GIS Tool for Real-time Decision Making and Analysis of Multidisciplinary Cryosphere Datasets.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, S. D.; Moore, J. A.

2004-12-01

In support of the Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interaction Project(SBI) a web-based interactive mapping server was installed on the USCGC Healy's on-board science computer network during its 2004 spring(HLY-04-02) and summer cruises (HLY-04-03) in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. SBI is a National Science Foundation sponsored multi-year and multidisciplinary project studying the biological productivity in the region. The mapping server was developed by the UCAR Joint Office of Science Support(JOSS) using OpenSource GIS tools(University of Minnesota Mapserver and USGS MapSurfer). Additional OpenSource tools such as GMT and MB-Systems were also utilized. The key layers in this system are the current ship track, station locations, multibeam bottom bathymetry, IBCAO bathymetry, DMSP satellite imagery , NOAA AVHRR Sea Surface temperature and all past SBI Project ship tracks and station locations. The ship track and multibeam layers are updated in real-time and the satellite layers are updated daily only during clear weather. In addition to using current high resolution multibeam bathymetry data, a composite high resolution bathymetry layer was created using multibeam data from past cruises in the SBI region. The server provides click-and-drag zooms, pan, feature query, distance measure and lat/lon/depth querys on a polar projection map of the arctic ocean. The main use of the system on the ship was for cruise track and station position planning by the scientists utilizing all available historical data and high resolution bathymetry. It was also the main source of information to all the scientist on board as to the cruise progress and plans. The system permitted on-board scientists to integrate historical cruise information for comparative purposes. A mirror web site was set up on land and the current ship track/station information was copied once a day to this site via a satellite link so people interested SBI research could follow the cruise progress.

A novel library-independent approach based on high-throughput cultivation in Bioscreen and fingerprinting by FTIR spectroscopy for microbial source tracking in food industry.

PubMed

Shapaval, V; Møretrø, T; Wold Åsli, A; Suso, H P; Schmitt, J; Lillehaug, D; Kohler, A

2017-05-01

Microbiological source tracking (MST) for food industry is a rapid growing area of research and technology development. In this paper, a new library-independent approach for MST is presented. It is based on a high-throughput liquid microcultivation and FTIR spectroscopy. In this approach, FTIR spectra obtained from micro-organisms isolated along the production line and a product are compared to each other. We tested and evaluated the new source tracking approach by simulating a source tracking situation. In this simulation study, a selection of 20 spoilage mould strains from a total of six genera (Alternaria, Aspergillus, Mucor, Paecilomyces, Peyronellaea and Phoma) was used. The simulation of the source tracking situation showed that 80-100% of the sources could be correctly identified with respect to genus/species level. When performing source tracking simulations, the FTIR identification diverged for Phoma glomerata strain in the reference collection. When reidentifying the strain by sequencing, it turned out that the strain was a Peyronellaea arachidicola. The obtained results demonstrated that the proposed approach is a versatile tool for identifying sources of microbial contamination. Thus, it has a high potential for routine control in the food industry due to low costs and analysis time. The source tracking of fungal contamination in the food industry is an important aspect of food safety. Currently, all available methods are time consuming and require the use of a reference library that may limit the accuracy of the identification. In this study, we report for the first time, a library-independent FTIR spectroscopic approach for MST of fungal contamination along the food production line. It combines high-throughput microcultivation and FTIR spectroscopy and is specific on the genus and species level. Therefore, such an approach possesses great importance for food safety control in food industry. © 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Contact Us About Clearinghouse for Inventories and Emissions Factors

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Emissions inventories, modeling, and monitoring are the basis for understanding, controlling and tracking stationary sources of air pollution. This technical site provides access to tools and data to support those efforts.

Stable Isotope Mixing Models as a Tool for Tracking Sources of Water and Water Pollutants

EPA Science Inventory

One goal of monitoring pollutants is to be able to trace the pollutant to its source. Here we review how mixing models using stable isotope information on water and water pollutants can help accomplish this goal. A number of elements exist in multiple stable (non-radioactive) i...

DETERMINING HOT SPOTS OF FECAL CONTAMINATION IN A TROPICAL WATERSHED BY COMBINING LAND-USE INFORMATION AND METEOROLOGICAL DATA WITH SOURCE-SPECIFIC ASSAYS

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial source tracking (MST) assays have been mostly employed in temperate climates. However, their value as monitoring tools in tropical and subtropical regions is unknown since the geographic and temporal stability of the assays has not been extensively tested. The objective...

Utility of Microbial Source-Tracking Markers for Assessing Fecal Contamination in the Portage River Watershed, Northwestern Ohio, 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kephart, Christopher M.; Bushon, Rebecca N.

2010-01-01

An influx of concentrated animal feeding operations in northwest Ohio has prompted local agencies to examine the effects of these industrial farms on water quality in the upper Portage River watershed. The utility of microbial source-tracking (MST) tools as a means of characterizing sources of fecal contamination in the watershed was evaluated. From 2007 to 2008, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Bowling Green State University, and the Wood County Health Department collected and analyzed 17 environmental samples and 13 fecal source samples for Bacteroides-based host-associated DNA markers. At many of the environmental sites tested, MST marker results corroborated the presumptive fecal contamination sources. Results from this demonstration study support the utility of using MST with host-specific molecular markers to characterize the sources of fecal contamination in the Portage River watershed.

Rapid identification and source-tracking of Listeria monocytogenes using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Jadhav, Snehal; Gulati, Vandana; Fox, Edward M; Karpe, Avinash; Beale, David J; Sevior, Danielle; Bhave, Mrinal; Palombo, Enzo A

2015-06-02

Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne pathogen responsible for the sometimes fatal disease listeriosis. Public health concerns and stringent regulations associated with the presence of this pathogen in food and food processing environments underline the need for rapid and reliable detection and subtyping techniques. In the current study, the application of matrix assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) as a single identification and source-tracking tool for a collection of L. monocytogenes isolates, obtained predominantly from dairy sources within Australia, was explored. The isolates were cultured on different growth media and analysed using MALDI-TOF MS at two incubation times (24 and 48 h). Whilst reliable genus-level identification was achieved from most media, identification at the species level was found to be dependent on culture conditions. Successful speciation was highest for isolates cultured on the chromogenic Agar Listeria Ottaviani Agosti agar (ALOA, 91% of isolates) and non-selective horse blood agar (HBA, 89%) for 24h. Chemometric statistical analysis of the MALDI-TOF MS data enabled source-tracking of L. monocytogenes isolates obtained from four different dairy sources. Strain-level discrimination was also observed to be influenced by culture conditions. In addition, t-test/analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to identify potential biomarker peaks that differentiated the isolates according to their source of isolation. Source-tracking using MALDI-TOF MS was compared and correlated with the gold standard pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) technique. The discriminatory index and the congruence between both techniques were compared using the Simpsons Diversity Index and adjusted Rand and Wallace coefficients. Overall, MALDI-TOF MS based source-tracking (using data obtained by culturing the isolates on HBA) and PFGE demonstrated good congruence with a Wallace coefficient of 0.71 and comparable discriminatory indices of 0.89 and 0.86, respectively. MALDI-TOF MS thus represents a rapid and cost-effective source-tracking technique for L. monocytogenes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fecal indicator organism modeling and microbial source tracking in environmental waters: Chapter 3.4.6

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nevers, Meredith; Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara; Phanikumar, Mantha S.; Whitman, Richard L.

2016-01-01

Mathematical models have been widely applied to surface waters to estimate rates of settling, resuspension, flow, dispersion, and advection in order to calculate movement of particles that influence water quality. Of particular interest are the movement, survival, and persistence of microbial pathogens or their surrogates, which may contaminate recreational water, drinking water, or shellfish. Most models devoted to microbial water quality have been focused on fecal indicator organisms (FIO), which act as a surrogate for pathogens and viruses. Process-based modeling and statistical modeling have been used to track contamination events to source and to predict future events. The use of these two types of models require different levels of expertise and input; process-based models rely on theoretical physical constructs to explain present conditions and biological distribution while data-based, statistical models use extant paired data to do the same. The selection of the appropriate model and interpretation of results is critical to proper use of these tools in microbial source tracking. Integration of the modeling approaches could provide insight for tracking and predicting contamination events in real time. A review of modeling efforts reveals that process-based modeling has great promise for microbial source tracking efforts; further, combining the understanding of physical processes influencing FIO contamination developed with process-based models and molecular characterization of the population by gene-based (i.e., biological) or chemical markers may be an effective approach for locating sources and remediating contamination in order to protect human health better.

Whole-Genome Sequencing Reveals Laboratory Salmonella Typhimurium Strain 14028s as a Likely Source of Outbreak Isolates from 2009-2010

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Background: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) of bacterial isolates has emerged as valuable tool for tracking of an outbreak source. Between 2009 and 2011, clinical isolates of Salmonella Typhimurium sharing the JPXX01.0014 (XbaI) PFGE type were isolated across the U.S. The initial isolates were asso...

Real Time Tracking of Magmatic Intrusions by means of Ground Deformation Modeling during Volcanic Crises.

PubMed

Cannavò, Flavio; Camacho, Antonio G; González, Pablo J; Mattia, Mario; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Fernández, José

2015-06-09

Volcano observatories provide near real-time information and, ultimately, forecasts about volcano activity. For this reason, multiple physical and chemical parameters are continuously monitored. Here, we present a new method to efficiently estimate the location and evolution of magmatic sources based on a stream of real-time surface deformation data, such as High-Rate GPS, and a free-geometry magmatic source model. The tool allows tracking inflation and deflation sources in time, providing estimates of where a volcano might erupt, which is important in understanding an on-going crisis. We show a successful simulated application to the pre-eruptive period of May 2008, at Mount Etna (Italy). The proposed methodology is able to track the fast dynamics of the magma migration by inverting the real-time data within seconds. This general method is suitable for integration in any volcano observatory. The method provides first order unsupervised and realistic estimates of the locations of magmatic sources and of potential eruption sites, information that is especially important for civil protection purposes.

Real Time Tracking of Magmatic Intrusions by means of Ground Deformation Modeling during Volcanic Crises

PubMed Central

Cannavò, Flavio; Camacho, Antonio G.; González, Pablo J.; Mattia, Mario; Puglisi, Giuseppe; Fernández, José

2015-01-01

Volcano observatories provide near real-time information and, ultimately, forecasts about volcano activity. For this reason, multiple physical and chemical parameters are continuously monitored. Here, we present a new method to efficiently estimate the location and evolution of magmatic sources based on a stream of real-time surface deformation data, such as High-Rate GPS, and a free-geometry magmatic source model. The tool allows tracking inflation and deflation sources in time, providing estimates of where a volcano might erupt, which is important in understanding an on-going crisis. We show a successful simulated application to the pre-eruptive period of May 2008, at Mount Etna (Italy). The proposed methodology is able to track the fast dynamics of the magma migration by inverting the real-time data within seconds. This general method is suitable for integration in any volcano observatory. The method provides first order unsupervised and realistic estimates of the locations of magmatic sources and of potential eruption sites, information that is especially important for civil protection purposes. PMID:26055494

AWIWPCA STATES HELPING STATES CLL ON MST

EPA Science Inventory

Several Microbial Source Tracking (MST) tools are now being applied in the development of TMDL plans and in the evaluation of best management practices. However, due to the relatively recent development of MST most environmental managers and scientists have little training and ...

Into the deep: Evaluation of SourceTracker for assessment of faecal contamination of coastal waters.

PubMed

Henry, Rebekah; Schang, Christelle; Coutts, Scott; Kolotelo, Peter; Prosser, Toby; Crosbie, Nick; Grant, Trish; Cottam, Darren; O'Brien, Peter; Deletic, Ana; McCarthy, David

2016-04-15

Faecal contamination of recreational waters is an increasing global health concern. Tracing the source of the contaminant is a vital step towards mitigation and disease prevention. Total 16S rRNA amplicon data for a specific environment (faeces, water, soil) and computational tools such as the Markov-Chain Monte Carlo based SourceTracker can be applied to microbial source tracking (MST) and attribution studies. The current study applied artificial and in-laboratory derived bacterial communities to define the potential and limitations associated with the use of SourceTracker, prior to its application for faecal source tracking at three recreational beaches near Port Phillip Bay (Victoria, Australia). The results demonstrated that at minimum multiple model runs of the SourceTracker modelling tool (i.e. technical replicates) were required to identify potential false positive predictions. The calculation of relative standard deviations (RSDs) for each attributed source improved overall predictive confidence in the results. In general, default parameter settings provided high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and precision. Application of SourceTracker to recreational beach samples identified treated effluent as major source of human-derived faecal contamination, present in 69% of samples. Site-specific sources, such as raw sewage, stormwater and bacterial populations associated with the Yarra River estuary were also identified. Rainfall and associated sand resuspension at each location correlated with observed human faecal indicators. The results of the optimised SourceTracker analysis suggests that local sources of contamination have the greatest effect on recreational coastal water quality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

TrackMate: An open and extensible platform for single-particle tracking.

PubMed

Tinevez, Jean-Yves; Perry, Nick; Schindelin, Johannes; Hoopes, Genevieve M; Reynolds, Gregory D; Laplantine, Emmanuel; Bednarek, Sebastian Y; Shorte, Spencer L; Eliceiri, Kevin W

2017-02-15

We present TrackMate, an open source Fiji plugin for the automated, semi-automated, and manual tracking of single-particles. It offers a versatile and modular solution that works out of the box for end users, through a simple and intuitive user interface. It is also easily scriptable and adaptable, operating equally well on 1D over time, 2D over time, 3D over time, or other single and multi-channel image variants. TrackMate provides several visualization and analysis tools that aid in assessing the relevance of results. The utility of TrackMate is further enhanced through its ability to be readily customized to meet specific tracking problems. TrackMate is an extensible platform where developers can easily write their own detection, particle linking, visualization or analysis algorithms within the TrackMate environment. This evolving framework provides researchers with the opportunity to quickly develop and optimize new algorithms based on existing TrackMate modules without the need of having to write de novo user interfaces, including visualization, analysis and exporting tools. The current capabilities of TrackMate are presented in the context of three different biological problems. First, we perform Caenorhabditis-elegans lineage analysis to assess how light-induced damage during imaging impairs its early development. Our TrackMate-based lineage analysis indicates the lack of a cell-specific light-sensitive mechanism. Second, we investigate the recruitment of NEMO (NF-κB essential modulator) clusters in fibroblasts after stimulation by the cytokine IL-1 and show that photodamage can generate artifacts in the shape of TrackMate characterized movements that confuse motility analysis. Finally, we validate the use of TrackMate for quantitative lifetime analysis of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in plant cells. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterizing transient noise in the LIGO detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nuttall, L. K.

2018-05-01

Data from the LIGO detectors typically contain many non-Gaussian noise transients which arise due to instrumental and environmental conditions. These non-Gaussian transients can be an issue for the modelled and unmodelled transient gravitational-wave searches, as they can mask or mimic a true signal. Data quality can change quite rapidly, making it imperative to track and find new sources of transient noise so that data are minimally contaminated. Several examples of transient noise and the tools used to track them are presented. These instances serve to highlight the diverse range of noise sources present at the LIGO detectors during their second observing run. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue `The promises of gravitational-wave astronomy'.

Microbial Source Tracking: Current and Future Molecular Tools in Microbial Water Quality Forensics

EPA Science Inventory

Current regulations in the United States stipulate that the microbial quality of waters used for consumption and recreational activities should be determined regularly by measuring microbial indicators of fecal pollution. Hence, the microbial risk associated with these waters is...

PIVOT: platform for interactive analysis and visualization of transcriptomics data.

PubMed

Zhu, Qin; Fisher, Stephen A; Dueck, Hannah; Middleton, Sarah; Khaladkar, Mugdha; Kim, Junhyong

2018-01-05

Many R packages have been developed for transcriptome analysis but their use often requires familiarity with R and integrating results of different packages requires scripts to wrangle the datatypes. Furthermore, exploratory data analyses often generate multiple derived datasets such as data subsets or data transformations, which can be difficult to track. Here we present PIVOT, an R-based platform that wraps open source transcriptome analysis packages with a uniform user interface and graphical data management that allows non-programmers to interactively explore transcriptomics data. PIVOT supports more than 40 popular open source packages for transcriptome analysis and provides an extensive set of tools for statistical data manipulations. A graph-based visual interface is used to represent the links between derived datasets, allowing easy tracking of data versions. PIVOT further supports automatic report generation, publication-quality plots, and program/data state saving, such that all analysis can be saved, shared and reproduced. PIVOT will allow researchers with broad background to easily access sophisticated transcriptome analysis tools and interactively explore transcriptome datasets.

Omics approaches in food safety: fulfilling the promise?

PubMed Central

Bergholz, Teresa M.; Moreno Switt, Andrea I.; Wiedmann, Martin

2014-01-01

Genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics are rapidly transforming our approaches to detection, prevention and treatment of foodborne pathogens. Microbial genome sequencing in particular has evolved from a research tool into an approach that can be used to characterize foodborne pathogen isolates as part of routine surveillance systems. Genome sequencing efforts will not only improve outbreak detection and source tracking, but will also create large amounts of foodborne pathogen genome sequence data, which will be available for data mining efforts that could facilitate better source attribution and provide new insights into foodborne pathogen biology and transmission. While practical uses and application of metagenomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics data and associated tools are less prominent, these tools are also starting to yield practical food safety solutions. PMID:24572764

Proactive malware detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gloster, Jonathan; Diep, Michael; Dredden, David; Mix, Matthew; Olsen, Mark; Price, Brian; Steil, Betty

2014-06-01

Small-to-medium sized businesses lack resources to deploy and manage high-end advanced solutions to deter sophisticated threats from well-funded adversaries, but evidence shows that these types of businesses are becoming key targets. As malicious code and network attacks become more sophisticated, classic signature-based virus and malware detection methods are less effective. To augment the current malware methods of detection, we developed a proactive approach to detect emerging malware threats using open source tools and intelligence to discover patterns and behaviors of malicious attacks and adversaries. Technical and analytical skills are combined to track adversarial behavior, methods and techniques. We established a controlled (separated domain) network to identify, monitor, and track malware behavior to increase understanding of the methods and techniques used by cyber adversaries. We created a suite of tools that observe the network and system performance looking for anomalies that may be caused by malware. The toolset collects information from open-source tools and provides meaningful indicators that the system was under or has been attacked. When malware is discovered, we analyzed and reverse engineered it to determine how it could be detected and prevented. Results have shown that with minimum resources, cost effective capabilities can be developed to detect abnormal behavior that may indicate malicious software.

Pieces of the Puzzle: Tracking the Chemical Component of the ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This presentation provides an overview of the risk assessment conducted at the U.S. EPA, as well as some research examples related to the exposome concept. This presentation also provides the recommendation of using two organizational and predictive frameworks for tracking chemical components in the exposome. The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Computational Exposure Division (CED) develops and evaluates data, decision-support tools, and models to be applied to media-specific or receptor-specific problem areas. CED uses modeling-based approaches to characterize exposures, evaluate fate and transport, and support environmental diagnostics/forensics with input from multiple data sources. It also develops media- and receptor-specific models, process models, and decision support tools for use both within and outside of EPA.

Tracking antibiotic resistance gene pollution from different sources using machine-learning classification.

PubMed

Li, Li-Guan; Yin, Xiaole; Zhang, Tong

2018-05-24

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been a worldwide public health concern. Current widespread AMR pollution has posed a big challenge in accurately disentangling source-sink relationship, which has been further confounded by point and non-point sources, as well as endogenous and exogenous cross-reactivity under complicated environmental conditions. Because of insufficient capability in identifying source-sink relationship within a quantitative framework, traditional antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) signatures-based source-tracking methods would hardly be a practical solution. By combining broad-spectrum ARG profiling with machine-learning classification SourceTracker, here we present a novel way to address the question in the era of high-throughput sequencing. Its potential in extensive application was firstly validated by 656 global-scale samples covering diverse environmental types (e.g., human/animal gut, wastewater, soil, ocean) and broad geographical regions (e.g., China, USA, Europe, Peru). Its potential and limitations in source prediction as well as effect of parameter adjustment were then rigorously evaluated by artificial configurations with representative source proportions. When applying SourceTracker in region-specific analysis, excellent performance was achieved by ARG profiles in two sample types with obvious different source compositions, i.e., influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plant. Two environmental metagenomic datasets of anthropogenic interference gradient further supported its potential in practical application. To complement general-profile-based source tracking in distinguishing continuous gradient pollution, a few generalist and specialist indicator ARGs across ecotypes were identified in this study. We demonstrated for the first time that the developed source-tracking platform when coupling with proper experiment design and efficient metagenomic analysis tools will have significant implications for assessing AMR pollution. Following predicted source contribution status, risk ranking of different sources in ARG dissemination will be possible, thereby paving the way for establishing priority in mitigating ARG spread and designing effective control strategies.

Cryptosporidium Source Tracking in the Potomac River Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

To better characterize the presence of Cryptosporidium in the Potomac River watershed, a PCR-based genotyping tool was used to analyze 64 base-flow and 28 storm-flow samples from five sites within the watershed. These sites included two water treatment plant intakes as well as t...

Sediment tracers in water erosion studies: Current approaches and challenges

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The interest in the use of sediment tracers as a complementary tool to traditional water soil erosion or deposition measurements or assessment has increased due to the additional information they may provide such as sediment source identification and tracking of sediment movement over the landscape ...

Cryptosporidium source tracking in the Potomac River watershed - MCEARD

EPA Science Inventory

To better characterize Cryptosporidium in the Potomac River watershed, a PCR-based genotyping tool was used to analyze 64 base-flow and 28 storm-flow samples from five sites within the watershed. These sites included two water treatment plant intakes as well as three upstream si...

Intraoperative visualization and assessment of electromagnetic tracking error

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harish, Vinyas; Ungi, Tamas; Lasso, Andras; MacDonald, Andrew; Nanji, Sulaiman; Fichtinger, Gabor

2015-03-01

Electromagnetic tracking allows for increased flexibility in designing image-guided interventions, however it is well understood that electromagnetic tracking is prone to error. Visualization and assessment of the tracking error should take place in the operating room with minimal interference with the clinical procedure. The goal was to achieve this ideal in an open-source software implementation in a plug and play manner, without requiring programming from the user. We use optical tracking as a ground truth. An electromagnetic sensor and optical markers are mounted onto a stylus device, pivot calibrated for both trackers. Electromagnetic tracking error is defined as difference of tool tip position between electromagnetic and optical readings. Multiple measurements are interpolated into the thin-plate B-spline transform visualized in real time using 3D Slicer. All tracked devices are used in a plug and play manner through the open-source SlicerIGT and PLUS extensions of the 3D Slicer platform. Tracking error was measured multiple times to assess reproducibility of the method, both with and without placing ferromagnetic objects in the workspace. Results from exhaustive grid sampling and freehand sampling were similar, indicating that a quick freehand sampling is sufficient to detect unexpected or excessive field distortion in the operating room. The software is available as a plug-in for the 3D Slicer platforms. Results demonstrate potential for visualizing electromagnetic tracking error in real time for intraoperative environments in feasibility clinical trials in image-guided interventions.

CISUS: an integrated 3D ultrasound system for IGT using a modular tracking API

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boctor, Emad M.; Viswanathan, Anand; Pieper, Steve; Choti, Michael A.; Taylor, Russell H.; Kikinis, Ron; Fichtinger, Gabor

2004-05-01

Ultrasound has become popular in clinical/surgical applications, both as the primary image guidance modality and also in conjunction with other modalities like CT or MRI. Three dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) systems have also demonstrated usefulness in image-guided therapy (IGT). At the same time, however, current lack of open-source and open-architecture multi-modal medical visualization systems prevents 3DUS from fulfilling its potential. Several stand-alone 3DUS systems, like Stradx or In-Vivo exist today. Although these systems have been found to be useful in real clinical setting, it is difficult to augment their functionality and integrate them in versatile IGT systems. To address these limitations, a robotic/freehand 3DUS open environment (CISUS) is being integrated into the 3D Slicer, an open-source research tool developed for medical image analysis and surgical planning. In addition, the system capitalizes on generic application programming interfaces (APIs) for tracking devices and robotic control. The resulting platform-independent open-source system may serve as a valuable tool to the image guided surgery community. Other researchers could straightforwardly integrate the generic CISUS system along with other functionalities (i.e. dual view visualization, registration, real-time tracking, segmentation, etc) to rapidly create their medical/surgical applications. Our current driving clinical application is robotically assisted and freehand 3DUS-guided liver ablation, which is fully being integrated under the CISUS-3D Slicer. Initial functionality and pre-clinical feasibility are demonstrated on phantom and ex-vivo animal models.

Parallel Tracks as Quasi-steady States for the Magnetic Boundary Layers in Neutron-star Low-mass X-Ray Binaries

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

Erkut, M. Hakan; Çatmabacak, Onur, E-mail: mherkut@gmail.com

The neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are usually thought to be weakly magnetized objects accreting matter from their low-mass companions in the form of a disk. Albeit weak compared to those in young neutron-star systems, the neutron-star magnetospheres in LMXBs can play an important role in determining the correlations between spectral and temporal properties. Parallel tracks appearing in the kilohertz (kHz) quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency versus X-ray flux plane can be used as a tool to study the magnetosphere–disk interaction in neutron-star LMXBs. For dynamically important weak fields, the formation of a non-Keplerian magnetic boundary layer at themore » innermost disk truncated near the surface of the neutron star is highly likely. Such a boundary region may harbor oscillatory modes of frequencies in the kHz range. We generate parallel tracks using the boundary region model of kHz QPOs. We also present the direct application of our model to the reproduction of the observed parallel tracks of individual sources such as 4U 1608–52, 4U 1636–53, and Aql X-1. We reveal how the radial width of the boundary layer must vary in the long-term flux evolution of each source to regenerate the parallel tracks. The run of the radial width looks similar for different sources and can be fitted by a generic model function describing the average steady behavior of the boundary region over the long term. The parallel tracks then correspond to the possible quasi-steady states the source can occupy around the average trend.« less

Parallel Tracks as Quasi-steady States for the Magnetic Boundary Layers in Neutron-star Low-mass X-Ray Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erkut, M. Hakan; Çatmabacak, Onur

2017-11-01

The neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are usually thought to be weakly magnetized objects accreting matter from their low-mass companions in the form of a disk. Albeit weak compared to those in young neutron-star systems, the neutron-star magnetospheres in LMXBs can play an important role in determining the correlations between spectral and temporal properties. Parallel tracks appearing in the kilohertz (kHz) quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency versus X-ray flux plane can be used as a tool to study the magnetosphere-disk interaction in neutron-star LMXBs. For dynamically important weak fields, the formation of a non-Keplerian magnetic boundary layer at the innermost disk truncated near the surface of the neutron star is highly likely. Such a boundary region may harbor oscillatory modes of frequencies in the kHz range. We generate parallel tracks using the boundary region model of kHz QPOs. We also present the direct application of our model to the reproduction of the observed parallel tracks of individual sources such as 4U 1608-52, 4U 1636-53, and Aql X-1. We reveal how the radial width of the boundary layer must vary in the long-term flux evolution of each source to regenerate the parallel tracks. The run of the radial width looks similar for different sources and can be fitted by a generic model function describing the average steady behavior of the boundary region over the long term. The parallel tracks then correspond to the possible quasi-steady states the source can occupy around the average trend.

Reengineering Workflow for Curation of DICOM Datasets.

PubMed

Bennett, William; Smith, Kirk; Jarosz, Quasar; Nolan, Tracy; Bosch, Walter

2018-06-15

Reusable, publicly available data is a pillar of open science and rapid advancement of cancer imaging research. Sharing data from completed research studies not only saves research dollars required to collect data, but also helps insure that studies are both replicable and reproducible. The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) is a global shared repository for imaging data related to cancer. Insuring the consistency, scientific utility, and anonymity of data stored in TCIA is of utmost importance. As the rate of submission to TCIA has been increasing, both in volume and complexity of DICOM objects stored, the process of curation of collections has become a bottleneck in acquisition of data. In order to increase the rate of curation of image sets, improve the quality of the curation, and better track the provenance of changes made to submitted DICOM image sets, a custom set of tools was developed, using novel methods for the analysis of DICOM data sets. These tools are written in the programming language perl, use the open-source database PostgreSQL, make use of the perl DICOM routines in the open-source package Posda, and incorporate DICOM diagnostic tools from other open-source packages, such as dicom3tools. These tools are referred to as the "Posda Tools." The Posda Tools are open source and available via git at https://github.com/UAMS-DBMI/PosdaTools . In this paper, we briefly describe the Posda Tools and discuss the novel methods employed by these tools to facilitate rapid analysis of DICOM data, including the following: (1) use a database schema which is more permissive, and differently normalized from traditional DICOM databases; (2) perform integrity checks automatically on a bulk basis; (3) apply revisions to DICOM datasets on an bulk basis, either through a web-based interface or via command line executable perl scripts; (4) all such edits are tracked in a revision tracker and may be rolled back; (5) a UI is provided to inspect the results of such edits, to verify that they are what was intended; (6) identification of DICOM Studies, Series, and SOP instances using "nicknames" which are persistent and have well-defined scope to make expression of reported DICOM errors easier to manage; and (7) rapidly identify potential duplicate DICOM datasets by pixel data is provided; this can be used, e.g., to identify submission subjects which may relate to the same individual, without identifying the individual.

ION COMPOSITION ELUCIDATION (ICE): AN INVESTIGATIVE TOOL FOR CHARACTERIZATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF COMPOUNDS OF REGULATORY IMPORTANCE

EPA Science Inventory

Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) often leads to identification of compounds and provides high quality evidence for tracking compounds to their sources. Mass spectra for most organic compounds are not found in mass spectral libraries used to tentatively identify analytes. In addi...

Performance evaluation of canine-associated Bacteroidales assays in a multi-laboratory comparison study

EPA Science Inventory

The contribution of fecal pollution from dogs in urbanized areas can be significant and is an often underestimated problem. Microbial source tracking methods (MST) utilizing quantitative PCR of dog-associated gene sequences encoding 16S rRNA of Bacteroidales are a useful tool to ...

Characterizing transient noise in the LIGO detectors.

PubMed

Nuttall, L K

2018-05-28

Data from the LIGO detectors typically contain many non-Gaussian noise transients which arise due to instrumental and environmental conditions. These non-Gaussian transients can be an issue for the modelled and unmodelled transient gravitational-wave searches, as they can mask or mimic a true signal. Data quality can change quite rapidly, making it imperative to track and find new sources of transient noise so that data are minimally contaminated. Several examples of transient noise and the tools used to track them are presented. These instances serve to highlight the diverse range of noise sources present at the LIGO detectors during their second observing run.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The promises of gravitational-wave astronomy'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Molecular Investigations of Bacteroides as Microbial Source Tracking Tools in Southeast Louisiana Watersheds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulz, C. J.; Childers, G. W.; Engel, A. S.

2006-12-01

Microbial Source Tracking (MST) is a developing field that is gaining increased attention. MST refers to a host of techniques that discriminates among the origins of fecal material found in natural waters from different sources (e.g. human, livestock, and wildlife) by using microbial indicator species with specificity to only certain host organisms. The development of species-specific molecular markers would allow for better evaluation of public health risks and tracking of nutrient sources impacting a watershed. Although several MST methods have been reported with varying levels of success, few offer general applicability for natural waters due to spatial and temporal constraints associated with these methods. One group of molecular MST markers that show promise for broad environmental applications are molecular 16S rDNA probes for Bacteroides. This method is based on 16S rDNA detection directly from environmental samples without the need for a preliminary cultivation step. In this study we have expanded previous sampling efforts to compile a database of over 1000 partial 16S rRNA Bacteroides genes retrieved from the fecal material of 15 different host species (human, cat, dog, pig, kangaroo). To characterize survival of Bacteroides outside of the host, survival time of the Bacteroides marker was compared to that of E.coli under varying natural environmental conditions (temperature and salinity). Bacteroides displayed a survival curve with shouldering and tailing similar to that of E.coli, but log reduction times differed with treatment. In summary, MST marker stability was identified within host species and the overall Bacteroides community structure correlated to host diet, suggesting that detection of a Bacteroides community could confidently identify fecal contamination point sources. Natural water samples from southeast Louisiana were collected for MST including the Tangipahoa River watershed where the source of fecal contamination has been hotly debated. The Bacteroides tool repeatedly demonstrated the presence of cattle related Bacteroides markers and the absence of human markers.This study is now being expanded to include the entire Lake Pontchartrain Basin.

Value and Methods for Molecular Subtyping of Bacteria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moorman, Mark; Pruett, Payton; Weidman, Martin

Tracking sources of microbial contaminants has been a concern since the early days of commercial food processing; however, recent advances in the development of molecular subtyping methods have provided tools that allow more rapid and highly accurate determinations of these sources. Only individuals with an understanding of the molecular subtyping methods, and the epidemiological techniques used, can evaluate the reliability of a link between a food-manufacturing plant, a food, and a foodborne disease outbreak.

Assessment of Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. as a microbial source tracking tool for surface water: application in a mixed-use watershed.

PubMed

Prystajecky, Natalie; Huck, Peter M; Schreier, Hans; Isaac-Renton, Judith L

2014-04-01

Knowledge of host specificity, combined with genomic sequencing of Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp., has demonstrated a microbial source tracking (MST) utility for these common waterborne microbes. To explore the source attribution potential of these pathogens, water samples were collected in a mixed rural-urban watershed in the Township of Langley, in southwestern British Columbia (BC), Canada, over a 2-year period. Cryptosporidium was detected in 63% of surface water samples at concentrations ranging from no positive detection (NPD) to 20,600 oocysts per 100 liters. Giardia was detected in 86% of surface water samples at concentrations ranging from NPD to 3,800 cysts per 100 liters of water. Sequencing at the 18S rRNA locus revealed that 50% of Cryptosporidium samples and 98% of Giardia samples contained species/genotypes (Cryptosporidium) or assemblages (Giardia) that are capable of infecting humans, based on current knowledge of host specificity and taxonomy. Cryptosporidium genotyping data were more promising for source tracking potential, due to the greater number of host-adapted (i.e., narrow-host-range) species/genotypes compared to Giardia, since 98% of Giardia isolates were zoonotic and the potential host could not be predicted. This report highlights the benefits of parasite genomic sequencing to complement Method 1623 (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and shows that Cryptosporidium subtyping for MST purposes is superior to the use of Giardia subtyping, based on better detection limits for Cryptosporidium-positive samples than for Giardia-positive samples and on greater host specificity among Cryptosporidium species. These additional tools could be used for risk assessment in public health and watershed management decisions.

Assessment of Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. as a Microbial Source Tracking Tool for Surface Water: Application in a Mixed-Use Watershed

PubMed Central

Huck, Peter M.; Schreier, Hans; Isaac-Renton, Judith L.

2014-01-01

Knowledge of host specificity, combined with genomic sequencing of Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp., has demonstrated a microbial source tracking (MST) utility for these common waterborne microbes. To explore the source attribution potential of these pathogens, water samples were collected in a mixed rural-urban watershed in the Township of Langley, in southwestern British Columbia (BC), Canada, over a 2-year period. Cryptosporidium was detected in 63% of surface water samples at concentrations ranging from no positive detection (NPD) to 20,600 oocysts per 100 liters. Giardia was detected in 86% of surface water samples at concentrations ranging from NPD to 3,800 cysts per 100 liters of water. Sequencing at the 18S rRNA locus revealed that 50% of Cryptosporidium samples and 98% of Giardia samples contained species/genotypes (Cryptosporidium) or assemblages (Giardia) that are capable of infecting humans, based on current knowledge of host specificity and taxonomy. Cryptosporidium genotyping data were more promising for source tracking potential, due to the greater number of host-adapted (i.e., narrow-host-range) species/genotypes compared to Giardia, since 98% of Giardia isolates were zoonotic and the potential host could not be predicted. This report highlights the benefits of parasite genomic sequencing to complement Method 1623 (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and shows that Cryptosporidium subtyping for MST purposes is superior to the use of Giardia subtyping, based on better detection limits for Cryptosporidium-positive samples than for Giardia-positive samples and on greater host specificity among Cryptosporidium species. These additional tools could be used for risk assessment in public health and watershed management decisions. PMID:24463970

Assessment & Commitment Tracking System (ACTS)

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

Bryant, Robert A.; Childs, Teresa A.; Miller, Michael A.

2004-12-20

The ACTS computer code provides a centralized tool for planning and scheduling assessments, tracking and managing actions associated with assessments or that result from an event or condition, and "mining" data for reporting and analyzing information for improving performance. The ACTS application is designed to work with the MS SQL database management system. All database interfaces are written in SQL. The following software is used to develop and support the ACTS application: Cold Fusion HTML JavaScript Quest TOAD Microsoft Visual Source Safe (VSS) HTML Mailer for sending email Microsoft SQL Microsoft Internet Information Server

Generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB.

PubMed

Lee, Leng-Feng; Umberger, Brian R

2016-01-01

Computer modeling, simulation and optimization are powerful tools that have seen increased use in biomechanics research. Dynamic optimizations can be categorized as either data-tracking or predictive problems. The data-tracking approach has been used extensively to address human movement problems of clinical relevance. The predictive approach also holds great promise, but has seen limited use in clinical applications. Enhanced software tools would facilitate the application of predictive musculoskeletal simulations to clinically-relevant research. The open-source software OpenSim provides tools for generating tracking simulations but not predictive simulations. However, OpenSim includes an extensive application programming interface that permits extending its capabilities with scripting languages such as MATLAB. In the work presented here, we combine the computational tools provided by MATLAB with the musculoskeletal modeling capabilities of OpenSim to create a framework for generating predictive simulations of musculoskeletal movement based on direct collocation optimal control techniques. In many cases, the direct collocation approach can be used to solve optimal control problems considerably faster than traditional shooting methods. Cyclical and discrete movement problems were solved using a simple 1 degree of freedom musculoskeletal model and a model of the human lower limb, respectively. The problems could be solved in reasonable amounts of time (several seconds to 1-2 hours) using the open-source IPOPT solver. The problems could also be solved using the fmincon solver that is included with MATLAB, but the computation times were excessively long for all but the smallest of problems. The performance advantage for IPOPT was derived primarily by exploiting sparsity in the constraints Jacobian. The framework presented here provides a powerful and flexible approach for generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB. This should allow researchers to more readily use predictive simulation as a tool to address clinical conditions that limit human mobility.

Generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB

PubMed Central

Lee, Leng-Feng

2016-01-01

Computer modeling, simulation and optimization are powerful tools that have seen increased use in biomechanics research. Dynamic optimizations can be categorized as either data-tracking or predictive problems. The data-tracking approach has been used extensively to address human movement problems of clinical relevance. The predictive approach also holds great promise, but has seen limited use in clinical applications. Enhanced software tools would facilitate the application of predictive musculoskeletal simulations to clinically-relevant research. The open-source software OpenSim provides tools for generating tracking simulations but not predictive simulations. However, OpenSim includes an extensive application programming interface that permits extending its capabilities with scripting languages such as MATLAB. In the work presented here, we combine the computational tools provided by MATLAB with the musculoskeletal modeling capabilities of OpenSim to create a framework for generating predictive simulations of musculoskeletal movement based on direct collocation optimal control techniques. In many cases, the direct collocation approach can be used to solve optimal control problems considerably faster than traditional shooting methods. Cyclical and discrete movement problems were solved using a simple 1 degree of freedom musculoskeletal model and a model of the human lower limb, respectively. The problems could be solved in reasonable amounts of time (several seconds to 1–2 hours) using the open-source IPOPT solver. The problems could also be solved using the fmincon solver that is included with MATLAB, but the computation times were excessively long for all but the smallest of problems. The performance advantage for IPOPT was derived primarily by exploiting sparsity in the constraints Jacobian. The framework presented here provides a powerful and flexible approach for generating optimal control simulations of musculoskeletal movement using OpenSim and MATLAB. This should allow researchers to more readily use predictive simulation as a tool to address clinical conditions that limit human mobility. PMID:26835184

An Evaluation Methodology for Longitudinal Studies of Short Term Cancer Research Training Programs

PubMed Central

Padilla, Luz A.; Venkatesh, Raam; Daniel, Casey L.; Desmond, Renee A.; Brooks, C. Michael; Waterbor, John W.

2014-01-01

The need to familiarize medical students and graduate health professional students with research training opportunities that cultivate the appeal of research careers is vital to the future of research. Comprehensive evaluation of a cancer research training program can be achieved through longitudinal tracking of program alumni to assess the program’s impact on each participant’s career path and professional achievements. With advances in technology and smarter means of communication, effective ways to track alumni have changed. In order to collect data on the career outcomes and achievements of nearly 500 short-term cancer research training program alumni from 1999–2013, we sought to contact each alumnus to request completion of a survey instrument online, or by means of a telephone interview. The effectiveness of each contact method that we used was quantified according to ease of use and time required. The most reliable source of contact information for tracking alumni from the early years of the program was previous tracking results; and for alumni from the later years, the most important source of contact information was university alumni records that provided email addresses and telephone numbers. Personal contacts with former preceptors were sometimes helpful, as were generic search engines and people search engines. Social networking was of little value for most searches. Using information from two or more sources in combination was most effective in tracking alumni. These results provide insights and tools for other research training programs that wish to track their alumni for long-term program evaluation. PMID:25412722

visPIG--a web tool for producing multi-region, multi-track, multi-scale plots of genetic data.

PubMed

Scales, Matthew; Jäger, Roland; Migliorini, Gabriele; Houlston, Richard S; Henrion, Marc Y R

2014-01-01

We present VISual Plotting Interface for Genetics (visPIG; http://vispig.icr.ac.uk), a web application to produce multi-track, multi-scale, multi-region plots of genetic data. visPIG has been designed to allow users not well versed with mathematical software packages and/or programming languages such as R, Matlab®, Python, etc., to integrate data from multiple sources for interpretation and to easily create publication-ready figures. While web tools such as the UCSC Genome Browser or the WashU Epigenome Browser allow custom data uploads, such tools are primarily designed for data exploration. This is also true for the desktop-run Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV). Other locally run data visualisation software such as Circos require significant computer skills of the user. The visPIG web application is a menu-based interface that allows users to upload custom data tracks and set track-specific parameters. Figures can be downloaded as PDF or PNG files. For sensitive data, the underlying R code can also be downloaded and run locally. visPIG is multi-track: it can display many different data types (e.g association, functional annotation, intensity, interaction, heat map data,…). It also allows annotation of genes and other custom features in the plotted region(s). Data tracks can be plotted individually or on a single figure. visPIG is multi-region: it supports plotting multiple regions, be they kilo- or megabases apart or even on different chromosomes. Finally, visPIG is multi-scale: a sub-region of particular interest can be 'zoomed' in. We describe the various features of visPIG and illustrate its utility with examples. visPIG is freely available through http://vispig.icr.ac.uk under a GNU General Public License (GPLv3).

A Management Tool for Assessing Aquaculture Environmental Impacts in Chilean Patagonian Fjords: Integrating Hydrodynamic and Pellets Dispersion Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tironi, Antonio; Marin, Víctor H.; Campuzano, Francisco J.

2010-05-01

This article introduces a management tool for salmon farming, with a scope in the local sustainability of salmon aquaculture of the Aysen Fjord, Chilean Patagonia. Based on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) principles, the tool combines a large 3-level nested hydrodynamic model, a particle tracking module and a GIS application into an assessment tool for particulate waste dispersal of salmon farming activities. The model offers an open source alternative to particulate waste modeling and evaluation, contributing with valuable information for local decision makers in the process of locating new facilities and monitoring stations.

Probing the benefits of real-time tracking during cancer care

PubMed Central

Patel, Rupa A.; Klasnja, Predrag; Hartzler, Andrea; Unruh, Kenton T.; Pratt, Wanda

2012-01-01

People with cancer experience many unanticipated symptoms and struggle to communicate them to clinicians. Although researchers have developed patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools to address this problem, such tools capture retrospective data intended for clinicians to review. In contrast, real-time tracking tools with visible results for patients could improve health outcomes and communication with clinicians, while also enhancing patients’ symptom management. To understand potential benefits of such tools, we studied the tracking behaviors of 25 women with breast cancer. We provided 10 of these participants with a real-time tracking tool that served as a “technology probe” to uncover behaviors and benefits from voluntary use. Our findings showed that while patients’ tracking behaviors without a tool were fragmented and sporadic, these behaviors with a tool were more consistent. Participants also used tracked data to see patterns among symptoms, feel psychosocial comfort, and improve symptom communication with clinicians. We conclude with design implications for future real-time tracking tools. PMID:23304413

Using a Macroalgal δ15N Bioassay to Detect Cruise Ship Waste Water Effluent Inputs

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrogen stable isotopes are a powerful tool for tracking sources of N to marine ecosystems. I used green macroalgae as a bioassay organism to evaluate if the δ15N signature of cruise ship waste water effluent (CSWWE) could be detected in Skagway Harbor, AK. Opportunistic green...

TDRS orbit determination by radio interferometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pavloff, Michael S.

1994-01-01

In support of a NASA study on the application of radio interferometry to satellite orbit determination, MITRE developed a simulation tool for assessing interferometry tracking accuracy. The Orbit Determination Accuracy Estimator (ODAE) models the general batch maximum likelihood orbit determination algorithms of the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS) with the group and phase delay measurements from radio interferometry. ODAE models the statistical properties of tracking error sources, including inherent observable imprecision, atmospheric delays, clock offsets, station location uncertainty, and measurement biases, and through Monte Carlo simulation, ODAE calculates the statistical properties of errors in the predicted satellites state vector. This paper presents results from ODAE application to orbit determination of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) by radio interferometry. Conclusions about optimal ground station locations for interferometric tracking of TDRS are presented, along with a discussion of operational advantages of radio interferometry.

CuGene as a tool to view and explore genomic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haponiuk, Michał; Pawełkowicz, Magdalena; Przybecki, Zbigniew; Nowak, Robert M.

2017-08-01

Integrated CuGene is an easy-to-use, open-source, on-line tool that can be used to browse, analyze, and query genomic data and annotations. It places annotation tracks beneath genome coordinate positions, allowing rapid visual correlation of different types of information. It also allows users to upload and display their own experimental results or annotation sets. An important functionality of the application is a possibility to find similarity between sequences by applying four different algorithms of different accuracy. The presented tool was tested on real genomic data and is extensively used by Polish Consortium of Cucumber Genome Sequencing.

Open source tracking and analysis of adult Drosophila locomotion in Buridan's paradigm with and without visual targets.

PubMed

Colomb, Julien; Reiter, Lutz; Blaszkiewicz, Jedrzej; Wessnitzer, Jan; Brembs, Bjoern

2012-01-01

Insects have been among the most widely used model systems for studying the control of locomotion by nervous systems. In Drosophila, we implemented a simple test for locomotion: in Buridan's paradigm, flies walk back and forth between two inaccessible visual targets [1]. Until today, the lack of easily accessible tools for tracking the fly position and analyzing its trajectory has probably contributed to the slow acceptance of Buridan's paradigm. We present here a package of open source software designed to track a single animal walking in a homogenous environment (Buritrack) and to analyze its trajectory. The Centroid Trajectory Analysis (CeTrAn) software is coded in the open source statistics project R. It extracts eleven metrics and includes correlation analyses and a Principal Components Analysis (PCA). It was designed to be easily customized to personal requirements. In combination with inexpensive hardware, these tools can readily be used for teaching and research purposes. We demonstrate the capabilities of our package by measuring the locomotor behavior of adult Drosophila melanogaster (whose wings were clipped), either in the presence or in the absence of visual targets, and comparing the latter to different computer-generated data. The analysis of the trajectories confirms that flies are centrophobic and shows that inaccessible visual targets can alter the orientation of the flies without changing their overall patterns of activity. Using computer generated data, the analysis software was tested, and chance values for some metrics (as well as chance value for their correlation) were set. Our results prompt the hypothesis that fixation behavior is observed only if negative phototaxis can overcome the propensity of the flies to avoid the center of the platform. Together with our companion paper, we provide new tools to promote Open Science as well as the collection and analysis of digital behavioral data.

Maximum power point tracking algorithm based on sliding mode and fuzzy logic for photovoltaic sources under variable environmental conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atik, L.; Petit, P.; Sawicki, J. P.; Ternifi, Z. T.; Bachir, G.; Della, M.; Aillerie, M.

2017-02-01

Solar panels have a nonlinear voltage-current characteristic, with a distinct maximum power point (MPP), which depends on the environmental factors, such as temperature and irradiation. In order to continuously harvest maximum power from the solar panels, they have to operate at their MPP despite the inevitable changes in the environment. Various methods for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) were developed and finally implemented in solar power electronic controllers to increase the efficiency in the electricity production originate from renewables. In this paper we compare using Matlab tools Simulink, two different MPP tracking methods, which are, fuzzy logic control (FL) and sliding mode control (SMC), considering their efficiency in solar energy production.

Microbial source tracking as a tool for TMDL development, Little Blue River in Independence, Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Christensen, Eric D.; Bushon, Rebecca N.; Brady, Amie M.G.

2013-01-01

The Little Blue River in Jackson County, Missouri has been listed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as impaired by bacteria for the protection of aquatic life and contact recreation from urban point and nonpoint sources. The Clean Water Act requires that a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for Escherichia coli (E. coli) be developed. Over a 5-year period, 108 base-flow, 87 stormflow, 48 fecal source, and 12 sewage influent samples were collected and analyzed for E. coli and Bacteroides general and host-associated microbial source tracking (MST) genetic markers. Less than half of the main-stem base-flow samples exceeded the E. coli state standard, whereas, all of the stormflow samples exceeded the standard during the recreation season (April through October). Both E. coli and MST markers were detected more frequently and at higher concentrations in stormflow samples. Only 14 percent of samples with E. coli detections greater than the Missouri state standard of 206 colonies per 100 milliliters had the human-associated Bacteroides marker as the only identified marker; therefore, Little Blue River TMDL development may require a broader scope beyond the municipal separate storm sewer system if bacteria sources are to be identified and addressed. Fecal samples showed a greater specificity with the human-associated marker than the dog- or ruminant-associated Bacteroides markers; however, false positives were at least one order of magnitude lower than true positives. MST data may be a useful tool for identifying probable sources of contamination and directing TMDL strategies.

Microbial source tracking in impaired watersheds using PhyloChip and machine-learning classification.

PubMed

Dubinsky, Eric A; Butkus, Steven R; Andersen, Gary L

2016-11-15

Sources of fecal indicator bacteria are difficult to identify in watersheds that are impacted by a variety of non-point sources. We developed a molecular source tracking test using the PhyloChip microarray that detects and distinguishes fecal bacteria from humans, birds, ruminants, horses, pigs and dogs with a single test. The multiplexed assay targets 9001 different 25-mer fragments of 16S rRNA genes that are common to the bacterial community of each source type. Both random forests and SourceTracker were tested as discrimination tools, with SourceTracker classification producing superior specificity and sensitivity for all source types. Validation with 12 different mammalian sources in mixtures found 100% correct identification of the dominant source and 84-100% specificity. The test was applied to identify sources of fecal indicator bacteria in the Russian River watershed in California. We found widespread contamination by human sources during the wet season proximal to settlements with antiquated septic infrastructure and during the dry season at beaches during intense recreational activity. The test was more sensitive than common fecal indicator tests that failed to identify potential risks at these sites. Conversely, upstream beaches and numerous creeks with less reliance on onsite wastewater treatment contained no fecal signal from humans or other animals; however these waters did contain high counts of fecal indicator bacteria after rain. Microbial community analysis revealed that increased E. coli and enterococci at these locations did not co-occur with common fecal bacteria, but rather co-varied with copiotrophic bacteria that are common in freshwaters with high nutrient and carbon loading, suggesting runoff likely promoted the growth of environmental strains of E. coli and enterococci. These results indicate that machine-learning classification of PhyloChip microarray data can outperform conventional single marker tests that are used to assess health risks, and is an effective tool for distinguishing numerous fecal and environmental sources of pathogen indicators. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge Discovery Process: Case Study of RNAV Adherence of Radar Track Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Bryan

2018-01-01

This talk is an introduction to the knowledge discovery process, beginning with: identifying the problem, choosing data sources, matching the appropriate machine learning tools, and reviewing the results. The overview will be given in the context of an ongoing study that is assessing RNAV adherence of commercial aircraft in the national airspace.

Using macroalgal δ15N bioassay to detect cruise ship waste water effluent inputs in Skagway, AK

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrogen stable isotopes are a powerful tool for tracking sources of N to marine ecosystems. I used green macroalgae as a bioassay organism to evaluate if the δ15N signature of cruise ship waste water effluent (CSWWE) could be detected in Skagway Harbor, AK. Opportunistic green...

Delivery of Forecasted Atmospheric Ozone and Dust for the New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking System - An Open Source Geospatial Solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudspeth, W. B.; Sanchez-Silva, R.; Cavner, J. A.

2010-12-01

New Mexico's Environmental Public Health Tracking System (EPHTS), funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (EPHTN), aims to improve health awareness and services by linking health effects data with levels and frequency of environmental exposure. As a public health decision-support system, EPHTS systems include: state-of-the-art statistical analysis tools; geospatial visualization tools; data discovery, extraction, and delivery tools; and environmental/public health linkage information. As part of its mandate, EPHTS issues public health advisories and forecasts of environmental conditions that have consequences for human health. Through a NASA-funded partnership between the University of New Mexico and the University of Arizona, NASA Earth Science results are fused into two existing models (the Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (DREAM) and the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model) in order to improve forecasts of atmospheric dust, ozone, and aerosols. The results and products derived from the outputs of these models are made available to an Open Source mapping component of the New Mexico EPHTS. In particular, these products are integrated into a Django content management system using GeoDjango, GeoAlchemy, and other OGC-compliant geospatial libraries written in the Python and C++ programming languages. Capabilities of the resultant mapping system include indicator-based thematic mapping, data delivery, and analytical capabilities. DREAM and CMAQ outputs can be inspected, via REST calls, through temporal and spatial subsetting of the atmospheric concentration data across analytical units employed by the public health community. This paper describes details of the architecture and integration of NASA Earth Science into the EPHTS decision-support system.

The EnzymeTracker: an open-source laboratory information management system for sample tracking.

PubMed

Triplet, Thomas; Butler, Gregory

2012-01-26

In many laboratories, researchers store experimental data on their own workstation using spreadsheets. However, this approach poses a number of problems, ranging from sharing issues to inefficient data-mining. Standard spreadsheets are also error-prone, as data do not undergo any validation process. To overcome spreadsheets inherent limitations, a number of proprietary systems have been developed, which laboratories need to pay expensive license fees for. Those costs are usually prohibitive for most laboratories and prevent scientists from benefiting from more sophisticated data management systems. In this paper, we propose the EnzymeTracker, a web-based laboratory information management system for sample tracking, as an open-source and flexible alternative that aims at facilitating entry, mining and sharing of experimental biological data. The EnzymeTracker features online spreadsheets and tools for monitoring numerous experiments conducted by several collaborators to identify and characterize samples. It also provides libraries of shared data such as protocols, and administration tools for data access control using OpenID and user/team management. Our system relies on a database management system for efficient data indexing and management and a user-friendly AJAX interface that can be accessed over the Internet. The EnzymeTracker facilitates data entry by dynamically suggesting entries and providing smart data-mining tools to effectively retrieve data. Our system features a number of tools to visualize and annotate experimental data, and export highly customizable reports. It also supports QR matrix barcoding to facilitate sample tracking. The EnzymeTracker was designed to be easy to use and offers many benefits over spreadsheets, thus presenting the characteristics required to facilitate acceptance by the scientific community. It has been successfully used for 20 months on a daily basis by over 50 scientists. The EnzymeTracker is freely available online at http://cubique.fungalgenomics.ca/enzymedb/index.html under the GNU GPLv3 license.

The EnzymeTracker: an open-source laboratory information management system for sample tracking

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background In many laboratories, researchers store experimental data on their own workstation using spreadsheets. However, this approach poses a number of problems, ranging from sharing issues to inefficient data-mining. Standard spreadsheets are also error-prone, as data do not undergo any validation process. To overcome spreadsheets inherent limitations, a number of proprietary systems have been developed, which laboratories need to pay expensive license fees for. Those costs are usually prohibitive for most laboratories and prevent scientists from benefiting from more sophisticated data management systems. Results In this paper, we propose the EnzymeTracker, a web-based laboratory information management system for sample tracking, as an open-source and flexible alternative that aims at facilitating entry, mining and sharing of experimental biological data. The EnzymeTracker features online spreadsheets and tools for monitoring numerous experiments conducted by several collaborators to identify and characterize samples. It also provides libraries of shared data such as protocols, and administration tools for data access control using OpenID and user/team management. Our system relies on a database management system for efficient data indexing and management and a user-friendly AJAX interface that can be accessed over the Internet. The EnzymeTracker facilitates data entry by dynamically suggesting entries and providing smart data-mining tools to effectively retrieve data. Our system features a number of tools to visualize and annotate experimental data, and export highly customizable reports. It also supports QR matrix barcoding to facilitate sample tracking. Conclusions The EnzymeTracker was designed to be easy to use and offers many benefits over spreadsheets, thus presenting the characteristics required to facilitate acceptance by the scientific community. It has been successfully used for 20 months on a daily basis by over 50 scientists. The EnzymeTracker is freely available online at http://cubique.fungalgenomics.ca/enzymedb/index.html under the GNU GPLv3 license. PMID:22280360

Describing environmental public health data: implementing a descriptive metadata standard on the environmental public health tracking network.

PubMed

Patridge, Jeff; Namulanda, Gonza

2008-01-01

The Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Network provides an opportunity to bring together diverse environmental and health effects data by integrating}?> local, state, and national databases of environmental hazards, environmental exposures, and health effects. To help users locate data on the EPHT Network, the network will utilize descriptive metadata that provide critical information as to the purpose, location, content, and source of these data. Since 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's EPHT Metadata Subgroup has been working to initiate the creation and use of descriptive metadata. Efforts undertaken by the group include the adoption of a metadata standard, creation of an EPHT-specific metadata profile, development of an open-source metadata creation tool, and promotion of the creation of descriptive metadata by changing the perception of metadata in the public health culture.

A non-disruptive technology for robust 3D tool tracking for ultrasound-guided interventions.

PubMed

Mung, Jay; Vignon, Francois; Jain, Ameet

2011-01-01

In the past decade ultrasound (US) has become the preferred modality for a number of interventional procedures, offering excellent soft tissue visualization. The main limitation however is limited visualization of surgical tools. A new method is proposed for robust 3D tracking and US image enhancement of surgical tools under US guidance. Small US sensors are mounted on existing surgical tools. As the imager emits acoustic energy, the electrical signal from the sensor is analyzed to reconstruct its 3D coordinates. These coordinates can then be used for 3D surgical navigation, similar to current day tracking systems. A system with real-time 3D tool tracking and image enhancement was implemented on a commercial ultrasound scanner and 3D probe. Extensive water tank experiments with a tracked 0.2mm sensor show robust performance in a wide range of imaging conditions and tool position/orientations. The 3D tracking accuracy was 0.36 +/- 0.16mm throughout the imaging volume of 55 degrees x 27 degrees x 150mm. Additionally, the tool was successfully tracked inside a beating heart phantom. This paper proposes an image enhancement and tool tracking technology with sub-mm accuracy for US-guided interventions. The technology is non-disruptive, both in terms of existing clinical workflow and commercial considerations, showing promise for large scale clinical impact.

Phenotypic and Genotypic Eligible Methods for Salmonella Typhimurium Source Tracking

PubMed Central

Ferrari, Rafaela G.; Panzenhagen, Pedro H. N.; Conte-Junior, Carlos A.

2017-01-01

Salmonellosis is one of the most common causes of foodborne infection and a leading cause of human gastroenteritis. Throughout the last decade, Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (ST) has shown an increase report with the simultaneous emergence of multidrug-resistant isolates, as phage type DT104. Therefore, to successfully control this microorganism, it is important to attribute salmonellosis to the exact source. Studies of Salmonella source attribution have been performed to determine the main food/food-production animals involved, toward which, control efforts should be correctly directed. Hence, the election of a ST subtyping method depends on the particular problem that efforts must be directed, the resources and the data available. Generally, before choosing a molecular subtyping, phenotyping approaches such as serotyping, phage typing, and antimicrobial resistance profiling are implemented as a screening of an investigation, and the results are computed using frequency-matching models (i.e., Dutch, Hald and Asymmetric Island models). Actually, due to the advancement of molecular tools as PFGE, MLVA, MLST, CRISPR, and WGS more precise results have been obtained, but even with these technologies, there are still gaps to be elucidated. To address this issue, an important question needs to be answered: what are the currently suitable subtyping methods to source attribute ST. This review presents the most frequently applied subtyping methods used to characterize ST, analyses the major available microbial subtyping attribution models and ponders the use of conventional phenotyping methods, as well as, the most applied genotypic tools in the context of their potential applicability to investigates ST source tracking. PMID:29312260

Phenotypic and Genotypic Eligible Methods for Salmonella Typhimurium Source Tracking.

PubMed

Ferrari, Rafaela G; Panzenhagen, Pedro H N; Conte-Junior, Carlos A

2017-01-01

Salmonellosis is one of the most common causes of foodborne infection and a leading cause of human gastroenteritis. Throughout the last decade, Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (ST) has shown an increase report with the simultaneous emergence of multidrug-resistant isolates, as phage type DT104. Therefore, to successfully control this microorganism, it is important to attribute salmonellosis to the exact source. Studies of Salmonella source attribution have been performed to determine the main food/food-production animals involved, toward which, control efforts should be correctly directed. Hence, the election of a ST subtyping method depends on the particular problem that efforts must be directed, the resources and the data available. Generally, before choosing a molecular subtyping, phenotyping approaches such as serotyping, phage typing, and antimicrobial resistance profiling are implemented as a screening of an investigation, and the results are computed using frequency-matching models (i.e., Dutch, Hald and Asymmetric Island models). Actually, due to the advancement of molecular tools as PFGE, MLVA, MLST, CRISPR, and WGS more precise results have been obtained, but even with these technologies, there are still gaps to be elucidated. To address this issue, an important question needs to be answered: what are the currently suitable subtyping methods to source attribute ST. This review presents the most frequently applied subtyping methods used to characterize ST, analyses the major available microbial subtyping attribution models and ponders the use of conventional phenotyping methods, as well as, the most applied genotypic tools in the context of their potential applicability to investigates ST source tracking.

The CSSIAR v.1.00 Software: A new tool based on SIAR to assess soil redistribution using Compound Specific Stable Isotopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sergio, de los Santos-Villalobos; Claudio, Bravo-Linares; dos Anjos Roberto, Meigikos; Renan, Cardoso; Max, Gibbs; Andrew, Swales; Lionel, Mabit; Gerd, Dercon

Soil erosion is one of the biggest challenges for food production around the world. Many techniques have been used to evaluate and mitigate soil degradation. Nowadays isotopic techniques are becoming a powerful tool to assess soil apportionment. One of the innovative techniques used is the Compound Specific Stable Isotopes (CSSI) analysis, which has been used to track down sediments and specify their sources by the isotopic signature of δ13 C in specific fatty acids. The application of this technique on soil apportionment has been recently developed, however there is a lack of user-friendly Software for data processing and interpretation. The aim of this article is to introduce a new open source tool for working with data sets generated by the use of the CSSI technique to assess soil apportionment, called the CSSIARv1.00 Software

Case and Administrative Support Tools

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Case and Administrative Support Tools (CAST) is the secure portion of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) Dashboard business process automation tool used to help reduce office administrative labor costs while increasing employee effectiveness. CAST supports business functions which rely on and store Privacy Act sensitive data (PII). Specific business processes included in CAST (and respective PII) are: -Civil Rights Cast Tracking (name, partial medical history, summary of case, and case correspondance). -Employment Law Case Tracking (name, summary of case). -Federal Tort Claims Act Incident Tracking (name, summary of incidents). -Ethics Program Support Tools and Tracking (name, partial financial history). -Summer Honors Application Tracking (name, home address, telephone number, employment history). -Workforce Flexibility Initiative Support Tools (name, alternative workplace phone number). -Resource and Personnel Management Support Tools (name, partial employment and financial history).

Measurement of electromagnetic tracking error in a navigated breast surgery setup

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harish, Vinyas; Baksh, Aidan; Ungi, Tamas; Lasso, Andras; Baum, Zachary; Gauvin, Gabrielle; Engel, Jay; Rudan, John; Fichtinger, Gabor

2016-03-01

PURPOSE: The measurement of tracking error is crucial to ensure the safety and feasibility of electromagnetically tracked, image-guided procedures. Measurement should occur in a clinical environment because electromagnetic field distortion depends on positioning relative to the field generator and metal objects. However, we could not find an accessible and open-source system for calibration, error measurement, and visualization. We developed such a system and tested it in a navigated breast surgery setup. METHODS: A pointer tool was designed for concurrent electromagnetic and optical tracking. Software modules were developed for automatic calibration of the measurement system, real-time error visualization, and analysis. The system was taken to an operating room to test for field distortion in a navigated breast surgery setup. Positional and rotational electromagnetic tracking errors were then calculated using optical tracking as a ground truth. RESULTS: Our system is quick to set up and can be rapidly deployed. The process from calibration to visualization also only takes a few minutes. Field distortion was measured in the presence of various surgical equipment. Positional and rotational error in a clean field was approximately 0.90 mm and 0.31°. The presence of a surgical table, an electrosurgical cautery, and anesthesia machine increased the error by up to a few tenths of a millimeter and tenth of a degree. CONCLUSION: In a navigated breast surgery setup, measurement and visualization of tracking error defines a safe working area in the presence of surgical equipment. Our system is available as an extension for the open-source 3D Slicer platform.

ELISA-BASE: An Integrated Bioinformatics Tool for Analyzing and Tracking ELISA Microarray Data

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

White, Amanda M.; Collett, James L.; Seurynck-Servoss, Shannon L.

ELISA-BASE is an open-source database for capturing, organizing and analyzing protein enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) microarray data. ELISA-BASE is an extension of the BioArray Soft-ware Environment (BASE) database system, which was developed for DNA microarrays. In order to make BASE suitable for protein microarray experiments, we developed several plugins for importing and analyzing quantitative ELISA microarray data. Most notably, our Protein Microarray Analysis Tool (ProMAT) for processing quantita-tive ELISA data is now available as a plugin to the database.

Identification of fecal contamination sources in water using host-associated markers.

PubMed

Krentz, Corinne A; Prystajecky, Natalie; Isaac-Renton, Judith

2013-03-01

In British Columbia, Canada, drinking water is tested for total coliforms and Escherichia coli, but there is currently no routine follow-up testing to investigate fecal contamination sources in samples that test positive for indicator bacteria. Reliable microbial source tracking (MST) tools to rapidly test water samples for multiple fecal contamination markers simultaneously are currently lacking. The objectives of this study were (i) to develop a qualitative MST tool to identify fecal contamination from different host groups, and (ii) to evaluate the MST tool using water samples with evidence of fecal contamination. Singleplex and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to test (i) water from polluted sites and (ii) raw and drinking water samples for presence of bacterial genetic markers associated with feces from humans, cattle, seagulls, pigs, chickens, and geese. The multiplex MST assay correctly identified suspected contamination sources in contaminated waterways, demonstrating that this test may have utility for heavily contaminated sites. Most raw and drinking water samples analyzed using singleplex PCR contained at least one host-associated marker. Singleplex PCR was capable of detecting host-associated markers in small sample volumes and is therefore a promising tool to further analyze water samples submitted for routine testing and provide information useful for water quality management.

A method to harness global crowd-sourced data to understand travel behavior in avalanche terrain.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hendrikx, J.; Johnson, J.

2015-12-01

To date, most studies of the human dimensions of decision making in avalanche terrain has focused on two areas - post-accident analysis using accident reports/interviews and, the development of tools as decision forcing aids. We present an alternate method using crowd-sourced citizen science, for understanding decision-making in avalanche terrain. Our project combines real-time GPS tracking via a smartphone application, with internet based surveys of winter backcountry users as a method to describe and quantify travel practices in concert with group decision-making dynamics, and demographic data of participants during excursions. Effectively, we use the recorded GPS track taken within the landscape as an expression of the decision making processes and terrain usage by the group. Preliminary data analysis shows that individual experience levels, gender, avalanche hazard, and group composition all influence the ways in which people travel in avalanche terrain. Our results provide the first analysis of coupled real-time GPS tracking of the crowd while moving in avalanche terrain combined with psychographic and demographic correlates. This research will lead to an improved understanding of real-time decision making in avalanche terrain. In this paper we will specifically focus on the presentation of the methods used to solicit, and then harness the crowd to obtain data in a unique and innovative application of citizen science where the movements within the terrain are the desired output data (Figure 1). Figure 1: Example GPS tracks sourced from backcountry winter users in the Teton Pass area (Wyoming), from the 2014-15 winter season, where tracks in red represent those recorded as self-assessed experts (as per our survey), and where tracks in blue represent those recorded as self-assessed intermediates. All tracks shown were obtained under similar avalanche conditions. Statistical analysis of terrain metrics showed that the experts used steeper terrain than the intermediate users under similar avalanche conditions, demonstrating different terrain choice and use as a function of experience rather than hazard level.

Dr. Mashup or, Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Brian

2007-01-01

A music track that lays a vocal from Madonna over guitars from the Sex Pistols. A classroom portal that presents automatically updated syndicated resources from the campus library, news sources, student events, weblogs, and podcasts and that was built quickly using free tools. A Web site that takes crime data from the Chicago Police and applies…

Bayesian source tracking via focalization and marginalization in an uncertain Mediterranean Sea environment.

PubMed

Dosso, Stan E; Wilmut, Michael J; Nielsen, Peter L

2010-07-01

This paper applies Bayesian source tracking in an uncertain environment to Mediterranean Sea data, and investigates the resulting tracks and track uncertainties as a function of data information content (number of data time-segments, number of frequencies, and signal-to-noise ratio) and of prior information (environmental uncertainties and source-velocity constraints). To track low-level sources, acoustic data recorded for multiple time segments (corresponding to multiple source positions along the track) are inverted simultaneously. Environmental uncertainty is addressed by including unknown water-column and seabed properties as nuisance parameters in an augmented inversion. Two approaches are considered: Focalization-tracking maximizes the posterior probability density (PPD) over the unknown source and environmental parameters. Marginalization-tracking integrates the PPD over environmental parameters to obtain a sequence of joint marginal probability distributions over source coordinates, from which the most-probable track and track uncertainties can be extracted. Both approaches apply track constraints on the maximum allowable vertical and radial source velocity. The two approaches are applied for towed-source acoustic data recorded at a vertical line array at a shallow-water test site in the Mediterranean Sea where previous geoacoustic studies have been carried out.

Tracking the Spatial Fate of PCDD/F Emissions from a Cement Plant by Using Lichens as Environmental Biomonitors.

PubMed

Augusto, Sofia; Pinho, Pedro; Santos, Artur; Botelho, Maria João; Palma-Oliveira, José; Branquinho, Cristina

2016-03-01

In an area with multiple sources of air pollution, it is difficult to evaluate the spatial impact of a minor source. Here, we describe the use of lichens to track minor sources of air pollution. The method was tested by transplanting lichens from a background area to the vicinity of a cement manufacturing plant that uses alternative fuel and is located in a Natural Park in an area surrounded by other important sources of pollution. After 7 months of exposure, the lichens were collected and analyzed for 17 PCDD/F congeners. The PCDD/F profiles of the exposed lichens were dominated by TCDF (50%) and OCDD (38%), which matched the profile of the emissions from the cement plant. The similarity in the profiles was greatest for lichens located northeast of the plant (i.e., in the direction of the prevailing winds during the study period), allowing us to evaluate the spatial impact of this source. The best match was found for sites located on the tops of mountains whose slopes faced the cement plant. Some of the sites with highest influence of the cement plant were the ones with the highest concentrations, whereas others were not. Thus, our newly developed lichen-based method provides a tool for tracking the spatial fate of industrially emitted PCDD/Fs regardless of their concentrations. The results showed that the method can be used to validate deposition models for PCDD/F industrial emissions in sites with several sources and characterized by complex orography.

Evaluation of Methods for In-Situ Calibration of Field-Deployable Microphone Phased Arrays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Humphreys, William M.; Lockard, David P.; Khorrami, Mehdi R.; Culliton, William G.; McSwain, Robert G.

2017-01-01

Current field-deployable microphone phased arrays for aeroacoustic flight testing require the placement of hundreds of individual sensors over a large area. Depending on the duration of the test campaign, the microphones may be required to stay deployed at the testing site for weeks or even months. This presents a challenge in regards to tracking the response (i.e., sensitivity) of the individual sensors as a function of time in order to evaluate the health of the array. To address this challenge, two different methods for in-situ tracking of microphone responses are described. The first relies on the use of an aerial sound source attached as a payload on a hovering small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) vehicle. The second relies on the use of individually excited ground-based sound sources strategically placed throughout the array pattern. Testing of the two methods was performed in microphone array deployments conducted at Fort A.P. Hill in 2015 and at Edwards Air Force Base in 2016. The results indicate that the drift in individual sensor responses can be tracked reasonably well using both methods. Thus, in-situ response tracking methods are useful as a diagnostic tool for monitoring the health of a phased array during long duration deployments.

SET: a pupil detection method using sinusoidal approximation

PubMed Central

Javadi, Amir-Homayoun; Hakimi, Zahra; Barati, Morteza; Walsh, Vincent; Tcheang, Lili

2015-01-01

Mobile eye-tracking in external environments remains challenging, despite recent advances in eye-tracking software and hardware engineering. Many current methods fail to deal with the vast range of outdoor lighting conditions and the speed at which these can change. This confines experiments to artificial environments where conditions must be tightly controlled. Additionally, the emergence of low-cost eye tracking devices calls for the development of analysis tools that enable non-technical researchers to process the output of their images. We have developed a fast and accurate method (known as “SET”) that is suitable even for natural environments with uncontrolled, dynamic and even extreme lighting conditions. We compared the performance of SET with that of two open-source alternatives by processing two collections of eye images: images of natural outdoor scenes with extreme lighting variations (“Natural”); and images of less challenging indoor scenes (“CASIA-Iris-Thousand”). We show that SET excelled in outdoor conditions and was faster, without significant loss of accuracy, indoors. SET offers a low cost eye-tracking solution, delivering high performance even in challenging outdoor environments. It is offered through an open-source MATLAB toolkit as well as a dynamic-link library (“DLL”), which can be imported into many programming languages including C# and Visual Basic in Windows OS (www.eyegoeyetracker.co.uk). PMID:25914641

Noise reduction in urban LRT networks by combining track based solutions.

PubMed

Vogiatzis, Konstantinos; Vanhonacker, Patrick

2016-10-15

The overall objective of the Quiet-Track project is to provide step-changing track based noise mitigation and maintenance schemes for railway rolling noise in LRT (Light Rail Transit) networks. WP 4 in particular focuses on the combination of existing track based solutions to yield a global performance of at least 6dB(A). The validation was carried out using a track section in the network of Athens Metro Line 1 with an existing outside concrete slab track (RHEDA track) where high airborne rolling noise was observed. The procedure for the selection of mitigation measures is based on numerical simulations, combining WRNOISE and IMMI software tools for noise prediction with experimental determination of the required track and vehicle parameters (e.g., rail and wheel roughness). The availability of a detailed rolling noise calculation procedure allows for detailed designing of measures and of ranking individual measures. It achieves this by including the modelling of the wheel/rail source intensity and of the noise propagation with the ability to evaluate the effect of modifications at source level (e.g., grinding, rail dampers, wheel dampers, change in resiliency of wheels and/or rail fixation) and of modifications in the propagation path (absorption at the track base, noise barriers, screening). A relevant combination of existing solutions was selected in the function of the simulation results. Three distinct existing solutions were designed in detail aiming at a high rolling noise attenuation and not affecting the normal operation of the metro system: Action 1: implementation of sound absorbing precast elements (panel type) on the track bed, Action 2: implementation of an absorbing noise barrier with a height of 1.10-1.20m above rail level, and Action 3: installation of rail dampers. The selected solutions were implemented on site and the global performance was measured step by step for comparison with simulations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Robust cell tracking in epithelial tissues through identification of maximum common subgraphs.

PubMed

Kursawe, Jochen; Bardenet, Rémi; Zartman, Jeremiah J; Baker, Ruth E; Fletcher, Alexander G

2016-11-01

Tracking of cells in live-imaging microscopy videos of epithelial sheets is a powerful tool for investigating fundamental processes in embryonic development. Characterizing cell growth, proliferation, intercalation and apoptosis in epithelia helps us to understand how morphogenetic processes such as tissue invagination and extension are locally regulated and controlled. Accurate cell tracking requires correctly resolving cells entering or leaving the field of view between frames, cell neighbour exchanges, cell removals and cell divisions. However, current tracking methods for epithelial sheets are not robust to large morphogenetic deformations and require significant manual interventions. Here, we present a novel algorithm for epithelial cell tracking, exploiting the graph-theoretic concept of a 'maximum common subgraph' to track cells between frames of a video. Our algorithm does not require the adjustment of tissue-specific parameters, and scales in sub-quadratic time with tissue size. It does not rely on precise positional information, permitting large cell movements between frames and enabling tracking in datasets acquired at low temporal resolution due to experimental constraints such as phototoxicity. To demonstrate the method, we perform tracking on the Drosophila embryonic epidermis and compare cell-cell rearrangements to previous studies in other tissues. Our implementation is open source and generally applicable to epithelial tissues. © 2016 The Authors.

Robust cell tracking in epithelial tissues through identification of maximum common subgraphs

PubMed Central

Bardenet, Rémi; Zartman, Jeremiah J.; Baker, Ruth E.

2016-01-01

Tracking of cells in live-imaging microscopy videos of epithelial sheets is a powerful tool for investigating fundamental processes in embryonic development. Characterizing cell growth, proliferation, intercalation and apoptosis in epithelia helps us to understand how morphogenetic processes such as tissue invagination and extension are locally regulated and controlled. Accurate cell tracking requires correctly resolving cells entering or leaving the field of view between frames, cell neighbour exchanges, cell removals and cell divisions. However, current tracking methods for epithelial sheets are not robust to large morphogenetic deformations and require significant manual interventions. Here, we present a novel algorithm for epithelial cell tracking, exploiting the graph-theoretic concept of a ‘maximum common subgraph’ to track cells between frames of a video. Our algorithm does not require the adjustment of tissue-specific parameters, and scales in sub-quadratic time with tissue size. It does not rely on precise positional information, permitting large cell movements between frames and enabling tracking in datasets acquired at low temporal resolution due to experimental constraints such as phototoxicity. To demonstrate the method, we perform tracking on the Drosophila embryonic epidermis and compare cell–cell rearrangements to previous studies in other tissues. Our implementation is open source and generally applicable to epithelial tissues. PMID:28334699

The Tracking Meteogram, an AWIPS II Tool for Time-Series Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burks, Jason Eric; Sperow, Ken

2015-01-01

A new tool has been developed for the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) II through collaboration between NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) and the NWS Meteorological Development Laboratory (MDL). Referred to as the "Tracking Meteogram", the tool aids NWS forecasters in assessing meteorological parameters associated with moving phenomena. The tool aids forecasters in severe weather situations by providing valuable satellite and radar derived trends such as cloud top cooling rates, radial velocity couplets, reflectivity, and information from ground-based lightning networks. The Tracking Meteogram tool also aids in synoptic and mesoscale analysis by tracking parameters such as the deepening of surface low pressure systems, changes in surface or upper air temperature, and other properties. The tool provides a valuable new functionality and demonstrates the flexibility and extensibility of the NWS AWIPS II architecture. In 2014, the operational impact of the tool was formally evaluated through participation in the NOAA/NWS Operations Proving Ground (OPG), a risk reduction activity to assess performance and operational impact of new forecasting concepts, tools, and applications. Performance of the Tracking Meteogram Tool during the OPG assessment confirmed that it will be a valuable asset to the operational forecasters. This presentation reviews development of the Tracking Meteogram tool, performance and feedback acquired during the OPG activity, and future goals for continued support and extension to other application areas.

XDATA

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

6028 Date Cleared: 30 NOV 2017 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT Data analysis tools which operate on varied data sources including time series ...public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions...and raw detections from geo-located tweets Micro-paths (10M) (No distance/ time filter) Raw Tracks (10M) Raw Detections (10M) APPROVED FOR PUBLIC

Stanols as a tool to track the origin of microbial contamination of oysters, Crassostrea gigas, in shellfish areas.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrault, Loïc; Jardé, Emilie; Jeanneau, Laurent; Petitjean, Patrice

2013-04-01

Runoff of cattle manures (cows, pigs, sheeps) or discharge of effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) into aquatic ecosystems can lead to microbiological contamination of waters and living organisms. In coastal ecosystems and particularly in shellfish harvesting areas, the presence of pathogen microorganisms in waters induces fecal contamination of filter feeding bivalves (oysters, mussels, scallops…), therefore leading to human health risks associated to the consumption of these contaminated organisms. Watershed management plans that aim at limiting these risks require the development of tools able to identify fecal contamination sources. The fecal indicator bacteria used in the regulations to determine fecal contamination are not source specific since they are found in the feces of most warm-blooded animals. Thus, microbiological biomarkers have been developed in association with chemical biomarkers as Microbial Source Tracking (MST) methods. Fecal stanols, by-products of sterols obtained by human and animal microbial gut flora, are found in considerable amounts in feces with different relative proportions depending on their animal or human source. Recently, in association with microbiological biomarkers, the stanol fingerprint of contaminated waters has been successfully used to determine the main source of fecal contamination (cow, pig or human sources) in rural watersheds (Brittany, France). Up to now, the use of the stanol fingerprint to track the fecal contamination in shellfish tissues, especially bivalves, has been limited to the analysis of coprostanol, a stanol commonly associated to human contamination. Therefore, whether the stanol fingerprint can be used as a MST method in bivalves or not is still unknown. The first aim of this study was to compare several organic extraction procedures of stanols in the oyster Crassostrea gigas to determine a reliable method for stanol fingerprint analysis in bivalves. Solvent extraction and purification steps have been carried out with attention as they are critical for stanol quantification. Secondly, the evolution of the stanol fingerprint of oysters with time was evaluated during 6 days by artificially contaminating microcosms with two concentrations of a WWTP effluent. In the microcosms, the fingerprint of stanols as a chemical biomarkers of fecal (human) contamination was compared to counts of Escherichia coli, a commonly used microbial indicator. In association with microbial markers, the method developed from the two previous steps will be applied at the watershed scale in order to identify sources of fecal contamination in Brittany and Normandy (France).

Version 1.00 programmer`s tools used in constructing the INEL RML/analytical radiochemistry sample tracking database and its user interface

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

Femec, D.A.

This report describes two code-generating tools used to speed design and implementation of relational databases and user interfaces: CREATE-SCHEMA and BUILD-SCREEN. CREATE-SCHEMA produces the SQL commands that actually create and define the database. BUILD-SCREEN takes templates for data entry screens and generates the screen management system routine calls to display the desired screen. Both tools also generate the related FORTRAN declaration statements and precompiled SQL calls. Included with this report is the source code for a number of FORTRAN routines and functions used by the user interface. This code is broadly applicable to a number of different databases.

Advances in using Internet searches to track dengue

PubMed Central

Yang, Shihao; Kou, Samuel C.; Brownstein, John S.; Brooke, Nicholas

2017-01-01

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease that threatens over half of the world’s population. Despite being endemic to more than 100 countries, government-led efforts and tools for timely identification and tracking of new infections are still lacking in many affected areas. Multiple methodologies that leverage the use of Internet-based data sources have been proposed as a way to complement dengue surveillance efforts. Among these, dengue-related Google search trends have been shown to correlate with dengue activity. We extend a methodological framework, initially proposed and validated for flu surveillance, to produce near real-time estimates of dengue cases in five countries/states: Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan. Our result shows that our modeling framework can be used to improve the tracking of dengue activity in multiple locations around the world. PMID:28727821

Tracking Blade Tip Vortices for Numerical Flow Simulations of Hovering Rotorcraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, David L.

2016-01-01

Blade tip vortices generated by a helicopter rotor blade are a major source of rotor noise and airframe vibration. This occurs when a vortex passes closely by, and interacts with, a rotor blade. The accurate prediction of Blade Vortex Interaction (BVI) continues to be a challenge for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Though considerable research has been devoted to BVI noise reduction and experimental techniques for measuring the blade tip vortices in a wind tunnel, there are only a handful of post-processing tools available for extracting vortex core lines from CFD simulation data. In order to calculate the vortex core radius, most of these tools require the user to manually select a vortex core to perform the calculation. Furthermore, none of them provide the capability to track the growth of a vortex core, which is a measure of how quickly the vortex diffuses over time. This paper introduces an automated approach for tracking the core growth of a blade tip vortex from CFD simulations of rotorcraft in hover. The proposed approach offers an effective method for the quantification and visualization of blade tip vortices in helicopter rotor wakes. Keywords: vortex core, feature extraction, CFD, numerical flow visualization

Using Microbial Source Tracking to Enhance Environmental Stewardship of Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, Sherry; Rose, Joan; Flood, Matthew; Aw, Tiong; Hyndman, David

2016-04-01

Large scale agriculture relies on the application of chemical fertilizers and animal manure. It is well known that nutrients in excess of a plant's uptake and soil retention capacity can travel to nearby waterways via surface run-off and groundwater pathways, indirectly fertilizing these aquatic ecosystems. It has not yet been possible to distinguish water quality impacts of fertilizer from those derived from human and animal waste sources. However, new microbial source tracking (MST) tools allow specific identification of fecal pollution. Our objective was to examine pollution risks at the regional scale using MST, mapping and classification and regression tree analysis. We present results Bovine M2 genetic marker data from three flow regimes (baseflow, snow melt, and post-planting rain). Key landscape characteristics were related to the presence of the bovine markers and appear to be related to fate and transport. Impacts at this regional watershed scale will be discussed. Our research aims to identify the impacts of agricultural management practices on water quality by linking nutrient concentrations with fecal pollution sources. We hope that our research will provide guidance that will help improve water quality through agricultural best management practices to reduce pathogen contamination.

Software risk management through independent verification and validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callahan, John R.; Zhou, Tong C.; Wood, Ralph

1995-01-01

Software project managers need tools to estimate and track project goals in a continuous fashion before, during, and after development of a system. In addition, they need an ability to compare the current project status with past project profiles to validate management intuition, identify problems, and then direct appropriate resources to the sources of problems. This paper describes a measurement-based approach to calculating the risk inherent in meeting project goals that leverages past project metrics and existing estimation and tracking models. We introduce the IV&V Goal/Questions/Metrics model, explain its use in the software development life cycle, and describe our attempts to validate the model through the reverse engineering of existing projects.

Image

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

Marsh, Amber; Harsch, Tim; Pitt, Julie

2007-08-31

The computer side of the IMAGE project consists of a collection of Perl scripts that perform a variety of tasks; scripts are available to insert, update and delete data from the underlying Oracle database, download data from NCBI's Genbank and other sources, and generate data files for download by interested parties. Web scripts make up the tracking interface, and various tools available on the project web-site (image.llnl.gov) that provide a search interface to the database.

TRAINING AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OF ORD-DEVELOPED MOLECULAR BIOLOGY-BASED TOOLS: 1. ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING CHEMICAL FATHEAD MINNOW BIOASSAY; 2. MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING METHODS; 3. FIELD IDENTIFICATION OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROP PLANTS

EPA Science Inventory

Region 9 RSL and ORD/NERL scientists developed a course for the RSC (Regional Science Council)-sponsored training class on Molecular Biology Concepts. The training will take place as part of the technology transfer of a fish EDC (endocrine disrupting chemical) bioassay to the Reg...

Microbial source tracking using host specific FAME profiles of fecal coliforms.

PubMed

Duran, Metin; Haznedaroğlu, Berat Z; Zitomer, Daniel H

2006-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the host-specific differences in fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles of fecal coliforms (FC). A known-source library was constructed with 314 FC isolates cultured from 6 possible sources of fecal pollution; 99 isolates from sewage; 29 from bovine; 29 from poultry; 50 from swine; 46 from waterfowl; and 61 from deer. It was found that the hydroxy FAMEs 12:0 2 OH, 12:03 OH, and 14:02 OH were exclusively associated with isolates of human origin. On the other hand, 3 saturated FAMEs, 10:0, 15:0, and 18:0 were found only in isolates from non-human sources, 15:0 being associated with livestock samples only. In addition to the presence of these signature FAMEs, the mean relative masses of 16:1 omega7c and 16:1 ISO/14:03 OH were significantly different between the isolates of human and non-human origins. A linear discriminant function differentiated FC isolates of human origin from those of livestock and wildlife origin at 99% accuracy. These results strongly suggest that the FAME profiles of FC show statistically significant host specificity and may have the potential to be used as a phenotypic microbial source tracking tool.

Prototype of a single probe Compton camera for laparoscopic surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koyama, A.; Nakamura, Y.; Shimazoe, K.; Takahashi, H.; Sakuma, I.

2017-02-01

Image-guided surgery (IGS) is performed using a real-time surgery navigation system with three-dimensional (3D) position tracking of surgical tools. IGS is fast becoming an important technology for high-precision laparoscopic surgeries, in which the field of view is limited. In particular, recent developments in intraoperative imaging using radioactive biomarkers may enable advanced IGS for supporting malignant tumor removal surgery. In this light, we develop a novel intraoperative probe with a Compton camera and a position tracking system for performing real-time radiation-guided surgery. A prototype probe consisting of Ce :Gd3 Al2 Ga3 O12 (GAGG) crystals and silicon photomultipliers was fabricated, and its reconstruction algorithm was optimized to enable real-time position tracking. The results demonstrated the visualization capability of the radiation source with ARM = ∼ 22.1 ° and the effectiveness of the proposed system.

Development of Waypoint Planning Tool in Response to NASA Field Campaign Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

He, Matt; Hardin, Danny; Mayer, Paul; Blakeslee, Richard; Goodman, Michael

2012-01-01

Airborne real time observations are a major component of NASA 's Earth Science research and satellite ground validation studies. Multiple aircraft are involved in most NASA field campaigns. The coordination of the aircraft with satellite overpasses, other airplanes and the constantly evolving, dynamic weather conditions often determines the success of the campaign. Planning a research aircraft mission within the context of meeting the science objectives is a complex task because it requires real time situational awareness of the weather conditions that affect the aircraft track. A flight planning tools is needed to provide situational awareness information to the mission scientists, and help them plan and modify the flight tracks. Scientists at the University of Alabama ]Huntsville and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Waypoint Planning Tool, an interactive software tool that enables scientists to develop their own flight plans (also known as waypoints) with point -and-click mouse capabilities on a digital map filled with real time raster and vector data. The development of this Waypoint Planning Tool demonstrates the significance of mission support in responding to the challenges presented during NASA field campaigns. Analysis during and after each campaign helped identify both issues and new requirements, and initiated the next wave of development. Currently the Waypoint Planning Tool has gone through three rounds of development and analysis processes. The development of this waypoint tool is directly affected by the technology advances on GIS/Mapping technologies. From the standalone Google Earth application and simple KML functionalities, to Google Earth Plugin on web platform, and to the rising open source GIS tools with New Java Script frameworks, the Waypoint Planning Tool has entered its third phase of technology advancement. Adapting new technologies for the Waypoint Planning Tool ensures its success in helping scientist reach their mission objectives.

Surgical tool detection and tracking in retinal microsurgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsheakhali, Mohamed; Yigitsoy, Mehmet; Eslami, Abouzar; Navab, Nassir

2015-03-01

Visual tracking of surgical instruments is an essential part of eye surgery, and plays an important role for the surgeons as well as it is a key component of robotics assistance during the operation time. The difficulty of detecting and tracking medical instruments in-vivo images comes from its deformable shape, changes in brightness, and the presence of the instrument shadow. This paper introduces a new approach to detect the tip of surgical tool and its width regardless of its head shape and the presence of the shadows or vessels. The approach relies on integrating structural information about the strong edges from the RGB color model, and the tool location-based information from L*a*b color model. The probabilistic Hough transform was applied to get the strongest straight lines in the RGB-images, and based on information from the L* and a*, one of these candidates lines is selected as the edge of the tool shaft. Based on that line, the tool slope, the tool centerline and the tool tip could be detected. The tracking is performed by keeping track of the last detected tool tip and the tool slope, and filtering the Hough lines within a box around the last detected tool tip based on the slope differences. Experimental results demonstrate the high accuracy achieved in term of detecting the tool tip position, the tool joint point position, and the tool centerline. The approach also meets the real time requirements.

Virtual rigid body: a new optical tracking paradigm in image-guided interventions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Alexis; Lee, David S.; Deshmukh, Nishikant; Boctor, Emad M.

2015-03-01

Tracking technology is often necessary for image-guided surgical interventions. Optical tracking is one the options, but it suffers from line of sight and workspace limitations. Optical tracking is accomplished by attaching a rigid body marker, having a pattern for pose detection, onto a tool or device. A larger rigid body results in more accurate tracking, but at the same time large size limits its usage in a crowded surgical workspace. This work presents a prototype of a novel optical tracking method using a virtual rigid body (VRB). We define the VRB as a 3D rigid body marker in the form of pattern on a surface generated from a light source. Its pose can be recovered by observing the projected pattern with a stereo-camera system. The rigid body's size is no longer physically limited as we can manufacture small size light sources. Conventional optical tracking also requires line of sight to the rigid body. VRB overcomes these limitations by detecting a pattern projected onto the surface. We can project the pattern onto a region of interest, allowing the pattern to always be in the view of the optical tracker. This helps to decrease the occurrence of occlusions. This manuscript describes the method and results compared with conventional optical tracking in an experiment setup using known motions. The experiments are done using an optical tracker and a linear-stage, resulting in targeting errors of 0.38mm+/-0.28mm with our method compared to 0.23mm+/-0.22mm with conventional optical markers. Another experiment that replaced the linear stage with a robot arm resulted in rotational errors of 0.50+/-0.31° and 2.68+/-2.20° and the translation errors of 0.18+/-0.10 mm and 0.03+/-0.02 mm respectively.

Quantitative microbial faecal source tracking with sampling guided by hydrological catchment dynamics.

PubMed

Reischer, G H; Haider, J M; Sommer, R; Stadler, H; Keiblinger, K M; Hornek, R; Zerobin, W; Mach, R L; Farnleitner, A H

2008-10-01

The impairment of water quality by faecal pollution is a global public health concern. Microbial source tracking methods help to identify faecal sources but the few recent quantitative microbial source tracking applications disregarded catchment hydrology and pollution dynamics. This quantitative microbial source tracking study, conducted in a large karstic spring catchment potentially influenced by humans and ruminant animals, was based on a tiered sampling approach: a 31-month water quality monitoring (Monitoring) covering seasonal hydrological dynamics and an investigation of flood events (Events) as periods of the strongest pollution. The detection of a ruminant-specific and a human-specific faecal Bacteroidetes marker by quantitative real-time PCR was complemented by standard microbiological and on-line hydrological parameters. Both quantitative microbial source tracking markers were detected in spring water during Monitoring and Events, with preponderance of the ruminant-specific marker. Applying multiparametric analysis of all data allowed linking the ruminant-specific marker to general faecal pollution indicators, especially during Events. Up to 80% of the variation of faecal indicator levels during Events could be explained by ruminant-specific marker levels proving the dominance of ruminant faecal sources in the catchment. Furthermore, soil was ruled out as a source of quantitative microbial source tracking markers. This study demonstrates the applicability of quantitative microbial source tracking methods and highlights the prerequisite of considering hydrological catchment dynamics in source tracking study design.

APM_GUI: analyzing particle movement on the cell membrane and determining confinement.

PubMed

Menchón, Silvia A; Martín, Mauricio G; Dotti, Carlos G

2012-02-20

Single-particle tracking is a powerful tool for tracking individual particles with high precision. It provides useful information that allows the study of diffusion properties as well as the dynamics of movement. Changes in particle movement behavior, such as transitions between Brownian motion and temporary confinement, can reveal interesting biophysical interactions. Although useful applications exist to determine the paths of individual particles, only a few software implementations are available to analyze these data, and these implementations are generally not user-friendly and do not have a graphical interface,. Here, we present APM_GUI (Analyzing Particle Movement), which is a MatLab-implemented application with a Graphical User Interface. This user-friendly application detects confined movement considering non-random confinement when a particle remains in a region longer than a Brownian diffusant would remain. In addition, APM_GUI exports the results, which allows users to analyze this information using software that they are familiar with. APM_GUI provides an open-source tool that quantifies diffusion coefficients and determines whether trajectories have non-random confinements. It also offers a simple and user-friendly tool that can be used by individuals without programming skills.

'Big Data' Collaboration: Exploring, Recording and Sharing Enterprise Knowledge

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

Sukumar, Sreenivas R; Ferrell, Regina Kay

2013-01-01

As data sources and data size proliferate, knowledge discovery from "Big Data" is starting to pose several challenges. In this paper, we address a specific challenge in the practice of enterprise knowledge management while extracting actionable nuggets from diverse data sources of seemingly-related information. In particular, we address the challenge of archiving knowledge gained through collaboration, dissemination and visualization as part of the data analysis, inference and decision-making lifecycle. We motivate the implementation of an enterprise data-discovery and knowledge recorder tool, called SEEKER based on real world case-study. We demonstrate SEEKER capturing schema and data-element relationships, tracking the data elementsmore » of value based on the queries and the analytical artifacts that are being created by analysts as they use the data. We show how the tool serves as digital record of institutional domain knowledge and a documentation for the evolution of data elements, queries and schemas over time. As a knowledge management service, a tool like SEEKER saves enterprise resources and time by avoiding analytic silos, expediting the process of multi-source data integration and intelligently documenting discoveries from fellow analysts.« less

Information Quality Challenges of Patient-Generated Data in Clinical Practice

PubMed Central

West, Peter; Van Kleek, Max; Giordano, Richard; Weal, Mark; Shadbolt, Nigel

2017-01-01

A characteristic trend of digital health has been the dramatic increase in patient-generated data being presented to clinicians, which follows from the increased ubiquity of self-tracking practices by individuals, driven, in turn, by the proliferation of self-tracking tools and technologies. Such tools not only make self-tracking easier but also potentially more reliable by automating data collection, curation, and storage. While self-tracking practices themselves have been studied extensively in human–computer interaction literature, little work has yet looked at whether these patient-generated data might be able to support clinical processes, such as providing evidence for diagnoses, treatment monitoring, or postprocedure recovery, and how we can define information quality with respect to self-tracked data. In this article, we present the results of a literature review of empirical studies of self-tracking tools, in which we identify how clinicians perceive quality of information from such tools. In the studies, clinicians perceive several characteristics of information quality relating to accuracy and reliability, completeness, context, patient motivation, and representation. We discuss the issues these present in admitting self-tracked data as evidence for clinical decisions. PMID:29209601

Resource Disambiguator for the Web: Extracting Biomedical Resources and Their Citations from the Scientific Literature.

PubMed

Ozyurt, Ibrahim Burak; Grethe, Jeffrey S; Martone, Maryann E; Bandrowski, Anita E

2016-01-01

The NIF Registry developed and maintained by the Neuroscience Information Framework is a cooperative project aimed at cataloging research resources, e.g., software tools, databases and tissue banks, funded largely by governments and available as tools to research scientists. Although originally conceived for neuroscience, the NIF Registry has over the years broadened in the scope to include research resources of general relevance to biomedical research. The current number of research resources listed by the Registry numbers over 13K. The broadening in scope to biomedical science led us to re-christen the NIF Registry platform as SciCrunch. The NIF/SciCrunch Registry has been cataloging the resource landscape since 2006; as such, it serves as a valuable dataset for tracking the breadth, fate and utilization of these resources. Our experience shows research resources like databases are dynamic objects, that can change location and scope over time. Although each record is entered manually and human-curated, the current size of the registry requires tools that can aid in curation efforts to keep content up to date, including when and where such resources are used. To address this challenge, we have developed an open source tool suite, collectively termed RDW: Resource Disambiguator for the (Web). RDW is designed to help in the upkeep and curation of the registry as well as in enhancing the content of the registry by automated extraction of resource candidates from the literature. The RDW toolkit includes a URL extractor from papers, resource candidate screen, resource URL change tracker, resource content change tracker. Curators access these tools via a web based user interface. Several strategies are used to optimize these tools, including supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms as well as statistical text analysis. The complete tool suite is used to enhance and maintain the resource registry as well as track the usage of individual resources through an innovative literature citation index honed for research resources. Here we present an overview of the Registry and show how the RDW tools are used in curation and usage tracking.

Resource Disambiguator for the Web: Extracting Biomedical Resources and Their Citations from the Scientific Literature

PubMed Central

Ozyurt, Ibrahim Burak; Grethe, Jeffrey S.; Martone, Maryann E.; Bandrowski, Anita E.

2016-01-01

The NIF Registry developed and maintained by the Neuroscience Information Framework is a cooperative project aimed at cataloging research resources, e.g., software tools, databases and tissue banks, funded largely by governments and available as tools to research scientists. Although originally conceived for neuroscience, the NIF Registry has over the years broadened in the scope to include research resources of general relevance to biomedical research. The current number of research resources listed by the Registry numbers over 13K. The broadening in scope to biomedical science led us to re-christen the NIF Registry platform as SciCrunch. The NIF/SciCrunch Registry has been cataloging the resource landscape since 2006; as such, it serves as a valuable dataset for tracking the breadth, fate and utilization of these resources. Our experience shows research resources like databases are dynamic objects, that can change location and scope over time. Although each record is entered manually and human-curated, the current size of the registry requires tools that can aid in curation efforts to keep content up to date, including when and where such resources are used. To address this challenge, we have developed an open source tool suite, collectively termed RDW: Resource Disambiguator for the (Web). RDW is designed to help in the upkeep and curation of the registry as well as in enhancing the content of the registry by automated extraction of resource candidates from the literature. The RDW toolkit includes a URL extractor from papers, resource candidate screen, resource URL change tracker, resource content change tracker. Curators access these tools via a web based user interface. Several strategies are used to optimize these tools, including supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms as well as statistical text analysis. The complete tool suite is used to enhance and maintain the resource registry as well as track the usage of individual resources through an innovative literature citation index honed for research resources. Here we present an overview of the Registry and show how the RDW tools are used in curation and usage tracking. PMID:26730820

Application of iron and zinc isotopes to track the sources and mechanisms of metal loading in a mountain watershed

USGS Publications Warehouse

Borrok, D.M.; Wanty, R.B.; Ian, Ridley W.; Lamothe, P.J.; Kimball, B.A.; Verplanck, P.L.; Runkel, R.L.

2009-01-01

Here the hydrogeochemical constraints of a tracer dilution study are combined with Fe and Zn isotopic measurements to pinpoint metal loading sources and attenuation mechanisms in an alpine watershed impacted by acid mine drainage. In the tested mountain catchment, ??56Fe and ??66Zn isotopic signatures of filtered stream water samples varied by ???3.5??? and 0.4???, respectively. The inherent differences in the aqueous geochemistry of Fe and Zn provided complimentary isotopic information. For example, variations in ??56Fe were linked to redox and precipitation reactions occurring in the stream, while changes in ??66Zn were indicative of conservative mixing of different Zn sources. Fen environments contributed distinctively light dissolved Fe (<-2.0???) and isotopically heavy suspended Fe precipitates to the watershed, while Zn from the fen was isotopically heavy (>+0.4???). Acidic drainage from mine wastes contributed heavier dissolved Fe (???+0.5???) and lighter Zn (???+0.2???) isotopes relative to the fen. Upwelling of Fe-rich groundwater near the mouth of the catchment was the major source of Fe (??56Fe ??? 0???) leaving the watershed in surface flow, while runoff from mining wastes was the major source of Zn. The results suggest that given a strong framework for interpretation, Fe and Zn isotopes are useful tools for identifying and tracking metal sources and attenuation mechanisms in mountain watersheds. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd.

Incorporating expert judgments in utility evaluation of bacteroidales qPCR assays for microbial source tracking in a drinking water source.

PubMed

Åström, Johan; Pettersson, Thomas J R; Reischer, Georg H; Norberg, Tommy; Hermansson, Malte

2015-02-03

Several assays for the detection of host-specific genetic markers of the order Bacteroidales have been developed and used for microbial source tracking (MST) in environmental waters. It is recognized that the source-sensitivity and source-specificity are unknown and variable when introducing these assays in new geographic regions, which reduces their reliability and use. A Bayesian approach was developed to incorporate expert judgments with regional assay sensitivity and specificity assessments in a utility evaluation of a human and a ruminant-specific qPCR assay for MST in a drinking water source. Water samples from Lake Rådasjön were analyzed for E. coli, intestinal enterococci and somatic coliphages through cultivation and for human (BacH) and ruminant-specific (BacR) markers through qPCR assays. Expert judgments were collected regarding the probability of human and ruminant fecal contamination based on fecal indicator organism data and subjective information. Using Bayes formula, the conditional probability of a true human or ruminant fecal contamination given the presence of BacH or BacR was determined stochastically from expert judgments and regional qPCR assay performance, using Beta distributions to represent uncertainties. A web-based computational tool was developed for the procedure, which provides a measure of confidence to findings of host-specific markers and demonstrates the information value from these assays.

Incorporating Expert Judgments in Utility Evaluation of Bacteroidales qPCR Assays for Microbial Source Tracking in a Drinking Water Source

PubMed Central

Åström, Johan; Pettersson, Thomas J. R.; Reischer, Georg H.; Norberg, Tommy; Hermansson, Malte

2017-01-01

Several assays for the detection of host-specific genetic markers of the order Bacteroidales have been developed and used for microbial source tracking (MST) in environmental waters. It is recognized that the source-sensitivity and source-specificity are unknown and variable when introducing these assays in new geographic regions, which reduces their reliability and use. A Bayesian approach was developed to incorporate expert judgments with regional assay sensitivity and specificity assessments in a utility evaluation of a human and a ruminant-specific qPCR assay for MST in a drinking water source. Water samples from Lake Rådasjön were analyzed for E. coli, intestinal enterococci and somatic coliphages through cultivation and for human (BacH) and ruminant-specific (BacR) markers through qPCR assays. Expert judgments were collected regarding the probability of human and ruminant fecal contamination based on fecal indicator organism data and subjective information. Using Bayes formula, the conditional probability of a true human or ruminant fecal contamination given the presence of BacH or BacR was determined stochastically from expert judgments and regional qPCR assay performance, using Beta distributions to represent uncertainties. A web-based computational tool was developed for the procedure, which provides a measure of confidence to findings of host-specific markers and demonstrates the information value from these assays. PMID:25545113

Biomarkers and isotopic fingerprinting to track sediment origin and connectivity at Baldegg Lake (Switzerland)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lavrieux, Marlène; Meusburger, Katrin; Birkholz, Axel; Alewell, Christine

2017-04-01

Slope destabilization and associated sediment transfer are among the major causes of aquatic ecosystems and surface water quality impairment. Through land uses and agricultural practices, human activities modify the soil erosive risk and the catchment connectivity, becoming a key factor of sediment dynamics. Hence, restoration and management plans of water bodies can only be efficient if the sediment sources and the proportion attributable to different land uses and agricultural practices are identified. Several sediment fingerprinting methods, based on the geochemical (elemental composition), color, magnetic or isotopic (137Cs) sediment properties, are currently in use. However, these tools are not suitable for a land-use based fingerprinting. New organic geochemical approaches are now developed to discriminate source-soil contributions under different land-uses: The compound-specific stable isotopes (CSSI) technique, based on the biomarkers isotopic signature (here, fatty acids δ13C) variability within the plant species, The analysis of highly specific (i.e. source-family- or even source-species-specific) biomarkers assemblages, which use is until now mainly restricted to palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, and which offer also promising prospects for tracing current sediment origin. The approach was applied to reconstruct the spatio-temporal variability of the main sediment sources of Baldegg Lake (Lucern Canton, Switzerland), which suffers from a substantial eutrophication, despite several restoration attempts during the last 40 years. The sediment supplying areas and the exported volumes were identified using CSSI technique and highly specific biomarkers, coupled to a sediment connectivity model. The sediment origin variability was defined through the analysis of suspended river sediments sampled at high flow conditions (short term), and by the analysis of a lake sediment core covering the last 130 years (long term). The results show the utility of biomarkers and CSSI to track organic sources in contrasted land-use settings. Associated to other fingerprinting methods, this approach could in the future become a decision support tool for catchments management.

Tracking PACS usage with open source tools.

PubMed

French, Todd L; Langer, Steve G

2011-08-01

A typical choice faced by Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) administrators is deciding how many PACS workstations are needed and where they should be sited. Oftentimes, the social consequences of having too few are severe enough to encourage oversupply and underutilization. This is costly, at best in terms of hardware and electricity, and at worst (depending on the PACS licensing and support model) in capital costs and maintenance fees. The PACS administrator needs tools to asses accurately the use to which her fleet is being subjected, and thus make informed choices before buying more workstations. Lacking a vended solution for this challenge, we developed our own.

Marky: a tool supporting annotation consistency in multi-user and iterative document annotation projects.

PubMed

Pérez-Pérez, Martín; Glez-Peña, Daniel; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Lourenço, Anália

2015-02-01

Document annotation is a key task in the development of Text Mining methods and applications. High quality annotated corpora are invaluable, but their preparation requires a considerable amount of resources and time. Although the existing annotation tools offer good user interaction interfaces to domain experts, project management and quality control abilities are still limited. Therefore, the current work introduces Marky, a new Web-based document annotation tool equipped to manage multi-user and iterative projects, and to evaluate annotation quality throughout the project life cycle. At the core, Marky is a Web application based on the open source CakePHP framework. User interface relies on HTML5 and CSS3 technologies. Rangy library assists in browser-independent implementation of common DOM range and selection tasks, and Ajax and JQuery technologies are used to enhance user-system interaction. Marky grants solid management of inter- and intra-annotator work. Most notably, its annotation tracking system supports systematic and on-demand agreement analysis and annotation amendment. Each annotator may work over documents as usual, but all the annotations made are saved by the tracking system and may be further compared. So, the project administrator is able to evaluate annotation consistency among annotators and across rounds of annotation, while annotators are able to reject or amend subsets of annotations made in previous rounds. As a side effect, the tracking system minimises resource and time consumption. Marky is a novel environment for managing multi-user and iterative document annotation projects. Compared to other tools, Marky offers a similar visually intuitive annotation experience while providing unique means to minimise annotation effort and enforce annotation quality, and therefore corpus consistency. Marky is freely available for non-commercial use at http://sing.ei.uvigo.es/marky. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantification of larval zebrafish motor function in multi-well plates using open-source MATLAB® applications

PubMed Central

Zhou, Yangzhong; Cattley, Richard T.; Cario, Clinton L.; Bai, Qing; Burton, Edward A.

2014-01-01

This article describes a method to quantify the movements of larval zebrafish in multi-well plates, using the open-source MATLAB® applications LSRtrack and LSRanalyze. The protocol comprises four stages: generation of high-quality, flatly-illuminated video recordings with exposure settings that facilitate object recognition; analysis of the resulting recordings using tools provided in LSRtrack to optimize tracking accuracy and motion detection; analysis of tracking data using LSRanalyze or custom MATLAB® scripts; implementation of validation controls. The method is reliable, automated and flexible, requires less than one hour of hands-on work for completion once optimized, and shows excellent signal:noise characteristics. The resulting data can be analyzed to determine: positional preference; displacement, velocity and acceleration; duration and frequency of movement events and rest periods. This approach is widely applicable to analyze spontaneous or stimulus-evoked zebrafish larval neurobehavioral phenotypes resulting from a broad array of genetic and environmental manipulations, in a multi-well plate format suitable for high-throughput applications. PMID:24901738

Quantification of larval zebrafish motor function in multiwell plates using open-source MATLAB applications.

PubMed

Zhou, Yangzhong; Cattley, Richard T; Cario, Clinton L; Bai, Qing; Burton, Edward A

2014-07-01

This article describes a method to quantify the movements of larval zebrafish in multiwell plates, using the open-source MATLAB applications LSRtrack and LSRanalyze. The protocol comprises four stages: generation of high-quality, flatly illuminated video recordings with exposure settings that facilitate object recognition; analysis of the resulting recordings using tools provided in LSRtrack to optimize tracking accuracy and motion detection; analysis of tracking data using LSRanalyze or custom MATLAB scripts; and implementation of validation controls. The method is reliable, automated and flexible, requires <1 h of hands-on work for completion once optimized and shows excellent signal:noise characteristics. The resulting data can be analyzed to determine the following: positional preference; displacement, velocity and acceleration; and duration and frequency of movement events and rest periods. This approach is widely applicable to the analysis of spontaneous or stimulus-evoked zebrafish larval neurobehavioral phenotypes resulting from a broad array of genetic and environmental manipulations, in a multiwell plate format suitable for high-throughput applications.

Resolution of habitat-associated ecogenomic signatures in bacteriophage genomes and application to microbial source tracking.

PubMed

Ogilvie, Lesley A; Nzakizwanayo, Jonathan; Guppy, Fergus M; Dedi, Cinzia; Diston, David; Taylor, Huw; Ebdon, James; Jones, Brian V

2018-04-01

Just as the expansion in genome sequencing has revealed and permitted the exploitation of phylogenetic signals embedded in bacterial genomes, the application of metagenomics has begun to provide similar insights at the ecosystem level for microbial communities. However, little is known regarding this aspect of bacteriophage associated with microbial ecosystems, and if phage encode discernible habitat-associated signals diagnostic of underlying microbiomes. Here we demonstrate that individual phage can encode clear habitat-related 'ecogenomic signatures', based on relative representation of phage-encoded gene homologues in metagenomic data sets. Furthermore, we show the ecogenomic signature encoded by the gut-associated ɸB124-14 can be used to segregate metagenomes according to environmental origin, and distinguish 'contaminated' environmental metagenomes (subject to simulated in silico human faecal pollution) from uncontaminated data sets. This indicates phage-encoded ecological signals likely possess sufficient discriminatory power for use in biotechnological applications, such as development of microbial source tracking tools for monitoring water quality.

Microbial source tracking in highly vulnerable karst drinking water resources.

PubMed

Diston, D; Robbi, R; Baumgartner, A; Felleisen, R

2018-02-01

Water resources situated in areas with underlying karst geology are particularly vulnerable to fecal pollution. In such vulnerable systems, microbial source tracking (MST) methods are useful tools to elucidate the pathways of both animal and human fecal pollution, leading to more accurate water use risk assessments. Here, we describe the application of a MST toolbox using both culture-dependent bacteriophage and molecular-dependent 16S rRNA assays at spring and well sites in the karstic St Imier Valley, Switzerland. Culture-dependent and molecular-dependent marker performance varied significantly, with the 16S rRNA assays displaying greater sensitivity than their phage counterpart; HF183 was the best performing human wastewater-associated marker while Rum2Bac was the best performing ruminant marker. Differences were observed in pollution regimes between the well and spring sampling sites, with the spring water being more degraded than the well site. Our results inform the choice of marker selection for MST studies and highlight differences in microbial water quality between well and spring karst sites.

Development of the scanning system to detect the concentration of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin by tracking the head

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ko, Woo Seok; Darwish, Naser; Gratton, Enrico; Kim, Soo Hyun

2005-04-01

We measure the concentration of oxy-, deoxy- and total hemoglobin by using the frequency-domain, near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS) scanner. It is a non-invasive instrument that can provide real-time measurements of the changes in concentration. It can provide a diagnostic tool for the study of the brain in infants and children. However, it is difficult to apply it to the baby's head because of the contact of the probe on the soft baby's head. Therefore, we suggest the NIRS scanning system that can track the baby' head movement and detect NIRS parameters on the same position of the head. This system has three key components. The vision system performs the pattern matching for tracking the head by using the normalized cross correlation method with the target as a cross-line on the head during the diagnostic experiment. We can use the change of the position of the baby's head to re-target the light by the scanning system that uses four laser sources, a wavelength selector, and an x-y scanner. The detector system analyzes the resulting signal from the head using the diffusion model. Therefore, NIRS scanning system can provide a diagnostic tool to measure the changes of the NIRS parameters for the study of the baby's brain.

Modeling and Development of INS-Aided PLLs in a GNSS/INS Deeply-Coupled Hardware Prototype for Dynamic Applications

PubMed Central

Zhang, Tisheng; Niu, Xiaoji; Ban, Yalong; Zhang, Hongping; Shi, Chuang; Liu, Jingnan

2015-01-01

A GNSS/INS deeply-coupled system can improve the satellite signals tracking performance by INS aiding tracking loops under dynamics. However, there was no literature available on the complete modeling of the INS branch in the INS-aided tracking loop, which caused the lack of a theoretical tool to guide the selections of inertial sensors, parameter optimization and quantitative analysis of INS-aided PLLs. This paper makes an effort on the INS branch in modeling and parameter optimization of phase-locked loops (PLLs) based on the scalar-based GNSS/INS deeply-coupled system. It establishes the transfer function between all known error sources and the PLL tracking error, which can be used to quantitatively evaluate the candidate inertial measurement unit (IMU) affecting the carrier phase tracking error. Based on that, a steady-state error model is proposed to design INS-aided PLLs and to analyze their tracking performance. Based on the modeling and error analysis, an integrated deeply-coupled hardware prototype is developed, with the optimization of the aiding information. Finally, the performance of the INS-aided PLLs designed based on the proposed steady-state error model is evaluated through the simulation and road tests of the hardware prototype. PMID:25569751

The performance of matched-field track-before-detect methods using shallow-water Pacific data.

PubMed

Tantum, Stacy L; Nolte, Loren W; Krolik, Jeffrey L; Harmanci, Kerem

2002-07-01

Matched-field track-before-detect processing, which extends the concept of matched-field processing to include modeling of the source dynamics, has recently emerged as a promising approach for maintaining the track of a moving source. In this paper, optimal Bayesian and minimum variance beamforming track-before-detect algorithms which incorporate a priori knowledge of the source dynamics in addition to the underlying uncertainties in the ocean environment are presented. A Markov model is utilized for the source motion as a means of capturing the stochastic nature of the source dynamics without assuming uniform motion. In addition, the relationship between optimal Bayesian track-before-detect processing and minimum variance track-before-detect beamforming is examined, revealing how an optimal tracking philosophy may be used to guide the modification of existing beamforming techniques to incorporate track-before-detect capabilities. Further, the benefits of implementing an optimal approach over conventional methods are illustrated through application of these methods to shallow-water Pacific data collected as part of the SWellEX-1 experiment. The results show that incorporating Markovian dynamics for the source motion provides marked improvement in the ability to maintain target track without the use of a uniform velocity hypothesis.

10 CFR 20.2207 - Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... submit a National Source Tracking Transaction Report as specified in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this... complete and submit a National Source Tracking Transaction Report. The report must include the following... individual preparing the report; (3) The manufacturer, model, and serial number of the source; (4) The...

Visualizing Cloud Properties and Satellite Imagery: A Tool for Visualization and Information Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chee, T.; Nguyen, L.; Smith, W. L., Jr.; Spangenberg, D.; Palikonda, R.; Bedka, K. M.; Minnis, P.; Thieman, M. M.; Nordeen, M.

2017-12-01

Providing public access to research products including cloud macro and microphysical properties and satellite imagery are a key concern for the NASA Langley Research Center Cloud and Radiation Group. This work describes a web based visualization tool and API that allows end users to easily create customized cloud product and satellite imagery, ground site data and satellite ground track information that is generated dynamically. The tool has two uses, one to visualize the dynamically created imagery and the other to provide access to the dynamically generated imagery directly at a later time. Internally, we leverage our practical experience with large, scalable application practices to develop a system that has the largest potential for scalability as well as the ability to be deployed on the cloud to accommodate scalability issues. We build upon NASA Langley Cloud and Radiation Group's experience with making real-time and historical satellite cloud product information, satellite imagery, ground site data and satellite track information accessible and easily searchable. This tool is the culmination of our prior experience with dynamic imagery generation and provides a way to build a "mash-up" of dynamically generated imagery and related kinds of information that are visualized together to add value to disparate but related information. In support of NASA strategic goals, our group aims to make as much scientific knowledge, observations and products available to the citizen science, research and interested communities as well as for automated systems to acquire the same information for data mining or other analytic purposes. This tool and the underlying API's provide a valuable research tool to a wide audience both as a standalone research tool and also as an easily accessed data source that can easily be mined or used with existing tools.

MAGIC: A Tool for Combining, Interpolating, and Processing Magnetograms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allred, Joel

2012-01-01

Transients in the solar coronal magnetic field are ultimately the source of space weather. Models which seek to track the evolution of the coronal field require magnetogram images to be used as boundary conditions. These magnetograms are obtained by numerous instruments with different cadences and resolutions. A tool is required which allows modelers to fmd all available data and use them to craft accurate and physically consistent boundary conditions for their models. We have developed a software tool, MAGIC (MAGnetogram Interpolation and Composition), to perform exactly this function. MAGIC can manage the acquisition of magneto gram data, cast it into a source-independent format, and then perform the necessary spatial and temporal interpolation to provide magnetic field values as requested onto model-defined grids. MAGIC has the ability to patch magneto grams from different sources together providing a more complete picture of the Sun's field than is possible from single magneto grams. In doing this, care must be taken so as not to introduce nonphysical current densities along the seam between magnetograms. We have designed a method which minimizes these spurious current densities. MAGIC also includes a number of post-processing tools which can provide additional information to models. For example, MAGIC includes an interface to the DA VE4VM tool which derives surface flow velocities from the time evolution of surface magnetic field. MAGIC has been developed as an application of the KAMELEON data formatting toolkit which has been developed by the CCMC.

Augmenting Traditional Static Analysis With Commonly Available Metadata

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

Cook, Devin

Developers and security analysts have been using static analysis for a long time to analyze programs for defects and vulnerabilities with some success. Generally a static analysis tool is run on the source code for a given program, flagging areas of code that need to be further inspected by a human analyst. These areas may be obvious bugs like potential bu er over flows, information leakage flaws, or the use of uninitialized variables. These tools tend to work fairly well - every year they find many important bugs. These tools are more impressive considering the fact that they only examinemore » the source code, which may be very complex. Now consider the amount of data available that these tools do not analyze. There are many pieces of information that would prove invaluable for finding bugs in code, things such as a history of bug reports, a history of all changes to the code, information about committers, etc. By leveraging all this additional data, it is possible to nd more bugs with less user interaction, as well as track useful metrics such as number and type of defects injected by committer. This dissertation provides a method for leveraging development metadata to find bugs that would otherwise be difficult to find using standard static analysis tools. We showcase two case studies that demonstrate the ability to find 0day vulnerabilities in large and small software projects by finding new vulnerabilities in the cpython and Roundup open source projects.« less

Digital Image Correlation Engine

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

Turner, Dan; Crozier, Paul; Reu, Phil

DICe is an open source digital image correlation (DIC) tool intended for use as a module in an external application or as a standalone analysis code. It's primary capability is computing full-field displacements and strains from sequences of digital These images are typically of a material sample undergoing a materials characterization experiment, but DICe is also useful for other applications (for example, trajectory tracking). DICe is machine portable (Windows, Linux and Mac) and can be effectively deployed on a high performance computing platform. Capabilities from DICe can be invoked through a library interface, via source code integration of DICe classesmore » or through a graphical user interface.« less

Evaluation of repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR for discrimination of fecal Escherichia coli from humans, and different domestic- and wild-animals.

PubMed

Mohapatra, Bidyut R; Broersma, Klaas; Nordin, Rick; Mazumder, Asit

2007-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of repetitive extragenic palindromic anchored polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR) in differentiating fecal Escherichia coli isolates of human, domestic- and wild-animal origin that might be used as a molecular tool to identify the possible source(s) of fecal pollution of source water. A total of 625 fecal E. coli isolates of human, 3 domestic- (cow, dog and horse) and 7 wild-animal (black bear, coyote, elk, marmot, mule deer, raccoon and wolf) species were characterized by rep-PCR DNA fingerprinting technique coupled with BOX A1R primer and discriminant analysis. Discriminant analysis of rep-PCR DNA fingerprints of fecal E. coli isolates from 11 host sources revealed an average rate of correct classification of 79.89%, and 84.6%, 83.8%, 83.3%, 82.5%, 81.6%, 80.8%, 79.8%, 79.3%, 77.4%, 73.2% and 63.6% of elk, human, marmot, mule deer, cow, coyote, raccoon, horse, dog, wolf and black bear fecal E. coli isolates were assigned to the correct host source. These results suggest that rep-PCR DNA fingerprinting procedures can be used as a source tracking tool for detection of human- as well as animal-derived fecal contamination of water.

Integrated Multivariate Analysis with Nondetects for the Development of Human Sewage Source-Tracking Tools Using Bacteriophages of Enterococcus faecalis.

PubMed

Wangkahad, Bencharong; Mongkolsuk, Skorn; Sirikanchana, Kwanrawee

2017-02-21

We developed sewage-specific microbial source tracking (MST) tools using enterococci bacteriophages and evaluated their performance with univariate and multivariate analyses involving data below detection limits. Newly isolated Enterococci faecalis bacterial strains AIM06 (DSM100702) and SR14 (DSM100701) demonstrated 100% specificity and 90% sensitivity to human sewage without detecting 68 animal manure pooled samples of cats, chickens, cows, dogs, ducks, pigs, and pigeons. AIM06 and SR14 bacteriophages were present in human sewage at 2-4 orders of magnitude. A principal component analysis confirmed the importance of both phages as main water quality parameters. The phages presented only in the polluted water, as classified by a cluster analysis, and at median concentrations of 1.71 × 10 2 and 4.27 × 10 2 PFU/100 mL, respectively, higher than nonhost specific RYC2056 phages and sewage-specific KS148 phages (p < 0.05). Interestingly, AIM06 and SR14 phages exhibited significant correlations with each other and with total coliforms, E. coli, enterococci, and biochemical oxygen demand (Kendall's tau = 0.348 to 0.605, p < 0.05), a result supporting their roles as water quality indicators. This research demonstrates the multiregional applicability of enterococci hosts in MST application and highlights the significance of multivariate analysis with nondetects in evaluating the performance of new MST host strains.

Contribution of regional-scale fire events to ozone and PM2.5 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Two specific fires from 2011 are tracked for local to regional scale contribution to ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) using a freely available regulatory modeling system that includes the BlueSky wildland fire emissions tool, Spare Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) model, Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) meteorological model, and Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) photochemical grid model. The modeling system was applied to track the contribution from a wildfire (Wallow) and prescribed fire (Flint Hills) using both source sensitivity and source apportionment approaches. The model estimated fire contribution to primary and secondary pollutants are comparable using source sensitivity (brute-force zero out) and source apportionment (Integrated Source Apportionment Method) approaches. Model estimated O3 enhancement relative to CO is similar to values reported in literature indicating the modeling system captures the range of O3 inhibition possible near fires and O3 production both near the fire and downwind. O3 and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) are formed in the fire plume and transported downwind along with highly reactive VOC species such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde that are both emitted by the fire and rapidly produced in the fire plume by VOC oxidation reactions. PAN and aldehydes contribute to continued downwind O3 production. The transport and thermal decomposition of PAN to nitrogen oxides (NOX) enables O3 production in areas

PLUS: open-source toolkit for ultrasound-guided intervention systems.

PubMed

Lasso, Andras; Heffter, Tamas; Rankin, Adam; Pinter, Csaba; Ungi, Tamas; Fichtinger, Gabor

2014-10-01

A variety of advanced image analysis methods have been under the development for ultrasound-guided interventions. Unfortunately, the transition from an image analysis algorithm to clinical feasibility trials as part of an intervention system requires integration of many components, such as imaging and tracking devices, data processing algorithms, and visualization software. The objective of our paper is to provide a freely available open-source software platform-PLUS: Public software Library for Ultrasound-to facilitate rapid prototyping of ultrasound-guided intervention systems for translational clinical research. PLUS provides a variety of methods for interventional tool pose and ultrasound image acquisition from a wide range of tracking and imaging devices, spatial and temporal calibration, volume reconstruction, simulated image generation, and recording and live streaming of the acquired data. This paper introduces PLUS, explains its functionality and architecture, and presents typical uses and performance in ultrasound-guided intervention systems. PLUS fulfills the essential requirements for the development of ultrasound-guided intervention systems and it aspires to become a widely used translational research prototyping platform. PLUS is freely available as open source software under BSD license and can be downloaded from http://www.plustoolkit.org.

DynAOI: a tool for matching eye-movement data with dynamic areas of interest in animations and movies.

PubMed

Papenmeier, Frank; Huff, Markus

2010-02-01

Analyzing gaze behavior with dynamic stimulus material is of growing importance in experimental psychology; however, there is still a lack of efficient analysis tools that are able to handle dynamically changing areas of interest. In this article, we present DynAOI, an open-source tool that allows for the definition of dynamic areas of interest. It works automatically with animations that are based on virtual three-dimensional models. When one is working with videos of real-world scenes, a three-dimensional model of the relevant content needs to be created first. The recorded eye-movement data are matched with the static and dynamic objects in the model underlying the video content, thus creating static and dynamic areas of interest. A validation study asking participants to track particular objects demonstrated that DynAOI is an efficient tool for handling dynamic areas of interest.

The Cd and Zn Isotope Compositions of PM10 in the Atmosphere of Paris: New Tools for Discrimination and Tracking of the Origin of Metallic Pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petelet-Giraud, E.; Widory, D.; Innocent, C.; Quetel, C.; Le Bihan, O.; Fraboulet, I.; Forti, L.; Joos, E.; Goupil, G.; Canard, E.

2008-12-01

Due to their relatively high concentration in urban environments (from 10 to more than 50 μg.m-3), atmospheric particles (PM10) have potential damaging effects on the Public Health. Hence, the development of measures dealing with fine particulate matter is considered a priority by the EU Clean Air For Europe (CAFE) Program. Still, the origin of these airborne particles is subject to debate, as classical chemical methods showed their limitations. Recent studies have shown that stable isotopes of elements such as carbon, nitrogen or lead could be of great help in the search of new particle air pollution tracking tools. We will present here preliminary results on the pioneer use of stable isotope compositions of cadmium, zinc and mercury to help decipher the different possible origins of PM10 pollution in the atmosphere of Paris (France). Main potential sources were characterized: (1) waste incineration, (2) road traffic, (3) central heating and (4) coal-fired power plants. Results show that the use of cadmium (d114Cd) and zinc (d66Zn) isotopes, and the combination of both provides a reliable and precise tool for discriminating the different families of particle vectors. The isotope systematic of mercury (d200Hg) is more difficult to apprehend due to the low levels encountered (mercury is mainly present under gaseous form, but is still observed at low concentrations in particles), but does show significant variations between the different sources. Daily cumulative air samples were taken on three different locations, covering different scenarios in Paris city: 1) background pollution in Paris, 2) under the plume of a major pollution source and 3) Paris vicinity. Corresponding chemical and isotope analyses help identify the main vectors for the three elements (Cd, Zn and Hg) considered as well as assess their respective contributions to the levels of pollution observed.

RATT: RFID Assisted Tracking Tile. Preliminary results.

PubMed

Quinones, Dario R; Cuevas, Aaron; Cambra, Javier; Canals, Santiago; Moratal, David

2017-07-01

Behavior is one of the most important aspects of animal life. This behavior depends on the link between animals, their nervous systems and their environment. In order to study the behavior of laboratory animals several tools are needed, but a tracking tool is essential to perform a thorough behavioral study. Currently, several visual tracking tools are available. However, they have some drawbacks. For instance, when an animal is inside a cave, or is close to other animals, the tracking cameras cannot always detect the location or movement of this animal. This paper presents RFID Assisted Tracking Tile (RATT), a tracking system based on passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in high frequency band according to ISO/IEC 15693. The RATT system is composed of electronic tiles that have nine active RFID antennas attached; in addition, it contains several overlapping passive coils to improve the magnetic field characteristics. Using several tiles, a large surface can be built on which the animals can move, allowing identification and tracking of their movements. This system, that could also be combined with a visual tracking system, paves the way for complete behavioral studies.

Social media in public health.

PubMed

Kass-Hout, Taha A; Alhinnawi, Hend

2013-01-01

While social media interactions are currently not fully understood, as individual health behaviors and outcomes are shared online, social media offers an increasingly clear picture of the dynamics of these processes. Social media is becoming an increasingly common platform among clinicians and public health officials to share information with the public, track or predict diseases. Social media can be used for engaging the public and communicating key public health interventions, while providing an important tool for public health surveillance. Social media has advantages over traditional public health surveillance, as well as limitations, such as poor specificity, that warrant additional study. Social media can provide timely, relevant and transparent information of public health importance; such as tracking or predicting the spread or severity of influenza, west nile virus or meningitis as they propagate in the community, and, in identifying disease outbreaks or clusters of chronic illnesses. Further work is needed on social media as a valid data source for detecting or predicting diseases or conditions. Also, whether or not it is an effective tool for communicating key public health messages and engaging both, the general public and policy-makers.

Rosin-Rammler Distributions in ANSYS Fluent

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

Dunham, Ryan Q.

In Health Physics monitoring, particles need to be collected and tracked. One method is to predict the motion of potential health hazards with computer models. Particles released from various sources within a glove box can become a respirable health hazard if released into the area surrounding a glove box. The goal of modeling the aerosols in a glove box is to reduce the hazards associated with a leak in the glove box system. ANSYS Fluent provides a number of tools for modeling this type of environment. Particles can be released using injections into the flow path with turbulent properties. Themore » models of particle tracks can then be used to predict paths and concentrations of particles within the flow. An attempt to understand and predict the handling of data by Fluent was made, and results iteratively tracked. Trends in data were studied to comprehend the final results. The purpose of the study was to allow a better understanding of the operation of Fluent for aerosol modeling for future application in many fields.« less

MPGD2015: Low-energy electron source to characterize Micromegas/InGrid and study of dE/dx for low energy electrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Attie, David; Barsuk, Sergey; Bezshyyko, Oleg; Burmistrov, Leonid; Chaus, Andrii; Colas, Paul; Fedorchuk, Oleksii; Golinka-Bezshyyko, Larisa; Haranko, Mykyta; Krylov, Vladyslav; Kubytskyi, Viacheslav; Lopez, Roberto; Monard, Hugues; Sukhonos, Daniil; Titov, Maxim; Tomassini, Davide; Variola, Alessandro; Rodin, Volodymyr

2018-02-01

Insert your english abstract here.A new versatile facility LEETECH for detector R&D, tests and calibration is designed and constructed. It uses electrons produced by the photoinjector PHIL at LAL, Orsay and provides a powerful tool for wide range R&D studies of different detector concepts delivering "monochromatic" samples of low energy electrons with adjustable energy and intensity. Among other innovative instrumentation techniques, LEETECH will be used for testing various gaseous tracking detectors and studying new Micromegas/InGrid concept which has very promising characteristics of spatial resolution and can be a good candidate for particle tracking and identification. In this paper the importance and expected characteristics of such facility based on detailed simulation studies are addressed.

Mars @ ASDC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carraro, Francesco

"Mars @ ASDC" is a project born with the goal of using the new web technologies to assist researches involved in the study of Mars. This project employs Mars map and javascript APIs provided by Google to visualize data acquired by space missions on the planet. So far, visualization of tracks acquired by MARSIS and regions observed by VIRTIS-Rosetta has been implemented. The main reason for the creation of this kind of tool is the difficulty in handling hundreds or thousands of acquisitions, like the ones from MARSIS, and the consequent difficulty in finding observations related to a particular region. This led to the development of a tool which allows to search for acquisitions either by defining the region of interest through a set of geometrical parameters or by manually selecting the region on the map through a few mouse clicks The system allows the visualization of tracks (acquired by MARSIS) or regions (acquired by VIRTIS-Rosetta) which intersect the user defined region. MARSIS tracks can be visualized both in Mercator and polar projections while the regions observed by VIRTIS can presently be visualized only in Mercator projection. The Mercator projection is the standard map provided by Google. The polar projections are provided by NASA and have been developed to be used in combination with APIs provided by Google The whole project has been developed following the "open source" philosophy: the client-side code which handles the functioning of the web page is written in javascript; the server-side code which executes the searches for tracks or regions is written in PHP and the DB which undergoes the system is MySQL.

10 CFR 20.2207 - Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources. 20.2207 Section 20.2207 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Reports § 20.2207 Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources. Each licensee who...

10 CFR 20.2207 - Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources. 20.2207 Section 20.2207 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Reports § 20.2207 Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources. Each licensee who...

10 CFR 20.2207 - Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources. 20.2207 Section 20.2207 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Reports § 20.2207 Reports of transactions involving nationally tracked sources. Each licensee who...

Feature Geo Analytics and Big Data Processing: Hybrid Approaches for Earth Science and Real-Time Decision Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, D. J.; Raad, M.; Hoel, E.; Park, M.; Mollenkopf, A.; Trujillo, R.

2016-12-01

Introduced is a new approach for processing spatiotemporal big data by leveraging distributed analytics and storage. A suite of temporally-aware analysis tools summarizes data nearby or within variable windows, aggregates points (e.g., for various sensor observations or vessel positions), reconstructs time-enabled points into tracks (e.g., for mapping and visualizing storm tracks), joins features (e.g., to find associations between features based on attributes, spatial relationships, temporal relationships or all three simultaneously), calculates point densities, finds hot spots (e.g., in species distributions), and creates space-time slices and cubes (e.g., in microweather applications with temperature, humidity, and pressure, or within human mobility studies). These "feature geo analytics" tools run in both batch and streaming spatial analysis mode as distributed computations across a cluster of servers on typical "big" data sets, where static data exist in traditional geospatial formats (e.g., shapefile) locally on a disk or file share, attached as static spatiotemporal big data stores, or streamed in near-real-time. In other words, the approach registers large datasets or data stores with ArcGIS Server, then distributes analysis across a cluster of machines for parallel processing. Several brief use cases will be highlighted based on a 16-node server cluster at 14 Gb RAM per node, allowing, for example, the buffering of over 8 million points or thousands of polygons in 1 minute. The approach is "hybrid" in that ArcGIS Server integrates open-source big data frameworks such as Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark on the cluster in order to run the analytics. In addition, the user may devise and connect custom open-source interfaces and tools developed in Python or Python Notebooks; the common denominator being the familiar REST API.

Analysis and simulation tools for solar array power systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pongratananukul, Nattorn

This dissertation presents simulation tools developed specifically for the design of solar array power systems. Contributions are made in several aspects of the system design phases, including solar source modeling, system simulation, and controller verification. A tool to automate the study of solar array configurations using general purpose circuit simulators has been developed based on the modeling of individual solar cells. Hierarchical structure of solar cell elements, including semiconductor properties, allows simulation of electrical properties as well as the evaluation of the impact of environmental conditions. A second developed tool provides a co-simulation platform with the capability to verify the performance of an actual digital controller implemented in programmable hardware such as a DSP processor, while the entire solar array including the DC-DC power converter is modeled in software algorithms running on a computer. This "virtual plant" allows developing and debugging code for the digital controller, and also to improve the control algorithm. One important task in solar arrays is to track the maximum power point on the array in order to maximize the power that can be delivered. Digital controllers implemented with programmable processors are particularly attractive for this task because sophisticated tracking algorithms can be implemented and revised when needed to optimize their performance. The proposed co-simulation tools are thus very valuable in developing and optimizing the control algorithm, before the system is built. Examples that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies are presented. The proposed simulation tools are also valuable in the design of multi-channel arrays. In the specific system that we have designed and tested, the control algorithm is implemented on a single digital signal processor. In each of the channels the maximum power point is tracked individually. In the prototype we built, off-the-shelf commercial DC-DC converters were utilized. At the end, the overall performance of the entire system was evaluated using solar array simulators capable of simulating various I-V characteristics, and also by using an electronic load. Experimental results are presented.

Framework to parameterize and validate APEX to support deployment of the nutrient tracking tool

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is the scientific basis for the Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT). NTT is an enhanced version of the Nitrogen Trading Tool, a user-friendly web-based computer program originally developed by the USDA. NTT was developed to estimate reductions in...

Interactive tools for inpatient medication tracking: a multi-phase study with cardiothoracic surgery patients

PubMed Central

Woollen, Janet; Prey, Jennifer; Restaino, Susan; Bakken, Suzanne; Feiner, Steven; Sackeim, Alexander; Vawdrey, David K

2016-01-01

Objective Prior studies of computing applications that support patients’ medication knowledge and self-management offer valuable insights into effective application design, but do not address inpatient settings. This study is the first to explore the design and usefulness of patient-facing tools supporting inpatient medication management and tracking. Materials and Methods We designed myNYP Inpatient, a custom personal health record application, through an iterative, user-centered approach. Medication-tracking tools in myNYP Inpatient include interactive views of home and hospital medication data and features for commenting on these data. In a two-phase pilot study, patients used the tools during cardiothoracic postoperative care at Columbia University Medical Center. In Phase One, we provided 20 patients with the application for 24–48 h and conducted a closing interview after this period. In Phase Two, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 patients and 5 clinical pharmacists who evaluated refinements to the tools based on the feedback received during Phase One. Results Patients reported that the medication-tracking tools were useful. During Phase One, 14 of the 20 participants used the tools actively, to review medication lists and log comments and questions about their medications. Patients’ interview responses and audit logs revealed that they made frequent use of the hospital medications feature and found electronic reporting of questions and comments useful. We also uncovered important considerations for subsequent design of such tools. In Phase Two, the patients and pharmacists participating in the study confirmed the usability and usefulness of the refined tools. Conclusions Inpatient medication-tracking tools, when designed to meet patients’ needs, can play an important role in fostering patient participation in their own care and patient-provider communication during a hospital stay. PMID:26744489

Designing and Developing Web-Based Administrative Tools for Program Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gutensohn, Michael

2017-01-01

The task assigned for this internship was to develop a new tool for tracking projects, their subsystems, the leads, backups, and other employees assigned to them, as well as all the relevant information related to the employee (WBS (time charge) codes, time distribution, certifications, and assignments). Currently, this data is tracked manually using a number of different spreadsheets and other tools simultaneously by a number of different people; some of these documents are then merged into one large document. This often leads to inconsistencies and loss in data due to human error. By simplifying the process of tracking this data and aggregating it into a single tool, it is possible to significantly decrease the potential for human error and time spent collecting and checking this information. II. Objective The main objective of this internship is to develop a web-based tool using Ruby on Rails to serve as a method of easily tracking projects, subsystems, and points of contact, along with employees, their assignments, time distribution, certifications, and contact information. Additionally, this tool must be capable of generating a number of different reports based on the data collected. It was important that this tool deliver all of this information using a readable and intuitive interface.

Use of Spatial Sampling and Microbial Source-Tracking Tools for Understanding Fecal Contamination at Two Lake Erie Beaches

USGS Publications Warehouse

Francy, Donna S.; Bertke, Erin E.; Finnegan, Dennis P.; Kephart, Christopher M.; Sheets, Rodney A.; Rhoades, John; Stumpe, Lester

2006-01-01

Source-tracking tools were used to identify potential sources of fecal contamination at two Lake Erie bathing beaches: an urban beach (Edgewater in Cleveland, Ohio) and a beach in a small city (Lakeshore in Ashtabula, Ohio). These tools included identifying spatial patterns of Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations in each area, determining weather patterns that caused elevated E. coli, and applying microbial source tracking (MST) techniques to specific sites. Three MST methods were used during this study: multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) indexing of E. coli isolates and the presence of human-specific genetic markers within two types of bacteria, the genus Bacteroides and the species Enterococcus faecium. At Edgewater, sampling for E. coli was done during 2003-05 at bathing-area sites, at nearshore lake sites, and in shallow ground water in foreshore and backshore areas. Spatial sampling at nearshore lake sites showed that fecal contamination was most likely of local origin; E. coli concentrations near the mouths of rivers and outfalls remote to the beach were elevated (greater than 235 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters (CFU/100 mL)) but decreased along transport pathways to the beach. In addition, E. coli concentrations were generally highest in bathing-area samples collected at 1- and 2-foot water depths, midrange at 3-foot depths, and lowest in nearshore lake samples typically collected 150 feet from the shoreline. Elevated E. coli concentrations at bathing-area sites were generally associated with increased wave heights and rainfall, but not always. E. coli concentrations were often elevated in shallow ground-water samples, especially in samples collected less than 10 feet from the edge of water (near foreshore area). The interaction of shallow ground water and waves may be a mechanism of E. coli storage and accumulation in foreshore sands. Infiltration of bird feces through sand with surface water from rainfall and high waves may be concentrating E. coli in shallow ground water in foreshore and backshore sands. At Lakeshore, sampling for E. coli was done at bathing-area, nearshore lake, and parking-lot sites during 2004-05. Low concentrations of E. coli at nearshore lake sites furthest from the shoreline indicated that fecal contamination was most likely of local origin. High concentrations of E. coli in water and bed sediments at several nearshore lake sites showed that contamination was emanating from several points along the shoreline during wet and dry weather, including the boat ramp, an area near the pond drainage, and parking-lot sediments. Physical evidence confirmed that runoff from the parking lot leads to degradation of water quality at the beach. MST samples were collected to help interpret spatial findings and determine whether sources of fecal contamination were from wastewater or bird feces and if a human-specific marker was present. MAR indices were useful in distinguishing between bird feces and wastewater sources because they were about 10 times higher in the latter. The results from MAR indices agreed with results from the two human-specific markers in some but not all of the samples tested. Bacteroides and enterococci human-specific markers were found on one day at Edgewater and two days at Lakeshore. On three days at Edgewater and two days at Lakeshore, the MAR index indicated a mixed source, but neither marker was found in bathing-water samples; this may be because bacterial indicator concentrations were too low to detect a marker. Multiple tools are needed to help identify sources of fecal contamination at coastal beaches. Spatial sampling identified patterns in E. coli concentrations and yielded information on the physical pathways of contamination. MST methods provided information on whether the source was likely of human or nonhuman origin only; however, MST did not provide information on the pathways of contamination.

Use of lidar for the evaluation of traffic-related urban pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eichinger, William E.; Cooper, D. I.; Buttler, William T.; Cottingame, William; Tellier, Larry

1994-03-01

Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is demonstrated as a tool for the detection and tracking of sources of aerosol pollution. Existing elastic lidars have been used to demonstrate the potential of the application of this technology in urban areas. Data from several experiments is shown along with analysis methods used for interpretation of the data. The goal of the project is to develop a light-weight, low-cost, lidar system and data analysis methods which can be used by urban planners and local air quality managers. The ability to determine the sources, i.e., causes, of non-attainment may lead to more effective use of tax dollars. Future directions for the project are also discussed.

Secure FAST: Security Enhancement in the NATO Time Sensitive Targeting Tool

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-01

designed to aid in the tracking and prosecuting of Time Sensitive Targets. The FAST tool provides user level authentication and authorisation in terms...level authentication and authorisation in terms of security. It uses operating system level security but does not provide application level security for...and collaboration tool, designed to aid in the tracking and prosecuting of Time Sensitive Targets. The FAST tool provides user level authentication and

40 CFR 74.50 - Deducting opt-in source allowances from ATS accounts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) SULFUR DIOXIDE OPT-INS Allowance Tracking and Transfer and End of Year... any Allowance Tracking System accounts in which they are held, the allowances in an amount specified... any Allowance Tracking System Account other than the account of the source that includes opt-in source...

10 CFR Appendix E to Part 20 - Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds E Appendix E to Part 20 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Pt. 20, App. E Appendix E to Part 20— Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds The Terabecquerel (TBq) values are the...

10 CFR Appendix E to Part 20 - Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds E Appendix E to Part 20 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Pt. 20, App. E Appendix E to Part 20— Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds The Terabecquerel (TBq) values are the...

10 CFR Appendix E to Part 20 - Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds E Appendix E to Part 20 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Pt. 20, App. E Appendix E to Part 20— Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds The Terabecquerel (TBq) values are the...

10 CFR Appendix E to Part 20 - Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds E Appendix E to Part 20 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Pt. 20, App. E Appendix E to Part 20— Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds The Terabecquerel (TBq) values are the...

10 CFR Appendix E to Part 20 - Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds E Appendix E to Part 20 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION STANDARDS FOR PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION Pt. 20, App. E Appendix E to Part 20— Nationally Tracked Source Thresholds The Terabecquerel (TBq) values are the...

Means to improve light source productivity: from proof of concept to field implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rausa, E.; Cacouris, T.; Conley, W.; Jackson, M.; Luo, S.; Murthy, S.; Rechtsteiner, G.; Steiner, K.

2016-03-01

Light source technological performance is key to enabling chipmaker yield and production success. Just as important is ensuring that performance is consistent over time to help maintain as high an uptime as possible on litho-cells (scanner and track combination). While it is common to see average tool uptime of over 99% based on service intervention time, we will show that there are opportunities to improve equipment availability through a multifaceted approach that can deliver favorable results and significantly improve on the actual production efficiency of equipment. The majority of chipmakers are putting light source data generated by tools such as Cymer OnLine (COL), OnPulse Plus, and SmartPulse to good use. These data sets, combined with in-depth knowledge of the equipment, makes it possible to draw powerful conclusions that help increase both chip manufacturing consistency as well as equipment productivity. This discussion will focus on the latter, equipment availability, and how data analysis can help increase equipment availability for Cymer customers. There are several types of opportunities for increasing equipment availability, but in general we can focus on two primary categories: 1) scheduled downtime and 2) unscheduled downtime. For equipment that is under control of a larger entity, as the laser is to the scanner, there are additional categories related to either communication errors or better synchronization of events that can maximize overall litho-cell efficiency. In this article we will focus on general availability without highlighting the specific cause of litho-cell (laser, scanner and track). The goal is to increase equipment available time with a primary focus is on opportunities to minimize errors and variabilities.

Scheduling Observations of Celestial Objects for Earth Observing Sensor Calibration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, Truman; Xiong, Xiaoxiong

2016-01-01

Radiometric calibration of Earth-observing satellite sensors is critical for tracking on-orbit gain changes through- out the satellite's mission. The Moon, being a stable, well-characterized radiometric target, has been used effectively for tracking the relative gain changes of the reflective solar bands for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board EOS AM-1 (Terra) and PM-1 (Aqua). The Moon is viewed through the MODIS space-view port, and the relative phase of the Moon is restricted to within 0.5 degrees of a chosen target phase to increase the accuracy of the calibration. These geometric restrictions require spacecraft maneuvers in order to bring space-view port into proper alignment with the position of the Moon when the phase requirement is met. In this paper, we describe a versatile tool for scheduling such maneuvers based on the required geometry and lunar phase restrictions for a general spacecraft bound instrument. The results of the scheduling tool have been verified using lunar images from Aqua and Terra MODIS after a scheduled roll maneuver was performed. This tool has also been tested for the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder on-board the Suomi-NPP spacecraft. As an extension of this work, we have also developed a tool for scheduling views of bright stars. These stars provide another well-characterized radiometric source that can be used for sensor calibration. This tool has been implemented to determine the times in which a chosen star can be viewed by the high gain stages of the day/night band for the VIIRS instrument.

Microbial source tracking: a forensic technique for microbial source identification?

PubMed

Stapleton, Carl M; Wyer, Mark D; Kay, David; Crowther, John; McDonald, Adrian T; Walters, Martin; Gawler, Andrew; Hindle, Terry

2007-05-01

As the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the US Clean Water Act (USCWA) for the maintenance of microbiological water quality in 'protected areas' highlight, there is a growing recognition that integrated management of point and diffuse sources of microbial pollution is essential. New information on catchment microbial dynamics and, in particular, the sources of faecal indicator bacteria found in bathing and shellfish harvesting waters is a pre-requisite for the design of any 'programme of measures' at the drainage basin scale to secure and maintain compliance with existing and new health-based microbiological standards. This paper reports on a catchment-scale microbial source tracking (MST) study in the Leven Estuary drainage basin, northwest England, an area for which quantitative faecal indicator source apportionment empirical data and land use information were also collected. Since previous MST studies have been based on laboratory trials using 'manufactured' samples or analyses of spot environmental samples without the contextual microbial flux data (under high and low flow conditions) and source information, such background data are needed to evaluate the utility of MST in USCWA total maximum daily load (TMDL) assessments or WFD 'Programmes of Measures'. Thus, the operational utility of MST remains in some doubt. The results of this investigation, using genotyping of Bacteroidetes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and male-specific ribonucleic acid coliphage (F + RNA coliphage) using hybridisation, suggest some discrimination is possible between livestock- and human-derived faecal indicator concentrations but, in inter-grade areas, the degree to which the tracer picture reflected the land use pattern and probable faecal indicator loading were less distinct. Interestingly, the MST data was more reliable on high flow samples when much of the faecal indicator flux from catchment systems occurs. Whilst a useful supplementary tool, the MST information did not provide quantitative source apportionment for the study catchment. Thus, it could not replace detailed empirical measurement of microbial flux at key catchment outlets to underpin faecal indicator source apportionment. Therefore, the MST techniques reported herein currently may not meet the standards required to be a useful forensic tool, although continued development of the methods and further catchment scale studies could increase confidence in such methods for future application.

Energy Tracking Software Platform

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

Ryan Davis; Nathan Bird; Rebecca Birx

2011-04-04

Acceleration has created an interactive energy tracking and visualization platform that supports decreasing electric, water, and gas usage. Homeowners have access to tools that allow them to gauge their use and track progress toward a smaller energy footprint. Real estate agents have access to consumption data, allowing for sharing a comparison with potential home buyers. Home builders have the opportunity to compare their neighborhood's energy efficiency with competitors. Home energy raters have a tool for gauging the progress of their clients after efficiency changes. And, social groups are able to help encourage members to reduce their energy bills and helpmore » their environment. EnergyIT.com is the business umbrella for all energy tracking solutions and is designed to provide information about our energy tracking software and promote sales. CompareAndConserve.com (Gainesville-Green.com) helps homeowners conserve energy through education and competition. ToolsForTenants.com helps renters factor energy usage into their housing decisions.« less

Applications of isotopes to tracing sources of solutes and water in shallow systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kendall, Carol; Krabbenhoft, David P.

1995-01-01

New awareness of the potential danger to water supplies posed by the use of agricultural chemicals has focused attention on the nature of groundwater recharge and the mobility of various solutes, especially nitrate and pesticides, in shallow systems. A better understanding of hydrologic flowpaths and solute sources is required to determine the potential impact of sources of contamination on water supplies, to develop management practices for preserving water quality, and to develop remediation plans for sites that are already contaminated. In many cases, environmental isotopes can be employed as 'surgical tools' for answering very specific questions about water and solute sources. Isotopic data can often provide more accurate information about the system than hydrologic measurements or complicated hydrologic models. This note focuses on practical and cost-effective examples of how naturally-occurring isotopes can be used to track water and solutes as they move through shallow systems.

Global Inter-Laboratory Fecal Source Identification Methods Comparison Study

EPA Science Inventory

Source tracking is key to identifying sources of fecal contamination for remediation as well as risk assessment. Previous intra- and inter-lab studies have investigated the performance of human and cow-associated source tracking markers, as well as library-dependent fecal source ...

Innovations for the future of pharmacovigilance.

PubMed

Almenoff, June S

2007-01-01

Post-marketing pharmacovigilance involves the review and management of safety information from many sources. Among these sources, spontaneous adverse event reporting systems are among the most challenging and resource-intensive to manage. Traditionally, efforts to monitor spontaneous adverse event reporting systems have focused on review of individual case reports. The science of pharmacovigilance could be enhanced with the availability of systems-based tools that facilitate analysis of aggregate data for purposes of signal detection, signal evaluation and knowledge management. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) recently implemented Online Signal Management (OSM) as a data-driven framework for managing the pharmacovigilance of marketed products. This pioneering work builds upon the strong history GSK has of innovation in this area. OSM is a software application co-developed by GSK and Lincoln Technologies that integrates traditional pharmacovigilance methods with modern quantitative statistical methods and data visualisation tools. OSM enables the rapid identification of trends from the individual adverse event reports received by GSK. OSM also provides knowledge-management tools to ensure the successful tracking of emerging safety issues. GSK has developed standard procedures and 'best practices' around the use of OSM to ensure the systematic evaluation of complex safety datasets. In summary, the implementation of OSM provides new tools and efficient processes to advance the science of pharmacovigilance.

FECAL POLLUTION, PUBLIC HEALTH AND MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial source tracking (MST) seeks to provide information about sources of fecal water contamination. Without knowledge of sources, it is difficult to accurately model risk assessments, choose effective remediation strategies, or bring chronically polluted waters into complian...

Tool for Automated Retrieval of Generic Event Tracks (TARGET)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clune, Thomas; Freeman, Shawn; Cruz, Carlos; Burns, Robert; Kuo, Kwo-Sen; Kouatchou, Jules

2013-01-01

Methods have been developed to identify and track tornado-producing mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) automatically over the continental United States, in order to facilitate systematic studies of these powerful and often destructive events. Several data sources were combined to ensure event identification accuracy. Records of watches and warnings issued by National Weather Service (NWS), and tornado locations and tracks from the Tornado History Project (THP) were used to locate MCSs in high-resolution precipitation observations and GOES infrared (11-micron) Rapid Scan Operation (RSO) imagery. Thresholds are then applied to the latter two data sets to define MCS events and track their developments. MCSs produce a broad range of severe convective weather events that are significantly affecting the living conditions of the populations exposed to them. Understanding how MCSs grow and develop could help scientists improve their weather prediction models, and also provide tools to decision-makers whose goals are to protect populations and their property. Associating storm cells across frames of remotely sensed images poses a difficult problem because storms evolve, split, and merge. Any storm-tracking method should include the following processes: storm identification, storm tracking, and quantification of storm intensity and activity. The spatiotemporal coordinates of the tracks will enable researchers to obtain other coincident observations to conduct more thorough studies of these events. In addition to their tracked locations, their areal extents, precipitation intensities, and accumulations all as functions of their evolutions in time were also obtained and recorded for these events. All parameters so derived can be catalogued into a moving object database (MODB) for custom queries. The purpose of this software is to provide a generalized, cross-platform, pluggable tool for identifying events within a set of scientific data based upon specified criteria with the possibility of storing identified events into a searchable database. The core of the application uses an implementation of the connected component labeling (CCL) algorithm to identify areas of interest, then uses a set of criteria to establish spatial and temporal relationships between identified components. The CCL algorithm is used for identifying objects within images for computer vision. This application applies it to scientific data sets using arbitrary criteria. The most novel concept was applying a generalized CCL implementation to scientific data sets for establishing events both spatially and temporally. The combination of several existing concepts (pluggable components, generalized CCL algorithm, etc.) into one application is also novel. In addition, how the system is designed, i.e., its extensibility with pluggable components, and its configurability with a simple configuration file, is innovative. This allows the system to be applied to new scenarios with ease.

Origin of fecal contamination in waters from contrasted areas: stanols as Microbial Source Tracking markers.

PubMed

Derrien, M; Jardé, E; Gruau, G; Pourcher, A M; Gourmelon, M; Jadas-Hécart, A; Pierson Wickmann, A C

2012-09-01

Improving the microbiological quality of coastal and river waters relies on the development of reliable markers that are capable of determining sources of fecal pollution. Recently, a principal component analysis (PCA) method based on six stanol compounds (i.e. 5β-cholestan-3β-ol (coprostanol), 5β-cholestan-3α-ol (epicoprostanol), 24-methyl-5α-cholestan-3β-ol (campestanol), 24-ethyl-5α-cholestan-3β-ol (sitostanol), 24-ethyl-5β-cholestan-3β-ol (24-ethylcoprostanol) and 24-ethyl-5β-cholestan-3α-ol (24-ethylepicoprostanol)) was shown to be suitable for distinguishing between porcine and bovine feces. In this study, we tested if this PCA method, using the above six stanols, could be used as a tool in "Microbial Source Tracking (MST)" methods in water from areas of intensive agriculture where diffuse fecal contamination is often marked by the co-existence of human and animal sources. In particular, well-defined and stable clusters were found in PCA score plots clustering samples of "pure" human, bovine and porcine feces along with runoff and diluted waters in which the source of contamination is known. A good consistency was also observed between the source assignments made by the 6-stanol-based PCA method and the microbial markers for river waters contaminated by fecal matter of unknown origin. More generally, the tests conducted in this study argue for the addition of the PCA method based on six stanols in the MST toolbox to help identify fecal contamination sources. The data presented in this study show that this addition would improve the determination of fecal contamination sources when the contamination levels are low to moderate. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Tracking Analyst for large 3D spatiotemporal data from multiple sources (case study: Tracking volcanic eruptions in the atmosphere)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gad, Mohamed A.; Elshehaly, Mai H.; Gračanin, Denis; Elmongui, Hicham G.

2018-02-01

This research presents a novel Trajectory-based Tracking Analyst (TTA) that can track and link spatiotemporally variable data from multiple sources. The proposed technique uses trajectory information to determine the positions of time-enabled and spatially variable scatter data at any given time through a combination of along trajectory adjustment and spatial interpolation. The TTA is applied in this research to track large spatiotemporal data of volcanic eruptions (acquired using multi-sensors) in the unsteady flow field of the atmosphere. The TTA enables tracking injections into the atmospheric flow field, the reconstruction of the spatiotemporally variable data at any desired time, and the spatiotemporal join of attribute data from multiple sources. In addition, we were able to create a smooth animation of the volcanic ash plume at interactive rates. The initial results indicate that the TTA can be applied to a wide range of multiple-source data.

An open-source framework for testing tracking devices using Lego Mindstorms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jomier, Julien; Ibanez, Luis; Enquobahrie, Andinet; Pace, Danielle; Cleary, Kevin

2009-02-01

In this paper, we present an open-source framework for testing tracking devices in surgical navigation applications. At the core of image-guided intervention systems is the tracking interface that handles communication with the tracking device and gathers tracking information. Given that the correctness of tracking information is critical for protecting patient safety and for ensuring the successful execution of an intervention, the tracking software component needs to be thoroughly tested on a regular basis. Furthermore, with widespread use of extreme programming methodology that emphasizes continuous and incremental testing of application components, testing design becomes critical. While it is easy to automate most of the testing process, it is often more difficult to test components that require manual intervention such as tracking device. Our framework consists of a robotic arm built from a set of Lego Mindstorms and an open-source toolkit written in C++ to control the robot movements and assess the accuracy of the tracking devices. The application program interface (API) is cross-platform and runs on Windows, Linux and MacOS. We applied this framework for the continuous testing of the Image-Guided Surgery Toolkit (IGSTK), an open-source toolkit for image-guided surgery and shown that regression testing on tracking devices can be performed at low cost and improve significantly the quality of the software.

PENTrack - a versatile Monte Carlo tool for ultracold neutron sources and experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Picker, Ruediger; Chahal, Sanmeet; Christopher, Nicolas; Losekamm, Martin; Marcellin, James; Paul, Stephan; Schreyer, Wolfgang; Yapa, Pramodh

2016-09-01

Ultracold neutrons have energies in the hundred nano eV region. They can be stored in traps for hundreds of seconds. This makes them the ideal tool to study the neutron itself. Measurements of neutron decay correlations, lifetime or electric dipole moment are ideally suited for ultracold neutrons, as well as experiments probing the neutron's gravitational levels in the earth's field. We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation tool that can serve to design and optimize these experiments, and possibly correct results: PENTrack is a C++ based simulation code that tracks neutrons, protons and electrons or atoms, as well as their spins, in gravitational and electromagnetic fields. In addition wall interactions of neutrons due to strong interaction are modeled with a Fermi-potential formalism and take surface roughness into account. The presentation will introduce the physics behind the simulation and provide examples of its application.

Examining the spatial congruence between data obtained with a novel activity location questionnaire, continuous GPS tracking, and prompted recall surveys

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Place and health researchers are increasingly interested in integrating individuals’ mobility and the experience they have with multiple settings in their studies. In practice, however, few tools exist which allow for rapid and accurate gathering of detailed information on the geographic location of places where people regularly undertake activities. We describe the development and validation of a new activity location questionnaire which can be useful in accounting for multiple environmental influences in large population health investigations. Methods To develop the questionnaire, we relied on a literature review of similar data collection tools and on results of a pilot study wherein we explored content validity, test-retest reliability, and face validity. To estimate convergent validity, we used data from a study of users of a public bicycle share program conducted in Montreal, Canada in 2011. We examined the spatial congruence between questionnaire data and data from three other sources: 1) one-week GPS tracks; 2) activity locations extracted from the GPS tracks; and 3) a prompted recall survey of locations visited during the day. Proximity and convex hull measures were used to compare questionnaire-derived data and GPS and prompted recall survey data. Results In the sample, 75% of questionnaire-reported activity locations were located within 400 meters of an activity location recorded on the GPS track or through the prompted recall survey. Results from convex hull analyses suggested questionnaire activity locations were more concentrated in space than GPS or prompted-recall locations. Conclusions The new questionnaire has high convergent validity and can be used to accurately collect data on regular activity spaces in terms of locations regularly visited. The methods, measures, and findings presented provide new material to further study mobility in place and health research. PMID:24025119

Validation of a screening tool for attention and executive functions (EpiTrack Junior) in children and adolescents with absence epilepsy.

PubMed

Kadish, Navah Ester; Baumann, Matthias; Pietz, Joachim; Schubert-Bast, Susanne; Reuner, Gitta

2013-10-01

Our prospective study aimed at the validation of EpiTrack Junior, a neuropsychological screening tool for attention and executive functions in children with epilepsy. Twenty-two children with absence epilepsy aged 8-17 years underwent comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation including EpiTrack Junior and measures of intelligence, verbal and nonverbal memory, word fluency and visuoconstructive organization. Concurrent and discriminant validity of EpiTrack Junior subtests and total score as well as sensitivity and specificity of the total score were analyzed. EpiTrack Junior total score was impaired in 59% of participants. Concurrent validity was demonstrated in 4/6 subtests and for the total score. Discriminant validity was shown with respect to verbal and nonverbal long-term memory. Sensitivity was higher than specificity and highest for the "working memory index". EpiTrack Junior is recommended as a sensitive and time-efficient screening tool for attention and executive functions in children with epilepsy. Impaired results should be followed up with detailed evaluation including information from the parents and school as well as counseling where indicated. © 2013.

Novel calibration for LA-ICP-MS-based fission-track thermochronology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soares, C. J.; Guedes, S.; Hadler, J. C.; Mertz-Kraus, R.; Zack, T.; Iunes, P. J.

2014-01-01

We present a novel age-equation calibration for fission-track age determinations by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. This new calibration incorporates the efficiency factor of an internal surface, [ ηq]is, which is obtained by measuring the projected fission-track length, allowing the determination of FT ages directly using the recommended spontaneous fission decay constant. Also, the uranium concentrations in apatite samples are determined using a Durango (Dur-2, 7.44 μg/g U) crystal and a Mud Tank (MT-7, 6.88 μg/g U) crystal as uranium reference materials. The use of matrix-matched reference materials allows a reduction in the uncertainty of the uranium measurements to those related to counting statistics, which are ca. 1 % taking into account that no extra source of uncertainty has to be considered. The equations as well as the matrix-matched reference materials are evaluated using well-dated samples from Durango, Fish Canyon Tuff, and Limberg as unknown samples. The results compare well with their respective published ages determined through other dating methods. Additionally, the results agree with traditional fission-track ages using both the zeta approach and the absolute approach, suggesting that the calibration presented in this work can be robustly applied in geological context. Furthermore, considering that fission-track ages can be determined without an age standard sample, the fission-track thermochronology approach presented here is assumed to be a valuable dating tool.

Advanced interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series analysis using interferograms of multiple-orbit tracks: A case study on Miyake-jima

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozawa, Taku; Ueda, Hideki

2011-12-01

InSAR time series analysis is an effective tool for detecting spatially and temporally complicated volcanic deformation. To obtain details of such deformation, we developed an advanced InSAR time series analysis using interferograms of multiple-orbit tracks. Considering only right- (or only left-) looking SAR observations, incidence directions for different orbit tracks are mostly included in a common plane. Therefore, slant-range changes in their interferograms can be expressed by two components in the plane. This approach estimates the time series of their components from interferograms of multiple-orbit tracks by the least squares analysis, and higher accuracy is obtained if many interferograms of different orbit tracks are available. Additionally, this analysis can combine interferograms for different incidence angles. In a case study on Miyake-jima, we obtained a deformation time series corresponding to GPS observations from PALSAR interferograms of six orbit tracks. The obtained accuracy was better than that with the SBAS approach, demonstrating its effectiveness. Furthermore, it is expected that higher accuracy would be obtained if SAR observations were carried out more frequently in all orbit tracks. The deformation obtained in the case study indicates uplift along the west coast and subsidence with contraction around the caldera. The speed of the uplift was almost constant, but the subsidence around the caldera decelerated from 2009. A flat deformation source was estimated near sea level under the caldera, implying that deceleration of subsidence was related to interaction between volcanic thermal activity and the aquifer.

Runtime Detection of C-Style Errors in UPC Code

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

Pirkelbauer, P; Liao, C; Panas, T

2011-09-29

Unified Parallel C (UPC) extends the C programming language (ISO C 99) with explicit parallel programming support for the partitioned global address space (PGAS), which provides a global memory space with localized partitions to each thread. Like its ancestor C, UPC is a low-level language that emphasizes code efficiency over safety. The absence of dynamic (and static) safety checks allows programmer oversights and software flaws that can be hard to spot. In this paper, we present an extension of a dynamic analysis tool, ROSE-Code Instrumentation and Runtime Monitor (ROSECIRM), for UPC to help programmers find C-style errors involving the globalmore » address space. Built on top of the ROSE source-to-source compiler infrastructure, the tool instruments source files with code that monitors operations and keeps track of changes to the system state. The resulting code is linked to a runtime monitor that observes the program execution and finds software defects. We describe the extensions to ROSE-CIRM that were necessary to support UPC. We discuss complications that arise from parallel code and our solutions. We test ROSE-CIRM against a runtime error detection test suite, and present performance results obtained from running error-free codes. ROSE-CIRM is released as part of the ROSE compiler under a BSD-style open source license.« less

All flavour point-source search with the ANTARES neutrino telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michael, Tino

2017-09-01

ANTARES is the largest neutrino telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. The detector has established excellent pointing resolution for muon neutrinos (0.4 degrees) and a degree-level resolution also for contained shower events (about 2 degrees). Together with its geographical location, the good angular resolution makes ANTARES an excellent tool to test for the presence of cosmic sources in the Southern Hemisphere and in particular the area around the Galactic Centre, where IceCube reports a number of high-energy events. In this contribution, we present a search for cosmic neutrino sources using ANTARES data taken from early 2007 until the end of 2013. Such sources are identified as a cluster of events in the combined track and shower channels. In addition to the all-flavour full-sky and candidate list searches, we focus on a restricted region around the Galactic Centre. Different spectral indices for the neutrino energy spectrum have been investigated as well as possible extended sources.

Interactive tools for inpatient medication tracking: a multi-phase study with cardiothoracic surgery patients.

PubMed

Wilcox, Lauren; Woollen, Janet; Prey, Jennifer; Restaino, Susan; Bakken, Suzanne; Feiner, Steven; Sackeim, Alexander; Vawdrey, David K

2016-01-01

Prior studies of computing applications that support patients' medication knowledge and self-management offer valuable insights into effective application design, but do not address inpatient settings. This study is the first to explore the design and usefulness of patient-facing tools supporting inpatient medication management and tracking. We designed myNYP Inpatient, a custom personal health record application, through an iterative, user-centered approach. Medication-tracking tools in myNYP Inpatient include interactive views of home and hospital medication data and features for commenting on these data. In a two-phase pilot study, patients used the tools during cardiothoracic postoperative care at Columbia University Medical Center. In Phase One, we provided 20 patients with the application for 24-48 h and conducted a closing interview after this period. In Phase Two, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 patients and 5 clinical pharmacists who evaluated refinements to the tools based on the feedback received during Phase One. Patients reported that the medication-tracking tools were useful. During Phase One, 14 of the 20 participants used the tools actively, to review medication lists and log comments and questions about their medications. Patients' interview responses and audit logs revealed that they made frequent use of the hospital medications feature and found electronic reporting of questions and comments useful. We also uncovered important considerations for subsequent design of such tools. In Phase Two, the patients and pharmacists participating in the study confirmed the usability and usefulness of the refined tools. Inpatient medication-tracking tools, when designed to meet patients' needs, can play an important role in fostering patient participation in their own care and patient-provider communication during a hospital stay. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Proceedings of the 8th Matched-Field Processing Workshop, 12-14 June 1996,

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-10-01

and M. B. Porter Active Matched-Field Tracking (AMFT) ............................................ 29 Homer Bucker Matched-Field Track - Before - Detect (TBD...CD I- z - .4 U) - U :T 0 4,) 0j w CfI -ID 0 ci) CD) CD CD o0 0 C 0D CD 0C o 00 Matched-Field Track - Before - Detect (TBD) Processing using SWellEX...surfaces are used in a source-track search. Track - before - detect (TBD) processing makes use of this technique to extract source track information so that the

Multi-modal imaging, model-based tracking, and mixed reality visualisation for orthopaedic surgery

PubMed Central

Fuerst, Bernhard; Tateno, Keisuke; Johnson, Alex; Fotouhi, Javad; Osgood, Greg; Tombari, Federico; Navab, Nassir

2017-01-01

Orthopaedic surgeons are still following the decades old workflow of using dozens of two-dimensional fluoroscopic images to drill through complex 3D structures, e.g. pelvis. This Letter presents a mixed reality support system, which incorporates multi-modal data fusion and model-based surgical tool tracking for creating a mixed reality environment supporting screw placement in orthopaedic surgery. A red–green–blue–depth camera is rigidly attached to a mobile C-arm and is calibrated to the cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging space via iterative closest point algorithm. This allows real-time automatic fusion of reconstructed surface and/or 3D point clouds and synthetic fluoroscopic images obtained through CBCT imaging. An adapted 3D model-based tracking algorithm with automatic tool segmentation allows for tracking of the surgical tools occluded by hand. This proposed interactive 3D mixed reality environment provides an intuitive understanding of the surgical site and supports surgeons in quickly localising the entry point and orienting the surgical tool during screw placement. The authors validate the augmentation by measuring target registration error and also evaluate the tracking accuracy in the presence of partial occlusion. PMID:29184659

Simulation of atmospheric and terrestrial background signatures for detection and tracking scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schweitzer, Caroline; Stein, Karin

2015-10-01

In the fields of early warning, one is depending on reliable image exploitation: Only if the applied detection and tracking algorithms work efficiently, the threat approach alert can be given fast enough to ensure an automatic initiation of the countermeasure. In order to evaluate the performance of those algorithms for a certain electro-optical (EO) sensor system, test sequences need to be created as realistic and comprehensive as possible. Since both, background and target signature, depend on the environmental conditions, a detailed knowledge of the meteorology and climatology is necessary. Trials for measuring these environmental characteristics serve as a solid basis, but might only constitute the conditions during a rather short period of time. To represent the entire variation of meteorology and climatology that the future system will be exposed to, the application of comprehensive atmospheric modelling tools is essential. This paper gives an introduction of the atmospheric modelling tools that are currently used at Fraunhofer IOSB to simulate spectral background signatures in the infrared (IR) range. It is also demonstrated, how those signatures are affected by changing atmospheric and climatic conditions. In conclusion - and with a special focus on the modelling of different cloud types - sources of error and limits are discussed.

Remote Sensing of Plastic Debris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garaba, S. P.; Dierssen, H. M.

2016-02-01

Plastic debris is becoming a nuisance in the environment and as a result there has been a dire need to synoptically detect and quantify them in the ocean and on land. We investigate the possible utility of spectral information determined from hand held, airborne and satellite remote sensing tools in the detection and identification polymer source of plastic debris. Sampled debris will be compared to our derived spectral library of typical raw polymer sources found at sea and in household waste. Additional work will be to determine ways to estimate the abundance of plastic debris in target areas. Implications of successful remote detection, tracking and quantification of plastic debris will be towards validating field observations over large areas and at repeated time intervals both on land and at sea.

Advances in the microrheology of complex fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Waigh, Thomas Andrew

2016-07-01

New developments in the microrheology of complex fluids are considered. Firstly the requirements for a simple modern particle tracking microrheology experiment are introduced, the error analysis methods associated with it and the mathematical techniques required to calculate the linear viscoelasticity. Progress in microrheology instrumentation is then described with respect to detectors, light sources, colloidal probes, magnetic tweezers, optical tweezers, diffusing wave spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, elastic- and quasi-elastic scattering techniques, 3D tracking, single molecule methods, modern microscopy methods and microfluidics. New theoretical techniques are also reviewed such as Bayesian analysis, oversampling, inversion techniques, alternative statistical tools for tracks (angular correlations, first passage probabilities, the kurtosis, motor protein step segmentation etc), issues in micro/macro rheological agreement and two particle methodologies. Applications where microrheology has begun to make some impact are also considered including semi-flexible polymers, gels, microorganism biofilms, intracellular methods, high frequency viscoelasticity, comb polymers, active motile fluids, blood clots, colloids, granular materials, polymers, liquid crystals and foods. Two large emergent areas of microrheology, non-linear microrheology and surface microrheology are also discussed.

Owning the program technical baseline for future space systems acquisition: program technical baseline tracking tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Tien M.; Guillen, Andy T.; Hant, James J.; Kizer, Justin R.; Min, Inki A.; Siedlak, Dennis J. L.; Yoh, James

2017-05-01

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has recognized the needs for owning the program and technical knowledge within the Air Force concerning the systems being acquired to ensure success. This paper extends the previous work done by the authors [1-2] on the "Resilient Program Technical Baseline Framework for Future Space Systems" and "Portfolio Decision Support Tool (PDST)" to the development and implementation of the Program and Technical Baseline (PTB) Tracking Tool (PTBTL) for the DOD acquisition life cycle. The paper describes the "simplified" PTB tracking model with a focus on the preaward phases and discusses how to implement this model in PDST.

Arduino based radioactive tracking system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Nur Aira Abd; Rashid, Mohd Fazlie Bin Abdul; Rahman, Anwar Bin Abdul; Ramlan, Atikah

2017-01-01

There is a clear need to strengthen security measures to prevent any malevolent use or accidental misuse of radioactive sources. Some of these radioactive sources are regularly transported outside of office or laboratory premises for work and consultation purposes. This paper present the initial development of radioactive source tracking system, which combined Arduino microcontroller, Global Positioning System (GPS) and Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) technologies. The tracking system will help the owner to monitor the movement of the radioactive sources. Currently, the system is capable of tracking the movement of radioactive source through the GPS satellite signals. The GPS co-ordinate could either be transmitted to headquarters at fixed interval via Short Messaging Service (SMS) to enable real time monitoring, or stored in a memory card for offline monitoring and data logging.

Developing Web-based Tools for Collaborative Science and Public Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedman, A.; Pizarro, O.; Williams, S. B.

2016-02-01

With the advances in high bandwidth communications and the proliferation of social media tools, education & outreach activities have become commonplace on ocean-bound research cruises. In parallel, advances in underwater robotics & other data collecting platforms, have made it possible to collect copious amounts of oceanographic data. This data then typically undergoes laborious, manual processing to transform it into quantitative information, which normally occurs post cruise resulting in significant lags between collecting data and using it for scientific discovery. This presentation discusses how appropriately designed software systems, can be used to fulfill multiple objectives and attempt to leverage public engagement in order to compliment science goals. We will present two software platforms: the first is a web browser based tool that was developed for real-time tracking of multiple underwater robots and ships. It was designed to allow anyone on board to view or control it on any device with a web browser. It opens up the possibility of remote teleoperation & engagement and was easily adapted to enable live streaming over the internet for public outreach. While the tracking system provided context and engaged people in real-time, it also directed interested participants to Squidle, another online system. Developed for scientists, Squidle supports data management, exploration & analysis and enables direct access to survey data reducing the lag in data processing. It provides a user-friendly streamlined interface that integrates advanced data management & online annotation tools. This system was adapted to provide a simplified user interface, tutorial instructions and a gamified ranking system to encourage "citizen science" participation. These examples show that through a flexible design approach, it is possible to leverage the development effort of creating science tools to facilitate outreach goals, opening up the possibility for acquiring large volumes of crowd-sourced data without compromising science objectives.

Collaborative workbench for cyberinfrastructure to accelerate science algorithm development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.; Kuo, K.; Lynnes, C.

2013-12-01

There are significant untapped resources for information and knowledge creation within the Earth Science community in the form of data, algorithms, services, analysis workflows or scripts, and the related knowledge about these resources. Despite the huge growth in social networking and collaboration platforms, these resources often reside on an investigator's workstation or laboratory and are rarely shared. A major reason for this is that there are very few scientific collaboration platforms, and those that exist typically require the use of a new set of analysis tools and paradigms to leverage the shared infrastructure. As a result, adoption of these collaborative platforms for science research is inhibited by the high cost to an individual scientist of switching from his or her own familiar environment and set of tools to a new environment and tool set. This presentation will describe an ongoing project developing an Earth Science Collaborative Workbench (CWB). The CWB approach will eliminate this barrier by augmenting a scientist's current research environment and tool set to allow him or her to easily share diverse data and algorithms. The CWB will leverage evolving technologies such as commodity computing and social networking to design an architecture for scalable collaboration that will support the emerging vision of an Earth Science Collaboratory. The CWB is being implemented on the robust and open source Eclipse framework and will be compatible with widely used scientific analysis tools such as IDL. The myScience Catalog built into CWB will capture and track metadata and provenance about data and algorithms for the researchers in a non-intrusive manner with minimal overhead. Seamless interfaces to multiple Cloud services will support sharing algorithms, data, and analysis results, as well as access to storage and computer resources. A Community Catalog will track the use of shared science artifacts and manage collaborations among researchers.

Using Galaxy to Perform Large-Scale Interactive Data Analyses

PubMed Central

Hillman-Jackson, Jennifer; Clements, Dave; Blankenberg, Daniel; Taylor, James; Nekrutenko, Anton

2012-01-01

Innovations in biomedical research technologies continue to provide experimental biologists with novel and increasingly large genomic and high-throughput data resources to be analyzed. As creating and obtaining data has become easier, the key decision faced by many researchers is a practical one: where and how should an analysis be performed? Datasets are large and analysis tool set-up and use is riddled with complexities outside of the scope of core research activities. The authors believe that Galaxy (galaxyproject.org) provides a powerful solution that simplifies data acquisition and analysis in an intuitive web-application, granting all researchers access to key informatics tools previously only available to computational specialists working in Unix-based environments. We will demonstrate through a series of biomedically relevant protocols how Galaxy specifically brings together 1) data retrieval from public and private sources, for example, UCSC’s Eukaryote and Microbial Genome Browsers (genome.ucsc.edu), 2) custom tools (wrapped Unix functions, format standardization/conversions, interval operations) and 3rd party analysis tools, for example, Bowtie/Tuxedo Suite (bowtie-bio.sourceforge.net), Lastz (www.bx.psu.edu/~rsharris/lastz/), SAMTools (samtools.sourceforge.net), FASTX-toolkit (hannonlab.cshl.edu/fastx_toolkit), and MACS (liulab.dfci.harvard.edu/MACS), and creates results formatted for visualization in tools such as the Galaxy Track Browser (GTB, galaxyproject.org/wiki/Learn/Visualization), UCSC Genome Browser (genome.ucsc.edu), Ensembl (www.ensembl.org), and GeneTrack (genetrack.bx.psu.edu). Galaxy rapidly has become the most popular choice for integrated next generation sequencing (NGS) analytics and collaboration, where users can perform, document, and share complex analysis within a single interface in an unprecedented number of ways. PMID:18428782

LabKey Server: an open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration.

PubMed

Nelson, Elizabeth K; Piehler, Britt; Eckels, Josh; Rauch, Adam; Bellew, Matthew; Hussey, Peter; Ramsay, Sarah; Nathe, Cory; Lum, Karl; Krouse, Kevin; Stearns, David; Connolly, Brian; Skillman, Tom; Igra, Mark

2011-03-09

Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely. To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i) Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii) Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii) Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv) Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v) Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi) Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii) Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii) Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment. Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36 countries and 350 organizations. It tracks roughly 27,000 assay runs, 860,000 specimen vials and 1,300,000 vial transfers. Sharing data, analysis tools and infrastructure can speed the efforts of large research consortia by enhancing efficiency and enabling new insights. The Atlas installation of LabKey Server demonstrates the utility of the LabKey platform for collaborative research. Stable, supported builds of LabKey Server are freely available for download at http://www.labkey.org. Documentation and source code are available under the Apache License 2.0.

LabKey Server: An open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely. Results To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i) Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii) Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii) Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv) Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v) Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi) Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii) Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii) Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment. Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36 countries and 350 organizations. It tracks roughly 27,000 assay runs, 860,000 specimen vials and 1,300,000 vial transfers. Conclusions Sharing data, analysis tools and infrastructure can speed the efforts of large research consortia by enhancing efficiency and enabling new insights. The Atlas installation of LabKey Server demonstrates the utility of the LabKey platform for collaborative research. Stable, supported builds of LabKey Server are freely available for download at http://www.labkey.org. Documentation and source code are available under the Apache License 2.0. PMID:21385461

Validation of XMALab software for marker-based XROMM.

PubMed

Knörlein, Benjamin J; Baier, David B; Gatesy, Stephen M; Laurence-Chasen, J D; Brainerd, Elizabeth L

2016-12-01

Marker-based XROMM requires software tools for: (1) correcting fluoroscope distortion; (2) calibrating X-ray cameras; (3) tracking radio-opaque markers; and (4) calculating rigid body motion. In this paper we describe and validate XMALab, a new open-source software package for marker-based XROMM (C++ source and compiled versions on Bitbucket). Most marker-based XROMM studies to date have used XrayProject in MATLAB. XrayProject can produce results with excellent accuracy and precision, but it is somewhat cumbersome to use and requires a MATLAB license. We have designed XMALab to accelerate the XROMM process and to make it more accessible to new users. Features include the four XROMM steps (listed above) in one cohesive user interface, real-time plot windows for detecting errors, and integration with an online data management system, XMAPortal. Accuracy and precision of XMALab when tracking markers in a machined object are ±0.010 and ±0.043 mm, respectively. Mean precision for nine users tracking markers in a tutorial dataset of minipig feeding was ±0.062 mm in XMALab and ±0.14 mm in XrayProject. Reproducibility of 3D point locations across nine users was 10-fold greater in XMALab than in XrayProject, and six degree-of-freedom bone motions calculated with a joint coordinate system were 3- to 6-fold more reproducible in XMALab. XMALab is also suitable for tracking white or black markers in standard light videos with optional checkerboard calibration. We expect XMALab to increase both the quality and quantity of animal motion data available for comparative biomechanics research. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Development of a tool for documenting, tracking, recording, and analyzing improvements to intersection sites and roadway departures in curve locations.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-01

The principal objectives and scope of this project were to provide a software tracking tool to improve : decision-making for highway safety. A literature search revealed that purchasing and customizing : existing software was not feasible and a new s...

Pairing top-down and bottom-up approaches to analyze catchment scale management of water quality and quantity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovette, J. P.; Duncan, J. M.; Band, L. E.

2016-12-01

Watershed management requires information on the hydrologic impacts of local to regional land use, land cover and infrastructure conditions. Management of runoff volumes, storm flows, and water quality can benefit from large scale, "top-down" screening tools, using readily available information, as well as more detailed, "bottom-up" process-based models that explicitly track local runoff production and routing from sources to receiving water bodies. Regional scale data, available nationwide through the NHD+, and top-down models based on aggregated catchment information provide useful tools for estimating regional patterns of peak flows, volumes and nutrient loads at the catchment level. Management impacts can be estimated with these models, but have limited ability to resolve impacts beyond simple changes to land cover proportions. Alternatively, distributed process-based models provide more flexibility in modeling management impacts by resolving spatial patterns of nutrient source, runoff generation, and uptake. This bottom-up approach can incorporate explicit patterns of land cover, drainage connectivity, and vegetation extent, but are typically applied over smaller areas. Here, we first model peak flood flows and nitrogen loads across North Carolina's 70,000 NHD+ catchments using USGS regional streamflow regression equations and the SPARROW model. We also estimate management impact by altering aggregated sources in each of these models. To address the missing spatial implications of the top-down approach, we further explore the demand for riparian buffers as a management strategy, simulating the accumulation of nutrient sources along flow paths and the potential mitigation of these sources through forested buffers. We use the Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys) to model changes across several basins in North Carolina's Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions, ranging in size from 15 - 1,130 km2. The two approaches provide a complementary set of tools for large area screening, followed by smaller, more process based assessment and design tools.

Photochemical grid model implementation and application of ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

For the purposes of developing optimal emissions control strategies, efficient approaches are needed to identify the major sources or groups of sources that contribute to elevated ozone (O3) concentrations. Source-based apportionment techniques implemented in photochemical grid models track sources through the physical and chemical processes important to the formation and transport of air pollutants. Photochemical model source apportionment has been used to track source impacts of specific sources, groups of sources (sectors), sources in specific geographic areas, and stratospheric and lateral boundary inflow on O3. The implementation and application of a source apportionment technique for O3 and its precursors, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), for the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model are described here. The Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM) O3 approach is a hybrid of source apportionment and source sensitivity in that O3 production is attributed to precursor sources based on O3 formation regime (e.g., for a NOx-sensitive regime, O3 is apportioned to participating NOx emissions). This implementation is illustrated by tracking multiple emissions source sectors and lateral boundary inflow. NOx, VOC, and O3 attribution to tracked sectors in the application are consistent with spatial and temporal patterns of precursor emissions. The O3 ISAM implementation is further evaluated through comparisons of apportioned am

Analyses of track shift under high-speed vehicle-track interaction : safety of high speed ground transportation systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-06-01

This report describes analysis tools to predict shift under high-speed vehicle- : track interaction. The analysis approach is based on two fundamental models : developed (as part of this research); the first model computes the track lateral : residua...

Development of a Web-based tool to collect and display water system customer service areas for public health action.

PubMed

Wong, Michelle; Wolff, Craig; Collins, Natalie; Guo, Liang; Meltzer, Dan; English, Paul

2015-01-01

Significant illness is associated with biological contaminants in drinking water, but little is known about health effects from low levels of chemical contamination in drinking water. To examine these effects in epidemiological studies, the sources of drinking water of study populations need to be known. The California Environmental Health Tracking Program developed an online application that would collect data on the geographic location of public water system (PWS) customer service areas in California, which then could be linked to demographic and drinking water quality data. We deployed the Water Boundary Tool (WBT), a Web-based geospatial crowdsourcing application that can manage customer service boundary data for each PWS in California and can track changes over time. We also conducted a needs assessment for expansion to other states. The WBT was designed for water system operators, local and state regulatory agencies, and government entities. Since its public launch in 2012, the WBT has collected service area boundaries for about 2300 individual PWS, serving more than 90% of the California population. Results of the needs assessment suggest interest and utility for deploying such a tool among states lacking statewide PWS service area boundary data. Although the WBT data set is incomplete, it has already been used for a variety of applications, including fulfilling legislatively mandated reporting requirements and linking customer service areas to drinking water quality data to better understand local water quality issues. Development of this tool holds promise to assist with outbreak investigations and prevention, environmental health monitoring, and emergency preparedness and response.

THE FUTURE OF MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING STUDIES

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial source tracking (MST) is differentiated from traditional microbial water quality efforts by the need to identify the host species from which the bacteria originate, rather than necessarily identifying an individual point source. Despite recent advances in the developmen...

Air Traffic Complexity Measurement Environment (ACME): Software User's Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

A user's guide for the Air Traffic Complexity Measurement Environment (ACME) software is presented. The ACME consists of two major components, a complexity analysis tool and user interface. The Complexity Analysis Tool (CAT) analyzes complexity off-line, producing data files which may be examined interactively via the Complexity Data Analysis Tool (CDAT). The Complexity Analysis Tool is composed of three independently executing processes that communicate via PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) and Unix sockets. The Runtime Data Management and Control process (RUNDMC) extracts flight plan and track information from a SAR input file, and sends the information to GARP (Generate Aircraft Routes Process) and CAT (Complexity Analysis Task). GARP in turn generates aircraft trajectories, which are utilized by CAT to calculate sector complexity. CAT writes flight plan, track and complexity data to an output file, which can be examined interactively. The Complexity Data Analysis Tool (CDAT) provides an interactive graphic environment for examining the complexity data produced by the Complexity Analysis Tool (CAT). CDAT can also play back track data extracted from System Analysis Recording (SAR) tapes. The CDAT user interface consists of a primary window, a controls window, and miscellaneous pop-ups. Aircraft track and position data is displayed in the main viewing area of the primary window. The controls window contains miscellaneous control and display items. Complexity data is displayed in pop-up windows. CDAT plays back sector complexity and aircraft track and position data as a function of time. Controls are provided to start and stop playback, adjust the playback rate, and reposition the display to a specified time.

GeolOkit 1.0: a new Open Source, Cross-Platform software for geological data visualization in Google Earth environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Triantafyllou, Antoine; Bastin, Christophe; Watlet, Arnaud

2016-04-01

GIS software suites are today's essential tools to gather and visualise geological data, to apply spatial and temporal analysis and in fine, to create and share interactive maps for further geosciences' investigations. For these purposes, we developed GeolOkit: an open-source, freeware and lightweight software, written in Python, a high-level, cross-platform programming language. GeolOkit software is accessible through a graphical user interface, designed to run in parallel with Google Earth. It is a super user-friendly toolbox that allows 'geo-users' to import their raw data (e.g. GPS, sample locations, structural data, field pictures, maps), to use fast data analysis tools and to plot these one into Google Earth environment using KML code. This workflow requires no need of any third party software, except Google Earth itself. GeolOkit comes with large number of geosciences' labels, symbols, colours and placemarks and may process : (i) multi-points data, (ii) contours via several interpolations methods, (iii) discrete planar and linear structural data in 2D or 3D supporting large range of structures input format, (iv) clustered stereonets and rose diagram, (v) drawn cross-sections as vertical sections, (vi) georeferenced maps and vectors, (vii) field pictures using either geo-tracking metadata from a camera built-in GPS module, or the same-day track of an external GPS. We are looking for you to discover all the functionalities of GeolOkit software. As this project is under development, we are definitely looking to discussions regarding your proper needs, your ideas and contributions to GeolOkit project.

Backprojection of volcanic tremor

USGS Publications Warehouse

Haney, Matthew M.

2014-01-01

Backprojection has become a powerful tool for imaging the rupture process of global earthquakes. We demonstrate the ability of backprojection to illuminate and track volcanic sources as well. We apply the method to the seismic network from Okmok Volcano, Alaska, at the time of an escalation in tremor during the 2008 eruption. Although we are able to focus the wavefield close to the location of the active cone, the network array response lacks sufficient resolution to reveal kilometer-scale changes in tremor location. By deconvolving the response in successive backprojection images, we enhance resolution and find that the tremor source moved toward an intracaldera lake prior to its escalation. The increased tremor therefore resulted from magma-water interaction, in agreement with the overall phreatomagmatic character of the eruption. Imaging of eruption tremor shows that time reversal methods, such as backprojection, can provide new insights into the temporal evolution of volcanic sources.

Stochastic modeling of soundtrack for efficient segmentation and indexing of video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naphade, Milind R.; Huang, Thomas S.

1999-12-01

Tools for efficient and intelligent management of digital content are essential for digital video data management. An extremely challenging research area in this context is that of multimedia analysis and understanding. The capabilities of audio analysis in particular for video data management are yet to be fully exploited. We present a novel scheme for indexing and segmentation of video by analyzing the audio track. This analysis is then applied to the segmentation and indexing of movies. We build models for some interesting events in the motion picture soundtrack. The models built include music, human speech and silence. We propose the use of hidden Markov models to model the dynamics of the soundtrack and detect audio-events. Using these models we segment and index the soundtrack. A practical problem in motion picture soundtracks is that the audio in the track is of a composite nature. This corresponds to the mixing of sounds from different sources. Speech in foreground and music in background are common examples. The coexistence of multiple individual audio sources forces us to model such events explicitly. Experiments reveal that explicit modeling gives better result than modeling individual audio events separately.

Use of Bacteroidales Microbial Source Tracking To Monitor Fecal Contamination in Fresh Produce Production

PubMed Central

Ravaliya, Kruti; Garcia, Santos; Heredia, Norma; Fabiszewski de Aceituno, Anna; Bartz, Faith E.; Leon, Juan S.; Jaykus, Lee-Ann

2014-01-01

In recent decades, fresh and minimally processed produce items have been associated with an increasing proportion of food-borne illnesses. Most pathogens associated with fresh produce are enteric (fecal) in origin, and contamination can occur anywhere along the farm-to-fork chain. Microbial source tracking (MST) is a tool developed in the environmental microbiology field to identify and quantify the dominant source(s) of fecal contamination. This study investigated the utility of an MST method based on Bacteroidales 16S rRNA gene sequences as a means of identifying potential fecal contamination, and its source, in the fresh produce production environment. The method was applied to rinses of fresh produce, source and irrigation waters, and harvester hand rinses collected over the course of 1 year from nine farms (growing tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and cantaloupe) in Northern Mexico. Of 174 samples, 39% were positive for a universal Bacteroidales marker (AllBac), including 66% of samples from cantaloupe farms (3.6 log10 genome equivalence copies [GEC]/100 ml), 31% of samples from tomato farms (1.7 log10 GEC/100 ml), and 18% of samples from jalapeño farms (1.5 log10 GEC/100 ml). Of 68 AllBac-positive samples, 46% were positive for one of three human-specific markers, and none were positive for a bovine-specific marker. There was no statistically significant correlation between Bacteroidales and generic Escherichia coli across all samples. This study provides evidence that Bacteroidales markers may serve as alternative indicators for fecal contamination in fresh produce production, allowing for determination of both general contamination and that derived from the human host. PMID:24212583

Transportable Manned and Robotic Digital Geophysical Mapping Tow Vehicle, Phase 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-01

by using the UX PROCESS QC/QA tools to evaluate quality. Areas evaluated included induced noise, position and track accuracy, synchronization/latency... tools . To gain additional data on productivity and the effect of alternate direction of travel we mapped an unobstructed subset of the Grid 1-4 area...independently evaluated by using the UX PROCESS QC/QA tools to evaluate quality. Areas evaluated included induced noise, position and track

Novel technique for tracking manpower and work packages: a useful tool for the team and management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gill, R.; Gracia, G.; Lupton, R. H.; O'Mullane, W.

2014-08-01

In these times of austerity it is becoming more and more important to justify the need for manpower to management. Additionally, with the fast pace of today's projects the need for tools that facilitate teams to not only plan, but also track their work, are essential. The practice of planning work packages and the associated manpower has been about for a while but little is done to really cross-check that planning against reality. In this paper these elements are brought together through a number of tools that make up the end to end process of planning, tracking and reporting of work package progress and manpower usage.

MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING: DIFFERENT USES AND APPROACHES

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial Source Tracking (MST) methods are used to determine the origin of fecal pollution impacting natural water systems. Several methods require the isolation of pure cultures in order to develop phenotypic or genotypic fingerprint libraries of both source and water bacterial...

Development of Waypoint Planning Tool in Response to NASA Field Campaign Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

He, Matt; Hardin, Danny; Conover, Helen; Graves, Sara; Meyer, Paul; Blakeslee, Richard; Goodman, Michael

2012-01-01

Airborne real time observations are a major component of NASA's Earth Science research and satellite ground validation studies. For mission scientists, planning a research aircraft mission within the context of meeting the science objectives is a complex task because it requires real time situational awareness of the weather conditions that affect the aircraft track. Multiple aircrafts are often involved in NASA field campaigns. The coordination of the aircrafts with satellite overpasses, other airplanes and the constantly evolving, dynamic weather conditions often determines the success of the campaign. A flight planning tool is needed to provide situational awareness information to the mission scientists, and help them plan and modify the flight tracks. Scientists at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Waypoint Planning Tool, an interactive software tool that enables scientists to develop their own flight plans (also known as waypoints) with point -and-click mouse capabilities on a digital map filled with real time raster and vector data. The development of this Waypoint Planning Tool demonstrates the significance of mission support in responding to the challenges presented during NASA field campaigns. Analysis during and after each campaign helped identify both issues and new requirements, and initiated the next wave of development. Currently the Waypoint Planning Tool has gone through three rounds of development and analysis processes. The development of this waypoint tool is directly affected by the technology advances on GIS/Mapping technologies. From the standalone Google Earth application and simple KML functionalities, to Google Earth Plugin and Java Web Start/Applet on web platform, and to the rising open source GIS tools with new JavaScript frameworks, the Waypoint Planning Tool has entered its third phase of technology advancement. The newly innovated, cross ]platform, modular designed JavaScript ]controlled Way Point Tool is planned to be integrated with NASA Airborne Science Mission Tool Suite. Adapting new technologies for the Waypoint Planning Tool ensures its success in helping scientists reach their mission objectives. This presentation will discuss the development processes of the Waypoint Planning Tool in responding to field campaign challenges, identify new information technologies, and describe the capabilities and features of the Waypoint Planning Tool with the real time aspect, interactive nature, and the resultant benefits to the airborne science community.

The Way Point Planning Tool: Real Time Flight Planning for Airborne Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

He, Yubin; Blakeslee, Richard; Goodman, Michael; Hall, John

2012-01-01

Airborne real time observation are a major component of NASA's Earth Science research and satellite ground validation studies. For mission scientist, planning a research aircraft mission within the context of meeting the science objective is a complex task because it requires real time situational awareness of the weather conditions that affect the aircraft track. Multiple aircraft are often involved in the NASA field campaigns the coordination of the aircraft with satellite overpasses, other airplanes and the constantly evolving dynamic weather conditions often determine the success of the campaign. A flight planning tool is needed to provide situational awareness information to the mission scientist and help them plan and modify the flight tracks successfully. Scientists at the University of Alabama Huntsville and the NASA Marshal Space Flight Center developed the Waypoint Planning Tool (WPT), an interactive software tool that enables scientist to develop their own flight plans (also known as waypoints), with point and click mouse capabilities on a digital map filled with time raster and vector data. The development of this Waypoint Planning Tool demonstrates the significance of mission support in responding to the challenges presented during NASA field campaigns. Analyses during and after each campaign helped identify both issues and new requirements, initiating the next wave of development. Currently the Waypoint Planning Tool has gone through three rounds of development and analysis processes. The development of this waypoint tool is directly affected by the technology advances on GIS/Mapping technologies. From the standalone Google Earth application and simple KML functionalities to the Google Earth Plugin and Java Web Start/Applet on web platform, as well as to the rising open source GIS tools with new JavaScript frameworks, the Waypoint planning Tool has entered its third phase of technology advancement. The newly innovated, cross-platform, modular designed JavaScript-controled Waypoint tool is planned to be integrated with the NASA Airborne Science Mission Tool Suite. Adapting new technologies for the Waypoint Planning Tool ensures its success in helping scientist reach their mission objectives. This presentation will discuss the development process of the Waypoint Planning Tool in responding to field campaign challenges, identifying new information technologies, and describing the capabilities and features of the Waypoint Planning Tool with the real time aspect, interactive nature, and the resultant benefits to the airborne science community.

Development of Way Point Planning Tool in Response to NASA Field Campaign Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, M.; Hardin, D. M.; Conover, H.; Graves, S. J.; Meyer, P.; Blakeslee, R. J.; Goodman, M. L.

2012-12-01

Airborne real time observations are a major component of NASA's Earth Science research and satellite ground validation studies. For mission scientists, planning a research aircraft mission within the context of meeting the science objectives is a complex task because it requires real time situational awareness of the weather conditions that affect the aircraft track. Multiple aircrafts are often involved in NASA field campaigns. The coordination of the aircrafts with satellite overpasses, other airplanes and the constantly evolving, dynamic weather conditions often determines the success of the campaign. A flight planning tool is needed to provide situational awareness information to the mission scientists, and help them plan and modify the flight tracks. Scientists at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Waypoint Planning Tool, an interactive software tool that enables scientists to develop their own flight plans (also known as waypoints) with point-and-click mouse capabilities on a digital map filled with real time raster and vector data. The development of this Waypoint Planning Tool demonstrates the significance of mission support in responding to the challenges presented during NASA field campaigns. Analysis during and after each campaign helped identify both issues and new requirements, and initiated the next wave of development. Currently the Waypoint Planning Tool has gone through three rounds of development and analysis processes. The development of this waypoint tool is directly affected by the technology advances on GIS/Mapping technologies. From the standalone Google Earth application and simple KML functionalities, to Google Earth Plugin and Java Web Start/Applet on web platform, and to the rising open source GIS tools with new JavaScript frameworks, the Waypoint Planning Tool has entered its third phase of technology advancement. The newly innovated, cross-platform, modular designed JavaScript-controlled Way Point Tool is planned to be integrated with NASA Airborne Science Mission Tool Suite. Adapting new technologies for the Waypoint Planning Tool ensures its success in helping scientists reach their mission objectives. This presentation will discuss the development processes of the Waypoint Planning Tool in responding to field campaign challenges, identify new information technologies, and describe the capabilities and features of the Waypoint Planning Tool with the real time aspect, interactive nature, and the resultant benefits to the airborne science community.

Framework to parameterize and validate APEX to support deployment of the nutrient tracking tool

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Guidelines have been developed to parameterize and validate the Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) to support the Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT). This follow-up paper presents 1) a case study to illustrate how the developed guidelines are applied in a headwater watershed located in cent...

Performance Characteristics of qPCR Assays Targeting Human- and Ruminant-Associated Bacteroidetes for Microbial Source Tracking across Sixteen Countries on Six Continents

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Numerous quantitative PCR assays for microbial fecal source tracking (MST) have been developed and evaluated in recent years. Widespread application has been hindered by a lack of knowledge regarding the geographical stability and hence applicability of such methods beyond the regional level. This study assessed the performance of five previously reported quantitative PCR assays targeting human-, cattle-, or ruminant-associated Bacteroidetes populations on 280 human and animal fecal samples from 16 countries across six continents. The tested cattle-associated markers were shown to be ruminant-associated. The quantitative distributions of marker concentrations in target and nontarget samples proved to be essential for the assessment of assay performance and were used to establish a new metric for quantitative source-specificity. In general, this study demonstrates that stable target populations required for marker-based MST occur around the globe. Ruminant-associated marker concentrations were strongly correlated with total intestinal Bacteroidetes populations and with each other, indicating that the detected ruminant-associated populations seem to be part of the intestinal core microbiome of ruminants worldwide. Consequently tested ruminant-targeted assays appear to be suitable quantitative MST tools beyond the regional level while the targeted human-associated populations seem to be less prevalent and stable, suggesting potential for improvements in human-targeted methods. PMID:23755882

SeisCode: A seismological software repository for discovery and collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trabant, C.; Reyes, C. G.; Clark, A.; Karstens, R.

2012-12-01

SeisCode is a community repository for software used in seismological and related fields. The repository is intended to increase discoverability of such software and to provide a long-term home for software projects. Other places exist where seismological software may be found, but none meet the requirements necessary for an always current, easy to search, well documented, and citable resource for projects. Organizations such as IRIS, ORFEUS, and the USGS have websites with lists of available or contributed seismological software. Since the authors themselves do often not maintain these lists, the documentation often consists of a sentence or paragraph, and the available software may be outdated. Repositories such as GoogleCode and SourceForge, which are directly maintained by the authors, provide version control and issue tracking but do not provide a unified way of locating geophysical software scattered in and among countless unrelated projects. Additionally, projects are hosted at language-specific sites such as Mathworks and PyPI, in FTP directories, and in websites strewn across the Web. Search engines are only partially effective discovery tools, as the desired software is often hidden deep within the results. SeisCode provides software authors a place to present their software, codes, scripts, tutorials, and examples to the seismological community. Authors can choose their own level of involvement. At one end of the spectrum, the author might simply create a web page that points to an existing site. At the other extreme, an author may choose to leverage the many tools provided by SeisCode, such as a source code management tool with integrated issue tracking, forums, news feeds, downloads, wikis, and more. For software development projects with multiple authors, SeisCode can also be used as a central site for collaboration. SeisCode provides the community with an easy way to discover software, while providing authors a way to build a community around their software packages. IRIS invites the seismological community to browse and to submit projects to https://seiscode.iris.washington.edu/

Volcanic eruption source parameters from active and passive microwave sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montopoli, Mario; Marzano, Frank S.; Cimini, Domenico; Mereu, Luigi

2016-04-01

It is well known, in the volcanology community, that precise information of the source parameters characterising an eruption are of predominant interest for the initialization of the Volcanic Transport and Dispersion Models (VTDM). Source parameters of main interest would be the top altitude of the volcanic plume, the flux of the mass ejected at the emission source, which is strictly related to the cloud top altitude, the distribution of volcanic mass concentration along the vertical column as well as the duration of the eruption and the erupted volume. Usually, the combination of a-posteriori field and numerical studies allow constraining the eruption source parameters for a given volcanic event thus making possible the forecast of ash dispersion and deposition from future volcanic eruptions. So far, remote sensors working at visible and infrared channels (cameras and radiometers) have been mainly used to detect, track and provide estimates of the concentration content and the prevailing size of the particles propagating within the ash clouds up to several thousand of kilometres far from the source as well as track back, a-posteriori, the accuracy of the VATDM outputs thus testing the initial choice made for the source parameters. Acoustic wave (infrasound) and microwave fixed scan radar (voldorad) were also used to infer source parameters. In this work we want to put our attention on the role of sensors operating at microwave wavelengths as complementary tools for the real time estimations of source parameters. Microwaves can benefit of the operability during night and day and a relatively negligible sensitivity to the presence of clouds (non precipitating weather clouds) at the cost of a limited coverage and larger spatial resolution when compared with infrared sensors. Thanks to the aforementioned advantages, the products from microwaves sensors are expected to be sensible mostly to the whole path traversed along the tephra cloud making microwaves particularly appealing for estimates close to the volcano emission source. Near the source the cloud optical thickness is expected to be large enough to induce saturation effects at the infrared sensor receiver thus vanishing the brightness temperature difference methods for the ash cloud identification. In the light of the introduction above, some case studies at Eyjafjallajökull 2010 (Iceland), Etna (Italy) and Calbuco (Cile), on 5-10 May 2010, 23rd Nov., 2013 and 23 Apr., 2015, respectively, are analysed in terms of source parameter estimates (manly the cloud top and mass flax rate) from ground based microwave weather radar (9.6 GHz) and satellite Low Earth Orbit microwave radiometers (50 - 183 GH). A special highlight will be given to the advantages and limitations of microwave-related products with respect to more conventional tools.

An Incredible Tool for Tracking Seizure Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollingsworth, Jan Carter

2007-01-01

Eric Schumacher knows all too well the trials and tribulations of tracking seizures and daily activities in the ongoing attempt to gain seizure control. Diagnosed with epilepsy in his teens, he is now bringing a new and innovative tool to the market that could help countless people with epilepsy gain better control over their seizures and thus…

Four-Month-Old Infants Individuate and Track Simple Tools Following Functional Demonstrations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stavans, Maayan; Baillargeon, Renée

2018-01-01

Two experiments examined whether 4-month-olds (n = 120) who were induced to assign two objects to different categories would then be able to take advantage of these contrastive categorical encodings to individuate and track the objects. In each experiment, infants first watched functional demonstrations of two tools, a masher and tongs (Experiment…

Tracking Online Data with YouTube's Insight Tracking Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kinsey, Joanne

2012-01-01

YouTube users have access to the powerful data collection tool, Insight. Insight allows YouTube content producers to collect data about the number of online views, geographic location of viewers by country, the demographics of the viewers, how a video was discovered, and the attention span of the viewer while watching the video. This article…

The Integrated Waste Tracking System - A Flexible Waste Management Tool

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

Anderson, Robert Stephen

2001-02-01

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) has fully embraced a flexible, computer-based tool to help increase waste management efficiency and integrate multiple operational functions from waste generation through waste disposition while reducing cost. The Integrated Waste Tracking System (IWTS)provides comprehensive information management for containerized waste during generation,storage, treatment, transport, and disposal. The IWTS provides all information necessary for facilities to properly manage and demonstrate regulatory compliance. As a platformindependent, client-server and Web-based inventory and compliance system, the IWTS has proven to be a successful tracking, characterization, compliance, and reporting tool that meets themore » needs of both operations and management while providing a high level of management flexibility.« less

A Microsoft Project-Based Planning, Tracking, and Management Tool for the National Transonic Facility's Model Changeover Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vairo, Daniel M.

1998-01-01

The removal and installation of sting-mounted wind tunnel models in the National Transonic Facility (NTF) is a multi-task process having a large impact on the annual throughput of the facility. Approximately ten model removal and installation cycles occur annually at the NTF with each cycle requiring slightly over five days to complete. The various tasks of the model changeover process were modeled in Microsoft Project as a template to provide a planning, tracking, and management tool. The template can also be used as a tool to evaluate improvements to this process. This document describes the development of the template and provides step-by-step instructions on its use and as a planning and tracking tool. A secondary role of this document is to provide an overview of the model changeover process and briefly describe the tasks associated with it.

A Customized DNA Microarray for Microbial Source Tracking in Environmental Systems

EPA Science Inventory

It is estimated that more than 160, 000 miles of rivers and streams in the United States are impaired due to the presence of waterborne pathogens. These pathogens typically originate from human and other animal fecal pollution sources; therefore, a rapid microbial source tracking...

Method and apparatus for acquisition and tracking of light sources in a transient event rich environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolin, Kenneth (Inventor); Flynn, David (Inventor); Fowski, Walter (Inventor); Miklus, Kenneth (Inventor); Kissh, Frank (Inventor); Abreu, Rene (Inventor)

1993-01-01

A method and apparatus for tracking a light source in a transient event rich environment locks on to a light source incident on a field-of-view 1 of a charge-coupled-device (CCD) array 6, validates the permanence of said light source and transmits data relating to the brilliance and location of said light source if said light source is determined to be permanent.

Characterizing the oxygen isotopic composition of phosphate sources to aquatic ecosystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Young, M.B.; McLaughlin, K.; Kendall, C.; Stringfellow, W.; Rollog, M.; Elsbury, K.; Donald, E.; Paytan, A.

2009-01-01

The oxygen isotopic composition of dissolved inorganic phosphate (δ18Op) in many aquatic ecosystems is not in isotopic equilibrium with ambient water and, therefore, may reflect the source δ18Op. Identification of phosphate sources to water bodies is critical for designing best management practices for phosphate load reduction to control eutrophication. In order for δ18O p to be a useful tool for source tracking, the δ18Op of phosphate sources must be distinguishable from one another; however, the δ18Op of potential sources has not been well characterized. We measured the δ18O p of a variety of known phosphate sources, including fertilizers, semiprocessed phosphorite ore, particulate aerosols, detergents, leachates of vegetation, soil, animal feces, and wastewater treatment plant effluent. We found a considerable range of δ18Op values (from +8.4 to +24.9‰) for the various sources, and statistically significant differences were found between several of the source types. δ18Op measured in three different fresh water systems was generally not in equilibrium with ambient water. Although there is overlap in δ18Op values among the groups of samples, our results indicate that some sources are isotopically distinct and δ18Op can be used for identifying phosphate sources to aquatic systems.

Automated real time peg and tool detection for the FLS trainer box.

PubMed

Nemani, Arun; Sankaranarayanan, Ganesh

2012-01-01

This study proposes a method that effectively tracks trocar tool and peg positions in real time to allow real time assessment of the peg transfer task of the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS). By utilizing custom code along with OpenCV libraries, tool and peg positions can be accurately tracked without altering the original setup conditions of the FLS trainer box. This is achieved via a series of image filtration sequences, thresholding functions, and Haar training methods.

FECAL SOURCE TRACKING BY ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE ANALYSIS ON A WATERSHED EXHIBITING LOW RESISTANCE

EPA Science Inventory

The ongoing development of microbial source tracking has made it possible to identify contamination sources with varying accuracy, depending on the method used. The purpose of this study was done to test the efficiency of the antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA) method under low ...

LIBRARY-DEPENDENT MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING OF ENTEROCOCCUS SP. USING AFLP AND BOX-PCR

EPA Science Inventory

Library-dependent microbial source tracking (LD MST) methods are one of the approaches used to identify nonpoint sources of fecal contamination in support of total maximum daily load implementation. However, LD MST methods have been questioned due to the high temporal and spatial...

QUO VADIS SOURCE TRACKING? TOWARDS A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF FECAL POLLUTION

EPA Science Inventory

Advances in microbial source tracking (MST) have largely been driven by the need to comply with water quality standards based on traditional indicator bacteria. Recently, a number of PCR-based, culture- and library-independent methods have been gaining popularity among source tra...

NCBI Epigenomics: what's new for 2013.

PubMed

Fingerman, Ian M; Zhang, Xuan; Ratzat, Walter; Husain, Nora; Cohen, Robert F; Schuler, Gregory D

2013-01-01

The Epigenomics resource at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has been created to serve as a comprehensive public repository for whole-genome epigenetic data sets (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/epigenomics). We have constructed this resource by selecting the subset of epigenetics-specific data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and then subjecting them to further review and annotation. Associated data tracks can be viewed using popular genome browsers or downloaded for local analysis. We have performed extensive user testing throughout the development of this resource, and new features and improvements are continuously being implemented based on the results. We have made substantial usability improvements to user interfaces, enhanced functionality, made identification of data tracks of interest easier and created new tools for preliminary data analyses. Additionally, we have made efforts to enhance the integration between the Epigenomics resource and other NCBI databases, including the Gene database and PubMed. Data holdings have also increased dramatically since the initial publication describing the NCBI Epigenomics resource and currently consist of >3700 viewable and downloadable data tracks from 955 biological sources encompassing five well-studied species. This updated manuscript highlights these changes and improvements.

NCBI Epigenomics: What’s new for 2013

PubMed Central

Fingerman, Ian M.; Zhang, Xuan; Ratzat, Walter; Husain, Nora; Cohen, Robert F.; Schuler, Gregory D.

2013-01-01

The Epigenomics resource at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has been created to serve as a comprehensive public repository for whole-genome epigenetic data sets (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/epigenomics). We have constructed this resource by selecting the subset of epigenetics-specific data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and then subjecting them to further review and annotation. Associated data tracks can be viewed using popular genome browsers or downloaded for local analysis. We have performed extensive user testing throughout the development of this resource, and new features and improvements are continuously being implemented based on the results. We have made substantial usability improvements to user interfaces, enhanced functionality, made identification of data tracks of interest easier and created new tools for preliminary data analyses. Additionally, we have made efforts to enhance the integration between the Epigenomics resource and other NCBI databases, including the Gene database and PubMed. Data holdings have also increased dramatically since the initial publication describing the NCBI Epigenomics resource and currently consist of >3700 viewable and downloadable data tracks from 955 biological sources encompassing five well-studied species. This updated manuscript highlights these changes and improvements. PMID:23193265

Flies dynamically anti-track, rather than ballistically escape, aversive odor during flight.

PubMed

Wasserman, Sara; Lu, Patrick; Aptekar, Jacob W; Frye, Mark A

2012-08-15

Tracking distant odor sources is crucial to foraging, courtship and reproductive success for many animals including fish, flies and birds. Upon encountering a chemical plume in flight, Drosophila melanogaster integrates the spatial intensity gradient and temporal fluctuations over the two antennae, while simultaneously reducing the amplitude and frequency of rapid steering maneuvers, stabilizing the flight vector. There are infinite escape vectors away from a noxious source, in contrast to a single best tracking vector towards an attractive source. Attractive and aversive odors are segregated into parallel neuronal pathways in flies; therefore, the behavioral algorithms for avoidance may be categorically different from tracking. Do flies plot random ballistic or otherwise variable escape vectors? Or do they instead make use of temporally dynamic mechanisms for continuously and directly avoiding noxious odors in a manner similar to tracking appetitive ones? We examine this question using a magnetic tether flight simulator that permits free yaw movements, such that flies can actively orient within spatially defined odor plumes. We show that in-flight aversive flight behavior shares all of the key features of attraction such that flies continuously 'anti-track' the noxious source.

The use of a multidimensional space for fusion candidate representation in a maritime domain awareness application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lefebvre, Eric; Helleur, Christopher; Kashyap, Nathan

2008-03-01

Maritime surveillance of coastal regions requires operational staff to integrate a large amount of information from a variety of military and civilian sources. The diverse nature of the information sources makes complete automation difficult. The volume of vessels tracked and the number of sources makes it difficult for the limited operation centre staff to fuse all the information manually within a reasonable timeframe. In this paper, a conceptual decision space is proposed to provide a framework for automating the process of operators integrating the sources needed to maintain Maritime Domain Awareness. The decision space contains all potential pairs of ship tracks that are candidates for fusion. The location of the candidate pairs in this defined space depends on the value of the parameters used to make a decision. In the application presented, three independent parameters are used: the source detection efficiency, the geo-feasibility, and the track quality. One of three decisions is applied to each candidate track pair based on these three parameters: 1. to accept the fusion, in which case tracks are fused in one track, 2. to reject the fusion, in which case the candidate track pair is removed from the list of potential fusion, and 3. to defer the fusion, in which case no fusion occurs but the candidate track pair remains in the list of potential fusion until sufficient information is provided. This paper demonstrates in an operational setting how a proposed conceptual space is used to optimize the different thresholds for automatic fusion decision while minimizing the list of unresolved cases when the decision is left to the operator.

TrAVis to Enhance Online Tutoring and Learning Activities: Real-Time Visualization of Students Tracking Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

May, Madeth; George, Sebastien; Prevot, Patrick

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper presents a part of our research work that places an emphasis on Tracking Data Analysis and Visualization (TrAVis) tools, a web-based system, designed to enhance online tutoring and learning activities, supported by computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools. TrAVis is particularly dedicated to assist both tutors and students…

An evolutionary computation based algorithm for calculating solar differential rotation by automatic tracking of coronal bright points

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahamatnia, Ehsan; Dorotovič, Ivan; Fonseca, Jose M.; Ribeiro, Rita A.

2016-03-01

Developing specialized software tools is essential to support studies of solar activity evolution. With new space missions such as Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), solar images are being produced in unprecedented volumes. To capitalize on that huge data availability, the scientific community needs a new generation of software tools for automatic and efficient data processing. In this paper a prototype of a modular framework for solar feature detection, characterization, and tracking is presented. To develop an efficient system capable of automatic solar feature tracking and measuring, a hybrid approach combining specialized image processing, evolutionary optimization, and soft computing algorithms is being followed. The specialized hybrid algorithm for tracking solar features allows automatic feature tracking while gathering characterization details about the tracked features. The hybrid algorithm takes advantages of the snake model, a specialized image processing algorithm widely used in applications such as boundary delineation, image segmentation, and object tracking. Further, it exploits the flexibility and efficiency of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a stochastic population based optimization algorithm. PSO has been used successfully in a wide range of applications including combinatorial optimization, control, clustering, robotics, scheduling, and image processing and video analysis applications. The proposed tool, denoted PSO-Snake model, was already successfully tested in other works for tracking sunspots and coronal bright points. In this work, we discuss the application of the PSO-Snake algorithm for calculating the sidereal rotational angular velocity of the solar corona. To validate the results we compare them with published manual results performed by an expert.

Forensic firearm identification of semiautomatic handguns using laser formed microstamping elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lizotte, Todd E.; Ohar, Orest

2008-08-01

For well over one hundred years the science of Firearm and Tool Mark Identification has relied on the theory that unintentional random tooling marks generated during the manufacture of a firearm onto its interior surfaces are unique to each individual firearm.[1][2] Forensic Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners have had to rely on the analysis of these randomly formed unintentional striations, or scratches and dings, transferred onto ammunition components from firearms used to commit crimes, as a way of developing clues and evidence. Such transfers take place during the cycle of fire and ejection of the cartridge from the firearm during the commission of a crime. The typical striations on the cartridge casings are caused by tooling marks that are randomly formed during the machining of interior surfaces of the manufactured firearm and by other firearm components that come in contact with the cycling ammunition. Components like the firing pin, extractor and ejector, impact the surfaces of the cartridges as they are fed, fired and ejected from the firearm. When found at a crime scene, these striae constitute ballistic evidence when effectively analyzed by a Forensic Firearm and Tool Mark Examiner. Examiners categorize these striations looking for matches to be made between the components that created the marks and the recovered firearm. Reality is that nearly 50% of firearms used in violent crimes are not recovered at a crime scene, requiring the analysis to be processed and logged into evidence files or imaged into reference image databases for future comparison whenever a firearm might be recovered. This paper will present a unique law enforcement technology, embedded into firearms for tracking the sources of illegally trafficked firearms, called Microstamping. Microstamping is a laser based micromachining process that forms microscopic "intentional structures and marks" on components within a firearm. Thus when the firearm is fired, these microstamp structures transfer an identifying tracking code onto the expended cartridge ejected from the firearm. Microstamped structures are laser micromachined alpha numeric and encoded geometric tracking numbers, linked to the serial number of the firearm. Ballistic testing data will be presented covering microstamp transfer quality, transfer rates and survivability/durability. Further information will provide an overview on how microstamping information can be utilized by law enforcement to combat illegal firearm trafficking.

Reconsidering the Device in the Drawer: Lapses as a Design Opportunity in Personal Informatics

PubMed Central

Epstein, Daniel A.; Kang, Jennifer H.; Pina, Laura R.; Fogarty, James; Munson, Sean A.

2017-01-01

People stop using personal tracking tools over time, referred to as the lapsing stage of their tool use. We explore how designs can support people when they lapse in tracking, considering how to design data representations for a person who lapses in Fitbit use. Through a survey of 141 people who had lapsed in using Fitbit, we identified three use patterns and four perspectives on tracking. Participants then viewed seven visual representations of their Fitbit data and seven approaches to framing this data. Participant Fitbit use and perspective on tracking influenced their preference, which we surface in a series of contrasts. Specifically, our findings guide selecting appropriate aggregations from Fitbit use (e.g., aggregate more when someone has less data), choosing an appropriate framing technique from tracking perspective (e.g., ensure framing aligns with how the person feels about tracking), and creating appropriate social comparisons (e.g., portray the person positively compared to peers). We conclude by discussing how these contrasts suggest new designs and opportunities in other tracking domains. PMID:28516173

Atrioventricular junction (AVJ) motion tracking: a software tool with ITK/VTK/Qt.

PubMed

Pengdong Xiao; Shuang Leng; Xiaodan Zhao; Hua Zou; Ru San Tan; Wong, Philip; Liang Zhong

2016-08-01

The quantitative measurement of the Atrioventricular Junction (AVJ) motion is an important index for ventricular functions of one cardiac cycle including systole and diastole. In this paper, a software tool that can conduct AVJ motion tracking from cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) images is presented by using Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK), The Visualization Toolkit (VTK) and Qt. The software tool is written in C++ by using Visual Studio Community 2013 integrated development environment (IDE) containing both an editor and a Microsoft complier. The software package has been successfully implemented. From the software engineering practice, it is concluded that ITK, VTK, and Qt are very handy software systems to implement automatic image analysis functions for CMR images such as quantitative measure of motion by visual tracking.

Microbial Source Tracking Markers for Detection of Fecal Contamination in Environmental Waters: Relationships Between Pathogens and Human Health Outcomes

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial source tracking (MST) describes a suite of methods and an investigative strategy designed to identify the dominant sources of fecal pollution in environmental waters. The methods rely on the close association of certain fecal microorganisms with a particular host speci...

System and method for tracking a signal source. [employing feedback control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mogavero, L. N.; Johnson, E. G.; Evans, J. M., Jr.; Albus, J. S. (Inventor)

1978-01-01

A system for tracking moving signal sources is disclosed which is particularly adaptable for use in tracking stage performers. A miniature transmitter is attached to the person or object to be tracked and emits a detectable signal of a predetermined frequency. A plurality of detectors positioned in a preset pattern sense the signal and supply output information to a phase detector which applies signals representing the angular orientation of the transmitter to a computer. The computer provides command signals to a servo network which drives a device such as a motor driven mirror reflecting the beam of a spotlight, to track the moving transmitter.

Space Object Query Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phillips, Veronica J.

2017-01-01

STI is for a fact sheet on the Space Object Query Tool being created by the MDC. When planning launches, NASA must first factor in the tens of thousands of objects already in orbit around the Earth. The number of human-made objects, including nonfunctional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris and fragmentation debris orbiting Earth has grown steadily since Sputnik 1 was launched in 1957. Currently, the U.S. Department of Defenses Joint Space Operations Center, or JSpOC, tracks over 15,000 distinct objects and provides data for more than 40,000 objects via its Space-Track program, found at space-track.org.

An efficient method to compute microlensed light curves for point sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Witt, Hans J.

1993-01-01

We present a method to compute microlensed light curves for point sources. This method has the general advantage that all microimages contributing to the light curve are found. While a source moves along a straight line, all micro images are located either on the primary image track or on the secondary image tracks (loops). The primary image track extends from - infinity to + infinity and is made of many sequents which are continuously connected. All the secondary image tracks (loops) begin and end on the lensing point masses. The method can be applied to any microlensing situation with point masses in the deflector plane, even for the overcritical case and surface densities close to the critical. Furthermore, we present general rules to evaluate the light curve for a straight track arbitrary placed in the caustic network of a sample of many point masses.

Using NextRAD sequencing to infer movement of herbivores among host plants.

PubMed

Fu, Zhen; Epstein, Brendan; Kelley, Joanna L; Zheng, Qi; Bergland, Alan O; Castillo Carrillo, Carmen I; Jensen, Andrew S; Dahan, Jennifer; Karasev, Alexander V; Snyder, William E

2017-01-01

Herbivores often move among spatially interspersed host plants, tracking high-quality resources through space and time. This dispersal is of particular interest for vectors of plant pathogens. Existing molecular tools to track such movement have yielded important insights, but often provide insufficient genetic resolution to infer spread at finer spatiotemporal scales. Here, we explore the use of Nextera-tagmented reductively-amplified DNA (NextRAD) sequencing to infer movement of a highly-mobile winged insect, the potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli), among host plants. The psyllid vectors the pathogen that causes zebra chip disease in potato (Solanum tuberosum), but understanding and managing the spread of this pathogen is limited by uncertainty about the insect's host plant(s) outside of the growing season. We identified 1,978 polymorphic loci among psyllids separated spatiotemporally on potato or in patches of bittersweet nightshade (S. dulcumara), a weedy plant proposed to be the source of potato-colonizing psyllids. A subset of the psyllids on potato exhibited genetic similarity to insects on nightshade, consistent with regular movement between these two host plants. However, a second subset of potato-collected psyllids was genetically distinct from those collected on bittersweet nightshade; this suggests that a currently unrecognized source, i.e., other nightshade patches or a third host-plant species, could be contributing to psyllid populations in potato. Oftentimes, dispersal of vectors of pathogens must be tracked at a fine scale in order to understand, predict, and manage disease spread. We demonstrate that emerging sequencing technologies that detect genome-wide SNPs of a vector can be used to infer such localized movement.

Techniques for Tracking, Evaluating, and Reporting the Implementation of Nonpoint Source Control Measures - Forestry

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This guidance is intended to assist state, regional, and local environmental professionals in tracking the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) used to control nonpoint source pollution generated by forestry practices.

Phytotracker, an information management system for easy recording and tracking of plants, seeds and plasmids

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background A large number of different plant lines are produced and maintained in a typical plant research laboratory, both as seed stocks and in active growth. These collections need careful and consistent management to track and maintain them properly, and this is a particularly pressing issue in laboratories undertaking research involving genetic manipulation due to regulatory requirements. Researchers and PIs need to access these data and collections, and therefore an easy-to-use plant-oriented laboratory information management system that implements, maintains and displays the information in a simple and visual format would be of great help in both the daily work in the lab and in ensuring regulatory compliance. Results Here, we introduce ‘Phytotracker’, a laboratory management system designed specifically to organise and track plasmids, seeds and growing plants that can be used in mixed platform environments. Phytotracker is designed with simplicity of user operation and ease of installation and management as the major factor, whilst providing tracking tools that cover the full range of activities in molecular genetics labs. It utilises the cross-platform Filemaker relational database, which allows it to be run as a stand-alone or as a server-based networked solution available across all workstations in a lab that can be internet accessible if desired. It can also be readily modified or customised further. Phytotracker provides cataloguing and search functions for plasmids, seed batches, seed stocks and plants growing in pots or trays, and allows tracking of each plant from seed sowing, through harvest to the new seed batch and can print appropriate labels at each stage. The system enters seed information as it is transferred from the previous harvest data, and allows both selfing and hybridization (crossing) to be defined and tracked. Transgenic lines can be linked to their plasmid DNA source. This ease of use and flexibility helps users to reduce their time needed to organise their plants, seeds and plasmids and to maintain laboratory continuity involving multiple workers. Conclusion We have developed and used Phytotracker for over five years and have found it has been an intuitive, powerful and flexible research tool in organising our plasmid, seed and plant collections requiring minimal maintenance and training for users. It has been developed in an Arabidopsis molecular genetics environment, but can be readily adapted for almost any plant laboratory research. PMID:23062011

Phytotracker, an information management system for easy recording and tracking of plants, seeds and plasmids.

PubMed

Nieuwland, Jeroen; Sornay, Emily; Marchbank, Angela; de Graaf, Barend Hj; Murray, James Ah

2012-10-13

A large number of different plant lines are produced and maintained in a typical plant research laboratory, both as seed stocks and in active growth. These collections need careful and consistent management to track and maintain them properly, and this is a particularly pressing issue in laboratories undertaking research involving genetic manipulation due to regulatory requirements. Researchers and PIs need to access these data and collections, and therefore an easy-to-use plant-oriented laboratory information management system that implements, maintains and displays the information in a simple and visual format would be of great help in both the daily work in the lab and in ensuring regulatory compliance. Here, we introduce 'Phytotracker', a laboratory management system designed specifically to organise and track plasmids, seeds and growing plants that can be used in mixed platform environments. Phytotracker is designed with simplicity of user operation and ease of installation and management as the major factor, whilst providing tracking tools that cover the full range of activities in molecular genetics labs. It utilises the cross-platform Filemaker relational database, which allows it to be run as a stand-alone or as a server-based networked solution available across all workstations in a lab that can be internet accessible if desired. It can also be readily modified or customised further. Phytotracker provides cataloguing and search functions for plasmids, seed batches, seed stocks and plants growing in pots or trays, and allows tracking of each plant from seed sowing, through harvest to the new seed batch and can print appropriate labels at each stage. The system enters seed information as it is transferred from the previous harvest data, and allows both selfing and hybridization (crossing) to be defined and tracked. Transgenic lines can be linked to their plasmid DNA source. This ease of use and flexibility helps users to reduce their time needed to organise their plants, seeds and plasmids and to maintain laboratory continuity involving multiple workers. We have developed and used Phytotracker for over five years and have found it has been an intuitive, powerful and flexible research tool in organising our plasmid, seed and plant collections requiring minimal maintenance and training for users. It has been developed in an Arabidopsis molecular genetics environment, but can be readily adapted for almost any plant laboratory research.

High-Precision (MC-ICPMS) Isotope Ratio Analysis Reveals Contrasting Sources of Elevated Blood Lead Levels of an Adult with Retained Bullet Fragments, and of His Child, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

PubMed

Smith, Kate E; Shafer, Martin M; Weiss, Debora; Anderson, Henry A; Gorski, Patrick R

2017-05-01

Exposure to the neurotoxic element lead (Pb) continues to be a major human health concern, particularly for children in US urban settings, and the need for robust tools for assessment of exposure sources has never been greater. The latest generation of multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS) instrumentation offers the capability of using Pb isotopic signatures as a tool for environmental source tracking in public health. We present a case where MC-ICPMS was applied to isotopically resolve Pb sources in human clinical samples. An adult male and his child residing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, presented to care in August 2015 with elevated blood lead levels (BLLs) (>200 μg/dL for the adult and 10 μg/dL for the child). The adult subject is a gunshot victim who had multiple bullet fragments embedded in soft tissue of his thigh for approximately 10 years. This study compared the high-precision isotopic fingerprints (<1 ‰ 2σ external precision) of Pb in the adult's and child's whole blood (WB) to the following possible Pb sources: a surgically extracted bullet fragment, household paint samples and tap water, and a Pb water-distribution pipe removed from servicing a house in the same neighborhood. Pb in the bullet and adult WB were nearly isotopically indistinguishable (matching within 0.05-0.56 ‰), indicating that bullet fragments embedded in soft tissue could be the cause of both acute and chronic elevated blood Pb levels. Among other sources investigated, no single source dominated the child's exposure profile as reflected in the elevated BLL.

Momentum--"Evaluating Your Marketing Program: Measuring and Tracking Techniques."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meservey, Lynne D.

1990-01-01

Suggests 10 tracking techniques for evaluating marketing performance. Techniques involve utilization rate, inquiry and source of inquiry tracking, appointment and interview tracking, enrollment conversion, cost per inquiry and per enrollment, retention rate, survey results, and "mystery shopper." (RJC)

Inferring Models of Bacterial Dynamics toward Point Sources

PubMed Central

Jashnsaz, Hossein; Nguyen, Tyler; Petrache, Horia I.; Pressé, Steve

2015-01-01

Experiments have shown that bacteria can be sensitive to small variations in chemoattractant (CA) concentrations. Motivated by these findings, our focus here is on a regime rarely studied in experiments: bacteria tracking point CA sources (such as food patches or even prey). In tracking point sources, the CA detected by bacteria may show very large spatiotemporal fluctuations which vary with distance from the source. We present a general statistical model to describe how bacteria locate point sources of food on the basis of stochastic event detection, rather than CA gradient information. We show how all model parameters can be directly inferred from single cell tracking data even in the limit of high detection noise. Once parameterized, our model recapitulates bacterial behavior around point sources such as the “volcano effect”. In addition, while the search by bacteria for point sources such as prey may appear random, our model identifies key statistical signatures of a targeted search for a point source given any arbitrary source configuration. PMID:26466373

Managing research and surveillance projects in real-time with a novel open-source eManagement tool designed for under-resourced countries.

PubMed

Steiner, Andreas; Hella, Jerry; Grüninger, Servan; Mhalu, Grace; Mhimbira, Francis; Cercamondi, Colin I; Doulla, Basra; Maire, Nicolas; Fenner, Lukas

2016-09-01

A software tool is developed to facilitate data entry and to monitor research projects in under-resourced countries in real-time. The eManagement tool "odk_planner" is written in the scripting languages PHP and Python. The odk_planner is lightweight and uses minimal internet resources. It was designed to be used with the open source software Open Data Kit (ODK). The users can easily configure odk_planner to meet their needs, and the online interface displays data collected from ODK forms in a graphically informative way. The odk_planner also allows users to upload pictures and laboratory results and sends text messages automatically. User-defined access rights protect data and privacy. We present examples from four field applications in Tanzania successfully using the eManagement tool: 1) clinical trial; 2) longitudinal Tuberculosis (TB) Cohort Study with a complex visit schedule, where it was used to graphically display missing case report forms, upload digitalized X-rays, and send text message reminders to patients; 3) intervention study to improve TB case detection, carried out at pharmacies: a tablet-based electronic referral system monitored referred patients, and sent automated messages to remind pharmacy clients to visit a TB Clinic; and 4) TB retreatment case monitoring designed to improve drug resistance surveillance: clinicians at four public TB clinics and lab technicians at the TB reference laboratory used a smartphone-based application that tracked sputum samples, and collected clinical and laboratory data. The user friendly, open source odk_planner is a simple, but multi-functional, Web-based eManagement tool with add-ons that helps researchers conduct studies in under-resourced countries. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Could we do better? Behavioural tracking on recommended consumer health websites.

PubMed

Burkell, Jacquelyn; Fortier, Alexandre

2015-09-01

This study examines behavioural tracking practices on consumer health websites, contrasting tracking on sites recommended by information professionals with tracking on sites returned by Google. Two lists of consumer health websites were constructed: sites recommended by information professionals and sites returned by Google searches. Sites were divided into three groups according to source (Recommended-Only, Google-Only or both) and type (Government, Not-for-Profit or Commercial). Behavioural tracking practices on each website were documented using a protocol that detected cookies, Web beacons and Flash cookies. The presence and the number of trackers that collect personal information were contrasted across source and type of site; a second set of analyses specifically examined Advertising trackers. Recommended-Only sites show lower levels of tracking - especially tracking by advertisers - than do Google-Only sites or sites found through both sources. Government and Not-for-Profit sites have fewer trackers, particularly from advertisers, than do Commercial sites. Recommended sites, especially those from Government or Not-for-Profit organisations, present a lower privacy threat than sites returned by Google searches. Nonetheless, most recommended websites include some trackers, and half include at least one Advertising tracker. To protect patron privacy, information professionals should examine the tracking practices of the websites they recommend. © 2015 Health Libraries Group.

75 FR 25927 - Vehicle/Track Interaction Safety Standards; High-Speed and High Cant Deficiency Operations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-10

... qualification process as an important tool for the assessment of vehicle performance. These simulations are... qualification process, simulations would be conducted using both a measured track geometry segment... on the results of simulation studies designed to identify track geometry irregularities associated...

Interface of the general fitting tool GENFIT2 in PandaRoot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prencipe, Elisabetta; Spataro, Stefano; Stockmanns, Tobias; PANDA Collaboration

2017-10-01

\\bar{{{P}}}ANDA is a planned experiment at FAIR (Darmstadt) with a cooled antiproton beam in a range [1.5; 15] GeV/c, allowing a wide physics program in nuclear and particle physics. It is the only experiment worldwide, which combines a solenoid field (B=2T) and a dipole field (B=2Tm) in a spectrometer with a fixed target topology, in that energy regime. The tracking system of \\bar{{{P}}}ANDA involves the presence of a high performance silicon vertex detector, a GEM detector, a straw-tubes central tracker, a forward tracking system, and a luminosity monitor. The offline tracking algorithm is developed within the PandaRoot framework, which is a part of the FairRoot project. The tool here presented is based on algorithms containing the Kalman Filter equations and a deterministic annealing filter. This general fitting tool (GENFIT2) offers to users also a Runge-Kutta track representation, and interfaces with Millepede II (useful for alignment) and RAVE (vertex finder). It is independent on the detector geometry and the magnetic field map, and written in C++ object-oriented modular code. Several fitting algorithms are available with GENFIT2, with user-adjustable parameters; therefore the tool is of friendly usage. A check on the fit convergence is done by GENFIT2 as well. The Kalman-Filter-based algorithms have a wide range of applications; among those in particle physics they can perform extrapolations of track parameters and covariance matrices. The adoptions of the PandaRoot framework to connect to Genfit2 are described, and the impact of GENFIT2 on the physics simulations of \\bar{{{P}}}ANDA are shown: significant improvement is reported for those channels where a good low momentum tracking is required (pT < 400 MeV/c).

Interventional MR: vascular applications.

PubMed

Smits, H F; Bos, C; van der Weide, R; Bakker, C J

1999-01-01

Three strategies for visualisation of MR-dedicated guidewires and catheters have been proposed, namely active tracking, the technique of locally induced field inhomogeneity and passive susceptibility-based tracking. In this article the pros and cons of these techniques are discussed, including the development of MR-dedicated guidewires and catheters, scan techniques, post-processing tools, and display facilities for MR tracking. Finally, some of the results obtained with MR tracking are discussed.

Independent Confirmation of the Pioneer 10 Anomalous Acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Markwardt, Craig B.

2002-01-01

I perform an independent analysis of radio Doppler tracking data from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft for the time period 1987-1994. All of the tracking data were taken from public archive sources, and the analysis tools were developed independently by myself. I confirm that an apparent anomalous acceleration is acting on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which is not accounted for by present physical models of spacecraft navigation. My best fit value for the acceleration, including corrections for systematic biases and uncertainties, is (8.60 plus or minus 1.34) x 10(exp -8) centimeters per second, directed towards the Sun. This value compares favorably to previous results. I examine the robustness of my result to various perturbations of the analysis method, and find agreement to within plus or minus 5%. The anomalous acceleration is reasonably constant with time, with a characteristic variation time scale of greater than 70 yr. Such a variation timescale is still too short to rule out on-board thermal radiation effects, based on this particular Pioneer 10 data set.

The data operation centre tool. Architecture and population strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dal Pra, Stefano; Crescente, Alberto

2012-12-01

Keeping track of the layout of the informatic resources in a big datacenter is a complex task. DOCET is a database-based webtool designed and implemented at INFN. It aims at providing a uniform interface to manage and retrieve needed information about one or more datacenter, such as available hardware, software and their status. Having a suitable application is however useless until most of the information about the centre are not inserted in the DOCET'S database. Manually inserting all the information from scratch is an unfeasible task. After describing DOCET'S high level architecture, its main features and current development track, we present and discuss the work done to populate the DOCET database for the INFN-T1 site by retrieving information from a heterogenous variety of authoritative sources, such as DNS, DHCP, Quattor host profiles, etc. We then describe the work being done to integrate DOCET with some common management operation, such as adding a newly installed host to DHCP and DNS, or creating a suitable Quattor profile template for it.

MapSentinel: Can the Knowledge of Space Use Improve Indoor Tracking Further?

PubMed Central

Jia, Ruoxi; Jin, Ming; Zou, Han; Yesilata, Yigitcan; Xie, Lihua; Spanos, Costas

2016-01-01

Estimating an occupant’s location is arguably the most fundamental sensing task in smart buildings. The applications for fine-grained, responsive building operations require the location sensing systems to provide location estimates in real time, also known as indoor tracking. Existing indoor tracking systems require occupants to carry specialized devices or install programs on their smartphone to collect inertial sensing data. In this paper, we propose MapSentinel, which performs non-intrusive location sensing based on WiFi access points and ultrasonic sensors. MapSentinel combines the noisy sensor readings with the floormap information to estimate locations. One key observation supporting our work is that occupants exhibit distinctive motion characteristics at different locations on the floormap, e.g., constrained motion along the corridor or in the cubicle zones, and free movement in the open space. While extensive research has been performed on using a floormap as a tool to obtain correct walking trajectories without wall-crossings, there have been few attempts to incorporate the knowledge of space use available from the floormap into the location estimation. This paper argues that the knowledge of space use as an additional information source presents new opportunities for indoor tracking. The fusion of heterogeneous information is theoretically formulated within the Factor Graph framework, and the Context-Augmented Particle Filtering algorithm is developed to efficiently solve real-time walking trajectories. Our evaluation in a large office space shows that the MapSentinel can achieve accuracy improvement of 31.3% compared with the purely WiFi-based tracking system. PMID:27049387

MapSentinel: Can the Knowledge of Space Use Improve Indoor Tracking Further?

PubMed

Jia, Ruoxi; Jin, Ming; Zou, Han; Yesilata, Yigitcan; Xie, Lihua; Spanos, Costas

2016-04-02

Estimating an occupant's location is arguably the most fundamental sensing task in smart buildings. The applications for fine-grained, responsive building operations require the location sensing systems to provide location estimates in real time, also known as indoor tracking. Existing indoor tracking systems require occupants to carry specialized devices or install programs on their smartphone to collect inertial sensing data. In this paper, we propose MapSentinel, which performs non-intrusive location sensing based on WiFi access points and ultrasonic sensors. MapSentinel combines the noisy sensor readings with the floormap information to estimate locations. One key observation supporting our work is that occupants exhibit distinctive motion characteristics at different locations on the floormap, e.g., constrained motion along the corridor or in the cubicle zones, and free movement in the open space. While extensive research has been performed on using a floormap as a tool to obtain correct walking trajectories without wall-crossings, there have been few attempts to incorporate the knowledge of space use available from the floormap into the location estimation. This paper argues that the knowledge of space use as an additional information source presents new opportunities for indoor tracking. The fusion of heterogeneous information is theoretically formulated within the Factor Graph framework, and the Context-Augmented Particle Filtering algorithm is developed to efficiently solve real-time walking trajectories. Our evaluation in a large office space shows that the MapSentinel can achieve accuracy improvement of 31.3% compared with the purely WiFi-based tracking system.

Stat-tracks and mediotypes: powerful tools for modern ichnology based on 3D models

PubMed Central

Bennett, Matthew R.; Marty, Daniel; Budka, Marcin; Reynolds, Sally C.; Bakirov, Rashid

2018-01-01

Vertebrate tracks are subject to a wide distribution of morphological types. A single trackmaker may be associated with a range of tracks reflecting individual pedal anatomy and behavioural kinematics mediated through substrate properties which may vary both in space and time. Accordingly, the same trackmaker can leave substantially different morphotypes something which must be considered in creating ichnotaxa. In modern practice this is often captured by the collection of a series of 3D track models. We introduce two concepts to help integrate these 3D models into ichnological analysis procedures. The mediotype is based on the idea of using statistically-generated three-dimensional track models (median or mean) of the type specimens to create a composite track to support formal recognition of a ichno type. A representative track (mean and/or median) is created from a set of individual reference tracks or from multiple examples from one or more trackways. In contrast, stat-tracks refer to other digitally generated tracks which may explore variance. For example, they are useful in: understanding the preservation variability of a given track sample; identifying characteristics or unusual track features; or simply as a quantitative comparison tool. Both concepts assist in making ichnotaxonomical interpretations and we argue that they should become part of the standard procedure when instituting new ichnotaxa. As three-dimensional models start to become a standard in publications on vertebrate ichnology, the mediotype and stat-track concepts have the potential to help guiding a revolution in the study of vertebrate ichnology and ichnotaxonomy. PMID:29340246

International Data on Radiological Sources

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

Martha Finck; Margaret Goldberg

2010-07-01

ABSTRACT The mission of radiological dispersal device (RDD) nuclear forensics is to identify the provenance of nuclear and radiological materials used in RDDs and to aid law enforcement in tracking nuclear materials and routes. The application of databases to radiological forensics is to match RDD source material to a source model in the database, provide guidance regarding a possible second device, and aid the FBI by providing a short list of manufacturers and distributors, and ultimately to the last legal owner of the source. The Argonne/Idaho National Laboratory RDD attribution database is a powerful technical tool in radiological forensics. Themore » database (1267 unique vendors) includes all sealed sources and a device registered in the U.S., is complemented by data from the IAEA Catalogue, and is supported by rigorous in-lab characterization of selected sealed sources regarding physical form, radiochemical composition, and age-dating profiles. Close working relationships with global partners in the commercial sealed sources industry provide invaluable technical information and expertise in the development of signature profiles. These profiles are critical to the down-selection of potential candidates in either pre- or post- event RDD attribution. The down-selection process includes a match between an interdicted (or detonated) source and a model in the database linked to one or more manufacturers and distributors.« less

A Python-based interface to examine motions in time series of solar images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campos-Rozo, J. I.; Vargas Domínguez, S.

2017-10-01

Python is considered to be a mature programming language, besides of being widely accepted as an engaging option for scientific analysis in multiple areas, as will be presented in this work for the particular case of solar physics research. SunPy is an open-source library based on Python that has been recently developed to furnish software tools to solar data analysis and visualization. In this work we present a graphical user interface (GUI) based on Python and Qt to effectively compute proper motions for the analysis of time series of solar data. This user-friendly computing interface, that is intended to be incorporated to the Sunpy library, uses a local correlation tracking technique and some extra tools that allows the selection of different parameters to calculate, vizualize and analyze vector velocity fields of solar data, i.e. time series of solar filtergrams and magnetograms.

Three options for citation tracking: Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science.

PubMed

Bakkalbasi, Nisa; Bauer, Kathleen; Glover, Janis; Wang, Lei

2006-06-29

Researchers turn to citation tracking to find the most influential articles for a particular topic and to see how often their own published papers are cited. For years researchers looking for this type of information had only one resource to consult: the Web of Science from Thomson Scientific. In 2004 two competitors emerged--Scopus from Elsevier and Google Scholar from Google. The research reported here uses citation analysis in an observational study examining these three databases; comparing citation counts for articles from two disciplines (oncology and condensed matter physics) and two years (1993 and 2003) to test the hypothesis that the different scholarly publication coverage provided by the three search tools will lead to different citation counts from each. Eleven journal titles with varying impact factors were selected from each discipline (oncology and condensed matter physics) using the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). All articles published in the selected titles were retrieved for the years 1993 and 2003, and a stratified random sample of articles was chosen, resulting in four sets of articles. During the week of November 7-12, 2005, the citation counts for each research article were extracted from the three sources. The actual citing references for a subset of the articles published in 2003 were also gathered from each of the three sources. For oncology 1993 Web of Science returned the highest average number of citations, 45.3. Scopus returned the highest average number of citations (8.9) for oncology 2003. Web of Science returned the highest number of citations for condensed matter physics 1993 and 2003 (22.5 and 3.9 respectively). The data showed a significant difference in the mean citation rates between all pairs of resources except between Google Scholar and Scopus for condensed matter physics 2003. For articles published in 2003 Google Scholar returned the largest amount of unique citing material for oncology and Web of Science returned the most for condensed matter physics. This study did not identify any one of these three resources as the answer to all citation tracking needs. Scopus showed strength in providing citing literature for current (2003) oncology articles, while Web of Science produced more citing material for 2003 and 1993 condensed matter physics, and 1993 oncology articles. All three tools returned some unique material. Our data indicate that the question of which tool provides the most complete set of citing literature may depend on the subject and publication year of a given article.

Three options for citation tracking: Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science

PubMed Central

Bakkalbasi, Nisa; Bauer, Kathleen; Glover, Janis; Wang, Lei

2006-01-01

Background Researchers turn to citation tracking to find the most influential articles for a particular topic and to see how often their own published papers are cited. For years researchers looking for this type of information had only one resource to consult: the Web of Science from Thomson Scientific. In 2004 two competitors emerged – Scopus from Elsevier and Google Scholar from Google. The research reported here uses citation analysis in an observational study examining these three databases; comparing citation counts for articles from two disciplines (oncology and condensed matter physics) and two years (1993 and 2003) to test the hypothesis that the different scholarly publication coverage provided by the three search tools will lead to different citation counts from each. Methods Eleven journal titles with varying impact factors were selected from each discipline (oncology and condensed matter physics) using the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). All articles published in the selected titles were retrieved for the years 1993 and 2003, and a stratified random sample of articles was chosen, resulting in four sets of articles. During the week of November 7–12, 2005, the citation counts for each research article were extracted from the three sources. The actual citing references for a subset of the articles published in 2003 were also gathered from each of the three sources. Results For oncology 1993 Web of Science returned the highest average number of citations, 45.3. Scopus returned the highest average number of citations (8.9) for oncology 2003. Web of Science returned the highest number of citations for condensed matter physics 1993 and 2003 (22.5 and 3.9 respectively). The data showed a significant difference in the mean citation rates between all pairs of resources except between Google Scholar and Scopus for condensed matter physics 2003. For articles published in 2003 Google Scholar returned the largest amount of unique citing material for oncology and Web of Science returned the most for condensed matter physics. Conclusion This study did not identify any one of these three resources as the answer to all citation tracking needs. Scopus showed strength in providing citing literature for current (2003) oncology articles, while Web of Science produced more citing material for 2003 and 1993 condensed matter physics, and 1993 oncology articles. All three tools returned some unique material. Our data indicate that the question of which tool provides the most complete set of citing literature may depend on the subject and publication year of a given article. PMID:16805916

Using the Wiimote as a sensor in water research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hut, R. W.; Weijs, S. V.; Luxemburg, W. M. J.

2010-12-01

The $40 "Wiimote" (an input device belonging with the Nintendo® Wii™ game system) can be used by hydrologists as a sensor. The device contains three accelerometers and an infrared camera with built-in source tracking. It communicates by Bluetooth®. Because of the efforts of the hacking community it is now easy to let the Wiimote communicate with a standard personal computer. Using a floating evaporation pan as an example, we show that the Wiimote, although it may have potential drawbacks when used in field campaigns, is a good addition to the hydrologist's bag of tools, especially for proof of concept testing.

First neuronavigation experiences in Uruguay.

PubMed

Carbajal, Guillermo; Gomez, Alvaro; Pereyra, Gabriela; Lima, Ramiro; Preciozzi, Javier; Vazquez, Luis; Villar, Alvaro

2010-01-01

Neuronavigation is the application of image guidance to neurosurgery where the position of a surgical tool can be displayed on a preoperative image. Although this technique has been used worldwide in the last ten years, it was never applied in Uruguay due to its cost. In an ongoing project, the Engineering Faculty (Universidad de la República), the Hospital de Clínicas (Medicine Faculty - Universidad de la República) and the Regional Hospital of Tacuarembó are doing the first experimental trials in neuronavigation. In this project, a prototype based on optical tracking equipment and the open source software IGSTK (Image Guided Surgery Toolkit) is under development and testing.

Signatures of mountain building: Detrital zircon U/Pb ages from northeast Tibet

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lease, Richard O.; Burbank, Douglas W.; Gehrels, George E.; Wang, Zhicai; Yuan, Daoyang

2007-01-01

Although detrital zircon has proven to be a powerful tool for determining provenance, past work has focused primarily on delimiting regional source terranes. Here we explore the limits of spatial resolution and stratigraphic sensitivity of detrital zircon in ascertaining provenance, and we demonstrate its ability to detect source changes for terranes separated by only a few tens of kilometers. For such an analysis to succeed for a given mountain, discrete intrarange source terranes must have unique U/Pb zircon age signatures and sediments eroded from the range must have well-defined depositional ages. Here we use ∼1400 single-grain U/Pb zircon ages from northeastern Tibet to identify and analyze an area that satisfies these conditions. This analysis shows that the edges of intermontane basins are stratigraphically sensitive to discrete, punctuated changes in local source terranes. By tracking eroding rock units chronologically through the stratigraphic record, this sensitivity permits the detection of the differential rock uplift and progressive erosion that began ca. 8 Ma in the Laji Shan, a 10-25-km-wide range in northeastern Tibet with a unique U/Pb age signature.

Differentiation of fecal Escherichia coli from poultry and free-living birds by (GTG)5-PCR genomic fingerprinting.

PubMed

Mohapatra, Bidyut R; Broersma, Klaas; Mazumder, Asit

2008-04-01

Determination of the non-point sources of fecal pollution is essential for the assessment of potential public health risk and development of appropriate management practices for prevention of further contamination. Repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR coupled with (GTG)(5) primer [(GTG)(5)-PCR] was performed on 573 Escherichia coli isolates obtained from the feces of poultry (chicken, duck and turkey) and free-living (Canada goose, hawk, magpie, seagull and songbird) birds to evaluate the efficacy of (GTG)(5)-PCR genomic fingerprinting in the prediction of the correct source of fecal pollution. A discriminant analysis with the jack-knife algorithm of (GTG)(5)-PCR DNA fingerprints revealed that 95%, 94.1%, 93.2%, 84.6%, 79.7%, 76.7%, 75.3% and 70.7% of magpie, hawk, turkey, seagull, Canada goose, chicken, duck and songbird fecal E. coli isolates classified into the correct host source, respectively. The results of this study indicate that (GTG)(5)-PCR can be considered to be a complementary molecular tool for the rapid determination of E. coli isolates identity and tracking the non-point sources of fecal pollution.

Mapping Site Remediation with Electrical Resistivity Tomography Explored via Coupled-Model Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Power, C.; Gerhard, J. I.; Tsourlos, P.; Giannopoulos, A.

2011-12-01

Remediation programs for sites contaminated with dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) would benefit from an ability to non-intrusively map the evolving volume and extent of the DNAPL source zone. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is a well-established geophysical tool, widely used outside the remediation industry, that has significant potential for mapping DNAPL source zones. However, that potential has not been realized due to challenges in data interpretation from contaminated sites - in either a qualitative or quantitative way. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of ERT to map realistic, evolving DNAPL source zones within complex subsurface environments during remedial efforts. For this purpose, a novel coupled model was developed that integrates a multiphase flow model (DNAPL3D-MT), which generates realistic DNAPL release scenarios, with 3DINV, an ERT model which calculates the corresponding resistivity response. This presentation will describe the developed model coupling methodology, which integrates published petrophysical relationships to generate an electrical resistivity field that accounts for both the spatial heterogeneity of subsurface soils and the evolving spatial distribution of fluids (including permeability, porosity, clay content and air/water/DNAPL saturation). It will also present an example in which the coupled model was employed to explore the ability of ERT to track the remediation of a DNAPL source zone. A field-scale, three-dimensional release of chlorinated solvent DNAPL into heterogeneous clayey sand was simulated, including the subsurface migration and subsequent removal of the DNAPL source zone via dissolution in groundwater. Periodic surveys of this site via ERT applied at the surface were then simulated and inversion programs were used to calculate the subsurface distribution of electrical properties. This presentation will summarize this approach and its potential as a research tool exploring the range of site conditions under which ERT may prove useful in aiding DNAPL site remediation. Moreover, it is expected to provide a cost-effective avenue to test optimum ERT data acquisition, inversion and interpretative tools at contaminated sites.

H2LIFT: global navigation simulation ship tracking and WMD detection in the maritime domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyffels, Kevin

2007-04-01

This paper presents initial results for a tracking simulation of multiple maritime vehicles for use in a data fusion program detecting Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). This simulation supports a fusion algorithm (H2LIFT) for collecting and analyzing data providing a heuristic analysis tool for detecting weapons of mass destruction in the maritime domain. Tools required to develop a navigational simulation fitting a set of project objectives are introduced for integration into the H2LIFT algorithm. Emphasis is placed on the specific requirements of the H2LIFT project, however the basic equations, algorithms, and methodologies can be used as tools in a variety of scenario simulations. Discussion will be focused on track modeling (e.g. position tracking of ships), navigational techniques, WMD detection, and simulation of these models using Matlab and Simulink. Initial results provide absolute ship position data for a given multi-ship maritime scenario with random generation of a given ship containing a WMD. Required coordinate systems, conversions between coordinate systems, Earth modeling techniques, and navigational conventions and techniques are introduced for development of the simulations.

Ground Data System Analysis Tools to Track Flight System State Parameters for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allard, Dan; Deforrest, Lloyd

2014-01-01

Flight software parameters enable space mission operators fine-tuned control over flight system configurations, enabling rapid and dynamic changes to ongoing science activities in a much more flexible manner than can be accomplished with (otherwise broadly used) configuration file based approaches. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Curiosity, makes extensive use of parameters to support complex, daily activities via commanded changes to said parameters in memory. However, as the loss of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) in 2006 demonstrated, flight system management by parameters brings with it risks, including the possibility of losing track of the flight system configuration and the threat of invalid command executions. To mitigate this risk a growing number of missions have funded efforts to implement parameter tracking parameter state software tools and services including MSL and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission. This paper will discuss the engineering challenges and resulting software architecture of MSL's onboard parameter state tracking software and discuss the road forward to make parameter management tools suitable for use on multiple missions.

Dine or dash? Turbulence inhibits blue crab navigation in attractive-aversive odor plumes by altering signal structure encoded by the olfactory pathway.

PubMed

Weissburg, Marc; Atkins, Lorin; Berkenkamp, Kimberly; Mankin, Danielle

2012-12-01

Blue crabs can distinguish and navigate to attractive (food) odors even when aversive odors (injured crab metabolites) are released nearby. Blue crabs in these conditions detect the aversive odor and avoid it, but find the attractive source with nearly the same success rate as when the attractive source is presented alone. Spatially and temporally distinct odor filaments appear to signal to foragers that the two odor sources are not co-located, and hence navigating to the attractive odor entails an acceptable risk of predation. However, environmentally produced turbulence suppresses tracking by homogenizing the two odors; blue crabs fail to track to the attractive source when the aversive source is present, even though turbulence does not substantially inhibit tracking to the attractive source alone. Removal of sensory input from aesthetascs on the antennules, but not chemosensors on the legs, rescues navigation to attractive-aversive dual plumes in turbulent conditions. These results suggest that mixing in the natural environment may amplify the effects of predators by suppressing tracking to food odors when aversive cues are present, and that the olfactory pathway mediates the response.

ESC-Track: A computer workflow for 4-D segmentation, tracking, lineage tracing and dynamic context analysis of ESCs.

PubMed

Fernández-de-Manúel, Laura; Díaz-Díaz, Covadonga; Jiménez-Carretero, Daniel; Torres, Miguel; Montoya, María C

2017-05-01

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can be established as permanent cell lines, and their potential to differentiate into adult tissues has led to widespread use for studying the mechanisms and dynamics of stem cell differentiation and exploring strategies for tissue repair. Imaging live ESCs during development is now feasible due to advances in optical imaging and engineering of genetically encoded fluorescent reporters; however, a major limitation is the low spatio-temporal resolution of long-term 3-D imaging required for generational and neighboring reconstructions. Here, we present the ESC-Track (ESC-T) workflow, which includes an automated cell and nuclear segmentation and tracking tool for 4-D (3-D + time) confocal image data sets as well as a manual editing tool for visual inspection and error correction. ESC-T automatically identifies cell divisions and membrane contacts for lineage tree and neighborhood reconstruction and computes quantitative features from individual cell entities, enabling analysis of fluorescence signal dynamics and tracking of cell morphology and motion. We use ESC-T to examine Myc intensity fluctuations in the context of mouse ESC (mESC) lineage and neighborhood relationships. ESC-T is a powerful tool for evaluation of the genealogical and microenvironmental cues that maintain ESC fitness.

An eHealth Diary and Symptom-Tracking Tool Combined With Person-Centered Care for Improving Self-Efficacy After a Diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Substudy of a Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Ulin, Kerstin; Thorn, Jörgen; Swedberg, Karl; Ekman, Inger

2016-01-01

Background Patients with cardiovascular diseases managed by a person-centered care (PCC) approach have been observed to have better treatment outcomes and satisfaction than with traditional care. eHealth may facilitate the often slow transition to more person-centered health care by increasing patients’ beliefs in their own capacities (self-efficacy) to manage their care trajectory. eHealth is being increasingly used, but most studies continue to focus on health care professionals’ logic of care. Knowledge is lacking regarding the effects of an eHealth tool on self-efficacy when combined with PCC for patients with chronic heart diseases. Objective The objective of our study was to investigate the effect of an eHealth diary and symptom-tracking tool in combination with PCC for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods This was a substudy of a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of PCC in patients hospitalized with ACS. In total, 199 patients with ACS aged <75 years were randomly assigned to a PCC intervention (n=94) or standard treatment (control group, n=105) and were followed up for 6 months. Patients in the intervention arm could choose to use a Web-based or mobile-based eHealth tool, or both, for at least 2 months after hospital discharge. The primary end point was a composite score of changes in general self-efficacy, return to work or prior activity level, and rehospitalization or death 6 months after discharge. Results Of the 94 patients in the intervention arm, 37 (39%) used the eHealth tool at least once after the index hospitalization. Most of these (24/37, 65%) used the mobile app and not the Web-based app as the primary source of daily self-rating input. Patients used the eHealth tool a mean of 38 times during the first 8 weeks (range 1–118, SD 33) and 64 times over a 6-month period (range 1–597, SD 104). Patients who used the eHealth tool in combination with the PCC intervention had a 4-fold improvement in the primary end point compared with the control group (odds ratio 4.0, 95% CI 1.5–10.5; P=.005). This improvement was driven by a significant increase in general self-efficacy compared with the control group (P=.011). Patients in the PCC group who did not use the eHealth tool (n=57) showed a nonsignificant composite score improvement compared with those in the control group (n=105) (odds ratio 2.0, 95% CI 0.8–5.2; P=.14). Conclusions We found a significant effect on improved general self-efficacy and the composite score for patients using an eHealth diary and symptom-tracking tool in combination with PCC compared with traditional care. Trial Registration Swedish registry, Researchweb.org, ID NR 65 791. PMID:26907584

An eHealth Diary and Symptom-Tracking Tool Combined With Person-Centered Care for Improving Self-Efficacy After a Diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Substudy of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Wolf, Axel; Fors, Andreas; Ulin, Kerstin; Thorn, Jörgen; Swedberg, Karl; Ekman, Inger

2016-02-23

Patients with cardiovascular diseases managed by a person-centered care (PCC) approach have been observed to have better treatment outcomes and satisfaction than with traditional care. eHealth may facilitate the often slow transition to more person-centered health care by increasing patients' beliefs in their own capacities (self-efficacy) to manage their care trajectory. eHealth is being increasingly used, but most studies continue to focus on health care professionals' logic of care. Knowledge is lacking regarding the effects of an eHealth tool on self-efficacy when combined with PCC for patients with chronic heart diseases. The objective of our study was to investigate the effect of an eHealth diary and symptom-tracking tool in combination with PCC for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This was a substudy of a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of PCC in patients hospitalized with ACS. In total, 199 patients with ACS aged <75 years were randomly assigned to a PCC intervention (n=94) or standard treatment (control group, n=105) and were followed up for 6 months. Patients in the intervention arm could choose to use a Web-based or mobile-based eHealth tool, or both, for at least 2 months after hospital discharge. The primary end point was a composite score of changes in general self-efficacy, return to work or prior activity level, and rehospitalization or death 6 months after discharge. Of the 94 patients in the intervention arm, 37 (39%) used the eHealth tool at least once after the index hospitalization. Most of these (24/37, 65%) used the mobile app and not the Web-based app as the primary source of daily self-rating input. Patients used the eHealth tool a mean of 38 times during the first 8 weeks (range 1-118, SD 33) and 64 times over a 6-month period (range 1-597, SD 104). Patients who used the eHealth tool in combination with the PCC intervention had a 4-fold improvement in the primary end point compared with the control group (odds ratio 4.0, 95% CI 1.5-10.5; P=.005). This improvement was driven by a significant increase in general self-efficacy compared with the control group (P=.011). Patients in the PCC group who did not use the eHealth tool (n=57) showed a nonsignificant composite score improvement compared with those in the control group (n=105) (odds ratio 2.0, 95% CI 0.8-5.2; P=.14). We found a significant effect on improved general self-efficacy and the composite score for patients using an eHealth diary and symptom-tracking tool in combination with PCC compared with traditional care. Swedish registry, Researchweb.org, ID NR 65 791.

Eye Tracking: A Brief Guide for Developmental Researchers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feng, Gary

2011-01-01

Eye tracking offers a powerful research tool for developmental scientists. In this brief article, the author introduces the methodology and issues associated with its applications in developmental research, beginning with an overview of eye movements and eye-tracking technologies, followed by examples of how it is used to study the developing mind…

Eye-Tracking Study of Complexity in Gas Law Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Hui; Pienta, Norbert

2012-01-01

This study, part of a series investigating students' use of online tools to assess problem solving, uses eye-tracking hardware and software to explore the effect of problem difficulty and cognitive processes when students solve gas law word problems. Eye movements are indices of cognition; eye-tracking data typically include the location,…

Assessment of design tools and criteria for urban rail track structures : volume 1. at-grade tie-ballast track.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-04-30

The report presents the results of a critical review of the technical factors which govern the design and performance of at-grade tie-ballast track for urban rail systems. The assessment of current design practice is based on a review of the literatu...

Assessment of Design Tools and Criteria for Urban Rail Track Structures : Volume 2. At-Grade Slab Track.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-04-01

This report presents the results of a critical review of the technical factors which govern the design and performance of at-grade slab track for urban rail systems. The assessment of current design practices is based on a review of the literature an...

When Personal Tracking Becomes Social: Examining the Use of Instagram for Healthy Eating.

PubMed

Chung, Chia-Fang; Agapie, Elena; Schroeder, Jessica; Mishra, Sonali; Fogarty, James; Munson, Sean A

2017-05-02

Many people appropriate social media and online communities in their pursuit of personal health goals, such as healthy eating or increased physical activity. However, people struggle with impression management, and with reaching the right audiences when they share health information on these platforms. Instagram, a popular photo-based social media platform, has attracted many people who post and share their food photos. We aim to inform the design of tools to support healthy behaviors by understanding how people appropriate Instagram to track and share food data, the benefits they obtain from doing so, and the challenges they encounter. We interviewed 16 women who consistently record and share what they eat on Instagram. Participants tracked to support themselves and others in their pursuit of healthy eating goals. They sought social support for their own tracking and healthy behaviors and strove to provide that support for others. People adapted their personal tracking practices to better receive and give this support. Applying these results to the design of health tracking tools has the potential to help people better access social support.

When Personal Tracking Becomes Social: Examining the Use of Instagram for Healthy Eating

PubMed Central

Chung, Chia-Fang; Agapie, Elena; Schroeder, Jessica; Mishra, Sonali; Fogarty, James; Munson, Sean A.

2017-01-01

Many people appropriate social media and online communities in their pursuit of personal health goals, such as healthy eating or increased physical activity. However, people struggle with impression management, and with reaching the right audiences when they share health information on these platforms. Instagram, a popular photo-based social media platform, has attracted many people who post and share their food photos. We aim to inform the design of tools to support healthy behaviors by understanding how people appropriate Instagram to track and share food data, the benefits they obtain from doing so, and the challenges they encounter. We interviewed 16 women who consistently record and share what they eat on Instagram. Participants tracked to support themselves and others in their pursuit of healthy eating goals. They sought social support for their own tracking and healthy behaviors and strove to provide that support for others. People adapted their personal tracking practices to better receive and give this support. Applying these results to the design of health tracking tools has the potential to help people better access social support. PMID:28516174

Chemical and biological tracers to determine groundwater flow in karstic aquifer, Yucatan Peninsula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenczewski, M.; Leal-Bautista, R. M.; McLain, J. E.

2013-05-01

Little is known about the extent of pollution in groundwater in the Yucatan Peninsula; however current population growth, both from international tourism and Mexican nationals increases the potential for wastewater release of a vast array of contaminants including personal care products, pharmaceuticals (Rx), and pathogenic microorganisms. Pathogens and Rx in groundwater can persist and can be particularly acute in this region where high permeability of the karst bedrock and the lack of top soil permit the rapid transport of contaminants into groundwater aquifers. The objective of this research is to develop and utilize novel biological and chemical source tracking methods to distinguish between different sources of anthropogenic pollution in degraded groundwater. Although several methods have been used successfully to track fecal contamination sources in small scale studies, little is known about their spatial limitations, as source tracking studies rarely include sample collection over a wide geographical area and with different sources of water. In addition, although source tracking methods to distinguish human from animal fecal contamination are widely available, this work has developed source tracking distinguish between separate human populations is highly unique. To achieve this objective, we collected water samples from a series of drinking wells, cenotes (sinkholes), wastewater treatment plants, and injection wells across the Yucatan Peninsula and examine potential source tracers within the collected water samples. The result suggests that groundwater sources impacted by tourist vs. local populations contain different chemical stressors. This work has developed a more detailed understanding of the presence and persistence of personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and fecal indicators in a karstic system; such understanding will be a vital component for the protection Mexican groundwater and human health. Quantification of different pollution sources within groundwater samples identified point sources of pollution, identify potential remediation strategies, and contribute to an improved understanding of the environmental impact of tourism and tourism-generated waste products on this groundwater-dependent ecosystem.

Probabilistic analysis showing that a combination of bacteroides and methanobrevibacter source tracking markers is effective for identifying waters contaminated by human fecal pollution

USGS Publications Warehouse

Johnston, Christopher; Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara N.; Gibson, Jacqueline MacDonald; Ufnar, Jennifer A.; Whitman, Richard L.; Stewart, Jill R.

2013-01-01

Microbial source tracking assays to identify sources of waterborne contamination typically target genetic markers of host-specific microorganisms. However, no bacterial marker has been shown to be 100% host-specific, and cross-reactivity has been noted in studies evaluating known source samples. Using 485 challenge samples from 20 different human and animal fecal sources, this study evaluated microbial source tracking markers including the Bacteroides HF183 16S rRNA, M. smithii nifH, and Enterococcus esp gene targets that have been proposed as potential indicators of human fecal contamination. Bayes' Theorem was used to calculate the conditional probability that these markers or a combination of markers can correctly identify human sources of fecal pollution. All three human-associated markers were detected in 100% of the sewage samples analyzed. Bacteroides HF183 was the most effective marker for determining whether contamination was specifically from a human source, and greater than 98% certainty that contamination was from a human source was shown when both Bacteroides HF183 and M. smithii nifH markers were present. A high degree of certainty was attained even in cases where the prior probability of human fecal contamination was as low as 8.5%. The combination of Bacteroides HF183 and M. smithii nifH source tracking markers can help identify surface waters impacted by human fecal contamination, information useful for prioritizing restoration activities or assessing health risks from exposure to contaminated waters.

Large scale track analysis for wide area motion imagery surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Leeuwen, C. J.; van Huis, J. R.; Baan, J.

2016-10-01

Wide Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) enables image based surveillance of areas that can cover multiple square kilometers. Interpreting and analyzing information from such sources, becomes increasingly time consuming as more data is added from newly developed methods for information extraction. Captured from a moving Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the high-resolution images allow detection and tracking of moving vehicles, but this is a highly challenging task. By using a chain of computer vision detectors and machine learning techniques, we are capable of producing high quality track information of more than 40 thousand vehicles per five minutes. When faced with such a vast number of vehicular tracks, it is useful for analysts to be able to quickly query information based on region of interest, color, maneuvers or other high-level types of information, to gain insight and find relevant activities in the flood of information. In this paper we propose a set of tools, combined in a graphical user interface, which allows data analysts to survey vehicles in a large observed area. In order to retrieve (parts of) images from the high-resolution data, we developed a multi-scale tile-based video file format that allows to quickly obtain only a part, or a sub-sampling of the original high resolution image. By storing tiles of a still image according to a predefined order, we can quickly retrieve a particular region of the image at any relevant scale, by skipping to the correct frames and reconstructing the image. Location based queries allow a user to select tracks around a particular region of interest such as landmark, building or street. By using an integrated search engine, users can quickly select tracks that are in the vicinity of locations of interest. Another time-reducing method when searching for a particular vehicle, is to filter on color or color intensity. Automatic maneuver detection adds information to the tracks that can be used to find vehicles based on their behavior.

Flies dynamically anti-track, rather than ballistically escape, aversive odor during flight

PubMed Central

Wasserman, Sara; Lu, Patrick; Aptekar, Jacob W.; Frye, Mark A.

2012-01-01

SUMMARY Tracking distant odor sources is crucial to foraging, courtship and reproductive success for many animals including fish, flies and birds. Upon encountering a chemical plume in flight, Drosophila melanogaster integrates the spatial intensity gradient and temporal fluctuations over the two antennae, while simultaneously reducing the amplitude and frequency of rapid steering maneuvers, stabilizing the flight vector. There are infinite escape vectors away from a noxious source, in contrast to a single best tracking vector towards an attractive source. Attractive and aversive odors are segregated into parallel neuronal pathways in flies; therefore, the behavioral algorithms for avoidance may be categorically different from tracking. Do flies plot random ballistic or otherwise variable escape vectors? Or do they instead make use of temporally dynamic mechanisms for continuously and directly avoiding noxious odors in a manner similar to tracking appetitive ones? We examine this question using a magnetic tether flight simulator that permits free yaw movements, such that flies can actively orient within spatially defined odor plumes. We show that in-flight aversive flight behavior shares all of the key features of attraction such that flies continuously ‘anti-track’ the noxious source. PMID:22837456

Using Microbial Source Tracking Markers to Predict Occurrence of Waterborne Pathogens in Urban and Agricultural Watershed

EPA Science Inventory

Runoff from agricultural fields and urban landscapes may carry a variety of microbial contaminants that compromises water quality and increases the possibility of human exposure to pathogenic microorganisms. Establishing the relationship between microbial source tracking (MST) ma...

10 CFR 32.201 - Serialization of nationally tracked sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Serialization of nationally tracked sources. 32.201 Section 32.201 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION SPECIFIC DOMESTIC LICENSES TO MANUFACTURE OR TRANSFER CERTAIN ITEMS CONTAINING BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Specifically Licensed Items § 32.201 Serialization of...

10 CFR 32.201 - Serialization of nationally tracked sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Serialization of nationally tracked sources. 32.201 Section 32.201 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION SPECIFIC DOMESTIC LICENSES TO MANUFACTURE OR TRANSFER CERTAIN ITEMS CONTAINING BYPRODUCT MATERIAL Specifically Licensed Items § 32.201 Serialization of...

The nature of the island and banana states in atoll sources and a unified model for low-mass X-ray binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Church, M. J.; Gibiec, A.; Bałucińska-Church, M.

2014-03-01

We propose an explanation of the island and banana states and the relation between atoll and Z-track sources, constituting a unified model for low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB). We find a dramatic transition at a luminosity of 1-2 × 1037 erg s-1 above which the high-energy cut-off ECO of the Comptonized emission in all sources is low at a few keV. There is thermal equilibrium between the neutron star at ˜2 keV and the Comptonizing accretion disc corona (ADC) causing the low ECO in the banana state of atolls and all states of the Z-track sources. Below this luminosity, ECO increases towards 100 keV causing the hardness of the island state. Thermal equilibrium is lost, the ADC becoming much hotter than the neutron star via an additional coronal heating mechanism. This suggests a unified model of LMXB: the banana state is a basic state with the mass accretion rate dot{M} increasing, corresponding to the normal branch of Z-track sources. The island state has high ADC temperature, this state not existing in the Z-sources with luminosities much greater than the critical value. The Z-track sources have an additional flaring branch consistent with unstable nuclear burning on the neutron star at high dot{M}. This burning regime does not exist at low dot{M} so this branch is not seen in atolls (except GX atolls). The horizontal branch in Z-track sources has a strong increase in radiation pressure disrupting the inner disc and launching relativistic jets.

Microbial Source Tracking in Adjacent Karst Springs.

PubMed

Ohad, Shoshanit; Vaizel-Ohayon, Dalit; Rom, Meir; Guttman, Joseph; Berger, Diego; Kravitz, Valeria; Pilo, Shlomo; Huberman, Zohar; Kashi, Yechezkel; Rorman, Efrat

2015-08-01

Modern man-made environments, including urban, agricultural, and industrial environments, have complex ecological interactions among themselves and with the natural surroundings. Microbial source tracking (MST) offers advanced tools to resolve the host source of fecal contamination beyond indicator monitoring. This study was intended to assess karst spring susceptibilities to different fecal sources using MST quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays targeting human, bovine, and swine markers. It involved a dual-time monitoring frame: (i) monthly throughout the calendar year and (ii) daily during a rainfall event. Data integration was taken from both monthly and daily MST profile monitoring and improved identification of spring susceptibility to host fecal contamination; three springs located in close geographic proximity revealed different MST profiles. The Giach spring showed moderate fluctuations of MST marker quantities amid wet and dry samplings, while the Zuf spring had the highest rise of the GenBac3 marker during the wet event, which was mirrored in other markers as well. The revelation of human fecal contamination during the dry season not connected to incidents of raining leachates suggests a continuous and direct exposure to septic systems. Pigpens were identified in the watersheds of Zuf, Shefa, and Giach springs and on the border of the Gaaton spring watershed. Their impact was correlated with partial detection of the Pig-2-Bac marker in Gaaton spring, which was lower than detection levels in all three of the other springs. Ruminant and swine markers were detected intermittently, and their contamination potential during the wet samplings was exposed. These results emphasized the importance of sampling design to utilize the MST approach to delineate subtleties of fecal contamination in the environment. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Deformation data modeling through numerical models: an efficient method for tracking magma transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charco, M.; Gonzalez, P. J.; Galán del Sastre, P.

2017-12-01

Nowadays, multivariate collected data and robust physical models at volcano observatories are becoming crucial for providing effective volcano monitoring. Nevertheless, the forecast of volcanic eruption is notoriously difficult. Wthin this frame one of the most promising methods to evaluate the volcano hazard is the use of surface ground deformation and in the last decades many developments in the field of deformation modeling has been achieved. In particular, numerical modeling allows realistic media features such as topography and crustal heterogeneities to be included, although it is still very time cosuming to solve the inverse problem for near-real time interpretations. Here, we present a method that can be efficiently used to estimate the location and evolution of magmatic sources base on real-time surface deformation data and Finite Element (FE) models. Generally, the search for the best-fitting magmatic (point) source(s) is conducted for an array of 3-D locations extending below a predefined volume region and the Green functions for all the array components have to be precomputed. We propose a FE model for the pre-computation of Green functions in a mechanically heterogeneous domain which eventually will lead to a better description of the status of the volcanic area. The number of Green functions is reduced here to the number of observational points by using their reciprocity relationship. We present and test this methodology with an optimization method base on a Genetic Algorithm. Following synthetic and sensitivity test to estimate the uncertainty of the model parameters, we apply the tool for magma tracking during 2007 Kilauea volcano intrusion and eruption. We show how data inversion with numerical models can speed up the source parameters estimations for a given volcano showing signs of unrest.

From EGEE Operations Portal towards EGI Operations Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cordier, Hélène; L'Orphelin, Cyril; Reynaud, Sylvain; Lequeux, Olivier; Loikkanen, Sinikka; Veyre, Pierre

Grid operators in EGEE have been using a dedicated dashboard as their central operational tool, stable and scalable for the last 5 years despite continuous upgrade from specifications by users, monitoring tools or data providers. In EGEE-III, recent regionalisation of operations led the Operations Portal developers to conceive a standalone instance of this tool. We will see how the dashboard reorganization paved the way for the re-engineering of the portal itself. The outcome is an easily deployable package customized with relevant information sources and specific decentralized operational requirements. This package is composed of a generic and scalable data access mechanism, Lavoisier; a renowned php framework for configuration flexibility, Symfony and a MySQL database. VO life cycle and operational information, EGEE broadcast and Downtime notifications are next for the major reorganization until all other key features of the Operations Portal are migrated to the framework. Features specifications will be sketched at the same time to adapt to EGI requirements and to upgrade. Future work on feature regionalisation, on new advanced features or strategy planning will be tracked in EGI- Inspire through the Operations Tools Advisory Group, OTAG, where all users, customers and third parties of the Operations Portal are represented from January 2010.

NucliTrack: an integrated nuclei tracking application.

PubMed

Cooper, Sam; Barr, Alexis R; Glen, Robert; Bakal, Chris

2017-10-15

Live imaging studies give unparalleled insight into dynamic single cell behaviours and fate decisions. However, the challenge of reliably tracking single cells over long periods of time limits both the throughput and ease with which such studies can be performed. Here, we present NucliTrack, a cross platform solution for automatically segmenting, tracking and extracting features from fluorescently labelled nuclei. NucliTrack performs similarly to other state-of-the-art cell tracking algorithms, but NucliTrack's interactive, graphical interface makes it significantly more user friendly. NucliTrack is available as a free, cross platform application and open source Python package. Installation details and documentation are at: http://nuclitrack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ A video guide can be viewed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6e0D9F-qSU Source code is available through Github: https://github.com/samocooper/nuclitrack. A Matlab toolbox is also available at: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/61479-samocooper-nuclitrack-matlab. sam@socooper.com. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Exploring dynamics in living cells by tracking single particles.

PubMed

Levi, Valeria; Gratton, Enrico

2007-01-01

In the last years, significant advances in microscopy techniques and the introduction of a novel technology to label living cells with genetically encoded fluorescent proteins revolutionized the field of Cell Biology. Our understanding on cell dynamics built from snapshots on fixed specimens has evolved thanks to our actual capability to monitor in real time the evolution of processes in living cells. Among these new tools, single particle tracking techniques were developed to observe and follow individual particles. Hence, we are starting to unravel the mechanisms driving the motion of a wide variety of cellular components ranging from organelles to protein molecules by following their way through the cell. In this review, we introduce the single particle tracking technology to new users. We briefly describe the instrumentation and explain some of the algorithms commonly used to locate and track particles. Also, we present some common tools used to analyze trajectories and illustrate with some examples the applications of single particle tracking to study dynamics in living cells.

Semi-quantitative evaluation of fecal contamination potential by human and ruminant sources using multiple lines of evidence

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stoeckel, D.M.; Stelzer, E.A.; Stogner, R.W.; Mau, D.P.

2011-01-01

Protocols for microbial source tracking of fecal contamination generally are able to identify when a source of contamination is present, but thus far have been unable to evaluate what portion of fecal-indicator bacteria (FIB) came from various sources. A mathematical approach to estimate relative amounts of FIB, such as Escherichia coli, from various sources based on the concentration and distribution of microbial source tracking markers in feces was developed. The approach was tested using dilute fecal suspensions, then applied as part of an analytical suite to a contaminated headwater stream in the Rocky Mountains (Upper Fountain Creek, Colorado). In one single-source fecal suspension, a source that was not present could not be excluded because of incomplete marker specificity; however, human and ruminant sources were detected whenever they were present. In the mixed-feces suspension (pet and human), the minority contributor (human) was detected at a concentration low enough to preclude human contamination as the dominant source of E. coli to the sample. Without the semi-quantitative approach described, simple detects of human-associated marker in stream samples would have provided inaccurate evidence that human contamination was a major source of E. coli to the stream. In samples from Upper Fountain Creek the pattern of E. coli, general and host-associated microbial source tracking markers, nutrients, and wastewater-associated chemical detections-augmented with local observations and land-use patterns-indicated that, contrary to expectations, birds rather than humans or ruminants were the predominant source of fecal contamination to Upper Fountain Creek. This new approach to E. coli allocation, validated by a controlled study and tested by application in a relatively simple setting, represents a widely applicable step forward in the field of microbial source tracking of fecal contamination. ?? 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

The Schisto Track: A System for Gathering and Monitoring Epidemiological Surveys by Connecting Geographical Information Systems in Real Time

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Using the Android platform as a notification instrument for diseases and disorders forms a new alternative for computerization of epidemiological studies. Objective The objective of our study was to construct a tool for gathering epidemiological data on schistosomiasis using the Android platform. Methods The developed application (app), named the Schisto Track, is a tool for data capture and analysis that was designed to meet the needs of a traditional epidemiological survey. An initial version of the app was finished and tested in both real situations and simulations for epidemiological surveys. Results The app proved to be a tool capable of automation of activities, with data organization and standardization, easy data recovery (to enable interfacing with other systems), and totally modular architecture. Conclusions The proposed Schisto Track is in line with worldwide trends toward use of smartphones with the Android platform for modeling epidemiological scenarios. PMID:25099881

Lightning Tracking Tool for Assessment of Total Cloud Lightning within AWIPS II

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burks, Jason E.; Stano, Geoffrey T.; Sperow, Ken

2014-01-01

Total lightning (intra-cloud and cloud-to-ground) has been widely researched and shown to be a valuable tool to aid real-time warning forecasters in the assessment of severe weather potential of convective storms. The trend of total lightning has been related to the strength of a storm's updraft. Therefore a rapid increase in total lightning signifies the strengthening of the parent thunderstorm. The assessment of severe weather potential occurs in a time limited environment and therefore constrains the use of total lightning. A tool has been developed at NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center to assist in quickly analyzing the total lightning signature of multiple storms. The development of this tool comes as a direct result of forecaster feedback from numerous assessments requesting a real-time display of the time series of total lightning. This tool also takes advantage of the new architecture available within the AWIPS II environment. SPoRT's lightning tracking tool has been tested in the Hazardous Weather Testbed (HWT) Spring Program and significant changes have been made based on the feedback. In addition to the updates in response to the HWT assessment, the lightning tracking tool may also be extended to incorporate other requested displays, such as the intra-cloud to cloud-to-ground ratio as well as incorporate the lightning jump algorithm.

Standardised survey method for identifying catchment risks to water quality.

PubMed

Baker, D L; Ferguson, C M; Chier, P; Warnecke, M; Watkinson, A

2016-06-01

This paper describes the development and application of a systematic methodology to identify and quantify risks in drinking water and recreational catchments. The methodology assesses microbial and chemical contaminants from both diffuse and point sources within a catchment using Escherichia coli, protozoan pathogens and chemicals (including fuel and pesticides) as index contaminants. Hazard source information is gathered by a defined sanitary survey process involving use of a software tool which groups hazards into six types: sewage infrastructure, on-site sewage systems, industrial, stormwater, agriculture and recreational sites. The survey estimates the likelihood of the site affecting catchment water quality, and the potential consequences, enabling the calculation of risk for individual sites. These risks are integrated to calculate a cumulative risk for each sub-catchment and the whole catchment. The cumulative risks process accounts for the proportion of potential input sources surveyed and for transfer of contaminants from upstream to downstream sub-catchments. The output risk matrices show the relative risk sources for each of the index contaminants, highlighting those with the greatest impact on water quality at a sub-catchment and catchment level. Verification of the sanitary survey assessments and prioritisation is achieved by comparison with water quality data and microbial source tracking.

Tracking fluid-borne odors in diverse and dynamic environments using multiple sensory mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Brian Kyle

The ability to locate odor sources in different types of environments (i.e. diverse) and environments that change radically during the mission (i.e., dynamic) is essential. While many engineered odor tracking systems have been developed, they appear to be designed for a particular environment (e.g., strong or low flow). In field conditions, agents may encounter both. Insect olfactory orientation studies show that several animals can locate odor sources in both high and low flow environments, and environments where the wind vanishes during tracking behavior. Furthermore, animals use multi-modal sensing, including olfaction, vision and touch to localize a source. This work uses simulated and hardware environments to explore how engineered systems can maintain wind-driven tracking behavior in diverse and dynamic environments. The simulation uses olfaction, vision and tactile attributes to track and localize a source in the following environments: high flow, low flow, and transition from high to low flow (i.e., Wind Stop). The hardware platform tests two disparate tracking strategies (including the simulated strategy) in an environment that transitions from strong to low flow. Results indicate that using a remembered wind direction post wind-shutoff is a viable way to maintain wind-driven tracking behavior in a wind stop environment, which can help bridge the gap between high flow and low flow strategies. Also, multi-modal sensing with tactile attributes, vision and olfaction helps a vehicle to localize a source. In addition to engineered systems, the moth Manduca sexta is challenged to track in the following environments: Wind and Odor, Wind Stop, Odor and No Wind, No Odor and No Wind to gain a better understanding of animal behavior in these environments. Results show that contrary to previous studies of different moth species, M. sexta does not generally maintain its wind-driven tracking behavior post-wind shutoff, but instead executes a stereotyped sequence of maneuvers followed by odor-modulated undirected exploration of its environment. In the Odor and No Wind environment, animals become biased towards the area of the arena where odor is located compared to the No Odor and No Wind environment. Robot and animal results are compared to learn more about both.

A real-time tracking system for monitoring shipments of hazardous materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Womble, Phillip; Paschal, Jon; Hopper, Lindsay; Pinson, Dudley; Schultz, Frederick; Whitfield Humphrey, Melinda

2007-04-01

Due to the ever increasing use of radioactive materials in day to day living from the treatment of cancer patients and irradiation of food for preservation to industrial radiography to check for defects in the welding of pipelines and buildings there is a growing concern over the tracking and monitoring of these sources in transit prior to use as well as the waste produced by such use. The prevention of lost sealed sources is important in reducing the environmental and health risk posed by direct exposure, co-mingling in the metal recycling stream, use in contaminated consumer products, and use in terrorist activities. Northwest Nuclear, LLC (NWN) and the Applied Physics Institute (API) at Western Kentucky University have developed a tracking technology using active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. This system provides location information by measuring the time of arrival of packets from a set of RFID tags to a set of location receivers. The system can track and graphically display the location on maps, drawings or photographs of tagged items on any 802.11- compliant device (PDAs, laptops, computers, WiFi telephones) situated both outside and inside structures. This location information would be vital for tracking the location of high level radiological sources while in transit. RFID technology would reduce the number of lost sources by tracking them from origination to destination. Special tags which indicate tampering or sudden movement have also been developed.

Fission track length distributions in multi-system thermochronology (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gleadow, A. J.; Seiler, C.

2013-12-01

Fission track length distributions contain a unique record of past temperature variations and therefore play a key role in low-temperature thermochronology, for which there is no exact equivalent in any other method. Confined track lengths closely approximate the true etchable ranges of latent fission tracks [1] and are therefore favoured for fission track studies, but they still have a number of practical limitations. These include small numbers of suitable tracks, especially when only horizontal confined tracks are measured. Using only track-in-track events for measurement further limits the sample size. These restrictions become acute for low track-density samples, where length measurements may be impossible. Irradiating the surface with 252Cf tracks [2] can substantially increase the number of confined tracks, but many researchers do not have access to a Cf source. An even more significant issue has emerged from inter-laboratory comparison experiments that demonstrate a disturbingly poor reproducibility of length measurements between observers [3], a problem compounded by a lack of standardisation in measurement techniques. As a result, individual observers may measure different positions for the end of a track, contributing significantly to variability, and consequently blurring the thermal histories obtained. New digital microscopes open up important opportunities for improved track length measurements by reducing restrictions on sample size, and eliminating some sources of inter-observer bias. We have developed a track length measurement system that enables precise determination of vertical as well as horizontal track dimensions, allowing 3D lengths to be obtained. Lengths are measured on captured image stacks that can be analysed easily and may also be shared, for greater standardisation between laboratories. Length measurements are highly reproducible between different observers using this system, suggesting that at least one source of variability can be eliminated. The selection of lengths for imaging, however, still remains a source of potential bias between observers. The new measurement system also enables measurement of 3D lengths of surface-intersecting ';semi-tracks', the distributions of which have been well understood theoretically [1,4], but have not been used in practice because of difficulties of measuring vertical dimensions on older microscopes. Semi-track lengths are, of course, a degraded measure compared to confined tracks because they are randomly truncated. However, this is more than compensated by their very much greater abundance, by a factor of >60, compared to confined tracks. They are also more amenable to semi- or fully-automated measurement techniques than confined tracks. Moreover the distribution characteristics of semi-track lengths relative to confined track lengths are well understood so that in principle the two types could be used together in modelling thermal histories. The implementation of these new approaches for track length measurement should significantly improve the precision and standardisation of track length measurements at every stage of their utilisation, from annealing studies to thermal history modelling of unknowns. [1] Galbraith (2003) Statistics for FT Analysis, Chapman & Hall [2] Donelick et al. (2005) Rev Min Geochem 58, 49-94 [3] Ketcham et al. (2009) Ear Planet Sci Lett 284, 504-515 [4] Jonckheere & Van den haute (1999) Rad Meas 30, 155-179

76 FR 43937 - Criminal Penalties for Unauthorized Introduction of Weapons and Sabotage

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-22

..., Rockville, Maryland 20852. NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS): Publicly... from which a radiological emergency preparedness alert and warning system is activated. II. Discussion... nationally tracked sources that are included in the NRC's National Source Tracking System (i.e., licensees...

New Performance Metrics for Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction-Based Microbial Source Tracking Methods

EPA Science Inventory

Binary sensitivity and specificity metrics are not adequate to describe the performance of quantitative microbial source tracking methods because the estimates depend on the amount of material tested and limit of detection. We introduce a new framework to compare the performance ...

Developing an Internet-based Communication System for Residency Training Programs

PubMed Central

Fortin, Auguste H; Luzzi, Kristina; Galaty, Leslie; Wong, Jeffrey G; Huot, Stephen J

2002-01-01

Administrative communication is increasingly challenging for residency programs as the number of training sites expands. The Internet provides a cost-effective opportunity to address these needs. Using the World Wide Web, we developed a single, reliable, accurate, and accessible source of administrative information for residents, faculty, and staff in a multisite internal medicine residency at reduced costs. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the website was determined by tracking website use, materials and personnel costs, and resident, staff, and faculty satisfaction. Office supply and personnel costs were reduced by 89% and personnel effort by 85%. All users were highly satisfied with the web communication tool and all reported increased knowledge of program information and a greater sense of “connectedness.” We conclude that an internet-based communication system that provides a single, reliable, accurate, and accessible source of information for residents, faculty, and staff can be developed with minimum resources and reduced costs. PMID:11972724

3D for the people: multi-camera motion capture in the field with consumer-grade cameras and open source software

PubMed Central

Evangelista, Dennis J.; Ray, Dylan D.; Hedrick, Tyson L.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Ecological, behavioral and biomechanical studies often need to quantify animal movement and behavior in three dimensions. In laboratory studies, a common tool to accomplish these measurements is the use of multiple, calibrated high-speed cameras. Until very recently, the complexity, weight and cost of such cameras have made their deployment in field situations risky; furthermore, such cameras are not affordable to many researchers. Here, we show how inexpensive, consumer-grade cameras can adequately accomplish these measurements both within the laboratory and in the field. Combined with our methods and open source software, the availability of inexpensive, portable and rugged cameras will open up new areas of biological study by providing precise 3D tracking and quantification of animal and human movement to researchers in a wide variety of field and laboratory contexts. PMID:27444791

Femtosecond MeV Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, R. K.; Wang, X. J.

2017-11-01

Pump-probe electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) with femtosecond temporal resolution will be a transformative research tool for studying nonequilibrium chemistry and electronic dynamics of matter. In this paper, we propose a concept of femtosecond EELS utilizing mega-electron-volt electron beams from a radio-frequency (rf) photocathode source. The high acceleration gradient and high beam energy of the rf gun are critical to the generation of 10-fs electron beams, which enables an improvement of the temporal resolution by more than 1 order of magnitude beyond the state of the art. In our proposal, the "reference-beam technique" relaxes the energy stability requirement of the rf power source by roughly 2 orders of magnitude. The requirements for the electron-beam quality, photocathode, spectrometer, and detector are also discussed. Supported by particle-tracking simulations, we demonstrate the feasibility of achieving sub-electron-volt energy resolution and approximately 10-fs temporal resolution with existing or near-future hardware performance.

A Real-Time Tool Positioning Sensor for Machine-Tools

PubMed Central

Ruiz, Antonio Ramon Jimenez; Rosas, Jorge Guevara; Granja, Fernando Seco; Honorato, Jose Carlos Prieto; Taboada, Jose Juan Esteve; Serrano, Vicente Mico; Jimenez, Teresa Molina

2009-01-01

In machining, natural oscillations, and elastic, gravitational or temperature deformations, are still a problem to guarantee the quality of fabricated parts. In this paper we present an optical measurement system designed to track and localize in 3D a reference retro-reflector close to the machine-tool's drill. The complete system and its components are described in detail. Several tests, some static (including impacts and rotations) and others dynamic (by executing linear and circular trajectories), were performed on two different machine tools. It has been integrated, for the first time, a laser tracking system into the position control loop of a machine-tool. Results indicate that oscillations and deformations close to the tool can be estimated with micrometric resolution and a bandwidth from 0 to more than 100 Hz. Therefore this sensor opens the possibility for on-line compensation of oscillations and deformations. PMID:22408472

Future Trends in Solar Radio Astronomy and Coronal Magnetic-Field Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fleishman, Gregory; Nita, Gelu; Gary, Dale

Solar radio astronomy has an amazingly rich, but yet largely unexploited, potential for probing the solar corona and chromosphere. Radio emission offers multiple ways of detecting and tracking electron beams, studying chromospheric and coronal thermal structure, plasma processes, particle acceleration, and measuring magnetic fields. To turn the mentioned potential into real routine diagnostics, two major components are needed: (1) well-calibrated observations with high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions and (2) accurate and reliable theoretical models and fast numerical tools capable of recovering the emission source parameters from the radio data. This report gives a brief overview of the new, expanded, and planned radio facilities, such as Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA), Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA), Chinese Solar Radio Heliograph (CSRH), Upgraded Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (USSRT), and Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR) with the emphasis on their ability to measure the coronal magnetic fields in active regions and flares. In particular, we emphasize the new tools for 3D modeling of the radio emission and forward fitting tools in development needed to derive the magnetic field data from the radio measurements.

Railroad decision support tools for track maintenance.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-01

North American railroads spend billions of dollars each year on track maintenance. With : expenditures of this level, incremental improvements in planning or execution of maintenance projects can result in either substantial savings or the ability to...

Vehicle/Track Interaction Assessment Techniques. Volume 1, Part 1.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-03-01

This report describes Vehicle/Track Interaction Assessment Techniques (IAT) which are developed to provide standardized procedures and tools in order to: Investigate the dynamic performance of railroad vehicles, and systematically identify and cure d...

Vehicle/Track Interaction Assessment Techniques. Volume 2, Part 2.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-03-01

This report describes Vehicle/Track Interaction Assessment Techniques (IAT) which are developed to provide standardized procedures and tools in order to: Investigate the dynamic performance of railroad vehicles, and systematically identify and cure d...

Vehicle/Track Interaction Assessment Techniques. Volume 3, Part 2.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-03-01

This report describes Vehicle/Track Interaction Assessment Techniques (IAT) which are developed to provide standardized procedures and tools in order to: Investigate the dynamic performance of railroad vehicles, and systematically identify and cure d...

Geo Issue Tracking System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khakpour, Mohammad; Paulik, Christoph; Hahn, Sebastian

2016-04-01

Communication about remote sensing data quality between data providers and users as well as between the users is often difficult. The users have a hard time figuring out if a product has known problems over their region of interest and data providers have to spend a lot of effort to make this information available, if it exists. Scientific publications are one tool for communicating with the users base but they are static and mostly one way. As a data provider it is also often difficult to make feedback, received from users, available to the complete user base. The Geo Issue Tracking System (GeoITS) is an Open Source Web Application which has been developed to mitigate these problems. GeoITS combines a mapping interface (Google Maps) with a simple wiki platform. It allows users to give region specific feedback on a remote sensing product by drawing a polygon on the map and describing the problems they had using the remote sensing product in this area. These geolocated wiki entries are then viewable by other users as well as the data providers which can modify and extend the entries. In this way the conversations between the users and the data provider are no longer hidden in e.g. emails but open for all users of the dataset. This new kind of communication platform can enable better cooperation between users and data providers. It will also provide data providers with the ability to track problems their dataset might have in certain areas and resolve them with new product releases. The source code is available via http://github.com/TUW-GEO/geoits_dev A running instance can be tried at https://geoits.herokuapp.com/

EMAAS: An extensible grid-based Rich Internet Application for microarray data analysis and management

PubMed Central

Barton, G; Abbott, J; Chiba, N; Huang, DW; Huang, Y; Krznaric, M; Mack-Smith, J; Saleem, A; Sherman, BT; Tiwari, B; Tomlinson, C; Aitman, T; Darlington, J; Game, L; Sternberg, MJE; Butcher, SA

2008-01-01

Background Microarray experimentation requires the application of complex analysis methods as well as the use of non-trivial computer technologies to manage the resultant large data sets. This, together with the proliferation of tools and techniques for microarray data analysis, makes it very challenging for a laboratory scientist to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in this field. Our aim was to develop a distributed e-support system for microarray data analysis and management. Results EMAAS (Extensible MicroArray Analysis System) is a multi-user rich internet application (RIA) providing simple, robust access to up-to-date resources for microarray data storage and analysis, combined with integrated tools to optimise real time user support and training. The system leverages the power of distributed computing to perform microarray analyses, and provides seamless access to resources located at various remote facilities. The EMAAS framework allows users to import microarray data from several sources to an underlying database, to pre-process, quality assess and analyse the data, to perform functional analyses, and to track data analysis steps, all through a single easy to use web portal. This interface offers distance support to users both in the form of video tutorials and via live screen feeds using the web conferencing tool EVO. A number of analysis packages, including R-Bioconductor and Affymetrix Power Tools have been integrated on the server side and are available programmatically through the Postgres-PLR library or on grid compute clusters. Integrated distributed resources include the functional annotation tool DAVID, GeneCards and the microarray data repositories GEO, CELSIUS and MiMiR. EMAAS currently supports analysis of Affymetrix 3' and Exon expression arrays, and the system is extensible to cater for other microarray and transcriptomic platforms. Conclusion EMAAS enables users to track and perform microarray data management and analysis tasks through a single easy-to-use web application. The system architecture is flexible and scalable to allow new array types, analysis algorithms and tools to be added with relative ease and to cope with large increases in data volume. PMID:19032776

Treatment of internal sources in the finite-volume ELLAM

USGS Publications Warehouse

Healy, R.W.; ,; ,; ,; ,; ,

2000-01-01

The finite-volume Eulerian-Lagrangian localized adjoint method (FVELLAM) is a mass-conservative approach for solving the advection-dispersion equation. The method has been shown to be accurate and efficient for solving advection-dominated problems of solute transport in ground water in 1, 2, and 3 dimensions. Previous implementations of FVELLAM have had difficulty in representing internal sources because the standard assumption of lowest order Raviart-Thomas velocity field does not hold for source cells. Therefore, tracking of particles within source cells is problematic. A new approach has been developed to account for internal sources in FVELLAM. It is assumed that the source is uniformly distributed across a grid cell and that instantaneous mixing takes place within the cell, such that concentration is uniform across the cell at any time. Sub-time steps are used in the time-integration scheme to track mass outflow from the edges of the source cell. This avoids the need for tracking within the source cell. We describe the new method and compare results for a test problem with a wide range of cell Peclet numbers.

COMPARATIVE DIVERSITY OF FECAL BACTERIA IN AGRICULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT ANIMALS TO IDENTIFY ALTERNATIVE TARGETS FOR MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING

EPA Science Inventory

Animals of agricultural significance contribute a large percentage of fecal pollution to waterways via runoff contamination. The premise of microbial source tracking is to utilize fecal bacteria to identify target populations which are directly correlated to specific animal feces...

Evaluation of the repeatability and reproducibility of a suite of qPCR based microbial source tracking methods

EPA Science Inventory

Many PCR-based methods for microbial source tracking (MST) have been developed and validated within individual research laboratories. Inter-laboratory validation of these methods, however, has been minimal, and the effects of protocol standardization regimes have not been thor...

Decay of Fecal Indicator Bacterial Populations and Bovine-Associated Source-Tracking Markers in Freshly Deposited Cow Pats

EPA Science Inventory

Understanding the survival of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and microbial source-tracking (MST) markers is critical to developing pathogen fate and transport models. Although pathogen survival in water microcosms and manure-amended soils is well documented, little is known about...

Performance of forty-one microbial source tracking methods: A twenty-seven lab evaluation study

EPA Science Inventory

The last decade has seen development of numerous new microbial source tracking (MST) methodologies, but many of these have been tested in just a few laboratories with a limited number of fecal samples. This method evaluation study examined the specificity and sensitivity of 43 ...

Decay of Fecal Indicator Bacteria and Microbial Source Tracking Markers in Cattle Feces

EPA Science Inventory

The survival of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and microbial source tracking (MST) markers in water microcosms and manure amended soils has been well documented; however, little is known about the survival of MST markers in bovine feces deposited on pastures. We conducted a study...

A hidden Markov model for reconstructing animal paths from solar geolocation loggers using templates for light intensity.

PubMed

Rakhimberdiev, Eldar; Winkler, David W; Bridge, Eli; Seavy, Nathaniel E; Sheldon, Daniel; Piersma, Theunis; Saveliev, Anatoly

2015-01-01

Solar archival tags (henceforth called geolocators) are tracking devices deployed on animals to reconstruct their long-distance movements on the basis of locations inferred post hoc with reference to the geographical and seasonal variations in the timing and speeds of sunrise and sunset. The increased use of geolocators has created a need for analytical tools to produce accurate and objective estimates of migration routes that are explicit in their uncertainty about the position estimates. We developed a hidden Markov chain model for the analysis of geolocator data. This model estimates tracks for animals with complex migratory behaviour by combining: (1) a shading-insensitive, template-fit physical model, (2) an uncorrelated random walk movement model that includes migratory and sedentary behavioural states, and (3) spatially explicit behavioural masks. The model is implemented in a specially developed open source R package FLightR. We used the particle filter (PF) algorithm to provide relatively fast model posterior computation. We illustrate our modelling approach with analysis of simulated data for stationary tags and of real tracks of both a tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor migrating along the east and a golden-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia atricapilla migrating along the west coast of North America. We provide a model that increases accuracy in analyses of noisy data and movements of animals with complicated migration behaviour. It provides posterior distributions for the positions of animals, their behavioural states (e.g., migrating or sedentary), and distance and direction of movement. Our approach allows biologists to estimate locations of animals with complex migratory behaviour based on raw light data. This model advances the current methods for estimating migration tracks from solar geolocation, and will benefit a fast-growing number of tracking studies with this technology.

Fecal pollution source tracking toolbox for identification, evaluation and characterization of fecal contamination in receiving urban surface waters and groundwater.

PubMed

Tran, Ngoc Han; Gin, Karina Yew-Hoong; Ngo, Huu Hao

2015-12-15

The quality of surface waters/groundwater of a geographical region can be affected by anthropogenic activities, land use patterns and fecal pollution sources from humans and animals. Therefore, the development of an efficient fecal pollution source tracking toolbox for identifying the origin of the fecal pollution sources in surface waters/groundwater is especially helpful for improving management efforts and remediation actions of water resources in a more cost-effective and efficient manner. This review summarizes the updated knowledge on the use of fecal pollution source tracking markers for detecting, evaluating and characterizing fecal pollution sources in receiving surface waters and groundwater. The suitability of using chemical markers (i.e. fecal sterols, fluorescent whitening agents, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, and artificial sweeteners) and/or microbial markers (e.g. F+RNA coliphages, enteric viruses, and host-specific anaerobic bacterial 16S rDNA genetic markers) for tracking fecal pollution sources in receiving water bodies is discussed. In addition, this review also provides a comprehensive approach, which is based on the detection ratios (DR), detection frequencies (DF), and fate of potential microbial and chemical markers. DR and DF are considered as the key criteria for selecting appropriate markers for identifying and evaluating the impacts of fecal contamination in surface waters/groundwater. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Search for Astrophysical Sources of Neutrinos Using Cascade Events in IceCube

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.; Aguilar, J. A.; Ahlers, M.; Ahrens, M.; Samarai, I. Al; Altmann, D.; Andeen, K.; Anderson, T.; Ansseau, I.; Anton, G.; Argüelles, C.; Auffenberg, J.; Axani, S.; Bagherpour, H.; Bai, X.; Barwick, S. W.; Baum, V.; Bay, R.; Beatty, J. J.; Becker Tjus, J.; Becker, K.-H.; BenZvi, S.; Berley, D.; Bernardini, E.; Besson, D. Z.; Binder, G.; Bindig, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Blot, S.; Bohm, C.; Börner, M.; Bos, F.; Bose, D.; Böser, S.; Botner, O.; Bourbeau, J.; Bradascio, F.; Braun, J.; Brayeur, L.; Brenzke, M.; Bretz, H.-P.; Bron, S.; Burgman, A.; Carver, T.; Casey, J.; Casier, M.; Cheung, E.; Chirkin, D.; Christov, A.; Clark, K.; Classen, L.; Coenders, S.; Collin, G. H.; Conrad, J. M.; Cowen, D. F.; Cross, R.; Day, M.; de André, J. P. A. M.; De Clercq, C.; DeLaunay, J. J.; Dembinski, H.; De Ridder, S.; Desiati, P.; de Vries, K. D.; de Wasseige, G.; de With, M.; DeYoung, T.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; di Lorenzo, V.; Dujmovic, H.; Dumm, J. P.; Dunkman, M.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Eichmann, B.; Eller, P.; Evenson, P. A.; Fahey, S.; Fazely, A. R.; Felde, J.; Filimonov, K.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Franckowiak, A.; Friedman, E.; Fuchs, T.; Gaisser, T. K.; Gallagher, J.; Gerhardt, L.; Ghorbani, K.; Giang, W.; Glauch, T.; Glüsenkamp, T.; Goldschmidt, A.; Gonzalez, J. G.; Grant, D.; Griffith, Z.; Haack, C.; Hallgren, A.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Hebecker, D.; Heereman, D.; Helbing, K.; Hellauer, R.; Hickford, S.; Hignight, J.; Hill, G. C.; Hoffman, K. D.; Hoffmann, R.; Hokanson-Fasig, B.; Hoshina, K.; Huang, F.; Huber, M.; Hultqvist, K.; In, S.; Ishihara, A.; Jacobi, E.; Japaridze, G. S.; Jeong, M.; Jero, K.; Jones, B. J. P.; Kalacynski, P.; Kang, W.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karle, A.; Katz, U.; Kauer, M.; Keivani, A.; Kelley, J. L.; Kheirandish, A.; Kim, J.; Kim, M.; Kintscher, T.; Kiryluk, J.; Kittler, T.; Klein, S. R.; Kohnen, G.; Koirala, R.; Kolanoski, H.; Köpke, L.; Kopper, C.; Kopper, S.; Koschinsky, J. P.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kowalski, M.; Krings, K.; Kroll, M.; Krückl, G.; Kunnen, J.; Kunwar, S.; Kurahashi, N.; Kuwabara, T.; Kyriacou, A.; Labare, M.; Lanfranchi, J. L.; Larson, M. J.; Lauber, F.; Lennarz, D.; Lesiak-Bzdak, M.; Leuermann, M.; Liu, Q. R.; Lu, L.; Lünemann, J.; Luszczak, W.; Madsen, J.; Maggi, G.; Mahn, K. B. M.; Mancina, S.; Maruyama, R.; Mase, K.; Maunu, R.; McNally, F.; Meagher, K.; Medici, M.; Meier, M.; Menne, T.; Merino, G.; Meures, T.; Miarecki, S.; Micallef, J.; Momenté, G.; Montaruli, T.; Moulai, M.; Nahnhauer, R.; Nakarmi, P.; Naumann, U.; Neer, G.; Niederhausen, H.; Nowicki, S. C.; Nygren, D. R.; Obertacke Pollmann, A.; Olivas, A.; O'Murchadha, A.; Palczewski, T.; Pandya, H.; Pankova, D. V.; Peiffer, P.; Pepper, J. A.; Pérez de los Heros, C.; Pieloth, D.; Pinat, E.; Plum, M.; Price, P. B.; Przybylski, G. T.; Raab, C.; Rädel, L.; Rameez, M.; Rawlins, K.; Reimann, R.; Relethford, B.; Relich, M.; Resconi, E.; Rhode, W.; Richman, M.; Riedel, B.; Robertson, S.; Rongen, M.; Rott, C.; Ruhe, T.; Ryckbosch, D.; Rysewyk, D.; Sälzer, T.; Sanchez Herrera, S. E.; Sandrock, A.; Sandroos, J.; Sarkar, S.; Sarkar, S.; Satalecka, K.; Schlunder, P.; Schmidt, T.; Schneider, A.; Schoenen, S.; Schöneberg, S.; Schumacher, L.; Seckel, D.; Seunarine, S.; Soldin, D.; Song, M.; Spiczak, G. M.; Spiering, C.; Stachurska, J.; Stanev, T.; Stasik, A.; Stettner, J.; Steuer, A.; Stezelberger, T.; Stokstad, R. G.; Stößl, A.; Strotjohann, N. L.; Sullivan, G. W.; Sutherland, M.; Taboada, I.; Tatar, J.; Tenholt, F.; Ter-Antonyan, S.; Terliuk, A.; Tešić, G.; Tilav, S.; Toale, P. A.; Tobin, M. N.; Toscano, S.; Tosi, D.; Tselengidou, M.; Tung, C. F.; Turcati, A.; Turley, C. F.; Ty, B.; Unger, E.; Usner, M.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Van Driessche, W.; van Eijndhoven, N.; Vanheule, S.; van Santen, J.; Vehring, M.; Vogel, E.; Vraeghe, M.; Walck, C.; Wallace, A.; Wallraff, M.; Wandkowsky, N.; Waza, A.; Weaver, C.; Weiss, M. J.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Whelan, B. J.; Wickmann, S.; Wiebe, K.; Wiebusch, C. H.; Wille, L.; Williams, D. R.; Wills, L.; Wolf, M.; Wood, J.; Wood, T. R.; Woolsey, E.; Woschnagg, K.; Xu, D. L.; Xu, X. W.; Xu, Y.; Yanez, J. P.; Yodh, G.; Yoshida, S.; Yuan, T.; Zoll, M.; IceCube Collaboration

2017-09-01

The IceCube neutrino observatory has established the existence of a flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, which is inconsistent with the expectation from atmospheric backgrounds at a significance greater than 5σ. This flux has been observed in analyses of both track events from muon neutrino interactions and cascade events from interactions of all neutrino flavors. Searches for astrophysical neutrino sources have focused on track events due to the significantly better angular resolution of track reconstructions. To date, no such sources have been confirmed. Here we present the first search for astrophysical neutrino sources using cascades interacting in IceCube with deposited energies as small as 1 TeV. No significant clustering was observed in a selection of 263 cascades collected from 2010 May to 2012 May. We show that compared to the classic approach using tracks, this statistically independent search offers improved sensitivity to sources in the southern sky, especially if the emission is spatially extended or follows a soft energy spectrum. This enhancement is due to the low background from atmospheric neutrinos forming cascade events and the additional veto of atmospheric neutrinos at declinations ≲-30°.

Search for Astrophysical Sources of Neutrinos Using Cascade Events in IceCube

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

Aartsen, M. G.; Ackermann, M.; Adams, J.

The IceCube neutrino observatory has established the existence of a flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, which is inconsistent with the expectation from atmospheric backgrounds at a significance greater than 5 σ . This flux has been observed in analyses of both track events from muon neutrino interactions and cascade events from interactions of all neutrino flavors. Searches for astrophysical neutrino sources have focused on track events due to the significantly better angular resolution of track reconstructions. To date, no such sources have been confirmed. Here we present the first search for astrophysical neutrino sources using cascades interacting in IceCube withmore » deposited energies as small as 1 TeV. No significant clustering was observed in a selection of 263 cascades collected from 2010 May to 2012 May. We show that compared to the classic approach using tracks, this statistically independent search offers improved sensitivity to sources in the southern sky, especially if the emission is spatially extended or follows a soft energy spectrum. This enhancement is due to the low background from atmospheric neutrinos forming cascade events and the additional veto of atmospheric neutrinos at declinations ≲−30°.« less

NucliTrack: an integrated nuclei tracking application

PubMed Central

Cooper, Sam; Barr, Alexis R.; Glen, Robert; Bakal, Chris

2017-01-01

Abstract Summary Live imaging studies give unparalleled insight into dynamic single cell behaviours and fate decisions. However, the challenge of reliably tracking single cells over long periods of time limits both the throughput and ease with which such studies can be performed. Here, we present NucliTrack, a cross platform solution for automatically segmenting, tracking and extracting features from fluorescently labelled nuclei. NucliTrack performs similarly to other state-of-the-art cell tracking algorithms, but NucliTrack’s interactive, graphical interface makes it significantly more user friendly. Availability and implementation NucliTrack is available as a free, cross platform application and open source Python package. Installation details and documentation are at: http://nuclitrack.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ A video guide can be viewed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6e0D9F-qSU Source code is available through Github: https://github.com/samocooper/nuclitrack. A Matlab toolbox is also available at: https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/61479-samocooper-nuclitrack-matlab. Contact sam@socooper.com Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:28637183

Voice tracking and spoken word recognition in the presence of other voices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litong-Palima, Marisciel; Violanda, Renante; Saloma, Caesar

2004-12-01

We study the human hearing process by modeling the hair cell as a thresholded Hopf bifurcator and compare our calculations with experimental results involving human subjects in two different multi-source listening tasks of voice tracking and spoken-word recognition. In the model, we observed noise suppression by destructive interference between noise sources which weakens the effective noise strength acting on the hair cell. Different success rate characteristics were observed for the two tasks. Hair cell performance at low threshold levels agree well with results from voice-tracking experiments while those of word-recognition experiments are consistent with a linear model of the hearing process. The ability of humans to track a target voice is robust against cross-talk interference unlike word-recognition performance which deteriorates quickly with the number of uncorrelated noise sources in the environment which is a response behavior that is associated with linear systems.

KiT: a MATLAB package for kinetochore tracking.

PubMed

Armond, Jonathan W; Vladimirou, Elina; McAinsh, Andrew D; Burroughs, Nigel J

2016-06-15

During mitosis, chromosomes are attached to the mitotic spindle via large protein complexes called kinetochores. The motion of kinetochores throughout mitosis is intricate and automated quantitative tracking of their motion has already revealed many surprising facets of their behaviour. Here, we present 'KiT' (Kinetochore Tracking)-an easy-to-use, open-source software package for tracking kinetochores from live-cell fluorescent movies. KiT supports 2D, 3D and multi-colour movies, quantification of fluorescence, integrated deconvolution, parallel execution and multiple algorithms for particle localization. KiT is free, open-source software implemented in MATLAB and runs on all MATLAB supported platforms. KiT can be downloaded as a package from http://www.mechanochemistry.org/mcainsh/software.php The source repository is available at https://bitbucket.org/jarmond/kit and under continuing development. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. jonathan.armond@warwick.ac.uk. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Integration of Irma tactical scene generator into directed-energy weapon system simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owens, Monte A.; Cole, Madison B., III; Laine, Mark R.

2003-08-01

Integrated high-fidelity physics-based simulations that include engagement models, image generation, electro-optical hardware models and control system algorithms have previously been developed by Boeing-SVS for various tracking and pointing systems. These simulations, however, had always used images with featureless or random backgrounds and simple target geometries. With the requirement to engage tactical ground targets in the presence of cluttered backgrounds, a new type of scene generation tool was required to fully evaluate system performance in this challenging environment. To answer this need, Irma was integrated into the existing suite of Boeing-SVS simulation tools, allowing scene generation capabilities with unprecedented realism. Irma is a US Air Force research tool used for high-resolution rendering and prediction of target and background signatures. The MATLAB/Simulink-based simulation achieves closed-loop tracking by running track algorithms on the Irma-generated images, processing the track errors through optical control algorithms, and moving simulated electro-optical elements. The geometry of these elements determines the sensor orientation with respect to the Irma database containing the three-dimensional background and target models. This orientation is dynamically passed to Irma through a Simulink S-function to generate the next image. This integrated simulation provides a test-bed for development and evaluation of tracking and control algorithms against representative images including complex background environments and realistic targets calibrated using field measurements.

BEESCOUT: A model of bee scouting behaviour and a software tool for characterizing nectar/pollen landscapes for BEEHAVE.

PubMed

Becher, M A; Grimm, V; Knapp, J; Horn, J; Twiston-Davies, G; Osborne, J L

2016-11-24

Social bees are central place foragers collecting floral resources from the surrounding landscape, but little is known about the probability of a scouting bee finding a particular flower patch. We therefore developed a software tool, BEESCOUT, to theoretically examine how bees might explore a landscape and distribute their scouting activities over time and space. An image file can be imported, which is interpreted by the model as a "forage map" with certain colours representing certain crops or habitat types as specified by the user. BEESCOUT calculates the size and location of these potential food sources in that landscape relative to a bee colony. An individual-based model then determines the detection probabilities of the food patches by bees, based on parameter values gathered from the flight patterns of radar-tracked honeybees and bumblebees. Various "search modes" describe hypothetical search strategies for the long-range exploration of scouting bees. The resulting detection probabilities of forage patches can be used as input for the recently developed honeybee model BEEHAVE, to explore realistic scenarios of colony growth and death in response to different stressors. In example simulations, we find that detection probabilities for food sources close to the colony fit empirical data reasonably well. However, for food sources further away no empirical data are available to validate model output. The simulated detection probabilities depend largely on the bees' search mode, and whether they exchange information about food source locations. Nevertheless, we show that landscape structure and connectivity of food sources can have a strong impact on the results. We believe that BEESCOUT is a valuable tool to better understand how landscape configurations and searching behaviour of bees affect detection probabilities of food sources. It can also guide the collection of relevant data and the design of experiments to close knowledge gaps, and provides a useful extension to the BEEHAVE honeybee model, enabling future users to explore how landscape structure and food availability affect the foraging decisions and patch visitation rates of the bees and, in consequence, to predict colony development and survival.

A first approach to a neuropsychological screening tool using eye-tracking for bedside cognitive testing based on the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen.

PubMed

Keller, Jürgen; Krimly, Amon; Bauer, Lisa; Schulenburg, Sarah; Böhm, Sarah; Aho-Özhan, Helena E A; Uttner, Ingo; Gorges, Martin; Kassubek, Jan; Pinkhardt, Elmar H; Abrahams, Sharon; Ludolph, Albert C; Lulé, Dorothée

2017-08-01

Reliable assessment of cognitive functions is a challenging task in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients unable to speak and write. We therefore present an eye-tracking based neuropsychological screening tool based on the Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS), a standard screening tool for cognitive deficits in ALS. In total, 46 ALS patients and 50 healthy controls matched for age, gender and education were tested with an oculomotor based and a standard paper-and-pencil version of the ECAS. Significant correlation between both versions was observed for ALS patients and healthy controls in the ECAS total score and in all of its ALS-specific domains (all r > 0.3; all p < 0.05). The eye-tracking version of the ECAS reliably distinguished between ALS patients and healthy controls in the ECAS total score (p < 0.05). Also, cognitively impaired and non-impaired patients could be reliably distinguished with a specificity of 95%. This study provides first evidence that the eye-tracking based ECAS version is a promising approach for assessing cognitive deficits in ALS patients who are unable to speak or write.

Using Eye Tracking as a Tool to Teach Informatics Students the Importance of User Centered Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gelderblom, Helene; Adebesin, Funmi; Brosens, Jacques; Kruger, Rendani

2017-01-01

In this article the authors describe how they incorporate eye tracking in a human-computer interaction (HCI) course that forms part of a postgraduate Informatics degree. The focus is on an eye tracking assignment that involves student groups performing usability evaluation studies for real world clients. Over the past three years the authors have…

TrackArt: the user friendly interface for single molecule tracking data analysis and simulation applied to complex diffusion in mica supported lipid bilayers.

PubMed

Matysik, Artur; Kraut, Rachel S

2014-05-01

Single molecule tracking (SMT) analysis of fluorescently tagged lipid and protein probes is an attractive alternative to ensemble averaged methods such as fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) or fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) for measuring diffusion in artificial and plasma membranes. The meaningful estimation of diffusion coefficients and their errors is however not straightforward, and is heavily dependent on sample type, acquisition method, and equipment used. Many approaches require advanced computing and programming skills for their implementation. Here we present TrackArt software, an accessible graphic interface for simulation and complex analysis of multiple particle paths. Imported trajectories can be filtered to eliminate spurious or corrupted tracks, and are then analyzed using several previously described methodologies, to yield single or multiple diffusion coefficients, their population fractions, and estimated errors. We use TrackArt to analyze the single-molecule diffusion behavior of a sphingolipid analog SM-Atto647N, in mica supported DOPC (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) bilayers. Fitting with a two-component diffusion model confirms the existence of two separate populations of diffusing particles in these bilayers on mica. As a demonstration of the TrackArt workflow, we characterize and discuss the effective activation energies required to increase the diffusion rates of these populations, obtained from Arrhenius plots of temperature-dependent diffusion. Finally, TrackArt provides a simulation module, allowing the user to generate models with multiple particle trajectories, diffusing with different characteristics. Maps of domains, acting as impermeable or permeable obstacles for particles diffusing with given rate constants and diffusion coefficients, can be simulated or imported from an image. Importantly, this allows one to use simulated data with a known diffusion behavior as a comparison for results acquired using particular algorithms on actual, "natural" samples whose diffusion behavior is to be extracted. It can also serve as a tool for demonstrating diffusion principles. TrackArt is an open source, platform-independent, Matlab-based graphical user interface, and is easy to use even for those unfamiliar with the Matlab programming environment. TrackArt can be used for accurate simulation and analysis of complex diffusion data, such as diffusion in lipid bilayers, providing publication-quality formatted results.

Flying Boresight for Advanced Testing and Calibration of Tracking Antennas and Flight Path Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hafner, D.

2015-09-01

The application of ground-based boresight sources for calibration and testing of tracking antennas usually entails various difficulties, mostly due to unwanted ground effects. To avoid this problem, DLR MORABA developed a small, lightweight, frequency-adjustable S-band boresight source, mounted on a small remote-controlled multirotor aircraft. Highly accurate GPS-supported, position and altitude control functions allow both, very steady positioning of the aircraft in mid-air, and precise waypoint-based, semi-autonomous flights. In contrast to fixed near-ground boresight sources this flying setup enables to avoid obstructions in the Fresnel zone between source and antenna. Further, it minimizes ground reflections and other multipath effects which can affect antenna calibration. In addition, the large operating range of a flying boresight simplifies measurements in the far field of the antenna and permits undisturbed antenna pattern tests. A unique application is the realistic simulation of sophisticated flight paths, including overhead tracking and demanding trajectories of fast objects such as sounding rockets. Likewise, dynamic tracking tests are feasible which provide crucial information about the antenna pedestal performance — particularly at high elevations — and reveal weaknesses in the autotrack control loop of tracking antenna systems. During acceptance tests of MORABA's new tracking antennas, a manned aircraft was never used, since the Flying Boresight surpassed all expectations regarding usability, efficiency, and precision. Hence, it became an integral part of MORABA's standard antenna setup and calibration procedures.

WE-D-204-06: An Open Source ImageJ CatPhan Analysis Tool

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

Nelson, G

2015-06-15

Purpose: The CatPhan is a popular QA device for assessing CT image quality. There are a number of software options which perform analysis of the CatPhan. However, there is often little ability for the user to adjust the analysis if it isn’t running properly, and these are all expensive options. An open source tool is an effective solution. Methods: To use the software, the user imports the CT as an image sequence in ImageJ. The user then scrolls to the slice with the lateral dots. The user then runs the plugin. If tolerance constraints are not already created, the usermore » is prompted to enter them or to use generic tolerances. Upon completion of the analysis, the plugin calls pdfLaTex to compile the pdf report. There is a csv version of the report as well. A log of the results from all CatPhan scans is kept as a csv file. The user can use this to baseline the machine. Results: The tool is capable of detecting the orientation of the phantom. If the CatPhan was scanned backwards, one can simply flip the stack of images horizontally and proceed with the analysis. The analysis includes Sensitometry (estimating the effective beam energy), HU values and linearity, Low Contrast Visibility (using LDPE & Polystyrene), Contrast Scale, Geometric Accuracy, Slice Thickness Accuracy, Spatial resolution (giving the MTF using the line pairs as well as the point spread function), CNR, Low Contrast Detectability (including the raw data), Uniformity (including the Cupping Effect). Conclusion: This is a robust tool that analyzes more components of the CatPhan than other software options (with the exception of ImageOwl). It produces an elegant pdf and keeps a log of analyses for long-term tracking of the system. Because it is open source, users are able to customize any component of it.« less

Molecular fingerprinting of particulate organic matter as a new tool for its source apportionment: changes along a headwater drainage in coarse, medium and fine particles as a function of rainfalls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeanneau, Laurent; Rowland, Richard; Inamdar, Shreeram

2018-02-01

Tracking the sources of particulate organic matter (POM) exported from catchments is important to understand the transfer of energy from soils to oceans. The suitability of investigating the molecular composition of POM by thermally assisted hydrolysis and methylation using tetramethylammonium hydroxide directly coupled to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry is presented. The results of this molecular-fingerprint approach were compared with previously published elemental (% C, % N) and isotopic data (δ13C, δ15N) acquired in a nested headwater catchment in the Piedmont region, eastern United States of America (12 and 79 ha). The concordance between these results highlights the effectiveness of this molecular tool as a valuable method for source fingerprinting of POM. It emphasizes litter as the main source of exported POM at the upstream location (80±14 %), with an increasing proportion of streambed (SBed) sediment remobilization downstream (42 ± 29 %), specifically during events characterized by high rainfall amounts. At the upstream location, the source of POM seems to be controlled by the maximum and median hourly rainfall intensity. An added value of this method is to directly investigate chemical biomarkers and to mine their distributions in terms of biogeochemical functioning of an ecosystem. In this catchment, the distribution of plant-derived biomarkers characterizing lignin, cutin and suberin inputs were similar in SBed and litter, while the proportion of microbial markers was 4 times higher in SBed than in litter. These results indicate that SBed OM was largely from plant litter that has been processed by the aquatic microbial community.

Genomics of foodborne pathogens for microbial food safety.

PubMed

Allard, Marc W; Bell, Rebecca; Ferreira, Christina M; Gonzalez-Escalona, Narjol; Hoffmann, Maria; Muruvanda, Tim; Ottesen, Andrea; Ramachandran, Padmini; Reed, Elizabeth; Sharma, Shashi; Stevens, Eric; Timme, Ruth; Zheng, Jie; Brown, Eric W

2018-02-01

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has been broadly used to provide detailed characterization of foodborne pathogens. These genomes for diverse species including Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Listeria, Campylobacter and Vibrio have provided great insight into the genetic make-up of these pathogens. Numerous government agencies, industry and academia have developed new applications in food safety using WGS approaches such as outbreak detection and characterization, source tracking, determining the root cause of a contamination event, profiling of virulence and pathogenicity attributes, antimicrobial resistance monitoring, quality assurance for microbiology testing, as well as many others. The future looks bright for additional applications that come with the new technologies and tools in genomics and metagenomics. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Cloud storage based mobile assessment facility for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder using integrated signal processing algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balbin, Jessie R.; Pinugu, Jasmine Nadja J.; Basco, Abigail Joy S.; Cabanada, Myla B.; Gonzales, Patrisha Melrose V.; Marasigan, Juan Carlos C.

2017-06-01

The research aims to build a tool in assessing patients for post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. The parameters used are heart rate, skin conductivity, and facial gestures. Facial gestures are recorded using OpenFace, an open-source face recognition program that uses facial action units in to track facial movements. Heart rate and skin conductivity is measured through sensors operated using Raspberry Pi. Results are stored in a database for easy and quick access. Databases to be used are uploaded to a cloud platform so that doctors have direct access to the data. This research aims to analyze these parameters and give accurate assessment of the patient.

Smarter finance for cleaner energy: open up master limited partnerships (MLPs) and real estate investment trusts (REITs) to renewable energy investment

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

Mormann, Feliz; Reicher, Dan

Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)—both well-established investment structures—should be opened up to renewable energy investment. MLPs and, more recently, REITs have a proven track record for promoting oil, gas, and other traditional energy sources. When extended to renewable energy projects these tools will help promote growth, move renewables closer to subsidy independence, and vastly broaden the base of investors in America’s energy economy. The extension of MLPs and REITs to renewables enjoys significant support from the investment and clean energy communities. In addition, MLPs for renewables also enjoy bipartisan political backing in Congress.

USGS perspectives on an integrated approach to watershed and coastal management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Larsen, Matthew C.; Hamilton, Pixie A.; Haines, John W.; Mason, Jr., Robert R.

2010-01-01

The writers discuss three critically important steps necessary for achieving the goal for improved integrated approaches on watershed and coastal protection and management. These steps involve modernization of monitoring networks, creation of common data and web services infrastructures, and development of modeling, assessment, and research tools. Long-term monitoring is needed for tracking the effectiveness approaches for controlling land-based sources of nutrients, contaminants, and invasive species. The integration of mapping and monitoring with conceptual and mathematical models, and multidisciplinary assessments is important in making well-informed decisions. Moreover, a better integrated data network is essential for mapping, statistical, and modeling applications, and timely dissemination of data and information products to a broad community of users.

Project Integration Architecture: Architectural Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, William Henry

2001-01-01

The Project Integration Architecture (PIA) implements a flexible, object-oriented, wrapping architecture which encapsulates all of the information associated with engineering applications. The architecture allows the progress of a project to be tracked and documented in its entirety. By being a single, self-revealing architecture, the ability to develop single tools, for example a single graphical user interface, to span all applications is enabled. Additionally, by bringing all of the information sources and sinks of a project into a single architectural space, the ability to transport information between those applications becomes possible, Object-encapsulation further allows information to become in a sense self-aware, knowing things such as its own dimensionality and providing functionality appropriate to its kind.

Source Tracking of Nitrous Oxide using A Quantum Cascade Laser System in the Field and Laboratory Environments

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrous oxide is an important greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. Nitrification and denitrification are two major biological pathways that are responsible for soil emissions of N2O. However, source tracking of in-situ or laboratory N2O production is still challenging to...

Application of leftover sample material from waterborne protozoa monitoring for the molecular detection of Bacteroidales and fecal source tracking markers

EPA Science Inventory

In this study, we examined the potential for detecting fecal bacteria and microbial source tracking markers in samples discarded during the concentration of Cryptosporidium and Giardia using USEPA Method 1623. Recovery rates for different fecal bacteria were determined using sp...

MICROBIAL SOURCE TRACKING - WHERE ARE WE NOW AND WHERE ARE WE GOING?

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial Source Tracking ? Where Are We Now and Where Are We Going?

J. W. Santo-Domingo1, J. M. Simpson1, G. Scott2 and D. J. Reasoner1
1U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268
2National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Charleston, SC 29412...

Development of an Adaptable Display and Diagnostic System for the Evaluation of Tropical Cyclone Forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kucera, P. A.; Burek, T.; Halley-Gotway, J.

2015-12-01

NCAR's Joint Numerical Testbed Program (JNTP) focuses on the evaluation of experimental forecasts of tropical cyclones (TCs) with the goal of developing new research tools and diagnostic evaluation methods that can be transitioned to operations. Recent activities include the development of new TC forecast verification methods and the development of an adaptable TC display and diagnostic system. The next generation display and diagnostic system is being developed to support evaluation needs of the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) and broader TC research community. The new hurricane display and diagnostic capabilities allow forecasters and research scientists to more deeply examine the performance of operational and experimental models. The system is built upon modern and flexible technology that includes OpenLayers Mapping tools that are platform independent. The forecast track and intensity along with associated observed track information are stored in an efficient MySQL database. The system provides easy-to-use interactive display system, and provides diagnostic tools to examine forecast track stratified by intensity. Consensus forecasts can be computed and displayed interactively. The system is designed to display information for both real-time and for historical TC cyclones. The display configurations are easily adaptable to meet the needs of the end-user preferences. Ongoing enhancements include improving capabilities for stratification and evaluation of historical best tracks, development and implementation of additional methods to stratify and compute consensus hurricane track and intensity forecasts, and improved graphical display tools. The display is also being enhanced to incorporate gridded forecast, satellite, and sea surface temperature fields. The presentation will provide an overview of the display and diagnostic system development and demonstration of the current capabilities.

Hazardous Materials Pharmacies - A Vital Component of a Robust P2 Program

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

McCarter, S.

2006-07-01

Integrating pollution prevention (P2) into the Department of Energy Integrated Safety Management (ISM) - Environmental Management System (EMS) approach, required by DOE Order 450.1, leads to an enhanced ISM program at large and complex installations and facilities. One of the building blocks to integrating P2 into a comprehensive environmental and safety program is the control and tracking of the amounts, types, and flow of hazardous materials used on a facility. Hazardous materials pharmacies (typically called HazMarts) provide a solid approach to resolving this issue through business practice changes that reduce use, avoid excess, and redistribute surplus. If understood from conceptmore » to implementation, the HazMart is a powerful tool for reducing pollution at the source, tracking inventory storage, controlling usage and flow, and summarizing data for reporting requirements. Pharmacy options can range from a strict, single control point for all hazardous materials to a virtual system, where the inventory is user controlled and reported over a common system. Designing and implementing HazMarts on large, diverse installations or facilities present a unique set of issues. This is especially true of research and development (R and D) facilities where the chemical use requirements are extensive and often classified. There are often multiple sources of supply; a wide variety of chemical requirements; a mix of containers ranging from small ampoules to large bulk storage tanks; and a wide range of tools used to track hazardous materials, ranging from simple purchase inventories to sophisticated tracking software. Computer systems are often not uniform in capacity, capability, or operating systems, making it difficult to use a server-based unified tracking system software. Each of these issues has a solution or set of solutions tied to fundamental business practices. Each requires an understanding of the problem at hand, which, in turn, requires good communication among all potential users. A key attribute to a successful HazMart is that everybody must use the same program. That requirement often runs directly into the biggest issue of all... institutional resistance to change. To be successful, the program has to be both a top-down and bottom-up driven process. The installation or facility must set the policy and the requirement, but all of the players have to buy in and participate in building and implementing the program. Dynamac's years of experience assessing hazardous materials programs, providing business case analyses, and recommending and implementing pharmacy approaches for federal agencies has provided us with key insights into the issues, problems, and the array of solutions available. This paper presents the key steps required to implement a HazMart, explores the advantages and pitfalls associated with a HazMart, and presents some options for implementing a pharmacy or HazMart on complex installations and R and D facilities. (authors)« less

Precision CW laser automatic tracking system investigated

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lang, K. T.; Lucy, R. F.; Mcgann, E. J.; Peters, C. J.

1966-01-01

Precision laser tracker capable of tracking a low acceleration target to an accuracy of about 20 microradians rms is being constructed and tested. This laser tracking has the advantage of discriminating against other optical sources and the capability of simultaneously measuring range.

One antenna, two antennae, big antennae, small: total antennae length, not bilateral symmetry, predicts odor-tracking performance in the American cockroach Periplaneta americana.

PubMed

Lockey, Jacob K; Willis, Mark A

2015-07-01

Determining the location of a particular stimulus is often crucial to an animal's survival. One way to determine the local distribution of an odor is to make simultaneous comparisons across multiple sensors. If the sensors detect differences in the distribution of an odor in space, the animal can then steer toward the source. American cockroaches, Periplaneta americana, have 4 cm long antennae and are thought to track odor plumes using a spatial sampling strategy, comparing the amount of odor detected between these bilateral sensors. However, it is not uncommon for cockroaches to lose parts of their antennae and still track a wind-borne odor to its source. We examined whether bilateral odor input is necessary to locate an odor source in a wind-driven environment and how the loss of increasing lengths of the antennae affects odor tracking. The tracking performances of individuals with two bilaterally symmetrical antennae of decreasing length were compared with antennal length-matched individuals with one antenna. Cockroaches with one antenna were generally able to track an odor plume to its source. In fact, the performances of unilaterally antennectomized individuals were statistically identical to those of their bilaterally symmetrical counterparts when the combined length of both antennae equaled the length of the single antenna of the antennectomized individuals. This suggests that the total length of available antennae influences odor tracking performance more than any specific piece of antenna, and that they may be doing something more complex than a simple bilateral comparison between their antennae. The possibility of an antenna-topic map is discussed. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

An automatic tracking system for phase-noise measurement.

PubMed

Yuen, Chung Ming; Tsang, Kim Fung

2005-05-01

A low cost, automatic tracking system for phase noise measurement has been implemented successfully. The tracking system is accomplished by applying a charge pump phase-locked loop as an external reference source to a digital spectrum analyzer. Measurement of a 2.5 GHz, free-running, voltage-controlled oscillator demonstrated the tracking accuracy, thus verifying the feasibility of the system.

Application of WebGIS for traffic risk assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voumard, Jérémie; Aye, Zar Chi; Derron, Marc-Henri; Jaboyedoff, Michel

2015-04-01

Roads and railways are threatened throughout the year by several natural hazards around the world, leading to the closing of transportation corridors, loss of access, deviation travels and potentially infrastructures damages and loss of human lives and also financial, social and economic consequences. Protection measures used to reduce the exposure to natural hazards are usually expensive and cannot be deployed on an entire transportation network. It is thus necessary to choose priority areas where protection measures need to be built. The aim of this study is to propose a friendly tool to evaluate and to understand issues and consequences of section closing and affected parts of a transportation network at small region scale. The proposed tool, currently in its design and building phase, will provide ways to simulate different closure scenarios and to analyze their consequences on transportation network; like deviating traffic on others roads and railways sections, additional time and distance travel or accessibility for emergency services like police, firefighters and ambulances. The tool is based on OpenGeo architecture, which is composed of open-source components. It integrates PostGIS for database, GeoServer and GeoWebCache for application servers and finally GeoExt and OpenLayers for user interface. Users will be able to attribute quantitative (like roads and railway type and closure consequences) and qualitative (like section unavailability duration, season, etc.) data to the different roads and railways sections based on their user rights. They will also be able to evaluate different track closures consequences in terms of different scenarios. Once finalized, the goal of this project including natural hazards, traffic and geomatic thematic is to propose a decision support tool for public authorities firstly and for specialists secondly so that they can evaluate easily and accurately as much as possible to highlight the weakpoints of the transportation network in the case track closures due to natural hazards.

Low-cost Tools for Aerial Video Geolocation and Air Traffic Analysis for Delay Reduction Using Google Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zetterlind, V.; Pledgie, S.

2009-12-01

Low-cost, low-latency, robust geolocation and display of aerial video is a common need for a wide range of earth observing as well as emergency response and security applications. While hardware costs for aerial video collection systems, GPS, and inertial sensors have been decreasing, software costs for geolocation algorithms and reference imagery/DTED remain expensive and highly proprietary. As part of a Federal Small Business Innovative Research project, MosaicATM and EarthNC, Inc have developed a simple geolocation system based on the Google Earth API and Google's 'built-in' DTED and reference imagery libraries. This system geolocates aerial video based on platform and camera position, attitude, and field-of-view metadata using geometric photogrammetric principles of ray-intersection with DTED. Geolocated video can be directly rectified and viewed in the Google Earth API during processing. Work is underway to extend our geolocation code to NASA World Wind for additional flexibility and a fully open-source platform. In addition to our airborne remote sensing work, MosaicATM has developed the Surface Operations Data Analysis and Adaptation (SODAA) tool, funded by NASA Ames, which supports analysis of airport surface operations to optimize aircraft movements and reduce fuel burn and delays. As part of SODAA, MosaicATM and EarthNC, Inc have developed powerful tools to display national airspace data and time-animated 3D flight tracks in Google Earth for 4D analysis. The SODAA tool can convert raw format flight track data, FAA National Flight Data (NFD), and FAA 'Adaptation' airport surface data to a spatial database representation and then to Google Earth KML. The SODAA client provides users with a simple graphical interface through which to generate queries with a wide range of predefined and custom filters, plot results, and export for playback in Google Earth in conjunction with NFD and Adaptation overlays.

Evaluating time-lapse ERT for monitoring DNAPL remediation via numerical simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Power, C.; Karaoulis, M.; Gerhard, J.; Tsourlos, P.; Giannopoulos, A.

2012-12-01

Dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) remain a challenging geoenvironmental problem in the near subsurface. Numerous thermal, chemical, and biological treatment methods are being applied at sites but without a non-destructive, rapid technique to map the evolution of DNAPL mass in space and time, the degree of remedial success is difficult to quantify. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has long been presented as highly promising in this context but has not yet become a practitioner's tool due to challenges in interpreting the survey results at real sites where the initial condition (DNAPL mass, DNAPL distribution, subsurface heterogeneity) is typically unknown. Recently, a new numerical model was presented that couples DNAPL and ERT simulation at the field scale, providing a tool for optimizing ERT application and interpretation at DNAPL sites (Power et al., 2011, Fall AGU, H31D-1191). The objective of this study is to employ this tool to evaluate the effectiveness of time-lapse ERT to monitor DNAPL source zone remediation, taking advantage of new inversion methodologies that exploit the differences in the target over time. Several three-dimensional releases of chlorinated solvent DNAPLs into heterogeneous clayey sand at the field scale were generated, varying in the depth and complexity of the source zone (target). Over time, dissolution of the DNAPL in groundwater was simulated with simultaneous mapping via periodic ERT surveys. Both surface and borehole ERT surveys were conducted for comparison purposes. The latest four-dimensional ERT inversion algorithms were employed to generate time-lapse isosurfaces of the DNAPL source zone for all cases. This methodology provided a qualitative assessment of the ability of ERT to track DNAPL mass removal for complex source zones in realistically heterogeneous environments. In addition, it provided a quantitative comparison between the actual DNAPL mass removed and that interpreted by ERT as a function of depth below the water table, as well as an estimate of the minimum DNAPL saturation changes necessary for an observable response from ERT.

On charged particle tracks in cellulose nitrate and Lexan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benton, E. V.; Henke, R. P.

1972-01-01

Investigations were performed aimed at developing plastic nuclear track detectors into quantitative tools for recording and measuring multicharged, heavy particles. Accurate track etch rate measurements as a function of LET were performed for cellulose nitrate and Lexan plastic detectors. This was done using a variety of incident charged particle types and energies. The effect of aging of latent tracks in Lexan in different gaseous atmospheres was investigated. Range distributions of high energy N-14 particle bevatron beams in nuclear emulsion were measured. Investigation of charge resolution and Bragg peak measurements were carried out using plastic nuclear track detectors.

Can Family Planning Service Statistics Be Used to Track Population-Level Outcomes?

PubMed

Magnani, Robert J; Ross, John; Williamson, Jessica; Weinberger, Michelle

2018-03-21

The need for annual family planning program tracking data under the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) initiative has contributed to renewed interest in family planning service statistics as a potential data source for annual estimates of the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR). We sought to assess (1) how well a set of commonly recorded data elements in routine service statistics systems could, with some fairly simple adjustments, track key population-level outcome indicators, and (2) whether some data elements performed better than others. We used data from 22 countries in Africa and Asia to analyze 3 data elements collected from service statistics: (1) number of contraceptive commodities distributed to clients, (2) number of family planning service visits, and (3) number of current contraceptive users. Data quality was assessed via analysis of mean square errors, using the United Nations Population Division World Contraceptive Use annual mCPR estimates as the "gold standard." We also examined the magnitude of several components of measurement error: (1) variance, (2) level bias, and (3) slope (or trend) bias. Our results indicate modest levels of tracking error for data on commodities to clients (7%) and service visits (10%), and somewhat higher error rates for data on current users (19%). Variance and slope bias were relatively small for all data elements. Level bias was by far the largest contributor to tracking error. Paired comparisons of data elements in countries that collected at least 2 of the 3 data elements indicated a modest advantage of data on commodities to clients. None of the data elements considered was sufficiently accurate to be used to produce reliable stand-alone annual estimates of mCPR. However, the relatively low levels of variance and slope bias indicate that trends calculated from these 3 data elements can be productively used in conjunction with the Family Planning Estimation Tool (FPET) currently used to produce annual mCPR tracking estimates for FP2020. © Magnani et al.

Automatic tracking of cells for video microscopy in patch clamp experiments

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Visualisation of neurons labeled with fluorescent proteins or compounds generally require exposure to intense light for a relatively long period of time, often leading to bleaching of the fluorescent probe and photodamage of the tissue. Here we created a technique to drastically shorten light exposure and improve the targeting of fluorescent labeled cells that is specially useful for patch-clamp recordings. We applied image tracking and mask overlay to reduce the time of fluorescence exposure and minimise mistakes when identifying neurons. Methods Neurons are first identified according to visual criteria (e.g. fluorescence protein expression, shape, viability etc.) and a transmission microscopy image Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) or Dodt contrast containing the cell used as a reference for the tracking algorithm. A fluorescence image can also be acquired later to be used as a mask (that can be overlaid on the target during live transmission video). As patch-clamp experiments require translating the microscope stage, we used pattern matching to track reference neurons in order to move the fluorescence mask to match the new position of the objective in relation to the sample. For the image processing we used the Open Source Computer Vision (OpenCV) library, including the Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) for tracking cells. The dataset of images (n = 720) was analyzed under normal conditions of acquisition and with influence of noise (defocusing and brightness). Results We validated the method in dissociated neuronal cultures and fresh brain slices expressing Enhanced Yellow Fluorescent Protein (eYFP) or Tandem Dimer Tomato (tdTomato) proteins, which considerably decreased the exposure to fluorescence excitation, thereby minimising photodamage. We also show that the neuron tracking can be used in differential interference contrast or Dodt contrast microscopy. Conclusion The techniques of digital image processing used in this work are an important addition to the set of microscopy tools used in modern electrophysiology, specially in experiments with neuron cultures and brain slices. PMID:24946774

Automatic tracking of cells for video microscopy in patch clamp experiments.

PubMed

Peixoto, Helton M; Munguba, Hermany; Cruz, Rossana M S; Guerreiro, Ana M G; Leao, Richardson N

2014-06-20

Visualisation of neurons labeled with fluorescent proteins or compounds generally require exposure to intense light for a relatively long period of time, often leading to bleaching of the fluorescent probe and photodamage of the tissue. Here we created a technique to drastically shorten light exposure and improve the targeting of fluorescent labeled cells that is specially useful for patch-clamp recordings. We applied image tracking and mask overlay to reduce the time of fluorescence exposure and minimise mistakes when identifying neurons. Neurons are first identified according to visual criteria (e.g. fluorescence protein expression, shape, viability etc.) and a transmission microscopy image Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) or Dodt contrast containing the cell used as a reference for the tracking algorithm. A fluorescence image can also be acquired later to be used as a mask (that can be overlaid on the target during live transmission video). As patch-clamp experiments require translating the microscope stage, we used pattern matching to track reference neurons in order to move the fluorescence mask to match the new position of the objective in relation to the sample. For the image processing we used the Open Source Computer Vision (OpenCV) library, including the Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) for tracking cells. The dataset of images (n = 720) was analyzed under normal conditions of acquisition and with influence of noise (defocusing and brightness). We validated the method in dissociated neuronal cultures and fresh brain slices expressing Enhanced Yellow Fluorescent Protein (eYFP) or Tandem Dimer Tomato (tdTomato) proteins, which considerably decreased the exposure to fluorescence excitation, thereby minimising photodamage. We also show that the neuron tracking can be used in differential interference contrast or Dodt contrast microscopy. The techniques of digital image processing used in this work are an important addition to the set of microscopy tools used in modern electrophysiology, specially in experiments with neuron cultures and brain slices.

Anser EMT: the first open-source electromagnetic tracking platform for image-guided interventions.

PubMed

Jaeger, Herman Alexander; Franz, Alfred Michael; O'Donoghue, Kilian; Seitel, Alexander; Trauzettel, Fabian; Maier-Hein, Lena; Cantillon-Murphy, Pádraig

2017-06-01

Electromagnetic tracking is the gold standard for instrument tracking and navigation in the clinical setting without line of sight. Whilst clinical platforms exist for interventional bronchoscopy and neurosurgical navigation, the limited flexibility and high costs of electromagnetic tracking (EMT) systems for research investigations mitigate against a better understanding of the technology's characterisation and limitations. The Anser project provides an open-source implementation for EMT with particular application to image-guided interventions. This work provides implementation schematics for our previously reported EMT system which relies on low-cost acquisition and demodulation techniques using both National Instruments and Arduino hardware alongside MATLAB support code. The system performance is objectively compared to other commercial tracking platforms using the Hummel assessment protocol. Positional accuracy of 1.14 mm and angular rotation accuracy of [Formula: see text] are reported. Like other EMT platforms, Anser is susceptible to tracking errors due to eddy current and ferromagnetic distortion. The system is compatible with commercially available EMT sensors as well as the Open Network Interface for image-guided therapy (OpenIGTLink) for easy communication with visualisation and medical imaging toolkits such as MITK and 3D Slicer. By providing an open-source platform for research investigations, we believe that novel and collaborative approaches can overcome the limitations of current EMT technology.

A Biocompatible Near-Infrared 3D Tracking System*

PubMed Central

Decker, Ryan S.; Shademan, Azad; Opfermann, Justin D.; Leonard, Simon; Kim, Peter C. W.; Krieger, Axel

2017-01-01

A fundamental challenge in soft-tissue surgery is that target tissue moves and deforms, becomes occluded by blood or other tissue, and is difficult to differentiate from surrounding tissue. We developed small biocompatible near-infrared fluorescent (NIRF) markers with a novel fused plenoptic and NIR camera tracking system, enabling 3D tracking of tools and target tissue while overcoming blood and tissue occlusion in the uncontrolled, rapidly changing surgical environment. In this work, we present the tracking system and marker design and compare tracking accuracies to standard optical tracking methods using robotic experiments. At speeds of 1 mm/s, we observe tracking accuracies of 1.61 mm, degrading only to 1.71 mm when the markers are covered in blood and tissue. PMID:28129145

Biocompatible Near-Infrared Three-Dimensional Tracking System.

PubMed

Decker, Ryan S; Shademan, Azad; Opfermann, Justin D; Leonard, Simon; Kim, Peter C W; Krieger, Axel

2017-03-01

A fundamental challenge in soft-tissue surgery is that target tissue moves and deforms, becomes occluded by blood or other tissue, and is difficult to differentiate from surrounding tissue. We developed small biocompatible near-infrared fluorescent (NIRF) markers with a novel fused plenoptic and NIR camera tracking system, enabling three-dimensional tracking of tools and target tissue while overcoming blood and tissue occlusion in the uncontrolled, rapidly changing surgical environment. In this work, we present the tracking system and marker design and compare tracking accuracies to standard optical tracking methods using robotic experiments. At speeds of 1 mm/s, we observe tracking accuracies of 1.61 mm, degrading only to 1.71 mm when the markers are covered in blood and tissue.

Point-cloud-to-point-cloud technique on tool calibration for dental implant surgical path tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorsakul, Auranuch; Suthakorn, Jackrit; Sinthanayothin, Chanjira

2008-03-01

Dental implant is one of the most popular methods of tooth root replacement used in prosthetic dentistry. Computerize navigation system on a pre-surgical plan is offered to minimize potential risk of damage to critical anatomic structures of patients. Dental tool tip calibrating is basically an important procedure of intraoperative surgery to determine the relation between the hand-piece tool tip and hand-piece's markers. With the transferring coordinates from preoperative CT data to reality, this parameter is a part of components in typical registration problem. It is a part of navigation system which will be developed for further integration. A high accuracy is required, and this relation is arranged by point-cloud-to-point-cloud rigid transformations and singular value decomposition (SVD) for minimizing rigid registration errors. In earlier studies, commercial surgical navigation systems from, such as, BrainLAB and Materialize, have flexibility problem on tool tip calibration. Their systems either require a special tool tip calibration device or are unable to change the different tool. The proposed procedure is to use the pointing device or hand-piece to touch on the pivot and the transformation matrix. This matrix is calculated every time when it moves to the new position while the tool tip stays at the same point. The experiment acquired on the information of tracking device, image acquisition and image processing algorithms. The key success is that point-to-point-cloud requires only 3 post images of tool to be able to converge to the minimum errors 0.77%, and the obtained result is correct in using the tool holder to track the path simulation line displayed in graphic animation.

Development and evaluation of low cost game-based balance rehabilitation tool using the Microsoft Kinect sensor.

PubMed

Lange, Belinda; Chang, Chien-Yen; Suma, Evan; Newman, Bradley; Rizzo, Albert Skip; Bolas, Mark

2011-01-01

The use of the commercial video games as rehabilitation tools, such as the Nintendo WiiFit, has recently gained much interest in the physical therapy arena. Motion tracking controllers such as the Nintendo Wiimote are not sensitive enough to accurately measure performance in all components of balance. Additionally, users can figure out how to "cheat" inaccurate trackers by performing minimal movement (e.g. wrist twisting a Wiimote instead of a full arm swing). Physical rehabilitation requires accurate and appropriate tracking and feedback of performance. To this end, we are developing applications that leverage recent advances in commercial video game technology to provide full-body control of animated virtual characters. A key component of our approach is the use of newly available low cost depth sensing camera technology that provides markerless full-body tracking on a conventional PC. The aim of this research was to develop and assess an interactive game-based rehabilitation tool for balance training of adults with neurological injury.

User`s and reference guide to the INEL RML/analytical radiochemistry sample tracking database version 1.00

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

Femec, D.A.

This report discusses the sample tracking database in use at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) by the Radiation Measurements Laboratory (RML) and Analytical Radiochemistry. The database was designed in-house to meet the specific needs of the RML and Analytical Radiochemistry. The report consists of two parts, a user`s guide and a reference guide. The user`s guide presents some of the fundamentals needed by anyone who will be using the database via its user interface. The reference guide describes the design of both the database and the user interface. Briefly mentioned in the reference guide are the code-generating tools, CREATE-SCHEMAmore » and BUILD-SCREEN, written to automatically generate code for the database and its user interface. The appendices contain the input files used by the these tools to create code for the sample tracking database. The output files generated by these tools are also included in the appendices.« less

Integrated Budget Office Toolbox

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rushing, Douglas A.; Blakeley, Chris; Chapman, Gerry; Robertson, Bill; Horton, Allison; Besser, Thomas; McCarthy, Debbie

2010-01-01

The Integrated Budget Office Toolbox (IBOT) combines budgeting, resource allocation, organizational funding, and reporting features in an automated, integrated tool that provides data from a single source for Johnson Space Center (JSC) personnel. Using a common interface, concurrent users can utilize the data without compromising its integrity. IBOT tracks planning changes and updates throughout the year using both phasing and POP-related (program-operating-plan-related) budget information for the current year, and up to six years out. Separating lump-sum funds received from HQ (Headquarters) into separate labor, travel, procurement, Center G&A (general & administrative), and servicepool categories, IBOT creates a script that significantly reduces manual input time. IBOT also manages the movement of travel and procurement funds down to the organizational level and, using its integrated funds management feature, helps better track funding at lower levels. Third-party software is used to create integrated reports in IBOT that can be generated for plans, actuals, funds received, and other combinations of data that are currently maintained in the centralized format. Based on Microsoft SQL, IBOT incorporates generic budget processes, is transportable, and is economical to deploy and support.

Real-time estimation of wildfire perimeters from curated crowdsourcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Xu; Duckham, Matt; Chong, Derek; Tolhurst, Kevin

2016-04-01

Real-time information about the spatial extents of evolving natural disasters, such as wildfire or flood perimeters, can assist both emergency responders and the general public during an emergency. However, authoritative information sources can suffer from bottlenecks and delays, while user-generated social media data usually lacks the necessary structure and trustworthiness for reliable automated processing. This paper describes and evaluates an automated technique for real-time tracking of wildfire perimeters based on publicly available “curated” crowdsourced data about telephone calls to the emergency services. Our technique is based on established data mining tools, and can be adjusted using a small number of intuitive parameters. Experiments using data from the devastating Black Saturday wildfires (2009) in Victoria, Australia, demonstrate the potential for the technique to detect and track wildfire perimeters automatically, in real time, and with moderate accuracy. Accuracy can be further increased through combination with other authoritative demographic and environmental information, such as population density and dynamic wind fields. These results are also independently validated against data from the more recent 2014 Mickleham-Dalrymple wildfires.

Real-time estimation of wildfire perimeters from curated crowdsourcing

PubMed Central

Zhong, Xu; Duckham, Matt; Chong, Derek; Tolhurst, Kevin

2016-01-01

Real-time information about the spatial extents of evolving natural disasters, such as wildfire or flood perimeters, can assist both emergency responders and the general public during an emergency. However, authoritative information sources can suffer from bottlenecks and delays, while user-generated social media data usually lacks the necessary structure and trustworthiness for reliable automated processing. This paper describes and evaluates an automated technique for real-time tracking of wildfire perimeters based on publicly available “curated” crowdsourced data about telephone calls to the emergency services. Our technique is based on established data mining tools, and can be adjusted using a small number of intuitive parameters. Experiments using data from the devastating Black Saturday wildfires (2009) in Victoria, Australia, demonstrate the potential for the technique to detect and track wildfire perimeters automatically, in real time, and with moderate accuracy. Accuracy can be further increased through combination with other authoritative demographic and environmental information, such as population density and dynamic wind fields. These results are also independently validated against data from the more recent 2014 Mickleham-Dalrymple wildfires. PMID:27063569

Real-time estimation of wildfire perimeters from curated crowdsourcing.

PubMed

Zhong, Xu; Duckham, Matt; Chong, Derek; Tolhurst, Kevin

2016-04-11

Real-time information about the spatial extents of evolving natural disasters, such as wildfire or flood perimeters, can assist both emergency responders and the general public during an emergency. However, authoritative information sources can suffer from bottlenecks and delays, while user-generated social media data usually lacks the necessary structure and trustworthiness for reliable automated processing. This paper describes and evaluates an automated technique for real-time tracking of wildfire perimeters based on publicly available "curated" crowdsourced data about telephone calls to the emergency services. Our technique is based on established data mining tools, and can be adjusted using a small number of intuitive parameters. Experiments using data from the devastating Black Saturday wildfires (2009) in Victoria, Australia, demonstrate the potential for the technique to detect and track wildfire perimeters automatically, in real time, and with moderate accuracy. Accuracy can be further increased through combination with other authoritative demographic and environmental information, such as population density and dynamic wind fields. These results are also independently validated against data from the more recent 2014 Mickleham-Dalrymple wildfires.

Semi-quantitative evaluation of fecal contamination potential by human and ruminant sources using multiple lines of evidence.

PubMed

Stoeckel, Donald M; Stelzer, Erin A; Stogner, Robert W; Mau, David P

2011-05-01

Protocols for microbial source tracking of fecal contamination generally are able to identify when a source of contamination is present, but thus far have been unable to evaluate what portion of fecal-indicator bacteria (FIB) came from various sources. A mathematical approach to estimate relative amounts of FIB, such as Escherichia coli, from various sources based on the concentration and distribution of microbial source tracking markers in feces was developed. The approach was tested using dilute fecal suspensions, then applied as part of an analytical suite to a contaminated headwater stream in the Rocky Mountains (Upper Fountain Creek, Colorado). In one single-source fecal suspension, a source that was not present could not be excluded because of incomplete marker specificity; however, human and ruminant sources were detected whenever they were present. In the mixed-feces suspension (pet and human), the minority contributor (human) was detected at a concentration low enough to preclude human contamination as the dominant source of E. coli to the sample. Without the semi-quantitative approach described, simple detects of human-associated marker in stream samples would have provided inaccurate evidence that human contamination was a major source of E. coli to the stream. In samples from Upper Fountain Creek the pattern of E. coli, general and host-associated microbial source tracking markers, nutrients, and wastewater-associated chemical detections--augmented with local observations and land-use patterns--indicated that, contrary to expectations, birds rather than humans or ruminants were the predominant source of fecal contamination to Upper Fountain Creek. This new approach to E. coli allocation, validated by a controlled study and tested by application in a relatively simple setting, represents a widely applicable step forward in the field of microbial source tracking of fecal contamination. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Local Television News Coverage of the Affordable Care Act: Emphasizing Politics Over Consumer Information.

PubMed

Gollust, Sarah E; Baum, Laura M; Niederdeppe, Jeff; Barry, Colleen L; Fowler, Erika Franklin

2017-05-01

To examine the public health and policy-relevant messages conveyed through local television news during the first stage of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, when about 10 million Americans gained insurance. We conducted a content analysis of 1569 ACA-related local evening television news stories, obtained from sampling local news aired between October 1, 2013, and April 19, 2014. Coders systematically collected data using a coding instrument tracking major messages and information sources cited in the news. Overall, only half of all ACA-related news coverage focused on health insurance products, whereas the remainder discussed political disagreements over the law. Major policy tools of the ACA-the Medicaid expansion and subsidies available-were cited in less than 10% of news stories. Number of enrollees (27%) and Web site glitches (33%) were more common features of coverage. Sources with a political affiliation were by far the most common source of information (> 40%), whereas research was cited in less than 4% of stories. The most common source of news for Americans provided little public health-relevant substance about the ACA during its early implementation, favoring political strategy in coverage.

A Solar Wind Source Tracking Concept for Inner Heliosphere Constellations of Spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luhmann, J. G.; Li, Yan; Arge, C. N.; Hoeksema, Todd; Zhao, Xuepu

2003-09-01

During the next decade, a number of spacecraft carrying in-situ particles and fields instruments, including the twin STEREO spacecraft, ACE, WIND, and possibly Triana, will be monitoring the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. At the same time, several suitably instrumented planetary missions, including Nozomi, Mars Express, and Messenger will be in either their cruise or orbital phases which expose them at times to interplanetary conditions and/or regions affected by the solar wind interaction. In addition to the mutual support role for the individual missions that can be gained from this coincidence, this set provides an opportunity for evaluating the challenges and tools for a future targeted heliospheric constellation mission. In the past few years the capability of estimating the solar sources of the local solar wind has improved, in part due to the ability to monitor the full-disk magnetic field of the Sun on an almost continuous basis. We illustrate a concept for a model and web-based display that routinely updates the estimated sources of the solar wind arriving at inner heliospheric spacecraft.

Performance of two quantitative PCR methods for microbial source tracking of human sewage and implications for microbial risk assessment in recreational waters

EPA Science Inventory

Before new, rapid quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods for recreational water quality assessment and microbial source tracking (MST) can be useful in a regulatory context, an understanding of the ability of the method to detect a DNA target (marker) when the contaminant soure has been...

USE OF COMPOSITE DATA SETS FOR SOURCE-TRACKING ENTEROCCOCCI IN THE WATER COLUMN AND SHORELINE INTERSTITIAL WATERS ON PENSACOLA BEACH, FL

EPA Science Inventory

Genthner, Fred J., Joseph B. James, Diane F. Yates and Stephanie D. Friedman. Submitted. Use of Composite Data Sets for Source-Tracking Enterococci in the Water Column and Shoreline Interstitial Waters on Pensacola Beach Florida. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 33 p. (ERL,GB 1212).

So...

Data-Fusion for a Vision-Aided Radiological Detection System: Sensor dependence and Source Tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stadnikia, Kelsey; Martin, Allan; Henderson, Kristofer; Koppal, Sanjeev; Enqvist, Andreas

2018-01-01

The University of Florida is taking a multidisciplinary approach to fuse the data between 3D vision sensors and radiological sensors in hopes of creating a system capable of not only detecting the presence of a radiological threat, but also tracking it. The key to developing such a vision-aided radiological detection system, lies in the count rate being inversely dependent on the square of the distance. Presented in this paper are the results of the calibration algorithm used to predict the location of the radiological detectors based on 3D distance from the source to the detector (vision data) and the detectors count rate (radiological data). Also presented are the results of two correlation methods used to explore source tracking.

No-search algorithm for direction of arrival estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuncer, T. Engin; Ã-Zgen, M. Tankut

2009-10-01

Direction of arrival estimation (DOA) is an important problem in ionospheric research and electromagnetics as well as many other fields. When superresolution techniques are used, a computationally expensive search should be performed in general. In this paper, a no-search algorithm is presented. The idea is to separate the source signals in the time-frequency plane by using the Short-Time Fourier Transform. The direction vector for each source is found by coherent summation over the instantaneous frequency (IF) tracks of the individual sources which are found automatically by employing morphological image processing. Both overlapping and nonoverlapping source IF tracks can be processed and identified by the proposed approach. The CLEAN algorithm is adopted in order to isolate the IF tracks of the overlapping sources with different powers. The proposed method is very effective in finding the IF tracks and can be applied for signals with arbitrary IF characteristics. While the proposed method can be applied to any sensor geometry, planar uniform circular arrays (UCA) bring additional advantages. Different properties of the UCA are presented, and it is shown that the DOA angles can be found as the mean-square error optimum solution of a linear matrix equation. Several simulations are done, and it is shown that the proposed approach performs significantly better than the conventional methods.

Catheter tracking in an interventional photoacoustic surgical system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Alexis; Itsarachaiyot, Yuttana; Kim, Younsu; Zhang, Haichong K.; Taylor, Russell H.; Boctor, Emad M.

2017-03-01

In laparoscopic medical procedures, accurate tracking of interventional tools such as catheters are necessary. Current practice for tracking catheters often involve using fluoroscopy, which is best avoided to minimize radiation dose to the patient and the surgical team. Photoacoustic imaging is an emerging imaging modality that can be used for this purpose and does not currently have a general tool tracking solution. Photoacoustic-based catheter tracking would increase its attractiveness, by providing both an imaging and tracking solution. We present a catheter tracking method based on the photoacoustic effect. Photoacoustic markers are simultaneously observed by a stereo camera as well as a piezoelectric element attached to the tip of a catheter. The signals received by the piezoelectric element can be used to compute its position relative to the photoacoustic markers using multilateration. This combined information can be processed to localize the position of the piezoelectric element with respect to the stereo camera system. We presented the methods to enable this work and demonstrated precisions of 1-3mm and a relative accuracy of less than 4% in four independent locations, which are comparable to conventional systems. In addition, we also showed in another experiment a reconstruction precision up to 0.4mm and an estimated accuracy up to 0.5mm. Future work will include simulations to better evaluate this method and its challenges and the development of concurrent photoacoustic marker projection and its associated methods.

Precision targeting with a tracking adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, Daniel X.; Ferguson, R. Daniel; Bigelow, Chad E.; Iftimia, Nicusor V.; Ustun, Teoman E.; Noojin, Gary D.; Stolarski, David J.; Hodnett, Harvey M.; Imholte, Michelle L.; Kumru, Semih S.; McCall, Michelle N.; Toth, Cynthia A.; Rockwell, Benjamin A.

2006-02-01

Precise targeting of retinal structures including retinal pigment epithelial cells, feeder vessels, ganglion cells, photoreceptors, and other cells important for light transduction may enable earlier disease intervention with laser therapies and advanced methods for vision studies. A novel imaging system based upon scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (SLO) with adaptive optics (AO) and active image stabilization was designed, developed, and tested in humans and animals. An additional port allows delivery of aberration-corrected therapeutic/stimulus laser sources. The system design includes simultaneous presentation of non-AO, wide-field (~40 deg) and AO, high-magnification (1-2 deg) retinal scans easily positioned anywhere on the retina in a drag-and-drop manner. The AO optical design achieves an error of <0.45 waves (at 800 nm) over +/-6 deg on the retina. A MEMS-based deformable mirror (Boston Micromachines Inc.) is used for wave-front correction. The third generation retinal tracking system achieves a bandwidth of greater than 1 kHz allowing acquisition of stabilized AO images with an accuracy of ~10 μm. Normal adult human volunteers and animals with previously-placed lesions (cynomolgus monkeys) were tested to optimize the tracking instrumentation and to characterize AO imaging performance. Ultrafast laser pulses were delivered to monkeys to characterize the ability to precisely place lesions and stimulus beams. Other advanced features such as real-time image averaging, automatic highresolution mosaic generation, and automatic blink detection and tracking re-lock were also tested. The system has the potential to become an important tool to clinicians and researchers for early detection and treatment of retinal diseases.

Perks of Tracking Your Workout Progress

Cancer.gov

Monitoring your activity is a good way to know whether you’re reaching your goals and can inspire you to set new ones! Buy a pedometer or download an app or other tools to help you keep track of your physical activity goals and progress.

ASDF: An Adaptable Seismic Data Format with Full Provenance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, J. A.; Krischer, L.; Tromp, J.; Lefebvre, M. P.

2015-12-01

In order for seismologists to maximize their knowledge of how the Earth works, they must extract the maximum amount of useful information from all recorded seismic data available for their research. This requires assimilating large sets of waveform data, keeping track of vast amounts of metadata, using validated standards for quality control, and automating the workflow in a careful and efficient manner. In addition, there is a growing gap between CPU/GPU speeds and disk access speeds that leads to an I/O bottleneck in seismic workflows. This is made even worse by existing seismic data formats that were not designed for performance and are limited to a few fixed headers for storing metadata.The Adaptable Seismic Data Format (ASDF) is a new data format for seismology that solves the problems with existing seismic data formats and integrates full provenance into the definition. ASDF is a self-describing format that features parallel I/O using the parallel HDF5 library. This makes it a great choice for use on HPC clusters. The format integrates the standards QuakeML for seismic sources and StationXML for receivers. ASDF is suitable for storing earthquake data sets, where all waveforms for a single earthquake are stored in a one file, ambient noise cross-correlations, and adjoint sources. The format comes with a user-friendly Python reader and writer that gives seismologists access to a full set of Python tools for seismology. There is also a faster C/Fortran library for integrating ASDF into performance-focused numerical wave solvers, such as SPECFEM3D_GLOBE. Finally, a GUI tool designed for visually exploring the format exists that provides a flexible interface for both research and educational applications. ASDF is a new seismic data format that offers seismologists high-performance parallel processing, organized and validated contents, and full provenance tracking for automated seismological workflows.

Project management web tools at the MICE experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coney, L. R.; Tunnell, C. D.

2012-12-01

Project management tools like Trac are commonly used within the open-source community to coordinate projects. The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) uses the project management web application Redmine to host mice.rl.ac.uk. Many groups within the experiment have a Redmine project: analysis, computing and software (including offline, online, controls and monitoring, and database subgroups), executive board, and operations. All of these groups use the website to communicate, track effort, develop schedules, and maintain documentation. The issue tracker is a rich tool that is used to identify tasks and monitor progress within groups on timescales ranging from immediate and unexpected problems to milestones that cover the life of the experiment. It allows the prioritization of tasks according to time-sensitivity, while providing a searchable record of work that has been done. This record of work can be used to measure both individual and overall group activity, identify areas lacking sufficient personnel or effort, and as a measure of progress against the schedule. Given that MICE, like many particle physics experiments, is an international community, such a system is required to allow easy communication within a global collaboration. Unlike systems that are purely wiki-based, the structure of a project management tool like Redmine allows information to be maintained in a more structured and logical fashion.

Extra-Tropical Cyclones at Climate Scales: Comparing Models to Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tselioudis, G.; Bauer, M.; Rossow, W.

2009-04-01

Climate is often defined as the accumulation of weather, and weather is not the concern of climate models. Justification for this latter sentiment has long been hidden behind coarse model resolutions and blunt validation tools based on climatological maps. The spatial-temporal resolutions of today's climate models and observations are converging onto meteorological scales, however, which means that with the correct tools we can test the largely unproven assumption that climate model weather is correct enough that its accumulation results in a robust climate simulation. Towards this effort we introduce a new tool for extracting detailed cyclone statistics from observations and climate model output. These include the usual cyclone characteristics (centers, tracks), but also adaptive cyclone-centric composites. We have created a novel dataset, the MAP Climatology of Mid-latitude Storminess (MCMS), which provides a detailed 6 hourly assessment of the areas under the influence of mid-latitude cyclones, using a search algorithm that delimits the boundaries of each system from the outer-most closed SLP contour. Using this we then extract composites of cloud, radiation, and precipitation properties from sources such as ISCCP and GPCP to create a large comparative dataset for climate model validation. A demonstration of the potential usefulness of these tools in process-based climate model evaluation studies will be shown.

MultiSense: A Multimodal Sensor Tool Enabling the High-Throughput Analysis of Respiration.

PubMed

Keil, Peter; Liebsch, Gregor; Borisjuk, Ljudmilla; Rolletschek, Hardy

2017-01-01

The high-throughput analysis of respiratory activity has become an important component of many biological investigations. Here, a technological platform, denoted the "MultiSense tool," is described. The tool enables the parallel monitoring of respiration in 100 samples over an extended time period, by dynamically tracking the concentrations of oxygen (O 2 ) and/or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and/or pH within an airtight vial. Its flexible design supports the quantification of respiration based on either oxygen consumption or carbon dioxide release, thereby allowing for the determination of the physiologically significant respiratory quotient (the ratio between the quantities of CO 2 released and the O 2 consumed). It requires an LED light source to be mounted above the sample, together with a CCD camera system, adjusted to enable the capture of analyte-specific wavelengths, and fluorescent sensor spots inserted into the sample vial. Here, a demonstration is given of the use of the MultiSense tool to quantify respiration in imbibing plant seeds, for which an appropriate step-by-step protocol is provided. The technology can be easily adapted for a wide range of applications, including the monitoring of gas exchange in any kind of liquid culture system (algae, embryo and tissue culture, cell suspensions, microbial cultures).

NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory's Data Tracking System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cully, L. E.; Williams, S. F.

2014-12-01

The NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) maintains an extensive collection of complex, multi-disciplinary datasets from national and international, current and historical projects accessible through field project web pages (https://www.eol.ucar.edu/all-field-projects-and-deployments). Data orders are processed through the EOL Metadata Database and Cyberinfrastructure (EMDAC) system. Behind the scenes is the institutionally created EOL Computing, Data, and Software/Data Management Group (CDS/DMG) Data Tracking System (DTS) tool. The DTS is used to track the complete life cycle (from ingest to long term stewardship) of the data, metadata, and provenance for hundreds of projects and thousands of data sets. The DTS is an EOL internal only tool which consists of three subsystems: Data Loading Notes (DLN), Processing Inventory Tool (IVEN), and Project Metrics (STATS). The DLN is used to track and maintain every dataset that comes to the CDS/DMG. The DLN captures general information such as title, physical locations, responsible parties, high level issues, and correspondence. When the CDS/DMG processes a data set, IVEN is used to track the processing status while collecting sufficient information to ensure reproducibility. This includes detailed "How To" documentation, processing software (with direct links to the EOL Subversion software repository), and descriptions of issues and resolutions. The STATS subsystem generates current project metrics such as archive size, data set order counts, "Top 10" most ordered data sets, and general information on who has ordered these data. The DTS was developed over many years to meet the specific needs of the CDS/DMG, and it has been successfully used to coordinate field project data management efforts for the past 15 years. This paper will describe the EOL CDS/DMG Data Tracking System including its basic functionality, the provenance maintained within the system, lessons learned, potential improvements, and future developments.

Designing a global monitoring system for pilot introduction of a new contraceptive technology, subcutaneous DMPA (DMPA-SC).

PubMed

Stout, Anna; Wood, Siri; Namagembe, Allen; Kaboré, Alain; Siddo, Daouda; Ndione, Ida

2018-06-01

In collaboration with ministries of health, PATH and key partners launched the first pilot introductions of subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC, brand name Sayana ® Press) in Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, and Uganda from July 2014 through June 2016. While each country implemented a unique introduction strategy, all agreed to track a set of uniform indicators to chart the effect of introducing this new method across settings. Existing national health information systems (HIS) were unable to track new methods or delivery channels introduced for a pilot, thus were not a feasible source for project data. We successfully monitored the four-country pilot introductions by implementing a four-phase approach: 1) developing and defining global indicators, 2) integrating indicators into existing country data collection tools, 3) facilitating consistent reporting and data management, and 4) analyzing and interpreting data and sharing results. Project partners leveraged existing family planning registers to the extent possible, and introduced new or modified data collection and reporting tools to generate project-specific data where necessary. We routinely shared monitoring results with global and national stakeholders, informing decisions about future investments in the product and scale up of DMPA-SC nationwide. Our process and lessons learned may provide insights for countries planning to introduce DMPA-SC or other new contraceptive methods in settings where stakeholder expectations for measureable results for decision-making are high. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Imaging of noncarious cervical lesions by means of a fast swept source optical coherence tomography system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoica, Eniko T.; Marcauteanu, Corina; Bradu, Adrian; Sinescu, Cosmin; Topala, Florin Ionel; Negrutiu, Meda Lavinia; Duma, Virgil Florin; Podoleanu, Adrian Gh.

2014-01-01

Non-carious cervical lesions (NCCL) are defined as the loss of tooth substance at the cemento-enamel junction and are caused by abrasion, erosion and/or occlusal overload. In this paper we proved that our fast swept source OCT system is a valuable tool to track the evolution of NCCL lesions in time. On several extracted bicuspids, four levels of NCCL were artificially created. After every level of induced lesion, OCT scanning was performed. B scans were acquired and 3D reconstructions were generated. The swept source OCT instrument used in this study has a central wavelength of 1050 nm, a sweeping range of 106 nm (measured at 10 dB), an average output power of 16 mW and a sweeping rate of 100 kHz. A depth resolution determined by the swept source of 12 μm in air was experimentally obtained. NCCL were measured on the B-scans as 2D images and 3D reconstructions (volumes). For quantitative evaluations of volumes, the Image J software was used. By calculating the areas of the amount of lost tissue corresponding to each difference of Bscans, the final volumes of NCCL were obtained. This swept source OCT method allows the dynamic diagnosis of NCCL in time.

Measurement of pattern recognition efficiency of tracks generated by ionizing radiation in a Medipix2 device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouchami, J.; Gutiérrez, A.; Holy, T.; Houdayer, A.; Jakůbek, J.; Lebel, C.; Leroy, C.; Macana, J.; Martin, J.-P.; Pospíšil, S.; Prak, S.; Sabella, P.; Teyssier, C.; CERN Medipix Collaboration

2011-05-01

Several experiments were performed to establish the Medipix2 device capabilities for track recognition and its efficiency at measuring fluxes. A Medipix2 device was exposed to 241Am, 106Ru and 137Cs radioactive sources, separately and simultaneously. It was also exposed to heavy particle beams (protons and alpha-particles), recoiled on a gold foil to reduce the incoming flux and allow the study of the detector response struck by incoming particles at different incidence angles. For three proton beams (400 keV, 4 and 10 MeV), the device was exposed to the radioactive sources on top of beam, giving a mixed radiation field. To test the reliability of track recognition with this device, the activities of the radioactive sources were extracted from the experimental data and compared to the expected activities. Rotation of the Medipix2 device allowed the test of the heavy tracks recognition at different incidence angles.

The tracking analysis in the Q-weak experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, J.; Androic, D.; Armstrong, D. S.; Asaturyan, A.; Averett, T.; Balewski, J.; Beaufait, J.; Beminiwattha, R. S.; Benesch, J.; Benmokhtar, F.; Birchall, J.; Carlini, R. D.; Cates, G. D.; Cornejo, J. C.; Covrig, S.; Dalton, M. M.; Davis, C. A.; Deconinck, W.; Diefenbach, J.; Dowd, J. F.; Dunne, J. A.; Dutta, D.; Duvall, W. S.; Elaasar, M.; Falk, W. R.; Finn, J. M.; Forest, T.; Gaskell, D.; Gericke, M. T. W.; Grames, J.; Gray, V. M.; Grimm, K.; Guo, F.; Hoskins, J. R.; Johnston, K.; Jones, D.; Jones, M.; Jones, R.; Kargiantoulakis, M.; King, P. M.; Korkmaz, E.; Kowalski, S.; Leacock, J.; Leckey, J.; Lee, A. R.; Lee, J. H.; Lee, L.; MacEwan, S.; Mack, D.; Magee, J. A.; Mahurin, R.; Mammei, J.; Martin, J. W.; McHugh, M. J.; Meekins, D.; Mei, J.; Michaels, R.; Micherdzinska, A.; Mkrtchyan, A.; Mkrtchyan, H.; Morgan, N.; Myers, K. E.; Narayan, A.; Ndukum, L. Z.; Nelyubin, V.; Nuruzzaman; van Oers, W. T. H.; Opper, A. K.; Page, S. A.; Pan, J.; Paschke, K. D.; Phillips, S. K.; Pitt, M. L.; Poelker, M.; Rajotte, J. F.; Ramsay, W. D.; Roche, J.; Sawatzky, B.; Seva, T.; Shabestari, M. H.; Silwal, R.; Simicevic, N.; Smith, G. R.; Solvignon, P.; Spayde, D. T.; Subedi, A.; Subedi, R.; Suleiman, R.; Tadevosyan, V.; Tobias, W. A.; Tvaskis, V.; Waidyawansa, B.; Wang, P.; Wells, S. P.; Wood, S. A.; Yang, S.; Young, R. D.; Zhamkochyan, S.

2016-12-01

The Q-weak experiment at Jefferson Laboratory measured the parity violating asymmetry ( A P V ) in elastic electron-proton scattering at small momentum transfer squared ( Q 2=0.025 ( G e V/ c)2), with the aim of extracting the proton's weak charge ({Q^p_W}) to an accuracy of 5 %. As one of the major uncertainty contribution sources to {Q^p_W}, Q 2 needs to be determined to ˜1 % so as to reach the proposed experimental precision. For this purpose, two sets of high resolution tracking chambers were employed in the experiment, to measure tracks before and after the magnetic spectrometer. Data collected by the tracking system were then reconstructed with dedicated software into individual electron trajectories for experimental kinematics determination. The Q-weak kinematics and the analysis scheme for tracking data are briefly described here. The sources that contribute to the uncertainty of Q 2 are discussed, and the current analysis status is reported.

Text Detection, Tracking and Recognition in Video: A Comprehensive Survey.

PubMed

Yin, Xu-Cheng; Zuo, Ze-Yu; Tian, Shu; Liu, Cheng-Lin

2016-04-14

Intelligent analysis of video data is currently in wide demand because video is a major source of sensory data in our lives. Text is a prominent and direct source of information in video, while recent surveys of text detection and recognition in imagery [1], [2] focus mainly on text extraction from scene images. Here, this paper presents a comprehensive survey of text detection, tracking and recognition in video with three major contributions. First, a generic framework is proposed for video text extraction that uniformly describes detection, tracking, recognition, and their relations and interactions. Second, within this framework, a variety of methods, systems and evaluation protocols of video text extraction are summarized, compared, and analyzed. Existing text tracking techniques, tracking based detection and recognition techniques are specifically highlighted. Third, related applications, prominent challenges, and future directions for video text extraction (especially from scene videos and web videos) are also thoroughly discussed.

Joint Sensing/Sampling Optimization for Surface Drifting Mine Detection with High-Resolution Drift Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

as potential tools for large area detection coverage while being moderately inexpensive (Wettergren, Performance of Search via Track - Before - Detect for...via Track - Before - Detect for Distribute 34 Sensor Networks, 2008). These statements highlight three specific needs to further sensor network research...Bay hydrography. Journal of Marine Systems, 12, 221–236. Wettergren, T. A. (2008). Performance of search via track - before - detect for distributed

Genome build information is an essential part of genomic track files.

PubMed

Kanduri, Chakravarthi; Domanska, Diana; Hovig, Eivind; Sandve, Geir Kjetil

2017-09-14

Genomic locations are represented as coordinates on a specific genome build version, but the build information is frequently missing when coordinates are provided. We show that this information is essential to correctly interpret and analyse the genomic intervals contained in genomic track files. Although not a substitute for best practices, we also provide a tool to predict the genome build version of genomic track files.

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

Dowla, Farid U.

Subsurface sensors that employ radioisotopes, such 241Am-Be and 137Cs, for reservoir characterization must be tracked for safety and security reasons. Other radiological sources are also widely used in medicine. The radiological source containers, in both applications, are small, mobile and used widely worldwide. The nuclear sources pose radiological dispersal device (RDD) security risks. Security concerns with the industrial use of radionuclide sources is in fact quite high as it is estimated that each year hundreds of sealed sources go missing, either lost or stolen. Risk mitigation efforts include enhanced regulations, source-use guidelines, research and development on electronic tracking of sources.more » This report summarizes the major elements of the requirements and operational concepts of nuclear sources with the goal of developing automated electronic tagging and locating systems.« less

Robust and highly performant ring detection algorithm for 3d particle tracking using 2d microscope imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afik, Eldad

2015-09-01

Three-dimensional particle tracking is an essential tool in studying dynamics under the microscope, namely, fluid dynamics in microfluidic devices, bacteria taxis, cellular trafficking. The 3d position can be determined using 2d imaging alone by measuring the diffraction rings generated by an out-of-focus fluorescent particle, imaged on a single camera. Here I present a ring detection algorithm exhibiting a high detection rate, which is robust to the challenges arising from ring occlusion, inclusions and overlaps, and allows resolving particles even when near to each other. It is capable of real time analysis thanks to its high performance and low memory footprint. The proposed algorithm, an offspring of the circle Hough transform, addresses the need to efficiently trace the trajectories of many particles concurrently, when their number in not necessarily fixed, by solving a classification problem, and overcomes the challenges of finding local maxima in the complex parameter space which results from ring clusters and noise. Several algorithmic concepts introduced here can be advantageous in other cases, particularly when dealing with noisy and sparse data. The implementation is based on open-source and cross-platform software packages only, making it easy to distribute and modify. It is implemented in a microfluidic experiment allowing real-time multi-particle tracking at 70 Hz, achieving a detection rate which exceeds 94% and only 1% false-detection.

Mobile phone tracking: in support of modelling traffic-related air pollution contribution to individual exposure and its implications for public health impact assessment.

PubMed

Liu, Hai-Ying; Skjetne, Erik; Kobernus, Mike

2013-11-04

We propose a new approach to assess the impact of traffic-related air pollution on public health by mapping personal trajectories using mobile phone tracking technology in an urban environment. Although this approach is not based on any empirical studies, we believe that this method has great potential and deserves serious attention. Mobile phone tracking technology makes it feasible to generate millions of personal trajectories and thereby cover a large fraction of an urban population. Through analysis, personal trajectories are not only associated to persons, but it can also be associated with vehicles, vehicle type, vehicle speed, vehicle emission rates, and sources of vehicle emissions. Pollution levels can be estimated by dispersion models from calculated traffic emissions. Traffic pollution exposure to individuals can be estimated based on the exposure along the individual human trajectories in the estimated pollution concentration fields by utilizing modelling tools. By data integration, one may identify trajectory patterns of particularly exposed human groups. The approach of personal trajectories may open a new paradigm in understanding urban dynamics and new perspectives in population-wide empirical public health research. This new approach can be further applied to individual commuter route planning, land use planning, urban traffic network planning, and used by authorities to formulate air pollution mitigation policies and regulations.

The usefulness of GPS bicycle tracking data for evaluating the impact of infrastructure change on cycling behaviour.

PubMed

Heesch, Kristiann C; Langdon, Michael

2016-02-01

Issue addressed A key strategy to increase active travel is the construction of bicycle infrastructure. Tools to evaluate this strategy are limited. This study assessed the usefulness of a smartphone GPS tracking system for evaluating the impact of this strategy on cycling behaviour. Methods Cycling usage data were collected from Queenslanders who used a GPS tracking app on their smartphone from 2013-2014. 'Heat' and volume maps of the data were reviewed, and GPS bicycle counts were compared with surveillance data and bicycle counts from automatic traffic-monitoring devices. Results Heat maps broadly indicated that changes in cycling occurred near infrastructure improvements. Volume maps provided changes in counts of cyclists due to these improvements although errors were noted in geographic information system (GIS) geo-coding of some GPS data. Large variations were evident in the number of cyclists using the app in different locations. These variations limited the usefulness of GPS data for assessing differences in cycling across locations. Conclusion Smartphone GPS data are useful in evaluating the impact of improved bicycle infrastructure in one location. Using GPS data to evaluate differential changes in cycling across multiple locations is problematic when there is insufficient traffic-monitoring devices available to triangulate GPS data with bicycle traffic count data. So what? The use of smartphone GPS data with other data sources is recommended for assessing how infrastructure improvements influence cycling behaviour.

Mobile phone tracking: in support of modelling traffic-related air pollution contribution to individual exposure and its implications for public health impact assessment

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

We propose a new approach to assess the impact of traffic-related air pollution on public health by mapping personal trajectories using mobile phone tracking technology in an urban environment. Although this approach is not based on any empirical studies, we believe that this method has great potential and deserves serious attention. Mobile phone tracking technology makes it feasible to generate millions of personal trajectories and thereby cover a large fraction of an urban population. Through analysis, personal trajectories are not only associated to persons, but it can also be associated with vehicles, vehicle type, vehicle speed, vehicle emission rates, and sources of vehicle emissions. Pollution levels can be estimated by dispersion models from calculated traffic emissions. Traffic pollution exposure to individuals can be estimated based on the exposure along the individual human trajectories in the estimated pollution concentration fields by utilizing modelling tools. By data integration, one may identify trajectory patterns of particularly exposed human groups. The approach of personal trajectories may open a new paradigm in understanding urban dynamics and new perspectives in population-wide empirical public health research. This new approach can be further applied to individual commuter route planning, land use planning, urban traffic network planning, and used by authorities to formulate air pollution mitigation policies and regulations. PMID:24188173

Welding technology transfer task/laser based weld joint tracking system for compressor girth welds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Looney, Alan

1991-01-01

Sensors to control and monitor welding operations are currently being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center. The laser based weld bead profiler/torch rotation sensor was modified to provide a weld joint tracking system for compressor girth welds. The tracking system features a precision laser based vision sensor, automated two-axis machine motion, and an industrial PC controller. The system benefits are elimination of weld repairs caused by joint tracking errors which reduces manufacturing costs and increases production output, simplification of tooling, and free costly manufacturing floor space.

On the holographic 3D tracking of in vitro cells characterized by a highly-morphological change.

PubMed

Memmolo, Pasquale; Iannone, Maria; Ventre, Maurizio; Netti, Paolo Antonio; Finizio, Andrea; Paturzo, Melania; Ferraro, Pietro

2012-12-17

Digital Holography (DH) in microscopic configuration is a powerful tool for the imaging of micro-objects contained into a three dimensional (3D) volume, by a single-shot image acquisition. Many studies report on the ability of DH to track particle, microorganism and cells in 3D. However, very few investigations are performed with objects that change severely their morphology during the observation period. Here we study DH as a tool for 3D tracking an osteosarcoma cell line for which extensive changes in cell morphology are associated to cell motion. Due to the great unpredictable morphological change, retrieving cell's position in 3D can become a complicated issue. We investigate and discuss in this paper how the tridimensional position can be affected by the continuous change of the cells. Moreover we propose and test some strategies to afford the problems and compare it with others approaches. Finally, results on the 3D tracking and comments are reported and illustrated.

Multiple approaches to microbial source tracking in tropical northern Australia

PubMed Central

Neave, Matthew; Luter, Heidi; Padovan, Anna; Townsend, Simon; Schobben, Xavier; Gibb, Karen

2014-01-01

Microbial source tracking is an area of research in which multiple approaches are used to identify the sources of elevated bacterial concentrations in recreational lakes and beaches. At our study location in Darwin, northern Australia, water quality in the harbor is generally good, however dry-season beach closures due to elevated Escherichia coli and enterococci counts are a cause for concern. The sources of these high bacteria counts are currently unknown. To address this, we sampled sewage outfalls, other potential inputs, such as urban rivers and drains, and surrounding beaches, and used genetic fingerprints from E. coli and enterococci communities, fecal markers and 454 pyrosequencing to track contamination sources. A sewage effluent outfall (Larrakeyah discharge) was a source of bacteria, including fecal bacteria that impacted nearby beaches. Two other treated effluent discharges did not appear to influence sites other than those directly adjacent. Several beaches contained fecal indicator bacteria that likely originated from urban rivers and creeks within the catchment. Generally, connectivity between the sites was observed within distinct geographical locations and it appeared that most of the bacterial contamination on Darwin beaches was confined to local sources. PMID:25224738

Modular Filter and Source-Management Upgrade of RADAC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lanzi, R. James; Smith, Donna C.

2007-01-01

In an upgrade of the Range Data Acquisition Computer (RADAC) software, a modular software object library was developed to implement required functionality for filtering of flight-vehicle-tracking data and management of tracking-data sources. (The RADAC software is used to process flight-vehicle metric data for realtime display in the Wallops Flight Facility Range Control Center and Mobile Control Center.)

Acoustic Source Elevation Angle Estimates Using Two Microphones

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

elevated. Elevation angles are successfully estimated, under certain conditions, for a loudspeaker broadcasting band limited white noise. 15. SUBJECT...INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK. 1 1. Introduction The U.S. Army uses acoustic arrays to track and locate various sources including...ground and airborne vehicles, small arms, mortars, and rockets. The tracking and locating algorithms often used with these acoustic arrays perform

Altimeter error sources at the 10-cm performance level

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martin, C. F.

1977-01-01

Error sources affecting the calibration and operational use of a 10 cm altimeter are examined to determine the magnitudes of current errors and the investigations necessary to reduce them to acceptable bounds. Errors considered include those affecting operational data pre-processing, and those affecting altitude bias determination, with error budgets developed for both. The most significant error sources affecting pre-processing are bias calibration, propagation corrections for the ionosphere, and measurement noise. No ionospheric models are currently validated at the required 10-25% accuracy level. The optimum smoothing to reduce the effects of measurement noise is investigated and found to be on the order of one second, based on the TASC model of geoid undulations. The 10 cm calibrations are found to be feasible only through the use of altimeter passes that are very high elevation for a tracking station which tracks very close to the time of altimeter track, such as a high elevation pass across the island of Bermuda. By far the largest error source, based on the current state-of-the-art, is the location of the island tracking station relative to mean sea level in the surrounding ocean areas.

On-road and wind-tunnel measurement of motorcycle helmet noise.

PubMed

Kennedy, J; Carley, M; Walker, I; Holt, N

2013-09-01

The noise source mechanisms involved in motorcycling include various aerodynamic sources and engine noise. The problem of noise source identification requires extensive data acquisition of a type and level that have not previously been applied. Data acquisition on track and on road are problematic due to rider safety constraints and the portability of appropriate instrumentation. One way to address this problem is the use of data from wind tunnel tests. The validity of these measurements for noise source identification must first be demonstrated. In order to achieve this extensive wind tunnel tests have been conducted and compared with the results from on-track measurements. Sound pressure levels as a function of speed were compared between on track and wind tunnel tests and were found to be comparable. Spectral conditioning techniques were applied to separate engine and wind tunnel noise from aerodynamic noise and showed that the aerodynamic components were equivalent in both cases. The spectral conditioning of on-track data showed that the contribution of engine noise to the overall noise is a function of speed and is more significant than had previously been thought. These procedures form a basis for accurate experimental measurements of motorcycle noise.

Data-to-Decisions S&T Priority Initiative

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-08

Context Mapping − Track Performance Model  Multi-Source Tracking − Track Fusion − Track through Gaps − Move-Stop-Move  Performance Based ...Decisions S&T Priority Initiative Dr. Carey Schwartz PSC Lead Office of Naval Research NDIA Disruptive Technologies Conference November 8-9, 2011...PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Office of Naval Research ,875 North Randolph Street , Arlington,VA,2217 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT

MOLECULAR TRACKING FECAL CONTAMINATION IN SURFACE WATERS: 16S RDNA VERSUS METAGENOMICS APPROACHES

EPA Science Inventory

Microbial source tracking methods need to be sensitive and exhibit temporal and geographic stability in order to provide meaningful data in field studies. The objective of this study was to use a combination of PCR-based methods to track cow fecal contamination in two watersheds....

A survey of parallel programming tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cheng, Doreen Y.

1991-01-01

This survey examines 39 parallel programming tools. Focus is placed on those tool capabilites needed for parallel scientific programming rather than for general computer science. The tools are classified with current and future needs of Numerical Aerodynamic Simulator (NAS) in mind: existing and anticipated NAS supercomputers and workstations; operating systems; programming languages; and applications. They are divided into four categories: suggested acquisitions, tools already brought in; tools worth tracking; and tools eliminated from further consideration at this time.

Dietary Adherence Monitoring Tool for Free-living, Controlled Feeding Studies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Objective: To devise a dietary adherence monitoring tool for use in controlled human feeding trials involving free-living study participants. Methods: A scoring tool was devised to measure and track dietary adherence for an 8-wk randomized trial evaluating the effects of two different dietary patter...

Imaging Polarimeter for a Sub-MeV Gamma-Ray All-sky Survey Using an Electron-tracking Compton Camera

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

Komura, S.; Takada, A.; Mizumura, Y.

2017-04-10

X-ray and gamma-ray polarimetry is a promising tool to study the geometry and the magnetic configuration of various celestial objects, such as binary black holes or gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, statistically significant polarizations have been detected in few of the brightest objects. Even though future polarimeters using X-ray telescopes are expected to observe weak persistent sources, there are no effective approaches to survey transient and serendipitous sources with a wide field of view (FoV). Here we present an electron-tracking Compton camera (ETCC) as a highly sensitive gamma-ray imaging polarimeter. The ETCC provides powerful background rejection and a high modulation factormore » over an FoV of up to 2 π sr thanks to its excellent imaging based on a well-defined point-spread function. Importantly, we demonstrated for the first time the stability of the modulation factor under realistic conditions of off-axis incidence and huge backgrounds using the SPring-8 polarized X-ray beam. The measured modulation factor of the ETCC was 0.65 ± 0.01 at 150 keV for an off-axis incidence with an oblique angle of 30° and was not degraded compared to the 0.58 ± 0.02 at 130 keV for on-axis incidence. These measured results are consistent with the simulation results. Consequently, we found that the satellite-ETCC proposed in Tanimori et al. would provide all-sky surveys of weak persistent sources of 13 mCrab with 10% polarization for a 10{sup 7} s exposure and over 20 GRBs down to a 6 × 10{sup −6} erg cm{sup −2} fluence and 10% polarization during a one-year observation.« less

Imaging Polarimeter for a Sub-MeV Gamma-Ray All-sky Survey Using an Electron-tracking Compton Camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komura, S.; Takada, A.; Mizumura, Y.; Miyamoto, S.; Takemura, T.; Kishimoto, T.; Kubo, H.; Kurosawa, S.; Matsuoka, Y.; Miuchi, K.; Mizumoto, T.; Nakamasu, Y.; Nakamura, K.; Oda, M.; Parker, J. D.; Sawano, T.; Sonoda, S.; Tanimori, T.; Tomono, D.; Yoshikawa, K.

2017-04-01

X-ray and gamma-ray polarimetry is a promising tool to study the geometry and the magnetic configuration of various celestial objects, such as binary black holes or gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, statistically significant polarizations have been detected in few of the brightest objects. Even though future polarimeters using X-ray telescopes are expected to observe weak persistent sources, there are no effective approaches to survey transient and serendipitous sources with a wide field of view (FoV). Here we present an electron-tracking Compton camera (ETCC) as a highly sensitive gamma-ray imaging polarimeter. The ETCC provides powerful background rejection and a high modulation factor over an FoV of up to 2π sr thanks to its excellent imaging based on a well-defined point-spread function. Importantly, we demonstrated for the first time the stability of the modulation factor under realistic conditions of off-axis incidence and huge backgrounds using the SPring-8 polarized X-ray beam. The measured modulation factor of the ETCC was 0.65 ± 0.01 at 150 keV for an off-axis incidence with an oblique angle of 30° and was not degraded compared to the 0.58 ± 0.02 at 130 keV for on-axis incidence. These measured results are consistent with the simulation results. Consequently, we found that the satellite-ETCC proposed in Tanimori et al. would provide all-sky surveys of weak persistent sources of 13 mCrab with 10% polarization for a 107 s exposure and over 20 GRBs down to a 6 × 10-6 erg cm-2 fluence and 10% polarization during a one-year observation.

RSEQtools: a modular framework to analyze RNA-Seq data using compact, anonymized data summaries.

PubMed

Habegger, Lukas; Sboner, Andrea; Gianoulis, Tara A; Rozowsky, Joel; Agarwal, Ashish; Snyder, Michael; Gerstein, Mark

2011-01-15

The advent of next-generation sequencing for functional genomics has given rise to quantities of sequence information that are often so large that they are difficult to handle. Moreover, sequence reads from a specific individual can contain sufficient information to potentially identify and genetically characterize that person, raising privacy concerns. In order to address these issues, we have developed the Mapped Read Format (MRF), a compact data summary format for both short and long read alignments that enables the anonymization of confidential sequence information, while allowing one to still carry out many functional genomics studies. We have developed a suite of tools (RSEQtools) that use this format for the analysis of RNA-Seq experiments. These tools consist of a set of modules that perform common tasks such as calculating gene expression values, generating signal tracks of mapped reads and segmenting that signal into actively transcribed regions. Moreover, the tools can readily be used to build customizable RNA-Seq workflows. In addition to the anonymization afforded by MRF, this format also facilitates the decoupling of the alignment of reads from downstream analyses. RSEQtools is implemented in C and the source code is available at http://rseqtools.gersteinlab.org/.

Computational Methods for Tracking, Quantitative Assessment, and Visualization of C. elegans Locomotory Behavior

PubMed Central

Moy, Kyle; Li, Weiyu; Tran, Huu Phuoc; Simonis, Valerie; Story, Evan; Brandon, Christopher; Furst, Jacob; Raicu, Daniela; Kim, Hongkyun

2015-01-01

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans provides a unique opportunity to interrogate the neural basis of behavior at single neuron resolution. In C. elegans, neural circuits that control behaviors can be formulated based on its complete neural connection map, and easily assessed by applying advanced genetic tools that allow for modulation in the activity of specific neurons. Importantly, C. elegans exhibits several elaborate behaviors that can be empirically quantified and analyzed, thus providing a means to assess the contribution of specific neural circuits to behavioral output. Particularly, locomotory behavior can be recorded and analyzed with computational and mathematical tools. Here, we describe a robust single worm-tracking system, which is based on the open-source Python programming language, and an analysis system, which implements path-related algorithms. Our tracking system was designed to accommodate worms that explore a large area with frequent turns and reversals at high speeds. As a proof of principle, we used our tracker to record the movements of wild-type animals that were freshly removed from abundant bacterial food, and determined how wild-type animals change locomotory behavior over a long period of time. Consistent with previous findings, we observed that wild-type animals show a transition from area-restricted local search to global search over time. Intriguingly, we found that wild-type animals initially exhibit short, random movements interrupted by infrequent long trajectories. This movement pattern often coincides with local/global search behavior, and visually resembles Lévy flight search, a search behavior conserved across species. Our mathematical analysis showed that while most of the animals exhibited Brownian walks, approximately 20% of the animals exhibited Lévy flights, indicating that C. elegans can use Lévy flights for efficient food search. In summary, our tracker and analysis software will help analyze the neural basis of the alteration and transition of C. elegans locomotory behavior in a food-deprived condition. PMID:26713869

Parameter Uncertainty Analysis Using Monte Carlo Simulations for a Regional-Scale Groundwater Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.; Pohlmann, K.

2016-12-01

Regional-scale grid-based groundwater models for flow and transport often contain multiple types of parameters that can intensify the challenge of parameter uncertainty analysis. We propose a Monte Carlo approach to systematically quantify the influence of various types of model parameters on groundwater flux and contaminant travel times. The Monte Carlo simulations were conducted based on the steady-state conversion of the original transient model, which was then combined with the PEST sensitivity analysis tool SENSAN and particle tracking software MODPATH. Results identified hydrogeologic units whose hydraulic conductivity can significantly affect groundwater flux, and thirteen out of 173 model parameters that can cause large variation in travel times for contaminant particles originating from given source zones.

Framework for managing mycotoxin risks in the food industry.

PubMed

Baker, Robert C; Ford, Randall M; Helander, Mary E; Marecki, Janusz; Natarajan, Ramesh; Ray, Bonnie

2014-12-01

We propose a methodological framework for managing mycotoxin risks in the food processing industry. Mycotoxin contamination is a well-known threat to public health that has economic significance for the food processing industry; it is imperative to address mycotoxin risks holistically, at all points in the procurement, processing, and distribution pipeline, by tracking the relevant data, adopting best practices, and providing suitable adaptive controls. The proposed framework includes (i) an information and data repository, (ii) a collaborative infrastructure with analysis and simulation tools, (iii) standardized testing and acceptance sampling procedures, and (iv) processes that link the risk assessments and testing results to the sourcing, production, and product release steps. The implementation of suitable acceptance sampling protocols for mycotoxin testing is considered in some detail.

Using Google Earth as an innovative tool for community mapping.

PubMed

Lefer, Theodore B; Anderson, Matthew R; Fornari, Alice; Lambert, Anastasia; Fletcher, Jason; Baquero, Maria

2008-01-01

Maps are used to track diseases and illustrate the social context of health problems. However, commercial mapping software requires special training. This article illustrates how nonspecialists used Google Earth, a free program, to create community maps. The Bronx, New York, is characterized by high levels of obesity and diabetes. Residents and medical students measured the variety and quality of food and exercise sources around a residency training clinic and a student-run free clinic, using Google Earth to create maps with minimal assistance. Locations were identified using street addresses or simply by pointing to them on a map. Maps can be shared via e-mail, viewed online with Google Earth or Google Maps, and the data can be incorporated into other mapping software.

KOLAM: a cross-platform architecture for scalable visualization and tracking in wide-area imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fraser, Joshua; Haridas, Anoop; Seetharaman, Guna; Rao, Raghuveer M.; Palaniappan, Kannappan

2013-05-01

KOLAM is an open, cross-platform, interoperable, scalable and extensible framework supporting a novel multi- scale spatiotemporal dual-cache data structure for big data visualization and visual analytics. This paper focuses on the use of KOLAM for target tracking in high-resolution, high throughput wide format video also known as wide-area motion imagery (WAMI). It was originally developed for the interactive visualization of extremely large geospatial imagery of high spatial and spectral resolution. KOLAM is platform, operating system and (graphics) hardware independent, and supports embedded datasets scalable from hundreds of gigabytes to feasibly petabytes in size on clusters, workstations, desktops and mobile computers. In addition to rapid roam, zoom and hyper- jump spatial operations, a large number of simultaneously viewable embedded pyramid layers (also referred to as multiscale or sparse imagery), interactive colormap and histogram enhancement, spherical projection and terrain maps are supported. The KOLAM software architecture was extended to support airborne wide-area motion imagery by organizing spatiotemporal tiles in very large format video frames using a temporal cache of tiled pyramid cached data structures. The current version supports WAMI animation, fast intelligent inspection, trajectory visualization and target tracking (digital tagging); the latter by interfacing with external automatic tracking software. One of the critical needs for working with WAMI is a supervised tracking and visualization tool that allows analysts to digitally tag multiple targets, quickly review and correct tracking results and apply geospatial visual analytic tools on the generated trajectories. One-click manual tracking combined with multiple automated tracking algorithms are available to assist the analyst and increase human effectiveness.

Pyroclast Tracking Velocimetry: A particle tracking velocimetry-based tool for the study of Strombolian explosive eruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaudin, Damien; Moroni, Monica; Taddeucci, Jacopo; Scarlato, Piergiorgio; Shindler, Luca

2014-07-01

Image-based techniques enable high-resolution observation of the pyroclasts ejected during Strombolian explosions and drawing inferences on the dynamics of volcanic activity. However, data extraction from high-resolution videos is time consuming and operator dependent, while automatic analysis is often challenging due to the highly variable quality of images collected in the field. Here we present a new set of algorithms to automatically analyze image sequences of explosive eruptions: the pyroclast tracking velocimetry (PyTV) toolbox. First, a significant preprocessing is used to remove the image background and to detect the pyroclasts. Then, pyroclast tracking is achieved with a new particle tracking velocimetry algorithm, featuring an original predictor of velocity based on the optical flow equation. Finally, postprocessing corrects the systematic errors of measurements. Four high-speed videos of Strombolian explosions from Yasur and Stromboli volcanoes, representing various observation conditions, have been used to test the efficiency of the PyTV against manual analysis. In all cases, >106 pyroclasts have been successfully detected and tracked by PyTV, with a precision of 1 m/s for the velocity and 20% for the size of the pyroclast. On each video, more than 1000 tracks are several meters long, enabling us to study pyroclast properties and trajectories. Compared to manual tracking, 3 to 100 times more pyroclasts are analyzed. PyTV, by providing time-constrained information, links physical properties and motion of individual pyroclasts. It is a powerful tool for the study of explosive volcanic activity, as well as an ideal complement for other geological and geophysical volcano observation systems.

An Integrated Tool for Calculating and Reducing Institution Carbon and Nitrogen Footprints

PubMed Central

Galloway, James N.; Castner, Elizabeth A.; Andrews, Jennifer; Leary, Neil; Aber, John D.

2017-01-01

Abstract The development of nitrogen footprint tools has allowed a range of entities to calculate and reduce their contribution to nitrogen pollution, but these tools represent just one aspect of environmental pollution. For example, institutions have been calculating their carbon footprints to track and manage their greenhouse gas emissions for over a decade. This article introduces an integrated tool that institutions can use to calculate, track, and manage their nitrogen and carbon footprints together. It presents the methodology for the combined tool, describes several metrics for comparing institution nitrogen and carbon footprint results, and discusses management strategies that reduce both the nitrogen and carbon footprints. The data requirements for the two tools overlap substantially, although integrating the two tools does necessitate the calculation of the carbon footprint of food. Comparison results for five institutions suggest that the institution nitrogen and carbon footprints correlate strongly, especially in the utilities and food sectors. Scenario analyses indicate benefits to both footprints from a range of utilities and food footprint reduction strategies. Integrating these two footprints into a single tool will account for a broader range of environmental impacts, reduce data entry and analysis, and promote integrated management of institutional sustainability. PMID:29350217

A Computable Definition of Sepsis Facilitates Screening and Performance Improvement Tracking.

PubMed

Alessi, Lauren J; Warmus, Holly R; Schaffner, Erin K; Kantawala, Sajel; Carcillo, Joseph; Rosen, Johanna; Horvat, Christopher M

2018-03-01

Sepsis kills almost 5,000 children annually, accounting for 16% of pediatric health care spending in the United States. We sought to identify sepsis within the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of a quaternary children's hospital to characterize disease incidence, improve recognition and response, and track performance metrics. Methods are organized in a plan-do-study-act cycle. During the "plan" phase, electronic definitions of sepsis (blood culture and antibiotic within 24 hours) and septic shock (sepsis plus vasoactive medication) were created to establish benchmark data and track progress with statistical process control. The performance of a screening tool was evaluated in the emergency department. During the "do" phase, a novel inpatient workflow is being piloted, which involves regular sepsis screening by nurses using the tool, and a regimented response to high risk patients. Screening tool use in the emergency department reduced time to antibiotics (Fig. 1). Of the 6,159 admissions, EHR definitions identified 1,433 (23.3%) between July and December 2016 with sepsis, of which 159 (11.1%) had septic shock. Hospital mortality for all sepsis patients was 2.2% and 15.7% for septic shock (Table 1). These findings approximate epidemiologic studies of sepsis and severe sepsis, which report a prevalence range of 0.45-8.2% and mortality range of 8.2-25% (Table 2). 1-5 . Implementation of a sepsis screening tool is associated with improved performance. The prevalence of sepsis conditions identified with electronic definitions approximates the epidemiologic landscape characterized by other point-prevalence and administrative studies, providing face validity to this approach, and proving useful for tracking performance improvement.

Early Life Protein Intake: Food Sources, Correlates, and Tracking across the First 5 Years of Life.

PubMed

Campbell, Karen J; Abbott, Gavin; Zheng, Miaobing; McNaughton, Sarah A

2017-08-01

High consumption of protein has been associated with accelerated growth and adiposity in early childhood. To describe intake, food sources, correlates, and tracking of protein in young children. Secondary analysis of Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT). Dietary data were collected using three 24-hour dietary recalls at ages 9 and 18 months as well as 3.5 and 5 years. First-time mothers and their child (n=542) participated in an 18-month intervention to prevent childhood obesity and the cohort was followed-up with no intervention when children were aged 3.5 and 5 years. Protein intake, food sources, correlates, and tracking of protein. Child and maternal correlates of protein intake were identified using linear regression and tracking of protein intake was examined using Pearson correlations of residualized protein scores between time points. Mean protein (grams per day) intake was 29.7±11.0, 46.3±11.5, 54.2±13.8, and 60.0±14.8 at 9 and 18 months and 3.5 and 5 years, respectively. Protein intakes at all ages were two to three times greater than age-appropriate Australian recommendations. The primary source of protein at 9 months was breast/formula milk. At later ages, the principal sources were milk/milk products, breads/cereals, and meat/meat products. Earlier breastfeeding cessation, earlier introduction of solids, high dairy milk consumption (≥500 mL), and high maternal education were significant predictors of high protein intake at various times (P<0.05). Slight tracking was found for protein intakes at 9 months, 18 months, and 5 years (r=0.16 to 0.21; P<0.01). This study provides unique insights into food sources and correlates of young children's high protein intakes, and confirms that early protein intakes track slightly up to age 5 years. These finding have potential to inform nutrition interventions and strategies to address high protein intakes and protein-related obesity risk. Copyright © 2017 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Near- Source, Seismo-Acoustic Signals Accompanying a NASCAR Race at the Texas Motor Speedway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stump, B. W.; Hayward, C.; Underwood, R.; Howard, J. E.; MacPhail, M. D.; Golden, P.; Endress, A.

2014-12-01

Near-source, seismo-acoustic observations provide a unique opportunity to characterize urban sources, remotely sense human activities including vehicular traffic and monitor large engineering structures. Energy separately coupled into the solid earth and atmosphere provides constraints on not only the location of these sources but also the physics of the generating process. Conditions and distances at which these observations can be made are dependent upon not only local geological conditions but also atmospheric conditions at the time of the observations. In order to address this range of topics, an empirical, seismo-acoustic study was undertaken in and around the Texas Motor Speedway in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area during the first week of April 2014 at which time a range of activities associated with a series of NASCAR races occurred. Nine, seismic sensors were deployed around the 1.5-mile track for purposes of documenting the direct-coupled seismic energy from the passage of the cars and other vehicles on the track. Six infrasound sensors were deployed on a rooftop in a rectangular array configuration designed to provide high frequency beam forming for acoustic signals. Finally, a five-element infrasound array was deployed outside the track in order to characterize how the signals propagate away from the sources in the near-source region. Signals recovered from within the track were able to track and characterize the motion of a variety of vehicles during the race weekend including individual racecars. Seismic data sampled at 1000 sps documented strong Doppler effects as the cars approached and moved away from individual sensors. There were faint seismic signals that arrived at seismic velocity but local acoustic to seismic coupling as supported by the acoustic observations generated the majority of seismic signals. Actual seismic ground motions were small as demonstrated by the dominance of regional seismic signals from a magnitude 4.0 earthquake that arrived at the local seismometers as the race began. The infrasound arrays recorded a variety of atmosphere only processes including substantial helicopter traffic although the array outside the track did not capture the details of the race as a result of the rapid attenuation of high frequency signals.

Contamination Sources Effects Analysis (CSEA) - A Tool to Balance Cost/Schedule While Managing Facility Availability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilcox, Margaret

2008-01-01

A CSEA is similar to a Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA). A CSEA tracks risk, deterrence, and occurrence of sources of contamination and their mitigation plans. Documentation is provided spanning mechanical and electrical assembly, precision cleaning, thermal vacuum bake-out, and thermal vacuum testing. These facilities all may play a role in contamination budgeting and reduction ultimately affecting test and flight. With a CSEA, visibility can be given to availability of these facilities, test sequencing and trade-offs. A cross-functional team including specialty engineering, contamination control, electrostatic dissipation, manufacturing, testing, and material engineering participate in an exercise that identifies contaminants and minimizes the complexity of scheduling these facilities considering their volatile schedules. Care can be taken in an efficient manner to insure correct cleaning processes are employed. The result is reduction in cycle time ("schedule hits"), reduced cost due to rework, reduced risk and improved communication and quality while achieving adherence to the Contamination Control Plan.

The CMS dataset bookkeeping service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Afaq, A.; Dolgert, A.; Guo, Y.; Jones, C.; Kosyakov, S.; Kuznetsov, V.; Lueking, L.; Riley, D.; Sekhri, V.

2008-07-01

The CMS Dataset Bookkeeping Service (DBS) has been developed to catalog all CMS event data from Monte Carlo and Detector sources. It provides the ability to identify MC or trigger source, track data provenance, construct datasets for analysis, and discover interesting data. CMS requires processing and analysis activities at various service levels and the DBS system provides support for localized processing or private analysis, as well as global access for CMS users at large. Catalog entries can be moved among the various service levels with a simple set of migration tools, thus forming a loose federation of databases. DBS is available to CMS users via a Python API, Command Line, and a Discovery web page interfaces. The system is built as a multi-tier web application with Java servlets running under Tomcat, with connections via JDBC to Oracle or MySQL database backends. Clients connect to the service through HTTP or HTTPS with authentication provided by GRID certificates and authorization through VOMS. DBS is an integral part of the overall CMS Data Management and Workflow Management systems.

Oil source-fingerprinting in support of polarimetric radar mapping of Macondo-252 oil in Gulf Coast marshes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ramsey, Elijah W.; Meyer, Buffy M.; Rangoonwala, Amina; Overton, Edward; Jones, Cathleen E.; Bannister, Terri

2014-01-01

Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data exhibited dramatic, spatially extensive changes from June 2009 to June 2010 in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. To determine whether these changes were associated with the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, twenty-nine sediment samples were collected in 2011 from shoreline and nearshore–interior coastal marsh locations where oil was not observed visually or with optical sensors during the spill. Oil source-fingerprinting and polytopic vector analysis were used to link DWH oil to PolSAR changes. Our results prove that DWH oil extended beyond shorelines and confirm the association between presence of DWH oil and PolSAR change. These results show that the DWH oil spill probably affected much more of the southeastern Louisiana marshland than originally concluded from ground and aerial surveys and verify that PolSAR is a powerful tool for tracking oil intrusion into marshes with high probability even where contamination is not visible from above the canopy.

Advanced Demonstration of Motion Correction for Ship-to-Ship Passive Inspections

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

Ziock, Klaus-Peter; Boehnen, Chris Bensing; Ernst, Joseph

2013-09-30

Passive radiation detection is a key tool for detecting illicit nuclear materials. In maritime applications it is most effective against small vessels where attenuation is of less concern. Passive imaging provides: discrimination between localized (threat) and distributed (non-threat) sources, removal of background fluctuations due to nearby shorelines and structures, source localization to an individual craft in crowded waters, and background subtracted spectra. Unfortunately, imaging methods cannot be easily applied in ship-to-ship inspections because relative motion of the vessels blurs the results over many pixels, significantly reducing sensitivity. This is particularly true for the smaller water craft where passive inspections aremore » most valuable. In this project we performed tests and improved the performance of an instrument (developed earlier under, “Motion Correction for Ship-to-Ship Passive Inspections”) that uses automated tracking of a target vessel in visible-light images to generate a 3D radiation map of the target vessel from data obtained using a gamma-ray imager.« less

Femtosecond MeV Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Li, R. K.; Wang, X. J.

2017-11-09

Pump-probe electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) with femtosecond temporal resolution will be a transformative research tool for studying nonequilibrium chemistry and electronic dynamics of matter. Here in this article, we propose a concept of femtosecond EELS utilizing mega-electron-volt electron beams from a radio-frequency (rf) photocathode source. The high acceleration gradient and high beam energy of the rf gun are critical to the generation of 10-fs electron beams, which enables an improvement of the temporal resolution by more than 1 order of magnitude beyond the state of the art. In our proposal, the “referencebeam technique” relaxes the energy stability requirement of themore » rf power source by roughly 2 orders of magnitude. The requirements for the electron-beam quality, photocathode, spectrometer, and detector are also discussed. Supported by particle-tracking simulations, we demonstrate the feasibility of achieving subelectron- volt energy resolution and approximately 10-fs temporal resolution with existing or near-future hardware performance.« less

Femtosecond MeV Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy

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

Li, R. K.; Wang, X. J.

Pump-probe electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) with femtosecond temporal resolution will be a transformative research tool for studying nonequilibrium chemistry and electronic dynamics of matter. Here in this article, we propose a concept of femtosecond EELS utilizing mega-electron-volt electron beams from a radio-frequency (rf) photocathode source. The high acceleration gradient and high beam energy of the rf gun are critical to the generation of 10-fs electron beams, which enables an improvement of the temporal resolution by more than 1 order of magnitude beyond the state of the art. In our proposal, the “referencebeam technique” relaxes the energy stability requirement of themore » rf power source by roughly 2 orders of magnitude. The requirements for the electron-beam quality, photocathode, spectrometer, and detector are also discussed. Supported by particle-tracking simulations, we demonstrate the feasibility of achieving subelectron- volt energy resolution and approximately 10-fs temporal resolution with existing or near-future hardware performance.« less

Introduction to the Graduation Tracking System (GTS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alabama Department of Education, 2011

2011-01-01

This guide is a training and supportive tool for use by local education agencies (LEAs) in the state of Alabama that are utilizing the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Information-INow-INFocus information system software. The Graduation Tracking System (GTS) utilizes existing STI technology to capture student information pertaining to…

Developing a Statewide Student Tracking Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pai, Wendell; Moschos, Marina; Detlev, Angela; Robinson, Ophelia; Lanneau, Sumi

2008-01-01

This chapter describes the development of a state-level student tracking system that enables the state and institutions to follow various cohort types of students across institutional boundaries. The system was developed by the Policy Research and Data Warehousing section of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). SCHEV is the…

Software Tools Streamline Project Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2009-01-01

Three innovative software inventions from Ames Research Center (NETMARK, Program Management Tool, and Query-Based Document Management) are finding their way into NASA missions as well as industry applications. The first, NETMARK, is a program that enables integrated searching of data stored in a variety of databases and documents, meaning that users no longer have to look in several places for related information. NETMARK allows users to search and query information across all of these sources in one step. This cross-cutting capability in information analysis has exponentially reduced the amount of time needed to mine data from days or weeks to mere seconds. NETMARK has been used widely throughout NASA, enabling this automatic integration of information across many documents and databases. NASA projects that use NETMARK include the internal reporting system and project performance dashboard, Erasmus, NASA s enterprise management tool, which enhances organizational collaboration and information sharing through document routing and review; the Integrated Financial Management Program; International Space Station Knowledge Management; Mishap and Anomaly Information Reporting System; and management of the Mars Exploration Rovers. Approximately $1 billion worth of NASA s projects are currently managed using Program Management Tool (PMT), which is based on NETMARK. PMT is a comprehensive, Web-enabled application tool used to assist program and project managers within NASA enterprises in monitoring, disseminating, and tracking the progress of program and project milestones and other relevant resources. The PMT consists of an integrated knowledge repository built upon advanced enterprise-wide database integration techniques and the latest Web-enabled technologies. The current system is in a pilot operational mode allowing users to automatically manage, track, define, update, and view customizable milestone objectives and goals. The third software invention, Query-Based Document Management (QBDM) is a tool that enables content or context searches, either simple or hierarchical, across a variety of databases. The system enables users to specify notification subscriptions where they associate "contexts of interest" and "events of interest" to one or more documents or collection(s) of documents. Based on these subscriptions, users receive notification when the events of interest occur within the contexts of interest for associated document or collection(s) of documents. Users can also associate at least one notification time as part of the notification subscription, with at least one option for the time period of notifications.

An iterative learning control method with application for CNC machine tools

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

Kim, D.I.; Kim, S.

1996-01-01

A proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) type iterative learning controller is proposed for precise tracking control of industrial robots and computer numerical controller (CNC) machine tools performing repetitive tasks. The convergence of the output error by the proposed learning controller is guaranteed under a certain condition even when the system parameters are not known exactly and unknown external disturbances exist. As the proposed learning controller is repeatedly applied to the industrial robot or the CNC machine tool with the path-dependent repetitive task, the distance difference between the desired path and the actual tracked or machined path, which is one ofmore » the most significant factors in the evaluation of control performance, is progressively reduced. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed learning controller can improve machining accuracy when the CNC machine tool performs repetitive machining tasks.« less

Tracking and Reporting Outcomes Of Procedural Sedation (TROOPS): Standardized Quality Improvement and Research Tools from the International Committee for the Advancement of Procedural Sedation.

PubMed

Roback, M G; Green, S M; Andolfatto, G; Leroy, P L; Mason, K P

2018-01-01

Many hospitals, and medical and dental clinics and offices, routinely monitor their procedural-sedation practices-tracking adverse events, outcomes, and efficacy in order to optimize the sedation delivery and practice. Currently, there exist substantial differences between settings in the content, collection, definition, and interpretation of such sedation outcomes, with resulting widespread reporting variation. With the objective of reducing such disparities, the International Committee for the Advancement of Procedural Sedation has herein developed a multidisciplinary, consensus-based, standardized tool intended to be applicable for all types of sedation providers in all locations worldwide. This tool is amenable for inclusion in either a paper or an electronic medical record. An additional, parallel research tool is presented to promote consistency and standardized data collection for procedural-sedation investigations. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Brief User's Guide to the Excel ® -Based DF Calculator

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

Jubin, Robert T.

2016-06-01

To understand the importance of capturing penetrating forms of iodine as well as the other volatile radionuclides, a calculation tool was developed in the form of an Excel ® spreadsheet to estimate the overall plant decontamination factor (DF). The tool requires the user to estimate splits of the volatile radionuclides within the major portions of the reprocessing plant, speciation of iodine and individual DFs for each off-gas stream within the Used Nuclear Fuel reprocessing plant. The Impact to the overall plant DF for each volatile radionuclide is then calculated by the tool based on the specific user choices. The Excelmore » ® spreadsheet tracks both elemental and penetrating forms of iodine separately and allows changes in the speciation of iodine at each processing step. It also tracks 3H, 14C and 85Kr. This document provides a basic user's guide to the manipulation of this tool.« less

Dynamic Analyses of Result Quality in Energy-Aware Approximate Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

RIngenburg, Michael F.

Energy efficiency is a key concern in the design of modern computer systems. One promising approach to energy-efficient computation, approximate computing, trades off output precision for energy efficiency. However, this tradeoff can have unexpected effects on computation quality. This thesis presents dynamic analysis tools to study, debug, and monitor the quality and energy efficiency of approximate computations. We propose three styles of tools: prototyping tools that allow developers to experiment with approximation in their applications, online tools that instrument code to determine the key sources of error, and online tools that monitor the quality of deployed applications in real time. Our prototyping tool is based on an extension to the functional language OCaml. We add approximation constructs to the language, an approximation simulator to the runtime, and profiling and auto-tuning tools for studying and experimenting with energy-quality tradeoffs. We also present two online debugging tools and three online monitoring tools. The first online tool identifies correlations between output quality and the total number of executions of, and errors in, individual approximate operations. The second tracks the number of approximate operations that flow into a particular value. Our online tools comprise three low-cost approaches to dynamic quality monitoring. They are designed to monitor quality in deployed applications without spending more energy than is saved by approximation. Online monitors can be used to perform real time adjustments to energy usage in order to meet specific quality goals. We present prototype implementations of all of these tools and describe their usage with several applications. Our prototyping, profiling, and autotuning tools allow us to experiment with approximation strategies and identify new strategies, our online tools succeed in providing new insights into the effects of approximation on output quality, and our monitors succeed in controlling output quality while still maintaining significant energy efficiency gains.

Conical-scan tracking with the 64-m-diameter antenna at goldstone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ohlson, J. E.; Reid, M. S.

1976-01-01

The theory and experimental work which demonstrated the feasibility of conical-scan tracking with a 64 m diameter paraboloid antenna is documented. The purpose of this scheme is to actively track spacecraft and radio sources continuously with an accuracy superior to that obtained by manual correction of the computer driven pointing. The conical-scan implementation gives increased tracking accuracy with X-band spacecraft signals, as demonstrated in the Mariner Venus/Mercury 1973 mission. Also, the high accuracy and ease of measurement with conical-scan tracking allow evaluation of systematic and random antenna tracking errors.

Search for GeV and X-Ray Flares Associated with the IceCube Track-like Neutrinos

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

Peng, Fang-Kun; Wang, Xiang-Yu, E-mail: xywang@nju.edu.cn

Dozens of high-energy neutrinos have been detected by the IceCube neutrino telescope, but no clear association with any classes of astrophysical sources has been identified so far. Recently, Kadler et al. reported that a PeV cascade-like neutrino event occurred in positional and temporal coincidence with a giant gamma-ray flare of the blazar PKS B1424-418. Since IceCube track-like events have much better angular resolution, we here search for possible short-term gamma-ray flares that are associated with the IceCube track-like events with Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) observations. Among them, three track-like neutrino events occur within the field of view of Fermimore » -LAT at the time of the detection, so searching for the prompt gamma-ray emission associated with neutrinos is possible. Assuming a point source origin and a single power-law spectrum for the possible gamma-ray sources associated with neutrinos, a likelihood analysis of 0.2–100 GeV photons observed by Fermi -LAT on the timescales of ∼12 hr and one year are performed, and for the three special neutrinos, the analyses are also performed on the timescales of thousands of seconds before and after the neutrino detection. No significant GeV excesses over the background are found and upper limit fluxes at the 95% confidence level are obtained for different timescales. We also search for possible the Swift hard X-ray transient sources associated with the IceCube track-like neutrino events, but the search also yields null results. We discuss the implication of the non-detection of gamma-ray flares for the constraints on the neutrino source density.« less

Gas Source Localization via Behaviour Based Mobile Robot and Weighted Arithmetic Mean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeon, Ahmad Shakaff Ali; Kamarudin, Kamarulzaman; Visvanathan, Retnam; Mamduh Syed Zakaria, Syed Muhammad; Zakaria, Ammar; Munirah Kamarudin, Latifah

2018-03-01

This work is concerned with the localization of gas source in dynamic indoor environment using a single mobile robot system. Algorithms such as Braitenberg, Zig-Zag and the combination of the two were implemented on the mobile robot as gas plume searching and tracing behaviours. To calculate the gas source location, a weighted arithmetic mean strategy was used. All experiments were done on an experimental testbed consisting of a large gas sensor array (LGSA) to monitor real-time gas concentration within the testbed. Ethanol gas was released within the testbed and the source location was marked using a pattern that can be tracked by a pattern tracking system. A pattern template was also mounted on the mobile robot to track the trajectory of the mobile robot. Measurements taken by the mobile robot and the LGSA were then compared to verify the experiments. A combined total of 36.5 hours of real time experimental runs were done and the typical results from such experiments were presented in this paper. From the results, we obtained gas source localization errors between 0.4m to 1.2m from the real source location.

Separation of musical instruments based on amplitude and frequency comodulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, Barry D.; Cauwenberghs, Gert; Quatieri, Thomas F.

2002-05-01

In previous work, amplitude comodulation was investigated as a basis for monaural source separation. Amplitude comodulation refers to similarities in amplitude envelopes of individual spectral components emitted by particular types of sources. In many types of musical instruments, amplitudes of all resonant modes rise/fall, and start/stop together during the course of normal playing. We found that under certain well-defined conditions, a mixture of constant frequency, amplitude comodulated sources can unambiguously be decomposed into its constituents on the basis of these similarities. In this work, system performance was improved by relaxing the constant frequency requirement. String instruments, for example, which are normally played with vibrato, are both amplitude and frequency comodulated sources, and could not be properly tracked under the constant frequency assumption upon which our original algorithm was based. Frequency comodulation refers to similarities in frequency variations of individual harmonics emitted by these types of sources. The analytical difficulty is in defining a representation of the source which properly tracks frequency varying components. A simple, fixed filter bank can only track an individual spectral component for the duration in which it is within the passband of one of the filters. Alternatives are therefore explored which are amenable to real-time implementation.

Circulation Type Classifications and their nexus to Van Bebber's storm track Vb

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofstätter, M.; Chimani, B.

2012-04-01

Circulation Type Classifications (CTCs) are tools to identify repetitive and predominantly stationary patterns of the atmospheric circulation over a certain area, with the purpose to enable the recognition of specific characteristics in surface climate variables. On the other hand storm tracks can be used to identify similar types of synoptic events from a non-stationary, kinematic perspective. Such a storm track classification for Europe has been done in the late 19th century by Van Bebber (1882, 1891), from which the famous type Vb and Vc/d remained up to the present day because of to their association with major flooding events like in August 2002 in Europe. In this work a systematic tracking procedure has been developed, to determine storm track types and their characteristics especially for the Eastern Alpine Region in the period 1961-2002, using ERA40 and ERAinterim reanalysis. The focus thereby is on cyclone tracks of type V as suggested by van Bebber and congeneric types. This new catalogue is used as a reference to verify the hypothesis of a certain coherence of storm track Vb with certain circulation types (e.g. Fricke and Kaminski, 2002). Selected objective and subjective classification schemes from the COST733 action (http://cost733.met.no/, Phillip et al. 2010) are used therefore, as well as the manual classification from ZAMG (Lauscher 1972 and 1985), in which storm track Vb has been classified explicitly on a daily base since 1948. The latter scheme should prove itself as a valuable and unique data source in that issue. Results show that not less than 146 storm tracks are identified as Vb between 1961 and 2002, whereas only three events could be found from literature, pointing to big subjectivity and preconception in the issue of Vb storm tracks. The annual number of Vb storm tracks do not show any significant trend over the last 42 years, but large variations from year to year. Circulation type classification CAP27 (Cluster Analysis of Principal Components) is the best performing, fully objective scheme tested herein, showing the power to discriminate Vb events. Most of the other fully objective schemes do by far not perform as well. Largest skill in that issue can be seen from the subjective/manual CTCs, proving themselves to enhance relevant synoptic phenomena instead of emphasizing mathematic criteria in the classification. The hypothesis of Fricke and Kaminsky can definitely be supported by this work: Vb storm tracks are included in one or the other stationary circulation pattern, but to which extent depends on the specific characteristics of the CTC in question.

District Self-Assessment Tool. College Readiness Indicator Systems Resource Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, 2014

2014-01-01

The purpose of the "District Self-Assessment Tool" is to provide school district and community stakeholders with an approach for assessing district capacity to support a college readiness indicator system and track progress over time. The tool draws on lessons from the collective implementation experiences of the four College Readiness…

An extended Kalman filter for mouse tracking.

PubMed

Choi, Hongjun; Kim, Mingi; Lee, Onseok

2018-05-19

Animal tracking is an important tool for observing behavior, which is useful in various research areas. Animal specimens can be tracked using dynamic models and observation models that require several types of data. Tracking mouse has several barriers due to the physical characteristics of the mouse, their unpredictable movement, and cluttered environments. Therefore, we propose a reliable method that uses a detection stage and a tracking stage to successfully track mouse. The detection stage detects the surface area of the mouse skin, and the tracking stage implements an extended Kalman filter to estimate the state variables of a nonlinear model. The changes in the overall shape of the mouse are tracked using an oval-shaped tracking model to estimate the parameters for the ellipse. An experiment is conducted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed tracking algorithm using six video images showing various types of movement, and the ground truth values for synthetic images are compared to the values generated by the tracking algorithm. A conventional manual tracking method is also applied to compare across eight experimenters. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed tracking method is also demonstrated by applying the tracking algorithm with actual images of mouse. Graphical abstract.

Potential of knowledge discovery using workflows implemented in the C3Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engel, Thomas; Fink, Andreas; Ulbrich, Uwe; Schartner, Thomas; Dobler, Andreas; Fritzsch, Bernadette; Hiller, Wolfgang; Bräuer, Benny

2013-04-01

With the increasing number of climate simulations, reanalyses and observations, new infrastructures to search and analyse distributed data are necessary. In recent years, the Grid architecture became an important technology to fulfill these demands. For the German project "Collaborative Climate Community Data and Processing Grid" (C3Grid) computer scientists and meteorologists developed a system that offers its users a webinterface to search and download climate data and use implemented analysis tools (called workflows) to further investigate them. In this contribution, two workflows that are implemented in the C3Grid architecture are presented: the Cyclone Tracking (CT) and Stormtrack workflow. They shall serve as an example on how to perform numerous investigations on midlatitude winterstorms on a large amount of analysis and climate model data without having an insight into the data source, program code and a low-to-moderate understanding of the theortical background. CT is based on the work of Murray and Simmonds (1991) to identify and track local minima in the mean sea level pressure (MSLP) field of the selected dataset. Adjustable thresholds for the curvature of the isobars as well as the minimum lifetime of a cyclone allow the distinction of weak subtropical heat low systems and stronger midlatitude cyclones e.g. in the Northern Atlantic. The user gets the resulting track data including statistics about the track density, average central pressure, average central curvature, cyclogenesis and cyclolysis as well as pre-built visualizations of these results. Stormtrack calculates the 2.5-6 day bandpassfiltered standard deviation of the geopotential height on a selected pressure level. Although this workflow needs much less computational effort compared to CT it shows structures that are in good agreement with the track density of the CT workflow. To what extent changes in the mid-level tropospheric storm track are reflected in trough density and intensity alteration of surface cyclones. A specific feature of C3Grid is the flexible Workflow Scheduling Service (WSS) which also allows for automated nightly analysis runs of CT, Stormtrack, etc. with different input parameter sets. The statistical results of these workflows can be accumulated afterwards by a scheduled final analysis step, thereby providing a tool for data intensive analytics for the massive amounts of climate model data accessible through C3Grid. First tests with these automated analysis workflows show promising results to speed up the investigation of high volume modeling data. This example is relevant to the thorough analysis of future changes in storminess in Europe and is just one example of the potential of knowledge discovery using automated workflows implemented in the C3Grid architecture.

Tracking illicit small arms trafficking: implementation of Intentional Firearm Microstamping (IFM) to small arms and light weapons imports and exports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lizotte, Todd E.; Ohar, Orest P.

2009-09-01

The illicit trafficking in small arms is an international problem with grave consequences to those who live in less developed nations. To stop any form of trafficking it is important to ensure the ability to track weapons to their sources, there must be a common international system for the marking and tracing of weapons. Under current international law, states may adopt various different weapons marking systems, complicating the identification of the country-of-origin of a weapon [1]. However, these marking technologies are only good for those firearms that are recovered or captured. By instituting Intentional Firearm Microstamping (IFM) a technology that provides a link to a serial or production build number, by embossing the IFM code on to the cartridge that is fired and ejected at the scene. IFM will provide critical forensic intelligence in regions of conflict by helping to identify patterns, trafficking routes and ultimately shut down illicit arms sources and markets that fuel the violence associated with regional genocide, terrorism and/or insurgency groups within warzones. Intentional Firearm Microstamping (IFM) technology will provide a rapid and accurate cartridge-to-firearm identification process, enabling law enforcement both national and international to quickly pursue international arms dealers and other illicit firearm markets. Intentional Firearm Microstamping (IFM) is a patented technology and trace solution where intentional tooling marks are formed or micromachined onto firearms interior surfaces that come into contact or impact the surfaces of cartridge casings. The IFM tooling marks can take the form of alphanumeric codes or encoded geometric codes, such as a barcode. As the firearm is discharged the intentional tooling marks transfer a code to the cartridge casing before it is ejected out of the firearm. When recovered at the scene of an incident, the intentional firearm microstamped cartridge can indentify a specific firearm, without the need to recover that firearm. This paper will explain the key attributes of Intentional Firearm Microstamping technology; including its implementation and application benefits such as developing border security controls and law enforcement capacity world wide to combat illicit trafficking of firearms to terrorists, gangs and/or fueling regional conflicts. The data generated by IFM will be discussed and its application to spatial and temporal mapping of trafficking patterns and other criminal patterns.

Tracking Lithium Ions via Widefield Fluorescence Microscopy for Battery Diagnostics.

PubMed

Padilla, Nicolas A; Rea, Morgan T; Foy, Michael; Upadhyay, Sunil P; Desrochers, Kyle A; Derus, Tyler; Knapper, Kassandra A; Hunter, Nathanael H; Wood, Sharla; Hinton, Daniel A; Cavell, Andrew C; Masias, Alvaro G; Goldsmith, Randall H

2017-07-28

Direct tracking of lithium ions with time and spatial resolution can provide an important diagnostic tool for understanding mechanisms in lithium ion batteries. A fluorescent indicator of lithium ions, 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)naphthoxazole, was synthesized and used for real-time tracking of lithium ions via widefield fluorescence microscopy. The fluorophore can be excited with visible light and was shown to enable quantitative determination of the lithium ion diffusion constant in a microfluidic model system for a plasticized polymer electrolyte lithium battery. The use of widefield fluorescence microscopy for in situ tracking of lithium ions in batteries is discussed.

A mitral annulus tracking approach for navigation of off-pump beating heart mitral valve repair.

PubMed

Li, Feng P; Rajchl, Martin; Moore, John; Peters, Terry M

2015-01-01

To develop and validate a real-time mitral valve annulus (MVA) tracking approach based on biplane transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) data and magnetic tracking systems (MTS) to be used in minimally invasive off-pump beating heart mitral valve repair (MVR). The authors' guidance system consists of three major components: TEE, magnetic tracking system, and an image guidance software platform. TEE provides real-time intraoperative images to show the cardiac motion and intracardiac surgical tools. The magnetic tracking system tracks the TEE probe and the surgical tools. The software platform integrates the TEE image planes and the virtual model of the tools and the MVA model on the screen. The authors' MVA tracking approach, which aims to update the MVA model in near real-time, comprises of three steps: image based gating, predictive reinitialization, and registration based MVA tracking. The image based gating step uses a small patch centered at each MVA point in the TEE images to identify images at optimal cardiac phases for updating the position of the MVA. The predictive reinitialization step uses the position and orientation of the TEE probe provided by the magnetic tracking system to predict the position of the MVA points in the TEE images and uses them for the initialization of the registration component. The registration based MVA tracking step aims to locate the MVA points in the images selected by the image based gating component by performing image based registration. The validation of the MVA tracking approach was performed in a phantom study and a retrospective study on porcine data. In the phantom study, controlled translations were applied to the phantom and the tracked MVA was compared to its "true" position estimated based on a magnetic sensor attached to the phantom. The MVA tracking accuracy was 1.29 ± 0.58 mm when the translation distance is about 1 cm, and increased to 2.85 ± 1.19 mm when the translation distance is about 3 cm. In the study on porcine data, the authors compared the tracked MVA to a manually segmented MVA. The overall accuracy is 2.37 ± 1.67 mm for single plane images and 2.35 ± 1.55 mm for biplane images. The interoperator variation in manual segmentation was 2.32 ± 1.24 mm for single plane images and 1.73 ± 1.18 mm for biplane images. The computational efficiency of the algorithm on a desktop computer with an Intel(®) Xeon(®) CPU @3.47 GHz and an NVIDIA GeForce 690 graphic card is such that the time required for registering four MVA points was about 60 ms. The authors developed a rapid MVA tracking algorithm for use in the guidance of off-pump beating heart transapical mitral valve repair. This approach uses 2D biplane TEE images and was tested on a dynamic heart phantom and interventional porcine image data. Results regarding the accuracy and efficiency of the authors' MVA tracking algorithm are promising, and fulfill the requirements for surgical navigation.

Does navigated transcranial stimulation increase the accuracy of tractography? A prospective clinical trial based on intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring during deep brain stimulation.

PubMed

Forster, Marie-Therese; Hoecker, Alexander Claudius; Kang, Jun-Suk; Quick, Johanna; Seifert, Volker; Hattingen, Elke; Hilker, Rüdiger; Weise, Lutz Martin

2015-06-01

Tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging has become a popular tool for delineating white matter tracts for neurosurgical procedures. To explore whether navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) might increase the accuracy of fiber tracking. Tractography was performed according to both anatomic delineation of the motor cortex (n = 14) and nTMS results (n = 9). After implantation of the definitive electrode, stimulation via the electrode was performed, defining a stimulation threshold for eliciting motor evoked potentials recorded during deep brain stimulation surgery. Others have shown that of arm and leg muscles. This threshold was correlated with the shortest distance between the active electrode contact and both fiber tracks. Results were evaluated by correlation to motor evoked potential monitoring during deep brain stimulation, a surgical procedure causing hardly any brain shift. Distances to fiber tracks clearly correlated with motor evoked potential thresholds. Tracks based on nTMS had a higher predictive value than tracks based on anatomic motor cortex definition (P < .001 and P = .005, respectively). However, target site, hemisphere, and active electrode contact did not influence this correlation. The implementation of tractography based on nTMS increases the accuracy of fiber tracking. Moreover, this combination of methods has the potential to become a supplemental tool for guiding electrode implantation.

The Kinect as an interventional tracking system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiang L.; Stolka, Philipp J.; Boctor, Emad; Hager, Gregory; Choti, Michael

2012-02-01

This work explores the suitability of low-cost sensors for "serious" medical applications, such as tracking of interventional tools in the OR, for simulation, and for education. Although such tracking - i.e. the acquisition of pose data e.g. for ultrasound probes, tissue manipulation tools, needles, but also tissue, bone etc. - is well established, it relies mostly on external devices such as optical or electromagnetic trackers, both of which mandate the use of special markers or sensors attached to each single entity whose pose is to be recorded, and also require their calibration to the tracked entity, i.e. the determination of the geometric relationship between the marker's and the object's intrinsic coordinate frames. The Microsoft Kinect sensor is a recently introduced device for full-body tracking in the gaming market, but it was quickly hacked - due to its wide range of tightly integrated sensors (RGB camera, IR depth and greyscale camera, microphones, accelerometers, and basic actuation) - and used beyond this area. As its field of view and its accuracy are within reasonable usability limits, we describe a medical needle-tracking system for interventional applications based on the Kinect sensor, standard biopsy needles, and no necessary attachments, thus saving both cost and time. Its twin cameras are used as a stereo pair to detect needle-shaped objects, reconstruct their pose in four degrees of freedom, and provide information about the most likely candidate.

Tracking Vessels to Illegal Pollutant Discharges Using Multisource Vessel Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busler, J.; Wehn, H.; Woodhouse, L.

2015-04-01

Illegal discharge of bilge waters is a significant source of oil and other environmental pollutants in Canadian and international waters. Imaging satellites are commonly used to monitor large areas to detect oily discharges from vessels, off-shore platforms and other sources. While remotely sensed imagery provides a snap-shot picture useful for detecting a spill or the presence of vessels in the vicinity, it is difficult to directly associate a vessel to an observed spill unless the vessel is observed while the discharge is occurring. The situation then becomes more challenging with increased vessel traffic as multiple vessels may be associated with a spill event. By combining multiple sources of vessel location data, such as Automated Information Systems (AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and SAR-based ship detection, with spill detections and drift models we have created a system that associates detected spill events with vessels in the area using a probabilistic model that intersects vessel tracks and spill drift trajectories in both time and space. Working with the Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian Ice Service's Integrated Satellite Tracking of Pollution (ISTOP) program, we use spills observed in Canadian waters to demonstrate the investigative value of augmenting spill detections with temporally sequenced vessel and spill tracking information.

A novel method for automated tracking and quantification of adult zebrafish behaviour during anxiety.

PubMed

Nema, Shubham; Hasan, Whidul; Bhargava, Anamika; Bhargava, Yogesh

2016-09-15

Behavioural neuroscience relies on software driven methods for behavioural assessment, but the field lacks cost-effective, robust, open source software for behavioural analysis. Here we propose a novel method which we called as ZebraTrack. It includes cost-effective imaging setup for distraction-free behavioural acquisition, automated tracking using open-source ImageJ software and workflow for extraction of behavioural endpoints. Our ImageJ algorithm is capable of providing control to users at key steps while maintaining automation in tracking without the need for the installation of external plugins. We have validated this method by testing novelty induced anxiety behaviour in adult zebrafish. Our results, in agreement with established findings, showed that during state-anxiety, zebrafish showed reduced distance travelled, increased thigmotaxis and freezing events. Furthermore, we proposed a method to represent both spatial and temporal distribution of choice-based behaviour which is currently not possible to represent using simple videograms. ZebraTrack method is simple and economical, yet robust enough to give results comparable with those obtained from costly proprietary software like Ethovision XT. We have developed and validated a novel cost-effective method for behavioural analysis of adult zebrafish using open-source ImageJ software. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Patella navigation in computer-assisted TKA : Intraoperative measurement of patellar kinematics. Video article].

PubMed

Springorum, H-R; Baier, C; Craiovan, B; Maderbacher, G; Renkawitz, T; Grifka, J; Keshmiri, A

2016-07-01

Patellofemoral maltracking is a relevant problem after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Patella navigation is a tool that allows real time monitoring of patella tracking. This video contribution demonstrates the technique of patellofemoral navigation and a possible consequence of intraoperative monitoring. A higher postoperative lateral tilt is addressed with a widening of the lateral retinaculum in a particular manner. In selected cases of patellofemoral problems, patella navigation is a helpful tool to evaluate patellofemoral tracking intraoperatively. Modifications of implant position and soft tissue measurements can then prevent postoperative patellofemoral maltracking.

Identification of seismic activity sources on the subsatellite track by ionospheric plasma disturbances detected with the Sich-2 onboard probes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuvalov, Valentin A.; Lazuchenkov, Dmitry N.; Gorev, Nikolai B.; Kochubei, Galina S.

2018-01-01

Using a cylindrical Langmuir probe and the authors' proprietary two-channel pressure transducer, ionospheric plasma parameter distributions along the orbit of the Sich-2 satellite (Ukraine, 2011-2012) were measured. This paper is concerned with identifying the space-time location of ionospheric plasma disturbance sources, including the epicenters of actual earthquakes (before or during the satellite flyover) and incipient earthquakes on the subsatellite track, from the measured distributions of the electron density and temperature and the neutral particle temperature along the satellite orbit. To do this, the measured ionospheric plasma parameter distributions are connected to the coordinates on the subsatellite track. It is shown that local disturbances in the electron density and temperature and neutral particle temperature distributions in the satellite orbit in the ionosphere may serve as indicators of seismic activity on the subsatellite track. The epicenters of incipient earthquakes may be set off from other plasma parameter disturbance sources associated with seismic activity using information provided by special monitoring and survey centers that monitor the current seismic situation.

Synchronous response modelling and control of an annular momentum control device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hockney, Richard; Johnson, Bruce G.; Misovec, Kathleen

1988-08-01

Research on the synchronous response modelling and control of an advanced Annular Momentun Control Device (AMCD) used to control the attitude of a spacecraft is described. For the flexible rotor AMCD, two sources of synchronous vibrations were identified. One source, which corresponds to the mass unbalance problem of rigid rotors suspended in conventional bearings, is caused by measurement errors of the rotor center of mass position. The other sources of synchronous vibrations is misalignment between the hub and flywheel masses of the AMCD. Four different control algorithms were examined. These were lead-lag compensators that mimic conventional bearing dynamics, tracking notch filters used in the feedback loop, tracking differential-notch filters, and model-based compensators. The tracking differential-notch filters were shown to have a number of advantages over more conventional approaches for both rigid-body rotor applications and flexible rotor applications such as the AMCD. Hardware implementation schemes for the tracking differential-notch filter were investigated. A simple design was developed that can be implemented with analog multipliers and low bandwidth, digital hardware.

Synchronous response modelling and control of an annular momentum control device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hockney, Richard; Johnson, Bruce G.; Misovec, Kathleen

1988-01-01

Research on the synchronous response modelling and control of an advanced Annular Momentun Control Device (AMCD) used to control the attitude of a spacecraft is described. For the flexible rotor AMCD, two sources of synchronous vibrations were identified. One source, which corresponds to the mass unbalance problem of rigid rotors suspended in conventional bearings, is caused by measurement errors of the rotor center of mass position. The other sources of synchronous vibrations is misalignment between the hub and flywheel masses of the AMCD. Four different control algorithms were examined. These were lead-lag compensators that mimic conventional bearing dynamics, tracking notch filters used in the feedback loop, tracking differential-notch filters, and model-based compensators. The tracking differential-notch filters were shown to have a number of advantages over more conventional approaches for both rigid-body rotor applications and flexible rotor applications such as the AMCD. Hardware implementation schemes for the tracking differential-notch filter were investigated. A simple design was developed that can be implemented with analog multipliers and low bandwidth, digital hardware.

Issues in Humanoid Audition and Sound Source Localization by Active Audition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakadai, Kazuhiro; Okuno, Hiroshi G.; Kitano, Hiroaki

In this paper, we present an active audition system which is implemented on the humanoid robot "SIG the humanoid". The audition system for highly intelligent humanoids localizes sound sources and recognizes auditory events in the auditory scene. Active audition reported in this paper enables SIG to track sources by integrating audition, vision, and motor movements. Given the multiple sound sources in the auditory scene, SIG actively moves its head to improve localization by aligning microphones orthogonal to the sound source and by capturing the possible sound sources by vision. However, such an active head movement inevitably creates motor noises.The system adaptively cancels motor noises using motor control signals and the cover acoustics. The experimental result demonstrates that active audition by integration of audition, vision, and motor control attains sound source tracking in variety of conditions.onditions.

A new pathway to product standardization.

PubMed

Whitcomb, J

2000-06-01

As the benefits of product standardization become more evident in improved financial, managerial, and clinical outcomes, tools to make the process easier will be in demand. Once a standardization program is established, e-commerce offers tools to keep it on track.

Launch Vehicle Design Process Characterization Enables Design/Project Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blair, J. C.; Ryan, R. S.; Schutzenhofer, L. A.; Robinson, Nancy (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The objectives of the project described in this viewgraph presentation included the following: (1) Provide an overview characterization of the launch vehicle design process; and (2) Delineate design/project tool to identify, document, and track pertinent data.

The tracking analysis in the Q-weak experiment

DOE PAGES

Pan, J.; Androic, D.; Armstrong, D. S.; ...

2016-11-21

Here, the Q-weak experiment at Jefferson Laboratory measured the parity violating asymmetry (Amore » $$_{PV}$$ ) in elastic electron-proton scattering at small momentum transfer squared (Q$$^{2}$$=0.025 (G e V/c)$$^{2}$$), with the aim of extracting the proton’s weak charge ( $${Q^p_W}$$ ) to an accuracy of 5 %. As one of the major uncertainty contribution sources to $${Q^p_W}$$ , Q$$^{2}$$ needs to be determined to ~1 % so as to reach the proposed experimental precision. For this purpose, two sets of high resolution tracking chambers were employed in the experiment, to measure tracks before and after the magnetic spectrometer. Data collected by the tracking system were then reconstructed with dedicated software into individual electron trajectories for experimental kinematics determination. The Q-weak kinematics and the analysis scheme for tracking data are briefly described here. The sources that contribute to the uncertainty of Q$$^{2}$$ are discussed, and the current analysis status is reported.« less

SacLab: A toolbox for saccade analysis to increase usability of eye tracking systems in clinical ophthalmology practice.

PubMed

Cercenelli, Laura; Tiberi, Guido; Corazza, Ivan; Giannaccare, Giuseppe; Fresina, Michela; Marcelli, Emanuela

2017-01-01

Many open source software packages have been recently developed to expand the usability of eye tracking systems to study oculomotor behavior, but none of these is specifically designed to encompass all the main functions required for creating eye tracking tests and for providing the automatic analysis of saccadic eye movements. The aim of this study is to introduce SacLab, an intuitive, freely-available MATLAB toolbox based on Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) that we have developed to increase the usability of the ViewPoint EyeTracker (Arrington Research, Scottsdale, AZ, USA) in clinical ophthalmology practice. SacLab consists of four processing modules that enable the user to easily create visual stimuli tests (Test Designer), record saccadic eye movements (Data Recorder), analyze the recorded data to automatically extract saccadic parameters of clinical interest (Data Analyzer) and provide an aggregate analysis from multiple eye movements recordings (Saccade Analyzer), without requiring any programming effort by the user. A demo application of SacLab to carry out eye tracking tests for the analysis of horizontal saccades was reported. We tested the usability of SacLab toolbox with three ophthalmologists who had no programming experience; the ophthalmologists were briefly trained in the use of SacLab GUIs and were asked to perform the demo application. The toolbox gained an enthusiastic feedback from all the clinicians in terms of intuitiveness, ease of use and flexibility. Test creation and data processing were accomplished in 52±21s and 46±19s, respectively, using the SacLab GUIs. SacLab may represent a useful tool to ease the application of the ViewPoint EyeTracker system in clinical routine in ophthalmology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Framework for performance evaluation of face, text, and vehicle detection and tracking in video: data, metrics, and protocol.

PubMed

Kasturi, Rangachar; Goldgof, Dmitry; Soundararajan, Padmanabhan; Manohar, Vasant; Garofolo, John; Bowers, Rachel; Boonstra, Matthew; Korzhova, Valentina; Zhang, Jing

2009-02-01

Common benchmark data sets, standardized performance metrics, and baseline algorithms have demonstrated considerable impact on research and development in a variety of application domains. These resources provide both consumers and developers of technology with a common framework to objectively compare the performance of different algorithms and algorithmic improvements. In this paper, we present such a framework for evaluating object detection and tracking in video: specifically for face, text, and vehicle objects. This framework includes the source video data, ground-truth annotations (along with guidelines for annotation), performance metrics, evaluation protocols, and tools including scoring software and baseline algorithms. For each detection and tracking task and supported domain, we developed a 50-clip training set and a 50-clip test set. Each data clip is approximately 2.5 minutes long and has been completely spatially/temporally annotated at the I-frame level. Each task/domain, therefore, has an associated annotated corpus of approximately 450,000 frames. The scope of such annotation is unprecedented and was designed to begin to support the necessary quantities of data for robust machine learning approaches, as well as a statistically significant comparison of the performance of algorithms. The goal of this work was to systematically address the challenges of object detection and tracking through a common evaluation framework that permits a meaningful objective comparison of techniques, provides the research community with sufficient data for the exploration of automatic modeling techniques, encourages the incorporation of objective evaluation into the development process, and contributes useful lasting resources of a scale and magnitude that will prove to be extremely useful to the computer vision research community for years to come.

Online analysis of chlorine stable isotopes in chlorinated ethylenes: an inter-laboratory study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, Anat; Shouakar-Stash, Orfan; Hunkeler, Daniel; Sakaguchi-Söder, Kaori; Laskov, Christine; Aravena, Ramon; Elsner, Martin

2010-05-01

In the last decade, compound-specific stable isotopes analysis of groundwater pollutants became an important tool to identify different sources of the same pollutant and for tracking natural attenuating processes in the sub-surface. It has been shown that trends in the isotopic composition of the target compounds can shed light on in-situ processes that are otherwise difficult to track. Analytical methods of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen were established and are by now frequently used for a variety of organic pollutants. Yet, the motivation of introducing analytical methods for new isotopes is emerging. This motivation is further enhanced, as advantages of using two or more stable isotopes for gaining better insight on degradation pathways are well accepted. One important element which demands the development of appropriate analytical methods is chlorine, which is found in various groups of organic pollutants, among them the chlorinated ethylenes. Chlorinated ethylenes are considered as high priority environmental pollutants, and the development of suitable chlorine isotope methods for this group of pollutants is highly desired. Ideally, stable isotope techniques should have the capability to determine the isotopic composition of and individual target compound in a non-pure mixture, without the requirement of a laborious off-line treatment. Indeed, in the last years two different concepts for on-line chlorine isotope analysis methods were introduced, by using either a standard quadrapole GC/MS (Sakaguchi-Söder et al., 2007) or by using a GC/IRMS (Shouakar-Stash et al., 2006). We present a comparison of the performances of two concepts, carried out in five different laboratories: Waterloo (GC/IRMS), Neuchâtel (GC/MS), Darmstadt (GC/MS), Tübingen (GC/MS) and Munich (GC/IRMS). This comparison was performed on pure trichloroethylene and dichloroethylene products of different manufactures, as well as trichloroethylene and dichloroethylene samples that were exposed to biodegradation. This study sets standards for further application of these techniques to distinguish sources and track degradation processes in the sub-surface.

Residency and movement patterns of an apex predatory shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) at the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

PubMed

Acuña-Marrero, David; Smith, Adam N H; Hammerschlag, Neil; Hearn, Alex; Anderson, Marti J; Calich, Hannah; Pawley, Matthew D M; Fischer, Chris; Salinas-de-León, Pelayo

2017-01-01

The potential effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a conservation tool for large sharks has been questioned due to the limited spatial extent of most MPAs in contrast to the complex life history and high mobility of many sharks. Here we evaluated the movement dynamics of a highly migratory apex predatory shark (tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier) at the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Using data from satellite tracking passive acoustic telemetry, and stereo baited remote underwater video, we estimated residency, activity spaces, site fidelity, distributional abundances and migration patterns from the GMR and in relation to nesting beaches of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), a seasonally abundant and predictable prey source for large tiger sharks. Tiger sharks exhibited a high degree of philopatry, with 93% of the total satellite-tracked time across all individuals occurring within the GMR. Large sharks (> 200 cm TL) concentrated their movements in front of the two most important green sea turtle-nesting beaches in the GMR, visiting them on a daily basis during nocturnal hours. In contrast, small sharks (< 200 cm TL) rarely visited turtle-nesting areas and displayed diurnal presence at a third location where only immature sharks were found. Small and some large individuals remained in the three study areas even outside of the turtle-nesting season. Only two sharks were satellite-tracked outside of the GMR, and following long-distance migrations, both individuals returned to turtle-nesting beaches at the subsequent turtle-nesting season. The spatial patterns of residency and site fidelity of tiger sharks suggest that the presence of a predictable source of prey and suitable habitats might reduce the spatial extent of this large shark that is highly migratory in other parts of its range. This highly philopatric behaviour enhances the potential effectiveness of the GMR for their protection.

Residency and movement patterns of an apex predatory shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) at the Galapagos Marine Reserve

PubMed Central

Smith, Adam N. H.; Hammerschlag, Neil; Hearn, Alex; Anderson, Marti J.; Calich, Hannah; Pawley, Matthew D. M.; Fischer, Chris; Salinas-de-León, Pelayo

2017-01-01

The potential effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a conservation tool for large sharks has been questioned due to the limited spatial extent of most MPAs in contrast to the complex life history and high mobility of many sharks. Here we evaluated the movement dynamics of a highly migratory apex predatory shark (tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier) at the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Using data from satellite tracking passive acoustic telemetry, and stereo baited remote underwater video, we estimated residency, activity spaces, site fidelity, distributional abundances and migration patterns from the GMR and in relation to nesting beaches of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), a seasonally abundant and predictable prey source for large tiger sharks. Tiger sharks exhibited a high degree of philopatry, with 93% of the total satellite-tracked time across all individuals occurring within the GMR. Large sharks (> 200 cm TL) concentrated their movements in front of the two most important green sea turtle-nesting beaches in the GMR, visiting them on a daily basis during nocturnal hours. In contrast, small sharks (< 200 cm TL) rarely visited turtle-nesting areas and displayed diurnal presence at a third location where only immature sharks were found. Small and some large individuals remained in the three study areas even outside of the turtle-nesting season. Only two sharks were satellite-tracked outside of the GMR, and following long-distance migrations, both individuals returned to turtle-nesting beaches at the subsequent turtle-nesting season. The spatial patterns of residency and site fidelity of tiger sharks suggest that the presence of a predictable source of prey and suitable habitats might reduce the spatial extent of this large shark that is highly migratory in other parts of its range. This highly philopatric behaviour enhances the potential effectiveness of the GMR for their protection. PMID:28829820

Quality Improvement Strategies in Accountable Care Organization Hospitals.

PubMed

Mora, Arthur M; Walker, Daniel

2016-01-01

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are hoped to lower costs and improve health care quality. However, hospitals remain unsure how to bring about the quality improvement (QI) required to increase financial viability. This success may hinge on the use of sophisticated measurement tracking and the use of multiple QI tools. This study aims to assess the current approaches that ACO hospitals are using to improve quality and to compare their strategies with non-ACO hospitals. The 2013 American Hospital Association's Annual Survey and the Survey of Care Systems and Payment data were merged to identify ACO and non-ACO hospitals. ACO and non-ACO hospital rates of reported use of multiple QI tools and the ability to detect and track readmissions across organizational boundaries were compared. ACO hospitals were significantly less likely to use only 1 QI tool (43.5% vs 65.2%; P < .001) and more likely to use 2 (36.4% vs 28.1%; P < .05), 3 (12.1% vs 6.5%; P < .001), or 4 (8.0% vs 0.2%; P < .001) QI tools. ACO hospitals were significantly more likely to have the capability to detect readmissions (34.1% vs 22.8%; P < .001) and track readmissions (90.5% vs 85.7%; P < .05). Results suggest that ACO hospitals are incorporating more sophisticated measurements and combinations of QI tools than non-ACO hospitals. It remains to be seen whether this leads to accelerated changes across the quality domains in ACO hospitals.

Web-based Tools for Educators: Outreach Activities of the Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements (PRISM) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braaten, D. A.; Holvoet, J. F.; Gogineni, S.

2003-12-01

The Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of Kansas (KU) has implemented extensive outreach activities focusing on Polar Regions as part of the Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements (PRISM) project. The PRISM project is developing advanced intelligent remote sensing technology that involves radar systems, an autonomous rover, and communications systems to measure detailed ice sheet characteristics, and to determine bed conditions (frozen or wet) below active ice sheets in both Greenland and Antarctica. These measurements will provide a better understanding of the response of polar ice sheets to global climate change and the resulting impact the ice sheets will have on sea level rise. Many of the research and technological development aspects of the PRISM project, such as robotics, radar systems, climate change and exploration of harsh environments, can kindle an excitement and interest in students about science and technology. These topics form the core of our K-12 education and training outreach initiatives, which are designed to capture the imagination of young students, and prompt them to consider an educational path that will lead them to scientific or engineering careers. The K-12 PRISM outreach initiatives are being developed and implemented in a collaboration with the Advanced Learning Technology Program (ALTec) of the High Plains Regional Technology in Education Consortium (HPR*TEC). ALTec is associated with the KU School of Education, and is a well-established educational research center that develops and hosts web tools to enable teachers nationwide to network, collaborate, and share resources with other teachers. An example of an innovative and successful web interface developed by ALTec is called TrackStar. Teachers can use TrackStar over the Web to develop interactive, resource-based lessons (called tracks) on-line for their students. Once developed, tracks are added to the TrackStar database and can be accessed and modified (if necessary) by teachers everywhere. The PRISM project has added a search engine for polar related tracks, and has developed numerous new tracks on robotics, polar exploration, and climate change under the guidance of a K-12 teacher advisory group. The PRISM project is also developing and hosting several other web-based lesson design tools and resources for K-12 educators and students on the PRISM project web page (http://www.ku-prism.org). These tools and resources include: i) "Polar Scientists and Explorers, Past and Present" covering the travels and/or unknown fate of polar explorers and scientists; ii) "Polar News" providing links to current news articles related to polar regions; iii) "Letter of Global Concern", which is a tool to help students draft a letter to a politician, government official, or business leader; iv) "Graphic Sleuth", which is an online utility that allows teachers to make lessons for student use; v) "Bears on Ice" for students in grades K - 6 that can follow the adventures of two stuffed bears that travel with scientists into polar regions; and vi) "K-12 Polar Resources," which provides teachers with images, information, TrackStar lessons, and a search engine designed to identify polar related lessons. In our presentation, we will describe and show examples of these tools and resources, and provide an assessment of their popularity with teachers nationwide.

Firearm microstamping technology: counterinsurgency intelligence gathering tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lizotte, Todd E.; Ohar, Orest P.

2009-05-01

Warfare relies on effective, accurate and timely intelligence an especially critical task when conducting a counterinsurgency operation [1]. Simply stated counterinsurgency is an intelligence war. Both insurgents and counterinsurgents need effective intelligence capabilities to be successful. Insurgents and counterinsurgents therefore attempt to create and maintain intelligence networks and fight continuously to neutralize each other's intelligence capabilities [1][2]. In such an environment it is obviously an advantage to target or proactively create opportunities to track and map an insurgent movement. Quickly identifying insurgency intelligence assets (Infiltrators) within a host government's infrastructure is the goal. Infiltrators can occupy various areas of government such as security personnel, national police force, government offices or military units. Intentional Firearm Microstamping offers such opportunities when implemented into firearms. Outfitted within firearms purchased and distributed to the host nation's security forces (civilian and military), Intentional Firearm Microstamping (IFM) marks bullet cartridge casings with codes as they are fired from the firearm. IFM is incorporated onto optimum surfaces with the firearm mechanism. The intentional microstamp tooling marks can take the form of alphanumeric codes or encoded geometric codes that identify the firearm. As the firearm is discharged the intentional tooling marks transfer a code to the cartridge casing which is ejected out of the firearm. When recovered at the scene of a firefight or engagement, the technology will provide forensic intelligence allowing the mapping and tracking of small arms traffic patterns within the host nation or identify insurgency force strength and pinpoint firearm sources, such as corrupt/rogue military units or police force. Intentional Firearm Microstamping is a passive mechanical trace technology that can be outfitted or retrofitted to semiautomatic handguns and military rifles to assist in developing real time intelligence providing a greater level of situational awareness. Proactively Microstamping firearms that are introduced and distributed to the host nation's security forces, it will become easier to track the firearms if they go missing or end up on the black market in the hands of an insurgency. This paper will explain the technology and key attributes of microstamping technology, test data showing its ability to identifying a specific firearm, examples of implementation strategies and to what extent data could be utilized in war zone security and counterinsurgency intelligence operations.

Laser formed intentional firearm microstamping technology: counterinsurgency intelligence gathering tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lizotte, Todd E.; Ohar, Orest P.

2009-09-01

Warfare relies on effective, accurate and timely intelligence an especially critical task when conducting a counterinsurgency operation [1]. Simply stated counterinsurgency is an intelligence war. Both insurgents and counterinsurgents need effective intelligence capabilities to be successful. Insurgents and counterinsurgents therefore attempt to create and maintain intelligence networks and fight continuously to neutralize each other's intelligence capabilities [1][2]. In such an environment it is obviously an advantage to target or proactively create opportunities to track and map an insurgent movement. Quickly identifying insurgency intelligence assets (Infiltrators) within a host government's infrastructure is the goal. Infiltrators can occupy various areas of government such as security personnel, national police force, government offices or military units. Intentional Firearm Microstamping offers such opportunities when implemented into firearms. Outfitted within firearms purchased and distributed to the host nation's security forces (civilian and military), Intentional Firearm Microstamping (IFM) marks bullet cartridge casings with codes as they are fired from the firearm. IFM is incorporated onto optimum surfaces with the firearm mechanism. The intentional microstamp tooling marks can take the form of alphanumeric codes or encoded geometric codes that identify the firearm. As the firearm is discharged the intentional tooling marks transfer a code to the cartridge casing which is ejected out of the firearm. When recovered at the scene of a firefight or engagement, the technology will provide forensic intelligence allowing the mapping and tracking of small arms traffic patterns within the host nation or identify insurgency force strength and pinpoint firearm sources, such as corrupt/rogue military units or police force. Intentional Firearm Microstamping is a passive mechanical trace technology that can be outfitted or retrofitted to semiautomatic handguns and military rifles to assist in developing real time intelligence providing a greater level of situational awareness. Proactively Microstamping firearms that are introduced and distributed to the host nation's security forces, it will become easier to track the firearms if they go missing or end up on the black market in the hands of an insurgency. This paper will explain the technology and key attributes of microstamping technology, test data showing its ability to identifying a specific firearm, examples of implementation strategies and to what extent data could be utilized in war zone security and counterinsurgency intelligence operations.

Observing with SOAR | SOAR

Science.gov Websites

Control Room SOAR offers both classical (on-site) observing (SOAR Control Room, right), and remote tools you need for preparing your science proposal and then carrying out your program. Tracking at Non -Sidereal Rates with SOAR The SOAR telescope has the ability to track at non-sidereal rates, ideal for

Curriculum Track and Its Influences on Predicting High School Dropout Likelihood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohd Kamalludeen, Rosemaliza

2012-01-01

Dropping out of school is a major concern as high school graduation credentials have been used as an important measurement tool to define post-secondary success. Numerous researchers presented a multitude of factors that predict dropouts at individual and school levels. Curriculum track choice, or high school course-taking sequence, defines…

New Technology. New Opportunities for Partnering, CAUSE94. Track V.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

CAUSE, Boulder, CO.

Eight papers are presented from the 1994 CAUSE conference track on new information technology and its uses in higher education institutions. The papers include: (1) "New Tools for Multimedia Development: ScriptX" (Edwin J. Pinheiro); (2) "Providing a Campus-Wide Software Server, or How to Be All Things to All People!," focusing…

Eye-Tracking as a Tool in Process-Oriented Reading Test Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solheim, Oddny Judith; Uppstad, Per Henning

2011-01-01

The present paper addresses the continuous need for methodological reflection on how to validate inferences made on the basis of test scores. Validation is a process that requires many lines of evidence. In this article we discuss the potential of eye tracking methodology in process-oriented reading test validation. Methodological considerations…

Validation of a Tool to Assess and Track Undergraduate Attitudes toward Those Living in Poverty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, Kevin D.; Brown, Marlo; Schoepflin, Todd; Taylor, David B.

2014-01-01

Purpose: This article describes the development and validation of the Undergraduate Perceptions of Poverty Tracking Survey (UPPTS). Method: Data were collected from 301 undergraduates at a small university in the Northeast and analyzed using exploratory factor analysis augmented by random qualitative validation. Results: The resulting survey…

Tracking of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Fluorescence Endomicroscopy Imaging in Radiotherapy-Induced Lung Injury

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez, Jessica R.; Ybarra, Norma; Chagnon, Frederic; Serban, Monica; Lee, Sangkyu; Seuntjens, Jan; Lesur, Olivier; El Naqa, Issam

2017-01-01

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have potential for reducing inflammation and promoting organ repair. However, limitations in available techniques to track them and assess this potential for lung repair have hindered their applicability. In this work, we proposed, implemented and evaluated the use of fluorescence endomicroscopy as a novel imaging tool to track MSCs in vivo. MSCs were fluorescently labeled and injected into a rat model of radiation-induced lung injury via endotracheal (ET) or intravascular (IV) administration. Our results show that MSCs were visible in the lungs with fluorescence endomicroscopy. Moreover, we developed an automatic cell counting algorithm to quantify the number of detected cells in each condition. We observed a significantly higher number of detected cells in ET injection compared to IV and a slight increase in the mean number of detected cells in irradiated lungs compared to control, although the latter did not reach statistical significance. Fluorescence endomicroscopy imaging is a powerful new minimally invasive and translatable tool that can be used to track and quantify MSCs in the lungs and help assess their potential in organ repair.

Temperature and composition profile during double-track laser cladding of H13 tool steel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, X.; Yu, G.; Mazumder, J.

2010-01-01

Multi-track laser cladding is now applied commercially in a range of industries such as automotive, mining and aerospace due to its diversified potential for material processing. The knowledge of temperature, velocity and composition distribution history is essential for a better understanding of the process and subsequent microstructure evolution and properties. Numerical simulation not only helps to understand the complex physical phenomena and underlying principles involved in this process, but it can also be used in the process prediction and system control. The double-track coaxial laser cladding with H13 tool steel powder injection is simulated using a comprehensive three-dimensional model, based on the mass, momentum, energy conservation and solute transport equation. Some important physical phenomena, such as heat transfer, phase changes, mass addition and fluid flow, are taken into account in the calculation. The physical properties for a mixture of solid and liquid phase are defined by treating it as a continuum media. The velocity of the laser beam during the transition between two tracks is considered. The evolution of temperature and composition of different monitoring locations is simulated.

Empty tracks optimization based on Z-Map model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Le; Yan, Guangrong; Wang, Zaijun; Zang, Genao

2017-12-01

For parts with many features, there are more empty tracks during machining. If these tracks are not optimized, the machining efficiency will be seriously affected. In this paper, the characteristics of the empty tracks are studied in detail. Combining with the existing optimization algorithm, a new tracks optimization method based on Z-Map model is proposed. In this method, the tool tracks are divided into the unit processing section, and then the Z-Map model simulation technique is used to analyze the order constraint between the unit segments. The empty stroke optimization problem is transformed into the TSP with sequential constraints, and then through the genetic algorithm solves the established TSP problem. This kind of optimization method can not only optimize the simple structural parts, but also optimize the complex structural parts, so as to effectively plan the empty tracks and greatly improve the processing efficiency.

Augmented reality in neurosurgery: a systematic review.

PubMed

Meola, Antonio; Cutolo, Fabrizio; Carbone, Marina; Cagnazzo, Federico; Ferrari, Mauro; Ferrari, Vincenzo

2017-10-01

Neuronavigation has become an essential neurosurgical tool in pursuing minimal invasiveness and maximal safety, even though it has several technical limitations. Augmented reality (AR) neuronavigation is a significant advance, providing a real-time updated 3D virtual model of anatomical details, overlaid on the real surgical field. Currently, only a few AR systems have been tested in a clinical setting. The aim is to review such devices. We performed a PubMed search of reports restricted to human studies of in vivo applications of AR in any neurosurgical procedure using the search terms "Augmented reality" and "Neurosurgery." Eligibility assessment was performed independently by two reviewers in an unblinded standardized manner. The systems were qualitatively evaluated on the basis of the following: neurosurgical subspecialty of application, pathology of treated lesions and lesion locations, real data source, virtual data source, tracking modality, registration technique, visualization processing, display type, and perception location. Eighteen studies were included during the period 1996 to September 30, 2015. The AR systems were grouped by the real data source: microscope (8), hand- or head-held cameras (4), direct patient view (2), endoscope (1), and X-ray fluoroscopy (1) head-mounted display (1). A total of 195 lesions were treated: 75 (38.46 %) were neoplastic, 77 (39.48 %) neurovascular, and 1 (0.51 %) hydrocephalus, and 42 (21.53 %) were undetermined. Current literature confirms that AR is a reliable and versatile tool when performing minimally invasive approaches in a wide range of neurosurgical diseases, although prospective randomized studies are not yet available and technical improvements are needed.

Future missions for observing Earth's changing gravity field: a closed-loop simulation tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Visser, P. N.

2008-12-01

The GRACE mission has successfully demonstrated the observation from space of the changing Earth's gravity field at length and time scales of typically 1000 km and 10-30 days, respectively. Many scientific communities strongly advertise the need for continuity of observing Earth's gravity field from space. Moreover, a strong interest is being expressed to have gravity missions that allow a more detailed sampling of the Earth's gravity field both in time and in space. Designing a gravity field mission for the future is a complicated process that involves making many trade-offs, such as trade-offs between spatial, temporal resolution and financial budget. Moreover, it involves the optimization of many parameters, such as orbital parameters (height, inclination), distinction between which gravity sources to observe or correct for (for example are gravity changes due to ocean currents a nuisance or a signal to be retrieved?), observation techniques (low-low satellite-to-satellite tracking, satellite gravity gradiometry, accelerometers), and satellite control systems (drag-free?). A comprehensive tool has been developed and implemented that allows the closed-loop simulation of gravity field retrievals for different satellite mission scenarios. This paper provides a description of this tool. Moreover, its capabilities are demonstrated by a few case studies. Acknowledgments. The research that is being done with the closed-loop simulation tool is partially funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). An important component of the tool is the GEODYN software, kindly provided by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

TRUST: TDRSS Resource User Support Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sparn, Thomas P.; Gablehouse, R. Daniel

1991-01-01

TRUST-TDRSS (Tracking Data and Relay Satellite System) Resource User Support Tool is presented in the form of the viewgraphs. The following subject areas are covered: TRUST development cycle; the TRUST system; scheduling window; ODM/GCMR window; TRUST architecture; surpass; and summary.

Tracking accuracy of a real-time fiducial tracking system for patient positioning and monitoring in radiation therapy.

PubMed

Shchory, Tal; Schifter, Dan; Lichtman, Rinat; Neustadter, David; Corn, Benjamin W

2010-11-15

In radiation therapy there is a need to accurately know the location of the target in real time. A novel radioactive tracking technology has been developed to answer this need. The technology consists of a radioactive implanted fiducial marker designed to minimize migration and a linac mounted tracking device. This study measured the static and dynamic accuracy of the new tracking technology in a clinical radiation therapy environment. The tracking device was installed on the linac gantry. The radioactive marker was located in a tissue equivalent phantom. Marker location was measured simultaneously by the radioactive tracking system and by a Microscribe G2 coordinate measuring machine (certified spatial accuracy of 0.38 mm). Localization consistency throughout a volume and absolute accuracy in the Fixed coordinate system were measured at multiple gantry angles over volumes of at least 10 cm in diameter centered at isocenter. Dynamic accuracy was measured with the marker located inside a breathing phantom. The mean consistency for the static source was 0.58 mm throughout the tested region at all measured gantry angles. The mean absolute position error in the Fixed coordinate system for all gantry angles was 0.97 mm. The mean real-time tracking error for the dynamic source within the breathing phantom was less than 1 mm. This novel radioactive tracking technology has the potential to be useful in accurate target localization and real-time monitoring for radiation therapy. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A-Track: Detecting Moving Objects in FITS images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atay, T.; Kaplan, M.; Kilic, Y.; Karapinar, N.

2017-04-01

A-Track is a fast, open-source, cross-platform pipeline for detecting moving objects (asteroids and comets) in sequential telescope images in FITS format. The moving objects are detected using a modified line detection algorithm.

Systematic Errors in an Air Track Experiment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramirez, Santos A.; Ham, Joe S.

1990-01-01

Errors found in a common physics experiment to measure acceleration resulting from gravity using a linear air track are investigated. Glider position at release and initial velocity are shown to be sources of systematic error. (CW)

Wildlife tracking data management: a new vision.

PubMed

Urbano, Ferdinando; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calenge, Clément; Dettki, Holger; Cameron, Alison; Neteler, Markus

2010-07-27

To date, the processing of wildlife location data has relied on a diversity of software and file formats. Data management and the following spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken in multiple steps, involving many time-consuming importing/exporting phases. Recent technological advancements in tracking systems have made large, continuous, high-frequency datasets of wildlife behavioural data available, such as those derived from the global positioning system (GPS) and other animal-attached sensor devices. These data can be further complemented by a wide range of other information about the animals' environment. Management of these large and diverse datasets for modelling animal behaviour and ecology can prove challenging, slowing down analysis and increasing the probability of mistakes in data handling. We address these issues by critically evaluating the requirements for good management of GPS data for wildlife biology. We highlight that dedicated data management tools and expertise are needed. We explore current research in wildlife data management. We suggest a general direction of development, based on a modular software architecture with a spatial database at its core, where interoperability, data model design and integration with remote-sensing data sources play an important role in successful GPS data handling.

Problem formulation, metrics, open government, and on-line collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ziegler, C. R.; Schofield, K.; Young, S.; Shaw, D.

2010-12-01

Problem formulation leading to effective environmental management, including synthesis and application of science by government agencies, may benefit from collaborative on-line environments. This is illustrated by two interconnected projects: 1) literature-based evidence tools that support causal assessment and problem formulation, and 2) development of output, outcome, and sustainability metrics for tracking environmental conditions. Specifically, peer-production mechanisms allow for global contribution to science-based causal evidence databases, and subsequent crowd-sourced development of causal networks supported by that evidence. In turn, science-based causal networks may inform problem formulation and selection of metrics or indicators to track environmental condition (or problem status). Selecting and developing metrics in a collaborative on-line environment may improve stakeholder buy-in, the explicit relevance of metrics to planning, and the ability to approach problem apportionment or accountability, and to define success or sustainability. Challenges include contribution governance, data-sharing incentives, linking on-line interfaces to data service providers, and the intersection of environmental science and social science. Degree of framework access and confidentiality may vary by group and/or individual, but may ultimately be geared at demonstrating connections between science and decision making and supporting a culture of open government, by fostering transparency, public engagement, and collaboration.

Wildlife tracking data management: a new vision

PubMed Central

Urbano, Ferdinando; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calenge, Clément; Dettki, Holger; Cameron, Alison; Neteler, Markus

2010-01-01

To date, the processing of wildlife location data has relied on a diversity of software and file formats. Data management and the following spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken in multiple steps, involving many time-consuming importing/exporting phases. Recent technological advancements in tracking systems have made large, continuous, high-frequency datasets of wildlife behavioural data available, such as those derived from the global positioning system (GPS) and other animal-attached sensor devices. These data can be further complemented by a wide range of other information about the animals' environment. Management of these large and diverse datasets for modelling animal behaviour and ecology can prove challenging, slowing down analysis and increasing the probability of mistakes in data handling. We address these issues by critically evaluating the requirements for good management of GPS data for wildlife biology. We highlight that dedicated data management tools and expertise are needed. We explore current research in wildlife data management. We suggest a general direction of development, based on a modular software architecture with a spatial database at its core, where interoperability, data model design and integration with remote-sensing data sources play an important role in successful GPS data handling. PMID:20566495

Using GBrowse 2.0 to visualize and share next-generation sequence data

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

GBrowse is a mature web-based genome browser that is suitable for deployment on both public and private web sites. It supports most of genome browser features, including qualitative and quantitative (wiggle) tracks, track uploading, track sharing, interactive track configuration, semantic zooming and limited smooth track panning. As of version 2.0, GBrowse supports next-generation sequencing (NGS) data by providing for the direct display of SAM and BAM sequence alignment files. SAM/BAM tracks provide semantic zooming and support both local and remote data sources. This article provides step-by-step instructions for configuring GBrowse to display NGS data. PMID:23376193

Ambulatory position and orientation tracking fusing magnetic and inertial sensing.

PubMed

Roetenberg, Daniel; Slycke, Per J; Veltink, Peter H

2007-05-01

This paper presents the design and testing of a portable magnetic system combined with miniature inertial sensors for ambulatory 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) human motion tracking. The magnetic system consists of three orthogonal coils, the source, fixed to the body and 3-D magnetic sensors, fixed to remote body segments, which measure the fields generated by the source. Based on the measured signals, a processor calculates the relative positions and orientations between source and sensor. Magnetic actuation requires a substantial amount of energy which limits the update rate with a set of batteries. Moreover, the magnetic field can easily be disturbed by ferromagnetic materials or other sources. Inertial sensors can be sampled at high rates, require only little energy and do not suffer from magnetic interferences. However, accelerometers and gyroscopes can only measure changes in position and orientation and suffer from integration drift. By combing measurements from both systems in a complementary Kalman filter structure, an optimal solution for position and orientation estimates is obtained. The magnetic system provides 6 DOF measurements at a relatively low update rate while the inertial sensors track the changes position and orientation in between the magnetic updates. The implemented system is tested against a lab-bound camera tracking system for several functional body movements. The accuracy was about 5 mm for position and 3 degrees for orientation measurements. Errors were higher during movements with high velocities due to relative movement between source and sensor within one cycle of magnetic actuation.

A Computable Definition of Sepsis Facilitates Screening and Performance Improvement Tracking

PubMed Central

Warmus, Holly R.; Schaffner, Erin K.; Kantawala, Sajel; Carcillo, Joseph; Rosen, Johanna; Horvat, Christopher M.

2018-01-01

Background: Sepsis kills almost 5,000 children annually, accounting for 16% of pediatric health care spending in the United States. Objectives: We sought to identify sepsis within the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of a quaternary children’s hospital to characterize disease incidence, improve recognition and response, and track performance metrics. Methods: Methods are organized in a plan-do-study-act cycle. During the “plan” phase, electronic definitions of sepsis (blood culture and antibiotic within 24 hours) and septic shock (sepsis plus vasoactive medication) were created to establish benchmark data and track progress with statistical process control. The performance of a screening tool was evaluated in the emergency department. During the “do” phase, a novel inpatient workflow is being piloted, which involves regular sepsis screening by nurses using the tool, and a regimented response to high risk patients. Results: Screening tool use in the emergency department reduced time to antibiotics (Fig. 1). Of the 6,159 admissions, EHR definitions identified 1,433 (23.3%) between July and December 2016 with sepsis, of which 159 (11.1%) had septic shock. Hospital mortality for all sepsis patients was 2.2% and 15.7% for septic shock (Table 1). These findings approximate epidemiologic studies of sepsis and severe sepsis, which report a prevalence range of 0.45–8.2% and mortality range of 8.2–25% (Table 2).1–5 Conclusions/Implications: Implementation of a sepsis screening tool is associated with improved performance. The prevalence of sepsis conditions identified with electronic definitions approximates the epidemiologic landscape characterized by other point-prevalence and administrative studies, providing face validity to this approach, and proving useful for tracking performance improvement. PMID:29732457

Image-Based Single Cell Profiling: High-Throughput Processing of Mother Machine Experiments

PubMed Central

Sachs, Christian Carsten; Grünberger, Alexander; Helfrich, Stefan; Probst, Christopher; Wiechert, Wolfgang; Kohlheyer, Dietrich; Nöh, Katharina

2016-01-01

Background Microfluidic lab-on-chip technology combined with live-cell imaging has enabled the observation of single cells in their spatio-temporal context. The mother machine (MM) cultivation system is particularly attractive for the long-term investigation of rod-shaped bacteria since it facilitates continuous cultivation and observation of individual cells over many generations in a highly parallelized manner. To date, the lack of fully automated image analysis software limits the practical applicability of the MM as a phenotypic screening tool. Results We present an image analysis pipeline for the automated processing of MM time lapse image stacks. The pipeline supports all analysis steps, i.e., image registration, orientation correction, channel/cell detection, cell tracking, and result visualization. Tailored algorithms account for the specialized MM layout to enable a robust automated analysis. Image data generated in a two-day growth study (≈ 90 GB) is analyzed in ≈ 30 min with negligible differences in growth rate between automated and manual evaluation quality. The proposed methods are implemented in the software molyso (MOther machine AnaLYsis SOftware) that provides a new profiling tool to analyze unbiasedly hitherto inaccessible large-scale MM image stacks. Conclusion Presented is the software molyso, a ready-to-use open source software (BSD-licensed) for the unsupervised analysis of MM time-lapse image stacks. molyso source code and user manual are available at https://github.com/modsim/molyso. PMID:27661996

The Nitrogen Footprint Tool Network: A Multi-Institution Program To Reduce Nitrogen Pollution

PubMed Central

Leach, Allison M.; Leary, Neil; Baron, Jill; Compton, Jana E.; Galloway, James N.; Hastings, Meredith G.; Kimiecik, Jacob; Lantz-Trissel, Jonathan; de la Reguera, Elizabeth; Ryals, Rebecca

2017-01-01

Abstract Anthropogenic sources of reactive nitrogen have local and global impacts on air and water quality and detrimental effects on human and ecosystem health. This article uses the Nitrogen Footprint Tool (NFT) to determine the amount of nitrogen (N) released as a result of institutional consumption. The sectors accounted for include food (consumption and upstream production), energy, transportation, fertilizer, research animals, and agricultural research. The NFT is then used for scenario analysis to manage and track reductions, which are driven by the consumption behaviors of both the institution itself and its constituent individuals. In this article, the first seven completed institution nitrogen footprint results are presented. The Nitrogen Footprint Tool Network aims to develop footprints for many institutions to encourage widespread upper-level management strategies that will create significant reductions in reactive nitrogen released to the environment. Energy use and food purchases are the two largest sectors contributing to institution nitrogen footprints. Ongoing efforts by institutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions also help to reduce the nitrogen footprint, but the impact of food production on nitrogen pollution has not been directly addressed by the higher education sustainability community. The Nitrogen Footprint Tool Network found that institutions could reduce their nitrogen footprints by optimizing food purchasing to reduce consumption of animal products and minimize food waste, as well as by reducing dependence on fossil fuels for energy. PMID:29350216

Improvement of dem Generation from Aster Images Using Satellite Jitter Estimation and Open Source Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girod, L.; Nuth, C.; Kääb, A.

2015-12-01

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) system embarked on the Terra (EOS AM-1) satellite has been a source of stereoscopic images covering the whole globe at a 15m resolution at a consistent quality for over 15 years. The potential of this data in terms of geomorphological analysis and change detection in three dimensions is unrivaled and needs to be exploited. However, the quality of the DEMs and ortho-images currently delivered by NASA (ASTER DMO products) is often of insufficient quality for a number of applications such as mountain glacier mass balance. For this study, the use of Ground Control Points (GCPs) or of other ground truth was rejected due to the global "big data" type of processing that we hope to perform on the ASTER archive. We have therefore developed a tool to compute Rational Polynomial Coefficient (RPC) models from the ASTER metadata and a method improving the quality of the matching by identifying and correcting jitter induced cross-track parallax errors. Our method outputs more accurate DEMs with less unmatched areas and reduced overall noise. The algorithms were implemented in the open source photogrammetric library and software suite MicMac.

Implementation of Open-Source Web Mapping Technologies to Support Monitoring of Governmental Schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pulsani, B. R.

2015-10-01

Several schemes are undertaken by the government to uplift social and economic condition of people. The monitoring of these schemes is done through information technology where involvement of Geographic Information System (GIS) is lacking. To demonstrate the benefits of thematic mapping as a tool for assisting the officials in making decisions, a web mapping application for three government programs such as Mother and Child Tracking system (MCTS), Telangana State Housing Corporation Limited (TSHCL) and Ground Water Quality Mapping (GWQM) has been built. Indeed the three applications depicted the distribution of various parameters thematically and helped in identifying the areas with higher and weaker distributions. Based on the three applications, the study tends to find similarities of many government schemes reflecting the nature of thematic mapping and hence deduces to implement this kind of approach for other schemes as well. These applications have been developed using SharpMap Csharp library which is a free and open source mapping library for developing geospatial applications. The study highlights upon the cost benefits of SharpMap and brings out the advantage of this library over proprietary vendors and further discusses its advantages over other open source libraries as well.

Enterococci in the environment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara N.; Nevers, Meredith B.; Korajkic, Asja; Staley, Zachery R.; Harwood, Valerie J.

2012-01-01

Enterococci are common, commensal members of gut communities in mammals and birds, yet they are also opportunistic pathogens that cause millions of human and animal infections annually. Because they are shed in human and animal feces, are readily culturable, and predict human health risks from exposure to polluted recreational waters, they are used as surrogates for waterborne pathogens and as fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in research and in water quality testing throughout the world. Evidence from several decades of research demonstrates, however, that enterococci may be present in high densities in the absence of obvious fecal sources and that environmental reservoirs of these FIB are important sources and sinks, with the potential to impact water quality. This review focuses on the distribution and microbial ecology of enterococci in environmental (secondary) habitats, including the effect of environmental stressors; an outline of their known and apparent sources, sinks, and fluxes; and an overview of the use of enterococci as FIB. Finally, the significance of emerging methodologies, such as microbial source tracking (MST) and empirical predictive models, as tools in water quality monitoring is addressed. The mounting evidence for widespread extraenteric sources and reservoirs of enterococci demonstrates the versatility of the genus Enterococcus and argues for the necessity of a better understanding of their ecology in natural environments, as well as their roles as opportunistic pathogens and indicators of human pathogens.

Enterococci in the Environment

PubMed Central

Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara N.; Nevers, Meredith B.; Korajkic, Asja; Staley, Zachery R.

2012-01-01

Summary: Enterococci are common, commensal members of gut communities in mammals and birds, yet they are also opportunistic pathogens that cause millions of human and animal infections annually. Because they are shed in human and animal feces, are readily culturable, and predict human health risks from exposure to polluted recreational waters, they are used as surrogates for waterborne pathogens and as fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in research and in water quality testing throughout the world. Evidence from several decades of research demonstrates, however, that enterococci may be present in high densities in the absence of obvious fecal sources and that environmental reservoirs of these FIB are important sources and sinks, with the potential to impact water quality. This review focuses on the distribution and microbial ecology of enterococci in environmental (secondary) habitats, including the effect of environmental stressors; an outline of their known and apparent sources, sinks, and fluxes; and an overview of the use of enterococci as FIB. Finally, the significance of emerging methodologies, such as microbial source tracking (MST) and empirical predictive models, as tools in water quality monitoring is addressed. The mounting evidence for widespread extraenteric sources and reservoirs of enterococci demonstrates the versatility of the genus Enterococcus and argues for the necessity of a better understanding of their ecology in natural environments, as well as their roles as opportunistic pathogens and indicators of human pathogens. PMID:23204362

Characterization of the Oum Er Rbia (Morocco) high basin karstic water sources by using solid state nuclear track detectors and radon as a natural tracer.

PubMed

Khalil, N; Misdaq, M A; Berrazzouk, S; Mania, J

2002-06-01

Uranium and thorium contents as well as radon alpha-activities per unit volume were evaluated inside different water samples by using a method based on calculating the CR-39 and LR-115 type II solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) detection efficiencies for the emitted alpha-particles and measuring the resulting track density rates. The validity of the SSNTD technique utilized was checked by analysing uranyl nitrate (UO2(NO3)26H2O) standard solutions. A relationship between water radon concentration and water transmission of different water sources belonging to two regions of the Middle Atlas (Morocco) water reservoir was found. The influence of the water flow rate as well as the permeability and fracture system of the host rocks of the sources studied was investigated.

Individual human scent as a forensic identifier using mantrailing.

PubMed

Woidtke, Leif; Dreßler, Jan; Babian, Carsten

2018-01-01

Specially trained dogs have long been used by law enforcement agencies to help in criminal investigations and in searching for missing persons. Still, it is unclear which components of human scent released into the environment contribute to successful searches of individuals. In this study, saliva and axillary sweat samples were taken from a total of 190 people. Additionally, DNA was extracted from whole blood of seven different people and used as an odour sample as well. Overall 675 tests (trails) were performed during a period of 18 months. The ability to track individuals with the odour samples mentioned above was examined with seven dogs, four of which were specially-trained dogs (mantrailer) from the Saxony Police. Results indicated that specially-trained police dogs can track a person with an average success rate of 82% and correctly identify the absence of an odour track with an average success rate of 97% under various conditions. Private rescue dogs were less successful with an average success rate of 65% and 75% respectively. These data suggest that the potential error rate of a well-trained handler team is low and can be a useful tool for law enforcement personnel. Saliva, as a reference odour source, was found to be particularly suitable for the search. The results of the study suggest that the components contained in axillary sweat, saliva and DNA extracted from whole blood are sufficient, serving as a key stimulus for individualized searches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Results of an Experimental Exploration of Advanced Automated Geospatial Tools: Agility in Complex Planning

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

AUTOMATED GEOSPATIAL TOOLS : AGILITY IN COMPLEX PLANNING Primary Topic: Track 5 – Experimentation and Analysis Walter A. Powell [STUDENT] - GMU...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Results of an Experimental Exploration of Advanced Automated Geospatial Tools : Agility in Complex Planning 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER...Std Z39-18 Abstract Typically, the development of tools and systems for the military is requirement driven; systems are developed to meet

A new software tool for 3D motion analyses of the musculo-skeletal system.

PubMed

Leardini, A; Belvedere, C; Astolfi, L; Fantozzi, S; Viceconti, M; Taddei, F; Ensini, A; Benedetti, M G; Catani, F

2006-10-01

Many clinical and biomechanical research studies, particularly in orthopaedics, nowadays involve forms of movement analysis. Gait analysis, video-fluoroscopy of joint replacement, pre-operative planning, surgical navigation, and standard radiostereometry would require tools for easy access to three-dimensional graphical representations of rigid segment motion. Relevant data from this variety of sources need to be organised in structured forms. Registration, integration, and synchronisation of segment position data are additional necessities. With this aim, the present work exploits the features of a software tool recently developed within a EU-funded project ('Multimod') in a series of different research studies. Standard and advanced gait analysis on a normal subject, in vivo fluoroscopy-based three-dimensional motion of a replaced knee joint, patellar and ligament tracking on a knee specimen by a surgical navigation system, stem-to-femur migration pattern on a patient operated on total hip replacement, were analysed with standard techniques and all represented by this innovative software tool. Segment pose data were eventually obtained from these different techniques, and were successfully imported and organised in a hierarchical tree within the tool. Skeletal bony segments, prosthesis component models and ligament links were registered successfully to corresponding marker position data for effective three-dimensional animations. These were shown in various combinations, in different views, from different perspectives, according to possible specific research interests. Bioengineering and medical professionals would be much facilitated in the interpretation of the motion analysis measurements necessary in their research fields, and would benefit therefore from this software tool.

Gamma ray energy tracking in GRETINA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, I. Y.

2011-10-01

The next generation of stable and exotic beam accelerators will provide physics opportunities to study nuclei farther away from the line of stability. However, these experiments will be more demanding on instrumentation performance. These come from the lower production rate for more exotic beams, worse beam impurities, and large beam velocity from the fragmentation and inverse reactions. Gamma-ray spectroscopy will be one of the most effective tools to study exotic nuclei. However, to fully exploit the physics reach provided by these new facilities, better gamma-ray detector will be needed. In the last 10 years, a new concept, gamma-ray energy tracking array, was developed. Tracking arrays will increase the detection sensitivity by factors of several hundred compared to current arrays used in nuclear physics research. Particularly, the capability of reconstructing the position of the interaction with millimeters resolution is needed to correct the Doppler broadening of gamma rays emitted from high velocity nuclei. GRETINA is a gamma-ray tracking array which uses 28 Ge crystals, each with 36 segments, to cover ¼ of the 4 π of the 4 π solid angle. The gamma ray tracking technique requires detailed pulse shape information from each of the segments. These pulses are digitized using 14-bit 100 MHz flash ADCs, and digital signal analysis algorithms implemented in the on-board FPGAs provides energy, time and selection of pulse traces. A digital trigger system, provided flexible trigger functions including a fast trigger output, and also allows complicated trigger decisions to be made up to 20 microseconds. Further analyzed, carried out in a computer cluster, determine the energy, time, and three-dimensional positions of all gamma-ray interactions in the array. This information is then utilized, together with the characteristics of Compton scattering and pair-production processes, to track the scattering sequences of the gamma rays. GRETINA construction is completed in March 2011, and extensive engineering runs were carried out using radioactive sources, and beams from the 88-Inch Cyclotron at LBNL. The data obtained will be used to optimize its performance. Then the first scientific campaign will start in March 2012 at NSCL MSU.

Measurements by A LEAP-Based Virtual Glove for the Hand Rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Cinque, Luigi; Polsinelli, Matteo; Spezialetti, Matteo

2018-01-01

Hand rehabilitation is fundamental after stroke or surgery. Traditional rehabilitation requires a therapist and implies high costs, stress for the patient, and subjective evaluation of the therapy effectiveness. Alternative approaches, based on mechanical and tracking-based gloves, can be really effective when used in virtual reality (VR) environments. Mechanical devices are often expensive, cumbersome, patient specific and hand specific, while tracking-based devices are not affected by these limitations but, especially if based on a single tracking sensor, could suffer from occlusions. In this paper, the implementation of a multi-sensors approach, the Virtual Glove (VG), based on the simultaneous use of two orthogonal LEAP motion controllers, is described. The VG is calibrated and static positioning measurements are compared with those collected with an accurate spatial positioning system. The positioning error is lower than 6 mm in a cylindrical region of interest of radius 10 cm and height 21 cm. Real-time hand tracking measurements are also performed, analysed and reported. Hand tracking measurements show that VG operated in real-time (60 fps), reduced occlusions, and managed two LEAP sensors correctly, without any temporal and spatial discontinuity when skipping from one sensor to the other. A video demonstrating the good performance of VG is also collected and presented in the Supplementary Materials. Results are promising but further work must be done to allow the calculation of the forces exerted by each finger when constrained by mechanical tools (e.g., peg-boards) and for reducing occlusions when grasping these tools. Although the VG is proposed for rehabilitation purposes, it could also be used for tele-operation of tools and robots, and for other VR applications. PMID:29534448

Measurements by A LEAP-Based Virtual Glove for the Hand Rehabilitation.

PubMed

Placidi, Giuseppe; Cinque, Luigi; Polsinelli, Matteo; Spezialetti, Matteo

2018-03-10

Hand rehabilitation is fundamental after stroke or surgery. Traditional rehabilitation requires a therapist and implies high costs, stress for the patient, and subjective evaluation of the therapy effectiveness. Alternative approaches, based on mechanical and tracking-based gloves, can be really effective when used in virtual reality (VR) environments. Mechanical devices are often expensive, cumbersome, patient specific and hand specific, while tracking-based devices are not affected by these limitations but, especially if based on a single tracking sensor, could suffer from occlusions. In this paper, the implementation of a multi-sensors approach, the Virtual Glove (VG), based on the simultaneous use of two orthogonal LEAP motion controllers, is described. The VG is calibrated and static positioning measurements are compared with those collected with an accurate spatial positioning system. The positioning error is lower than 6 mm in a cylindrical region of interest of radius 10 cm and height 21 cm. Real-time hand tracking measurements are also performed, analysed and reported. Hand tracking measurements show that VG operated in real-time (60 fps), reduced occlusions, and managed two LEAP sensors correctly, without any temporal and spatial discontinuity when skipping from one sensor to the other. A video demonstrating the good performance of VG is also collected and presented in the Supplementary Materials. Results are promising but further work must be done to allow the calculation of the forces exerted by each finger when constrained by mechanical tools (e.g., peg-boards) and for reducing occlusions when grasping these tools. Although the VG is proposed for rehabilitation purposes, it could also be used for tele-operation of tools and robots, and for other VR applications.

Sound source tracking device for telematic spatial sound field reproduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardenas, Bruno

This research describes an algorithm that localizes sound sources for use in telematic applications. The localization algorithm is based on amplitude differences between various channels of a microphone array of directional shotgun microphones. The amplitude differences will be used to locate multiple performers and reproduce their voices, which were recorded at close distance with lavalier microphones, spatially corrected using a loudspeaker rendering system. In order to track multiple sound sources in parallel the information gained from the lavalier microphones will be utilized to estimate the signal-to-noise ratio between each performer and the concurrent performers.

Spin dynamics modeling in the AGS based on a stepwise ray-tracing method

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

Dutheil, Yann

The AGS provides a polarized proton beam to RHIC. The beam is accelerated in the AGS from Gγ= 4.5 to Gγ = 45.5 and the polarization transmission is critical to the RHIC spin program. In the recent years, various systems were implemented to improve the AGS polarization transmission. These upgrades include the double partial snakes configuration and the tune jumps system. However, 100% polarization transmission through the AGS acceleration cycle is not yet reached. The current efficiency of the polarization transmission is estimated to be around 85% in typical running conditions. Understanding the sources of depolarization in the AGS ismore » critical to improve the AGS polarized proton performances. The complexity of beam and spin dynamics, which is in part due to the specialized Siberian snake magnets, drove a strong interest for original methods of simulations. For that, the Zgoubi code, capable of direct particle and spin tracking through field maps, was here used to model the AGS. A model of the AGS using the Zgoubi code was developed and interfaced with the current system through a simple command: the AgsFromSnapRampCmd. Interfacing with the machine control system allows for fast modelization using actual machine parameters. Those developments allowed the model to realistically reproduce the optics of the AGS along the acceleration ramp. Additional developments on the Zgoubi code, as well as on post-processing and pre-processing tools, granted long term multiturn beam tracking capabilities: the tracking of realistic beams along the complete AGS acceleration cycle. Beam multiturn tracking simulations in the AGS, using realistic beam and machine parameters, provided a unique insight into the mechanisms behind the evolution of the beam emittance and polarization during the acceleration cycle. Post-processing softwares were developed to allow the representation of the relevant quantities from the Zgoubi simulations data. The Zgoubi simulations proved particularly useful to better understand the polarization losses through horizontal intrinsic spin resonances The Zgoubi model as well as the tools developed were also used for some direct applications. For instance, some beam experiment simulations allowed an accurate estimation of the expected polarization gains from machine changes. In particular, the simulations that involved involved the tune jumps system provided an accurate estimation of polarization gains and the optimum settings that would improve the performance of the AGS.« less

How Mouse-tracking Can Advance Social Cognitive Theory.

PubMed

Stillman, Paul E; Shen, Xi; Ferguson, Melissa J

2018-06-01

Mouse-tracking - measuring computer-mouse movements made by participants while they choose between response options - is an emerging tool that offers an accessible, data-rich, and real-time window into how people categorize and make decisions. In the present article we review recent research in social cognition that uses mouse-tracking to test models and advance theory. In particular, mouse-tracking allows examination of nuanced predictions about both the nature of conflict (e.g., its antecedents and consequences) as well as how this conflict is resolved (e.g., how decisions evolve). We demonstrate how mouse-tracking can further our theoretical understanding by highlighting research in two domains - social categorization and self-control. We conclude with future directions and a discussion of the limitations of mouse-tracking as a method. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mousetrap: An integrated, open-source mouse-tracking package.

PubMed

Kieslich, Pascal J; Henninger, Felix

2017-10-01

Mouse-tracking - the analysis of mouse movements in computerized experiments - is becoming increasingly popular in the cognitive sciences. Mouse movements are taken as an indicator of commitment to or conflict between choice options during the decision process. Using mouse-tracking, researchers have gained insight into the temporal development of cognitive processes across a growing number of psychological domains. In the current article, we present software that offers easy and convenient means of recording and analyzing mouse movements in computerized laboratory experiments. In particular, we introduce and demonstrate the mousetrap plugin that adds mouse-tracking to OpenSesame, a popular general-purpose graphical experiment builder. By integrating with this existing experimental software, mousetrap allows for the creation of mouse-tracking studies through a graphical interface, without requiring programming skills. Thus, researchers can benefit from the core features of a validated software package and the many extensions available for it (e.g., the integration with auxiliary hardware such as eye-tracking, or the support of interactive experiments). In addition, the recorded data can be imported directly into the statistical programming language R using the mousetrap package, which greatly facilitates analysis. Mousetrap is cross-platform, open-source and available free of charge from https://github.com/pascalkieslich/mousetrap-os .

Open source challenges for hospital information system (HIS) in developing countries: a pilot project in Mali.

PubMed

Bagayoko, Cheick-Oumar; Dufour, Jean-Charles; Chaacho, Saad; Bouhaddou, Omar; Fieschi, Marius

2010-04-16

We are currently witnessing a significant increase in use of Open Source tools in the field of health. Our study aims to research the potential of these software packages for developing countries. Our experiment was conducted at the Centre Hospitalier Mere Enfant in Mali. After reviewing several Open Source tools in the field of hospital information systems, Mediboard software was chosen for our study. To ensure the completeness of Mediboard in relation to the functionality required for a hospital information system, its features were compared to those of a well-defined comprehensive record management tool set up at the University Hospital "La Timone" of Marseilles in France. It was then installed on two Linux servers: a first server for testing and validation of different modules, and a second one for the deployed full implementation. After several months of use, we have evaluated the usability aspects of the system including feedback from end-users through a questionnaire. Initial results showed the potential of Open Source in the field of health IT for developing countries like Mali.Five main modules have been fully implemented: patient administrative and medical records management of hospital activities, tracking of practitioners' activities, infrastructure management and the billing system. This last component of the system has been fully developed by the local Mali team.The evaluation showed that the system is broadly accepted by all the users who participated in the study. 77% of the participants found the system useful; 85% found it easy; 100% of them believe the system increases the reliability of data. The same proportion encourages the continuation of the experiment and its expansion throughout the hospital. In light of the results, we can conclude that the objective of our study was reached. However, it is important to take into account the recommendations and the challenges discussed here to avoid several potential pitfalls specific to the context of Africa.Our future work will target the full integration of the billing module in Mediboard and an expanded implementation throughout the hospital.

Studies of ambient noise in shallow water environments off Mexico and Alaska: characteristics, metrics and time-synchronization applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerra, Melania

Sound in the ocean originates from multiple mechanisms, both natural and anthropogenic. Collectively, underwater ambient noise accumulates valuable information about both its sources and the oceanic environment that propagates this noise. Characterizing the features of ambient noise source mechanisms is challenging, but essential, for properly describing an acoustic environment. Disturbances to a local acoustic environment may affect many aquatic species that have adapted to be heavily dependent on this particular sense for survival functions. In the case of marine mammals, which are federally protected, demand exists for understanding such potential impacts, which drives important scientific efforts that utilize passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) tools to inform regulatory decisions. This dissertation presents two independent studies that use PAM data to investigate the characteristics of source mechanisms that dominate ambient noise in two diverse shallow water environments. The study in Chapter 2 directly addresses the concern of how anthropogenic activities can degrade the effectiveness of PAM. In the Alaskan Beaufort Sea, an environment where ambient noise is normally dominated by natural causes, seismic surveys create impulsive sounds to map the composition of the bottom. By inspecting single-sensor PAM data, the spectral characteristics of seismic survey airgun reverberation are measured, and their contribution to the overall ambient noise is quantified. This work is relevant to multiple ongoing mitigation protocols that rely on PAM to acoustically detect marine mammal presence during industrial operations. Meanwhile, Chapter 3 demonstrates that by analyzing data from multiple PAM sensors, features embedded in both directional and omnidirectional ambient noise can be used to develop new time-synchronization processing techniques for aligning autonomous elements of an acoustic array, a tool commonly used in PAM for detecting and tracking marine mammals. Using the time-synchronization procedures shown here, arrays may be built out of stand-alone recorders that simplify the deployment logistics and can be arranged in multiple configurations. Given increasing economic pressures worldwide, anthropogenic activities in the ocean are only expected to expand, and their ambient noise contributions will continue to rise. These studies provide baseline knowledge and practical tools to help properly assess the impact of such source mechanisms in shallow-water acoustic environments.

Open source challenges for hospital information system (HIS) in developing countries: a pilot project in Mali

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background We are currently witnessing a significant increase in use of Open Source tools in the field of health. Our study aims to research the potential of these software packages for developing countries. Our experiment was conducted at the Centre Hospitalier Mere Enfant in Mali. Methods After reviewing several Open Source tools in the field of hospital information systems, Mediboard software was chosen for our study. To ensure the completeness of Mediboard in relation to the functionality required for a hospital information system, its features were compared to those of a well-defined comprehensive record management tool set up at the University Hospital "La Timone" of Marseilles in France. It was then installed on two Linux servers: a first server for testing and validation of different modules, and a second one for the deployed full implementation. After several months of use, we have evaluated the usability aspects of the system including feedback from end-users through a questionnaire. Results Initial results showed the potential of Open Source in the field of health IT for developing countries like Mali. Five main modules have been fully implemented: patient administrative and medical records management of hospital activities, tracking of practitioners' activities, infrastructure management and the billing system. This last component of the system has been fully developed by the local Mali team. The evaluation showed that the system is broadly accepted by all the users who participated in the study. 77% of the participants found the system useful; 85% found it easy; 100% of them believe the system increases the reliability of data. The same proportion encourages the continuation of the experiment and its expansion throughout the hospital. Conclusions In light of the results, we can conclude that the objective of our study was reached. However, it is important to take into account the recommendations and the challenges discussed here to avoid several potential pitfalls specific to the context of Africa. Our future work will target the full integration of the billing module in Mediboard and an expanded implementation throughout the hospital. PMID:20398366

Comparing Institution Nitrogen Footprints: Metrics for Assessing and Tracking Environmental Impact

EPA Science Inventory

When multiple institutions with strong sustainability initiatives use a new environmental impact assessment tool, there is an impulse to compare. The first seven institutions to calculate their nitrogen footprints using the nitrogen footprint tool have worked collaboratively to i...

Vibration Method for Tracking the Resonant Mode and Impedance of a Microwave Cavity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmatz, M.; Iny, O.; Yiin, T.; Khan, I.

1995-01-01

A vibration technique his been developed to continuously maintain mode resonance and impedance much between a constant frequency magnetron source and resonant cavity. This method uses a vibrating metal rod to modulate the volume of the cavity in a manner equivalent to modulating an adjustable plunger. A similar vibrating metal rod attached to a stub tuner modulates the waveguide volume between the source and cavity. A phase sensitive detection scheme determines the optimum position of the adjustable plunger and stub turner during processing. The improved power transfer during the heating of a 99.8% pure alumina rod was demonstrated using this new technique. Temperature-time and reflected power-time heating curves are presented for the cases of no tracking, impedance tracker only, mode tracker only and simultaneous impedance and mode tracking. Controlled internal melting of an alumina rod near 2000 C using both tracking units was also demonstrated.

Audio Tracking in Noisy Environments by Acoustic Map and Spectral Signature.

PubMed

Crocco, Marco; Martelli, Samuele; Trucco, Andrea; Zunino, Andrea; Murino, Vittorio

2018-05-01

A novel method is proposed for generic target tracking by audio measurements from a microphone array. To cope with noisy environments characterized by persistent and high energy interfering sources, a classification map (CM) based on spectral signatures is calculated by means of a machine learning algorithm. Next, the CM is combined with the acoustic map, describing the spatial distribution of sound energy, in order to obtain a cleaned joint map in which contributions from the disturbing sources are removed. A likelihood function is derived from this map and fed to a particle filter yielding the target location estimation on the acoustic image. The method is tested on two real environments, addressing both speaker and vehicle tracking. The comparison with a couple of trackers, relying on the acoustic map only, shows a sharp improvement in performance, paving the way to the application of audio tracking in real challenging environments.