 structural analysis software of offshore platforms, which is widely accepted by the industry. We employ the nonlinear solitary wave theory in our tsunami loading calculations for the platforms, and formulate a platform-specific risk quantification system. We then perform an intensive structural sensitivity analysis and derive a corresponding platform-specific risk rating model.

Development of a Turbofan Engine Simulation in a Graphical Simulation Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parker, Khary I.; Guo, Ten-Heui

2003-01-01

This paper presents the development of a generic component level model of a turbofan engine simulation with a digital controller, in an advanced graphical simulation environment. The goal of this effort is to develop and demonstrate a flexible simulation platform for future research in propulsion system control and diagnostic technology. A previously validated FORTRAN-based model of a modern, high-performance, military-type turbofan engine is being used to validate the platform development. The implementation process required the development of various innovative procedures, which are discussed in the paper. Open-loop and closed-loop comparisons are made between the two simulations. Future enhancements that are to be made to the modular engine simulation are summarized.

Modeling and Simulation for a Surf Zone Robot

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-14

of-freedom surf zone robot is developed and tested with a physical test platform and with a simulated robot in Robot Operating System . Derived from...terrain. The application of the model to future platforms is analyzed and a broad examination of the current state of surf zone robotic systems is...public release; distribution is unlimited MODELING AND SIMULATION FOR A SURF ZONE ROBOT Eric Shuey Lieutenant, United States Navy B.S., Systems

Simulations of the Holuhraun eruption 2014 with WRF-Chem and evaluation with satellite and ground based SO2 measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirtl, Marcus; Arnold-Arias, Delia; Flandorfer, Claudia; Maurer, Christian; Mantovani, Simone; Natali, Stefano

2016-04-01

Volcanic eruptions, with gas or/and particle emissions, directly influence our environment, with special significance when they either occur near inhabited regions or are transported towards them. In addition to the well-known affectation of air traffic, with large economic impacts, the ground touching plumes can lead directly to an influence of soil, water and even to a decrease of air quality. The eruption of Holuhraun in August 2014 in central Iceland is the country's largest lava and gas eruption since the Lakagígar eruption in 1783. Nevertheless, very little volcanic ash was produced. The main atmospheric threat from this event was the SO2 pollution that frequently violated the Icelandic National Air Quality Standards in many population centers. However, the SO2 affectation was not limited to Iceland but extended to mainland Europe. The on-line coupled model WRF-Chem is used to simulate the dispersion of SO2 for this event that affected the central European regions. The volcanic emissions are considered in addition to the anthropogenic and biogenic ground sources at European scale. A modified version of WRF-Chem version 4.1 is used in order to use time depending injection heights and mass fluxes which were obtained from in situ observations. WRF-Chem uses complex gas- (RADM2) and aerosol- (MADE-SORGAM) chemistry and is operated on a European domain (12 km resolution), and a nested grid covering the Alpine region (4 km resolution). The study is showing the evaluation of the model simulations with satellite and ground based measurement data of SO2. The analysis is conducted on a data management platform, which is currently developed in the frame of the ESA-funded project TAMP "Technology and Atmospheric Mission Platform": it provides comprehensive functionalities to visualize and numerically compare data from different sources (model, satellite and ground-measurements).

Evaluation of Emerging Energy-Efficient Heterogeneous Computing Platforms for Biomolecular and Cellular Simulation Workloads

PubMed Central

Stone, John E.; Hallock, Michael J.; Phillips, James C.; Peterson, Joseph R.; Luthey-Schulten, Zaida; Schulten, Klaus

2016-01-01

Many of the continuing scientific advances achieved through computational biology are predicated on the availability of ongoing increases in computational power required for detailed simulation and analysis of cellular processes on biologically-relevant timescales. A critical challenge facing the development of future exascale supercomputer systems is the development of new computing hardware and associated scientific applications that dramatically improve upon the energy efficiency of existing solutions, while providing increased simulation, analysis, and visualization performance. Mobile computing platforms have recently become powerful enough to support interactive molecular visualization tasks that were previously only possible on laptops and workstations, creating future opportunities for their convenient use for meetings, remote collaboration, and as head mounted displays for immersive stereoscopic viewing. We describe early experiences adapting several biomolecular simulation and analysis applications for emerging heterogeneous computing platforms that combine power-efficient system-on-chip multi-core CPUs with high-performance massively parallel GPUs. We present low-cost power monitoring instrumentation that provides sufficient temporal resolution to evaluate the power consumption of individual CPU algorithms and GPU kernels. We compare the performance and energy efficiency of scientific applications running on emerging platforms with results obtained on traditional platforms, identify hardware and algorithmic performance bottlenecks that affect the usability of these platforms, and describe avenues for improving both the hardware and applications in pursuit of the needs of molecular modeling tasks on mobile devices and future exascale computers. PMID:27516922

Connecting Artificial Brains to Robots in a Comprehensive Simulation Framework: The Neurorobotics Platform

PubMed Central

Falotico, Egidio; Vannucci, Lorenzo; Ambrosano, Alessandro; Albanese, Ugo; Ulbrich, Stefan; Vasquez Tieck, Juan Camilo; Hinkel, Georg; Kaiser, Jacques; Peric, Igor; Denninger, Oliver; Cauli, Nino; Kirtay, Murat; Roennau, Arne; Klinker, Gudrun; Von Arnim, Axel; Guyot, Luc; Peppicelli, Daniel; Martínez-Cañada, Pablo; Ros, Eduardo; Maier, Patrick; Weber, Sandro; Huber, Manuel; Plecher, David; Röhrbein, Florian; Deser, Stefan; Roitberg, Alina; van der Smagt, Patrick; Dillman, Rüdiger; Levi, Paul; Laschi, Cecilia; Knoll, Alois C.; Gewaltig, Marc-Oliver

2017-01-01

Combined efforts in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and biology allowed to design biologically realistic models of the brain based on spiking neural networks. For a proper validation of these models, an embodiment in a dynamic and rich sensory environment, where the model is exposed to a realistic sensory-motor task, is needed. Due to the complexity of these brain models that, at the current stage, cannot deal with real-time constraints, it is not possible to embed them into a real-world task. Rather, the embodiment has to be simulated as well. While adequate tools exist to simulate either complex neural networks or robots and their environments, there is so far no tool that allows to easily establish a communication between brain and body models. The Neurorobotics Platform is a new web-based environment that aims to fill this gap by offering scientists and technology developers a software infrastructure allowing them to connect brain models to detailed simulations of robot bodies and environments and to use the resulting neurorobotic systems for in silico experimentation. In order to simplify the workflow and reduce the level of the required programming skills, the platform provides editors for the specification of experimental sequences and conditions, environments, robots, and brain–body connectors. In addition to that, a variety of existing robots and environments are provided. This work presents the architecture of the first release of the Neurorobotics Platform developed in subproject 10 “Neurorobotics” of the Human Brain Project (HBP).1 At the current state, the Neurorobotics Platform allows researchers to design and run basic experiments in neurorobotics using simulated robots and simulated environments linked to simplified versions of brain models. We illustrate the capabilities of the platform with three example experiments: a Braitenberg task implemented on a mobile robot, a sensory-motor learning task based on a robotic controller, and a visual tracking embedding a retina model on the iCub humanoid robot. These use-cases allow to assess the applicability of the Neurorobotics Platform for robotic tasks as well as in neuroscientific experiments. PMID:28179882

Connecting Artificial Brains to Robots in a Comprehensive Simulation Framework: The Neurorobotics Platform.

PubMed

Falotico, Egidio; Vannucci, Lorenzo; Ambrosano, Alessandro; Albanese, Ugo; Ulbrich, Stefan; Vasquez Tieck, Juan Camilo; Hinkel, Georg; Kaiser, Jacques; Peric, Igor; Denninger, Oliver; Cauli, Nino; Kirtay, Murat; Roennau, Arne; Klinker, Gudrun; Von Arnim, Axel; Guyot, Luc; Peppicelli, Daniel; Martínez-Cañada, Pablo; Ros, Eduardo; Maier, Patrick; Weber, Sandro; Huber, Manuel; Plecher, David; Röhrbein, Florian; Deser, Stefan; Roitberg, Alina; van der Smagt, Patrick; Dillman, Rüdiger; Levi, Paul; Laschi, Cecilia; Knoll, Alois C; Gewaltig, Marc-Oliver

2017-01-01

Combined efforts in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and biology allowed to design biologically realistic models of the brain based on spiking neural networks. For a proper validation of these models, an embodiment in a dynamic and rich sensory environment, where the model is exposed to a realistic sensory-motor task, is needed. Due to the complexity of these brain models that, at the current stage, cannot deal with real-time constraints, it is not possible to embed them into a real-world task. Rather, the embodiment has to be simulated as well. While adequate tools exist to simulate either complex neural networks or robots and their environments, there is so far no tool that allows to easily establish a communication between brain and body models. The Neurorobotics Platform is a new web-based environment that aims to fill this gap by offering scientists and technology developers a software infrastructure allowing them to connect brain models to detailed simulations of robot bodies and environments and to use the resulting neurorobotic systems for in silico experimentation. In order to simplify the workflow and reduce the level of the required programming skills, the platform provides editors for the specification of experimental sequences and conditions, environments, robots, and brain-body connectors. In addition to that, a variety of existing robots and environments are provided. This work presents the architecture of the first release of the Neurorobotics Platform developed in subproject 10 "Neurorobotics" of the Human Brain Project (HBP). At the current state, the Neurorobotics Platform allows researchers to design and run basic experiments in neurorobotics using simulated robots and simulated environments linked to simplified versions of brain models. We illustrate the capabilities of the platform with three example experiments: a Braitenberg task implemented on a mobile robot, a sensory-motor learning task based on a robotic controller, and a visual tracking embedding a retina model on the iCub humanoid robot. These use-cases allow to assess the applicability of the Neurorobotics Platform for robotic tasks as well as in neuroscientific experiments.

Computationally inexpensive approach for pitch control of offshore wind turbine on barge floating platform.

PubMed

Zuo, Shan; Song, Y D; Wang, Lei; Song, Qing-wang

2013-01-01

Offshore floating wind turbine (OFWT) has gained increasing attention during the past decade because of the offshore high-quality wind power and complex load environment. The control system is a tradeoff between power tracking and fatigue load reduction in the above-rated wind speed area. In allusion to the external disturbances and uncertain system parameters of OFWT due to the proximity to load centers and strong wave coupling, this paper proposes a computationally inexpensive robust adaptive control approach with memory-based compensation for blade pitch control. The method is tested and compared with a baseline controller and a conventional individual blade pitch controller with the "NREL offshore 5 MW baseline wind turbine" being mounted on a barge platform run on FAST and Matlab/Simulink, operating in the above-rated condition. It is shown that the advanced control approach is not only robust to complex wind and wave disturbances but adaptive to varying and uncertain system parameters as well. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method performs better in reducing power fluctuations, fatigue loads and platform vibration as compared to the conventional individual blade pitch control.

Computationally Inexpensive Approach for Pitch Control of Offshore Wind Turbine on Barge Floating Platform

PubMed Central

Zuo, Shan; Song, Y. D.; Wang, Lei; Song, Qing-wang

2013-01-01

Offshore floating wind turbine (OFWT) has gained increasing attention during the past decade because of the offshore high-quality wind power and complex load environment. The control system is a tradeoff between power tracking and fatigue load reduction in the above-rated wind speed area. In allusion to the external disturbances and uncertain system parameters of OFWT due to the proximity to load centers and strong wave coupling, this paper proposes a computationally inexpensive robust adaptive control approach with memory-based compensation for blade pitch control. The method is tested and compared with a baseline controller and a conventional individual blade pitch controller with the “NREL offshore 5 MW baseline wind turbine” being mounted on a barge platform run on FAST and Matlab/Simulink, operating in the above-rated condition. It is shown that the advanced control approach is not only robust to complex wind and wave disturbances but adaptive to varying and uncertain system parameters as well. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method performs better in reducing power fluctuations, fatigue loads and platform vibration as compared to the conventional individual blade pitch control. PMID:24453834

Optimizing the positional relationships between instruments used in laparoscopic simulation using a simple trigonometric method.

PubMed

Lorias Espinoza, Daniel; Ordorica Flores, Ricardo; Minor Martínez, Arturo; Gutiérrez Gnecchi, José Antonio

2014-06-01

Various methods for evaluating laparoscopic skill have been reported, but without detailed information on the configuration used they are difficult to reproduce. Here we present a method based on the trigonometric relationships between the instruments used in a laparoscopic training platform in order to provide a tool to aid in the reproducible assessment of surgical laparoscopic technique. The positions of the instruments were represented using triangles. Basic trigonometry was used to objectively establish the distances among the working ports RL, the placement of the optical port h', and the placement of the surgical target OT. The optimal configuration of a training platform depends on the selected working angles, the intracorporeal/extracorporeal lengths of the instrument, and the depth of the surgical target. We demonstrate that some distances, angles, and positions of the instruments are inappropriate for satisfactory laparoscopy. By applying basic trigonometric principles we can determine the ideal placement of the working ports and the optics in a simple, precise, and objective way. In addition, because the method is based on parameters known to be important in both the performance and quantitative quality of laparoscopy, the results are generalizable to different training platforms and types of laparoscopic surgery.

Steady-state capabilities for hydroturbines with OpenFOAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Page, M.; Beaudoin, M.; Giroux, A. M.

2010-08-01

The availability of a high quality Open Source CFD simulation platform like OpenFOAM offers new R&D opportunities by providing direct access to models and solver implementation details. Efforts have been made by Hydro-Québec to adapt OpenFOAM to hydroturbines for the development of steady-state capabilities. The paper describes the developments that have been made to implement new turbomachinery related capabilities: Multiple Frame of Reference solver, domain coupling interfaces (GGI, cyclicGGI and mixing plane) and specialized boundary conditions. Practical use of the new turbomachinery capabilities are demonstrated for the analysis of a 195-MW Francis hydroturbine.

Comprehensive Performance Study of Magneto Cantilevers as a Candidate Model for Biological Sensors used in Lab-on-a-Chip Applications

PubMed Central

Saberkari, Hamidreza; Ghavifekr, Habib Badri; Shamsi, Mousa

2015-01-01

In recent years, demand for biological sensors which are capable of fast and accurate detection of minor amounts of pathogens in real-time form has been intensified. Acoustic wave (AW) devices whose performance is determined by mass sensitivity parameters and quality factor are used in biological sensors as platforms with high quality. Yet, current AW devices are facing many challenges such as the low value of their quality factor in practical applications and also their difficulty to use in liquids. The main focus of this article is to study on the magnetostrictive sensors which include milli/microcantilever (MSMC) type. In comparison with AW devices, MSMC has a lot of advantages; (1) its actuation and sensing unit is wirelessly controlled. (2) Its fabrication process is easy. (3) It works well in liquids. (4) It has a high-quality factor (in the air > 500). Simulation results demonstrate that the amount of quality factor depends on environment properties (density and viscosity), MSMC geometry, and its resonant behavior of harmonic modes. PMID:26120566

Rich media streaming for just-in-time training of first responders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandera, Cesar; Marsico, Michael

2005-05-01

The diversity of first responders and of asymmetric threats precludes the effectiveness of any single training syllabus. Just-in-time training (JITT) addresses this variability, but requires training content to be quickly tailored to the subject (the threat), the learner (the responder), and the infrastructure (the C2 chain from DHS to the responder"s equipment). We present a distributed system for personalized just-in-time training of first responders. The authoring and delivery of interactive rich media and simulations, and the integration of JITT with C2 centers, are demonstrated. Live and archived video, imagery, 2-D and 3-D models, and simulations are autonomously (1) aggregated from object-oriented databases into SCORM-compliant objects, (2) tailored to the individual learner"s training history, preferences, connectivity and computing platform (from workstations to wireless PDAs), (3) conveyed as secure and reliable MPEG-4 compliant streams with data rights management, and (4) rendered as interactive high-definition rich media that promotes knowledge retention and the refinement of learner skills without the need of special hardware. We review the object-oriented implications of SCORM and the higher level profiles of the MPEG-4 standard, and show how JITT can be integrated into - and improve the ROI of - existing training infrastructures, including COTS content authoring tools, LMS/CMS, man-in-the-loop simulators, and legacy content. Lastly, we compare the audiovisual quality of different streaming platforms under varying connectivity conditions.

Flight simulator requirements for airline transport pilot training - An evaluation of motion system design alternatives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, A. T.; Bussolari, S. R.

1986-01-01

The effect of motion platform systems on pilot behavior is considered with emphasis placed on civil aviation applications. A dynamic model for human spatial orientation based on the physiological structure and function of the human vestibular system is presented. Motion platform alternatives were evaluated on the basis of the following motion platform conditions: motion with six degrees-of-freedom required for Phase II simulators and two limited motion conditions. Consideration was given to engine flameout, airwork, and approach and landing scenarios.

User testing and performance evaluation of the Electronic Quality Improvement Platform for Plans and Pharmacies.

PubMed

Pringle, Janice L; Kearney, Shannon M; Grasso, Kim; Boyer, Annette D; Conklin, Mark H; Szymanski, Keith A

2015-01-01

To user-test and evaluate a performance information management platform that makes standardized, benchmarked medication use quality data available to both health plans and community pharmacy organizations. Multiple health/drug plans and multiple chain and independent pharmacies across the United States. During the first phase of the study, user experience was measured via user satisfaction surveys and interviews with key personnel (pharmacists, pharmacy leaders, and health plan leadership). Improvements were subsequently made to the platform based on these findings. During the second phase of the study, the platform was implemented in a greater number of pharmacies and by a greater number of payers. User experience was then reevaluated to gather information for further improvements. The surveys and interviews revealed that users found the Web-based platform easy to use and beneficial in terms of understanding and comparing performance metrics. Primary concerns included lack of access to real-time data and patient-specific data. Many users also expressed uncertainty as to how they could use the information and data provided by the platform. The study findings indicate that while information management platforms can be used effectively in both pharmacy and health plan settings, future development is needed to ensure that the provided data can be transferred to pharmacy best practices and improved quality care.

Establishing a Virtual Community of Practice in Simulation: The Value of Social Media.

PubMed

Thoma, Brent; Brazil, Victoria; Spurr, Jesse; Palaganas, Janice; Eppich, Walter; Grant, Vincent; Cheng, Adam

2018-04-01

Professional development opportunities are not readily accessible for most simulation educators, who may only connect with simulation experts at periodic and costly conferences. Virtual communities of practice consist of individuals with a shared passion who communicate via virtual media to advance their own learning and that of others. A nascent virtual community of practice is developing online for healthcare simulation on social media platforms. Simulation educators should consider engaging on these platforms for their own benefit and to help develop healthcare simulation educators around the world. Herein, we describe this developing virtual community of practice and offer guidance to assist educators to engage, learn, and contribute to the growth of the community.

Use of Parallel Micro-Platform for the Simulation the Space Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velasco Herrera, Victor Manuel; Velasco Herrera, Graciela; Rosano, Felipe Lara; Rodriguez Lozano, Salvador; Lucero Roldan Serrato, Karen

The purpose of this work is to create a parallel micro-platform, that simulates the virtual movements of a space exploration in 3D. One of the innovations presented in this design consists of the application of a lever mechanism for the transmission of the movement. The development of such a robot is a challenging task very different of the industrial manipulators due to a totally different target system of requirements. This work presents the study and simulation, aided by computer, of the movement of this parallel manipulator. The development of this model has been developed using the platform of computer aided design Unigraphics, in which it was done the geometric modeled of each one of the components and end assembly (CAD), the generation of files for the computer aided manufacture (CAM) of each one of the pieces and the kinematics simulation of the system evaluating different driving schemes. We used the toolbox (MATLAB) of aerospace and create an adaptive control module to simulate the system.

Real-time simulation of a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator based wind power system on eMEGASimRTM Real-Time Digital Simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boakye-Boateng, Nasir Abdulai

The growing demand for wind power integration into the generation mix prompts the need to subject these systems to stringent performance requirements. This study sought to identify the required tools and procedures needed to perform real-time simulation studies of Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based wind generation systems as basis for performing more practical tests of reliability and performance for both grid-connected and islanded wind generation systems. The author focused on developing a platform for wind generation studies and in addition, the author tested the performance of two DFIG models on the platform real-time simulation model; an average SimpowerSystemsRTM DFIG wind turbine, and a detailed DFIG based wind turbine using ARTEMiSRTM components. The platform model implemented here consists of a high voltage transmission system with four integrated wind farm models consisting in total of 65 DFIG based wind turbines and it was developed and tested on OPAL-RT's eMEGASimRTM Real-Time Digital Simulator.

The cutting-edge training modalities and educational platforms for accredited surgical training: A systematic review.

PubMed

Forgione, Antonello; Guraya, Salman Y

2017-01-01

Historically, operating room (OR) has always been considered as a stand-alone trusted platform for surgical education and training. However, concerns about financial constraints, quality control, and patient safety have urged the surgical educators to develop more cost-effective, surgical educational platforms that can be employed outside the OR. Furthermore, trained surgeons need to regularly update their surgical skills to keep abreast with the emerging surgical technologies. This research aimed to explore the value of currently available modern surgical tools that can be used outside the OR and also elaborates the existing laparoscopic surgical training programs in world-class centers across the globe with a view to formulate a blended and unified structured surgical training program. Several data sources were searched using MeSH terms "Laparoscopic surgery" and "Surgical training" and "Surgical curriculum" and "fundamentals of endoscopic surgery" and "fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery" and "Telementoring" and "Box trainer." The eligibility criteria used in data extraction searched for original and review articles and by excluding the editorial articles, short communications, conference proceedings, personal view, and commentaries. Data synthesis and data analysis were done by reviewing the initially retrieved 211 articles. Irrelevant and duplicate and redundant articles were excluded from the study. Finally, 12 articles were selected for this systematic review. Data results showed that a myriad of cutting-edge technical innovations have provided modern surgical training tools such as the simulation-based mechanical and virtual reality simulators, animal and cadaveric labs, telementoring, telerobotic-assisted surgery, and video games. Surgical simulators allow the trainees to acquire surgical skills in a tension-free environment without supervision or time constraints. The existing world-renowned surgical training centers employ various clusters of training tools that essentially endeavor to embed the acquisition of knowledge and technical skills. However, a unified training curriculum that may be accepted worldwide is currently not available.

The cutting-edge training modalities and educational platforms for accredited surgical training: A systematic review

PubMed Central

Forgione, Antonello; Guraya, Salman Y.

2017-01-01

Background: Historically, operating room (OR) has always been considered as a stand-alone trusted platform for surgical education and training. However, concerns about financial constraints, quality control, and patient safety have urged the surgical educators to develop more cost-effective, surgical educational platforms that can be employed outside the OR. Furthermore, trained surgeons need to regularly update their surgical skills to keep abreast with the emerging surgical technologies. This research aimed to explore the value of currently available modern surgical tools that can be used outside the OR and also elaborates the existing laparoscopic surgical training programs in world-class centers across the globe with a view to formulate a blended and unified structured surgical training program. Materials and Methods: Several data sources were searched using MeSH terms “Laparoscopic surgery” and “Surgical training” and “Surgical curriculum” and “fundamentals of endoscopic surgery” and “fundamentals of laparoscopic surgery” and “Telementoring” and “Box trainer.” The eligibility criteria used in data extraction searched for original and review articles and by excluding the editorial articles, short communications, conference proceedings, personal view, and commentaries. Data synthesis and data analysis were done by reviewing the initially retrieved 211 articles. Irrelevant and duplicate and redundant articles were excluded from the study. Results: Finally, 12 articles were selected for this systematic review. Data results showed that a myriad of cutting-edge technical innovations have provided modern surgical training tools such as the simulation-based mechanical and virtual reality simulators, animal and cadaveric labs, telementoring, telerobotic-assisted surgery, and video games. Surgical simulators allow the trainees to acquire surgical skills in a tension-free environment without supervision or time constraints. Conclusion: The existing world-renowned surgical training centers employ various clusters of training tools that essentially endeavor to embed the acquisition of knowledge and technical skills. However, a unified training curriculum that may be accepted worldwide is currently not available. PMID:28567070

Large Scale Simulation Platform for NODES Validation Study

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

Sotorrio, P.; Qin, Y.; Min, L.

2017-04-27

This report summarizes the Large Scale (LS) simulation platform created for the Eaton NODES project. The simulation environment consists of both wholesale market simulator and distribution simulator and includes the CAISO wholesale market model and a PG&E footprint of 25-75 feeders to validate the scalability under a scenario of 33% RPS in California with additional 17% of DERS coming from distribution and customers. The simulator can generate hourly unit commitment, 5-minute economic dispatch, and 4-second AGC regulation signals. The simulator is also capable of simulating greater than 10k individual controllable devices. Simulated DERs include water heaters, EVs, residential and lightmore » commercial HVAC/buildings, and residential-level battery storage. Feeder-level voltage regulators and capacitor banks are also simulated for feeder-level real and reactive power management and Vol/Var control.« less

[Computer-based quality-of-life monitoring in head and neck cancer patients: a validation model using the EORTC-QLQ C30 and EORTC- H&N35 Portuguese PC-software version].

PubMed

Silveira, Augusta; Gonçalves, Joaquim; Sequeira, Teresa; Ribeiro, Cláudia; Lopes, Carlos; Monteiro, Eurico; Pimentel, Francisco Luís

2011-12-01

Quality of Life is a distinct and important emerging health focus, guiding practice and research. The routine Quality of Life evaluation in clinical, economic, and epidemiological studies and in medical practice promises a better Quality of Life and improved health resources optimization. The use of information technology and a Knowledge Management System related to Quality of Life assessment is essential to routine clinical evaluation and can define a clinical research methodology that is more efficient and better organized. In this paper, a Validation Model using the Quality of Life informatics platform is presented. Portuguese PC-software using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer questionnaires (EORTC-QLQ C30 and EORTC-H&N35), is compared with the original paper-pen approach in the Quality of Life monitoring of head and neck cancer patients. The Quality of Life informatics platform was designed specifically for this study with a simple and intuitive interface that ensures confidentiality while providing Quality of Life evaluation for all cancer patients. For the Validation Model, the sample selection was random. Fifty-four head and neck cancer patients completed 216 questionnaires (108 using the informatics platform and 108 using the original paper-pen approach) with a one-hour interval in between. Patient preferences and computer experience were registered. Quality of Life informatics platform showed high usability as a user-friendly tool. This informatics platform allows data collection by auto-reply, database construction, and statistical data analysis and also facilitates the automatic listing of the questionnaires. When comparing the approaches (Wilcoxon test by item, percentile distribution and Cronbach's alpha), most of the responses were similar. Most of the patients (53.6%) reported a preference for the software version. The Quality of Life informatics platform has revealed to be a powerful and effective tool, allowing a real time analysis of Quality of Life data. Computer-based quality-of-life monitoring in head and neck cancer patients is essential to get clinically meaningful data that can support clinical decisions, identify potential needs, and support a stepped-care model. This represents a fundamental step for routine Quality of Life implementation in the Oncology Portuguese Institute (IPO-Porto), ORL and C&P department services clinical practice. Finally, we propose a diagram of diagnostic performance, considerating the generalized lack of mycological diagnosis in Portugal, which emphasizes the need for a careful history, focused on quantifying the latency period.

Toolbox for Urban Mobility Simulation: High Resolution Population Dynamics for Global Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhaduri, B. L.; Lu, W.; Liu, C.; Thakur, G.; Karthik, R.

2015-12-01

In this rapidly urbanizing world, unprecedented rate of population growth is not only mirrored by increasing demand for energy, food, water, and other natural resources, but has detrimental impacts on environmental and human security. Transportation simulations are frequently used for mobility assessment in urban planning, traffic operation, and emergency management. Previous research, involving purely analytical techniques to simulations capturing behavior, has investigated questions and scenarios regarding the relationships among energy, emissions, air quality, and transportation. Primary limitations of past attempts have been availability of input data, useful "energy and behavior focused" models, validation data, and adequate computational capability that allows adequate understanding of the interdependencies of our transportation system. With increasing availability and quality of traditional and crowdsourced data, we have utilized the OpenStreetMap roads network, and has integrated high resolution population data with traffic simulation to create a Toolbox for Urban Mobility Simulations (TUMS) at global scale. TUMS consists of three major components: data processing, traffic simulation models, and Internet-based visualizations. It integrates OpenStreetMap, LandScanTM population, and other open data (Census Transportation Planning Products, National household Travel Survey, etc.) to generate both normal traffic operation and emergency evacuation scenarios. TUMS integrates TRANSIMS and MITSIM as traffic simulation engines, which are open-source and widely-accepted for scalable traffic simulations. Consistent data and simulation platform allows quick adaption to various geographic areas that has been demonstrated for multiple cities across the world. We are combining the strengths of geospatial data sciences, high performance simulations, transportation planning, and emissions, vehicle and energy technology development to design and develop a simulation framework to assist decision makers at all levels - local, state, regional, and federal. Using Cleveland, Tennessee as an example, in this presentation, we illustrate how emerging cities could easily assess future land use scenario driven impacts on energy and environment utilizing such a capability.

A software platform for phase contrast x-ray breast imaging research.

PubMed

Bliznakova, K; Russo, P; Mettivier, G; Requardt, H; Popov, P; Bravin, A; Buliev, I

2015-06-01

To present and validate a computer-based simulation platform dedicated for phase contrast x-ray breast imaging research. The software platform, developed at the Technical University of Varna on the basis of a previously validated x-ray imaging software simulator, comprises modules for object creation and for x-ray image formation. These modules were updated to take into account the refractive index for phase contrast imaging as well as implementation of the Fresnel-Kirchhoff diffraction theory of the propagating x-ray waves. Projection images are generated in an in-line acquisition geometry. To test and validate the platform, several phantoms differing in their complexity were constructed and imaged at 25 keV and 60 keV at the beamline ID17 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The software platform was used to design computational phantoms that mimic those used in the experimental study and to generate x-ray images in absorption and phase contrast modes. The visual and quantitative results of the validation process showed an overall good correlation between simulated and experimental images and show the potential of this platform for research in phase contrast x-ray imaging of the breast. The application of the platform is demonstrated in a feasibility study for phase contrast images of complex inhomogeneous and anthropomorphic breast phantoms, compared to x-ray images generated in absorption mode. The improved visibility of mammographic structures suggests further investigation and optimisation of phase contrast x-ray breast imaging, especially when abnormalities are present. The software platform can be exploited also for educational purposes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

a Real-Time GIS Platform for High Sour Gas Leakage Simulation, Evaluation and Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, M.; Liu, H.; Yang, C.

2015-07-01

The development of high-sulfur gas fields, also known as sour gas field, is faced with a series of safety control and emergency management problems. The GIS-based emergency response system is placed high expectations under the consideration of high pressure, high content, complex terrain and highly density population in Sichuan Basin, southwest China. The most researches on high hydrogen sulphide gas dispersion simulation and evaluation are used for environmental impact assessment (EIA) or emergency preparedness planning. This paper introduces a real-time GIS platform for high-sulfur gas emergency response. Combining with real-time data from the leak detection systems and the meteorological monitoring stations, GIS platform provides the functions of simulating, evaluating and displaying of the different spatial-temporal toxic gas distribution patterns and evaluation results. This paper firstly proposes the architecture of Emergency Response/Management System, secondly explains EPA's Gaussian dispersion model CALPUFF simulation workflow under high complex terrain and real-time data, thirdly explains the emergency workflow and spatial analysis functions of computing the accident influencing areas, population and the optimal evacuation routes. Finally, a well blow scenarios is used for verify the system. The study shows that GIS platform which integrates the real-time data and CALPUFF models will be one of the essential operational platforms for high-sulfur gas fields emergency management.

Open Marketplace for Simulation Software on the Basis of a Web Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kryukov, A. P.; Demichev, A. P.

2016-02-01

The focus in development of a new generation of middleware shifts from the global grid systems to building convenient and efficient web platforms for remote access to individual computing resources. Further line of their development, suggested in this work, is related not only with the quantitative increase in their number and with the expansion of scientific, engineering, and manufacturing areas in which they are used, but also with improved technology for remote deployment of application software on the resources interacting with the web platforms. Currently, the services for providers of application software in the context of scientific-oriented web platforms is not developed enough. The proposed in this work new web platforms of application software market should have all the features of the existing web platforms for submissions of jobs to remote resources plus the provision of specific web services for interaction on market principles between the providers and consumers of application packages. The suggested approach will be approved on the example of simulation applications in the field of nonlinear optics.

Importance of a Priori Vertical Ozone Profiles for TEMPO Air Quality Retrievals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Matthew S.; Sullivan, John; Liu, Xiong; Zoogman, Peter; Newchurch, Mike; Kuang, Shi; McGee, Thomas; Leblanc, Thierry

2017-01-01

Ozone (O3) is a toxic pollutant which plays a major role in air quality. Typically, monitoring of surface air quality and O3 mixing ratios is conducted using in situ measurement networks. This is partially due to high-quality information related to air quality being limited from space-borne platforms due to coarse spatial resolution, limited temporal frequency, and minimal sensitivity to lower tropospheric and surface-level O3. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite is designed to address the limitations of current space-based platforms and to improve our ability to monitor North American air quality. TEMPO will provide hourly data of total column and vertical profiles of O3 with high spatial resolution to be used as a near-real-time air quality product. TEMPO O3 retrievals will apply the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory profile algorithm developed based on work from GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment), GOME-2, and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument). This algorithm is suggested to use a priori O3 profile information from a climatological data-base developed from long-term ozone-sonde measurements (tropopause-based (TB-Clim) O3 climatology). This study evaluates the TB-Clim dataset and model simulated O3 profiles, which could potentially serve as a priori O3 profile information in TEMPO retrievals, from near-real-time data assimilation model products (NASA GMAO's (Global Modeling and Assimilation Office) operational GEOS-5 (Goddard Earth Observing System, Version 5) FP (Forecast Products) model and reanalysis data from MERRA2 (Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2)) and a full chemical transport model (CTM), GEOS-Chem. In this study, vertical profile products are evaluated with surface (0-2 kilometers) and tropospheric (0-10 kilometers) TOLNet (Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network) observations and the theoretical impact of individual a priori profile sources on the accuracy of TEMPO O3 retrievals in the troposphere and at the surface are presented. Results indicate that while the TB-Clim climatological dataset can replicate seasonally-averaged tropospheric O3 profiles, model-simulated profiles from a full CTM resulted in more accurate tropospheric and surface-level O3 retrievals from TEMPO when compared to hourly and daily-averaged TOLNet observations. Furthermore, it is shown that when large surface O3 mixing ratios are observed, TEMPO retrieval values at the surface are most accurate when applying CTM a priori profile information compared to all other data products.

EOS Terra Validation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starr, David

2000-01-01

The EOS Terra mission will be launched in July 1999. This mission has great relevance to the atmospheric radiation community and global change issues. Terra instruments include Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). In addition to the fundamental radiance data sets, numerous global science data products will be generated, including various Earth radiation budget, cloud and aerosol parameters, as well as land surface, terrestrial ecology, ocean color, and atmospheric chemistry parameters. Significant investments have been made in on-board calibration to ensure the quality of the radiance observations. A key component of the Terra mission is the validation of the science data products. This is essential for a mission focused on global change issues and the underlying processes. The Terra algorithms have been subject to extensive pre-launch testing with field data whenever possible. Intensive efforts will be made to validate the Terra data products after launch. These include validation of instrument calibration (vicarious calibration) experiments, instrument and cross-platform comparisons, routine collection of high quality correlative data from ground-based networks, such as AERONET, and intensive sites, such as the SGP ARM site, as well as a variety field experiments, cruises, etc. Airborne simulator instruments have been developed for the field experiment and underflight activities including the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) AirMISR, MASTER (MODIS-ASTER), and MOPITT-A. All are integrated on the NASA ER-2 though low altitude platforms are more typically used for MASTER. MATR is an additional sensor used for MOPITT algorithm development and validation. The intensive validation activities planned for the first year of the Terra mission will be described with emphasis on derived geophysical parameters of most relevance to the atmospheric radiation community.

EOS Terra Validation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starr, David

1999-01-01

The EOS Terra mission will be launched in July 1999. This mission has great relevance to the atmospheric radiation community and global change issues. Terra instruments include ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT. In addition to the fundamental radiance data sets, numerous global science data products will be generated, including various Earth radiation budget, cloud and aerosol parameters, as well as land surface, terrestrial ecology, ocean color, and atmospheric chemistry parameters. Significant investments have been made in on-board calibration to ensure the quality of the radiance observations. A key component of the Terra mission is the validation of the science data products. This is essential for a mission focused on global change issues and the underlying processes. The Terra algorithms have been subject to extensive pre-launch testing with field data whenever possible. Intensive efforts will be made to validate the Terra data products after launch. These include validation of instrument calibration (vicarious calibration) experiments, instrument and cross-platform comparisons, routine collection of high quality correlative data from ground-based networks, such as AERONET, and intensive sites, such as the SGP ARM site, as well as a variety field experiments, cruises, etc. Airborne simulator instruments have been developed for the field experiment and underflight activities including the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), AirMISR, MASTER (MODIS-ASTER), and MOPITT-A. All are integrated on the NASA ER-2, though low altitude platforms are more typically used for MASTER. MATR is an additional sensor used for MOPITT algorithm development and validation. The intensive validation activities planned for the first year of the Terra mission will be described with emphasis on derived geophysical parameters of most relevance to the atmospheric radiation community. Detailed information about the EOS Terra validation Program can be found on the EOS Validation program homepage i/e.: http://ospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/validation/valpage.html).

A method to investigate the diffusion properties of nuclear calcium.

PubMed

Queisser, Gillian; Wittum, Gabriel

2011-10-01

Modeling biophysical processes in general requires knowledge about underlying biological parameters. The quality of simulation results is strongly influenced by the accuracy of these parameters, hence the identification of parameter values that the model includes is a major part of simulating biophysical processes. In many cases, secondary data can be gathered by experimental setups, which are exploitable by mathematical inverse modeling techniques. Here we describe a method for parameter identification of diffusion properties of calcium in the nuclei of rat hippocampal neurons. The method is based on a Gauss-Newton method for solving a least-squares minimization problem and was formulated in such a way that it is ideally implementable in the simulation platform uG. Making use of independently published space- and time-dependent calcium imaging data, generated from laser-assisted calcium uncaging experiments, here we could identify the diffusion properties of nuclear calcium and were able to validate a previously published model that describes nuclear calcium dynamics as a diffusion process.

Advanced Grid Simulator for Multi-Megawatt Power Converter Testing and Certification

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

Koralewicz, Przemyslaw; Gevorgian, Vahan; Wallen, Robb

2017-02-16

Grid integration testing of inverter-coupled renewable energy technologies is an essential step in the qualification of renewable energy and energy storage systems to ensure the stability of the power system. New types of devices must be thoroughly tested and validated for compliance with relevant grid codes and interconnection requirements. For this purpose, highly specialized custom-made testing equipment is needed to emulate various types of realistic grid conditions that are required by certification bodies or for research purposes. For testing multi-megawatt converters, a high power grid simulator capable of creating controlled grid conditions and meeting both power quality and dynamic characteristicsmore » is needed. This paper describes the new grid simulator concept based on ABB's medium voltage ACS6000 drive technology that utilizes advanced modulation and control techniques to create an unique testing platform for various multi-megawatt power converter systems. Its performance is demonstrated utilizing the test results obtained during commissioning activities at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, USA.« less

A methodological, task-based approach to Procedure-Specific Simulations training.

PubMed

Setty, Yaki; Salzman, Oren

2016-12-01

Procedure-Specific Simulations (PSS) are 3D realistic simulations that provide a platform to practice complete surgical procedures in a virtual-reality environment. While PSS have the potential to improve surgeons' proficiency, there are no existing standards or guidelines for PSS development in a structured manner. We employ a unique platform inspired by game design to develop virtual reality simulations in three dimensions of urethrovesical anastomosis during radical prostatectomy. 3D visualization is supported by a stereo vision, providing a fully realistic view of the simulation. The software can be executed for any robotic surgery platform. Specifically, we tested the simulation under windows environment on the RobotiX Mentor. Using urethrovesical anastomosis during radical prostatectomy simulation as a representative example, we present a task-based methodological approach to PSS training. The methodology provides tasks in increasing levels of difficulty from a novice level of basic anatomy identification, to an expert level that permits testing new surgical approaches. The modular methodology presented here can be easily extended to support more complex tasks. We foresee this methodology as a tool used to integrate PSS as a complementary training process for surgical procedures.

Development of Real Time Implementation of 5/5 Rule based Fuzzy Logic Controller Shunt Active Power Filter for Power Quality Improvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puhan, Pratap Sekhar; Ray, Pravat Kumar; Panda, Gayadhar

2016-12-01

This paper presents the effectiveness of 5/5 Fuzzy rule implementation in Fuzzy Logic Controller conjunction with indirect control technique to enhance the power quality in single phase system, An indirect current controller in conjunction with Fuzzy Logic Controller is applied to the proposed shunt active power filter to estimate the peak reference current and capacitor voltage. Current Controller based pulse width modulation (CCPWM) is used to generate the switching signals of voltage source inverter. Various simulation results are presented to verify the good behaviour of the Shunt active Power Filter (SAPF) with proposed two levels Hysteresis Current Controller (HCC). For verification of Shunt Active Power Filter in real time, the proposed control algorithm has been implemented in laboratory developed setup in dSPACE platform.

Business Simulation Exercises in Small Business Management Education: Using Principles and Ideas from Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gabrielsson, Jonas; Tell, Joakim; Politis, Diamanto

2010-01-01

Recent calls to close the rigour-relevance gap in business school education have suggested incorporating principles and ideas from action learning in small business management education. In this paper we discuss how business simulation exercises can be used as a platform to trigger students' learning by providing them with a platform where they…

A novel medical image data-based multi-physics simulation platform for computational life sciences.

PubMed

Neufeld, Esra; Szczerba, Dominik; Chavannes, Nicolas; Kuster, Niels

2013-04-06

Simulating and modelling complex biological systems in computational life sciences requires specialized software tools that can perform medical image data-based modelling, jointly visualize the data and computational results, and handle large, complex, realistic and often noisy anatomical models. The required novel solvers must provide the power to model the physics, biology and physiology of living tissue within the full complexity of the human anatomy (e.g. neuronal activity, perfusion and ultrasound propagation). A multi-physics simulation platform satisfying these requirements has been developed for applications including device development and optimization, safety assessment, basic research, and treatment planning. This simulation platform consists of detailed, parametrized anatomical models, a segmentation and meshing tool, a wide range of solvers and optimizers, a framework for the rapid development of specialized and parallelized finite element method solvers, a visualization toolkit-based visualization engine, a Python scripting interface for customized applications, a coupling framework, and more. Core components are cross-platform compatible and use open formats. Several examples of applications are presented: hyperthermia cancer treatment planning, tumour growth modelling, evaluating the magneto-haemodynamic effect as a biomarker and physics-based morphing of anatomical models.

Infiltrated photonic crystal cavity as a highly sensitive platform for glucose concentration detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arafa, Safia; Bouchemat, Mohamed; Bouchemat, Touraya; Benmerkhi, Ahlem; Hocini, Abdesselam

2017-02-01

A Bio-sensing platform based on an infiltrated photonic crystal ring shaped holes cavity-coupled waveguide system is proposed for glucose concentration detection. Considering silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, it has been demonstrated that the ring shaped holes configuration provides an excellent optical confinement within the cavity region, which further enhances the light-matter interactions at the precise location of the analyte medium. Thus, the sensitivity and the quality factor (Q) can be significantly improved. The transmission characteristics of light in the biosensor under different refractive indices that correspond to the change in the analyte glucose concentration are analyzed by performing finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations. Accordingly, an improved sensitivity of 462 nm/RIU and a Q factor as high as 1.11х105 have been achieved, resulting in a detection limit of 3.03х10-6 RIU. Such combination of attributes makes the designed structure a promising element for performing label-free biosensing in medical diagnosis and environmental monitoring.

Design considerations for quasi-phase-matching in doubly resonant lithium niobate hexagonal micro-resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sono, Tleyane J.; Riziotis, Christos; Mailis, Sakellaris; Eason, Robert W.

2017-09-01

Fabrication capabilities of high optical quality hexagonal superstructures by chemical etching of inverted ferroelectric domains in lithium niobate platform suggests a route for efficient implementation of compact hexagonal microcavities. Such nonlinear optical hexagonal micro-resonators are proposed as a platform for second harmonic generation (SHG) by the combined mechanisms of total internal reflection (TIR) and quasi-phase-matching (QPM). The proposed scheme for SHG via TIR-QPM in a hexagonal microcavity can improve the efficiency and also the compactness of SHG devices compared to traditional linear-type based devices. A simple theoretical model based on six-bounce trajectory and phase matching conditions was capable for obtaining the optimal cavity size. Furthermore numerical simulation results based on finite difference time domain beam propagation method analysis confirmed the solutions obtained by demonstrating resonant operation of the microcavity for the second harmonic wave produced by TIR-QPM. Design aspects, optimization issues and characteristics of the proposed nonlinear device are presented.

The 2017 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference: Catalyzing System Change Through Healthcare Simulation: Systems, Competency, and Outcomes.

PubMed

Bond, William F; Hui, Joshua; Fernandez, Rosemarie

2018-02-01

Over the past decade, emergency medicine (EM) took a lead role in healthcare simulation in part due to its demands for successful interprofessional and multidisciplinary collaboration, along with educational needs in a diverse array of cognitive and procedural skills. Simulation-based methodologies have the capacity to support training and research platforms that model micro-, meso-, and macrosystems of healthcare. To fully capitalize on the potential of simulation-based research to improve emergency healthcare delivery will require the application of rigorous methods from engineering, social science, and basic science disciplines. The Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM) Consensus Conference "Catalyzing System Change Through Healthcare Simulation: Systems, Competency, and Outcome" was conceived to foster discussion among experts in EM, engineering, and social sciences, focusing on key barriers and opportunities in simulation-based research. This executive summary describes the overall rationale for the conference, conference planning, and consensus-building approaches and outlines the focus of the eight breakout sessions. The consensus outcomes from each breakout session are summarized in proceedings papers published in this issue of Academic Emergency Medicine. Each paper provides an overview of methodologic and knowledge gaps in simulation research and identifies future research targets aimed at improving the safety and quality of healthcare. © 2017 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Subway platform air quality: Assessing the influences of tunnel ventilation, train piston effect and station design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno, T.; Pérez, N.; Reche, C.; Martins, V.; de Miguel, E.; Capdevila, M.; Centelles, S.; Minguillón, M. C.; Amato, F.; Alastuey, A.; Querol, X.; Gibbons, W.

2014-08-01

A high resolution air quality monitoring campaign (PM, CO2 and CO) was conducted on differently designed station platforms in the Barcelona subway system under: (a) normal forced tunnel ventilation, and (b) with daytime tunnel ventilation systems shut down. PM concentrations are highly variable (6-128 μgPM1 m-3, 16-314 μgPM3 m-3, and 33-332 μgPM10 m-3, 15-min averages) depending on ventilation conditions and station design. Narrow platforms served by single-track tunnels are heavily dependent on forced tunnel ventilation and cannot rely on the train piston effect alone to reduce platform PM concentrations. In contrast PM levels in stations with spacious double-track tunnels are not greatly affected when tunnel ventilation is switched off, offering the possibility of significant energy savings without damaging air quality. Sampling at different positions along the platform reveals considerable lateral variation, with the greatest accumulation of particulates occurring at one end of the platform. Passenger accesses can dilute PM concentrations by introducing cleaner outside air, although lateral down-platform accesses are less effective than those positioned at the train entry point. CO concentrations on the platform are very low (≤1 ppm) and probably controlled by ingress of traffic-contaminated street-level air. CO2 averages range from 371 to 569 ppm, changing during the build-up and exchange of passengers with each passing train.

Ventilation tube insertion simulation: a literature review and validity assessment of five training models.

PubMed

Mahalingam, S; Awad, Z; Tolley, N S; Khemani, S

2016-08-01

The objective of this study was to identify and investigate the face and content validity of ventilation tube insertion (VTI) training models described in the literature. A review of literature was carried out to identify articles describing VTI simulators. Feasible models were replicated and assessed by a group of experts. Postgraduate simulation centre. Experts were defined as surgeons who had performed at least 100 VTI on patients. Seventeen experts were participated ensuring sufficient statistical power for analysis. A standardised 18-item Likert-scale questionnaire was used. This addressed face validity (realism), global and task-specific content (suitability of the model for teaching) and curriculum recommendation. The search revealed eleven models, of which only five had associated validity data. Five models were found to be feasible to replicate. None of the tested models achieved face or global content validity. Only one model achieved task-specific validity, and hence, there was no agreement on curriculum recommendation. The quality of simulation models is moderate and there is room for improvement. There is a need for new models to be developed or existing ones to be refined in order to construct a more realistic training platform for VTI simulation. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

ADMS Evaluation Platform

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

2018-01-23

Deploying an ADMS or looking to optimize its value? NREL offers a low-cost, low-risk evaluation platform for assessing ADMS performance. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a vendor-neutral advanced distribution management system (ADMS) evaluation platform and is expanding its capabilities. The platform uses actual grid-scale hardware, large-scale distribution system models, and advanced visualization to simulate realworld conditions for the most accurate ADMS evaluation and experimentation.

Urban search mobile platform modeling in hindered access conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barankova, I. I.; Mikhailova, U. V.; Kalugina, O. B.; Barankov, V. V.

2018-05-01

The article explores the control system simulation and the design of the experimental model of the rescue robot mobile platform. The functional interface, a structural functional diagram of the mobile platform control unit, and a functional control scheme for the mobile platform of secure robot were modeled. The task of design a mobile platform for urban searching in hindered access conditions is realized through the use of a mechanical basis with a chassis and crawler drive, a warning device, human heat sensors and a microcontroller based on Arduino platforms.

Assessment of the cPAS-based BGISEQ-500 platform for metagenomic sequencing.

PubMed

Fang, Chao; Zhong, Huanzi; Lin, Yuxiang; Chen, Bing; Han, Mo; Ren, Huahui; Lu, Haorong; Luber, Jacob M; Xia, Min; Li, Wangsheng; Stein, Shayna; Xu, Xun; Zhang, Wenwei; Drmanac, Radoje; Wang, Jian; Yang, Huanming; Hammarström, Lennart; Kostic, Aleksandar D; Kristiansen, Karsten; Li, Junhua

2018-03-01

More extensive use of metagenomic shotgun sequencing in microbiome research relies on the development of high-throughput, cost-effective sequencing. Here we present a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of the new high-throughput sequencing platform BGISEQ-500 for metagenomic shotgun sequencing and compare its performance with that of 2 Illumina platforms. Using fecal samples from 20 healthy individuals, we evaluated the intra-platform reproducibility for metagenomic sequencing on the BGISEQ-500 platform in a setup comprising 8 library replicates and 8 sequencing replicates. Cross-platform consistency was evaluated by comparing 20 pairwise replicates on the BGISEQ-500 platform vs the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform and the Illumina HiSeq 4000 platform. In addition, we compared the performance of the 2 Illumina platforms against each other. By a newly developed overall accuracy quality control method, an average of 82.45 million high-quality reads (96.06% of raw reads) per sample, with 90.56% of bases scoring Q30 and above, was obtained using the BGISEQ-500 platform. Quantitative analyses revealed extremely high reproducibility between BGISEQ-500 intra-platform replicates. Cross-platform replicates differed slightly more than intra-platform replicates, yet a high consistency was observed. Only a low percentage (2.02%-3.25%) of genes exhibited significant differences in relative abundance comparing the BGISEQ-500 and HiSeq platforms, with a bias toward genes with higher GC content being enriched on the HiSeq platforms. Our study provides the first set of performance metrics for human gut metagenomic sequencing data using BGISEQ-500. The high accuracy and technical reproducibility confirm the applicability of the new platform for metagenomic studies, though caution is still warranted when combining metagenomic data from different platforms.

Evaluating A Priori Ozone Profile Information Used in TEMPO Tropospheric Ozone Retrievals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Matthew S.; Sullivan, John T.; Liu, Xiong; Newchurch, Mike; Kuang, Shi; McGee, Thomas J.; Langford, Andrew O'Neil; Senff, Christoph J.; Leblanc, Thierry; Berkoff, Timothy;

Evaluating a Priori Ozone Profile Information Used in TEMPO Tropospheric Ozone Retrievals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Matthew S.; Sullivan, John; Liu, Xiong; Newchurch, Mike; Kuang, Shi; McGee, Thomas; Langford, Andrew; Senff, Chris; Leblanc, Thierry; Berkoff, Timothy;

Evaluating A Priori Ozone Profile Information Used in TEMPO Tropospheric Ozone Retrievals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, M. S.; Sullivan, J. T.; Liu, X.; Newchurch, M.; Kuang, S.; McGee, T. J.; Langford, A. O.; Senff, C. J.; Leblanc, T.; Berkoff, T.; Gronoff, G.; Chen, G.; Strawbridge, K. B.

2016-12-01

Ozone (O3) is a greenhouse gas and toxic pollutant which plays a major role in air quality. Typically, monitoring of surface air quality and O3 mixing ratios is primarily conducted using in situ measurement networks. This is partially due to high-quality information related to air quality being limited from space-borne platforms due to coarse spatial resolution, limited temporal frequency, and minimal sensitivity to lower tropospheric and surface-level O3. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) satellite is designed to address these limitations of current space-based platforms and to improve our ability to monitor North American air quality. TEMPO will provide hourly data of total column and vertical profiles of O3 with high spatial resolution to be used as a near-real-time air quality product. TEMPO O3 retrievals will apply the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory profile algorithm developed based on work from GOME, GOME-2, and OMI. This algorithm uses a priori O3 profile information from a climatological data-base developed from long-term ozone-sonde measurements (tropopause-based (TB) O3 climatology). It has been shown that satellite O3 retrievals are sensitive to a priori O3 profiles and covariance matrices. During this work we investigate the climatological data to be used in TEMPO algorithms (TB O3) and simulated data from the NASA GMAO Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-5) Forward Processing (FP) near-real-time (NRT) model products. These two data products will be evaluated with ground-based lidar data from the Tropospheric Ozone Lidar Network (TOLNet) at various locations of the US. This study evaluates the TB climatology, GEOS-5 climatology, and 3-hourly GEOS-5 data compared to lower tropospheric observations to demonstrate the accuracy of a priori information to potentially be used in TEMPO O3 algorithms. Here we present our initial analysis and the theoretical impact on TEMPO retrievals in the lower troposphere.

Initial Study of an Effective Fast-Time Simulation Platform for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xue, Min; Rios, Joseph

2017-01-01

Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAVs), typically 55 lbs and below, are envisioned to play a major role in surveilling critical assets, collecting important information, and delivering goods. Large scale small UAV operations are expected to happen in low altitude airspace in the near future. Many static and dynamic constraints exist in low altitude airspace because of manned aircraft or helicopter activities, various wind conditions, restricted airspace, terrain and man-made buildings, and conflict-avoidance among sUAVs. High sensitivity and high maneuverability are unique characteristics of sUAVs that bring challenges to effective system evaluations and mandate such a simulation platform different from existing simulations that were built for manned air traffic system and large unmanned fixed aircraft. NASA's Unmanned aircraft system Traffic Management (UTM) research initiative focuses on enabling safe and efficient sUAV operations in the future. In order to help define requirements and policies for a safe and efficient UTM system to accommodate a large amount of sUAV operations, it is necessary to develop a fast-time simulation platform that can effectively evaluate requirements, policies, and concepts in a close-to-reality environment. This work analyzed the impacts of some key factors including aforementioned sUAV's characteristics and demonstrated the importance of these factors in a successful UTM fast-time simulation platform.

Initial Study of An Effective Fast-Time Simulation Platform for Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xue, Min; Rios, Joseph

2017-01-01

Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (sUAVs), typically 55 lbs and below, are envisioned to play a major role in surveilling critical assets, collecting important information, and delivering goods. Large scale small UAV operations are expected to happen in low altitude airspace in the near future. Many static and dynamic constraints exist in low altitude airspace because of manned aircraft or helicopter activities, various wind conditions, restricted airspace, terrain and man-made buildings, and conflict-avoidance among sUAVs. High sensitivity and high maneuverability are unique characteristics of sUAVs that bring challenges to effective system evaluations and mandate such a simulation platform different from existing simulations that were built for manned air traffic system and large unmanned fixed aircraft. NASA's Unmanned aircraft system Traffic Management (UTM) research initiative focuses on enabling safe and efficient sUAV operations in the future. In order to help define requirements and policies for a safe and efficient UTM system to accommodate a large amount of sUAV operations, it is necessary to develop a fast-time simulation platform that can effectively evaluate requirements, policies, and concepts in a close-to-reality environment. This work analyzed the impacts of some key factors including aforementioned sUAV's characteristics and demonstrated the importance of these factors in a successful UTM fast-time simulation platform.

Contributions of Platform Motion to Simulator Training Effectiveness: Study II--Aerobatics. Interim Report for Period March 1976-November 1977.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Elizabeth L.; Waag, Wayne L.

A transfer-of-training design was used to evaluate the contributions of simulator training with synergistic six-degrees-of-freedom platform motion to aerobatic skills acquisition in the novice pilot. Thirty-six undergraduate pilot trainees were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: motion, no-motion, and control. Those in the control…

Assessing the sampling strategy in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Margirier, Félix; Testor, Pierre; Bosse, Anthony; Heslop, Emma; L'Hévéder, Blandine; Arsouze, Thomas; Houpert, Loic; Mortier, Laurent

2017-04-01

The deployment of numerous autonomous platforms (gliders, argo floats, moorings) added to the repeated ship cruises in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea account for a considerable data coverage of the area through the past 10 years. In this study, we analyse the in-situ observations' ability to assess for the changes in the Northwester Mediterranean basin water masses properties over time. Comparing the observed time series for the different regions and different water masses to that of a glider simulator in the NEMO-Med12 model, we estimate both the quality of the model and the skill of the in-situ observations in reproducing the evolution of the basin properties.

Group-IV midinfrared plasmonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biagioni, Paolo; Frigerio, Jacopo; Samarelli, Antonio; Gallacher, Kevin; Baldassarre, Leonetta; Sakat, Emilie; Calandrini, Eugenio; Millar, Ross W.; Giliberti, Valeria; Isella, Giovanni; Paul, Douglas J.; Ortolani, Michele

2015-01-01

The use of heavily doped semiconductors to achieve plasma frequencies in the mid-IR has been recently proposed as a promising way to obtain high-quality and tunable plasmonic materials. We introduce a plasmonic platform based on epitaxial n-type Ge grown on standard Si wafers by means of low-energy plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Due to the large carrier concentration achieved with P dopants and to the compatibility with the existing CMOS technology, SiGe plasmonics hold promises for mid-IR applications in optoelectronics, IR detection, sensing, and light harvesting. As a representative example, we show simulations of mid-IR plasmonic waveguides based on the experimentally retrieved dielectric constants of the grown materials.

Knowledge Management tools integration within DLR's concurrent engineering facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez, R. P.; Soragavi, G.; Deshmukh, M.; Ludtke, D.

The complexity of space endeavors has increased the need for Knowledge Management (KM) tools. The concept of KM involves not only the electronic storage of knowledge, but also the process of making this knowledge available, reusable and traceable. Establishing a KM concept within the Concurrent Engineering Facility (CEF) has been a research topic of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). This paper presents the current KM tools of the CEF: the Software Platform for Organizing and Capturing Knowledge (S.P.O.C.K.), the data model Virtual Satellite (VirSat), and the Simulation Model Library (SimMoLib), and how their usage improved the Concurrent Engineering (CE) process. This paper also exposes the lessons learned from the introduction of KM practices into the CEF and elaborates a roadmap for the further development of KM in CE activities at DLR. The results of the application of the Knowledge Management tools have shown the potential of merging the three software platforms with their functionalities, as the next step towards the fully integration of KM practices into the CE process. VirSat will stay as the main software platform used within a CE study, and S.P.O.C.K. and SimMoLib will be integrated into VirSat. These tools will support the data model as a reference and documentation source, and as an access to simulation and calculation models. The use of KM tools in the CEF aims to become a basic practice during the CE process. The settlement of this practice will result in a much more extended knowledge and experience exchange within the Concurrent Engineering environment and, consequently, the outcome of the studies will comprise higher quality in the design of space systems.

A multilevel control approach for a modular structured space platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chichester, F. D.; Borelli, M. T.

1981-01-01

A three axis mathematical representation of a modular assembled space platform consisting of interconnected discrete masses, including a deployable truss module, was derived for digital computer simulation. The platform attitude control system as developed to provide multilevel control utilizing the Gauss-Seidel second level formulation along with an extended form of linear quadratic regulator techniques. The objectives of the multilevel control are to decouple the space platform's spatial axes and to accommodate the modification of the platform's configuration for each of the decoupled axes.

Free web-based modelling platform for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stefan, Catalin; Junghanns, Ralf; Glaß, Jana; Sallwey, Jana; Fatkhutdinov, Aybulat; Fichtner, Thomas; Barquero, Felix; Moreno, Miguel; Bonilla, José; Kwoyiga, Lydia

2017-04-01

Managed aquifer recharge represents a valuable instrument for sustainable water resources management. The concept implies purposeful infiltration of surface water into underground for later recovery or environmental benefits. Over decades, MAR schemes were successfully installed worldwide for a variety of reasons: to maximize the natural storage capacity of aquifers, physical aquifer management, water quality management, and ecological benefits. The INOWAS-DSS platform provides a collection of free web-based tools for planning, management and optimization of main components of MAR schemes. The tools are grouped into 13 specific applications that cover most relevant challenges encountered at MAR sites, both from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. The applications include among others the optimization of MAR site location, the assessment of saltwater intrusion, the restoration of groundwater levels in overexploited aquifers, the maximization of natural storage capacity of aquifers, the improvement of water quality, the design and operational optimization of MAR schemes, clogging development and risk assessment. The platform contains a collection of about 35 web-based tools of various degrees of complexity, which are either included in application specific workflows or used as standalone modelling instruments. Among them are simple tools derived from data mining and empirical equations, analytical groundwater related equations, as well as complex numerical flow and transport models (MODFLOW, MT3DMS and SEAWAT). Up to now, the simulation core of the INOWAS-DSS, which is based on the finite differences groundwater flow model MODFLOW, is implemented and runs on the web. A scenario analyser helps to easily set up and evaluate new management options as well as future development such as land use and climate change and compare them to previous scenarios. Additionally simple tools such as analytical equations to assess saltwater intrusion are already running online. Besides the simulation tools, a web-based data base is under development where geospatial and time series data can be stored, managed, and processed. Furthermore, a web-based information system containing user guides for the various developed tools and applications as well as basic information on MAR and related topics is published and will be regularly expanded as new tools are getting implemented. The INOWAS-DSS including its simulation tools, data base and information system provides an extensive framework to manage, plan and optimize MAR facilities. As the INOWAS-DSS is an open-source software accessible via the internet using standard web browsers, it offers new ways for data sharing and collaboration among various partners and decision makers.

Trans-oceanic Remote Power Hardware-in-the-Loop: Multi-site Hardware, Integrated Controller, and Electric Network Co-simulation

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

Lundstrom, Blake R.; Palmintier, Bryan S.; Rowe, Daniel

Electric system operators are increasingly concerned with the potential system-wide impacts of the large-scale integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) including voltage control, protection coordination, and equipment wear. This prompts a need for new simulation techniques that can simultaneously capture all the components of these large integrated smart grid systems. This paper describes a novel platform that combines three emerging research areas: power systems co-simulation, power hardware in the loop (PHIL) simulation, and lab-lab links. The platform is distributed, real-time capable, allows for easy internet-based connection from geographically-dispersed participants, and is software platform agnostic. We demonstrate its utility by studyingmore » real-time PHIL co-simulation of coordinated solar PV firming control of two inverters connected in multiple electric distribution network models, prototypical of U.S. and Australian systems. Here, the novel trans-pacific closed-loop system simulation was conducted in real-time using a power network simulator and physical PV/battery inverter at power at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, USA and a physical PV inverter at power at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's Energy Centre in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. This capability enables smart grid researchers throughout the world to leverage their unique simulation capabilities for multi-site collaborations that can effectively simulate and validate emerging smart grid technology solutions.« less

Trans-oceanic Remote Power Hardware-in-the-Loop: Multi-site Hardware, Integrated Controller, and Electric Network Co-simulation

DOE PAGES

Lundstrom, Blake R.; Palmintier, Bryan S.; Rowe, Daniel; ...

2017-07-24

Electric system operators are increasingly concerned with the potential system-wide impacts of the large-scale integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) including voltage control, protection coordination, and equipment wear. This prompts a need for new simulation techniques that can simultaneously capture all the components of these large integrated smart grid systems. This paper describes a novel platform that combines three emerging research areas: power systems co-simulation, power hardware in the loop (PHIL) simulation, and lab-lab links. The platform is distributed, real-time capable, allows for easy internet-based connection from geographically-dispersed participants, and is software platform agnostic. We demonstrate its utility by studyingmore » real-time PHIL co-simulation of coordinated solar PV firming control of two inverters connected in multiple electric distribution network models, prototypical of U.S. and Australian systems. Here, the novel trans-pacific closed-loop system simulation was conducted in real-time using a power network simulator and physical PV/battery inverter at power at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, USA and a physical PV inverter at power at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's Energy Centre in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. This capability enables smart grid researchers throughout the world to leverage their unique simulation capabilities for multi-site collaborations that can effectively simulate and validate emerging smart grid technology solutions.« less

Design and implementation of laser target simulator in hardware-in-the-loop simulation system based on LabWindows/CVI and RTX

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Qiujie; Wang, Qianqian; Li, Xiaoyang; Shan, Bin; Cui, Xuntai; Li, Chenyu; Peng, Zhong

2016-11-01

In order to satisfy the requirements of the real-time and generality, a laser target simulator in semi-physical simulation system based on RTX+LabWindows/CVI platform is proposed in this paper. Compared with the upper-lower computers simulation platform architecture used in the most of the real-time system now, this system has better maintainability and portability. This system runs on the Windows platform, using Windows RTX real-time extension subsystem to ensure the real-time performance of the system combining with the reflective memory network to complete some real-time tasks such as calculating the simulation model, transmitting the simulation data, and keeping real-time communication. The real-time tasks of simulation system run under the RTSS process. At the same time, we use the LabWindows/CVI to compile a graphical interface, and complete some non-real-time tasks in the process of simulation such as man-machine interaction, display and storage of the simulation data, which run under the Win32 process. Through the design of RTX shared memory and task scheduling algorithm, the data interaction between the real-time tasks process of RTSS and non-real-time tasks process of Win32 is completed. The experimental results show that this system has the strongly real-time performance, highly stability, and highly simulation accuracy. At the same time, it also has the good performance of human-computer interaction.

Multi-agent-based bio-network for systems biology: protein-protein interaction network as an example.

PubMed

Ren, Li-Hong; Ding, Yong-Sheng; Shen, Yi-Zhen; Zhang, Xiang-Feng

2008-10-01

Recently, a collective effort from multiple research areas has been made to understand biological systems at the system level. This research requires the ability to simulate particular biological systems as cells, organs, organisms, and communities. In this paper, a novel bio-network simulation platform is proposed for system biology studies by combining agent approaches. We consider a biological system as a set of active computational components interacting with each other and with an external environment. Then, we propose a bio-network platform for simulating the behaviors of biological systems and modelling them in terms of bio-entities and society-entities. As a demonstration, we discuss how a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network can be seen as a society of autonomous interactive components. From interactions among small PPI networks, a large PPI network can emerge that has a remarkable ability to accomplish a complex function or task. We also simulate the evolution of the PPI networks by using the bio-operators of the bio-entities. Based on the proposed approach, various simulators with different functions can be embedded in the simulation platform, and further research can be done from design to development, including complexity validation of the biological system.

NeuroFlow: A General Purpose Spiking Neural Network Simulation Platform using Customizable Processors.

PubMed

Cheung, Kit; Schultz, Simon R; Luk, Wayne

2015-01-01

NeuroFlow is a scalable spiking neural network simulation platform for off-the-shelf high performance computing systems using customizable hardware processors such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Unlike multi-core processors and application-specific integrated circuits, the processor architecture of NeuroFlow can be redesigned and reconfigured to suit a particular simulation to deliver optimized performance, such as the degree of parallelism to employ. The compilation process supports using PyNN, a simulator-independent neural network description language, to configure the processor. NeuroFlow supports a number of commonly used current or conductance based neuronal models such as integrate-and-fire and Izhikevich models, and the spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule for learning. A 6-FPGA system can simulate a network of up to ~600,000 neurons and can achieve a real-time performance of 400,000 neurons. Using one FPGA, NeuroFlow delivers a speedup of up to 33.6 times the speed of an 8-core processor, or 2.83 times the speed of GPU-based platforms. With high flexibility and throughput, NeuroFlow provides a viable environment for large-scale neural network simulation.

NeuroFlow: A General Purpose Spiking Neural Network Simulation Platform using Customizable Processors

PubMed Central

Cheung, Kit; Schultz, Simon R.; Luk, Wayne

2016-01-01

NeuroFlow is a scalable spiking neural network simulation platform for off-the-shelf high performance computing systems using customizable hardware processors such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Unlike multi-core processors and application-specific integrated circuits, the processor architecture of NeuroFlow can be redesigned and reconfigured to suit a particular simulation to deliver optimized performance, such as the degree of parallelism to employ. The compilation process supports using PyNN, a simulator-independent neural network description language, to configure the processor. NeuroFlow supports a number of commonly used current or conductance based neuronal models such as integrate-and-fire and Izhikevich models, and the spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule for learning. A 6-FPGA system can simulate a network of up to ~600,000 neurons and can achieve a real-time performance of 400,000 neurons. Using one FPGA, NeuroFlow delivers a speedup of up to 33.6 times the speed of an 8-core processor, or 2.83 times the speed of GPU-based platforms. With high flexibility and throughput, NeuroFlow provides a viable environment for large-scale neural network simulation. PMID:26834542

LIMAO: Cross-platform software for simulating laser-induced alignment and orientation dynamics of linear-, symmetric- and asymmetric tops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szidarovszky, Tamás; Jono, Maho; Yamanouchi, Kaoru

2018-07-01

A user-friendly and cross-platform software called Laser-Induced Molecular Alignment and Orientation simulator (LIMAO) has been developed. The program can be used to simulate within the rigid rotor approximation the rotational dynamics of gas phase molecules induced by linearly polarized intense laser fields at a given temperature. The software is implemented in the Java and Mathematica programming languages. The primary aim of LIMAO is to aid experimental scientists in predicting and analyzing experimental data representing laser-induced spatial alignment and orientation of molecules.

Optimized Hypervisor Scheduler for Parallel Discrete Event Simulations on Virtual Machine Platforms

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

Yoginath, Srikanth B; Perumalla, Kalyan S

2013-01-01

With the advent of virtual machine (VM)-based platforms for parallel computing, it is now possible to execute parallel discrete event simulations (PDES) over multiple virtual machines, in contrast to executing in native mode directly over hardware as is traditionally done over the past decades. While mature VM-based parallel systems now offer new, compelling benefits such as serviceability, dynamic reconfigurability and overall cost effectiveness, the runtime performance of parallel applications can be significantly affected. In particular, most VM-based platforms are optimized for general workloads, but PDES execution exhibits unique dynamics significantly different from other workloads. Here we first present results frommore » experiments that highlight the gross deterioration of the runtime performance of VM-based PDES simulations when executed using traditional VM schedulers, quantitatively showing the bad scaling properties of the scheduler as the number of VMs is increased. The mismatch is fundamental in nature in the sense that any fairness-based VM scheduler implementation would exhibit this mismatch with PDES runs. We also present a new scheduler optimized specifically for PDES applications, and describe its design and implementation. Experimental results obtained from running PDES benchmarks (PHOLD and vehicular traffic simulations) over VMs show over an order of magnitude improvement in the run time of the PDES-optimized scheduler relative to the regular VM scheduler, with over 20 reduction in run time of simulations using up to 64 VMs. The observations and results are timely in the context of emerging systems such as cloud platforms and VM-based high performance computing installations, highlighting to the community the need for PDES-specific support, and the feasibility of significantly reducing the runtime overhead for scalable PDES on VM platforms.« less

Cloud computing and validation of expandable in silico livers.

PubMed

Ropella, Glen E P; Hunt, C Anthony

2010-12-03

In Silico Livers (ISLs) are works in progress. They are used to challenge multilevel, multi-attribute, mechanistic hypotheses about the hepatic disposition of xenobiotics coupled with hepatic responses. To enhance ISL-to-liver mappings, we added discrete time metabolism, biliary elimination, and bolus dosing features to a previously validated ISL and initiated re-validated experiments that required scaling experiments to use more simulated lobules than previously, more than could be achieved using the local cluster technology. Rather than dramatically increasing the size of our local cluster we undertook the re-validation experiments using the Amazon EC2 cloud platform. So doing required demonstrating the efficacy of scaling a simulation to use more cluster nodes and assessing the scientific equivalence of local cluster validation experiments with those executed using the cloud platform. The local cluster technology was duplicated in the Amazon EC2 cloud platform. Synthetic modeling protocols were followed to identify a successful parameterization. Experiment sample sizes (number of simulated lobules) on both platforms were 49, 70, 84, and 152 (cloud only). Experimental indistinguishability was demonstrated for ISL outflow profiles of diltiazem using both platforms for experiments consisting of 84 or more samples. The process was analogous to demonstration of results equivalency from two different wet-labs. The results provide additional evidence that disposition simulations using ISLs can cover the behavior space of liver experiments in distinct experimental contexts (there is in silico-to-wet-lab phenotype similarity). The scientific value of experimenting with multiscale biomedical models has been limited to research groups with access to computer clusters. The availability of cloud technology coupled with the evidence of scientific equivalency has lowered the barrier and will greatly facilitate model sharing as well as provide straightforward tools for scaling simulations to encompass greater detail with no extra investment in hardware.

Parabolic Flights with Single-Engine Aerobatic Aircraft: Flight Profile and a Computer Simulator for its Optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brigos, Miguel; Perez-Poch, Antoni; Alpiste, Francesc; Torner, Jordi; González Alonso, Daniel Ventura

2014-11-01

We report the results of residual acceleration obtained from initial tests of parabolic flights (more than 100 hours) performed with a small single-engine aerobatic aircraft (CAP10B), and propose a method that improves these figures. Such aircraft have proved capable of providing researchers with periods of up to 8 seconds of reduced gravity in the cockpit, with a gravity quality in the range of 0.1 g 0, where g 0 is the gravitational acceleration of the Earth. Such parabolas may be of interest to experimenters in the reduced gravity field, when this range of reduced gravity is acceptable for the experiment undertaken. They have also proven to be useful for motivational and educational campaigns. Furthermore, these flights may be of interest to researchers as a test-bed for obtaining a proof-of-concept for subsequent access to parabolic flights with larger aircraft or other microgravity platforms. The limited cost of the operations with these small aircraft allows us to perform them as part of a non-commercial joint venture between the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), the Barcelona cluster BAIE and the Aeroclub Barcelona-Sabadell. Any improvements in the length and quality of reduced gravity would increase the capabilities of these small aircraft. To that end, we have developed a method based on a simulator for training aerobatic pilots. The simulation is performed with the CAD software for mechanical design Solidworks Motion{circledR }, which is widely distributed in industry and in universities. It specifically simulates the parabolic flight manoeuvre for our small aircraft and enables us to improve different aspects of the manoeuvre. The simulator is first validated with experimental data from the test flights. We have conducted an initial intensive period of specific pilot training with the aid of the simulator output. After such initial simulation-aided training, results show that the reduced gravity quality has significantly improved from 0.1 g 0 to 0.05 g 0. We conclude that single-engine aerobatic aircraft are capable of conducting small hypogravity experiments with the limitations described in the paper.

Validation of the three web quality dimensions of a minimally invasive surgery e-learning platform.

PubMed

Ortega-Morán, Juan Francisco; Pagador, J Blas; Sánchez-Peralta, Luisa Fernanda; Sánchez-González, Patricia; Noguera, José; Burgos, Daniel; Gómez, Enrique J; Sánchez-Margallo, Francisco M

2017-11-01

E-learning web environments, including the new TELMA platform, are increasingly being used to provide cognitive training in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) to surgeons. A complete validation of this MIS e-learning platform has been performed to determine whether it complies with the three web quality dimensions: usability, content and functionality. 21 Surgeons participated in the validation trials. They performed a set of tasks in the TELMA platform, where an e-MIS validity approach was followed. Subjective (questionnaires and checklists) and objective (web analytics) metrics were analysed to achieve the complete validation of usability, content and functionality. The TELMA platform allowed access to didactic content with easy and intuitive navigation. Surgeons performed all tasks with a close-to-ideal number of clicks and amount of time. They considered the design of the website to be consistent (95.24%), organised (90.48%) and attractive (85.71%). Moreover, they gave the content a high score (4.06 out of 5) and considered it adequate for teaching purposes. The surgeons scored the professional language and content (4.35), logo (4.24) and recommendations (4.20) the highest. Regarding functionality, the TELMA platform received an acceptance of 95.24% for navigation and 90.48% for interactivity. According to the study, it seems that TELMA had an attractive design, innovative content and interactive navigation, which are three key features of an e-learning platform. TELMA successfully met the three criteria necessary for consideration as a website of quality by achieving more than 70% of agreements regarding all usability, content and functionality items validated; this constitutes a preliminary requirement for an effective e-learning platform. However, the content completeness, authoring tool and registration process required improvement. Finally, the e-MIS validity methodology used to measure the three dimensions of web quality in this work can be applied to other clinical areas or training fields. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DynaMiTES - A dynamic cell culture platform for in vitro drug testing PART 1 - Engineering of microfluidic system and technical simulations.

PubMed

Mattern, Kai; Beißner, Nicole; Reichl, Stephan; Dietzel, Andreas

2018-05-01

Conventional safety and efficacy test models, such as animal experiments or static in vitro cell culture models, can often not reliably predict the most promising drug candidates. Therefore, a novel microfluidic cell culture platform, called Dynamic Micro Tissue Engineering System (DynaMiTES), was designed to allow online analysis of drugs permeating through barrier forming tissues under dynamic conditions combined with monitoring of the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) by electrodes optimized for homogeneous current distribution. A variety of pre-cultivated cell culture inserts can be integrated and exposed to well controlled dynamic micro flow conditions, resulting in a tightly regulated exposure of the cells to tested drugs, drug formulations and shear forces. With these qualities, the new system can provide more relevant information compared to static measurements. As a first in vitro model, a three-dimensional hemicornea construct consisting of human keratocytes (HCK-Ca) and epithelial cells (HCE-T) was successfully tested in the DynaMiTES. Thereby, we were able to demonstrate the functionality and cell compatibility of this new organ on chip test platform. The modular design of the DynaMiTES allows fast adaptation suitable for the investigation of drug permeation through other important cellular barriers. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Investigating structure-property relationships of biomineralized calcium phosphate compounds as fluorescent quenching-recovery platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Liuzheng; He, Xiang; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Yong; Banks, Craig E.; Zhang, Ying

2018-02-01

The structure-property relationship between biomineralized calcium phosphate compounds upon a fluorescent quenching-recovery platform and their distinct crystalline structure and surficial functional groups are investigated. A fluorescence-based sensing platform is shown to be viable for the sensing of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxy-guanosine in simulated systems.

Handover aspects for a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) CDMA Land Mobile Satellite (LMS) system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, P.; Beach, M. A.

1993-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of handoff in a land mobile satellite (LMS) system between adjacent satellites in a low earth orbit (LEO) constellation. In particular, emphasis is placed on the application of soft handoff in a direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) LMS system. Soft handoff is explained in terms of terrestrial macroscopic diversity, in which signals transmitted via several independent fading paths are combined to enhance the link quality. This concept is then reconsidered in the context of a LEO LMS system. A two-state Markov channel model is used to simulate the effects of shadowing on the communications path from the mobile to each satellite during handoff. The results of the channel simulation form a platform for discussion regarding soft handoff, highlighting the potential merits of the scheme when applied in a LEO LMS environment.

Evaluation of nine popular de novo assemblers in microbial genome assembly.

PubMed

Forouzan, Esmaeil; Maleki, Masoumeh Sadat Mousavi; Karkhane, Ali Asghar; Yakhchali, Bagher

2017-12-01

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are revolutionizing biology, with Illumina being the most popular NGS platform. Short read assembly is a critical part of most genome studies using NGS. Hence, in this study, the performance of nine well-known assemblers was evaluated in the assembly of seven different microbial genomes. Effect of different read coverage and k-mer parameters on the quality of the assembly were also evaluated on both simulated and actual read datasets. Our results show that the performance of assemblers on real and simulated datasets could be significantly different, mainly because of coverage bias. According to outputs on actual read datasets, for all studied read coverages (of 7×, 25× and 100×), SPAdes and IDBA-UD clearly outperformed other assemblers based on NGA50 and accuracy metrics. Velvet is the most conservative assembler with the lowest NGA50 and error rate. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Virtual reality simulation training in Otolaryngology.

PubMed

Arora, Asit; Lau, Loretta Y M; Awad, Zaid; Darzi, Ara; Singh, Arvind; Tolley, Neil

2014-01-01

To conduct a systematic review of the validity data for the virtual reality surgical simulator platforms available in Otolaryngology. Ovid and Embase databases searched July 13, 2013. Four hundred and nine abstracts were independently reviewed by 2 authors. Thirty-six articles which fulfilled the search criteria were retrieved and viewed in full text. These articles were assessed for quantitative data on at least one aspect of face, content, construct or predictive validity. Papers were stratified by simulator, sub-specialty and further classified by the validation method used. There were 21 articles reporting applications for temporal bone surgery (n = 12), endoscopic sinus surgery (n = 6) and myringotomy (n = 3). Four different simulator platforms were validated for temporal bone surgery and two for each of the other surgical applications. Face/content validation represented the most frequent study type (9/21). Construct validation studies performed on temporal bone and endoscopic sinus surgery simulators showed that performance measures reliably discriminated between different experience levels. Simulation training improved cadaver temporal bone dissection skills and operating room performance in sinus surgery. Several simulator platforms particularly in temporal bone surgery and endoscopic sinus surgery are worthy of incorporation into training programmes. Standardised metrics are necessary to guide curriculum development in Otolaryngology. Copyright © 2013 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Osseus platform: a prototype for advanced web-based distributed simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franceschini, Derrick; Riecken, Mark

2016-05-01

Recent technological advances in web-based distributed computing and database technology have made possible a deeper and more transparent integration of some modeling and simulation applications. Despite these advances towards true integration of capabilities, disparate systems, architectures, and protocols will remain in the inventory for some time to come. These disparities present interoperability challenges for distributed modeling and simulation whether the application is training, experimentation, or analysis. Traditional approaches call for building gateways to bridge between disparate protocols and retaining interoperability specialists. Challenges in reconciling data models also persist. These challenges and their traditional mitigation approaches directly contribute to higher costs, schedule delays, and frustration for the end users. Osseus is a prototype software platform originally funded as a research project by the Defense Modeling & Simulation Coordination Office (DMSCO) to examine interoperability alternatives using modern, web-based technology and taking inspiration from the commercial sector. Osseus provides tools and services for nonexpert users to connect simulations, targeting the time and skillset needed to successfully connect disparate systems. The Osseus platform presents a web services interface to allow simulation applications to exchange data using modern techniques efficiently over Local or Wide Area Networks. Further, it provides Service Oriented Architecture capabilities such that finer granularity components such as individual models can contribute to simulation with minimal effort.

Performance assessment of a programmable five degrees-of-freedom motion platform for quality assurance of motion management techniques in radiotherapy.

PubMed

Huang, Chen-Yu; Keall, Paul; Rice, Adam; Colvill, Emma; Ng, Jin Aun; Booth, Jeremy T

2017-09-01

Inter-fraction and intra-fraction motion management methods are increasingly applied clinically and require the development of advanced motion platforms to facilitate testing and quality assurance program development. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of a 5 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) programmable motion platform HexaMotion (ScandiDos, Uppsala, Sweden) towards clinically observed tumor motion range, velocity, acceleration and the accuracy requirements of SABR prescribed in AAPM Task Group 142. Performance specifications for the motion platform were derived from literature regarding the motion characteristics of prostate and lung tumor targets required for real time motion management. The performance of the programmable motion platform was evaluated against (1) maximum range, velocity and acceleration (5 DoF), (2) static position accuracy (5 DoF) and (3) dynamic position accuracy using patient-derived prostate and lung tumor motion traces (3 DoF). Translational motion accuracy was compared against electromagnetic transponder measurements. Rotation was benchmarked with a digital inclinometer. The static accuracy and reproducibility for translation and rotation was <0.1 mm or <0.1°, respectively. The accuracy of reproducing dynamic patient motion was <0.3 mm. The motion platform's range met the need to reproduce clinically relevant translation and rotation ranges and its accuracy met the TG 142 requirements for SABR. The range, velocity and acceleration of the motion platform are sufficient to reproduce lung and prostate tumor motion for motion management. Programmable motion platforms are valuable tools in the investigation, quality assurance and commissioning of motion management systems in radiation oncology.

Evaluating the Quality and Usability of Open Data for Public Health Research: A Systematic Review of Data Offerings on 3 Open Data Platforms.

PubMed

Martin, Erika G; Law, Jennie; Ran, Weijia; Helbig, Natalie; Birkhead, Guthrie S

Government datasets are newly available on open data platforms that are publicly accessible, available in nonproprietary formats, free of charge, and with unlimited use and distribution rights. They provide opportunities for health research, but their quality and usability are unknown. To describe available open health data, identify whether data are presented in a way that is aligned with best practices and usable for researchers, and examine differences across platforms. Two reviewers systematically reviewed a random sample of data offerings on NYC OpenData (New York City, all offerings, n = 37), Health Data NY (New York State, 25% sample, n = 71), and HealthData.gov (US Department of Health and Human Services, 5% sample, n = 75), using a standard coding guide. Three open health data platforms at the federal, New York State, and New York City levels. Data characteristics from the coding guide were aggregated into summary indices for intrinsic data quality, contextual data quality, adherence to the Dublin Core metadata standards, and the 5-star open data deployment scheme. One quarter of the offerings were structured datasets; other presentation styles included charts (14.7%), documents describing data (12.0%), maps (10.9%), and query tools (7.7%). Health Data NY had higher intrinsic data quality (P < .001), contextual data quality (P < .001), and Dublin Core metadata standards adherence (P < .001). All met basic "web availability" open data standards; fewer met higher standards of "hyperlinked to other data." Although all platforms need improvement, they already provide readily available data for health research. Sustained effort on improving open data websites and metadata is necessary for ensuring researchers use these data, thereby increasing their research value.

OpenAQ: A Platform to Aggregate and Freely Share Global Air Quality Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasenkopf, C. A.; Flasher, J. C.; Veerman, O.; DeWitt, H. L.

2015-12-01

Thousands of ground-based air quality monitors around the world publicly publish real-time air quality data; however, researchers and the public do not have access to this information in the ways most useful to them. Often, air quality data are posted on obscure websites showing only current values, are programmatically inaccessible, and/or are in inconsistent data formats across sites. Yet, historical and programmatic access to such a global dataset would be transformative to several scientific fields, from epidemiology to low-cost sensor technologies to estimates of ground-level aerosol by satellite retrievals. To increase accessibility and standardize this disparate dataset, we have built OpenAQ, an innovative, open platform created by a group of scientists and open data programmers. The source code for the platform is viewable at github.com/openaq. Currently, we are aggregating, storing, and making publicly available real-time air quality data (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3) via an Application Program Interface (API). We will present the OpenAQ platform, which currently has the following specific capabilities: A continuous ingest mechanism for some of the most polluted cities, generalizable to more sources An API providing data-querying, including ability to filter by location, measurement type and value and date, as well as custom sort options A generalized, chart-based visualization tool to explore data accessible via the API At this stage, we are seeking wider participation and input from multiple research communities in expanding our data retrieval sites, standardizing our protocols, receiving feedback on quality issues, and creating tools that can be built on top of this open platform.

Automated Water Quality Survey and Evaluation Using an IoT Platform with Mobile Sensor Nodes.

PubMed

Li, Teng; Xia, Min; Chen, Jiahong; Zhao, Yuanjie; de Silva, Clarence

2017-07-28

An Internet of Things (IoT) platform with capabilities of sensing, data processing, and wireless communication has been deployed to support remote aquatic environmental monitoring. In this paper, the design and development of an IoT platform with multiple Mobile Sensor Nodes (MSN) for the spatiotemporal quality evaluation of surface water is presented. A survey planner is proposed to distribute the Sampling Locations of Interest (SLoIs) over the study area and generate paths for MSNs to visit the SLoIs, given the limited energy and time budgets. The SLoIs are chosen based on a cellular decomposition that is composed of uniform hexagonal cells. They are visited by the MSNs along a path ring generated by a planning approach that uses a spanning tree. For quality evaluation, an Online Water Quality Index (OLWQI) is developed to interpret the large quantities of online measurements. The index formulations are modified by a state-of-the-art index, the CCME WQI, which has been developed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment (CCME) for off-line indexing. The proposed index has demonstrated effective and reliable performance in online indexing a large volume of measurements of water quality parameters. The IoT platform is deployed in the field, and its performance is demonstrated and discussed in this paper.

Integration of the virtual model of a Stewart platform with the avatar of a vehicle in a virtual reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herbuś, K.; Ociepka, P.

2016-08-01

The development of methods of computer aided design and engineering allows conducting virtual tests, among others concerning motion simulation of technical means. The paper presents a method of integrating an object in the form of a virtual model of a Stewart platform with an avatar of a vehicle moving in a virtual environment. The area of the problem includes issues related to the problem of fidelity of mapping the work of the analyzed technical mean. The main object of investigations is a 3D model of a Stewart platform, which is a subsystem of the simulator designated for driving learning for disabled persons. The analyzed model of the platform, prepared for motion simulation, was created in the “Motion Simulation” module of a CAD/CAE class system Siemens PLM NX. Whereas the virtual environment, in which the moves the avatar of the passenger car, was elaborated in a VR class system EON Studio. The element integrating both of the mentioned software environments is a developed application that reads information from the virtual reality (VR) concerning the current position of the car avatar. Then, basing on the accepted algorithm, it sends control signals to respective joints of the model of the Stewart platform (CAD).

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

Yang, Huan; Cheng, Liang; Chuah, Mooi Choo

In the generation, transmission, and distribution sectors of the smart grid, intelligence of field devices is realized by programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Many smart-grid subsystems are essentially cyber-physical energy systems (CPES): For instance, the power system process (i.e., the physical part) within a substation is monitored and controlled by a SCADA network with hosts running miscellaneous applications (i.e., the cyber part). To study the interactions between the cyber and physical components of a CPES, several co-simulation platforms have been proposed. However, the network simulators/emulators of these platforms do not include a detailed traffic model that takes into account the impactsmore » of the execution model of PLCs on traffic characteristics. As a result, network traces generated by co-simulation only reveal the impacts of the physical process on the contents of the traffic generated by SCADA hosts, whereas the distinction between PLCs and computing nodes (e.g., a hardened computer running a process visualization application) has been overlooked. To generate realistic network traces using co-simulation for the design and evaluation of applications relying on accurate traffic profiles, it is necessary to establish a traffic model for PLCs. In this work, we propose a parameterized model for PLCs that can be incorporated into existing co-simulation platforms. We focus on the DNP3 subsystem of slave PLCs, which automates the processing of packets from the DNP3 master. To validate our approach, we extract model parameters from both the configuration and network traces of real PLCs. Simulated network traces are generated and compared against those from PLCs. Our evaluation shows that our proposed model captures the essential traffic characteristics of DNP3 slave PLCs, which can be used to extend existing co-simulation platforms and gain further insights into the behaviors of CPES.« less

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

Pitarka, A.

In this project we developed GEN_SRF4 a computer program for generating kinematic rupture models, compatible with the SRF format, using Irikura and Miyake (2011) asperity-­based earthquake rupture model (IM2011, hereafter). IM2011, also known as Irkura’s recipe, has been widely used to model and simulate ground motion from earthquakes in Japan. An essential part of the method is its kinematic rupture generation technique, which is based on a deterministic rupture asperity modeling approach. The source model simplicity and efficiency of IM2011 at reproducing ground motion from earthquakes recorded in Japan makes it attractive to developers and users of the Southern Californiamore » Earthquake Center Broadband Platform (SCEC BB platform). Besides writing the code the objective of our study was to test the transportability of IM2011 to broadband simulation methods used by the SCEC BB platform. Here we test it using the Graves and Pitarka (2010) method, implemented in the platform. We performed broadband (0.1- -10 Hz) ground motion simulations for a M6.7 scenario earthquake using rupture models produced with both GEN_SRF4 and rupture generator of Graves and Pitarka (2016), (GP2016 hereafter). In the simulations we used the same Green’s functions, and same high frequency approach for calculating the low-­frequency and high-­frequency parts of ground motion, respectively.« less

Satellite-based Analysis of CO Variability over the Amazon Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deeter, M. N.; Emmons, L. K.; Martinez-Alonso, S.; Tilmes, S.; Wiedinmyer, C.

2017-12-01

Pyrogenic emissions from the Amazon Basin exert significant influence on both climate and air quality but are highly variable from year to year. The ability of models to simulate the impact of biomass burning emissions on downstream atmospheric concentrations depends on (1) the quality of surface flux estimates (i.e., emissions inventories), (2) model dynamics (e.g., horizontal winds, large-scale convection and mixing) and (3) the representation of atmospheric chemical processes. With an atmospheric lifetime of a few months, carbon monoxide (CO) is a commonly used diagnostic for biomass burning. CO products are available from several satellite instruments and allow analyses of CO variability over extended regions such as the Amazon Basin with useful spatial and temporal sampling characteristics. The MOPITT ('Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere') instrument was launched on the NASA Terra platform near the end of 1999 and is still operational. MOPITT is uniquely capable of measuring tropospheric CO concentrations using both thermal-infrared and near-infrared observations, resulting in the ability to independently retrieve lower- and upper-troposphere CO concentrations. We exploit the 18-year MOPITT record and related datasets to analyze the variability of CO over the Amazon Basin and evaluate simulations performed with the CAM-chem chemical transport model. We demonstrate that observed differences between MOPITT observations and model simulations provide important clues regarding emissions inventories, convective mixing and long-range transport.

[Hospital and organizational dynamics of the National Institutes of Health. Relationship with high-specialty hospitals].

PubMed

Gabilondo Navarro, Fernando

2011-01-01

In order to primarily encourage medical care, teaching and research activities in high specialty regional hospitals (HSRH), a number of strategies are explored to increase the number of patients cared for, improve the quality and timeliness of care and successfully integrate the function of these hospitals within the care and patient flow model expected by the Federal Government. These strategies include the use of information technology systems as platforms for telemedicine, including tele-imaging, tele-education and telepathology, thus fostering the quality and timeliness of medical care and narrow the relationship between these HSRH with the National Health Institutes. Other strategies such as extra-mural surgery, specific theme workshops, resident rotations, the use of simulators and "Science Weeks" are also explored so as to promote teaching and research. Finally, the reference and counter-reference system and the introduction of pension programs are evaluated as possible strategies supporting resource management.

Technology review: prototyping platforms for monitoring ambient conditions.

PubMed

Afolaranmi, Samuel Olaiya; Ramis Ferrer, Borja; Martinez Lastra, Jose Luis

2018-05-08

The monitoring of ambient conditions in indoor spaces is very essential owing to the amount of time spent indoors. Specifically, the monitoring of air quality is significant because contaminated air affects the health, comfort and productivity of occupants. This research work presents a technology review of prototyping platforms for monitoring ambient conditions in indoor spaces. It involves the research on sensors (for CO 2 , air quality and ambient conditions), IoT platforms, and novel and commercial prototyping platforms. The ultimate objective of this review is to enable the easy identification, selection and utilisation of the technologies best suited for monitoring ambient conditions in indoor spaces. Following the review, it is recommended to use metal oxide sensors, optical sensors and electrochemical sensors for IAQ monitoring (including NDIR sensors for CO 2 monitoring), Raspberry Pi for data processing, ZigBee and Wi-Fi for data communication, and ThingSpeak IoT platform for data storage, analysis and visualisation.

Impact of a web based interactive simulation game (PULSE) on nursing students' experience and performance in life support training--a pilot study.

PubMed

Cook, Neal F; McAloon, Toni; O'Neill, Philip; Beggs, Richard

2012-08-01

The delivery of effective life support measures is highly associated with the quality, design and implementation of the education that underpins it. Effectively responding to a critical event is a requirement for all nurses illustrating the need for effective educational approaches from pre-registration training through to enhancing and maintaining life support skills after qualification. This paper reports the findings of utilising a web-based multimedia simulation game PULSE (Platform for Undergraduate Life Support Education). The platform was developed to enhance the student experience of life support education, to motivate on-going learning and engagement and to improve psychomotor skills associated with the provision of Intermediate Life Support (ILS) training. Pre training participants played PULSE and during life support training data was collected from an intervention and a control group of final year undergraduate nursing students (N=34). Quantitative analysis of performance took place and qualitative data was generated from a questionnaire assessing the learning experience. A statistically significant difference was found between the competence the groups displayed in the three skills sets of checking equipment, airway assessment and the safe/effective use of defibrillator at ILS level, and PULSE was positively evaluated as an educational tool when used alongside traditional life support training. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MDWeb and MDMoby: an integrated web-based platform for molecular dynamics simulations.

PubMed

Hospital, Adam; Andrio, Pau; Fenollosa, Carles; Cicin-Sain, Damjan; Orozco, Modesto; Gelpí, Josep Lluís

2012-05-01

MDWeb and MDMoby constitute a web-based platform to help access to molecular dynamics (MD) in the standard and high-throughput regime. The platform provides tools to prepare systems from PDB structures mimicking the procedures followed by human experts. It provides inputs and can send simulations for three of the most popular MD packages (Amber, NAMD and Gromacs). Tools for analysis of trajectories, either provided by the user or retrieved from our MoDEL database (http://mmb.pcb.ub.es/MoDEL) are also incorporated. The platform has two ways of access, a set of web-services based on the BioMoby framework (MDMoby), programmatically accessible and a web portal (MDWeb). http://mmb.irbbarcelona.org/MDWeb; additional information and methodology details can be found at the web site ( http://mmb.irbbarcelona.org/MDWeb/help.php)

Study on Vortex-Induced Motions of A New Type of Deep Draft Multi-Columns FDPSO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Jia-yang; Xie, Yu-lin; Zhao, Yuan; Li, Wen-juan; Tao, Yan-wu; Huang, Xiang-hong

2018-03-01

A numerical simulation and an experimental study on vortex-induced motion (VIM) of a new type of deep draft multi-columns floating drilling production, storage and offloading (FDPSO) are presented in this paper. The main dimension, the special variable cross-section column and the cabin arrangement of the octagonal pontoon are introduced based on the result. The numerical simulation is adapted to study the effects of current incidence angles and reduced velocities on this platform's sway motion response. The 300 m water depth equivalent truncated mooring system is adopted for the model tests. The model tests are carried out to check the reliability of numerical simulation. The results consist of surge, sway and yaw motions, as well as motion trajectories. The maximum sway amplitudes for different types of offshore platform is also studied. The main results show that the peak frequencies of sway motion under different current incidence angles and reduced velocities vary around the natural frequency. The analysis result of flow field indicates that the change of distribution of vortex in vertical presents significant influences on the VIM of platform. The trend of sway amplitude ratio curve of this new type FDPSO differs from the other types of platform. Under 45° current incidence angle, the sway amplitude of this new type of FDPSO is much smaller than those of other types of offshore platform at 4.4 ≤ V r ≤ 8.9. The typical `8' shape trajectory does not appear in the platform's motion trajectories.

VASA: Interactive Computational Steering of Large Asynchronous Simulation Pipelines for Societal Infrastructure.

PubMed

Ko, Sungahn; Zhao, Jieqiong; Xia, Jing; Afzal, Shehzad; Wang, Xiaoyu; Abram, Greg; Elmqvist, Niklas; Kne, Len; Van Riper, David; Gaither, Kelly; Kennedy, Shaun; Tolone, William; Ribarsky, William; Ebert, David S

2014-12-01

We present VASA, a visual analytics platform consisting of a desktop application, a component model, and a suite of distributed simulation components for modeling the impact of societal threats such as weather, food contamination, and traffic on critical infrastructure such as supply chains, road networks, and power grids. Each component encapsulates a high-fidelity simulation model that together form an asynchronous simulation pipeline: a system of systems of individual simulations with a common data and parameter exchange format. At the heart of VASA is the Workbench, a visual analytics application providing three distinct features: (1) low-fidelity approximations of the distributed simulation components using local simulation proxies to enable analysts to interactively configure a simulation run; (2) computational steering mechanisms to manage the execution of individual simulation components; and (3) spatiotemporal and interactive methods to explore the combined results of a simulation run. We showcase the utility of the platform using examples involving supply chains during a hurricane as well as food contamination in a fast food restaurant chain.

Flexible workflow sharing and execution services for e-scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kacsuk, Péter; Terstyanszky, Gábor; Kiss, Tamas; Sipos, Gergely

2013-04-01

The sequence of computational and data manipulation steps required to perform a specific scientific analysis is called a workflow. Workflows that orchestrate data and/or compute intensive applications on Distributed Computing Infrastructures (DCIs) recently became standard tools in e-science. At the same time the broad and fragmented landscape of workflows and DCIs slows down the uptake of workflow-based work. The development, sharing, integration and execution of workflows is still a challenge for many scientists. The FP7 "Sharing Interoperable Workflow for Large-Scale Scientific Simulation on Available DCIs" (SHIWA) project significantly improved the situation, with a simulation platform that connects different workflow systems, different workflow languages, different DCIs and workflows into a single, interoperable unit. The SHIWA Simulation Platform is a service package, already used by various scientific communities, and used as a tool by the recently started ER-flow FP7 project to expand the use of workflows among European scientists. The presentation will introduce the SHIWA Simulation Platform and the services that ER-flow provides based on the platform to space and earth science researchers. The SHIWA Simulation Platform includes: 1. SHIWA Repository: A database where workflows and meta-data about workflows can be stored. The database is a central repository to discover and share workflows within and among communities . 2. SHIWA Portal: A web portal that is integrated with the SHIWA Repository and includes a workflow executor engine that can orchestrate various types of workflows on various grid and cloud platforms. 3. SHIWA Desktop: A desktop environment that provides similar access capabilities than the SHIWA Portal, however it runs on the users' desktops/laptops instead of a portal server. 4. Workflow engines: the ASKALON, Galaxy, GWES, Kepler, LONI Pipeline, MOTEUR, Pegasus, P-GRADE, ProActive, Triana, Taverna and WS-PGRADE workflow engines are already integrated with the execution engine of the SHIWA Portal. Other engines can be added when required. Through the SHIWA Portal one can define and run simulations on the SHIWA Virtual Organisation, an e-infrastructure that gathers computing and data resources from various DCIs, including the European Grid Infrastructure. The Portal via third party workflow engines provides support for the most widely used academic workflow engines and it can be extended with other engines on demand. Such extensions translate between workflow languages and facilitate the nesting of workflows into larger workflows even when those are written in different languages and require different interpreters for execution. Through the workflow repository and the portal lonely scientists and scientific collaborations can share and offer workflows for reuse and execution. Given the integrated nature of the SHIWA Simulation Platform the shared workflows can be executed online, without installing any special client environment and downloading workflows. The FP7 "Building a European Research Community through Interoperable Workflows and Data" (ER-flow) project disseminates the achievements of the SHIWA project and use these achievements to build workflow user communities across Europe. ER-flow provides application supports to research communities within and beyond the project consortium to develop, share and run workflows with the SHIWA Simulation Platform.

Investigating Students' Acceptance of a Statistics Learning Platform Using Technology Acceptance Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Yanjie; Kong, Siu-Cheung

2017-01-01

The study aims at investigating university students' acceptance of a statistics learning platform to support the learning of statistics in a blended learning context. Three kinds of digital resources, which are simulations, online videos, and online quizzes, were provided on the platform. Premised on the technology acceptance model, we adopted a…

Investigating structure–property relationships of biomineralized calcium phosphate compounds as fluorescent quenching–recovery platform

PubMed Central

Wang, Liuzheng; He, Xiang; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Yong; Zhang, Ying

2018-01-01

The structure–property relationship between biomineralized calcium phosphate compounds upon a fluorescent quenching–recovery platform and their distinct crystalline structure and surficial functional groups are investigated. A fluorescence-based sensing platform is shown to be viable for the sensing of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxy-guanosine in simulated systems. PMID:29515827

Fizeau simultaneous phase-shifting interferometry based on extended source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shanshan; Zhu, Qiudong; Hou, Yinlong; Cao, Zheng

2016-09-01

Coaxial Fizeau simultaneous phase-shifting interferometer plays an important role in many fields for its characteristics of long optical path, miniaturization, and elimination of reference surface high-frequency error. Based on the matching of coherence between extended source and interferometer, orthogonal polarization reference wave and measurement wave can be obtained by Fizeau interferometry with Michelson interferometer preposed. Through matching spatial coherence length between preposed interferometer and primary interferometer, high contrast interference fringes can be obtained and additional interference fringes can be eliminated. Thus, the problem of separation of measurement and reference surface in the common optical path Fizeau interferometer is solved. Numerical simulation and principle experiment is conducted to verify the feasibility of extended source interferometer. Simulation platform is established by using the communication technique of DDE (dynamic data exchange) to connect Zemax and Matlab. The modeling of the extended source interferometer is realized by using Zemax. Matlab codes are programmed to automatically rectify the field parameters of the optical system and conveniently calculate the visibility of interference fringes. Combined with the simulation, the experimental platform of the extended source interferometer is established. After experimental research on the influence law of scattering screen granularity to interference fringes, the granularity of scattering screen is determined. Based on the simulation platform and experimental platform, the impacts on phase measurement accuracy of the imaging system aberration and collimation system aberration of the interferometer are analyzed. Compared the visibility relation curves between experimental measurement and simulation result, the experimental result is in line with the theoretical result.

SPEKTROP DPU: optoelectronic platform for fast multispectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graczyk, Rafal; Sitek, Piotr; Stolarski, Marcin

2010-09-01

In recent years it easy to spot and increasing need of high-quality Earth imaging in airborne and space applications. This is due fact that government and local authorities urge for up to date topological data for administrative purposes. On the other hand, interest in environmental sciences, push for ecological approach, efficient agriculture and forests management are also heavily supported by Earth images in various resolutions and spectral ranges. "SPEKTROP DPU: Opto-electronic platform for fast multi-spectral imaging" paper describes architectural datails of data processing unit, part of universal and modular platform that provides high quality imaging functionality in aerospace applications.

Platform for real-time simulation of dynamic systems and hardware-in-the-loop for control algorithms.

PubMed

de Souza, Isaac D T; Silva, Sergio N; Teles, Rafael M; Fernandes, Marcelo A C

2014-10-15

The development of new embedded algorithms for automation and control of industrial equipment usually requires the use of real-time testing. However, the equipment required is often expensive, which means that such tests are often not viable. The objective of this work was therefore to develop an embedded platform for the distributed real-time simulation of dynamic systems. This platform, called the Real-Time Simulator for Dynamic Systems (RTSDS), could be applied in both industrial and academic environments. In industrial applications, the RTSDS could be used to optimize embedded control algorithms. In the academic sphere, it could be used to support research into new embedded solutions for automation and control and could also be used as a tool to assist in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching related to the development of projects concerning on-board control systems.

Platform for Real-Time Simulation of Dynamic Systems and Hardware-in-the-Loop for Control Algorithms

PubMed Central

de Souza, Isaac D. T.; Silva, Sergio N.; Teles, Rafael M.; Fernandes, Marcelo A. C.

2014-01-01

The development of new embedded algorithms for automation and control of industrial equipment usually requires the use of real-time testing. However, the equipment required is often expensive, which means that such tests are often not viable. The objective of this work was therefore to develop an embedded platform for the distributed real-time simulation of dynamic systems. This platform, called the Real-Time Simulator for Dynamic Systems (RTSDS), could be applied in both industrial and academic environments. In industrial applications, the RTSDS could be used to optimize embedded control algorithms. In the academic sphere, it could be used to support research into new embedded solutions for automation and control and could also be used as a tool to assist in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching related to the development of projects concerning on-board control systems. PMID:25320906

The Durham Adaptive Optics Simulation Platform (DASP): Current status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basden, A. G.; Bharmal, N. A.; Jenkins, D.; Morris, T. J.; Osborn, J.; Peng, J.; Staykov, L.

2018-01-01

The Durham Adaptive Optics Simulation Platform (DASP) is a Monte-Carlo modelling tool used for the simulation of astronomical and solar adaptive optics systems. In recent years, this tool has been used to predict the expected performance of the forthcoming extremely large telescope adaptive optics systems, and has seen the addition of several modules with new features, including Fresnel optics propagation and extended object wavefront sensing. Here, we provide an overview of the features of DASP and the situations in which it can be used. Additionally, the user tools for configuration and control are described.

Gryphon: A Hybrid Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation Platform for Infectious Diseases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Bin; Wang, Jijun; McGowan, Michael; Vaidyanathan, Ganesh; Younger, Kristofer

In this paper we present Gryphon, a hybrid agent-based stochastic modeling and simulation platform developed for characterizing the geographic spread of infectious diseases and the effects of interventions. We study both local and non-local transmission dynamics of stochastic simulations based on the published parameters and data for SARS. The results suggest that the expected numbers of infections and the timeline of control strategies predicted by our stochastic model are in reasonably good agreement with previous studies. These preliminary results indicate that Gryphon is able to characterize other future infectious diseases and identify endangered regions in advance.

Design, Analysis, Hybrid Testing and Orientation Control of a Floating Platform with Counter-Rotating Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanner, Samuel Adam Chinman

The design and operation of two counter-rotating vertical-axis wind turbines on a floating, semi-submersible platform is studied. The technology, called the Multiple Integrated and Synchronized Turbines (MIST) platform has the potential to reduce the cost of offshore wind energy per unit of installed capacity. Attached to the platform are closely-spaced, counter-rotating turbines, which can achieve a higher power density per planform area because of synergistic interaction effects. The purpose of the research is to control the orientation of the platform and rotational speeds of the turbines by modifying the energy absorbed by each of the generators of the turbines. To analyze the various aspects of the platform and wind turbines, the analysis is drawn from the fields of hydrodynamics, electromagnetics, aerodynamics and control theory. To study the hydrodynamics of the floating platform in incident monochromatic waves, potential theory is utilized, taking into account the slow-drift yaw motion of the platform. Steady, second-order moments that are spatially dependent (i.e., dependent on the platform's yaw orientation relative to the incident waves) are given special attention since there are no natural restoring yaw moment. The aerodynamics of the counter-rotating turbines are studied in collaboration with researchers at the UC Berkeley Mathematics Department using a high-order, implicit, large-eddy simulation. An element flipping technique is utilized to extend the method to a domain with counter-rotating turbines and the effects from the closely-spaced turbines is compared with existing experimental data. Hybrid testing techniques on a model platform are utilized to prove the controllability of the platform in lieu of a wind-wave tank. A 1:82 model-scale floating platform is fabricated and tested at the UC Berkeley Physical-Model Testing Facility. The vertical-axis wind turbines are simulated by spinning, controllable actuators that can be updated in real-time of the model scale. Under certain wind and wave headings, it is possible to control the orientation of the platform in regular waves to maximize the power output from the turbines. A time-domain numerical simulation tool is able to confirm some of the experimental findings, taking into account the decoupled properties of the slow-drift hydrodynamics and wind turbine aerodynamics. Future platform designs are discussed, including the French-based, pre-commercial design from Nenuphar Wind, called the TwinFloat, which is closely related to concepts examined in the thesis.

Dynamic Game Behavior of Retailers Considering the Quality of Substitute Products Based on Delay Decision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bao, Binshuo; Ma, Junhai

2017-12-01

Motivated by the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road project, i.e. the Belt and Road (B&R), more goods will flow around the world. With this trading platform, people can buy products at relatively cheap prices, and it is easier for people to buy various goods. The quality and quantity of products thus attract more and more attention in the supply chains. This paper discusses the quantity decision by considering the product quality in parallel supply chains where two manufacturers produce substitute products and then sell them to their downstream retailers separately. In terms of the changing quantity, as well as the different quality, this paper establishes a dynamic game model to explore the dynamic behavior when the optimal profits of two retailers have been calculated. The dynamic behaviors of the system, such as stable region, bifurcation and chaos, strange attractors and the largest Lyapunov exponents (LLE) are analyzed. The effect of the quantity adjustment parameter on the stability of the supply chain system is investigated through numerical simulations. Furthermore, a dynamic game model is established based on the quality delay decision, to investigate the influence of the quality delay parameter on the dynamic game model and the profits. Finally, the optimal decisions are obtained and analyzed.

Measurement, modeling, and analysis of nonmethane hydrocarbons and ozone in the southeast United States national parks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Daiwen

In this research, the sources, distributions, transport, ozone formation potential, and biogenic emissions of VOCs are investigated focusing on three Southeast United States National Parks: Shenandoah National Park, Big Meadows site (SHEN), Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Cove Mountain (GRSM) and Mammoth Cave National Park (MACA). A detailed modeling analysis is conducted using the Multiscale Air Quality SImulation Platform (MAQSIP) focusing on nonmethane hydrocarbons and ozone characterized by high O3 surface concentrations. Nine emissions perturbation using the Multiscale Air Quality SImulation Platform (MAQSIP) focusing on nonmethane hydrocarbons and ozone characterized by high O 3 surface concentrations. In the observation-based analysis, source classification techniques based on correlation coefficient, chemical reactivity, and certain ratios were developed and applied to the data set. Anthropogenic VOCs from automobile exhaust dominate at Mammoth Cave National Park, and at Cove Mountain, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, while at Big Meadows, Shenandoah National Park, the source composition is complex and changed from 1995 to 1996. The dependence of isoprene concentrations on ambient temperatures is investigated, and similar regressional relationships are obtained for all three monitoring locations. Propylene-equivalent concentrations are calculated to account for differences in reaction rates between the OH and individual hydrocarbons, and to thereby estimate their relative contributions to ozone formation. Isoprene fluxes were also estimated for all these rural areas. Model predictions (base scenario) tend to give lower daily maximum O 3 concentrations than observations by 10 to 30%. Model predicted concentrations of lumped paraffin compounds are of the same order of magnitude as the observed values, while the observed concentrations for other species (isoprene, ethene, surrogate olefin, surrogate toluene, and surrogate xylene) are usually an order of magnitude higher than the predictions. Detailed sensitivity and process analyses in terms of ozone and VOC scenarios including the base scenario are designed and utilized in the model simulations. Model predictions are compared with the observed values at the three locations for the same time period. Detailed sensitivity and process analyses in terms of ozone and VOC budgets, and relative importance of various VOCs species are provided. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Analyzing Cyber-Physical Threats on Robotic Platforms.

PubMed

Ahmad Yousef, Khalil M; AlMajali, Anas; Ghalyon, Salah Abu; Dweik, Waleed; Mohd, Bassam J

2018-05-21

Robots are increasingly involved in our daily lives. Fundamental to robots are the communication link (or stream) and the applications that connect the robots to their clients or users. Such communication link and applications are usually supported through client/server network connection. This networking system is amenable of being attacked and vulnerable to the security threats. Ensuring security and privacy for robotic platforms is thus critical, as failures and attacks could have devastating consequences. In this paper, we examine several cyber-physical security threats that are unique to the robotic platforms; specifically the communication link and the applications. Threats target integrity, availability and confidential security requirements of the robotic platforms, which use MobileEyes/arnlServer client/server applications. A robot attack tool (RAT) was developed to perform specific security attacks. An impact-oriented approach was adopted to analyze the assessment results of the attacks. Tests and experiments of attacks were conducted in simulation environment and physically on the robot. The simulation environment was based on MobileSim; a software tool for simulating, debugging and experimenting on MobileRobots/ActivMedia platforms and their environments. The robot platform PeopleBot TM was used for physical experiments. The analysis and testing results show that certain attacks were successful at breaching the robot security. Integrity attacks modified commands and manipulated the robot behavior. Availability attacks were able to cause Denial-of-Service (DoS) and the robot was not responsive to MobileEyes commands. Integrity and availability attacks caused sensitive information on the robot to be hijacked. To mitigate security threats, we provide possible mitigation techniques and suggestions to raise awareness of threats on the robotic platforms, especially when the robots are involved in critical missions or applications.

Analyzing Cyber-Physical Threats on Robotic Platforms †

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Robots are increasingly involved in our daily lives. Fundamental to robots are the communication link (or stream) and the applications that connect the robots to their clients or users. Such communication link and applications are usually supported through client/server network connection. This networking system is amenable of being attacked and vulnerable to the security threats. Ensuring security and privacy for robotic platforms is thus critical, as failures and attacks could have devastating consequences. In this paper, we examine several cyber-physical security threats that are unique to the robotic platforms; specifically the communication link and the applications. Threats target integrity, availability and confidential security requirements of the robotic platforms, which use MobileEyes/arnlServer client/server applications. A robot attack tool (RAT) was developed to perform specific security attacks. An impact-oriented approach was adopted to analyze the assessment results of the attacks. Tests and experiments of attacks were conducted in simulation environment and physically on the robot. The simulation environment was based on MobileSim; a software tool for simulating, debugging and experimenting on MobileRobots/ActivMedia platforms and their environments. The robot platform PeopleBotTM was used for physical experiments. The analysis and testing results show that certain attacks were successful at breaching the robot security. Integrity attacks modified commands and manipulated the robot behavior. Availability attacks were able to cause Denial-of-Service (DoS) and the robot was not responsive to MobileEyes commands. Integrity and availability attacks caused sensitive information on the robot to be hijacked. To mitigate security threats, we provide possible mitigation techniques and suggestions to raise awareness of threats on the robotic platforms, especially when the robots are involved in critical missions or applications. PMID:29883403

Constraining ammonia dairy emissions during NASA DISCOVER-AQ California: surface and airborne observation comparisons with CMAQ simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, D. J.; Liu, Z.; Sun, K.; Tao, L.; Nowak, J. B.; Bambha, R.; Michelsen, H. A.; Zondlo, M. A.

2014-12-01

Agricultural ammonia (NH3) emissions are highly uncertain in current bottom-up inventories. Ammonium nitrate is a dominant component of fine aerosols in agricultural regions such as the Central Valley of California, especially during winter. Recent high resolution regional modeling efforts in this region have found significant ammonium nitrate and gas-phase NH3 biases during summer. We compare spatially-resolved surface and boundary layer gas-phase NH3 observations during NASA DISCOVER-AQ California with Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) regional model simulations driven by the EPA NEI 2008 inventory to constrain wintertime NH3 model biases. We evaluate model performance with respect to aerosol partitioning, mixing and deposition to constrain contributions to modeled NH3 concentration biases in the Central Valley Tulare dairy region. Ammonia measurements performed with an open-path mobile platform on a vehicle are gridded to 4 km resolution hourly background concentrations. A peak detection algorithm is applied to remove local feedlot emission peaks. Aircraft NH3, NH4+ and NO3- observations are also compared with simulations extracted along the flight tracks. We find NH3 background concentrations in the dairy region are underestimated by three to five times during winter and NH3 simulations are moderately correlated with observations (r = 0.36). Although model simulations capture NH3 enhancements in the dairy region, these simulations are biased low by 30-60 ppbv NH3. Aerosol NH4+ and NO3- are also biased low in CMAQ by three and four times respectively. Unlike gas-phase NH3, CMAQ simulations do not capture typical NH4+ or NO3- enhancements observed in the dairy region. In contrast, boundary layer height simulations agree well with observations within 13%. We also address observational constraints on simulated NH3 deposition fluxes. These comparisons suggest that NEI 2008 wintertime dairy emissions are underestimated by a factor of three to five. We test sensitivity to emissions by increasing the NEI 2008 NH3 emissions uniformly across the dairy region and evaluate the impact on modeled concentrations. These results are applicable to improving predictions of ammoniated aerosol loading and highlight the value of mobile platform spatial NH3 measurements to constrain emission inventories.

Current status of validation for robotic surgery simulators - a systematic review.

PubMed

Abboudi, Hamid; Khan, Mohammed S; Aboumarzouk, Omar; Guru, Khurshid A; Challacombe, Ben; Dasgupta, Prokar; Ahmed, Kamran

2013-02-01

To analyse studies validating the effectiveness of robotic surgery simulators. The MEDLINE(®), EMBASE(®) and PsycINFO(®) databases were systematically searched until September 2011. References from retrieved articles were reviewed to broaden the search. The simulator name, training tasks, participant level, training duration and evaluation scoring were extracted from each study. We also extracted data on feasibility, validity, cost-effectiveness, reliability and educational impact. We identified 19 studies investigating simulation options in robotic surgery. There are five different robotic surgery simulation platforms available on the market. In all, 11 studies sought opinion and compared performance between two different groups; 'expert' and 'novice'. Experts ranged in experience from 21-2200 robotic cases. The novice groups consisted of participants with no prior experience on a robotic platform and were often medical students or junior doctors. The Mimic dV-Trainer(®), ProMIS(®), SimSurgery Educational Platform(®) (SEP) and Intuitive systems have shown face, content and construct validity. The Robotic Surgical SimulatorTM system has only been face and content validated. All of the simulators except SEP have shown educational impact. Feasibility and cost-effectiveness of simulation systems was not evaluated in any trial. Virtual reality simulators were shown to be effective training tools for junior trainees. Simulation training holds the greatest potential to be used as an adjunct to traditional training methods to equip the next generation of robotic surgeons with the skills required to operate safely. However, current simulation models have only been validated in small studies. There is no evidence to suggest one type of simulator provides more effective training than any other. More research is needed to validate simulated environments further and investigate the effectiveness of animal and cadaveric training in robotic surgery. © 2012 BJU International.

Development of an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for Scaling Terrestrial Ecosystem Traits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, R.; McMahon, A. M.; Serbin, S.; Rogers, A.

2015-12-01

The next generation of Ecosystem and Earth System Models (EESMs) will require detailed information on ecosystem structure and function, including properties of vegetation related to carbon (C), water, and energy cycling, in order to project the future state of ecosystems. High spatial-temporal resolution measurements of terrestrial ecosystem are also important for EESMs, because they can provide critical inputs and benchmark datasets for evaluation of EESMs simulations across scales. The recent development of high-quality, low-altitude remote sensing platforms or small UAS (< 25 kg) enables measurements of terrestrial ecosystems at unprecedented temporal and spatial scales. Specifically, these new platforms can provide detailed information on patterns and processes of terrestrial ecosystems at a critical intermediate scale between point measurements and suborbital and satellite platforms. Given their potential for sub-decimeter spatial resolution, improved mission safety, high revisit frequency, and reduced operation cost, these platforms are of particular interest in the development of ecological scaling algorithms to parameterize and benchmark EESMs, particularly over complex and remote terrain. Our group is developing a small UAS platform and integrated sensor package focused on measurement needs for scaling and informing ecosystem modeling activities, as well as scaling and mapping plant functional traits. To do this we are developing an integrated software workflow and hardware package using off-the-shelf instrumentation including a high-resolution digital camera for Structure from Motion, spectroradiometer, and a thermal infrared camera. Our workflow includes platform design, measurement, image processing, data management, and information extraction. The fusion of 3D structure information, thermal-infrared imagery, and spectroscopic measurements, will provide a foundation for the development of ecological scaling and mapping algorithms. Our initial focus is in temperate forests but near-term research will expand into the high-arctic and eventually tropical systems. The results of this prototype study show that off-the-shelf technology can be used to develop a low-cost alternative for mapping plant traits and three-dimensional structure for ecological research.

[Construction and application of bioinformatic analysis platform for aquatic pathogen based on the MilkyWay-2 supercomputer].

PubMed

Fang, Xiang; Li, Ning-qiu; Fu, Xiao-zhe; Li, Kai-bin; Lin, Qiang; Liu, Li-hui; Shi, Cun-bin; Wu, Shu-qin

2015-07-01

As a key component of life science, bioinformatics has been widely applied in genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. However, the requirement of high-performance computers rather than common personal computers for constructing a bioinformatics platform significantly limited the application of bioinformatics in aquatic science. In this study, we constructed a bioinformatic analysis platform for aquatic pathogen based on the MilkyWay-2 supercomputer. The platform consisted of three functional modules, including genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data analysis, protein structure prediction, and molecular dynamics simulations. To validate the practicability of the platform, we performed bioinformatic analysis on aquatic pathogenic organisms. For example, genes of Flavobacterium johnsoniae M168 were identified and annotated via Blast searches, GO and InterPro annotations. Protein structural models for five small segments of grass carp reovirus HZ-08 were constructed by homology modeling. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed on out membrane protein A of Aeromonas hydrophila, and the changes of system temperature, total energy, root mean square deviation and conformation of the loops during equilibration were also observed. These results showed that the bioinformatic analysis platform for aquatic pathogen has been successfully built on the MilkyWay-2 supercomputer. This study will provide insights into the construction of bioinformatic analysis platform for other subjects.

Crash avoidance in response to challenging driving events: The roles of age, serialization, and driving simulator platform.

PubMed

Bélanger, Alexandre; Gagnon, Sylvain; Stinchcombe, Arne

2015-09-01

We examined the crash avoidance behaviors of older and middle-aged drivers in reaction to six simulated challenging road events using two different driving simulator platforms. Thirty-five healthy adults aged 21-36 years old (M=28.9±3.96) and 35 healthy adults aged 65-83 years old (M=72.1±4.34) were tested using a mid-level simulator, and 27 adults aged 21-38 years old (M=28.6±6.63) and 27 healthy adults aged 65-83 years old (M=72.7±5.39) were tested on a low-cost desktop simulator. Participants completed a set of six challenging events varying in terms of the maneuvers required, avoiding space given, directional avoidance cues, and time pressure. Results indicated that older drivers showed higher crash risk when events required multiple synchronized reactions. In situations that required simultaneous use of steering and braking, older adults tended to crash significantly more frequently. As for middle-aged drivers, their crashes were attributable to faster driving speed. The same age-related driving patterns were observed across simulator platforms. Our findings support the hypothesis that older adults tend to react serially while engaging in cognitively challenging road maneuvers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A study of the comparative effects of various means of motion cueing during a simulated compensatory tracking task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mckissick, B. T.; Ashworth, B. R.; Parrish, R. V.; Martin, D. J., Jr.

1980-01-01

NASA's Langley Research Center conducted a simulation experiment to ascertain the comparative effects of motion cues (combinations of platform motion and g-seat normal acceleration cues) on compensatory tracking performance. In the experiment, a full six-degree-of-freedom YF-16 model was used as the simulated pursuit aircraft. The Langley Visual Motion Simulator (with in-house developed wash-out), and a Langley developed g-seat were principal components of the simulation. The results of the experiment were examined utilizing univariate and multivariate techniques. The statistical analyses demonstrate that the platform motion and g-seat cues provide additional information to the pilot that allows substantial reduction of lateral tracking error. Also, the analyses show that the g-seat cue helps reduce vertical error.

Novel Web-based Education Platforms for Information Communication utilizing Gamification, Virtual and Immersive Reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2015-12-01

Recent developments in internet technologies make it possible to manage and visualize large data on the web. Novel visualization techniques and interactive user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. This presentation showcase information communication interfaces, games, and virtual and immersive reality applications for supporting teaching and learning of concepts in atmospheric and hydrological sciences. The information communication platforms utilizes latest web technologies and allow accessing and visualizing large scale data on the web. The simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive learning environment for teaching hydrological and atmospheric processes and concepts. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain and weather information, and water simulation. The web-based simulation system provides an environment for students to learn about the earth science processes, and effects of development and human activity on the terrain. Users can access the system in three visualization modes including virtual reality, augmented reality, and immersive reality using heads-up display. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of various users.

Atomdroid: a computational chemistry tool for mobile platforms.

PubMed

Feldt, Jonas; Mata, Ricardo A; Dieterich, Johannes M

2012-04-23

We present the implementation of a new molecular mechanics program designed for use in mobile platforms, the first specifically built for these devices. The software is designed to run on Android operating systems and is compatible with several modern tablet-PCs and smartphones available in the market. It includes molecular viewer/builder capabilities with integrated routines for geometry optimizations and Monte Carlo simulations. These functionalities allow it to work as a stand-alone tool. We discuss some particular development aspects, as well as the overall feasibility of using computational chemistry software packages in mobile platforms. Benchmark calculations show that through efficient implementation techniques even hand-held devices can be used to simulate midsized systems using force fields.

CMG-Augmented Control of a Hovering VTOL Platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lim, K. B.; Moerder, D. D.

2007-01-01

This paper describes how Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) can be used for stability augmentation to a thrust vectoring system for a generic Vertical Take-Off and Landing platform. The response characteristics of the platform which uses only thrust vectoring and a second configuration which includes a single-gimbal CMG array are simulated and compared for hovering flight while subject to severe air turbulence. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of a CMG array in its ability to significantly reduce the agility requirement on the thrust vectoring system. Albeit simplifying physical assumptions on a generic CMG configuration, the numerical results also suggest that reasonably sized CMGs will likely be sufficient for a small hovering vehicle.

Photovoltaic Impact Assessment of Smart Inverter Volt-VAR Control on Distribution System Conservation Voltage Reduction and Power Quality

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

Ding, Fei; Nagarajan, Adarsh; Chakraborty, Sudipta

This report presents an impact assessment study of distributed photovoltaic (PV) with smart inverter Volt-VAR control on conservation voltage reduction (CVR) energy savings and distribution system power quality. CVR is a methodology of flattening and lowering a distribution system voltage profile in order to conserve energy. Traditional CVR relies on operating utility voltage regulators and switched capacitors. However, with the increased penetration of distributed PV systems, smart inverters provide the new opportunity to control local voltage and power factor by regulating the reactive power output, leading to a potential increase in CVR energy savings. This report proposes a methodology tomore » implement CVR scheme by operating voltage regulators, capacitors, and autonomous smart inverter Volt-VAR control in order to achieve increased CVR benefit. Power quality is an important consideration when operating a distribution system, especially when implementing CVR. It is easy to measure the individual components that make up power quality, but a comprehensive method to incorporate all of these values into a single score has yet to be undertaken. As a result, this report proposes a power quality scoring mechanism to measure the relative power quality of distribution systems using a single number, which is aptly named the 'power quality score' (PQS). Both the CVR and PQS methodologies were applied to two distribution system models, one obtained from the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and another obtained from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). These two models were converted to the OpenDSS platform using previous model conversion tools that were developed by NREL. Multiple scenarios including various PV penetration levels and smart inverter densities were simulated to analyze the impact of smart inverter Volt-VAR support on CVR energy savings and feeder power quality. In order to analyze the CVR benefit and PQS, an annual simulation was conducted for each scenario.« less

Simulator platform motion requirements for recurrent airline pilot training and evaluation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-09-30

This report presents the results of two studies that examined the effect of enhanced hexapod-simulator motion on recurrent evaluation in the simulator, on the course of recurrent training in the simulator, and on "quasi-transfer" of this recurrent tr...

Online physician ratings fail to predict actual performance on measures of quality, value, and peer review.

PubMed

Daskivich, Timothy J; Houman, Justin; Fuller, Garth; Black, Jeanne T; Kim, Hyung L; Spiegel, Brennan

2018-04-01

Patients use online consumer ratings to identify high-performing physicians, but it is unclear if ratings are valid measures of clinical performance. We sought to determine whether online ratings of specialist physicians from 5 platforms predict quality of care, value of care, and peer-assessed physician performance. We conducted an observational study of 78 physicians representing 8 medical and surgical specialties. We assessed the association of consumer ratings with specialty-specific performance scores (metrics including adherence to Choosing Wisely measures, 30-day readmissions, length of stay, and adjusted cost of care), primary care physician peer-review scores, and administrator peer-review scores. Across ratings platforms, multivariable models showed no significant association between mean consumer ratings and specialty-specific performance scores (β-coefficient range, -0.04, 0.04), primary care physician scores (β-coefficient range, -0.01, 0.3), and administrator scores (β-coefficient range, -0.2, 0.1). There was no association between ratings and score subdomains addressing quality or value-based care. Among physicians in the lowest quartile of specialty-specific performance scores, only 5%-32% had consumer ratings in the lowest quartile across platforms. Ratings were consistent across platforms; a physician's score on one platform significantly predicted his/her score on another in 5 of 10 comparisons. Online ratings of specialist physicians do not predict objective measures of quality of care or peer assessment of clinical performance. Scores are consistent across platforms, suggesting that they jointly measure a latent construct that is unrelated to performance. Online consumer ratings should not be used in isolation to select physicians, given their poor association with clinical performance.

Modeling and Simulation of Offshore Wind Power Platform for 5 MW Baseline NREL Turbine.

PubMed

Roni Sahroni, Taufik

2015-01-01

This paper presents the modeling and simulation of offshore wind power platform for oil and gas companies. Wind energy has become the fastest growing renewable energy in the world and major gains in terms of energy generation are achievable when turbines are moved offshore. The objective of this project is to propose new design of an offshore wind power platform. Offshore wind turbine (OWT) is composed of three main structures comprising the rotor/blades, the tower nacelle, and the supporting structure. The modeling analysis was focused on the nacelle and supporting structure. The completed final design was analyzed using finite element modeling tool ANSYS to obtain the structure's response towards loading conditions and to ensure it complies with guidelines laid out by classification authority Det Norske Veritas. As a result, a new model of the offshore wind power platform for 5 MW Baseline NREL turbine was proposed.

Modeling and Simulation of Offshore Wind Power Platform for 5 MW Baseline NREL Turbine

PubMed Central

Roni Sahroni, Taufik

2015-01-01

This paper presents the modeling and simulation of offshore wind power platform for oil and gas companies. Wind energy has become the fastest growing renewable energy in the world and major gains in terms of energy generation are achievable when turbines are moved offshore. The objective of this project is to propose new design of an offshore wind power platform. Offshore wind turbine (OWT) is composed of three main structures comprising the rotor/blades, the tower nacelle, and the supporting structure. The modeling analysis was focused on the nacelle and supporting structure. The completed final design was analyzed using finite element modeling tool ANSYS to obtain the structure's response towards loading conditions and to ensure it complies with guidelines laid out by classification authority Det Norske Veritas. As a result, a new model of the offshore wind power platform for 5 MW Baseline NREL turbine was proposed. PMID:26550605

Automated Water Quality Survey and Evaluation Using an IoT Platform with Mobile Sensor Nodes

PubMed Central

Li, Teng; Xia, Min; Chen, Jiahong; Zhao, Yuanjie; de Silva, Clarence

2017-01-01

An Internet of Things (IoT) platform with capabilities of sensing, data processing, and wireless communication has been deployed to support remote aquatic environmental monitoring. In this paper, the design and development of an IoT platform with multiple Mobile Sensor Nodes (MSN) for the spatiotemporal quality evaluation of surface water is presented. A survey planner is proposed to distribute the Sampling Locations of Interest (SLoIs) over the study area and generate paths for MSNs to visit the SLoIs, given the limited energy and time budgets. The SLoIs are chosen based on a cellular decomposition that is composed of uniform hexagonal cells. They are visited by the MSNs along a path ring generated by a planning approach that uses a spanning tree. For quality evaluation, an Online Water Quality Index (OLWQI) is developed to interpret the large quantities of online measurements. The index formulations are modified by a state-of-the-art index, the CCME WQI, which has been developed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment (CCME) for off-line indexing. The proposed index has demonstrated effective and reliable performance in online indexing a large volume of measurements of water quality parameters. The IoT platform is deployed in the field, and its performance is demonstrated and discussed in this paper. PMID:28788098

James Webb Space Telescope optical simulation testbed IV: linear control alignment of the primary segmented mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egron, Sylvain; Soummer, Rémi; Lajoie, Charles-Philippe; Bonnefois, Aurélie; Long, Joseph; Michau, Vincent; Choquet, Elodie; Ferrari, Marc; Leboulleux, Lucie; Levecq, Olivier; Mazoyer, Johan; N'Diaye, Mamadou; Perrin, Marshall; Petrone, Peter; Pueyo, Laurent; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand

2017-09-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Optical Simulation Testbed (JOST) is a tabletop experiment designed to study wavefront sensing and control for a segmented space telescope, such as JWST. With the JWST Science and Operations Center co-located at STScI, JOST was developed to provide both a platform for staff training and to test alternate wavefront sensing and control strategies for independent validation or future improvements beyond the baseline operations. The design of JOST reproduces the physics of JWST's three-mirror anastigmat (TMA) using three custom aspheric lenses. It provides similar quality image as JWST (80% Strehl ratio) over a field equivalent to a NIRCam module, but at 633 nm. An Iris AO segmented mirror stands for the segmented primary mirror of JWST. Actuators allow us to control (1) the 18 segments of the segmented mirror in piston, tip, tilt and (2) the second lens, which stands for the secondary mirror, in tip, tilt and x, y, z positions. We present the most recent experimental results for the segmented mirror alignment. Our implementation of the Wavefront Sensing (WFS) algorithms using phase diversity is tested on simulation and experimentally. The wavefront control (WFC) algorithms, which rely on a linear model for optical aberrations induced by misalignment of the secondary lens and the segmented mirror, are tested and validated both on simulations and experimentally. In this proceeding, we present the performance of the full active optic control loop in presence of perturbations on the segmented mirror, and we detail the quality of the alignment correction.

Simulated and Real Sheet-of-Light 3D Object Scanning Using a-Si:H Thin Film PSD Arrays.

PubMed

Contreras, Javier; Tornero, Josep; Ferreira, Isabel; Martins, Rodrigo; Gomes, Luis; Fortunato, Elvira

2015-11-30

A MATLAB/SIMULINK software simulation model (structure and component blocks) has been constructed in order to view and analyze the potential of the PSD (Position Sensitive Detector) array concept technology before it is further expanded or developed. This simulation allows changing most of its parameters, such as the number of elements in the PSD array, the direction of vision, the viewing/scanning angle, the object rotation, translation, sample/scan/simulation time, etc. In addition, results show for the first time the possibility of scanning an object in 3D when using an a-Si:H thin film 128 PSD array sensor and hardware/software system. Moreover, this sensor technology is able to perform these scans and render 3D objects at high speeds and high resolutions when using a sheet-of-light laser within a triangulation platform. As shown by the simulation, a substantial enhancement in 3D object profile image quality and realism can be achieved by increasing the number of elements of the PSD array sensor as well as by achieving an optimal position response from the sensor since clearly the definition of the 3D object profile depends on the correct and accurate position response of each detector as well as on the size of the PSD array.

Remembrance of phases past: An autoregressive method for generating realistic atmospheres in simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinath, Srikar; Poyneer, Lisa A.; Rudy, Alexander R.; Ammons, S. M.

2014-08-01

The advent of expensive, large-aperture telescopes and complex adaptive optics (AO) systems has strengthened the need for detailed simulation of such systems from the top of the atmosphere to control algorithms. The credibility of any simulation is underpinned by the quality of the atmosphere model used for introducing phase variations into the incident photons. Hitherto, simulations which incorporate wind layers have relied upon phase screen generation methods that tax the computation and memory capacities of the platforms on which they run. This places limits on parameters of a simulation, such as exposure time or resolution, thus compromising its utility. As aperture sizes and fields of view increase the problem will only get worse. We present an autoregressive method for evolving atmospheric phase that is efficient in its use of computation resources and allows for variability in the power contained in frozen flow or stochastic components of the atmosphere. Users have the flexibility of generating atmosphere datacubes in advance of runs where memory constraints allow to save on computation time or of computing the phase at each time step for long exposure times. Preliminary tests of model atmospheres generated using this method show power spectral density and rms phase in accordance with established metrics for Kolmogorov models.

High-pressure chemistry of hydrocarbons relevant to planetary interiors and inertial confinement fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraus, D.; Hartley, N. J.; Frydrych, S.; Schuster, A. K.; Rohatsch, K.; Rödel, M.; Cowan, T. E.; Brown, S.; Cunningham, E.; van Driel, T.; Fletcher, L. B.; Galtier, E.; Gamboa, E. J.; Laso Garcia, A.; Gericke, D. O.; Granados, E.; Heimann, P. A.; Lee, H. J.; MacDonald, M. J.; MacKinnon, A. J.; McBride, E. E.; Nam, I.; Neumayer, P.; Pak, A.; Pelka, A.; Prencipe, I.; Ravasio, A.; Redmer, R.; Saunders, A. M.; Schölmerich, M.; Schörner, M.; Sun, P.; Turner, S. J.; Zettl, A.; Falcone, R. W.; Glenzer, S. H.; Döppner, T.; Vorberger, J.

2018-05-01

Diamond formation in polystyrene (C8H8)n, which is laser-compressed and heated to conditions around 150 GPa and 5000 K, has recently been demonstrated in the laboratory [Kraus et al., Nat. Astron. 1, 606-611 (2017)]. Here, we show an extended analysis and comparison to first-principles simulations of the acquired data and their implications for planetary physics and inertial confinement fusion. Moreover, we discuss the advanced diagnostic capabilities of adding high-quality small angle X-ray scattering and spectrally resolved X-ray scattering to the platform, which shows great prospects of precisely studying the kinetics of chemical reactions in dense plasma environments at pressures exceeding 100 GPa.

Implementing Open Source Platform for Education Quality Enhancement in Primary Education: Indonesia Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kisworo, Marsudi Wahyu

2016-01-01

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-supported learning using free and open source platform draws little attention as open source initiatives were focused in secondary or tertiary educations. This study investigates possibilities of ICT-supported learning using open source platform for primary educations. The data of this study is taken…

Development and evaluation of a trauma decision-making simulator in Oculus virtual reality.

PubMed

Harrington, Cuan M; Kavanagh, Dara O; Quinlan, John F; Ryan, Donncha; Dicker, Patrick; O'Keeffe, Dara; Traynor, Oscar; Tierney, Sean

2018-01-01

Consumer-available virtual-reality technology was launched in 2016 with strong foundations in the entertainment-industry. We developed an innovative medical-training simulator on the Oculus™ Gear-VR platform. This novel application was developed utilising internationally recognised Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) principles, requiring decision-making skills for critically-injured virtual-patients. Participants were recruited in June, 2016 at a single-centre trauma-course (ATLS, Leinster, Ireland) and trialled the platform. Simulator performances were correlated with individual expertise and course-performance measures. A post-intervention questionnaire relating to validity-aspects was completed. Eighteen(81.8%) eligible-candidates and eleven(84.6%) course-instructors voluntarily participated. The survey-responders mean-age was 38.9(±11.0) years with 80.8% male predominance. The instructor-group caused significantly less fatal-errors (p < 0.050) and proportions of incorrect-decisions (p < 0.050). The VR-hardware and trauma-application's mean ratings were 5.09 and 5.04 out of 7 respectively. Participants reported it was an enjoyable method of learning (median-6.0), the learning platform of choice (median-5.0) and a cost-effective training tool (median-5.0). Our research has demonstrated evidence of validity-criteria for a concept application on virtual-reality headsets. We believe that virtual-reality technology is a viable platform for medical-simulation into the future. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metadata, PICS and Quality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armstrong, C. J.

1997-01-01

Discusses PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection), the Centre for Information Quality Management (CIQM), and metadata. Highlights include filtering networked information; the quality of information; and standardizing search engines. (LRW)

iCrowd: agent-based behavior modeling and crowd simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kountouriotis, Vassilios I.; Paterakis, Manolis; Thomopoulos, Stelios C. A.

2016-05-01

Initially designed in the context of the TASS (Total Airport Security System) FP-7 project, the Crowd Simulation platform developed by the Integrated Systems Lab of the Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications at N.C.S.R. Demokritos, has evolved into a complete domain-independent agent-based behavior simulator with an emphasis on crowd behavior and building evacuation simulation. Under continuous development, it reflects an effort to implement a modern, multithreaded, data-oriented simulation engine employing latest state-of-the-art programming technologies and paradigms. It is based on an extensible architecture that separates core services from the individual layers of agent behavior, offering a concrete simulation kernel designed for high-performance and stability. Its primary goal is to deliver an abstract platform to facilitate implementation of several Agent-Based Simulation solutions with applicability in several domains of knowledge, such as: (i) Crowd behavior simulation during [in/out] door evacuation. (ii) Non-Player Character AI for Game-oriented applications and Gamification activities. (iii) Vessel traffic modeling and simulation for Maritime Security and Surveillance applications. (iv) Urban and Highway Traffic and Transportation Simulations. (v) Social Behavior Simulation and Modeling.

Dr.LiTHO: a development and research lithography simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fühner, Tim; Schnattinger, Thomas; Ardelean, Gheorghe; Erdmann, Andreas

2007-03-01

This paper introduces Dr.LiTHO, a research and development oriented lithography simulation environment developed at Fraunhofer IISB to flexibly integrate our simulation models into one coherent platform. We propose a light-weight approach to a lithography simulation environment: The use of a scripting (batch) language as an integration platform. Out of the great variety of different scripting languages, Python proved superior in many ways: It exhibits a good-natured learning-curve, it is efficient, available on virtually any platform, and provides sophisticated integration mechanisms for existing programs. In this paper, we will describe the steps, required to provide Python bindings for existing programs and to finally generate an integrated simulation environment. In addition, we will give a short introduction into selected software design demands associated with the development of such a framework. We will especially focus on testing and (both technical and user-oriented) documentation issues. Dr.LiTHO Python files contain not only all simulation parameter settings but also the simulation flow, providing maximum flexibility. In addition to relatively simple batch jobs, repetitive tasks can be pooled in libraries. And as Python is a full-blown programming language, users can add virtually any functionality, which is especially useful in the scope of simulation studies or optimization tasks, that often require masses of evaluations. Furthermore, we will give a short overview of the numerous existing Python packages. Several examples demonstrate the feasibility and productiveness of integrating Python packages into custom Dr.LiTHO scripts.

AQA-PM: Extension of the Air-Quality Model For Austria with Satellite based Particulate Matter Estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirtl, Marcus; Mantovani, Simone; Krüger, Bernd C.; Triebnig, Gerhard; Flandorfer, Claudia

2013-04-01

Air quality is a key element for the well-being and quality of life of European citizens. Air pollution measurements and modeling tools are essential for assessment of air quality according to EU legislation. The responsibilities of ZAMG as the national weather service of Austria include the support of the federal states and the public in questions connected to the protection of the environment in the frame of advisory and counseling services as well as expert opinions. The Air Quality model for Austria (AQA) is operated at ZAMG in cooperation with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU) by order of the regional governments since 2005. AQA conducts daily forecasts of gaseous and particulate (PM10) air pollutants over Austria. In the frame of the project AQA-PM (funded by FFG), satellite measurements of the Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) and ground-based PM10-measurements are combined to highly-resolved initial fields using regression- and assimilation techniques. For the model simulations WRF/Chem is used with a resolution of 3 km over the alpine region. Interfaces have been developed to account for the different measurements as input data. The available local emission inventories provided by the different Austrian regional governments were harmonized and used for the model simulations. An episode in February 2010 is chosen for the model evaluation. During that month exceedances of PM10-thresholds occurred at many measurement stations of the Austrian network. Different model runs (only model/only ground stations assimilated/satellite and ground stations assimilated) are compared to the respective measurements. The goal of this project is to improve the PM10-forecasts for Austria with the integration of satellite based measurements and to provide a comprehensive product-platform.

OpenFLUID: an open-source software environment for modelling fluxes in landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fabre, Jean-Christophe; Rabotin, Michaël; Crevoisier, David; Libres, Aline; Dagès, Cécile; Moussa, Roger; Lagacherie, Philippe; Raclot, Damien; Voltz, Marc

2013-04-01

Integrative landscape functioning has become a common concept in environmental management. Landscapes are complex systems where many processes interact in time and space. In agro-ecosystems, these processes are mainly physical processes, including hydrological-processes, biological processes and human activities. Modelling such systems requires an interdisciplinary approach, coupling models coming from different disciplines, developed by different teams. In order to support collaborative works, involving many models coupled in time and space for integrative simulations, an open software modelling platform is a relevant answer. OpenFLUID is an open source software platform for modelling landscape functioning, mainly focused on spatial fluxes. It provides an advanced object-oriented architecture allowing to i) couple models developed de novo or from existing source code, and which are dynamically plugged to the platform, ii) represent landscapes as hierarchical graphs, taking into account multi-scale, spatial heterogeneities and landscape objects connectivity, iii) run and explore simulations in many ways : using the OpenFLUID software interfaces for users (command line interface, graphical user interface), or using external applications such as GNU R through the provided ROpenFLUID package. OpenFLUID is developed in C++ and relies on open source libraries only (Boost, libXML2, GLib/GTK, OGR/GDAL, …). For modelers and developers, OpenFLUID provides a dedicated environment for model development, which is based on an open source toolchain, including the Eclipse editor, the GCC compiler and the CMake build system. OpenFLUID is distributed under the GPLv3 open source license, with a special exception allowing to plug existing models licensed under any license. It is clearly in the spirit of sharing knowledge and favouring collaboration in a community of modelers. OpenFLUID has been involved in many research applications, such as modelling of hydrological network transfer, diagnosis and prediction of water quality taking into account human activities, study of the effect of spatial organization on hydrological fluxes, modelling of surface-subsurface water exchanges, … At LISAH research unit, OpenFLUID is the supporting development platform of the MHYDAS model, which is a distributed model for agrosystems (Moussa et al., 2002, Hydrological Processes, 16, 393-412). OpenFLUID web site : http://www.openfluid-project.org

Computing the apparent centroid of radar targets

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

Lee, C.E.

1996-12-31

A high-frequency multibounce radar scattering code was used as a simulation platform for demonstrating an algorithm to compute the ARC of specific radar targets. To illustrate this simulation process, several targets models were used. Simulation results for a sphere model were used to determine the errors of approximation associated with the simulation; verifying the process. The severity of glint induced tracking errors was also illustrated using a model of an F-15 aircraft. It was shown, in a deterministic manner, that the ARC of a target can fall well outside its physical extent. Finally, the apparent radar centroid simulation based onmore » a ray casting procedure is well suited for use on most massively parallel computing platforms and could lead to the development of a near real-time radar tracking simulation for applications such as endgame fuzing, survivability, and vulnerability analyses using specific radar targets and fuze algorithms.« less

Earth observing system instrument pointing control modeling for polar orbiting platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Briggs, H. C.; Kia, T.; Mccabe, S. A.; Bell, C. E.

1987-01-01

An approach to instrument pointing control performance assessment for large multi-instrument platforms is described. First, instrument pointing requirements and reference platform control systems for the Eos Polar Platforms are reviewed. Performance modeling tools including NASTRAN models of two large platforms, a modal selection procedure utilizing a balanced realization method, and reduced order platform models with core and instrument pointing control loops added are then described. Time history simulations of instrument pointing and stability performance in response to commanded slewing of adjacent instruments demonstrates the limits of tolerable slew activity. Simplified models of rigid body responses are also developed for comparison. Instrument pointing control methods required in addition to the core platform control system to meet instrument pointing requirements are considered.

Developing a Web Platform to Support a Community of Practice: A Mixed Methods Study in Pediatric Physiotherapy.

PubMed

Pratte, Gabrielle; Hurtubise, Karen; Rivard, Lisa; Berbari, Jade; Camden, Chantal

2018-01-01

Web platforms are increasingly used to support virtual interactions between members of communities of practice (CoP). However, little is known about how to develop these platforms to support the implementation of best practices for health care professionals. The aim of this article is to explore pediatric physiotherapists' (PTs) perspectives regarding the utility and usability of the characteristic of a web platform developed to support virtual communities of practice (vCoP). This study adopted an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. A web platform supporting the interactions of vCoP members was developed for PTs working with children with developmental coordination disorder. Specific strategies and features were created to support the effectiveness of the platform across three domains: social, information-quality, and system-quality factors. Quantitative data were collected from a cross-sectional survey (n = 41) after 5 months of access to the web platform. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Qualitative data were also collected from semistructured interviews (n = 9), which were coded, interpreted, and analyzed by using Boucher's Web Ergonomics Conceptual Framework. The utility of web platform characteristics targeting the three key domain factors were generally perceived positively by PTs. However, web platform usability issues were noted by PTs, including problems with navigation and information retrieval. Web platform aiming to support vCoP should be carefully developed to target potential users' needs. Whenever possible, users should co-construct the web platform with vCoP developers. Moreover, each of the developed characteristics (eg, newsletter, search function) should be evaluated in terms of utility and usability for the users.

Performance evaluation of the RITG148+ set of TomoTherapy quality assurance tools using RTQA2 radiochromic film.

PubMed

Lobb, Eric C

2016-07-08

Version 6.3 of the RITG148+ software package offers eight automated analysis routines for quality assurance of the TomoTherapy platform. A performance evaluation of each routine was performed in order to compare RITG148+ results with traditionally accepted analysis techniques and verify that simulated changes in machine parameters are correctly identified by the software. Reference films were exposed according to AAPM TG-148 methodology for each routine and the RITG148+ results were compared with either alternative software analysis techniques or manual analysis techniques in order to assess baseline agreement. Changes in machine performance were simulated through translational and rotational adjustments to subsequently irradiated films, and these films were analyzed to verify that the applied changes were accurately detected by each of the RITG148+ routines. For the Hounsfield unit routine, an assessment of the "Frame Averaging" functionality and the effects of phantom roll on the routine results are presented. All RITG148+ routines reported acceptable baseline results consistent with alternative analysis techniques, with 9 of the 11 baseline test results showing agreement of 0.1mm/0.1° or better. Simulated changes were correctly identified by the RITG148+ routines within approximately 0.2 mm/0.2° with the exception of the Field Centervs. Jaw Setting routine, which was found to have limited accuracy in cases where field centers were not aligned for all jaw settings due to inaccurate autorotation of the film during analysis. The performance of the RITG148+ software package was found to be acceptable for introduction into our clinical environment as an automated alternative to traditional analysis techniques for routine TomoTherapy quality assurance testing.

Internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine: current international market, internationalization challenges and prospective suggestions.

PubMed

Lin, Annie Xianghong; Chan, Ging; Hu, Yuanjia; Ouyang, Defang; Ung, Carolina Oi Lam; Shi, Luwen; Hu, Hao

2018-01-01

Through reviewing the current international market for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), this paper identified the internationalization challenges for TCM, including unclear therapeutic material basis and mechanism, difficulty of quality control, low preparation level, registration/policy barriers, and shortage of intellectual property. To deal with these challenges, suggestions were given including: (1) product innovation of TCM (study the TCM by using the methods and means of western medicine; innovate the basic theory of TCM; develop TCM health product); (2) standard innovation of TCM; (3) building big data platform of Chinese medicine (big data platform of TCM preparation; big data platform on the quality of TCM).

The use of vestibular models for design and evaluation of flight simulator motion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bussolari, Steven R.; Young, Laurence R.; Lee, Alfred T.

1989-01-01

Quantitative models for the dynamics of the human vestibular system are applied to the design and evaluation of flight simulator platform motion. An optimal simulator motion control algorithm is generated to minimize the vector difference between perceived spatial orientation estimated in flight and in simulation. The motion controller has been implemented on the Vertical Motion Simulator at NASA Ames Research Center and evaluated experimentally through measurement of pilot performance and subjective rating during VTOL aircraft simulation. In general, pilot performance in a longitudinal tracking task (formation flight) did not appear to be sensitive to variations in platform motion condition as long as motion was present. However, pilot assessment of motion fidelity by means of a rating scale designed for this purpose, were sensitive to motion controller design. Platform motion generated with the optimal motion controller was found to be generally equivalent to that generated by conventional linear crossfeed washout. The vestibular models are used to evaluate the motion fidelity of transport category aircraft (Boeing 727) simulation in a pilot performance and simulator acceptability study at the Man-Vehicle Systems Research Facility at NASA Ames Research Center. Eighteen airline pilots, currently flying B-727, were given a series of flight scenarios in the simulator under various conditions of simulator motion. The scenarios were chosen to reflect the flight maneuvers that these pilots might expect to be given during a routine pilot proficiency check. Pilot performance and subjective rating of simulator fidelity was relatively insensitive to the motion condition, despite large differences in the amplitude of motion provided. This lack of sensitivity may be explained by means of the vestibular models, which predict little difference in the modeled motion sensations of the pilots when different motion conditions are imposed.

Addressing Hydro-economic Modeling Limitations - A Limited Foresight Sacramento Valley Model and an Open-source Modeling Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harou, J. J.; Hansen, K. M.

2008-12-01

Increased scarcity of world water resources is inevitable given the limited supply and increased human pressures. The idea that "some scarcity is optimal" must be accepted for rational resource use and infrastructure management decisions to be made. Hydro-economic systems models are unique at representing the overlap of economic drivers, socio-political forces and distributed water resource systems. They demonstrate the tangible benefits of cooperation and integrated flexible system management. Further improvement of models, quality control practices and software will be needed for these academic policy tools to become accepted into mainstream water resource practice. Promising features include: calibration methods, limited foresight optimization formulations, linked simulation-optimization approaches (e.g. embedding pre-existing calibrated simulation models), spatial groundwater models, stream-aquifer interactions and stream routing, etc.. Conventional user-friendly decision support systems helped spread simulation models on a massive scale. Hydro-economic models must also find a means to facilitate construction, distribution and use. Some of these issues and model features are illustrated with a hydro-economic optimization model of the Sacramento Valley. Carry-over storage value functions are used to limit hydrologic foresight of the multi- period optimization model. Pumping costs are included in the formulation by tracking regional piezometric head of groundwater sub-basins. To help build and maintain this type of network model, an open-source water management modeling software platform is described and initial project work is discussed. The objective is to generically facilitate the connection of models, such as those developed in a modeling environment (GAMS, MatLab, Octave, "), to a geographic user interface (drag and drop node-link network) and a database (topology, parameters and time series). These features aim to incrementally move hydro- economic models in the direction of more practical implementation.

WE-B-BRD-00: MRI for Radiation Oncology

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

NONE

The use of MRI in radiation therapy is rapidly increasing. Applications vary from the MRI simulator, to the MRI fused with CT, and to the integrated MRI+RT system. Compared with the standard MRI QA, a broader scope of QA features has to be defined in order to maximize the benefits of using MRI in radiation therapy. These QA features include geometric fidelity, image registration, motion management, cross-system alignment, and hardware interference. Advanced MRI techniques require a specific type of QA, as they are being widely used in radiation therapy planning, dose calculations, post-implant dosimetry, and prognoses. A vigorous and adaptivemore » QA program is crucial to defining the responsibility of the entire radiation therapy group and detecting deviations from the performance of high-quality treatment. As a drastic departure from CT simulation, MRI simulation requires changes in the work flow of treatment planning and image guidance. MRI guided radiotherapy platforms are being developed and commercialized to take the advantage of the advance in knowledge, technology and clinical experience. This symposium will from an educational perspective discuss the scope and specific issues related to MRI guided radiotherapy. Learning Objectives: Understand the difference between a standard and a radiotherapy-specific MRI QA program. Understand the effects of MRI artifacts (geometric distortion and motion) on radiotherapy. Understand advanced MRI techniques (ultrashort echo, fast MRI including dynamic MRI and 4DMRI, diffusion, perfusion, and MRS) and related QA. Understand the methods to prepare MRI for treatment planning (electron density assignment, multimodality image registration, segmentation and motion management). Current status of MRI guided treatment platforms. Dr. Jihong Wang has a research grant with Elekta-MRL project. Dr. Ke Sheng receives research grants from Varian Medical systems.« less

Cloud computing and validation of expandable in silico livers

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background In Silico Livers (ISLs) are works in progress. They are used to challenge multilevel, multi-attribute, mechanistic hypotheses about the hepatic disposition of xenobiotics coupled with hepatic responses. To enhance ISL-to-liver mappings, we added discrete time metabolism, biliary elimination, and bolus dosing features to a previously validated ISL and initiated re-validated experiments that required scaling experiments to use more simulated lobules than previously, more than could be achieved using the local cluster technology. Rather than dramatically increasing the size of our local cluster we undertook the re-validation experiments using the Amazon EC2 cloud platform. So doing required demonstrating the efficacy of scaling a simulation to use more cluster nodes and assessing the scientific equivalence of local cluster validation experiments with those executed using the cloud platform. Results The local cluster technology was duplicated in the Amazon EC2 cloud platform. Synthetic modeling protocols were followed to identify a successful parameterization. Experiment sample sizes (number of simulated lobules) on both platforms were 49, 70, 84, and 152 (cloud only). Experimental indistinguishability was demonstrated for ISL outflow profiles of diltiazem using both platforms for experiments consisting of 84 or more samples. The process was analogous to demonstration of results equivalency from two different wet-labs. Conclusions The results provide additional evidence that disposition simulations using ISLs can cover the behavior space of liver experiments in distinct experimental contexts (there is in silico-to-wet-lab phenotype similarity). The scientific value of experimenting with multiscale biomedical models has been limited to research groups with access to computer clusters. The availability of cloud technology coupled with the evidence of scientific equivalency has lowered the barrier and will greatly facilitate model sharing as well as provide straightforward tools for scaling simulations to encompass greater detail with no extra investment in hardware. PMID:21129207

DoctorEye: A clinically driven multifunctional platform, for accurate processing of tumors in medical images.

PubMed

Skounakis, Emmanouil; Farmaki, Christina; Sakkalis, Vangelis; Roniotis, Alexandros; Banitsas, Konstantinos; Graf, Norbert; Marias, Konstantinos

2010-01-01

This paper presents a novel, open access interactive platform for 3D medical image analysis, simulation and visualization, focusing in oncology images. The platform was developed through constant interaction and feedback from expert clinicians integrating a thorough analysis of their requirements while having an ultimate goal of assisting in accurately delineating tumors. It allows clinicians not only to work with a large number of 3D tomographic datasets but also to efficiently annotate multiple regions of interest in the same session. Manual and semi-automatic segmentation techniques combined with integrated correction tools assist in the quick and refined delineation of tumors while different users can add different components related to oncology such as tumor growth and simulation algorithms for improving therapy planning. The platform has been tested by different users and over large number of heterogeneous tomographic datasets to ensure stability, usability, extensibility and robustness with promising results. the platform, a manual and tutorial videos are available at: http://biomodeling.ics.forth.gr. it is free to use under the GNU General Public License.

Virtual reality in neurosurgical education: part-task ventriculostomy simulation with dynamic visual and haptic feedback.

PubMed

Lemole, G Michael; Banerjee, P Pat; Luciano, Cristian; Neckrysh, Sergey; Charbel, Fady T

2007-07-01

Mastery of the neurosurgical skill set involves many hours of supervised intraoperative training. Convergence of political, economic, and social forces has limited neurosurgical resident operative exposure. There is need to develop realistic neurosurgical simulations that reproduce the operative experience, unrestricted by time and patient safety constraints. Computer-based, virtual reality platforms offer just such a possibility. The combination of virtual reality with dynamic, three-dimensional stereoscopic visualization, and haptic feedback technologies makes realistic procedural simulation possible. Most neurosurgical procedures can be conceptualized and segmented into critical task components, which can be simulated independently or in conjunction with other modules to recreate the experience of a complex neurosurgical procedure. We use the ImmersiveTouch (ImmersiveTouch, Inc., Chicago, IL) virtual reality platform, developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago, to simulate the task of ventriculostomy catheter placement as a proof-of-concept. Computed tomographic data are used to create a virtual anatomic volume. Haptic feedback offers simulated resistance and relaxation with passage of a virtual three-dimensional ventriculostomy catheter through the brain parenchyma into the ventricle. A dynamic three-dimensional graphical interface renders changing visual perspective as the user's head moves. The simulation platform was found to have realistic visual, tactile, and handling characteristics, as assessed by neurosurgical faculty, residents, and medical students. We have developed a realistic, haptics-based virtual reality simulator for neurosurgical education. Our first module recreates a critical component of the ventriculostomy placement task. This approach to task simulation can be assembled in a modular manner to reproduce entire neurosurgical procedures.

Kinesthetic control simulator. [for pilot training

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, P. R.; Thomas, D. F., Jr. (Inventor)

1975-01-01

A kinesthetic control simulator is reported that has a flat base upon which rests a support structure having a lower spherical surface for rotation on the base plate with columns which support a platform above the support structure at a desired location with respect to the center of curvature of the spherical surface. A handrail is at approximately the elevation of the hips of the operator above the platform with a ring attached to the support structure which may be used to limit the angle of tilt. Five degree freedom-of-motion can be obtained by utilizing an air pad structure for support of the control simulator.

An actuator extension transformation for a motion simulator and an inverse transformation applying Newton-Raphson's method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dieudonne, J. E.

1972-01-01

A set of equations which transform position and angular orientation of the centroid of the payload platform of a six-degree-of-freedom motion simulator into extensions of the simulator's actuators has been derived and is based on a geometrical representation of the system. An iterative scheme, Newton-Raphson's method, has been successfully used in a real time environment in the calculation of the position and angular orientation of the centroid of the payload platform when the magnitude of the actuator extensions is known. Sufficient accuracy is obtained by using only one Newton-Raphson iteration per integration step of the real time environment.

Scalable and massively parallel Monte Carlo photon transport simulations for heterogeneous computing platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Leiming; Nina-Paravecino, Fanny; Kaeli, David; Fang, Qianqian

2018-01-01

We present a highly scalable Monte Carlo (MC) three-dimensional photon transport simulation platform designed for heterogeneous computing systems. Through the development of a massively parallel MC algorithm using the Open Computing Language framework, this research extends our existing graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated MC technique to a highly scalable vendor-independent heterogeneous computing environment, achieving significantly improved performance and software portability. A number of parallel computing techniques are investigated to achieve portable performance over a wide range of computing hardware. Furthermore, multiple thread-level and device-level load-balancing strategies are developed to obtain efficient simulations using multiple central processing units and GPUs.

Dynamic Systems for Individual Tracking via Heterogeneous Information Integration and Crowd Source Distributed Simulation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-04

51   6.6   Power Consumption: Communications ...simulations executing on mobile computing platforms, an area not widely studied to date in the distributed simulation research community . A...simulation community . These initial studies focused on two conservative synchronization algorithms widely used in the distributed simulation field

Application of the Environmental Sensation Learning Vehicle Simulation Platform in Virtual Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Kuei-Shu; Jiang, Jinn-Feng; Wei, Hung-Yuan; Lee, Tsung-Han

2016-01-01

The use of simulation technologies in learning has received considerable attention in recent years, but few studies to date have focused on vehicle driving simulation systems. In this study, a vehicle driving simulation system was developed to support novice drivers in practicing their skills. Specifically, the vehicle driving simulation system…

Performance assessment of future thermal infrared geostationary instruments to monitor air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sellitto, P.; Dauphin, P.; Dufour, G.; Eremenko, M.; Cuesta, J.; Coman, A.; Forêt, G.; Beekmann, M.; Gaubert, B.; Flaud, J.-M.

2012-04-01

Air quality (AQ) has a recognized onerous impact on human health and the environment, and then on society. It is more and more clear that constantly and efficiently monitoring AQ from space is a valuable step forward towards a more thorough comprehension of pollution processes that can have a relevant impact on the biosphere. In recent years, important progresses in this field have been made, e.g., reliable observations of several pollutants have been obtained, proving the feasibility of monitoring atmospheric composition from space. In this sense, low Earth orbit (LEO) thermal infrared (TIR) space-borne instruments are widely regarded as a useful tool to observe targeted AQ parameters like tropospheric ozone concentrations [1]. However, limitations remain with the current observation systems in particular to observe ozone in the lowermost troposphere (LmT) with a spatial and temporal resolution relevant for monitoring pollution processes at the regional scale. Indeed, LEO instruments are not well adapted to monitor small scale and short term phenomena, owing to their unsatisfactory revisit time. From this point of view, a more satisfactory concept might be based on geostationary (GEO) platforms. Current and planned GEO missions are mainly tailored on meteorological parameters retrieval and do not have sufficient spectral resolutions and signal to noise ratios (SNR) to infer information on trace gases in the LmT. New satellite missions are currently proposed that can partly overcome these limitations. Here we present a group of simulation exercises and sensitivity analyses to set-up future TIR GEO missions adapted to monitor and forecast AQ over Europe, and to evaluate their technical requirements. At this aim, we have developed a general simulator to produce pseudo-observations for different platform/instrument configurations. The core of this simulator is the KOPRA radiative transfer model, including the KOPRAfit inversion module [2]. Note that to assess the impact of the different instruments on the analyses and forecasts of AQ by means of models, our simulator can be coupled with the chemistry and transport model CHIMERE to conduct observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs). Using our simulator, we have produced pseudo-observations for targeted sensors including some potential and planned future GEO instruments like MTG-IRS and MAGEAQ. In order to achieve the best performances that can be obtained from TIR instruments, we applied an altitude-dependent Tikhonov-Philips retrieval algorithm optimized to maximize the information retrieved from the lower troposphere. This algorithm has already demonstrated powerful performances to retrieve lower tropospheric ozone and to detect pollution events [1]. Finally, a detailed analysis of the pseudo-observations has allowed quantifying the added-value brought by the MAGEAQ TIR instrument to resolve LmT geographical patterns and temporal trends of ozone. The results are critically discussed.

Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE): A Platform for the Simulation of Light Propagation in Turbid Media

PubMed Central

Ren, Shenghan; Chen, Xueli; Wang, Hailong; Qu, Xiaochao; Wang, Ge; Liang, Jimin; Tian, Jie

2013-01-01

The study of light propagation in turbid media has attracted extensive attention in the field of biomedical optical molecular imaging. In this paper, we present a software platform for the simulation of light propagation in turbid media named the “Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE)”. Based on the gold standard of the Monte Carlo method, MOSE simulates light propagation both in tissues with complicated structures and through free-space. In particular, MOSE synthesizes realistic data for bioluminescence tomography (BLT), fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT), and diffuse optical tomography (DOT). The user-friendly interface and powerful visualization tools facilitate data analysis and system evaluation. As a major measure for resource sharing and reproducible research, MOSE aims to provide freeware for research and educational institutions, which can be downloaded at http://www.mosetm.net. PMID:23577215

Gamification and Multimedia for Medical Education: A Landscape Review.

PubMed

McCoy, Lise; Lewis, Joy H; Dalton, David

2016-01-01

Medical education is rapidly evolving. Students enter medical school with a high level of technological literacy and an expectation for instructional variety in the curriculum. In response, many medical schools now incorporate technology-enhanced active learning and multimedia education applications. Education games, medical mobile applications, and virtual patient simulations are together termed gamified training platforms. To review available literature for the benefits of using gamified training platforms for medical education (both preclinical and clinical) and training. Also, to identify platforms suitable for these purposes with links to multimedia content. Peer-reviewed literature, commercially published media, and grey literature were searched to compile an archive of recently published scientific evaluations of gamified training platforms for medical education. Specific educational games, mobile applications, and virtual simulations useful for preclinical and clinical training were identified and categorized. Available evidence was summarized as it related to potential educational advantages of the identified platforms for medical education. Overall, improved learning outcomes have been demonstrated with virtual patient simulations. Games have the potential to promote learning, increase engagement, allow for real-word application, and enhance collaboration. They can also provide opportunities for risk-free clinical decision making, distance training, learning analytics, and swift feedback. A total of 5 electronic games and 4 mobile applications were identified for preclinical training, and 5 electronic games, 10 mobile applications, and 12 virtual patient simulation tools were identified for clinical training. Nine additional gamified, virtual environment training tools not commercially available were also identified. Many published studies suggest possible benefits from using gamified media in medical curriculum. This is a rapidly growing field. More research is required to rigorously evaluate the specific educational benefits of these interventions. This archive of hyperlinked tools can be used as a resource for all levels of medical trainees, providers, and educators.

An Innovative 6-DOF Platform for Testing a Space Robotic System to Perform Contact Tasks in Zero-Gravity Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-21

Platform for Testing a Space Robotic System to Perform Contact Tasks in Zero- Gravity Environment 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER FA9453-11-1-0306 5b...SUBJECT TERMS Microgravity, zero gravity , test platform, simulation, gravity offloading 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT...4  3.3  Principle of Gravity Offloading

Monitoring surface water quality using social media in the context of citizen science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Hang; Hong, Yang; Long, Di; Jing, Hua

2017-02-01

Surface water quality monitoring (SWQM) provides essential information for water environmental protection. However, SWQM is costly and limited in terms of equipment and sites. The global popularity of social media and intelligent mobile devices with GPS and photography functions allows citizens to monitor surface water quality. This study aims to propose a method for SWQM using social media platforms. Specifically, a WeChat-based application platform is built to collect water quality reports from volunteers, which have been proven valuable for water quality monitoring. The methods for data screening and volunteer recruitment are discussed based on the collected reports. The proposed methods provide a framework for collecting water quality data from citizens and offer a primary foundation for big data analysis in future research.

Low-cost real-time 3D PC distributed-interactive-simulation (DIS) application for C4I

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonthier, David L.; Veron, Harry

1998-04-01

A 3D Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) application was developed and demonstrated in a PC environment. The application is capable of running in the stealth mode or as a player which includes battlefield simulations, such as ModSAF. PCs can be clustered together, but not necessarily collocated, to run a simulation or training exercise on their own. A 3D perspective view of the battlefield is displayed that includes terrain, trees, buildings and other objects supported by the DIS application. Screen update rates of 15 to 20 frames per second have been achieved with fully lit and textured scenes thus providing high quality and fast graphics. A complete PC system can be configured for under $2,500. The software runs under Windows95 and WindowsNT. It is written in C++ and uses a commercial API called RenderWare for 3D rendering. The software uses Microsoft Foundation classes and Microsoft DirectPlay for joystick input. The RenderWare libraries enhance the performance through optimization for MMX and the Pentium Pro processor. The RenderWare and the Righteous 3D graphics board from Orchid Technologies with an advertised rendering rate of up to 2 million texture mapped triangles per second. A low-cost PC DIS simulator that can partake in a real-time collaborative simulation with other platforms is thus achieved.

Simulator fidelity requirements : the case of platform motion

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-05-01

Today, the use of airplane simulators in pilot training and evaluation is universal. Simulators not only enable savings in training cost, but they have also practically eliminated training accidents for major airlines. They allow the training of emer...

METABOLISM AND METABOLIC ACTIVATION OF CHEMICALS: IN-SILICO SIMULATION

EPA Science Inventory

The role of metabolism in prioritizing chemicals according to their potential adverse health effects is extremely important because innocuous parents can be transformed into toxic metabolites. This work presents the TIssue MEtabolism Simulator (TIMES) platform for simulating met...

An e-Health Platform for the Elderly Population: The Butler System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Etchemendy, E.; Banos, R. M.; Botella, C.; Castilla, D.; Alcaniz, M.; Rasal, P.; Farfallini, L.

2011-01-01

The Butler system is an e-health platform designed to improve the elderly population's quality of life. The Butler system has three applications diagnostic, therapeutic and playful. The objective of this work is to present the influence of the use of the platform on elderly users' mood states and the degree of acceptance. These measures were…

Integrating Training Simulations and e-Learning Systems: The SimSCORM Platform (Integratie van Training Simulaties en e-Learning Systemen: Het SimSCORM Platform)

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-01

SimSCORM Opdrachtnummer Trainingsconcepten voor Defensie Datum Programmanummer Projectnummer juli 2008 V406 032.13224 Auteur (s) ir H.L.H. de Penning...simulators can provide learners with powerful and realistic learning environments: whereas e-learning systems provide them with interactive, mostly theory ...practice and theory , in both learning and evaluation, is becoming increasingly important. From a learner’s point of view, a powerful learning environment

Performance simulation in high altitude platforms (HAPs) communications systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulloa-Vásquez, Fernando; Delgado-Penin, J. A.

2002-07-01

This paper considers the analysis by simulation of a digital narrowband communication system for an scenario which consists of a High-Altitude aeronautical Platform (HAP) and fixed/mobile terrestrial transceivers. The aeronautical channel is modelled considering geometrical (angle of elevation vs. horizontal distance of the terrestrial reflectors) and statistical arguments and under these circumstances a serial concatenated coded digital transmission is analysed for several hypothesis related to radio-electric coverage areas. The results indicate a good feasibility for the communication system proposed and analysed.

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Surface Warfare (SUW) Module: Determining the Surface-To-Surface Missile and Air-To-Surface Missile Mix

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

agent-based modeling platform known as MANA. The simulation is exercised over a broad range of different weapon systems types with their capabilities...Navy B.A., University of Florida, 2004 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MODELING ...aerial vehicle (UAV) will have. This study uses freely available data to build a simulation utilizing an agent-based modeling platform known as MANA

FLAME: A platform for high performance computing of complex systems, applied for three case studies

DOE PAGES

Kiran, Mariam; Bicak, Mesude; Maleki-Dizaji, Saeedeh; ...

2011-01-01

FLAME allows complex models to be automatically parallelised on High Performance Computing (HPC) grids enabling large number of agents to be simulated over short periods of time. Modellers are hindered by complexities of porting models on parallel platforms and time taken to run large simulations on a single machine, which FLAME overcomes. Three case studies from different disciplines were modelled using FLAME, and are presented along with their performance results on a grid.

Xyce parallel electronic simulator : users' guide.

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

Mei, Ting; Rankin, Eric Lamont; Thornquist, Heidi K.

2011-05-01

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: (1) Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). Note that this includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers; (2) Improved performance for all numerical kernels (e.g., time integrator, nonlinear and linear solvers) through state-of-the-artmore » algorithms and novel techniques. (3) Device models which are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiation-aware devices (for Sandia users only); and (4) Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices that ensure that the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator will be maintainable and extensible far into the future. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase - a message passing parallel implementation - which allows it to run efficiently on the widest possible number of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel as well as heterogeneous platforms. Careful attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows. The development of Xyce provides a platform for computational research and development aimed specifically at the needs of the Laboratory. With Xyce, Sandia has an 'in-house' capability with which both new electrical (e.g., device model development) and algorithmic (e.g., faster time-integration methods, parallel solver algorithms) research and development can be performed. As a result, Xyce is a unique electrical simulation capability, designed to meet the unique needs of the laboratory.« less

Modeling DNP3 Traffic Characteristics of Field Devices in SCADA Systems of the Smart Grid

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

Yang, Huan; Cheng, Liang; Chuah, Mooi Choo

In the generation, transmission, and distribution sectors of the smart grid, intelligence of field devices is realized by programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Many smart-grid subsystems are essentially cyber-physical energy systems (CPES): For instance, the power system process (i.e., the physical part) within a substation is monitored and controlled by a SCADA network with hosts running miscellaneous applications (i.e., the cyber part). To study the interactions between the cyber and physical components of a CPES, several co-simulation platforms have been proposed. However, the network simulators/emulators of these platforms do not include a detailed traffic model that takes into account the impactsmore » of the execution model of PLCs on traffic characteristics. As a result, network traces generated by co-simulation only reveal the impacts of the physical process on the contents of the traffic generated by SCADA hosts, whereas the distinction between PLCs and computing nodes (e.g., a hardened computer running a process visualization application) has been overlooked. To generate realistic network traces using co-simulation for the design and evaluation of applications relying on accurate traffic profiles, it is necessary to establish a traffic model for PLCs. In this work, we propose a parameterized model for PLCs that can be incorporated into existing co-simulation platforms. We focus on the DNP3 subsystem of slave PLCs, which automates the processing of packets from the DNP3 master. To validate our approach, we extract model parameters from both the configuration and network traces of real PLCs. Simulated network traces are generated and compared against those from PLCs. Our evaluation shows that our proposed model captures the essential traffic characteristics of DNP3 slave PLCs, which can be used to extend existing co-simulation platforms and gain further insights into the behaviors of CPES.« less

Development of the McGill simulator for endoscopic sinus surgery: a new high-fidelity virtual reality simulator for endoscopic sinus surgery.

PubMed

Varshney, Rickul; Frenkiel, Saul; Nguyen, Lily H P; Young, Meredith; Del Maestro, Rolando; Zeitouni, Anthony; Tewfik, Marc A

2014-01-01

The technical challenges of endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) and the high risk of complications support the development of alternative modalities to train residents in these procedures. Virtual reality simulation is becoming a useful tool for training the skills necessary for minimally invasive surgery; however, there are currently no ESS virtual reality simulators available with valid evidence supporting their use in resident education. Our aim was to develop a new rhinology simulator, as well as to define potential performance metrics for trainee assessment. The McGill simulator for endoscopic sinus surgery (MSESS), a new sinus surgery virtual reality simulator with haptic feedback, was developed (a collaboration between the McGill University Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the Montreal Neurologic Institute Simulation Lab, and the National Research Council of Canada). A panel of experts in education, performance assessment, rhinology, and skull base surgery convened to identify core technical abilities that would need to be taught by the simulator, as well as performance metrics to be developed and captured. The MSESS allows the user to perform basic sinus surgery skills, such as an ethmoidectomy and sphenoidotomy, through the use of endoscopic tools in a virtual nasal model. The performance metrics were developed by an expert panel and include measurements of safety, quality, and efficiency of the procedure. The MSESS incorporates novel technological advancements to create a realistic platform for trainees. To our knowledge, this is the first simulator to combine novel tools such as the endonasal wash and elaborate anatomic deformity with advanced performance metrics for ESS.

The Design and Semi-Physical Simulation Test of Fault-Tolerant Controller for Aero Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuan; Zhang, Xin; Zhang, Tianhong

2017-11-01

A new fault-tolerant control method for aero engine is proposed, which can accurately diagnose the sensor fault by Kalman filter banks and reconstruct the signal by real-time on-board adaptive model combing with a simplified real-time model and an improved Kalman filter. In order to verify the feasibility of the method proposed, a semi-physical simulation experiment has been carried out. Besides the real I/O interfaces, controller hardware and the virtual plant model, semi-physical simulation system also contains real fuel system. Compared with the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation, semi-physical simulation system has a higher degree of confidence. In order to meet the needs of semi-physical simulation, a rapid prototyping controller with fault-tolerant control ability based on NI CompactRIO platform is designed and verified on the semi-physical simulation test platform. The result shows that the controller can realize the aero engine control safely and reliably with little influence on controller performance in the event of fault on sensor.

Computational high-resolution heart phantoms for medical imaging and dosimetry simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Songxiang; Gupta, Rajiv; Kyprianou, Iacovos

2011-09-01

Cardiovascular disease in general and coronary artery disease (CAD) in particular, are the leading cause of death worldwide. They are principally diagnosed using either invasive percutaneous transluminal coronary angiograms or non-invasive computed tomography angiograms (CTA). Minimally invasive therapies for CAD such as angioplasty and stenting are rendered under fluoroscopic guidance. Both invasive and non-invasive imaging modalities employ ionizing radiation and there is concern for deterministic and stochastic effects of radiation. Accurate simulation to optimize image quality with minimal radiation dose requires detailed, gender-specific anthropomorphic phantoms with anatomically correct heart and associated vasculature. Such phantoms are currently unavailable. This paper describes an open source heart phantom development platform based on a graphical user interface. Using this platform, we have developed seven high-resolution cardiac/coronary artery phantoms for imaging and dosimetry from seven high-quality CTA datasets. To extract a phantom from a coronary CTA, the relationship between the intensity distribution of the myocardium, the ventricles and the coronary arteries is identified via histogram analysis of the CTA images. By further refining the segmentation using anatomy-specific criteria such as vesselness, connectivity criteria required by the coronary tree and image operations such as active contours, we are able to capture excellent detail within our phantoms. For example, in one of the female heart phantoms, as many as 100 coronary artery branches could be identified. Triangular meshes are fitted to segmented high-resolution CTA data. We have also developed a visualization tool for adding stenotic lesions to the coronaries. The male and female heart phantoms generated so far have been cross-registered and entered in the mesh-based Virtual Family of phantoms with matched age/gender information. Any phantom in this family, along with user-defined stenoses, can be used to obtain clinically realistic projection images with the Monte Carlo code penMesh for optimizing imaging and dosimetry.

Integrated Metamaterials and Nanophotonics in CMOS-Compatible Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reshef, Orad

This thesis explores scalable nanophotonic devices in integrated, CMOS-compatible platforms. Our investigation focuses on two main projects: studying the material properties of integrated titanium dioxide (TiO2), and studying integrated metamaterials in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technologies. We first describe the nanofabrication process for TiO2 photonic integrated circuits. We use this procedure to demonstrate polycrystalline anatase TiO2 ring resonators with high quality factors. We measure the thermo-optic coefficient of TiO2 and determine that it is negative, a unique property among CMOS-compatible dielectric photonic platforms. We also derive a transfer function for ring resonators in the presence of reflections and demonstrate using full-wave simulations that these reflections produce asymmetries in the resonances. For the second half of the dissertation, we design and demonstrate an SOI-based photonic-Dirac-cone metamaterial. Using a prism composed of this metamaterial, we measure its index of refraction and unambiguously determine that it is zero. Next, we take a single channel of this metamaterial to form a waveguide. Using interferometry, we independently confirm that the waveguide in this configuration preserves the dispersion profile of the aggregate medium, with a zero phase advance. We also characterize the waveguide, determining its propagation loss. Finally, we perform simulations to study nonlinear optical phenomena in zero-index media. We find that an isotropic refractive index near zero relaxes certain phase-matching constraints, allowing for more flexible configurations of nonlinear devices with dramatically reduced footprints. The outcomes of this work enable higher quality fabrication of scalable nanophotonic devices for use in nonlinear applications with passive temperature compensation. These devices are CMOS-compatible and can be integrated vertically for compact, device-dense industrial applications. It also provides access to a versatile, scalable and integrated medium with a refractive index that can be continuously engineered between n = -0.20 and n = +0.50. This opens the door to applications in high-precision interferometry, sensing, quantum information technologies and compact nonlinear applications.

Design of the e-Vita diabetes mellitus study: effects and use of an interactive online care platform in patients with type 2 diabetes (e-VitaDM-1/ZODIAC-40)

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Due to ongoing rise in need for care for people with chronic diseases and lagging increase in number of care providers, alternative forms of care provision and self-management support are needed. Empowering patients through an online care platform could help to improve patients’ self-management and reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Methods Access to laboratory results and educational modules on diabetes will be offered through a platform for subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus treated in primary care. Differences in socio-demographic and clinical characteristics between subjects expressing interest vs. disinterest to use the platform will be explored. Platform usage will be tracked and compared. Patient satisfaction and quality of life will be measured by validated questionnaires and economic analyses will be performed. Discussion This study is designed to assess the feasibility of use of an online platform in routine primary healthcare for subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Netherlands, and to study effects of use of the platform on treatment satisfaction, quality of life and clinical parameters. Although providing access to a online platform is not a novel intervention, usage and effects have not yet been studied in this patient population. Trial registration Trial registration: NCT01570140. PMID:24593656

Xyce parallel electronic simulator users guide, version 6.1

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

Keiter, Eric R; Mei, Ting; Russo, Thomas V.

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas; Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). This includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers; A differential-algebraic-equation (DAE) formulation, which better isolates the device model package from solver algorithms. This allows one to developmore » new types of analysis without requiring the implementation of analysis-specific device models; Device models that are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiationaware devices (for Sandia users only); and Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase-a message passing parallel implementation-which allows it to run efficiently a wide range of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel platforms. Attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows.« less

Xyce parallel electronic simulator users' guide, Version 6.0.1.

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

Keiter, Eric R; Mei, Ting; Russo, Thomas V.

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). This includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers. A differential-algebraic-equation (DAE) formulation, which better isolates the device model package from solver algorithms. This allows one to developmore » new types of analysis without requiring the implementation of analysis-specific device models. Device models that are specifically tailored to meet Sandias needs, including some radiationaware devices (for Sandia users only). Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase a message passing parallel implementation which allows it to run efficiently a wide range of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel platforms. Attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows.« less

Xyce parallel electronic simulator users guide, version 6.0.

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

Keiter, Eric R; Mei, Ting; Russo, Thomas V.

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). This includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers. A differential-algebraic-equation (DAE) formulation, which better isolates the device model package from solver algorithms. This allows one to developmore » new types of analysis without requiring the implementation of analysis-specific device models. Device models that are specifically tailored to meet Sandias needs, including some radiationaware devices (for Sandia users only). Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase a message passing parallel implementation which allows it to run efficiently a wide range of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel platforms. Attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows.« less

Outcomes of a virtual-reality simulator-training programme on basic surgical skills in robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery.

PubMed

Phé, Véronique; Cattarino, Susanna; Parra, Jérôme; Bitker, Marc-Olivier; Ambrogi, Vanina; Vaessen, Christophe; Rouprêt, Morgan

2017-06-01

The utility of the virtual-reality robotic simulator in training programmes has not been clearly evaluated. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of a virtual-reality robotic simulator-training programme on basic surgical skills. A simulator-training programme in robotic surgery, using the da Vinci Skills Simulator, was evaluated in a population including junior and seasoned surgeons, and non-physicians. Their performances on robotic dots and suturing-skin pod platforms before and after virtual-simulation training were rated anonymously by surgeons experienced in robotics. 39 participants were enrolled: 14 medical students and residents in surgery, 14 seasoned surgeons, 11 non-physicians. Junior and seasoned surgeons' performances on platforms were not significantly improved after virtual-reality robotic simulation in any of the skill domains, in contrast to non-physicians. The benefits of virtual-reality simulator training on several tasks to basic skills in robotic surgery were not obvious among surgeons in our initial and early experience with the simulator. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Simulation and experimental research of 1MWe solar tower power plant in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Qiang; Wang, Zhifeng; Xu, Ershu

2016-05-01

The establishment of a reliable simulation system for a solar tower power plant can greatly increase the economic and safety performance of the whole system. In this paper, a dynamic model of the 1MWe Solar Tower Power Plant at Badaling in Beijing is developed based on the "STAR-90" simulation platform, including the heliostat field, the central receiver system (water/steam), etc. The dynamic behavior of the global CSP plant can be simulated. In order to verify the validity of simulation system, a complete experimental process was synchronously simulated by repeating the same operating steps based on the simulation platform, including the locations and number of heliostats, the mass flow of the feed water, etc. According to the simulation and experimental results, some important parameters are taken out to make a deep comparison. The results show that there is good alignment between the simulations and the experimental results and that the error range can be acceptable considering the error of the models. In the end, a comprehensive and deep analysis on the error source is carried out according to the comparative results.

Measurement of baseline and orientation between distributed aerospace platforms.

PubMed

Wang, Wen-Qin

2013-01-01

Distributed platforms play an important role in aerospace remote sensing, radar navigation, and wireless communication applications. However, besides the requirement of high accurate time and frequency synchronization for coherent signal processing, the baseline between the transmitting platform and receiving platform and the orientation of platform towards each other during data recording must be measured in real time. In this paper, we propose an improved pulsed duplex microwave ranging approach, which allows determining the spatial baseline and orientation between distributed aerospace platforms by the proposed high-precision time-interval estimation method. This approach is novel in the sense that it cancels the effect of oscillator frequency synchronization errors due to separate oscillators that are used in the platforms. Several performance specifications are also discussed. The effectiveness of the approach is verified by simulation results.

Analysis of Aurora's Performance Simulation Engine for Three Systems

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

Freeman, Janine; Simon, Joseph

2015-07-07

Aurora Solar Inc. is building a cloud-based optimization platform to automate the design, engineering, and permit generation process of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations. They requested that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) validate the performance of the PV system performance simulation engine of Aurora Solar’s solar design platform, Aurora. In previous work, NREL performed a validation of multiple other PV modeling tools 1, so this study builds upon that work by examining all of the same fixed-tilt systems with available module datasheets that NREL selected and used in the aforementioned study. Aurora Solar set up these three operating PV systemsmore » in their modeling platform using NREL-provided system specifications and concurrent weather data. NREL then verified the setup of these systems, ran the simulations, and compared the Aurora-predicted performance data to measured performance data for those three systems, as well as to performance data predicted by other PV modeling tools.« less

Cyber-Physical Test Platform for Microgrids: Combining Hardware, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and Network-Simulator-in-the-Loop

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

Nelson, Austin; Chakraborty, Sudipta; Wang, Dexin

This paper presents a cyber-physical testbed, developed to investigate the complex interactions between emerging microgrid technologies such as grid-interactive power sources, control systems, and a wide variety of communication platforms and bandwidths. The cyber-physical testbed consists of three major components for testing and validation: real time models of a distribution feeder model with microgrid assets that are integrated into the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) platform; real-time capable network-simulator-in-the-loop (NSIL) models; and physical hardware including inverters and a simple system controller. Several load profiles and microgrid configurations were tested to examine the effect on system performance withmore » increasing channel delays and router processing delays in the network simulator. Testing demonstrated that the controller's ability to maintain a target grid import power band was severely diminished with increasing network delays and laid the foundation for future testing of more complex cyber-physical systems.« less

The dynamic cardiac biosimulator: A method for training physicians in beating-heart mitral valve repair procedures.

PubMed

Leopaldi, Alberto M; Wrobel, Krzysztof; Speziali, Giovanni; van Tuijl, Sjoerd; Drasutiene, Agne; Chitwood, W Randolph

2018-01-01

Previously, cardiac surgeons and cardiologists learned to operate new clinical devices for the first time in the operating room or catheterization laboratory. We describe a biosimulator that recapitulates normal heart valve physiology with associated real-time hemodynamic performance. To highlight the advantages of this simulation platform, transventricular extruded polytetrafluoroethylene artificial chordae were attached to repair flail or prolapsing mitral valve leaflets. Guidance for key repair steps was by 2-dimensional/3-dimensional echocardiography and simultaneous intracardiac videoscopy. Multiple surgeons have assessed the use of this biosimulator during artificial chordae implantations. This simulation platform recapitulates normal and pathologic mitral valve function with associated hemodynamic changes. Clinical situations were replicated in the simulator and echocardiography was used for navigation, followed by videoscopic confirmation. This beating heart biosimulator reproduces prolapsing mitral leaflet pathology. It may be the ideal platform for surgeon and cardiologist training on many transcatheter and beating heart procedures. Copyright © 2017 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

Automated DNA extraction platforms offer solutions to challenges of assessing microbial biofouling in oil production facilities.

PubMed

Oldham, Athenia L; Drilling, Heather S; Stamps, Blake W; Stevenson, Bradley S; Duncan, Kathleen E

2012-11-20

The analysis of microbial assemblages in industrial, marine, and medical systems can inform decisions regarding quality control or mitigation. Modern molecular approaches to detect, characterize, and quantify microorganisms provide rapid and thorough measures unbiased by the need for cultivation. The requirement of timely extraction of high quality nucleic acids for molecular analysis is faced with specific challenges when used to study the influence of microorganisms on oil production. Production facilities are often ill equipped for nucleic acid extraction techniques, making the preservation and transportation of samples off-site a priority. As a potential solution, the possibility of extracting nucleic acids on-site using automated platforms was tested. The performance of two such platforms, the Fujifilm QuickGene-Mini80™ and Promega Maxwell®16 was compared to a widely used manual extraction kit, MOBIO PowerBiofilm™ DNA Isolation Kit, in terms of ease of operation, DNA quality, and microbial community composition. Three pipeline biofilm samples were chosen for these comparisons; two contained crude oil and corrosion products and the third transported seawater. Overall, the two more automated extraction platforms produced higher DNA yields than the manual approach. DNA quality was evaluated for amplification by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and end-point PCR to generate 454 pyrosequencing libraries for 16S rRNA microbial community analysis. Microbial community structure, as assessed by DGGE analysis and pyrosequencing, was comparable among the three extraction methods. Therefore, the use of automated extraction platforms should enhance the feasibility of rapidly evaluating microbial biofouling at remote locations or those with limited resources.

Automated DNA extraction platforms offer solutions to challenges of assessing microbial biofouling in oil production facilities

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

The analysis of microbial assemblages in industrial, marine, and medical systems can inform decisions regarding quality control or mitigation. Modern molecular approaches to detect, characterize, and quantify microorganisms provide rapid and thorough measures unbiased by the need for cultivation. The requirement of timely extraction of high quality nucleic acids for molecular analysis is faced with specific challenges when used to study the influence of microorganisms on oil production. Production facilities are often ill equipped for nucleic acid extraction techniques, making the preservation and transportation of samples off-site a priority. As a potential solution, the possibility of extracting nucleic acids on-site using automated platforms was tested. The performance of two such platforms, the Fujifilm QuickGene-Mini80™ and Promega Maxwell®16 was compared to a widely used manual extraction kit, MOBIO PowerBiofilm™ DNA Isolation Kit, in terms of ease of operation, DNA quality, and microbial community composition. Three pipeline biofilm samples were chosen for these comparisons; two contained crude oil and corrosion products and the third transported seawater. Overall, the two more automated extraction platforms produced higher DNA yields than the manual approach. DNA quality was evaluated for amplification by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and end-point PCR to generate 454 pyrosequencing libraries for 16S rRNA microbial community analysis. Microbial community structure, as assessed by DGGE analysis and pyrosequencing, was comparable among the three extraction methods. Therefore, the use of automated extraction platforms should enhance the feasibility of rapidly evaluating microbial biofouling at remote locations or those with limited resources. PMID:23168231

ARC+(Registered Trademark) and ARC PC Welding Simulators: Teach Welders with Virtual Interactive 3D Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choquet, Claude

2011-01-01

123 Certification Inc., a Montreal based company, has developed an innovative hands-on welding simulator solution to help build the welding workforce in the most simple way. The solution lies in virtual reality technology, which has been fully tested since the early 90's. President and founder of 123 Certification Inc., Mr. Claude Choquet Ing. Msc. IWE. acts as a bridge between the welding and the programming world. Working in these fields for more than 20 years. he has filed 12 patents world-wide for a gesture control platform with leading edge hardware related to simulation. In the summer of 2006. Mr Choquet was proud to be invited to the annual IIW International Weld ing Congress in Quebec City to launch the ARC+ welding simulator. A 100% virtual reality system and web based training center was developed to simulate multi process. multi-materiaL multi-position and multi pass welding. The simulator is intended to train welding students and apprentices in schools or industries. The welding simulator is composed of a real welding e[eetrode holder (SMAW-GTAW) and gun (GMAW-FCAW). a head mounted display (HMD), a 6 degrees of freedom tracking system for interaction between the user's hands and head. as well as external audio speakers. Both guns and HMD are interacting online and simultaneously. The welding simulation is based on the law of physics and empirical results from detailed analysis of a series of welding tests based on industrial applications tested over the last 20 years. The simulation runs in real-time, using a local logic network to determine the quality and shape of the created weld. These results are based on the orientation distance. and speed of the welding torch and depth of penetration. The welding process and resulting weld bc.1d are displayed in a virtual environment with screenplay interactive training modules. For review. weld quality and recorded process values can be displayed and diagnosed after welding. To help in the le.tming process, a learning curve for each student and each Virtual Welding Class'" can be plotted, for an instructor's review or a required third party evaluation.

The Educational Potential of YouTube.

PubMed

Godwin, Haley T; Khan, Murtaza; Yellowlees, Peter

2017-12-01

The objective of this paper was to examine the educational potential and effectiveness of a 3 min video clip of a simulation of schizophrenia published online at YouTube. Researchers examined the 267 public comments published on the video-sharing website YouTube over 8 years by viewers of a schizophrenia simulation video titled "virtual hallucinations" made in the Second Life game platform. Comments were independently categorized into six groupings, then cooperatively finalized, and qualitatively analyzed. The six categories of style of comments were "Emotional" (n = 76), "Identification" (n = 62), "Educational Interest" (n = 45), "Mocking/Displeased" (n = 36), "Game Interest" (n = 32), and "Other" (n = 25). Without any advertising or marketing by the creators, over 194,400 views of the video were recorded in 8 years, an average of about 1500 views per month. The use of YouTube with its viral marketing potential has created a vastly amplified reach for this educational offering that would otherwise have been impossible. Qualitative analysis of publically posted comments in response to the video, which were generally positive, has led to a greater understanding of public reactions to such educational offerings. YouTube videos are already a rich source of data for psychiatric researchers, and psychiatric educators should consider posting high quality video clips on publically available social media platforms such as YouTube in order to reduce public stigma about psychiatric disorders and patients.

Proactive Time-Rearrangement Scheme for Multi-Radio Collocated Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Chul; Shin, Sang-Heon; Park, Sang Kyu

We present a simple proactive time rearrangement scheme (PATRA) that reduces the interferences from multi-radio devices equipped in one platform and guarantees user-conceived QoS. Simulation results show that the interference among multiple radios in one platform causes severe performance degradation and cannot guarantee the user requested QoS. However, the PATRA can dramatically improve not only the userconceived QoS but also the overall network throughput.

Soft tissue deformation for surgical simulation: a position-based dynamics approach.

PubMed

Camara, Mafalda; Mayer, Erik; Darzi, Ara; Pratt, Philip

2016-06-01

To assist the rehearsal and planning of robot-assisted partial nephrectomy, a real-time simulation platform is presented that allows surgeons to visualise and interact with rapidly constructed patient-specific biomechanical models of the anatomical regions of interest. Coupled to a framework for volumetric deformation, the platform furthermore simulates intracorporeal 2D ultrasound image acquisition, using preoperative imaging as the data source. This not only facilitates the planning of optimal transducer trajectories and viewpoints, but can also act as a validation context for manually operated freehand 3D acquisitions and reconstructions. The simulation platform was implemented within the GPU-accelerated NVIDIA FleX position-based dynamics framework. In order to validate the model and determine material properties and other simulation parameter values, a porcine kidney with embedded fiducial beads was CT-scanned and segmented. Acquisitions for the rest position and three different levels of probe-induced deformation were collected. Optimal values of the cluster stiffness coefficients were determined for a range of different particle radii, where the objective function comprised the mean distance error between real and simulated fiducial positions over the sequence of deformations. The mean fiducial error at each deformation stage was found to be compatible with the level of ultrasound probe calibration error typically observed in clinical practice. Furthermore, the simulation exhibited unconditional stability on account of its use of clustered shape-matching constraints. A novel position-based dynamics implementation of soft tissue deformation has been shown to facilitate several desirable simulation characteristics: real-time performance, unconditional stability, rapid model construction enabling patient-specific behaviour and accuracy with respect to reference CT images.

Development and case study of a science-based software platform to support policy making on air quality.

PubMed

Zhu, Yun; Lao, Yanwen; Jang, Carey; Lin, Chen-Jen; Xing, Jia; Wang, Shuxiao; Fu, Joshua S; Deng, Shuang; Xie, Junping; Long, Shicheng

2015-01-01

This article describes the development and implementations of a novel software platform that supports real-time, science-based policy making on air quality through a user-friendly interface. The software, RSM-VAT, uses a response surface modeling (RSM) methodology and serves as a visualization and analysis tool (VAT) for three-dimensional air quality data obtained by atmospheric models. The software features a number of powerful and intuitive data visualization functions for illustrating the complex nonlinear relationship between emission reductions and air quality benefits. The case study of contiguous U.S. demonstrates that the enhanced RSM-VAT is capable of reproducing the air quality model results with Normalized Mean Bias <2% and assisting in air quality policy making in near real time. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Large Eddy Simulations using oodlesDST

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-01

Research Agency DST-Group-TR-3205 ABSTRACT The oodlesDST code is based on OpenFOAM software and performs Large Eddy Simulations of......maritime platforms using a variety of simulation techniques. He is currently using OpenFOAM software to perform both Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes

Design of a dynamic test platform for autonomous robot vision systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rich, G. C.

1980-01-01

The concept and design of a dynamic test platform for development and evluation of a robot vision system is discussed. The platform is to serve as a diagnostic and developmental tool for future work with the RPI Mars Rover's multi laser/multi detector vision system. The platform allows testing of the vision system while its attitude is varied, statically or periodically. The vision system is mounted on the test platform. It can then be subjected to a wide variety of simulated can thus be examined in a controlled, quantitative fashion. Defining and modeling Rover motions and designing the platform to emulate these motions are also discussed. Individual aspects of the design process are treated separately, as structural, driving linkages, and motors and transmissions.

[Study of continuous quality improvement for clinical laboratory processes via the platform of Hospital Group].

PubMed

Song, Wenqi; Shen, Ying; Peng, Xiaoxia; Tian, Jian; Wang, Hui; Xu, Lili; Nie, Xiaolu; Ni, Xin

2015-05-26

The program of continuous quality improvement in clinical laboratory processes for complete blood count (CBC) was launched via the platform of Beijing Children's Hospital Group in order to improve the quality of pediatric clinical laboratories. Fifteen children's hospitals of Beijing Children's Hospital group were investigated using the method of Chinese adapted continuous quality improvement with PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Action). The questionnaire survey and inter-laboratory comparison was conducted to find the existing problems, to analyze reasons, to set forth quality targets and to put them into practice. Then, targeted training was conducted to 15 children's hospitals and the second questionnaire survey, self examinations by the clinical laboratories was performed. At the same time, the Group's online internal quality control platform was established. Overall effects of the program were evaluated so that lay a foundation for the next stage of PDCA. Both quality of control system documents and CBC internal quality control scheme for all of clinical laboratories were improved through this program. In addition, standardization of performance verification was also improved, especially with the comparable verification rate of precision and internal laboratory results up to 100%. In terms of instrument calibration and mandatory diagnostic rates, only three out of the 15 hospitals (20%) failed to pass muster in 2014 from 46.67% (seven out of the 15 hospitals) in 2013. The abnormal data of intraday precision variance coefficients of the five CBC indicator parameters (WBC, RBC, Hb, Plt and Hct) of all the 15 laboratories accounted for 1.2% (2/165) in 2014, a marked decrease from 9.6% (14/145) in 2013. While the number of the hospitals using only one horizontal quality control object for daily quality control has dropped to three from five. The 15 hospitals organized a total of 263 times of training in 2014 from 101 times in 2013, up 160%. The quality improvement program for the clinical laboratories launched via the Hospital Group platform can promote the joint development of the pediatric clinical laboratory discipline of all the member hospitals with remarkable improvement results, and the experience is recommendable for further rollout.

A proposed model for economic evaluations of major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Haji Ali Afzali, Hossein; Karnon, Jonathan; Gray, Jodi

2012-08-01

In countries like UK and Australia, the comparability of model-based analyses is an essential aspect of reimbursement decisions for new pharmaceuticals, medical services and technologies. Within disease areas, the use of models with alternative structures, type of modelling techniques and/or data sources for common parameters reduces the comparability of evaluations of alternative technologies for the same condition. The aim of this paper is to propose a decision analytic model to evaluate long-term costs and benefits of alternative management options in patients with depression. The structure of the proposed model is based on the natural history of depression and includes clinical events that are important from both clinical and economic perspectives. Considering its greater flexibility with respect to handling time, discrete event simulation (DES) is an appropriate simulation platform for modelling studies of depression. We argue that the proposed model can be used as a reference model in model-based studies of depression improving the quality and comparability of studies.

Roadside IED detection using subsurface imaging radar and rotary UAV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Yexian; Twumasi, Jones O.; Le, Viet Q.; Ren, Yu-Jiun; Lai, C. P.; Yu, Tzuyang

2016-05-01

Modern improvised explosive device (IED) and mine detection sensors using microwave technology are based on ground penetrating radar operated by a ground vehicle. Vehicle size, road conditions, and obstacles along the troop marching direction limit operation of such sensors. This paper presents a new conceptual design using a rotary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to carry subsurface imaging radar for roadside IED detection. We have built a UAV flight simulator with the subsurface imaging radar running in a laboratory environment and tested it with non-metallic and metallic IED-like targets. From the initial lab results, we can detect the IED-like target 10-cm below road surface while carried by a UAV platform. One of the challenges is to design the radar and antenna system for a very small payload (less than 3 lb). The motion compensation algorithm is also critical to the imaging quality. In this paper, we also demonstrated the algorithm simulation and experimental imaging results with different IED target materials, sizes, and clutters.

VOLCWORKS: A suite for optimization of hazards mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delgado Granados, H.; Ramírez Guzmán, R.; Villareal Benítez, J. L.; García Sánchez, T.

2012-04-01

Making hazards maps is a process linking basic science, applied science and engineering for the benefit of the society. The methodologies for hazards maps' construction have evolved enormously together with the tools that allow the forecasting of the behavior of the materials produced by different eruptive processes. However, in spite of the development of tools and evolution of methodologies, the utility of hazards maps has not changed: prevention and mitigation of volcanic disasters. Integration of different tools for simulation of different processes for a single volcano is a challenge to be solved using software tools including processing, simulation and visualization techniques, and data structures in order to build up a suit that helps in the construction process starting from the integration of the geological data, simulations and simplification of the output to design a hazards/scenario map. Scientific visualization is a powerful tool to explore and gain insight into complex data from instruments and simulations. The workflow from data collection, quality control and preparation for simulations, to achieve visual and appropriate presentation is a process that is usually disconnected, using in most of the cases different applications for each of the needed processes, because it requires many tools that are not built for the solution of a specific problem, or were developed by research groups to solve particular tasks, but disconnected. In volcanology, due to its complexity, groups typically examine only one aspect of the phenomenon: ash dispersal, laharic flows, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, and ballistic projectile ejection, among others. However, when studying the hazards associated to the activity of a volcano, it is important to analyze all the processes comprehensively, especially for communication of results to the end users: decision makers and planners. In order to solve this problem and connect different parts of a workflow we are developing the suite VOLCWORKS, whose principle is to have a flexible-implementation architecture allowing rapid development of software to the extent specified by the needs including calculations, routines, or algorithms, both new and through redesign of available software in the volcanological community, but especially allowing to include new knowledge, models or software transferring them to software modules. The design is component-oriented platform, which allows incorporating particular solutions (routines, simulations, etc.), which can be concatenated for integration or highlighting information. The platform includes a graphical interface with capabilities for working in different visual environments that can be focused to the particular work of different types of users (researchers, lecturers, students, etc.). This platform aims to integrate simulation and visualization phases, incorporating proven tools (now isolated). VOLCWORKS can be used under different operating systems (Windows, Linux and Mac OS) and fit the context of use automatically and at runtime: in both tasks and their sequence, such as utilization of hardware resources (CPU, GPU, special monitors, etc.). The application has the ability to run on a laptop or even in a virtual reality room with access to supercomputers.

Evaluation and demonstration of commercialization potential of CCSI tools within gPROMS advanced simulation platform

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

Lawal, Adekola; Schmal, Pieter; Ramos, Alfredo

PSE, in the first phase of the CCSI commercialization project, set out to identify market opportunities for the CCSI tools combined with existing gPROMS platform capabilities and develop a clear technical plan for the proposed commercialization activities.

Global Simulation of Bioenergy Crop Productivity: Analytical Framework and Case Study for Switchgrass

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

Kang, Shujiang; Kline, Keith L; Nair, S. Surendran

A global energy crop productivity model that provides geospatially explicit quantitative details on biomass potential and factors affecting sustainability would be useful, but does not exist now. This study describes a modeling platform capable of meeting many challenges associated with global-scale agro-ecosystem modeling. We designed an analytical framework for bioenergy crops consisting of six major components: (i) standardized natural resources datasets, (ii) global field-trial data and crop management practices, (iii) simulation units and management scenarios, (iv) model calibration and validation, (v) high-performance computing (HPC) simulation, and (vi) simulation output processing and analysis. The HPC-Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (HPC-EPIC) model simulatedmore » a perennial bioenergy crop, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), estimating feedstock production potentials and effects across the globe. This modeling platform can assess soil C sequestration, net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, nonpoint source pollution (e.g., nutrient and pesticide loss), and energy exchange with the atmosphere. It can be expanded to include additional bioenergy crops (e.g., miscanthus, energy cane, and agave) and food crops under different management scenarios. The platform and switchgrass field-trial dataset are available to support global analysis of biomass feedstock production potential and corresponding metrics of sustainability.« less

Recent Progress and Future Plans for Fusion Plasma Synthetic Diagnostics Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Lei; Kramer, Gerrit; Tang, William; Tobias, Benjamin; Valeo, Ernest; Churchill, Randy; Hausammann, Loic

2015-11-01

The Fusion Plasma Synthetic Diagnostics Platform (FPSDP) is a Python package developed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. It is dedicated to providing an integrated programmable environment for applying a modern ensemble of synthetic diagnostics to the experimental validation of fusion plasma simulation codes. The FPSDP will allow physicists to directly compare key laboratory measurements to simulation results. This enables deeper understanding of experimental data, more realistic validation of simulation codes, quantitative assessment of existing diagnostics, and new capabilities for the design and optimization of future diagnostics. The Fusion Plasma Synthetic Diagnostics Platform now has data interfaces for the GTS and XGC-1 global particle-in-cell simulation codes with synthetic diagnostic modules including: (i) 2D and 3D Reflectometry; (ii) Beam Emission Spectroscopy; and (iii) 1D Electron Cyclotron Emission. Results will be reported on the delivery of interfaces for the global electromagnetic PIC code GTC, the extended MHD M3D-C1 code, and the electromagnetic hybrid NOVAK eigenmode code. Progress toward development of a more comprehensive 2D Electron Cyclotron Emission module will also be discussed. This work is supported by DOE contract #DEAC02-09CH11466.

GGEMS-Brachy: GPU GEant4-based Monte Carlo simulation for brachytherapy applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemaréchal, Yannick; Bert, Julien; Falconnet, Claire; Després, Philippe; Valeri, Antoine; Schick, Ulrike; Pradier, Olivier; Garcia, Marie-Paule; Boussion, Nicolas; Visvikis, Dimitris

2015-07-01

In brachytherapy, plans are routinely calculated using the AAPM TG43 formalism which considers the patient as a simple water object. An accurate modeling of the physical processes considering patient heterogeneity using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) methods is currently too time-consuming and computationally demanding to be routinely used. In this work we implemented and evaluated an accurate and fast MCS on Graphics Processing Units (GPU) for brachytherapy low dose rate (LDR) applications. A previously proposed Geant4 based MCS framework implemented on GPU (GGEMS) was extended to include a hybrid GPU navigator, allowing navigation within voxelized patient specific images and analytically modeled 125I seeds used in LDR brachytherapy. In addition, dose scoring based on track length estimator including uncertainty calculations was incorporated. The implemented GGEMS-brachy platform was validated using a comparison with Geant4 simulations and reference datasets. Finally, a comparative dosimetry study based on the current clinical standard (TG43) and the proposed platform was performed on twelve prostate cancer patients undergoing LDR brachytherapy. Considering patient 3D CT volumes of 400  × 250  × 65 voxels and an average of 58 implanted seeds, the mean patient dosimetry study run time for a 2% dose uncertainty was 9.35 s (≈500 ms 10-6 simulated particles) and 2.5 s when using one and four GPUs, respectively. The performance of the proposed GGEMS-brachy platform allows envisaging the use of Monte Carlo simulation based dosimetry studies in brachytherapy compatible with clinical practice. Although the proposed platform was evaluated for prostate cancer, it is equally applicable to other LDR brachytherapy clinical applications. Future extensions will allow its application in high dose rate brachytherapy applications.

WarpEngine, a Flexible Platform for Distributed Computing Implemented in the VEGA Program and Specially Targeted for Virtual Screening Studies.

PubMed

Pedretti, Alessandro; Mazzolari, Angelica; Vistoli, Giulio

2018-05-21

The manuscript describes WarpEngine, a novel platform implemented within the VEGA ZZ suite of software for performing distributed simulations both in local and wide area networks. Despite being tailored for structure-based virtual screening campaigns, WarpEngine possesses the required flexibility to carry out distributed calculations utilizing various pieces of software, which can be easily encapsulated within this platform without changing their source codes. WarpEngine takes advantages of all cheminformatics features implemented in the VEGA ZZ program as well as of its largely customizable scripting architecture thus allowing an efficient distribution of various time-demanding simulations. To offer an example of the WarpEngine potentials, the manuscript includes a set of virtual screening campaigns based on the ACE data set of the DUD-E collections using PLANTS as the docking application. Benchmarking analyses revealed a satisfactory linearity of the WarpEngine performances, the speed-up values being roughly equal to the number of utilized cores. Again, the computed scalability values emphasized that a vast majority (i.e., >90%) of the performed simulations benefit from the distributed platform presented here. WarpEngine can be freely downloaded along with the VEGA ZZ program at www.vegazz.net .

Power in the bucket and angle of arrival modelling in the presence of an airborne platform-induced turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velluet, Marie-Thérèse

2017-10-01

In the framework of a European collaborative research project called ALWS (Airborne platform effects on lasers and Warning Sensors), the effects of platform-related turbulence on MAWS (missile approach warning systems) and DIRCM (directed infrared countermeasures) performance are investigated. Field trials have been conducted to study the turbulence effects around a hovering helicopter and behind a turboprop aircraft on the ground, with engines running. The time dependence of the power in the bucket and the amplitude of the angle of arrival have been characterized during the trial. Temporal spectra of these two parameters present an asymptotic behavior typical of optical beams propagating through developed turbulence (Kolmogorov). Based on the formalism developed in the case of propagation through atmospheric turbulence, we have first estimated turbulence strength and wind velocity inside plume for different flight conditions. We have then proposed an approach to simulate times series of these two quantities in the same conditions. These simulated time series have been compared with the recorded data to assess their validity domain. This model will be integrated in a simulator to estimate the impact of the turbulence induced by the platform and calculate the system performance. In this model dedicated to plume and downwash effects, aero-optical effects are not taken into account.

Social network of PESCA (Open Source Platform for eHealth).

PubMed

Sanchez, Carlos L; Romero-Cuevas, Miguel; Lopez, Diego M; Lorca, Julio; Alcazar, Francisco J; Ruiz, Sergio; Mercado, Carmen; Garcia-Fortea, Pedro

2008-01-01

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are revolutionizing how healthcare systems deliver top-quality care to citizens. In this way, Open Source Software (OSS) has demonstrated to be an important strategy to spread ICTs use. Several human and technological barriers in adopting OSS for healthcare have been identified. Human barriers include user acceptance, limited support, technical skillfulness, awareness, resistance to change, etc., while Technological barriers embrace need for open standards, heterogeneous OSS developed without normalization and metrics, lack of initiatives to evaluate existing health OSS and need for quality control and functional validation. The goals of PESCA project are to create a platform of interoperable modules to evaluate, classify and validate good practices in health OSS. Furthermore, a normalization platform will provide interoperable solutions in the fields of healthcare services, health surveillance, health literature, and health education, knowledge and research. Within the platform, the first goal to achieve is the setup of the collaborative work infrastructure. The platform is being organized as a Social Network which works to evaluate five scopes of every existing open source tools for eHealth: Open Source Software, Quality, Pedagogical, Security and privacy and Internationalization/I18N. In the meantime, the knowledge collected from the networking will configure a Good Practice Repository on eHealth promoting the effective use of ICT on behalf of the citizen's health.

Avogadro: an advanced semantic chemical editor, visualization, and analysis platform

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The Avogadro project has developed an advanced molecule editor and visualizer designed for cross-platform use in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas. It offers flexible, high quality rendering, and a powerful plugin architecture. Typical uses include building molecular structures, formatting input files, and analyzing output of a wide variety of computational chemistry packages. By using the CML file format as its native document type, Avogadro seeks to enhance the semantic accessibility of chemical data types. Results The work presented here details the Avogadro library, which is a framework providing a code library and application programming interface (API) with three-dimensional visualization capabilities; and has direct applications to research and education in the fields of chemistry, physics, materials science, and biology. The Avogadro application provides a rich graphical interface using dynamically loaded plugins through the library itself. The application and library can each be extended by implementing a plugin module in C++ or Python to explore different visualization techniques, build/manipulate molecular structures, and interact with other programs. We describe some example extensions, one which uses a genetic algorithm to find stable crystal structures, and one which interfaces with the PackMol program to create packed, solvated structures for molecular dynamics simulations. The 1.0 release series of Avogadro is the main focus of the results discussed here. Conclusions Avogadro offers a semantic chemical builder and platform for visualization and analysis. For users, it offers an easy-to-use builder, integrated support for downloading from common databases such as PubChem and the Protein Data Bank, extracting chemical data from a wide variety of formats, including computational chemistry output, and native, semantic support for the CML file format. For developers, it can be easily extended via a powerful plugin mechanism to support new features in organic chemistry, inorganic complexes, drug design, materials, biomolecules, and simulations. Avogadro is freely available under an open-source license from http://avogadro.openmolecules.net. PMID:22889332

Avogadro: an advanced semantic chemical editor, visualization, and analysis platform.

PubMed

Hanwell, Marcus D; Curtis, Donald E; Lonie, David C; Vandermeersch, Tim; Zurek, Eva; Hutchison, Geoffrey R

2012-08-13

The Avogadro project has developed an advanced molecule editor and visualizer designed for cross-platform use in computational chemistry, molecular modeling, bioinformatics, materials science, and related areas. It offers flexible, high quality rendering, and a powerful plugin architecture. Typical uses include building molecular structures, formatting input files, and analyzing output of a wide variety of computational chemistry packages. By using the CML file format as its native document type, Avogadro seeks to enhance the semantic accessibility of chemical data types. The work presented here details the Avogadro library, which is a framework providing a code library and application programming interface (API) with three-dimensional visualization capabilities; and has direct applications to research and education in the fields of chemistry, physics, materials science, and biology. The Avogadro application provides a rich graphical interface using dynamically loaded plugins through the library itself. The application and library can each be extended by implementing a plugin module in C++ or Python to explore different visualization techniques, build/manipulate molecular structures, and interact with other programs. We describe some example extensions, one which uses a genetic algorithm to find stable crystal structures, and one which interfaces with the PackMol program to create packed, solvated structures for molecular dynamics simulations. The 1.0 release series of Avogadro is the main focus of the results discussed here. Avogadro offers a semantic chemical builder and platform for visualization and analysis. For users, it offers an easy-to-use builder, integrated support for downloading from common databases such as PubChem and the Protein Data Bank, extracting chemical data from a wide variety of formats, including computational chemistry output, and native, semantic support for the CML file format. For developers, it can be easily extended via a powerful plugin mechanism to support new features in organic chemistry, inorganic complexes, drug design, materials, biomolecules, and simulations. Avogadro is freely available under an open-source license from http://avogadro.openmolecules.net.

Stories from OpenAQ, a Global and Grassroots Open Air Quality Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasenkopf, C. A.; Flasher, J. C.; Veerman, O.; Scalamogna, A.; Silva, D.; Salmon, M.; Buuralda, D.; DeWitt, L. H.

2016-12-01

Air pollution, responsible for more deaths each year than HIV/AIDS and malaria, combined, is a global public health crisis. Yet many scientific questions, including those directly relevant for policy, remain unanswered when it comes to the impact of air pollution on health in highly polluted environments. Often, specific solutions to improving air quality are local and sustained through public engagement, policy and monitoring. Both the overarching science of air quality and health and local solutions rely on access to reliable, timely air quality data. Over the past year, the OpenAQ community has opened up existing disparate air quality data in 24 countries through an open source platform (openaq.org) so that communities around the world can use it to advance science, public engagement, and policy. We will share stories of communities, from Delhi to Ulaanbaatar and from scientists to journalists, using open air quality data from our platform to advance their fight against air inequality. We will share recent research we have conducted on best practices for engaging different communities and building tools that enable the public to fully unleash the power of open air quality data to fight air inequality. The subsequent open-source tools (github.com/openaq) we have developed from this research and our entire data-sharing platform may be of interest to other open data communities.

Design and realization of an autonomous solar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaga, A.; Diouri, O.; Es-sbai, N.; Errahimi, F.

2017-03-01

The aim of this work is the design and realization of an autonomous solar system, with MPPT control, a regulator charge/discharge of batteries, an H-bridge multi-level inverter with acquisition system and supervising based on a microcontroller. The proposed approach is based on developing a software platform in the LabVIEW environment which gives the system a flexible structure for controlling, monitoring and supervising the whole system in real time while providing power maximization and best quality of energy conversion from DC to AC power. The reliability of the proposed solar system is validated by the simulation results on PowerSim and experimental results achieved with a solar panel, a Lead acid battery, solar regulator and an H-bridge cascaded topology of single-phase inverter.

Around Marshall

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-03-23

A diver tests a secondary camera and maneuvering platform in Marshall's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator (NBS).The secondary camera will be beneficial for recording repairs and other extra vehicular activities (EVA) the astronuats will perform while making repairs on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The maneuvering platform was developed to give the astronauts something to stand on while performing maintenance tasks. These platforms were developed to be mobile so that the astronauts could move them to accommadate different sites.

A comparison of sequencing platforms and bioinformatics pipelines for compositional analysis of the gut microbiome.

PubMed

Allali, Imane; Arnold, Jason W; Roach, Jeffrey; Cadenas, Maria Belen; Butz, Natasha; Hassan, Hosni M; Koci, Matthew; Ballou, Anne; Mendoza, Mary; Ali, Rizwana; Azcarate-Peril, M Andrea

2017-09-13

Advancements in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies regarding throughput, read length and accuracy had a major impact on microbiome research by significantly improving 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. As rapid improvements in sequencing platforms and new data analysis pipelines are introduced, it is essential to evaluate their capabilities in specific applications. The aim of this study was to assess whether the same project-specific biological conclusions regarding microbiome composition could be reached using different sequencing platforms and bioinformatics pipelines. Chicken cecum microbiome was analyzed by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing using Illumina MiSeq, Ion Torrent PGM, and Roche 454 GS FLX Titanium platforms, with standard and modified protocols for library preparation. We labeled the bioinformatics pipelines included in our analysis QIIME1 and QIIME2 (de novo OTU picking [not to be confused with QIIME version 2 commonly referred to as QIIME2]), QIIME3 and QIIME4 (open reference OTU picking), UPARSE1 and UPARSE2 (each pair differs only in the use of chimera depletion methods), and DADA2 (for Illumina data only). GS FLX+ yielded the longest reads and highest quality scores, while MiSeq generated the largest number of reads after quality filtering. Declines in quality scores were observed starting at bases 150-199 for GS FLX+ and bases 90-99 for MiSeq. Scores were stable for PGM-generated data. Overall microbiome compositional profiles were comparable between platforms; however, average relative abundance of specific taxa varied depending on sequencing platform, library preparation method, and bioinformatics analysis. Specifically, QIIME with de novo OTU picking yielded the highest number of unique species and alpha diversity was reduced with UPARSE and DADA2 compared to QIIME. The three platforms compared in this study were capable of discriminating samples by treatment, despite differences in diversity and abundance, leading to similar biological conclusions. Our results demonstrate that while there were differences in depth of coverage and phylogenetic diversity, all workflows revealed comparable treatment effects on microbial diversity. To increase reproducibility and reliability and to retain consistency between similar studies, it is important to consider the impact on data quality and relative abundance of taxa when selecting NGS platforms and analysis tools for microbiome studies.

MOCAT: A Metagenomics Assembly and Gene Prediction Toolkit

PubMed Central

Li, Junhua; Chen, Weineng; Chen, Hua; Mende, Daniel R.; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Pan, Qi; Liu, Binghang; Qin, Junjie; Wang, Jun; Bork, Peer

2012-01-01

MOCAT is a highly configurable, modular pipeline for fast, standardized processing of single or paired-end sequencing data generated by the Illumina platform. The pipeline uses state-of-the-art programs to quality control, map, and assemble reads from metagenomic samples sequenced at a depth of several billion base pairs, and predict protein-coding genes on assembled metagenomes. Mapping against reference databases allows for read extraction or removal, as well as abundance calculations. Relevant statistics for each processing step can be summarized into multi-sheet Excel documents and queryable SQL databases. MOCAT runs on UNIX machines and integrates seamlessly with the SGE and PBS queuing systems, commonly used to process large datasets. The open source code and modular architecture allow users to modify or exchange the programs that are utilized in the various processing steps. Individual processing steps and parameters were benchmarked and tested on artificial, real, and simulated metagenomes resulting in an improvement of selected quality metrics. MOCAT can be freely downloaded at http://www.bork.embl.de/mocat/. PMID:23082188

Advanced instrumentation for aircraft icing research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bachalo, W.; Smith, J.; Rudoff, R.

1990-01-01

A compact and rugged probe based on the phase Doppler method was evaluated as a means for characterizing icing clouds using airborne platforms and for advancing aircraft icing research in large scale wind tunnels. The Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) upon which the new probe was based is now widely recognized as an accurate method for the complete characterization of sprays. The prototype fiber optic-based probe was evaluated in simulated aircraft icing clouds and found to have the qualities essential to providing information that will advance aircraft icing research. Measurement comparisons of the size and velocity distributions made with the standard PDPA and the fiber optic probe were in excellent agreement as were the measurements of number density and liquid water content. Preliminary testing in the NASA Lewis Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) produced reasonable results but revealed some problems with vibration and signal quality at high speeds. The cause of these problems were identified and design changes were proposed to eliminate the shortcomings of the probe.

Verification and Validation of the New Dynamic Mooring Modules Available in FAST v8: Preprint

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

Wendt, Fabian; Robertson, Amy; Jonkman, Jason

2016-08-01

The open-source aero-hydro-servo-elastic wind turbine simulation software, FAST v8, was recently coupled to two newly developed mooring dynamics modules: MoorDyn and FEAMooring. MoorDyn is a lumped-mass-based mooring dynamics module developed by the University of Maine, and FEAMooring is a finite-element-based mooring dynamics module developed by Texas A&M University. This paper summarizes the work performed to verify and validate these modules against other mooring models and measured test data to assess their reliability and accuracy. The quality of the fairlead load predictions by the open-source mooring modules MoorDyn and FEAMooring appear to be largely equivalent to what is predicted by themore » commercial tool OrcaFlex. Both mooring dynamic model predictions agree well with the experimental data, considering the given limitations in the accuracy of the platform hydrodynamic load calculation and the quality of the measurement data.« less

Verification and Validation of the New Dynamic Mooring Modules Available in FAST v8

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

Wendt, Fabian F.; Andersen, Morten T.; Robertson, Amy N.

2016-07-01

The open-source aero-hydro-servo-elastic wind turbine simulation software, FAST v8, was recently coupled to two newly developed mooring dynamics modules: MoorDyn and FEAMooring. MoorDyn is a lumped-mass-based mooring dynamics module developed by the University of Maine, and FEAMooring is a finite-element-based mooring dynamics module developed by Texas A&M University. This paper summarizes the work performed to verify and validate these modules against other mooring models and measured test data to assess their reliability and accuracy. The quality of the fairlead load predictions by the open-source mooring modules MoorDyn and FEAMooring appear to be largely equivalent to what is predicted by themore » commercial tool OrcaFlex. Both mooring dynamic model predictions agree well with the experimental data, considering the given limitations in the accuracy of the platform hydrodynamic load calculation and the quality of the measurement data.« less

MOCAT: a metagenomics assembly and gene prediction toolkit.

PubMed

Kultima, Jens Roat; Sunagawa, Shinichi; Li, Junhua; Chen, Weineng; Chen, Hua; Mende, Daniel R; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Pan, Qi; Liu, Binghang; Qin, Junjie; Wang, Jun; Bork, Peer

2012-01-01

MOCAT is a highly configurable, modular pipeline for fast, standardized processing of single or paired-end sequencing data generated by the Illumina platform. The pipeline uses state-of-the-art programs to quality control, map, and assemble reads from metagenomic samples sequenced at a depth of several billion base pairs, and predict protein-coding genes on assembled metagenomes. Mapping against reference databases allows for read extraction or removal, as well as abundance calculations. Relevant statistics for each processing step can be summarized into multi-sheet Excel documents and queryable SQL databases. MOCAT runs on UNIX machines and integrates seamlessly with the SGE and PBS queuing systems, commonly used to process large datasets. The open source code and modular architecture allow users to modify or exchange the programs that are utilized in the various processing steps. Individual processing steps and parameters were benchmarked and tested on artificial, real, and simulated metagenomes resulting in an improvement of selected quality metrics. MOCAT can be freely downloaded at http://www.bork.embl.de/mocat/.

Spatial patterns of diagenesis during geothermal circulation in carbonate platforms

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilson, A.M.; Sanford, W.; Whitaker, F.; Smart, P.

2001-01-01

Geothermal convection of seawater deep in carbonate platforms could provide the necessary supply of magnesium for dolomitization at temperatures high enough to overcome kinetic limitations. We used reactive-transport simulations to predict the rates and spatial patterns of dolomitization during geothermal convection in a platform that was 40 km across and 2 km thick. In the simulations, porosity and permeability decrease with depth to account for sediment compaction. Dolomitization of a platform consisting of medium grained (???0.05 mm) sediments occurred in a broad band ranging from ???2.5 km depth near the margin to ???1.5 km depth near the platform center. The area of dolomitization is deep enough that temperatures exceed ???50??C but not so deep that low permeabilities restrict mass transport. Complete dolomitization in the center of this zone is estimated to require at least 60 my. Incorporation of permeability contrasts, permeable beds, and reactive beds focused dolomitization strongly and reduced the estimated time required for dolomitization by as much as 50 percent. Dolomitization created magnesium-depleted, calcium-rich fluids in less than 10 ky, and results support a link between dolomitization and anhydrite precipitation where adequate sulfate is available.

Measures of pilot performance during V/TOL aircraft landings on ships at sea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howard, J. C.

1977-01-01

Simulation experiments to determine the feasibility of landing V/TOL aircraft on ships at sea were studied. The motion and attitude of the aircraft relative to the landing platform was known at the instant of touchdown. The success of these experiments depended on the ability of the experimenter to measure the pilot's performance during the landing maneuver. To facilitate these measurements, the equations describing the motion of the aircraft and its attitude relative to the landing platform are presented in a form which is suitable for simulation purposes.

Digital Quantum Simulation of Minimal AdS/CFT.

PubMed

García-Álvarez, L; Egusquiza, I L; Lamata, L; Del Campo, A; Sonner, J; Solano, E

2017-07-28

We propose the digital quantum simulation of a minimal AdS/CFT model in controllable quantum platforms. We consider the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model describing interacting Majorana fermions with randomly distributed all-to-all couplings, encoding nonlocal fermionic operators onto qubits to efficiently implement their dynamics via digital techniques. Moreover, we also give a method for probing nonequilibrium dynamics and the scrambling of information. Finally, our approach serves as a protocol for reproducing a simplified low-dimensional model of quantum gravity in advanced quantum platforms as trapped ions and superconducting circuits.

Digital Quantum Simulation of Minimal AdS /CFT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Álvarez, L.; Egusquiza, I. L.; Lamata, L.; del Campo, A.; Sonner, J.; Solano, E.

2017-07-01

We propose the digital quantum simulation of a minimal AdS /CFT model in controllable quantum platforms. We consider the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model describing interacting Majorana fermions with randomly distributed all-to-all couplings, encoding nonlocal fermionic operators onto qubits to efficiently implement their dynamics via digital techniques. Moreover, we also give a method for probing nonequilibrium dynamics and the scrambling of information. Finally, our approach serves as a protocol for reproducing a simplified low-dimensional model of quantum gravity in advanced quantum platforms as trapped ions and superconducting circuits.

Chromatography process development in the quality by design paradigm I: Establishing a high-throughput process development platform as a tool for estimating "characterization space" for an ion exchange chromatography step.

PubMed

Bhambure, R; Rathore, A S

2013-01-01

This article describes the development of a high-throughput process development (HTPD) platform for developing chromatography steps. An assessment of the platform as a tool for establishing the "characterization space" for an ion exchange chromatography step has been performed by using design of experiments. Case studies involving use of a biotech therapeutic, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor have been used to demonstrate the performance of the platform. We discuss the various challenges that arise when working at such small volumes along with the solutions that we propose to alleviate these challenges to make the HTPD data suitable for empirical modeling. Further, we have also validated the scalability of this platform by comparing the results from the HTPD platform (2 and 6 μL resin volumes) against those obtained at the traditional laboratory scale (resin volume, 0.5 mL). We find that after integration of the proposed correction factors, the HTPD platform is capable of performing the process optimization studies at 170-fold higher productivity. The platform is capable of providing semi-quantitative assessment of the effects of the various input parameters under consideration. We think that platform such as the one presented is an excellent tool for examining the "characterization space" and reducing the extensive experimentation at the traditional lab scale that is otherwise required for establishing the "design space." Thus, this platform will specifically aid in successful implementation of quality by design in biotech process development. This is especially significant in view of the constraints with respect to time and resources that the biopharma industry faces today. Copyright © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Simulation of Rotor Blade Element Turbulence

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-01-01

A piloted, motion-based simulation of Sikorsky's Black Hawk helicopter was : used as a platform for the investigation of rotorcraft responses to vertical : turbulence. By using an innovative temporal and geometrical distribution : algorithm that pres...

[The digital information platform after-sale service of medical equipment].

PubMed

Cao, Shaoping; Li, Bin

2015-01-01

This paper describes the after-sale service of medical equipment information management platform, with large data sharing resources to further enhance customer service in the whole management process of medical service, to strengthen quality management, to control medical risk.

Design and implementation of a secure and user-friendly broker platform supporting the end-to-end provisioning of e-homecare services.

PubMed

Van Hoecke, Sofie; Steurbaut, Kristof; Taveirne, Kristof; De Turck, Filip; Dhoedt, Bart

2010-01-01

We designed a broker platform for e-homecare services using web service technology. The broker allows efficient data communication and guarantees quality requirements such as security, availability and cost-efficiency by dynamic selection of services, minimizing user interactions and simplifying authentication through a single user sign-on. A prototype was implemented, with several e-homecare services (alarm, telemonitoring, audio diary and video-chat). It was evaluated by patients with diabetes and multiple sclerosis. The patients found that the start-up time and overhead imposed by the platform was satisfactory. Having all e-homecare services integrated into a single application, which required only one login, resulted in a high quality of experience for the patients.

Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator

NASA Image and Video Library

1963-02-11

A test subject being suited up for studies on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator located in the hangar at Langley Research Center. The initial version of this simulator was located inside the hangar. Later a larger version would be located at the Lunar Landing Facility. The purpose of this simulator was to study the subject while walking, jumping or running. Researchers conducted studies of various factors such as fatigue limit, energy expenditure, and speed of locomotion. Francis B. Smith wrote in his paper "Simulators For Manned Space Research," "I would like to conclude this talk with a discussion of a device for simulating lunar gravity which is very effective and yet which is so simple that its cost is in the order of a few thousand dollars at most, rather than hundreds of thousands. With a little ingenuity, one could almost build this type simulator in his backyard for children to play on. The principle is ...if a test subject is suspended in a sling so that his body axis makes an angle of 9 1/2 degrees with the horizontal and if he then "stands" on a platform perpendicular to his body axis, the component of the earth's gravity forcing him toward the platform is one times the sine of 9 1/2 degrees or approximately 1/6 of the earth's normal gravity field. That is, a 180 pound astronaut "standing" on the platform would exert a force of only 30 pounds - the same as if he were standing upright on the lunar surface." -- Published in James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo, NASA SP-4308; Francis B. Smith, "Simulators For Manned Space Research," Paper for 1966 IEEE International Convention, New York, NY, March 21-25, 1966

Real-time modeling and simulation of distribution feeder and distributed resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Pawan

The analysis of the electrical system dates back to the days when analog network analyzers were used. With the advent of digital computers, many programs were written for power-flow and short circuit analysis for the improvement of the electrical system. Real-time computer simulations can answer many what-if scenarios in the existing or the proposed power system. In this thesis, the standard IEEE 13-Node distribution feeder is developed and validated on a real-time platform OPAL-RT. The concept and the challenges of the real-time simulation are studied and addressed. Distributed energy resources include some of the commonly used distributed generation and storage devices like diesel engine, solar photovoltaic array, and battery storage system are modeled and simulated on a real-time platform. A microgrid encompasses a portion of an electric power distribution which is located downstream of the distribution substation. Normally, the microgrid operates in paralleled mode with the grid; however, scheduled or forced isolation can take place. In such conditions, the microgrid must have the ability to operate stably and autonomously. The microgrid can operate in grid connected and islanded mode, both the operating modes are studied in the last chapter. Towards the end, a simple microgrid controller modeled and simulated on the real-time platform is developed for energy management and protection for the microgrid.

Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator Users' Guide Version 6.8

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

Keiter, Eric R.; Aadithya, Karthik Venkatraman; Mei, Ting

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been de- signed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel com- puting platforms (up to thousands of processors). This includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers. A differential-algebraic-equation (DAE) formulation, which better isolates the device model package from solver algorithms. This allows onemore » to develop new types of analysis without requiring the implementation of analysis-specific device models. Device models that are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiation- aware devices (for Sandia users only). Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase$-$ a message passing parallel implementation $-$ which allows it to run efficiently a wide range of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel platforms. Attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows.« less

Simulink-Based Simulation Architecture for Evaluating Controls for Aerospace Vehicles (SAREC-ASV)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Christhilf, David m.; Bacon, Barton J.

2006-01-01

The Simulation Architecture for Evaluating Controls for Aerospace Vehicles (SAREC-ASV) is a Simulink-based approach to providing an engineering quality desktop simulation capability for finding trim solutions, extracting linear models for vehicle analysis and control law development, and generating open-loop and closed-loop time history responses for control system evaluation. It represents a useful level of maturity rather than a finished product. The layout is hierarchical and supports concurrent component development and validation, with support from the Concurrent Versions System (CVS) software management tool. Real Time Workshop (RTW) is used to generate pre-compiled code for substantial component modules, and templates permit switching seamlessly between original Simulink and code compiled for various platforms. Two previous limitations are addressed. Turn around time for incorporating tabular model components was improved through auto-generation of required Simulink diagrams based on data received in XML format. The layout was modified to exploit a Simulink "compile once, evaluate multiple times" capability for zero elapsed time for use in trimming and linearizing. Trim is achieved through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) with a narrow, script definable interface to the vehicle model which facilitates incorporating new models.

Infrared Extinction Performance of Randomly Oriented Microbial-Clustered Agglomerate Materials.

PubMed

Li, Le; Hu, Yihua; Gu, Youlin; Zhao, Xinying; Xu, Shilong; Yu, Lei; Zheng, Zhi Ming; Wang, Peng

2017-11-01

In this study, the spatial structure of randomly distributed clusters of fungi An0429 spores was simulated using a cluster aggregation (CCA) model, and the single scattering parameters of fungi An0429 spores were calculated using the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method. The transmittance of 10.6 µm infrared (IR) light in the aggregated fungi An0429 spores swarm is simulated by using the Monte Carlo method. Several parameters that affect the transmittance of 10.6 µm IR light, such as the number and radius of original fungi An0429 spores, porosity of aggregated fungi An0429 spores, and density of aggregated fungi An0429 spores of the formation aerosol area were discussed. Finally, the transmittances of microbial materials with different qualities were measured in the dynamic test platform. The simulation results showed that the parameters analyzed were closely connected with the extinction performance of fungi An0429 spores. By controlling the value of the influencing factors, the transmittance could be lower than a certain threshold to meet the requirement of attenuation in application. In addition, the experimental results showed that the Monte Carlo method could well reflect the attenuation law of IR light in fungi An0429 spore agglomerates swarms.

Design and Simulation of Material-Integrated Distributed Sensor Processing with a Code-Based Agent Platform and Mobile Multi-Agent Systems

PubMed Central

Bosse, Stefan

2015-01-01

Multi-agent systems (MAS) can be used for decentralized and self-organizing data processing in a distributed system, like a resource-constrained sensor network, enabling distributed information extraction, for example, based on pattern recognition and self-organization, by decomposing complex tasks in simpler cooperative agents. Reliable MAS-based data processing approaches can aid the material-integration of structural-monitoring applications, with agent processing platforms scaled to the microchip level. The agent behavior, based on a dynamic activity-transition graph (ATG) model, is implemented with program code storing the control and the data state of an agent, which is novel. The program code can be modified by the agent itself using code morphing techniques and is capable of migrating in the network between nodes. The program code is a self-contained unit (a container) and embeds the agent data, the initialization instructions and the ATG behavior implementation. The microchip agent processing platform used for the execution of the agent code is a standalone multi-core stack machine with a zero-operand instruction format, leading to a small-sized agent program code, low system complexity and high system performance. The agent processing is token-queue-based, similar to Petri-nets. The agent platform can be implemented in software, too, offering compatibility at the operational and code level, supporting agent processing in strong heterogeneous networks. In this work, the agent platform embedded in a large-scale distributed sensor network is simulated at the architectural level by using agent-based simulation techniques. PMID:25690550

Design and simulation of material-integrated distributed sensor processing with a code-based agent platform and mobile multi-agent systems.

PubMed

Bosse, Stefan

2015-02-16

Multi-agent systems (MAS) can be used for decentralized and self-organizing data processing in a distributed system, like a resource-constrained sensor network, enabling distributed information extraction, for example, based on pattern recognition and self-organization, by decomposing complex tasks in simpler cooperative agents. Reliable MAS-based data processing approaches can aid the material-integration of structural-monitoring applications, with agent processing platforms scaled to the microchip level. The agent behavior, based on a dynamic activity-transition graph (ATG) model, is implemented with program code storing the control and the data state of an agent, which is novel. The program code can be modified by the agent itself using code morphing techniques and is capable of migrating in the network between nodes. The program code is a self-contained unit (a container) and embeds the agent data, the initialization instructions and the ATG behavior implementation. The microchip agent processing platform used for the execution of the agent code is a standalone multi-core stack machine with a zero-operand instruction format, leading to a small-sized agent program code, low system complexity and high system performance. The agent processing is token-queue-based, similar to Petri-nets. The agent platform can be implemented in software, too, offering compatibility at the operational and code level, supporting agent processing in strong heterogeneous networks. In this work, the agent platform embedded in a large-scale distributed sensor network is simulated at the architectural level by using agent-based simulation techniques.

A GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation platform and its application toward validating an MRI-guided radiation therapy beam model

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

Wang, Yuhe; Mazur, Thomas R.; Green, Olga

Purpose: The clinical commissioning of IMRT subject to a magnetic field is challenging. The purpose of this work is to develop a GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation platform based on PENELOPE and then use the platform to validate a vendor-provided MRIdian head model toward quality assurance of clinical IMRT treatment plans subject to a 0.35 T magnetic field. Methods: PENELOPE was first translated from FORTRAN to C++ and the result was confirmed to produce equivalent results to the original code. The C++ code was then adapted to CUDA in a workflow optimized for GPU architecture. The original code was expandedmore » to include voxelized transport with Woodcock tracking, faster electron/positron propagation in a magnetic field, and several features that make gPENELOPE highly user-friendly. Moreover, the vendor-provided MRIdian head model was incorporated into the code in an effort to apply gPENELOPE as both an accurate and rapid dose validation system. A set of experimental measurements were performed on the MRIdian system to examine the accuracy of both the head model and gPENELOPE. Ultimately, gPENELOPE was applied toward independent validation of patient doses calculated by MRIdian’s KMC. Results: An acceleration factor of 152 was achieved in comparison to the original single-thread FORTRAN implementation with the original accuracy being preserved. For 16 treatment plans including stomach (4), lung (2), liver (3), adrenal gland (2), pancreas (2), spleen(1), mediastinum (1), and breast (1), the MRIdian dose calculation engine agrees with gPENELOPE with a mean gamma passing rate of 99.1% ± 0.6% (2%/2 mm). Conclusions: A Monte Carlo simulation platform was developed based on a GPU- accelerated version of PENELOPE. This platform was used to validate that both the vendor-provided head model and fast Monte Carlo engine used by the MRIdian system are accurate in modeling radiation transport in a patient using 2%/2 mm gamma criteria. Future applications of this platform will include dose validation and accumulation, IMRT optimization, and dosimetry system modeling for next generation MR-IGRT systems.« less

A GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation platform and its application toward validating an MRI-guided radiation therapy beam model

PubMed Central

Wang, Yuhe; Mazur, Thomas R.; Green, Olga; Hu, Yanle; Li, Hua; Rodriguez, Vivian; Wooten, H. Omar; Yang, Deshan; Zhao, Tianyu; Mutic, Sasa; Li, H. Harold

2016-01-01

Purpose: The clinical commissioning of IMRT subject to a magnetic field is challenging. The purpose of this work is to develop a GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation platform based on penelope and then use the platform to validate a vendor-provided MRIdian head model toward quality assurance of clinical IMRT treatment plans subject to a 0.35 T magnetic field. Methods: penelope was first translated from fortran to c++ and the result was confirmed to produce equivalent results to the original code. The c++ code was then adapted to cuda in a workflow optimized for GPU architecture. The original code was expanded to include voxelized transport with Woodcock tracking, faster electron/positron propagation in a magnetic field, and several features that make gpenelope highly user-friendly. Moreover, the vendor-provided MRIdian head model was incorporated into the code in an effort to apply gpenelope as both an accurate and rapid dose validation system. A set of experimental measurements were performed on the MRIdian system to examine the accuracy of both the head model and gpenelope. Ultimately, gpenelope was applied toward independent validation of patient doses calculated by MRIdian’s kmc. Results: An acceleration factor of 152 was achieved in comparison to the original single-thread fortran implementation with the original accuracy being preserved. For 16 treatment plans including stomach (4), lung (2), liver (3), adrenal gland (2), pancreas (2), spleen(1), mediastinum (1), and breast (1), the MRIdian dose calculation engine agrees with gpenelope with a mean gamma passing rate of 99.1% ± 0.6% (2%/2 mm). Conclusions: A Monte Carlo simulation platform was developed based on a GPU- accelerated version of penelope. This platform was used to validate that both the vendor-provided head model and fast Monte Carlo engine used by the MRIdian system are accurate in modeling radiation transport in a patient using 2%/2 mm gamma criteria. Future applications of this platform will include dose validation and accumulation, IMRT optimization, and dosimetry system modeling for next generation MR-IGRT systems. PMID:27370123

A GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation platform and its application toward validating an MRI-guided radiation therapy beam model.

PubMed

Wang, Yuhe; Mazur, Thomas R; Green, Olga; Hu, Yanle; Li, Hua; Rodriguez, Vivian; Wooten, H Omar; Yang, Deshan; Zhao, Tianyu; Mutic, Sasa; Li, H Harold

2016-07-01

The clinical commissioning of IMRT subject to a magnetic field is challenging. The purpose of this work is to develop a GPU-accelerated Monte Carlo dose calculation platform based on penelope and then use the platform to validate a vendor-provided MRIdian head model toward quality assurance of clinical IMRT treatment plans subject to a 0.35 T magnetic field. penelope was first translated from fortran to c++ and the result was confirmed to produce equivalent results to the original code. The c++ code was then adapted to cuda in a workflow optimized for GPU architecture. The original code was expanded to include voxelized transport with Woodcock tracking, faster electron/positron propagation in a magnetic field, and several features that make gpenelope highly user-friendly. Moreover, the vendor-provided MRIdian head model was incorporated into the code in an effort to apply gpenelope as both an accurate and rapid dose validation system. A set of experimental measurements were performed on the MRIdian system to examine the accuracy of both the head model and gpenelope. Ultimately, gpenelope was applied toward independent validation of patient doses calculated by MRIdian's kmc. An acceleration factor of 152 was achieved in comparison to the original single-thread fortran implementation with the original accuracy being preserved. For 16 treatment plans including stomach (4), lung (2), liver (3), adrenal gland (2), pancreas (2), spleen(1), mediastinum (1), and breast (1), the MRIdian dose calculation engine agrees with gpenelope with a mean gamma passing rate of 99.1% ± 0.6% (2%/2 mm). A Monte Carlo simulation platform was developed based on a GPU- accelerated version of penelope. This platform was used to validate that both the vendor-provided head model and fast Monte Carlo engine used by the MRIdian system are accurate in modeling radiation transport in a patient using 2%/2 mm gamma criteria. Future applications of this platform will include dose validation and accumulation, IMRT optimization, and dosimetry system modeling for next generation MR-IGRT systems.

Virtual Systems Pharmacology (ViSP) software for simulation from mechanistic systems-level models.

PubMed

Ermakov, Sergey; Forster, Peter; Pagidala, Jyotsna; Miladinov, Marko; Wang, Albert; Baillie, Rebecca; Bartlett, Derek; Reed, Mike; Leil, Tarek A

2014-01-01

Multiple software programs are available for designing and running large scale system-level pharmacology models used in the drug development process. Depending on the problem, scientists may be forced to use several modeling tools that could increase model development time, IT costs and so on. Therefore, it is desirable to have a single platform that allows setting up and running large-scale simulations for the models that have been developed with different modeling tools. We developed a workflow and a software platform in which a model file is compiled into a self-contained executable that is no longer dependent on the software that was used to create the model. At the same time the full model specifics is preserved by presenting all model parameters as input parameters for the executable. This platform was implemented as a model agnostic, therapeutic area agnostic and web-based application with a database back-end that can be used to configure, manage and execute large-scale simulations for multiple models by multiple users. The user interface is designed to be easily configurable to reflect the specifics of the model and the user's particular needs and the back-end database has been implemented to store and manage all aspects of the systems, such as Models, Virtual Patients, User Interface Settings, and Results. The platform can be adapted and deployed on an existing cluster or cloud computing environment. Its use was demonstrated with a metabolic disease systems pharmacology model that simulates the effects of two antidiabetic drugs, metformin and fasiglifam, in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.

A knowledge platform to inform on the effects of trawling on benthic communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muntadas, Alba; Lample, Michel; Demestre, Montserrat; Ballé-Béganton, Johanna; de Juan, Silvia; Maynou, Francesc; Bailly, Denis

2018-02-01

For a successful implementation of an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF) management, it is necessary that all stakeholders involved in fisheries management are aware of the implications of fishing impacts on ecosystems and agree with the adopted measures to mitigate these impacts. In this context, there is a need for tools to share knowledge on the ecosystem effects of fisheries among these stakeholders. When managing bottom trawl fisheries under an EAF framework, one of the main concerns is the direct and indirect consequences of trawling impacts on benthic ecosystems. We developed a platform using the ExtendSim® software with a user-friendly interface that combines a simulation model based on existing knowledge, data collection and representation of predicted trawling impacts on the seabed. The platform aims to be a deliberation support tool for fisheries' stakeholders and, simultaneously, raise public awareness of the need for good benthic community knowledge to appropriately inform EAF management plans. The simulation procedure assumes that trawling affects benthic communities with an intensity that depends on the level of fishing effort exerted on benthic communities and on the habitat characteristics (i.e. sediment grain size). Data to build the simulation comes from epifaunal samples from 18 study sites located in Mediterranean continental shelves subjected to different levels of fishing effort. In this work, we present the simulation outputs of a 50% fishing effort increase (and decrease) in four of the study sites which cover different habitats and different levels of fishing effort. We discuss the platform strengths and weaknesses and potential future developments.

Virtual Systems Pharmacology (ViSP) software for simulation from mechanistic systems-level models

PubMed Central

Ermakov, Sergey; Forster, Peter; Pagidala, Jyotsna; Miladinov, Marko; Wang, Albert; Baillie, Rebecca; Bartlett, Derek; Reed, Mike; Leil, Tarek A.

2014-01-01

Multiple software programs are available for designing and running large scale system-level pharmacology models used in the drug development process. Depending on the problem, scientists may be forced to use several modeling tools that could increase model development time, IT costs and so on. Therefore, it is desirable to have a single platform that allows setting up and running large-scale simulations for the models that have been developed with different modeling tools. We developed a workflow and a software platform in which a model file is compiled into a self-contained executable that is no longer dependent on the software that was used to create the model. At the same time the full model specifics is preserved by presenting all model parameters as input parameters for the executable. This platform was implemented as a model agnostic, therapeutic area agnostic and web-based application with a database back-end that can be used to configure, manage and execute large-scale simulations for multiple models by multiple users. The user interface is designed to be easily configurable to reflect the specifics of the model and the user's particular needs and the back-end database has been implemented to store and manage all aspects of the systems, such as Models, Virtual Patients, User Interface Settings, and Results. The platform can be adapted and deployed on an existing cluster or cloud computing environment. Its use was demonstrated with a metabolic disease systems pharmacology model that simulates the effects of two antidiabetic drugs, metformin and fasiglifam, in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. PMID:25374542

Simulator fidelity - the effect of platform motion

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-05-10

This research is part of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) initiative towards promoting affordable flight simulators for U.S. commuter airline training. This initiative becomes even more important as the FAA is considering regulatory action...

ENVIRONMENT: a computational platform to stochastically simulate reacting and self-reproducing lipid compartments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mavelli, Fabio; Ruiz-Mirazo, Kepa

2010-09-01

'ENVIRONMENT' is a computational platform that has been developed in the last few years with the aim to simulate stochastically the dynamics and stability of chemically reacting protocellular systems. Here we present and describe some of its main features, showing how the stochastic kinetics approach can be applied to study the time evolution of reaction networks in heterogeneous conditions, particularly when supramolecular lipid structures (micelles, vesicles, etc) coexist with aqueous domains. These conditions are of special relevance to understand the origins of cellular, self-reproducing compartments, in the context of prebiotic chemistry and evolution. We contrast our simulation results with real lab experiments, with the aim to bring together theoretical and experimental research on protocell and minimal artificial cell systems.

Business Simulation Games: Effective Teaching Tools or Window Dressing?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanner, John R.; Stewart, Geoffrey; Totaro, Michael W.; Hargrave, Melissa

2012-01-01

Business simulations serve as learning platforms that stimulate the "gaming" interest of students, that provide a structured learning environment, and that should help manage the time resources of faculty. Simulations appear to provide a context where students feel learning can take place. However, faculty perception of simulation…

TRACC_PB SOSS Integrated Traffic Simulation for CLT Ramp Operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okuniek, Nikolai; Zhu, Zhifan

2017-01-01

This presentation provides the current task under the NASA-DLR research collaboration for airport surface. It presents the effort done to adapt TRACC and SOSS software components to simulate airport (CLT) ramp area traffic management using TRACC's conflict free taxi trajectory optimization and SOSS's fast time simulation platform.

Simulator platform for fast reactor operation and safety technology demonstration

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

Vilim, R. B.; Park, Y. S.; Grandy, C.

2012-07-30

A simulator platform for visualization and demonstration of innovative concepts in fast reactor technology is described. The objective is to make more accessible the workings of fast reactor technology innovations and to do so in a human factors environment that uses state-of-the art visualization technologies. In this work the computer codes in use at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for the design of fast reactor systems are being integrated to run on this platform. This includes linking reactor systems codes with mechanical structures codes and using advanced graphics to depict the thermo-hydraulic-structure interactions that give rise to an inherently safe responsemore » to upsets. It also includes visualization of mechanical systems operation including advanced concepts that make use of robotics for operations, in-service inspection, and maintenance.« less

Development and Validation of a Novel Robotic Procedure Specific Simulation Platform: Partial Nephrectomy.

PubMed

Hung, Andrew J; Shah, Swar H; Dalag, Leonard; Shin, Daniel; Gill, Inderbir S

2015-08-01

We developed a novel procedure specific simulation platform for robotic partial nephrectomy. In this study we prospectively evaluate its face, content, construct and concurrent validity. This hybrid platform features augmented reality and virtual reality. Augmented reality involves 3-dimensional robotic partial nephrectomy surgical videos overlaid with virtual instruments to teach surgical anatomy, technical skills and operative steps. Advanced technical skills are assessed with an embedded full virtual reality renorrhaphy task. Participants were classified as novice (no surgical training, 15), intermediate (less than 100 robotic cases, 13) or expert (100 or more robotic cases, 14) and prospectively assessed. Cohort performance was compared with the Kruskal-Wallis test (construct validity). Post-study questionnaire was used to assess the realism of simulation (face validity) and usefulness for training (content validity). Concurrent validity evaluated correlation between virtual reality renorrhaphy task and a live porcine robotic partial nephrectomy performance (Spearman's analysis). Experts rated the augmented reality content as realistic (median 8/10) and helpful for resident/fellow training (8.0-8.2/10). Experts rated the platform highly for teaching anatomy (9/10) and operative steps (8.5/10) but moderately for technical skills (7.5/10). Experts and intermediates outperformed novices (construct validity) in efficiency (p=0.0002) and accuracy (p=0.002). For virtual reality renorrhaphy, experts outperformed intermediates on GEARS metrics (p=0.002). Virtual reality renorrhaphy and in vivo porcine robotic partial nephrectomy performance correlated significantly (r=0.8, p <0.0001) (concurrent validity). This augmented reality simulation platform displayed face, content and construct validity. Performance in the procedure specific virtual reality task correlated highly with a porcine model (concurrent validity). Future efforts will integrate procedure specific virtual reality tasks and their global assessment. Copyright © 2015 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards a New Architecture for Autonomous Data Collection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanzi, T. J.; Roudier, Y.; Apvrille, L.

2015-08-01

A new generation of UAVs is coming that will help improve the situational awareness and assessment necessary to ensure quality data collection, especially in difficult conditions like natural disasters. Operators should be relieved from time-consuming data collection tasks as much as possible and at the same time, UAVs should assist data collection operations through a more insightful and automated guidance thanks to advanced sensing capabilities. In order to achieve this vision, two challenges must be addressed though. The first one is to achieve a sufficient autonomy, both in terms of navigation and of interpretation of the data sensed. The second one relates to the reliability of the UAV with respect to accidental (safety) or even malicious (security) risks. This however requires the design and development of new embedded architectures for drones to be more autonomous, while mitigating the harm they may potentially cause. We claim that the increased complexity and flexibility of such platforms requires resorting to modelling, simulation, or formal verification techniques in order to validate such critical aspects of the platform. This paper first discusses the potential and challenges faced by autonomous UAVs for data acquisition. The design of a flexible and adaptable embedded UAV architecture is then addressed. Finally, the need for validating the properties of the platform is discussed. Our approach is sketched and illustrated with the example of a lightweight drone performing 3D reconstructions out of the combination of 2D image acquisition and a specific motion control.

Ambient assisted living healthcare frameworks, platforms, standards, and quality attributes.

PubMed

Memon, Mukhtiar; Wagner, Stefan Rahr; Pedersen, Christian Fischer; Beevi, Femina Hassan Aysha; Hansen, Finn Overgaard

2014-03-04

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is an emerging multi-disciplinary field aiming at exploiting information and communication technologies in personal healthcare and telehealth systems for countering the effects of growing elderly population. AAL systems are developed for personalized, adaptive, and anticipatory requirements, necessitating high quality-of-service to achieve interoperability, usability, security, and accuracy. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the AAL field with a focus on healthcare frameworks, platforms, standards, and quality attributes. To achieve this, we conducted a literature survey of state-of-the-art AAL frameworks, systems and platforms to identify the essential aspects of AAL systems and investigate the critical issues from the design, technology, quality-of-service, and user experience perspectives. In addition, we conducted an email-based survey for collecting usage data and current status of contemporary AAL systems. We found that most AAL systems are confined to a limited set of features ignoring many of the essential AAL system aspects. Standards and technologies are used in a limited and isolated manner, while quality attributes are often addressed insufficiently. In conclusion, we found that more inter-organizational collaboration, user-centered studies, increased standardization efforts, and a focus on open systems is needed to achieve more interoperable and synergetic AAL solutions.

Ambient Assisted Living Healthcare Frameworks, Platforms, Standards, and Quality Attributes

PubMed Central

Memon, Mukhtiar; Wagner, Stefan Rahr; Pedersen, Christian Fischer; Beevi, Femina Hassan Aysha; Hansen, Finn Overgaard

2014-01-01

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) is an emerging multi-disciplinary field aiming at exploiting information and communication technologies in personal healthcare and telehealth systems for countering the effects of growing elderly population. AAL systems are developed for personalized, adaptive, and anticipatory requirements, necessitating high quality-of-service to achieve interoperability, usability, security, and accuracy. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the AAL field with a focus on healthcare frameworks, platforms, standards, and quality attributes. To achieve this, we conducted a literature survey of state-of-the-art AAL frameworks, systems and platforms to identify the essential aspects of AAL systems and investigate the critical issues from the design, technology, quality-of-service, and user experience perspectives. In addition, we conducted an email-based survey for collecting usage data and current status of contemporary AAL systems. We found that most AAL systems are confined to a limited set of features ignoring many of the essential AAL system aspects. Standards and technologies are used in a limited and isolated manner, while quality attributes are often addressed insufficiently. In conclusion, we found that more inter-organizational collaboration, user-centered studies, increased standardization efforts, and a focus on open systems is needed to achieve more interoperable and synergetic AAL solutions. PMID:24599192

Designing and implementing nervous system simulations on LEGO robots.

PubMed

Blustein, Daniel; Rosenthal, Nikolai; Ayers, Joseph

2013-05-25

We present a method to use the commercially available LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics platform to test systems level neuroscience hypotheses. The first step of the method is to develop a nervous system simulation of specific reflexive behaviors of an appropriate model organism; here we use the American Lobster. Exteroceptive reflexes mediated by decussating (crossing) neural connections can explain an animal's taxis towards or away from a stimulus as described by Braitenberg and are particularly well suited for investigation using the NXT platform.(1) The nervous system simulation is programmed using LabVIEW software on the LEGO Mindstorms platform. Once the nervous system is tuned properly, behavioral experiments are run on the robot and on the animal under identical environmental conditions. By controlling the sensory milieu experienced by the specimens, differences in behavioral outputs can be observed. These differences may point to specific deficiencies in the nervous system model and serve to inform the iteration of the model for the particular behavior under study. This method allows for the experimental manipulation of electronic nervous systems and serves as a way to explore neuroscience hypotheses specifically regarding the neurophysiological basis of simple innate reflexive behaviors. The LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit provides an affordable and efficient platform on which to test preliminary biomimetic robot control schemes. The approach is also well suited for the high school classroom to serve as the foundation for a hands-on inquiry-based biorobotics curriculum.

Method and platform standardization in MRM-based quantitative plasma proteomics.

PubMed

Percy, Andrew J; Chambers, Andrew G; Yang, Juncong; Jackson, Angela M; Domanski, Dominik; Burkhart, Julia; Sickmann, Albert; Borchers, Christoph H

2013-12-16

There exists a growing demand in the proteomics community to standardize experimental methods and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) platforms in order to enable the acquisition of more precise and accurate quantitative data. This necessity is heightened by the evolving trend of verifying and validating candidate disease biomarkers in complex biofluids, such as blood plasma, through targeted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-based approaches with stable isotope-labeled standards (SIS). Considering the lack of performance standards for quantitative plasma proteomics, we previously developed two reference kits to evaluate the MRM with SIS peptide approach using undepleted and non-enriched human plasma. The first kit tests the effectiveness of the LC/MRM-MS platform (kit #1), while the second evaluates the performance of an entire analytical workflow (kit #2). Here, these kits have been refined for practical use and then evaluated through intra- and inter-laboratory testing on 6 common LC/MS platforms. For an identical panel of 22 plasma proteins, similar concentrations were determined, regardless of the kit, instrument platform, and laboratory of analysis. These results demonstrate the value of the kit and reinforce the utility of standardized methods and protocols. The proteomics community needs standardized experimental protocols and quality control methods in order to improve the reproducibility of MS-based quantitative data. This need is heightened by the evolving trend for MRM-based validation of proposed disease biomarkers in complex biofluids such as blood plasma. We have developed two kits to assist in the inter- and intra-laboratory quality control of MRM experiments: the first kit tests the effectiveness of the LC/MRM-MS platform (kit #1), while the second evaluates the performance of an entire analytical workflow (kit #2). In this paper, we report the use of these kits in intra- and inter-laboratory testing on 6 common LC/MS platforms. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Standardization and Quality Control in Proteomics. © 2013.

Minimizing Erosion and Agro-Pollutants Transport from Furrow Irrigated Fields to the Nearby Water Body Using Spatially-Explicit Agent Based Model and Decision Optimization Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghoveisi, H.; Al Dughaishi, U.; Kiker, G.

2017-12-01

Maintaining water quality in agricultural watersheds is a worldwide challenge, especially where furrow irrigation is being practiced. The Yakima River Basin watershed in south central Washington State, (USA) is an example of these impacted areas with elevated load of sediments and other agricultural products due to runoff from furrow-irrigated fields. Within the Yakima basin, the Granger Drain watershed (area of 75 km2) is particularly challenged in this regard with more than 400 flood-irrigated individual parcels (area of 21 km2) growing a variety of crops from maize to grapes. Alternatives for improving water quality from furrow-irrigated parcels include vegetated filter strip (VFS) implementation, furrow water application efficiency, polyacrylamide (PAM) application and irrigation scheduling. These alternatives were simulated separately and in combinations to explore potential Best Management Practices (BMPs) for runoff-related-pollution reduction in a spatially explicit, agent based modeling system (QnD:GrangerDrain). Two regulatory scenarios were tested to BMP adoption within individual parcels. A blanket-style regulatory scenario simulated a total of 60 BMP combinations implemented in all 409 furrow-irrigated parcels. A second regulatory scenario simulated the BMPs in 119 furrow-irrigated parcels designated as "hotspots" based on a standard 12 Mg ha-1 seasonal sediment load. The simulated cumulative runoff and sediment loading from all BMP alternatives were ranked using Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), specifically the Stochastic Multi-Attribute Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) method. Several BMP combinations proved successful in reducing loads below a 25 NTU (91 mg L-1) regulatory sediment concentration. The QnD:GrangerDrain simulations and subsequent MCDA ranking revealed that the BMP combinations of 5 m-VFS and high furrow water efficiency were highly ranked alternatives for both the blanket and hotspot scenarios.

Open source acceleration of wave optics simulations on energy efficient high-performance computing platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, Jeffrey; Bos, Jeremy P.

2017-05-01

We compare several modifications to the open-source wave optics package, WavePy, intended to improve execution time. Specifically, we compare the relative performance of the Intel MKL, a CPU based OpenCV distribution, and GPU-based version. Performance is compared between distributions both on the same compute platform and between a fully-featured computing workstation and the NVIDIA Jetson TX1 platform. Comparisons are drawn in terms of both execution time and power consumption. We have found that substituting the Fast Fourier Transform operation from OpenCV provides a marked improvement on all platforms. In addition, we show that embedded platforms offer some possibility for extensive improvement in terms of efficiency compared to a fully featured workstation.

Free energy simulations with the AMOEBA polarizable force field and metadynamics on GPU platform.

PubMed

Peng, Xiangda; Zhang, Yuebin; Chu, Huiying; Li, Guohui

2016-03-05

The free energy calculation library PLUMED has been incorporated into the OpenMM simulation toolkit, with the purpose to perform enhanced sampling MD simulations using the AMOEBA polarizable force field on GPU platform. Two examples, (I) the free energy profile of water pair separation (II) alanine dipeptide dihedral angle free energy surface in explicit solvent, are provided here to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of our implementation. The converged free energy profiles could be obtained within an affordable MD simulation time when the AMOEBA polarizable force field is employed. Moreover, the free energy surfaces estimated using the AMOEBA polarizable force field are in agreement with those calculated from experimental data and ab initio methods. Hence, the implementation in this work is reliable and would be utilized to study more complicated biological phenomena in both an accurate and efficient way. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Framework for Daylighting Optimization in Whole Buildings with OpenStudio

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

None

2016-08-12

We present a toolkit and workflow for leveraging the OpenStudio (Guglielmetti et al. 2010) platform to perform daylighting analysis and optimization in a whole building energy modeling (BEM) context. We have re-implemented OpenStudio's integrated Radiance and EnergyPlus functionality as an OpenStudio Measure. The OpenStudio Radiance Measure works within the OpenStudio Application and Parametric Analysis Tool, as well as the OpenStudio Server large scale analysis framework, allowing a rigorous daylighting simulation to be performed on a single building model or potentially an entire population of programmatically generated models. The Radiance simulation results can automatically inform the broader building energy model, andmore » provide dynamic daylight metrics as a basis for decision. Through introduction and example, this paper illustrates the utility of the OpenStudio building energy modeling platform to leverage existing simulation tools for integrated building energy performance simulation, daylighting analysis, and reportage.« less

Simulating the dynamic behavior of a vertical axis wind turbine operating in unsteady conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battisti, L.; Benini, E.; Brighenti, A.; Soraperra, G.; Raciti Castelli, M.

2016-09-01

The present work aims at assessing the reliability of a simulation tool capable of computing the unsteady rotational motion and the associated tower oscillations of a variable speed VAWT immersed in a coherent turbulent wind. As a matter of fact, since the dynamic behaviour of a variable speed turbine strongly depends on unsteady wind conditions (wind gusts), a steady state approach can't accurately catch transient correlated issues. The simulation platform proposed here is implemented using a lumped mass approach: the drive train is described by resorting to both the polar inertia and the angular position of rotating parts, also considering their speed and acceleration, while rotor aerodynamic is based on steady experimental curves. The ultimate objective of the presented numerical platform is the simulation of transient phenomena, driven by turbulence, occurring during rotor operation, with the aim of supporting the implementation of efficient and robust control algorithms.

MOLNs: A CLOUD PLATFORM FOR INTERACTIVE, REPRODUCIBLE, AND SCALABLE SPATIAL STOCHASTIC COMPUTATIONAL EXPERIMENTS IN SYSTEMS BIOLOGY USING PyURDME.

PubMed

Drawert, Brian; Trogdon, Michael; Toor, Salman; Petzold, Linda; Hellander, Andreas

2016-01-01

Computational experiments using spatial stochastic simulations have led to important new biological insights, but they require specialized tools and a complex software stack, as well as large and scalable compute and data analysis resources due to the large computational cost associated with Monte Carlo computational workflows. The complexity of setting up and managing a large-scale distributed computation environment to support productive and reproducible modeling can be prohibitive for practitioners in systems biology. This results in a barrier to the adoption of spatial stochastic simulation tools, effectively limiting the type of biological questions addressed by quantitative modeling. In this paper, we present PyURDME, a new, user-friendly spatial modeling and simulation package, and MOLNs, a cloud computing appliance for distributed simulation of stochastic reaction-diffusion models. MOLNs is based on IPython and provides an interactive programming platform for development of sharable and reproducible distributed parallel computational experiments.

Integrated Display and Simulation for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast and Traffic Collision Avoidance System Data Fusion.

PubMed

Wang, Yanran; Xiao, Gang; Dai, Zhouyun

2017-11-13

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is the direction of airspace surveillance development. Research analyzing the benefits of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and ADS-B data fusion is almost absent. The paper proposes an ADS-B minimum system from ADS-B In and ADS-B Out. In ADS-B In, a fusion model with a variable sampling Variational Bayesian-Interacting Multiple Model (VSVB-IMM) algorithm is proposed for integrated display and an airspace traffic situation display is developed by using ADS-B information. ADS-B Out includes ADS-B Out transmission based on a simulator platform and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform. This paper describes the overall implementation of ADS-B minimum system, including theoretical model design, experimental simulation verification, engineering implementation, results analysis, etc. Simulation and implementation results show that the fused system has better performance than each independent subsystem and it can work well in engineering applications.

Modeling a maintenance simulation of the geosynchronous platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kleiner, A. F., Jr.

1980-01-01

A modeling technique used to conduct a simulation study comparing various maintenance routines for a space platform is dicussed. A system model is described and illustrated, the basic concepts of a simulation pass are detailed, and sections on failures and maintenance are included. The operation of the system across time is best modeled by a discrete event approach with two basic events - failure and maintenance of the system. Each overall simulation run consists of introducing a particular model of the physical system, together with a maintenance policy, demand function, and mission lifetime. The system is then run through many passes, each pass corresponding to one mission and the model is re-initialized before each pass. Statistics are compiled at the end of each pass and after the last pass a report is printed. Items of interest typically include the time to first maintenance, total number of maintenance trips for each pass, average capability of the system, etc.

PSI-Center Simulations of Validation Platform Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, B. A.; Akcay, C.; Glasser, A. H.; Hansen, C. J.; Jarboe, T. R.; Marklin, G. J.; Milroy, R. D.; Morgan, K. D.; Norgaard, P. C.; Shumlak, U.; Victor, B. S.; Sovinec, C. R.; O'Bryan, J. B.; Held, E. D.; Ji, J.-Y.; Lukin, V. S.

2013-10-01

The Plasma Science and Innovation Center (PSI-Center - http://www.psicenter.org) supports collaborating validation platform experiments with extended MHD simulations. Collaborators include the Bellan Plasma Group (Caltech), CTH (Auburn U), FRX-L (Los Alamos National Laboratory), HIT-SI (U Wash - UW), LTX (PPPL), MAST (Culham), Pegasus (U Wisc-Madison), PHD/ELF (UW/MSNW), SSX (Swarthmore College), TCSU (UW), and ZaP/ZaP-HD (UW). Modifications have been made to the NIMROD, HiFi, and PSI-Tet codes to specifically model these experiments, including mesh generation/refinement, non-local closures, appropriate boundary conditions (external fields, insulating BCs, etc.), and kinetic and neutral particle interactions. The PSI-Center is exploring application of validation metrics between experimental data and simulations results. Biorthogonal decomposition is proving to be a powerful method to compare global temporal and spatial structures for validation. Results from these simulation and validation studies, as well as an overview of the PSI-Center status will be presented.

A mechanical chest compressor closed-loop controller with an effective trade-off between blood flow improvement and ribs fracture reduction.

PubMed

Zhang, Guang; Wu, Taihu; Song, Zhenxing; Wang, Haitao; Lu, Hengzhi; Wang, Yalin; Wang, Dan; Chen, Feng

2015-06-01

Chest compression (CC) is a significant emergency medical procedure for maintaining circulation during cardiac arrest. Although CC produces the necessary blood flow for patients with heart arrest, improperly deep CC will contribute significantly to the risk of chest injury. In this paper, an optimal CC closed-loop controller for a mechanical chest compressor (OCC-MCC) was developed to provide an effective trade-off between the benefit of improved blood perfusion and the risk of ribs fracture. The trade-off performance of the OCC-MCC during real automatic mechanical CCs was evaluated by comparing the OCC-MCC and the traditional mechanical CC method (TMCM) with a human circulation hardware model based on hardware simulations. A benefit factor (BF), risk factor (RF) and benefit versus risk index (BRI) were introduced in this paper for the comprehensive evaluation of risk and benefit. The OCC-MCC was developed using the LabVIEW control platform and the mechanical chest compressor (MCC) controller. PID control is also employed by MCC for effective compression depth regulation. In addition, the physiological parameters model for MCC was built based on a digital signal processor for hardware simulations. A comparison between the OCC-MCC and TMCM was then performed based on the simulation test platform which is composed of the MCC, LabVIEW control platform, physiological parameters model for MCC and the manikin. Compared with the TMCM, the OCC-MCC obtained a better trade-off and a higher BRI in seven out of a total of nine cases. With a higher mean value of cardiac output (1.35 L/min) and partial pressure of end-tidal CO2 (15.7 mmHg), the OCC-MCC obtained a larger blood flow and higher BF than TMCM (5.19 vs. 3.41) in six out of a total of nine cases. Although it is relatively difficult to maintain a stable CC depth when the chest is stiff, the OCC-MCC is still superior to the TMCM for performing safe and effective CC during CPR. The OCC-MCC is superior to the TMCM in performing safe and effective CC during CPR and can be incorporated into the current version of mechanical CC devices for high quality CPR, in both in-hospital and out-of-hospital CPR settings.

Study on the E-commerce platform based on the agent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Ruixue; Qin, Lishuan; Gao, Yinmin

2011-10-01

To solve problem of dynamic integration in e-commerce, the Multi-Agent architecture of electronic commerce platform system based on Agent and Ontology has been introduced, which includes three major types of agent, Ontology and rule collection. In this architecture, service agent and rule are used to realize the business process reengineering, the reuse of software component, and agility of the electronic commerce platform. To illustrate the architecture, a simulation work has been done and the results imply that the architecture provides a very efficient method to design and implement the flexible, distributed, open and intelligent electronic commerce platform system to solve problem of dynamic integration in ecommerce. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the architecture of electronic commerce platform system, and the approach how Agent and Ontology support the electronic commerce platform system.

Numerical wind-tunnel simulation for Spar platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Wenjun

2017-05-01

ANSYS Fluent software is used in the simulation analysis of numerical wind tunnel model for the upper Spar platform module. Design Modeler (DM), Meshing, FLUENT and CFD-POST are chosen in the numerical calculation. And DM is used to deal with and repair the geometric model, and Meshing is used to mesh the model, Fluent is used to set up and solve the calculation condition, finally CFD-POST is used for post-processing of the results. The wind loads are obtained under different direction and incidence angles. Finally, comparison is made between numerical results and empirical formula.

Environmental Detectives--The Development of an Augmented Reality Platform for Environmental Simulations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopfer, Eric; Squire, Kurt

2008-01-01

The form factors of handheld computers make them increasingly popular among K-12 educators. Although some compelling examples of educational software for handhelds exist, we believe that the potential of this platform are just being discovered. This paper reviews innovative applications for mobile computing for both education and entertainment…

Beam Dynamics Simulation Platform and Studies of Beam Breakup in Dielectric Wakefield Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schoessow, P.; Kanareykin, A.; Jing, C.; Kustov, A.; Altmark, A.; Gai, W.

2010-11-01

A particle-Green's function beam dynamics code (BBU-3000) to study beam breakup effects is incorporated into a parallel computing framework based on the Boinc software environment, and supports both task farming on a heterogeneous cluster and local grid computing. User access to the platform is through a web browser.

A report documenting the completion of the Los Alamos National Laboratory portion of the ASC level II milestone ""Visualization on the supercomputing platform

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

Ahrens, James P; Patchett, John M; Lo, Li - Ta

2011-01-24

This report provides documentation for the completion of the Los Alamos portion of the ASC Level II 'Visualization on the Supercomputing Platform' milestone. This ASC Level II milestone is a joint milestone between Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The milestone text is shown in Figure 1 with the Los Alamos portions highlighted in boldfaced text. Visualization and analysis of petascale data is limited by several factors which must be addressed as ACES delivers the Cielo platform. Two primary difficulties are: (1) Performance of interactive rendering, which is the most computationally intensive portion of the visualization process. Formore » terascale platforms, commodity clusters with graphics processors (GPUs) have been used for interactive rendering. For petascale platforms, visualization and rendering may be able to run efficiently on the supercomputer platform itself. (2) I/O bandwidth, which limits how much information can be written to disk. If we simply analyze the sparse information that is saved to disk we miss the opportunity to analyze the rich information produced every timestep by the simulation. For the first issue, we are pursuing in-situ analysis, in which simulations are coupled directly with analysis libraries at runtime. This milestone will evaluate the visualization and rendering performance of current and next generation supercomputers in contrast to GPU-based visualization clusters, and evaluate the perfromance of common analysis libraries coupled with the simulation that analyze and write data to disk during a running simulation. This milestone will explore, evaluate and advance the maturity level of these technologies and their applicability to problems of interest to the ASC program. In conclusion, we improved CPU-based rendering performance by a a factor of 2-10 times on our tests. In addition, we evaluated CPU and CPU-based rendering performance. We encourage production visualization experts to consider using CPU-based rendering solutions when it is appropriate. For example, on remote supercomputers CPU-based rendering can offer a means of viewing data without having to offload the data or geometry onto a CPU-based visualization system. In terms of comparative performance of the CPU and CPU we believe that further optimizations of the performance of both CPU or CPU-based rendering are possible. The simulation community is currently confronting this reality as they work to port their simulations to different hardware architectures. What is interesting about CPU rendering of massive datasets is that for part two decades CPU performance has significantly outperformed CPU-based systems. Based on our advancements, evaluations and explorations we believe that CPU-based rendering has returned as one viable option for the visualization of massive datasets.« less

Introducing nuclei scatterer patterns into histology based intravascular ultrasound simulation framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraft, Silvan; Karamalis, Athanasios; Sheet, Debdoot; Drecoll, Enken; Rummeny, Ernst J.; Navab, Nassir; Noël, Peter B.; Katouzian, Amin

2013-03-01

Medical ultrasonic grayscale images are formed from acoustic waves following their interactions with distributed scatterers within tissues media. For accurate simulation of acoustic wave propagation, a reliable model describing unknown parameters associated with tissues scatterers such as distribution, size and acoustic properties is essential. In this work, we introduce a novel approach defining ultrasonic scatterers by incorporating a distribution of cellular nuclei patterns in biological tissues to simulate ultrasonic response of atherosclerotic tissues in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). For this reason, a virtual phantom is generated through manual labeling of different tissue types (fibrotic, lipidic and calcified) on histology sections. Acoustic properties of each tissue type are defined by assuming that the ultrasound signal is primarily backscattered by the nuclei of the organic cells within the intima and media of the vessel wall. This resulting virtual phantom is subsequently used to simulate ultrasonic wave propagation through the tissue medium computed using finite difference estimation. Subsequently B-mode images for a specific histological section are processed from the simulated radiofrequency (RF) data and compared with the original IVUS of the same tissue section. Real IVUS RF signals for these histological sections were obtained using a single-element mechanically rotating 40MHz transducer. Evaluation is performed by trained reviewers subjectively assessing both simulated and real B-mode IVUS images. Our simulation platform provides a high image quality with a very promising correlation to the original IVUS images. This will facilitate to better understand progression of such a chronic disease from micro-level and its integration into cardiovascular disease-specific models.

DRACO-STEM: An Automatic Tool to Generate High-Quality 3D Meshes of Shoot Apical Meristem Tissue at Cell Resolution

PubMed Central

Cerutti, Guillaume; Ali, Olivier; Godin, Christophe

2017-01-01

Context: The shoot apical meristem (SAM), origin of all aerial organs of the plant, is a restricted niche of stem cells whose growth is regulated by a complex network of genetic, hormonal and mechanical interactions. Studying the development of this area at cell level using 3D microscopy time-lapse imaging is a newly emerging key to understand the processes controlling plant morphogenesis. Computational models have been proposed to simulate those mechanisms, however their validation on real-life data is an essential step that requires an adequate representation of the growing tissue to be carried out. Achievements: The tool we introduce is a two-stage computational pipeline that generates a complete 3D triangular mesh of the tissue volume based on a segmented tissue image stack. DRACO (Dual Reconstruction by Adjacency Complex Optimization) is designed to retrieve the underlying 3D topological structure of the tissue and compute its dual geometry, while STEM (SAM Tissue Enhanced Mesh) returns a faithful triangular mesh optimized along several quality criteria (intrinsic quality, tissue reconstruction, visual adequacy). Quantitative evaluation tools measuring the performance of the method along those different dimensions are also provided. The resulting meshes can be used as input and validation for biomechanical simulations. Availability: DRACO-STEM is supplied as a package of the open-source multi-platform plant modeling library OpenAlea (http://openalea.github.io/) implemented in Python, and is freely distributed on GitHub (https://github.com/VirtualPlants/draco-stem) along with guidelines for installation and use. PMID:28424704

Auto Code Generation for Simulink-Based Attitude Determination Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

MolinaFraticelli, Jose Carlos

2012-01-01

This paper details the work done to auto generate C code from a Simulink-Based Attitude Determination Control System (ADCS) to be used in target platforms. NASA Marshall Engineers have developed an ADCS Simulink simulation to be used as a component for the flight software of a satellite. This generated code can be used for carrying out Hardware in the loop testing of components for a satellite in a convenient manner with easily tunable parameters. Due to the nature of the embedded hardware components such as microcontrollers, this simulation code cannot be used directly, as it is, on the target platform and must first be converted into C code; this process is known as auto code generation. In order to generate C code from this simulation; it must be modified to follow specific standards set in place by the auto code generation process. Some of these modifications include changing certain simulation models into their atomic representations which can bring new complications into the simulation. The execution order of these models can change based on these modifications. Great care must be taken in order to maintain a working simulation that can also be used for auto code generation. After modifying the ADCS simulation for the auto code generation process, it is shown that the difference between the output data of the former and that of the latter is between acceptable bounds. Thus, it can be said that the process is a success since all the output requirements are met. Based on these results, it can be argued that this generated C code can be effectively used by any desired platform as long as it follows the specific memory requirements established in the Simulink Model.

Primer and platform effects on 16S rRNA tag sequencing

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

Tremblay, Julien; Singh, Kanwar; Fern, Alison

Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene tags is a popular method for profiling and comparing microbial communities. The protocols and methods used, however, vary considerably with regard to amplification primers, sequencing primers, sequencing technologies; as well as quality filtering and clustering. How results are affected by these choices, and whether data produced with different protocols can be meaningfully compared, is often unknown. Here we compare results obtained using three different amplification primer sets (targeting V4, V6–V8, and V7–V8) and two sequencing technologies (454 pyrosequencing and Illumina MiSeq) using DNA from a mock community containing a known number of species as wellmore » as complex environmental samples whose PCR-independent profiles were estimated using shotgun sequencing. We find that paired-end MiSeq reads produce higher quality data and enabled the use of more aggressive quality control parameters over 454, resulting in a higher retention rate of high quality reads for downstream data analysis. While primer choice considerably influences quantitative abundance estimations, sequencing platform has relatively minor effects when matched primers are used. In conclusion, beta diversity metrics are surprisingly robust to both primer and sequencing platform biases.« less

Primer and platform effects on 16S rRNA tag sequencing

DOE PAGES

Tremblay, Julien; Singh, Kanwar; Fern, Alison; ...

2015-08-04

Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene tags is a popular method for profiling and comparing microbial communities. The protocols and methods used, however, vary considerably with regard to amplification primers, sequencing primers, sequencing technologies; as well as quality filtering and clustering. How results are affected by these choices, and whether data produced with different protocols can be meaningfully compared, is often unknown. Here we compare results obtained using three different amplification primer sets (targeting V4, V6–V8, and V7–V8) and two sequencing technologies (454 pyrosequencing and Illumina MiSeq) using DNA from a mock community containing a known number of species as wellmore » as complex environmental samples whose PCR-independent profiles were estimated using shotgun sequencing. We find that paired-end MiSeq reads produce higher quality data and enabled the use of more aggressive quality control parameters over 454, resulting in a higher retention rate of high quality reads for downstream data analysis. While primer choice considerably influences quantitative abundance estimations, sequencing platform has relatively minor effects when matched primers are used. In conclusion, beta diversity metrics are surprisingly robust to both primer and sequencing platform biases.« less

MDWiZ: a platform for the automated translation of molecular dynamics simulations.

PubMed

Rusu, Victor H; Horta, Vitor A C; Horta, Bruno A C; Lins, Roberto D; Baron, Riccardo

2014-03-01

A variety of popular molecular dynamics (MD) simulation packages were independently developed in the last decades to reach diverse scientific goals. However, such non-coordinated development of software, force fields, and analysis tools for molecular simulations gave rise to an array of software formats and arbitrary conventions for routine preparation and analysis of simulation input and output data. Different formats and/or parameter definitions are used at each stage of the modeling process despite largely contain redundant information between alternative software tools. Such Babel of languages that cannot be easily and univocally translated one into another poses one of the major technical obstacles to the preparation, translation, and comparison of molecular simulation data that users face on a daily basis. Here, we present the MDWiZ platform, a freely accessed online portal designed to aid the fast and reliable preparation and conversion of file formats that allows researchers to reproduce or generate data from MD simulations using different setups, including force fields and models with different underlying potential forms. The general structure of MDWiZ is presented, the features of version 1.0 are detailed, and an extensive validation based on GROMACS to LAMMPS conversion is presented. We believe that MDWiZ will be largely useful to the molecular dynamics community. Such fast format and force field exchange for a given system allows tailoring the chosen system to a given computer platform and/or taking advantage of a specific capabilities offered by different software engines. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Autonomous mobile platform for monitoring air emissions from industrial and municipal wastewater ponds.

PubMed

Fu, Long; Huda, Quamrul; Yang, Zheng; Zhang, Lucas; Hashisho, Zaher

2017-11-01

Significant amounts of volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gases are generated from wastewater lagoons and tailings ponds in Alberta, Canada. Accurate measurements of these air pollutants and greenhouse gases are needed to support management and regulatory decisions. A mobile platform was developed to measure air emissions from tailings pond in the oil sands region of Alberta. The mobile platform was tested in 2015 in a municipal wastewater treatment lagoon. With a flux chamber and a CO 2 /CH 4 sensor on board, the mobile platform was able to measure CO 2 and CH 4 emissions over two days at two different locations in the pond. Flux emission rates of CO 2 and CH 4 that were measured over the study period suggest the presence of aerobic and anaerobic zones in the wastewater treatment lagoon. The study demonstrated the capabilities of the mobile platform in measuring fugitive air emissions and identified the potential for the applications in air and water quality monitoring programs. The Mobile Platform demonstrated in this study has the ability to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fugitive sources such as municipal wastewater lagoons. This technology can be used to measure emission fluxes from tailings ponds with better detection of spatial and temporal variations of fugitive emissions. Additional air and water sampling equipment could be added to the mobile platform for a broad range of air and water quality studies in the oil sands region of Alberta.

Use of Immersive Simulations to Enhance Graduate Student Learning: Implications for Educational Leadership Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voelkel, Robert H.; Johnson, Christie W.; Gilbert, Kristen A.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to present how one university incorporates immersive simulations through platforms which employ avatars to enhance graduate student understanding and learning in educational leadership programs. While using simulations and immersive virtual environments continues to grow, the literature suggests limited evidence of…

Real-Time Agent-Based Modeling Simulation with in-situ Visualization of Complex Biological Systems: A Case Study on Vocal Fold Inflammation and Healing.

PubMed

Seekhao, Nuttiiya; Shung, Caroline; JaJa, Joseph; Mongeau, Luc; Li-Jessen, Nicole Y K

2016-05-01

We present an efficient and scalable scheme for implementing agent-based modeling (ABM) simulation with In Situ visualization of large complex systems on heterogeneous computing platforms. The scheme is designed to make optimal use of the resources available on a heterogeneous platform consisting of a multicore CPU and a GPU, resulting in minimal to no resource idle time. Furthermore, the scheme was implemented under a client-server paradigm that enables remote users to visualize and analyze simulation data as it is being generated at each time step of the model. Performance of a simulation case study of vocal fold inflammation and wound healing with 3.8 million agents shows 35× and 7× speedup in execution time over single-core and multi-core CPU respectively. Each iteration of the model took less than 200 ms to simulate, visualize and send the results to the client. This enables users to monitor the simulation in real-time and modify its course as needed.

EduXs: Multilayer Educational Services Platforms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Li-Jie; Yang, Jie-Chi; Deng, Yi-Chan; Chan, Tak-Wai

2003-01-01

How to use the online social learning communities to improve quality and quantity of interactions in physical social learning communities is an important issue. This work describes the design and implementation of multilayer educational services platforms that enable learners to establish their own online social learning communities and integrate…

Simulator platform motion -- the need revisited

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-05-13

The need to provide increased access to flight simulator training for U.S. regional airlines, which historically have been limited by cost considerations in the use of such equipment for pilot recurrent training, is discussed. In light of that need, ...

Space Station Habitability Recommendations Based on a Systematic Comparative Analysis of Analogous Conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stuster, Jack W.

1986-01-01

Conditions analogous to the proposed NASA Space Station are systematically analyzed in order to extrapolate design guidelines and recommendations concerning habitability and crew productivity. Analogous environments studied included Skylab, Sealab, Tektite, submarines, Antarctic stations and oil drilling platforms, among others. These analogues were compared and rated for size and composition of group, social organization, preparedness for mission, duration of tour, types of tasks, physical and psychological isolation, personal motivation, perceived risk, and quality of habitat and life support conditions. One-hundred design recommendations concerning, sleep, clothing, exercise, medical support, personal hygiene, food preparation, group interaction, habitat aesthetics, outside communications, recreational opportunities, privacy and personal space, waste disposal, onboard training, simulation and task preparation, and behavioral and physiological requirements associated with a microgravity environment, are provided.

Effects of Control-Response Characteristics on the Capability of Helicopter for Use as a Gun Platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pegg, Robert J.; Connor, Andrew B.

1960-01-01

An investigation with a variable-stability helicopter was undertaken to ascertain the steadiness and ability to "hold on" to the target of a helicopter employed as a gun platform. Simulated tasks were per formed under differing flight conditions with the control-response characteristics of the helicopter varied for each task. The simulated gun-platform mission included: Variations of headings with respect to wind, constant altitude and "swing around" to a wind heading of 0 deg, and increases in altitude while performing a swing around to a wind heading of 0 deg. The results showed that increases in control power and damping increased pilot ability to hold on to the target with fewer yawing oscillations and in a shorter time. The results also indicated that wind direction must be considered in accuracy assessment. Greatest accuracy throughout these tests was achieved by aiming upwind.

ART-ML - a novel XML format for the biological procedures modeling and the representation of blood flow simulation.

PubMed

Karvounis, E C; Tsakanikas, V D; Fotiou, E; Fotiadis, D I

2010-01-01

The paper proposes a novel Extensible Markup Language (XML) based format called ART-ML that aims at supporting the interoperability and the reuse of models of blood flow, mass transport and plaque formation, exported by ARTool. ARTool is a platform for the automatic processing of various image modalities of coronary and carotid arteries. The images and their content are fused to develop morphological models of the arteries in easy to handle 3D representations. The platform incorporates efficient algorithms which are able to perform blood flow simulation. In addition atherosclerotic plaque development is estimated taking into account morphological, flow and genetic factors. ART-ML provides a XML format that enables the representation and management of embedded models within the ARTool platform and the storage and interchange of well-defined information. This approach influences in the model creation, model exchange, model reuse and result evaluation.

Boutiques: a flexible framework to integrate command-line applications in computing platforms.

PubMed

Glatard, Tristan; Kiar, Gregory; Aumentado-Armstrong, Tristan; Beck, Natacha; Bellec, Pierre; Bernard, Rémi; Bonnet, Axel; Brown, Shawn T; Camarasu-Pop, Sorina; Cervenansky, Frédéric; Das, Samir; Ferreira da Silva, Rafael; Flandin, Guillaume; Girard, Pascal; Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J; Guttmann, Charles R G; Hayot-Sasson, Valérie; Quirion, Pierre-Olivier; Rioux, Pierre; Rousseau, Marc-Étienne; Evans, Alan C

2018-05-01

We present Boutiques, a system to automatically publish, integrate, and execute command-line applications across computational platforms. Boutiques applications are installed through software containers described in a rich and flexible JSON language. A set of core tools facilitates the construction, validation, import, execution, and publishing of applications. Boutiques is currently supported by several distinct virtual research platforms, and it has been used to describe dozens of applications in the neuroinformatics domain. We expect Boutiques to improve the quality of application integration in computational platforms, to reduce redundancy of effort, to contribute to computational reproducibility, and to foster Open Science.

Simulation of parafoil reconnaissance imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kogler, Kent J.; Sutkus, Linas; Troast, Douglas; Kisatsky, Paul; Charles, Alain M.

1995-08-01

Reconnaissance from unmanned platforms is currently of interest to DoD and civil sectors concerned with drug trafficking and illegal immigration. Platforms employed vary from motorized aircraft to tethered balloons. One appraoch currently under evaluation deploys a TV camera suspended from a parafoil delivered to the area of interest by a cannon launched projectile. Imagery is then transmitted to a remote monitor for processing and interpretation. This paper presents results of imagery obtained from simulated parafoil flights in which software techniques were developed to process-in image degradation caused by atmospheric obscurants and perturbations in the normal parafoil flight trajectory induced by wind gusts. The approach to capturing continuous motion imagery from captive flight test recordings, the introduction of simulated effects, and the transfer of the processed imagery back to video tape is described.

Ubiquitous Computing for Remote Cardiac Patient Monitoring: A Survey

PubMed Central

Kumar, Sunil; Kambhatla, Kashyap; Hu, Fei; Lifson, Mark; Xiao, Yang

2008-01-01

New wireless technologies, such as wireless LAN and sensor networks, for telecardiology purposes give new possibilities for monitoring vital parameters with wearable biomedical sensors, and give patients the freedom to be mobile and still be under continuous monitoring and thereby better quality of patient care. This paper will detail the architecture and quality-of-service (QoS) characteristics in integrated wireless telecardiology platforms. It will also discuss the current promising hardware/software platforms for wireless cardiac monitoring. The design methodology and challenges are provided for realistic implementation. PMID:18604301

Ubiquitous computing for remote cardiac patient monitoring: a survey.

PubMed

Kumar, Sunil; Kambhatla, Kashyap; Hu, Fei; Lifson, Mark; Xiao, Yang

2008-01-01

New wireless technologies, such as wireless LAN and sensor networks, for telecardiology purposes give new possibilities for monitoring vital parameters with wearable biomedical sensors, and give patients the freedom to be mobile and still be under continuous monitoring and thereby better quality of patient care. This paper will detail the architecture and quality-of-service (QoS) characteristics in integrated wireless telecardiology platforms. It will also discuss the current promising hardware/software platforms for wireless cardiac monitoring. The design methodology and challenges are provided for realistic implementation.

A web-based Tamsui River flood early-warning system with correction of real-time water stage using monitoring data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, H. Y.; Lin, Y. J.; Chang, H. K.; Shang, R. K.; Kuo, H. C.; Lai, J. S.; Tan, Y. C.

2017-12-01

Taiwan encounters heavy rainfalls frequently. There are three to four typhoons striking Taiwan every year. To provide lead time for reducing flood damage, this study attempt to build a flood early-warning system (FEWS) in Tanshui River using time series correction techniques. The predicted rainfall is used as the input for the rainfall-runoff model. Then, the discharges calculated by the rainfall-runoff model is converted to the 1-D river routing model. The 1-D river routing model will output the simulating water stages in 487 cross sections for the future 48-hr. The downstream water stage at the estuary in 1-D river routing model is provided by storm surge simulation. Next, the water stages of 487 cross sections are corrected by time series model such as autoregressive (AR) model using real-time water stage measurements to improve the predicted accuracy. The results of simulated water stages are displayed on a web-based platform. In addition, the models can be performed remotely by any users with web browsers through a user interface. The on-line video surveillance images, real-time monitoring water stages, and rainfalls can also be shown on this platform. If the simulated water stage exceeds the embankments of Tanshui River, the alerting lights of FEWS will be flashing on the screen. This platform runs periodically and automatically to generate the simulation graphic data of flood water stages for flood disaster prevention and decision making.

Xyce™ Parallel Electronic Simulator Users' Guide, Version 6.5.

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

Keiter, Eric R.; Aadithya, Karthik V.; Mei, Ting

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). This includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers. A differential-algebraic-equation (DAE) formulation, which better isolates the device model package from solver algorithms. This allows one to developmore » new types of analysis without requiring the implementation of analysis-specific device models. Device models that are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiation- aware devices (for Sandia users only). Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase -- a message passing parallel implementation -- which allows it to run efficiently a wide range of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel platforms. Attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows. The information herein is subject to change without notice. Copyright © 2002-2016 Sandia Corporation. All rights reserved.« less

Portable life support for instrumentation of an offshore platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mull, M. M.; Coffin, C. L.

1972-01-01

A compressor was used to supply air through a nylon hose to the offshore platform field engineer working at the bottom of the piling. Air quality in the pile was sampled periodically for carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and combustible gases by an universal tester and an explosion meter.

MICROARRAY QUALITY CONTROL PROJECT: A COMPREHENSIVE GENE EXPRESSION TECHNOLOGY SURVEY DEMONSTRATES MEASURABLE CONSISTENCY AND CONCORDANT RESULTS BETWEEN PLATFORMS

EPA Science Inventory

Over the last decade, the introduction of microarray technology has had a profound impact on gene expression research. The publication of studies with dissimilar or altogether contradictory results, obtained using different microarray platforms to analyze identical RNA samples, h...

Scalable Cloning on Large-Scale GPU Platforms with Application to Time-Stepped Simulations on Grids

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

Yoginath, Srikanth B.; Perumalla, Kalyan S.

Cloning is a technique to efficiently simulate a tree of multiple what-if scenarios that are unraveled during the course of a base simulation. However, cloned execution is highly challenging to realize on large, distributed memory computing platforms, due to the dynamic nature of the computational load across clones, and due to the complex dependencies spanning the clone tree. In this paper, we present the conceptual simulation framework, algorithmic foundations, and runtime interface of CloneX, a new system we designed for scalable simulation cloning. It efficiently and dynamically creates whole logical copies of a dynamic tree of simulations across a largemore » parallel system without full physical duplication of computation and memory. The performance of a prototype implementation executed on up to 1,024 graphical processing units of a supercomputing system has been evaluated with three benchmarks—heat diffusion, forest fire, and disease propagation models—delivering a speed up of over two orders of magnitude compared to replicated runs. Finally, the results demonstrate a significantly faster and scalable way to execute many what-if scenario ensembles of large simulations via cloning using the CloneX interface.« less

Virtual reality simulators: valuable surgical skills trainers or video games?

PubMed

Willis, Ross E; Gomez, Pedro Pablo; Ivatury, Srinivas J; Mitra, Hari S; Van Sickle, Kent R

2014-01-01

Virtual reality (VR) and physical model (PM) simulators differ in terms of whether the trainee is manipulating actual 3-dimensional objects (PM) or computer-generated 3-dimensional objects (VR). Much like video games (VG), VR simulators utilize computer-generated graphics. These differences may have profound effects on the utility of VR and PM training platforms. In this study, we aimed to determine whether a relationship exists between VR, PM, and VG platforms. VR and PM simulators for laparoscopic camera navigation ([LCN], experiment 1) and flexible endoscopy ([FE] experiment 2) were used in this study. In experiment 1, 20 laparoscopic novices played VG and performed 0° and 30° LCN exercises on VR and PM simulators. In experiment 2, 20 FE novices played VG and performed colonoscopy exercises on VR and PM simulators. In both experiments, VG performance was correlated with VR performance but not with PM performance. Performance on VR simulators did not correlate with performance on respective PM models. VR environments may be more like VG than previously thought. © 2013 Published by Association of Program Directors in Surgery on behalf of Association of Program Directors in Surgery.

Solar wind interaction with Venus and Mars in a parallel hybrid code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jarvinen, Riku; Sandroos, Arto

2013-04-01

We discuss the development and applications of a new parallel hybrid simulation, where ions are treated as particles and electrons as a charge-neutralizing fluid, for the interaction between the solar wind and Venus and Mars. The new simulation code under construction is based on the algorithm of the sequential global planetary hybrid model developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and on the Corsair parallel simulation platform also developed at the FMI. The FMI's sequential hybrid model has been used for studies of plasma interactions of several unmagnetized and weakly magnetized celestial bodies for more than a decade. Especially, the model has been used to interpret in situ particle and magnetic field observations from plasma environments of Mars, Venus and Titan. Further, Corsair is an open source MPI (Message Passing Interface) particle and mesh simulation platform, mainly aimed for simulations of diffusive shock acceleration in solar corona and interplanetary space, but which is now also being extended for global planetary hybrid simulations. In this presentation we discuss challenges and strategies of parallelizing a legacy simulation code as well as possible applications and prospects of a scalable parallel hybrid model for the solar wind interactions of Venus and Mars.

Scalable Cloning on Large-Scale GPU Platforms with Application to Time-Stepped Simulations on Grids

DOE PAGES

Yoginath, Srikanth B.; Perumalla, Kalyan S.

2018-01-31

Cloning is a technique to efficiently simulate a tree of multiple what-if scenarios that are unraveled during the course of a base simulation. However, cloned execution is highly challenging to realize on large, distributed memory computing platforms, due to the dynamic nature of the computational load across clones, and due to the complex dependencies spanning the clone tree. In this paper, we present the conceptual simulation framework, algorithmic foundations, and runtime interface of CloneX, a new system we designed for scalable simulation cloning. It efficiently and dynamically creates whole logical copies of a dynamic tree of simulations across a largemore » parallel system without full physical duplication of computation and memory. The performance of a prototype implementation executed on up to 1,024 graphical processing units of a supercomputing system has been evaluated with three benchmarks—heat diffusion, forest fire, and disease propagation models—delivering a speed up of over two orders of magnitude compared to replicated runs. Finally, the results demonstrate a significantly faster and scalable way to execute many what-if scenario ensembles of large simulations via cloning using the CloneX interface.« less

Next Stop: OpenSim!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korolov, Maria

2011-01-01

Unhappy with conditions in Second Life, educators are migrating to a developing virtual world that offers them greater autonomy and a safer platform for their students at far less a cost. OpenSimulator is an open source virtual world platform that schools can run for free on their own servers or can get cheaply and quickly--the space can be up and…

A novel test rig to investigate under-platform damper dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Botto, Daniele; Umer, Muhammad

2018-02-01

In the field of turbomachinery, vibration amplitude is often reduced by dissipating the kinetic energy of the blades with devices that utilize dry friction. Under-platform dampers, for example, are often placed in the underside of two consecutive turbine blades. Dampers are kept in contact with the under-platform of the respective blades by means of the centrifugal force. If the damper is well designed, vibration of blades instigate a relative motion between the under-platform and the damper. A friction force, that is a non-conservative force, arises in the contact and partly dissipates the vibration energy. Several contact models are available in the literature to simulate the contact between the damper and the under-platform. However, the actual dynamics of the blade-damper interaction have not fully understood yet. Several test rigs have been previously developed to experimentally investigate the performance of under-platform dampers. The majority of these experimental setups aim to evaluate the overall damper efficiency in terms of reduction in response amplitude of the blade for a given exciting force that simulates the aerodynamic loads. Unfortunately, the experimental data acquired on the blade dynamics do not provide enough information to understand the damper dynamics. Therefore, the uncertainty on the damper behavior remains a big issue. In this work, a novel experimental test rig has been developed to extensively investigate the damper dynamic behavior. A single replaceable blade is clamped in the rig with a specific clamping device. With this device the blade root is pressed against a groove machined in the test rig. The pushing force is controllable and measurable, to better simulate the actual centrifugal load acting on the blade. Two dampers, one on each side of the blade, are in contact with the blade under-platforms and with platforms on force measuring supports. These supports have been specifically designed to measure the contact forces on the damper. The contact forces on the blade are computed by post processing the measured forces and assuming the static equilibrium of the damper. The damper kinematics is rebuilt by using the relative displacement, measured with a differential laser, between the damper and the blade under-platform. This article describes the main concepts behind this new approach and explains the design and working of this novel test rig. Moreover, the influence of the damper contact forces on the dynamic behavior of the blade is discussed in the result section.

An interactive physics-based unmanned ground vehicle simulator leveraging open source gaming technology: progress in the development and application of the virtual autonomous navigation environment (VANE) desktop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohde, Mitchell M.; Crawford, Justin; Toschlog, Matthew; Iagnemma, Karl D.; Kewlani, Guarav; Cummins, Christopher L.; Jones, Randolph A.; Horner, David A.

2009-05-01

It is widely recognized that simulation is pivotal to vehicle development, whether manned or unmanned. There are few dedicated choices, however, for those wishing to perform realistic, end-to-end simulations of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE), under development by US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), provides such capabilities but utilizes a High Performance Computing (HPC) Computational Testbed (CTB) and is not intended for on-line, real-time performance. A product of the VANE HPC research is a real-time desktop simulation application under development by the authors that provides a portal into the HPC environment as well as interaction with wider-scope semi-automated force simulations (e.g. OneSAF). This VANE desktop application, dubbed the Autonomous Navigation Virtual Environment Laboratory (ANVEL), enables analysis and testing of autonomous vehicle dynamics and terrain/obstacle interaction in real-time with the capability to interact within the HPC constructive geo-environmental CTB for high fidelity sensor evaluations. ANVEL leverages rigorous physics-based vehicle and vehicle-terrain interaction models in conjunction with high-quality, multimedia visualization techniques to form an intuitive, accurate engineering tool. The system provides an adaptable and customizable simulation platform that allows developers a controlled, repeatable testbed for advanced simulations. ANVEL leverages several key technologies not common to traditional engineering simulators, including techniques from the commercial video-game industry. These enable ANVEL to run on inexpensive commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. In this paper, the authors describe key aspects of ANVEL and its development, as well as several initial applications of the system.

The effect of simulator motion on pilot training and evaluation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-08-14

This study empirically examined the effect of simulator platform motion on airline pilot recurrent training and evaluation. It is driven by the need for sound scientific data on the relationship between certain key modern device features and their ef...

Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)

ScienceCinema

None

2017-12-09

Nuclear reactor operators can expand safety margins with more precise information about how materials behave inside operating reactors. INL's new simulation platform makes such studies easier & more informative by letting researchers "plug-n-play" their mathematical models, skipping years of computer code development.

Operational use of open satellite data for marine water quality monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Symeonidis, Panagiotis; Vakkas, Theodoros

2017-09-01

The purpose of this study was to develop an operational platform for marine water quality monitoring using near real time satellite data. The developed platform utilizes free and open satellite data available from different data sources like COPERNICUS, the European Earth Observation Initiative, or NASA, from different satellites and instruments. The quality of the marine environment is operationally evaluated using parameters like chlorophyll-a concentration, water color and Sea Surface Temperature (SST). For each parameter, there are more than one dataset available, from different data sources or satellites, to allow users to select the most appropriate dataset for their area or time of interest. The above datasets are automatically downloaded from the data provider's services and ingested to the central, spatial engine. The spatial data platform uses the Postgresql database with the PostGIS extension for spatial data storage and Geoserver for the provision of the spatial data services. The system provides daily, 10 days and monthly maps and time series of the above parameters. The information is provided using a web client which is based on the GET SDI PORTAL, an easy to use and feature rich geospatial visualization and analysis platform. The users can examine the temporal variation of the parameters using a simple time animation tool. In addition, with just one click on the map, the system provides an interactive time series chart for any of the parameters of the available datasets. The platform can be offered as Software as a Service (SaaS) to any area in the Mediterranean region.

Tourism guide cloud service quality: What actually delights customers?

PubMed

Lin, Shu-Ping; Yang, Chen-Lung; Pi, Han-Chung; Ho, Thao-Minh

2016-01-01

The emergence of advanced IT and cloud services has beneficially supported the information-intensive tourism industry, simultaneously caused extreme competitions in attracting customers through building efficient service platforms. On response, numerous nations have implemented cloud platforms to provide value-added sightseeing information and personal intelligent service experiences. Despite these efforts, customers' actual perspectives have yet been sufficiently understood. To bridge the gap, this study attempts to investigate what aspects of tourism cloud services actually delight customers' satisfaction and loyalty. 336 valid survey questionnaire answers were analyzed using structural equation modeling method. The results prove positive impacts of function quality, enjoyment, multiple visual aids, and information quality on customers' satisfaction as well as of enjoyment and satisfaction on use loyalty. The findings hope to provide helpful references of customer use behaviors for enhancing cloud service quality in order to achieve better organizational competitiveness.

A pollutant load hierarchical allocation method integrated in an environmental capacity management system for Zhushan Bay, Taihu Lake.

PubMed

Liang, Shidong; Jia, Haifeng; Yang, Cong; Melching, Charles; Yuan, Yongping

2015-11-15

An environmental capacity management (ECM) system was developed to help practically implement a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for a key bay in a highly eutrophic lake in China. The ECM system consists of a simulation platform for pollutant load calculation and a pollutant load hierarchical allocation (PLHA) system. The simulation platform was developed by linking the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) and Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP). In the PLHA, pollutant loads were allocated top-down in several levels based on characteristics of the pollutant sources. Different allocation methods could be used for the different levels with the advantages of each method combined over the entire allocation. Zhushan Bay of Taihu Lake, one of the most eutrophic lakes in China, was selected as a case study. The allowable loads of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, ammonia, and chemical oxygen demand were found to be 2122.2, 94.9, 1230.4, and 5260.0 t·yr(-1), respectively. The PLHA for the case study consists of 5 levels. At level 0, loads are allocated to those from the lakeshore direct drainage, atmospheric deposition, internal release, and tributary inflows. At level 1 the loads allocated to tributary inflows are allocated to the 3 tributaries. At level 2, the loads allocated to one inflow tributary are allocated to upstream areas and local sources along the tributary. At level 3, the loads allocated to local sources are allocated to the point and non-point sources from different towns. At level 4, the loads allocated to non-point sources in each town are allocated to different villages. Compared with traditional forms of pollutant load allocation methods, PLHA can combine the advantages of different methods which put different priority weights on equity and efficiency, and the PLHA is easy to understand for stakeholders and more flexible to adjust when applied in practical cases. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NeuroMatic: An Integrated Open-Source Software Toolkit for Acquisition, Analysis and Simulation of Electrophysiological Data

PubMed Central

Rothman, Jason S.; Silver, R. Angus

2018-01-01

Acquisition, analysis and simulation of electrophysiological properties of the nervous system require multiple software packages. This makes it difficult to conserve experimental metadata and track the analysis performed. It also complicates certain experimental approaches such as online analysis. To address this, we developed NeuroMatic, an open-source software toolkit that performs data acquisition (episodic, continuous and triggered recordings), data analysis (spike rasters, spontaneous event detection, curve fitting, stationarity) and simulations (stochastic synaptic transmission, synaptic short-term plasticity, integrate-and-fire and Hodgkin-Huxley-like single-compartment models). The merging of a wide range of tools into a single package facilitates a more integrated style of research, from the development of online analysis functions during data acquisition, to the simulation of synaptic conductance trains during dynamic-clamp experiments. Moreover, NeuroMatic has the advantage of working within Igor Pro, a platform-independent environment that includes an extensive library of built-in functions, a history window for reviewing the user's workflow and the ability to produce publication-quality graphics. Since its original release, NeuroMatic has been used in a wide range of scientific studies and its user base has grown considerably. NeuroMatic version 3.0 can be found at http://www.neuromatic.thinkrandom.com and https://github.com/SilverLabUCL/NeuroMatic. PMID:29670519

How useful is YouTube in learning heart anatomy?

PubMed

Raikos, Athanasios; Waidyasekara, Pasan

2014-01-01

Nowadays more and more modern medical degree programs focus on self-directed and problem-based learning. That requires students to search for high quality and easy to retrieve online resources. YouTube is an emerging platform for learning human anatomy due to easy access and being a free service. The purpose of this study is to make a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the available human heart anatomy videos on YouTube. Using the search engine of the platform we searched for relevant videos using various keywords. Videos with irrelevant content, animal tissue, non-English language, no sound, duplicates, and physiology focused were excluded from further elaboration. The initial search retrieved 55,525 videos, whereas only 294 qualified for further analysis. A unique scoring system was used to assess the anatomical quality and details, general quality, and the general data for each video. Our results indicate that the human heart anatomy videos available on YouTube conveyed our anatomical criteria poorly, whereas the general quality scoring found borderline. Students should be selective when looking up on public video databases as it can prove challenging, time consuming, and the anatomical information may be misleading due to absence of content review. Anatomists and institutions are encouraged to prepare and endorse good quality material and make them available online for the students. The scoring rubric used in the study comprises a valuable tool to faculty members for quality evaluation of heart anatomy videos available on social media platforms. Copyright © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.

Dynamics modeling and loads analysis of an offshore floating wind turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jonkman, Jason Mark

The vast deepwater wind resource represents a potential to use offshore floating wind turbines to power much of the world with renewable energy. Many floating wind turbine concepts have been proposed, but dynamics models, which account for the wind inflow, aerodynamics, elasticity, and controls of the wind turbine, along with the incident waves, sea current, hydrodynamics, and platform and mooring dynamics of the floater, were needed to determine their technical and economic feasibility. This work presents the development of a comprehensive simulation tool for modeling the coupled dynamic response of offshore floating wind turbines, the verification of the simulation tool through model-to-model comparisons, and the application of the simulation tool to an integrated loads analysis for one of the promising system concepts. A fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulation tool was developed with enough sophistication to address the limitations of previous frequency- and time-domain studies and to have the features required to perform loads analyses for a variety of wind turbine, support platform, and mooring system configurations. The simulation capability was tested using model-to-model comparisons. The favorable results of all of the verification exercises provided confidence to perform more thorough analyses. The simulation tool was then applied in a preliminary loads analysis of a wind turbine supported by a barge with catenary moorings. A barge platform was chosen because of its simplicity in design, fabrication, and installation. The loads analysis aimed to characterize the dynamic response and to identify potential loads and instabilities resulting from the dynamic couplings between the turbine and the floating barge in the presence of combined wind and wave excitation. The coupling between the wind turbine response and the barge-pitch motion, in particular, produced larger extreme loads in the floating turbine than experienced by an equivalent land-based turbine. Instabilities were also found in the system. The influence of conventional wind turbine blade-pitch control actions on the pitch damping of the floating turbine was also assessed. Design modifications for reducing the platform motions, improving the turbine response, and eliminating the instabilities are suggested. These suggestions are aimed at obtaining cost-effective designs that achieve favorable performance while maintaining structural integrity.

Open-source mobile digital platform for clinical trial data collection in low-resource settings.

PubMed

van Dam, Joris; Omondi Onyango, Kevin; Midamba, Brian; Groosman, Nele; Hooper, Norman; Spector, Jonathan; Pillai, Goonaseelan Colin; Ogutu, Bernhards

2017-02-01

Governments, universities and pan-African research networks are building durable infrastructure and capabilities for biomedical research in Africa. This offers the opportunity to adopt from the outset innovative approaches and technologies that would be challenging to retrofit into fully established research infrastructures such as those regularly found in high-income countries. In this context we piloted the use of a novel mobile digital health platform, designed specifically for low-resource environments, to support high-quality data collection in a clinical research study. Our primary aim was to assess the feasibility of a using a mobile digital platform for clinical trial data collection in a low-resource setting. Secondarily, we sought to explore the potential benefits of such an approach. The investigative site was a research institute in Nairobi, Kenya. We integrated an open-source platform for mobile data collection commonly used in the developing world with an open-source, standard platform for electronic data capture in clinical trials. The integration was developed using common data standards (Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Operational Data Model), maximising the potential to extend the approach to other platforms. The system was deployed in a pharmacokinetic study involving healthy human volunteers. The electronic data collection platform successfully supported conduct of the study. Multidisciplinary users reported high levels of satisfaction with the mobile application and highlighted substantial advantages when compared with traditional paper record systems. The new system also demonstrated a potential for expediting data quality review. This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of using a mobile digital platform for clinical research data collection in low-resource settings. Sustainable scientific capabilities and infrastructure are essential to attract and support clinical research studies. Since many research structures in Africa are being developed anew, stakeholders should consider implementing innovative technologies and approaches.

A Computer Simulation Using Spreadsheets for Learning Concept of Steady-State Equilibrium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharda, Vandana; Sastri, O. S. K. S.; Bhardwaj, Jyoti; Jha, Arbind K.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present a simple spreadsheet based simulation activity that can be performed by students at the undergraduate level. This simulation is implemented in free open source software (FOSS) LibreOffice Calc, which is available for both Windows and Linux platform. This activity aims at building the probability distribution for the…

Building a Market Simulation to Teach Business Process Analysis: Effects of Realism on Engaged Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Jacob; Abdullah, Ira

2018-01-01

The emphases of student involvement and meaningful engagement in the learner-centered education model have created a new paradigm in an effort to generate a more engaging learning environment. This study examines the success of using different simulation platforms in creating a market simulation to teach business processes in the accounting…

Feasibility of using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation for IMRT dose calculations for the Novalis Tx with a HD-120 multi-leaf collimator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Hyunuk; Shin, Jungsuk; Chung, Kwangzoo; Han, Youngyih; Kim, Jinsung; Choi, Doo Ho

2015-05-01

The aim of this study was to develop an independent dose verification system by using a Monte Carlo (MC) calculation method for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) conducted by using a Varian Novalis Tx (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) equipped with a highdefinition multi-leaf collimator (HD-120 MLC). The Geant4 framework was used to implement a dose calculation system that accurately predicted the delivered dose. For this purpose, the Novalis Tx Linac head was modeled according to the specifications acquired from the manufacturer. Subsequently, MC simulations were performed by varying the mean energy, energy spread, and electron spot radius to determine optimum values of irradiation with 6-MV X-ray beams by using the Novalis Tx system. Computed percentage depth dose curves (PDDs) and lateral profiles were compared to the measurements obtained by using an ionization chamber (CC13). To validate the IMRT simulation by using the MC model we developed, we calculated a simple IMRT field and compared the result with the EBT3 film measurements in a water-equivalent solid phantom. Clinical cases, such as prostate cancer treatment plans, were then selected, and MC simulations were performed. The accuracy of the simulation was assessed against the EBT3 film measurements by using a gamma-index criterion. The optimal MC model parameters to specify the beam characteristics were a 6.8-MeV mean energy, a 0.5-MeV energy spread, and a 3-mm electron radius. The accuracy of these parameters was determined by comparison of MC simulations with measurements. The PDDs and the lateral profiles of the MC simulation deviated from the measurements by 1% and 2%, respectively, on average. The computed simple MLC fields agreed with the EBT3 measurements with a 95% passing rate with 3%/3-mm gamma-index criterion. Additionally, in applying our model to clinical IMRT plans, we found that the MC calculations and the EBT3 measurements agreed well with a passing rate of greater than 95% on average with a 3%/3-mm gamma-index criterion. In summary, the Novalis Tx Linac head equipped with a HD-120 MLC was successfully modeled by using a Geant4 platform, and the accuracy of the Geant4 platform was successfully validated by comparisons with measurements. The MC model we have developed can be a useful tool for pretreatment quality assurance of IMRT plans and for commissioning of radiotherapy treatment planning.

SimulatorToFMU v0.1

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

Nouidui, Thierry; Wetter, Michael

SimulatorToFMU is a software package written in Python which allows users to export a memoryless Python-driven simulation program or script as a Functional Mock-up Unit (FMU) for model exchange or co-simulation.In CyDER (Cyber Physical Co-simulation Platform for Distributed Energy Resources in Smart Grids), SimulatorToFMU will allow exporting OPAL-RT as an FMU. This will enable OPAL-RT to be linked to CYMDIST and GridDyn FMUs through a standardized open source interface.

DNA extraction for streamlined metagenomics of diverse environmental samples.

PubMed

Marotz, Clarisse; Amir, Amnon; Humphrey, Greg; Gaffney, James; Gogul, Grant; Knight, Rob

2017-06-01

A major bottleneck for metagenomic sequencing is rapid and efficient DNA extraction. Here, we compare the extraction efficiencies of three magnetic bead-based platforms (KingFisher, epMotion, and Tecan) to a standardized column-based extraction platform across a variety of sample types, including feces, oral, skin, soil, and water. Replicate sample plates were extracted and prepared for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in parallel to assess extraction bias and DNA quality. The data demonstrate that any effect of extraction method on sequencing results was small compared with the variability across samples; however, the KingFisher platform produced the largest number of high-quality reads in the shortest amount of time. Based on these results, we have identified an extraction pipeline that dramatically reduces sample processing time without sacrificing bacterial taxonomic or abundance information.

Factors controlling particle number concentration and size at metro stations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reche, C.; Moreno, T.; Martins, V.; Minguillón, M. C.; Jones, T.; de Miguel, E.; Capdevila, M.; Centelles, S.; Querol, X.

2017-05-01

An extensive air quality campaign was performed at differently designed station platforms in the Barcelona metro system, aiming to investigate the factors governing airborne particle number (N) concentrations and their size distributions. The study of the daily trends of N concentrations by different size ranges shows that concentrations of N0.3-10 are closely related with the schedule of the metro service. Conversely, the hourly variation of N0.007-10 (mainly composed of ultrafine particles) could be partly governed by the entrance of particles from outdoor emissions through mechanical ventilation. Measurements under different ventilation settings at three metro platforms reveal that the effect on air quality linked to changes in the tunnel ventilation depends on the station design. Night-time maintenance works in tunnels are frequent activities in the metro system; and after intense prolonged works, these can result in higher N concentrations at platforms during the following metro operating hours (by up to 30%), this being especially evident for N1-10. Due to the complex mixture of factors controlling N, together with the differences in trends recorded for particles within different size ranges, developing an air quality strategy at metro systems is a great challenge. When compared to street-level urban particles concentrations, the priority in metro air quality should be dealing with particles coarser than 0.3 μm. In fact, the results suggest that at narrow platforms served by single-track tunnels the current forced tunnel ventilation during operating hours is less efficient in reducing coarse particles compared to fine.

Application Analysis of BIM Technology in Metro Rail Transit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bei; Sun, Xianbin

2018-03-01

With the rapid development of urban roads, especially the construction of subway rail transit, it is an effective way to alleviate urban traffic congestion. There are limited site space, complex resource allocation, tight schedule, underground pipeline complex engineering problems. BIM technology, three-dimensional visualization, parameterization, virtual simulation and many other advantages can effectively solve these technical problems. Based on the project of Shenzhen Metro Line 9, BIM technology is innovatively researched throughout the lifecycle of BIM technology in the context of the metro rail transit project rarely used at this stage. The model information file is imported into Navisworks for four-dimensional animation simulation to determine the optimum construction scheme of the shield machine. Subway construction management application platform based on BIM and private cloud technology, the use of cameras and sensors to achieve electronic integration, dynamic monitoring of the operation and maintenance of underground facilities. Make full use of the many advantages of BIM technology to improve the engineering quality and construction efficiency of the subway rail transit project and to complete the operation and maintenance.

A Movement-Assisted Deployment of Collaborating Autonomous Sensors for Indoor and Outdoor Environment Monitoring

PubMed Central

Niewiadomska-Szynkiewicz, Ewa; Sikora, Andrzej; Marks, Michał

2016-01-01

Using mobile robots or unmanned vehicles to assist optimal wireless sensors deployment in a working space can significantly enhance the capability to investigate unknown environments. This paper addresses the issues of the application of numerical optimization and computer simulation techniques to on-line calculation of a wireless sensor network topology for monitoring and tracking purposes. We focus on the design of a self-organizing and collaborative mobile network that enables a continuous data transmission to the data sink (base station) and automatically adapts its behavior to changes in the environment to achieve a common goal. The pre-defined and self-configuring approaches to the mobile-based deployment of sensors are compared and discussed. A family of novel algorithms for the optimal placement of mobile wireless devices for permanent monitoring of indoor and outdoor dynamic environments is described. They employ a network connectivity-maintaining mobility model utilizing the concept of the virtual potential function for calculating the motion trajectories of platforms carrying sensors. Their quality and utility have been justified through simulation experiments and are discussed in the final part of the paper. PMID:27649186

Chronology of DIC technique based on the fundamental mathematical modeling and dehydration impact.

PubMed

Alias, Norma; Saipol, Hafizah Farhah Saipan; Ghani, Asnida Che Abd

2014-12-01

A chronology of mathematical models for heat and mass transfer equation is proposed for the prediction of moisture and temperature behavior during drying using DIC (Détente Instantanée Contrôlée) or instant controlled pressure drop technique. DIC technique has the potential as most commonly used dehydration method for high impact food value including the nutrition maintenance and the best possible quality for food storage. The model is governed by the regression model, followed by 2D Fick's and Fourier's parabolic equation and 2D elliptic-parabolic equation in a rectangular slice. The models neglect the effect of shrinkage and radiation effects. The simulations of heat and mass transfer equations with parabolic and elliptic-parabolic types through some numerical methods based on finite difference method (FDM) have been illustrated. Intel®Core™2Duo processors with Linux operating system and C programming language have been considered as a computational platform for the simulation. Qualitative and quantitative differences between DIC technique and the conventional drying methods have been shown as a comparative.

Training in reproductive endocrinology and infertility and assisted reproductive technologies: options and worldwide needs.

PubMed

de Ziegler, Dominique; de Ziegler, Nathalie; Sean, Sokteang; Bajouh, Osama; Meldrum, David R

2015-07-01

Standardized, high-quality training in reproductive endocrinology, infertility, and assisted reproductive technologies (REI-ART) faces challenges owing to the high-tech nature of ART and the important country-to-country differences in clinical practice and regulations overseeing training. Moreover, while the training capacity of the classical by-fellowship training platforms is shrinking, an increasing demand for REI-ART specialists is coming from emerging countries. To meet this expanding need for REI-ART specialists, we propose a novel by-network model linking a reference training center to satellite practical training sites. Simulation should be used more extensively to achieve competency before initiating live clinical experience, analogous to the highly effective training systems that have been used in aviation for decades. Large ART databases that exist because of obligations to report ART activity and results constitute unique yet so far untapped sources for developing by-scenario simulation training models. Online training materials incorporating these state-of-the-art information technology tools could be developed as a means of fulfilling training needs worldwide. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

GEM-AQ, an On-line Global Multiscale Chemical Weather System: Model Description and Evaluation of Gas Phase Chemistry Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neary, L.; Kaminski, J. W.; Struzewska, J.; Ainslie, B.; McConnell, J. C.

2007-12-01

Tropospheric chemistry and air quality processes were implemented on-line in the Global Environmental Multiscale model. The integrated model, GEM-AQ, has been developed as a platform to investigate chemical weather at scales from global to urban. On the global scale, the model was exercised for five years (2001-2005) to evaluate its ability to simulate seasonal variations and regional distributions of trace gases such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. The model results are compared with observations from satellites, aircraft measurement campaigns and balloon sondes. The same model has also been evaluated on the regional (~15km resolution) and urban scale (~3km resolution). A simulation of the formation and transport of photooxidants during the European heat wave of 2006 was performed and compared with surface observations throughout central and eastern Europe. The complex topographic region of the Lower Fraser Valley in British Columbia was the focus of another model evaluation during the PACIFIC 2001 field campaign. Comparison of model results with observations during this period will be shown.

A Movement-Assisted Deployment of Collaborating Autonomous Sensors for Indoor and Outdoor Environment Monitoring.

PubMed

Niewiadomska-Szynkiewicz, Ewa; Sikora, Andrzej; Marks, Michał

2016-09-14

Using mobile robots or unmanned vehicles to assist optimal wireless sensors deployment in a working space can significantly enhance the capability to investigate unknown environments. This paper addresses the issues of the application of numerical optimization and computer simulation techniques to on-line calculation of a wireless sensor network topology for monitoring and tracking purposes. We focus on the design of a self-organizing and collaborative mobile network that enables a continuous data transmission to the data sink (base station) and automatically adapts its behavior to changes in the environment to achieve a common goal. The pre-defined and self-configuring approaches to the mobile-based deployment of sensors are compared and discussed. A family of novel algorithms for the optimal placement of mobile wireless devices for permanent monitoring of indoor and outdoor dynamic environments is described. They employ a network connectivity-maintaining mobility model utilizing the concept of the virtual potential function for calculating the motion trajectories of platforms carrying sensors. Their quality and utility have been justified through simulation experiments and are discussed in the final part of the paper.

Thermal Neutron Radiography using a High-flux Compact Neutron Generator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Michael; Sengbusch, Evan; Seyfert, Chris; Moll, Eli; Radel, Ross

A novel neutron imaging system has been designed and constructed by Phoenix Nuclear Labs to investigate specimens when conventional X-ray imaging will not suffice. A first-generation electronic neutron generator is actively being used by the United States Army and is coupled with activation films for neutron radiography to inspect munitions and other critical defence and aerospace components. A second-generation system has been designed to increase the total neutron output from an upgraded gaseous deuterium target to 5×1011 DD n/s, generating higher neutron flux at the imaging plane and dramatically reducing interrogation time, while maintaining high spatial resolution and low geometric unsharpness. A description of the neutron generator and imaging system, including the beamline, target and detector platform, is given in this paper. State of the art neutron moderators, collimators and imaging detector components are also discussed in the context of increasing specimen throughput and optimizing image quality. Neutron radiographs captured with the neutron radiography system will be further compared against simulated images using the MCNP nuclear simulation code.

Designing and Implementing Nervous System Simulations on LEGO Robots

PubMed Central

Blustein, Daniel; Rosenthal, Nikolai; Ayers, Joseph

2013-01-01

We present a method to use the commercially available LEGO Mindstorms NXT robotics platform to test systems level neuroscience hypotheses. The first step of the method is to develop a nervous system simulation of specific reflexive behaviors of an appropriate model organism; here we use the American Lobster. Exteroceptive reflexes mediated by decussating (crossing) neural connections can explain an animal's taxis towards or away from a stimulus as described by Braitenberg and are particularly well suited for investigation using the NXT platform.1 The nervous system simulation is programmed using LabVIEW software on the LEGO Mindstorms platform. Once the nervous system is tuned properly, behavioral experiments are run on the robot and on the animal under identical environmental conditions. By controlling the sensory milieu experienced by the specimens, differences in behavioral outputs can be observed. These differences may point to specific deficiencies in the nervous system model and serve to inform the iteration of the model for the particular behavior under study. This method allows for the experimental manipulation of electronic nervous systems and serves as a way to explore neuroscience hypotheses specifically regarding the neurophysiological basis of simple innate reflexive behaviors. The LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit provides an affordable and efficient platform on which to test preliminary biomimetic robot control schemes. The approach is also well suited for the high school classroom to serve as the foundation for a hands-on inquiry-based biorobotics curriculum. PMID:23728477

Remote powering platform for implantable sensor systems at 2.45 GHz.

PubMed

Kazanc, Onur; Yilmaz, Gurkan; Maloberti, Franco; Dehollain, Catherine

2014-01-01

Far-field remotely powered sensor systems enable long distance operation for low-power sensor systems. In this work, we demonstrate a remote powering platform with a miniaturized antenna and remote powering base station operating at 2.45 GHz. The rectenna, which is the energy receiving and conversion element of the sensor system, is designed and measured. The measurements for the tag are performed within 15 cm distance from the remote powering base station. The realized gain of the tag antenna is measured as -3.3 dB, which is 0.5 dB close to the simulations, where simulated realized gain is -2.8 dB.

Design aspects of a solar array drive for spot, with a high platform stability objective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cabillic, J.; Fournier, J. P.; Anstett, P.; Souliac, M.; Thomin, G.

1981-01-01

A solar array drive mechanism (MEGS) for the SPOT platform, which is a prototype of a multimission platform, is described. High-resolution cameras and other optical instruments are carried by the platform, requiring excellent platform stability in order to obtain high-quality pictures. Therefore, a severe requirement for the MEGS is the low level of disturbing torques it may generate considering the 0.6 times 10 to the minus 3 power deg/sec stability required. The mechanical design aspects aiming at reducing the mean friction torque, and therefore its fluctuations, are described as well as the method of compensation of the motor imperfections. It was concluded, however, that this is not sufficient to reach the stability requirement.

Flight Simulation of ARES in the Mars Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kenney, P. Sean; Croom, Mark A.

2011-01-01

A report discusses using the Aerial Regional- scale Environmental Survey (ARES) light airplane as an observation platform on Mars in order to gather data. It would have to survive insertion into the atmosphere, fly long enough to meet science objectives, and provide a stable platform. The feasibility of such a platform was tested using the Langley Standard Real- Time Simulation in C++. The unique features of LaSRS++ are: full, six-degrees- of-freedom flight simulation that can be used to evaluate the performance of the aircraft in the Martian environment; capability of flight analysis from start to finish; support of Monte Carlo analysis of aircraft performance; and accepting initial conditions from POST results for the entry and deployment of the entry body. Starting with a general aviation model, the design was tweaked to maintain a stable aircraft under expected Martian conditions. Outer mold lines were adjusted based on experience with the Martian atmosphere. Flight control was modified from a vertical acceleration control law to an angle-of-attack control law. Navigation was modified from a vertical acceleration control system to an alpha control system. In general, a pattern of starting with simple models with well-understood behaviors was selected and modified during testing.

Measurement Model and Precision Analysis of Accelerometers for Maglev Vibration Isolation Platforms.

PubMed

Wu, Qianqian; Yue, Honghao; Liu, Rongqiang; Zhang, Xiaoyou; Ding, Liang; Liang, Tian; Deng, Zongquan

2015-08-14

High precision measurement of acceleration levels is required to allow active control for vibration isolation platforms. It is necessary to propose an accelerometer configuration measurement model that yields such a high measuring precision. In this paper, an accelerometer configuration to improve measurement accuracy is proposed. The corresponding calculation formulas of the angular acceleration were derived through theoretical analysis. A method is presented to minimize angular acceleration noise based on analysis of the root mean square noise of the angular acceleration. Moreover, the influence of installation position errors and accelerometer orientation errors on the calculation precision of the angular acceleration is studied. Comparisons of the output differences between the proposed configuration and the previous planar triangle configuration under the same installation errors are conducted by simulation. The simulation results show that installation errors have a relatively small impact on the calculation accuracy of the proposed configuration. To further verify the high calculation precision of the proposed configuration, experiments are carried out for both the proposed configuration and the planar triangle configuration. On the basis of the results of simulations and experiments, it can be concluded that the proposed configuration has higher angular acceleration calculation precision and can be applied to different platforms.

Measurement Model and Precision Analysis of Accelerometers for Maglev Vibration Isolation Platforms

PubMed Central

Wu, Qianqian; Yue, Honghao; Liu, Rongqiang; Zhang, Xiaoyou; Ding, Liang; Liang, Tian; Deng, Zongquan

2015-01-01

High precision measurement of acceleration levels is required to allow active control for vibration isolation platforms. It is necessary to propose an accelerometer configuration measurement model that yields such a high measuring precision. In this paper, an accelerometer configuration to improve measurement accuracy is proposed. The corresponding calculation formulas of the angular acceleration were derived through theoretical analysis. A method is presented to minimize angular acceleration noise based on analysis of the root mean square noise of the angular acceleration. Moreover, the influence of installation position errors and accelerometer orientation errors on the calculation precision of the angular acceleration is studied. Comparisons of the output differences between the proposed configuration and the previous planar triangle configuration under the same installation errors are conducted by simulation. The simulation results show that installation errors have a relatively small impact on the calculation accuracy of the proposed configuration. To further verify the high calculation precision of the proposed configuration, experiments are carried out for both the proposed configuration and the planar triangle configuration. On the basis of the results of simulations and experiments, it can be concluded that the proposed configuration has higher angular acceleration calculation precision and can be applied to different platforms. PMID:26287203

The Cell Collective: Toward an open and collaborative approach to systems biology

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Despite decades of new discoveries in biomedical research, the overwhelming complexity of cells has been a significant barrier to a fundamental understanding of how cells work as a whole. As such, the holistic study of biochemical pathways requires computer modeling. Due to the complexity of cells, it is not feasible for one person or group to model the cell in its entirety. Results The Cell Collective is a platform that allows the world-wide scientific community to create these models collectively. Its interface enables users to build and use models without specifying any mathematical equations or computer code - addressing one of the major hurdles with computational research. In addition, this platform allows scientists to simulate and analyze the models in real-time on the web, including the ability to simulate loss/gain of function and test what-if scenarios in real time. Conclusions The Cell Collective is a web-based platform that enables laboratory scientists from across the globe to collaboratively build large-scale models of various biological processes, and simulate/analyze them in real time. In this manuscript, we show examples of its application to a large-scale model of signal transduction. PMID:22871178

Dynamics of incremental motion devices associated with planetary exploration spacecraft. [Mariner Jupiter Saturn 1977

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes, R. O.

1975-01-01

Incremental motion devices provide accurate and rapid movement of spacecraft science platforms, antennas and related mechanisms. The paper considers the computerized simulation of a stepper motor/gear train/ science platform system that will be launched on the Mariner Jupiter Saturn 1977. It was determined that a smaller stepper motor could be used as the prime mover for the science platform, and it was concluded that the existing digital controller was unable to achieve the required pointing accuracy, and a new controller design was necessary.

Surface enhanced Raman scattering of biospecies on anodized aluminum oxide films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, C.; Smirnov, A. I.; Hahn, D.; Grebel, H.

2007-06-01

Traditionally, aluminum and anodized aluminum oxide films (AAO) are not the platforms of choice for surface-enhanced raman scattering (SERS) experiments despite of the aluminum's large negative permittivity value. Here we examine the usefulness of aluminum and nanoporous alumina platforms for detecting soft biospecies ranging from bacterial spores to protein markers. We used these flat platforms to examine SERS of a model protein (cytochrome c from bovine heart tissue) and bacterial cells (spores of Bacillus subtilis ATCC13933 used as Anthrax simulant) and demonstrated clear Raman amplification.

Cross-platform validation and analysis environment for particle physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chekanov, S. V.; Pogrebnyak, I.; Wilbern, D.

2017-11-01

A multi-platform validation and analysis framework for public Monte Carlo simulation for high-energy particle collisions is discussed. The front-end of this framework uses the Python programming language, while the back-end is written in Java, which provides a multi-platform environment that can be run from a web browser and can easily be deployed at the grid sites. The analysis package includes all major software tools used in high-energy physics, such as Lorentz vectors, jet algorithms, histogram packages, graphic canvases, and tools for providing data access. This multi-platform software suite, designed to minimize OS-specific maintenance and deployment time, is used for online validation of Monte Carlo event samples through a web interface.

Research on Service Platform of Internet of Things for Smart City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, W.; He, Z.; Huang, D.; Zhang, X.

2014-04-01

The application of Internet of Things in surveying and mapping industry basically is at the exploration stage, has not formed a unified standard. Chongqing Institute of Surveying and Mapping (CQISM) launched the research p roject "Research on the Technology of Internet of Things for Smart City". The project focuses on the key technologies of information transmission and exchange on the Internet of Things platform. The data standards of Internet of Things are designed. The real-time acquisition, mass storage and distributed data service of mass sensors are realized. On this basis, CQISM deploys the prototype platform of Internet of Things. The simulation application in Connected Car proves that the platform design is scientific and practical.

The Effects of Filter Cutoff Frequency on Musculoskeletal Simulations of High-Impact Movements.

PubMed

Tomescu, Sebastian; Bakker, Ryan; Beach, Tyson A C; Chandrashekar, Naveen

2018-02-12

Estimation of muscle forces through musculoskeletal simulation is important in understanding human movement and injury. Unmatched filter frequencies used to low-pass filter marker and force platform data can create artifacts during inverse dynamics analysis, but their effects on muscle force calculations are unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of filter cutoff frequency on simulation parameters and magnitudes of lower extremity muscle and resultant joint contact forces during a high-impact maneuver. Eight participants performed a single leg jump-landing. Kinematics were captured with a 3D motion capture system and ground reaction forces were recorded with a force platform. The marker and force platform data were filtered using two matched filter frequencies (10-10Hz, 15-15Hz) and two unmatched frequencies (10-50Hz, 15-50Hz). Musculoskeletal simulations using Computed Muscle Control were performed in OpenSim. The results revealed significantly higher peak quadriceps (13%), hamstrings (48%), and gastrocnemius forces (69%) in the unmatched (10-50Hz, 15-50Hz) conditions than in the matched (10-10Hz, 15-15Hz) conditions (p<0.05). Resultant joint contact forces and reserve (non-physiologic) moments were similarly larger in the unmatched filter categories (p<0.05). This study demonstrated that artifacts created from filtering with unmatched filter cutoffs result in altered muscle forces and dynamics which are not physiologic.

Thermal design and simulation of an attitude-varied space camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chenjie; Yang, Wengang; Feng, Liangjie; Li, XuYang; Wang, Yinghao; Fan, Xuewu; Wen, Desheng

2015-10-01

An attitude-varied space camera changes attitude continually when it is working, its attitude changes with large angle in short time leads to the significant change of heat flux; Moreover, the complicated inner heat sources, other payloads and the satellite platform will also bring thermal coupling effects to the space camera. According to a space camera which is located on a two dimensional rotating platform, detailed thermal design is accomplished by means of thermal isolation, thermal transmission and temperature compensation, etc. Then the ultimate simulation cases of both high temperature and low temperature are chosen considering the obscuration of the satellite platform and other payloads, and also the heat flux analysis of light entrance and radiator surface of the camera. NEVEDA and SindaG are used to establish the simulation model of the camera and the analysis is carried out. The results indicate that, under both passive and active thermal control, the temperature of optical components is 20+/-1°C,both their radial and axial temperature gradient are less than 0.3°C, while the temperature of the main structural components is 20+/-2°C, and the temperature fluctuation of the focal plane assemblies is 3.0-9.5°C The simulation shows that the thermal control system can meet the need of the mission, and the thermal design is efficient and reasonable.

INTEGRATING MESO-AND MICRO-SIMULATION MODELS TO EVALUATE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, YEAR 2

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-07-04

In the Year 1 Report, the Arizona State University (ASU) Project Team described the development of a hierarchical multi-resolution simulation platform to test proactive traffic management strategies. The scope was to integrate an easily available mic...

Effects of visual, seat, and platform motion during flight simulator air transport pilot training and evaluation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-04-27

Access to affordable and effective flight-simulation training devices (FSTDs) is critical to safely train airline crews in aviating, navigating, communicating, making decisions, and managing flight-deck and crew resources. This paper provides an over...

Long-Term Outdoor Reliability Assessment of a Wireless Unit for Air-Quality Monitoring Based on Nanostructured Films Integrated on Micromachined Platforms

PubMed Central

Leccardi, Matteo; Decarli, Massimiliano; Lorenzelli, Leandro; Milani, Paolo; Mettala, Petteri; Orava, Risto; Barborini, Emanuele

2012-01-01

We have fabricated and tested in long-term field operating conditions a wireless unit for outdoor air quality monitoring. The unit is equipped with two multiparametric sensors, one miniaturized thermo-hygrometer, front-end analogical and digital electronics, and an IEEE 802.15.4 based module for wireless data transmission. Micromachined platforms were functionalized with nanoporous metal-oxides to obtain multiparametric sensors, hosting gas-sensitive, anemometric and temperature transducers. Nanoporous metal-oxide layer was directly deposited on gas sensing regions of micromachined platform batches by hard-mask patterned supersonic cluster beam deposition. An outdoor, roadside experiment was arranged in downtown Milan (Italy), where one wireless sensing unit was continuously operated side by side with standard gas chromatographic instrumentation for air quality measurements. By means of a router PC, data from sensing unit and other instrumentation were collected, merged, and sent to a remote data storage server, through an UMTS device. The whole-system robustness as well as sensor dataset characteristics were continuously characterized over a run-time period of 18 months. PMID:22969394

Cloud-enabled microscopy and droplet microfluidic platform for specific detection of Escherichia coli in water.

PubMed

Golberg, Alexander; Linshiz, Gregory; Kravets, Ilia; Stawski, Nina; Hillson, Nathan J; Yarmush, Martin L; Marks, Robert S; Konry, Tania

2014-01-01

We report an all-in-one platform - ScanDrop - for the rapid and specific capture, detection, and identification of bacteria in drinking water. The ScanDrop platform integrates droplet microfluidics, a portable imaging system, and cloud-based control software and data storage. The cloud-based control software and data storage enables robotic image acquisition, remote image processing, and rapid data sharing. These features form a "cloud" network for water quality monitoring. We have demonstrated the capability of ScanDrop to perform water quality monitoring via the detection of an indicator coliform bacterium, Escherichia coli, in drinking water contaminated with feces. Magnetic beads conjugated with antibodies to E. coli antigen were used to selectively capture and isolate specific bacteria from water samples. The bead-captured bacteria were co-encapsulated in pico-liter droplets with fluorescently-labeled anti-E. coli antibodies, and imaged with an automated custom designed fluorescence microscope. The entire water quality diagnostic process required 8 hours from sample collection to online-accessible results compared with 2-4 days for other currently available standard detection methods.

Cloud-Enabled Microscopy and Droplet Microfluidic Platform for Specific Detection of Escherichia coli in Water

PubMed Central

Kravets, Ilia; Stawski, Nina; Hillson, Nathan J.; Yarmush, Martin L.; Marks, Robert S.; Konry, Tania

2014-01-01

We report an all-in-one platform – ScanDrop – for the rapid and specific capture, detection, and identification of bacteria in drinking water. The ScanDrop platform integrates droplet microfluidics, a portable imaging system, and cloud-based control software and data storage. The cloud-based control software and data storage enables robotic image acquisition, remote image processing, and rapid data sharing. These features form a “cloud” network for water quality monitoring. We have demonstrated the capability of ScanDrop to perform water quality monitoring via the detection of an indicator coliform bacterium, Escherichia coli, in drinking water contaminated with feces. Magnetic beads conjugated with antibodies to E. coli antigen were used to selectively capture and isolate specific bacteria from water samples. The bead-captured bacteria were co-encapsulated in pico-liter droplets with fluorescently-labeled anti-E. coli antibodies, and imaged with an automated custom designed fluorescence microscope. The entire water quality diagnostic process required 8 hours from sample collection to online-accessible results compared with 2–4 days for other currently available standard detection methods. PMID:24475107

WE-G-BRA-04: The Development of a Virtual Reality Dosimetry Training Platform for Physics Training.

PubMed

Beavis, A; Ward, J

2012-06-01

Recently there has been a great deal of interest in the application of Simulation methodologies for training. We have previously developed a Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training, VERT, which simulates a fully interactive and functional Linac. Patient and plan data can be accessed across a DICOM interface, allowing the treatment process to be simulated. Here we present a newly developed range of Physics equipment, which allows the user to undertake realistic QC processes. Five devices are available: 1) scanning water phantom, 2) 'solid water' QC block/ion chamber, 3) light/ radiation field coincidence phantom, 4) laser alignment phantom and 5) water based calibration phantom with reference class and 'departmental' ion chamber. The devices were created to operate realistically and function as expected, each has an associated control screen which provides control and feedback information. The dosimetric devices respond appropriately to the beam qualities available on the Linac. Geometrical characteristics of the Linac, e.g. isocentre integrity, laser calibration and jaw calibrations can have random errors introduced in order to enable the user learn and observe fault conditions. In the calibration module appropriate factors for temperature and pressure must be set to correct for ambient, simulated, room conditions. The dosimetric devices can be used to characterise the Linac beams. Depth doses with Dmax of 15mm/29mm and d10 of 67%/77% respectively for 10cm square 6/15MV beams were measured. The Quality Indices (TPR20/10 ratios) can be measured as 0.668 and 0.761 respectively. At a simple level the tools can be used to demonstrate beam divergence or the effect of the inverse square law; They are also designed to be used to simulate the calibration of a new ion chamber. We have developed a novel set of tools that allow education of Physics processes via simulation training in our virtual environment. Both Authors are Founders and Directors of Vertual Ltd, a spin-out company that exists to commericalise the results of the research work presented in this abstract. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

A Collaborative Extensible User Environment for Simulation and Knowledge Management

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

Freedman, Vicky L.; Lansing, Carina S.; Porter, Ellen A.

2015-06-01

In scientific simulation, scientists use measured data to create numerical models, execute simulations and analyze results from advanced simulators executing on high performance computing platforms. This process usually requires a team of scientists collaborating on data collection, model creation and analysis, and on authorship of publications and data. This paper shows that scientific teams can benefit from a user environment called Akuna that permits subsurface scientists in disparate locations to collaborate on numerical modeling and analysis projects. The Akuna user environment is built on the Velo framework that provides both a rich client environment for conducting and analyzing simulations andmore » a Web environment for data sharing and annotation. Akuna is an extensible toolset that integrates with Velo, and is designed to support any type of simulator. This is achieved through data-driven user interface generation, use of a customizable knowledge management platform, and an extensible framework for simulation execution, monitoring and analysis. This paper describes how the customized Velo content management system and the Akuna toolset are used to integrate and enhance an effective collaborative research and application environment. The extensible architecture of Akuna is also described and demonstrates its usage for creation and execution of a 3D subsurface simulation.« less

Berthing simulator for space station and orbiter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veerasamy, Sam

1991-01-01

The development of a real-time man-in-the-loop berthing simulator is in progress at NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) to conduct a parametric study and to measure forces during contact conditions of the actual docking mechanisms for the Space Station Freedom and the orbiter. In berthing, the docking ports of the Space Station and the orbiter are brought together using the orbiter robotic arm to control the relative motion of the vehicles. The berthing simulator consists of a dynamics docking test system (DDTS), computer system, simulator software, and workstations. In the DDTS, the Space Station, and the orbiter docking mechanisms are mounted on a six-degree-of-freedom (6 DOF) table and a fixed platform above the table. Six load cells are used on the fixed platform to measure forces during contact conditions of the docking mechanisms. Two Encore Concept 32/9780 computers are used to simulate the orbiter robotic arm and to operate the berthing simulator. A systematic procedure for a real-time dynamic initialization is being developed to synchronize the Space Station docking port trajectory with the 6 DOF table movement. The berthing test can be conducted manually or automatically and can be extended for any two orbiting vehicles using a simulated robotic arm. The real-time operation of the berthing simulator is briefly described.

C-SPECT - a Clinical Cardiac SPECT/Tct Platform: Design Concepts and Performance Potential

PubMed Central

Chang, Wei; Ordonez, Caesar E.; Liang, Haoning; Li, Yusheng; Liu, Jingai

2013-01-01

Because of scarcity of photons emitted from the heart, clinical cardiac SPECT imaging is mainly limited by photon statistics. The sub-optimal detection efficiency of current SPECT systems not only limits the quality of clinical cardiac SPECT imaging but also makes more advanced potential applications difficult to be realized. We propose a high-performance system platform - C-SPECT, which has its sampling geometry optimized for detection of emitted photons in quality and quantity. The C-SPECT has a stationary C-shaped gantry that surrounds the left-front side of a patient’s thorax. The stationary C-shaped collimator and detector systems in the gantry provide effective and efficient detection and sampling of photon emission. For cardiac imaging, the C-SPECT platform could achieve 2 to 4 times the system geometric efficiency of conventional SPECT systems at the same sampling resolution. This platform also includes an integrated transmission CT for attenuation correction. The ability of C-SPECT systems to perform sequential high-quality emission and transmission imaging could bring cost-effective high-performance to clinical imaging. In addition, a C-SPECT system could provide high detection efficiency to accommodate fast acquisition rate for gated and dynamic cardiac imaging. This paper describes the design concepts and performance potential of C-SPECT, and illustrates how these concepts can be implemented in a basic system. PMID:23885129

Advanced Platform for Development and Evaluation of Grid Interconnection Systems Using Hardware-in-the-Loop (Poster)

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

Lundstrom, B.; Shirazi, M.; Coddington, M.

2013-02-01

This poster describes a Grid Interconnection System Evaluator (GISE) that leverages hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation techniques to rapidly evaluate the grid interconnection standard conformance of an ICS according to the procedures in IEEE Std 1547.1TM. The architecture and test sequencing of this evaluation tool, along with a set of representative ICS test results from three different photovoltaic (PV) inverters, are presented. The GISE adds to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) evaluation platform that now allows for rapid development of ICS control algorithms using controller HIL (CHIL) techniques, the ability to test the dc input characteristics of PV-based ICSs through themore » use of a PV simulator capable of simulating real-world dynamics using power HIL (PHIL), and evaluation of ICS grid interconnection conformance.« less

Impacts of high resolution data on traveler compliance levels in emergency evacuation simulations

DOE PAGES

Lu, Wei; Han, Lee D.; Liu, Cheng; ...

2016-05-05

In this article, we conducted a comparison study of evacuation assignment based on Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZ) and high resolution LandScan USA Population Cells (LPC) with detailed real world roads network. A platform for evacuation modeling built on high resolution population distribution data and activity-based microscopic traffic simulation was proposed. This platform can be extended to any cities in the world. The results indicated that evacuee compliance behavior affects evacuation efficiency with traditional TAZ assignment, but it did not significantly compromise the performance with high resolution LPC assignment. The TAZ assignment also underestimated the real travel time during evacuation. Thismore » suggests that high data resolution can improve the accuracy of traffic modeling and simulation. The evacuation manager should consider more diverse assignment during emergency evacuation to avoid congestions.« less

New genetic tools to improve citrus fruit quality and drive consumer demand

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Chemical and genomic dissection of important components underlying fruit quality has led toward the development of new tools to make the creation and selection of citrus cultivars improved in quality attributes more targeted and efficient. The use of SNP platforms and other technologies have resulte...

Multiple Intelligences: The Most Effective Platform for Global 21st Century Educational and Instructional Methodologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McFarlane, Donovan A.

2011-01-01

This paper examines the theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) as the most viable and effective platform for 21st century educational and instructional methodologies based on the understanding of the value of diversity in today's classrooms and educational institutions, the unique qualities and characteristics of individual learners, the…

Multipurpose floating platform for hyperspectral imaging, sampling and sensing of surface water sources used in irrigation and recreation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The objective of this work was to design, construct, and test the self-propelled aquatic platform for imaging, multi-tier water sampling, water quality sensing, and depth profiling to document microbial content and environmental covariates in the interior of irrigation ponds and reservoirs. The plat...

Developing an Interactive Data Visualization Tool to Assess the Impact of Decision Support on Clinical Operations.

PubMed

Huber, Timothy C; Krishnaraj, Arun; Monaghan, Dayna; Gaskin, Cree M

2018-05-18

Due to mandates from recent legislation, clinical decision support (CDS) software is being adopted by radiology practices across the country. This software provides imaging study decision support for referring providers at the point of order entry. CDS systems produce a large volume of data, providing opportunities for research and quality improvement. In order to better visualize and analyze trends in this data, an interactive data visualization dashboard was created using a commercially available data visualization platform. Following the integration of a commercially available clinical decision support product into the electronic health record, a dashboard was created using a commercially available data visualization platform (Tableau, Seattle, WA). Data generated by the CDS were exported from the data warehouse, where they were stored, into the platform. This allowed for real-time visualization of the data generated by the decision support software. The creation of the dashboard allowed the output from the CDS platform to be more easily analyzed and facilitated hypothesis generation. Integrating data visualization tools into clinical decision support tools allows for easier data analysis and can streamline research and quality improvement efforts.

Near real time water resources data for river basin management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paulson, R. W. (Principal Investigator)

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Twenty Data Collection Platforms (DCP) are being field installed on USGS water resources stations in the Delaware River Basin. DCP's have been successfully installed and are operating well on five stream gaging stations, three observation wells, and one water quality monitor in the basin. DCP's have been installed at nine additional water quality monitors, and work is progressing on interfacing the platforms to the monitors. ERTS-related water resources data from the platforms are being provided in near real time, by the Goddard Space Flight Center to the Pennsylvania district, Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey. On a daily basis, the data are computer processed by the Survey and provided to the Delaware River Basin Commission. Each daily summary contains data that were relayed during 4 or 5 of the 15 orbits made by ERTS-1 during the previous day. Water resources parameters relays by the platforms include dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperature, pH, specific conductance, well level, and stream gage height, which is used to compute stream flow for the daily summary.

Boutiques: a flexible framework to integrate command-line applications in computing platforms

PubMed Central

Glatard, Tristan; Kiar, Gregory; Aumentado-Armstrong, Tristan; Beck, Natacha; Bellec, Pierre; Bernard, Rémi; Bonnet, Axel; Brown, Shawn T; Camarasu-Pop, Sorina; Cervenansky, Frédéric; Das, Samir; Ferreira da Silva, Rafael; Flandin, Guillaume; Girard, Pascal; Gorgolewski, Krzysztof J; Guttmann, Charles R G; Hayot-Sasson, Valérie; Quirion, Pierre-Olivier; Rioux, Pierre; Rousseau, Marc-Étienne; Evans, Alan C

2018-01-01

Abstract We present Boutiques, a system to automatically publish, integrate, and execute command-line applications across computational platforms. Boutiques applications are installed through software containers described in a rich and flexible JSON language. A set of core tools facilitates the construction, validation, import, execution, and publishing of applications. Boutiques is currently supported by several distinct virtual research platforms, and it has been used to describe dozens of applications in the neuroinformatics domain. We expect Boutiques to improve the quality of application integration in computational platforms, to reduce redundancy of effort, to contribute to computational reproducibility, and to foster Open Science. PMID:29718199