Enhancing User Customization through Novel Software Architecture for Utility Scale Solar Siting Software

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

Brant Peery; Sam Alessi; Randy Lee

2014-06-01

There is a need for a spatial decision support application that allows users to create customized metrics for comparing proposed locations of a new solar installation. This document discusses how PVMapper was designed to overcome the customization problem through the development of loosely coupled spatial and decision components in a JavaScript plugin architecture. This allows the user to easily add functionality and data to the system. The paper also explains how PVMapper provides the user with a dynamic and customizable decision tool that enables them to visually modify the formulas that are used in the decision algorithms that convert datamore » to comparable metrics. The technologies that make up the presentation and calculation software stack are outlined. This document also explains the architecture that allows the tool to grow through custom plugins created by the software users. Some discussion is given on the difficulties encountered while designing the system.« less

Domain and Intelligence Based Multimedia Question Answering System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kumar, K. Magesh; Valarmathie, P.

2016-01-01

Multimedia question answering systems have become very popular over the past few years. It allows users to share their thoughts by answering a given question or obtain information from a set of answered questions. However, existing QA systems support only textual answer which is not so instructive for many users. The user's discussion can be…

TWIST User Presentation

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Wastewater Information System Tool (TWIST) is downloadable, user-friendly management tool that will allow state and local health departments to effectively inventory and manage small wastewater treatment systems in their jurisdictions.

Embedded Web Technology: Applying World Wide Web Standards to Embedded Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ponyik, Joseph G.; York, David W.

2002-01-01

Embedded Systems have traditionally been developed in a highly customized manner. The user interface hardware and software along with the interface to the embedded system are typically unique to the system for which they are built, resulting in extra cost to the system in terms of development time and maintenance effort. World Wide Web standards have been developed in the passed ten years with the goal of allowing servers and clients to intemperate seamlessly. The client and server systems can consist of differing hardware and software platforms but the World Wide Web standards allow them to interface without knowing about the details of system at the other end of the interface. Embedded Web Technology is the merging of Embedded Systems with the World Wide Web. Embedded Web Technology decreases the cost of developing and maintaining the user interface by allowing the user to interface to the embedded system through a web browser running on a standard personal computer. Embedded Web Technology can also be used to simplify an Embedded System's internal network.

User Access | Energy Systems Integration Facility | NREL

Science.gov Websites

User Access User Access The ESIF houses an unparalleled collection of state-of-the-art capabilities user access program, the ESIF allows researchers access to its premier laboratories in support of research and development that aims to optimize our entire energy system at full power. Requests for access

Solving Problems With SINDA/FLUINT

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

SINDA/FLUINT, the NASA standard software system for thermohydraulic analysis, provides computational simulation of interacting thermal and fluid effects in designs modeled as heat transfer and fluid flow networks. The product saves time and money by making the user's design process faster and easier, and allowing the user to gain a better understanding of complex systems. The code is completely extensible, allowing the user to choose the features, accuracy and approximation levels, and outputs. Users can also add their own customizations as needed to handle unique design tasks or to automate repetitive tasks. Applications for SINDA/FLUINT include the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, biomedical, electronics, and energy industries. The system has been used to simulate nuclear reactors, windshield wipers, and human windpipes. In the automotive industry, it simulates the transient liquid/vapor flows within air conditioning systems.

Hypertext-based design of a user interface for scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woerner, Irene W.; Biefeld, Eric

1993-01-01

Operations Mission Planner (OMP) is an ongoing research project at JPL that utilizes AI techniques to create an intelligent, automated planning and scheduling system. The information space reflects the complexity and diversity of tasks necessary in most real-world scheduling problems. Thus the problem of the user interface is to present as much information as possible at a given moment and allow the user to quickly navigate through the various types of displays. This paper describes a design which applies the hypertext model to solve these user interface problems. The general paradigm is to provide maps and search queries to allow the user to quickly find an interesting conflict or problem, and then allow the user to navigate through the displays in a hypertext fashion.

Computer Program for Assessing the Economic Feasibility of Solar Energy for Single Family Residences and Light Commercial Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forney, J. A.; Walker, D.; Lanier, M.

1979-01-01

Computer program, SHCOST, was used to perform economic analyses of operational test sites. The program allows consideration of the economic parameters which are important to the solar system user. A life cycle cost and cash flow comparison is made between a solar heating system and a conventional system. The program assists in sizing the solar heating system. A sensitivity study and plot capability allow the user to select the most cost effective system configuration.

An Analysis of the United States Naval Aviation Schedule Removal Component (SRC) Card Process

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

JSF has the ability to communicate in flight with its maintenance system , ALIS. Its Prognostic Health Management (PHM) System abilities allow it to...end-users. PLCS allows users of the system , through a central database, visibility of a component’s history and lifecycle data . Since both OOMA...used in PLM systems .2 This research recommends a PLM system that is Web-based and uses DoD- mandated UID technology as the future for data

Monitoring and Acquisition Real-time System (MARS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holland, Corbin

2013-01-01

MARS is a graphical user interface (GUI) written in MATLAB and Java, allowing the user to configure and control the Scalable Parallel Architecture for Real-Time Acquisition and Analysis (SPARTAA) data acquisition system. SPARTAA not only acquires data, but also allows for complex algorithms to be applied to the acquired data in real time. The MARS client allows the user to set up and configure all settings regarding the data channels attached to the system, as well as have complete control over starting and stopping data acquisition. It provides a unique "Test" programming environment, allowing the user to create tests consisting of a series of alarms, each of which contains any number of data channels. Each alarm is configured with a particular algorithm, determining the type of processing that will be applied on each data channel and tested against a defined threshold. Tests can be uploaded to SPARTAA, thereby teaching it how to process the data. The uniqueness of MARS is in its capability to be adaptable easily to many test configurations. MARS sends and receives protocols via TCP/IP, which allows for quick integration into almost any test environment. The use of MATLAB and Java as the programming languages allows for developers to integrate the software across multiple operating platforms.

Design of a telescope control system using an ARM microcontroller with embedded RTOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peñuela Pico, Cristian R.; Atara Montañez, Fabian A.; Cuervo, Juan C.; Gonzalez-Llorente, Jesus

2014-08-01

This work presents the design of a wireless control system that allows driving all the necessary instruments to control the orientation of an equatorial mounting telescope through a real time operative system (RTOS) that runs over ARM microcontroller. The control system is commanded through a user-interface which works under Android platform giving the user the option to control the tracking mode, right ascension, and declination. The system was successfully deployed and tested during a one-hour observation of the Moon. The frequency measured by the oscilloscope is 66.67 Hz which equals the sidereal speed. The telescope control systems allows the user to have a better precision when locating a star but also to cover long-duration tracking processes

An augmented reality haptic training simulator for spinal needle procedures.

PubMed

Sutherland, Colin; Hashtrudi-Zaad, Keyvan; Sellens, Rick; Abolmaesumi, Purang; Mousavi, Parvin

2013-11-01

This paper presents the prototype for an augmented reality haptic simulation system with potential for spinal needle insertion training. The proposed system is composed of a torso mannequin, a MicronTracker2 optical tracking system, a PHANToM haptic device, and a graphical user interface to provide visual feedback. The system allows users to perform simulated needle insertions on a physical mannequin overlaid with an augmented reality cutaway of patient anatomy. A tissue model based on a finite-element model provides force during the insertion. The system allows for training without the need for the presence of a trained clinician or access to live patients or cadavers. A pilot user study demonstrates the potential and functionality of the system.

Software Repository

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merwarth, P., D.

1983-01-01

The Common Software Module Repository (CSMR) is computerized library system with high product and service visibility to potential users. Online capabilities of system allow both librarian and user to interact with library. Librarian is responsible for maintaining information in CSMR library. User searches library to locate software modules that meet his or her current needs.

Concepts and implementations of natural language query systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Liu, I-Hsiung

1984-01-01

The currently developed user language interfaces of information systems are generally intended for serious users. These interfaces commonly ignore potentially the largest user group, i.e., casual users. This project discusses the concepts and implementations of a natural query language system which satisfy the nature and information needs of casual users by allowing them to communicate with the system in the form of their native (natural) language. In addition, a framework for the development of such an interface is also introduced for the MADAM (Multics Approach to Data Access and Management) system at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

TRACI: USER'S GUIDE AND SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION

EPA Science Inventory

TRACI allows the examination of the potential for impacts associated with the raw material usage and chemical releases resulting from the processes involved in producing a product. TRACI allows the user to examine the potential for impacts for a single life cycle stage, or the w...

Hand held data collection and monitoring system for nuclear facilities

DOEpatents

Brayton, D.D.; Scharold, P.G.; Thornton, M.W.; Marquez, D.L.

1999-01-26

Apparatus and method is disclosed for a data collection and monitoring system that utilizes a pen based hand held computer unit which has contained therein interaction software that allows the user to review maintenance procedures, collect data, compare data with historical trends and safety limits, and input new information at various collection sites. The system has a means to allow automatic transfer of the collected data to a main computer data base for further review, reporting, and distribution purposes and uploading updated collection and maintenance procedures. The hand held computer has a running to-do list so sample collection and other general tasks, such as housekeeping are automatically scheduled for timely completion. A done list helps users to keep track of all completed tasks. The built-in check list assures that work process will meet the applicable processes and procedures. Users can hand write comments or drawings with an electronic pen that allows the users to directly interface information on the screen. 15 figs.

Hand held data collection and monitoring system for nuclear facilities

DOEpatents

Brayton, Darryl D.; Scharold, Paul G.; Thornton, Michael W.; Marquez, Diana L.

1999-01-01

Apparatus and method is disclosed for a data collection and monitoring system that utilizes a pen based hand held computer unit which has contained therein interaction software that allows the user to review maintenance procedures, collect data, compare data with historical trends and safety limits, and input new information at various collection sites. The system has a means to allow automatic transfer of the collected data to a main computer data base for further review, reporting, and distribution purposes and uploading updated collection and maintenance procedures. The hand held computer has a running to-do list so sample collection and other general tasks, such as housekeeping are automatically scheduled for timely completion. A done list helps users to keep track of all completed tasks. The built-in check list assures that work process will meet the applicable processes and procedures. Users can hand write comments or drawings with an electronic pen that allows the users to directly interface information on the screen.

Determining the Impact of Personal Mobility Carbon Allowance Schemes in Transportation Networks

DOE PAGES

Aziz, H. M. Abdul; Ukkusuri, Satish V.; Zhan, Xianyuan

2016-10-17

We know that personal mobility carbon allowance (PMCA) schemes are designed to reduce carbon consumption from transportation networks. PMCA schemes influence the travel decision process of users and accordingly impact the system metrics including travel time and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we develop a multi-user class dynamic user equilibrium model to evaluate the transportation system performance when PMCA scheme is implemented. The results using Sioux-Falls test network indicate that PMCA schemes can achieve the emissions reduction goals for transportation networks. Further, users characterized by high value of travel time are found to be less sensitive to carbon budget inmore » the context of work trips. Results also show that PMCA scheme can lead to higher emissions for a path compared with the case without PMCA because of flow redistribution. The developed network equilibrium model allows us to examine the change in system states at different carbon allocation levels and to design parameters of PMCA schemes accounting for population heterogeneity.« less

Determining the Impact of Personal Mobility Carbon Allowance Schemes in Transportation Networks

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

Aziz, H. M. Abdul; Ukkusuri, Satish V.; Zhan, Xianyuan

We know that personal mobility carbon allowance (PMCA) schemes are designed to reduce carbon consumption from transportation networks. PMCA schemes influence the travel decision process of users and accordingly impact the system metrics including travel time and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, we develop a multi-user class dynamic user equilibrium model to evaluate the transportation system performance when PMCA scheme is implemented. The results using Sioux-Falls test network indicate that PMCA schemes can achieve the emissions reduction goals for transportation networks. Further, users characterized by high value of travel time are found to be less sensitive to carbon budget inmore » the context of work trips. Results also show that PMCA scheme can lead to higher emissions for a path compared with the case without PMCA because of flow redistribution. The developed network equilibrium model allows us to examine the change in system states at different carbon allocation levels and to design parameters of PMCA schemes accounting for population heterogeneity.« less

The Technology Information Environment with Industry{trademark} system description

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

Detry, R.; Machin, G.

The Technology Information Environment with Industry (TIE-In{trademark}) provides users with controlled access to distributed laboratory resources that are packaged in intelligent user interfaces. These interfaces help users access resources without requiring the user to have technical or computer expertise. TIE-In utilizes existing, proven technologies such as the Kerberos authentication system, X-Windows, and UNIX sockets. A Front End System (FES) authenticates users and allows them to register for resources and subsequently access them. The FES also stores status and accounting information, and provides an automated method for the resource owners to recover costs from users. The resources available through TIE-In aremore » typically laboratory-developed applications that are used to help design, analyze, and test components in the nation`s nuclear stockpile. Many of these applications can also be used by US companies for non-weapons-related work. TIE-In allows these industry partners to obtain laboratory-developed technical solutions without requiring them to duplicate the technical resources (people, hardware, and software) at Sandia.« less

USER'S GUIDE TO THE PERSONAL COMPUTER VERSION OF THE BIOGENIC EMISSIONS INVENTORY SYSTEM (PC-BEIS2)

EPA Science Inventory

The document is a user's guide for an updated Personal Computer version of the Biogenic Emissions Inventory System (PC-BEIS2), allowing users to estimate hourly emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and soil nitrogen oxide emissions for any county in the contig...

MIRADS-2 user's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

An on-line data storage and retrieval system which allows the user to extract and process information from stored data bases is described. The capabilities of the system are provided by a general purpose computer program containing several functional modules. The modules contained in MIRADS are briefly described along with user terminal operation procedures and MIRADS commands.

User's Guide for the Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation (C-MAPSS): Version 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Yuan; Frederick, Dean K.; DeCastro, Jonathan A.; Litt, Jonathan S.; Chan, William W.

2012-01-01

This report is a Users Guide for version 2 of the NASA-developed Commercial Modular Aero-Propulsion System Simulation (C-MAPSS) software, which is a transient simulation of a large commercial turbofan engine (up to 90,000-lb thrust) with a realistic engine control system. The software supports easy access to health, control, and engine parameters through a graphical user interface (GUI). C-MAPSS v.2 has some enhancements over the original, including three actuators rather than one, the addition of actuator and sensor dynamics, and an improved controller, while retaining or improving on the convenience and user-friendliness of the original. C-MAPSS v.2 provides the user with a graphical turbofan engine simulation environment in which advanced algorithms can be implemented and tested. C-MAPSS can run user-specified transient simulations, and it can generate state-space linear models of the nonlinear engine model at an operating point. The code has a number of GUI screens that allow point-and-click operation, and have editable fields for user-specified input. The software includes an atmospheric model which allows simulation of engine operation at altitudes from sea level to 40,000 ft, Mach numbers from 0 to 0.90, and ambient temperatures from -60 to 103 F. The package also includes a power-management system that allows the engine to be operated over a wide range of thrust levels throughout the full range of flight conditions.

Graphical Language for Data Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alphonso, Keith

2011-01-01

A graphical language for processing data allows processing elements to be connected with virtual wires that represent data flows between processing modules. The processing of complex data, such as lidar data, requires many different algorithms to be applied. The purpose of this innovation is to automate the processing of complex data, such as LIDAR, without the need for complex scripting and programming languages. The system consists of a set of user-interface components that allow the user to drag and drop various algorithmic and processing components onto a process graph. By working graphically, the user can completely visualize the process flow and create complex diagrams. This innovation supports the nesting of graphs, such that a graph can be included in another graph as a single step for processing. In addition to the user interface components, the system includes a set of .NET classes that represent the graph internally. These classes provide the internal system representation of the graphical user interface. The system includes a graph execution component that reads the internal representation of the graph (as described above) and executes that graph. The execution of the graph follows the interpreted model of execution in that each node is traversed and executed from the original internal representation. In addition, there are components that allow external code elements, such as algorithms, to be easily integrated into the system, thus making the system infinitely expandable.

Stand-alone digital data storage control system including user control interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, Kenneth D. (Inventor); Gray, David L. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

A storage control system includes an apparatus and method for user control of a storage interface to operate a storage medium to store data obtained by a real-time data acquisition system. Digital data received in serial format from the data acquisition system is first converted to a parallel format and then provided to the storage interface. The operation of the storage interface is controlled in accordance with instructions based on user control input from a user. Also, a user status output is displayed in accordance with storage data obtained from the storage interface. By allowing the user to control and monitor the operation of the storage interface, a stand-alone, user-controllable data storage system is provided for storing the digital data obtained by a real-time data acquisition system.

Systems and methods for interactive virtual reality process control and simulation

DOEpatents

Daniel, Jr., William E.; Whitney, Michael A.

2001-01-01

A system for visualizing, controlling and managing information includes a data analysis unit for interpreting and classifying raw data using analytical techniques. A data flow coordination unit routes data from its source to other components within the system. A data preparation unit handles the graphical preparation of the data and a data rendering unit presents the data in a three-dimensional interactive environment where the user can observe, interact with, and interpret the data. A user can view the information on various levels, from a high overall process level view, to a view illustrating linkage between variables, to view the hard data itself, or to view results of an analysis of the data. The system allows a user to monitor a physical process in real-time and further allows the user to manage and control the information in a manner not previously possible.

System Engineering Concept Demonstration, Effort Summary. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-12-01

involve only the system software, user frameworks and user tools. U •User Tool....s , Catalyst oExternal 00 Computer Framwork P OSystems • •~ Sysytem...analysis, synthesis, optimization, conceptual design of Catalyst. The paper discusses the definition, design, test, and evaluation; operational concept...This approach will allow system engineering The conceptual requirements for the Process Model practitioners to recognize and tailor the model. This

User's Manual for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS) Software: Version 3

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cuffney, Thomas F.

2003-01-01

The Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS) software provides an accurate, consistent, and efficient mechanism for analyzing invertebrate data collected as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program and stored in the Biological Transactional Database (Bio-TDB). The IDAS software is a stand-alone program for personal computers that run Microsoft (MS) Windows?. It allows users to read data downloaded from Bio-TDB and stored either as MS Excel? or MS Access? files. The program consists of five modules. The Edit Data module allows the user to subset, combine, delete, and summarize community data. The Data Preparation module allows the user to select the type(s) of sample(s) to process, calculate densities, delete taxa based on laboratory processing notes, combine lifestages or keep them separate, select a lowest taxonomic level for analysis, delete rare taxa, and resolve taxonomic ambiguities. The Calculate Community Metrics module allows the user to calculate over 130 community metrics, including metrics based on organism tolerances and functional feeding groups. The Calculate Diversities and Similarities module allows the user to calculate nine diversity and eight similarity indices. The Data export module allows the user to export data to other software packages and produce tables of community data that can be imported into spreadsheet and word-processing programs. Though the IDAS program was developed to process invertebrate data downloaded from USGS databases, it will work with other data sets that are converted to the USGS (Bio-TDB) format. Consequently, the data manipulation, analysis, and export procedures provided by the IDAS program can be used by anyone involved in using benthic macroinvertebrates in applied or basic research.

Advanced software development workstation. Engineering scripting language graphical editor: DRAFT design document

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The Engineering Scripting Language (ESL) is a language designed to allow nonprogramming users to write Higher Order Language (HOL) programs by drawing directed graphs to represent the program and having the system generate the corresponding program in HOL. The ESL system supports user generation of HOL programs through the manipulation of directed graphs. The components of this graphs (nodes, ports, and connectors) are objects each of which has its own properties and property values. The purpose of the ESL graphical editor is to allow the user to create or edit graph objects which represent programs.

Analyzing Feedback Control Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, Frank H.; Downing, John P.

1987-01-01

Interactive controls analysis (INCA) program developed to provide user-friendly environment for design and analysis of linear control systems, primarily feedback control. Designed for use with both small- and large-order systems. Using interactive-graphics capability, INCA user quickly plots root locus, frequency response, or time response of either continuous-time system or sampled-data system. Configuration and parameters easily changed, allowing user to design compensation networks and perform sensitivity analyses in very convenient manner. Written in Pascal and FORTRAN.

The ELLIPSO (tm) system: Elliptical low orbits for mobile communications and other optimum system elements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castiel, David

1991-01-01

On 5 Nov. 1990, Ellipsat filed with the FCC the first application to provide voice communication services via low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. The proposed system, ELLIPSO, aims at achieving end-user costs comparable to those in the cellular industry. On 3 Jun. 1991 Ellipsat filed for the second complement of its system. Ellipsat was also the first company to propose combined position determination and mobile voice services via low-earth orbiting satellites. Ellipsat is still the only proponent of elliptical orbits for any commercial system in the United States. ELLIPSO uses a spectrum efficient combination of FDMA and CDMA techniques. Ellipsat's strategy is to tailor required capacity to user demand, reduce initial system costs and investment risks, and allow the provision of services at affordable end-user prices. ELLIPSO offers optimum features in all the components of its system, elliptical orbits, small satellites, integrated protocol and signalling system, integrated end-user electronics, novel marketing approach based on the cooperation with the tenets of mobile communications, end-user costs that are affordable, and a low risk approach as deployment is tailored to the growth of its customer base. The efficient design of the ELLIPSO constellation and system allows estimated end-user costs in the $.50 per minute range, five to six times less than any other system of comparable capability.

Paper simulation techniques in user requirements analysis for interactive computer systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsey, H. R.; Atwood, M. E.; Willoughby, J. K.

1979-01-01

This paper describes the use of a technique called 'paper simulation' in the analysis of user requirements for interactive computer systems. In a paper simulation, the user solves problems with the aid of a 'computer', as in normal man-in-the-loop simulation. In this procedure, though, the computer does not exist, but is simulated by the experimenters. This allows simulated problem solving early in the design effort, and allows the properties and degree of structure of the system and its dialogue to be varied. The technique, and a method of analyzing the results, are illustrated with examples from a recent paper simulation exercise involving a Space Shuttle flight design task

User-Oriented Project Accounting System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hess, Larry G.; Alcorn, Lisa S.

1990-01-01

The project accounting system used by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Chemical Sciences exchanges financial data with the campus' central accounting system and allows integration of this information with user-entered data to produce an easily read, fully obligated project accounting statement for the budget and period…

Integrating Actionable User-defined Faceted Rules into the Hybrid Science Data System for Advanced Rapid Imaging & Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manipon, G. J. M.; Hua, H.; Owen, S. E.; Sacco, G. F.; Agram, P. S.; Moore, A. W.; Yun, S. H.; Fielding, E. J.; Lundgren, P.; Rosen, P. A.; Webb, F.; Liu, Z.; Smith, A. T.; Wilson, B. D.; Simons, M.; Poland, M. P.; Cervelli, P. F.

2014-12-01

The Hybrid Science Data System (HySDS) scalably powers the ingestion, metadata extraction, cataloging, high-volume data processing, and publication of the geodetic data products for the Advanced Rapid Imaging & Analysis for Monitoring Hazard (ARIA-MH) project at JPL. HySDS uses a heterogeneous set of worker nodes from private & public clouds as well as virtual & bare-metal machines to perform every aspect of the traditional science data system. For our science data users, the forefront of HySDS is the facet search interface, FacetView, which allows them to browse, filter, and access the published products. Users are able to explore the collection of product metadata information and apply multiple filters to constrain the result set down to their particular interests. It allows them to download these faceted products for further analysis and generation of derived products. However, we have also employed a novel approach to faceting where it is also used to apply constraints for custom monitoring of products, system resources, and triggers for automated data processing. The power of the facet search interface is well documented across various domains and its usefulness is rooted in the current state of existence of metadata. However, user needs usually extend beyond what is currently present in the data system. A user interested in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data over Kilauea will download them from FacetView but would also want email notification of future incoming scenes. The user may even want that data pushed to a remote workstation for automated processing. Better still, these future products could trigger HySDS to run the user's analysis on its array of worker nodes, on behalf of the user, and ingest the resulting derived products. We will present our findings in integrating an ancillary, user-defined, system-driven processing system for HySDS that allows users to define faceted rules based on facet constraints and triggers actions when new SAR data products arrive that match the constraints. We will discuss use cases where users have defined rules for the automated generation of InSAR derived products: interferograms for California and Kilauea, time-series analyses, and damage proxy maps. These findings are relevant for science data system development of the proposed NASA-ISRO SAR mission.

Data Discovery and Access via the Heliophysics Events Knowledgebase (HEK)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Somani, A.; Hurlburt, N. E.; Schrijver, C. J.; Cheung, M.; Freeland, S.; Slater, G. L.; Seguin, R.; Timmons, R.; Green, S.; Chang, L.; Kobashi, A.; Jaffey, A.

2011-12-01

The HEK is a integrated system which helps direct scientists to solar events and data from a variety of providers. The system is fully operational and adoption of HEK has been growing since the launch of NASA's SDO mission. In this presentation we describe the different components that comprise HEK. The Heliophysics Events Registry (HER) and Heliophysics Coverage Registry (HCR) form the two major databases behind the system. The HCR allows the user to search on coverage event metadata for a variety of instruments. The HER allows the user to search on annotated event metadata for a variety of instruments. Both the HCR and HER are accessible via a web API which can return search results in machine readable formats (e.g. XML and JSON). A variety of SolarSoft services are also provided to allow users to search the HEK as well as obtain and manipulate data. Other components include - the Event Detection System (EDS) continually runs feature finding algorithms on SDO data to populate the HER with relevant events, - A web form for users to request SDO data cutouts for multiple AIA channels as well as HMI line-of-sight magnetograms, - iSolSearch, which allows a user to browse events in the HER and search for specific events over a specific time interval, all within a graphical web page, - Panorama, which is the software tool used for rapid visualization of large volumes of solar image data in multiple channels/wavelengths. The user can also easily create WYSIWYG movies and launch the Annotator tool to describe events and features. - EVACS, which provides a JOGL powered client for the HER and HCR. EVACS displays the searched for events on a full disk magnetogram of the sun while displaying more detailed information for events.

An open source web interface for linking models to infrastructure system databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knox, S.; Mohamed, K.; Harou, J. J.; Rheinheimer, D. E.; Medellin-Azuara, J.; Meier, P.; Tilmant, A.; Rosenberg, D. E.

2016-12-01

Models of networked engineered resource systems such as water or energy systems are often built collaboratively with developers from different domains working at different locations. These models can be linked to large scale real world databases, and they are constantly being improved and extended. As the development and application of these models becomes more sophisticated, and the computing power required for simulations and/or optimisations increases, so has the need for online services and tools which enable the efficient development and deployment of these models. Hydra Platform is an open source, web-based data management system, which allows modellers of network-based models to remotely store network topology and associated data in a generalised manner, allowing it to serve multiple disciplines. Hydra Platform uses a web API using JSON to allow external programs (referred to as `Apps') to interact with its stored networks and perform actions such as importing data, running models, or exporting the networks to different formats. Hydra Platform supports multiple users accessing the same network and has a suite of functions for managing users and data. We present ongoing development in Hydra Platform, the Hydra Web User Interface, through which users can collaboratively manage network data and models in a web browser. The web interface allows multiple users to graphically access, edit and share their networks, run apps and view results. Through apps, which are located on the server, the web interface can give users access to external data sources and models without the need to install or configure any software. This also ensures model results can be reproduced by removing platform or version dependence. Managing data and deploying models via the web interface provides a way for multiple modellers to collaboratively manage data, deploy and monitor model runs and analyse results.

Interfacing HTCondor-CE with OpenStack

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bockelman, B.; Caballero Bejar, J.; Hover, J.

2017-10-01

Over the past few years, Grid Computing technologies have reached a high level of maturity. One key aspect of this success has been the development and adoption of newer Compute Elements to interface the external Grid users with local batch systems. These new Compute Elements allow for better handling of jobs requirements and a more precise management of diverse local resources. However, despite this level of maturity, the Grid Computing world is lacking diversity in local execution platforms. As Grid Computing technologies have historically been driven by the needs of the High Energy Physics community, most resource providers run the platform (operating system version and architecture) that best suits the needs of their particular users. In parallel, the development of virtualization and cloud technologies has accelerated recently, making available a variety of solutions, both commercial and academic, proprietary and open source. Virtualization facilitates performing computational tasks on platforms not available at most computing sites. This work attempts to join the technologies, allowing users to interact with computing sites through one of the standard Computing Elements, HTCondor-CE, but running their jobs within VMs on a local cloud platform, OpenStack, when needed. The system will re-route, in a transparent way, end user jobs into dynamically-launched VM worker nodes when they have requirements that cannot be satisfied by the static local batch system nodes. Also, once the automated mechanisms are in place, it becomes straightforward to allow an end user to invoke a custom Virtual Machine at the site. This will allow cloud resources to be used without requiring the user to establish a separate account. Both scenarios are described in this work.

Sensor fusion and augmented reality with the SAFIRE system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saponaro, Philip; Treible, Wayne; Phelan, Brian; Sherbondy, Kelly; Kambhamettu, Chandra

2018-04-01

The Spectrally Agile Frequency-Incrementing Reconfigurable (SAFIRE) mobile radar system was developed and exercised at an arid U.S. test site. The system can detect hidden target using radar, a global positioning system (GPS), dual stereo color cameras, and dual stereo thermal cameras. An Augmented Reality (AR) software interface allows the user to see a single fused video stream containing the SAR, color, and thermal imagery. The stereo sensors allow the AR system to display both fused 2D imagery and 3D metric reconstructions, where the user can "fly" around the 3D model and switch between the modalities.

Virtual hand: a 3D tactile interface to virtual environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogowitz, Bernice E.; Borrel, Paul

2008-02-01

We introduce a novel system that allows users to experience the sensation of touch in a computer graphics environment. In this system, the user places his/her hand on an array of pins, which is moved about space on a 6 degree-of-freedom robot arm. The surface of the pins defines a surface in the virtual world. This "virtual hand" can move about the virtual world. When the virtual hand encounters an object in the virtual world, the heights of the pins are adjusted so that they represent the object's shape, surface, and texture. A control system integrates pin and robot arm motions to transmit information about objects in the computer graphics world to the user. It also allows the user to edit, change and move the virtual objects, shapes and textures. This system provides a general framework for touching, manipulating, and modifying objects in a 3-D computer graphics environment, which may be useful in a wide range of applications, including computer games, computer aided design systems, and immersive virtual worlds.

Sharing intelligence: Decision-making interactions between users and software in MAESTRO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Geoffroy, Amy L.; Gohring, John R.; Britt, Daniel L.

1991-01-01

By combining the best of automated and human decision-making in scheduling many advantages can accrue. The joint performance of the user and system is potentially much better than either alone. Features of the MAESTRO scheduling system serve to illustrate concepts of user/software cooperation. MAESTRO may be operated at a user-determinable and dynamic level of autonomy. Because the system allows so much flexibility in the allocation of decision-making responsibilities, and provides users with a wealth of information and other support for their own decision-making, better overall schedules may result.

Tutoring and Multi-Agent Systems: Modeling from Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennane, Abdellah

2010-01-01

Tutoring systems become complex and are offering varieties of pedagogical software as course modules, exercises, simulators, systems online or offline, for single user or multi-user. This complexity motivates new forms and approaches to the design and the modelling. Studies and research in this field introduce emergent concepts that allow the…

Hiding the system from the user: Moving from complex mental models to elegant metaphors

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

Curtis W. Nielsen; David J. Bruemmer

2007-08-01

In previous work, increased complexity of robot behaviors and the accompanying interface design often led to operator confusion and/or a fight for control between the robot and operator. We believe the reason for the conflict was that the design of the interface and interactions presented too much of the underlying robot design model to the operator. Since the design model includes the implementation of sensors, behaviors, and sophisticated algorithms, the result was that the operator’s cognitive efforts were focused on understanding the design of the robot system as opposed to focusing on the task at hand. This paper illustrates howmore » this very problem emerged at the INL and how the implementation of new metaphors for interaction has allowed us to hide the design model from the user and allow the user to focus more on the task at hand. Supporting the user’s focus on the task rather than on the design model allows increased use of the system and significant performance improvement in a search task with novice users.« less

Location Privacy in RFID Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadeghi, Ahmad-Reza; Visconti, Ivan; Wachsmann, Christian

RFID-enabled systems allow fully automatic wireless identification of objects and are rapidly becoming a pervasive technology with various applications. However, despite their benefits, RFID-based systems also pose challenging risks, in particular concerning user privacy. Indeed, improvident use of RFID can disclose sensitive information about users and their locations allowing detailed user profiles. Hence, it is crucial to identify and to enforce appropriate security and privacy requirements of RFID applications (that are also compliant to legislation). This chapter first discusses security and privacy requirements for RFID-enabled systems, focusing in particular on location privacy issues. Then it explores the advances in RFID applications, stressing the security and privacy shortcomings of existing proposals. Finally, it presents new promising directions for privacy-preserving RFID systems, where as a case study we focus electronic tickets (e-tickets) for public transportation.

GEECS (Generalized Equipment and Experiment Control System)

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

GONSALVES, ANTHONY; DESHMUKH, AALHAD

2017-01-12

GEECS (Generalized Equipment and Experiment Control System) monitors and controls equipment distributed across a network, performs experiments by scanning input variables, and collects and stores various types of data synchronously from devices. Examples of devices include cameras, motors and pressure gauges. GEEKS is based upon LabView graphical object oriented programming (GOOP), allowing for a modular and scalable framework. Data is published for subscription of an arbitrary number of variables over TCP. A secondary framework allows easy development of graphical user interfaces for a combined control of any available devices on the control system without the need of programming knowledge. Thismore » allows for rapid integration of GEECS into a wide variety of systems. A database interface provides for devise and process configuration while allowing the user to save large quantities of data to local or network drives.« less

Protecting count queries in study design

PubMed Central

Sarwate, Anand D; Boxwala, Aziz A

2012-01-01

Objective Today's clinical research institutions provide tools for researchers to query their data warehouses for counts of patients. To protect patient privacy, counts are perturbed before reporting; this compromises their utility for increased privacy. The goal of this study is to extend current query answer systems to guarantee a quantifiable level of privacy and allow users to tailor perturbations to maximize the usefulness according to their needs. Methods A perturbation mechanism was designed in which users are given options with respect to scale and direction of the perturbation. The mechanism translates the true count, user preferences, and a privacy level within administrator-specified bounds into a probability distribution from which the perturbed count is drawn. Results Users can significantly impact the scale and direction of the count perturbation and can receive more accurate final cohort estimates. Strong and semantically meaningful differential privacy is guaranteed, providing for a unified privacy accounting system that can support role-based trust levels. This study provides an open source web-enabled tool to investigate visually and numerically the interaction between system parameters, including required privacy level and user preference settings. Conclusions Quantifying privacy allows system administrators to provide users with a privacy budget and to monitor its expenditure, enabling users to control the inevitable loss of utility. While current measures of privacy are conservative, this system can take advantage of future advances in privacy measurement. The system provides new ways of trading off privacy and utility that are not provided in current study design systems. PMID:22511018

Protecting count queries in study design.

PubMed

Vinterbo, Staal A; Sarwate, Anand D; Boxwala, Aziz A

2012-01-01

Today's clinical research institutions provide tools for researchers to query their data warehouses for counts of patients. To protect patient privacy, counts are perturbed before reporting; this compromises their utility for increased privacy. The goal of this study is to extend current query answer systems to guarantee a quantifiable level of privacy and allow users to tailor perturbations to maximize the usefulness according to their needs. A perturbation mechanism was designed in which users are given options with respect to scale and direction of the perturbation. The mechanism translates the true count, user preferences, and a privacy level within administrator-specified bounds into a probability distribution from which the perturbed count is drawn. Users can significantly impact the scale and direction of the count perturbation and can receive more accurate final cohort estimates. Strong and semantically meaningful differential privacy is guaranteed, providing for a unified privacy accounting system that can support role-based trust levels. This study provides an open source web-enabled tool to investigate visually and numerically the interaction between system parameters, including required privacy level and user preference settings. Quantifying privacy allows system administrators to provide users with a privacy budget and to monitor its expenditure, enabling users to control the inevitable loss of utility. While current measures of privacy are conservative, this system can take advantage of future advances in privacy measurement. The system provides new ways of trading off privacy and utility that are not provided in current study design systems.

Research and Development for an Operational Information Ecology: The User-System Interface Agent Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Srivastava, Sadanand; deLamadrid, James

1998-01-01

The User System Interface Agent (USIA) is a special type of software agent which acts as the "middle man" between a human user and an information processing environment. USIA consists of a group of cooperating agents which are responsible for assisting users in obtaining information processing services intuitively and efficiently. Some of the main features of USIA include: (1) multiple interaction modes and (2) user-specific and stereotype modeling and adaptation. This prototype system provides us with a development platform towards the realization of an operational information ecology. In the first phase of this project we focus on the design and implementation of prototype system of the User-System Interface Agent (USIA). The second face of USIA allows user interaction via a restricted query language as well as through a taxonomy of windows. In third phase the USIA system architecture was revised.

Multiple Interests of Users in Collaborative Tagging Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Au Yeung, Ching-Man; Gibbins, Nicholas; Shadbolt, Nigel

Performance of recommender systems depends on whether the user profiles contain accurate information about the interests of the users, and this in turn relies on whether enough information about their interests can be collected. Collaborative tagging systems allow users to use their own words to describe their favourite resources, resulting in some user-generated categorisation schemes commonly known as folksonomies. Folksonomies thus contain rich information about the interests of the users, which can be used to support various recommender systems. Our analysis of the folksonomy in Delicious reveals that the interests of a single user can be very diverse. Traditional methods for representing interests of users are usually not able to reflect such diversity. We propose a method to construct user profiles of multiple interests from folksonomies based on a network clustering technique. Our evaluation shows that the proposed method is able to generate user profiles which reflect the diversity of user interests and can be used as a basis of providing more focused recommendation to the users.

Pilot Inventory Complex Adaptive System (PICAS): An Artificial Life Approach to Managing Pilot Retention.

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-03-01

mates) and base their behaviors on this interactive information. This alone defines the nature of a complex adaptive system and it is based on this...world policy initiatives. 2.3.4. User Interaction Building the model with extensive user interaction gives the entire system a more appealing feel...complex behavior that hopefully mimics trends observed in reality . User interaction also allows for easier justification of assumptions used within

Developing a Natural User Interface and Facial Recognition System With OpenCV and the Microsoft Kinect

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gutensohn, Michael

2018-01-01

The task for this project was to design, develop, test, and deploy a facial recognition system for the Kennedy Space Center Augmented/Virtual Reality Lab. This system will serve as a means of user authentication as part of the NUI of the lab. The overarching goal is to create a seamless user interface that will allow the user to initiate and interact with AR and VR experiences without ever needing to use a mouse or keyboard at any step in the process.

Software for Remote Monitoring of Space-Station Payloads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, Michelle; Lippincott, Jeff; Chubb, Steve; Whitaker, Jimmy; Gillis, Robert; Sellers, Donna; Sims, Chris; Rice, James

2003-01-01

Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of application programs that enable geographically dispersed users to monitor scientific payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). TReK provides local ground support services that can simultaneously receive, process, record, playback, and display data from multiple sources. TReK also provides interfaces to use the remote services provided by the Payload Operations Integration Center which manages all ISS payloads. An application programming interface (API) allows for payload users to gain access to all data processed by TReK and allows payload-specific tools and programs to be built or integrated with TReK. Used in conjunction with other ISS-provided tools, TReK provides the ability to integrate payloads with the operational ground system early in the lifecycle. This reduces the potential for operational problems and provides "cradle-to-grave" end-to-end operations. TReK contains user guides and self-paced tutorials along with training applications to allow the user to become familiar with the system.

Problem Reporting System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Potter, Don; Serian, Charles; Sweet, Robert; Sapir, Babak; Gamez, Enrique; Mays, David

2008-01-01

The Problem Reporting System (PRS) is a Web application, running on two Web servers (load-balanced) and two database servers (RAID-5), which establishes a system for submission, editing, and sharing of reports to manage risk assessment of anomalies identified in NASA's flight projects. PRS consolidates diverse anomaly-reporting systems, maintains a rich database set, and incorporates a robust engine, which allows tracking of any hardware, software, or paper process by configuring an appropriate life cycle. Global and specific project administration and setup tools allow lifecycle tailoring, along with customizable controls for user, e-mail, notifications, and more. PRS is accessible via the World Wide Web for authorized user at most any location. Upon successful log-in, the user receives a customizable window, which displays time-critical 'To Do' items (anomalies requiring the user s input before the system moves the anomaly to the next phase of the lifecycle), anomalies originated by the user, anomalies the user has addressed, and custom queries that can be saved for future use. Access controls exist depending on a user's role as system administrator, project administrator, user, or developer, and then, further by association with user, project, subsystem, company, or item with provisions for business-to-business exclusions, limitations on access according to the covert or overt nature of a given project, all with multiple layers of filtration, as needed. Reporting of metrics is built in. There is a provision for proxy access (in which the user may choose to grant one or more other users to view screens and perform actions as though they were the user, during any part of a tracking life cycle - especially useful during tight build schedules and vacations to keep things moving). The system also provides users the ability to have an anomaly link to or notify other systems, including QA Inspection Reports, Safety, GIDEP (Government-Industry Data Exchange Program) Alert, Corrective Actions, and Lessons Learned. The PRS tracking engine was designed as a very extensible and scalable system, able to support additional applications, with future development possibilities already discussed, including Incident Surprise Anomalies (for anomalies occurring during Operations phases of NASA Flight projects), GIDEP and NASA Alerts, and others.

Information Switching Processor (ISP) contention analysis and control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shyy, D.; Inukai, T.

1993-01-01

Future satellite communications, as a viable means of communications and an alternative to terrestrial networks, demand flexibility and low end-user cost. On-board switching/processing satellites potentially provide these features, allowing flexible interconnection among multiple spot beams, direct to the user communications services using very small aperture terminals (VSAT's), independent uplink and downlink access/transmission system designs optimized to user's traffic requirements, efficient TDM downlink transmission, and better link performance. A flexible switching system on the satellite in conjunction with low-cost user terminals will likely benefit future satellite network users.

Session management for web-based healthcare applications.

PubMed Central

Wei, L.; Sengupta, S.

1999-01-01

In health care systems, users may access multiple applications during one session of interaction with the system. However, users must sign on to each application individually, and it is difficult to maintain a common context among these applications. We are developing a session management system for web-based applications using LDAP directory service, which will allow single sign-on to multiple web-based applications, and maintain a common context among those applications for the user. This paper discusses the motivations for building this system, the system architecture, and the challenges of our approach, such as the session objects management for the user, and session security. PMID:10566511

The development of augmented video system on postcards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Chien-Hsu; Chou, Yin-Ju

2013-03-01

This study focuses on development of augmented video system on traditional picture postcards. The system will provide users to print out the augmented reality marker on the sticker to stick on the picture postcard, and it also allows users to record their real time image and video to augment on that stick marker. According dynamic image, users can share travel moods, greeting, and travel experience to their friends. Without changing in the traditional picture postcards, we develop augmented video system on them by augmented reality (AR) technology. It not only keeps the functions of traditional picture postcards, but also enhances user's experience to keep the user's memories and emotional expression by augmented digital media information on them.

Design criteria for a PC-based common user interface to remote information systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

1984-01-01

A set of design criteria are presented which will allow the implementation of an interface to multiple remote information systems on a microcomputer. The focus of the design description is on providing the user with the functionality required to retrieve, store and manipulate data residing in remote information systems through the utilization of a standardized interface system. The intent is to spare the user from learning the details of retrieval from specific systems while retaining the full capabilities of each system. The system design includes multi-level capabilities to enhance usability by a wide range of users and utilizes microcomputer graphics capabilities where applicable. A data collection subsystem for evaluation purposes is also described.

Web-based DAQ systems: connecting the user and electronics front-ends

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenzi, Thomas

2016-12-01

Web technologies are quickly evolving and are gaining in computational power and flexibility, allowing for a paradigm shift in the field of Data Acquisition (DAQ) systems design. Modern web browsers offer the possibility to create intricate user interfaces and are able to process and render complex data. Furthermore, new web standards such as WebSockets allow for fast real-time communication between the server and the user with minimal overhead. Those improvements make it possible to move the control and monitoring operations from the back-end servers directly to the user and to the front-end electronics, thus reducing the complexity of the data acquisition chain. Moreover, web-based DAQ systems offer greater flexibility, accessibility, and maintainability on the user side than traditional applications which often lack portability and ease of use. As proof of concept, we implemented a simplified DAQ system on a mid-range Spartan6 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development board coupled to a digital front-end readout chip. The system is connected to the Internet and can be accessed from any web browser. It is composed of custom code to control the front-end readout and of a dual soft-core Microblaze processor to communicate with the client.

Linking User Identities Across the DataONE Federation of Data Repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, M. B.; Mecum, B.; Leinfelder, B.; Jones, C. S.; Walker, L.

2016-12-01

DataONE provides services for identifying, authenticating, and authorizing researchers to access and contribute data to repositories within the DataONE federation. In the earth sciences, thousands of institutional and disciplinary repositories have created their own user identity and authentication systems with their own user directory based on a database or web content management systems. Thus, researchers have many identities that are neither linked nor interoperable, making it difficult to reference the identity of these users across systems. Key user information is hidden, and only a non-disambiguated name is often available. From a sample of 160,000 data sets within DataONE, a super-majority of references to the data creators lack even an email address. In an attempt to disambiguate these people via the GeoLink project, we conservatively estimate they represent at least 57,000 unique identities, but without a clear user identifier, there could be as many as 223,000. Interoperability among repositories is critical to improving the scope of scientific synthesis and capabilities for research collaboration. While many have focused on the convenience of Single Sign-On (SSO), we have found that sharing user identifiers is far more useful for interoperability. With an unambiguous user identity in incoming metadata, DataONE has built user-profiles that present that user's data across repositories, that link users and their organizational affiliations, and that allow users to work collaboratively in private groups that span repository systems. DataONE's user identity solution leverages existing systems such as InCommon, CILogon, Google, and ORCID to not further proliferate user identities. DataONE provides a core service allowing users to link their multiple identities so that authenticating with one identity (e.g., ORCID) can authorize access to data protected via another identity (e.g., InCommon). Currently, DataONE is using ORCID identities to link and identify users, but challenges must still be overcome to support historical records for which ORCIDs can not be used because the associated people are unavailable to confirm their identity. DataONE's identity systems facilitate crosslinking between user identities and scientific metadata to accelerate collaboration and synthesis.

ULDA user's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perry, Charleen; Driessen, Cornelius; Pasian, Fabio

1989-01-01

The Uniform Low Dispersion Archive (ULDA) is a software system which, in one sitting, allows one to obtain copies on one's personal computer of those International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) low dispersion spectra that are of interest to the user. Overviews and use instructions are given for two programs, one to search for and select spectra, and the other to convert those spectra into a form suitable for the user's image processing system.

Waste Management Information System (WMIS) User Guide

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

R. E. Broz

2008-12-22

This document provides the user of the Waste Management Information System (WMIS) instructions on how to use the WMIS software. WMIS allows users to initiate, track, and close waste packages. The modular design supports integration and utilization of data throuh the various stages of waste management. The phases of the waste management work process include generation, designation, packaging, container management, procurement, storage, treatment, transportation, and disposal.

The Department of Defense and the Power of Cloud Computing: Weighing Acceptable Cost Versus Acceptable Risk

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-01

the DOD will put DOD systems and data at a risk level comparable to that of their neighbors in the cloud. Just as a user browses a Web page on the...proxy servers for controlling user access to Web pages, and large-scale storage for data management. Each of these devices allows access to the...user to develop applications. Acunetics.com describes Web applications as “computer programs allowing Website visitors to submit and retrieve data

A Web Architecture to Geographically Interrogate CHIRPS Rainfall and eMODIS NDVI for Land Use Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burks, Jason E.; Limaye, Ashutosh

2014-01-01

Monitoring of rainfall and vegetation over the continent of Africa is important for assessing the status of crop health and agriculture, along with long-term changes in land use change. These issues can be addressed through examination of long-term precipitation (rainfall) data sets and remote sensing of land surface vegetation and land use types. Two products have been used previously to address these goals: the Climate Hazard Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) rainfall data, and multi-day composites of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the USGS eMODIS product. Combined, these are very large data sets that require unique tools and architecture to facilitate a variety of data analysis methods or data exploration by the end user community. To address these needs, a web-enabled system has been developed to allow end-users to interrogate CHIRPS rainfall and eMODIS NDVI data over the continent of Africa. The architecture allows end-users to use custom defined geometries, or the use of predefined political boundaries in their interrogation of the data. The massive amount of data interrogated by the system allows the end-users with only a web browser to extract vital information in order to investigate land use change and its causes. The system can be used to generate daily, monthly and yearly averages over a geographical area and range of dates of interest to the user. It also provides analysis of trends in precipitation or vegetation change for times of interest. The data provided back to the end-user is displayed in graphical form and can be exported for use in other, external tools. The development of this tool has significantly decreased the investment and requirements for end-users to use these two important datasets, while also allowing the flexibility to the end-user to limit the search to the area of interest.

AFTER: Batch jobs on the Apollo ring

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

Hofstadler, P.

1987-07-01

This document describes AFTER, a system that allows users of an Apollo ring to submit batch jobs to run without leaving themselves logged in to the ring. Jobs may be submitted to run at a later time or on a different node. Results from the batch job are mailed to the user through some designated mail system. AFTER features an understandable user interface, good on line help, and site customization. This manual serves primarily as a user's guide to AFTER although administration and installation are covered for completeness.

The Cortex project A quasi-real-time information system to build control systems for high energy physics experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barillere, R.; Cabel, H.; Chan, B.; Goulas, I.; Le Goff, J. M.; Vinot, L.; Willmott, C.; Milcent, H.; Huuskonen, P.

1994-12-01

The Cortex control information system framework is being developed at CERN. It offers basic functions to allow the sharing of information, control and analysis functions; it presents a uniform human interface for such information and functions; it permits upgrades and additions without code modification and it is sufficiently generic to allow its use by most of the existing or future control systems at CERN. Services will include standard interfaces to user-supplied functions, analysis, archive and event management. Cortex does not attempt to carry out the direct data acquisition or control of the devices; these are activities which are highly specific to the application and are best done by commercial systems or user-written programs. Instead, Cortex integrates these application-specific pieces and supports them by supplying other commonly needed facilities such as collaboration, analysis, diagnosis and user assistance.

An Interactive, Web-based High Performance Modeling Environment for Computational Epidemiology.

PubMed

Deodhar, Suruchi; Bisset, Keith R; Chen, Jiangzhuo; Ma, Yifei; Marathe, Madhav V

2014-07-01

We present an integrated interactive modeling environment to support public health epidemiology. The environment combines a high resolution individual-based model with a user-friendly web-based interface that allows analysts to access the models and the analytics back-end remotely from a desktop or a mobile device. The environment is based on a loosely-coupled service-oriented-architecture that allows analysts to explore various counter factual scenarios. As the modeling tools for public health epidemiology are getting more sophisticated, it is becoming increasingly hard for non-computational scientists to effectively use the systems that incorporate such models. Thus an important design consideration for an integrated modeling environment is to improve ease of use such that experimental simulations can be driven by the users. This is achieved by designing intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that allow users to design and analyze a computational experiment and steer the experiment based on the state of the system. A key feature of a system that supports this design goal is the ability to start, stop, pause and roll-back the disease propagation and intervention application process interactively. An analyst can access the state of the system at any point in time and formulate dynamic interventions based on additional information obtained through state assessment. In addition, the environment provides automated services for experiment set-up and management, thus reducing the overall time for conducting end-to-end experimental studies. We illustrate the applicability of the system by describing computational experiments based on realistic pandemic planning scenarios. The experiments are designed to demonstrate the system's capability and enhanced user productivity.

An Interactive, Web-based High Performance Modeling Environment for Computational Epidemiology

PubMed Central

Deodhar, Suruchi; Bisset, Keith R.; Chen, Jiangzhuo; Ma, Yifei; Marathe, Madhav V.

2014-01-01

We present an integrated interactive modeling environment to support public health epidemiology. The environment combines a high resolution individual-based model with a user-friendly web-based interface that allows analysts to access the models and the analytics back-end remotely from a desktop or a mobile device. The environment is based on a loosely-coupled service-oriented-architecture that allows analysts to explore various counter factual scenarios. As the modeling tools for public health epidemiology are getting more sophisticated, it is becoming increasingly hard for non-computational scientists to effectively use the systems that incorporate such models. Thus an important design consideration for an integrated modeling environment is to improve ease of use such that experimental simulations can be driven by the users. This is achieved by designing intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that allow users to design and analyze a computational experiment and steer the experiment based on the state of the system. A key feature of a system that supports this design goal is the ability to start, stop, pause and roll-back the disease propagation and intervention application process interactively. An analyst can access the state of the system at any point in time and formulate dynamic interventions based on additional information obtained through state assessment. In addition, the environment provides automated services for experiment set-up and management, thus reducing the overall time for conducting end-to-end experimental studies. We illustrate the applicability of the system by describing computational experiments based on realistic pandemic planning scenarios. The experiments are designed to demonstrate the system's capability and enhanced user productivity. PMID:25530914

Solar Water Heater

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

Skylab derived Heating System offers computerized control with an innovative voice synthesizer that literally allows the control unit to talk to the system user. It reports time of day, outside temperature and system temperature, and asks questions as to how the user wants the system programmed. Master Module collects energy from the Sun and either transfers it directly to the home water heater or stores it until needed.

Developing a Graphical User Interface for the ALSS Crop Planning Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koehlert, Erik

1997-01-01

The goal of my project was to create a graphical user interface for a prototype crop scheduler. The crop scheduler was developed by Dr. Jorge Leon and Laura Whitaker for the ALSS (Advanced Life Support System) program. The addition of a system-independent graphical user interface to the crop planning tool will make the application more accessible to a wider range of users and enhance its value as an analysis, design, and planning tool. My presentation will demonstrate the form and functionality of this interface. This graphical user interface allows users to edit system parameters stored in the file system. Data on the interaction of the crew, crops, and waste processing system with the available system resources is organized and labeled. Program output, which is stored in the file system, is also presented to the user in performance-time plots and organized charts. The menu system is designed to guide the user through analysis and decision making tasks, providing some help if necessary. The Java programming language was used to develop this interface in hopes of providing portability and remote operation.

An expert system for diagnosing environmentally induced spacecraft anomalies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rolincik, Mark; Lauriente, Michael; Koons, Harry C.; Gorney, David

1992-01-01

A new rule-based, machine independent analytical tool was designed for diagnosing spacecraft anomalies using an expert system. Expert systems provide an effective method for saving knowledge, allow computers to sift through large amounts of data pinpointing significant parts, and most importantly, use heuristics in addition to algorithms, which allow approximate reasoning and inference and the ability to attack problems not rigidly defined. The knowledge base consists of over two-hundred (200) rules and provides links to historical and environmental databases. The environmental causes considered are bulk charging, single event upsets (SEU), surface charging, and total radiation dose. The system's driver translates forward chaining rules into a backward chaining sequence, prompting the user for information pertinent to the causes considered. The use of heuristics frees the user from searching through large amounts of irrelevant information and allows the user to input partial information (varying degrees of confidence in an answer) or 'unknown' to any question. The modularity of the expert system allows for easy updates and modifications. It not only provides scientists with needed risk analysis and confidence not found in algorithmic programs, but is also an effective learning tool, and the window implementation makes it very easy to use. The system currently runs on a Micro VAX II at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The inference engine used is NASA's C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS).

Web-based Hyper Suprime-Cam Data Providing System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koike, M.; Furusawa, H.; Takata, T.; Price, P.; Okura, Y.; Yamada, Y.; Yamanoi, H.; Yasuda, N.; Bickerton, S.; Katayama, N.; Mineo, S.; Lupton, R.; Bosch, J.; Loomis, C.

2014-05-01

We describe a web-based user interface to retrieve Hyper Suprime-Cam data products, including images and. Users can access data directly from a graphical user interface or by writing a database SQL query. The system provides raw images, reduced images and stacked images (from multiple individual exposures), with previews available. Catalog queries can be executed in preview or queue mode, allowing for both exploratory and comprehensive investigations.

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

Davida, G.I.; Frankel, Y.; Matt, B.J.

In developing secure applications and systems, the designers often must incorporate secure user identification in the design specification. In this paper, the authors study secure off line authenticated user identification schemes based on a biometric system that can measure a user`s biometric accurately (up to some Hamming distance). The schemes presented here enhance identification and authorization in secure applications by binding a biometric template with authorization information on a token such as a magnetic strip. Also developed here are schemes specifically designed to minimize the compromise of a user`s private biometrics data, encapsulated in the authorization information, without requiring securemore » hardware tokens. In this paper the authors furthermore study the feasibility of biometrics performing as an enabling technology for secure system and application design. The authors investigate a new technology which allows a user`s biometrics to facilitate cryptographic mechanisms.« less

Checkpoint-Restart in User Space

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

CRUISE implements a user-space file system that stores data in main memory and transparently spills over to other storage, like local flash memory or the parallel file system, as needed. CRUISE also exposes file contents fo remote direct memory access, allowing external tools to copy files to the parallel file system in the background with reduced CPU interruption.

Intelligent user interface concept for space station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Comer, Edward; Donaldson, Cameron; Bailey, Elizabeth; Gilroy, Kathleen

1986-01-01

The space station computing system must interface with a wide variety of users, from highly skilled operations personnel to payload specialists from all over the world. The interface must accommodate a wide variety of operations from the space platform, ground control centers and from remote sites. As a result, there is a need for a robust, highly configurable and portable user interface that can accommodate the various space station missions. The concept of an intelligent user interface executive, written in Ada, that would support a number of advanced human interaction techniques, such as windowing, icons, color graphics, animation, and natural language processing is presented. The user interface would provide intelligent interaction by understanding the various user roles, the operations and mission, the current state of the environment and the current working context of the users. In addition, the intelligent user interface executive must be supported by a set of tools that would allow the executive to be easily configured and to allow rapid prototyping of proposed user dialogs. This capability would allow human engineering specialists acting in the role of dialog authors to define and validate various user scenarios. The set of tools required to support development of this intelligent human interface capability is discussed and the prototyping and validation efforts required for development of the Space Station's user interface are outlined.

Navy Occupational Health Information Management System (NOHIMS). Medical Exam Scheduling Module. Users’ Manual

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-01-16

Management System (HOHIMS) Industrial Hygiene (IH) Component database in order to perform these functions: (1) enroll and remove employees from Medical...The Medical Examination Scheduling (MES) module consists of a list of options that allow users to access the Navy Occupational Health Information

Analyzing a multimodal biometric system using real and virtual users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheidat, Tobias; Vielhauer, Claus

2007-02-01

Three main topics of recent research on multimodal biometric systems are addressed in this article: The lack of sufficiently large multimodal test data sets, the influence of cultural aspects and data protection issues of multimodal biometric data. In this contribution, different possibilities are presented to extend multimodal databases by generating so-called virtual users, which are created by combining single biometric modality data of different users. Comparative tests on databases containing real and virtual users based on a multimodal system using handwriting and speech are presented, to study to which degree the use of virtual multimodal databases allows conclusions with respect to recognition accuracy in comparison to real multimodal data. All tests have been carried out on databases created from donations from three different nationality groups. This allows to review the experimental results both in general and in context of cultural origin. The results show that in most cases the usage of virtual persons leads to lower accuracy than the usage of real users in terms of the measurement applied: the Equal Error Rate. Finally, this article will address the general question how the concept of virtual users may influence the data protection requirements for multimodal evaluation databases in the future.

Using component technology to facilitate external software reuse in ground-based planning systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chase, A.

2003-01-01

APGEN (Activity Plan GENerator - 314), a multi-mission planning tool, must interface with external software to vest serve its users. AP-GEN's original method for incorporating external software, the User-Defined library mechanism, has been very successful in allowing APGEN users access to external software functionality.

Use of StreamStats in the Upper French Broad River Basin, North Carolina: A Pilot Water-Resources Web Application

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wagner, Chad R.; Tighe, Kirsten C.; Terziotti, Silvia

2009-01-01

StreamStats is a Web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) application that was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) to provide access to an assortment of analytical tools that are useful for water-resources planning and management. StreamStats allows users to easily obtain streamflow statistics, basin characteristics, and descriptive information for USGS data-collection sites and selected ungaged sites. StreamStats also allows users to identify stream reaches upstream and downstream from user-selected sites and obtain information for locations along streams where activities occur that can affect streamflow conditions. This functionality can be accessed through a map-based interface with the user's Web browser or through individual functions requested remotely through other Web applications.

CE-SAM: a conversational interface for ISR mission support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pizzocaro, Diego; Parizas, Christos; Preece, Alun; Braines, Dave; Mott, David; Bakdash, Jonathan Z.

2013-05-01

There is considerable interest in natural language conversational interfaces. These allow for complex user interactions with systems, such as fulfilling information requirements in dynamic environments, without requiring extensive training or a technical background (e.g. in formal query languages or schemas). To leverage the advantages of conversational interactions we propose CE-SAM (Controlled English Sensor Assignment to Missions), a system that guides users through refining and satisfying their information needs in the context of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations. The rapidly-increasing availability of sensing assets and other information sources poses substantial challenges to effective ISR resource management. In a coalition context, the problem is even more complex, because assets may be "owned" by different partners. We show how CE-SAM allows a user to refine and relate their ISR information needs to pre-existing concepts in an ISR knowledge base, via conversational interaction implemented on a tablet device. The knowledge base is represented using Controlled English (CE) - a form of controlled natural language that is both human-readable and machine processable (i.e. can be used to implement automated reasoning). Users interact with the CE-SAM conversational interface using natural language, which the system converts to CE for feeding-back to the user for confirmation (e.g. to reduce misunderstanding). We show that this process not only allows users to access the assets that can support their mission needs, but also assists them in extending the CE knowledge base with new concepts.

Staradmin -- Starlink User Database Maintainer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fish, Adrian

The subject of this SSN is a utility called STARADMIN. This utility allows the system administrator to build and maintain a Starlink User Database (UDB). The principal source of information for each user is a text file, named after their username. The content of each file is a list consisting of one keyword followed by the relevant user data per line. These user database files reside in a single directory. The STARADMIN program is used to manipulate these user data files and automatically generate user summary lists.

Fundamentals of SCADA and automated meter reading

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

Kwok, A.

1992-02-01

This paper discusses SCADA systems allow users to control and acquire data from remote facilities such as compressors, pressure-regulating stations, control valves and measurement stations. In general, a SCADA system performs functions in sequential control, continuous control, supervisory setpoint control and data acquisitions. AMR systems allow users to obtain up-to-date information on their gas demand. When AMR was in its infancy, equipment was designed only to read and record gas consumption values. The basic function of an early AMR system was to read gas volume at a fixed interval and record the data in its memory until it communicated withmore » a central receiving facility.« less

Introduction of knowledge bases in patient's data management system: role of the user interface.

PubMed

Chambrin, M C; Ravaux, P; Jaborska, A; Beugnet, C; Lestavel, P; Chopin, C; Boniface, M

1995-02-01

As the number of signals and data to be handled grows in intensive care unit, it is necessary to design more powerful computing systems that integrate and summarize all this information. The manual input of data as e.g. clinical signs and drug prescription and the synthetic representation of these data requires an ever more sophisticated user interface. The introduction of knowledge bases in the data management allows to conceive contextual interfaces. The objective of this paper is to show the importance of the design of the user interface, in the daily use of clinical information system. Then we describe a methodology that uses the man-machine interaction to capture the clinician knowledge during the clinical practice. The different steps are the audit of the user's actions, the elaboration of statistic models allowing the definition of new knowledge, and the validation that is performed before complete integration. A part of this knowledge can be used to improve the user interface. Finally, we describe the implementation of these concepts on a UNIX platform using OSF/MOTIF graphical interface.

Neural network based visualization of collaborations in a citizen science project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, Alessandra M. M.; Santos, Rafael D. C.; Raddick, M. Jordan

2014-05-01

Citizen science projects are those in which volunteers are asked to collaborate in scientific projects, usually by volunteering idle computer time for distributed data processing efforts or by actively labeling or classifying information - shapes of galaxies, whale sounds, historical records are all examples of citizen science projects in which users access a data collecting system to label or classify images and sounds. In order to be successful, a citizen science project must captivate users and keep them interested on the project and on the science behind it, increasing therefore the time the users spend collaborating with the project. Understanding behavior of citizen scientists and their interaction with the data collection systems may help increase the involvement of the users, categorize them accordingly to different parameters, facilitate their collaboration with the systems, design better user interfaces, and allow better planning and deployment of similar projects and systems. Users behavior can be actively monitored or derived from their interaction with the data collection systems. Records of the interactions can be analyzed using visualization techniques to identify patterns and outliers. In this paper we present some results on the visualization of more than 80 million interactions of almost 150 thousand users with the Galaxy Zoo I citizen science project. Visualization of the attributes extracted from their behaviors was done with a clustering neural network (the Self-Organizing Map) and a selection of icon- and pixel-based techniques. These techniques allows the visual identification of groups of similar behavior in several different ways.

The IBM HeadTracking Pointer: improvements in vision-based pointer control.

PubMed

Kjeldsen, Rick

2008-07-01

Vision-based head trackers have been around for some years and are even beginning to be commercialized, but problems remain with respect to usability. Users without the ability to use traditional pointing devices--the intended audience of such systems--have no alternative if the automatic bootstrapping process fails. There is room for improvement in face tracking, and the pointer movement dynamics do not support accurate and efficient pointing. This paper describes the IBM HeadTracking Pointer, a system which attempts to directly address some of these issues. Head gestures are used to provide the end user a greater level of autonomous control over the system. A novel face-tracking algorithm reduces drift under variable lighting conditions, allowing the use of absolute, rather than relative, pointer positioning. Most importantly, the pointer dynamics have been designed to take into account the constraints of head-based pointing, with a non-linear gain which allows stability in fine pointer movement, high speed on long transitions and adjustability to support users with different movement dynamics. User studies have identified some difficulties with training the system and some characteristics of the pointer motion that take time to get used to, but also good user feedback and very promising performance results.

A user interface development tool for space science systems Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szczur, Martha R.

1990-01-01

The Transportable Applications Environment Plus (TAE PLUS), developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, is a portable What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) user interface development and management system. Its primary objective is to provide an integrated software environment that allows interactive prototyping and development that of user interfaces, as well as management of the user interface within the operational domain. Although TAE Plus is applicable to many types of applications, its focus is supporting user interfaces for space applications. This paper discusses what TAE Plus provides and how the implementation has utilized state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations, windowing systems and object-oriented programming languages.

A Neural Network Approach to Intention Modeling for User-Adapted Conversational Agents

PubMed Central

Griol, David

2016-01-01

Spoken dialogue systems have been proposed to enable a more natural and intuitive interaction with the environment and human-computer interfaces. In this contribution, we present a framework based on neural networks that allows modeling of the user's intention during the dialogue and uses this prediction to dynamically adapt the dialogue model of the system taking into consideration the user's needs and preferences. We have evaluated our proposal to develop a user-adapted spoken dialogue system that facilitates tourist information and services and provide a detailed discussion of the positive influence of our proposal in the success of the interaction, the information and services provided, and the quality perceived by the users. PMID:26819592

A Modular Localization System as a Positioning Service for Road Transport

PubMed Central

Brida, Peter; Machaj, Juraj; Benikovsky, Jozef

2014-01-01

In recent times smart devices have attracted a large number of users. Since many of these devices allow position estimation using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) signals, a large number of location-based applications and services have emerged, especially in transport systems. However GNSS signals are affected by the environment and are not always present, especially in dense urban environment or indoors. In this work firstly a Modular Localization Algorithm is proposed to allow seamless switching between different positioning modules. This helps us develop a positioning system that is able to provide position estimates in both indoor and outdoor environments without any user interaction. Since the proposed system can run as a service on any smart device, it could allow users to navigate not only in outdoor environments, but also indoors, e.g., underground garages, tunnels etc. Secondly we present the proposal of a 2-phase map reduction algorithm which allows one to significantly reduce the complexity of position estimation processes in case that positioning is performed using a fingerprinting framework. The proposed 2-phase map reduction algorithm can also improve the accuracy of the position estimates by filtering out reference points that are far from the mobile device. Both algorithms were implemented into a positioning system and tested in real world conditions in both indoor and outdoor environments. PMID:25353979

A Framework for the Development of Context-Adaptable User Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing Systems.

PubMed

Varela, Gervasio; Paz-Lopez, Alejandro; Becerra, Jose A; Duro, Richard

2016-07-07

This paper addresses the problem of developing user interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing (UC) and Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems. These kind of systems are expected to provide a natural user experience, considering interaction modalities adapted to the user abilities and preferences and using whatever interaction devices are present in the environment. These interaction devices are not necessarily known at design time. The task is quite complicated due to the variety of devices and technologies, and the diversity of scenarios, and it usually burdens the developer with the need to create many different UIs in order to consider the foreseeable user-environment combinations. Here, we propose an UI abstraction framework for UC and AmI systems that effectively improves the portability of those systems between different environments and for different users. It allows developers to design and implement a single UI capable of being deployed with different devices and modalities regardless the physical location.

Embedded CLIPS for SDI BM/C3 simulation and analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gossage, Brett; Nanney, Van

1990-01-01

Nichols Research Corporation is developing the BM/C3 Requirements Analysis Tool (BRAT) for the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command. BRAT uses embedded CLIPS/Ada to model the decision making processes used by the human commander of a defense system. Embedding CLlPS/Ada in BRAT allows the user to explore the role of the human in Command and Control (C2) and the use of expert systems for automated C2. BRAT models assert facts about the current state of the system, the simulated scenario, and threat information into CLIPS/Ada. A user-defined rule set describes the decision criteria for the commander. We have extended CLIPS/Ada with user-defined functions that allow the firing of a rule to invoke a system action such as weapons release or a change in strategy. The use of embedded CLIPS/Ada will provide a powerful modeling tool for our customer at minimal cost.

Discrete Abstractions of Hybrid Systems: Verification of Safety and Application to User-Interface Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oishi, Meeko; Tomlin, Claire; Degani, Asaf

2003-01-01

Human interaction with complex hybrid systems involves the user, the automation's discrete mode logic, and the underlying continuous dynamics of the physical system. Often the user-interface of such systems displays a reduced set of information about the entire system. In safety-critical systems, how can we identify user-interface designs which do not have adequate information, or which may confuse the user? Here we describe a methodology, based on hybrid system analysis, to verify that a user-interface contains information necessary to safely complete a desired procedure or task. Verification within a hybrid framework allows us to account for the continuous dynamics underlying the simple, discrete representations displayed to the user. We provide two examples: a car traveling through a yellow light at an intersection and an aircraft autopilot in a landing/go-around maneuver. The examples demonstrate the general nature of this methodology, which is applicable to hybrid systems (not fully automated) which have operational constraints we can pose in terms of safety. This methodology differs from existing work in hybrid system verification in that we directly account for the user's interactions with the system.

CMAQ Community Survey Results

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 2016, CMAQ users worldwide participated in a survey circulated by the University of North Carolina's Community Modeling and Analysis System (CMAS) center. The aggregated results allow us to better understand the attributes of the CMAQ user community.

Mackay campus of environmental education and digital cultural construction: the application of 3D virtual reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chien, Shao-Chi; Chung, Yu-Wei; Lin, Yi-Hsuan; Huang, Jun-Yi; Chang, Jhih-Ting; He, Cai-Ying; Cheng, Yi-Wen

2012-04-01

This study uses 3D virtual reality technology to create the "Mackay campus of the environmental education and digital cultural 3D navigation system" for local historical sites in the Tamsui (Hoba) area, in hopes of providing tourism information and navigation through historical sites using a 3D navigation system. We used Auto CAD, Sketch Up, and SpaceEyes 3D software to construct the virtual reality scenes and create the school's historical sites, such as the House of Reverends, the House of Maidens, the Residence of Mackay, and the Education Hall. We used this technology to complete the environmental education and digital cultural Mackay campus . The platform we established can indeed achieve the desired function of providing tourism information and historical site navigation. The interactive multimedia style and the presentation of the information will allow users to obtain a direct information response. In addition to showing the external appearances of buildings, the navigation platform can also allow users to enter the buildings to view lifelike scenes and textual information related to the historical sites. The historical sites are designed according to their actual size, which gives users a more realistic feel. In terms of the navigation route, the navigation system does not force users along a fixed route, but instead allows users to freely control the route they would like to take to view the historical sites on the platform.

An optical tracking system for virtual reality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hrimech, Hamid; Merienne, Frederic

2009-03-01

In this paper we present a low-cost 3D tracking system which we have developed and tested in order to move away from traditional 2D interaction techniques (keyboard and mouse) in an attempt to improve user's experience while using a CVE. Such a tracking system is used to implement 3D interaction techniques that augment user experience, promote user's sense of transportation in the virtual world as well as user's awareness of their partners. The tracking system is a passive optical tracking system using stereoscopy a technique allowing the reconstruction of three-dimensional information from a couple of images. We have currently deployed our 3D tracking system on a collaborative research platform for investigating 3D interaction techniques in CVEs.

A Database as a Service for the Healthcare System to Store Physiological Signal Data.

PubMed

Chang, Hsien-Tsung; Lin, Tsai-Huei

2016-01-01

Wearable devices that measure physiological signals to help develop self-health management habits have become increasingly popular in recent years. These records are conducive for follow-up health and medical care. In this study, based on the characteristics of the observed physiological signal records- 1) a large number of users, 2) a large amount of data, 3) low information variability, 4) data privacy authorization, and 5) data access by designated users-we wish to resolve physiological signal record-relevant issues utilizing the advantages of the Database as a Service (DaaS) model. Storing a large amount of data using file patterns can reduce database load, allowing users to access data efficiently; the privacy control settings allow users to store data securely. The results of the experiment show that the proposed system has better database access performance than a traditional relational database, with a small difference in database volume, thus proving that the proposed system can improve data storage performance.

Mandatory and Location-Aware Access Control for Relational Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Decker, Michael

Access control is concerned with determining which operations a particular user is allowed to perform on a particular electronic resource. For example, an access control decision could say that user Alice is allowed to perform the operation read (but not write) on the resource research report. With conventional access control this decision is based on the user's identity whereas the basic idea of Location-Aware Access Control (LAAC) is to evaluate also a user's current location when making the decision if a particular request should be granted or denied. LAAC is an interesting approach for mobile information systems because these systems are exposed to specific security threads like the loss of a device. Some data models for LAAC can be found in literature, but almost all of them are based on RBAC and none of them is designed especially for Database Management Systems (DBMS). In this paper we therefore propose a LAAC-approach for DMBS and describe a prototypical implementation of that approach that is based on database triggers.

NLEdit: A generic graphical user interface for Fortran programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curlett, Brian P.

1994-01-01

NLEdit is a generic graphical user interface for the preprocessing of Fortran namelist input files. The interface consists of a menu system, a message window, a help system, and data entry forms. A form is generated for each namelist. The form has an input field for each namelist variable along with a one-line description of that variable. Detailed help information, default values, and minimum and maximum allowable values can all be displayed via menu picks. Inputs are processed through a scientific calculator program that allows complex equations to be used instead of simple numeric inputs. A custom user interface is generated simply by entering information about the namelist input variables into an ASCII file. There is no need to learn a new graphics system or programming language. NLEdit can be used as a stand-alone program or as part of a larger graphical user interface. Although NLEdit is intended for files using namelist format, it can be easily modified to handle other file formats.

A Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) Memory for Navy C3 Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-07-30

CONTRACT OR GRANT mumUER(a) __ _ _ IT /Ii,/skiA ~ f I. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT. PROJECT, TASK Naval...kcy A1is al)oed inl soice ronCilites to allow tilc user to rely pie th Lilst cha~r.,.oer. Ini I1)11 M( )lDl-, a user is, allowed to cdit the data oin

A 3-D mixed-reality system for stereoscopic visualization of medical dataset.

PubMed

Ferrari, Vincenzo; Megali, Giuseppe; Troia, Elena; Pietrabissa, Andrea; Mosca, Franco

2009-11-01

We developed a simple, light, and cheap 3-D visualization device based on mixed reality that can be used by physicians to see preoperative radiological exams in a natural way. The system allows the user to see stereoscopic "augmented images," which are created by mixing 3-D virtual models of anatomies obtained by processing preoperative volumetric radiological images (computed tomography or MRI) with real patient live images, grabbed by means of cameras. The interface of the system consists of a head-mounted display equipped with two high-definition cameras. Cameras are mounted in correspondence of the user's eyes and allow one to grab live images of the patient with the same point of view of the user. The system does not use any external tracker to detect movements of the user or the patient. The movements of the user's head and the alignment of virtual patient with the real one are done using machine vision methods applied on pairs of live images. Experimental results, concerning frame rate and alignment precision between virtual and real patient, demonstrate that machine vision methods used for localization are appropriate for the specific application and that systems based on stereoscopic mixed reality are feasible and can be proficiently adopted in clinical practice.

Assessment of distributed solar power systems: Issues and impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moyle, R. A.; Chernoff, H.; Schweizer, T. C.; Patton, J. B.

1982-11-01

The installation of distributed solar-power systems presents electric utilities with a host of questions. Some of the technical and economic impacts of these systems are discussed. Among the technical interconnect issues are isolated operation, power quality, line safety, and metering options. Economic issues include user purchase criteria, structures and installation costs, marketing and product distribution costs, and interconnect costs. An interactive computer program that allows easy calculation of allowable system prices and allowable generation-equipment prices was developed as part of this project. It is concluded that the technical problems raised by distributed solar systems are surmountable, but their resolution may be costly. The stringent purchase criteria likely to be imposed by many potential system users and the economies of large-scale systems make small systems (less than 10 to 20 kW) less attractive than larger systems. Utilities that consider life-cycle costs in making investment decisions and third-party investors who have tax and financial advantages are likely to place the highest value on solar-power systems.

Software engineering activities at SEI (Software Engineering Institute)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chittister, Clyde

1990-01-01

Prototyping was shown to ease system specification and implementation, especially in the area of user interfaces. Other prototyping approaches do not allow for the evolution of the prototype into a production system or support maintenance after the system is fielded. A set of goals is presented for a modern user interface environment and Serpent, a prototype implementation that achieves these goals, is described.

STEREOMATRIX 3-D display system

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

Whiteside, Stephen Earl

1973-08-01

STEREOMATRIX is a large-screen interactive 3-D laser display system which presents computer-generated wire figures stereoscopically. The presented image can be rotated, translated, and scaled by the system user and the perspective of the image is changed according to the position of the user. A cursor may be positioned in three dimensions to identify points and allows communication with the computer.

A Web-Based Information System for Field Data Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weng, Y. H.; Sun, F. S.

2014-12-01

A web-based field data management system has been designed and developed to allow field geologists to store, organize, manage, and share field data online. System requirements were analyzed and clearly defined first regarding what data are to be stored, who the potential users are, and what system functions are needed in order to deliver the right data in the right way to the right user. A 3-tiered architecture was adopted to create this secure, scalable system that consists of a web browser at the front end while a database at the back end and a functional logic server in the middle. Specifically, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript were used to implement the user interface in the front-end tier, the Apache web server runs PHP scripts, and MySQL to server is used for the back-end database. The system accepts various types of field information, including image, audio, video, numeric, and text. It allows users to select data and populate them on either Google Earth or Google Maps for the examination of the spatial relations. It also makes the sharing of field data easy by converting them into XML format that is both human-readable and machine-readable, and thus ready for reuse.

Modular Engine Noise Component Prediction System (MCP) Program Users' Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Golub, Robert A. (Technical Monitor); Herkes, William H.; Reed, David H.

2004-01-01

This is a user's manual for Modular Engine Noise Component Prediction System (MCP). This computer code allows the user to predict turbofan engine noise estimates. The program is based on an empirical procedure that has evolved over many years at The Boeing Company. The data used to develop the procedure include both full-scale engine data and small-scale model data, and include testing done by Boeing, by the engine manufacturers, and by NASA. In order to generate a noise estimate, the user specifies the appropriate engine properties (including both geometry and performance parameters), the microphone locations, the atmospheric conditions, and certain data processing options. The version of the program described here allows the user to predict three components: inlet-radiated fan noise, aft-radiated fan noise, and jet noise. MCP predicts one-third octave band noise levels over the frequency range of 50 to 10,000 Hertz. It also calculates overall sound pressure levels and certain subjective noise metrics (e.g., perceived noise levels).

Implementing a genomic data management system using iRODS in the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Increasingly large amounts of DNA sequencing data are being generated within the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI). The traditional file system struggles to handle these increasing amounts of sequence data. A good data management system therefore needs to be implemented and integrated into the current WTSI infrastructure. Such a system enables good management of the IT infrastructure of the sequencing pipeline and allows biologists to track their data. Results We have chosen a data grid system, iRODS (Rule-Oriented Data management systems), to act as the data management system for the WTSI. iRODS provides a rule-based system management approach which makes data replication much easier and provides extra data protection. Unlike the metadata provided by traditional file systems, the metadata system of iRODS is comprehensive and allows users to customize their own application level metadata. Users and IT experts in the WTSI can then query the metadata to find and track data. The aim of this paper is to describe how we designed and used (from both system and user viewpoints) iRODS as a data management system. Details are given about the problems faced and the solutions found when iRODS was implemented. A simple use case describing how users within the WTSI use iRODS is also introduced. Conclusions iRODS has been implemented and works as the production system for the sequencing pipeline of the WTSI. Both biologists and IT experts can now track and manage data, which could not previously be achieved. This novel approach allows biologists to define their own metadata and query the genomic data using those metadata. PMID:21906284

A database system to support image algorithm evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lien, Y. E.

1977-01-01

The design is given of an interactive image database system IMDB, which allows the user to create, retrieve, store, display, and manipulate images through the facility of a high-level, interactive image query (IQ) language. The query language IQ permits the user to define false color functions, pixel value transformations, overlay functions, zoom functions, and windows. The user manipulates the images through generic functions. The user can direct images to display devices for visual and qualitative analysis. Image histograms and pixel value distributions can also be computed to obtain a quantitative analysis of images.

Methods, Knowledge Support, and Experimental Tools for Modeling

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-10-01

open source software entities: the PostgreSQL relational database management system (http://www.postgres.org), the Apache web server (http...past. The revision control system allows the program to capture disagreements, and allows users to explore the history of such disagreements by

Technique and cue selection for graphical presentation of generic hyperdimensional data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, Lee M.; Burton, Robert P.

2013-12-01

Several presentation techniques have been created for visualization of data with more than three variables. Packages have been written, each of which implements a subset of these techniques. However, these packages generally fail to provide all the features needed by the user during the visualization process. Further, packages generally limit support for presentation techniques to a few techniques. A new package called Petrichor accommodates all necessary and useful features together in one system. Any presentation technique may be added easily through an extensible plugin system. Features are supported by a user interface that allows easy interaction with data. Annotations allow users to mark up visualizations and share information with others. By providing a hyperdimensional graphics package that easily accommodates presentation techniques and includes a complete set of features, including those that are rarely or never supported elsewhere, the user is provided with a tool that facilitates improved interaction with multivariate data to extract and disseminate information.

Apparatus for controlling system state based on unique identifiers

DOEpatents

Drotning, William D.

2002-01-01

An apparatus allows workers to assert and release control over the energization of a system. The apparatus does not require the workers to carry any additional paraphernalia, and is not be easily defeated by other workers. Users asserting and releasing control present tokens uniquely identifying each user to a reader, and the apparatus prevents transition of the system to an undesired state until an appropriate number of users are currently asserting control. For example, a dangerous manufacturing robot can be prevented from energizing until all the users that have asserted control when entering the robot's controlled space have subsequently released control when leaving the robot's controlled space.

Identifying Experts and Authoritative Documents in Social Bookmarking Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grady, Jonathan P.

2013-01-01

Social bookmarking systems allow people to create pointers to Web resources in a shared, Web-based environment. These services allow users to add free-text labels, or "tags", to their bookmarks as a way to organize resources for later recall. Ease-of-use, low cognitive barriers, and a lack of controlled vocabulary have allowed social…

Feedback Visualization in a Grammar-Based E-Learning System for German: A Preliminary User Evaluation with the COMPASS System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harbusch, Karin; Hausdörfer, Annette

2016-01-01

COMPASS is an e-learning system that can visualize grammar errors during sentence production in German as a first or second language. Via drag-and-drop dialogues, it allows users to freely select word forms from a lexicon and to combine them into phrases and sentences. The system's core component is a natural-language generator that, for every new…

An architecture for rule based system explanation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fennel, T. R.; Johannes, James D.

1990-01-01

A system architecture is presented which incorporate both graphics and text into explanations provided by rule based expert systems. This architecture facilitates explanation of the knowledge base content, the control strategies employed by the system, and the conclusions made by the system. The suggested approach combines hypermedia and inference engine capabilities. Advantages include: closer integration of user interface, explanation system, and knowledge base; the ability to embed links to deeper knowledge underlying the compiled knowledge used in the knowledge base; and allowing for more direct control of explanation depth and duration by the user. User models are suggested to control the type, amount, and order of information presented.

Development of a site analysis tool for distributed wind projects

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

Shaw, Shawn

The Cadmus Group, Inc., in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Encraft, was awarded a grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a site analysis tool for distributed wind technologies. As the principal investigator for this project, Mr. Shawn Shaw was responsible for overall project management, direction, and technical approach. The product resulting from this project is the Distributed Wind Site Analysis Tool (DSAT), a software tool for analyzing proposed sites for distributed wind technology (DWT) systems. This user-friendly tool supports the long-term growth and stability of the DWT market by providing reliable, realistic estimatesmore » of site and system energy output and feasibility. DSAT-which is accessible online and requires no purchase or download of software-is available in two account types; Standard: This free account allows the user to analyze a limited number of sites and to produce a system performance report for each; and Professional: For a small annual fee users can analyze an unlimited number of sites, produce system performance reports, and generate other customizable reports containing key information such as visual influence and wind resources. The tool’s interactive maps allow users to create site models that incorporate the obstructions and terrain types present. Users can generate site reports immediately after entering the requisite site information. Ideally, this tool also educates users regarding good site selection and effective evaluation practices.« less

A Web Interface for Eco System Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McHenry, K.; Kooper, R.; Serbin, S. P.; LeBauer, D. S.; Desai, A. R.; Dietze, M. C.

2012-12-01

We have developed the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn) as an open-source scientific workflow system and ecoinformatics toolbox that manages the flow of information in and out of regional-scale terrestrial biosphere models, facilitates heterogeneous data assimilation, tracks data provenance, and enables more effective feedback between models and field research. The over-arching goal of PEcAn is to make otherwise complex analyses transparent, repeatable, and accessible to a diverse array of researchers, allowing both novice and expert users to focus on using the models to examine complex ecosystems rather than having to deal with complex computer system setup and configuration questions in order to run the models. Through the developed web interface we hide much of the data and model details and allow the user to simply select locations, ecosystem models, and desired data sources as inputs to the model. Novice users are guided by the web interface through setting up a model execution and plotting the results. At the same time expert users are given enough freedom to modify specific parameters before the model gets executed. This will become more important as more and more models are added to the PEcAn workflow as well as more and more data that will become available as NEON comes online. On the backend we support the execution of potentially computationally expensive models on different High Performance Computers (HPC) and/or clusters. The system can be configured with a single XML file that gives it the flexibility needed for configuring and running the different models on different systems using a combination of information stored in a database as well as pointers to files on the hard disk. While the web interface usually creates this configuration file, expert users can still directly edit it to fine tune the configuration.. Once a workflow is finished the web interface will allow for the easy creation of plots over result data while also allowing the user to download the results for further processing. The current workflow in the web interface is a simple linear workflow, but will be expanded to allow for more complex workflows. We are working with Kepler and Cyberintegrator to allow for these more complex workflows as well as collecting provenance of the workflow being executed. This provenance regarding model executions is stored in a database along with the derived results. All of this information is then accessible using the BETY database web frontend. The PEcAn interface.

SEASAT synthetic-aperture radar data user's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pravdo, S. H.; Huneycutt, B.; Holt, B. M.; Held, D. N.

1983-01-01

The SEASAT Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) system, the data processors, the extent of the image data set, and the means by which a user obtains this data are described and the data quality is evaluated. The user is alerted to some potential problems with the existing volume of SEASAT SAR image data, and allows him to modify his use of that data accordingly. Secondly, the manual focuses on the ultimate focuses on the ultimate capabilities of the raw data set and evaluates the potential of this data for processing into accurately located, amplitude-calibrated imagery of high resolution. This allows the user to decide whether his needs require special-purpose data processing of the SAR raw data.

ASSIST: User's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, S. C.

1986-01-01

Semi-Markov models can be used to compute the reliability of virtually any fault-tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all of the states and transitions in a model of a complex system can be devastingly tedious and error-prone. The ASSIST program allows the user to describe the semi-Markov model in a high-level language. Instead of specifying the individual states of the model, the user specifies the rules governing the behavior of the system and these are used by ASSIST to automatically generate the model. The ASSIST program is described and illustrated by examples.

A System for Discovering Bioengineered Threats by Knowledge Base Driven Mining of Toxin Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-08-01

RMSD cut - off and select a residue substitution matrix. The user is also allowed...in the sense that after super-positioning, the RMSD between the substructures is no more than the cut - off RMSD . * Residue substitutions are allowed...during super-positioning. Default RMSD cut - off and residue substitution matrix are provided. Users can specify their own RMSD cut - offs as well as

Data management support for selected climate data sets using the climate data access system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reph, M. G.

1983-01-01

The functional capabilities of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Climate Data Access System (CDAS), an interactive data storage and retrieval system, and the archival data sets which this system manages are discussed. The CDAS manages several climate-related data sets, such as the First Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP) Global Experiment (FGGE) Level 2-b and Level 3-a data tapes. CDAS data management support consists of three basic functions: (1) an inventory capability which allows users to search or update a disk-resident inventory describing the contents of each tape in a data set, (2) a capability to depict graphically the spatial coverage of a tape in a data set, and (3) a data set selection capability which allows users to extract portions of a data set using criteria such as time, location, and data source/parameter and output the data to tape, user terminal, or system printer. This report includes figures that illustrate menu displays and output listings for each CDAS function.

JAX Colony Management System (JCMS): an extensible colony and phenotype data management system.

PubMed

Donnelly, Chuck J; McFarland, Mike; Ames, Abigail; Sundberg, Beth; Springer, Dave; Blauth, Peter; Bult, Carol J

2010-04-01

The Jackson Laboratory Colony Management System (JCMS) is a software application for managing data and information related to research mouse colonies, associated biospecimens, and experimental protocols. JCMS runs directly on computers that run one of the PC Windows operating systems, but can be accessed via web browser interfaces from any computer running a Windows, Macintosh, or Linux operating system. JCMS can be configured for a single user or multiple users in small- to medium-size work groups. The target audience for JCMS includes laboratory technicians, animal colony managers, and principal investigators. The application provides operational support for colony management and experimental workflows, sample and data tracking through transaction-based data entry forms, and date-driven work reports. Flexible query forms allow researchers to retrieve database records based on user-defined criteria. Recent advances in handheld computers with integrated barcode readers, middleware technologies, web browsers, and wireless networks add to the utility of JCMS by allowing real-time access to the database from any networked computer.

System and method for knowledge based matching of users in a network

DOEpatents

Verspoor, Cornelia Maria [Santa Fe, NM; Sims, Benjamin Hayden [Los Alamos, NM; Ambrosiano, John Joseph [Los Alamos, NM; Cleland, Timothy James [Los Alamos, NM

2011-04-26

A knowledge-based system and methods to matchmaking and social network extension are disclosed. The system is configured to allow users to specify knowledge profiles, which are collections of concepts that indicate a certain topic or area of interest selected from an. The system utilizes the knowledge model as the semantic space within which to compare similarities in user interests. The knowledge model is hierarchical so that indications of interest in specific concepts automatically imply interest in more general concept. Similarity measures between profiles may then be calculated based on suitable distance formulas within this space.

TSX-PLUS MULTI-TASKING UPGRADE FOR THE NICOLET L-11 POWDER DIFFRACTION SYSTEM.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fitzpatrick, J.; Queen, David L.

1985-01-01

In August of 1982, a single-user, dual-translator, automated powder diffraction system was purchased by the Denver Research Institute for use on project work in the Chemical and Materials Sciences Division. Within a short period of time, the system had already become saturated with users. Scheduling conflicts arose. In view of these problems, an answer was sought in the form of hardware and software changes which would allow many users access to the system simultaneously. A low-cost, minimum impact solution was eventually found. The elements of the solution are reported.

High-volume image quality assessment systems: tuning performance with an interactive data visualization tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bresnahan, Patricia A.; Pukinskis, Madeleine; Wiggins, Michael

1999-03-01

Image quality assessment systems differ greatly with respect to the number and types of mags they need to evaluate, and their overall architectures. Managers of these systems, however, all need to be able to tune and evaluate system performance, requirements often overlooked or under-designed during project planning. Performance tuning tools allow users to define acceptable quality standards for image features and attributes by adjusting parameter settings. Performance analysis tools allow users to evaluate and/or predict how well a system performs in a given parameter state. While image assessment algorithms are becoming quite sophisticated, duplicating or surpassing the human decision making process in their speed and reliability, they often require a greater investment in 'training' or fine tuning of parameters in order to achieve optimum performance. This process may involve the analysis of hundreds or thousands of images, generating a large database of files and statistics that can be difficult to sort through and interpret. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that personnel charged with tuning and maintaining the production system may not have the statistical or analytical background required for the task. Meanwhile, hardware innovations have greatly increased the volume of images that can be handled in a given time frame, magnifying the consequences of running a production site with an inadequately tuned system. In this paper, some general requirements for a performance evaluation and tuning data visualization system are discussed. A custom engineered solution to the tuning and evaluation problem is then presented, developed within the context of a high volume image quality assessment, data entry, OCR, and image archival system. A key factor influencing the design of the system was the context-dependent definition of image quality, as perceived by a human interpreter. This led to the development of a five-level, hierarchical approach to image quality evaluation. Lower-level pass-fail conditions and decision rules were coded into the system. Higher-level image quality states were defined by allowing the users to interactively adjust the system's sensitivity to various image attributes by manipulating graphical controls. Results were presented in easily interpreted bar graphs. These graphs were mouse- sensitive, allowing the user to more fully explore the subsets of data indicated by various color blocks. In order to simplify the performance evaluation and tuning process, users could choose to view the results of (1) the existing system parameter state, (2) the results of any arbitrary parameter values they chose, or (3) the results of a quasi-optimum parameter state, derived by applying a decision rule to a large set of possible parameter states. Giving managers easy- to-use tools for defining the more subjective aspects of quality resulted in a system that responded to contextual cues that are difficult to hard-code. It had the additional advantage of allowing the definition of quality to evolve over time, as users became more knowledgeable as to the strengths and limitations of an automated quality inspection system.

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

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2015-12-01

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

Allowing the Advantaged User in a Network Centric System to Get Through the Disadvantaged Interface

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

ADVANTAGED USER IN A NETWORK CENTRIC SYSTEM TO GET THROUGH THE DISADVANTAGED INTERFACE by Lawrence Brandon September 2009 Thesis Advisor...Through the Disadvantaged Interface 6. AUTHOR(S) Lawrence Brandon 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval...identify those factors that cause disadvantaged interfaces within network centric systems and provides recommendations to these challenges so that

Real-Time Multimission Event Notification System for Mars Relay

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallick, Michael N.; Allard, Daniel A.; Gladden, Roy E.; Wang, Paul; Hy, Franklin H.

2013-01-01

As the Mars Relay Network is in constant flux (missions and teams going through their daily workflow), it is imperative that users are aware of such state changes. For example, a change by an orbiter team can affect operations on a lander team. This software provides an ambient view of the real-time status of the Mars network. The Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) comprises a number of tools to coordinate, plan, and visualize various aspects of the Mars Relay Network. As part of MaROS, a feature set was developed that operates on several levels of the software architecture. These levels include a Web-based user interface, a back-end "ReSTlet" built in Java, and databases that store the data as it is received from the network. The result is a real-time event notification and management system, so mission teams can track and act upon events on a moment-by-moment basis. This software retrieves events from MaROS and displays them to the end user. Updates happen in real time, i.e., messages are pushed to the user while logged into the system, and queued when the user is not online for later viewing. The software does not do away with the email notifications, but augments them with in-line notifications. Further, this software expands the events that can generate a notification, and allows user-generated notifications. Existing software sends a smaller subset of mission-generated notifications via email. A common complaint of users was that the system-generated e-mails often "get lost" with other e-mail that comes in. This software allows for an expanded set (including user-generated) of notifications displayed in-line of the program. By separating notifications, this can improve a user's workflow.

Preparing for Future Learning with a Tangible User Interface: The Case of Neuroscience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, B.; Wallace, J.; Blikstein, P.; Pea, R.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we describe the development and evaluation of a microworld-based learning environment for neuroscience. Our system, BrainExplorer, allows students to discover the way neural pathways work by interacting with a tangible user interface. By severing and reconfiguring connections, users can observe how the visual field is impaired and,…

Location Privacy for Mobile Crowd Sensing through Population Mapping †

PubMed Central

Shin, Minho; Cornelius, Cory; Kapadia, Apu; Triandopoulos, Nikos; Kotz, David

2015-01-01

Opportunistic sensing allows applications to “task” mobile devices to measure context in a target region. For example, one could leverage sensor-equipped vehicles to measure traffic or pollution levels on a particular street or users' mobile phones to locate (Bluetooth-enabled) objects in their vicinity. In most proposed applications, context reports include the time and location of the event, putting the privacy of users at increased risk: even if identifying information has been removed from a report, the accompanying time and location can reveal sufficient information to de-anonymize the user whose device sent the report. We propose and evaluate a novel spatiotemporal blurring mechanism based on tessellation and clustering to protect users' privacy against the system while reporting context. Our technique employs a notion of probabilistic k-anonymity; it allows users to perform local blurring of reports efficiently without an online anonymization server before the data are sent to the system. The proposed scheme can control the degree of certainty in location privacy and the quality of reports through a system parameter. We outline the architecture and security properties of our approach and evaluate our tessellation and clustering algorithm against real mobility traces. PMID:26131676

Description of web-enhanced virtual character simulation system to standardize patient hand-offs.

PubMed

Filichia, Lori; Halan, Shivashankar; Blackwelder, Ethan; Rossen, Brent; Lok, Benjamin; Korndorffer, James; Cendan, Juan

2011-04-01

The 80-h work week has increased discontinuity of patient care resulting in reports of increased medication errors and preventable adverse events. Graduate medical programs are addressing these shortcomings in a number of ways. We have developed a computer simulation platform called the Virtual People Factory (VPF), which allows us to capture and simulate the dialogue between a real user and a virtual character. We have converted the system to reflect a physician in the process of "checking-out" a patient to a covering physician. The responses are tracked and matched to educator-defined information termed "discoveries." Our proof of concept represented a typical post-operative patient with tachycardia. The system is web enabled. So far, 26 resident users at two institutions have completed the module. The critical discovery of tachycardia was identified by 62% of users. Residents spend 85% of the time asking intraoperative, postoperative, and past medical history questions. The system improves over time such that there is a near-doubling of questions that yield appropriate answers between users 13 and 22. Users who identified the virtual patient's underlying tachycardia expressed more concern and were more likely to order further testing for the patient in a post-module questionnaire (P = 0.13 and 0.08, respectively, NS). The VPF system can capture unique details about the hand-off interchange. The system improves with sequential users such that better matching of questions and answers occurs within the initial 25 users allowing rapid development of new modules. A catalog of hand-off modules could be easily developed. Wide-scale web-based deployment was uncomplicated. Identification of the critical findings appropriately translated to user concern for the patient though our series was too small to reach significance. Performance metrics based on the identification of critical discoveries could be used to assess readiness of the user to carry off a successful hand-off. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extensible Adaptable Simulation Systems: Supporting Multiple Fidelity Simulations in a Common Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McLaughlin, Brian J.; Barrett, Larry K.

2012-01-01

Common practice in the development of simulation systems is meeting all user requirements within a single instantiation. The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) presents a unique challenge to establish a simulation environment that meets the needs of a diverse user community while also spanning a multi-mission environment over decades of operation. In response, the JPSS Flight Vehicle Test Suite (FVTS) is architected with an extensible infrastructure that supports the operation of multiple observatory simulations for a single mission and multiple mission within a common system perimeter. For the JPSS-1 satellite, multiple fidelity flight observatory simulations are necessary to support the distinct user communities consisting of the Common Ground System development team, the Common Ground System Integration & Test team, and the Mission Rehearsal Team/Mission Operations Team. These key requirements present several challenges to FVTS development. First, the FVTS must ensure all critical user requirements are satisfied by at least one fidelity instance of the observatory simulation. Second, the FVTS must allow for tailoring of the system instances to function in diverse operational environments from the High-security operations environment at NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) to the ground system factory floor. Finally, the FVTS must provide the ability to execute sustaining engineering activities on a subset of the system without impacting system availability to parallel users. The FVTS approach of allowing for multiple fidelity copies of observatory simulations represents a unique concept in simulator capability development and corresponds to the JPSS Ground System goals of establishing a capability that is flexible, extensible, and adaptable.

Neuroanatomical affiliation visualization-interface system.

PubMed

Palombi, Olivier; Shin, Jae-Won; Watson, Charles; Paxinos, George

2006-01-01

A number of knowledge management systems have been developed to allow users to have access to large quantity of neuroanatomical data. The advent of three-dimensional (3D) visualization techniques allows users to interact with complex 3D object. In order to better understand the structural and functional organization of the brain, we present Neuroanatomical Affiliations Visualization-Interface System (NAVIS) as the original software to see brain structures and neuroanatomical affiliations in 3D. This version of NAVIS has made use of the fifth edition of "The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic coordinates" (Paxinos and Watson, 2005). The NAVIS development environment was based on the scripting language name Python, using visualization toolkit (VTK) as 3D-library and wxPython for the graphic user interface. The following manuscript is focused on the nucleus of the solitary tract (Sol) and the set of affiliated structures in the brain to illustrate the functionality of NAVIS. The nucleus of the Sol is the primary relay center of visceral and taste information, and consists of 14 distinct subnuclei that differ in cytoarchitecture, chemoarchitecture, connections, and function. In the present study, neuroanatomical projection data of the rat Sol were collected from selected literature in PubMed since 1975. Forty-nine identified projection data of Sol were inserted in NAVIS. The standard XML format used as an input for affiliation data allows NAVIS to update data online and/or allows users to manually change or update affiliation data. NAVIS can be extended to nuclei other than Sol.

Flexible augmented reality architecture applied to environmental management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Correia, Nuno M. R.; Romao, Teresa; Santos, Carlos; Trabuco, Adelaide; Santos, Rossana; Romero, Luis; Danado, Jose; Dias, Eduardo; Camara, Antonio; Nobre, Edmundo

2003-05-01

Environmental management often requires in loco observation of the area under analysis. Augmented Reality (AR) technologies allow real time superimposition of synthetic objects on real images, providing augmented knowledge about the surrounding world. Users of an AR system can visualize the real surrounding world together with additional data generated in real time in a contextual way. The work reported in this paper was done in the scope of ANTS (Augmented Environments) project. ANTS is an AR project that explores the development of an augmented reality technological infrastructure for environmental management. This paper presents the architecture and the most relevant modules of ANTS. The system"s architecture follows the client-server model and is based on several independent, but functionally interdependent modules. It has a flexible design, which allows the transfer of some modules to and from the client side, according to the available processing capacities of the client device and the application"s requirements. It combines several techniques to identify the user"s position and orientation allowing the system to adapt to the particular characteristics of each environment. The determination of the data associated to a certain location involves the use of both a 3D Model of the location and the multimedia geo-referenced database.

Djeen (Database for Joomla!'s Extensible Engine): a research information management system for flexible multi-technology project administration.

PubMed

Stahl, Olivier; Duvergey, Hugo; Guille, Arnaud; Blondin, Fanny; Vecchio, Alexandre Del; Finetti, Pascal; Granjeaud, Samuel; Vigy, Oana; Bidaut, Ghislain

2013-06-06

With the advance of post-genomic technologies, the need for tools to manage large scale data in biology becomes more pressing. This involves annotating and storing data securely, as well as granting permissions flexibly with several technologies (all array types, flow cytometry, proteomics) for collaborative work and data sharing. This task is not easily achieved with most systems available today. We developed Djeen (Database for Joomla!'s Extensible Engine), a new Research Information Management System (RIMS) for collaborative projects. Djeen is a user-friendly application, designed to streamline data storage and annotation collaboratively. Its database model, kept simple, is compliant with most technologies and allows storing and managing of heterogeneous data with the same system. Advanced permissions are managed through different roles. Templates allow Minimum Information (MI) compliance. Djeen allows managing project associated with heterogeneous data types while enforcing annotation integrity and minimum information. Projects are managed within a hierarchy and user permissions are finely-grained for each project, user and group.Djeen Component source code (version 1.5.1) and installation documentation are available under CeCILL license from http://sourceforge.net/projects/djeen/files and supplementary material.

Djeen (Database for Joomla!’s Extensible Engine): a research information management system for flexible multi-technology project administration

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background With the advance of post-genomic technologies, the need for tools to manage large scale data in biology becomes more pressing. This involves annotating and storing data securely, as well as granting permissions flexibly with several technologies (all array types, flow cytometry, proteomics) for collaborative work and data sharing. This task is not easily achieved with most systems available today. Findings We developed Djeen (Database for Joomla!’s Extensible Engine), a new Research Information Management System (RIMS) for collaborative projects. Djeen is a user-friendly application, designed to streamline data storage and annotation collaboratively. Its database model, kept simple, is compliant with most technologies and allows storing and managing of heterogeneous data with the same system. Advanced permissions are managed through different roles. Templates allow Minimum Information (MI) compliance. Conclusion Djeen allows managing project associated with heterogeneous data types while enforcing annotation integrity and minimum information. Projects are managed within a hierarchy and user permissions are finely-grained for each project, user and group. Djeen Component source code (version 1.5.1) and installation documentation are available under CeCILL license from http://sourceforge.net/projects/djeen/files and supplementary material. PMID:23742665

Hybrid Simulator

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

Trujillo, David J.; Sridharan, Srikesh; Weinstock, Irvin

HybSim (short for Hybrid Simulator) is a flexible, easy to use screening tool that allows the user to quanti the technical and economic benefits of installing a village hybrid generating system and simulates systems with any combination of —Diesel generator sets —Photovoltaic arrays -Wind Turbines and -Battery energy storage systems Most village systems (or small population sites such as villages, remote military bases, small communities, independent or isolated buildings or centers) depend on diesel generation systems for their source of energy. HybSim allows the user to determine other "sources" of energy that can greatly reduce the dollar to kilo-watt hourmore » ratio. Supported by the DOE, Energy Storage Program, HybSim was initially developed to help analyze the benefits of energy storage systems in Alaskan villages. Soon after its development, other sources of energy were added providing the user with a greater range of analysis opportunities and providing the village with potentially added savings. In addition to village systems, HybSim has generated interest for use from military institutions in energy provisions and USAID for international village analysis.« less

An Object-Oriented Graphical User Interface for a Reusable Rocket Engine Intelligent Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Litt, Jonathan S.; Musgrave, Jeffrey L.; Guo, Ten-Huei; Paxson, Daniel E.; Wong, Edmond; Saus, Joseph R.; Merrill, Walter C.

1994-01-01

An intelligent control system for reusable rocket engines under development at NASA Lewis Research Center requires a graphical user interface to allow observation of the closed-loop system in operation. The simulation testbed consists of a real-time engine simulation computer, a controls computer, and several auxiliary computers for diagnostics and coordination. The system is set up so that the simulation computer could be replaced by the real engine and the change would be transparent to the control system. Because of the hard real-time requirement of the control computer, putting a graphical user interface on it was not an option. Thus, a separate computer used strictly for the graphical user interface was warranted. An object-oriented LISP-based graphical user interface has been developed on a Texas Instruments Explorer 2+ to indicate the condition of the engine to the observer through plots, animation, interactive graphics, and text.

Modeling mutual feedback between users and recommender systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, An; Yeung, Chi Ho; Medo, Matúš; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

2015-07-01

Recommender systems daily influence our decisions on the Internet. While considerable attention has been given to issues such as recommendation accuracy and user privacy, the long-term mutual feedback between a recommender system and the decisions of its users has been neglected so far. We propose here a model of network evolution which allows us to study the complex dynamics induced by this feedback, including the hysteresis effect which is typical for systems with non-linear dynamics. Despite the popular belief that recommendation helps users to discover new things, we find that the long-term use of recommendation can contribute to the rise of extremely popular items and thus ultimately narrow the user choice. These results are supported by measurements of the time evolution of item popularity inequality in real systems. We show that this adverse effect of recommendation can be tamed by sacrificing part of short-term recommendation accuracy.

Geostar - Navigation location system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keyser, Donald A.

The author describes the Radiodetermination Satellite Service (RDSS). The initial phase of the RDSS provides for a unique service enabling central offices and headquarters to obtain position-location information and receive short digital messages from mobile user terminals throughout the contiguous United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. The system employs a spread-spectrum, CDMA modulation technique allowing multiple customers to use the system simultaneously, without preassigned coordination with fellow users. Position location is currently determined by employing an existing radio determination receiver, such as Loran-C, GPS, or Transit, in the mobile user terminal. In the early 1990s position location will be determined at a central earth station by time-differential ranging of the user terminals via two or more geostationary satellites. A brief overview of the RDSS system architecture is presented with emphasis on the user terminal and its diverse applications.

A user-oriented synthetic workload generator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kao, Wei-Lun

1991-01-01

A user oriented synthetic workload generator that simulates users' file access behavior based on real workload characterization is described. The model for this workload generator is user oriented and job specific, represents file I/O operations at the system call level, allows general distributions for the usage measures, and assumes independence in the file I/O operation stream. The workload generator consists of three parts which handle specification of distributions, creation of an initial file system, and selection and execution of file I/O operations. Experiments on SUN NFS are shown to demonstrate the usage of the workload generator.

A Java-Enabled Interactive Graphical Gas Turbine Propulsion System Simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reed, John A.; Afjeh, Abdollah A.

1997-01-01

This paper describes a gas turbine simulation system which utilizes the newly developed Java language environment software system. The system provides an interactive graphical environment which allows the quick and efficient construction and analysis of arbitrary gas turbine propulsion systems. The simulation system couples a graphical user interface, developed using the Java Abstract Window Toolkit, and a transient, space- averaged, aero-thermodynamic gas turbine analysis method, both entirely coded in the Java language. The combined package provides analytical, graphical and data management tools which allow the user to construct and control engine simulations by manipulating graphical objects on the computer display screen. Distributed simulations, including parallel processing and distributed database access across the Internet and World-Wide Web (WWW), are made possible through services provided by the Java environment.

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

Steed, Chad Allen

EDENx is a multivariate data visualization tool that allows interactive user driven analysis of large-scale data sets with high dimensionality. EDENx builds on our earlier system, called EDEN to enable analysis of more dimensions and larger scale data sets. EDENx provides an initial overview of summary statistics for each variable in the data set under investigation. EDENx allows the user to interact with graphical summary plots of the data to investigate subsets and their statistical associations. These plots include histograms, binned scatterplots, binned parallel coordinate plots, timeline plots, and graphical correlation indicators. From the EDENx interface, a user can selectmore » a subsample of interest and launch a more detailed data visualization via the EDEN system. EDENx is best suited for high-level, aggregate analysis tasks while EDEN is more appropriate for detail data investigations.« less

PAD_AUDIT -- PAD Auditing Package

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clayton, C. A.

The PAD (Packet Assembler Disassembler) utility is the part of the VAX/VMS Coloured Book Software (CBS) which allows a user to log onto remote computers from a local VAX. Unfortunately, logging into a computer via either the Packet SwitchStream (PSS) or the International Packet SwitchStream (IPSS) costs real money. Some users either do not appreciate this or do not care and have been known to clock up rather large quarterly bills. This software package allows a system manager to determine who has used PAD to call where and (most importantly) how much it has cost. The system manager can then take appropriate action - either charging the individuals, warning them to use the facility with more care or even denying access to a greedy user to one or more sites.

Towards a Comprehensive Computational Simulation System for Turbomachinery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, Ming-Hsin

1994-01-01

The objective of this work is to develop algorithms associated with a comprehensive computational simulation system for turbomachinery flow fields. This development is accomplished in a modular fashion. These modules includes grid generation, visualization, network, simulation, toolbox, and flow modules. An interactive grid generation module is customized to facilitate the grid generation process associated with complicated turbomachinery configurations. With its user-friendly graphical user interface, the user may interactively manipulate the default settings to obtain a quality grid within a fraction of time that is usually required for building a grid about the same geometry with a general-purpose grid generation code. Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline formulations are utilized in the algorithm to maintain geometry fidelity while redistributing grid points on the solid surfaces. Bezier curve formulation is used to allow interactive construction of inner boundaries. It is also utilized to allow interactive point distribution. Cascade surfaces are transformed from three-dimensional surfaces of revolution into two-dimensional parametric planes for easy manipulation. Such a transformation allows these manipulated plane grids to be mapped to surfaces of revolution by any generatrix definition. A sophisticated visualization module is developed to al-low visualization for both grid and flow solution, steady or unsteady. A network module is built to allow data transferring in the heterogeneous environment. A flow module is integrated into this system, using an existing turbomachinery flow code. A simulation module is developed to combine the network, flow, and visualization module to achieve near real-time flow simulation about turbomachinery geometries. A toolbox module is developed to support the overall task. A batch version of the grid generation module is developed to allow portability and has been extended to allow dynamic grid generation for pitch changing turbomachinery configurations. Various applications with different characteristics are presented to demonstrate the success of this system.

Evolution of the EOSDIS Data User Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krupp, B. M.; Murphy, K. J.; Wanchoo, L.; Chang, H.

2011-12-01

Since NASA's EOS Terra platform began operations in early FY2000, data centers affiliated with the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) have distributed over 12.8 Petabytes (PB) and 1.2 billion files of data to over 2.3 million distinct users through the end of FY2010. Metrics on data ingest, archive, and distribution have been collected throughout the EOS era by different automated systems. The functionality of these systems has improved over the years, allowing more types of metrics analyses to be made with greater precision. The ESDIS Metrics System (EMS) replaced the earlier ESDIS Data Gathering and Reporting System (EDGRS) in FY2005. Since then it has collected increasingly more accurate information about data users obtaining products from the many EOSDIS data centers. The information allows characterization of the various EOSDIS user communities, and enables studies of how these communities have changed over time. User information obtained when an order is placed, or products are downloaded from a data center's FTP site, include the user's IP host (or IP address) and email address. The EMS system is able to resolve most IP addresses to specific domains. Combined with science discipline information associated with the data products themselves, users and data distributions to them can be characterized in a number of ways, including by countries, disciplines (e.g. Atmosphere, Ocean, Land), and [most readily for the United States] affiliations (Government, Education, Non-profit, or Commercial). The purpose of this investigation is to analyze patterns of data distributions within the different user groups mentioned above and to trace their evolution over time. Results show, for example, that the number of foreign users has increased greatly over the years, as has the number of countries receiving EOSDIS data products. These kinds of studies can be very useful to the various data centers. By gaining a better understanding of how their user communities are evolving, and how patterns of data product distributions are changing, data centers will be better able to serve the needs of the users.

Earth Science Data Archive and Access at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, Gregory

1999-01-01

The Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), as an integral part of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), is the official source of data for several important earth remote sensing missions. These include the Sea-viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) launched in August 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) launched in November 1997, and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) scheduled for launch in mid 1999 as part of the EOS AM-1 instrumentation package. The data generated from these missions supports a host of users in the hydrological, land biosphere and oceanographic research and applications communities. The volume and nature of the data present unique challenges to an Earth science data archive and distribution system such as the DAAC. The DAAC system receives, archives and distributes a large number of standard data products on a daily basis, including data files that have been reprocessed with updated calibration data or improved analytical algorithms. A World Wide Web interface is provided allowing interactive data selection and automatic data subscriptions as distribution options. The DAAC also creates customized and value-added data products, which allow additional user flexibility and reduced data volume. Another significant part of our overall mission is to provide ancillary data support services and archive support for worldwide field campaigns designed to validate the results from the various satellite-derived measurements. In addition to direct data services, accompanying documentation, WWW links to related resources, support for EOSDIS data formats, and informed response to inquiries are routinely provided to users. The current GDAAC WWW search and order system is being restructured to provide users with a simplified, hierarchical access to data. Data Browsers have been developed for several data sets to aid users in ordering data. These Browsers allow users to specify spatial, temporal, and other parameter criteria in searching for and previewing data.

A Spot Reminder System for the Visually Impaired Based on a Smartphone Camera

PubMed Central

Takizawa, Hotaka; Orita, Kazunori; Aoyagi, Mayumi; Ezaki, Nobuo; Mizuno, Shinji

2017-01-01

The present paper proposes a smartphone-camera-based system to assist visually impaired users in recalling their memories related to important locations, called spots, that they visited. The memories are recorded as voice memos, which can be played back when the users return to the spots. Spot-to-spot correspondence is determined by image matching based on the scale invariant feature transform. The main contribution of the proposed system is to allow visually impaired users to associate arbitrary voice memos with arbitrary spots. The users do not need any special devices or systems except smartphones and do not need to remember the spots where the voice memos were recorded. In addition, the proposed system can identify spots in environments that are inaccessible to the global positioning system. The proposed system has been evaluated by two experiments: image matching tests and a user study. The experimental results suggested the effectiveness of the system to help visually impaired individuals, including blind individuals, recall information about regularly-visited spots. PMID:28165403

A Spot Reminder System for the Visually Impaired Based on a Smartphone Camera.

PubMed

Takizawa, Hotaka; Orita, Kazunori; Aoyagi, Mayumi; Ezaki, Nobuo; Mizuno, Shinji

2017-02-04

The present paper proposes a smartphone-camera-based system to assist visually impaired users in recalling their memories related to important locations, called spots, that they visited. The memories are recorded as voice memos, which can be played back when the users return to the spots. Spot-to-spot correspondence is determined by image matching based on the scale invariant feature transform. The main contribution of the proposed system is to allow visually impaired users to associate arbitrary voice memos with arbitrary spots. The users do not need any special devices or systems except smartphones and do not need to remember the spots where the voice memos were recorded. In addition, the proposed system can identify spots in environments that are inaccessible to the global positioning system. The proposed system has been evaluated by two experiments: image matching tests and a user study. The experimental results suggested the effectiveness of the system to help visually impaired individuals, including blind individuals, recall information about regularly-visited spots.

Earthquake Early Warning Beta Users: Java, Modeling, and Mobile Apps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strauss, J. A.; Vinci, M.; Steele, W. P.; Allen, R. M.; Hellweg, M.

2014-12-01

Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) is a system that can provide a few to tens of seconds warning prior to ground shaking at a user's location. The goal and purpose of such a system is to reduce, or minimize, the damage, costs, and casualties resulting from an earthquake. A demonstration earthquake early warning system (ShakeAlert) is undergoing testing in the United States by the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, Caltech, ETH Zurich, University of Washington, the USGS, and beta users in California and the Pacific Northwest. The beta users receive earthquake information very rapidly in real-time and are providing feedback on their experiences of performance and potential uses within their organization. Beta user interactions allow the ShakeAlert team to discern: which alert delivery options are most effective, what changes would make the UserDisplay more useful in a pre-disaster situation, and most importantly, what actions users plan to take for various scenarios. Actions could include: personal safety approaches, such as drop cover, and hold on; automated processes and procedures, such as opening elevator or fire stations doors; or situational awareness. Users are beginning to determine which policy and technological changes may need to be enacted, and funding requirements to implement their automated controls. The use of models and mobile apps are beginning to augment the basic Java desktop applet. Modeling allows beta users to test their early warning responses against various scenarios without having to wait for a real event. Mobile apps are also changing the possible response landscape, providing other avenues for people to receive information. All of these combine to improve business continuity and resiliency.

A Database-Based and Web-Based Meta-CASE System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eessaar, Erki; Sgirka, Rünno

Each Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) system provides support to a software process or specific tasks or activities that are part of a software process. Each meta-CASE system allows us to create new CASE systems. The creators of a new CASE system have to specify abstract syntax of the language that is used in the system and functionality as well as non-functional properties of the new system. Many meta-CASE systems record their data directly in files. In this paper, we introduce a meta-CASE system, the enabling technology of which is an object-relational database system (ORDBMS). The system allows users to manage specifications of languages and create models by using these languages. The system has web-based and form-based user interface. We have created a proof-of-concept prototype of the system by using PostgreSQL ORDBMS and PHP scripting language.

A Framework for the Development of Context-Adaptable User Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing Systems

PubMed Central

Varela, Gervasio; Paz-Lopez, Alejandro; Becerra, Jose A.; Duro, Richard

2016-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of developing user interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing (UC) and Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems. These kind of systems are expected to provide a natural user experience, considering interaction modalities adapted to the user abilities and preferences and using whatever interaction devices are present in the environment. These interaction devices are not necessarily known at design time. The task is quite complicated due to the variety of devices and technologies, and the diversity of scenarios, and it usually burdens the developer with the need to create many different UIs in order to consider the foreseeable user-environment combinations. Here, we propose an UI abstraction framework for UC and AmI systems that effectively improves the portability of those systems between different environments and for different users. It allows developers to design and implement a single UI capable of being deployed with different devices and modalities regardless the physical location. PMID:27399711

Long-term effects of user preference-oriented recommendation method on the evolution of online system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Xiaoyu; Shang, Ming-Sheng; Luo, Xin; Khushnood, Abbas; Li, Jian

2017-02-01

As the explosion growth of Internet economy, recommender system has become an important technology to solve the problem of information overload. However, recommenders are not one-size-fits-all, different recommenders have different virtues, making them be suitable for different users. In this paper, we propose a novel personalized recommender based on user preferences, which allows multiple recommenders to exist in E-commerce system simultaneously. We find that output of a recommender to each user is quite different when using different recommenders, the recommendation accuracy can be significantly improved if each user is assigned with his/her optimal personalized recommender. Furthermore, different from previous works focusing on short-term effects on recommender, we also evaluate the long-term effect of the proposed method by modeling the evolution of mutual feedback between user and online system. Finally, compared with single recommender running on the online system, the proposed method can improve the accuracy of recommendation significantly and get better trade-offs between short- and long-term performances of recommendation.

Instrumentino: An Open-Source Software for Scientific Instruments.

PubMed

Koenka, Israel Joel; Sáiz, Jorge; Hauser, Peter C

2015-01-01

Scientists often need to build dedicated computer-controlled experimental systems. For this purpose, it is becoming common to employ open-source microcontroller platforms, such as the Arduino. These boards and associated integrated software development environments provide affordable yet powerful solutions for the implementation of hardware control of transducers and acquisition of signals from detectors and sensors. It is, however, a challenge to write programs that allow interactive use of such arrangements from a personal computer. This task is particularly complex if some of the included hardware components are connected directly to the computer and not via the microcontroller. A graphical user interface framework, Instrumentino, was therefore developed to allow the creation of control programs for complex systems with minimal programming effort. By writing a single code file, a powerful custom user interface is generated, which enables the automatic running of elaborate operation sequences and observation of acquired experimental data in real time. The framework, which is written in Python, allows extension by users, and is made available as an open source project.

Exploring creative activity: a software environment for multimedia systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farrett, Peter W.; Jardine, David A.

1992-03-01

This paper examines various issues related to the theory, design, and implementation of a system that supports creative activity for a multimedia environment. The system incorporates artificial intelligence notions to acquire concepts of the problem domain. This paper investigates this environment by considering a model that is a basis for a system, which supports a history of user interaction. A multimedia system that supports creative activity is problematic. It must function as a tool allowing users to experiment dynamically with their own creative reasoning process--a very nebulous task environment. It should also support the acquisition of domain knowledge so that empirical observation can be further evaluated. This paper aims to illustrate that via the reuse of domain-specific knowledge, closely related ideas can be quickly developed. This approach is useful in the following sense: Multimedia navigational systems hardcode referential links with respect to a web or network. Although users can access or control navigation in a nonlinear (static) manner, these referential links are 'frozen' and can not capture their creative actions, which are essential in tutoring or learning applications. This paper describes a multimedia assistant based on the notion of knowledge- links, which allows users to navigate through creative information in a nonlinear (dynamic) fashion. A selection of prototype code based on object-oriented techniques and logic programming partially demonstrates this.

Creating accessible science museums with user-activated environmental audio beacons (ping!).

PubMed

Landau, Steven; Wiener, William; Naghshineh, Koorosh; Giusti, Ellen

2005-01-01

In 2003, Touch Graphics Company carried out research on a new invention that promises to improve accessibility to science museums for visitors who are visually impaired. The system, nicknamed Ping!, allows users to navigate an exhibit area, listen to audio descriptions, and interact with exhibits using a cell phone-based interface. The system relies on computer telephony, and it incorporates a network of wireless environmental audio beacons that can be triggered by users wishing to travel to destinations they choose. User testing indicates that the system is effective, both as a way-finding tool and as a means of providing accessible information on museum content. Follow-up development projects will determine if this approach can be successfully implemented in other settings and for other user populations.

Three-dimensional user interfaces for scientific visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vandam, Andries

1995-01-01

The main goal of this project is to develop novel and productive user interface techniques for creating and managing visualizations of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) datasets. We have implemented an application framework in which we can visualize computational fluid dynamics user interfaces. This UI technology allows users to interactively place visualization probes in a dataset and modify some of their parameters. We have also implemented a time-critical scheduling system which strives to maintain a constant frame-rate regardless of the number of visualization techniques. In the past year, we have published parts of this research at two conferences, the research annotation system at Visualization 1994, and the 3D user interface at UIST 1994. The real-time scheduling system has been submitted to SIGGRAPH 1995 conference. Copies of these documents are included with this report.

Windows NT Attacks for the Evaluation of Intrusion Detection Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-06-01

their passwords never expire. Their privileges allow telnet access and FTP access to the system, but do not allow local logins . Each user can...default: • Administrator: This root account allows remote and local logins and full control of system software. • Guest: This default account, setup by...realizing that the Netbus server was installed. The attack also edits the Windows NT Registry so the Netbus server restarts at every login . This

Implementation of the Regulatory Authority Information System in Egypt

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

Carson, S.D.; Schetnan, R.; Hasan, A.

2006-07-01

As part of the implementation of a bar-code-based system to track radioactive sealed sources (RSS) in Egypt, the Regulatory Authority Information System Personal Digital Assistant (RAIS PDA) Application was developed to extend the functionality of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) RAIS database by allowing users to download RSS data from the database to a portable PDA equipped with a bar-code scanner. [1, 4] The system allows users in the field to verify radioactive sealed source data, gather radioactive sealed source audit information, and upload that data to the RAIS database. This paper describes the development of the RAIS PDAmore » Application, its features, and how it will be implemented in Egypt. (authors)« less

Transaction Logging.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, S.; And Others

1997-01-01

Discusses the use of transaction logging in Okapi-related projects to allow search algorithms and user interfaces to be investigated, evaluated, and compared. A series of examples is presented, illustrating logging software for character-based and graphical user interface systems, and demonstrating the usefulness of relational database management…

Developing A Web-based User Interface for Semantic Information Retrieval

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berrios, Daniel C.; Keller, Richard M.

2003-01-01

While there are now a number of languages and frameworks that enable computer-based systems to search stored data semantically, the optimal design for effective user interfaces for such systems is still uncle ar. Such interfaces should mask unnecessary query detail from users, yet still allow them to build queries of arbitrary complexity without significant restrictions. We developed a user interface supporting s emantic query generation for Semanticorganizer, a tool used by scient ists and engineers at NASA to construct networks of knowledge and dat a. Through this interface users can select node types, node attribute s and node links to build ad-hoc semantic queries for searching the S emanticOrganizer network.

Make Movies out of Your Dynamical Simulations with OGRE!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamayo, Daniel; Douglas, R. W.; Ge, H. W.; Burns, J. A.

2013-10-01

We have developed OGRE, the Orbital GRaphics Environment, an open-source project comprising a graphical user interface that allows the user to view the output from several dynamical integrators (e.g., SWIFT) that are commonly used for academic work. One can interactively vary the display speed, rotate the view and zoom the camera. This makes OGRE a great tool for students or the general public to explore accurate orbital histories that may display interesting dynamical features, e.g. the destabilization of Solar System orbits under the Nice model, or interacting pairs of exoplanets. Furthermore, OGRE allows the user to choreograph sequences of transformations as the simulation is played to generate movies for use in public talks or professional presentations. The graphical user interface is coded using Qt to ensure portability across different operating systems. OGRE will run on Linux and Mac OS X. The program is available as a self-contained executable, or as source code that the user can compile. We are continually updating the code, and hope that people who find it useful will contribute to the development of new features.

Make Movies out of Your Dynamical Simulations with OGRE!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamayo, Daniel; Douglas, R. W.; Ge, H. W.; Burns, J. A.

2014-01-01

We have developed OGRE, the Orbital GRaphics Environment, an open-source project comprising a graphical user interface that allows the user to view the output from several dynamical integrators (e.g., SWIFT) that are commonly used for academic work. One can interactively vary the display speed, rotate the view and zoom the camera. This makes OGRE a great tool for students or the general public to explore accurate orbital histories that may display interesting dynamical features, e.g. the destabilization of Solar System orbits under the Nice model, or interacting pairs of exoplanets. Furthermore, OGRE allows the user to choreograph sequences of transformations as the simulation is played to generate movies for use in public talks or professional presentations. The graphical user interface is coded using Qt to ensure portability across different operating systems. OGRE will run on Linux and Mac OS X. The program is available as a self-contained executable, or as source code that the user can compile. We are continually updating the code, and hope that people who find it useful will contribute to the development of new features.

Tinamit: Making coupled system dynamics models accessible to stakeholders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malard, Julien; Inam Baig, Azhar; Rojas Díaz, Marcela; Hassanzadeh, Elmira; Adamowski, Jan; Tuy, Héctor; Melgar-Quiñonez, Hugo

2017-04-01

Model coupling is increasingly used as a method of combining the best of two models when representing socio-environmental systems, though barriers to successful model adoption by stakeholders are particularly present with the use of coupled models, due to their high complexity and typically low implementation flexibility. Coupled system dynamics - physically-based modelling is a promising method to improve stakeholder participation in environmental modelling while retaining a high level of complexity for physical process representation, as the system dynamics components are readily understandable and can be built by stakeholders themselves. However, this method is not without limitations in practice, including 1) inflexible and complicated coupling methods, 2) difficult model maintenance after the end of the project, and 3) a wide variety of end-user cultures and languages. We have developed the open-source Python-language software tool Tinamit to overcome some of these limitations to the adoption of stakeholder-based coupled system dynamics - physically-based modelling. The software is unique in 1) its inclusion of both a graphical user interface (GUI) and a library of available commands (API) that allow users with little or no coding abilities to rapidly, effectively, and flexibly couple models, 2) its multilingual support for the GUI, allowing users to couple models in their preferred language (and to add new languages as necessary for their community work), and 3) its modular structure allowing for very easy model coupling and modification without the direct use of code, and to which programming-savvy users can easily add support for new types of physically-based models. We discuss how the use of Tinamit for model coupling can greatly increase the accessibility of coupled models to stakeholders, using an example of a stakeholder-built system dynamics model of soil salinity issues in Pakistan coupled with the physically-based soil salinity and water flow model SAHYSMOD. Different socioeconomic and environmental policies for soil salinity remediation are tested within the coupled model, allowing for the identification of the most efficient actions from an environmental and a farmer economy standpoint while taking into account the complex feedbacks between socioeconomics and the physical environment.

Renaissance architecture for Ground Data Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perkins, Dorothy C.; Zeigenfuss, Lawrence B.

1994-01-01

The Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate (MO&DSD) has embarked on a new approach for developing and operating Ground Data Systems (GDS) for flight mission support. This approach is driven by the goals of minimizing cost and maximizing customer satisfaction. Achievement of these goals is realized through the use of a standard set of capabilities which can be modified to meet specific user needs. This approach, which is called the Renaissance architecture, stresses the engineering of integrated systems, based upon workstation/local area network (LAN)/fileserver technology and reusable hardware and software components called 'building blocks.' These building blocks are integrated with mission specific capabilities to build the GDS for each individual mission. The building block approach is key to the reduction of development costs and schedules. Also, the Renaissance approach allows the integration of GDS functions that were previously provided via separate multi-mission facilities. With the Renaissance architecture, the GDS can be developed by the MO&DSD or all, or part, of the GDS can be operated by the user at their facility. Flexibility in operation configuration allows both selection of a cost-effective operations approach and the capability for customizing operations to user needs. Thus the focus of the MO&DSD is shifted from operating systems that we have built to building systems and, optionally, operations as separate services. Renaissance is actually a continuous process. Both the building blocks and the system architecture will evolve as user needs and technology change. Providing GDS on a per user basis enables this continuous refinement of the development process and product and allows the MO&DSD to remain a customer-focused organization. This paper will present the activities and results of the MO&DSD initial efforts toward the establishment of the Renaissance approach for the development of GDS, with a particular focus on both the technical and process implications posed by Renaissance to the MO&DSD.

The USGS Earthquake Notification Service (ENS): Customizable notifications of earthquakes around the globe

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wald, Lisa A.; Wald, David J.; Schwarz, Stan; Presgrave, Bruce; Earle, Paul S.; Martinez, Eric; Oppenheimer, David

2008-01-01

At the beginning of 2006, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program (EHP) introduced a new automated Earthquake Notification Service (ENS) to take the place of the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) "Bigquake" system and the various other individual EHP e-mail list-servers for separate regions in the United States. These included northern California, southern California, and the central and eastern United States. ENS is a "one-stop shopping" system that allows Internet users to subscribe to flexible and customizable notifications for earthquakes anywhere in the world. The customization capability allows users to define the what (magnitude threshold), the when (day and night thresholds), and the where (specific regions) for their notifications. Customization is achieved by employing a per-user based request profile, allowing the notifications to be tailored for each individual's requirements. Such earthquake-parameter-specific custom delivery was not possible with simple e-mail list-servers. Now that event and user profiles are in a structured query language (SQL) database, additional flexibility is possible. At the time of this writing, ENS had more than 114,000 subscribers, with more than 200,000 separate user profiles. On a typical day, more than 188,000 messages get sent to a variety of widely distributed users for a wide range of earthquake locations and magnitudes. The purpose of this article is to describe how ENS works, highlight the features it offers, and summarize plans for future developments.

AZTEC. Parallel Iterative method Software for Solving Linear Systems

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

Hutchinson, S.; Shadid, J.; Tuminaro, R.

1995-07-01

AZTEC is an interactive library that greatly simplifies the parrallelization process when solving the linear systems of equations Ax=b where A is a user supplied n X n sparse matrix, b is a user supplied vector of length n and x is a vector of length n to be computed. AZTEC is intended as a software tool for users who want to avoid cumbersome parallel programming details but who have large sparse linear systems which require an efficiently utilized parallel processing system. A collection of data transformation tools are provided that allow for easy creation of distributed sparse unstructured matricesmore » for parallel solutions.« less

WinHPC System | High-Performance Computing | NREL

Science.gov Websites

System WinHPC System NREL's WinHPC system is a computing cluster running the Microsoft Windows operating system. It allows users to run jobs requiring a Windows environment such as ANSYS and MATLAB

NASA Electronic Library System (NELS): The system impact of security

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcgregor, Terry L.

1993-01-01

This paper discusses security issues as they relate to the NASA Electronic Library System which is currently in use as the repository system for AdaNET System Version 3 (ASV3) being operated by MountainNET, Inc. NELS was originally designed to provide for public, development, and secure collections and objects. The secure feature for collections and objects was deferred in the initial system for implementation at a later date. The NELS system is now 9 months old and many lessons have been learned about the use and maintenance of library systems. MountainNET has 9 months of experience in operating the system and gathering feedback from the ASV3 user community. The user community has expressed an interest in seeing security features implemented in the current system. The time has come to take another look at the whole issue of security for the NELS system. Two requirements involving security have been put forth by MountainNET for the ASV3 system. The first is to incorporate at the collection level a security scheme to allow restricted access to collections. This should be invisible to end users and be controlled by librarians. The second is to allow inclusion of applications which can be executed only by a controlled group of users; for example, an application which can be executed by librarians only. The requirements provide a broad framework in which to work. These requirements raise more questions than answers. To explore the impact of these requirements a top down approach will be used.

Help Is on the WAIS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lukanuski, Mary

1992-01-01

Describes the development of the WAIS (Wide Area Information Servers) protocol, a system that allows users access to personal, corporate, and commercial electronic information from one interface. The availability of WAIS on the Internet and the reactions of users are addressed. Several problems are considered, including funding, hardware…

Combining users' activity survey and simulators to evaluate human activity recognition systems.

PubMed

Azkune, Gorka; Almeida, Aitor; López-de-Ipiña, Diego; Chen, Liming

2015-04-08

Evaluating human activity recognition systems usually implies following expensive and time-consuming methodologies, where experiments with humans are run with the consequent ethical and legal issues. We propose a novel evaluation methodology to overcome the enumerated problems, which is based on surveys for users and a synthetic dataset generator tool. Surveys allow capturing how different users perform activities of daily living, while the synthetic dataset generator is used to create properly labelled activity datasets modelled with the information extracted from surveys. Important aspects, such as sensor noise, varying time lapses and user erratic behaviour, can also be simulated using the tool. The proposed methodology is shown to have very important advantages that allow researchers to carry out their work more efficiently. To evaluate the approach, a synthetic dataset generated following the proposed methodology is compared to a real dataset computing the similarity between sensor occurrence frequencies. It is concluded that the similarity between both datasets is more than significant.

Dynamic Hurricane Data Analysis Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knosp, Brian W.; Li, Peggy; Vu, Quoc A.

2009-01-01

A dynamic hurricane data analysis tool allows users of the JPL Tropical Cyclone Information System (TCIS) to analyze data over a Web medium. The TCIS software is described in the previous article, Tropical Cyclone Information System (TCIS) (NPO-45748). This tool interfaces with the TCIS database to pull in data from several different atmospheric and oceanic data sets, both observed by instruments. Users can use this information to generate histograms, maps, and profile plots for specific storms. The tool also displays statistical values for the user-selected parameter for the mean, standard deviation, median, minimum, and maximum values. There is little wait time, allowing for fast data plots over date and spatial ranges. Users may also zoom-in for a closer look at a particular spatial range. This is version 1 of the software. Researchers will use the data and tools on the TCIS to understand hurricane processes, improve hurricane forecast models and identify what types of measurements the next generation of instruments will need to collect.

Parallelization of NAS Benchmarks for Shared Memory Multiprocessors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waheed, Abdul; Yan, Jerry C.; Saini, Subhash (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

This paper presents our experiences of parallelizing the sequential implementation of NAS benchmarks using compiler directives on SGI Origin2000 distributed shared memory (DSM) system. Porting existing applications to new high performance parallel and distributed computing platforms is a challenging task. Ideally, a user develops a sequential version of the application, leaving the task of porting to new generations of high performance computing systems to parallelization tools and compilers. Due to the simplicity of programming shared-memory multiprocessors, compiler developers have provided various facilities to allow the users to exploit parallelism. Native compilers on SGI Origin2000 support multiprocessing directives to allow users to exploit loop-level parallelism in their programs. Additionally, supporting tools can accomplish this process automatically and present the results of parallelization to the users. We experimented with these compiler directives and supporting tools by parallelizing sequential implementation of NAS benchmarks. Results reported in this paper indicate that with minimal effort, the performance gain is comparable with the hand-parallelized, carefully optimized, message-passing implementations of the same benchmarks.

ERTS direct readout ground station study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1971-01-01

A system configuration which provides for a wide variety of user requirements is described. Two distinct user types are considered and optimized configurations are provided. Independent satellite transmission systems allow simultaneous signal transmission to Regional Collection Centers via a high data rate channel and to local users who require near real time consumption of lower rate data. In order to maximize the ultimate utility of this study effort, a parametric system description is given such that in essence a shopping list is provided. To achieve these results, it was necessary to consider all technical disciplines associated with high resolution satellite imaging systems including signal processing, modulation and coding, recording, and display techniques. A total systems study was performed.

A multi-user real time inventorying system for radioactive materials: a networking approach.

PubMed

Mehta, S; Bandyopadhyay, D; Hoory, S

1998-01-01

A computerized system for radioisotope management and real time inventory coordinated across a large organization is reported. It handles hundreds of individual users and their separate inventory records. Use of highly efficient computer network and database technologies makes it possible to accept, maintain, and furnish all records related to receipt, usage, and disposal of the radioactive materials for the users separately and collectively. The system's central processor is an HP-9000/800 G60 RISC server and users from across the organization use their personal computers to login to this server using the TCP/IP networking protocol, which makes distributed use of the system possible. Radioisotope decay is automatically calculated by the program, so that it can make the up-to-date radioisotope inventory data of an entire institution available immediately. The system is specifically designed to allow use by large numbers of users (about 300) and accommodates high volumes of data input and retrieval without compromising simplicity and accuracy. Overall, it is an example of a true multi-user, on-line, relational database information system that makes the functioning of a radiation safety department efficient.

An Intelligent computer-aided tutoring system for diagnosing anomalies of spacecraft in operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rolincik, Mark; Lauriente, Michael; Koons, Harry C.; Gorney, David

1993-01-01

A new rule-based, expert system for diagnosing spacecraft anomalies is under development. The knowledge base consists of over two-hundred (200) rules and provides links to historical and environmental databases. Environmental causes considered are bulk charging, single event upsets (SEU), surface charging, and total radiation dose. The system's driver translates forward chaining rules into a backward chaining sequence, prompting the user for information pertinent to the causes considered. When the user selects the novice mode, the system automatically gives detailed explanations and descriptions of terms and reasoning as the session progresses, in a sense teaching the user. As such it is an effective tutoring tool. The use of heuristics frees the user from searching through large amounts of irrelevant information and allows the user to input partial information (varying degrees of confidence in an answer) or 'unknown' to any question. The system is available on-line and uses C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), an expert shell developed by the NASA Johnson Space Center AI Laboratory in Houston.

RIMS: Resource Information Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Symes, J.

1983-01-01

An overview is given of the capabilities and functions of the resource management system (RIMS). It is a simple interactive DMS tool which allows users to build, modify, and maintain data management applications. The RIMS minimizes programmer support required to develop/maintain small data base applications. The RIMS also assists in bringing the United Information Services (UIS) budget system work inhouse. Information is also given on the relationship between the RIMS and the user community.

Usage of the hybrid encryption in a cloud instant messages exchange system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kvyetnyy, Roman N.; Romanyuk, Olexander N.; Titarchuk, Evgenii O.; Gromaszek, Konrad; Mussabekov, Nazarbek

2016-09-01

A new approach for constructing cloud instant messaging represented in this article allows users to encrypt data locally by using Diffie - Hellman key exchange protocol. The described approach allows to construct a cloud service which operates only by users encrypted messages; encryption and decryption takes place locally at the user party using a symmetric AES encryption. A feature of the service is the conferences support without the need for messages reecryption for each participant. In the article it is given an example of the protocol implementation on the ECC and RSA encryption algorithms basis, as well as a comparison of these implementations.

Jules Verne Voyager, Jr: An Interactive Map Tool for Teaching Plate Tectonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamburger, M. W.; Meertens, C. M.

2010-12-01

We present an interactive, web-based map utility that can make new geological and geophysical results accessible to a large number and variety of users. The tool provides a user-friendly interface that allows users to access a variety of maps, satellite images, and geophysical data at a range of spatial scales. The map tool, dubbed 'Jules Verne Voyager, Jr.', allows users to interactively create maps of a variety of study areas around the world. The utility was developed in collaboration with the UNAVCO Consortium for study of global-scale tectonic processes. Users can choose from a variety of base maps (including "Face of the Earth" and "Earth at Night" satellite imagery mosaics, global topography, geoid, sea-floor age, strain rate and seismic hazard maps, and others), add a number of geographic and geophysical overlays (coastlines, political boundaries, rivers and lakes, earthquake and volcano locations, stress axes, etc.), and then superimpose both observed and model velocity vectors representing a compilation of 2933 GPS geodetic measurements from around the world. A remarkable characteristic of the geodetic compilation is that users can select from some 21 plates' frames of reference, allowing a visual representation of both 'absolute' plate motion (in a no-net rotation reference frame) and relative motion along all of the world's plate boundaries. The tool allows users to zoom among at least three map scales. The map tool can be viewed at http://jules.unavco.org/VoyagerJr/Earth. A more detailed version of the map utility, developed in conjunction with the EarthScope initiative, focuses on North America geodynamics, and provides more detailed geophysical and geographic information for the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The ‘EarthScope Voyager’ can be accessed at http://jules.unavco.org/VoyagerJr/EarthScope. Because the system uses pre-constructed gif images and overlays, the system can rapidly create and display maps to a large number of users simultaneously and does not require any special software installation on users' systems. In addition, a javascript-based educational interface, dubbed "Exploring our Dynamic Planet", incorporates the map tool, explanatory material, background scientific material, and curricular activities that encourage users to explore Earth processes using the Jules Verne Voyager, Jr. tool. Exploring our Dynamic Planet can be viewed at http://www.dpc.ucar.edu/VoyagerJr/. Because of its flexibility, the map utilities can be used for hands-on exercises exploring plate interaction in a range of academic settings, from high school science classes to entry-level undergraduate to graduate-level tectonics courses.

Simulation in a dynamic prototyping environment: Petri nets or rules?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Loretta A.; Price, Shannon W.; Hale, Joseph P.

1994-01-01

An evaluation of a prototyped user interface is best supported by a simulation of the system. A simulation allows for dynamic evaluation of the interface rather than just a static evaluation of the screen's appearance. This allows potential users to evaluate both the look (in terms of the screen layout, color, objects, etc.) and feel (in terms of operations and actions which need to be performed) of a system's interface. Because of the need to provide dynamic evaluation of an interface, there must be support for producing active simulations. The high-fidelity training simulators are normally delivered too late to be effectively used in prototyping the displays. Therefore, it is important to build a low fidelity simulator, so that the iterative cycle of refining the human computer interface based upon a user's interactions can proceed early in software development.

Simulation in a dynamic prototyping environment: Petri nets or rules?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Loretta A.; Price, Shannon; Hale, Joseph P.

1994-01-01

An evaluation of a prototyped user interface is best supported by a simulation of the system. A simulation allows for dynamic evaluation of the interface rather than just a static evaluation of the screen's appearance. This allows potential users to evaluate both the look (in terms of the screen layout, color, objects, etc.) and feel (in terms of operations and actions which need to be performed) of a system's interface. Because of the need to provide dynamic evaluation of an interface, there must be support for producing active simulations. The high-fidelity training simulators are delivered too late to be effectively used in prototyping the displays. Therefore, it is important to build a low fidelity simulator, so that the iterative cycle of refining the human computer interface based upon a user's interactions can proceed early in software development.

Methods for estimating magnitude and frequency of floods in Arizona, developed with unregulated and rural peak-flow data through water year 2010

USGS Publications Warehouse

Paretti, Nicholas V.; Kennedy, Jeffrey R.; Turney, Lovina A.; Veilleux, Andrea G.

2014-01-01

The regional regression equations were integrated into the U.S. Geological Survey’s StreamStats program. The StreamStats program is a national map-based web application that allows the public to easily access published flood frequency and basin characteristic statistics. The interactive web application allows a user to select a point within a watershed (gaged or ungaged) and retrieve flood-frequency estimates derived from the current regional regression equations and geographic information system data within the selected basin. StreamStats provides users with an efficient and accurate means for retrieving the most up to date flood frequency and basin characteristic data. StreamStats is intended to provide consistent statistics, minimize user error, and reduce the need for large datasets and costly geographic information system software.

Design of Soil Salinity Policies with Tinamit, a Flexible and Rapid Tool to Couple Stakeholder-Built System Dynamics Models with Physically-Based Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malard, J. J.; Baig, A. I.; Hassanzadeh, E.; Adamowski, J. F.; Tuy, H.; Melgar-Quiñonez, H.

2016-12-01

Model coupling is a crucial step to constructing many environmental models, as it allows for the integration of independently-built models representing different system sub-components to simulate the entire system. Model coupling has been of particular interest in combining socioeconomic System Dynamics (SD) models, whose visual interface facilitates their direct use by stakeholders, with more complex physically-based models of the environmental system. However, model coupling processes are often cumbersome and inflexible and require extensive programming knowledge, limiting their potential for continued use by stakeholders in policy design and analysis after the end of the project. Here, we present Tinamit, a flexible Python-based model-coupling software tool whose easy-to-use API and graphical user interface make the coupling of stakeholder-built SD models with physically-based models rapid, flexible and simple for users with limited to no coding knowledge. The flexibility of the system allows end users to modify the SD model as well as the linking variables between the two models themselves with no need for recoding. We use Tinamit to couple a stakeholder-built socioeconomic model of soil salinization in Pakistan with the physically-based soil salinity model SAHYSMOD. As climate extremes increase in the region, policies to slow or reverse soil salinity buildup are increasing in urgency and must take both socioeconomic and biophysical spheres into account. We use the Tinamit-coupled model to test the impact of integrated policy options (economic and regulatory incentives to farmers) on soil salinity in the region in the face of future climate change scenarios. Use of the Tinamit model allowed for rapid and flexible coupling of the two models, allowing the end user to continue making model structure and policy changes. In addition, the clear interface (in contrast to most model coupling code) makes the final coupled model easily accessible to stakeholders with limited technical background.

Unlocking data: federated identity with LSDMA and dCache

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Millar, AP; Behrmann, G.; Bernardt, C.; Fuhrmann, P.; Hardt, M.; Hayrapetyan, A.; Litvintsev, D.; Mkrtchyan, T.; Rossi, A.; Schwank, K.

2015-12-01

X.509, the dominant identity system from grid computing, has proved unpopular for many user communities. More popular alternatives generally assume the user is interacting via their web-browser. Such alternatives allow a user to authenticate with many services with the same credentials (user-name and password). They also allow users from different organisations form collaborations quickly and simply. Scientists generally require that their custom analysis software has direct access to the data. Such direct access is not currently supported by alternatives to X.509, as they require the use of a web-browser. Various approaches to solve this issue are being investigated as part of the Large Scale Data Management and Analysis (LSDMA) project, a German funded national R&D project. These involve dynamic credential translation (creating an X.509 credential) to allow backwards compatibility in addition to direct SAML- and OpenID Connect-based authentication. We present a summary of the current state of art and the current status of the federated identity work funded by the LSDMA project along with the future road map.

An Open Software Platform for Sharing Water Resource Models, Code and Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knox, Stephen; Meier, Philipp; Mohamed, Khaled; Korteling, Brett; Matrosov, Evgenii; Huskova, Ivana; Harou, Julien; Rosenberg, David; Tilmant, Amaury; Medellin-Azuara, Josue; Wicks, Jon

2016-04-01

The modelling of managed water resource systems requires new approaches in the face of increasing future uncertainty. Water resources management models, even if applied to diverse problem areas, use common approaches such as representing the problem as a network of nodes and links. We propose a data management software platform, called Hydra, that uses this commonality to allow multiple models using a node-link structure to be managed and run using a single software system. Hydra's user interface allows users to manage network topology and associated data. Hydra feeds this data directly into a model, importing from and exporting to different file formats using Apps. An App connects Hydra to a custom model, a modelling system such as GAMS or MATLAB or to different file formats such as MS Excel, CSV and ESRI Shapefiles. Hydra allows users to manage their data in a single, consistent place. Apps can be used to run domain-specific models and allow users to work with their own required file formats. The Hydra App Store offers a collaborative space where model developers can publish, review and comment on Apps, models and data. Example Apps and open-source libraries are available in a variety of languages (Python, Java and .NET). The App Store can act as a hub for water resource modellers to view and share Apps, models and data easily. This encourages an ecosystem of development using a shared platform, resulting in more model integration and potentially greater unity within resource modelling communities. www.hydraplatform.org www.hydraappstore.com

Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus: A NASA user interface development and management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szczur, Martha R.

1991-01-01

The transportable Applications Environment Plus (TAE Plus), developed at the NASA Goddard Space FLight Center, is a portable, What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) user interface development and management system. Its primary objective is to provide an integrated software environment that allows interactive prototyping and development of graphical user interfaces, as well as management of the user interface within the operational domain. TAE Plus is being applied to many types of applications, and what TAE Plus provides, how the implementation has utilizes state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations, and how it has been used both within and without NASA are discussed.

A Scientific Collaboration Tool Built on the Facebook Platform

PubMed Central

Bedrick, Steven D.; Sittig, Dean F.

2008-01-01

We describe an application (“Medline Publications”) written for the Facebook platform that allows users to maintain and publish a list of their own Medline-indexed publications, as well as easily access their contacts’ lists. The system is semi-automatic in that it interfaces directly with the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed database to find and retrieve citation data. Furthermore, the system has the capability to present the user with sets of other users with similar publication profiles. As of July 2008, Medline Publications has attracted approximately 759 users, 624 of which have listed a total of 5,193 unique publications. PMID:18999247

Connecting the Astrophysics Data System and Planetary Data System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eichhorn, G.; Kurtz, M. J.; Accomazzi, A.; Grant, C. S.; Murray, S. S.; Hughes, J. S.; Mortellaro, J.; McMahon, S. K.

1997-07-01

The Astrophysics Data System (ADS) provides access to astronomical literature through a sophisticated search engine. Over 10,000 users retrieve almost 5 million references and read more than 25,000 full text articles per month. ADS cooperates closely with all the main astronomical journals and data centers to create and maintain a state-of-the-art digital library. The Planetary Data System (PDS) publishes high quality peer reviewed planetary science data products, defines planetary archiving standards to make products usable, and provides science expertise to users in data product preparation and use. Data products are available to users on CD media, with more than 600 CD-ROM titles in the inventory from past missions as well as the recent releases from active planetary missions and observations. The ADS and PDS serve overlapping communities and offer complementary functions. The ADS and PDS are both part of the NASA Space Science Data System, sponsored by the Office of Space Science, which curates science data products for researchers and the general public. We are in the process of connecting these two data systems. As a first step we have included entries for PDS data sets in the ADS abstract service. This allows ADS users to find PDS data sets by searching for their descriptions through the ADS search system. The information returned from the ADS links directly to the data set's entry in the PDS data set catalog. After linking to this catalog, the user will have access to more comprehensive data set information, related ancillary information, and on-line data products. The PDS on the other hand will use the ADS to provide access to bibliographic information. This includes links from PDS data set catalog bibliographic citations to ADS abstracts and on-line articles. The cross-linking between these data systems allows each system to concentrate on its main objectives and utilize the other system to provide more and improved services to the users of both systems.

SSC Engineering Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ryan, Harry; Junell, Justin; Albasini, Colby; O'Rourke, William; Le, Thang; Strain, Ted; Stiglets, Tim

2011-01-01

A package for the automation of the Engineering Analysis (EA) process at the Stennis Space Center has been customized. It provides the ability to assign and track analysis tasks electronically, and electronically route a task for approval. It now provides a mechanism to keep these analyses under configuration management. It also allows the analysis to be stored and linked to the engineering data that is needed to perform the analysis (drawings, etc.). PTC s (Parametric Technology Corp o ration) Windchill product was customized to allow the EA to be created, routed, and maintained under configuration management. Using Infoengine Tasks, JSP (JavaServer Pages), Javascript, a user interface was created within the Windchill product that allows users to create EAs. Not only does this interface allow users to create and track EAs, but it plugs directly into the out-ofthe- box ability to associate these analyses with other relevant engineering data such as drawings. Also, using the Windchill workflow tool, the Design and Data Management System (DDMS) team created an electronic routing process based on the manual/informal approval process. The team also added the ability for users to notify and track notifications to individuals about the EA. Prior to the Engineering Analysis creation, there was no electronic way of creating and tracking these analyses. There was also a feature that was added that would allow users to track/log e-mail notifications of the EA.

The Wildland Fire Emissions Information System: Providing information for carbon cycle studies with open source geospatial tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, N. H.; Erickson, T.; McKenzie, D.

2008-12-01

A major goal of the North American Carbon Program is to resolve uncertainties in understanding and managing the carbon cycle of North America. As carbon modeling tools become more comprehensive and spatially oriented, accurate datasets to spatially quantify carbon emissions from fire are needed, and these data resources need to be accessible to users for decision-making. Under a new NASA Carbon Cycle Science project, Drs. Nancy French and Tyler Erickson, of the Michigan Technological University, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), are teaming with specialists with the USDA Forest Service Fire and Environmental Research Applications (FERA) team to provide information for mapping fire-derived carbon emissions to users. The project focus includes development of a web-based system to provide spatially resolved fire emissions estimates for North America in a user-friendly environment. The web-based Decision Support System will be based on a variety of open source technologies. The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) raster map of fuels and MODIS-derived burned area vector maps will be processed using the Geographic Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) and OGR Simple Features Library. Tabular and spatial project data will be stored in a PostgreSQL/PostGIS, a spatially enabled relational database server. The browser-based user interface will be created using the Django web page framework to allow user input for the decision support system. The OpenLayers mapping framework will be used to provide users with interactive maps within the browser. In addition, the data products will be made available in standard open data formats such as KML, to allow for easy integration into other spatial models and data systems.

A rapid prototyping/artificial intelligence approach to space station-era information management and access

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carnahan, Richard S., Jr.; Corey, Stephen M.; Snow, John B.

1989-01-01

Applications of rapid prototyping and Artificial Intelligence techniques to problems associated with Space Station-era information management systems are described. In particular, the work is centered on issues related to: (1) intelligent man-machine interfaces applied to scientific data user support, and (2) the requirement that intelligent information management systems (IIMS) be able to efficiently process metadata updates concerning types of data handled. The advanced IIMS represents functional capabilities driven almost entirely by the needs of potential users. Space Station-era scientific data projected to be generated is likely to be significantly greater than data currently processed and analyzed. Information about scientific data must be presented clearly, concisely, and with support features to allow users at all levels of expertise efficient and cost-effective data access. Additionally, mechanisms for allowing more efficient IIMS metadata update processes must be addressed. The work reported covers the following IIMS design aspects: IIMS data and metadata modeling, including the automatic updating of IIMS-contained metadata, IIMS user-system interface considerations, including significant problems associated with remote access, user profiles, and on-line tutorial capabilities, and development of an IIMS query and browse facility, including the capability to deal with spatial information. A working prototype has been developed and is being enhanced.

The ANSS Station Information System: A Centralized Station Metadata Repository for Populating, Managing and Distributing Seismic Station Metadata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, V. I.; Yu, E.; Acharya, P.; Jaramillo, J.; Chowdhury, F.

2015-12-01

Maintaining and archiving accurate site metadata is critical for seismic network operations. The Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) Station Information System (SIS) is a repository of seismic network field equipment, equipment response, and other site information. Currently, there are 187 different sensor models and 114 data-logger models in SIS. SIS has a web-based user interface that allows network operators to enter information about seismic equipment and assign response parameters to it. It allows users to log entries for sites, equipment, and data streams. Users can also track when equipment is installed, updated, and/or removed from sites. When seismic equipment configurations change for a site, SIS computes the overall gain of a data channel by combining the response parameters of the underlying hardware components. Users can then distribute this metadata in standardized formats such as FDSN StationXML or dataless SEED. One powerful advantage of SIS is that existing data in the repository can be leveraged: e.g., new instruments can be assigned response parameters from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Nominal Response Library (NRL), or from a similar instrument already in the inventory, thereby reducing the amount of time needed to determine parameters when new equipment (or models) are introduced into a network. SIS is also useful for managing field equipment that does not produce seismic data (eg power systems, telemetry devices or GPS receivers) and gives the network operator a comprehensive view of site field work. SIS allows users to generate field logs to document activities and inventory at sites. Thus, operators can also use SIS reporting capabilities to improve planning and maintenance of the network. Queries such as how many sensors of a certain model are installed or what pieces of equipment have active problem reports are just a few examples of the type of information that is available to SIS users.

Casimage project: a digital teaching files authoring environment.

PubMed

Rosset, Antoine; Muller, Henning; Martins, Martina; Dfouni, Natalia; Vallée, Jean-Paul; Ratib, Osman

2004-04-01

The goal of the Casimage project is to offer an authoring and editing environment integrated with the Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) for creating image-based electronic teaching files. This software is based on a client/server architecture allowing remote access of users to a central database. This authoring environment allows radiologists to create reference databases and collection of digital images for teaching and research directly from clinical cases being reviewed on PACS diagnostic workstations. The environment includes all tools to create teaching files, including textual description, annotations, and image manipulation. The software also allows users to generate stand-alone CD-ROMs and web-based teaching files to easily share their collections. The system includes a web server compatible with the Medical Imaging Resource Center standard (MIRC, http://mirc.rsna.org) to easily integrate collections in the RSNA web network dedicated to teaching files. This software could be installed on any PACS workstation to allow users to add new cases at any time and anywhere during clinical operations. Several images collections were created with this tool, including thoracic imaging that was subsequently made available on a CD-Rom and on our web site and through the MIRC network for public access.

Prospero - A tool for organizing Internet resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neuman, B. C.

1992-01-01

This article describes Prospero, a distributed file system based on the Virtual System Model. Prospero provides tools to help users organize Internet resources. These tools allow users to construct customized views of available resources, while taking advantage of the structure imposed by others. Prospero provides a framework that can tie together various indexing services producing the fabric on which resource discovery techniques can be applied.

Method and System for Air Traffic Rerouting for Airspace Constraint Resolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erzberger, Heinz (Inventor); Morando, Alexander R. (Inventor); Sheth, Kapil S. (Inventor); McNally, B. David (Inventor); Clymer, Alexis A. (Inventor); Shih, Fu-tai (Inventor)

2017-01-01

A dynamic constraint avoidance route system automatically analyzes routes of aircraft flying, or to be flown, in or near constraint regions and attempts to find more time and fuel efficient reroutes around current and predicted constraints. The dynamic constraint avoidance route system continuously analyzes all flight routes and provides reroute advisories that are dynamically updated in real time. The dynamic constraint avoidance route system includes a graphical user interface that allows users to visualize, evaluate, modify if necessary, and implement proposed reroutes.

Ada (Trade Name) Foundation Technology. Volume 4. Software Requirements for WIS (WWMCCS (World Wide Military Command and Control System) Information System) Text Processing Prototypes

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-12-01

graphics : The package allows a character set which can be defined by users giving the picture for a character by designating its pixels. Such characters...type lonts and gsei-oriented "help" messages tailored to the operations being performed and user expertise In general, critical design issues...other volumes include command language, software design , description and analysis tools, database management system operating systems; planning and

Earthdata Cloud Analytics Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Lynnes, Chris

2018-01-01

This presentation describes a nascent project in NASA to develop a framework to support end-user analytics of NASA's Earth science data in the cloud. The chief benefit of migrating EOSDIS (Earth Observation System Data and Information Systems) data to the cloud is to position the data next to enormous computing capacity to allow end users to process data at scale. The Earthdata Cloud Analytics project will user a service-based approach to facilitate the infusion of evolving analytics technology and the integration with non-NASA analytics or other complementary functionality at other agencies and in other nations.

An object-oriented approach to the management of meteorological and hydrological data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graves, S. J.; Williams, S. F.; Criswell, E. A.

1990-01-01

An interface to several meteorological and hydrological databases have been developed that enables researchers efficiently to access and interrelate data through a customized menu system. By extending a relational database system with object-oriented concepts, each user or group of users may have different 'views' of the data to allow user access to data in customized ways without altering the organization of the database. An application to COHMEX and WetNet, two earth science projects within NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Earth Science and Applications Division, are described.

Pennsylvania StreamStats--A web-based application for obtaining water-resource-related information

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stuckey, Marla H.; Hoffman, Scott A.

2010-01-01

StreamStats is a national web-based Geographic Information System (GIS) application, developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., to provide a variety of water-resource-related information. Users can easily obtain descriptive information, basin characteristics, and streamflow statistics for USGS streamgages and ungaged stream locations throughout Pennsylvania. StreamStats also allows users to search upstream and (or) downstream from user-selected points to identify locations of and obtain information for water-resource-related activities, such as dams and streamgages.

Embedded Systems and TensorFlow Frameworks as Assistive Technology Solutions.

PubMed

Mulfari, Davide; Palla, Alessandro; Fanucci, Luca

2017-01-01

In the field of deep learning, this paper presents the design of a wearable computer vision system for visually impaired users. The Assistive Technology solution exploits a powerful single board computer and smart glasses with a camera in order to allow its user to explore the objects within his surrounding environment, while it employs Google TensorFlow machine learning framework in order to real time classify the acquired stills. Therefore the proposed aid can increase the awareness of the explored environment and it interacts with its user by means of audio messages.

Web data mining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wibonele, Kasanda J.; Zhang, Yanqing

2002-03-01

A web data mining system using granular computing and ASP programming is proposed. This is a web based application, which allows web users to submit survey data for many different companies. This survey is a collection of questions that will help these companies develop and improve their business and customer service with their clients by analyzing survey data. This web application allows users to submit data anywhere. All the survey data is collected into a database for further analysis. An administrator of this web application can login to the system and view all the data submitted. This web application resides on a web server, and the database resides on the MS SQL server.

Intuitive Tools for the Design and Analysis of Communication Payloads for Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Culver, Michael R.; Soong, Christine; Warner, Joseph D.

2014-01-01

In an effort to make future communications satellite payload design more efficient and accessible, two tools were created with intuitive graphical user interfaces (GUIs). The first tool allows payload designers to graphically design their payload by using simple drag and drop of payload components onto a design area within the program. Information about each picked component is pulled from a database of common space-qualified communication components sold by commerical companies. Once a design is completed, various reports can be generated, such as the Master Equipment List. The second tool is a link budget calculator designed specifically for ease of use. Other features of this tool include being able to access a database of NASA ground based apertures for near Earth and Deep Space communication, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) base apertures, and information about the solar system relevant to link budget calculations. The link budget tool allows for over 50 different combinations of user inputs, eliminating the need for multiple spreadsheets and the user errors associated with using them. Both of the aforementioned tools increase the productivity of space communication systems designers, and have the colloquial latitude to allow non-communication experts to design preliminary communication payloads.

SBMLeditor: effective creation of models in the Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML)

PubMed Central

Rodriguez, Nicolas; Donizelli, Marco; Le Novère, Nicolas

2007-01-01

Background The need to build a tool to facilitate the quick creation and editing of models encoded in the Systems Biology Markup language (SBML) has been growing with the number of users and the increased complexity of the language. SBMLeditor tries to answer this need by providing a very simple, low level editor of SBML files. Users can create and remove all the necessary bits and pieces of SBML in a controlled way, that maintains the validity of the final SBML file. Results SBMLeditor is written in JAVA using JCompneur, a library providing interfaces to easily display an XML document as a tree. This decreases dramatically the development time for a new XML editor. The possibility to include custom dialogs for different tags allows a lot of freedom for the editing and validation of the document. In addition to Xerces, SBMLeditor uses libSBML to check the validity and consistency of SBML files. A graphical equation editor allows an easy manipulation of MathML. SBMLeditor can be used as a module of the Systems Biology Workbench. Conclusion SBMLeditor contains many improvements compared to a generic XML editor, and allow users to create an SBML model quickly and without syntactic errors. PMID:17341299

SBMLeditor: effective creation of models in the Systems Biology Markup language (SBML).

PubMed

Rodriguez, Nicolas; Donizelli, Marco; Le Novère, Nicolas

2007-03-06

The need to build a tool to facilitate the quick creation and editing of models encoded in the Systems Biology Markup language (SBML) has been growing with the number of users and the increased complexity of the language. SBMLeditor tries to answer this need by providing a very simple, low level editor of SBML files. Users can create and remove all the necessary bits and pieces of SBML in a controlled way, that maintains the validity of the final SBML file. SBMLeditor is written in JAVA using JCompneur, a library providing interfaces to easily display an XML document as a tree. This decreases dramatically the development time for a new XML editor. The possibility to include custom dialogs for different tags allows a lot of freedom for the editing and validation of the document. In addition to Xerces, SBMLeditor uses libSBML to check the validity and consistency of SBML files. A graphical equation editor allows an easy manipulation of MathML. SBMLeditor can be used as a module of the Systems Biology Workbench. SBMLeditor contains many improvements compared to a generic XML editor, and allow users to create an SBML model quickly and without syntactic errors.

mGrid: A load-balanced distributed computing environment for the remote execution of the user-defined Matlab code

PubMed Central

Karpievitch, Yuliya V; Almeida, Jonas S

2006-01-01

Background Matlab, a powerful and productive language that allows for rapid prototyping, modeling and simulation, is widely used in computational biology. Modeling and simulation of large biological systems often require more computational resources then are available on a single computer. Existing distributed computing environments like the Distributed Computing Toolbox, MatlabMPI, Matlab*G and others allow for the remote (and possibly parallel) execution of Matlab commands with varying support for features like an easy-to-use application programming interface, load-balanced utilization of resources, extensibility over the wide area network, and minimal system administration skill requirements. However, all of these environments require some level of access to participating machines to manually distribute the user-defined libraries that the remote call may invoke. Results mGrid augments the usual process distribution seen in other similar distributed systems by adding facilities for user code distribution. mGrid's client-side interface is an easy-to-use native Matlab toolbox that transparently executes user-defined code on remote machines (i.e. the user is unaware that the code is executing somewhere else). Run-time variables are automatically packed and distributed with the user-defined code and automated load-balancing of remote resources enables smooth concurrent execution. mGrid is an open source environment. Apart from the programming language itself, all other components are also open source, freely available tools: light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server. Conclusion Transparent, load-balanced distribution of user-defined Matlab toolboxes and rapid prototyping of many simple parallel applications can now be done with a single easy-to-use Matlab command. Because mGrid utilizes only Matlab, light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server, installation and configuration are very simple. Moreover, the web-based infrastructure of mGrid allows for it to be easily extensible over the Internet. PMID:16539707

mGrid: a load-balanced distributed computing environment for the remote execution of the user-defined Matlab code.

PubMed

Karpievitch, Yuliya V; Almeida, Jonas S

2006-03-15

Matlab, a powerful and productive language that allows for rapid prototyping, modeling and simulation, is widely used in computational biology. Modeling and simulation of large biological systems often require more computational resources then are available on a single computer. Existing distributed computing environments like the Distributed Computing Toolbox, MatlabMPI, Matlab*G and others allow for the remote (and possibly parallel) execution of Matlab commands with varying support for features like an easy-to-use application programming interface, load-balanced utilization of resources, extensibility over the wide area network, and minimal system administration skill requirements. However, all of these environments require some level of access to participating machines to manually distribute the user-defined libraries that the remote call may invoke. mGrid augments the usual process distribution seen in other similar distributed systems by adding facilities for user code distribution. mGrid's client-side interface is an easy-to-use native Matlab toolbox that transparently executes user-defined code on remote machines (i.e. the user is unaware that the code is executing somewhere else). Run-time variables are automatically packed and distributed with the user-defined code and automated load-balancing of remote resources enables smooth concurrent execution. mGrid is an open source environment. Apart from the programming language itself, all other components are also open source, freely available tools: light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server. Transparent, load-balanced distribution of user-defined Matlab toolboxes and rapid prototyping of many simple parallel applications can now be done with a single easy-to-use Matlab command. Because mGrid utilizes only Matlab, light-weight PHP scripts and the Apache web server, installation and configuration are very simple. Moreover, the web-based infrastructure of mGrid allows for it to be easily extensible over the Internet.

Detailed requirements document for the integrated structural analysis system, phase B

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rainey, J. A.

1976-01-01

The requirements are defined for a software system entitled integrated Structural Analysis System (ISAS) Phase B which is being developed to provide the user with a tool by which a complete and detailed analysis of a complex structural system can be performed. This software system will allow for automated interface with numerous structural analysis batch programs and for user interaction in the creation, selection, and validation of data. This system will include modifications to the 4 functions developed for ISAS, and the development of 25 new functions. The new functions are described.

Applications of artificial intelligence to space station and automated software techniques: High level robot command language

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mckee, James W.

1989-01-01

The objective is to develop a system that will allow a person not necessarily skilled in the art of programming robots to quickly and naturally create the necessary data and commands to enable a robot to perform a desired task. The system will use a menu driven graphical user interface. This interface will allow the user to input data to select objects to be moved. There will be an imbedded expert system to process the knowledge about objects and the robot to determine how they are to be moved. There will be automatic path planning to avoid obstacles in the work space and to create a near optimum path. The system will contain the software to generate the required robot instructions.

Open Science Grid (OSG) Ticket Synchronization: Keeping Your Home Field Advantage In A Distributed Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, Kyle; Hayashi, Soichi; Teige, Scott; Quick, Robert

2012-12-01

Large distributed computing collaborations, such as the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), face many issues when it comes to providing a working grid environment for their users. One of these is exchanging tickets between various ticketing systems in use by grid collaborations. Ticket systems such as Footprints, RT, Remedy, and ServiceNow all have different schema that must be addressed in order to provide a reliable exchange of information between support entities and users in different grid environments. To combat this problem, OSG Operations has created a ticket synchronization interface called GOC-TX that relies on web services instead of error-prone email parsing methods of the past. Synchronizing tickets between different ticketing systems allows any user or support entity to work on a ticket in their home environment, thus providing a familiar and comfortable place to provide updates without having to learn another ticketing system. The interface is built in a way that it is generic enough that it can be customized for nearly any ticketing system with a web-service interface with only minor changes. This allows us to be flexible and rapidly bring new ticket synchronization online. Synchronization can be triggered by different methods including mail, web services interface, and active messaging. GOC-TX currently interfaces with Global Grid User Support (GGUS) for WLCG, Remedy at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL), and Request Tracker (RT) at the Virtual Data Toolkit (VDT). Work is progressing on the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) ServiceNow synchronization. This paper will explain the problems faced by OSG and how they led OSG to create and implement this ticket synchronization system along with the technical details that allow synchronization to be preformed at a production level.

The SBOL Stack: A Platform for Storing, Publishing, and Sharing Synthetic Biology Designs.

PubMed

Madsen, Curtis; McLaughlin, James Alastair; Mısırlı, Göksel; Pocock, Matthew; Flanagan, Keith; Hallinan, Jennifer; Wipat, Anil

2016-06-17

Recently, synthetic biologists have developed the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL), a data exchange standard for descriptions of genetic parts, devices, modules, and systems. The goals of this standard are to allow scientists to exchange designs of biological parts and systems, to facilitate the storage of genetic designs in repositories, and to facilitate the description of genetic designs in publications. In order to achieve these goals, the development of an infrastructure to store, retrieve, and exchange SBOL data is necessary. To address this problem, we have developed the SBOL Stack, a Resource Description Framework (RDF) database specifically designed for the storage, integration, and publication of SBOL data. This database allows users to define a library of synthetic parts and designs as a service, to share SBOL data with collaborators, and to store designs of biological systems locally. The database also allows external data sources to be integrated by mapping them to the SBOL data model. The SBOL Stack includes two Web interfaces: the SBOL Stack API and SynBioHub. While the former is designed for developers, the latter allows users to upload new SBOL biological designs, download SBOL documents, search by keyword, and visualize SBOL data. Since the SBOL Stack is based on semantic Web technology, the inherent distributed querying functionality of RDF databases can be used to allow different SBOL stack databases to be queried simultaneously, and therefore, data can be shared between different institutes, centers, or other users.

Some effects of stress on users of a voice recognition system: A preliminary inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

French, B. A.

1983-03-01

Recent work with Automatic Speech Recognition has focused on applications and productivity considerations in the man-machine interface. This thesis is an attempt to see if placing users of such equipment under time-induced stress has an effect on their percent correct recognition rates. Subjects were given a message-handling task of fixed length and allowed progressively shorter times to attempt to complete it. Questionnaire responses indicate stress levels increased with decreased time-allowance; recognition rates decreased as time was reduced.

The integration of a LANDSAT analysis capability with a geographic information system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nordstrand, E. A.

1981-01-01

The integration of LANDSAT data was achieved through the development of a flexible, compatible analysis tool and using an existing data base to select the usable data from a LANDSAT analysis. The software package allows manipulation of grid cell data plus the flexibility to allow the user to include FORTRAN statements for special functions. Using this combination of capabilities the user can classify a LANDSAT image and then selectivity merge the results with other data that may exist for the study area.

Toward Scalable Benchmarks for Mass Storage Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Ethan L.

1996-01-01

This paper presents guidelines for the design of a mass storage system benchmark suite, along with preliminary suggestions for programs to be included. The benchmarks will measure both peak and sustained performance of the system as well as predicting both short- and long-term behavior. These benchmarks should be both portable and scalable so they may be used on storage systems from tens of gigabytes to petabytes or more. By developing a standard set of benchmarks that reflect real user workload, we hope to encourage system designers and users to publish performance figures that can be compared with those of other systems. This will allow users to choose the system that best meets their needs and give designers a tool with which they can measure the performance effects of improvements to their systems.

System for Earth Sample Registration SESAR: Services for IGSN Registration and Sample Metadata Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, S.; Lehnert, K. A.; Coleman, R. J.

2011-12-01

SESAR, the System for Earth Sample Registration, is an online registry for physical samples collected for Earth and environmental studies. SESAR generates and administers the International Geo Sample Number IGSN, a unique identifier for samples that is dramatically advancing interoperability amongst information systems for sample-based data. SESAR was developed to provide the complete range of registry services, including definition of IGSN syntax and metadata profiles, registration and validation of name spaces requested by users, tools for users to submit and manage sample metadata, validation of submitted metadata, generation and validation of the unique identifiers, archiving of sample metadata, and public or private access to the sample metadata catalog. With the development of SESAR v3, we placed particular emphasis on creating enhanced tools that make metadata submission easier and more efficient for users, and that provide superior functionality for users to manage metadata of their samples in their private workspace MySESAR. For example, SESAR v3 includes a module where users can generate custom spreadsheet templates to enter metadata for their samples, then upload these templates online for sample registration. Once the content of the template is uploaded, it is displayed online in an editable grid format. Validation rules are executed in real-time on the grid data to ensure data integrity. Other new features of SESAR v3 include the capability to transfer ownership of samples to other SESAR users, the ability to upload and store images and other files in a sample metadata profile, and the tracking of changes to sample metadata profiles. In the next version of SESAR (v3.5), we will further improve the discovery, sharing, registration of samples. For example, we are developing a more comprehensive suite of web services that will allow discovery and registration access to SESAR from external systems. Both batch and individual registrations will be possible through web services. Based on valuable feedback from the user community, we will introduce enhancements that add greater flexibility to the system to accommodate the vast diversity of metadata that users want to store. Users will be able to create custom metadata fields and use these for the samples they register. Users will also be able to group samples into 'collections' to make retrieval for research projects or publications easier. An improved interface design will allow for better workflow transition and navigation throughout the application. In keeping up with the demands of a growing community, SESAR has also made process changes to ensure efficiency in system development. For example, we have implemented a release cycle to better track enhancements and fixes to the system, and an API library that facilitates reusability of code. Usage tracking, metrics and surveys capture information to guide the direction of future developments. A new set of administrative tools allows greater control of system management.

Interacting with a security system: The Argus user interface

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

Behrin, E.; Davis, G.E.

1993-12-31

In the mid-1980s the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) developed the Argus Security System. Key requirements were to eliminate the telephone as a verification device for opening and closing alarm stations and to allow need-to-know access through local enrollment at alarm stations. Resulting from these requirements was an LLNL-designed user interface called the Remote Access Panel (RAP). The Argus RAP interacts with Argus field processors to allow secure station mode changes and local station enrollment, provides user direction and response, and assists station maintenance personnel. It consists of a tamper-detecting housing containing a badge reader, a keypad with sight screen,more » special-purpose push buttons and a liquid-crystal display. This paper discusses Argus system concepts, RAP design, functional characteristics and its physical configurations. The paper also describes the RAP`s use in access-control booths, it`s integration with biometrics and its operation for multi-person-rule stations and compartmented facilities.« less

A Database as a Service for the Healthcare System to Store Physiological Signal Data

PubMed Central

Lin, Tsai-Huei

2016-01-01

Wearable devices that measure physiological signals to help develop self-health management habits have become increasingly popular in recent years. These records are conducive for follow-up health and medical care. In this study, based on the characteristics of the observed physiological signal records– 1) a large number of users, 2) a large amount of data, 3) low information variability, 4) data privacy authorization, and 5) data access by designated users—we wish to resolve physiological signal record-relevant issues utilizing the advantages of the Database as a Service (DaaS) model. Storing a large amount of data using file patterns can reduce database load, allowing users to access data efficiently; the privacy control settings allow users to store data securely. The results of the experiment show that the proposed system has better database access performance than a traditional relational database, with a small difference in database volume, thus proving that the proposed system can improve data storage performance. PMID:28033415

A coastal information system to propel emerging science and inform environmental management decisions

EPA Science Inventory

The Estuary Data Mapper (EDM) is a free, interactive virtual gateway to coastal data aimed to promote research and aid in environmental management. The graphical user interface allows users to custom select and subset data based on their spatial and temporal interests giving them...

FIAMODEL: Users Guide Version 3.0.

Treesearch

Scott A. Pugh; David D. Reed; Kurt S. Pregitzer; Patrick D. Miles

2002-01-01

FIAMODEL is a geographic information system (GIS program used to summarize Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA, USDA Forest Service) data such as volume. The model runs in ArcView and allows users to select FIA plots with heads-up-digitizing, overlays of digital map layers, or queries based on specific plot attributes.

User Choice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Joy Selby

In vocational education and training (VET), user choice is a means of achieving a more client-responsive training system by allowing clients to have greater choice over how their training needs are met. Funding arrangements linked in some direct way to the expressed demands of individual clients are essential for effective operation of a user…

User-Centered Indexing for Adaptive Information Access

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, James R.; Mathe, Nathalie

1996-01-01

We are focusing on information access tasks characterized by large volume of hypermedia connected technical documents, a need for rapid and effective access to familiar information, and long-term interaction with evolving information. The problem for technical users is to build and maintain a personalized task-oriented model of the information to quickly access relevant information. We propose a solution which provides user-centered adaptive information retrieval and navigation. This solution supports users in customizing information access over time. It is complementary to information discovery methods which provide access to new information, since it lets users customize future access to previously found information. It relies on a technique, called Adaptive Relevance Network, which creates and maintains a complex indexing structure to represent personal user's information access maps organized by concepts. This technique is integrated within the Adaptive HyperMan system, which helps NASA Space Shuttle flight controllers organize and access large amount of information. It allows users to select and mark any part of a document as interesting, and to index that part with user-defined concepts. Users can then do subsequent retrieval of marked portions of documents. This functionality allows users to define and access personal collections of information, which are dynamically computed. The system also supports collaborative review by letting users share group access maps. The adaptive relevance network provides long-term adaptation based both on usage and on explicit user input. The indexing structure is dynamic and evolves over time. Leading and generalization support flexible retrieval of information under similar concepts. The network is geared towards more recent information access, and automatically manages its size in order to maintain rapid access when scaling up to large hypermedia space. We present results of simulated learning experiments.

Promoting scientific collaboration and research through integrated social networking capabilities within the OpenTopography Portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nandigam, V.; Crosby, C. J.; Baru, C.

2009-04-01

LiDAR (Light Distance And Ranging) topography data offer earth scientists the opportunity to study the earth's surface at very high resolutions. As a result, the popularity of these data is growing dramatically. However, the management, distribution, and analysis of community LiDAR data sets is a challenge due to their massive size (multi-billion point, mutli-terabyte). We have also found that many earth science users of these data sets lack the computing resources and expertise required to process these data. We have developed the OpenTopography Portal to democratize access to these large and computationally challenging data sets. The OpenTopography Portal uses cyberinfrastructure technology developed by the GEON project to provide access to LiDAR data in a variety of formats. LiDAR data products available range from simple Google Earth visualizations of LiDAR-derived hillshades to 1 km2 tiles of standard digital elevation model (DEM) products as well as LiDAR point cloud data and user generated custom-DEMs. We have found that the wide spectrum of LiDAR users have variable scientific applications, computing resources and technical experience and thus require a data system with multiple distribution mechanisms and platforms to serve a broader range of user communities. Because the volume of LiDAR topography data available is rapidly expanding, and data analysis techniques are evolving, there is a need for the user community to be able to communicate and interact to share knowledge and experiences. To address this need, the OpenTopography Portal enables social networking capabilities through a variety of collaboration tools, web 2.0 technologies and customized usage pattern tracking. Fundamentally, these tools offer users the ability to communicate, to access and share documents, participate in discussions, and to keep up to date on upcoming events and emerging technologies. The OpenTopography portal achieves the social networking capabilities by integrating various software technologies and platforms. These include the Expression Engine Content Management System (CMS) that comes with pre-packaged collaboration tools like blogs and wikis, the Gridsphere portal framework that contains the primary GEON LiDAR System portlet with user job monitoring capabilities and a java web based discussion forum (Jforums) application all seamlessly integrated under one portal. The OpenTopography Portal also provides integrated authentication mechanism between the various CMS collaboration tools and the core gridsphere based portlets. The integration of these various technologies allows for enhanced user interaction capabilities within the portal. By integrating popular collaboration tools like discussion forums and blogs we can promote conversation and openness among users. The ability to ask question and share expertise in forum discussions allows users to easily find information and interact with users facing similar challenges. The OpenTopography Blog enables our domain experts to post ideas, news items, commentary, and other resources in order to foster discussion and information sharing. The content management capabilities of the portal allow for easy updates to information in the form of publications, documents, and news articles. Access to the most current information fosters better decision-making. As has become the standard for web 2.0 technologies, the OpenTopography Portal is fully RSS enabled to allow users of the portal to keep track of news items, forum discussions, blog updates, and system outages. We are currently exploring how the information captured by user and job monitoring components of the Gridsphere based GEON LiDAR System can be harnessed to provide a recommender system that will help users to identify appropriate processing parameters and to locate related documents and data. By seamlessly integrating the various platforms and technologies under one single portal, we can take advantage of popular online collaboration tools that are either stand alone or software platform restricted. The availability of these collaboration tools along with the data will foster more community interaction and increase the strength and vibrancy of the LiDAR topography user community.

Assisted-living spaces for end-users with complex needs: a proposed implementation and delivery model.

PubMed

Linskell, Jeremy; Bouamrane, Matt-Mouley

2012-09-01

An assisted living space (ALS) is a technology-enabled environment designed to allow people with complex health or social care needs to remain, and live independently, in their own home for longer. However, many challenges remain in order to deliver usable systems acceptable to a diverse range of stakeholders, including end-users, and their families and carers, as well as health and social care services. ALSs need to support activities of daily-living while allowing end-users to maintain important social connections. They must be dynamic, flexible and adaptable living environments. In this article, we provide an overview of the technological landscape of assisted-living technology (ALT) and recent policies to promote an increased adoption of ALT in Scotland. We discuss our experiences in implementing technology-supported ALSs and emphasise key lessons. Finally, we propose an iterative and pragmatic user-centred implementation model for delivering ALSs in complex-needs scenarios. This empirical model is derived from our past ALS implementations. The proposed model allows project stakeholders to identify requirements, allocate tasks and responsibilities, and identify appropriate technological solutions for the delivery of functional ALS systems. The model is generic and makes no assumptions on needs or technology solutions, nor on the technical knowledge, skills and experience of the stakeholders involved in the ALS design process.

PyMidas: Interface from Python to Midas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maisala, Sami; Oittinen, Tero

2014-01-01

PyMidas is an interface between Python and MIDAS, the major ESO legacy general purpose data processing system. PyMidas allows a user to exploit both the rich legacy of MIDAS software and the power of Python scripting in a unified interactive environment. PyMidas also allows the usage of other Python-based astronomical analysis systems such as PyRAF.

Handling of the demilitarized zone using service providers in SAP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iovan, A.; Robu, R.

2016-02-01

External collaboration needs to allow data access from the Internet. In a trusted Internet collaboration scenario where the external user works on the same data like the internal user direct access to the data in the Intranet is required. The paper presents a solution to get access to certain data in the Enterprise Resource Planning system, having the User Interface on a system in the Demilitarized Zone and the database on a system which is located in the trusted area. Using the Service Provider Interface framework, connections between separate systems can be created in different areas of the network. The paper demonstrates how to connect the two systems, one in the Demilitarized Zone and one in the trusted area, using SAP ERP 6.0 with Enhancement Package 7. In order to use the Service Provider Interface SAP Business Suite Foundation component must be installed in both systems. The advantage of using the Service Provider Interface framework is that the external user works on the same data like the internal user (and not on copies). This assures data consistency and less overhead for backup and security systems.

Navigation Constellation Design Using a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

programs. This specific tool not only offers high fidelity simulations, but it also offers the visual aid provided by STK . The ability to...MATLAB and STK . STK is a program that allows users to model, analyze, and visualize space systems. Users can create objects such as satellites and...position dilution of precision (PDOP) and system cost. This thesis utilized Satellite Tool Kit ( STK ) to calculate PDOP values of navigation

The Anatomy of a Grid portal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Licari, Daniele; Calzolari, Federico

2011-12-01

In this paper we introduce a new way to deal with Grid portals referring to our implementation. L-GRID is a light portal to access the EGEE/EGI Grid infrastructure via Web, allowing users to submit their jobs from a common Web browser in a few minutes, without any knowledge about the Grid infrastructure. It provides the control over the complete lifecycle of a Grid Job, from its submission and status monitoring, to the output retrieval. The system, implemented as client-server architecture, is based on the Globus Grid middleware. The client side application is based on a java applet; the server relies on a Globus User Interface. There is no need of user registration on the server side, and the user needs only his own X.509 personal certificate. The system is user-friendly, secure (it uses SSL protocol, mechanism for dynamic delegation and identity creation in public key infrastructures), highly customizable, open source, and easy to install. The X.509 personal certificate does not get out from the local machine. It allows to reduce the time spent for the job submission, granting at the same time a higher efficiency and a better security level in proxy delegation and management.

Bringing Chatbots into education: Towards Natural Language Negotiation of Open Learner Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kerlyl, Alice; Hall, Phil; Bull, Susan

There is an extensive body of work on Intelligent Tutoring Systems: computer environments for education, teaching and training that adapt to the needs of the individual learner. Work on personalisation and adaptivity has included research into allowing the student user to enhance the system's adaptivity by improving the accuracy of the underlying learner model. Open Learner Modelling, where the system's model of the user's knowledge is revealed to the user, has been proposed to support student reflection on their learning. Increased accuracy of the learner model can be obtained by the student and system jointly negotiating the learner model. We present the initial investigations into a system to allow people to negotiate the model of their understanding of a topic in natural language. This paper discusses the development and capabilities of both conversational agents (or chatbots) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems, in particular Open Learner Modelling. We describe a Wizard-of-Oz experiment to investigate the feasibility of using a chatbot to support negotiation, and conclude that a fusion of the two fields can lead to developing negotiation techniques for chatbots and the enhancement of the Open Learner Model. This technology, if successful, could have widespread application in schools, universities and other training scenarios.

VIP: A knowledge-based design aid for the engineering of space systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, Steven M.; Bellman, Kirstie L.

1990-01-01

The Vehicles Implementation Project (VIP), a knowledge-based design aid for the engineering of space systems is described. VIP combines qualitative knowledge in the form of rules, quantitative knowledge in the form of equations, and other mathematical modeling tools. The system allows users rapidly to develop and experiment with models of spacecraft system designs. As information becomes available to the system, appropriate equations are solved symbolically and the results are displayed. Users may browse through the system, observing dependencies and the effects of altering specific parameters. The system can also suggest approaches to the derivation of specific parameter values. In addition to providing a tool for the development of specific designs, VIP aims at increasing the user's understanding of the design process. Users may rapidly examine the sensitivity of a given parameter to others in the system and perform tradeoffs or optimizations of specific parameters. A second major goal of VIP is to integrate the existing corporate knowledge base of models and rules into a central, symbolic form.

Calibrating and Evaluating Boomless Spray Systems for Applying Forest Herbicides

Treesearch

Michael A. Wehr; Russell W. Johnson; Robert L. Sajdak

1985-01-01

Describes a testing procedure used to calibrate and evaluate agricultureal boomless spray systems. Tests allow the user to obtain dependable and satisfactory results when used in actual forest situations.

Charming Users into Scripting CIAO with Python

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burke, D. J.

2011-07-01

The Science Data Systems group of the Chandra X-ray Center provides a number of scripts and Python modules that extend the capabilities of CIAO. Experience in converting the existing scripts—written in a variety of languages such as bash, csh/tcsh, Perl and S-Lang—to Python, and conversations with users, led to the development of the ciao_contrib.runtool module. This allows users to easily run CIAO tools from Python scripts, and utilizes the metadata provided by the parameter-file system to create an API that provides the flexibility and safety guarantees of the command-line. The module is provided to the user community and is being used within our group to create new scripts.

A dynamic seating intervention for wheelchair seating discomfort.

PubMed

Crane, Barbara A; Holm, Margo B; Hobson, Douglas; Cooper, Rory A; Reed, Matthew P

2007-12-01

The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a new user-adjustable wheelchair seating system designed to relieve discomfort for long-duration wheelchair users. This objective was carried out using the newly developed Tool for Assessing Wheelchair disComfort (TAWC) as the primary outcome measure. Two wheelchair users each tested two different designs and feedback from the wheelchair users regarding the first design was used to guide development of the second design. A single-subject research methodology was used, allowing long-duration (up to 2 wks per test) evaluation of the wheelchair seating systems and comparison of subject discomfort levels with those experienced during a baseline period using their own wheelchairs. The experimental wheelchair seating systems employed existing automotive seating with embedded pneumatic bladders that allowed adjustment of the seat and back-support characteristics. The test wheelchair also had tilt, recline, and elevating leg rests. The two subjects completed limited periods of testing with the first design, both finding poor results with either stable or increased levels of discomfort. Subject feedback was used to redesign the wheelchair seat. After redesign, both subjects tested the second design and found it substantially more comfortable. The selected research methodology was a very positive method for a progressive wheelchair seating design and the second design provided improved comfort for both users when compared with that experienced using their own wheelchairs and the first test wheelchair. Future research of this type of user-controlled technology is recommended.

Estimation and detection information trade-off for x-ray system optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cushing, Johnathan B.; Clarkson, Eric W.; Mandava, Sagar; Bilgin, Ali

2016-05-01

X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) systems perform complex imaging tasks to detect and estimate system parameters, such as a baggage imaging system performing threat detection and generating reconstructions. This leads to a desire to optimize both the detection and estimation performance of a system, but most metrics only focus on one of these aspects. When making design choices there is a need for a concise metric which considers both detection and estimation information parameters, and then provides the user with the collection of possible optimal outcomes. In this paper a graphical analysis of Estimation and Detection Information Trade-off (EDIT) will be explored. EDIT produces curves which allow for a decision to be made for system optimization based on design constraints and costs associated with estimation and detection. EDIT analyzes the system in the estimation information and detection information space where the user is free to pick their own method of calculating these measures. The user of EDIT can choose any desired figure of merit for detection information and estimation information then the EDIT curves will provide the collection of optimal outcomes. The paper will first look at two methods of creating EDIT curves. These curves can be calculated using a wide variety of systems and finding the optimal system by maximizing a figure of merit. EDIT could also be found as an upper bound of the information from a collection of system. These two methods allow for the user to choose a method of calculation which best fits the constraints of their actual system.

Improving the User Experience of Finding and Visualizing Oceanographic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rauch, S.; Allison, M. D.; Groman, R. C.; Chandler, C. L.; Galvarino, C.; Gegg, S. R.; Kinkade, D.; Shepherd, A.; Wiebe, P. H.; Glover, D. M.

2013-12-01

Searching for and locating data of interest can be a challenge to researchers as increasing volumes of data are made available online through various data centers, repositories, and archives. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) is keenly aware of this challenge and, as a result, has implemented features and technologies aimed at improving data discovery and enhancing the user experience. BCO-DMO was created in 2006 to manage and publish data from research projects funded by the Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) Biological and Chemical Oceanography Sections and the Division of Polar Programs (PLR) Antarctic Sciences Organisms and Ecosystems Program (ANT) of the US National Science Foundation (NSF). The BCO-DMO text-based and geospatial-based data access systems provide users with tools to search, filter, and visualize data in order to efficiently find data of interest. The geospatial interface, developed using a suite of open-source software (including MapServer [1], OpenLayers [2], ExtJS [3], and MySQL [4]), allows users to search and filter/subset metadata based on program, project, or deployment, or by using a simple word search. The map responds based on user selections, presents options that allow the user to choose specific data parameters (e.g., a species or an individual drifter), and presents further options for visualizing those data on the map or in "quick-view" plots. The data managed and made available by BCO-DMO are very heterogeneous in nature, from in-situ biogeochemical, ecological, and physical data, to controlled laboratory experiments. Due to the heterogeneity of the data types, a 'one size fits all' approach to visualization cannot be applied. Datasets are visualized in a way that will best allow users to assess fitness for purpose. An advanced geospatial interface, which contains a semantically-enabled faceted search [5], is also available. These search facets are highly interactive and responsive, allowing users to construct their own custom searches by applying multiple filters. New filtering and visualization tools are continually being added to the BCO-DMO system as new data types are encountered and as we receive feedback from our data contributors and users. As our system becomes more complex, teaching users about the many interactive features becomes increasingly important. Tutorials and videos are made available online. Recent in-person classroom-style tutorials have proven useful for both demonstrating our system to users and for obtaining feedback to further improve the user experience. References: [1] University of Minnesota. MapServer: Open source web mapping. http://www.mapserver.org [2] OpenLayers: Free Maps for the Web. http://www.openlayers.org [3] Sencha. ExtJS. http://www.sencha.com/products/extjs [4] MySQL. http://www.mysql.com/ [5] Maffei, A. R., Rozell, E. A., West, P., Zednik, S., and Fox, P. A. 2011. Open Standards and Technologies in the S2S Framework. Abstract IN31A-1435 presented at American Geophysical Union 2011 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 7 December 2011.

The emergence of Zipf's law - Spontaneous encoding optimization by users of a command language

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellis, S. R.; Hitchcock, R. J.

1986-01-01

The distribution of commands issued by experienced users of a computer operating system allowing command customization tends to conform to Zipf's law. This result documents the emergence of a statistical property of natural language as users master an artificial language. Analysis of Zipf's law by Mandelbrot and Cherry shows that its emergence in the computer interaction of experienced users may be interpreted as evidence that these users optimize their encoding of commands. Accordingly, the extent to which users of a command language exhibit Zipf's law can provide a metric of the naturalness and efficiency with which that language is used.

The Globalstar mobile satellite system for worldwide personal communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiedeman, Robert A.; Viterbi, Andrew J.

Loral Aerospace Corporation along with Qualcomm Inc. have developed a satellite system which offers global mobile voice and data services to and from handheld and mobile user terminals with omni-directional antennas. By combining the use of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites with existing terrestrial communications systems and innovative, highly efficient spread spectrum techniques, the Globalstar system provides users with low-cost, reliable communications throughout the world. The Globalstar space segment consists of a constellation of 48 LEO satellites in circular orbits with 750 NM (1389 km) altitude. Each satellite communicates with the mobile users via the satellite-user links and with gateway stations. The gateway stations handle the interface between the Globalstar network and the OSTN/PLMN systems. Globalstar transceivers are similar to currently proposed digital cellular telephones in size and have a serial number that will allow the end user to make and receive calls from or to that device anywhere in the world. The Globalstar system is designed to operate as a complement to existing local, long-distance, public, private and specialized telecommunications networks. Service is primarily designed to serve the rural and thin route communications needs of consumers, government users, and private networks.

The Globalstar mobile satellite system for worldwide personal communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiedeman, Robert A.; Viterbi, Andrew J.

1993-01-01

Loral Aerospace Corporation along with Qualcomm Inc. have developed a satellite system which offers global mobile voice and data services to and from handheld and mobile user terminals with omni-directional antennas. By combining the use of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites with existing terrestrial communications systems and innovative, highly efficient spread spectrum techniques, the Globalstar system provides users with low-cost, reliable communications throughout the world. The Globalstar space segment consists of a constellation of 48 LEO satellites in circular orbits with 750 NM (1389 km) altitude. Each satellite communicates with the mobile users via the satellite-user links and with gateway stations. The gateway stations handle the interface between the Globalstar network and the OSTN/PLMN systems. Globalstar transceivers are similar to currently proposed digital cellular telephones in size and have a serial number that will allow the end user to make and receive calls from or to that device anywhere in the world. The Globalstar system is designed to operate as a complement to existing local, long-distance, public, private and specialized telecommunications networks. Service is primarily designed to serve the rural and thin route communications needs of consumers, government users, and private networks.

What Is an Activity? Appropriating an Activity-Centric System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yarosh, Svetlana; Matthews, Tara; Moran, Thomas P.; Smith, Barton

Activity-Centric Computing (ACC) systems seek to address the fragmentation of office work across tools and documents by allowing users to organize work around the computational construct of an Activity. Defining and structuring appropriate Activities within a system poses a challenge for users that must be overcome in order to benefit from ACC support. We know little about how knowledge workers appropriate the Activity construct. To address this, we studied users’ appropriation of a production-quality ACC system, Lotus Activities, for everyday work by employees in a large corporation. We contribute to a better understanding of how users articulate their individual and collaborative work in the system by providing empirical evidence of their patterns of appropriation. We conclude by discussing how our findings can inform the design of other ACC systems for the workplace.

Where's My Data - WMD

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quach, William L.; Sesplaukis, Tadas; Owen-Mankovich, Kyran J.; Nakamura, Lori L.

2012-01-01

WMD provides a centralized interface to access data stored in the Mission Data Processing and Control System (MPCS) GDS (Ground Data Systems) databases during MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) Testbeds and ATLO (Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations) test sessions. The MSL project organizes its data based on venue (Testbed, ATLO, Ops), with each venue's data stored on a separate database, making it cumbersome for users to access data across the various venues. WMD allows sessions to be retrieved through a Web-based search using several criteria: host name, session start date, or session ID number. Sessions matching the search criteria will be displayed and users can then select a session to obtain and analyze the associated data. The uniqueness of this software comes from its collection of data retrieval and analysis features provided through a single interface. This allows users to obtain their data and perform the necessary analysis without having to worry about where and how to get the data, which may be stored in various locations. Additionally, this software is a Web application that only requires a standard browser without additional plug-ins, providing a cross-platform, lightweight solution for users to retrieve and analyze their data. This software solves the problem of efficiently and easily finding and retrieving data from thousands of MSL Testbed and ATLO sessions. WMD allows the user to retrieve their session in as little as one mouse click, and then to quickly retrieve additional data associated with the session.

AQBE — QBE Style Queries for Archetyped Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sachdeva, Shelly; Yaginuma, Daigo; Chu, Wanming; Bhalla, Subhash

Large-scale adoption of electronic healthcare applications requires semantic interoperability. The new proposals propose an advanced (multi-level) DBMS architecture for repository services for health records of patients. These also require query interfaces at multiple levels and at the level of semi-skilled users. In this regard, a high-level user interface for querying the new form of standardized Electronic Health Records system has been examined in this study. It proposes a step-by-step graphical query interface to allow semi-skilled users to write queries. Its aim is to decrease user effort and communication ambiguities, and increase user friendliness.

Perception of synchronization errors in haptic and visual communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kameyama, Seiji; Ishibashi, Yutaka

2006-10-01

This paper deals with a system which conveys the haptic sensation experimented by a user to a remote user. In the system, the user controls a haptic interface device with another remote haptic interface device while watching video. Haptic media and video of a real object which the user is touching are transmitted to another user. By subjective assessment, we investigate the allowable range and imperceptible range of synchronization error between haptic media and video. We employ four real objects and ask each subject whether the synchronization error is perceived or not for each object in the assessment. Assessment results show that we can more easily perceive the synchronization error in the case of haptic media ahead of video than in the case of the haptic media behind the video.

Evaluation of web-based annotation of ophthalmic images for multicentric clinical trials.

PubMed

Chalam, K V; Jain, P; Shah, V A; Shah, Gaurav Y

2006-06-01

An Internet browser-based annotation system can be used to identify and describe features in digitalized retinal images, in multicentric clinical trials, in real time. In this web-based annotation system, the user employs a mouse to draw and create annotations on a transparent layer, that encapsulates the observations and interpretations of a specific image. Multiple annotation layers may be overlaid on a single image. These layers may correspond to annotations by different users on the same image or annotations of a temporal sequence of images of a disease process, over a period of time. In addition, geometrical properties of annotated figures may be computed and measured. The annotations are stored in a central repository database on a server, which can be retrieved by multiple users in real time. This system facilitates objective evaluation of digital images and comparison of double-blind readings of digital photographs, with an identifiable audit trail. Annotation of ophthalmic images allowed clinically feasible and useful interpretation to track properties of an area of fundus pathology. This provided an objective method to monitor properties of pathologies over time, an essential component of multicentric clinical trials. The annotation system also allowed users to view stereoscopic images that are stereo pairs. This web-based annotation system is useful and valuable in monitoring patient care, in multicentric clinical trials, telemedicine, teaching and routine clinical settings.

Distributive On-line Processing, Visualization and Analysis System for Gridded Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, G.; Berrick, S.; Liu, Z.; Pham, L.; Rui, H.; Shen, S.; Teng, W.; Zhu, T.

2004-01-01

The ability to use data stored in the current Earth Observing System (EOS) archives for studying regional or global phenomena is highly dependent on having a detailed understanding of the data's internal structure and physical implementation. Gaining this understanding and applying it to data reduction is a time- consuming task that must be undertaken before the core investigation can begin. This is an especially difficult challenge when science objectives require users to deal with large multi-sensor data sets that are usually of different formats, structures, and resolutions, for example, when preparing data for input into modeling systems. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) has taken a major step towards meeting this challenge by developing an infrastructure with a Web interface that allows users to perform interactive analysis online without downloading any data, the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Infrastructure or "Giovanni." Giovanni provides interactive, online, analysis tools for data users to facilitate their research. There have been several instances of this interface created to serve TRMM users, Aerosol scientists, Ocean Color and Agriculture applications users. The first generation of these tools support gridded data only. The user selects geophysical parameters, area of interest, time period; and the system generates an output on screen in a matter of seconds. The currently available output options are: Area plot averaged or accumulated over any available data period for any rectangular area; Time plot time series averaged over any rectangular area; Time plots image view of any longitude-time and latitude-time cross sections; ASCII output for all plot types; Image animation for area plot. In the future, we will add correlation plots, GIS-compatible outputs, etc. This allow user to focus on data content (i.e. science parameters) and eliminate the need for expensive learning, development and processing tasks that are redundantly incurred by an archive's user community. The current implementation utilizes the GrADS-DODS Server (GDS), a stable, secure data server that provides subsetting and analysis services across the Internet for any GrADS-readable dataset. The subsetting capability allows users to retrieve a specified temporal and/or spatial subdomain from a large dataset, eliminating the need to download everything simply to access a small relevant portion of a dataset. The analysis capability allows users to retrieve the results of an operation applied to one or more datasets on the server. In our case, we use this approach to read pre-processed binary files and/or to read and extract the needed parts from HDF or HDF-EOS files. These subsets then serve as inputs into GrADS processing and analysis scripts. It can be used in a wide variety of Earth science applications: climate and weather events study and monitoring; modeling. It can be easily configured for new applications.

Computerized controlled-substance surveillance: application involving automated storage and distribution cabinets.

PubMed

Wellman, G S; Hammond, R L; Talmage, R

2001-10-01

A secondary data-reporting system used to scan the archives of a hospital's automated storage and distribution cabinets (ASDCs) for indications of controlled-substance diversion is described. ASDCs, which allow access to multiple doses of the same medication at one time, use drug count verification to ensure complete audits and disposition tracking. Because an ASDC may interpret inappropriate removal of a medication as a normal transaction, users of ASDCs should have a comprehensive plan for detecting and investigating controlled-substance diversion. Monitoring for and detecting diversion can be difficult and time-consuming, given the limited report-generating features of many ASDCs. Managers at an 800-bed hospital used report-writing software to address these problems. This application interfaces with the hospital's computer system and generates customized reports. The monthly activity recapitulation report lists each user of the ASDCs and gives a summary of all the controlled-substance transactions for those users for the time period specified. The monthly summary report provides the backbone of the surveillance system and identifies situations that require further audit and review. This report provides a summary of each user's activity for a specific medication for the time period specified. The detailed summary report allows for efficient review of specific transactions before there is a decision to conduct a chart review. This report identifies all ASDC controlled-substance transactions associated with a user. A computerized report-generating system identifies instances of inappropriate removal of controlled substances from a hospital's ASDCs.

BIOME: A browser-aware search and order system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grubb, Jon W.; Jennings, Sarah V.; Yow, Teresa G.; Daughterty, Patricia F.

1996-01-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), which is associated with NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), provides access to a large number of tabular and imagery datasets used in ecological and environmental research. Because of its large and diverse data holdings, the challenge for the ORNL DAAC is to help users find data of interest from the hundreds of thousands of files available at the DAAC without overwhelming them. Therefore, the ORNL DAAC developed the Biogeochemical Information Ordering Management Environment (BIOME), a search and order system for the World Wide Web (WWW). The WWW provides a new vehicle that allows a wide range of users access to the data. This paper describes the specialized attributes incorporated into BIOME that allow researchers easy access to an otherwise bewildering array of data products.

Scratchpads: a data-publishing framework to build, share and manage information on the diversity of life

PubMed Central

Smith, Vincent S; Rycroft, Simon D; Harman, Kehan T; Scott, Ben; Roberts, David

2009-01-01

Background Natural History science is characterised by a single immense goal (to document, describe and synthesise all facets pertaining to the diversity of life) that can only be addressed through a seemingly infinite series of smaller studies. The discipline's failure to meaningfully connect these small studies with natural history's goal has made it hard to demonstrate the value of natural history to a wider scientific community. Digital technologies provide the means to bridge this gap. Results We describe the system architecture and template design of "Scratchpads", a data-publishing framework for groups of people to create their own social networks supporting natural history science. Scratchpads cater to the particular needs of individual research communities through a common database and system architecture. This is flexible and scalable enough to support multiple networks, each with its own choice of features, visual design, and constituent data. Our data model supports web services on standardised data elements that might be used by related initiatives such as GBIF and the Encyclopedia of Life. A Scratchpad allows users to organise data around user-defined or imported ontologies, including biological classifications. Automated semantic annotation and indexing is applied to all content, allowing users to navigate intuitively and curate diverse biological data, including content drawn from third party resources. A system of archiving citable pages allows stable referencing with unique identifiers and provides credit to contributors through normal citation processes. Conclusion Our framework currently serves more than 1,100 registered users across 100 sites, spanning academic, amateur and citizen-science audiences. These users have generated more than 130,000 nodes of content in the first two years of use. The template of our architecture may serve as a model to other research communities developing data publishing frameworks outside biodiversity research. PMID:19900302

Rapid prototyping 3D virtual world interfaces within a virtual factory environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kosta, Charles Paul; Krolak, Patrick D.

1993-01-01

On-going work into user requirements analysis using CLIPS (NASA/JSC) expert systems as an intelligent event simulator has led to research into three-dimensional (3D) interfaces. Previous work involved CLIPS and two-dimensional (2D) models. Integral to this work was the development of the University of Massachusetts Lowell parallel version of CLIPS, called PCLIPS. This allowed us to create both a Software Bus and a group problem-solving environment for expert systems development. By shifting the PCLIPS paradigm to use the VEOS messaging protocol we have merged VEOS (HlTL/Seattle) and CLIPS into a distributed virtual worlds prototyping environment (VCLIPS). VCLIPS uses the VEOS protocol layer to allow multiple experts to cooperate on a single problem. We have begun to look at the control of a virtual factory. In the virtual factory there are actors and objects as found in our Lincoln Logs Factory of the Future project. In this artificial reality architecture there are three VCLIPS entities in action. One entity is responsible for display and user events in the 3D virtual world. Another is responsible for either simulating the virtual factory or communicating with the real factory. The third is a user interface expert. The interface expert maps user input levels, within the current prototype, to control information for the factory. The interface to the virtual factory is based on a camera paradigm. The graphics subsystem generates camera views of the factory on standard X-Window displays. The camera allows for view control and object control. Control or the factory is accomplished by the user reaching into the camera views to perform object interactions. All communication between the separate CLIPS expert systems is done through VEOS.

DIY-style GIS service in mobile navigation system integrated with web and wireless GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Yongbin; Wu, Jianping; Fan, Caiyou; Wang, Minqi; Dai, Sheng

2007-06-01

Mobile navigation system based on handheld device can not only provide basic GIS services, but also enable these GIS services to be provided without location limit, to be more instantly interacted between users and devices. However, we still see that most navigation systems have common defects on user experience like limited map format, few map resources, and unable location share. To overcome the above defects, we propose DIY-style GIS service which provide users a more free software environment and allow uses to customize their GIS services. These services include defining geographical coordinate system of maps which helps to hugely enlarge the map source, editing vector feature, related property information and hotlink images, customizing covered area of download map via General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and sharing users' location information via SMS (Short Message Service) which establishes the communication between users who needs GIS services. The paper introduces the integration of web and wireless GIS service in a mobile navigation system and presents an implementation sample of a DIY-Style GIS service in a mobile navigation system.

A hypertext system that learns from user feedback

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathe, Nathalie

1994-01-01

Retrieving specific information from large amounts of documentation is not an easy task. It could be facilitated if information relevant in the current problem solving context could be automatically supplied to the user. As a first step towards this goal, we have developed an intelligent hypertext system called CID (Computer Integrated Documentation). Besides providing an hypertext interface for browsing large documents, the CID system automatically acquires and reuses the context in which previous searches were appropriate. This mechanism utilizes on-line user information requirements and relevance feedback either to reinforce current indexing in case of success or to generate new knowledge in case of failure. Thus, the user continually augments and refines the intelligence of the retrieval system. This allows the CID system to provide helpful responses, based on previous usage of the documentation, and to improve its performance over time. We successfully tested the CID system with users of the Space Station Freedom requirements documents. We are currently extending CID to other application domains (Space Shuttle operations documents, airplane maintenance manuals, and on-line training). We are also exploring the potential commercialization of this technique.

Space shuttle solid rocket booster recovery system definition. Volume 2: SRB water impact Monte Carlo computer program, user's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

The HD 220 program was created as part of the space shuttle solid rocket booster recovery system definition. The model was generated to investigate the damage to SRB components under water impact loads. The random nature of environmental parameters, such as ocean waves and wind conditions, necessitates estimation of the relative frequency of occurrence for these parameters. The nondeterministic nature of component strengths also lends itself to probabilistic simulation. The Monte Carlo technique allows the simultaneous perturbation of multiple independent parameters and provides outputs describing the probability distribution functions of the dependent parameters. This allows the user to determine the required statistics for each output parameter.

ATIPS: Automatic Travel Itinerary Planning System for Domestic Areas

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Leisure travel has become a topic of great interest to Taiwanese residents in recent years. Most residents expect to be able to relax on a vacation during the holidays; however, the complicated procedure of travel itinerary planning is often discouraging and leads them to abandon the idea of traveling. In this paper, we design an automatic travel itinerary planning system for the domestic area (ATIPS) using an algorithm to automatically plan a domestic travel itinerary based on user intentions that allows users to minimize the process of trip planning. Simply by entering the travel time, the departure point, and the destination location, the system can automatically generate a travel itinerary. According to the results of the experiments, 70% of users were satisfied with the result of our system, and 82% of users were satisfied with the automatic user preference learning mechanism of ATIPS. Our algorithm also provides a framework for substituting modules or weights and offers a new method for travel planning. PMID:26839529

ATIPS: Automatic Travel Itinerary Planning System for Domestic Areas.

PubMed

Chang, Hsien-Tsung; Chang, Yi-Ming; Tsai, Meng-Tze

2016-01-01

Leisure travel has become a topic of great interest to Taiwanese residents in recent years. Most residents expect to be able to relax on a vacation during the holidays; however, the complicated procedure of travel itinerary planning is often discouraging and leads them to abandon the idea of traveling. In this paper, we design an automatic travel itinerary planning system for the domestic area (ATIPS) using an algorithm to automatically plan a domestic travel itinerary based on user intentions that allows users to minimize the process of trip planning. Simply by entering the travel time, the departure point, and the destination location, the system can automatically generate a travel itinerary. According to the results of the experiments, 70% of users were satisfied with the result of our system, and 82% of users were satisfied with the automatic user preference learning mechanism of ATIPS. Our algorithm also provides a framework for substituting modules or weights and offers a new method for travel planning.

US Gateway to SIMBAD Astronomical Database

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eichhorn, G.; Oliversen, R. (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

During the last year the US SIMBAD Gateway Project continued to provide services like user registration to the US users of the SIMBAD database in France. Currently there are over 3400 US users registered. We also provide user support by answering questions from users and handling requests for lost passwords when still necessary. We have implemented in cooperation with the CDS SIMBAD project access to the SIMBAD database for US users on an Internet address basis. This allows most US users to access SIMBAD without having to enter passwords. We have maintained the mirror copy of the SIMBAD database on a server at SAO. This has allowed much faster access for the US users. We also supported a demonstration of the SIMBAD database at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. We shipped computer equipment to the meeting and provided support for the demonstration activities at the SIMBAD booth. We continued to improve the cross-linking between the SIMBAD project and the Astrophysics Data System. This cross-linking between these systems is very much appreciated by the users of both the SIMBAD database and the ADS Abstract Service. The mirror of the SIMBAD database at SAO makes this connection faster for the US astronomers. We exchange information between the ADS and SIMBAD on a daily basis. The close cooperation between the CDS in Strasbourg and SAO, facilitated by this project, is an important part of the astronomy-wide digital library initiative called Urania. It has proven to be a model in how different data centers can collaborate and enhance the value of their products by linking with other data centers.

Universal Serial Bus Architecture for Removable Media (USB-ARM)

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

2011-03-09

USB-ARM creates operating system drivers which sit between removable media and the user and applications. The drivers isolate the media and submit the contents of the media to a virtual machine containing an entire scanning system. This scanning system may include traditional anti-virus, but also allows more detailed analysis of files, including dynamic run-time analysis, helping to prevent "zero-day" threats not already identified in anti-virus signatures. Once cleared, the media is presented to the operating system, at which point it becomes available to users and applications.

Method and System for Dynamic Automated Corrections to Weather Avoidance Routes for Aircraft in En Route Airspace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McNally, B. David (Inventor); Erzberger, Heinz (Inventor); Sheth, Kapil (Inventor)

2015-01-01

A dynamic weather route system automatically analyzes routes for in-flight aircraft flying in convective weather regions and attempts to find more time and fuel efficient reroutes around current and predicted weather cells. The dynamic weather route system continuously analyzes all flights and provides reroute advisories that are dynamically updated in real time while the aircraft are in flight. The dynamic weather route system includes a graphical user interface that allows users to visualize, evaluate, modify if necessary, and implement proposed reroutes.

Estuary Data Mapper: A coastal information system to propel emerging science and inform environmental management decisions

EPA Science Inventory

The Estuary Data Mapper (EDM) is a free, interactive virtual gateway to coastal data aimed to promote research and aid in environmental management. The graphical user interface allows users to custom select and subset data based on their spatial and temporal interests giving them...

A Computer Program for Testing Grammars On-Line.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Louis N.

This paper describes a computer system which is intended to aid the linguist in building a transformational grammar. The program operates as a rule tester, performing three services for the user through sets of functions which allow the user to--specify, change, and print base trees (to which transformations would apply); define transformations…

A SCORM Compliant Courseware Authoring Tool for Supporting Pervasive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Te-Hua; Chang, Flora Chia-I

2007-01-01

The sharable content object reference model (SCORM) includes a representation of distance learning contents and a behavior definition of how users should interact with the contents. Generally, SCORMcompliant systems were based on multimedia and Web technologies on PCs. We further build a pervasive learning environment, which allows users to read…

Active Voodoo Dolls: A Vision Based Input Device for Nonrigid Control.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-08-01

A vision based technique for nonrigid control is presented that can be used for animation and video game applications. The user grasps a soft...allowing the user to control it interactively. Our use of texture mapping hardware in tracking makes the system responsive enough for interactive animation and video game character control.

CLIPS, AppleEvents, and AppleScript: Integrating CLIPS with commercial software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Compton, Michael M.; Wolfe, Shawn R.

1994-01-01

Many of today's intelligent systems are comprised of several modules, perhaps written in different tools and languages, that together help solve the user's problem. These systems often employ a knowledge-based component that is not accessed directly by the user, but instead operates 'in the background' offering assistance to the user as necessary. In these types of modular systems, an efficient, flexible, and eady-to-use mechanism for sharing data between programs is crucial. To help permit transparent integration of CLIPS with other Macintosh applications, the AI Research Branch at NASA Ames Research Center has extended CLIPS to allow it to communicate transparently with other applications through two popular data-sharing mechanisms provided by the Macintosh operating system: Apple Events (a 'high-level' event mechanism for program-to-program communication), and AppleScript, a recently-released scripting language for the Macintosh. This capability permits other applications (running on either the same or a remote machine) to send a command to CLIPS, which then responds as if the command were typed into the CLIPS dialog window. Any result returned by the command is then automatically returned to the program that sent it. Likewise, CLIPS can send several types of Apple Events directly to other local or remote applications. This CLIPS system has been successfully integrated with a variety of commercial applications, including data collection programs, electronics forms packages, DBMS's, and email programs. These mechanisms can permit transparent user access to the knowledge base from within a commercial application, and allow a single copy of the knowledge base to service multiple users in a networked environment.

NASA GES DISC On-line Visualization and Analysis System for Gridded Remote Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, Gregory G.; Berrick, S.; Rui, H.; Liu, Z.; Zhu, T.; Teng, W.; Shen, S.; Qin, J.

2005-01-01

The ability to use data stored in the current NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) archives for studying regional or global phenomena is highly dependent on having a detailed understanding of the data's internal structure and physical implementation. Gaining this understanding and applying it to data reduction is a time-consuming task that must be undertaken before the core investigation can begin. This is an especially difficult challenge when science objectives require users to deal with large multi-sensor data sets that are usually of different formats, structures, and resolutions. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) has taken a major step towards meeting this challenge by developing an infrastructure with a Web interface that allows users to perform interactive analysis online without downloading any data, the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Infrastructure or "Giovanni." Giovanni provides interactive, online, analysis tools for data users to facilitate their research. There have been several instances of this interface created to serve TRMM users, Aerosol scientists, Ocean Color and Agriculture applications users. The first generation of these tools support gridded data only. The user selects geophysical parameters, area of interest, time period; and the system generates an output on screen in a matter of seconds. The currently available output options are: Area plot averaged or accumulated over any available data period for any rectangular area; Time plot time series averaged over any rectangular area; Hovmoller plots image view of any longitude-time and latitude-time cross sections; ASCII output for all plot types; Image animation for area plot. Another analysis suite deals with parameter intercomparison: scatter plots, temporal correlation maps, GIs-compatible outputs, etc. This allow user to focus on data content (i.e. science parameters) and eliminate the need for expensive learning, development and processing tasks that are redundantly incurred by an archive's user community. The current implementation utilizes the GrADS-DODS Server (GDS), and provides subsetting and analysis services across the Internet for any GrADS-readable dataset. The subsetting capability allows users to retrieve a specified temporal and/or spatial subdomain from a large dataset, eliminating the need to download everything simply to access a small relevant portion of a dataset. The analysis capability allows users to retrieve the results of an operation applied to one or more datasets on the server. We use this approach to read pre-processed binary files and/or to read and extract the needed parts directly from HDF or HDF-EOS files. These subsets then serve as inputs into GrADS analysis scripts. It can be used in a wide variety of Earth science applications: climate and weather events study and monitoring; modeling. It can be easily configured for new applications.

Adaptive rehabilitation gaming system: on-line individualization of stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Nirme, Jens; Duff, Armin; Verschure, Paul F M J

2011-01-01

The effects of stroke differ considerably in degree and symptoms for different patients. It has been shown that specific, individualized and varied therapy favors recovery. The Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS) is a Virtual Reality (VR) based rehabilitation system designed following these principles. We have developed two algorithms to control the level of task difficulty that a user of the RGS is exposed to, as well as providing controlled variation in the therapy. In this paper, we compare the two algorithms by running numerical simulations and a study with healthy subjects. We show that both algorithms allow for individualization of the challenge level of the task. Further, the results reveal that the algorithm that iteratively learns a user model for each subject also allows a high variation of the task.

Icon and user interface design for emergency medical information systems: a case study.

PubMed

Salman, Y Batu; Cheng, Hong-In; Patterson, Patrick E

2012-01-01

A usable medical information system should allow for reliable and accurate interaction between users and the system in emergencies. A participatory design approach was used to develop a medical information system in two Turkish hospitals. The process consisted of task and user analysis, an icon design survey, initial icon design, final icon design and evaluation, and installation of the iconic medical information system with the icons. We observed work sites to note working processes and tasks related to the information system and interviewed medical personnel. Emergency personnel then participated in the design process to develop a usable graphical user interface, by drawing icon sketches for 23 selected tasks. Similar sketches were requested for specific tasks such as family medical history, contact information, translation, addiction, required inspections, requests and applications, and nurse observations. The sketches were analyzed and redesigned into computer icons by professional designers and the research team. A second group of physicians and nurses then tested the understandability of the icons. The user interface layout was examined and evaluated by system users, followed by the system's installation. Medical personnel reported the participatory design process was interesting and believed the resulting designs would be more familiar and friendlier. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fundamentals of the Design and the Operation of an Intelligent Tutoring System for the Learning of the Arithmetical and Algebraic Way of Solving Word Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnau, David; Arevalillo-Herraez, Miguel; Puig, Luis; Gonzalez-Calero, Jose Antonio

2013-01-01

Designers of interactive learning environments with a focus on word problem solving usually have to compromise between the amount of resolution paths that a user is allowed to follow and the quality of the feedback provided. We have built an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) that is able to both track the user's actions and provide adequate…

Intelligent assistant carer for active aging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bizjak, Jani; Gradišek, Anton; Stepančič, Luka; Gjoreski, Hristijan; Gams, Matjaž

2017-12-01

We present the concept of an Intelligent Assistant Carer system for the elderly, designed to help with active aging and to facilitate the interactions with carers. The system is modular, allowing the users to choose the appropriate functions according to their needs, and is built on an open platform in order to make it compatible with third-party products and services. Currently, the system consists of a wearable device (a smartwatch) and an internet portal that manages the data and takes care of the interactions between the user, the carers, and the support services. We present in detail one of the modules, i.e., fall detection, and the results of a pilot study for the system on 150 users over the course of 3 months.

Building a semi-automatic ontology learning and construction system for geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babaie, H. A.; Sunderraman, R.; Zhu, Y.

2013-12-01

We are developing an ontology learning and construction framework that allows continuous, semi-automatic knowledge extraction, verification, validation, and maintenance by potentially a very large group of collaborating domain experts in any geosciences field. The system brings geoscientists from the side-lines to the center stage of ontology building, allowing them to collaboratively construct and enrich new ontologies, and merge, align, and integrate existing ontologies and tools. These constantly evolving ontologies can more effectively address community's interests, purposes, tools, and change. The goal is to minimize the cost and time of building ontologies, and maximize the quality, usability, and adoption of ontologies by the community. Our system will be a domain-independent ontology learning framework that applies natural language processing, allowing users to enter their ontology in a semi-structured form, and a combined Semantic Web and Social Web approach that lets direct participation of geoscientists who have no skill in the design and development of their domain ontologies. A controlled natural language (CNL) interface and an integrated authoring and editing tool automatically convert syntactically correct CNL text into formal OWL constructs. The WebProtege-based system will allow a potentially large group of geoscientists, from multiple domains, to crowd source and participate in the structuring of their knowledge model by sharing their knowledge through critiquing, testing, verifying, adopting, and updating of the concept models (ontologies). We will use cloud storage for all data and knowledge base components of the system, such as users, domain ontologies, discussion forums, and semantic wikis that can be accessed and queried by geoscientists in each domain. We will use NoSQL databases such as MongoDB as a service in the cloud environment. MongoDB uses the lightweight JSON format, which makes it convenient and easy to build Web applications using just HTML5 and Javascript, thereby avoiding cumbersome server side coding present in the traditional approaches. The JSON format used in MongoDB is also suitable for storing and querying RDF data. We will store the domain ontologies and associated linked data in JSON/RDF formats. Our Web interface will be built upon the open source and configurable WebProtege ontology editor. We will develop a simplified mobile version of our user interface which will automatically detect the hosting device and adjust the user interface layout to accommodate different screen sizes. We will also use the Semantic Media Wiki that allows the user to store and query the data within the wiki pages. By using HTML 5, JavaScript, and WebGL, we aim to create an interactive, dynamic, and multi-dimensional user interface that presents various geosciences data sets in a natural and intuitive way.

Improved Open-Microphone Speech Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abrash, Victor

2002-12-01

Many current and future NASA missions make extreme demands on mission personnel both in terms of work load and in performing under difficult environmental conditions. In situations where hands are impeded or needed for other tasks, eyes are busy attending to the environment, or tasks are sufficiently complex that ease of use of the interface becomes critical, spoken natural language dialog systems offer unique input and output modalities that can improve efficiency and safety. They also offer new capabilities that would not otherwise be available. For example, many NASA applications require astronauts to use computers in micro-gravity or while wearing space suits. Under these circumstances, command and control systems that allow users to issue commands or enter data in hands-and eyes-busy situations become critical. Speech recognition technology designed for current commercial applications limits the performance of the open-ended state-of-the-art dialog systems being developed at NASA. For example, today's recognition systems typically listen to user input only during short segments of the dialog, and user input outside of these short time windows is lost. Mistakes detecting the start and end times of user utterances can lead to mistakes in the recognition output, and the dialog system as a whole has no way to recover from this, or any other, recognition error. Systems also often require the user to signal when that user is going to speak, which is impractical in a hands-free environment, or only allow a system-initiated dialog requiring the user to speak immediately following a system prompt. In this project, SRI has developed software to enable speech recognition in a hands-free, open-microphone environment, eliminating the need for a push-to-talk button or other signaling mechanism. The software continuously captures a user's speech and makes it available to one or more recognizers. By constantly monitoring and storing the audio stream, it provides the spoken dialog manager extra flexibility to recognize the signal with no audio gaps between recognition requests, as well as to rerecognize portions of the signal, or to rerecognize speech with different grammars, acoustic models, recognizers, start times, and so on. SRI expects that this new open-mic functionality will enable NASA to develop better error-correction mechanisms for spoken dialog systems, and may also enable new interaction strategies.

Improved Open-Microphone Speech Recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abrash, Victor

2002-01-01

Many current and future NASA missions make extreme demands on mission personnel both in terms of work load and in performing under difficult environmental conditions. In situations where hands are impeded or needed for other tasks, eyes are busy attending to the environment, or tasks are sufficiently complex that ease of use of the interface becomes critical, spoken natural language dialog systems offer unique input and output modalities that can improve efficiency and safety. They also offer new capabilities that would not otherwise be available. For example, many NASA applications require astronauts to use computers in micro-gravity or while wearing space suits. Under these circumstances, command and control systems that allow users to issue commands or enter data in hands-and eyes-busy situations become critical. Speech recognition technology designed for current commercial applications limits the performance of the open-ended state-of-the-art dialog systems being developed at NASA. For example, today's recognition systems typically listen to user input only during short segments of the dialog, and user input outside of these short time windows is lost. Mistakes detecting the start and end times of user utterances can lead to mistakes in the recognition output, and the dialog system as a whole has no way to recover from this, or any other, recognition error. Systems also often require the user to signal when that user is going to speak, which is impractical in a hands-free environment, or only allow a system-initiated dialog requiring the user to speak immediately following a system prompt. In this project, SRI has developed software to enable speech recognition in a hands-free, open-microphone environment, eliminating the need for a push-to-talk button or other signaling mechanism. The software continuously captures a user's speech and makes it available to one or more recognizers. By constantly monitoring and storing the audio stream, it provides the spoken dialog manager extra flexibility to recognize the signal with no audio gaps between recognition requests, as well as to rerecognize portions of the signal, or to rerecognize speech with different grammars, acoustic models, recognizers, start times, and so on. SRI expects that this new open-mic functionality will enable NASA to develop better error-correction mechanisms for spoken dialog systems, and may also enable new interaction strategies.

The development of a prototype intelligent user interface subsystem for NASA's scientific database systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, William J.; Roelofs, Larry H.; Short, Nicholas M., Jr.

1987-01-01

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) has initiated an Intelligent Data Management (IDM) research effort which has as one of its components the development of an Intelligent User Interface (IUI).The intent of the latter is to develop a friendly and intelligent user interface service that is based on expert systems and natural language processing technologies. The purpose is to support the large number of potential scientific and engineering users presently having need of space and land related research and technical data but who have little or no experience in query languages or understanding of the information content or architecture of the databases involved. This technical memorandum presents prototype Intelligent User Interface Subsystem (IUIS) using the Crustal Dynamics Project Database as a test bed for the implementation of the CRUDDES (Crustal Dynamics Expert System). The knowledge base has more than 200 rules and represents a single application view and the architectural view. Operational performance using CRUDDES has allowed nondatabase users to obtain useful information from the database previously accessible only to an expert database user or the database designer.

Discriminating Tissue Stiffness with a Haptic Catheter: Feeling the Inside of the Beating Heart.

PubMed

Kesner, Samuel B; Howe, Robert D

2011-01-01

Catheter devices allow physicians to access the inside of the human body easily and painlessly through natural orifices and vessels. Although catheters allow for the delivery of fluids and drugs, the deployment of devices, and the acquisition of the measurements, they do not allow clinicians to assess the physical properties of tissue inside the body due to the tissue motion and transmission limitations of the catheter devices, including compliance, friction, and backlash. The goal of this research is to increase the tactile information available to physicians during catheter procedures by providing haptic feedback during palpation procedures. To accomplish this goal, we have developed the first motion compensated actuated catheter system that enables haptic perception of fast moving tissue structures. The actuated catheter is instrumented with a distal tip force sensor and a force feedback interface that allows users to adjust the position of the catheter while experiencing the forces on the catheter tip. The efficacy of this device and interface is evaluated through a psychophyisical study comparing how accurately users can differentiate various materials attached to a cardiac motion simulator using the haptic device and a conventional manual catheter. The results demonstrate that haptics improves a user's ability to differentiate material properties and decreases the total number of errors by 50% over the manual catheter system.

Kwf-Grid workflow management system for Earth science applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tran, V.; Hluchy, L.

2009-04-01

In this paper, we present workflow management tool for Earth science applications in EGEE. The workflow management tool was originally developed within K-wf Grid project for GT4 middleware and has many advanced features like semi-automatic workflow composition, user-friendly GUI for managing workflows, knowledge management. In EGEE, we are porting the workflow management tool to gLite middleware for Earth science applications K-wf Grid workflow management system was developed within "Knowledge-based Workflow System for Grid Applications" under the 6th Framework Programme. The workflow mangement system intended to - semi-automatically compose a workflow of Grid services, - execute the composed workflow application in a Grid computing environment, - monitor the performance of the Grid infrastructure and the Grid applications, - analyze the resulting monitoring information, - capture the knowledge that is contained in the information by means of intelligent agents, - and finally to reuse the joined knowledge gathered from all participating users in a collaborative way in order to efficiently construct workflows for new Grid applications. Kwf Grid workflow engines can support different types of jobs (e.g. GRAM job, web services) in a workflow. New class of gLite job has been added to the system, allows system to manage and execute gLite jobs in EGEE infrastructure. The GUI has been adapted to the requirements of EGEE users, new credential management servlet is added to portal. Porting K-wf Grid workflow management system to gLite would allow EGEE users to use the system and benefit from its avanced features. The system is primarly tested and evaluated with applications from ES clusters.

A software for managing after-hours activities in research user facilities

DOE PAGES

Camino, F. E.

2017-05-01

Here, we present an afterhours activity management program for shared facilities, which handles the processes required for afterhours access (request, approval, extension, etc.). It implements the concept of permitted afterhours activities, which consists of a list of well-defined activities that each user can perform afterhours. The program provides an easy and unambiguous way for users to know which activities they are allowed to perform afterhours. In addition, the program can enhance its safety efficacy by interacting with lab and instrument access control systems commonly present in user facilities.

A software for managing after-hours activities in research user facilities

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

Camino, F. E.

Here, we present an afterhours activity management program for shared facilities, which handles the processes required for afterhours access (request, approval, extension, etc.). It implements the concept of permitted afterhours activities, which consists of a list of well-defined activities that each user can perform afterhours. The program provides an easy and unambiguous way for users to know which activities they are allowed to perform afterhours. In addition, the program can enhance its safety efficacy by interacting with lab and instrument access control systems commonly present in user facilities.

Classifying BCI signals from novice users with extreme learning machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez-Bermúdez, Germán; Bueno-Crespo, Andrés; José Martinez-Albaladejo, F.

2017-07-01

Brain computer interface (BCI) allows to control external devices only with the electrical activity of the brain. In order to improve the system, several approaches have been proposed. However it is usual to test algorithms with standard BCI signals from experts users or from repositories available on Internet. In this work, extreme learning machine (ELM) has been tested with signals from 5 novel users to compare with standard classification algorithms. Experimental results show that ELM is a suitable method to classify electroencephalogram signals from novice users.

User Centered System Design. Part 2. Collected Papers from the UCSD HMI Project.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-01

31 David Owen >CONSTRUCTIVE INTERACTION: A METHOD FOR STUDYING USER-COMPUTER-USER INTERACTION,~4 Claire O’MWaiey. Stephrn W. Drape, &mW4(fey S. Riley...improving intelligibility. __________ Display of a 1mg. musher Allows user to see a Slow to read, slow to of MCM Item: law percestage of the display, ua...Display of a saw musher Essy to red, quick to If number of alterna- of Ase im ms: display, only a small tiwes is large, multiple percentage of the sads

TIGER: A graphically interactive grid system for turbomachinery applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, Ming-Hsin; Soni, Bharat K.

1992-01-01

Numerical grid generation algorithm associated with the flow field about turbomachinery geometries is presented. Graphical user interface is developed with FORMS Library to create an interactive, user-friendly working environment. This customized algorithm reduces the man-hours required to generate a grid associated with turbomachinery geometry, as compared to the use of general-purpose grid generation softwares. Bezier curves are utilized both interactively and automatically to accomplish grid line smoothness and orthogonality. Graphical User Interactions are provided in the algorithm, allowing the user to design and manipulate the grid lines with a mouse.

AQUIS: A PC-based air inventory and permit manager

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

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

1992-01-01

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

Dairy Analytics and Nutrient Analysis (DANA) Prototype System User Manual

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

Sam Alessi; Dennis Keiser

2012-10-01

This document is a user manual for the Dairy Analytics and Nutrient Analysis (DANA) model. DANA provides an analysis of dairy anaerobic digestion technology and allows users to calculate biogas production, co-product valuation, capital costs, expenses, revenue and financial metrics, for user customizable scenarios, dairy and digester types. The model provides results for three anaerobic digester types; Covered Lagoons, Modified Plug Flow, and Complete Mix, and three main energy production technologies; electricity generation, renewable natural gas generation, and compressed natural gas generation. Additional options include different dairy types, bedding types, backend treatment type as well as numerous production, and economicmore » parameters. DANA’s goal is to extend the National Market Value of Anaerobic Digester Products analysis (informa economics, 2012; Innovation Center, 2011) to include a greater and more flexible set of regional digester scenarios and to provide a modular framework for creation of a tool to support farmer and investor needs. Users can set up scenarios from combinations of existing parameters or add new parameters, run the model and view a variety of reports, charts and tables that are automatically produced and delivered over the web interface. DANA is based in the INL’s analysis architecture entitled Generalized Environment for Modeling Systems (GEMS) , which offers extensive collaboration, analysis, and integration opportunities and greatly speeds the ability construct highly scalable web delivered user-oriented decision tools. DANA’s approach uses server-based data processing and web-based user interfaces, rather a client-based spreadsheet approach. This offers a number of benefits over the client-based approach. Server processing and storage can scale up to handle a very large number of scenarios, so that analysis of county, even field level, across the whole U.S., can be performed. Server based databases allow dairy and digester parameters be held and managed in a single managed data repository, while allows users to customize standard values and perform individual analysis. Server-based calculations can be easily extended, versions and upgrades managed, and any changes are immediately available to all users. This user manual describes how to use and/or modify input database tables, run DANA, view and modify reports.« less

Design participation as an insurance: risk-management and end-user participation in the development of information systems in healthcare organizations.

PubMed

Vimarlund, V; Timpka, T

2002-01-01

The aim of this paper is to build a theoretical framework for analysis of when decision-makers should use end-user participation as a form of insurance for unforeseen consequences of implementing information systems in healthcare organizations. Data were collected in a case study of an information system development project in a small clinical setting. During the initial phase, the future end-users of the system were allowed to actively influence the system design and test every new tool that was considered for implementation. The results of the case study suggest that when time and effort are invested in allowing healthcare staff to participate in information system development processes, the benefits can well exceed the costs throughout the life cycle of the project. Risk-averse decision-makers fearing negative secondary consequences of a HIS, with regard to clinical work flow, will always adopt measures to prevent future failures, if they can find a possibility of shifting these risks. Therefore, they calculate the present discounted value of the effects accrued over time to the unit and predict the amount of resources they are willing to pay to acquire on insurance (such as design participation) that will protect the organization from future losses. End-user participation in the design process can be the key positive influence on the quality of the service and, thereby, organizational effectiveness. Investments in broad design participation can, consequently, be a productive activity that transforms potential current income into future benefits.

Systems and methods for knowledge discovery in spatial data

DOEpatents

Obradovic, Zoran; Fiez, Timothy E.; Vucetic, Slobodan; Lazarevic, Aleksandar; Pokrajac, Dragoljub; Hoskinson, Reed L.

2005-03-08

Systems and methods are provided for knowledge discovery in spatial data as well as to systems and methods for optimizing recipes used in spatial environments such as may be found in precision agriculture. A spatial data analysis and modeling module is provided which allows users to interactively and flexibly analyze and mine spatial data. The spatial data analysis and modeling module applies spatial data mining algorithms through a number of steps. The data loading and generation module obtains or generates spatial data and allows for basic partitioning. The inspection module provides basic statistical analysis. The preprocessing module smoothes and cleans the data and allows for basic manipulation of the data. The partitioning module provides for more advanced data partitioning. The prediction module applies regression and classification algorithms on the spatial data. The integration module enhances prediction methods by combining and integrating models. The recommendation module provides the user with site-specific recommendations as to how to optimize a recipe for a spatial environment such as a fertilizer recipe for an agricultural field.

Practical experience with graphical user interfaces and object-oriented design in the clinical laboratory.

PubMed

Wells, I G; Cartwright, R Y; Farnan, L P

1993-12-15

The computing strategy in our laboratories evolved from research in Artificial Intelligence, and is based on powerful software tools running on high performance desktop computers with a graphical user interface. This allows most tasks to be regarded as design problems rather than implementation projects, and both rapid prototyping and an object-oriented approach to be employed during the in-house development and enhancement of the laboratory information systems. The practical application of this strategy is discussed, with particular reference to the system designer, the laboratory user and the laboratory customer. Routine operation covers five departments, and the systems are stable, flexible and well accepted by the users. Client-server computing, currently undergoing final trials, is seen as the key to further development, and this approach to Pathology computing has considerable potential for the future.

Application-Defined Decentralized Access Control

PubMed Central

Xu, Yuanzhong; Dunn, Alan M.; Hofmann, Owen S.; Lee, Michael Z.; Mehdi, Syed Akbar; Witchel, Emmett

2014-01-01

DCAC is a practical OS-level access control system that supports application-defined principals. It allows normal users to perform administrative operations within their privilege, enabling isolation and privilege separation for applications. It does not require centralized policy specification or management, giving applications freedom to manage their principals while the policies are still enforced by the OS. DCAC uses hierarchically-named attributes as a generic framework for user-defined policies such as groups defined by normal users. For both local and networked file systems, its execution time overhead is between 0%–9% on file system microbenchmarks, and under 1% on applications. This paper shows the design and implementation of DCAC, as well as several real-world use cases, including sandboxing applications, enforcing server applications’ security policies, supporting NFS, and authenticating user-defined sub-principals in SSH, all with minimal code changes. PMID:25426493

All new custom path photo book creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wiley; Muzzolini, Russ

2012-03-01

In this paper, we present an all new custom path to allow consumers to have full control to their photos and the format of their books, while providing them with guidance to make their creation fast and easy. The users can choose to fully automate the initial creation, and then customize every page. The system manage many design themes along with numerous design elements, such as layouts, backgrounds, embellishments and pattern bands. The users can also utilize photos from multiple sources including their computers, Shutterfly accounts, Shutterfly Share sites and Facebook. The users can also use a photo as background, add, move and resize photos and text - putting what they want where they want instead of being confined to templates. The new path allows users to add embellishments anywhere in the book, and the high-performance platform can support up to 1,000 photos per book and up to 25 pictures per page. The path offers either Smart Autofill or Storyboard features allowing customers to populate their books with photos so they can add captions and customize the pages.

The PMDB Protein Model Database

PubMed Central

Castrignanò, Tiziana; De Meo, Paolo D'Onorio; Cozzetto, Domenico; Talamo, Ivano Giuseppe; Tramontano, Anna

2006-01-01

The Protein Model Database (PMDB) is a public resource aimed at storing manually built 3D models of proteins. The database is designed to provide access to models published in the scientific literature, together with validating experimental data. It is a relational database and it currently contains >74 000 models for ∼240 proteins. The system is accessible at and allows predictors to submit models along with related supporting evidence and users to download them through a simple and intuitive interface. Users can navigate in the database and retrieve models referring to the same target protein or to different regions of the same protein. Each model is assigned a unique identifier that allows interested users to directly access the data. PMID:16381873

Web Time-Management Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Oak Grove Reactor, developed by Oak Grove Systems, is a new software program that allows users to integrate workflow processes. It can be used with portable communication devices. The software can join e-mail, calendar/scheduling and legacy applications into one interactive system via the web. Priority tasks and due dates are organized and highlighted to keep the user up to date with developments. Reactor works with existing software and few new skills are needed to use it. Using a web browser, a user can can work on something while other users can work on the same procedure or view its status while it is being worked on at another site. The software was developed by the Jet Propulsion Lab and originally put to use at Johnson Space Center.

User's manual for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS) software, version 5

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cuffney, Thomas F.; Brightbill, Robin A.

2011-01-01

The Invertebrate Data Analysis System (IDAS) software was developed to provide an accurate, consistent, and efficient mechanism for analyzing invertebrate data collected as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The IDAS software is a stand-alone program for personal computers that run Microsoft Windows(Registered). It allows users to read data downloaded from the NAWQA Program Biological Transactional Database (Bio-TDB) or to import data from other sources either as Microsoft Excel(Registered) or Microsoft Access(Registered) files. The program consists of five modules: Edit Data, Data Preparation, Calculate Community Metrics, Calculate Diversities and Similarities, and Data Export. The Edit Data module allows the user to subset data on the basis of taxonomy or sample type, extract a random subsample of data, combine or delete data, summarize distributions, resolve ambiguous taxa (see glossary) and conditional/provisional taxa, import non-NAWQA data, and maintain and create files of invertebrate attributes that are used in the calculation of invertebrate metrics. The Data Preparation module allows the user to select the type(s) of sample(s) to process, calculate densities, delete taxa on the basis of laboratory processing notes, delete pupae or terrestrial adults, combine lifestages or keep them separate, select a lowest taxonomic level for analysis, delete rare taxa on the basis of the number of sites where a taxon occurs and (or) the abundance of a taxon in a sample, and resolve taxonomic ambiguities by one of four methods. The Calculate Community Metrics module allows the user to calculate 184 community metrics, including metrics based on organism tolerances, functional feeding groups, and behavior. The Calculate Diversities and Similarities module allows the user to calculate nine diversity and eight similarity indices. The Data Export module allows the user to export data to other software packages (CANOCO, Primer, PC-ORD, MVSP) and produce tables of community data that can be imported into spreadsheet, database, graphics, statistics, and word-processing programs. The IDAS program facilitates the documentation of analyses by keeping a log of the data that are processed, the files that are generated, and the program settings used to process the data. Though the IDAS program was developed to process NAWQA Program invertebrate data downloaded from Bio-TDB, the Edit Data module includes tools that can be used to convert non-NAWQA data into Bio-TDB format. Consequently, the data manipulation, analysis, and export procedures provided by the IDAS program can be used to process data generated outside of the NAWQA Program.

Multi-Sensor Distributive On-line Processing, Visualization, and Analysis Infrastructure for an Agricultural Information System at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, W.; Berrick, S.; Leptoukh, G.; Liu, Z.; Rui, H.; Pham, L.; Shen, S.; Zhu, T.

2004-12-01

The Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is developing an Agricultural Information System (AIS), evolved from an existing TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS), which will operationally provide precipitation and other satellite data products and services. AIS outputs will be integrated into existing operational decision support systems for global crop monitoring, such as that of the U.N. World Food Program. The ability to use the raw data stored in the GES DAAC archives is highly dependent on having a detailed understanding of the data's internal structure and physical implementation. To gain this understanding is a time-consuming process and not a productive investment of the user's time. This is an especially difficult challenge when users need to deal with multi-sensor data that usually are of different structures and resolutions. The AIS has taken a major step towards meeting this challenge by incorporating an underlying infrastructure, called the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Infrastructure or "Giovanni," that integrates various components to support web interfaces that allow users to perform interactive analysis on-line without downloading any data. Several instances of the Giovanni-based interface have been or are being created to serve users of TRMM precipitation, MODIS aerosol, and SeaWiFS ocean color data, as well as agricultural applications users. Giovanni-based interfaces are simple to use but powerful. The user selects geophysical parameters, area of interest, and time period; and the system generates an output on screen in a matter of seconds. The currently available output options are (1) area plot - averaged or accumulated over any available data period for any rectangular area; (2) time plot - time series averaged over any rectangular area; (3) Hovmoller plots - longitude-time and latitude-time plots; (4) ASCII output - for all plot types; and (5) image animation - for area plot. Planned output options for the near-future include correlation plots and GIS-compatible outputs. The AIS will enable the remote, interoperable access to distributed data, because the current Giovanni implementation incorporates the GrADS-DODS Server (GDS), a stable, secure data server that provides subsetting and analysis services across the Internet, for any GrADS-readable data set. The subsetting capability allows users to retrieve a specified spatial region from a large data set, eliminating the need to first download the entire data set. The analysis capability allows users to retrieve the results of an operation applied to one or more data sets on the server. The Giovanni-GDS technology allows the serving of data, through convenient on-line analysis tools, from any location where GDS and a few GrADS scripts are installed. The GES-DISC implementation of this technology is unique in the way it enables multi-sensor processing and analysis.

Enhancements to a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) Multiplexer Readout and Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forgione, J.; Benford, D. J.; Buchanan, E. D.; Moseley, S. H.; Rebar, J.; Shafer, R. A.

2004-01-01

Far-infrared detector arrays such as the 16x32 superconducting bolometer array for the SAFIRE instrument (flying on the SOFIA airborne observatory) require systems of readout and control electronics to provide translation between a user-driven, digital PC and the cold, analog world of the cryogenic detector. In 2001, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed their Mark III electronics for purposes of control and readout of their 1x32 SQUID Multiplexer chips. We at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center acquired a Mark 111 system and subsequently designed upgrades to suit our and our collaborators purposes. We developed an arbitrary, programmable multiplexing system that allows the user to cycle through rows in a SQUID array in an infinite number of combinations. We provided hooks in the Mark III system to allow readout of signals from outside the Mark 111 system, such as telescope status information. Finally, we augmented the heart of the system with a new feedback algorithm implementation, flexible diagnostic tools, and informative telemetry.

Enhancements to a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer readout and control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forgione, Joshua B.; Benford, Dominic J.; Buchanan, Ernest D.; Moseley, S. H., Jr.; Rebar, Joyce; Shafer, Richard A.

2004-10-01

Far-infrared detector arrays such as the 16x32 superconducting bolometer array for the SAFIRE instrument (flying on the SOFIA airborne observatory) require systems of readout and control electronics to provide translation between a user-driven, digital PC and the cold, analog world of the cryogenic detector. In 2001, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed their Mark III electronics for purposes of control and readout of their 1x32 SQUID Multiplexer chips. We at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center acquired a Mark III system and subsequently designed upgrades to suit our and our collaborators' purposes. We developed an arbitrary, programmable multiplexing system that allows the user to cycle through rows in a SQUID array in an infinite number of combinations. We provided 'hooks' in the Mark III system to allow readout of signals from outside the Mark III system, such as telescope status information. Finally, we augmented the heart of the system with a new feedback algorithm implementation, flexible diagnostic tools, and informative telemetry.

Web-based, GPU-accelerated, Monte Carlo simulation and visualization of indirect radiation imaging detector performance.

PubMed

Dong, Han; Sharma, Diksha; Badano, Aldo

2014-12-01

Monte Carlo simulations play a vital role in the understanding of the fundamental limitations, design, and optimization of existing and emerging medical imaging systems. Efforts in this area have resulted in the development of a wide variety of open-source software packages. One such package, hybridmantis, uses a novel hybrid concept to model indirect scintillator detectors by balancing the computational load using dual CPU and graphics processing unit (GPU) processors, obtaining computational efficiency with reasonable accuracy. In this work, the authors describe two open-source visualization interfaces, webmantis and visualmantis to facilitate the setup of computational experiments via hybridmantis. The visualization tools visualmantis and webmantis enable the user to control simulation properties through a user interface. In the case of webmantis, control via a web browser allows access through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. webmantis acts as a server back-end and communicates with an NVIDIA GPU computing cluster that can support multiuser environments where users can execute different experiments in parallel. The output consists of point response and pulse-height spectrum, and optical transport statistics generated by hybridmantis. The users can download the output images and statistics through a zip file for future reference. In addition, webmantis provides a visualization window that displays a few selected optical photon path as they get transported through the detector columns and allows the user to trace the history of the optical photons. The visualization tools visualmantis and webmantis provide features such as on the fly generation of pulse-height spectra and response functions for microcolumnar x-ray imagers while allowing users to save simulation parameters and results from prior experiments. The graphical interfaces simplify the simulation setup and allow the user to go directly from specifying input parameters to receiving visual feedback for the model predictions.

Trajectory Optimization: OTIS 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Riehl, John P.; Sjauw, Waldy K.; Falck, Robert D.; Paris, Stephen W.

2010-01-01

The latest release of the Optimal Trajectories by Implicit Simulation (OTIS4) allows users to simulate and optimize aerospace vehicle trajectories. With OTIS4, one can seamlessly generate optimal trajectories and parametric vehicle designs simultaneously. New features also allow OTIS4 to solve non-aerospace continuous time optimal control problems. The inputs and outputs of OTIS4 have been updated extensively from previous versions. Inputs now make use of objectoriented constructs, including one called a metastring. Metastrings use a greatly improved calculator and common nomenclature to reduce the user s workload. They allow for more flexibility in specifying vehicle physical models, boundary conditions, and path constraints. The OTIS4 calculator supports common mathematical functions, Boolean operations, and conditional statements. This allows users to define their own variables for use as outputs, constraints, or objective functions. The user-defined outputs can directly interface with other programs, such as spreadsheets, plotting packages, and visualization programs. Internally, OTIS4 has more explicit and implicit integration procedures, including high-order collocation methods, the pseudo-spectral method, and several variations of multiple shooting. Users may switch easily between the various methods. Several unique numerical techniques such as automated variable scaling and implicit integration grid refinement, support the integration methods. OTIS4 is also significantly more user friendly than previous versions. The installation process is nearly identical on various platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, and Linux operating systems. Cross-platform scripts also help make the execution of OTIS and post-processing of data easier. OTIS4 is supplied free by NASA and is subject to ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) restrictions. Users must have a Fortran compiler, and a Python interpreter is highly recommended.

Remote file inquiry (RFI) system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

System interrogates and maintains user-definable data files from remote terminals, using English-like, free-form query language easily learned by persons not proficient in computer programming. System operates in asynchronous mode, allowing any number of inquiries within limitation of available core to be active concurrently.

adLIMS: a customized open source software that allows bridging clinical and basic molecular research studies.

PubMed

Calabria, Andrea; Spinozzi, Giulio; Benedicenti, Fabrizio; Tenderini, Erika; Montini, Eugenio

2015-01-01

Many biological laboratories that deal with genomic samples are facing the problem of sample tracking, both for pure laboratory management and for efficiency. Our laboratory exploits PCR techniques and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) methods to perform high-throughput integration site monitoring in different clinical trials and scientific projects. Because of the huge amount of samples that we process every year, which result in hundreds of millions of sequencing reads, we need to standardize data management and tracking systems, building up a scalable and flexible structure with web-based interfaces, which are usually called Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). We started collecting end-users' requirements, composed of desired functionalities of the system and Graphical User Interfaces (GUI), and then we evaluated available tools that could address our requirements, spanning from pure LIMS to Content Management Systems (CMS) up to enterprise information systems. Our analysis identified ADempiere ERP, an open source Enterprise Resource Planning written in Java J2EE, as the best software that also natively implements some highly desirable technological advances, such as the high usability and modularity that grants high use-case flexibility and software scalability for custom solutions. We extended and customized ADempiere ERP to fulfil LIMS requirements and we developed adLIMS. It has been validated by our end-users verifying functionalities and GUIs through test cases for PCRs samples and pre-sequencing data and it is currently in use in our laboratories. adLIMS implements authorization and authentication policies, allowing multiple users management and roles definition that enables specific permissions, operations and data views to each user. For example, adLIMS allows creating sample sheets from stored data using available exporting operations. This simplicity and process standardization may avoid manual errors and information backtracking, features that are not granted using track recording on files or spreadsheets. adLIMS aims to combine sample tracking and data reporting features with higher accessibility and usability of GUIs, thus allowing time to be saved on doing repetitive laboratory tasks, and reducing errors with respect to manual data collection methods. Moreover, adLIMS implements automated data entry, exploiting sample data multiplexing and parallel/transactional processing. adLIMS is natively extensible to cope with laboratory automation through platform-dependent API interfaces, and could be extended to genomic facilities due to the ERP functionalities.

An Evaluation of the Interactive Query Expansion in an Online Library Catalogue with a Graphical User Interface.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hancock-Beaulieu, Micheline; And Others

1995-01-01

An online library catalog was used to evaluate an interactive query expansion facility based on relevance feedback for the Okapi, probabilistic, term weighting, retrieval system. A graphical user interface allowed searchers to select candidate terms extracted from relevant retrieved items to reformulate queries. Results suggested that the…

75 FR 34799 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-18

... destinations of the user's choice. The PULSe workstation will be made available by Signal Trading Systems, LLC... (CBSX) to be the default destination exchange for individually executed marketable option (stock) orders... allow any user to manually override CBOE (CBSX) as the default destination on an order- by-order basis...

Creating Accessible Science Museums with User-Activated Environmental Audio Beacons (Ping!)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landau, Steven; Wiener, William; Naghshineh, Koorosh; Giusti, Ellen

2005-01-01

In 2003, Touch Graphics Company carried out research on a new invention that promises to improve accessibility to science museums for visitors who are visually impaired. The system, nicknamed Ping!, allows users to navigate an exhibit area, listen to audio descriptions, and interact with exhibits using a cell phone-based interface. The system…

Core Technical Capability Laboratory Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaykhian, Linda; Dugger, Curtis; Griffin, Laurie

2008-01-01

The Core Technical Capability Lab - oratory Management System (CTCLMS) consists of dynamically generated Web pages used to access a database containing detailed CTC lab data with the software hosted on a server that allows users to have remote access.

An Interactive Web System for Field Data Sharing and Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weng, Y.; Sun, F.; Grigsby, J. D.

2010-12-01

A Web 2.0 system is designed and developed to facilitate data collection for the field studies in the Geological Sciences department at Ball State University. The system provides a student-centered learning platform that enables the users to first upload their collected data in various formats, interact and collaborate dynamically online, and ultimately create a shared digital repository of field experiences. The data types considered for the system and their corresponding format and requirements are listed in the table below. The system has six main functionalities as follows. (1) Only the registered users can access the system with confidential identification and password. (2) Each user can upload/revise/delete data in various formats such as image, audio, video, and text files to the system. (3) Interested users are allowed to co-edit the contents and join the collaboration whiteboard for further discussion. (4) The system integrates with Google, Yahoo, or Flickr to search for similar photos with same tags. (5) Users can search the web system according to the specific key words. (6) Photos with recorded GPS readings can be mashed and mapped to Google Maps/Earth for visualization. Application of the system to geology field trips at Ball State University will be demonstrated to assess the usability of the system.Data Requirements

BIOME: A browser-aware search and order system

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

Grubb, J.W.; Jennings, S.V.; Yow, T.G.

1996-05-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), which is associated with NASA`s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), provides access to a large number of tabular and imagery datasets used in ecological and environmental research. Because of its large and diverse data holdings, the challenge for the ORNL DAAC is to help users find data of interest from the hundreds of thousands of files available at the DAAC without overwhelming them. Therefore, the ORNL DAAC developed the Biogeochemical Information Ordering Management Environment (BIOME), a search and order system for the World Wide Web (WWW).more » The WWW provides a new vehicle that allows a wide range of users access to the data. This paper describes the specialized attributes incorporated into BIOME that allow researchers easy access to an otherwise bewildering array of data products.« less

Wireless augmented reality communication system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Devereaux, Ann (Inventor); Agan, Martin (Inventor); Jedrey, Thomas (Inventor)

2006-01-01

The system of the present invention is a highly integrated radio communication system with a multimedia co-processor which allows true two-way multimedia (video, audio, data) access as well as real-time biomedical monitoring in a pager-sized portable access unit. The system is integrated in a network structure including one or more general purpose nodes for providing a wireless-to-wired interface. The network architecture allows video, audio and data (including biomedical data) streams to be connected directly to external users and devices. The portable access units may also be mated to various non-personal devices such as cameras or environmental sensors for providing a method for setting up wireless sensor nets from which reported data may be accessed through the portable access unit. The reported data may alternatively be automatically logged at a remote computer for access and viewing through a portable access unit, including the user's own.

Development of a Computer Writing System Based on EOG

PubMed Central

López, Alberto; Ferrero, Francisco; Yangüela, David; Álvarez, Constantina; Postolache, Octavian

2017-01-01

The development of a novel computer writing system based on eye movements is introduced herein. A system of these characteristics requires the consideration of three subsystems: (1) A hardware device for the acquisition and transmission of the signals generated by eye movement to the computer; (2) A software application that allows, among other functions, data processing in order to minimize noise and classify signals; and (3) A graphical interface that allows the user to write text easily on the computer screen using eye movements only. This work analyzes these three subsystems and proposes innovative and low cost solutions for each one of them. This computer writing system was tested with 20 users and its efficiency was compared to a traditional virtual keyboard. The results have shown an important reduction in the time spent on writing, which can be very useful, especially for people with severe motor disorders. PMID:28672863

Wireless Augmented Reality Communication System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jedrey, Thomas (Inventor); Agan, Martin (Inventor); Devereaux, Ann (Inventor)

2014-01-01

The system of the present invention is a highly integrated radio communication system with a multimedia co-processor which allows true two-way multimedia (video, audio, data) access as well as real-time biomedical monitoring in a pager-sized portable access unit. The system is integrated in a network structure including one or more general purpose nodes for providing a wireless-to-wired interface. The network architecture allows video, audio and data (including biomedical data) streams to be connected directly to external users and devices. The portable access units may also be mated to various non-personal devices such as cameras or environmental sensors for providing a method for setting up wireless sensor nets from which reported data may be accessed through the portable access unit. The reported data may alternatively be automatically logged at a remote computer for access and viewing through a portable access unit, including the user's own.

Wireless Augmented Reality Communication System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agan, Martin (Inventor); Devereaux, Ann (Inventor); Jedrey, Thomas (Inventor)

2016-01-01

The system of the present invention is a highly integrated radio communication system with a multimedia co-processor which allows true two-way multimedia (video, audio, data) access as well as real-time biomedical monitoring in a pager-sized portable access unit. The system is integrated in a network structure including one or more general purpose nodes for providing a wireless-to-wired interface. The network architecture allows video, audio and data (including biomedical data) streams to be connected directly to external users and devices. The portable access units may also be mated to various non-personal devices such as cameras or environmental sensors for providing a method for setting up wireless sensor nets from which reported data may be accessed through the portable access unit. The reported data may alternatively be automatically logged at a remote computer for access and viewing through a portable access unit, including the user's own.

Development of a Computer Writing System Based on EOG.

PubMed

López, Alberto; Ferrero, Francisco; Yangüela, David; Álvarez, Constantina; Postolache, Octavian

2017-06-26

The development of a novel computer writing system based on eye movements is introduced herein. A system of these characteristics requires the consideration of three subsystems: (1) A hardware device for the acquisition and transmission of the signals generated by eye movement to the computer; (2) A software application that allows, among other functions, data processing in order to minimize noise and classify signals; and (3) A graphical interface that allows the user to write text easily on the computer screen using eye movements only. This work analyzes these three subsystems and proposes innovative and low cost solutions for each one of them. This computer writing system was tested with 20 users and its efficiency was compared to a traditional virtual keyboard. The results have shown an important reduction in the time spent on writing, which can be very useful, especially for people with severe motor disorders.

GUIdock: Using Docker Containers with a Common Graphics User Interface to Address the Reproducibility of Research

PubMed Central

Yeung, Ka Yee

2016-01-01

Reproducibility is vital in science. For complex computational methods, it is often necessary, not just to recreate the code, but also the software and hardware environment to reproduce results. Virtual machines, and container software such as Docker, make it possible to reproduce the exact environment regardless of the underlying hardware and operating system. However, workflows that use Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) remain difficult to replicate on different host systems as there is no high level graphical software layer common to all platforms. GUIdock allows for the facile distribution of a systems biology application along with its graphics environment. Complex graphics based workflows, ubiquitous in systems biology, can now be easily exported and reproduced on many different platforms. GUIdock uses Docker, an open source project that provides a container with only the absolutely necessary software dependencies and configures a common X Windows (X11) graphic interface on Linux, Macintosh and Windows platforms. As proof of concept, we present a Docker package that contains a Bioconductor application written in R and C++ called networkBMA for gene network inference. Our package also includes Cytoscape, a java-based platform with a graphical user interface for visualizing and analyzing gene networks, and the CyNetworkBMA app, a Cytoscape app that allows the use of networkBMA via the user-friendly Cytoscape interface. PMID:27045593

GUIdock: Using Docker Containers with a Common Graphics User Interface to Address the Reproducibility of Research.

PubMed

Hung, Ling-Hong; Kristiyanto, Daniel; Lee, Sung Bong; Yeung, Ka Yee

2016-01-01

Reproducibility is vital in science. For complex computational methods, it is often necessary, not just to recreate the code, but also the software and hardware environment to reproduce results. Virtual machines, and container software such as Docker, make it possible to reproduce the exact environment regardless of the underlying hardware and operating system. However, workflows that use Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) remain difficult to replicate on different host systems as there is no high level graphical software layer common to all platforms. GUIdock allows for the facile distribution of a systems biology application along with its graphics environment. Complex graphics based workflows, ubiquitous in systems biology, can now be easily exported and reproduced on many different platforms. GUIdock uses Docker, an open source project that provides a container with only the absolutely necessary software dependencies and configures a common X Windows (X11) graphic interface on Linux, Macintosh and Windows platforms. As proof of concept, we present a Docker package that contains a Bioconductor application written in R and C++ called networkBMA for gene network inference. Our package also includes Cytoscape, a java-based platform with a graphical user interface for visualizing and analyzing gene networks, and the CyNetworkBMA app, a Cytoscape app that allows the use of networkBMA via the user-friendly Cytoscape interface.

3D Displays And User Interface Design For A Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning CAD Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mosher, Charles E.; Sherouse, George W.; Chaney, Edward L.; Rosenman, Julian G.

1988-06-01

The long term goal of the project described in this paper is to improve local tumor control through the use of computer-aided treatment design methods that can result in selection of better treatment plans compared with conventional planning methods. To this end, a CAD tool for the design of radiation treatment beams is described. Crucial to the effectiveness of this tool are high quality 3D display techniques. We have found that 2D and 3D display methods dramatically improve the comprehension of the complex spatial relationships between patient anatomy, radiation beams, and dose distributions. In order to take full advantage of these displays, an intuitive and highly interactive user interface was created. If the system is to be used by physicians unfamiliar with computer systems, it is essential that a user interface is incorporated that allows the user to navigate through each step of the design process in a manner similar to what they are used to. Compared with conventional systems, we believe our display and CAD tools will allow the radiotherapist to achieve more accurate beam targetting leading to a better radiation dose configuration to the tumor volume. This would result in a reduction of the dose to normal tissue.

Sketching Uncertainty into Simulations.

PubMed

Ribicic, H; Waser, J; Gurbat, R; Sadransky, B; Groller, M E

2012-12-01

In a variety of application areas, the use of simulation steering in decision making is limited at best. Research focusing on this problem suggests that most user interfaces are too complex for the end user. Our goal is to let users create and investigate multiple, alternative scenarios without the need for special simulation expertise. To simplify the specification of parameters, we move from a traditional manipulation of numbers to a sketch-based input approach. Users steer both numeric parameters and parameters with a spatial correspondence by sketching a change onto the rendering. Special visualizations provide immediate visual feedback on how the sketches are transformed into boundary conditions of the simulation models. Since uncertainty with respect to many intertwined parameters plays an important role in planning, we also allow the user to intuitively setup complete value ranges, which are then automatically transformed into ensemble simulations. The interface and the underlying system were developed in collaboration with experts in the field of flood management. The real-world data they have provided has allowed us to construct scenarios used to evaluate the system. These were presented to a variety of flood response personnel, and their feedback is discussed in detail in the paper. The interface was found to be intuitive and relevant, although a certain amount of training might be necessary.

Assured Human-Autonomy Interaction through Machine Self-Confidence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aitken, Matthew

Autonomous systems employ many layers of approximations in order to operate in increasingly uncertain and unstructured environments. The complexity of these systems makes it hard for a user to understand the systems capabilities, especially if the user is not an expert. However, if autonomous systems are to be used efficiently, their users must trust them appropriately. This purpose of this work is to implement and assess an 'assurance' that an autonomous system can provide to the user to elicit appropriate trust. Specifically, the autonomous system's perception of its own capabilities is reported to the user as the self-confidence assurance. The self-confidence assurance should allow the user to more quickly and accurately assess the autonomous system's capabilities, generating appropriate trust in the autonomous system. First, this research defines self-confidence and discusses what the self-confidence assurance is attempting to communicate to the user. Then it provides a framework for computing the autonomous system's self-confidence as a function of self-confidence factors which correspond to individual elements in the autonomous system's process. In order to explore this idea, self-confidence is implemented on an autonomous system that uses a mixed observability Markov decision process model to solve a pursuit-evasion problem on a road network. The implementation of a factor assessing the goodness of the autonomy's expected performance is focused on in particular. This work highlights some of the issues and considerations in the design of appropriate metrics for the self-confidence factors, and provides the basis for future research for computing self-confidence in autonomous systems.

A system overview of the Aerospace Safety Research and Data Institute data management programs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

The NASA Aerospace Safety Information System, is an interactive, generalized data base management system. The on-line retrieval aspects provide for operating from a variety of terminals (or in batch mode). NASIS retrieval enables the user to expand and display (review) the terms of index (cross reference) files, select desired index terms, combine sets of documents corresponding to selected terms and display the resulting records. It also allows the user to print (record) this information on a high speed printer if desired. NASIS also provides the ability to store the strategy of any given session the user has executed. It has a searching and publication ability through generalized linear search and report generating modules which may be performed interactively or in a batch mode. The user may specify formats for the terminal from which he is operating. The system features an interactive user's guide which explains the various commands available and how to use them as well as explanations for all system messages. This explain capability may be extended, without program changes, to include descriptions of the various files in use. Coupled with the ability of NASIS to run in an MTT (multi-terminal task) mode is its automatic accumulation of statistics on each user of the system as well as each file.

Development of Land Analysis System display modules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, Douglas; Hollaren, Douglas; Huewe, Laurie

1986-01-01

The Land Analysis System (LAS) display modules were developed to allow a user to interactively display, manipulate, and store image and image related data. To help accomplish this task, these modules utilize the Transportable Applications Executive and the Display Management System software to interact with the user and the display device. The basic characteristics of a display are outlined and some of the major modifications and additions made to the display management software are discussed. Finally, all available LAS display modules are listed along with a short description of each.

Integrating Social Networks and Remote Patient Monitoring Systems to Disseminate Notifications.

PubMed

Ribeiro, Hugo A; Germano, Eliseu; Carvalho, Sergio T; Albuquerque, Eduardo S

2017-01-01

Healthcare workforce shortage can be compensated by using information and communication technologies. Remote patient monitoring systems allow us to identify and communicate complications and anomalies. Integrating social networking services into remote patient monitoring systems enables users to manage their relationships. User defined relationships may be used to disseminate healthcare related notifications. Hence this integration leads to quicker interventions and may reduce hospital readmission rate. As a proof of concept, a module was integrated to a remote patient monitoring platform. A mobile application to manage relationships and receive notifications was also developed.

Cram

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

Gamblin, T.

2014-08-29

Large-scale systems like Sequoia allow running small numbers of very large (1M+ process) jobs, but their resource managers and schedulers do not allow large numbers of small (4, 8, 16, etc.) process jobs to run efficiently. Cram is a tool that allows users to launch many small MPI jobs within one large partition, and to overcome the limitations of current resource management software for large ensembles of jobs.

Engineering monitoring expert system's developer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lo, Ching F.

1991-01-01

This research project is designed to apply artificial intelligence technology including expert systems, dynamic interface of neural networks, and hypertext to construct an expert system developer. The developer environment is specifically suited to building expert systems which monitor the performance of ground support equipment for propulsion systems and testing facilities. The expert system developer, through the use of a graphics interface and a rule network, will be transparent to the user during rule constructing and data scanning of the knowledge base. The project will result in a software system that allows its user to build specific monitoring type expert systems which monitor various equipments used for propulsion systems or ground testing facilities and accrues system performance information in a dynamic knowledge base.

MTVis: tree exploration using a multitouch interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrews, David; Teoh, Soon Tee

2010-01-01

We present MTVis, a multi-touch interactive tree visualization system. The multi-touch interface display hardware is built using the LED-LP technology, and the tree layout is based on RINGS, but enhanced with multitouch interactions. We describe the features of the system, and how the multi-touch interface enhances the user's experience in exploring the tree data structure. In particular, the multi-touch interface allows the user to simultaneously control two child nodes of the root, and rotate them so that some nodes are magnified, while preserving the layout of the tree. We also describe the other meaninful touch screen gestures the users can use to intuitively explore the tree.

Model My Watershed: A high-performance cloud application for public engagement, watershed modeling and conservation decision support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Tarboton, D. G.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Mayorga, E.; McFarland, M.; Robbins, A.; Haag, S.; Shokoufandeh, A.; Evans, B. M.; Arscott, D. B.

2017-12-01

The Model My Watershed Web app (https://app.wikiwatershed.org/) and the BiG-CZ Data Portal (http://portal.bigcz.org/) and are web applications that share a common codebase and a common goal to deliver high-performance discovery, visualization and analysis of geospatial data in an intuitive user interface in web browser. Model My Watershed (MMW) was designed as a decision support system for watershed conservation implementation. BiG CZ Data Portal was designed to provide context and background data for research sites. Users begin by creating an Area of Interest, via an automated watershed delineation tool, a free draw tool, selection of a predefined area such as a county or USGS Hydrological Unit (HUC), or uploading a custom polygon. Both Web apps visualize and provide summary statistics of land use, soil groups, streams, climate and other geospatial information. MMW then allows users to run a watershed model to simulate different scenarios of human impacts on stormwater runoff and water-quality. BiG CZ Data Portal allows users to search for scientific and monitoring data within the Area of Interest, which also serves as a prototype for the upcoming Monitor My Watershed web app. Both systems integrate with CUAHSI cyberinfrastructure, including visualizing observational data from CUAHSI Water Data Center and storing user data via CUAHSI HydroShare. Both systems also integrate with the new EnviroDIY Water Quality Data Portal (http://data.envirodiy.org/), a system for crowd-sourcing environmental monitoring data using open-source sensor stations (http://envirodiy.org/mayfly/) and based on the Observations Data Model v2.

Development of a Geographic Information System Based Dust Dispersion Modeling System For Use In the Planning and Implementation of Military Training Exercises

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

Crandall, Duard W; Rutz, Frederick C

2004-08-12

Military maneuvers and training exercises are essential for national and world defense. These maneuvers must however be performed in a manner that will have a minimal effect on the environment and local civilians. As residential areas continue to develop near military sites, possible impacts from military traffic and exercises to these areas begin to become of greater concern. Concerns facing the military include the effects of particulate air quality and atmospheric dust dispersion caused by such maneuvers. To aid the Department of Defense with this problem, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proposed a plan to develop, document and test a modelingmore » system for use in dust dispersion reduction and management near government sites. To accomplish this task a user interface was developed that would be user friendly yet sophisticated enough to accommodate the needs of the client. One such need is to integrate a geographic information system (GIS) with the dust dispersion modeling software. This allows the user to enter the point, area, or line source required for the model runs. Incorporating the GIS with the software will also allow the user to view plume rise and expansion over actual data maps of the desired site. Data collected during previous field studies will be used to verify the results generated by the dust dispersion models. Thus utilizing historical, current, and user defined data, near real-time dust dispersion models will be able to aid in estimating and minimizing the effects of military exercises on the environment and nonmilitary personnel.« less

A FORTRAN program for the analysis of linear continuous and sample-data systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, J. W.

1976-01-01

A FORTRAN digital computer program which performs the general analysis of linearized control systems is described. State variable techniques are used to analyze continuous, discrete, and sampled data systems. Analysis options include the calculation of system eigenvalues, transfer functions, root loci, root contours, frequency responses, power spectra, and transient responses for open- and closed-loop systems. A flexible data input format allows the user to define systems in a variety of representations. Data may be entered by inputing explicit data matrices or matrices constructed in user written subroutines, by specifying transfer function block diagrams, or by using a combination of these methods.

Data vs. information: A system paradigm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Billingsley, F. C.

1982-01-01

The data system designer requires data parameters, and is dependent on the user to convert information needs to these data parameters. This conversion will be done with more or less accuracy, beginning a chain of inaccuracies which propagate through the system, and which, in the end, may prevent the user from converting the data received into the information required. The concept to be pursued is that errors occur in various parts of the system, and, having occurred, propagate to the end. Modeling of the system may allow an estimation of the effects at any point and the final accumulated effect, and may prove a method of allocating an error budget among the system components. The selection of the various technical parameters which a data system must meet must be done in relation to the ability of the user to turn the cold, impersonal data into a live, personal decision or piece of information.

Moving from Batch to Field Using the RT3D Reactive Transport Modeling System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clement, T. P.; Gautam, T. R.

2002-12-01

The public domain reactive transport code RT3D (Clement, 1997) is a general-purpose numerical code for solving coupled, multi-species reactive transport in saturated groundwater systems. The code uses MODFLOW to simulate flow and several modules of MT3DMS to simulate the advection and dispersion processes. RT3D employs the operator-split strategy which allows the code solve the coupled reactive transport problem in a modular fashion. The coupling between reaction and transport is defined through a separate module where the reaction equations are specified. The code supports a versatile user-defined reaction option that allows users to define their own reaction system through a Fortran-90 subroutine, known as the RT3D-reaction package. Further a utility code, known as BATCHRXN, allows the users to independently test and debug their reaction package. To analyze a new reaction system at a batch scale, users should first run BATCHRXN to test the ability of their reaction package to model the batch data. After testing, the reaction package can simply be ported to the RT3D environment to study the model response under 1-, 2-, or 3-dimensional transport conditions. This paper presents example problems that demonstrate the methods for moving from batch to field-scale simulations using BATCHRXN and RT3D codes. The first example describes a simple first-order reaction system for simulating the sequential degradation of Tetrachloroethene (PCE) and its daughter products. The second example uses a relatively complex reaction system for describing the multiple degradation pathways of Tetrachloroethane (PCA) and its daughter products. References 1) Clement, T.P, RT3D - A modular computer code for simulating reactive multi-species transport in 3-Dimensional groundwater aquifers, Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Research Report, PNNL-SA-28967, September, 1997. Available at: http://bioprocess.pnl.gov/rt3d.htm.

Distributed visualization framework architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishchenko, Oleg; Raman, Sundaresan; Crawfis, Roger

2010-01-01

An architecture for distributed and collaborative visualization is presented. The design goals of the system are to create a lightweight, easy to use and extensible framework for reasearch in scientific visualization. The system provides both single user and collaborative distributed environment. System architecture employs a client-server model. Visualization projects can be synchronously accessed and modified from different client machines. We present a set of visualization use cases that illustrate the flexibility of our system. The framework provides a rich set of reusable components for creating new applications. These components make heavy use of leading design patterns. All components are based on the functionality of a small set of interfaces. This allows new components to be integrated seamlessly with little to no effort. All user input and higher-level control functionality interface with proxy objects supporting a concrete implementation of these interfaces. These light-weight objects can be easily streamed across the web and even integrated with smart clients running on a user's cell phone. The back-end is supported by concrete implementations wherever needed (for instance for rendering). A middle-tier manages any communication and synchronization with the proxy objects. In addition to the data components, we have developed several first-class GUI components for visualization. These include a layer compositor editor, a programmable shader editor, a material editor and various drawable editors. These GUI components interact strictly with the interfaces. Access to the various entities in the system is provided by an AssetManager. The asset manager keeps track of all of the registered proxies and responds to queries on the overall system. This allows all user components to be populated automatically. Hence if a new component is added that supports the IMaterial interface, any instances of this can be used in the various GUI components that work with this interface. One of the main features is an interactive shader designer. This allows rapid prototyping of new visualization renderings that are shader-based and greatly accelerates the development and debug cycle.

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system to use arbitrary Windows applications by directly controlling mouse and keyboard.

PubMed

Spuler, Martin

2015-08-01

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) allows to control a computer by brain activity only, without the need for muscle control. In this paper, we present an EEG-based BCI system based on code-modulated visual evoked potentials (c-VEPs) that enables the user to work with arbitrary Windows applications. Other BCI systems, like the P300 speller or BCI-based browsers, allow control of one dedicated application designed for use with a BCI. In contrast, the system presented in this paper does not consist of one dedicated application, but enables the user to control mouse cursor and keyboard input on the level of the operating system, thereby making it possible to use arbitrary applications. As the c-VEP BCI method was shown to enable very fast communication speeds (writing more than 20 error-free characters per minute), the presented system is the next step in replacing the traditional mouse and keyboard and enabling complete brain-based control of a computer.

Assisting the visually impaired: obstacle detection and warning system by acoustic feedback.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Alberto; Yebes, J Javier; Alcantarilla, Pablo F; Bergasa, Luis M; Almazán, Javier; Cela, Andrés

2012-12-17

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system.

Assisting the Visually Impaired: Obstacle Detection and Warning System by Acoustic Feedback

PubMed Central

Rodríguez, Alberto; Yebes, J. Javier; Alcantarilla, Pablo F.; Bergasa, Luis M.; Almazán, Javier; Cela, Andrés

2012-01-01

The aim of this article is focused on the design of an obstacle detection system for assisting visually impaired people. A dense disparity map is computed from the images of a stereo camera carried by the user. By using the dense disparity map, potential obstacles can be detected in 3D in indoor and outdoor scenarios. A ground plane estimation algorithm based on RANSAC plus filtering techniques allows the robust detection of the ground in every frame. A polar grid representation is proposed to account for the potential obstacles in the scene. The design is completed with acoustic feedback to assist visually impaired users while approaching obstacles. Beep sounds with different frequencies and repetitions inform the user about the presence of obstacles. Audio bone conducting technology is employed to play these sounds without interrupting the visually impaired user from hearing other important sounds from its local environment. A user study participated by four visually impaired volunteers supports the proposed system. PMID:23247413

JackIn Head: Immersive Visual Telepresence System with Omnidirectional Wearable Camera.

PubMed

Kasahara, Shunichi; Nagai, Shohei; Rekimoto, Jun

2017-03-01

Sharing one's own immersive experience over the Internet is one of the ultimate goals of telepresence technology. In this paper, we present JackIn Head, a visual telepresence system featuring an omnidirectional wearable camera with image motion stabilization. Spherical omnidirectional video footage taken around the head of a local user is stabilized and then broadcast to others, allowing remote users to explore the immersive visual environment independently of the local user's head direction. We describe the system design of JackIn Head and report the evaluation results of real-time image stabilization and alleviation of cybersickness. Then, through an exploratory observation study, we investigate how individuals can remotely interact, communicate with, and assist each other with our system. We report our observation and analysis of inter-personal communication, demonstrating the effectiveness of our system in augmenting remote collaboration.

ASSIST user manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Sally C.; Boerschlein, David P.

1995-01-01

Semi-Markov models can be used to analyze the reliability of virtually any fault-tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all the states and transitions in a complex system model can be devastatingly tedious and error prone. The Abstract Semi-Markov Specification Interface to the SURE Tool (ASSIST) computer program allows the user to describe the semi-Markov model in a high-level language. Instead of listing the individual model states, the user specifies the rules governing the behavior of the system, and these are used to generate the model automatically. A few statements in the abstract language can describe a very large, complex model. Because no assumptions are made about the system being modeled, ASSIST can be used to generate models describing the behavior of any system. The ASSIST program and its input language are described and illustrated by examples.

Multispectral scanner data applications evaluation. Volume 1: User applications study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomson, F. J.; Erickson, J. D.; Nalepka, R. F.; Weber, J. D.

1974-01-01

A six-month systems study of earth resource surveys from satellites was conducted and is reported. SKYLAB S-192 multispectral scanner (MSS) data were used as a baseline to aid in evaluating the characteristics of future systems using satellite MSS sensors. The study took the viewpoint that overall system (sensor and processing) characteristics and parameter values should be determined largely by user requirements for automatic information extraction performance in quasi-operational earth resources surveys, the other major factor being hardware limitations imposed by state-of-the-art technology and cost. The objective was to use actual aircraft and spacecraft MSS data to outline parametrically the trade-offs between user performance requirements and hardware performance and limitations so as to allow subsequent evaluation of compromises which must be made in deciding what system(s) to build.

A Hybrid 2D/3D User Interface for Radiological Diagnosis.

PubMed

Mandalika, Veera Bhadra Harish; Chernoglazov, Alexander I; Billinghurst, Mark; Bartneck, Christoph; Hurrell, Michael A; Ruiter, Niels de; Butler, Anthony P H; Butler, Philip H

2018-02-01

This paper presents a novel 2D/3D desktop virtual reality hybrid user interface for radiology that focuses on improving 3D manipulation required in some diagnostic tasks. An evaluation of our system revealed that our hybrid interface is more efficient for novice users and more accurate for both novice and experienced users when compared to traditional 2D only interfaces. This is a significant finding because it indicates, as the techniques mature, that hybrid interfaces can provide significant benefit to image evaluation. Our hybrid system combines a zSpace stereoscopic display with 2D displays, and mouse and keyboard input. It allows the use of 2D and 3D components interchangeably, or simultaneously. The system was evaluated against a 2D only interface with a user study that involved performing a scoliosis diagnosis task. There were two user groups: medical students and radiology residents. We found improvements in completion time for medical students, and in accuracy for both groups. In particular, the accuracy of medical students improved to match that of the residents.

AQUIS: A PC-based source information manager

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

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

1993-05-01

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

AQUIS: A PC-based source information manager

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

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

1993-01-01

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

User observations on information sharing (corporate knowledge and lessons learned)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Montague, Ronald A.; Gregg, Lawrence A.; Martin, Shirley A.; Underwood, Leroy H.; Mcgee, John M.

1993-01-01

The sharing of 'corporate knowledge' and lessons learned in the NASA aerospace community has been identified by Johnson Space Center survey participants as a desirable tool. The concept of the program is based on creating a user friendly information system that will allow engineers, scientists, and managers at all working levels to share their information and experiences with other users irrespective of location or organization. The survey addresses potential end uses for such a system and offers some guidance on the development of subsequent processes to ensure the integrity of the information shared. This system concept will promote sharing of information between NASA centers, between NASA and its contractors, between NASA and other government agencies, and perhaps between NASA and institutions of higher learning.

Implementation of virtual LANs over ATM WANs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braun, Torsten; Maehler, Martin

1998-09-01

Virtual LANs (VLANs) allow to interconnect users over campus or wide area networks and gives the users the impression as they would be connected to the same local area network (LAN). The implementation of VLANs is based on ATM Forum's LAN Emulation and LAN/ATM switches providing interconnection of emulated LANs over ATM and the LAN ports to which the user's end systems are attached to. The paper discusses possible implementation architectures and describes advanced features such as ATM short-cuts, QoS, and redundancy concepts.

ShakeAlert Users Transition to the Production Prototype System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strauss, J. A.; Vinci, M.; Steele, W. P.; Hellweg, M.; Allen, R. M.; DeGroot, R. M.

2016-12-01

The ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning system transitioned from the demonstration system into the fully-fledged production prototype system this year. Users were migrated over to the new system concurrent with the release of the ShakeAlert UserDisplay Version 2.5.0. The production prototype system provides robust connectivity, fail-over mechanisms to ensure that alarms are deliverd even if one connection fails, and provides a framework to connect future stations, participants, and other sources as the project expands to the full public system. We will present an overview of key user sectors that are either testing or launching pilot projects for the system within their organizations. We will outline the implementation of certain actions, and highlight accomplishments and challenges the Beta Users encounter in fully implementing ShakeAlert within their organizations. By better studying these issues, project partners can better assist the users in incorporating early warning in their operations. Opening up the system to allow for pilot projects enables ShakeAlert users to develop hardware, software, and policy solutions for actions in response to early warning alerts in a controlled environment. This is the first step on the path toward limited rollouts. The pilot groups leverage the expertise of our stakeholders to develop the `last mile' alert distribution and responses. The transition went smoothly in February 2015, for users in California, and we expect to connect with more beta users and pilot groups in this next phase. User transition is planned for Fall 2016 for users in the Pacific Northwest. Beta Users, such as municipalities, emergency response groups, and county officials, lifelines, schools, and private industry continue to meet with ShakeAlert partners to 1) further education and training on both benefits and limitations 2) strategize on implementation actions, such as opening fire house bay doors in response to an alarm, and 3) coordinate continued engagement as the system comes online with more Users and in more areas. The newly created Joint Committee on Communication, Education, and Outreach is aiding with the education and training aspect of the rollout.

Interactive energy atlas for Colorado and New Mexico: an online resource for decisionmakers

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, Natasha B.; Ignizio, Drew A.; Diffendorfer, James E.; Latysh, Natalie; Matherne, Ann Marie; Linard, Joshua I.; Leib, Kenneth J.; Hawkins, Sarah J.

2013-01-01

Throughout the western United States, increased demand for energy is driving the rapid development of nonrenewable and renewable energy resources. Resource managers must balance the benefits of energy development with the potential consequences for ecological resources and ecosystem services. To facilitate access to geospatial data related to energy resources, energy infrastructure, and natural resources that may be affected by energy development, the U.S. Geological Survey has developed an online Interactive Energy Atlas (Energy Atlas) for Colorado and New Mexico. The Energy Atlas is designed to meet the needs of varied users who seek information about energy in the western United States. The Energy Atlas has two primary capabilities: a geographic information system (GIS) data viewer and an interactive map gallery. The GIS data viewer allows users to preview and download GIS data related to energy potential and development in Colorado and New Mexico. The interactive map gallery contains a collection of maps that compile and summarize thematically related data layers in a user-friendly format. The maps are dynamic, allowing users to explore data at different resolutions and obtain information about the features being displayed. The Energy Atlas also includes an interactive decision-support tool, which allows users to explore the potential consequences of energy development for species that vary in their sensitivity to disturbance.

gemcWeb: A Cloud Based Nuclear Physics Simulation Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markelon, Sam

2017-09-01

gemcWeb allows users to run nuclear physics simulations from the web. Being completely device agnostic, scientists can run simulations from anywhere with an Internet connection. Having a full user system, gemcWeb allows users to revisit and revise their projects, and share configurations and results with collaborators. gemcWeb is based on simulation software gemc, which is based on standard GEant4. gemcWeb requires no C++, gemc, or GEant4 knowledge. Using a simple but powerful GUI allows users to configure their project from geometries and configurations stored on the deployment server. Simulations are then run on the server, with results being posted to the user, and then securely stored. Python based and open-source, the main version of gemcWeb is hosted internally at Jefferson National Labratory and used by the CLAS12 and Electron-Ion Collider Project groups. However, as the software is open-source, and hosted as a GitHub repository, an instance can be deployed on the open web, or any institution's intra-net. An instance can be configured to host experiments specific to an institution, and the code base can be modified by any individual or group. Special thanks to: Maurizio Ungaro, PhD., creator of gemc; Markus Diefenthaler, PhD., advisor; and Kyungseon Joo, PhD., advisor.

Towards a new modality-independent interface for a robotic wheelchair.

PubMed

Bastos-Filho, Teodiano Freire; Cheein, Fernando Auat; Müller, Sandra Mara Torres; Celeste, Wanderley Cardoso; de la Cruz, Celso; Cavalieri, Daniel Cruz; Sarcinelli-Filho, Mário; Amaral, Paulo Faria Santos; Perez, Elisa; Soria, Carlos Miguel; Carelli, Ricardo

2014-05-01

This work presents the development of a robotic wheelchair that can be commanded by users in a supervised way or by a fully automatic unsupervised navigation system. It provides flexibility to choose different modalities to command the wheelchair, in addition to be suitable for people with different levels of disabilities. Users can command the wheelchair based on their eye blinks, eye movements, head movements, by sip-and-puff and through brain signals. The wheelchair can also operate like an auto-guided vehicle, following metallic tapes, or in an autonomous way. The system is provided with an easy to use and flexible graphical user interface onboard a personal digital assistant, which is used to allow users to choose commands to be sent to the robotic wheelchair. Several experiments were carried out with people with disabilities, and the results validate the developed system as an assistive tool for people with distinct levels of disability.

Browsing Space Weather Data and Models with the Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maddox, Marlo M.; Mullinix, Richard E.; Berrios, David H.; Hesse, Michael; Rastaetter, Lutz; Pulkkinen, Antti; Hourcle, Joseph A.; Thompson, Barbara J.

2011-01-01

The Integrated Space Weather Analysis (iSWA) System is a comprehensive web-based platform for space weather information that combines data from solar, heliospheric and geospace observatories with forecasts based on the most advanced space weather models. The iSWA system collects, generates, and presents a wide array of space weather resources in an intuitive, user-configurable, and adaptable format - thus enabling users to respond to current and future space weather impacts as well as enabling post-impact analysis. iSWA currently provides over 200 data and modeling products, and features a variety of tools that allow the user to browse, combine, and examine data and models from various sources. This presentation will consist of a summary of the iSWA products and an overview of the customizable user interfaces, and will feature several tutorial demonstrations highlighting the interactive tools and advanced capabilities.

Ground Software Maintenance Facility (GSMF) user's manual. Appendices NASA-CR-178806 NAS 1.26:178806 Rept-41849-G159-026-App HC A05/MF A01

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aquila, V.; Derrig, D.; Griffith, G.

1986-01-01

Procedures are presented that allow the user to assemble tasks, link, compile, backup the system, generate/establish/print display pages, cancel tasks in memory, and to TET an assembly task without having to enter the commands every time. A list of acronyms is provided. Software identification, payload checkout unit operating system services, data base generation, and MITRA operating procedures are also discussed.

User's manual for LINEAR, a FORTRAN program to derive linear aircraft models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duke, Eugene L.; Patterson, Brian P.; Antoniewicz, Robert F.

1987-01-01

This report documents a FORTRAN program that provides a powerful and flexible tool for the linearization of aircraft models. The program LINEAR numerically determines a linear system model using nonlinear equations of motion and a user-supplied nonlinear aerodynamic model. The system model determined by LINEAR consists of matrices for both state and observation equations. The program has been designed to allow easy selection and definition of the state, control, and observation variables to be used in a particular model.

Tavaxy: integrating Taverna and Galaxy workflows with cloud computing support.

PubMed

Abouelhoda, Mohamed; Issa, Shadi Alaa; Ghanem, Moustafa

2012-05-04

Over the past decade the workflow system paradigm has evolved as an efficient and user-friendly approach for developing complex bioinformatics applications. Two popular workflow systems that have gained acceptance by the bioinformatics community are Taverna and Galaxy. Each system has a large user-base and supports an ever-growing repository of application workflows. However, workflows developed for one system cannot be imported and executed easily on the other. The lack of interoperability is due to differences in the models of computation, workflow languages, and architectures of both systems. This lack of interoperability limits sharing of workflows between the user communities and leads to duplication of development efforts. In this paper, we present Tavaxy, a stand-alone system for creating and executing workflows based on using an extensible set of re-usable workflow patterns. Tavaxy offers a set of new features that simplify and enhance the development of sequence analysis applications: It allows the integration of existing Taverna and Galaxy workflows in a single environment, and supports the use of cloud computing capabilities. The integration of existing Taverna and Galaxy workflows is supported seamlessly at both run-time and design-time levels, based on the concepts of hierarchical workflows and workflow patterns. The use of cloud computing in Tavaxy is flexible, where the users can either instantiate the whole system on the cloud, or delegate the execution of certain sub-workflows to the cloud infrastructure. Tavaxy reduces the workflow development cycle by introducing the use of workflow patterns to simplify workflow creation. It enables the re-use and integration of existing (sub-) workflows from Taverna and Galaxy, and allows the creation of hybrid workflows. Its additional features exploit recent advances in high performance cloud computing to cope with the increasing data size and complexity of analysis.The system can be accessed either through a cloud-enabled web-interface or downloaded and installed to run within the user's local environment. All resources related to Tavaxy are available at http://www.tavaxy.org.

Monument Damage Information System (mondis): AN Ontological Approach to Cultural Heritage Documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cacciotti, R.; Valach, J.; Kuneš, P.; Čerňanský, M.; Blaško, M.; Křemen, P.

2013-07-01

Deriving from the complex nature of cultural heritage conservation it is the need for enhancing a systematic but flexible organization of expert knowledge in the field. Such organization should address comprehensively the interrelations and complementariness among the different factors that come into play in the understanding of diagnostic and intervention problems. The purpose of MONDIS is to endorse this kind of organization. The approach consists in applying an ontological representation to the field of heritage conservation in order to establish an appropriate processing of data. The system allows replicating in a computer readable form the basic dependence among factors influencing the description, diagnosis and intervention of damages to immovable objects. More specifically MONDIS allows to input and search entries concerning object description, structural evolution, location characteristics and risk, component, material properties, surveys and measurements, damage typology, damage triggering events and possible interventions. The system supports searching features typical of standard databases, as it allows for the digitalization of a wide range of information including professional reports, books, articles and scientific papers. It also allows for computer aided retrieval of information tailored to user's requirements. The foreseen outputs will include a web user interface and a mobile application for visual inspection purposes.

Development of an Integrated Thermocouple for the Accurate Sample Temperature Measurement During High Temperature Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (HT-ESEM) Experiments.

PubMed

Podor, Renaud; Pailhon, Damien; Ravaux, Johann; Brau, Henri-Pierre

2015-04-01

We have developed two integrated thermocouple (TC) crucible systems that allow precise measurement of sample temperature when using a furnace associated with an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). Sample temperatures measured with these systems are precise (±5°C) and reliable. The TC crucible systems allow working with solids and liquids (silicate melts or ionic liquids), independent of the gas composition and pressure. These sample holder designs will allow end users to perform experiments at high temperature in the ESEM chamber with high precision control of the sample temperature.

Film annotation system for a space experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Browne, W. R.; Johnson, S. S.

1989-01-01

This microprocessor system was designed to control and annotate a Nikon 35 mm camera for the purpose of obtaining photographs and data at predefined time intervals. The single STD BUSS interface card was designed in such a way as to allow it to be used in either a stand alone application with minimum features or installed in a STD BUSS computer allowing for maximum features. This control system also allows the exposure of twenty eight alpha/numeric characters across the bottom of each photograph. The data contains such information as camera identification, frame count, user defined text, and time to .01 second.

Interface cloning and sharing: Interaction designs for conserving labor and maintaining state across 24X7 sensor operations teams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganter, John H.; Reeves, Paul C.

2017-05-01

Processing remote sensing data is the epitome of computation, yet real-time collection systems remain human-labor intensive. Operator labor is consumed by both overhead tasks (cost) and value-added production (benefit). In effect, labor is taxed and then lost. When an operator comes on-shift, they typically duplicate setup work that their teammates have already performed many times. "Pass down" of state information can be difficult if security restrictions require total logouts and blank screens - hours or even days of valuable history and context are lost. As work proceeds, duplicative effort is common because it is typically easier for operators to "do it over" rather than share what others have already done. As we begin a major new system version, we are refactoring the user interface to reduce time and motion losses. Working with users, we are developing "click budgets" to streamline interface use. One basic function is shared clipboards to reduce the use of sticky notes and verbal communication of data strings. We illustrate two additional designs to share work: window copying and window sharing. Copying (technically, shallow or deep object cloning) allows any system user to duplicate a window and configuration for themselves or another to use. Sharing allows a window to have multiple users: shareholders with read-write functionality and viewers with read-only. These solutions would allow windows to persist across multiple shifts, with a rotating cast of shareholders and viewers. Windows thus become durable objects of shared effort and persistent state. While these are low-tech functions, the cumulative labor savings in a 24X7 crew position (525,000 minutes/year spread over multiple individuals) would be significant. New design and implementation is never free and these investments typically do not appeal to government acquisition officers with short-term acquisition-cost concerns rather than a long-term O and M (operations and maintenance) perspective. We share some successes in educating some officers, in collaboration with system users, about the human capital involved in operating the systems they are acquiring.

Wood fueled boiler financial feasibility user's manual

Treesearch

Robert Govett; Scott Bowe; Terry Mace; Steve Hubbard; John (Rusty) Dramm; Richard Bergman

2005-01-01

“Wood Fueled Boiler Financial Feasibility” is a spreadsheet program designed for easy use on a personal computer. This program provides a starting point for interested parties to perform financial feasibility analysis of a steam boiler system for space heating or process heat. By allowing users to input the conditions applicable to their current or proposed fuel...

78 FR 77739 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; New York Stock Exchange LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-24

... services allow Users to rent space in the data center so they may locate their electronic servers in close... User is able to request a physical cabinet to house its servers and other equipment in the data center... Exchange enter the Exchange's trading and execution systems through the same order gateway, regardless of...

Interactive computation of coverage regions for indoor wireless communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, A. Lynn; Bhat, Nitin; Rappaport, Theodore S.

1995-12-01

This paper describes a system which assists in the strategic placement of rf base stations within buildings. Known as the site modeling tool (SMT), this system allows the user to display graphical floor plans and to select base station transceiver parameters, including location and orientation, interactively. The system then computes and highlights estimated coverage regions for each transceiver, enabling the user to assess the total coverage within the building. For single-floor operation, the user can choose between distance-dependent and partition- dependent path-loss models. Similar path-loss models are also available for the case of multiple floors. This paper describes the method used by the system to estimate coverage for both directional and omnidirectional antennas. The site modeling tool is intended to be simple to use by individuals who are not experts at wireless communication system design, and is expected to be very useful in the specification of indoor wireless systems.

Database technology and the management of multimedia data in the Mirror project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Vries, Arjen P.; Blanken, H. M.

1998-10-01

Multimedia digital libraries require an open distributed architecture instead of a monolithic database system. In the Mirror project, we use the Monet extensible database kernel to manage different representation of multimedia objects. To maintain independence between content, meta-data, and the creation of meta-data, we allow distribution of data and operations using CORBA. This open architecture introduces new problems for data access. From an end user's perspective, the problem is how to search the available representations to fulfill an actual information need; the conceptual gap between human perceptual processes and the meta-data is too large. From a system's perspective, several representations of the data may semantically overlap or be irrelevant. We address these problems with an iterative query process and active user participating through relevance feedback. A retrieval model based on inference networks assists the user with query formulation. The integration of this model into the database design has two advantages. First, the user can query both the logical and the content structure of multimedia objects. Second, the use of different data models in the logical and the physical database design provides data independence and allows algebraic query optimization. We illustrate query processing with a music retrieval application.

Discriminating Tissue Stiffness with a Haptic Catheter: Feeling the Inside of the Beating Heart

PubMed Central

Kesner, Samuel B.; Howe, Robert D.

2011-01-01

Catheter devices allow physicians to access the inside of the human body easily and painlessly through natural orifices and vessels. Although catheters allow for the delivery of fluids and drugs, the deployment of devices, and the acquisition of the measurements, they do not allow clinicians to assess the physical properties of tissue inside the body due to the tissue motion and transmission limitations of the catheter devices, including compliance, friction, and backlash. The goal of this research is to increase the tactile information available to physicians during catheter procedures by providing haptic feedback during palpation procedures. To accomplish this goal, we have developed the first motion compensated actuated catheter system that enables haptic perception of fast moving tissue structures. The actuated catheter is instrumented with a distal tip force sensor and a force feedback interface that allows users to adjust the position of the catheter while experiencing the forces on the catheter tip. The efficacy of this device and interface is evaluated through a psychophyisical study comparing how accurately users can differentiate various materials attached to a cardiac motion simulator using the haptic device and a conventional manual catheter. The results demonstrate that haptics improves a user's ability to differentiate material properties and decreases the total number of errors by 50% over the manual catheter system. PMID:25285321

Integration of Grid and Local Batch Resources at DESY

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beyer, Christoph; Finnern, Thomas; Gellrich, Andreas; Hartmann, Thomas; Kemp, Yves; Lewendel, Birgit

2017-10-01

As one of the largest resource centres DESY has to support differing work flows of users from various scientific backgrounds. Users can be for one HEP experiments in WLCG or Belle II as well as local HEP users but also physicists from other fields as photon science or accelerator development. By abandoning specific worker node setups in favour of generic flat nodes with middleware resources provided via CVMFS, we gain flexibility to subsume different use cases in a homogeneous environment. Grid jobs and the local batch system are managed in a HTCondor based setup, accepting pilot, user and containerized jobs. The unified setup allows dynamic re-assignment of resources between the different use cases. Monitoring is implemented on global batch system metrics as well as on a per job level utilizing corresponding cgroup information.

The Johnson Space Center management information systems: User's guide to JSCMIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bishop, Peter C.; Erickson, Lloyd

1990-01-01

The Johnson Space Center Management Information System (JSCMIS) is an interface to computer data bases at the NASA Johnson Space Center which allows an authorized user to browse and retrieve information from a variety of sources with minimum effort. The User's Guide to JSCMIS is the supplement to the JSCMIS Research Report which details the objectives, the architecture, and implementation of the interface. It is a tutorial on how to use the interface and a reference for details about it. The guide is structured like an extended JSCMIS session, describing all of the interface features and how to use them. It also contains an appendix with each of the standard FORMATs currently included in the interface. Users may review them to decide which FORMAT most suits their needs.

Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus: A NASA tool used to develop and manage graphical user interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szczur, Martha R.

1992-01-01

The Transportable Applications Environment (TAE) Plus was built to support the construction of graphical user interfaces (GUI's) for highly interactive applications, such as real-time processing systems and scientific analysis systems. It is a general purpose portable tool that includes a 'What You See Is What You Get' WorkBench that allows user interface designers to layout and manipulate windows and interaction objects. The WorkBench includes both user entry objects (e.g., radio buttons, menus) and data-driven objects (e.g., dials, gages, stripcharts), which dynamically change based on values of realtime data. Discussed here is what TAE Plus provides, how the implementation has utilized state-of-the-art technologies within graphic workstations, and how it has been used both within and without NASA.

SpicyNodes Radial Map Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Douma, M.; Ligierko, G.; Angelov, I.

2008-10-01

The need for information has increased exponentially over the past decades. The current systems for constructing, exploring, classifying, organizing, and searching information face the growing challenge of enabling their users to operate efficiently and intuitively in knowledge-heavy environments. This paper presents SpicyNodes, an advanced user interface for difficult interaction contexts. It is based on an underlying structure known as a radial map, which allows users to manipulate and interact in a natural manner with entities called nodes. This technology overcomes certain limitations of existing solutions and solves the problem of browsing complex sets of linked information. SpicyNodes is also an organic system that projects users into a living space, stimulating exploratory behavior and fostering creative thought. Our interactive radial layout is used for educational purposes and has the potential for numerous other applications.

A Graphical User-Interface for Propulsion System Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curlett, Brian P.; Ryall, Kathleen

1992-01-01

NASA LeRC uses a series of computer codes to calculate installed propulsion system performance and weight. The need to evaluate more advanced engine concepts with a greater degree of accuracy has resulted in an increase in complexity of this analysis system. Therefore, a graphical user interface was developed to allow the analyst to more quickly and easily apply these codes. The development of this interface and the rationale for the approach taken are described. The interface consists of a method of pictorially representing and editing the propulsion system configuration, forms for entering numerical data, on-line help and documentation, post processing of data, and a menu system to control execution.

A graphical user-interface for propulsion system analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curlett, Brian P.; Ryall, Kathleen

1993-01-01

NASA LeRC uses a series of computer codes to calculate installed propulsion system performance and weight. The need to evaluate more advanced engine concepts with a greater degree of accuracy has resulted in an increase in complexity of this analysis system. Therefore, a graphical user interface was developed to allow the analyst to more quickly and easily apply these codes. The development of this interface and the rationale for the approach taken are described. The interface consists of a method of pictorially representing and editing the propulsion system configuration, forms for entering numerical data, on-line help and documentation, post processing of data, and a menu system to control execution.

Petaflops router

DOEpatents

Baker, Zachary Kent; Power, John Fredrick; Tripp, Justin Leonard; Dunham, Mark Edward; Stettler, Matthew W; Jones, John Alexander

2014-10-14

Disclosed is a method and system for performing operations on at least one input data vector in order to produce at least one output vector to permit easy, scalable and fast programming of a petascale equivalent supercomputer. A PetaFlops Router may comprise one or more PetaFlops Nodes, which may be connected to each other and/or external data provider/consumers via a programmable crossbar switch external to the PetaFlops Node. Each PetaFlops Node has a FPGA and a programmable intra-FPGA crossbar switch that permits input and output variables to be configurably connected to various physical operators contained in the FPGA as desired by a user. This allows a user to specify the instruction set of the system on a per-application basis. Further, the intra-FPGA crossbar switch permits the output of one operation to be delivered as an input to a second operation. By configuring the external crossbar switch, the output of a first operation on a first PetaFlops Node may be used as the input for a second operation on a second PetaFlops Node. An embodiment may provide an ability for the system to recognize and generate pipelined functions. Streaming operators may be connected together at run-time and appropriately staged to allow data to flow through a series of functions. This allows the system to provide high throughput and parallelism when possible. The PetaFlops Router may implement the user desired instructions by appropriately configuring the intra-FPGA crossbar switch on each PetaFlops Node and the external crossbar switch.

Utilization of geoinformation tools for the development of forest fire hazard mapping system: example of Pekan fire, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmud, Ahmad Rodzi; Setiawan, Iwan; Mansor, Shattri; Shariff, Abdul Rashid Mohamed; Pradhan, Biswajeet; Nuruddin, Ahmed

2009-12-01

A study in modeling fire hazard assessment will be essential in establishing an effective forest fire management system especially in controlling and preventing peat fire. In this paper, we have used geographic information system (GIS), in combination with other geoinformation technologies such as remote sensing and computer modeling, for all aspects of wild land fire management. Identifying areas that have a high probability of burning is an important component of fire management planning. The development of spatially explicit GIS models has greatly facilitated this process by allowing managers to map and analyze variables contributing to fire occurrence across large, unique geographic units. Using the model and its associated software engine, the fire hazard map was produced. Extensive avenue programming scripts were written to provide additional capabilities in the development of these interfaces to meet the full complement of operational software considering various users requirements. The system developed not only possesses user friendly step by step operations to deliver the fire vulnerability mapping but also allows authorized users to edit, add or modify parameters whenever necessary. Results from the model can support fire hazard mapping in the forest and enhance alert system function by simulating and visualizing forest fire and helps for contingency planning.

Personalized augmented reality for anatomy education.

PubMed

Ma, Meng; Fallavollita, Pascal; Seelbach, Ina; Von Der Heide, Anna Maria; Euler, Ekkehard; Waschke, Jens; Navab, Nassir

2016-05-01

Anatomy education is a challenging but vital element in forming future medical professionals. In this work, a personalized and interactive augmented reality system is developed to facilitate education. This system behaves as a "magic mirror" which allows personalized in-situ visualization of anatomy on the user's body. Real-time volume visualization of a CT dataset creates the illusion that the user can look inside their body. The system comprises a RGB-D sensor as a real-time tracking device to detect the user moving in front of a display. In addition, the magic mirror system shows text information, medical images, and 3D models of organs that the user can interact with. Through the participation of 7 clinicians and 72 students, two user studies were designed to respectively assess the precision and acceptability of the magic mirror system for education. The results of the first study demonstrated that the average precision of the augmented reality overlay on the user body was 0.96 cm, while the results of the second study indicate 86.1% approval for the educational value of the magic mirror, and 91.7% approval for the augmented reality capability of displaying organs in three dimensions. The usefulness of this unique type of personalized augmented reality technology has been demonstrated in this paper. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Collaborative Arrival Planning: Data Sharing and User Preference Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zelenka, Richard E.; Edwards, Thomas A. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

Air traffic growth and air carrier economic pressures have motivated efforts to increase the flexibility of the air traffic management process and change the relationship between the air traffic control service provider and the system user. One of the most visible of these efforts is the U.S. government/industry "free flight" initiative, in which the service provider concentrates on safety and cross-airline fairness, and the user on their business objectives and operating preferences, including selecting their own path and speed in real-time. In the terminal arrival phase of flight, severe restrictions and rigid control are currently placed on system users, typically without regard for individual user operational preferences. Airborne delays applied to arriving aircraft into capacity constrained airports are imposed on a first-come, first-serve basis, and thus do not allow the system user to plan for or prioritize late arrivals, or to economically optimize their arrival sequence. A central tenant of the free-flight operating paradigm is collaboration between service providers and users in reaching air traffic management decisions. Such collaboration would be particularly beneficial to an airline's "hub" operation, where off-schedule arrival aircraft are a consistent problem, as they cause serious air-port ramp difficulties, rippling airline scheduling effects, and result in large economic inefficiencies. Greater collaboration can also lead to increased airport capacity and decrease the severity of over-capacity rush periods. In the NASA Collaborative Arrival Planning (CAP) project, both independent exchange of real-time data between the service provider and system user and collaborative decision support tools are addressed. Data exchange of real-time arrival scheduling, airspace management, and air carrier fleet data between the FAA service provider and an air carrier is being conducted and evaluated. Collaborative arrival decision support tools to allow intra-airline arrival preferences are being developed and simulated. The CAP project is part of and leveraged from the NASA/FAA Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS), a fielded set of decision support tools that provide computer generated advisories for both enroute and terminal area controllers to manage and control arrival traffic more efficiently. In this paper, the NASA Collaborative Arrival Planning project is outlined and recent results detailed, including the real-time use of CTAS arrival scheduling data by a major air carrier and simulations of tactical and strategic user preference decision support tools.

Instruction manual for operating the Sensys System for temporary traffic counts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-01-01

This instruction manual provides information and the procedures for using the Sensys System, which was initially designed to operate in a server controlled network, for temporary traffic counts. The instructions will allow the user to fully understan...

Deep Interactive Learning with Sharkzor

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

None

Sharkzor is a web application for machine-learning assisted image sort and summary. Deep learning algorithms are leveraged to infer, augment, and automate the user’s mental model. Initially, images uploaded by the user are spread out on a canvas. The user then interacts with the images to impute their mental model into the applications algorithmic underpinnings. Methods of interaction within Sharkzor’s user interface and user experience support three primary user tasks: triage, organize and automate. The user triages the large pile of overlapping images by moving images of interest into proximity. The user then organizes said images into meaningful groups. Aftermore » interacting with the images and groups, deep learning helps to automate the user’s interactions. The loop of interaction, automation, and response by the user allows the system to quickly make sense of large amounts of data.« less

Embedded systems for supporting computer accessibility.

PubMed

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

2015-01-01

Nowadays, customized AT software solutions allow their users to interact with various kinds of computer systems. Such tools are generally available on personal devices (e.g., smartphones, laptops and so on) commonly used by a person with a disability. In this paper, we investigate a way of using the aforementioned AT equipments in order to access many different devices without assistive preferences. The solution takes advantage of open source hardware and its core component consists of an affordable Linux embedded system: it grabs data coming from the assistive software, which runs on the user's personal device, then, after processing, it generates native keyboard and mouse HID commands for the target computing device controlled by the end user. This process supports any operating system available on the target machine and it requires no specialized software installation; therefore the user with a disability can rely on a single assistive tool to control a wide range of computing platforms, including conventional computers and many kinds of mobile devices, which receive input commands through the USB HID protocol.

Specialty Task Force: A Strategic Component to Electronic Health Record (EHR) Optimization.

PubMed

Romero, Mary Rachel; Staub, Allison

2016-01-01

Post-implementation stage comes after an electronic health record (EHR) deployment. Analyst and end users deal with the reality that some of the concepts and designs initially planned and created may not be complementary to the workflow; creating anxiety, dissatisfaction, and failure with early adoption of system. Problems encountered during deployment are numerous and can vary from simple to complex. Redundant ticket submission creates backlog for Information Technology personnel resulting in delays in resolving concerns with EHR system. The process of optimization allows for evaluation of system and reassessment of users' needs. A solid and well executed optimization infrastructure can help minimize unexpected end-user disruptions and help tailor the system to meet regulatory agency goals and practice standards. A well device plan to resolve problems during post implementation is necessary for cost containment and to streamline communication efforts. Creating a specialty specific collaborative task force is efficacious and expedites resolution of users' concerns through a more structured process.

Navigation-synchronized multimodal control wheelchair from brain to alternative assistive technologies for persons with severe disabilities.

PubMed

Puanhvuan, Dilok; Khemmachotikun, Sarawin; Wechakarn, Pongsakorn; Wijarn, Boonyanuch; Wongsawat, Yodchanan

2017-04-01

Currently, electric wheelchairs are commonly used to improve mobility in disabled people. In severe cases, the user is unable to control the wheelchair by themselves because his/her motor functions are disabled. To restore mobility function, a brain-controlled wheelchair (BCW) would be a promising system that would allow the patient to control the wheelchair by their thoughts. P300 is a reliable brain electrical signal, a component of visual event-related potentials (ERPs), that could be used for interpreting user commands. This research aimed to propose a prototype BCW to allowed severe motor disabled patients to practically control a wheelchair for use in their home environment. The users were able to select from 9 possible destination commands in the automatic mode and from 4 directional commands (forward, backward, turn left and right) in the shared-control mode. These commands were selected via the designed P300 processing system. The wheelchair was steered to the desired location by the implemented navigation system. Safety of the user was ensured during wheelchair navigation due to the included obstacle detection and avoidance features. A combination of P300 and EOG was used as a hybrid BCW system. The user could fully operate the system such as enabling P300 detection system, mode shifting and stop/cancelation command by performing a different consecutive blinks to generate eye blinking patterns. The results revealed that the prototype BCW could be operated in either of the proposed modes. With the new design of the LED-based P300 stimulator, the average accuracies of the P300 detection algorithm in the shared-control and automatic modes were 95.31 and 83.42% with 3.09 and 3.79 bits/min, respectively. The P300 classification error was acceptable, as the user could cancel an incorrect command by blinking 2 times. Moreover, the proposed navigation system had a flexible design that could be interfaced with other assistive technologies. This research developed 3 alternative input modules: an eye tracker module and chin and hand controller modules. The user could select the most suitable assistive technology based on his/her level of disability. Other existing assistive technologies could also be connected to the proposed system in the future using the same protocol.

An interactive tool for gamut masking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Ying; Lau, Cheryl; Süsstrunk, Sabine

2014-02-01

Artists often want to change the colors of an image to achieve a particular aesthetic goal. For example, they might limit colors to a warm or cool color scheme to create an image with a certain mood or feeling. Gamut masking is a technique that artists use to limit the set of colors they can paint with. They draw a mask over a color wheel and only use the hues within the mask. However, creating the color palette from the mask and applying the colors to the image requires skill. We propose an interactive tool for gamut masking that allows amateur artists to create an image with a desired mood or feeling. Our system extracts a 3D color gamut from the 2D user-drawn mask and maps the image to this gamut. The user can draw a different gamut mask or locally refine the image colors. Our voxel grid gamut representation allows us to represent gamuts of any shape, and our cluster-based image representation allows the user to change colors locally.

Simple explanations and reasoning: From philosophy of science to expert systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rochowiak, Daniel

1988-01-01

A preliminary prototype of a simple explanation system was constructed. Although the system, based on the idea of storytelling, did not incorporate all of the principles of simple explanation, it did demonstrate the potential of the approach. The system incorporated a hypertext system, an inference engine, and facilities for constructing contrast type explanations. The continued development of such a system should prove to be valuable. By extending the resources of the expert system paradigm, the knowledge engineer is not forced to learn a new set of skills, and the domain knowledge already acquired by him is not lost. Further, both the beginning user and the more advanced user can be accommodated. For the beginning user, corrective explanations and ES explanations provide facilities for more clearly understanding the way in which the system is functioning. For the more advanced user, the instance and state explanations allow him to focus on the issues at hand. The simple model of explanation attempts to exploit and show how the why and how facilities of the expert system paradigm can be extended by attending to the pragmatics of explanation and adding texture to the ordinary pattern of reasoning in a rule based system.

Controlling Laboratory Processes From A Personal Computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Will, H.; Mackin, M. A.

1991-01-01

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

Recommendation in evolving online networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Xiao; Zeng, An; Shang, Ming-Sheng

2016-02-01

Recommender system is an effective tool to find the most relevant information for online users. By analyzing the historical selection records of users, recommender system predicts the most likely future links in the user-item network and accordingly constructs a personalized recommendation list for each user. So far, the recommendation process is mostly investigated in static user-item networks. In this paper, we propose a model which allows us to examine the performance of the state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms in evolving networks. We find that the recommendation accuracy in general decreases with time if the evolution of the online network fully depends on the recommendation. Interestingly, some randomness in users' choice can significantly improve the long-term accuracy of the recommendation algorithm. When a hybrid recommendation algorithm is applied, we find that the optimal parameter gradually shifts towards the diversity-favoring recommendation algorithm, indicating that recommendation diversity is essential to keep a high long-term recommendation accuracy. Finally, we confirm our conclusions by studying the recommendation on networks with the real evolution data.

The secure authorization model for healthcare information system.

PubMed

Hsu, Wen-Shin; Pan, Jiann-I

2013-10-01

Exploring healthcare system for assisting medical services or transmitting patients' personal health information in web application has been widely investigated. Information and communication technologies have been applied to the medical services and healthcare area for a number of years to resolve problems in medical management. In the healthcare system, not all users are allowed to access all the information. Several authorization models for restricting users to access specific information at specific permissions have been proposed. However, as the number of users and the amount of information grows, the difficulties for administrating user authorization will increase. The critical problem limits the widespread usage of the healthcare system. This paper proposes an approach for role-based and extends it to deal with the information for authorizations in the healthcare system. We propose the role-based authorization model which supports authorizations for different kinds of objects, and a new authorization domain. Based on this model, we discuss the issues and requirements of security in the healthcare systems. The security issues for services shared between different healthcare industries will also be discussed.

Abstracting Attribute Space for Transfer Function Exploration and Design.

PubMed

Maciejewski, Ross; Jang, Yun; Woo, Insoo; Jänicke, Heike; Gaither, Kelly P; Ebert, David S

2013-01-01

Currently, user centered transfer function design begins with the user interacting with a one or two-dimensional histogram of the volumetric attribute space. The attribute space is visualized as a function of the number of voxels, allowing the user to explore the data in terms of the attribute size/magnitude. However, such visualizations provide the user with no information on the relationship between various attribute spaces (e.g., density, temperature, pressure, x, y, z) within the multivariate data. In this work, we propose a modification to the attribute space visualization in which the user is no longer presented with the magnitude of the attribute; instead, the user is presented with an information metric detailing the relationship between attributes of the multivariate volumetric data. In this way, the user can guide their exploration based on the relationship between the attribute magnitude and user selected attribute information as opposed to being constrained by only visualizing the magnitude of the attribute. We refer to this modification to the traditional histogram widget as an abstract attribute space representation. Our system utilizes common one and two-dimensional histogram widgets where the bins of the abstract attribute space now correspond to an attribute relationship in terms of the mean, standard deviation, entropy, or skewness. In this manner, we exploit the relationships and correlations present in the underlying data with respect to the dimension(s) under examination. These relationships are often times key to insight and allow us to guide attribute discovery as opposed to automatic extraction schemes which try to calculate and extract distinct attributes a priori. In this way, our system aids in the knowledge discovery of the interaction of properties within volumetric data.

MATS--Management Accounting Tutorial System. Version 1.0. User Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wardle, Andrew; O'Connor, Rodric

The Management Accounting Tutorial System (MATS) is a management accounting database for a carpet manufacturing company. The system allows the display and output of monthly activities, and is intended to provide a means of illustrating the main topics of the second year management accounting course at Manchester University. The system itself…

Course Management Systems: Time for Users to Get What They Need

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ioannou, Andri; Hannafin, Robert D.

2008-01-01

Course management systems (CMSs) are software systems designed to manage course content and course activities. These tools integrate technological and pedagogical features into a web-based system that allows instructors, even those who are unfamiliar with web-based technologies, to design, deliver, and manage an online course. However, CMSs have…

A highly scalable information system as extendable framework solution for medical R&D projects.

PubMed

Holzmüller-Laue, Silke; Göde, Bernd; Stoll, Regina; Thurow, Kerstin

2009-01-01

For research projects in preventive medicine a flexible information management is needed that offers a free planning and documentation of project specific examinations. The system should allow a simple, preferably automated data acquisition from several distributed sources (e.g., mobile sensors, stationary diagnostic systems, questionnaires, manual inputs) as well as an effective data management, data use and analysis. An information system fulfilling these requirements has been developed at the Center for Life Science Automation (celisca). This system combines data of multiple investigations and multiple devices and displays them on a single screen. The integration of mobile sensor systems for comfortable, location-independent capture of time-based physiological parameter and the possibility of observation of these measurements directly by this system allow new scenarios. The web-based information system presented in this paper is configurable by user interfaces. It covers medical process descriptions, operative process data visualizations, a user-friendly process data processing, modern online interfaces (data bases, web services, XML) as well as a comfortable support of extended data analysis with third-party applications.

Using Semantic Templates to Study Vulnerabilities Recorded in Large Software Repositories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Yan

2011-01-01

Software vulnerabilities allow an attacker to reduce a system's Confidentiality, Availability, and Integrity by exposing information, executing malicious code, and undermine system functionalities that contribute to the overall system purpose and need. With new vulnerabilities discovered everyday in a variety of applications and user environments,…

Sensor metadata blueprints and computer-aided editing for disciplined SensorML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagliolato, Paolo; Oggioni, Alessandro; Fugazza, Cristiano; Pepe, Monica; Carrara, Paola

2016-04-01

The need for continuous, accurate, and comprehensive environmental knowledge has led to an increase in sensor observation systems and networks. The Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) initiative has been promoted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) to foster interoperability among sensor systems. The provision of metadata according to the prescribed SensorML schema is a key component for achieving this and nevertheless availability of correct and exhaustive metadata cannot be taken for granted. On the one hand, it is awkward for users to provide sensor metadata because of the lack in user-oriented, dedicated tools. On the other, the specification of invariant information for a given sensor category or model (e.g., observed properties and units of measurement, manufacturer information, etc.), can be labor- and timeconsuming. Moreover, the provision of these details is error prone and subjective, i.e., may differ greatly across distinct descriptions for the same system. We provide a user-friendly, template-driven metadata authoring tool composed of a backend web service and an HTML5/javascript client. This results in a form-based user interface that conceals the high complexity of the underlying format. This tool also allows for plugging in external data sources providing authoritative definitions for the aforementioned invariant information. Leveraging these functionalities, we compiled a set of SensorML profiles, that is, sensor metadata blueprints allowing end users to focus only on the metadata items that are related to their specific deployment. The natural extension of this scenario is the involvement of end users and sensor manufacturers in the crowd-sourced evolution of this collection of prototypes. We describe the components and workflow of our framework for computer-aided management of sensor metadata.

Evaluation of a proximity card authentication system for health care settings.

PubMed

Fontaine, Jacqueline; Zheng, Kai; Van De Ven, Cosmas; Li, Huiyang; Hiner, James; Mitchell, Kathy; Gendler, Stephen; Hanauer, David A

2016-08-01

Multiple users access computer workstations in busy clinical settings, requiring many logins throughout the day as users switch from one computer to another. This can lead to workflow inefficiencies as well as security concerns resulting from users sharing login sessions to save time. Proximity cards and readers have the potential to improve efficiency and security by allowing users to access clinical workstations simply by bringing the card near the reader, without the need for manual entry of a username and password. To assess the perceived impact of proximity cards and readers for rapid user authentication to clinical workstations in the setting of an existing electronic health record with single sign-on software already installed. Questionnaires were administered to clinical faculty and staff five months before and three months after the installation of proximity card readers in an inpatient birthing center and an outpatient obstetrics clinic. Open-ended feedback was also collected and qualitatively analyzed. There were 71 and 33 responses to the pre- and post-implementation surveys, respectively. There was a significant increase in the perceived speed of login with the proximity cards, and a significant decrease in the self-reported occurrence of shared login sessions between users. Feedback regarding the system was mostly positive, although several caveats were noted, including minimal benefit when used with an obstetric application that did not support single sign-on. Proximity cards and readers, along with single sign-on software, have the potential to enhance workflow efficiency by allowing for faster login times and diminish security concerns by reducing shared logins on clinical workstations. The positive feedback was used by our health system leadership to support the expanded implementation of the proximity card readers throughout the clinical setting. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring personalized searches using tag-based user profiles and resource profiles in folksonomy.

PubMed

Cai, Yi; Li, Qing; Xie, Haoran; Min, Huaqin

2014-10-01

With the increase in resource-sharing websites such as YouTube and Flickr, many shared resources have arisen on the Web. Personalized searches have become more important and challenging since users demand higher retrieval quality. To achieve this goal, personalized searches need to take users' personalized profiles and information needs into consideration. Collaborative tagging (also known as folksonomy) systems allow users to annotate resources with their own tags, which provides a simple but powerful way for organizing, retrieving and sharing different types of social resources. In this article, we examine the limitations of previous tag-based personalized searches. To handle these limitations, we propose a new method to model user profiles and resource profiles in collaborative tagging systems. We use a normalized term frequency to indicate the preference degree of a user on a tag. A novel search method using such profiles of users and resources is proposed to facilitate the desired personalization in resource searches. In our framework, instead of the keyword matching or similarity measurement used in previous works, the relevance measurement between a resource and a user query (termed the query relevance) is treated as a fuzzy satisfaction problem of a user's query requirements. We implement a prototype system called the Folksonomy-based Multimedia Retrieval System (FMRS). Experiments using the FMRS data set and the MovieLens data set show that our proposed method outperforms baseline methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-user investigation organizer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Panontin, Tina L. (Inventor); Williams, James F. (Inventor); Carvalho, Robert E. (Inventor); Sturken, Ian (Inventor); Wolfe, Shawn R. (Inventor); Gawdiak, Yuri O. (Inventor); Keller, Richard M. (Inventor)

2009-01-01

A system that allows a team of geographically dispersed users to collaboratively analyze a mishap event. The system includes a reconfigurable ontology, including instances that are related to and characterize the mishap, a semantic network that receives, indexes and stores, for retrieval, viewing and editing, the instances and links between the instances, a network browser interface for retrieving and viewing screens that present the instances and links to other instances and that allow editing thereof, and a rule-based inference engine, including a collection of rules associated with establishment of links between the instances. A possible conclusion arising from analysis of the mishap event may be characterized as one or more of: not a credible conclusion; an unlikely conclusion; a credible conclusion; conclusion needs analysis; conclusion needs supporting data; conclusion proposed to be closed; and an un-reviewed conclusion.

Speech-recognition interfaces for music information retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goto, Masataka

2005-09-01

This paper describes two hands-free music information retrieval (MIR) systems that enable a user to retrieve and play back a musical piece by saying its title or the artist's name. Although various interfaces for MIR have been proposed, speech-recognition interfaces suitable for retrieving musical pieces have not been studied. Our MIR-based jukebox systems employ two different speech-recognition interfaces for MIR, speech completion and speech spotter, which exploit intentionally controlled nonverbal speech information in original ways. The first is a music retrieval system with the speech-completion interface that is suitable for music stores and car-driving situations. When a user only remembers part of the name of a musical piece or an artist and utters only a remembered fragment, the system helps the user recall and enter the name by completing the fragment. The second is a background-music playback system with the speech-spotter interface that can enrich human-human conversation. When a user is talking to another person, the system allows the user to enter voice commands for music playback control by spotting a special voice-command utterance in face-to-face or telephone conversations. Experimental results from use of these systems have demonstrated the effectiveness of the speech-completion and speech-spotter interfaces. (Video clips: http://staff.aist.go.jp/m.goto/MIR/speech-if.html)

Evolview v2: an online visualization and management tool for customized and annotated phylogenetic trees.

PubMed

He, Zilong; Zhang, Huangkai; Gao, Shenghan; Lercher, Martin J; Chen, Wei-Hua; Hu, Songnian

2016-07-08

Evolview is an online visualization and management tool for customized and annotated phylogenetic trees. It allows users to visualize phylogenetic trees in various formats, customize the trees through built-in functions and user-supplied datasets and export the customization results to publication-ready figures. Its 'dataset system' contains not only the data to be visualized on the tree, but also 'modifiers' that control various aspects of the graphical annotation. Evolview is a single-page application (like Gmail); its carefully designed interface allows users to upload, visualize, manipulate and manage trees and datasets all in a single webpage. Developments since the last public release include a modern dataset editor with keyword highlighting functionality, seven newly added types of annotation datasets, collaboration support that allows users to share their trees and datasets and various improvements of the web interface and performance. In addition, we included eleven new 'Demo' trees to demonstrate the basic functionalities of Evolview, and five new 'Showcase' trees inspired by publications to showcase the power of Evolview in producing publication-ready figures. Evolview is freely available at: http://www.evolgenius.info/evolview/. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Verifying Secrets and Relative Secrecy

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-01-01

Systems that authenticate a user based on a shared secret (such as a password or PIN) normally allow anyone to query whether the secret is a given...value. For example, an ATM machine allows one to ask whether a string is the secret PIN of a (lost or stolen) ATM card. Yet such queries are prohibited

External access to ALICE controls conditions data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jadlovský, J.; Jadlovská, A.; Sarnovský, J.; Jajčišin, Š.; Čopík, M.; Jadlovská, S.; Papcun, P.; Bielek, R.; Čerkala, J.; Kopčík, M.; Chochula, P.; Augustinus, A.

2014-06-01

ALICE Controls data produced by commercial SCADA system WINCCOA is stored in ORACLE database on the private experiment network. The SCADA system allows for basic access and processing of the historical data. More advanced analysis requires tools like ROOT and needs therefore a separate access method to the archives. The present scenario expects that detector experts create simple WINCCOA scripts, which retrieves and stores data in a form usable for further studies. This relatively simple procedure generates a lot of administrative overhead - users have to request the data, experts needed to run the script, the results have to be exported outside of the experiment network. The new mechanism profits from database replica, which is running on the CERN campus network. Access to this database is not restricted and there is no risk of generating a heavy load affecting the operation of the experiment. The developed tools presented in this paper allow for access to this data. The users can use web-based tools to generate the requests, consisting of the data identifiers and period of time of interest. The administrators maintain full control over the data - an authorization and authentication mechanism helps to assign privileges to selected users and restrict access to certain groups of data. Advanced caching mechanism allows the user to profit from the presence of already processed data sets. This feature significantly reduces the time required for debugging as the retrieval of raw data can last tens of minutes. A highly configurable client allows for information retrieval bypassing the interactive interface. This method is for example used by ALICE Offline to extract operational conditions after a run is completed. Last but not least, the software can be easily adopted to any underlying database structure and is therefore not limited to WINCCOA.

INFN, IT the GENIUS grid portal and the robot certificates to perform phylogenetic analysis on large scale: a success story from the International LIBI project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbera, Roberto; Donvit, Giacinto; Falzone, Alberto; Rocca, Giuseppe La; Maggi, Giorgio Pietro; Milanesi, Luciano; Vicarioicario, Saverio

This paper depicts the solution proposed by INFN to allow users, not owning a personal digital certificate and therefore not belonging to any specific Virtual Organization (VO), to access Grid infrastructures via the GENIUS Grid portal enabled with robot certificates. Robot certificates, also known as portal certificates, are associated with a specific application that the user wants to share with the whole Grid community and have recently been introduced by the EUGridPMA (European Policy Management Authority for Grid Authentication) to perform automated tasks on Grids on behalf of users. They are proven to be extremely useful to automate grid service monitoring, data processing production, distributed data collection systems, etc. In this paper, robot certificates have been used to allow bioinformaticians involved in the Italian LIBI project to perform large scale phylogenetic analyses. The distributed environment set up in this work strongly simplify the grid access of occasional users and represents a valuable step forward to wide the communities of users.

Chemical and mineralogical data and processing methods management system prototype with application to study of the North Caucasus Blybsky Metamorphic Complexes metamorphism PT-condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanov, Stanislav; Kamzolkin, Vladimir; Konilov, Aleksandr; Aleshin, Igor

2014-05-01

There are many various methods of assessing the conditions of rocks formation based on determining the composition of the constituent minerals. Our objective was to create a universal tool for processing mineral's chemical analysis results and solving geothermobarometry problems by creating a database of existing sensors and providing a user-friendly standard interface. Similar computer assisted tools are based upon large collection of sensors (geothermometers and geobarometers) are known, for example, the project TPF (Konilov A.N., 1999) - text-based sensor collection tool written in PASCAL. The application contained more than 350 different sensors and has been used widely in petrochemical studies (see A.N. Konilov , A.A. Grafchikov, V.I. Fonarev 2010 for review). Our prototype uses the TPF project concept and is designed with modern application development techniques, which allows better flexibility. Main components of the designed system are 3 connected datasets: sensors collection (geothermometers, geobarometers, oxygen geobarometers, etc.), petrochemical data and modeling results. All data is maintained by special management and visualization tools and resides in sql database. System utilities allow user to import and export data in various file formats, edit records and plot graphs. Sensors database contains up to date collections of known methods. New sensors may be added by user. Measured database should be filled in by researcher. User friendly interface allows access to all available data and sensors, automates routine work, reduces the risk of common user mistakes and simplifies information exchange between research groups. We use prototype to evaluate peak pressure during the formation of garnet-amphibolite apoeclogites, gneisses and schists Blybsky metamorphic complex of the Front Range of the Northern Caucasus. In particular, our estimation of formation pressure range (18 ± 4 kbar) agrees on independent research results. The reported study was partially supported by RFBR, research project No. 14-05-00615.

Human-System Integration Scorecard Update to VB.Net

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, Blaze D.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this project was to create Human-System Integration (HSI) scorecard software, which could be utilized to validate that human factors have been considered early in hardware/system specifications and design. The HSI scorecard is partially based upon the revised Human Rating Requirements (HRR) intended for NASA's Constellation program. This software scorecard will allow for quick appraisal of HSI factors, by using visual aids to highlight low and rapidly changing scores. This project consisted of creating a user-friendly Visual Basic program that could be easily distributed and updated, to and by fellow colleagues. Updating the Microsoft Word version of the HSI scorecard to a computer application will allow for the addition of useful features, improved easy of use, and decreased completion time for user. One significant addition is the ability to create Microsoft Excel graphs automatically from scorecard data, to allow for clear presentation of problematic areas. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rational and benefits of creating the HSI scorecard software, the problems and goals of project, and future work that could be done.

Digital hand atlas for web-based bone age assessment: system design and implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Fei; Huang, H. K.; Pietka, Ewa; Gilsanz, Vicente

2000-04-01

A frequently used assessment method of skeletal age is atlas matching by a radiological examination of a hand image against a small set of Greulich-Pyle patterns of normal standards. The method however can lead to significant deviation in age assessment, due to a variety of observers with different levels of training. The Greulich-Pyle atlas based on middle upper class white populations in the 1950s, is also not fully applicable for children of today, especially regarding the standard development in other racial groups. In this paper, we present our system design and initial implementation of a digital hand atlas and computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) system for Web-based bone age assessment. The digital atlas will remove the disadvantages of the currently out-of-date one and allow the bone age assessment to be computerized and done conveniently via Web. The system consists of a hand atlas database, a CAD module and a Java-based Web user interface. The atlas database is based on a large set of clinically normal hand images of diverse ethnic groups. The Java-based Web user interface allows users to interact with the hand image database form browsers. Users can use a Web browser to push a clinical hand image to the CAD server for a bone age assessment. Quantitative features on the examined image, which reflect the skeletal maturity, is then extracted and compared with patterns from the atlas database to assess the bone age.

Demonstration of the Low-Cost Virtual Collaborative Environment (VCE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowers, David; Montes, Leticia; Ramos, Angel; Joyce, Brendan; Lumia, Ron

1997-01-01

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a low-cost approach of remotely controlling equipment. Our demonstration system consists of a PC, the PUMA 560 robot with Barrett hand, and commercially available controller and teleconferencing software. The system provides a graphical user interface which allows a user to program equipment tasks and preview motions i.e., simulate the results. Once satisfied that the actions are both safe and accomplish the task, the remote user sends the data over the Internet to the local site for execution on the real equipment. A video link provides visual feedback to the remote sight. This technology lends itself readily to NASA's upcoming Mars expeditions by providing remote simulation and control of equipment.

A land-surface Testbed for EOSDIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emery, William; Kelley, Tim

1994-01-01

The main objective of the Testbed project was to deliver satellite images via the Internet to scientific and educational users free of charge. The main method of operations was to store satellite images on a low cost tape library system, visually browse the raw satellite data, access the raw data filed, navigate the imagery through 'C' programming and X-Windows interface software, and deliver the finished image to the end user over the Internet by means of file transfer protocol methods. The conclusion is that the distribution of satellite imagery by means of the Internet is feasible, and the archiving of large data sets can be accomplished with low cost storage systems allowing multiple users.

User's manual for interactive LINEAR: A FORTRAN program to derive linear aircraft models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antoniewicz, Robert F.; Duke, Eugene L.; Patterson, Brian P.

1988-01-01

An interactive FORTRAN program that provides the user with a powerful and flexible tool for the linearization of aircraft aerodynamic models is documented in this report. The program LINEAR numerically determines a linear system model using nonlinear equations of motion and a user-supplied linear or nonlinear aerodynamic model. The nonlinear equations of motion used are six-degree-of-freedom equations with stationary atmosphere and flat, nonrotating earth assumptions. The system model determined by LINEAR consists of matrices for both the state and observation equations. The program has been designed to allow easy selection and definition of the state, control, and observation variables to be used in a particular model.

High Performance Real-Time Visualization of Voluminous Scientific Data Through the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, J.; Hackathorn, E. J.; Joyce, J.; Smith, J. S.

2014-12-01

Within our community data volume is rapidly expanding. These data have limited value if one cannot interact or visualize the data in a timely manner. The scientific community needs the ability to dynamically visualize, analyze, and interact with these data along with other environmental data in real-time regardless of the physical location or data format. Within the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's), the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is actively developing the NOAA Earth Information System (NEIS). Previously, the NEIS team investigated methods of data discovery and interoperability. The recent focus shifted to high performance real-time visualization allowing NEIS to bring massive amounts of 4-D data, including output from weather forecast models as well as data from different observations (surface obs, upper air, etc...) in one place. Our server side architecture provides a real-time stream processing system which utilizes server based NVIDIA Graphical Processing Units (GPU's) for data processing, wavelet based compression, and other preparation techniques for visualization, allows NEIS to minimize the bandwidth and latency for data delivery to end-users. Client side, users interact with NEIS services through the visualization application developed at ESRL called TerraViz. Terraviz is developed using the Unity game engine and takes advantage of the GPU's allowing a user to interact with large data sets in real time that might not have been possible before. Through these technologies, the NEIS team has improved accessibility to 'Big Data' along with providing tools allowing novel visualization and seamless integration of data across time and space regardless of data size, physical location, or data format. These capabilities provide the ability to see the global interactions and their importance for weather prediction. Additionally, they allow greater access than currently exists helping to foster scientific collaboration and new ideas. This presentation will provide an update of the recent enhancements of the NEIS architecture and visualization capabilities, challenges faced, as well as ongoing research activities related to this project.

Robotic laboratory for distance education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luciano, Sarah C.; Kost, Alan R.

2016-09-01

This project involves the construction of a remote-controlled laboratory experiment that can be accessed by online students. The project addresses a need to provide a laboratory experience for students who are taking online courses to be able to provide an in-class experience. The chosen task for the remote user is an optical engineering experiment, specifically aligning a spatial filter. We instrument the physical laboratory set up in Tucson, AZ at the University of Arizona. The hardware in the spatial filter experiment is augmented by motors and cameras to allow the user to remotely control the hardware. The user interacts with a software on their computer, which communicates with a server via Internet connection to the host computer in the Optics Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Our final overall system is comprised of several subsystems. These are the optical experiment set-up, which is a spatial filter experiment; the mechanical subsystem, which interfaces the motors with the micrometers to move the optical hardware; the electrical subsystem, which allows for the electrical communications from the remote computer to the host computer to the hardware; and finally the software subsystem, which is the means by which messages are communicated throughout the system. The goal of the project is to convey as much of an in-lab experience as possible by allowing the user to directly manipulate hardware and receive visual feedback in real-time. Thus, the remote user is able to learn important concepts from this particular experiment and is able to connect theory to the physical world by actually seeing the outcome of a procedure. The latter is a learning experience that is often lost with distance learning and is one that this project hopes to provide.

Developing Vocabularies to Improve Understanding and Use of NOAA Observing Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Austin, M.

2014-12-01

The NOAA Observing System Integrated Analysis project (NOSIA II), is an attempt to capture and tell the story of how valuable observing systems are in producing products and services that are required to fulfill the NOAA's diverse mission. NOAA's goals and mission areas cover a broad range of environmental data; a complexity exists in terms and vocabulary as applied to the creation of observing system derived products. The NOSIA data collection focused first on decomposing NOAA's goals in the creation and acceptance of Mission Service Areas (MSAs) by NOAA senior leadership. Products and services that supported the MSAs were then identified through the process of interviewing product producers across NOAA organization. Product Data inputs including models, databases and observing system were also identified. The NOSIA model contains over 20,000 nodes each representing levels in a network connecting products, datasources, users and desired outcomes. An immediate need became apparent that the complexity and variety of the data collected required data management to mature the quality and the content of the NOSIA model. The NOSIA Analysis Database (ADB) was developed initially to improve consistency of terms and data types to allow for the linkage of observing systems, products and NOAA's Goals and mission. The ADB also allowed for the prototyping of reports and product generation in an easily accessible and comprehensive format for the first time. Web based visualization of relationships between products, datasources, users, producers were generated to make the information easily understood This includes developing ontologies/vocabularies that are used for the development of users type specific products for NOAA leadership, Observing System Portfolio mangers and the users of NOAA data.

Model evaluation using a community benchmarking system for land surface models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mu, M.; Hoffman, F. M.; Lawrence, D. M.; Riley, W. J.; Keppel-Aleks, G.; Kluzek, E. B.; Koven, C. D.; Randerson, J. T.

2014-12-01

Evaluation of atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land surface models is an important step in identifying deficiencies in Earth system models and developing improved estimates of future change. For the land surface and carbon cycle, the design of an open-source system has been an important objective of the International Land Model Benchmarking (ILAMB) project. Here we evaluated CMIP5 and CLM models using a benchmarking system that enables users to specify models, data sets, and scoring systems so that results can be tailored to specific model intercomparison projects. Our scoring system used information from four different aspects of global datasets, including climatological mean spatial patterns, seasonal cycle dynamics, interannual variability, and long-term trends. Variable-to-variable comparisons enable investigation of the mechanistic underpinnings of model behavior, and allow for some control of biases in model drivers. Graphics modules allow users to evaluate model performance at local, regional, and global scales. Use of modular structures makes it relatively easy for users to add new variables, diagnostic metrics, benchmarking datasets, or model simulations. Diagnostic results are automatically organized into HTML files, so users can conveniently share results with colleagues. We used this system to evaluate atmospheric carbon dioxide, burned area, global biomass and soil carbon stocks, net ecosystem exchange, gross primary production, ecosystem respiration, terrestrial water storage, evapotranspiration, and surface radiation from CMIP5 historical and ESM historical simulations. We found that the multi-model mean often performed better than many of the individual models for most variables. We plan to publicly release a stable version of the software during fall of 2014 that has land surface, carbon cycle, hydrology, radiation and energy cycle components.

TargetVue: Visual Analysis of Anomalous User Behaviors in Online Communication Systems.

PubMed

Cao, Nan; Shi, Conglei; Lin, Sabrina; Lu, Jie; Lin, Yu-Ru; Lin, Ching-Yung

2016-01-01

Users with anomalous behaviors in online communication systems (e.g. email and social medial platforms) are potential threats to society. Automated anomaly detection based on advanced machine learning techniques has been developed to combat this issue; challenges remain, though, due to the difficulty of obtaining proper ground truth for model training and evaluation. Therefore, substantial human judgment on the automated analysis results is often required to better adjust the performance of anomaly detection. Unfortunately, techniques that allow users to understand the analysis results more efficiently, to make a confident judgment about anomalies, and to explore data in their context, are still lacking. In this paper, we propose a novel visual analysis system, TargetVue, which detects anomalous users via an unsupervised learning model and visualizes the behaviors of suspicious users in behavior-rich context through novel visualization designs and multiple coordinated contextual views. Particularly, TargetVue incorporates three new ego-centric glyphs to visually summarize a user's behaviors which effectively present the user's communication activities, features, and social interactions. An efficient layout method is proposed to place these glyphs on a triangle grid, which captures similarities among users and facilitates comparisons of behaviors of different users. We demonstrate the power of TargetVue through its application in a social bot detection challenge using Twitter data, a case study based on email records, and an interview with expert users. Our evaluation shows that TargetVue is beneficial to the detection of users with anomalous communication behaviors.

A data and information system for processing, archival, and distribution of data for global change research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graves, Sara J.

1994-01-01

Work on this project was focused on information management techniques for Marshall Space Flight Center's EOSDIS Version 0 Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). The centerpiece of this effort has been participation in EOSDIS catalog interoperability research, the result of which is a distributed Information Management System (IMS) allowing the user to query the inventories of all the DAAC's from a single user interface. UAH has provided the MSFC DAAC database server for the distributed IMS, and has contributed to definition and development of the browse image display capabilities in the system's user interface. Another important area of research has been in generating value-based metadata through data mining. In addition, information management applications for local inventory and archive management, and for tracking data orders were provided.

Planetary Data Systems (PDS) Imaging Node Atlas II

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stanboli, Alice; McAuley, James M.

2013-01-01

The Planetary Image Atlas (PIA) is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that serves planetary imaging data to the science community and the general public. PIA also utilizes the USGS Unified Planetary Coordinate system (UPC) and the on-Mars map server. The Atlas was designed to provide the ability to search and filter through greater than 8 million planetary image files. This software is a three-tier Web application that contains a search engine backend (MySQL, JAVA), Web service interface (SOAP) between server and client, and a GWT Google Maps API client front end. This application allows for the search, retrieval, and download of planetary images and associated meta-data from the following missions: 2001 Mars Odyssey, Cassini, Galileo, LCROSS, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Express, Magellan, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MESSENGER, Phoe nix, Viking Lander, Viking Orbiter, and Voyager. The Atlas utilizes the UPC to translate mission-specific coordinate systems into a unified coordinate system, allowing the end user to query across missions of similar targets. If desired, the end user can also use a mission-specific view of the Atlas. The mission-specific views rely on the same code base. This application is a major improvement over the initial version of the Planetary Image Atlas. It is a multi-mission search engine. This tool includes both basic and advanced search capabilities, providing a product search tool to interrogate the collection of planetary images. This tool lets the end user query information about each image, and ignores the data that the user has no interest in. Users can reduce the number of images to look at by defining an area of interest with latitude and longitude ranges.

EWB: The Environment WorkBench Version 4.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The Environment WorkBench EWB is a desktop integrated analysis tool for studying a spacecraft's interactions with its environment. Over 100 environment and analysis models are integrated into the menu-based tool. EWB, which was developed for and under the guidance of the NASA Lewis Research Center, is built atop the Module Integrator and Rule-based Intelligent Analytic Database (MIRIAD) architecture. This allows every module in EWB to communicate information to other modules in a transparent manner from the user's point of view. It removes the tedious and error-prone steps of entering data by hand from one model to another. EWB runs under UNIX operating systems (SGI and SUN workstations) and under MS Windows (3.x, 95, and NT) operating systems. MIRIAD, the unique software that makes up the core of EWB, provides the flexibility to easily modify old models and incorporate new ones as user needs change. The MIRIAD approach separates the computer assisted engineering (CAE) tool into three distinct units: 1) A modern graphical user interface to present information; 2) A data dictionary interpreter to coordinate analysis; and 3) A database for storing system designs and analysis results. The user interface is externally programmable through ASCII data files, which contain the location and type of information to be displayed on the screen. This approach provides great flexibility in tailoring the look and feel of the code to individual user needs. MIRIADbased applications, such as EWB, have utilities for viewing tabulated parametric study data, XY line plots, contour plots, and three-dimensional plots of contour data and system geometries. In addition, a Monte Carlo facility is provided to allow statistical assessments (including uncertainties) in models or data.

Human Systems Integration Design Environment (HSIDE)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-09

quality of the resulting HSI products. 15. SUBJECT TERMS HSI , Manning Estimation and Validation , Risk Assessment, I POE, PLM, BPMN , Workflow...business process model in Business Process Modeling Notation ( BPMN ) or the actual workflow template associated with the specific functional area, again...as filtered by the user settings in the high level interface. Figure 3 shows the initial screen which allows the user to select either the BPMN or

Consortium Requirements Engineering Guidebook

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-12-01

re- quirements among developers or contractors, acquisition managers, and users. A CoRE specification serves as both the test -to and design-to...that are used for the following purposes: (1) the button labeled SELF TEST allows the operator to check the FLMS’s output hardware while the system is...shut down; and (2) the button labeled RESET allows the system to be brought back into normal operation following a shutdown or testing as long as the

A Grid job monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumitrescu, Catalin; Nowack, Andreas; Padhi, Sanjay; Sarkar, Subir

2010-04-01

This paper presents a web-based Job Monitoring framework for individual Grid sites that allows users to follow in detail their jobs in quasi-real time. The framework consists of several independent components : (a) a set of sensors that run on the site CE and worker nodes and update a database, (b) a simple yet extensible web services framework and (c) an Ajax powered web interface having a look-and-feel and control similar to a desktop application. The monitoring framework supports LSF, Condor and PBS-like batch systems. This is one of the first monitoring systems where an X.509 authenticated web interface can be seamlessly accessed by both end-users and site administrators. While a site administrator has access to all the possible information, a user can only view the jobs for the Virtual Organizations (VO) he/she is a part of. The monitoring framework design supports several possible deployment scenarios. For a site running a supported batch system, the system may be deployed as a whole, or existing site sensors can be adapted and reused with the web services components. A site may even prefer to build the web server independently and choose to use only the Ajax powered web interface. Finally, the system is being used to monitor a glideinWMS instance. This broadens the scope significantly, allowing it to monitor jobs over multiple sites.

Human-centered design of a personal health record system for metabolic syndrome management based on the ISO 9241-210:2010 standard.

PubMed

Farinango, Charic D; Benavides, Juan S; Cerón, Jesús D; López, Diego M; Álvarez, Rosa E

2018-01-01

Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of information and communication technologies to support healthy lifestyle interventions. In particular, personal health record systems (PHR-Ss) empower self-care, essential to support lifestyle changes. Approaches such as the user-centered design (UCD), which is already a standard within the software industry (ISO 9241-210:2010), provide specifications and guidelines to guarantee user acceptance and quality of eHealth systems. However, no single PHR-S for metabolic syndrome (MS) developed following the recommendations of the ISO 9241-210:2010 specification has been found in the literature. The aim of this study was to describe the development of a PHR-S for the management of MS according to the principles and recommendations of the ISO 9241-210 standard. The proposed PHR-S was developed using a formal software development process which, in addition to the traditional activities of any software process, included the principles and recommendations of the ISO 9241-210 standard. To gather user information, a survey sample of 1,187 individuals, eight interviews, and a focus group with seven people were performed. Throughout five iterations, three prototypes were built. Potential users of each system evaluated each prototype. The quality attributes of efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction were assessed using metrics defined in the ISO/IEC 25022 standard. The following results were obtained: 1) a technology profile from 1,187 individuals at risk for MS from the city of Popayan, Colombia, identifying that 75.2% of the people use the Internet and 51% had a smartphone; 2) a PHR-S to manage MS developed (the PHR-S has the following five main functionalities: record the five MS risk factors, share these measures with health care professionals, and three educational modules on nutrition, stress management, and a physical activity); and 3) usability tests on each prototype obtaining the following results: 100% effectiveness, 100% efficiency, and 84.2 points in the system usability scale. The software development methodology used was based on the ISO 9241-210 standard, which allowed the development team to maintain a focus on user's needs and requirements throughout the project, which resulted in an increased satisfaction and acceptance of the system. Additionally, the establishment of a multidisciplinary team allowed the application of considerations not only from the disciplines of software engineering and health sciences but also from other disciplines such as graphical design and media communication. Finally, usability testing allowed the observation of flaws in the designs, which helped to improve the solution.

Taking the Observatory to the Astronomer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bisque, T. M.

1997-05-01

Since 1992, Software Bisque's Remote Astronomy Software has been used by the Mt. Wilson Institute to allow interactive control of a 24" telescope and digital camera via modem. Software Bisque now introduces a comparable, relatively low-cost observatory system that allows powerful, yet "user-friendly" telescope and CCD camera control via the Internet. Utilizing software developed for the Windows 95/NT operating systems, the system offers point-and-click access to comprehensive celestial databases, extremely accurate telescope pointing, rapid download of digital CCD images by one or many users and flexible image processing software for data reduction and analysis. Our presentation will describe how the power of the personal computer has been leveraged to provide professional-level tools to the amateur astronomer, and include a description of this system's software and hardware components. The system software includes TheSky Astronomy Software?, CCDSoft CCD Astronomy Software?, TPoint Telescope Pointing Analysis System? software, Orchestrate? and, optionally, the RealSky CDs. The system hardware includes the Paramount GT-1100? Robotic Telescope Mount, as well as third party CCD cameras, focusers and optical tube assemblies.

An artificial reality environment for remote factory control and monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kosta, Charles Paul; Krolak, Patrick D.

1993-01-01

Work has begun on the merger of two well known systems, VEOS (HITLab) and CLIPS (NASA). In the recent past, the University of Massachusetts Lowell developed a parallel version of NASA CLIPS, called P-CLIPS. This modification allows users to create smaller expert systems which are able to communicate with each other to jointly solve problems. With the merger of a VEOS message system, PCLIPS-V can now act as a group of entities working within VEOS. To display the 3D virtual world we have been using a graphics package called HOOPS, from Ithaca Software. The artificial reality environment we have set up contains actors and objects as found in our Lincoln Logs Factory of the Future project. The environment allows us to view and control the objects within the virtual world. All communication between the separate CLIPS expert systems is done through VEOS. A graphical renderer generates camera views on X-Windows devices; Head Mounted Devices are not required. This allows more people to make use of this technology. We are experimenting with different types of virtual vehicles to give the user a sense that he or she is actually moving around inside the factory looking ahead through windows and virtual monitors.

Recommending images of user interests from the biomedical literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clukey, Steven; Xu, Songhua

2013-03-01

Every year hundreds of thousands of biomedical images are published in journals and conferences. Consequently, finding images relevant to one's interests becomes an ever daunting task. This vast amount of literature creates a need for intelligent and easy-to-use tools that can help researchers effectively navigate through the content corpus and conveniently locate materials of their interests. Traditionally, literature search tools allow users to query content using topic keywords. However, manual query composition is often time and energy consuming. A better system would be one that can automatically deliver relevant content to a researcher without having the end user manually manifest one's search intent and interests via search queries. Such a computer-aided assistance for information access can be provided by a system that first determines a researcher's interests automatically and then recommends images relevant to the person's interests accordingly. The technology can greatly improve a researcher's ability to stay up to date in their fields of study by allowing them to efficiently browse images and documents matching their needs and interests among the vast amount of the biomedical literature. A prototype system implementation of the technology can be accessed via http://www.smartdataware.com.

TDM/FM/FDMA - A modulation technique for multiple-beam satellites which precludes cochannel interference and allows non-uniform geographic distribution of user channels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Springett, J. C.

1982-01-01

The technique outlined in this paper is intended to eliminate the problems of cochannel interference and uniform geographic distribution of user channels which arise in conventional designs for a multiple spot beam communication satellite to serve mobile telephony users across the CONUS. By time multiplexing FM/FDMA signal ensembles so that only those beams operating on distinct frequency subbands are allowed to transmit concurrently, cochannel interference arising from simultaneous frequency subband reuse is precluded. Thus, time disjoint frequency reuse is accomplished over a repetitive sequence of fixed time slots. By assigning different size subbands to each time slot, a market of nonuniform users can be accommodated. The technique results in a greatly simplified antenna feed system design for the satellite, at a cost of imposing the need for time slot synchronization on the mobile FM receivers whose ability for rejecting adjacent channel interference is somewhat diminished.

Mini-beam collimator applications at the Advanced Photon Source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shenglan; Keefe, Lisa J.; Mulichak, Anne; Yan, Lifen; Alp, Ercan E.; Zhao, Jiyong; Fischetti, Robert F.

2011-09-01

In 2007, the General Medicine and Cancer Institutes Collaborative Access Team (GM/CA CAT, Sector 23, Advanced Photon Source) began providing mini-beam collimators to its users. These collimators contained individual, 5- or 10-μm pinholes and were rapidly exchangeable, thereby allowing users to tailor the beam size to their experimental needs. The use of these collimators provided a reduction in background noise, and thus improved the signal-to-noise ratio [1,2]. Recent improvements in the collimator design include construction of the device from a monolithic piece of molybdenum with multiple pinholes mounted inside [3]. This allows users to select from various size options from within the beamline control software without the realignment that was previously necessary. In addition, a new, 20-μm pinhole has been added to create a "quad-collimator", resulting in greater flexibility for the users. The mini-beam collimator is now available at multiple crystallographic beamlines and also is a part of the first Mössbauer Microscopic system at sector 3-ID.

TDM/FM/FDMA - A modulation technique for multiple-beam satellites which precludes cochannel interference and allows non-uniform geographic distribution of user channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Springett, J. C.

The technique outlined in this paper is intended to eliminate the problems of cochannel interference and uniform geographic distribution of user channels which arise in conventional designs for a multiple spot beam communication satellite to serve mobile telephony users across the CONUS. By time multiplexing FM/FDMA signal ensembles so that only those beams operating on distinct frequency subbands are allowed to transmit concurrently, cochannel interference arising from simultaneous frequency subband reuse is precluded. Thus, time disjoint frequency reuse is accomplished over a repetitive sequence of fixed time slots. By assigning different size subbands to each time slot, a market of nonuniform users can be accommodated. The technique results in a greatly simplified antenna feed system design for the satellite, at a cost of imposing the need for time slot synchronization on the mobile FM receivers whose ability for rejecting adjacent channel interference is somewhat diminished.

DEB: A Diagnostic Experience Browser using similarity networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Casadaban, Cyprian E.

1990-01-01

Diagnostic Experience Browser (DEB): a fusion of knowledge base and data base that allows users to examine only the data which is most useful to them is described. The system combines a data base of historical cases of diagnostic trouble-shooting experience with similarity networks. A menu-driven natural language interface receives input about the user's current problem. Similarity networks provide the user with references to past cases that are most similar or most related to those they now face. The user can then choose the case that is most pertinent and browse its full textual description which, in turn, may include references to other related cases.

AXAF user interfaces for heterogeneous analysis environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandel, Eric; Roll, John; Ackerman, Mark S.

1992-01-01

The AXAF Science Center (ASC) will develop software to support all facets of data center activities and user research for the AXAF X-ray Observatory, scheduled for launch in 1999. The goal is to provide astronomers with the ability to utilize heterogeneous data analysis packages, that is, to allow astronomers to pick the best packages for doing their scientific analysis. For example, ASC software will be based on IRAF, but non-IRAF programs will be incorporated into the data system where appropriate. Additionally, it is desired to allow AXAF users to mix ASC software with their own local software. The need to support heterogeneous analysis environments is not special to the AXAF project, and therefore finding mechanisms for coordinating heterogeneous programs is an important problem for astronomical software today. The approach to solving this problem has been to develop two interfaces that allow the scientific user to run heterogeneous programs together. The first is an IRAF-compatible parameter interface that provides non-IRAF programs with IRAF's parameter handling capabilities. Included in the interface is an application programming interface to manipulate parameters from within programs, and also a set of host programs to manipulate parameters at the command line or from within scripts. The parameter interface has been implemented to support parameter storage formats other than IRAF parameter files, allowing one, for example, to access parameters that are stored in data bases. An X Windows graphical user interface called 'agcl' has been developed, layered on top of the IRAF-compatible parameter interface, that provides a standard graphical mechanism for interacting with IRAF and non-IRAF programs. Users can edit parameters and run programs for both non-IRAF programs and IRAF tasks. The agcl interface allows one to communicate with any command line environment in a transparent manner and without any changes to the original environment. For example, the authors routinely layer the GUI on top of IRAF, ksh, SMongo, and IDL. The agcl, based on the facilities of a system called Answer Garden, also has sophisticated support for examining documentation and help files, asking questions of experts, and developing a knowledge base of frequently required information. Thus, the GUI becomes a total environment for running programs, accessing information, examining documents, and finding human assistance. Because the agcl can communicate with any command-line environment, most projects can make use of it easily. New applications are continually being found for these interfaces. It is the authors' intention to evolve the GUI and its underlying parameter interface in response to these needs - from users as well as developers - throughout the astronomy community. This presentation describes the capabilities and technology of the above user interface mechanisms and tools. It also discusses the design philosophies guiding the work, as well as hopes for the future.

On providing the fault-tolerant operation of information systems based on open content management systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kratov, Sergey

2018-01-01

Modern information systems designed to service a wide range of users, regardless of their subject area, are increasingly based on Web technologies and are available to users via Internet. The article discusses the issues of providing the fault-tolerant operation of such information systems, based on free and open source content management systems. The toolkit available to administrators of similar systems is shown; the scenarios for using these tools are described. Options for organizing backups and restoring the operability of systems after failures are suggested. Application of the proposed methods and approaches allows providing continuous monitoring of the state of systems, timely response to the emergence of possible problems and their prompt solution.

Discrete vs. Continuous Mapping of Facial Electromyography for Human-Machine-Interface Control: Performance and Training Effects

PubMed Central

Cler, Meredith J.; Stepp, Cara E.

2015-01-01

Individuals with high spinal cord injuries are unable to operate a keyboard and mouse with their hands. In this experiment, we compared two systems using surface electromyography (sEMG) recorded from facial muscles to control an onscreen keyboard to type five-letter words. Both systems used five sEMG sensors to capture muscle activity during five distinct facial gestures that were mapped to five cursor commands: move left, move right, move up, move down, and “click”. One system used a discrete movement and feedback algorithm in which the user produced one quick facial gesture, causing a corresponding discrete movement to an adjacent letter. The other system was continuously updated and allowed the user to control the cursor’s velocity by relative activation between different sEMG channels. Participants were trained on one system for four sessions on consecutive days, followed by one crossover session on the untrained system. Information transfer rates (ITRs) were high for both systems compared to other potential input modalities, both initially and with training (Session 1: 62.1 bits/min, Session 4: 105.1 bits/min). Users of the continuous system showed significantly higher ITRs than the discrete users. Future development will focus on improvements to both systems, which may offer differential advantages for users with various motor impairments. PMID:25616053

Concurrent Image Processing Executive (CIPE). Volume 3: User's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Meemong; Cooper, Gregory T.; Groom, Steven L.; Mazer, Alan S.; Williams, Winifred I.; Kong, Mih-Seh

1990-01-01

CIPE (the Concurrent Image Processing Executive) is both an executive which organizes the parameter inputs for hypercube applications and an environment which provides temporary data workspace and simple real-time function definition facilities for image analysis. CIPE provides two types of user interface. The Command Line Interface (CLI) provides a simple command-driven environment allowing interactive function definition and evaluation of algebraic expressions. The menu interface employs a hierarchical screen-oriented menu system where the user is led through a menu tree to any specific application and then given a formatted panel screen for parameter entry. How to initialize the system through the setup function, how to read data into CIPE symbols, how to manipulate and display data through the use of executive functions, and how to run an application in either user interface mode, are described.

DXplain on the Internet.

PubMed

Barnett, G O; Famiglietti, K T; Kim, R J; Hoffer, E P; Feldman, M J

1998-01-01

DXplain, a computer-based medical education, reference and decision support system has been used by thousands of physicians and medical students on stand-alone systems and over communications networks. For the past two years, we have made DXplain available over the Internet in order to provide DXplain's knowledge and analytical capabilities as a resource to other applications within Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and at outside institutions. We describe and provide the user experience with two different protocols through which users can access DXplain through the World Wide Web (WWW). The first allows the user to have direct interaction with all the functionality of DXplain where the MGH server controls the interaction and the mode of presentation. In the second mode, the MGH server provides the DXplain functionality as a series of services, which can be called independently by the user application program.

A case for user-generated sensor metadata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nüst, Daniel

2015-04-01

Cheap and easy to use sensing technology and new developments in ICT towards a global network of sensors and actuators promise previously unthought of changes for our understanding of the environment. Large professional as well as amateur sensor networks exist, and they are used for specific yet diverse applications across domains such as hydrology, meteorology or early warning systems. However the impact this "abundance of sensors" had so far is somewhat disappointing. There is a gap between (community-driven) sensor networks that could provide very useful data and the users of the data. In our presentation, we argue this is due to a lack of metadata which allows determining the fitness of use of a dataset. Syntactic or semantic interoperability for sensor webs have made great progress and continue to be an active field of research, yet they often are quite complex, which is of course due to the complexity of the problem at hand. But still, we see the most generic information to determine fitness for use is a dataset's provenance, because it allows users to make up their own minds independently from existing classification schemes for data quality. In this work we will make the case how curated user-contributed metadata has the potential to improve this situation. This especially applies for scenarios in which an observed property is applicable in different domains, and for set-ups where the understanding about metadata concepts and (meta-)data quality differs between data provider and user. On the one hand a citizen does not understand the ISO provenance metadata. On the other hand a researcher might find issues in publicly accessible time series published by citizens, which the latter might not be aware of or care about. Because users will have to determine fitness for use for each application on their own anyway, we suggest an online collaboration platform for user-generated metadata based on an extremely simplified data model. In the most basic fashion, metadata generated by users can be boiled down to a basic property of the world wide web: many information items, such as news or blog posts, allow users to create comments and rate the content. Therefore we argue to focus a core data model on one text field for a textual comment, one optional numerical field for a rating, and a resolvable identifier for the dataset that is commented on. We present a conceptual framework that integrates user comments in existing standards and relevant applications of online sensor networks and discuss possible approaches, such as linked data, brokering, or standalone metadata portals. We relate this framework to existing work in user generated content, such as proprietary rating systems on commercial websites, microformats, the GeoViQua User Quality Model, the CHARMe annotations, or W3C Open Annotation. These systems are also explored for commonalities and based on their very useful concepts and ideas; we present an outline for future extensions of the minimal model. Building on this framework we present a concept how a simplistic comment-rating-system can be extended to capture provenance information for spatio-temporal observations in the sensor web, and how this framework can be evaluated.

SoftLab: A Soft-Computing Software for Experimental Research with Commercialization Aspects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Akbarzadeh-T, M.-R.; Shaikh, T. S.; Ren, J.; Hubbell, Rob; Kumbla, K. K.; Jamshidi, M

1998-01-01

SoftLab is a software environment for research and development in intelligent modeling/control using soft-computing paradigms such as fuzzy logic, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and genetic programs. SoftLab addresses the inadequacies of the existing soft-computing software by supporting comprehensive multidisciplinary functionalities from management tools to engineering systems. Furthermore, the built-in features help the user process/analyze information more efficiently by a friendly yet powerful interface, and will allow the user to specify user-specific processing modules, hence adding to the standard configuration of the software environment.

Tomcat-Projects_RF

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

Warrant, Marilyn M.; Garcia, Rudy J.; Zhang, Pengchu

2004-09-15

Tomcat-Projects_RF is a software package for analyzing sensor data obtained from a database and displaying the results with Java Servlet Pages (JSP). SQL Views into the dataset are tailored for personnel having different roles in monitoring the items in a storage facility. For example, an inspector, a host treaty compliance officer, a system engineer and software developers were the users identified that would need to access data at different levels of detail, The analysis provides a high level status of the storage facility and allows the user to go deeper into the data details if the user desires.

Innovative Technology Transfer Partnerships

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kohler, Jeff

2004-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeks to license its Advanced Tire and Strut Pressure Monitor (TSPM) technology. The TSPM is a handheld system to accurately measure tire and strut pressure and temperature over a wide temperature range (20 to 120 OF), as well as improve personnel safety. Sensor accuracy, electronics design, and a simple user interface allow operators quick, easy access to required measurements. The handheld electronics, powered by 12-VAC or by 9-VDC batteries, provide the user with an easy-to-read visual display of pressure/temperature or the streaming of pressure/temperature data via an RS-232 interface. When connected to a laptop computer, this new measurement system can provide users with automated data recording and trending, eliminating the chance for data hand-recording errors. In addition, calibration software allows for calibration data to be automatically utilized for the generation of new data conversion equations, simplifying the calibration processes that are so critical to reliable measurements. The design places a high-accuracy pressure sensor (also used as a temperature sensor) as close to the tire or strut measurement location as possible, allowing the user to make accurate measurements rapidly, minimizing the amount of high-pressure volumes, and allowing reasonable distance between the tire or strut and the operator. The pressure sensor attaches directly to the pressure supply/relief valve on the tire and/or strut, with necessary electronics contained in the handheld enclosure. A software algorithm ensures high accuracy of the device over the wide temperature range. Using the pressure sensor as a temperature sensor permits measurement of the actual temperature of the pressurized gas. This device can be adapted to create a portable calibration standard that does not require thermal conditioning. This allows accurate pressure measurements without disturbing the gas temperature. In-place calibration can save considerable time and money and is suitable in many process applications throughout industry.

Automated Computer Access Request System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snook, Bryan E.

2010-01-01

The Automated Computer Access Request (AutoCAR) system is a Web-based account provisioning application that replaces the time-consuming paper-based computer-access request process at Johnson Space Center (JSC). Auto- CAR combines rules-based and role-based functionality in one application to provide a centralized system that is easily and widely accessible. The system features a work-flow engine that facilitates request routing, a user registration directory containing contact information and user metadata, an access request submission and tracking process, and a system administrator account management component. This provides full, end-to-end disposition approval chain accountability from the moment a request is submitted. By blending both rules-based and rolebased functionality, AutoCAR has the flexibility to route requests based on a user s nationality, JSC affiliation status, and other export-control requirements, while ensuring a user s request is addressed by either a primary or backup approver. All user accounts that are tracked in AutoCAR are recorded and mapped to the native operating system schema on the target platform where user accounts reside. This allows for future extensibility for supporting creation, deletion, and account management directly on the target platforms by way of AutoCAR. The system s directory-based lookup and day-today change analysis of directory information determines personnel moves, deletions, and additions, and automatically notifies a user via e-mail to revalidate his/her account access as a result of such changes. AutoCAR is a Microsoft classic active server page (ASP) application hosted on a Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS).

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

USGS Publications Warehouse

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

1987-01-01

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

Near-line Archive Data Mining at the Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, L.; Mack, R.; Eng, E.; Lynnes, C.

2002-12-01

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is generating immense volumes of data, in some cases too much to provide to users with data-intensive needs. As an alternative to moving the data to the user and his/her research algorithms, we are providing a means to move the algorithms to the data. The Near-line Archive Data Mining (NADM) system is the Goddard Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive Center's (GES DAAC) web data mining portal to the EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data pool, a 50-TB online disk cache. The NADM web portal enables registered users to submit and execute data mining algorithm codes on the data in the EOSDIS data pool. A web interface allows the user to access the NADM system. The users first develops personalized data mining code on their home platform and then uploads them to the NADM system. The C, FORTRAN and IDL languages are currently supported. The user developed code is automatically audited for any potential security problems before it is installed within the NADM system and made available to the user. Once the code has been installed the user is provided a test environment where he/she can test the execution of the software against data sets of the user's choosing. When the user is satisfied with the results, he/she can promote their code to the "operational" environment. From here the user can interactively run his/her code on the data available in the EOSDIS data pool. The user can also set up a processing subscription. The subscription will automatically process new data as it becomes available in the EOSDIS data pool. The generated mined data products are then made available for FTP pickup. The NADM system uses the GES DAAC-developed Simple Scalable Script-based Science Processor (S4P) to automate tasks and perform the actual data processing. Users will also have the option of selecting a DAAC-provided data mining algorithm and using it to process the data of their choice.

Web-Based Customizable Viewer for Mars Network Overflight Opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gladden, Roy E.; Wallick, Michael N.; Allard, Daniel A.

2012-01-01

This software displays a full summary of information regarding the overflight opportunities between any set of lander and orbiter pairs that the user has access to view. The information display can be customized, allowing the user to choose which fields to view/hide and filter. The software works from a Web browser on any modern operating system. A full summary of information pertaining to an overflight is available, including the proposed, tentative, requested, planned, and implemented. This gives the user a chance to quickly check for inconsistencies and fix any problems. Overflights from multiple lander/ orbiter pairs can be compared instantly, and information can be filtered through the query and shown/hidden, giving the user a customizable view of the data. The information can be exported to a CSV (comma separated value) or XML (extensible markup language) file. The software only grants access to users who are authorized to view the information. This application is an addition to the MaROS Web suite. Prior to this addition, information pertaining to overflight opportunities would have a limited amount of data (displayed graphically) and could only be shown in strict temporal ordering. This new display shows more information, allows direct comparisons between overflights, and allows the data to be manipulated in ways that it was unable to be done in the past. The current software solution is to use CSV files to view the overflight opportunities.

Docker Container Manager: A Simple Toolkit for Isolated Work with Shared Computational, Storage, and Network Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polyakov, S. P.; Kryukov, A. P.; Demichev, A. P.

2018-01-01

We present a simple set of command line interface tools called Docker Container Manager (DCM) that allow users to create and manage Docker containers with preconfigured SSH access while keeping the users isolated from each other and restricting their access to the Docker features that could potentially disrupt the work of the server. Users can access DCM server via SSH and are automatically redirected to DCM interface tool. From there, they can create new containers, stop, restart, pause, unpause, and remove containers and view the status of the existing containers. By default, the containers are also accessible via SSH using the same private key(s) but through different server ports. Additional publicly available ports can be mapped to the respective ports of a container, allowing for some network services to be run within it. The containers are started from read-only filesystem images. Some initial images must be provided by the DCM server administrators, and after containers are configured to meet one’s needs, the changes can be saved as new images. Users can see the available images and remove their own images. DCM server administrators are provided with commands to create and delete users. All commands were implemented as Python scripts. The tools allow to deploy and debug medium-sized distributed systems for simulation in different fields on one or several local computers.

Simple group password-based authenticated key agreements for the integrated EPR information system.

PubMed

Lee, Tian-Fu; Chang, I-Pin; Wang, Ching-Cheng

2013-04-01

The security and privacy are important issues for electronic patient records (EPRs). The goal of EPRs is sharing the patients' medical histories such as the diagnosis records, reports and diagnosis image files among hospitals by the Internet. So the security issue for the integrated EPR information system is essential. That is, to ensure the information during transmission through by the Internet is secure and private. The group password-based authenticated key agreement (GPAKE) allows a group of users like doctors, nurses and patients to establish a common session key by using password authentication. Then the group of users can securely communicate by using this session key. Many approaches about GAPKE employ the public key infrastructure (PKI) in order to have higher security. However, it not only increases users' overheads and requires keeping an extra equipment for storing long-term secret keys, but also requires maintaining the public key system. This investigation presents a simple group password-based authenticated key agreement (SGPAKE) protocol for the integrated EPR information system. The proposed SGPAKE protocol does not require using the server or users' public keys. Each user only remembers his weak password shared with a trusted server, and then can obtain a common session key. Then all users can securely communicate by using this session key. The proposed SGPAKE protocol not only provides users with convince, but also has higher security.

A revisit to the requirements methodologies for services provided by the Office of Space Communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fishkind, Stanley; Harris, Richard N.; Pfeiffer, William A.

1996-01-01

The methodologies of the NASA requirements processing system, originally designed to enhance NASA's customer interface and response time, are reviewed. The response of NASA to the problems associated with the system is presented, and it is shown what was done to facilitate the process and to improve customer relations. The requirements generation system (RGS), a computer-supported client-server system, adopted by NASA is presented. The RGS system is configurable on a per-mission basis and can be structured to allow levels of requirements. The details provided concerning the RGS include the recommended configuration, information on becoming an RGS user and network connectivity worksheets for computer users.

SURFACE CHEMKIN-III: A Fortran package for analyzing heterogeneous chemical kinetics at a solid-surface - gas-phase interface

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

Coltrin, M.E.; Kee, R.J.; Rupley, F.M.

1996-05-01

This document is the user`s manual for the SURFACE CHEMKIN-III package. Together with CHEMKIN-III, this software facilitates the formation, solution, and interpretation of problems involving elementary heterogeneous and gas-phase chemical kinetics in the presence of a solid surface. The package consists of two major software components: an Interpreter and a Surface Subroutine Library. The Interpreter is a program that reads a symbolic description of a user-specified chemical reaction mechanism. One output from the Interpreter is a data file that forms a link to the Surface Subroutine Library, which is a collection of about seventy modular Fortran subroutines that may bemore » called from a user`s application code to return information on chemical production rates and thermodynamic properties. This version of SURFACE CHEMKIN-III includes many modifications to allow treatment of multi-fluid plasma systems, for example modeling the reactions of highly energetic ionic species with a surface. Optional rate expressions allow reaction rates to depend upon ion energy rather than a single thermodynamic temperature. In addition, subroutines treat temperature as an array, allowing an application code to define a different temperature for each species. This version of SURFACE CHEMKIN-III allows use of real (non-integer) stoichiometric coefficients; the reaction order with respect to species concentrations can also be specified independent of the reaction`s stoichiometric coefficients. Several different reaction mechanisms can be specified in the Interpreter input file through the new construct of multiple materials.« less

Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP) - Version 6

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Majumdar, Alok; LeClair, Andre; Moore, Ric; Schallhorn, Paul

2015-01-01

The Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP) is a finite-volume based general-purpose computer program for analyzing steady state and time-dependent flow rates, pressures, temperatures, and concentrations in a complex flow network. The program is capable of modeling real fluids with phase changes, compressibility, mixture thermodynamics, conjugate heat transfer between solid and fluid, fluid transients, pumps, compressors, flow control valves and external body forces such as gravity and centrifugal. The thermo-fluid system to be analyzed is discretized into nodes, branches, and conductors. The scalar properties such as pressure, temperature, and concentrations are calculated at nodes. Mass flow rates and heat transfer rates are computed in branches and conductors. The graphical user interface allows users to build their models using the 'point, drag, and click' method; the users can also run their models and post-process the results in the same environment. The integrated fluid library supplies thermodynamic and thermo-physical properties of 36 fluids, and 24 different resistance/source options are provided for modeling momentum sources or sinks in the branches. Users can introduce new physics, non-linear and time-dependent boundary conditions through user-subroutine.

Web-based, GPU-accelerated, Monte Carlo simulation and visualization of indirect radiation imaging detector performance

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

Dong, Han; Sharma, Diksha; Badano, Aldo, E-mail: aldo.badano@fda.hhs.gov

2014-12-15

Purpose: Monte Carlo simulations play a vital role in the understanding of the fundamental limitations, design, and optimization of existing and emerging medical imaging systems. Efforts in this area have resulted in the development of a wide variety of open-source software packages. One such package, hybridMANTIS, uses a novel hybrid concept to model indirect scintillator detectors by balancing the computational load using dual CPU and graphics processing unit (GPU) processors, obtaining computational efficiency with reasonable accuracy. In this work, the authors describe two open-source visualization interfaces, webMANTIS and visualMANTIS to facilitate the setup of computational experiments via hybridMANTIS. Methods: Themore » visualization tools visualMANTIS and webMANTIS enable the user to control simulation properties through a user interface. In the case of webMANTIS, control via a web browser allows access through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. webMANTIS acts as a server back-end and communicates with an NVIDIA GPU computing cluster that can support multiuser environments where users can execute different experiments in parallel. Results: The output consists of point response and pulse-height spectrum, and optical transport statistics generated by hybridMANTIS. The users can download the output images and statistics through a zip file for future reference. In addition, webMANTIS provides a visualization window that displays a few selected optical photon path as they get transported through the detector columns and allows the user to trace the history of the optical photons. Conclusions: The visualization tools visualMANTIS and webMANTIS provide features such as on the fly generation of pulse-height spectra and response functions for microcolumnar x-ray imagers while allowing users to save simulation parameters and results from prior experiments. The graphical interfaces simplify the simulation setup and allow the user to go directly from specifying input parameters to receiving visual feedback for the model predictions.« less

Transoptr — A second order beam transport design code with optimization and constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heighway, E. A.; Hutcheon, R. M.

1981-08-01

This code was written initially to design an achromatic and isochronous reflecting magnet and has been extended to compete in capability (for constrained problems) with TRANSPORT. Its advantage is its flexibility in that the user writes a routine to describe his transport system. The routine allows the definition of general variables from which the system parameters can be derived. Further, the user can write any constraints he requires as algebraic equations relating the parameters. All variables may be used in either a first or second order optimization.

Investigation of Advanced Counterrotation Blade Configuration Concepts for High Speed Turboprop Systems. Task 8: Cooling Flow/heat Transfer Analysis User's Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Edward J.; Topp, David A.; Heidegger, Nathan J.; Delaney, Robert A.

1994-01-01

The focus of this task was to validate the ADPAC code for heat transfer calculations. To accomplish this goal, the ADPAC code was modified to allow for a Cartesian coordinate system capability and to add boundary conditions to handle spanwise periodicity and transpiration boundaries. This user's manual describes how to use the ADPAC code as developed in Task 5, NAS3-25270, including the modifications made to date in Tasks 7 and 8, NAS3-25270.

Extending Comprehensive Maritime Awareness to Disconnected Vessels and Users

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

system shall: 7. Provide flexible , scalable, and tailorable techniques, processes, and procedures that can be adapted rapidly and securely 8...PS (1 2- 21 ) SO W (2 2- 23 ) St ak eh ol de r C om m un ic at io ns (2 4) Provide secure connection of Node 5 to CMA Node 4 1,4,5 8 19 Provide...6 7 13,24 Provide flexible system - allow user display customization 6 7 13 Provide accurate data and info 2,3 16, 20, 24 Provide accurate local data

A Graphics System for Pole-Zero Map Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beyer, William Fred, III

Computer scientists have developed an interactive, graphical display system for pole-zero map analysis. They designed it for use as an educational tool in teaching introductory courses in automatic control systems. The facilities allow the user to specify a control system and an input function in the form of a pole-zero map and then examine the…

An annotation system for 3D fluid flow visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loughlin, Maria M.; Hughes, John F.

1995-01-01

Annotation is a key activity of data analysis. However, current systems for data analysis focus almost exclusively on visualization. We propose a system which integrates annotations into a visualization system. Annotations are embedded in 3D data space, using the Post-it metaphor. This embedding allows contextual-based information storage and retrieval, and facilitates information sharing in collaborative environments. We provide a traditional database filter and a Magic Lens filter to create specialized views of the data. The system has been customized for fluid flow applications, with features which allow users to store parameters of visualization tools and sketch 3D volumes.

Geographic information system development in the CARETS project

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mitchell, William B.; Fegeas, Robin G.; Fitzpatrick, Katherine A.; Hallam, Cheryl A.

1977-01-01

Experience in the development of a geographic information system to support the CARETS project has confirmed the considerable advantages that may accrue by paralleling the system development with a rational and balanced system production effort which permits the integration of the education and training of users with interim deliverable products to them. Those advantages include support for a long-term staff plan that recognizes substantial staff changes through system development and implementation, a fiscal plan that provides continuity in resources necessary for total system development, and a feedback system which allows the user to communicate his experiences in using the system. Thus far balance between system development and system production has not been achieved because of continuing large-scale spatial data processing requirements coupled with strong and insistent demands from users for immediately deliverable products from the system. That imbalance has refocussed staffing and fiscal plans from long-term system development to short- and near-term production requirements, continuously extends total system development time, and increases the possibility that later system development may reduce the usefulness of current interim products.

Introducing Today's SGML.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilmore, Elizabeth

1993-01-01

Describes the fundamental concepts and potential of Standard General Markup Language (SGML), a system that allows computer users to exchange, reuse, and reformat information without constraint. Illustrates the concepts of SGML through a simple example. (SR)

Interactive Web-based Floodplain Simulation System for Realistic Experiments of Flooding and Flood Damage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demir, I.

2013-12-01

Recent developments in web technologies make it easy to manage and visualize large data sets with general public. Novel visualization techniques and dynamic user interfaces allow users to create realistic environments, and interact with data to gain insight from simulations and environmental observations. The floodplain simulation system is a web-based 3D interactive flood simulation environment to create real world flooding scenarios. The simulation systems provides a visually striking platform with realistic terrain information, and water simulation. Students can create and modify predefined scenarios, control environmental parameters, and evaluate flood mitigation techniques. The web-based simulation system provides an environment to children and adults learn about the flooding, flood damage, and effects of development and human activity in the floodplain. The system provides various scenarios customized to fit the age and education level of the users. This presentation provides an overview of the web-based flood simulation system, and demonstrates the capabilities of the system for various flooding and land use scenarios.

Testing the usability of two automated home-based patient-management systems.

PubMed

Farzanfar, Ramesh; Finkelstein, Joseph; Friedman, Robert H

2004-04-01

To explore to what extent observation and semistructured in-depth interviews provide effective tools for usability testing of two automated home-based systems aimed at monitoring patients' health status at home and improving self-care. Telephone-Linked Care for Diet Adherence in Dyslipidemia (TLC-DietAid) used computer telephony to interact with users and Home Asthma Telemonitoring System (HAT System) used a combination of Personal Digital Assistant (palmtops) and the Internet for similar purposes. Both systems were evaluated in two separate pilot studies. Our pilot studies uncovered "medium-specific" and "content-specific" issues that addressed either the process of the interaction or its content. The results demonstrated that patient-users tended to evaluate each system on the basis of how it fit into everyday life and corresponded to personal preferences. The methodology also allowed the system designers to understand users' concerns and the context of adoption in order to introduce necessary changes to the design to address such concerns.

US Astronomers Access to SIMBAD in Strasbourg

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliversen, Ronald (Technical Monitor); Eichhorn, Guenther

2004-01-01

During the last year the US SIMBAD Gateway Project continued to provide services like user registration to the US users of the SIMBAD database in France. Currently there are over 4500 US users registered. We also provided user support by answering questions from users and handling requests for lost passwords when still necessary. Even though almost all users now access SIMBAD without a password, based on hostnames/IP addresses, there are still some users that need individual passwords. We continued to maintain the mirror copy of the SIMBAD database on a server at SAO. This allows much faster access for the US users. During the past year we again moved this mirror to a faster server to improve access for the US users. We again supported a demonstration of the SIMBAD database at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in January. We provided support for the demonstration activities at the SIMBAD booth. We paid part of the fee for the SIMBAD demonstration. We continued to improve the cross-linking between the SIMBAD project and the Astrophysics Data System. This cross-linking between these systems is very much appreciated by the users of both the SIMBAD database and the ADS Abstract Service. The mirror of the SIMBAD database at SA0 makes this connection faster for the US astronomers. We exchange information between the ADS and SIMBAD on a daily basis. During the last year we also installed a mirror copy of the Vizier system from the CDS, in addition to the SIMBAD mirror.

Continuation: The EOSDIS testbed data system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emery, Bill; Kelley, Timothy D.

1995-01-01

The continuation of the EOSDIS testbed ('Testbed') has materialized from a multi-task system to a fully functional stand-alone data archive distribution center that once was only X-Windows driven to a system that is accessible by all types of users and computers via the World Wide Web. Throughout the past months, the Testbed has evolved into a completely new system. The current system is now accessible through Netscape, Mosaic, and all other servers that can contact the World Wide Web. On October 1, 1995 we will open to the public and we expect that the statistics of the type of user, where they are located, and what they are looking for will drastically change. What is the most important change in the Testbed has been the Web interface. This interface will allow more users access to the system and walk them through the data types with more ease than before. All of the callbacks are written in such a way that icons can be used to easily move around in the programs interface. The homepage offers the user the opportunity to go and get more information about each satellite data type and also information on free programs. These programs are grouped into categories for types of computers that the programs are compiled for, along with information on how to FTP the programs back to the end users computer. The heart of the Testbed is still the acquisition of satellite data. From the Testbed homepage, the user selects the 'access to data system' icon, which will take them to the world map and allow them to select an area that they would like coverage on by simply clicking that area of the map. This creates a new map where other similar choices can be made to get the latitude and longitude of the region the satellite data will cover. Once a selection has been made the search parameters page will appear to be filled out. Afterwards, the browse image will be called for once the search is completed and the images for viewing can be selected. There are several other option pages, but once an order has been selected the Testbed will bring up the order list page and the user will then be able to place their order. After the order has been completed, the Testbed will mail the user to notify them of the completed order and how the images can be picked up.

A Versatile, User-Oriented, Computerized Library System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neuron, Eric

This paper deals with the problem of the referencing or storing methods in information systems which must be designed to allow for rapid retrieval of the key data leading to the desired information or the recovery of the information directly. Considered as a secondary, but frequently desirable, feature for the system is the ability to determine…

A precompiler for the formula manipulation system TRIGMAN.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jefferys, W. H.

1972-01-01

Discussion of a translator designed to simplify the programming of problems involving the TRIGMAN formula manipulation system. The translator allows for the introduction of a new data type, SERIES, into a FORTRAN program and translates a user's program into legal FORTRAN. The translator is adaptable to other formula manipulation systems presently used in celestial mechanics.

Design and Functionality of the Graphical Interactive Narrative (Gin) System Version 0.2

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

System. The purpose of the Gin system is to increase the interactivity and sense of agency for human subjects in virtual environments (VEs) used for...tractability of scenario development while providing the user with an increased sense of agency by allowing them to control their own navigation

AKDNR - DNR Business Reporting System (DBRS)

Science.gov Websites

Skip to content State of Alaska myAlaska My Government Resident Business in Alaska Visiting Alaska Resources > IRM GPU > Main Menu DNR Business Reporting System (DBRS) The DNR Business Reporting System (DBRS) allows users to generate reports from the DNR Business databases and maps. The reports offered

E-Learning System for Design and Construction of Amplifier Using Transistors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takemura, Atsushi

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a novel e-Learning system for the comprehensive understanding of electronic circuits with transistors. The proposed e-Learning system allows users to learn a wide range of topics, encompassing circuit theories, design, construction, and measurement. Given the fact that the amplifiers with transistors are an integral part of…

An Exploration and Analysis of the Relationships among Object Oriented Programming, Hypermedia, and Hypertalk.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milet, Lynn K.; Harvey, Francis A.

Hypermedia and object oriented programming systems (OOPs) represent examples of "open" computer environments that allow the user access to parts of the code or operating system. Both systems share fundamental intellectual concepts (objects, messages, methods, classes, and inheritance), so that an understanding of hypermedia can help in…

Vision-Aided Context-Aware Framework for Personal Navigation Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saeedi, S.; Moussa, A.; El-Sheimy, N., , Dr.

2012-07-01

The ubiquity of mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablet-PCs) has encouraged the use of location-based services (LBS) that are relevant to the current location and context of a mobile user. The main challenge of LBS is to find a pervasive and accurate personal navigation system (PNS) in different situations of a mobile user. In this paper, we propose a method of personal navigation for pedestrians that allows a user to freely move in outdoor environments. This system aims at detection of the context information which is useful for improving personal navigation. The context information for a PNS consists of user activity modes (e.g. walking, stationary, driving, and etc.) and the mobile device orientation and placement with respect to the user. After detecting the context information, a low-cost integrated positioning algorithm has been employed to estimate pedestrian navigation parameters. The method is based on the integration of the relative user's motion (changes of velocity and heading angle) estimation based on the video image matching and absolute position information provided by GPS. A Kalman filter (KF) has been used to improve the navigation solution when the user is walking and the phone is in his/her hand. The Experimental results demonstrate the capabilities of this method for outdoor personal navigation systems.

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

Gonzalez Anez, Francisco

This paper presents two development projects (STARMATE and VIRMAN) focused on supporting training on maintenance. Both projects aim at specifying, designing, developing, and demonstrating prototypes allowing computer guided maintenance of complex mechanical elements using Augmented and Virtual Reality techniques. VIRMAN is a Spanish development project. The objective is to create a computer tool for maintenance training course elaborations and training delivery based on 3D virtual reality models of complex components. The training delivery includes 3D record displays on maintenance procedures with all complementary information for intervention understanding. Users are requested to perform the maintenance intervention trying to follow up themore » procedure. Users can be evaluated about the level of knowledge achieved. Instructors can check the evaluation records left during the training sessions. VIRMAN is simple software supported by a regular computer and can be used in an Internet framework. STARMATE is a forward step in the area of virtual reality. STARMATE is a European Commission project in the frame of 'Information Societies Technologies'. A consortium of five companies and one research institute shares their expertise in this new technology. STARMATE provides two main functionalities (1) user assistance for achieving assembly/de-assembly and following maintenance procedures, and (2) workforce training. The project relies on Augmented Reality techniques, which is a growing area in Virtual Reality research. The idea of Augmented Reality is to combine a real scene, viewed by the user, with a virtual scene, generated by a computer, augmenting the reality with additional information. The user interface is see-through goggles, headphones, microphone and an optical tracking system. All these devices are integrated in a helmet connected with two regular computers. The user has his hands free for performing the maintenance intervention and he can navigate in the virtual world thanks to a voice recognition system and a virtual pointing device. The maintenance work is guided with audio instructions, 2D and 3D information are directly displayed into the user's goggles: There is a position-tracking system that allows 3D virtual models to be displayed in the real counterpart positions independently of the user allocation. The user can create his own virtual environment, placing the information required wherever he wants. The STARMATE system is applicable to a large variety of real work situations. (author)« less

VORBrouter: A dynamic data routing system for Real-Time Seismic networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, T.; Vernon, F.; Lindquist, K.; Orcutt, J.

2004-12-01

For anyone who has managed a moderately complex buffered real-time data transport system, the need for reliable adaptive data transport is clear. The ROADNet VORBrouter system, an extension to the ROADNet data catalog system [AGU-2003, Dynamic Dataflow Topology Monitoring for Real-time Seismic Networks], allows dynamic routing of real-time seismic data from sensor to end-user. Traditional networks consist of a series of data buffer computers with data transport interconnections configured by hand. This allows for arbitrarily complex data networks, which can often exceed full comprehension by network administrators, sometimes resulting in data loops or accidental data cutoff. In order to manage data transport systems in the event of a network failure, a network administrator must be called upon to change the data transport paths and to recover the missing data. Using VORBrouter, administrators can sleep at night while still providing 7/24 uninterupted data streams at realistic cost. This software package uses information from the ROADNet data catalog system to route packets around failed link outages and to new consumers in real-time. Dynamic data routing protocols operating on top of the Antelope Data buffering layer allow authorized users to request data sets from their local buffer and to have them delivered from anywhere within the network of buffers. The VORBrouter software also allows for dynamic routing around network outages, and the elimination of duplicate data paths within the network, while maintaining the nearly lossless data transport features exhibited by the underlying Antelope system. We present the design of the VORBrouter system, its features, limitations and some future research directions.

Nonintrusive iris image acquisition system based on a pan-tilt-zoom camera and light stripe projection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Soweon; Jung, Ho Gi; Park, Kang Ryoung; Kim, Jaihie

2009-03-01

Although iris recognition is one of the most accurate biometric technologies, it has not yet been widely used in practical applications. This is mainly due to user inconvenience during the image acquisition phase. Specifically, users try to adjust their eye position within small capture volume at a close distance from the system. To overcome these problems, we propose a novel iris image acquisition system that provides users with unconstrained environments: a large operating range, enabling movement from standing posture, and capturing good-quality iris images in an acceptable time. The proposed system has the following three contributions compared with previous works: (1) the capture volume is significantly increased by using a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera guided by a light stripe projection, (2) the iris location in the large capture volume is found fast due to 1-D vertical face searching from the user's horizontal position obtained by the light stripe projection, and (3) zooming and focusing on the user's irises at a distance are accurate and fast using the estimated 3-D position of a face by the light stripe projection and the PTZ camera. Experimental results show that the proposed system can capture good-quality iris images in 2.479 s on average at a distance of 1.5 to 3 m, while allowing a limited amount of movement by the user.

Supporting community annotation and user collaboration in the integrated microbial genomes (IMG) system.

PubMed

Chen, I-Min A; Markowitz, Victor M; Palaniappan, Krishna; Szeto, Ernest; Chu, Ken; Huang, Jinghua; Ratner, Anna; Pillay, Manoj; Hadjithomas, Michalis; Huntemann, Marcel; Mikhailova, Natalia; Ovchinnikova, Galina; Ivanova, Natalia N; Kyrpides, Nikos C

2016-04-26

The exponential growth of genomic data from next generation technologies renders traditional manual expert curation effort unsustainable. Many genomic systems have included community annotation tools to address the problem. Most of these systems adopted a "Wiki-based" approach to take advantage of existing wiki technologies, but encountered obstacles in issues such as usability, authorship recognition, information reliability and incentive for community participation. Here, we present a different approach, relying on tightly integrated method rather than "Wiki-based" method, to support community annotation and user collaboration in the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system. The IMG approach allows users to use existing IMG data warehouse and analysis tools to add gene, pathway and biosynthetic cluster annotations, to analyze/reorganize contigs, genes and functions using workspace datasets, and to share private user annotations and workspace datasets with collaborators. We show that the annotation effort using IMG can be part of the research process to overcome the user incentive and authorship recognition problems thus fostering collaboration among domain experts. The usability and reliability issues are addressed by the integration of curated information and analysis tools in IMG, together with DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) expert review. By incorporating annotation operations into IMG, we provide an integrated environment for users to perform deeper and extended data analysis and annotation in a single system that can lead to publications and community knowledge sharing as shown in the case studies.

Alternative communication systems for people with severe motor disabilities: a survey

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

We have now sufficient evidence that using electrical biosignals in the field of Alternative and Augmented Communication is feasible. Additionally, they are particularly suitable in the case of people with severe motor impairment, e.g. people with high-level spinal cord injury or with locked-up syndrome. Developing solutions for them implies that we find ways to use sensors that fit the user's needs and limitations, which in turn impacts the specifications of the system translating the user's intentions into commands. After devising solutions for a given user or profile, the system should be evaluated with an appropriate method, allowing a comparison with other solutions. This paper submits a review of the way three bioelectrical signals - electromyographic, electrooculographic and electroencephalographic - have been utilised in alternative communication with patients suffering severe motor restrictions. It also offers a comparative study of the various methods applied to measure the performance of AAC systems. PMID:21507236

MailMinder: taming DHCP's mailman interface.

PubMed

Shultz, E K; Brown, R; Kotta, G

1992-01-01

While the Department of Veteran's Affairs Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP) is one of the most widely disseminated and successful hospital information systems in existence, it currently is accessed through a user interface which is not as mature as the rest of the system. This interface is a VT-100 compatible, character oriented interface using menus accessed by typed commands for feature access. This project demonstrated that a mature graphical user interface (MailMinder) can be successfully used as a "front-end" to DHCP. MailMinder is completely compatible with the existing unmodified DHCP electronic mail program, Mailman. MailMinder allows the user to be more efficient than the current interface and offers additional features over the current mail system. The program has undergone evaluation and limited deployment at five separate sites. The feature set of this program and its operation will be shown at this demonstration. The demonstration has implications for all current hospital information systems.

MailMinder: taming DHCP's mailman interface.

PubMed Central

Shultz, E. K.; Brown, R.; Kotta, G.

1992-01-01

While the Department of Veteran's Affairs Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP) is one of the most widely disseminated and successful hospital information systems in existence, it currently is accessed through a user interface which is not as mature as the rest of the system. This interface is a VT-100 compatible, character oriented interface using menus accessed by typed commands for feature access. This project demonstrated that a mature graphical user interface (MailMinder) can be successfully used as a "front-end" to DHCP. MailMinder is completely compatible with the existing unmodified DHCP electronic mail program, Mailman. MailMinder allows the user to be more efficient than the current interface and offers additional features over the current mail system. The program has undergone evaluation and limited deployment at five separate sites. The feature set of this program and its operation will be shown at this demonstration. The demonstration has implications for all current hospital information systems. PMID:1482995

Chief of Naval Air Training Automated Management Information System (CAMIS). User’s Guide.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-04-01

display. This display allows the user to insert, update, delete , or analyze various data elements, or generate reports. The Flight Schedule Input...instructor, student, and aircraft utiliza- tion. Additionally, it provides a means to delete any erroneous sortie information previously entered. 5...appear: 10 Technical Report 121 VT-## FLIGHT SCHEDULE PROGRAM 1. ADD NEW FLIGHT SCHEDULE DATA 2. DELETE ERRONEOUS SORTIES PREVIOUSLY ENTERED KEY IN

A Worldwide Glacier Information System to go

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mölg, N.; Steinmann, M.; Zemp, M.

2016-12-01

In the forefront of the Paris Climate Conference COP21 in December 2015, the WGMS and UNESCO jointly launched a glacier application for mobile devices. This new information system aims at bringing scientifically sound facts and figures on worldwide glacier changes to decision makers at governmental and intergovernmental levels as well as reaching out to the interested public. The wgms Glacier App provides a map interface based on satellite images that display all the observed glaciers in the user's proximity. Basic information is provided for each glacier, including photographs and general information on size and elevation. Graphs with observation data illustrate the glacier's development, along with information on latest principal investigators and their sponsoring agencies as well as detailed explanations of the measurement types. A text search allows the user to filter the glacier by name, country, region, measurement type and the current "health" status, i.e. if the glacier has gained or lost ice over the past decade. A compass shows the closest observed glaciers in all directions from the user's current position. Finally, the card game allows the user to compete against the computer on the best monitored glaciers in the world. Our poster provides a visual entrance point to the wgms Glacier App and, hence, provides access to fluctuation series of more than 3'700 glaciers around the world.

A self-paced motor imagery based brain-computer interface for robotic wheelchair control.

PubMed

Tsui, Chun Sing Louis; Gan, John Q; Hu, Huosheng

2011-10-01

This paper presents a simple self-paced motor imagery based brain-computer interface (BCI) to control a robotic wheelchair. An innovative control protocol is proposed to enable a 2-class self-paced BCI for wheelchair control, in which the user makes path planning and fully controls the wheelchair except for the automatic obstacle avoidance based on a laser range finder when necessary. In order for the users to train their motor imagery control online safely and easily, simulated robot navigation in a specially designed environment was developed. This allowed the users to practice motor imagery control with the core self-paced BCI system in a simulated scenario before controlling the wheelchair. The self-paced BCI can then be applied to control a real robotic wheelchair using a protocol similar to that controlling the simulated robot. Our emphasis is on allowing more potential users to use the BCI controlled wheelchair with minimal training; a simple 2-class self paced system is adequate with the novel control protocol, resulting in a better transition from offline training to online control. Experimental results have demonstrated the usefulness of the online practice under the simulated scenario, and the effectiveness of the proposed self-paced BCI for robotic wheelchair control.

Operation of the HP2250 with the HP9000 series 200 using PASCAL 3.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perry, John; Stroud, C. W.

1986-01-01

A computer program has been written to provide an interface between the HP Series 200 desktop computers, operating under HP Standard Pascal 3.0, and the HP2250 Data Acquisition and Control System. Pascal 3.0 for the HP9000 desktop computer gives a number of procedures for handling bus communication at various levels. It is necessary, however, to reach the lowest possible level in Pascal to handle the bus protocols required by the HP2250. This makes programming extremely complex since these protocols are not documented. The program described solves those problems and allows the user to immediately program, simply and efficiently, any measurement and control language (MCL/50) application with a few procedure calls. The complete set of procedures is available on a 5 1/4 inch diskette from Cosmic. Included in this group of procedures is an Exerciser which allows the user to exercise his HP2250 interactively. The exerciser operates in a fashion similar to the Series 200 operating system programs, but is adapted to the requirements of the HP2250. The programs on the diskette and the user's manual assume the user is acquainted with both the MCL/50 programming language and HP Standard Pascal 3.0 for the HP series 200 desktop computers.

A co-culture device with a tunable stiffness to understand combinatorial cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions.

PubMed

Rao, Nikhil; Grover, Gregory N; Vincent, Ludovic G; Evans, Samantha C; Choi, Yu Suk; Spencer, Katrina H; Hui, Elliot E; Engler, Adam J; Christman, Karen L

2013-11-01

Cell behavior on 2-D in vitro cultures is continually being improved to better mimic in vivo physiological conditions by combining niche cues including multiple cell types and substrate stiffness, which are well known to impact cell phenotype. However, no system exists in which a user can systematically examine cell behavior on a substrate with a specific stiffness (elastic modulus) in culture with a different cell type, while maintaining distinct cell populations. We demonstrate the modification of a silicon reconfigurable co-culture system with a covalently linked hydrogel of user-defined stiffness. This device allows the user to control whether two separate cell populations are in contact with each other or only experience paracrine interactions on substrates of controllable stiffness. To illustrate the utility of this device, we examined the role of substrate stiffness combined with myoblast co-culture on adipose derived stem cell (ASC) differentiation and found that the presence of myoblasts and a 10 kPa substrate stiffness increased ASC myogenesis versus co-culture on stiff substrates. As this example highlights, this technology better controls the in vitro microenvironment, allowing the user to develop a more thorough understanding of the combined effects of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions.

Making Interoperability Easier with the NASA Metadata Management Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shum, D.; Reese, M.; Pilone, D.; Mitchell, A. E.

2016-12-01

ISO 19115 has enabled interoperability amongst tools, yet many users find it hard to build ISO metadata for their collections because it can be large and overly flexible for their needs. The Metadata Management Tool (MMT), part of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), offers users a modern, easy to use browser based tool to develop ISO compliant metadata. Through a simplified UI experience, metadata curators can create and edit collections without any understanding of the complex ISO-19115 format, while still generating compliant metadata. The MMT is also able to assess the completeness of collection level metadata by evaluating it against a variety of metadata standards. The tool provides users with clear guidance as to how to change their metadata in order to improve their quality and compliance. It is based on NASA's Unified Metadata Model for Collections (UMM-C) which is a simpler metadata model which can be cleanly mapped to ISO 19115. This allows metadata authors and curators to meet ISO compliance requirements faster and more accurately. The MMT and UMM-C have been developed in an agile fashion, with recurring end user tests and reviews to continually refine the tool, the model and the ISO mappings. This process is allowing for continual improvement and evolution to meet the community's needs.

Computer assisted analysis of auroral images obtained from high altitude polar satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Samadani, Ramin; Flynn, Michael

1993-01-01

Automatic techniques that allow the extraction of physically significant parameters from auroral images were developed. This allows the processing of a much larger number of images than is currently possible with manual techniques. Our techniques were applied to diverse auroral image datasets. These results were made available to geophysicists at NASA and at universities in the form of a software system that performs the analysis. After some feedback from users, an upgraded system was transferred to NASA and to two universities. The feasibility of user-trained search and retrieval of large amounts of data using our automatically derived parameter indices was demonstrated. Techniques based on classification and regression trees (CART) were developed and applied to broaden the types of images to which the automated search and retrieval may be applied. Our techniques were tested with DE-1 auroral images.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones.

PubMed

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-08-20

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user's daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy.

VoCATS User Guide. [Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction, Raleigh. Div. of Vocational Education Services.

This guide focuses on use of the North Carolina Vocational Competency Achievement Tracking System (VoCATS)-designated software in the instructional management process. (VoCATS is a competency-based, computer-based instructional management system that allows the collection of data on student performance achievement prior to, during, and following…

Free-floating carsharing systems: innovations in membership prediction, mode share, and vehicle allocation optimization methodologies.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-08-01

"Free-floating carsharing systems are among the newest types of carsharing programs. They allow one-way rentals and have no set homes or docks for the carsharing vehicles; instead, users are permitted to drive the vehicles anywhere within the o...

Remote coding scheme based on waveguide Bragg grating in PLC splitter chip for PON monitoring.

PubMed

Zhang, Xuan; Lu, Fengjun; Chen, Si; Zhao, Xingqun; Zhu, Min; Sun, Xiaohan

2016-03-07

A distributing arranged waveguide Bragg gratings (WBGs) in PLC splitter chip based remote coding scheme is proposed and analyzed for passive optical network (PON) monitoring, by which the management system can identify each drop fiber link through the same reflector in the terminal of each optical network unit, even though there exist several equidistant users. The corresponding coding and capacity models are respectively established and investigated so that we can obtain a minimum number of the WBGs needed under the condition of the distributed structure. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) model related to the number of equidistant users is also developed to extend the analyses for the overall performance of the system. Simulation results show the proposed scheme is feasible and allow the monitoring of a 64 users PON with SNR range of 7.5~10.6dB. The scheme can solve some of difficulties of construction site at the lower user cost for PON system.

A Data Management System for International Space Station Simulation Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Betts, Bradley J.; DelMundo, Rommel; Elcott, Sharif; McIntosh, Dawn; Niehaus, Brian; Papasin, Richard; Mah, Robert W.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Groups associated with the design, operational, and training aspects of the International Space Station make extensive use of modeling and simulation tools. Users of these tools often need to access and manipulate large quantities of data associated with the station, ranging from design documents to wiring diagrams. Retrieving and manipulating this data directly within the simulation and modeling environment can provide substantial benefit to users. An approach for providing these kinds of data management services, including a database schema and class structure, is presented. Implementation details are also provided as a data management system is integrated into the Intelligent Virtual Station, a modeling and simulation tool developed by the NASA Ames Smart Systems Research Laboratory. One use of the Intelligent Virtual Station is generating station-related training procedures in a virtual environment, The data management component allows users to quickly and easily retrieve information related to objects on the station, enhancing their ability to generate accurate procedures. Users can associate new information with objects and have that information stored in a database.

KIPSE1: A Knowledge-based Interactive Problem Solving Environment for data estimation and pattern classification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Han, Chia Yung; Wan, Liqun; Wee, William G.

1990-01-01

A knowledge-based interactive problem solving environment called KIPSE1 is presented. The KIPSE1 is a system built on a commercial expert system shell, the KEE system. This environment gives user capability to carry out exploratory data analysis and pattern classification tasks. A good solution often consists of a sequence of steps with a set of methods used at each step. In KIPSE1, solution is represented in the form of a decision tree and each node of the solution tree represents a partial solution to the problem. Many methodologies are provided at each node to the user such that the user can interactively select the method and data sets to test and subsequently examine the results. Otherwise, users are allowed to make decisions at various stages of problem solving to subdivide the problem into smaller subproblems such that a large problem can be handled and a better solution can be found.

SU-E-T-25: Real Time Simulator for Designing Electron Dual Scattering Foil Systems.

PubMed

Carver, R; Hogstrom, K; Price, M; Leblanc, J; Harris, G

2012-06-01

To create a user friendly, accurate, real time computer simulator to facilitate the design of dual foil scattering systems for electron beams on radiotherapy accelerators. The simulator should allow for a relatively quick, initial design that can be refined and verified with subsequent Monte Carlo (MC) calculations and measurements. The simulator consists of an analytical algorithm for calculating electron fluence and a graphical user interface (GUI) C++ program. The algorithm predicts electron fluence using Fermi-Eyges multiple Coulomb scattering theory with a refined Moliere formalism for scattering powers. The simulator also estimates central-axis x-ray dose contamination from the dual foil system. Once the geometry of the beamline is specified, the simulator allows the user to continuously vary primary scattering foil material and thickness, secondary scattering foil material and Gaussian shape (thickness and sigma), and beam energy. The beam profile and x-ray contamination are displayed in real time. The simulator was tuned by comparison of off-axis electron fluence profiles with those calculated using EGSnrc MC. Over the energy range 7-20 MeV and using present foils on the Elekta radiotherapy accelerator, the simulator profiles agreed to within 2% of MC profiles from within 20 cm of the central axis. The x-ray contamination predictions matched measured data to within 0.6%. The calculation time was approximately 100 ms using a single processor, which allows for real-time variation of foil parameters using sliding bars. A real time dual scattering foil system simulator has been developed. The tool has been useful in a project to redesign an electron dual scattering foil system for one of our radiotherapy accelerators. The simulator has also been useful as an instructional tool for our medical physics graduate students. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Supporting the Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment using distributed user interfaces.

PubMed

Tesoriero, Ricardo; Gallud Lazaro, Jose A; Altalhi, Abdulrahman H

2017-02-01

Improve the quantity and quality of information obtained from traditional Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment Battery systems to monitor the evolution of patients' rehabilitation process as well as to compare different rehabilitation therapies. The system replaces traditional artefacts with virtual versions of them to take advantage of cutting edge interaction technology. The system is defined as a Distributed User Interface (DUI) supported by a display ecosystem, including mobile devices as well as multi-touch surfaces. Due to the heterogeneity of the devices involved in the system, the software technology is based on a client-server architecture using the Web as the software platform. The system provides therapists with information that is not available (or it is very difficult to gather) using traditional technologies (i.e. response time measurements, object tracking, information storage and retrieval facilities, etc.). The use of DUIs allows therapists to gather information that is unavailable using traditional assessment methods as well as adapt the system to patients' profile to increase the range of patients that are able to take this assessment. Implications for Rehabilitation Using a Distributed User Interface environment to carry out LOTCAs improves the quality of the information gathered during the rehabilitation assessment. This system captures physical data regarding patient's interaction during the assessment to improve the rehabilitation process analysis. Allows professionals to adapt the assessment procedure to create different versions according to patients' profile. Improves the availability of patients' profile information to therapists to adapt the assessment procedure.

Intelligent viewing control for robotic and automation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schenker, Paul S.; Peters, Stephen F.; Paljug, Eric D.; Kim, Won S.

1994-10-01

We present a new system for supervisory automated control of multiple remote cameras. Our primary purpose in developing this system has been to provide capability for knowledge- based, `hands-off' viewing during execution of teleoperation/telerobotic tasks. The reported technology has broader applicability to remote surveillance, telescience observation, automated manufacturing workcells, etc. We refer to this new capability as `Intelligent Viewing Control (IVC),' distinguishing it from a simple programmed camera motion control. In the IVC system, camera viewing assignment, sequencing, positioning, panning, and parameter adjustment (zoom, focus, aperture, etc.) are invoked and interactively executed by real-time by a knowledge-based controller, drawing on a priori known task models and constraints, including operator preferences. This multi-camera control is integrated with a real-time, high-fidelity 3D graphics simulation, which is correctly calibrated in perspective to the actual cameras and their platform kinematics (translation/pan-tilt). Such merged graphics- with-video design allows the system user to preview and modify the planned (`choreographed') viewing sequences. Further, during actual task execution, the system operator has available both the resulting optimized video sequence, as well as supplementary graphics views from arbitrary perspectives. IVC, including operator-interactive designation of robot task actions, is presented to the user as a well-integrated video-graphic single screen user interface allowing easy access to all relevant telerobot communication/command/control resources. We describe and show pictorial results of a preliminary IVC system implementation for telerobotic servicing of a satellite.

Podium: Ranking Data Using Mixed-Initiative Visual Analytics.

PubMed

Wall, Emily; Das, Subhajit; Chawla, Ravish; Kalidindi, Bharath; Brown, Eli T; Endert, Alex

2018-01-01

People often rank and order data points as a vital part of making decisions. Multi-attribute ranking systems are a common tool used to make these data-driven decisions. Such systems often take the form of a table-based visualization in which users assign weights to the attributes representing the quantifiable importance of each attribute to a decision, which the system then uses to compute a ranking of the data. However, these systems assume that users are able to quantify their conceptual understanding of how important particular attributes are to a decision. This is not always easy or even possible for users to do. Rather, people often have a more holistic understanding of the data. They form opinions that data point A is better than data point B but do not necessarily know which attributes are important. To address these challenges, we present a visual analytic application to help people rank multi-variate data points. We developed a prototype system, Podium, that allows users to drag rows in the table to rank order data points based on their perception of the relative value of the data. Podium then infers a weighting model using Ranking SVM that satisfies the user's data preferences as closely as possible. Whereas past systems help users understand the relationships between data points based on changes to attribute weights, our approach helps users to understand the attributes that might inform their understanding of the data. We present two usage scenarios to describe some of the potential uses of our proposed technique: (1) understanding which attributes contribute to a user's subjective preferences for data, and (2) deconstructing attributes of importance for existing rankings. Our proposed approach makes powerful machine learning techniques more usable to those who may not have expertise in these areas.

SIRSALE: integrated video database management tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunie, Lionel; Favory, Loic; Gelas, J. P.; Lefevre, Laurent; Mostefaoui, Ahmed; Nait-Abdesselam, F.

2002-07-01

Video databases became an active field of research during the last decade. The main objective in such systems is to provide users with capabilities to friendly search, access and playback distributed stored video data in the same way as they do for traditional distributed databases. Hence, such systems need to deal with hard issues : (a) video documents generate huge volumes of data and are time sensitive (streams must be delivered at a specific bitrate), (b) contents of video data are very hard to be automatically extracted and need to be humanly annotated. To cope with these issues, many approaches have been proposed in the literature including data models, query languages, video indexing etc. In this paper, we present SIRSALE : a set of video databases management tools that allow users to manipulate video documents and streams stored in large distributed repositories. All the proposed tools are based on generic models that can be customized for specific applications using ad-hoc adaptation modules. More precisely, SIRSALE allows users to : (a) browse video documents by structures (sequences, scenes, shots) and (b) query the video database content by using a graphical tool, adapted to the nature of the target video documents. This paper also presents an annotating interface which allows archivists to describe the content of video documents. All these tools are coupled to a video player integrating remote VCR functionalities and are based on active network technology. So, we present how dedicated active services allow an optimized video transport for video streams (with Tamanoir active nodes). We then describe experiments of using SIRSALE on an archive of news video and soccer matches. The system has been demonstrated to professionals with a positive feedback. Finally, we discuss open issues and present some perspectives.

Dynamic image fusion and general observer preference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burks, Stephen D.; Doe, Joshua M.

2010-04-01

Recent developments in image fusion give the user community many options for ways of presenting the imagery to an end-user. Individuals at the US Army RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate have developed an electronic system that allows users to quickly and efficiently determine optimal image fusion algorithms and color parameters based upon collected imagery and videos from environments that are typical to observers in a military environment. After performing multiple multi-band data collections in a variety of military-like scenarios, different waveband, fusion algorithm, image post-processing, and color choices are presented to observers as an output of the fusion system. The observer preferences can give guidelines as to how specific scenarios should affect the presentation of fused imagery.

Modularizing Spatial Ontologies for Assisted Living Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hois, Joana

Assisted living systems are intended to support daily-life activities in user homes by automatizing and monitoring behavior of the environment while interacting with the user in a non-intrusive way. The knowledge base of such systems therefore has to define thematically different aspects of the environment mostly related to space, such as basic spatial floor plan information, pieces of technical equipment in the environment and their functions and spatial ranges, activities users can perform, entities that occur in the environment, etc. In this paper, we present thematically different ontologies, each of which describing environmental aspects from a particular perspective. The resulting modular structure allows the selection of application-specific ontologies as necessary. This hides information and reduces complexity in terms of the represented spatial knowledge and reasoning practicability. We motivate and present the different spatial ontologies applied to an ambient assisted living application.

Moving Ahead With Eye Power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's collaborated with LC Technologies, Inc., to improve LCT's Eyegaze Communication System, an eye tracker that enables people with severe cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, strokes, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) to communicate and control their environment using their eye movements. To operate the system, the user sits in front of the computer monitor while the camera focuses on one eye. By looking at control keys on the monitor for a fraction of a second, the user can 'talk' with speech synthesis, type, operate a telephone, access the Internet and e-mail, and run computer software. Nothing is attached to the user's head or body, and the improved size and portability allow the system to be mounted on a wheelchair. LCT and JPL are working on several other areas of improvement that have commercial add-on potential.

Expert system development methodology and the transition from prototyping to operations: FIESTA, a case study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Happell, Nadine; Miksell, Steve; Carlisle, Candace

1989-01-01

A major barrier in taking expert systems from prototype to operational status involves instilling end user confidence in the operational system. The software of different life cycle models is examined and the advantages and disadvantages of each when applied to expert system development are explored. The Fault Isolation Expert System for Tracking and data relay satellite system Applications (FIESTA) is presented as a case study of development of an expert system. The end user confidence necessary for operational use of this system is accentuated by the fact that it will handle real-time data in a secure environment, allowing little tolerance for errors. How FIESTA is dealing with transition problems as it moves from an off-line standalone prototype to an on-line real-time system is discussed.

Expert system development methodology and the transition from prototyping to operations - Fiesta, a case study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Happell, Nadine; Miksell, Steve; Carlisle, Candace

1989-01-01

A major barrier in taking expert systems from prototype to operational status involves instilling end user confidence in the operational system. The software of different life cycle models is examined and the advantages and disadvantages of each when applied to expert system development are explored. The Fault Isolation Expert System for Tracking and data relay satellite system Applications (FIESTA) is presented as a case study of development of an expert system. The end user confidence necessary for operational use of this system is accentuated by the fact that it will handle real-time data in a secure environment, allowing little tolerance for errors. How FIESTA is dealing with transition problems as it moves from an off-line standalone prototype to an on-line real-time system is discussed.

Enhancing Evacuation Plans with a Situation Awareness System Based on End-User Knowledge Provision

PubMed Central

Morales, Augusto; Alcarria, Ramon; Martin, Diego; Robles, Tomas

2014-01-01

Recent disasters have shown that having clearly defined preventive procedures and decisions is a critical component that minimizes evacuation hazards and ensures a rapid and successful evolution of evacuation plans. In this context, we present our Situation-Aware System for enhancing Evacuation Plans (SASEP) system, which allows creating end-user business rules that technically support the specific events, conditions and actions related to evacuation plans. An experimental validation was carried out where 32 people faced a simulated emergency situation, 16 of them using SASEP and the other 16 using a legacy system based on static signs. From the results obtained, we compare both techniques and discuss in which situations SASEP offers a better evacuation route option, confirming that it is highly valuable when there is a threat in the evacuation route. In addition, a study about user satisfaction using both systems is presented showing in which cases the systems are assessed as satisfactory, relevant and not frustrating. PMID:24961212

Real-Time Remote Monitoring with Data Acquisition System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faizal Zainal Abidin, Ahmad; Huzaimy Jusoh, Mohammad; James, Elster; Junid, Syed Abdul Mutalib Al; Mohd Yassin, Ahmad Ihsan

2015-11-01

The purpose of this system is to provide monitoring system for an electrical device and enable remote monitoring via web based application. This monitoring system allow the user to monitor the device condition from anywhere as the information will be synchronised to the website. The current and voltage reading of the monitored equipment, ambient temperature and humidity level are monitored and recorded. These parameters will be updated on the web page. All these sensor are connected to the microcontroller and the data will saved in micro secure digital (SD) card and send all the gathered information to a web page using the GPRS service connection synchronously. The collected data will be displayed on the website and the user enable to download the data directly from the website. The system will help user to monitor the devices condition and ambient changes with ease. The system is successfully developed, tested and has been installed at residential area in Taman Cahaya Alam, Section U12, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.

Enhancing evacuation plans with a situation awareness system based on end-user knowledge provision.

PubMed

Morales, Augusto; Alcarria, Ramon; Martin, Diego; Robles, Tomas

2014-06-24

Recent disasters have shown that having clearly defined preventive procedures and decisions is a critical component that minimizes evacuation hazards and ensures a rapid and successful evolution of evacuation plans. In this context, we present our Situation-Aware System for enhancing Evacuation Plans (SASEP) system, which allows creating end-user business rules that technically support the specific events, conditions and actions related to evacuation plans. An experimental validation was carried out where 32 people faced a simulated emergency situation, 16 of them using SASEP and the other 16 using a legacy system based on static signs. From the results obtained, we compare both techniques and discuss in which situations SASEP offers a better evacuation route option, confirming that it is highly valuable when there is a threat in the evacuation route. In addition, a study about user satisfaction using both systems is presented showing in which cases the systems are assessed as satisfactory, relevant and not frustrating.

Scheduler software for tracking and data relay satellite system loading analysis: User manual and programmer guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Craft, R.; Dunn, C.; Mccord, J.; Simeone, L.

1980-01-01

A user guide and programmer documentation is provided for a system of PRIME 400 minicomputer programs. The system was designed to support loading analyses on the Tracking Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). The system is a scheduler for various types of data relays (including tape recorder dumps and real time relays) from orbiting payloads to the TDRSS. Several model options are available to statistically generate data relay requirements. TDRSS time lines (representing resources available for scheduling) and payload/TDRSS acquisition and loss of sight time lines are input to the scheduler from disk. Tabulated output from the interactive system includes a summary of the scheduler activities over time intervals specified by the user and overall summary of scheduler input and output information. A history file, which records every event generated by the scheduler, is written to disk to allow further scheduling on remaining resources and to provide data for graphic displays or additional statistical analysis.

Advanced Strategic and Tactical Relay Request Management for the Mars Relay Operations Service

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allard, Daniel A.; Wallick, Michael N.; Gladden, Roy E.; Wang, Paul; Hy, Franklin H.

2013-01-01

This software provides a new set of capabilities for the Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) in support of Strategic and Tactical relay, including a highly interactive relay request Web user interface, mission control over relay planning time periods, and mission management of allowed strategic vs. tactical request parameters. Together, these new capabilities expand the scope of the system to include all elements critical for Tactical relay operations. Planning of replay activities spans a time period that is split into two distinct phases. The first phase is called Strategic, which begins at the time that relay opportunities are identified, and concludes at the point that the orbiter generates the flight sequences for on board execution. Any relay request changes from this point on are called Tactical. Tactical requests, otherwise called Orbit - er Relay State Changes (ORSC), are highly restricted in terms of what types of changes can be made, and the types of parameters that can be changed may differ from one orbiter to the next. For example, one orbiter may be able to delay the start of a relay request, while another may not. The legacy approach to ORSC management involves exchanges of e-mail with "requests for change" and "acknowledgement of approval," with no other tracking of changes outside of e-mail folders. MaROS Phases 1 and 2 provided the infrastructure for strategic relay for all supported missions. This new version, 3.0, introduces several capabilities that fully expand the scope of the system to include tactical relay. One new feature allows orbiter users to manage and "lock" Planning Periods, which allows the orbiter team to formalize the changeover from Strategic to Tactical operations. Another major feature allows users to interactively submit tactical request changes via a Web user interface. A third new feature allows orbiter missions to specify allowed tactical updates, which are automatically incorporated into the tactical change process. This software update is significant in that it provides the only centralized service for tactical request management available for relay missions.

P43-S Computational Biology Applications Suite for High-Performance Computing (BioHPC.net)

PubMed Central

Pillardy, J.

2007-01-01

One of the challenges of high-performance computing (HPC) is user accessibility. At the Cornell University Computational Biology Service Unit, which is also a Microsoft HPC institute, we have developed a computational biology application suite that allows researchers from biological laboratories to submit their jobs to the parallel cluster through an easy-to-use Web interface. Through this system, we are providing users with popular bioinformatics tools including BLAST, HMMER, InterproScan, and MrBayes. The system is flexible and can be easily customized to include other software. It is also scalable; the installation on our servers currently processes approximately 8500 job submissions per year, many of them requiring massively parallel computations. It also has a built-in user management system, which can limit software and/or database access to specified users. TAIR, the major database of the plant model organism Arabidopsis, and SGN, the international tomato genome database, are both using our system for storage and data analysis. The system consists of a Web server running the interface (ASP.NET C#), Microsoft SQL server (ADO.NET), compute cluster running Microsoft Windows, ftp server, and file server. Users can interact with their jobs and data via a Web browser, ftp, or e-mail. The interface is accessible at http://cbsuapps.tc.cornell.edu/.

WEB-GIS Decision Support System for CO2 storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaitanaru, Dragos; Leonard, Anghel; Radu Gogu, Constantin; Le Guen, Yvi; Scradeanu, Daniel; Pagnejer, Mihaela

2013-04-01

Environmental decision support systems (DSS) paradigm evolves and changes as more knowledge and technology become available to the environmental community. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to extract, assess and disseminate some types of information, which are otherwise difficult to access by traditional methods. In the same time, with the help of the Internet and accompanying tools, creating and publishing online interactive maps has become easier and rich with options. The Decision Support System (MDSS) developed for the MUSTANG (A MUltiple Space and Time scale Approach for the quaNtification of deep saline formations for CO2 storaGe) project is a user friendly web based application that uses the GIS capabilities. MDSS can be exploited by the experts for CO2 injection and storage in deep saline aquifers. The main objective of the MDSS is to help the experts to take decisions based large structured types of data and information. In order to achieve this objective the MDSS has a geospatial objected-orientated database structure for a wide variety of data and information. The entire application is based on several principles leading to a series of capabilities and specific characteristics: (i) Open-Source - the entire platform (MDSS) is based on open-source technologies - (1) database engine, (2) application server, (3) geospatial server, (4) user interfaces, (5) add-ons, etc. (ii) Multiple database connections - MDSS is capable to connect to different databases that are located on different server machines. (iii)Desktop user experience - MDSS architecture and design follows the structure of a desktop software. (iv)Communication - the server side and the desktop are bound together by series functions that allows the user to upload, use, modify and download data within the application. The architecture of the system involves one database and a modular application composed by: (1) a visualization module, (2) an analysis module, (3) a guidelines module, and (4) a risk assessment module. The Database component is build by using the PostgreSQL and PostGIS open source technology. The visualization module allows the user to view data of CO2 injection sites in different ways: (1) geospatial visualization, (2) table view, (3) 3D visualization. The analysis module will allow the user to perform certain analysis like Injectivity, Containment and Capacity analysis. The Risk Assessment module focus on the site risk matrix approach. The Guidelines module contains the methodologies of CO2 injection and storage into deep saline aquifers guidelines.

Flexible software architecture for user-interface and machine control in laboratory automation.

PubMed

Arutunian, E B; Meldrum, D R; Friedman, N A; Moody, S E

1998-10-01

We describe a modular, layered software architecture for automated laboratory instruments. The design consists of a sophisticated user interface, a machine controller and multiple individual hardware subsystems, each interacting through a client-server architecture built entirely on top of open Internet standards. In our implementation, the user-interface components are built as Java applets that are downloaded from a server integrated into the machine controller. The user-interface client can thereby provide laboratory personnel with a familiar environment for experiment design through a standard World Wide Web browser. Data management and security are seamlessly integrated at the machine-controller layer using QNX, a real-time operating system. This layer also controls hardware subsystems through a second client-server interface. This architecture has proven flexible and relatively easy to implement and allows users to operate laboratory automation instruments remotely through an Internet connection. The software architecture was implemented and demonstrated on the Acapella, an automated fluid-sample-processing system that is under development at the University of Washington.

Expanding Learning and Social Interaction through Intelligent Systems Design: Implementing a Reputation and Recommender System for the Claremont Conversation Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thoms, Brian

2009-01-01

In this dissertation I examine the design, construction and implementation of an online blog ratings and user recommender system for the Claremont Conversation Online (CCO). In line with constructivist learning models and practical information systems (IS) design, I implemented a blog ratings system (a system that can be extended to allow for…

FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF A CAMERA PHONE-BASED WAYFINDING SYSTEM OPERATED BY BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED USERS

PubMed Central

COUGHLAN, JAMES; MANDUCHI, ROBERTO

2009-01-01

We describe a wayfinding system for blind and visually impaired persons that uses a camera phone to determine the user's location with respect to color markers, posted at locations of interest (such as offices), which are automatically detected by the phone. The color marker signs are specially designed to be detected in real time in cluttered environments using computer vision software running on the phone; a novel segmentation algorithm quickly locates the borders of the color marker in each image, which allows the system to calculate how far the marker is from the phone. We present a model of how the user's scanning strategy (i.e. how he/she pans the phone left and right to find color markers) affects the system's ability to detect color markers given the limitations imposed by motion blur, which is always a possibility whenever a camera is in motion. Finally, we describe experiments with our system tested by blind and visually impaired volunteers, demonstrating their ability to reliably use the system to find locations designated by color markers in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, and elucidating which search strategies were most effective for users. PMID:19960101

FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF A CAMERA PHONE-BASED WAYFINDING SYSTEM OPERATED BY BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED USERS.

PubMed

Coughlan, James; Manduchi, Roberto

2009-06-01

We describe a wayfinding system for blind and visually impaired persons that uses a camera phone to determine the user's location with respect to color markers, posted at locations of interest (such as offices), which are automatically detected by the phone. The color marker signs are specially designed to be detected in real time in cluttered environments using computer vision software running on the phone; a novel segmentation algorithm quickly locates the borders of the color marker in each image, which allows the system to calculate how far the marker is from the phone. We present a model of how the user's scanning strategy (i.e. how he/she pans the phone left and right to find color markers) affects the system's ability to detect color markers given the limitations imposed by motion blur, which is always a possibility whenever a camera is in motion. Finally, we describe experiments with our system tested by blind and visually impaired volunteers, demonstrating their ability to reliably use the system to find locations designated by color markers in a variety of indoor and outdoor environments, and elucidating which search strategies were most effective for users.