WorldWideScience

Sample records for composing reusable software

  1. Software Atom: An approach towards software components structuring to improve reusability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Hussain Mughal

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Diversity of application domain compelled to design sustainable classification scheme for significantly amassing software repository. The atomic reusable software components are articulated to improve the software component reusability in volatile industry.  Numerous approaches of software classification have been proposed over past decades. Each approach has some limitations related to coupling and cohesion. In this paper, we proposed a novel approach by constituting the software based on radical functionalities to improve software reusability. We analyze the element's semantics in Periodic Table used in chemistry to design our classification approach, and present this approach using tree-based classification to curtail software repository search space complexity and further refined based on semantic search techniques. We developed a Global unique Identifier (GUID for indexing the functions and related components. We have exploited the correlation between chemistry element and software elements to simulate one to one mapping between them. Our approach is inspired from sustainability chemical periodic table. We have proposed software periodic table (SPT representing atomic software components extracted from real application software. Based on SPT classified repository tree parsing & extraction to enable the user to program their software by customizing the ingredients of software requirements. The classified repository of software ingredients assist user to exploits their requirements to software engineer and enable requirement engineer to develop a rapid large-scale prototype with great essence. Furthermore, we would predict the usability of the categorized repository based on feedback of users.  The continuous evolution of that proposed repository will be fine-tuned based on utilization and SPT would be gradually optimized by ant colony optimization techniques. Succinctly would provoke automating the software development process.

  2. RAGE Reusable Game Software Components and Their Integration into Serious Game Engines

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van der Vegt, Wim; Nyamsuren, Enkhbold; Westera, Wim

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents and validates a methodology for integrating reusable software components in diverse game engines. While conforming to the RAGE com-ponent-based architecture described elsewhere, the paper explains how the interac-tions and data exchange processes between a reusable software

  3. Component Composability Issues in Object-Oriented Programming

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aksit, Mehmet; Tekinerdogan, B.

    1997-01-01

    Building software from reusable components is considered important in reducing development costs. Object-oriented languages such as C++, Smalltalk and Java, however, are not capable of expressing certain aspects of applications in a composable way. Software engineers may experience difficulties in

  4. CLARAty: Challenges and Steps Toward Reusable Robotic Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Madison

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available We present in detail some of the challenges in developing reusable robotic software. We base that on our experience in developing the CLARAty robotics software, which is a generic object-oriented framework used for the integration of new algorithms in the areas of motion control, vision, manipulation, locomotion, navigation, localization, planning and execution. CLARAty was adapted to a number of heterogeneous robots with different mechanisms and hardware control architectures. In this paper, we also describe how we addressed some of these challenges in the development of the CLARAty software.

  5. CLARAty: Challenges and Steps toward Reusable Robotic Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Issa A.D. Nesnas

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available We present in detail some of the challenges in developing reusable robotic software. We base that on our experience in developing the CLARAty robotics software, which is a generic object-oriented framework used for the integration of new algorithms in the areas of motion control, vision, manipulation, locomotion, navigation, localization, planning and execution. CLARAty was adapted to a number of heterogeneous robots with different mechanisms and hardware control architectures. In this paper, we also describe how we addressed some of these challenges in the development of the CLARAty software.

  6. A Reusable Software Architecture for Small Satellite AOCS Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alminde, Lars; Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Laursen, Karl Kaas

    2006-01-01

    This paper concerns the software architecture called Sophy, which is an abbreviation for Simulation, Observation, and Planning in HYbrid systems. We present a framework that allows execution of hybrid dynamical systems in an on-line distributed computing environment, which includes interaction...... with both hardware and on-board software. Some of the key issues addressed by the framework are automatic translation of mathematical specifications of hybrid systems into executable software entities, management of execution of coupled models in a parallel distributed environment, as well as interaction...... with external components, hardware and/or software, through generic interfaces. Sophy is primarily intended as a tool for development of model based reusable software for the control and autonomous functions of satellites and/or satellite clusters....

  7. Intelligent, reusable software for plug and play space avionics, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Space Micro proposes to build upon our existing space processing and hardening technologies and products e.g (Proton 200K), to research and develop reusable software...

  8. Developing Reusable and Reconfigurable Real-Time Software using Aspects and Components

    OpenAIRE

    Tešanović, Aleksandra

    2006-01-01

    Our main focus in this thesis is on providing guidelines, methods, and tools for design, configuration, and analysis of configurable and reusable real-time software, developed using a combination of aspect-oriented and component-based software development. Specifically, we define a reconfigurable real-time component model (RTCOM) that describes how a real-time component, supporting aspects and enforcing information hiding, could efficiently be designed and implemented. In this context, we out...

  9. DOOCS patterns, reusable software components for FPGA based RF GUN field controller

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pucyk, P. [Institute of Electronic Systems, Warsaw (Poland)

    2006-07-01

    Modern accelerator technology combines software and hardware solutions to provide distributed, high efficiency digital systems for High Energy Physics experiments. Providing flexible, maintainable software is crucial for ensuring high availability of the whole system. In order to fulfil all these requirements, appropriate design and development techniques have to be used. Software patterns are well known solution for common programming issues, providing proven development paradigms, which can help to avoid many design issues. DOOCS patterns introduces new concepts of reusable software components for control system algorithms development and implementation in DOOCS framework. Chosen patterns have been described and usage examples have been presented in this paper. (orig.)

  10. DOOCS patterns, reusable software components for FPGA based RF GUN field controller

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pucyk, P.

    2006-01-01

    Modern accelerator technology combines software and hardware solutions to provide distributed, high efficiency digital systems for High Energy Physics experiments. Providing flexible, maintainable software is crucial for ensuring high availability of the whole system. In order to fulfil all these requirements, appropriate design and development techniques have to be used. Software patterns are well known solution for common programming issues, providing proven development paradigms, which can help to avoid many design issues. DOOCS patterns introduces new concepts of reusable software components for control system algorithms development and implementation in DOOCS framework. Chosen patterns have been described and usage examples have been presented in this paper. (orig.)

  11. Reusable Rack Interface Controller Common Software for Various Science Research Racks on the International Space Station

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, George C.

    2003-01-01

    The purpose of the EXPRESS (Expedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station) rack project is to provide a set of predefined interfaces for scientific payloads which allow rapid integration into a payload rack on International Space Station (ISS). VxWorks' was selected as the operating system for the rack and payload resource controller, primarily based on the proliferation of VME (Versa Module Eurocard) products. These products provide needed flexibility for future hardware upgrades to meet everchanging science research rack configuration requirements. On the International Space Station, there are multiple science research rack configurations, including: 1) Human Research Facility (HRF); 2) EXPRESS ARIS (Active Rack Isolation System); 3) WORF (Window Observational Research Facility); and 4) HHR (Habitat Holding Rack). The RIC (Rack Interface Controller) connects payloads to the ISS bus architecture for data transfer between the payload and ground control. The RIC is a general purpose embedded computer which supports multiple communication protocols, including fiber optic communication buses, Ethernet buses, EIA-422, Mil-Std-1553 buses, SMPTE (Society Motion Picture Television Engineers)-170M video, and audio interfaces to payloads and the ISS. As a cost saving and software reliability strategy, the Boeing Payload Software Organization developed reusable common software where appropriate. These reusable modules included a set of low-level driver software interfaces to 1553B. RS232, RS422, Ethernet buses, HRDL (High Rate Data Link), video switch functionality, telemetry processing, and executive software hosted on the FUC computer. These drivers formed the basis for software development of the HRF, EXPRESS, EXPRESS ARIS, WORF, and HHR RIC executable modules. The reusable RIC common software has provided extensive benefits, including: 1) Significant reduction in development flow time; 2) Minimal rework and maintenance; 3) Improved reliability; and 4) Overall

  12. A Reusable Software Copy Protection Using Hash Result and Asymetrical Encryption

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aswin Wibisurya

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Desktop application is one of the most popular types of application being used in computer due to the one time install simplicity and the quick accessibility from the moment the computer being turned on. Limitation of the copy and usage of desktop applications has long been an important issue to application providers. For security concerns, software copy protection is usually integrated with the application. However, developers seek to reuse the copy protection component of the software. This paper proposes an approach of reusable software copy protection which consists of a certificate validator on the client computer and a certificate generator on the server. The certificate validator integrity is protected using hashing result while all communications are encrypted using asymmetrical encryption to ensure the security of this approach.

  13. Reusable Software Usability Specifications for mHealth Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz Zapata, Belén; Fernández-Alemán, José Luis; Toval, Ambrosio; Idri, Ali

    2018-01-25

    One of the key factors for the adoption of mobile technologies, and in particular of mobile health applications, is usability. A usable application will be easier to use and understand by users, and will improve user's interaction with it. This paper proposes a software requirements catalog for usable mobile health applications, which can be used for the development of new applications, or the evaluation of existing ones. The catalog is based on the main identified sources in literature on usability and mobile health applications. Our catalog was organized according to the ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2011 standard and follows the SIREN methodology to create reusable catalogs. The applicability of the catalog was verified by the creation of an audit method, which was used to perform the evaluation of a real app, S Health, application created by Samsung Electronics Co. The usability requirements catalog, along with the audit method, identified several usability flaws on the evaluated app, which scored 83%. Some flaws were detected in the app related to the navigation pattern. Some more issues related to the startup experience, empty screens or writing style were also found. The way a user navigates through an application improves or deteriorates user's experience with the application. We proposed a reusable usability catalog and an audit method. This proposal was used to evaluate a mobile health application. An audit report was created with the usability issues identified on the evaluated application.

  14. A CORBA BASED ARCHITECTURE FOR ACCESSING REUSABLE SOFTWARE COMPONENTS ON THE WEB.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Cenk ERDUR

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available In a very near future, as a result of the continious growth of Internet and advances in networking technologies, Internet will become the common software repository for people and organizations who employ component based reuse approach in their software development life cycles. In order to use the reusable components such as source codes, analysis, designs, design patterns during new software development processes, environments that support the identification of the components over Internet are needed. Basic elements of such an environment are the coordinator programs which deliver user requests to appropriate component libraries, user interfaces for querying, and programs that wrap the component libraries. First, a CORBA based architecture is proposed for such an environment. Then, an alternative architecture that is based on the Java 2 platform technologies is given for the same environment. Finally, the two architectures are compared.

  15. Reusability Framework for Cloud Computing

    OpenAIRE

    Singh, Sukhpal; Singh, Rishideep

    2012-01-01

    Cloud based development is a challenging task for several software engineering projects, especially for those which needs development with reusability. Present time of cloud computing is allowing new professional models for using the software development. The expected upcoming trend of computing is assumed to be this cloud computing because of speed of application deployment, shorter time to market, and lower cost of operation. Until Cloud Co mputing Reusability Model is considered a fundamen...

  16. Transportable Payload Operations Control Center reusable software: Building blocks for quality ground data systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahmot, Ron; Koslosky, John T.; Beach, Edward; Schwarz, Barbara

    1994-01-01

    The Mission Operations Division (MOD) at Goddard Space Flight Center builds Mission Operations Centers which are used by Flight Operations Teams to monitor and control satellites. Reducing system life cycle costs through software reuse has always been a priority of the MOD. The MOD's Transportable Payload Operations Control Center development team established an extensive library of 14 subsystems with over 100,000 delivered source instructions of reusable, generic software components. Nine TPOCC-based control centers to date support 11 satellites and achieved an average software reuse level of more than 75 percent. This paper shares experiences of how the TPOCC building blocks were developed and how building block developer's, mission development teams, and users are all part of the process.

  17. Composing Synchronisation and Real-Time Constraints

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bergmans, Lodewijk; Aksit, Mehmet

    There have been a number of publications illustrating the successes of object-oriented techniques in creating highly reusable software systems. Several concurrent languages have been proposed for specifying reusable synchronization specifications. Recently, a number of real-time object-oriented

  18. Characterizing and Modeling the Cost of Rework in a Library of Reusable Software Components

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basili, Victor R.; Condon, Steven E.; ElEmam, Khaled; Hendrick, Robert B.; Melo, Walcelio

    1997-01-01

    In this paper we characterize and model the cost of rework in a Component Factory (CF) organization. A CF is responsible for developing and packaging reusable software components. Data was collected on corrective maintenance activities for the Generalized Support Software reuse asset library located at the Flight Dynamics Division of NASA's GSFC. We then constructed a predictive model of the cost of rework using the C4.5 system for generating a logical classification model. The predictor variables for the model are measures of internal software product attributes. The model demonstrates good prediction accuracy, and can be used by managers to allocate resources for corrective maintenance activities. Furthermore, we used the model to generate proscriptive coding guidelines to improve programming, practices so that the cost of rework can be reduced in the future. The general approach we have used is applicable to other environments.

  19. Hospital information system: reusability, designing, modelling, recommendations for implementing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huet, B

    1998-01-01

    The aims of this paper are to precise some essential conditions for building reuse models for hospital information systems (HIS) and to present an application for hospital clinical laboratories. Reusability is a general trend in software, however reuse can involve a more or less part of design, classes, programs; consequently, a project involving reusability must be precisely defined. In the introduction it is seen trends in software, the stakes of reuse models for HIS and the special use case constituted with a HIS. The main three parts of this paper are: 1) Designing a reuse model (which objects are common to several information systems?) 2) A reuse model for hospital clinical laboratories (a genspec object model is presented for all laboratories: biochemistry, bacteriology, parasitology, pharmacology, ...) 3) Recommendations for generating plug-compatible software components (a reuse model can be implemented as a framework, concrete factors that increase reusability are presented). In conclusion reusability is a subtle exercise of which project must be previously and carefully defined.

  20. Reusable Software and Open Data Incorporate Ecological Understanding To Optimize Agriculture and Improveme Crops.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LeBauer, D.

    2015-12-01

    Humans need a secure and sustainable food supply, and science can help. We have an opportunity to transform agriculture by combining knowledge of organisms and ecosystems to engineer ecosystems that sustainably produce food, fuel, and other services. The challenge is that the information we have. Measurements, theories, and laws found in publications, notebooks, measurements, software, and human brains are difficult to combine. We homogenize, encode, and automate the synthesis of data and mechanistic understanding in a way that links understanding at different scales and across domains. This allows extrapolation, prediction, and assessment. Reusable components allow automated construction of new knowledge that can be used to assess, predict, and optimize agro-ecosystems. Developing reusable software and open-access databases is hard, and examples will illustrate how we use the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn, pecanproject.org), the Biofuel Ecophysiological Traits and Yields database (BETYdb, betydb.org), and ecophysiological crop models to predict crop yield, decide which crops to plant, and which traits can be selected for the next generation of data driven crop improvement. A next step is to automate the use of sensors mounted on robots, drones, and tractors to assess plants in the field. The TERRA Reference Phenotyping Platform (TERRA-Ref, terraref.github.io) will provide an open access database and computing platform on which researchers can use and develop tools that use sensor data to assess and manage agricultural and other terrestrial ecosystems. TERRA-Ref will adopt existing standards and develop modular software components and common interfaces, in collaboration with researchers from iPlant, NEON, AgMIP, USDA, rOpenSci, ARPA-E, many scientists and industry partners. Our goal is to advance science by enabling efficient use, reuse, exchange, and creation of knowledge.

  1. Supporting Interdisciplinary Collaboration Through Reusable Free Software. A Research Student Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimech, C.

    2013-12-01

    In this contribution, I present a critical evaluation of my experience as a research student conducting an interdisciplinary project that bridges the world of geoscience with that of astronomy. The major challenge consists in studying and modifying existing geophysical software to work with synthetic solar data not obtained by direct measurement but useful for testing and evaluation, and data released from the satellite HINODE and the Solar Dynamics Observatory. I have been fortunate to collaborate closely with multiple geoscientists keen to share their software codes and help me understand their implementations so I can extend the methodology to solve problems in solar physics. Moreover, two additional experiences have helped me develop my research and collaborative skills. First was an opportunity to involve an undergraduate student, and secondly, my participation at the GNU Hackers Meeting in Paris. Three aspects that need particular attention to enhance the collective productivity of any group of individuals keen to extend existing codes to achieve further interdisciplinary goals have been identified. (1) The production of easily reusable code that users can study and modify even when large sets of computations are involved. (2) The transformation of solutions into tools that are 100% free software. (3) The harmonisation of collaborative interactions that effectively tackle the two aforementioned tasks. Each one will be discussed in detail during this session based on my experience as a research student.

  2. Reusability of coordination programs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    F. Arbab (Farhad); C.L. Blom (Kees); F.J. Burger (Freek); C.T.H. Everaars (Kees)

    1996-01-01

    textabstractIsolating computation and communication concerns into separate pure computation and pure coordination modules enhances modularity, understandability, and reusability of parallel and/or distributed software. This can be achieved by moving communication primitives (such as SendMessage and

  3. Leveraging Existing Mission Tools in a Re-Usable, Component-Based Software Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greene, Kevin; Grenander, Sven; Kurien, James; z,s (fshir. z[orttr); z,scer; O'Reilly, Taifun

    2006-01-01

    Emerging methods in component-based software development offer significant advantages but may seem incompatible with existing mission operations applications. In this paper we relate our positive experiences integrating existing mission applications into component-based tools we are delivering to three missions. In most operations environments, a number of software applications have been integrated together to form the mission operations software. In contrast, with component-based software development chunks of related functionality and data structures, referred to as components, can be individually delivered, integrated and re-used. With the advent of powerful tools for managing component-based development, complex software systems can potentially see significant benefits in ease of integration, testability and reusability from these techniques. These benefits motivate us to ask how component-based development techniques can be relevant in a mission operations environment, where there is significant investment in software tools that are not component-based and may not be written in languages for which component-based tools even exist. Trusted and complex software tools for sequencing, validation, navigation, and other vital functions cannot simply be re-written or abandoned in order to gain the advantages offered by emerging component-based software techniques. Thus some middle ground must be found. We have faced exactly this issue, and have found several solutions. Ensemble is an open platform for development, integration, and deployment of mission operations software that we are developing. Ensemble itself is an extension of an open source, component-based software development platform called Eclipse. Due to the advantages of component-based development, we have been able to vary rapidly develop mission operations tools for three surface missions by mixing and matching from a common set of mission operation components. We have also had to determine how to

  4. A Software Reuse Approach and Its Effect On Software Quality, An Empirical Study for The Software Industry

    OpenAIRE

    Mateen, Ahmed; Kausar, Samina; Sattar, Ahsan Raza

    2017-01-01

    Software reusability has become much interesting because of increased quality and reduce cost. A good process of software reuse leads to enhance the reliability, productivity, quality and the reduction of time and cost. Current reuse techniques focuses on the reuse of software artifact which grounded on anticipated functionality whereas, the non-functional (quality) aspect are also important. So, Software reusability used here to expand quality and productivity of software. It improves overal...

  5. Putting Reusability First: A Paradigm Switch in Remote Laboratories Engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romain Vérot

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present a new devices brought online thanks to our Collaborative Remote Laboratories framework. Whereas previous devices integrated in our remote laboratory belongs to the domain of electronics, such as Vector Network Analyzers, the devices at the concern in this paper are, on one hand, an antenna workbench, and on the other, an homemade switching device, which embeds several electronic components. Because the middleware and framework for our environment were designed to be reusable, we wanted to put it to the test by integrating new and different devices in our Online Engineering catalog. After presenting the devices to be put online, we will expose the software development efforts required in regards to the reusability of the solution. As a consequence, the expose work and results tend to make the Online Engineering software architects to think reusability first, breaking with the current trends to implement Remote Labs one after the other, without much reusability, apart the capitalized experience. In this, we defend a paradigm switch in our current engineering approaches for Remote Laboratories implementations: Reusability should be thought first.

  6. Reusable coordinator modules for massively concurrent applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    F. Arbab (Farhad); C.L. Blom (Kees); F.J. Burger (Freek); C.T.H. Everaars (Kees)

    1998-01-01

    htmlabstractIsolating computation and communication concerns into separate pure computation and pure coordination modules enhances modularity, understandability and reusability of parallel and/or distributed software. MANIFOLD is a pure coordination language that encourages this separation. We use

  7. Integration of reusable systems

    CERN Document Server

    Rubin, Stuart

    2014-01-01

    Software reuse and integration has been described as the process of creating software systems from existing software rather than building software systems from scratch. Whereas reuse solely deals with the artifacts creation, integration focuses on how reusable artifacts interact with the already existing parts of the specified transformation. Currently, most reuse research focuses on creating and integrating adaptable components at development or at compile time. However, with the emergence of ubiquitous computing, reuse technologies that can support adaptation and reconfiguration of architectures and components at runtime are in demand. This edited book includes 15 high quality research papers written by experts in information reuse and integration to cover the most recent advances in the field. These papers are extended versions of the best papers which were presented at IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration and IEEE International Workshop on Formal Methods Integration, which wa...

  8. Developing a Toolset Supporting the Construction of Reusable Components for Embedded Control Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guan, Wei; Sierszecki, Krzysztof; Angelov, Christo K.

    2010-01-01

    Reusing software components for embedded control applications enhances product quality and reduces time to market when appropriate (formal) methodologies and supporting toolsets are available. That is why industrial companies are interested in developing trusted, in-house reusable components for ...... on open-source technology, in accordance with industrial requirements, as well as the approach used to engineer a toolset supporting component development for embedded control applications.......Reusing software components for embedded control applications enhances product quality and reduces time to market when appropriate (formal) methodologies and supporting toolsets are available. That is why industrial companies are interested in developing trusted, in-house reusable components...

  9. Aligning the economic modeling of software reuse with reuse practices

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Postmus, D.; Meijler, 27696

    In contrast to current practices where software reuse is applied recursively and reusable assets are tailored trough parameterization or specialization, existing reuse economic models assume that (i) the cost of reusing a software asset depends on its size and (ii) reusable assets are developed from

  10. Software Reuse Within the Earth Science Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, James J.; Olding, Steve; Wolfe, Robert E.; Delnore, Victor E.

    2006-01-01

    Scientific missions in the Earth sciences frequently require cost-effective, highly reliable, and easy-to-use software, which can be a challenge for software developers to provide. The NASA Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) spends a significant amount of resources developing software components and other software development artifacts that may also be of value if reused in other projects requiring similar functionality. In general, software reuse is often defined as utilizing existing software artifacts. Software reuse can improve productivity and quality while decreasing the cost of software development, as documented by case studies in the literature. Since large software systems are often the results of the integration of many smaller and sometimes reusable components, ensuring reusability of such software components becomes a necessity. Indeed, designing software components with reusability as a requirement can increase the software reuse potential within a community such as the NASA ESE community. The NASA Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Software Reuse Working Group is chartered to oversee the development of a process that will maximize the reuse potential of existing software components while recommending strategies for maximizing the reusability potential of yet-to-be-designed components. As part of this work, two surveys of the Earth science community were conducted. The first was performed in 2004 and distributed among government employees and contractors. A follow-up survey was performed in 2005 and distributed among a wider community, to include members of industry and academia. The surveys were designed to collect information on subjects such as the current software reuse practices of Earth science software developers, why they choose to reuse software, and what perceived barriers prevent them from reusing software. In this paper, we compare the results of these surveys, summarize the observed trends, and discuss the findings. The results are very

  11. A controlled experiment on the impact of software structure on maintainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rombach, Dieter H.

    1987-01-01

    The impact of software structure on maintainability aspects including comprehensibility, locality, modifiability, and reusability in a distributed system environment is studied in a controlled maintenance experiment involving six medium-size distributed software systems implemented in LADY (language for distributed systems) and six in an extended version of sequential PASCAL. For all maintenance aspects except reusability, the results were quantitatively given in terms of complexity metrics which could be automated. The results showed LADY to be better suited to the development of maintainable software than the extension of sequential PASCAL. The strong typing combined with high parametrization of units is suggested to improve the reusability of units in LADY.

  12. Core Flight Software

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The AES Core Flight Software (CFS) project purpose is to analyze applicability, and evolve and extend the reusability of the CFS system originally developed by...

  13. Flight Software Math Library

    Science.gov (United States)

    McComas, David

    2013-01-01

    The flight software (FSW) math library is a collection of reusable math components that provides typical math utilities required by spacecraft flight software. These utilities are intended to increase flight software quality reusability and maintainability by providing a set of consistent, well-documented, and tested math utilities. This library only has dependencies on ANSI C, so it is easily ported. Prior to this library, each mission typically created its own math utilities using ideas/code from previous missions. Part of the reason for this is that math libraries can be written with different strategies in areas like error handling, parameters orders, naming conventions, etc. Changing the utilities for each mission introduces risks and costs. The obvious risks and costs are that the utilities must be coded and revalidated. The hidden risks and costs arise in miscommunication between engineers. These utilities must be understood by both the flight software engineers and other subsystem engineers (primarily guidance navigation and control). The FSW math library is part of a larger goal to produce a library of reusable Guidance Navigation and Control (GN&C) FSW components. A GN&C FSW library cannot be created unless a standardized math basis is created. This library solves the standardization problem by defining a common feature set and establishing policies for the library s design. This allows the libraries to be maintained with the same strategy used in its initial development, which supports a library of reusable GN&C FSW components. The FSW math library is written for an embedded software environment in C. This places restrictions on the language features that can be used by the library. Another advantage of the FSW math library is that it can be used in the FSW as well as other environments like the GN&C analyst s simulators. This helps communication between the teams because they can use the same utilities with the same feature set and syntax.

  14. Four simple recommendations to encourage best practices in research software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jiménez, Rafael C.; Kuzak, Mateusz; Alhamdoosh, Monther

    2017-01-01

    Scientific research relies on computer software, yet software is not always developed following practices that ensure its quality and sustainability. This manuscript does not aim to propose new software development best practices, but rather to provide simple recommendations that encourage...... the adoption of existing best practices. Software development best practices promote better quality software, and better quality software improves the reproducibility and reusability of research. These recommendations are designed around Open Source values, and provide practical suggestions that contribute...... to making research software and its source code more discoverable, reusable and transparent. This manuscript is aimed at developers, but also at organisations, projects, journals and funders that can increase the quality and sustainability of research software by encouraging the adoption...

  15. Four simple recommendations to encourage best practices in research software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez, Rafael C; Kuzak, Mateusz; Alhamdoosh, Monther; Barker, Michelle; Batut, Bérénice; Borg, Mikael; Capella-Gutierrez, Salvador; Chue Hong, Neil; Cook, Martin; Corpas, Manuel; Flannery, Madison; Garcia, Leyla; Gelpí, Josep Ll; Gladman, Simon; Goble, Carole; González Ferreiro, Montserrat; Gonzalez-Beltran, Alejandra; Griffin, Philippa C; Grüning, Björn; Hagberg, Jonas; Holub, Petr; Hooft, Rob; Ison, Jon; Katz, Daniel S; Leskošek, Brane; López Gómez, Federico; Oliveira, Luis J; Mellor, David; Mosbergen, Rowland; Mulder, Nicola; Perez-Riverol, Yasset; Pergl, Robert; Pichler, Horst; Pope, Bernard; Sanz, Ferran; Schneider, Maria V; Stodden, Victoria; Suchecki, Radosław; Svobodová Vařeková, Radka; Talvik, Harry-Anton; Todorov, Ilian; Treloar, Andrew; Tyagi, Sonika; van Gompel, Maarten; Vaughan, Daniel; Via, Allegra; Wang, Xiaochuan; Watson-Haigh, Nathan S; Crouch, Steve

    2017-01-01

    Scientific research relies on computer software, yet software is not always developed following practices that ensure its quality and sustainability. This manuscript does not aim to propose new software development best practices, but rather to provide simple recommendations that encourage the adoption of existing best practices. Software development best practices promote better quality software, and better quality software improves the reproducibility and reusability of research. These recommendations are designed around Open Source values, and provide practical suggestions that contribute to making research software and its source code more discoverable, reusable and transparent. This manuscript is aimed at developers, but also at organisations, projects, journals and funders that can increase the quality and sustainability of research software by encouraging the adoption of these recommendations.

  16. Airframe Integration Trade Studies for a Reusable Launch Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorsey, John T.; Wu, Chauncey; Rivers, Kevin; Martin, Carl; Smith, Russell

    1999-01-01

    Future launch vehicles must be lightweight, fully reusable and easily maintained if low-cost access to space is to be achieved. The goal of achieving an economically viable Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is not easily achieved and success will depend to a large extent on having an integrated and optimized total system. A series of trade studies were performed to meet three objectives. First, to provide structural weights and parametric weight equations as inputs to configuration-level trade studies. Second, to identify, assess and quantify major weight drivers for the RLV airframe. Third, using information on major weight drivers, and considering the RLV as an integrated thermal structure (composed of thrust structures, tanks, thermal protection system, insulation and control surfaces), identify and assess new and innovative approaches or concepts that have the potential for either reducing airframe weight, improving operability, and/or reducing cost.

  17. Composing simulations using persistent software components

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holland, J.V.; Michelsen, R.E.; Powell, D.R.; Upton, S.C.; Thompson, D.R.

    1999-03-01

    The traditional process for developing large-scale simulations is cumbersome, time consuming, costly, and in some cases, inadequate. The topics of software components and component-based software engineering are being explored by software professionals in academic and industrial settings. A component is a well-delineated, relatively independent, and replaceable part of a software system that performs a specific function. Many researchers have addressed the potential to derive a component-based approach to simulations in general, and a few have focused on military simulations in particular. In a component-based approach, functional or logical blocks of the simulation entities are represented as coherent collections of components satisfying explicitly defined interface requirements. A simulation is a top-level aggregate comprised of a collection of components that interact with each other in the context of a simulated environment. A component may represent a simulation artifact, an agent, or any entity that can generated events affecting itself, other simulated entities, or the state of the system. The component-based approach promotes code reuse, contributes to reducing time spent validating or verifying models, and promises to reduce the cost of development while still delivering tailored simulations specific to analysis questions. The Integrated Virtual Environment for Simulation (IVES) is a composition-centered framework to achieve this potential. IVES is a Java implementation of simulation composition concepts developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory for use in several application domains. In this paper, its use in the military domain is demonstrated via the simulation of dismounted infantry in an urban environment.

  18. Models for composing software : an analysis of software composition and objects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bergmans, Lodewijk

    1999-01-01

    In this report, we investigate component-based software construction with a focus on composition. In particular we try to analyze the requirements and issues for components and software composition. As a means to understand this research area, we introduce a canonical model for representing

  19. Comparative life cycle assessment of disposable and reusable laryngeal mask airways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eckelman, Matthew; Mosher, Margo; Gonzalez, Andres; Sherman, Jodi

    2012-05-01

    Growing awareness of the negative impacts from the practice of health care on the environment and public health calls for the routine inclusion of life cycle criteria into the decision-making process of device selection. Here we present a life cycle assessment of 2 laryngeal mask airways (LMAs), a one-time-use disposable Unique™ LMA and a 40-time-use reusable Classic™ LMA. In life cycle assessment, the basis of comparison is called the "functional unit." For this report, the functional unit of the disposable and reusable LMAs was taken to be maintenance of airway patency by 40 disposable LMAs or 40 uses of 1 reusable LMA. This was a cradle-to-grave study that included inputs and outputs for the manufacture, transport, use, and waste phases of the LMAs. The environmental impacts of the 2 LMAs were estimated using SimaPro life cycle assessment software and the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability impact assessment method. Sensitivity and simple life cycle cost analyses were conducted to aid in interpretation of the results. The reusable LMA was found to have a more favorable environmental profile than the disposable LMA as used at Yale New Haven Hospital. The most important sources of impacts for the disposable LMA were the production of polymers, packaging, and waste management, whereas for the reusable LMA, washing and sterilization dominated for most impact categories. The differences in environmental impacts between these devices strongly favor reusable devices. These benefits must be weighed against concerns regarding transmission of infection. Health care facilities can decrease their environmental impacts by using reusable LMAs, to a lesser extent by selecting disposable LMA models that are not made of certain plastics, and by ordering in bulk from local distributors. Certain practices would further reduce the environmental impacts of reusable LMAs, such as increasing the number of devices autoclaved in a single cycle to 10 (-25% GHG

  20. Gene composer: database software for protein construct design, codon engineering, and gene synthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lorimer, Don; Raymond, Amy; Walchli, John; Mixon, Mark; Barrow, Adrienne; Wallace, Ellen; Grice, Rena; Burgin, Alex; Stewart, Lance

    2009-04-21

    To improve efficiency in high throughput protein structure determination, we have developed a database software package, Gene Composer, which facilitates the information-rich design of protein constructs and their codon engineered synthetic gene sequences. With its modular workflow design and numerous graphical user interfaces, Gene Composer enables researchers to perform all common bio-informatics steps used in modern structure guided protein engineering and synthetic gene engineering. An interactive Alignment Viewer allows the researcher to simultaneously visualize sequence conservation in the context of known protein secondary structure, ligand contacts, water contacts, crystal contacts, B-factors, solvent accessible area, residue property type and several other useful property views. The Construct Design Module enables the facile design of novel protein constructs with altered N- and C-termini, internal insertions or deletions, point mutations, and desired affinity tags. The modifications can be combined and permuted into multiple protein constructs, and then virtually cloned in silico into defined expression vectors. The Gene Design Module uses a protein-to-gene algorithm that automates the back-translation of a protein amino acid sequence into a codon engineered nucleic acid gene sequence according to a selected codon usage table with minimal codon usage threshold, defined G:C% content, and desired sequence features achieved through synonymous codon selection that is optimized for the intended expression system. The gene-to-oligo algorithm of the Gene Design Module plans out all of the required overlapping oligonucleotides and mutagenic primers needed to synthesize the desired gene constructs by PCR, and for physically cloning them into selected vectors by the most popular subcloning strategies. We present a complete description of Gene Composer functionality, and an efficient PCR-based synthetic gene assembly procedure with mis-match specific endonuclease

  1. Gene Composer: database software for protein construct design, codon engineering, and gene synthesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mixon Mark

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To improve efficiency in high throughput protein structure determination, we have developed a database software package, Gene Composer, which facilitates the information-rich design of protein constructs and their codon engineered synthetic gene sequences. With its modular workflow design and numerous graphical user interfaces, Gene Composer enables researchers to perform all common bio-informatics steps used in modern structure guided protein engineering and synthetic gene engineering. Results An interactive Alignment Viewer allows the researcher to simultaneously visualize sequence conservation in the context of known protein secondary structure, ligand contacts, water contacts, crystal contacts, B-factors, solvent accessible area, residue property type and several other useful property views. The Construct Design Module enables the facile design of novel protein constructs with altered N- and C-termini, internal insertions or deletions, point mutations, and desired affinity tags. The modifications can be combined and permuted into multiple protein constructs, and then virtually cloned in silico into defined expression vectors. The Gene Design Module uses a protein-to-gene algorithm that automates the back-translation of a protein amino acid sequence into a codon engineered nucleic acid gene sequence according to a selected codon usage table with minimal codon usage threshold, defined G:C% content, and desired sequence features achieved through synonymous codon selection that is optimized for the intended expression system. The gene-to-oligo algorithm of the Gene Design Module plans out all of the required overlapping oligonucleotides and mutagenic primers needed to synthesize the desired gene constructs by PCR, and for physically cloning them into selected vectors by the most popular subcloning strategies. Conclusion We present a complete description of Gene Composer functionality, and an efficient PCR-based synthetic gene

  2. Analysis and design of the SI-simulator software system for the VHTR-SI process by using the object-oriented analysis and object-oriented design methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, Jiwoon; Shin, Youngjoon; Kim, Jihwan; Lee, Kiyoung; Lee, Wonjae; Chang, Jonghwa; Youn, Cheung

    2008-01-01

    The SI-simulator is an application software system that simulates the dynamic behavior of the VHTR-SI process by the use of mathematical models. Object-oriented analysis (OOA) and object-oriented design (OOD) methodologies were employed for the SI simulator system development. OOA is concerned with developing software engineering requirements and specifications that are expressed as a system's object model (which is composed of a population of interacting objects), as opposed to the traditional data or functional views of systems. OOD techniques are useful for the development of large complex systems. Also, OOA/OOD methodology is usually employed to maximize the reusability and extensibility of a software system. In this paper, we present a design feature for the SI simulator software system by the using methodologies of OOA and OOD

  3. RAGE Architecture for Reusable Serious Gaming Technology Components

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wim van der Vegt

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available For seizing the potential of serious games, the RAGE project—funded by the Horizon-2020 Programme of the European Commission—will make available an interoperable set of advanced technology components (software assets that support game studios at serious game development. This paper describes the overall software architecture and design conditions that are needed for the easy integration and reuse of such software assets in existing game platforms. Based on the component-based software engineering paradigm the RAGE architecture takes into account the portability of assets to different operating systems, different programming languages, and different game engines. It avoids dependencies on external software frameworks and minimises code that may hinder integration with game engine code. Furthermore it relies on a limited set of standard software patterns and well-established coding practices. The RAGE architecture has been successfully validated by implementing and testing basic software assets in four major programming languages (C#, C++, Java, and TypeScript/JavaScript, resp.. Demonstrator implementation of asset integration with an existing game engine was created and validated. The presented RAGE architecture paves the way for large scale development and application of cross-engine reusable software assets for enhancing the quality and diversity of serious gaming.

  4. Four simple recommendations to encourage best practices in research software [version 1; referees: 2 approved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael C. Jiménez

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Scientific research relies on computer software, yet software is not always developed following practices that ensure its quality and sustainability. This manuscript does not aim to propose new software development best practices, but rather to provide simple recommendations that encourage the adoption of existing best practices. Software development best practices promote better quality software, and better quality software improves the reproducibility and reusability of research. These recommendations are designed around Open Source values, and provide practical suggestions that contribute to making research software and its source code more discoverable, reusable and transparent. This manuscript is aimed at developers, but also at organisations, projects, journals and funders that can increase the quality and sustainability of research software by encouraging the adoption of these recommendations.

  5. Automating the Object-Oriented Software Development Process: Workshop Report

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aksit, Mehmet; Tekinerdogan, B.

    1998-01-01

    Cost-effective realization of robust, adaptable and reusable software systems demands efficient and effective management of the overall software production process. Current object-oriented methods are not completely formalized and lack the ability of reasoning about the quality of processes and

  6. Automating the Object-Oriented Software Development Process: Workshop Report

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aksit, Mehmet; Demeyer, S.; Bosch, H.G.P.; Tekinerdogan, B.

    Cost-effective realization of robust, adaptable and reusable software systems demands efficient and effective management of the overall software production process. Current object-oriented methods are not completely formalized and lack the ability of reasoning about the quality of processes and

  7. Composing Interactive Dance Pieces for the MotionComposer, a device for Persons with Disabilities

    OpenAIRE

    Bergsland, Andreas; Wechsler, Robert

    2015-01-01

    The authors have developed a new hardware/software device for persons with disabilities (the MotionComposer), and in the process created a number of interactive dance pieces for non- disabled professional dancers. The paper briefly describes the hardware and motion tracking software of the device before going into more detail concerning the mapping strategies and sound design applied to three interactive dance pieces. The paper concludes by discussing a particular philosophy championing trans...

  8. Developing a Collection of Composable Data Translation Software Units to Improve Efficiency and Reproducibility in Ecohydrologic Modeling Workflows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olschanowsky, C.; Flores, A. N.; FitzGerald, K.; Masarik, M. T.; Rudisill, W. J.; Aguayo, M.

    2017-12-01

    Dynamic models of the spatiotemporal evolution of water, energy, and nutrient cycling are important tools to assess impacts of climate and other environmental changes on ecohydrologic systems. These models require spatiotemporally varying environmental forcings like precipitation, temperature, humidity, windspeed, and solar radiation. These input data originate from a variety of sources, including global and regional weather and climate models, global and regional reanalysis products, and geostatistically interpolated surface observations. Data translation measures, often subsetting in space and/or time and transforming and converting variable units, represent a seemingly mundane, but critical step in the application workflows. Translation steps can introduce errors, misrepresentations of data, slow execution time, and interrupt data provenance. We leverage a workflow that subsets a large regional dataset derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and prepares inputs to the Parflow integrated hydrologic model to demonstrate the impact translation tool software quality on scientific workflow results and performance. We propose that such workflows will benefit from a community approved collection of data transformation components. The components should be self-contained composable units of code. This design pattern enables automated parallelization and software verification, improving performance and reliability. Ensuring that individual translation components are self-contained and target minute tasks increases reliability. The small code size of each component enables effective unit and regression testing. The components can be automatically composed for efficient execution. An efficient data translation framework should be written to minimize data movement. Composing components within a single streaming process reduces data movement. Each component will typically have a low arithmetic intensity, meaning that it requires about the same number of

  9. Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Delma C., Jr.; Talay, Theodore A.; Austin, R. Eugene

    1997-01-01

    Industry/NASA reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology program efforts are underway to design, test, and develop technologies and concepts for viable commercial launch systems that also satisfy national needs at acceptable recurring costs. Significant progress has been made in understanding the technical challenges of fully reusable launch systems and the accompanying management and operational approaches for achieving a low cost program. This paper reviews the current status of the RLV technology program including the DC-XA, X-33 and X-34 flight systems and associated technology programs. It addresses the specific technologies being tested that address the technical and operability challenges of reusable launch systems including reusable cryogenic propellant tanks, composite structures, thermal protection systems, improved propulsion and subsystem operability enhancements. The recently concluded DC-XA test program demonstrated some of these technologies in ground and flight test. Contracts were awarded recently for both the X-33 and X-34 flight demonstrator systems. The Orbital Sciences Corporation X-34 flight test vehicle will demonstrate an air-launched reusable vehicle capable of flight to speeds of Mach 8. The Lockheed-Martin X-33 flight test vehicle will expand the test envelope for critical technologies to flight speeds of Mach 15. A propulsion program to test the X-33 linear aerospike rocket engine using a NASA SR-71 high speed aircraft as a test bed is also discussed. The paper also describes the management and operational approaches that address the challenge of new cost effective, reusable launch vehicle systems.

  10. An integrated development framework for rapid development of platform-independent and reusable satellite on-board software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ziemke, Claas; Kuwahara, Toshinori; Kossev, Ivan

    2011-09-01

    Even in the field of small satellites, the on-board data handling subsystem has become complex and powerful. With the introduction of powerful CPUs and the availability of considerable amounts of memory on-board a small satellite it has become possible to utilize the flexibility and power of contemporary platform-independent real-time operating systems. Especially the non-commercial sector such like university institutes and community projects such as AMSAT or SSETI are characterized by the inherent lack of financial as well as manpower resources. The opportunity to utilize such real-time operating systems will contribute significantly to achieve a successful mission. Nevertheless the on-board software of a satellite is much more than just an operating system. It has to fulfill a multitude of functional requirements such as: Telecommand interpretation and execution, execution of control loops, generation of telemetry data and frames, failure detection isolation and recovery, the communication with peripherals and so on. Most of the aforementioned tasks are of generic nature and have to be conducted on any satellite with only minor modifications. A general set of functional requirements as well as a protocol for communication is defined in the SA ECSS-E-70-41A standard "Telemetry and telecommand packet utilization". This standard not only defines the communication protocol of the satellite-ground link but also defines a set of so called services which have to be available on-board of every compliant satellite and which are of generic nature. In this paper, a platform-independent and reusable framework is described which is implementing not only the ECSS-E-70-41A standard but also functionalities for interprocess communication, scheduling and a multitude of tasks commonly performed on-board of a satellite. By making use of the capabilities of the high-level programming language C/C++, the powerful open source library BOOST, the real-time operating system RTEMS and

  11. Software Components and Formal Methods from a Computational Viewpoint

    OpenAIRE

    Lambertz, Christian

    2012-01-01

    Software components and the methodology of component-based development offer a promising approach to master the design complexity of huge software products because they separate the concerns of software architecture from individual component behavior and allow for reusability of components. In combination with formal methods, the specification of a formal component model of the later software product or system allows for establishing and verifying important system properties in an automatic a...

  12. Reusable tamper-indicating security seal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, M.J.

    1981-01-01

    A reusable tamper-indicating mechanical security seal for use in safeguarding nuclear material has been developed. The high-security seal displays an unpredictable, randomly selected, five-digit code each time it is used. This five digit code serves the same purpose that the serial number does for conventional non-reusable seals - a unique identifier for each use or application. The newly developed reusable seal is completely enclosed within a seamless, tamper-indicating, plastic jacket. The jacket is designed to reveal any attempts to penetrate, section or to chemically remove and replace with a counterfeit for surreptitious purposes

  13. Generic Software Architecture for Launchers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carre, Emilien; Gast, Philippe; Hiron, Emmanuel; Leblanc, Alain; Lesens, David; Mescam, Emmanuelle; Moro, Pierre

    2015-09-01

    The definition and reuse of generic software architecture for launchers is not so usual for several reasons: the number of European launcher families is very small (Ariane 5 and Vega for these last decades); the real time constraints (reactivity and determinism needs) are very hard; low levels of versatility are required (implying often an ad hoc development of the launcher mission). In comparison, satellites are often built on a generic platform made up of reusable hardware building blocks (processors, star-trackers, gyroscopes, etc.) and reusable software building blocks (middleware, TM/TC, On Board Control Procedure, etc.). If some of these reasons are still valid (e.g. the limited number of development), the increase of the available CPU power makes today an approach based on a generic time triggered middleware (ensuring the full determinism of the system) and a centralised mission and vehicle management (offering more flexibility in the design and facilitating the long term maintenance) achievable. This paper presents an example of generic software architecture which could be envisaged for future launchers, based on the previously described principles and supported by model driven engineering and automatic code generation.

  14. Spaceborne computer executive routine functional design specification. Volume 1: Functional design of a flight computer executive program for the reusable shuttle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curran, R. T.

    1971-01-01

    A flight computer functional executive design for the reusable shuttle is presented. The design is given in the form of functional flowcharts and prose description. Techniques utilized in the regulation of process flow to accomplish activation, resource allocation, suspension, termination, and error masking based on process primitives are considered. Preliminary estimates of main storage utilization by the Executive are furnished. Conclusions and recommendations for timely, effective software-hardware integration in the reusable shuttle avionics system are proposed.

  15. A Custom Approach for a Flexible, Real-Time and Reliable Software Defined Utility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaballos, Agustín; Navarro, Joan; Martín De Pozuelo, Ramon

    2018-02-28

    Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled the evolution of traditional electric power distribution networks towards a new paradigm referred to as the smart grid. However, the different elements that compose the ICT plane of a smart grid are usually conceived as isolated systems that typically result in rigid hardware architectures, which are hard to interoperate, manage and adapt to new situations. In the recent years, software-defined systems that take advantage of software and high-speed data network infrastructures have emerged as a promising alternative to classic ad hoc approaches in terms of integration, automation, real-time reconfiguration and resource reusability. The purpose of this paper is to propose the usage of software-defined utilities (SDUs) to address the latent deployment and management limitations of smart grids. More specifically, the implementation of a smart grid's data storage and management system prototype by means of SDUs is introduced, which exhibits the feasibility of this alternative approach. This system features a hybrid cloud architecture able to meet the data storage requirements of electric utilities and adapt itself to their ever-evolving needs. Conducted experimentations endorse the feasibility of this solution and encourage practitioners to point their efforts in this direction.

  16. Software Engineering Environment for Component-based Design of Embedded Software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guo, Yu

    2010-01-01

    as well as application models in a computer-aided software engineering environment. Furthermore, component models have been realized following carefully developed design patterns, which provide for an efficient and reusable implementation. The components have been ultimately implemented as prefabricated...... executable objects that can be linked together into an executable application. The development of embedded software using the COMDES framework is supported by the associated integrated engineering environment consisting of a number of tools, which support basic functionalities, such as system modelling......, validation, and executable code generation for specific hardware platforms. Developing such an environment and the associated tools is a highly complex engineering task. Therefore, this thesis has investigated key design issues and analysed existing platforms supporting model-driven software development...

  17. Korean WA-DGNSS User Segment Software Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sayed Chhattan Shah

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Korean WA-DGNSS is a large scale research project funded by Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Korea. It aims to augment the Global Navigation Satellite System by broadcasting additional signals from geostationary satellites and providing differential correction messages and integrity data for the GNSS satellites. The project is being carried out by a consortium of universities and research institutes. The research team at Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute is involved in design and development of data processing softwares for wide area reference station and user segment. This paper focuses on user segment software design. Korean WA-DGNSS user segment software is designed to perform several functions such as calculation of pseudorange, ionosphere and troposphere delays, application of fast and slow correction messages, and data verification. It is based on a layered architecture that provides a model to develop flexible and reusable software and is divided into several independent, interchangeable and reusable components to reduce complexity and maintenance cost. The current version is designed to collect and process GPS and WA-DGNSS data however it is flexible to accommodate future GNSS systems such as GLONASS and Galileo.

  18. A Code Generator for Software Component Services in Smart Devices

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad, Manzoor

    2010-01-01

    A component is built to be reused and reusability has significant impact on component generality and flexibility requirement. A component model plays a critical role in reusability of software component and defines a set of standards for component implementation, evolution, composition, deployment and standardization of the run-time environment for execution of component. In component based development (CBD), standardization of the runtime environment includes specification of component’s int...

  19. A Role-Playing Game for a Software Engineering Lab: Developing a Product Line

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuppiroli, Sara; Ciancarini, Paolo; Gabbrielli, Maurizio

    2012-01-01

    Software product line development refers to software engineering practices and techniques for creating families of similar software systems from a basic set of reusable components, called shared assets. Teaching how to deal with software product lines in a university lab course is a challenging task, because there are several practical issues that…

  20. Evolving impact of Ada on a production software environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcgarry, F.; Esker, L.; Quimby, K.

    1988-01-01

    Many aspects of software development with Ada have evolved as our Ada development environment has matured and personnel have become more experienced in the use of Ada. The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has seen differences in the areas of cost, reliability, reuse, size, and use of Ada features. A first Ada project can be expected to cost about 30 percent more than an equivalent FORTRAN project. However, the SEL has observed significant improvements over time as a development environment progresses to second and third uses of Ada. The reliability of Ada projects is initially similar to what is expected in a mature FORTRAN environment. However, with time, one can expect to gain improvements as experience with the language increases. Reuse is one of the most promising aspects of Ada. The proportion of reusable Ada software on our Ada projects exceeds the proportion of reusable FORTRAN software on our FORTRAN projects. This result was noted fairly early in our Ada projects, and experience shows an increasing trend over time.

  1. The present status of software engineering

    CERN Document Server

    Pressman, Roger S

    1991-01-01

    In this seminar, we will discuss the present status and future directions of software engeneering and CASE. Key topics to be discussed include: new paradigms for software engineering; software metrics; process assessment; the current state of analysis and design methods; reusability and re-engineering; formal methods. Among the questions to be answered are: How will software engineering change as the 1990s progress? What are the "technology drivers"? What will analysis, design, coding, testing, quality assurance and software management look like in the year 2000? How will CASE tools evolve in the 1990s and will they be as "integrated" as many people believe? How can you position your Organization to accommodate the coming changes?

  2. Carbon Footprint in Flexible Ureteroscopy: A Comparative Study on the Environmental Impact of Reusable and Single-Use Ureteroscopes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Niall F; McGrath, Shannon; Quinlan, Mark; Jack, Gregory; Lawrentschuk, Nathan; Bolton, Damien M

    2018-03-01

    There are no comparative assessments on the environmental impact of endourologic instruments. We evaluated and compared the environmental impact of single-use flexible ureteroscopes with reusable flexible ureteroscopes. An analysis of the typical life cycle of the LithoVue™ (Boston Scientific) single-use digital flexible ureteroscope and Olympus Flexible Video Ureteroscope (URV-F) was performed. To measure the carbon footprint, data were obtained on manufacturing of single-use and reusable flexible ureteroscopes and from typical uses obtained with a reusable scope, including repairs, replacement instruments, and ultimate disposal of both ureteroscopes. The solid waste generated (kg) and energy consumed (kWh) during each case were quantified and converted into their equivalent mass of carbon dioxide (kg of CO 2 ) released. Flexible ureteroscopic raw materials composed of plastic (90%), steel (4%), electronics (4%), and rubber (2%). The manufacturing cost of a flexible ureteroscope was 11.49 kg of CO 2 per 1 kg of ureteroscope. The weight of the single-use LithoVue and URV-F flexible ureteroscope was 0.3 and 1 kg, respectively. The total carbon footprint of the lifecycle assessment of the LithoVue was 4.43 kg of CO 2 per endourologic case. The total carbon footprint of the lifecycle of the reusable ureteroscope was 4.47 kg of CO 2 per case. The environmental impacts of the reusable flexible ureteroscope and the single-use flexible ureteroscope are comparable. Urologists should be aware that the typical life cycle of urologic instruments is a concerning source of environmental emissions.

  3. Gene Composer in a structural genomics environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lorimer, Don; Raymond, Amy; Mixon, Mark; Burgin, Alex; Staker, Bart; Stewart, Lance

    2011-01-01

    For structural biology applications, protein-construct engineering is guided by comparative sequence analysis and structural information, which allow the researcher to better define domain boundaries for terminal deletions and nonconserved regions for surface mutants. A database software application called Gene Composer has been developed to facilitate construct design. The structural genomics effort at the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID) requires the manipulation of large numbers of amino-acid sequences and the underlying DNA sequences which are to be cloned into expression vectors. To improve efficiency in high-throughput protein structure determination, a database software package, Gene Composer, has been developed which facilitates the information-rich design of protein constructs and their underlying gene sequences. With its modular workflow design and numerous graphical user interfaces, Gene Composer enables researchers to perform all common bioinformatics steps used in modern structure-guided protein engineering and synthetic gene engineering. An example of the structure determination of H1N1 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase PB2 subunit is given

  4. Reusable Component Services

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Reusable Component Services (RCS) is a super-catalog of components, services, solutions and technologies that facilitates search, discovery and collaboration in...

  5. Model-based engineering for medical-device software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Arnab; Jetley, Raoul; Jones, Paul L; Zhang, Yi

    2010-01-01

    This paper demonstrates the benefits of adopting model-based design techniques for engineering medical device software. By using a patient-controlled analgesic (PCA) infusion pump as a candidate medical device, the authors show how using models to capture design information allows for i) fast and efficient construction of executable device prototypes ii) creation of a standard, reusable baseline software architecture for a particular device family, iii) formal verification of the design against safety requirements, and iv) creation of a safety framework that reduces verification costs for future versions of the device software. 1.

  6. Reusable platform concepts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gudmestad, O.T.; Sparby, B.K.; Stead, B.L.

    1993-01-01

    There is an increasing need to reduce costs of offshore production facilities in order to make development of offshore fields profitable. For small fields with short production time there is in particular a need to investigate ways to reduce costs. The idea of platform reuse is for such fields particularly attractive. This paper will review reusable platform concepts and will discuss their range of application. Particular emphasis will be placed on technical limitations. Traditional concepts as jackups and floating production facilities will be discussed by major attention will be given to newly developed ideas for reuse of steel jackets and concrete structures. It will be shown how the operator for several fields can obtain considerable savings by applying such reusable platform concepts

  7. A Custom Approach for a Flexible, Real-Time and Reliable Software Defined Utility

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have enabled the evolution of traditional electric power distribution networks towards a new paradigm referred to as the smart grid. However, the different elements that compose the ICT plane of a smart grid are usually conceived as isolated systems that typically result in rigid hardware architectures, which are hard to interoperate, manage and adapt to new situations. In the recent years, software-defined systems that take advantage of software and high-speed data network infrastructures have emerged as a promising alternative to classic ad hoc approaches in terms of integration, automation, real-time reconfiguration and resource reusability. The purpose of this paper is to propose the usage of software-defined utilities (SDUs) to address the latent deployment and management limitations of smart grids. More specifically, the implementation of a smart grid’s data storage and management system prototype by means of SDUs is introduced, which exhibits the feasibility of this alternative approach. This system features a hybrid cloud architecture able to meet the data storage requirements of electric utilities and adapt itself to their ever-evolving needs. Conducted experimentations endorse the feasibility of this solution and encourage practitioners to point their efforts in this direction. PMID:29495599

  8. A Custom Approach for a Flexible, Real-Time and Reliable Software Defined Utility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agustín Zaballos

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Information and communication technologies (ICTs have enabled the evolution of traditional electric power distribution networks towards a new paradigm referred to as the smart grid. However, the different elements that compose the ICT plane of a smart grid are usually conceived as isolated systems that typically result in rigid hardware architectures, which are hard to interoperate, manage and adapt to new situations. In the recent years, software-defined systems that take advantage of software and high-speed data network infrastructures have emerged as a promising alternative to classic ad hoc approaches in terms of integration, automation, real-time reconfiguration and resource reusability. The purpose of this paper is to propose the usage of software-defined utilities (SDUs to address the latent deployment and management limitations of smart grids. More specifically, the implementation of a smart grid’s data storage and management system prototype by means of SDUs is introduced, which exhibits the feasibility of this alternative approach. This system features a hybrid cloud architecture able to meet the data storage requirements of electric utilities and adapt itself to their ever-evolving needs. Conducted experimentations endorse the feasibility of this solution and encourage practitioners to point their efforts in this direction.

  9. Taking advantage of ground data systems attributes to achieve quality results in testing software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sigman, Clayton B.; Koslosky, John T.; Hageman, Barbara H.

    1994-01-01

    During the software development life cycle process, basic testing starts with the development team. At the end of the development process, an acceptance test is performed for the user to ensure that the deliverable is acceptable. Ideally, the delivery is an operational product with zero defects. However, the goal of zero defects is normally not achieved but is successful to various degrees. With the emphasis on building low cost ground support systems while maintaining a quality product, a key element in the test process is simulator capability. This paper reviews the Transportable Payload Operations Control Center (TPOCC) Advanced Spacecraft Simulator (TASS) test tool that is used in the acceptance test process for unmanned satellite operations control centers. The TASS is designed to support the development, test and operational environments of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) operations control centers. The TASS uses the same basic architecture as the operations control center. This architecture is characterized by its use of distributed processing, industry standards, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software components, and reusable software. The TASS uses much of the same TPOCC architecture and reusable software that the operations control center developer uses. The TASS also makes use of reusable simulator software in the mission specific versions of the TASS. Very little new software needs to be developed, mainly mission specific telemetry communication and command processing software. By taking advantage of the ground data system attributes, successful software reuse for operational systems provides the opportunity to extend the reuse concept into the test area. Consistency in test approach is a major step in achieving quality results.

  10. Using the iBook in medical education and healthcare settings--the iBook as a reusable learning object; a report of the author's experience using iBooks Author software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Karl Fb; Goodson, Alexander Mc; Tahim, Arpan; Wharrad, Heather J; Fan, Kathleen

    2012-12-01

    The recently launched iBooks 2 from Apple has created a new genre of 'interactive multimedia eBook'. This article aims to dscribe the benefit of the iBook in a medical education and healthcare setting. We discuss the attributes of an iBook as compared with the requirements of the conventional web-based Reusable Learning Object. The structure and user interface within an iBook is highlighted, and the iBook-creating software iBooks Author is discussed in detail. A report of personal experience developing and distributing an iBook for junior trainees in oral and maxillofacial surgery is provided, with discussion of the limitations of this approach and the need for further evidence-based studies.

  11. The Walk-Man Robot Software Architecture

    OpenAIRE

    Mirko Ferrati; Alessandro Settimi; Alessandro Settimi; Luca Muratore; Alberto Cardellino; Alessio Rocchi; Enrico Mingo Hoffman; Corrado Pavan; Dimitrios Kanoulas; Nikos G. Tsagarakis; Lorenzo Natale; Lucia Pallottino

    2016-01-01

    A software and control architecture for a humanoid robot is a complex and large project, which involves a team of developers/researchers to be coordinated and requires many hard design choices. If such project has to be done in a very limited time, i.e., less than 1 year, more constraints are added and concepts, such as modular design, code reusability, and API definition, need to be used as much as possible. In this work, we describe the software architecture developed for Walk-Man, a robot ...

  12. 14 CFR 437.67 - Tracking a reusable suborbital rocket.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Tracking a reusable suborbital rocket. 437... a reusable suborbital rocket. A permittee must— (a) During permitted flight, measure in real time the position and velocity of its reusable suborbital rocket; and (b) Provide position and velocity...

  13. Composable Framework Support for Software-FMEA Through Model Execution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kocsis, Imre; Patricia, Andras; Brancati, Francesco; Rossi, Francesco

    2016-08-01

    Performing Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA) during software architecture design is becoming a basic requirement in an increasing number of domains; however, due to the lack of standardized early design phase model execution, classic SW-FMEA approaches carry significant risks and are human effort-intensive even in processes that use Model-Driven Engineering.Recently, modelling languages with standardized executable semantics have emerged. Building on earlier results, this paper describes framework support for generating executable error propagation models from such models during software architecture design. The approach carries the promise of increased precision, decreased risk and more automated execution for SW-FMEA during dependability- critical system development.

  14. eXframe: reusable framework for storage, analysis and visualization of genomics experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinha Amit U

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genome-wide experiments are routinely conducted to measure gene expression, DNA-protein interactions and epigenetic status. Structured metadata for these experiments is imperative for a complete understanding of experimental conditions, to enable consistent data processing and to allow retrieval, comparison, and integration of experimental results. Even though several repositories have been developed for genomics data, only a few provide annotation of samples and assays using controlled vocabularies. Moreover, many of them are tailored for a single type of technology or measurement and do not support the integration of multiple data types. Results We have developed eXframe - a reusable web-based framework for genomics experiments that provides 1 the ability to publish structured data compliant with accepted standards 2 support for multiple data types including microarrays and next generation sequencing 3 query, analysis and visualization integration tools (enabled by consistent processing of the raw data and annotation of samples and is available as open-source software. We present two case studies where this software is currently being used to build repositories of genomics experiments - one contains data from hematopoietic stem cells and another from Parkinson's disease patients. Conclusion The web-based framework eXframe offers structured annotation of experiments as well as uniform processing and storage of molecular data from microarray and next generation sequencing platforms. The framework allows users to query and integrate information across species, technologies, measurement types and experimental conditions. Our framework is reusable and freely modifiable - other groups or institutions can deploy their own custom web-based repositories based on this software. It is interoperable with the most important data formats in this domain. We hope that other groups will not only use eXframe, but also contribute their own

  15. Scalable and reusable emulator for evaluating the performance of SS7 networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazar, Aurel A.; Tseng, Kent H.; Lim, Koon Seng; Choe, Winston

    1994-04-01

    A scalable and reusable emulator was designed and implemented for studying the behavior of SS7 networks. The emulator design was largely based on public domain software. It was developed on top of an environment supported by PVM, the Parallel Virtual Machine, and managed by OSIMIS-the OSI Management Information Service platform. The emulator runs on top of a commercially available ATM LAN interconnecting engineering workstations. As a case study for evaluating the emulator, the behavior of the Singapore National SS7 Network under fault and unbalanced loading conditions was investigated.

  16. Reusable Rocket Engine Turbopump Health Management System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Surko, Pamela

    1994-01-01

    A health monitoring expert system software architecture has been developed to support condition-based health monitoring of rocket engines. Its first application is in the diagnosis decisions relating to the health of the high pressure oxidizer turbopump (HPOTP) of Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). The post test diagnostic system runs off-line, using as input the data recorded from hundreds of sensors, each running typically at rates of 25, 50, or .1 Hz. The system is invoked after a test has been completed, and produces an analysis and an organized graphical presentation of the data with important effects highlighted. The overall expert system architecture has been developed and documented so that expert modules analyzing other line replaceable units may easily be added. The architecture emphasizes modularity, reusability, and open system interfaces so that it may be used to analyze other engines as well.

  17. A software-based technique enabling composable hierarchical preemptive scheduling for time-triggered applications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nejad, A.B.; Molnos, A.; Goossens, K.G.W.

    2013-01-01

    Many embedded real-time applications are typically time-triggered and preemptive schedulers are used to execute tasks of such applications. Orthogonally, composable partitioned embedded platforms use preemptive time-division multiplexing mechanism to isolate applications. Existing composable systems

  18. Viability of a Reusable In-Space Transportation System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jefferies, Sharon A.; McCleskey, Carey M.; Nufer, Brian M.; Lepsch, Roger A.; Merrill, Raymond G.; North, David D.; Martin, John G.; Komar, David R.

    2015-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is currently developing options for an Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) that expands human presence from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) into the solar system and to the surface of Mars. The Hybrid in-space transportation architecture is one option being investigated within the EMC. The architecture enables return of the entire in-space propulsion stage and habitat to cis-lunar space after a round trip to Mars. This concept of operations opens the door for a fully reusable Mars transportation system from cis-lunar space to a Mars parking orbit and back. This paper explores the reuse of in-space transportation systems, with a focus on the propulsion systems. It begins by examining why reusability should be pursued and defines reusability in space-flight context. A range of functions and enablers associated with preparing a system for reuse are identified and a vision for reusability is proposed that can be advanced and implemented as new capabilities are developed. Following this, past reusable spacecraft and servicing capabilities, as well as those currently in development are discussed. Using the Hybrid transportation architecture as an example, an assessment of the degree of reusability that can be incorporated into the architecture with current capabilities is provided and areas for development are identified that will enable greater levels of reuse in the future. Implications and implementation challenges specific to the architecture are also presented.

  19. Software Component Clustering and Retrieval: An Entropy-based Fuzzy k-Modes Methodology

    OpenAIRE

    Stylianou, Constantinos; Andreou, Andreas S.

    2008-01-01

    The number of software houses attempting to adopt a component-based development approach is rapidly increasing. However many organisations still find it difficult to complete the shift as it requires them to alter their entire software development process and philosophy. Furthermore, to promote component-based software engineering, organisations must be ready to promote reusability and this can only be attained if the proper framework exists from which a developer can access, search and retri...

  20. A Cooperative Coevolution Approach to Automate Pattern-based Software Architectural Synthesis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Xu, Y.R.; Liang, P.

    2014-01-01

    To reuse successful experience in software architecture design, architects use architectural patterns as reusable architectural knowledge for architectural synthesis. However, it has been observed that the resulting architecture does not always conform to the initial architectural patterns employed.

  1. Composing, Analyzing and Validating Software Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheldon, Frederick T.

    1998-10-01

    This research has been conducted at the Computational Sciences Division of the Information Sciences Directorate at Ames Research Center (Automated Software Engineering Grp). The principle work this summer has been to review and refine the agenda that were carried forward from last summer. Formal specifications provide good support for designing a functionally correct system, however they are weak at incorporating non-functional performance requirements (like reliability). Techniques which utilize stochastic Petri nets (SPNs) are good for evaluating the performance and reliability for a system, but they may be too abstract and cumbersome from the stand point of specifying and evaluating functional behavior. Therefore, one major objective of this research is to provide an integrated approach to assist the user in specifying both functionality (qualitative: mutual exclusion and synchronization) and performance requirements (quantitative: reliability and execution deadlines). In this way, the merits of a powerful modeling technique for performability analysis (using SPNs) can be combined with a well-defined formal specification language. In doing so, we can come closer to providing a formal approach to designing a functionally correct system that meets reliability and performance goals.

  2. Safety-Critical Partitioned Software Architecture: A Partitioned Software Architecture for Robotic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horvath, Greg; Chung, Seung H.; Cilloniz-Bicchi, Ferner

    2011-01-01

    The flight software on virtually every mission currently managed by JPL has several major flaws that make it vulnerable to potentially fatal software defects. Many of these problems can be addressed by recently developed partitioned operating systems (OS). JPL has avoided adopting a partitioned operating system on its flight missions, primarily because doing so would require significant changes in flight software design, and the risks associated with changes of that magnitude cannot be accepted by an active flight project. The choice of a partitioned OS can have a dramatic effect on the overall system and software architecture, allowing for realization of benefits far beyond the concerns typically associated with the choice of OS. Specifically, we believe that a partitioned operating system, when coupled with an appropriate architecture, can provide a strong infrastructure for developing systems for which reusability, modifiability, testability, and reliability are essential qualities. By adopting a partitioned OS, projects can gain benefits throughout the entire development lifecycle, from requirements and design, all the way to implementation, testing, and operations.

  3. CARDS: A blueprint and environment for domain-specific software reuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallnau, Kurt C.; Solderitsch, Anne Costa; Smotherman, Catherine

    1992-01-01

    CARDS (Central Archive for Reusable Defense Software) exploits advances in domain analysis and domain modeling to identify, specify, develop, archive, retrieve, understand, and reuse domain-specific software components. An important element of CARDS is to provide visibility into the domain model artifacts produced by, and services provided by, commercial computer-aided software engineering (CASE) technology. The use of commercial CASE technology is important to provide rich, robust support for the varied roles involved in a reuse process. We refer to this kind of use of knowledge representation systems as supporting 'knowledge-based integration.'

  4. Delayed reactions to reusable protective gloves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pontén, Ann; Dubnika, Inese

    2009-04-01

    The materials in plastic protective gloves are thought to cause less contact allergy than rubber gloves. Our aim was to estimate the frequency of delayed reactions to different types of reusable protective gloves among dermatitis patients. 2 x 2 cm pieces of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gloves, nitrile gloves, and natural rubber latex (NRL) gloves were tested as is in consecutive dermatitis patients tested with the baseline series. Among 658 patients, 6 patients reacted to PVC gloves and 6 patients to the NRL gloves. None reacted to both these types of gloves. Five of six patients with reactions to rubber gloves reacted to thiuram mix in the baseline series. Delayed reactions to reusable PVC gloves may be as common as to reusable NRL gloves. In contrast to most reactions to the NRL glove, the reactions to the PVC glove had no obvious association with reactions to any allergen(s) in the baseline series.

  5. Is It Worth It? - the Economics of Reusable Space Transportation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Richard

    2016-01-01

    Over the past several decades billions of dollars have been invested by governments and private companies in the pursuit of lower cost access to space through earth-to-orbit (ETO) space transportation systems. Much of that investment has been focused on the development and operation of various forms of reusable transportation systems. From the Space Shuttle to current efforts by private commercial companies, the overarching belief of those making such investments has been that reusing system elements will be cheaper than utilizing expendable systems that involve throwing away costly engines, avionics, and other hardware with each flight. However, the view that reusable systems are ultimately a "better" approach to providing ETO transportation is not held universally by major stakeholders within the space transportation industry. While the technical feasibility of at least some degree of reusability has been demonstrated, there continues to be a sometimes lively debate over the merits and drawbacks of reusable versus expendable systems from an economic perspective. In summary, is it worth it? Based on our many years of direct involvement with the business aspects of several expendable and reusable transportation systems, it appears to us that much of the discussion surrounding reusability is hindered by a failure to clearly define and understand the financial and other metrics by which the financial "goodness" of a reusable or expandable approach is measured. As stakeholders, the different users and suppliers of space transportation have a varied set of criteria for determining the relative economic viability of alternative strategies, including reusability. Many different metrics have been used to measure the affordability of space transportation, such as dollars per payload pound (kilogram) to orbit, cost per flight, life cycle cost, net present value/internal rate of return, and many others. This paper will examine the key considerations that influence

  6. An Approach for Composing Services Based on Environment Ontology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guangjun Cai

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Service-oriented computing is revolutionizing the modern computing paradigms with its aim to boost software reuse and enable business agility. Under this paradigm, new services are fabricated by composing available services. The problem arises as how to effectively and efficiently compose heterogeneous services facing the high complexity of service composition. Based on environment ontology, this paper introduces a requirement-driven service composition approach. We propose the algorithms to decompose the requirement, the rules to deduct the relation between services, and the algorithm for composing service. The empirical results and the comparison with other services’ composition methodologies show that this approach is feasible and efficient.

  7. Future Launch Vehicle Structures - Expendable and Reusable Elements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obersteiner, M. H.; Borriello, G.

    2002-01-01

    Further evolution of existing expendable launch vehicles will be an obvious element influencing the future of space transportation. Besides this reusability might be the change with highest potential for essential improvement. The expected cost reduction and finally contributing to this, the improvement of reliability including safe mission abort capability are driving this idea. Although there are ideas of semi-reusable launch vehicles, typically two stages vehicles - reusable first stage or booster(s) and expendable second or upper stage - it should be kept in mind that the benefit of reusability will only overwhelm if there is a big enough share influencing the cost calculation. Today there is the understanding that additional technology preparation and verification will be necessary to master reusability and get enough benefits compared with existing launch vehicles. This understanding is based on several technology and system concepts preparation and verification programmes mainly done in the US but partially also in Europe and Japan. The major areas of necessary further activities are: - System concepts including business plan considerations - Sub-system or component technologies refinement - System design and operation know-how and capabilities - Verification and demonstration oriented towards future mission mastering: One of the most important aspects for the creation of those coming programmes and activities will be the iterative process of requirements definition derived from concepts analyses including economical considerations and the results achieved and verified within technology and verification programmes. It is the intention of this paper to provide major trends for those requirements focused on future launch vehicles structures. This will include the aspects of requirements only valid for reusable launch vehicles and those common for expendable, semi-reusable and reusable launch vehicles. Structures and materials is and will be one of the

  8. Modular Software for Spacecraft Navigation Using the Global Positioning System (GPS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Truong, S. H.; Hartman, K. R.; Weidow, D. A.; Berry, D. L.; Oza, D. H.; Long, A. C.; Joyce, E.; Steger, W. L.

    1996-01-01

    The Goddard Space Flight Center Flight Dynamics and Mission Operations Divisions have jointly investigated the feasibility of engineering modular Global Positioning SYSTEM (GPS) navigation software to support both real time flight and ground postprocessing configurations. The goals of this effort are to define standard GPS data interfaces and to engineer standard, reusable navigation software components that can be used to build a broad range of GPS navigation support applications. The paper discusses the GPS modular software (GMOD) system and operations concepts, major requirements, candidate software architecture, feasibility assessment and recommended software interface standards. In additon, ongoing efforts to broaden the scope of the initial study and to develop modular software to support autonomous navigation using GPS are addressed,

  9. DEPONTO: A Reusable Dependability Domain Ontology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teodora Sanislav

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a dependability reusable ontology for knowledge representation. The fundamental knowledge related to dependability follows its taxonomy. Thus, this paper gives an analysis of what is the dependability domain ontology andof its components.The dependability domain ontology plays an important role in ensuring the dependability of information systems by providing support for their diagnosis in case of faults, errors and failures.The proposed ontology is used as a dependability framework in two case study Cyber-Physical Systemswhich demonstrate its reusability within this category of systems.

  10. Top 10 metrics for life science software good practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Artaza, Haydee; Chue Hong, Neil; Corpas, Manuel; Corpuz, Angel; Hooft, Rob; Jimenez, Rafael C; Leskošek, Brane; Olivier, Brett G; Stourac, Jan; Svobodová Vařeková, Radka; Van Parys, Thomas; Vaughan, Daniel

    2016-01-01

    Metrics for assessing adoption of good development practices are a useful way to ensure that software is sustainable, reusable and functional. Sustainability means that the software used today will be available - and continue to be improved and supported - in the future. We report here an initial set of metrics that measure good practices in software development. This initiative differs from previously developed efforts in being a community-driven grassroots approach where experts from different organisations propose good software practices that have reasonable potential to be adopted by the communities they represent. We not only focus our efforts on understanding and prioritising good practices, we assess their feasibility for implementation and publish them here.

  11. Assessing Software Quality Through Visualised Cohesion Metrics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy Shih

    2001-05-01

    Full Text Available Cohesion is one of the most important factors for software quality as well as maintainability, reliability and reusability. Module cohesion is defined as a quality attribute that seeks for measuring the singleness of the purpose of a module. The module of poor quality can be a serious obstacle to the system quality. In order to design a good software quality, software managers and engineers need to introduce cohesion metrics to measure and produce desirable software. A highly cohesion software is thought to be a desirable constructing. In this paper, we propose a function-oriented cohesion metrics based on the analysis of live variables, live span and the visualization of processing element dependency graph. We give six typical cohesion examples to be measured as our experiments and justification. Therefore, a well-defined, well-normalized, well-visualized and well-experimented cohesion metrics is proposed to indicate and thus enhance software cohesion strength. Furthermore, this cohesion metrics can be easily incorporated with software CASE tool to help software engineers to improve software quality.

  12. A flexible and reusable software for real-time control applications at JET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Tommasi, G.; Piccolo, F.; Sartori, F.

    2005-01-01

    The fast growth of the JET real-time control network and the increasing demand for new systems have been the triggers that started the development of the JETRT software framework. This new architecture is designed for maximum reuse and is particularly suited for implementation of both real-time control and data acquisition systems in a complex experimental environment such as JET. Most of the software is the same in all applications independent of the platform. The varying part is the project specific algorithm, which is also compiled into a separate software component, in order to achieve a separation from the plant interface code. This design choice maximises the software reliability, reduces development costs and allows non-specialist programmers to contribute to the implementation of real-time projects. JETRT also provides an integrated set of debugging and testing tools, some of them well integrated with the Matlab environment. This feature besides the framework portability among different platforms allows to perform most of the test and validation phase on a desktop PC running Windows, significantly reducing the commissioning time of a new real-time system

  13. RT-Syn: A real-time software system generator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setliff, Dorothy E.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents research into providing highly reusable and maintainable components by using automatic software synthesis techniques. This proposal uses domain knowledge combined with automatic software synthesis techniques to engineer large-scale mission-critical real-time software. The hypothesis centers on a software synthesis architecture that specifically incorporates application-specific (in this case real-time) knowledge. This architecture synthesizes complex system software to meet a behavioral specification and external interaction design constraints. Some examples of these external constraints are communication protocols, precisions, timing, and space limitations. The incorporation of application-specific knowledge facilitates the generation of mathematical software metrics which are used to narrow the design space, thereby making software synthesis tractable. Success has the potential to dramatically reduce mission-critical system life-cycle costs not only by reducing development time, but more importantly facilitating maintenance, modifications, and extensions of complex mission-critical software systems, which are currently dominating life cycle costs.

  14. Reliable, Reusable Cryotank, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Microcracking issues have significantly limited the reusability of state-of-the-art (SOA) composite cryotanks. While developers have made some progress addressing...

  15. The reusable launch vehicle technology program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, S.

    1995-01-01

    Today's launch systems have major shortcomings that will increase in significance in the future, and thus are principal drivers for seeking major improvements in space transportation. They are too costly; insufficiently reliable, safe, and operable; and increasingly losing market share to international competition. For the United States to continue its leadership in the human exploration and wide ranging utilization of space, the first order of business must be to achieve low cost, reliable transportatin to Earth orbit. NASA's Access to Space Study, in 1993, recommended the development of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket vehicle as an Agency goal. The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is to mature the technologies essential for a next-generation reusable launch system capable of reliably serving National space transportation needs at substantially reduced costs. The primary objectives of the RLV technology program are to (1) mature the technologies required for the next-generation system, (2) demonstrate the capability to achieve low development and operational cost, and rapid launch turnaround times and (3) reduce business and technical risks to encourage significant private investment in the commercial development and operation of the next-generation system. Developing and demonstrating the technologies required for a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket is a focus of the program becuase past studies indicate that it has the best potential for achieving the lowest space access cost while acting as an RLV technology driver (since it also encompasses the technology requirements of reusable rocket vehicles in general).

  16. The reusable launch vehicle technology program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, S.

    Today's launch systems have major shortcomings that will increase in significance in the future, and thus are principal drivers for seeking major improvements in space transportation. They are too costly; insufficiently reliable, safe, and operable; and increasingly losing market share to international competition. For the United States to continue its leadership in the human exploration and wide ranging utilization of space, the first order of business must be to achieve low cost, reliable transportatin to Earth orbit. NASA's Access to Space Study, in 1993, recommended the development of a fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rocket vehicle as an Agency goal. The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is to mature the technologies essential for a next-generation reusable launch system capable of reliably serving National space transportation needs at substantially reduced costs. The primary objectives of the RLV technology program are to (1) mature the technologies required for the next-generation system, (2) demonstrate the capability to achieve low development and operational cost, and rapid launch turnaround times and (3) reduce business and technical risks to encourage significant private investment in the commercial development and operation of the next-generation system. Developing and demonstrating the technologies required for a Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket is a focus of the program becuase past studies indicate that it has the best potential for achieving the lowest space access cost while acting as an RLV technology driver (since it also encompasses the technology requirements of reusable rocket vehicles in general).

  17. Reusable Agena study. Volume 2: Technical

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carter, W. K.; Piper, J. E.; Douglass, D. A.; Waller, E. W.; Hopkins, C. V.; Fitzgerald, E. T.; Sagawa, S. S.; Carter, S. A.; Jensen, H. L.

    1974-01-01

    The application of the existing Agena vehicle as a reusable upper stage for the space shuttle is discussed. The primary objective of the study is to define those changes to the Agena required for it to function in the reusable mode in the 100 percent capture of the NASA-DOD mission model. This 100 percent capture is achieved without use of kick motors or stages by simply increasing the Agena propellant load by using optional strap-on-tanks. The required shuttle support equipment, launch and flight operations techniques, development program, and cost package are also defined.

  18. On the Concepts of Usability and Reusability of Learning Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel-Angel Sicilia

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available “Reusable learning objects” oriented towards increasing their potential reusability are required to satisfy concerns about their granularity and their independence of concrete contexts of use. Such requirements also entail that the definition of learning object “usability,” and the techniques required to carry out their “usability evaluation” must be substantially different from those commonly used to characterize and evaluate the usability of conventional educational applications. In this article, a specific characterization of the concept of learning object usability is discussed, which places emphasis on “reusability,” the key property of learning objects residing in repositories. The concept of learning object reusability is described as the possibility and adequacy for the object to be usable in prospective educational settings, so that usability and reusability are considered two interrelated – and in many cases conflicting – properties of learning objects. Following the proposed characterization of two characteristics or properties of learning objects, a method to evaluate usability of specific learning objects will be presented.

  19. Research Data Reusability: Conceptual Foundations, Barriers and Enabling Technologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Costantino Thanos

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available High-throughput scientific instruments are generating massive amounts of data. Today, one of the main challenges faced by researchers is to make the best use of the world’s growing wealth of data. Data (reusability is becoming a distinct characteristic of modern scientific practice. By data (reusability, we mean the ease of using data for legitimate scientific research by one or more communities of research (consumer communities that is produced by other communities of research (producer communities. Data (reusability allows the reanalysis of evidence, reproduction and verification of results, minimizing duplication of effort, and building on the work of others. It has four main dimensions: policy, legal, economic and technological. The paper addresses the technological dimension of data reusability. The conceptual foundations of data reuse as well as the barriers that hamper data reuse are presented and discussed. The data publication process is proposed as a bridge between the data author and user and the relevant technologies enabling this process are presented.

  20. Managing MDO Software Development Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townsend, J. C.; Salas, A. O.

    2002-01-01

    Over the past decade, the NASA Langley Research Center developed a series of 'grand challenge' applications demonstrating the use of parallel and distributed computation and multidisciplinary design optimization. All but the last of these applications were focused on the high-speed civil transport vehicle; the final application focused on reusable launch vehicles. Teams of discipline experts developed these multidisciplinary applications by integrating legacy engineering analysis codes. As teams became larger and the application development became more complex with increasing levels of fidelity and numbers of disciplines, the need for applying software engineering practices became evident. This paper briefly introduces the application projects and then describes the approaches taken in project management and software engineering for each project; lessons learned are highlighted.

  1. Software for mass spectrometer control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Curuia, Marian; Culcer, Mihai; Anghel, Mihai; Iliescu, Mariana; Trancota, Dan; Kaucsar, Martin; Oprea, Cristiana

    2004-01-01

    The paper describes a software application for the MAT 250 mass spectrometer control, which was refurbished. The spectrometer was bring-up-to-date using a hardware structure on its support where the software application for mass spectrometer control was developed . The software application is composed of dedicated modules that perform given operations. The instructions that these modules have to perform are generated by a principal module. This module makes possible the change of information between the modules that compose the software application. The use of a modal structure is useful for adding new functions in the future. The developed application in our institute made possible the transformation of the mass spectrometer MAT 250 into a device endowed with other new generation tools. (authors)

  2. Using Docker Compose for the Simple Deployment of an Integrated Drug Target Screening Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    List Markus

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Docker virtualization allows for software tools to be executed in an isolated and controlled environment referred to as a container. In Docker containers, dependencies are provided exactly as intended by the developer and, consequently, they simplify the distribution of scientific software and foster reproducible research. The Docker paradigm is that each container encapsulates one particular software tool. However, to analyze complex biomedical data sets, it is often necessary to combine several software tools into elaborate workflows. To address this challenge, several Docker containers need to be instantiated and properly integrated, which complicates the software deployment process unnecessarily. Here, we demonstrate how an extension to Docker, Docker compose, can be used to mitigate these problems by providing a unified setup routine that deploys several tools in an integrated fashion. We demonstrate the power of this approach by example of a Docker compose setup for a drug target screening platform consisting of five integrated web applications and shared infrastructure, deployable in just two lines of codes.

  3. Using Docker Compose for the Simple Deployment of an Integrated Drug Target Screening Platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    List, Markus

    2017-06-10

    Docker virtualization allows for software tools to be executed in an isolated and controlled environment referred to as a container. In Docker containers, dependencies are provided exactly as intended by the developer and, consequently, they simplify the distribution of scientific software and foster reproducible research. The Docker paradigm is that each container encapsulates one particular software tool. However, to analyze complex biomedical data sets, it is often necessary to combine several software tools into elaborate workflows. To address this challenge, several Docker containers need to be instantiated and properly integrated, which complicates the software deployment process unnecessarily. Here, we demonstrate how an extension to Docker, Docker compose, can be used to mitigate these problems by providing a unified setup routine that deploys several tools in an integrated fashion. We demonstrate the power of this approach by example of a Docker compose setup for a drug target screening platform consisting of five integrated web applications and shared infrastructure, deployable in just two lines of codes.

  4. Evolution of the 'Trick' Dynamic Software Executive and Model Libraries for Reusable Flight Software, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In response to a need for cost-effective small satellite missions, Odyssey Space Research is proposing the development of a common flight software executive and a...

  5. Managing Complexity in Activity Specifications by Separation of Concerns and Reusability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Forbrig

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The specification of activities of the different stakeholders is an important activity for software development. Currently, a lot of specification languages like task models, activity diagrams, state charts, and business specifications are used to document the results of the analysis of the domain in most projects. The paper discusses the aspect of reusability by considering generic submodels. This approach increases the quality of models. Additionally, the separation of concerns of cooperation and individual work by subject-oriented specifications is discussed. It will be demonstrated how task models can be used to support subject-oriented specification by so called team models and role models in a more precise way than S-BPM specifications. More precise restrictions on instances of roles can be specified.

  6. Inheritance for software reuse: The good, the bad, and the ugly

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sitaraman, Murali; Eichmann, David A.

    1992-01-01

    Inheritance is a powerful mechanism supported by object-oriented programming languages to facilitate modifications and extensions of reusable software components. This paper presents a taxonomy of the various purposes for which an inheritance mechanism can be used. While some uses of inheritance significantly enhance software reuse, some others are not as useful and in fact, may even be detrimental to reuse. The paper discusses several examples, and argues for a programming language design that is selective in its support for inheritance.

  7. Methodology for Evaluating Quality and Reusability of Learning Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurilovas, Eugenijus; Bireniene, Virginija; Serikoviene, Silvija

    2011-01-01

    The aim of the paper is to present the scientific model and several methods for the expert evaluation of quality of learning objects (LOs) paying especial attention to LOs reusability level. The activities of eQNet Quality Network for a European Learning Resource Exchange (LRE) aimed to improve reusability of LOs of European Schoolnet's LRE…

  8. Software configuration management

    CERN Document Server

    Keyes, Jessica

    2004-01-01

    Software Configuration Management discusses the framework from a standards viewpoint, using the original DoD MIL-STD-973 and EIA-649 standards to describe the elements of configuration management within a software engineering perspective. Divided into two parts, the first section is composed of 14 chapters that explain every facet of configuration management related to software engineering. The second section consists of 25 appendices that contain many valuable real world CM templates.

  9. Early experiences building a software quality prediction model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agresti, W. W.; Evanco, W. M.; Smith, M. C.

    1990-01-01

    Early experiences building a software quality prediction model are discussed. The overall research objective is to establish a capability to project a software system's quality from an analysis of its design. The technical approach is to build multivariate models for estimating reliability and maintainability. Data from 21 Ada subsystems were analyzed to test hypotheses about various design structures leading to failure-prone or unmaintainable systems. Current design variables highlight the interconnectivity and visibility of compilation units. Other model variables provide for the effects of reusability and software changes. Reported results are preliminary because additional project data is being obtained and new hypotheses are being developed and tested. Current multivariate regression models are encouraging, explaining 60 to 80 percent of the variation in error density of the subsystems.

  10. EMMA: a new paradigm in configurable software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nogiec, J. M.; Trombly-Freytag, K.

    2017-01-01

    EMMA is a framework designed to create a family of configurable software systems, with emphasis on extensibility and flexibility. It is based on a loosely coupled, event driven architecture. The EMMA framework has been built upon the premise of composing software systems from independent components. It opens up opportunities for reuse of components and their functionality and composing them together in many different ways. As a result, it provides the developer of test and measurement applications with a lightweight alternative to microservices, while sharing their various advantages, including composability, loose coupling, encapsulation, and reuse.

  11. EMMA: a new paradigm in configurable software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nogiec, J. M.; Trombly-Freytag, K.

    2017-10-01

    EMMA is a framework designed to create a family of configurable software systems, with emphasis on extensibility and flexibility. It is based on a loosely coupled, event driven architecture. The EMMA framework has been built upon the premise of composing software systems from independent components. It opens up opportunities for reuse of components and their functionality and composing them together in many different ways. It provides the developer of test and measurement applications with a lightweight alternative to microservices, while sharing their various advantages, including composability, loose coupling, encapsulation, and reuse.

  12. Assessment of the Feasibility of Innovative Reusable Launchers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiesa, S.; Corpino, S.; Viola, N.

    The demand for getting access to space, in particular to Low Earth Orbit, is increasing and fully reusable launch vehicles (RLVs) are likely to play a key role in the development of future space activities. Up until now this kind of space systems has not been successfully carried out: in fact today only the Space Shuttle, which belongs to the old generation of launchers, is operative and furthermore it is not a fully reusable system. In the nineties many studies regarding advanced transatmospheric planes were started, but no one was accomplished because of the technological problems encountered and the high financial resources required with the corresponding industrial risk. One of the most promising project was the Lockheed Venture Star, which seemed to have serious chances to be carried out. Anyway, if this ever happens, it will take quite a long time thus the operative life of Space Shuttle will have to be extended for the International Space Station support. The purpose of the present work is to assess the feasibility of different kinds of advanced reusable launch vehicles to gain access to space and to meet the requirements of today space flight needs, which are mainly safety and affordability. Single stage to orbit (SSTO), two stage to orbit (TSTO) and the so called "one and a half" stage to orbit vehicles are here taken into account to highlight their advantages and disadvantages. The "one and a half" stage to orbit vehicle takes off and climbs to meet a tanker aircraft to be aerially refuelled and then, after disconnecting from the tanker, it flies to reach the orbit. In this case, apart from the space vehicle, also the tanker aircraft needs a dedicated study to examine the problems related to the refuelling at high subsonic speeds and at a height near the tropopause. Only winged vehicles which take off and land horizontally are considered but different architectural layouts and propulsive configurations are hypothesised. Unlike the Venture Star, which

  13. 14 CFR 437.95 - Inspection of additional reusable suborbital rockets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... suborbital rockets. 437.95 Section 437.95 Aeronautics and Space COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL... of an Experimental Permit § 437.95 Inspection of additional reusable suborbital rockets. A permittee may launch or reenter additional reusable suborbital rockets of the same design under the permit after...

  14. LEGOS: Object-based software components for mission-critical systems. Final report, June 1, 1995--December 31, 1997

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-08-01

    An estimated 85% of the installed base of software is a custom application with a production quantity of one. In practice, almost 100% of military software systems are custom software. Paradoxically, the marginal costs of producing additional units are near zero. So why hasn`t the software market, a market with high design costs and low productions costs evolved like other similar custom widget industries, such as automobiles and hardware chips? The military software industry seems immune to market pressures that have motivated a multilevel supply chain structure in other widget industries: design cost recovery, improve quality through specialization, and enable rapid assembly from purchased components. The primary goal of the ComponentWare Consortium (CWC) technology plan was to overcome barriers to building and deploying mission-critical information systems by using verified, reusable software components (Component Ware). The adoption of the ComponentWare infrastructure is predicated upon a critical mass of the leading platform vendors` inevitable adoption of adopting emerging, object-based, distributed computing frameworks--initially CORBA and COM/OLE. The long-range goal of this work is to build and deploy military systems from verified reusable architectures. The promise of component-based applications is to enable developers to snap together new applications by mixing and matching prefabricated software components. A key result of this effort is the concept of reusable software architectures. A second important contribution is the notion that a software architecture is something that can be captured in a formal language and reused across multiple applications. The formalization and reuse of software architectures provide major cost and schedule improvements. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is fast becoming the industry standard for object-oriented analysis and design notation for object-based systems. However, the lack of a standard real-time distributed

  15. Modularity and Architecture of PLC-based Software for Automated Production Systems: An analysis in industrial companies

    OpenAIRE

    B. Vogel-Heuser, J. Fischer, S. Feldmann, S. Ulewicz, S. Rösch

    2018-01-01

    Adaptive and flexible production systems require modular and reusable software especially considering their long-term life cycle of up to 50 years. SWMAT4aPS, an approach to measure Software Maturity for automated Production Systems is introduced. The approach identifies weaknesses and strengths of various companies’ solutions for modularity of software in the design of automated Production Systems (aPS). At first, a self-assessed questionnaire is used to evaluate a large number of companies ...

  16. Economics of reusable facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Antia, D.D.J.

    1992-01-01

    In this paper some of the different economic development strategies that can be used for reusable facilities in the UK, Norway, Netherlands and in some production sharing contracts are outlined. These strategies focus on an integrated decision analysis approach which considers development phasing, reservoir management, tax planning and where appropriate facility purchase, leasing, or sale and leaseback decisions

  17. A service based component model for composing and exploring MPSoC platforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tranberg-Hansen, Anders Sejer; Madsen, Jan

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents an abstract service based modelling method for use in performance estimation and design space exploration of Multi Processor System On Chip (MPSoC) based systems. The method provides the infrastructure for composing abstract hardware and software models of stream based systems...... which can be used to produce detailed quantitative information regarding runtime properties of a given system through simulations. The method is based on a service oriented model of computation which is a modified version of Hierarchical Coloured Petri Nets.......This paper presents an abstract service based modelling method for use in performance estimation and design space exploration of Multi Processor System On Chip (MPSoC) based systems. The method provides the infrastructure for composing abstract hardware and software models of stream based systems...

  18. Differences in alarm events between disposable and reusable electrocardiography lead wires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albert, Nancy M; Murray, Terri; Bena, James F; Slifcak, Ellen; Roach, Joel D; Spence, Jackie; Burkle, Alicia

    2015-01-01

    Disposable electrocardiographic lead wires (ECG-LWs) may not be as durable as reusable ones. To examine differences in alarm events between disposable and reusable ECG-LWs. Two cardiac telemetry units were randomized to reusable ECG-LWs, and 2 units alternated between disposable and reusable ECG-LWs for 4 months. A remote monitoring team, blinded to ECG-LW type, assessed frequency and type of alarm events by using total counts and rates per 100 patient days. Event rates were compared by using generalized linear mixed-effect models for differences and noninferiority between wire types. In 1611 patients and 9385.5 patient days of ECG monitoring, patient characteristics were similar between groups. Rates of alarms for no telemetry, leads fail, or leads off were lower in disposable ECG-LWs (adjusted relative risk [95% CI], 0.71 [0.53-0.96]; noninferiority P < .001; superiority P = .03) and monitoring (artifact) alarms were significantly noninferior (adjusted relative risk [95% CI]: 0.88, [0.62-1.24], P = .02; superiority P = .44). No between-group differences existed in false or true crisis alarms. Disposable ECG-LWs were noninferior to reusable ECG-LWs for all false-alarm events (N [rate per 100 patient days], disposable 2029 [79.1] vs reusable 6673 [97.9]; adjusted relative risk [95% CI]: 0.81 [0.63-1.06], P = .002; superiority P = .12.) Disposable ECG-LWs with patented push-button design had superior performance in reducing alarms created by no telemetry, leads fail, or leads off and significant noninferiority in all false-alarm rates compared with reusable ECG-LWs. Fewer ECG alarms may save nurses time, decrease alarm fatigue, and improve patient safety. ©2015 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

  19. Software architecture and engineering for patient records: current and future.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weng, Chunhua; Levine, Betty A; Mun, Seong K

    2009-05-01

    During the "The National Forum on the Future of the Defense Health Information System," a track focusing on "Systems Architecture and Software Engineering" included eight presenters. These presenters identified three key areas of interest in this field, which include the need for open enterprise architecture and a federated database design, net centrality based on service-oriented architecture, and the need for focus on software usability and reusability. The eight panelists provided recommendations related to the suitability of service-oriented architecture and the enabling technologies of grid computing and Web 2.0 for building health services research centers and federated data warehouses to facilitate large-scale collaborative health care and research. Finally, they discussed the need to leverage industry best practices for software engineering to facilitate rapid software development, testing, and deployment.

  20. The 7 C's for Creating Living Software: A Research Perspective for Quality-Oriented Software Engineering

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aksit, Mehmet

    2004-01-01

    This article proposes the 7 C's for realizing quality-oriented software engineering practices. All the desired qualities of this approach are expressed in short by the term living software. The 7 C's are: Concern-oriented processes, Canonical models, Composable models, Certifiable models,

  1. Reusable radiation monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fanselow, D.L.; Ersfeld, D.A.

    1978-01-01

    An integrating, reusable device for monitoring exposure to actinic radiation is disclosed. The device comprises a substrate having deposited thereon at least one photochromic aziridine compound which is sealed in an oxygen barrier to stabilize the color developed by the aziridine compound in response to actinic radiation. The device includes a spectral response shaping filter to transmit only actinic radiation of the type being monitored. A color standard is also provided with which to compare the color developed by the aziridine compound

  2. Bantam: A Systematic Approach to Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griner, Carolyn; Lyles, Garry

    1999-01-01

    The Bantam technology project is focused on providing a low cost launch capability for very small (100 kilogram) NASA and University science payloads. The cost goal has been set at one million dollars per launch. The Bantam project, however, represents much more than a small payload launch capability. Bantam represents a unique, systematic approach to reusable launch vehicle technology development. This technology maturation approach will enable future highly reusable launch concepts in any payload class. These launch vehicle concepts of the future could deliver payloads for hundreds of dollars per pound, enabling dramatic growth in civil and commercial space enterprise. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has demonstrated a better, faster, and cheaper approach to science discovery in recent years. This approach is exemplified by the successful Mars Exploration Program lead by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the NASA Space Science Enterprise. The Bantam project represents an approach to space transportation technology maturation that is very similar to the Mars Exploration Program. The NASA Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) and Future X Pathfinder Program will combine to systematically mature reusable space transportation technology from low technology readiness to system level flight demonstration. New reusable space transportation capability will be demonstrated at a small (Bantam) scale approximately every two years. Each flight demonstration will build on the knowledge derived from the previous flight tests. The Bantam scale flight demonstrations will begin with the flights of the X-34. The X-34 will demonstrate reusable launch vehicle technologies including; flight regimes up to Mach 8 and 250,000 feet, autonomous flight operations, all weather operations, twenty-five flights in one year with a surge capability of two flights in less than twenty-four hours and safe abort. The Bantam project will build on this initial

  3. Benefits of Government Incentives for Reusable Launch Vehicle Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Eric J.; Hamaker, Joseph W.; Prince, Frank A.

    1998-01-01

    Many exciting new opportunities in space, both government missions and business ventures, could be realized by a reduction in launch prices. Reusable launch vehicle (RLV) designs have the potential to lower launch costs dramatically from those of today's expendable and partially-expendable vehicles. Unfortunately, governments must budget to support existing launch capability, and so lack the resources necessary to completely fund development of new reusable systems. In addition, the new commercial space markets are too immature and uncertain to motivate the launch industry to undertake a project of this magnitude and risk. Low-cost launch vehicles will not be developed without a mature market to service; however, launch prices must be reduced in order for a commercial launch market to mature. This paper estimates and discusses the various benefits that may be reaped from government incentives for a commercial reusable launch vehicle program.

  4. COMPOSE-HPC: A Transformational Approach to Exascale

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernholdt, David E [ORNL; Allan, Benjamin A. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL); Armstrong, Robert C. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL); Chavarria-Miranda, Daniel [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Dahlgren, Tamara L. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); Elwasif, Wael R [ORNL; Epperly, Tom [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); Foley, Samantha S [ORNL; Hulette, Geoffrey C. [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL); Krishnamoorthy, Sriram [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Prantl, Adrian [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); Panyala, Ajay [Louisiana State University; Sottile, Matthew [Galois, Inc.

    2012-04-01

    The goal of the COMPOSE-HPC project is to 'democratize' tools for automatic transformation of program source code so that it becomes tractable for the developers of scientific applications to create and use their own transformations reliably and safely. This paper describes our approach to this challenge, the creation of the KNOT tool chain, which includes tools for the creation of annotation languages to control the transformations (PAUL), to perform the transformations (ROTE), and optimization and code generation (BRAID), which can be used individually and in combination. We also provide examples of current and future uses of the KNOT tools, which include transforming code to use different programming models and environments, providing tests that can be used to detect errors in software or its execution, as well as composition of software written in different programming languages, or with different threading patterns.

  5. Reusable launch vehicle facts and fantasies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Marshall H.

    2002-01-01

    Many people refuse to address many of the realities of reusable launch vehicle systems, technologies, operations and economics. Basic principles of physics, space flight operations, and business limitations are applied to the creation of a practical vision of future expectations. While reusable launcher concepts have been proposed for several decades, serious review of potential designs began in the mid-1990s, when NASA decided that a Space Shuttle replacement had to be pursued. A great deal of excitement and interest was quickly generated by the prospect of ``orders-of-magnitude'' reduction in launch costs. The potential for a vastly expanded space program motivated the entire space community. By the late-1990s, and after over one billion dollars were spent on the technology development and privately-funded concepts, it had become clear that there would be no new, near-term operational reusable vehicle. Many factors contributed to a very expensive and disappointing effort to create a new generation of launch vehicles. It began with overly optimistic projections of technology advancements and the belief that a greatly increased demand for satellite launches would be realized early in the 21st century. Contractors contributed to the perception of quickly reachable technology and business goals, thus, accelerating the enthusiasm and helping to create a ``gold rush'' euphoria. Cost, schedule and performance margins were all highly optimistic. Several entrepreneurs launched start up companies to take advantage of the excitement and the availability of investor capital. Millions were raised from private investors and venture capitalists, based on little more than flashy presentations and animations. Well over $500 million were raised by little-known start up groups to create reusable systems, which might complete for the coming market in launch services. By 1999, it was clear that market projections, made just two years earlier, were not going to be realized. Investors

  6. Top 10 metrics for life science software good practices [version 1; referees: 2 approved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haydee Artaza

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Metrics for assessing adoption of good development practices are a useful way to ensure that software is sustainable, reusable and functional. Sustainability means that the software used today will be available - and continue to be improved and supported - in the future. We report here an initial set of metrics that measure good practices in software development. This initiative differs from previously developed efforts in being a community-driven grassroots approach where experts from different organisations propose good software practices that have reasonable potential to be adopted by the communities they represent. We not only focus our efforts on understanding and prioritising good practices, we assess their feasibility for implementation and publish them here.

  7. Conceptual Design of an APT Reusable Spaceplane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corpino, S.; Viola, N.

    This paper concerns the conceptual design of an Aerial Propellant Transfer reusable spaceplane carried out during our PhD course under the supervision of prof. Chiesa. The new conceptual design methodology employed in order to develop the APT concept and the main characteristics of the spaceplane itself will be presented and discussed. The methodology for conceptual design has been worked out during the last three years. It was originally thought for atmospheric vehicle design but, thanks to its modular structure which makes it very flexible, it has been possible to convert it to space transportation systems design by adding and/or modifying a few modules. One of the major improvements has been for example the conception and development of the mission simulation and trajectory optimisation module. The methodology includes as main characteristics and innovations the latest techniques of geometric modelling and logistic, operational and cost aspects since the first stages of the project. Computer aided design techniques are used to obtain a better definition of the product at the end of the conceptual design phase and virtual reality concepts are employed to visualise three-dimensional installation and operational aspects, at least in part replacing full-scale mock- ups. The introduction of parametric three-dimensional CAD software integrated into the conceptual design methodology represents a great improvement because it allows to carry out different layouts and to assess them immediately. It is also possible to link the CAD system to a digital prototyping software which combines 3D visualisation and assembly analysis, useful to define the so-called Digital Mock-Up at Conceptual Level (DMUCL) which studies the integration between the on board systems, sized with simulation algorithms, and the airframe. DMUCL represents a very good means to integrate the conceptual design with a methodology turned towards dealing with Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and

  8. Authoring Systems Delivering Reusable Learning Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Nicola Sammour

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available A three layer e-learning course development model has been defined based on a conceptual model of learning content object. It starts by decomposing the learning content into small chunks which are initially placed in a hierarchic structure of units and blocks. The raw content components, being the atomic learning objects (ALO, were linked to the blocks and are structured in the database. We set forward a dynamic generation of LO's using re-usable e-learning raw materials or ALO’s In that view we need a LO authoring/ assembling system fitting the requirements of interoperability and reusability and starting from selecting the raw learning content from the learning materials content database. In practice authoring systems are used to develop e-learning courses. The company EDUWEST has developed an authoring system that is database based and will be SCORM compliant in the near future.

  9. The Effect of Superstar Software on Hardware Sales in System Markets

    OpenAIRE

    Binken, Jeroen; Stremersch, Stefan

    2008-01-01

    textabstractSystems are composed of complementary products (e.g., video game systems are composed of the video game console and video games). Prior literature on indirect network effects argues that, in system markets, sales of the primary product (often referred to as "hardware") largely depend on the availability of complementary products (often referred to as "software"). Mathematical and empirical analyses have almost exclusively operationalized software availability as software quantity....

  10. An application of machine learning to the organization of institutional software repositories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailin, Sidney; Henderson, Scott; Truszkowski, Walt

    1993-01-01

    Software reuse has become a major goal in the development of space systems, as a recent NASA-wide workshop on the subject made clear. The Data Systems Technology Division of Goddard Space Flight Center has been working on tools and techniques for promoting reuse, in particular in the development of satellite ground support software. One of these tools is the Experiment in Libraries via Incremental Schemata and Cobweb (ElvisC). ElvisC applies machine learning to the problem of organizing a reusable software component library for efficient and reliable retrieval. In this paper we describe the background factors that have motivated this work, present the design of the system, and evaluate the results of its application.

  11. Composable Mission Framework for Rapid End-to-End Mission Design and Simulation, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovation proposed here is the Composable Mission Framework (CMF) a model-based software framework that shall enable seamless continuity of mission design and...

  12. Toward an Agile Approach to Managing the Effect of Requirements on Software Architecture during Global Software Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdulaziz Alsahli

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Requirement change management (RCM is a critical activity during software development because poor RCM results in occurrence of defects, thereby resulting in software failure. To achieve RCM, efficient impact analysis is mandatory. A common repository is a good approach to maintain changed requirements, reusing and reducing effort. Thus, a better approach is needed to tailor knowledge for better change management of requirements and architecture during global software development (GSD.The objective of this research is to introduce an innovative approach for handling requirements and architecture changes simultaneously during global software development. The approach makes use of Case-Based Reasoning (CBR and agile practices. Agile practices make our approach iterative, whereas CBR stores requirements and makes them reusable. Twin Peaks is our base model, meaning that requirements and architecture are handled simultaneously. For this research, grounded theory has been applied; similarly, interviews from domain experts were conducted. Interview and literature transcripts formed the basis of data collection in grounded theory. Physical saturation of theory has been achieved through a published case study and developed tool. Expert reviews and statistical analysis have been used for evaluation. The proposed approach resulted in effective change management of requirements and architecture simultaneously during global software development.

  13. New reusable elastomer electrodes for assessing body composition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moreno, M-V; Chaset, L; Bittner, P A; Barthod, C; Passard, M

    2013-01-01

    The development of telemedicine requires finding solutions of reusable electrodes for use in patients' homes. The objective of this study is to evaluate the relevance of reusable elastomer electrodes for measuring body composition. We measured a population of healthy Caucasian (n = 17). A measurement was made with a reference device, the Xitron®, associated with AgCl Gel electrodes (Gel) and another measurement with a multifrequency impedancemeter Z-Metrix® associated with reusable elastomer electrodes (Elast). We obtained a low variability with an average error of repeatability of 0.39% for Re and 0.32% for Rinf. There is a non significantly difference (P T-test > 0.1) about 200 ml between extracellular water Ve measured with Gel and Elast in supine and in standing position. For total body water Vt, we note a non significantly difference (P T-test > 0.1) about 100 ml and 2.2 1 respectively in supine and standing position. The results give low dispersion, with R 2 superior to 0.90, with a 1.5% maximal error between Gel and Elast on Ve in standing position. It looks possible, taking a few precautions, using elastomer electrodes for assessing body composition.

  14. Utilizing Provenance in Reusable Research Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhihao Yuan

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Science is conducted collaboratively, often requiring the sharing of knowledge about computational experiments. When experiments include only datasets, they can be shared using Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs or Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs. An experiment, however, seldom includes only datasets, but more often includes software, its past execution, provenance, and associated documentation. The Research Object has recently emerged as a comprehensive and systematic method for aggregation and identification of diverse elements of computational experiments. While a necessary method, mere aggregation is not sufficient for the sharing of computational experiments. Other users must be able to easily recompute on these shared research objects. Computational provenance is often the key to enable such reuse. In this paper, we show how reusable research objects can utilize provenance to correctly repeat a previous reference execution, to construct a subset of a research object for partial reuse, and to reuse existing contents of a research object for modified reuse. We describe two methods to summarize provenance that aid in understanding the contents and past executions of a research object. The first method obtains a process-view by collapsing low-level system information, and the second method obtains a summary graph by grouping related nodes and edges with the goal to obtain a graph view similar to application workflow. Through detailed experiments, we show the efficacy and efficiency of our algorithms.

  15. Reusable fuel test assembly for the FFTF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pitner, A.L.; Dittmer, J.O.

    1992-01-01

    A fuel test assembly that provides re-irradiation capability after interim discharge and reconstitution of the test pin bundle has been developed for use in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). This test vehicle permits irradiation test data to be obtained at multiple exposures on a few select test pins without the substantial expense of fabricating individual test assemblies as would otherwise be required. A variety of test pin types can be loaded in the reusable test assembly. A reusable test vehicle for irradiation testing in the FFTF has long been desired, but a number of obstacles previously prevented the implementation of such an experimental rig. The MFF-8A test assembly employs a 169-pin bundle using HT-9 alloy for duct and cladding material. The standard driver pins in the fuel bundle are sodium-bonded metal fuel (U-10 wt% Zr). Thirty-seven positions in the bundle are replaceable pin positions. Standard MFF-8A driver pins can be loaded in any test pin location to fill the bundle if necessary. Application of the MFF-8A reusable test assembly in the FFTF constitutes a considerable cost-saving measure with regard to irradiation testing. Only a few well-characterized test pins need be fabricated to conduct a test program rather than constructing entire test assemblies

  16. Wound dressing with reusable electronics for wireless monitoring

    KAUST Repository

    Shamim, Atif

    2016-10-20

    A wound dressing device with reusable electronics for wireless monitoring and a method of making the same are provided. The device can be a smart device. In an embodiment, the device has a disposable portion including one or more sensors and a reusable portion including wireless electronics. The one or more sensors can be secured to a flexible substrate and can be printed by non-contact printing on the substrate. The disposable portion can be removably coupled to the one or more sensors. The device can include one or more sensors for wireless monitoring of a wound, a wound dressing, a body fluid exuded by the wound and/or wearer health.

  17. A hybrid approach to quantify software reliability in nuclear safety systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arun Babu, P.; Senthil Kumar, C.; Murali, N.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► A novel method to quantify software reliability using software verification and mutation testing in nuclear safety systems. ► Contributing factors that influence software reliability estimate. ► Approach to help regulators verify the reliability of safety critical software system during software licensing process. -- Abstract: Technological advancements have led to the use of computer based systems in safety critical applications. As computer based systems are being introduced in nuclear power plants, effective and efficient methods are needed to ensure dependability and compliance to high reliability requirements of systems important to safety. Even after several years of research, quantification of software reliability remains controversial and unresolved issue. Also, existing approaches have assumptions and limitations, which are not acceptable for safety applications. This paper proposes a theoretical approach combining software verification and mutation testing to quantify the software reliability in nuclear safety systems. The theoretical results obtained suggest that the software reliability depends on three factors: the test adequacy, the amount of software verification carried out and the reusability of verified code in the software. The proposed approach may help regulators in licensing computer based safety systems in nuclear reactors.

  18. My Career: Composer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morganelli, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    In this article, the author talks about his career as a composer and offers some advice for aspiring composers. The author works as a composer in the movie industry, creating music that supports a film's story. Other composers work on television shows, and some do both television and film. The composer uses music to tell the audience what kind of…

  19. Cost analysis of single-use (Ambu® aScope™) and reusable bronchoscopes in the ICU.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perbet, S; Blanquet, M; Mourgues, C; Delmas, J; Bertran, S; Longère, B; Boïko-Alaux, V; Chennell, P; Bazin, J-E; Constantin, J-M

    2017-12-01

    Flexible optical bronchoscopes are essential for management of airways in ICU, but the conventional reusable flexible scopes have three major drawbacks: high cost of repairs, need for decontamination, and possible transmission of infectious agents. The main objective of this study was to measure the cost of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and percutaneous tracheostomy (PT) using reusable bronchoscopes and single-use bronchoscopes in an ICU of an university hospital. The secondary objective was to compare the satisfaction of healthcare professionals with reusable and single-use bronchoscopes. The study was performed between August 2009 and July 2014 in a 16-bed ICU. All BAL and PT procedures were performed by experienced healthcare professionals. Cost analysis was performed considering ICU and hospital organization. Healthcare professional satisfaction with single-use and reusable scopes was determined based on eight factors. Sensitivity analysis was performed by applying discount rates (0, 3, and 5%) and by simulation of six situations based on different assumptions. At a discount rate of 3%, the costs per BAL for the two reusable scopes were 188.86€ (scope 1) and 185.94€ (scope 2), and the costs per PT for the reusable scope 1 and scope 2 and single-use scopes were 1613.84€, 410.24€, and 204.49€, respectively. The cost per procedure for the reusable scopes depended on the number of procedures performed, maintenance costs, and decontamination costs. Healthcare professionals were more satisfied with the third-generation single-use Ambu ® aScope™. The cost per procedure for the single-use scope was not superior to that for reusable scopes. The choice of single-use or reusable bronchoscopes in an ICU should consider the frequency of procedures and the number of bronchoscopes needed.

  20. A Reusable and Adaptable Software Architecture for Embedded Space Flight System: The Core Flight Software System (CFS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilmot, Jonathan

    2005-01-01

    The contents include the following: High availability. Hardware is in harsh environment. Flight processor (constraints) very widely due to power and weight constraints. Software must be remotely modifiable and still operate while changes are being made. Many custom one of kind interfaces for one of a kind missions. Sustaining engineering. Price of failure is high, tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.

  1. Magnetically-refreshable receptor platform structures for reusable nano-biosensor chips

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Haneul; Cho, Dong-guk; Park, Juhun; Nam, Ki Wan; Cho, Young Tak; Chen, Xing; Hong, Seunghun; Lee, Dong Jun; Park, Jae Yeol

    2016-01-01

    We developed a magnetically-refreshable receptor platform structure which can be integrated with quite versatile nano-biosensor structures to build reusable nano-biosensor chips. This structure allows one to easily remove used receptor molecules from a biosensor surface and reuse the biosensor for repeated sensing operations. Using this structure, we demonstrated reusable immunofluorescence biosensors. Significantly, since our method allows one to place receptor molecules very close to a nano-biosensor surface, it can be utilized to build reusable carbon nanotube transistor-based biosensors which require receptor molecules within a Debye length from the sensor surface. Furthermore, we also show that a single sensor chip can be utilized to detect two different target molecules simply by replacing receptor molecules using our method. Since this method does not rely on any chemical reaction to refresh sensor chips, it can be utilized for versatile biosensor structures and virtually-general receptor molecular species. (paper)

  2. Design, Fabrication, and Initial Operation of a Reusable Irradiation Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heatherly, D.W.; Thoms, K.R.; Siman-Tov, I.I.; Hurst, M.T.

    1999-01-01

    A Heavy-Section Steel Irradiation (HSSI) Program project, funded by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was initiated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop reusable materials irradiation facilities in which metallurgical specimens of reactor pressure vessel steels could be irradiated. As a consequence, two new, identical, reusable materials irradiation facilities have been designed, fabricated, installed, and are now operating at the Ford Nuclear Reactor at the University of Michigan. The facilities are referred to as the HSSI-IAR facilities with the individual facilities being designated as IAR-1 and IAR-2. This new and unique facility design requires no cutting or grinding operations to retrieve irradiated specimens, all capsule hardware is totally reusable, and materials transported from site to site are limited to specimens only. At the time of this letter report, the facilities have operated successfully for approximately 2500 effective full-power hours

  3. A literature review on business process modelling: new frontiers of reusability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aldin, Laden; de Cesare, Sergio

    2011-08-01

    Business process modelling (BPM) has become fundamental for modern enterprises due to the increasing rate of organisational change. As a consequence, business processes need to be continuously (re-)designed as well as subsequently aligned with the corresponding enterprise information systems. One major problem associated with the design of business processes is reusability. Reuse of business process models has the potential of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of BPM. This article critically surveys the existing literature on the problem of BPM reusability and more specifically on that State-of-the-Art research that can provide or suggest the 'elements' required for the development of a methodology aimed at discovering reusable conceptual artefacts in the form of patterns. The article initially clarifies the definitions of business process and business process model; then, it sets out to explore the previous research conducted in areas that have an impact on reusability in BPM. The article concludes by distilling directions for future research towards the development of apatterns-based approach to BPM; an approach that brings together the contributions made by the research community in the areas of process mining and discovery, declarative approaches and ontologies.

  4. Microservices in Web Objects Enabled IoT Environment for Enhancing Reusability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarwar, Muhammad Aslam; Kibria, Muhammad Golam; Ali, Sajjad; Chong, Ilyoung

    2018-01-26

    In the ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT) environment, reusing objects instead of creating new one has become important in academics and industries. The situation becomes complex due to the availability of a huge number of connected IoT objects, and each individual service creates a new object instead of reusing the existing one to fulfill a requirement. A well-standard mechanism not only improves the reusability of objects but also improves service modularity and extensibility, and reduces cost. Web Objects enabled IoT environment applies the principle of reusability of objects in multiple IoT application domains through central objects repository and microservices. To reuse objects with microservices and to maintain a relationship with them, this study presents an architecture of Web of Objects platform. In the case of a similar request for an object, the already instantiated object that exists in the same or from other domain can be reused. Reuse of objects through microservices avoids duplications, and reduces time to search and instantiate them from their registries. Further, this article presents an algorithm for microservices and related objects discovery that considers the reusability of objects through the central objects repository. To support the reusability of objects, the necessary algorithm for objects matching is also presented. To realize the reusability of objects in Web Objects enabled IoT environment, a prototype has been designed and implemented based on a use case scenario. Finally, the results of the prototype have been analyzed and discussed to validate the proposed approach.

  5. Microservices in Web Objects Enabled IoT Environment for Enhancing Reusability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Aslam Jarwar

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In the ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT environment, reusing objects instead of creating new one has become important in academics and industries. The situation becomes complex due to the availability of a huge number of connected IoT objects, and each individual service creates a new object instead of reusing the existing one to fulfill a requirement. A well-standard mechanism not only improves the reusability of objects but also improves service modularity and extensibility, and reduces cost. Web Objects enabled IoT environment applies the principle of reusability of objects in multiple IoT application domains through central objects repository and microservices. To reuse objects with microservices and to maintain a relationship with them, this study presents an architecture of Web of Objects platform. In the case of a similar request for an object, the already instantiated object that exists in the same or from other domain can be reused. Reuse of objects through microservices avoids duplications, and reduces time to search and instantiate them from their registries. Further, this article presents an algorithm for microservices and related objects discovery that considers the reusability of objects through the central objects repository. To support the reusability of objects, the necessary algorithm for objects matching is also presented. To realize the reusability of objects in Web Objects enabled IoT environment, a prototype has been designed and implemented based on a use case scenario. Finally, the results of the prototype have been analyzed and discussed to validate the proposed approach.

  6. Tailorable software architectures in the accelerator control system environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejuev, Igor; Kumagai, Akira; Kadokura, Eiichi

    2001-01-01

    Tailoring is further evolution of an application after deployment in order to adapt it to requirements that were not accounted for in the original design. End-user tailorability has been extensively researched in applied computer science from HCl and software engineering perspectives. Tailorability allows coping with flexibility requirements, decreasing maintenance and development costs of software products. In general, dynamic or diverse software requirements constitute the need for implementing end-user tailorability in computer systems. In accelerator physics research the factor of dynamic requirements is especially important, due to frequent software and hardware modifications resulting in correspondingly high upgrade and maintenance costs. In this work we introduce the results of feasibility study on implementing end-user tailorability in the software for accelerator control system, considering the design and implementation of distributed monitoring application for 12 GeV KEK Proton Synchrotron as an example. The software prototypes used in this work are based on a generic tailoring platform (VEDICI), which allows decoupling of tailoring interfaces and runtime components. While representing a reusable application-independent framework, VEDICI can be potentially applied for tailoring of arbitrary compositional Web-based applications

  7. Reusable Military Launch Systems (RMLS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-02-01

    shown in Figure 11. The second configuration is an axisymmetric, rocket-based combined cycle (RBCC) powered, SSTO vehicle, similar to the GTX...McCormick, D., and Sorensen, K., “Hyperion: An SSTO Vision Vehicle Concept Utilizing Rocket-Based Combined Cycle Propulsion”, AIAA paper 99-4944...there have been several failedattempts at the development of reusable rocket or air-breathing launch vehicle systems. Single-stage-to-orbit ( SSTO

  8. Reusable Boosters in a European-Russian Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deneu, François; Ramiandrasoa, Fabienne

    2002-01-01

    In 2001, EADS and Khrunichev SRPSC have initiated and carried out a working group devoted to the analysis of potential common studies and developments in the field of space activities. This working group came up with several propositions of interest, among which, the use of reusable boosters issued from Khrunichev previous design appeared to be promising when applied to heavy type launchers. Although the results required to be confirmed by detailed studies prior to final conclusions, preliminary studies have shown the interest of Ariane 5 configurations using such reusable booster in view of reducing the specific and launch cost as well as potentially increasing the performance. In November 2001, EADS and KHRUNICHEV SRPSC have started a study on an Ariane 5 plus reusable boosters configuration. This study aims at obtaining a better understanding of the advantages and drawbacks attached to such a use. Technical feasibility is more in depth analysed, with all recurring and not recurring aspects (including launch infrastructure modifications). Programmatic aspects are also addressed in order to better assess potential economic advantages and unavoidable drawbacks. Beyond that the identification of what could be, for western Europe and Russian players, an efficient and pay- off industrial organisation, is also a study theme of importance. This papers intends to present the main results achieved within this study and the propositions for the future which are likely to provide western Europe and Russia with stronger positions in the competitive field of launch business.

  9. Teaching Composing with an Identity as a Teacher-Composer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Jennie

    2012-01-01

    I enjoy composing and feel able to write songs that I like and which feel significant to me. This has not always been the case and the change had nothing to do with my school education or my degree. Composing at secondary school did not move beyond Bach and Handel pastiche. I did not take any composing courses during my degree. What did influence…

  10. Reusable single-port access device shortens operative time and reduces operative costs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shussman, Noam; Kedar, Asaf; Elazary, Ram; Abu Gazala, Mahmoud; Rivkind, Avraham I; Mintz, Yoav

    2014-06-01

    In recent years, single-port laparoscopy (SPL) has become an attractive approach for performing surgical procedures. The pitfalls of this approach are technical and financial. Financial concerns are due to the increased cost of dedicated devices and prolonged operating room time. Our aim was to calculate the cost of SPL using a reusable port and instruments in order to evaluate the cost difference between this approach to SPL using the available disposable ports and standard laparoscopy. We performed 22 laparoscopic procedures via the SPL approach using a reusable single-port access system and reusable laparoscopic instruments. These included 17 cholecystectomies and five other procedures. Operative time, postoperative length of stay (LOS) and complications were prospectively recorded and were compared with similar data from our SPL database. Student's t test was used for statistical analysis. SPL was successfully performed in all cases. Mean operative time for cholecystectomy was 72 min (range 40-116). Postoperative LOS was not changed from our standard protocols and was 1.1 days for cholecystectomy. The postoperative course was within normal limits for all patients and perioperative morbidity was recorded. Both operative time and length of hospital stay were shorter for the 17 patients who underwent cholecystectomy using a reusable port than for the matched previous 17 SPL cholecystectomies we performed (p cost difference. Operating with a reusable port ended up with an average cost savings of US$388 compared with using disposable ports, and US$240 compared with standard laparoscopy. Single-port laparoscopic surgery is a technically challenging and expensive surgical approach. Financial concerns among others have been advocated against this approach; however, we demonstrate herein that using a reusable port and instruments reduces operative time and overall operative costs, even beyond the cost of standard laparoscopy.

  11. Risk Perception and Communication in Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicle Operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardy, Terry L.

    2005-12-01

    A number of inventors and entrepreneurs are currently attempting to develop and commercially operate reusable launch vehicles to carry voluntary participants into space. The operation of these launch vehicles, however, produces safety risks to the crew, to the space flight participants, and to the uninvolved public. Risk communication therefore becomes increasingly important to assure that those involved in the flight understand the risk and that those who are not directly involved understand the personal impact of RLV operations on their lives. Those involved in the launch vehicle flight may perceive risk differently from those non-participants, and these differences in perception must be understood to effectively communicate this risk. This paper summarizes existing research in risk perception and communication and applies that research to commercial reusable launch vehicle operations. Risk communication is discussed in the context of requirements of United States law for informed consent from any space flight participants on reusable suborbital launch vehicles.

  12. Learning Objects, Repositories, Sharing and Reusability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koppi, Tony; Bogle, Lisa; Bogle, Mike

    2005-01-01

    The online Learning Resource Catalogue (LRC) Project has been part of an international consortium for several years and currently includes 25 institutions worldwide. The LRC Project has evolved for several pragmatic reasons into an academic network whereby members can identify and share reusable learning objects as well as collaborate in a number…

  13. Composing and synchronizing real-time software through virtual platforms in vehicular systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Den Heuvel, M.M.H.P.

    2016-01-01

    This paper gives an overview of the challenges we faced when integrating software components on an electronic control unit (ECU) embedded in a car. The results show management of scarce ECU resources and a demonstration of temporal isolation between components in an industrial case study.

  14. Transforming existing content into reusable Learning Objects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Doorten, Monique; Giesbers, Bas; Janssen, José; Daniels, Jan; Koper, Rob

    2003-01-01

    Please cite as: Doorten, M., Giesbers, B., Janssen, J., Daniëls, J, & Koper, E.J.R., (2004). Transforming existing content into reusable learning objects. In R. McGreal, Online Education using Learning Objects (pp. 116-127). London: RoutledgeFalmer.

  15. OpenMM 4: A Reusable, Extensible, Hardware Independent Library for High Performance Molecular Simulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eastman, Peter; Friedrichs, Mark S; Chodera, John D; Radmer, Randall J; Bruns, Christopher M; Ku, Joy P; Beauchamp, Kyle A; Lane, Thomas J; Wang, Lee-Ping; Shukla, Diwakar; Tye, Tony; Houston, Mike; Stich, Timo; Klein, Christoph; Shirts, Michael R; Pande, Vijay S

    2013-01-08

    OpenMM is a software toolkit for performing molecular simulations on a range of high performance computing architectures. It is based on a layered architecture: the lower layers function as a reusable library that can be invoked by any application, while the upper layers form a complete environment for running molecular simulations. The library API hides all hardware-specific dependencies and optimizations from the users and developers of simulation programs: they can be run without modification on any hardware on which the API has been implemented. The current implementations of OpenMM include support for graphics processing units using the OpenCL and CUDA frameworks. In addition, OpenMM was designed to be extensible, so new hardware architectures can be accommodated and new functionality (e.g., energy terms and integrators) can be easily added.

  16. FEATUREOUS: AN INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT FOR FEATURE-CENTRIC ANALYSIS AND MODIFICATION OF OBJECT-ORIENTED SOFTWARE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olszak, Andrzej; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2011-01-01

    The decentralized nature of collaborations between objects in object-oriented software makes it difficult to understand the implementations of user-observable program features and their respective interdependencies. As feature-centric program understanding and modification are essential during...... software maintenance and evolution, this situation needs to change. In this paper, we present Featureous, an integrated development environment built on top of the NetBeans IDE that facilitates feature-centric analysis of object-oriented software. Our integrated development environment encompasses...... a lightweight feature location mechanism, a number of reusable analytical views, and necessary APIs for supporting future extensions. The base of the integrated development environment is a conceptual framework comprising of three complementary dimensions of comprehension: perspective, abstraction...

  17. A Sociotechnical Negotiation Mechanism to Support Component Markets in Software Ecosystems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Santos

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Organizations have opened up their software platforms and reusable assets to others, including partners and third-party developers around the world, creating software ecosystems (SECOs. This perspective can contribute to minimize nontechnical barriers of software reuse in industry because it explores potential benefits from the relations among companies and stakeholders. An inhibitor is the complexity in defining value for reusable assets in a scenario where producers try to meet customers’ expectations, and vice-versa. In this paper, we present a value-based mechanism to support component negotiation and socialization processes in a reuse repository in the SECO context as an extension of the Brechó-EcoSys environment. Social resources were integrated into the mechanism in order to aid component negotiation. An evaluation of the negotiation mechanism was initially performed based on an analysis of its elements and functions against critical factors in the negotiation within a SECO, identified in a previous systematic literature review. In addition, an analysis of the social resources supporting the negotiation mechanism was performed against popular sociotechnical elements for SECOs, identified in a previous survey with experts in the field. Finally, the negotiation process and the potential support provided by sociotechnical resources were investigated through an observational study where participants were engaged in some tasks playing as consumer and producers using the sociotechnical negotiation mechanism at Brechó-EcoSys environment. We concluded that sociotechnical resources (e.g., forum and tag cloud support component producers and consumers with useful information from the SECO community.

  18. Towards a Component Based Model for Database Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Octavian Paul ROTARU

    2004-02-01

    Full Text Available Due to their effectiveness in the design and development of software applications and due to their recognized advantages in terms of reusability, Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE concepts have been arousing a great deal of interest in recent years. This paper presents and extends a component-based approach to object-oriented database systems (OODB introduced by us in [1] and [2]. Components are proposed as a new abstraction level for database system, logical partitions of the schema. In this context, the scope is introduced as an escalated property for transactions. Components are studied from the integrity, consistency, and concurrency control perspective. The main benefits of our proposed component model for OODB are the reusability of the database design, including the access statistics required for a proper query optimization, and a smooth information exchange. The integration of crosscutting concerns into the component database model using aspect-oriented techniques is also discussed. One of the main goals is to define a method for the assessment of component composition capabilities. These capabilities are restricted by the component’s interface and measured in terms of adaptability, degree of compose-ability and acceptability level. The above-mentioned metrics are extended from database components to generic software components. This paper extends and consolidates into one common view the ideas previously presented by us in [1, 2, 3].[1] Octavian Paul Rotaru, Marian Dobre, Component Aspects in Object Oriented Databases, Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering Research and Practice (SERP’04, Volume II, ISBN 1-932415-29-7, pages 719-725, Las Vegas, NV, USA, June 2004.[2] Octavian Paul Rotaru, Marian Dobre, Mircea Petrescu, Integrity and Consistency Aspects in Component-Oriented Databases, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Innovation in Information and Communication Technology (ISIICT

  19. In Search of the Philosopher's Stone: Simulation Composability Versus Component-Based Software Design

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Bartholet, Robert G; Brogan, David C; Reynolds, Jr., Paul F; Carnahan, Joseph C

    2004-01-01

    The simulation community and the software engineering community are actively conducting research on technology that will make it possible to easily build complex systems by combining existing components...

  20. A Reusable Framework for Regional Climate Model Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, A. F.; Goodale, C. E.; Mattmann, C. A.; Lean, P.; Kim, J.; Zimdars, P.; Waliser, D. E.; Crichton, D. J.

    2011-12-01

    Climate observations are currently obtained through a diverse network of sensors and platforms that include space-based observatories, airborne and seaborne platforms, and distributed, networked, ground-based instruments. These global observational measurements are critical inputs to the efforts of the climate modeling community and can provide a corpus of data for use in analysis and validation of climate models. The Regional Climate Model Evaluation System (RCMES) is an effort currently being undertaken to address the challenges of integrating this vast array of observational climate data into a coherent resource suitable for performing model analysis at the regional level. Developed through a collaboration between the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the UCLA Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering (JIFRESSE), the RCMES uses existing open source technologies (MySQL, Apache Hadoop, and Apache OODT), to construct a scalable, parametric, geospatial data store that incorporates decades of observational data from a variety of NASA Earth science missions, as well as other sources into a consistently annotated, highly available scientific resource. By eliminating arbitrary partitions in the data (individual file boundaries, differing file formats, etc), and instead treating each individual observational measurement as a unique, geospatially referenced data point, the RCMES is capable of transforming large, heterogeneous collections of disparate observational data into a unified resource suitable for comparison to climate model output. This facility is further enhanced by the availability of a model evaluation toolkit which consists of a set of Python libraries, a RESTful web service layer, and a browser-based graphical user interface that allows for orchestration of model-to-data comparisons by composing them visually through web forms. This combination of tools and interfaces dramatically simplifies the process of interacting with and

  1. The Cost-Optimal Size of Future Reusable Launch Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koelle, D. E.

    2000-07-01

    The paper answers the question, what is the optimum vehicle size — in terms of LEO payload capability — for a future reusable launch vehicle ? It is shown that there exists an optimum vehicle size that results in minimum specific transportation cost. The optimum vehicle size depends on the total annual cargo mass (LEO equivalent) enviseaged, which defines at the same time the optimum number of launches per year (LpA). Based on the TRANSCOST-Model algorithms a wide range of vehicle sizes — from 20 to 100 Mg payload in LEO, as well as launch rates — from 2 to 100 per year — have been investigated. It is shown in a design chart how much the vehicle size as well as the launch rate are influencing the specific transportation cost (in MYr/Mg and USS/kg). The comparison with actual ELVs (Expendable Launch Vehicles) and Semi-Reusable Vehicles (a combination of a reusable first stage with an expendable second stage) shows that there exists only one economic solution for an essential reduction of space transportation cost: the Fully Reusable Vehicle Concept, with rocket propulsion and vertical take-off. The Single-stage Configuration (SSTO) has the best economic potential; its feasibility is not only a matter of technology level but also of the vehicle size as such. Increasing the vehicle size (launch mass) reduces the technology requirements because the law of scale provides a better mass fraction and payload fraction — practically at no cost. The optimum vehicle design (after specification of the payload capability) requires a trade-off between lightweight (and more expensive) technology vs. more conventional (and cheaper) technology. It is shown that the the use of more conventional technology and accepting a somewhat larger vehicle is the more cost-effective and less risky approach.

  2. Life Cycle Assessment and Costing Methods for Device Procurement: Comparing Reusable and Single-Use Disposable Laryngoscopes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sherman, Jodi D; Raibley, Lewis A; Eckelman, Matthew J

    2018-01-09

    Traditional medical device procurement criteria include efficacy and safety, ease of use and handling, and procurement costs. However, little information is available about life cycle environmental impacts of the production, use, and disposal of medical devices, or about costs incurred after purchase. Reusable and disposable laryngoscopes are of current interest to anesthesiologists. Facing mounting pressure to quickly meet or exceed conflicting infection prevention guidelines and oversight body recommendations, many institutions may be electively switching to single-use disposable (SUD) rigid laryngoscopes or overcleaning reusables, potentially increasing both costs and waste generation. This study provides quantitative comparisons of environmental impacts and total cost of ownership among laryngoscope options, which can aid procurement decision making to benefit facilities and public health. We describe cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methods and apply these to reusable and SUD metal and plastic laryngoscope handles and tongue blade alternatives at Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH). The US Environmental Protection Agency's Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts (TRACI) life cycle impact assessment method was used to model environmental impacts of greenhouse gases and other pollutant emissions. The SUD plastic handle generates an estimated 16-18 times more life cycle carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) than traditional low-level disinfection of the reusable steel handle. The SUD plastic tongue blade generates an estimated 5-6 times more CO2-eq than the reusable steel blade treated with high-level disinfection. SUD metal components generated much higher emissions than all alternatives. Both the SUD handle and SUD blade increased life cycle costs compared to the various reusable cleaning scenarios at YNHH. When extrapolated over 1 year (60,000 intubations), estimated costs increased

  3. Development methodology for the software life cycle process of the safety software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, D. H.; Lee, S. S. [BNF Technology, Taejon (Korea, Republic of); Cha, K. H.; Lee, C. S.; Kwon, K. C.; Han, H. B. [KAERI, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    2002-05-01

    A methodology for developing software life cycle processes (SLCP) is proposed to develop the digital safety-critical Engineered Safety Features - Component Control System (ESF-CCS) successfully. A software life cycle model is selected as the hybrid model mixed with waterfall, prototyping, and spiral models and is composed of two stages , development stages of prototype of ESF-CCS and ESF-CCS. To produce the software life cycle (SLC) for the Development of the Digital Reactor Safety System, the Activities referenced in IEEE Std. 1074-1997 are mapped onto the hybrid model. The SLCP is established after the available OPAs (Organizational Process Asset) are applied to the SLC Activities, and the known constraints are reconciled. The established SLCP describes well the software life cycle activities with which the Regulatory Authority provides.

  4. Development methodology for the software life cycle process of the safety software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, D. H.; Lee, S. S.; Cha, K. H.; Lee, C. S.; Kwon, K. C.; Han, H. B.

    2002-01-01

    A methodology for developing software life cycle processes (SLCP) is proposed to develop the digital safety-critical Engineered Safety Features - Component Control System (ESF-CCS) successfully. A software life cycle model is selected as the hybrid model mixed with waterfall, prototyping, and spiral models and is composed of two stages , development stages of prototype of ESF-CCS and ESF-CCS. To produce the software life cycle (SLC) for the Development of the Digital Reactor Safety System, the Activities referenced in IEEE Std. 1074-1997 are mapped onto the hybrid model. The SLCP is established after the available OPAs (Organizational Process Asset) are applied to the SLC Activities, and the known constraints are reconciled. The established SLCP describes well the software life cycle activities with which the Regulatory Authority provides

  5. Design, Analysis and Qualification of Elevon for Reusable Launch Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiwari, S. B.; Suresh, R.; Krishnadasan, C. K.

    2017-12-01

    Reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator is configured as a winged body vehicle, designed to fly in hypersonic, supersonic and subsonic regimes. The vehicle will be boosted to hypersonic speeds after which the winged body separates and descends using aerodynamic control. The aerodynamic control is achieved using the control surfaces mainly the rudder and the elevon. Elevons are deflected for pitch and roll control of the vehicle at various flight conditions. Elevons are subjected to aerodynamic, thermal and inertial loads during the flight. This paper gives details about the configuration, design, qualification and flight validation of elevon for Reusable Launch Vehicle.

  6. Composing and Arranging Careers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Elliott; And Others

    1977-01-01

    With the inspiration, the originality, the skill and craftsmanship, the business acumen, the patience, and the luck, it's possible to become a classical composer, pop/rock/country composer, jingle composer, or educational composer. Describes these careers. (Editor/RK)

  7. The development and technology transfer of software engineering technology at NASA. Johnson Space Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pitman, C. L.; Erb, D. M.; Izygon, M. E.; Fridge, E. M., III; Roush, G. B.; Braley, D. M.; Savely, R. T.

    1992-01-01

    The United State's big space projects of the next decades, such as Space Station and the Human Exploration Initiative, will need the development of many millions of lines of mission critical software. NASA-Johnson (JSC) is identifying and developing some of the Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) technology that NASA will need to build these future software systems. The goal is to improve the quality and the productivity of large software development projects. New trends are outlined in CASE technology and how the Software Technology Branch (STB) at JSC is endeavoring to provide some of these CASE solutions for NASA is described. Key software technology components include knowledge-based systems, software reusability, user interface technology, reengineering environments, management systems for the software development process, software cost models, repository technology, and open, integrated CASE environment frameworks. The paper presents the status and long-term expectations for CASE products. The STB's Reengineering Application Project (REAP), Advanced Software Development Workstation (ASDW) project, and software development cost model (COSTMODL) project are then discussed. Some of the general difficulties of technology transfer are introduced, and a process developed by STB for CASE technology insertion is described.

  8. Characterization of cement-based materials using a reusable piezoelectric impedance-based sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tawie, R.; Lee, H. K.

    2011-08-01

    This paper proposes a reusable sensor, which employs a piezoceramic (PZT) plate as an active sensing transducer, for non-destructive monitoring of cement-based materials based on the electromechanical impedance (EMI) sensing technique. The advantage of the sensor design is that the PZT can be easily removed from the set-up and re-used for repetitive tests. The applicability of the sensor was demonstrated for monitoring of the setting of cement mortar. EMI measurements were performed using an impedance analyzer and the transformation of the specimen from the plastic to solid state was monitored by automatically measuring the changes in the PZT conductance spectra with respect to curing time using the root mean square deviation (RMSD) algorithm. In another experiment, drying-induced moisture loss of a hardened mortar specimen at saturated surface dry (SSD) condition was measured, and monitored using the reusable sensor to establish a correlation between the RMSD values and moisture loss rate. The reusable sensor was also demonstrated for detecting progressive damages imparted on a mortar specimen attached with the sensor under several loading levels before allowing it to load to failure. Overall, the reusable sensor is an effective and efficient monitoring device that could possibly be used for field application in characterization of cement-based materials.

  9. Characterization of cement-based materials using a reusable piezoelectric impedance-based sensor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tawie, R; Lee, H K

    2011-01-01

    This paper proposes a reusable sensor, which employs a piezoceramic (PZT) plate as an active sensing transducer, for non-destructive monitoring of cement-based materials based on the electromechanical impedance (EMI) sensing technique. The advantage of the sensor design is that the PZT can be easily removed from the set-up and re-used for repetitive tests. The applicability of the sensor was demonstrated for monitoring of the setting of cement mortar. EMI measurements were performed using an impedance analyzer and the transformation of the specimen from the plastic to solid state was monitored by automatically measuring the changes in the PZT conductance spectra with respect to curing time using the root mean square deviation (RMSD) algorithm. In another experiment, drying-induced moisture loss of a hardened mortar specimen at saturated surface dry (SSD) condition was measured, and monitored using the reusable sensor to establish a correlation between the RMSD values and moisture loss rate. The reusable sensor was also demonstrated for detecting progressive damages imparted on a mortar specimen attached with the sensor under several loading levels before allowing it to load to failure. Overall, the reusable sensor is an effective and efficient monitoring device that could possibly be used for field application in characterization of cement-based materials

  10. Clinical outcomes and costs of reusable and single-use flexible ureterorenoscopes: a prospective cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mager, R; Kurosch, M; Höfner, T; Frees, S; Haferkamp, A; Neisius, A

    2018-01-22

    The purpose of this study is to analyze clinical outcomes and costs of single-use flexible ureterorenoscopes in comparison with reusable flexible ureterorenoscopes in a tertiary referral center. Prospectively, 68 flexible ureterorenoscopies utilizing reusable (Flex-X2S, Flex-X C , Karl Storz) and 68 applying single-use flexible ureterorenoscopes (LithoVue, Boston Scientific) were collected. Clinical outcome parameters such as overall success rate, complication rates according to Clavien-Dindo, operation time and radiation exposure time were measured. Cost analysis was based on purchase costs and recurrent costs for repair and reprocessing divided by number of procedures. In each group 68 procedures were available for evaluation. In 91% of reusable and 88% of single-use ureterorenoscopies stone disease was treated with a mean stone burden of 101 ± 226 and 90 ± 244 mm 2 and lower pole involvement in 47 and 41%, respectively (p > 0.05). Comparing clinical outcomes of reusable vs. single-use instruments revealed no significant difference for overall success rates (81 vs. 87%), stone-free rates (82 vs. 85%), operation time (76.2 ± 46.8 vs. 76.8 ± 40.2 min), radiation exposure time (3.83 ± 3.15 vs. 3.93 ± 4.43 min) and complication rates (7 vs. 17%) (p > 0.05). A wide range of repair and purchase costs resulted in total to $1212-$1743 per procedure for reusable ureterorenoscopy whereas price of single-use ureterorenoscopy was $1300-$3180 per procedure. The current work provided evidence for equal clinical effectiveness of reusable and single-use flexible ureterorenoscopes. Partially overlapping ranges of costs for single-use and reusable scopes stress the importance to precisely know the expenses and caseload when negotiating purchase prices, repair prices and warranty conditions.

  11. On the economics of staging for reusable launch vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffin, Michael D.; Claybaugh, William R.

    1996-03-01

    There has been much recent discussion concerning possible replacement systems for the current U.S. fleet of launch vehicles, including both the shuttle and expendable vehicles. Attention has been focused upon the feasibility and potential benefits of reusable single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch systems for future access to low Earth orbit (LEO). In this paper we assume the technical feasibility of such vehicles, as well as the benefits to be derived from system reusability. We then consider the benefits of launch vehicle staging from the perspective of economic advantage rather than performance necessity. Conditions are derived under which two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) launch systems, utilizing SSTO-class vehicle technology, offer a relative economic advantage for access to LEO.

  12. Decomposition of business process models into reusable sub-diagrams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wiśniewski Piotr

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, an approach to automatic decomposition of business process models is proposed. According to our method, an existing BPMN diagram is disassembled into reusable parts containing the desired number of elements. Such elements and structure can work as design patterns and be validated by a user in terms of correctness. In the next step, these component models are categorised considering their parameters such as resources used, as well as input and output data. The classified components may be considered a repository of reusable parts, that can be further applied in the design of new models. The proposed technique may play a significant role in facilitating the business process redesign procedure, which is of a great importance regarding engineering and industrial applications.

  13. Application of Software Safety Analysis Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, G. Y.; Hur, S.; Cheon, S. W.; Kim, D. H.; Lee, D. Y.; Kwon, K. C.; Lee, S. J.; Koo, Y. H.

    2009-01-01

    A fully digitalized reactor protection system, which is called the IDiPS-RPS, was developed through the KNICS project. The IDiPS-RPS has four redundant and separated channels. Each channel is mainly composed of a group of bistable processors which redundantly compare process variables with their corresponding setpoints and a group of coincidence processors that generate a final trip signal when a trip condition is satisfied. Each channel also contains a test processor called the ATIP and a display and command processor called the COM. All the functions were implemented in software. During the development of the safety software, various software safety analysis methods were applied, in parallel to the verification and validation (V and V) activities, along the software development life cycle. The software safety analysis methods employed were the software hazard and operability (Software HAZOP) study, the software fault tree analysis (Software FTA), and the software failure modes and effects analysis (Software FMEA)

  14. Westinghouse integrated protection system. An overview of the software design and maintenance features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gibson, R.J.

    1995-01-01

    The Westinghouse Integrated Protection System was designed with the goal of providing a system which can be easily verified, validated, and maintained. The software design and structure promote the ease of translation from functional requirements to applications function software while also improving the ability to verify and maintain the applications function software. The use of independent, reusable, common functions software modules focuses the design, verification, and validation of the software and reduces the likelihood of errors occurring during the application and maintenance of the software. The simple continuous loop method of operation used throughout the IPS provides a standard deterministic method of operation. The IPS design also incorporates the use of embedded self-diagnostics to perform continuous hardware oriented tests of the system and the use of an independent subsystem to automatically perform a functional test of the system. Maintenance interfaces also exist to readily identify and locate faults as well as providing other maintenance capabilities. These testing and maintenance features enhance the overall reliability and availability of the system. (orig.) (2 refs., 2 figs.)

  15. Interface-based software integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aziz Ahmad Rais

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Enterprise architecture frameworks define the goals of enterprise architecture in order to make business processes and IT operations more effective, and to reduce the risk of future investments. These enterprise architecture frameworks offer different architecture development methods that help in building enterprise architecture. In practice, the larger organizations become, the larger their enterprise architecture and IT become. This leads to an increasingly complex system of enterprise architecture development and maintenance. Application software architecture is one type of architecture that, along with business architecture, data architecture and technology architecture, composes enterprise architecture. From the perspective of integration, enterprise architecture can be considered a system of interaction between multiple examples of application software. Therefore, effective software integration is a very important basis for the future success of the enterprise architecture in question. This article will provide interface-based integration practice in order to help simplify the process of building such a software integration system. The main goal of interface-based software integration is to solve problems that may arise with software integration requirements and developing software integration architecture.

  16. Object oriented reconstruction software for the Instrumented Flux Return of BABAR

    CERN Document Server

    Nardo, E D; Lista, L

    2001-01-01

    BABAR experiment is the first High Energy Physics experiment to extensively use object oriented technology and the C++ programming language for online and offline software. Object orientation permits to reach a high level of flexibility and maintainability of the code, which is a key point in a large project with many developers. These goals are reached with the introduction of reusable code elements, with abstraction of code behaviours and polymorphism. Software design, before code implementation, is the key task that determines the achievement of such a goal. We present the experience with the application of object oriented technology and design patterns to the reconstruction software of the Instrumented Flux Return detector of BABAR experiment. The use of abstract interfaces improved the development of reconstruction code and permitted to flexibly apply modification to reconstruction strategies, and eventually to reduce the maintenance load. The experience during the last years of development is presented....

  17. Wound dressing with reusable electronics for wireless monitoring

    KAUST Repository

    Shamim, Atif; Farooqui, Muhammad Fahad

    2016-01-01

    A wound dressing device with reusable electronics for wireless monitoring and a method of making the same are provided. The device can be a smart device. In an embodiment, the device has a disposable portion including one or more sensors and a

  18. Prediction of Software Reliability using Bio Inspired Soft Computing Techniques.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diwaker, Chander; Tomar, Pradeep; Poonia, Ramesh C; Singh, Vijander

    2018-04-10

    A lot of models have been made for predicting software reliability. The reliability models are restricted to using particular types of methodologies and restricted number of parameters. There are a number of techniques and methodologies that may be used for reliability prediction. There is need to focus on parameters consideration while estimating reliability. The reliability of a system may increase or decreases depending on the selection of different parameters used. Thus there is need to identify factors that heavily affecting the reliability of the system. In present days, reusability is mostly used in the various area of research. Reusability is the basis of Component-Based System (CBS). The cost, time and human skill can be saved using Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) concepts. CBSE metrics may be used to assess those techniques which are more suitable for estimating system reliability. Soft computing is used for small as well as large-scale problems where it is difficult to find accurate results due to uncertainty or randomness. Several possibilities are available to apply soft computing techniques in medicine related problems. Clinical science of medicine using fuzzy-logic, neural network methodology significantly while basic science of medicine using neural-networks-genetic algorithm most frequently and preferably. There is unavoidable interest shown by medical scientists to use the various soft computing methodologies in genetics, physiology, radiology, cardiology and neurology discipline. CBSE boost users to reuse the past and existing software for making new products to provide quality with a saving of time, memory space, and money. This paper focused on assessment of commonly used soft computing technique like Genetic Algorithm (GA), Neural-Network (NN), Fuzzy Logic, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC). This paper presents working of soft computing

  19. Sustaining Human Presence on Mars Using ISRU and a Reusable Lander

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arney, Dale C.; Jones, Christopher A.; Klovstad, Jordan J.; Komar, D.R.; Earle, Kevin; Moses, Robert; Shyface, Hilary R.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis of the impact of ISRU (In-Site Resource Utilization), reusability, and automation on sustaining a human presence on Mars, requiring a transition from Earth dependence to Earth independence. The study analyzes the surface and transportation architectures and compared campaigns that revealed the importance of ISRU and reusability. A reusable Mars lander, Hercules, eliminates the need to deliver a new descent and ascent stage with each cargo and crew delivery to Mars, reducing the mass delivered from Earth. As part of an evolvable transportation architecture, this investment is key to enabling continuous human presence on Mars. The extensive use of ISRU reduces the logistics supply chain from Earth in order to support population growth at Mars. Reliable and autonomous systems, in conjunction with robotics, are required to enable ISRU architectures as systems must operate and maintain themselves while the crew is not present. A comparison of Mars campaigns is presented to show the impact of adding these investments and their ability to contribute to sustaining a human presence on Mars.

  20. Integrated conception of hardware/software mixed systems used in nuclear instrumentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dias, Ailton F.; Sorel, Yves; Akil, Mohamed

    2002-01-01

    Hardware/software codesign carries out the design of systems composed by a hardware portion, with specific components, and a software portion, with microprocessor based architecture. This paper describes the Algorithm Architecture Adequation (AAA) design methodology - originally oriented to programmable multicomponent architectures, its extension to reconfigurable circuits and its application to design and development of nuclear instrumentation systems composed by programmable and configurable circuits. AAA methodology uses an unified model to describe algorithm, architecture and implementation, based on graph theory. The great advantage of AAA methodology is the utilization of a same model from the specification to the implementation of hardware/software systems, reducing the complexity and design time. (author)

  1. General guidelines for biomedical software development [version 1; referees: 2 approved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Bastiao Silva

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Most bioinformatics tools available today were not written by professional software developers, but by people that wanted to solve their own problems, using computational solutions and spending the minimum time and effort possible, since these were just the means to an end. Consequently, a vast number of software applications are currently available, hindering the task of identifying the utility and quality of each. At the same time, this situation has hindered regular adoption of these tools in clinical practice. Typically, they are not sufficiently developed to be used by most clinical researchers and practitioners. To address these issues, it is necessary to re-think how biomedical applications are built and adopt new strategies that ensure quality, efficiency, robustness, correctness and reusability of software components. We also need to engage end-users during the development process to ensure that applications fit their needs. In this review, we present a set of guidelines to support biomedical software development, with an explanation of how they can be implemented and what kind of open-source tools can be used for each specific topic.

  2. General guidelines for biomedical software development [version 2; referees: 2 approved

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Bastiao Silva

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Most bioinformatics tools available today were not written by professional software developers, but by people that wanted to solve their own problems, using computational solutions and spending the minimum time and effort possible, since these were just the means to an end. Consequently, a vast number of software applications are currently available, hindering the task of identifying the utility and quality of each. At the same time, this situation has hindered regular adoption of these tools in clinical practice. Typically, they are not sufficiently developed to be used by most clinical researchers and practitioners. To address these issues, it is necessary to re-think how biomedical applications are built and adopt new strategies that ensure quality, efficiency, robustness, correctness and reusability of software components. We also need to engage end-users during the development process to ensure that applications fit their needs. In this review, we present a set of guidelines to support biomedical software development, with an explanation of how they can be implemented and what kind of open-source tools can be used for each specific topic.

  3. Re-usable templates for documenting the elaboration and architectural design of the CMS software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wellisch, J.P.; Tuura, L.

    2001-01-01

    Modern standards and definitions of deliverables for software development are provided by various standards like PSS-05, CMMI, ECSS, Volere, Rational Unified process or SPICE (ISO 15504). Modern document templates and the corresponding documents are based on atomic shells that cross-link, and can be subsequently assembled into a set of complete documents; views of the information in the shells. This makes the information easy to maintain, and enables selective views of the documentation. The authors will present a catalogue of document templates that has been developed in the context of the CMS CAFE forum, as well as their cross-linkage, using UML as the modelling language. The templates allow for documenting the elaboration and architectural design phases of software development. They can be used as the basis for establishing and documenting architecture, while establishing trace-ability to use-cases, requirements, constraints, and important technological choices in a maintainable manner

  4. Constructing a working taxonomy of functional Ada software components for real-time embedded system applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, Robert

    1986-01-01

    A major impediment to a systematic attack on Ada software reusability is the lack of an effective taxonomy for software component functions. The scope of all possible applications of Ada software is considered too great to allow the practical development of a working taxonomy. Instead, for the purposes herein, the scope of Ada software application is limited to device and subsystem control in real-time embedded systems. A functional approach is taken in constructing the taxonomy tree for identified Ada domain. The use of modular software functions as a starting point fits well with the object oriented programming philosophy of Ada. Examples of the types of functions represented within the working taxonomy are real time kernels, interrupt service routines, synchronization and message passing, data conversion, digital filtering and signal conditioning, and device control. The constructed taxonomy is proposed as a framework from which a need analysis can be performed to reveal voids in current Ada real-time embedded programming efforts for Space Station.

  5. Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Software Engineering Workshop

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    On December 1 and 2, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL), a consortium composed of NASA/Goddard, the University of Maryland, and CSC, held the 24th Software Engineering Workshop (SEW), the last of the millennium. Approximately 240 people attended the 2-day workshop. Day 1 was composed of four sessions: International Influence of the Software Engineering Laboratory; Object Oriented Testing and Reading; Software Process Improvement; and Space Software. For the first session, three internationally known software process experts discussed the influence of the SEL with respect to software engineering research. In the Space Software session, prominent representatives from three different NASA sites- GSFC's Marti Szczur, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Rick Doyle, and the Ames Research Center IV&V Facility's Lou Blazy- discussed the future of space software in their respective centers. At the end of the first day, the SEW sponsored a reception at the GSFC Visitors' Center. Day 2 also provided four sessions: Using the Experience Factory; A panel discussion entitled "Software Past, Present, and Future: Views from Government, Industry, and Academia"; Inspections; and COTS. The day started with an excellent talk by CSC's Frank McGarry on "Attaining Level 5 in CMM Process Maturity." Session 2, the panel discussion on software, featured NASA Chief Information Officer Lee Holcomb (Government), our own Jerry Page (Industry), and Mike Evangelist of the National Science Foundation (Academia). Each presented his perspective on the most important developments in software in the past 10 years, in the present, and in the future.

  6. Reusable Surface Insulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-01-01

    Advanced Flexible Reusable Surface Insulation, developed by Ames Research Center, protects the Space Shuttle from the searing heat that engulfs it on reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Initially integrated into the Space Shuttle by Rockwell International, production was transferred to Hi-Temp Insulation Inc. in 1974. Over the years, Hi-Temp has created many new technologies to meet the requirements of the Space Shuttle program. This expertise is also used commercially, including insulation blankets to cover aircrafts parts, fire barrier material to protect aircraft engine cowlings and aircraft rescue fire fighter suits. A Fire Protection Division has also been established, offering the first suit designed exclusively by and for aircraft rescue fire fighters. Hi-Temp is a supplier to the Los Angeles City Fire Department as well as other major U.S. civil and military fire departments.

  7. A Case of Engineering Quality for Mobile Healthcare Applications Using Augmented Personal Software Process Improvement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shahbaz Ahmed Khan Ghayyur

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Mobile healthcare systems are currently considered as key research areas in the domain of software engineering. The adoption of modern technologies, for mobile healthcare systems, is a quick option for industry professionals. Software architecture is a key feature that contributes towards a software product, solution, or services. Software architecture helps in better communication, documentation of design decisions, risks identification, basis for reusability, scalability, scheduling, and reduced maintenance cost and lastly it helps to avoid software failures. Hence, in order to solve the abovementioned issues in mobile healthcare, the software architecture is integrated with personal software process. Personal software process has been applied successfully but it is unable to address the issues related to architectural design and evaluation capabilities. Hence, a new technique architecture augmented personal process is presented in order to enhance the quality of the mobile healthcare systems through the use of architectural design with integration of personal software process. The proposed process was validated by case studies. It was found that the proposed process helped in reducing the overall costs and effort. Moreover, an improved architectural design helped in development of high quality mobile healthcare system.

  8. Software components for medical image visualization and surgical planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Starreveld, Yves P.; Gobbi, David G.; Finnis, Kirk; Peters, Terence M.

    2001-05-01

    Purpose: The development of new applications in medical image visualization and surgical planning requires the completion of many common tasks such as image reading and re-sampling, segmentation, volume rendering, and surface display. Intra-operative use requires an interface to a tracking system and image registration, and the application requires basic, easy to understand user interface components. Rapid changes in computer and end-application hardware, as well as in operating systems and network environments make it desirable to have a hardware and operating system as an independent collection of reusable software components that can be assembled rapidly to prototype new applications. Methods: Using the OpenGL based Visualization Toolkit as a base, we have developed a set of components that implement the above mentioned tasks. The components are written in both C++ and Python, but all are accessible from Python, a byte compiled scripting language. The components have been used on the Red Hat Linux, Silicon Graphics Iris, Microsoft Windows, and Apple OS X platforms. Rigorous object-oriented software design methods have been applied to ensure hardware independence and a standard application programming interface (API). There are components to acquire, display, and register images from MRI, MRA, CT, Computed Rotational Angiography (CRA), Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA), 2D and 3D ultrasound, video and physiological recordings. Interfaces to various tracking systems for intra-operative use have also been implemented. Results: The described components have been implemented and tested. To date they have been used to create image manipulation and viewing tools, a deep brain functional atlas, a 3D ultrasound acquisition and display platform, a prototype minimally invasive robotic coronary artery bypass graft planning system, a tracked neuro-endoscope guidance system and a frame-based stereotaxy neurosurgery planning tool. The frame-based stereotaxy module has been

  9. Silica sulfuric acid: a versatile and reusable heterogeneous catalyst ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... and reusable heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of N-acyl carbamates and ... All the reactions were done at room temperature and the N-acyl carbamates ... This method is attractive and is in a close agreement with green chemistry.

  10. Composing Models of Geographic Physical Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofer, Barbara; Frank, Andrew U.

    Processes are central for geographic information science; yet geographic information systems (GIS) lack capabilities to represent process related information. A prerequisite to including processes in GIS software is a general method to describe geographic processes independently of application disciplines. This paper presents such a method, namely a process description language. The vocabulary of the process description language is derived formally from mathematical models. Physical processes in geography can be described in two equivalent languages: partial differential equations or partial difference equations, where the latter can be shown graphically and used as a method for application specialists to enter their process models. The vocabulary of the process description language comprises components for describing the general behavior of prototypical geographic physical processes. These process components can be composed by basic models of geographic physical processes, which is shown by means of an example.

  11. Software Dependability and Safety Evaluations ESA's Initiative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernek, M.

    ESA has allocated funds for an initiative to evaluate Dependability and Safety methods of Software. The objectives of this initiative are; · More extensive validation of Safety and Dependability techniques for Software · Provide valuable results to improve the quality of the Software thus promoting the application of Dependability and Safety methods and techniques. ESA space systems are being developed according to defined PA requirement specifications. These requirements may be implemented through various design concepts, e.g. redundancy, diversity etc. varying from project to project. Analysis methods (FMECA. FTA, HA, etc) are frequently used during requirements analysis and design activities to assure the correct implementation of system PA requirements. The criticality level of failures, functions and systems is determined and by doing that the critical sub-systems are identified, on which dependability and safety techniques are to be applied during development. Proper performance of the software development requires the development of a technical specification for the products at the beginning of the life cycle. Such technical specification comprises both functional and non-functional requirements. These non-functional requirements address characteristics of the product such as quality, dependability, safety and maintainability. Software in space systems is more and more used in critical functions. Also the trend towards more frequent use of COTS and reusable components pose new difficulties in terms of assuring reliable and safe systems. Because of this, its dependability and safety must be carefully analysed. ESA identified and documented techniques, methods and procedures to ensure that software dependability and safety requirements are specified and taken into account during the design and development of a software system and to verify/validate that the implemented software systems comply with these requirements [R1].

  12. Reusable launch vehicle development research

    Science.gov (United States)

    1995-01-01

    NASA has generated a program approach for a SSTO reusable launch vehicle technology (RLV) development which includes a follow-on to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) successful DC-X program, the DC-XA (Advanced). Also, a separate sub-scale flight demonstrator, designated the X-33, will be built and flight tested along with numerous ground based technologies programs. For this to be a successful effort, a balance between technical, schedule, and budgetary risks must be attained. The adoption of BMDO's 'fast track' management practices will be a key element in the eventual success of NASA's effort.

  13. Real-Time Inhibitor Recession Measurements in the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motors

    Science.gov (United States)

    McWhorter, Bruce B.; Ewing, Mark E.; McCool, Alex (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    Real-time char line recession measurements were made on propellant inhibitors of the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM). The RSRM FSM-8 static test motor propellant inhibitors (composed of a rubber insulation material) were successfully instrumented with eroding potentiometers and thermocouples. The data was used to establish inhibitor recession versus time relationships. Normally, pre-fire and post-fire insulation thickness measurements establish the thermal performance of an ablating insulation material. However, post-fire inhibitor decomposition and recession measurements are complicated by the fact that most of the inhibitor is back during motor operation. It is therefore a difficult task to evaluate the thermal protection offered by the inhibitor material. Real-time measurements would help this task. The instrumentation program for this static test motor marks the first time that real-time inhibitors. This report presents that data for the center and aft field joint forward facing inhibitors. The data was primarily used to measure char line recession of the forward face of the inhibitors which provides inhibitor thickness reduction versus time data. The data was also used to estimate the inhibitor height versus time relationship during motor operation.

  14. The software-cycle model for re-engineering and reuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, John W.; Basili, Victor R.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports on the progress of a study which will contribute to our ability to perform high-level, component-based programming by describing means to obtain useful components, methods for the configuration and integration of those components, and an underlying economic model of the costs and benefits associated with this approach to reuse. One goal of the study is to develop and demonstrate methods to recover reusable components from domain-specific software through a combination of tools, to perform the identification, extraction, and re-engineering of components, and domain experts, to direct the applications of those tools. A second goal of the study is to enable the reuse of those components by identifying techniques for configuring and recombining the re-engineered software. This component-recovery or software-cycle model addresses not only the selection and re-engineering of components, but also their recombination into new programs. Once a model of reuse activities has been developed, the quantification of the costs and benefits of various reuse options will enable the development of an adaptable economic model of reuse, which is the principal goal of the overall study. This paper reports on the conception of the software-cycle model and on several supporting techniques of software recovery, measurement, and reuse which will lead to the development of the desired economic model.

  15. Reusable Rocket Engine Advanced Health Management System. Architecture and Technology Evaluation: Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pettit, C. D.; Barkhoudarian, S.; Daumann, A. G., Jr.; Provan, G. M.; ElFattah, Y. M.; Glover, D. E.

    1999-01-01

    In this study, we proposed an Advanced Health Management System (AHMS) functional architecture and conducted a technology assessment for liquid propellant rocket engine lifecycle health management. The purpose of the AHMS is to improve reusable rocket engine safety and to reduce between-flight maintenance. During the study, past and current reusable rocket engine health management-related projects were reviewed, data structures and health management processes of current rocket engine programs were assessed, and in-depth interviews with rocket engine lifecycle and system experts were conducted. A generic AHMS functional architecture, with primary focus on real-time health monitoring, was developed. Fourteen categories of technology tasks and development needs for implementation of the AHMS were identified, based on the functional architecture and our assessment of current rocket engine programs. Five key technology areas were recommended for immediate development, which (1) would provide immediate benefits to current engine programs, and (2) could be implemented with minimal impact on the current Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) and Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) engine controllers.

  16. A reusable multi-agent architecture for active intelligent websites

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jonker, C.M.; Lam, R.A.; Treur, J.

    In this paper a reusable multi-agent architecture for intelligent Websites is presented and illustrated for an electronic department store. The architecture has been designed and implemented using the compositional design method for multi-agent systems DESIRE. The agents within this architecture are

  17. Reusable Xerogel Containing Quantum Dots with High Fluorescence Retention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang-Yong Liang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Although various analytical methods have been established based on quantum dots (QDs, most were conducted in solution, which is inadequate for storage/transportation and rapid analysis. Moreover, the potential environmental problems caused by abandoned QDs cannot be ignored. In this paper, a reusable xerogel containing CdTe with strong emission is established by introducing host–guest interactions between QDs and polymer matrix. This xerogel shows high QDs loading capacity without decrease or redshift in fluorescence (the maximum of loading is 50 wt % of the final xerogel, which benefits from the steric hindrance of β-cyclodextrin (βCD molecules. Host–guest interactions immobilize QDs firmly, resulting in the excellent fluorescence retention of the xerogel. The good detecting performance and reusability mean this xerogel could be employed as a versatile analysis platform (for quantitative and qualitative analyses. In addition, the xerogel can be self-healed by the aid of water.

  18. Software and the Scientist: Coding and Citation Practices in Geodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Lorraine; Fish, Allison; Soito, Laura; Smith, MacKenzie; Kellogg, Louise H.

    2017-11-01

    In geodynamics as in other scientific areas, computation has become a core component of research, complementing field observation, laboratory analysis, experiment, and theory. Computational tools for data analysis, mapping, visualization, modeling, and simulation are essential for all aspects of the scientific workflow. Specialized scientific software is often developed by geodynamicists for their own use, and this effort represents a distinctive intellectual contribution. Drawing on a geodynamics community that focuses on developing and disseminating scientific software, we assess the current practices of software development and attribution, as well as attitudes about the need and best practices for software citation. We analyzed publications by participants in the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics and conducted mixed method surveys of the solid earth geophysics community. From this we learned that coding skills are typically learned informally. Participants considered good code as trusted, reusable, readable, and not overly complex and considered a good coder as one that participates in the community in an open and reasonable manor contributing to both long- and short-term community projects. Participants strongly supported citing software reflected by the high rate a software package was named in the literature and the high rate of citations in the references. However, lacking are clear instructions from developers on how to cite and education of users on what to cite. In addition, citations did not always lead to discoverability of the resource. A unique identifier to the software package itself, community education, and citation tools would contribute to better attribution practices.

  19. Dynamic reusable workflows for ocean science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Signell, Richard; Fernandez, Filipe; Wilcox, Kyle

    2016-01-01

    Digital catalogs of ocean data have been available for decades, but advances in standardized services and software for catalog search and data access make it now possible to create catalog-driven workflows that automate — end-to-end — data search, analysis and visualization of data from multiple distributed sources. Further, these workflows may be shared, reused and adapted with ease. Here we describe a workflow developed within the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) which automates the skill-assessment of water temperature forecasts from multiple ocean forecast models, allowing improved forecast products to be delivered for an open water swim event. A series of Jupyter Notebooks are used to capture and document the end-to-end workflow using a collection of Python tools that facilitate working with standardized catalog and data services. The workflow first searches a catalog of metadata using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalog Service for the Web (CSW), then accesses data service endpoints found in the metadata records using the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) for in situ sensor data and OPeNDAP services for remotely-sensed and model data. Skill metrics are computed and time series comparisons of forecast model and observed data are displayed interactively, leveraging the capabilities of modern web browsers. The resulting workflow not only solves a challenging specific problem, but highlights the benefits of dynamic, reusable workflows in general. These workflows adapt as new data enters the data system, facilitate reproducible science, provide templates from which new scientific workflows can be developed, and encourage data providers to use standardized services. As applied to the ocean swim event, the workflow exposed problems with two of the ocean forecast products which led to improved regional forecasts once errors were corrected. While the example is specific, the approach is general, and we hope to see increased use of dynamic

  20. Dynamic Reusable Workflows for Ocean Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard P. Signell

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Digital catalogs of ocean data have been available for decades, but advances in standardized services and software for catalog searches and data access now make it possible to create catalog-driven workflows that automate—end-to-end—data search, analysis, and visualization of data from multiple distributed sources. Further, these workflows may be shared, reused, and adapted with ease. Here we describe a workflow developed within the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS which automates the skill assessment of water temperature forecasts from multiple ocean forecast models, allowing improved forecast products to be delivered for an open water swim event. A series of Jupyter Notebooks are used to capture and document the end-to-end workflow using a collection of Python tools that facilitate working with standardized catalog and data services. The workflow first searches a catalog of metadata using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC Catalog Service for the Web (CSW, then accesses data service endpoints found in the metadata records using the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS for in situ sensor data and OPeNDAP services for remotely-sensed and model data. Skill metrics are computed and time series comparisons of forecast model and observed data are displayed interactively, leveraging the capabilities of modern web browsers. The resulting workflow not only solves a challenging specific problem, but highlights the benefits of dynamic, reusable workflows in general. These workflows adapt as new data enter the data system, facilitate reproducible science, provide templates from which new scientific workflows can be developed, and encourage data providers to use standardized services. As applied to the ocean swim event, the workflow exposed problems with two of the ocean forecast products which led to improved regional forecasts once errors were corrected. While the example is specific, the approach is general, and we hope to see increased

  1. Distributed Health Monitoring System for Reusable Liquid Rocket Engines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, C. F.; Figueroa, F.; Politopoulos, T.; Oonk, S.

    2009-01-01

    The ability to correctly detect and identify any possible failure in the systems, subsystems, or sensors within a reusable liquid rocket engine is a major goal at NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC). A health management (HM) system is required to provide an on-ground operation crew with an integrated awareness of the condition of every element of interest by determining anomalies, examining their causes, and making predictive statements. However, the complexity associated with relevant systems, and the large amount of data typically necessary for proper interpretation and analysis, presents difficulties in implementing complete failure detection, identification, and prognostics (FDI&P). As such, this paper presents a Distributed Health Monitoring System for Reusable Liquid Rocket Engines as a solution to these problems through the use of highly intelligent algorithms for real-time FDI&P, and efficient and embedded processing at multiple levels. The end result is the ability to successfully incorporate a comprehensive HM platform despite the complexity of the systems under consideration.

  2. A Multi-Time Scale Morphable Software Milieu for Polymorphous Computing Architectures (PCA) - Composable, Scalable Systems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Skjellum, Anthony

    2004-01-01

    Polymorphous Computing Architectures (PCA) rapidly "morph" (reorganize) software and hardware configurations in order to achieve high performance on computation styles ranging from specialized streaming to general threaded applications...

  3. Building Software with Gradle

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva; Studer, Etienne

    2014-01-01

    In this presentation, we will give an overview of the key concepts and main features of Gradle, the innovative build system that has become the de-facto standard in the enterprise. We will cover task declaration and task graph execution, incremental builds, multi-project builds, dependency management, applying plugins, extracting reusable build logic, bootstrapping a build, and using the Gradle daemon. By the end of this talk, you will have a good understanding of what makes Gradle so powerful yet easy to use. You will also understand why companies like Pivotal, LinkedIn, Google, and other giants with complex builds count on Gradle. About the speakers Etienne is leading the Tooling Team at Gradleware. He has been working as a developer, architect, project manager, and CTO over the past 15 years. He has spent most of his time building software products from the ground up and successfully shipping them to happy customers. He had ...

  4. A document-driven method for certifying scientific computing software for use in nuclear safety analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, W. Spencer; Koothoor, Mimitha

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents a documentation and development method to facilitate the certification of scientific computing software used in the safety analysis of nuclear facilities. To study the problems faced during quality assurance and certification activities, a case study was performed on legacy software used for thermal analysis of a fuel pin in a nuclear reactor. Although no errors were uncovered in the code, 27 issues of incompleteness and inconsistency were found with the documentation. This work proposes that software documentation follow a rational process, which includes a software requirements specification following a template that is reusable, maintainable, and understandable. To develop the design and implementation, this paper suggests literate programming as an alternative to traditional structured programming. Literate programming allows for documenting of numerical algorithms and code together in what is termed the literate programmer's manual. This manual is developed with explicit traceability to the software requirements specification. The traceability between the theory, numerical algorithms, and implementation facilitates achieving completeness and consistency, as well as simplifies the process of verification and the associated certification

  5. A document-driven method for certifying scientific computing software for use in nuclear safety analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, W. Spencer; Koothoor, Mimitha [Computing and Software Department, McMaster University, Hamilton (Canada)

    2016-04-15

    This paper presents a documentation and development method to facilitate the certification of scientific computing software used in the safety analysis of nuclear facilities. To study the problems faced during quality assurance and certification activities, a case study was performed on legacy software used for thermal analysis of a fuel pin in a nuclear reactor. Although no errors were uncovered in the code, 27 issues of incompleteness and inconsistency were found with the documentation. This work proposes that software documentation follow a rational process, which includes a software requirements specification following a template that is reusable, maintainable, and understandable. To develop the design and implementation, this paper suggests literate programming as an alternative to traditional structured programming. Literate programming allows for documenting of numerical algorithms and code together in what is termed the literate programmer's manual. This manual is developed with explicit traceability to the software requirements specification. The traceability between the theory, numerical algorithms, and implementation facilitates achieving completeness and consistency, as well as simplifies the process of verification and the associated certification.

  6. Architecture of the software for LAMOST fiber positioning subsystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Xiaobo; Xing, Xiaozheng; Hu, Hongzhuan; Zhai, Chao; Li, Weimin

    2004-09-01

    The architecture of the software which controls the LAMOST fiber positioning sub-system is described. The software is composed of two parts as follows: a main control program in a computer and a unit controller program in a MCS51 single chip microcomputer ROM. And the function of the software includes: Client/Server model establishment, observation planning, collision handling, data transmission, pulse generation, CCD control, image capture and processing, and data analysis etc. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which different parts of the software can communicate. Also software techniques for multi threads, SOCKET programming, Microsoft Windows message response, and serial communications are discussed.

  7. Bicriterial Optimization of Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion IVAN

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available There are defined two optimum criteria for software analysis. For each criterion there are defined solutions in order to reach a minimum level. There are analyzed the effects of pursuing one objective over the other one. There is developed an aggregate function for which it is determined the two criteria composed level. Based on this value it is selected the optimum solution

  8. Strategies and Tools to Enable Reuse in Serious Games Ecosystems and Beyond

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stefan, I.A.; Stefan, A; Lim, T.; Belotti, F.; Baalsrud Hauge, J.; Wendrich, Robert E.; Neagu, G.

    2014-01-01

    Software ecosystems are defined as collections of organizations that are related through software or a software related concept. Within such ecosystems, reusability is fundamental to software sustainability and cost-efficiency. Design for reusability brings the technical promise of high quality

  9. Popstjerne af lys, lyd og software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hasse Jørgensen, Stina

    2016-01-01

    Hatsune Miku is a 3D animated hologram, her voice is a vocaloid. In other words she is a software application. Nevertheless she is a worldstar with stadion concerts and an astronomical number of fans. She is a crowdsourced Internet phenomena: her fans composes her hits and choreographs her...

  10. Bacterial contamination of re-usable laryngoscope blades during the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    We aimed to assess the level of microbial contamination of re-usable laryngoscope blades at a public hospital in South Africa. Setting. The theatre complex of a secondary-level public hospital in Johannesburg. Methods. Blades from two different theatres were sampled twice daily, using a standardised technique, over a ...

  11. Programme RAE: software that automates data acquisition in nuclear spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bellido, Luis F.

    1995-07-01

    A software for automatic acquisition and storing of nuclear spectra was developed. This program is to be used in a system composed of a radiation detector, a Spectrum-ACE or ADCAM and the Maestro II emulation software. In this paper the operating mode is fully described and several examples are given. (author). 2 refs

  12. Extracting software static defect models using data mining

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed H. Yousef

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Large software projects are subject to quality risks of having defective modules that will cause failures during the software execution. Several software repositories contain source code of large projects that are composed of many modules. These software repositories include data for the software metrics of these modules and the defective state of each module. In this paper, a data mining approach is used to show the attributes that predict the defective state of software modules. Software solution architecture is proposed to convert the extracted knowledge into data mining models that can be integrated with the current software project metrics and bugs data in order to enhance the prediction. The results show better prediction capabilities when all the algorithms are combined using weighted votes. When only one individual algorithm is used, Naïve Bayes algorithm has the best results, then the Neural Network and the Decision Trees algorithms.

  13. Cost comparison of re-usable and single-use fibrescopes in a large English teaching hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCahon, R A; Whynes, D K

    2015-06-01

    A number of studies in the U.S.A. and mainland Europe have described the costs of fibreoptic tracheal intubation. However, no such data from the UK appear available. We performed a cost assessment of fibreoptic intubation, using re-usable (various devices from Olympus, Acutronic and Karl Storz) and single-use (Ambu aScope) fibrescopes, at the Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, U.K., between 1 January 2009 and 31 March 2014. The total annual cost of fibreoptic intubation with re-usable fibrescopes was £46,385. Based on 141 fibreoptic intubations per year, this equated to £329 per use, an average dominated by repair/maintenance costs (43%) and capital depreciation costs (42%). In comparison, the total annual cost of using single-use fibrescopes for the same work would have been around £200 per use. The analysis enabled us to develop a generic model, wherein we were able to describe the relationship between total cost of use vs number of uses for a fibrescope. An 'isopleth' was identified for this relationship: a line that joined all the points where the cost of re-usable vs single-use fibrescopes was equal. It appears cheaper to use single-use fibrescopes at up to 200 fibreoptic intubations per year (a range commensurate with normal practice) even when the repair rate for re-usable fibrescopes is low. Any centre, knowing its fibrescope use and repair rate, can plot its data similarly to help ascertain which of the re-usable or single-use fibrescope represents better value. © 2015 The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

  14. Software for simulation of nuclear simulation of nuclear installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castaneda, J.O.; Ramos, L.M.; Arjona, O.; Rodriguez, L.

    1993-01-01

    The software is an instrument to build conceptual-type simulators of low, medium and full scale for used in nuclear installations. The system is composed by composed by two basic modules: one for the edition and the other for the simulation. The first one allows to prepare the information to simulate: mathematical model, technological design (fundamentally, operation board or mnemotechnical design), parameters to be shown, failures to be simulated

  15. An Automatic Indicator of the Reusability of Learning Objects Based on Metadata That Satisfies Completeness Criteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanz-Rodríguez, Javier; Margaritopoulos, Merkourios; Margaritopoulos, Thomas; Dodero, Juan Manuel; Sánchez-Alonso, Salvador; Manitsaris, Athanasios

    The search for learning objects in open repositories is currently a tedious task, owing to the vast amount of resources available and the fact that most of them do not have associated ratings to help users make a choice. In order to tackle this problem, we propose a reusability indicator, which can be calculated automatically using the metadata that describes the objects, allowing us to select those materials most likely to be reused. In order for this reusability indicator to be applied, metadata records must reach a certain amount of completeness, guaranteeing that the material is adequately described. This reusability indicator is tested in two studies on the Merlot and eLera repositories, and results obtained offer evidence to support their effectiveness.

  16. Environmental considerations in the selection of isolation gowns: A life cycle assessment of reusable and disposable alternatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vozzola, Eric; Overcash, Michael; Griffing, Evan

    2018-04-11

    Isolation gowns serve a critical role in infection control by protecting healthcare workers, visitors, and patients from the transfer of microorganisms and body fluids. The decision of whether to use a reusable or disposable garment system is a selection process based on factors including sustainability, barrier effectiveness, cost, and comfort. Environmental sustainability is increasingly being used in the decision-making process. Life cycle assessment is the most comprehensive and widely used tool used to evaluate environmental performance. The environmental impacts of market-representative reusable and disposable isolation gown systems were compared using standard life cycle assessment procedures. The basis of comparison was 1,000 isolation gown uses in a healthcare setting. The scope included the manufacture, use, and end-of-life stages of the gown systems. At the healthcare facility, compared to the disposable gown system, the reusable gown system showed a 28% reduction in energy consumption, a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 41% reduction in blue water consumption, and a 93% reduction in solid waste generation. Selecting reusable garment systems may result in significant environmental benefits compared to selecting disposable garment systems. By selecting reusable isolation gowns, healthcare facilities can add these quantitative benefits directly to their sustainability scorecards. Copyright © 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Towards a reusable architecture for message exchange in pervasive healthcare

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cardoso de Moraes, J.L.; Lopes de Souza, Wanderley; Ferreira Pires, Luis; do Prado, Antonio Francisco; Hammoudi, S.; Maciaszek, L.A.; Cordeiro, J.; Dietz, J.L.G.

    The main objective of this paper is to present a reusable architecture for message exchange in pervasive healthcare environments meant to be generally applicable to different applications in the healthcare domain. This architecture has been designed by integrating different concepts and technologies

  18. Humidifiers for oxygen therapy: what risk for reusable and disposable devices?

    Science.gov (United States)

    La Fauci, V; Costa, G B; Facciolà, A; Conti, A; Riso, R; Squeri, R

    2017-06-01

    Nosocomial pneumonia accounts for the vast majority of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Although numerous medical devices have been discussed as potential vehicles for microorganisms, very little is known about the role played by oxygen humidifiers as potential sources of nosocomial pathogens. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the safety of the reuse of humidifiers by analysing the rate of microbial contamination in reusable and disposable oxygen humidifiers used during therapy, and then discuss their potential role in the transmission of respiratory pathogens. Water samples from reusable and disposable oxygen humidifiers were collected from different wards of the University Hospital of Messina, Italy, where nosocomial pneumonia has a higher incidence rate due to the "critical" clinical conditions of inpatients. In particular, we monitored the Internal Medicine and Pulmonology wards for the medical area; the General Surgery and Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery wards for the surgical area and the Intensive Care Unit and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the emergency area. The samples were always collected after a period of 5 days from initial use for both types of humidifiers. Samples were processed using standard bacteriological techniques and microbial colonies were identified using manual and automated methods. High rates of microbial contamination were observed in samples from reusable oxygen humidifiers employed in medical (83%), surgical (77%) and emergency (50%) areas. The most relevant pathogens were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, amongst the Gram-negative bacteria, and Staphylococcus aureus, amongst the Gram-positive bacteria. Other pathogens were detected in lower percentage. The disposable oxygen humidifier samples showed no contamination. This research presents evidence of the high rate and type of microbial contamination of reusable humidifiers employed for oxygen therapy. These devices may thus be involved in the transmission of potential

  19. Adaptation of Black-Box Software Components

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rolf Andreas Rasenack

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The globalization of the software market leads to crucial problems for software companies. More competition between software companies arises and leads to the force on companies to develop ever newer software products in ever shortened time interval. Therefore the time to market for software systems is shortened and obviously the product life cycle is shortened too. Thus software companies shortened the time interval for research and development. Due to the fact of competition between software companies software products have to develop low-priced and this leads to a smaller return on investment. A big challenge for software companies is the use of an effective research and development process to have these problems under control. A way to control these problems can be the reuse of existing software components and adapt those software components to new functionality or accommodate mismatched interfaces. Complete redevelopment of software products is more expensive and time consuming than to develop software components. The approach introduced here presents novel technique together with a supportive environment that enables developers to cope with the adaptability of black-box software components. A supportive environment will be designed that checks the compatibility of black-box software components with the assistance of their specifications. Generated adapter software components can take over the part of adaptation and advance the functionality. Besides, a pool of software components can be used to compose an application to satisfy customer needs. Certainly this pool of software components consists of black-box software components and adapter software components which can be connected on demand.

  20. Composability in quantum cryptography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mueller-Quade, Joern; Renner, Renato

    2009-01-01

    If we combine two secure cryptographic systems, is the resulting system still secure? Answering this question is highly nontrivial and has recently sparked a considerable research effort, in particular, in the area of classical cryptography. A central insight was that the answer to the question is yes, but only within a well-specified composability framework and for carefully chosen security definitions. In this article, we review several aspects of composability in the context of quantum cryptography. The first part is devoted to key distribution. We discuss the security criteria that a quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol must fulfill to allow its safe use within a larger security application (e.g. for secure message transmission); and we demonstrate-by an explicit example-what can go wrong if conventional (non-composable) security definitions are used. Finally, to illustrate the practical use of composability, we show how to generate a continuous key stream by sequentially composing rounds of a QKD protocol. In the second part, we take a more general point of view, which is necessary for the study of cryptographic situations involving, for example, mutually distrustful parties. We explain the universal composability (UC) framework and state the composition theorem that guarantees that secure protocols can securely be composed to larger applications. We focus on the secure composition of quantum protocols into unconditionally secure classical protocols. However, the resulting security definition is so strict that some tasks become impossible without additional security assumptions. Quantum bit commitment is impossible in the UC framework even with mere computational security. Similar problems arise in the quantum bounded storage model and we observe a trade-off between the UC and the use of the weakest possible security assumptions.

  1. SCASim: A Flexible and Reusable Detector Simulator for the MIRI instrument of the JWST

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beard, S.; Morin, J.; Gastaud, R.; Azzollini, R.; Bouchet, P.; Chaintreuil, S.; Lahuis, F.; Littlejohns, O.; Nehme, C.; Pye, J.

    2012-09-01

    The JWST Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) operates in the 5-28μm wavelength range and can be configured for imaging, coronographic imaging, long-slit, low-resolution spectroscopy or medium resolution spectroscopy with an integral field unit. SCASim is one of a suite of simulators which operate together to simulate all the different modes of the instrument. These simulators are essential for the efficient operation of MIRI; allowing more accurate planning of MIRI observations on sky or during the pre-launch testing of the instrument. The data generated by the simulators are essential for testing the data pipeline software. The simulators not only need to reproduce the behaviour of the instrument faithfully, they also need to be adaptable so that information learned about the instrument during the pre-launch testing and in-orbit commissioning can be fed back into the simulation. SCASim simulates the behaviour of the MIRI detectors, taking into account cosmetic effects, quantum efficiency, shot noise, dark current, read noise, amplifier layout, cosmic ray hits, etc... The software has benefited from three major design choices. First, the development of a suite of MIRI simulators, rather than single simulator, has allowed MIRI simulators to be developed in parallel by different teams, with each simulator able to concentrate on one particular area. SCASim provides a facility common to all the other simulators and saves duplication of effort. Second, SCASim has a Python-based object-oriented design which makes it easier to adapt as new information about the instrument is learned during testing. Third, all simulator parameters are maintained in external files, rather than being hard coded in the software. These design choices have made SCASim highly reusable. In its present form it can be used to simulate any JWST detector, and it can be adapted for future instruments with similar, photon-counting detectors.

  2. Beyond Bundles - Reproducible Software Environments with GNU Guix

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva; Wurmus, Ricardo

    2018-01-01

    Building reproducible data analysis pipelines and numerical experiments is a key challenge for reproducible science, in which tools to reproduce software environments play a critical role. The advent of “container-based” deployment tools such as Docker and Singularity has made it easier to replicate software environments. These tools are very much about bundling the bits of software binaries in a convenient way, not so much about describing how software is composed. Science is not just about replicating, though—it demands the ability to inspect and to experiment. In this talk we will present GNU Guix, a software management toolkit. Guix departs from container-based solutions in that it enables declarative composition of software environments. It is comparable to “package managers” like apt or yum, but with a significant difference: Guix provides accurate provenance tracking of build artifacts, and bit-reproducible software. We will illustrate the many ways in which Guix can improve how software en...

  3. Environmental Control System Software & Hardware Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vargas, Daniel Eduardo

    2017-01-01

    ECS hardware: (1) Provides controlled purge to SLS Rocket and Orion spacecraft. (2) Provide mission-focused engineering products and services. ECS software: (1) NASA requires Compact Unique Identifiers (CUIs); fixed-length identifier used to identify information items. (2) CUI structure; composed of nine semantic fields that aid the user in recognizing its purpose.

  4. Air Force Reusable Booster System: A Quick-look, Design Focused Modeling and Cost Analysis Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapata, Edgar

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a method and an initial analysis of the costs of a reusable booster system (RBS) as envisioned by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and numerous initiatives that form the concept of Operationally Responsive Space (ORS). This paper leverages the knowledge gained from decades of experience with the semi-reusable NASA Space Shuttle to understand how the costs of a military next generation semi-reusable space transport might behave in the real world - and how it might be made as affordable as desired. The NASA Space Shuttle had a semi-expendable booster, that being the reusable Solid Rocket MotorslBoosters (SRMlSRB) and the expendable cryogenic External Tank (ET), with a reusable cargo and crew capable orbiter. This paper will explore DoD concepts that invert this architectural arrangement, using a reusable booster plane that flies back to base soon after launch, with the in-space elements of the launch system being the expendable portions. Cost estimating in the earliest stages of any potential, large scale program has limited usefulness. As a result, the emphasis here is on developing an approach, a structure, and the basic concepts that could continue to be matured as the program gains knowledge. Where cost estimates are provided, these results by necessity carry many caveats and assumptions, and this analysis becomes more about ways in which drivers of costs for diverse scenarios can be better understood. The paper is informed throughout with a design-for-cost philosophy whereby the design and technology features of the proposed RBS (who and what, the "architecture") are taken as linked at the hip to a desire to perform a certain mission (where and when), and together these inform the cost, responsiveness, performance and sustainability (how) of the system. Concepts for developing, acquiring, producing or operating the system will be shown for their inextricable relationship to the "architecture" of the system, and how these too relate to costs

  5. Schoolgirls' experience and appraisal of menstrual absorbents in rural Uganda: a cross-sectional evaluation of reusable sanitary pads.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hennegan, Julie; Dolan, Catherine; Wu, Maryalice; Scott, Linda; Montgomery, Paul

    2016-12-07

    Governments, multinational organisations, and charities have commenced the distribution of sanitary products to address current deficits in girls' menstrual management. The few effectiveness studies conducted have focused on health and education outcomes but have failed to provide quantitative assessment of girls' preferences, experiences of absorbents, and comfort. Objectives of the study were, first, to quantitatively describe girls' experiences with, and ratings of reliability and acceptability of different menstrual absorbents. Second, to compare ratings of freely-provided reusable pads (AFRIpads) to other existing methods of menstrual management. Finally, to assess differences in self-reported freedom of activity during menses according to menstrual absorbent. Cross-sectional, secondary analysis of data from the final survey of a controlled trial of reusable sanitary padand puberty education provision was undertaken. Participants were 205 menstruating schoolgirls from eight schools in rural Uganda. 72 girls who reported using the intervention-provided reusable pads were compared to those using existing improvised methods (predominately new or old cloth). Schoolgirls using reusable pads provided significantly higher ratings of perceived absorbent reliability across activities, less difficulties changing absorbents, and less disgust with cleaning absorbents. There were no significant differences in reports of outside garment soiling (OR 1.00 95%CI 0.51-1.99), or odour (0.84 95%CI 0.40-1.74) during the last menstrual period. When girls were asked if menstruation caused them to miss daily activities there were no differences between those using reusable pads and those using other existing methods. However, when asked about activities avoided during menstruation, those using reusable pads participated less in physical sports, working in the field, fetching water, and cooking. Reusable pads were rated favourably. This translated into some benefits for self

  6. Essential Features for a Scholarly Journal Content Management and Peer Review Software

    OpenAIRE

    Fatima Sheikh Shoaie; Mehdi Husseini

    2010-01-01

      The present study investigates the software used in scientific journals for content management and peer review, in order to identify the essential features. These softwares are analyzed and presented in tabular format. A questionnaire was prepared and submitted to a panel composed of 15 referees, editor in chief, software designers and researchers. The essential features for a software managing the review process were divided into three groups with populations of 10-15, 5-10 and 0-5 respect...

  7. The RAGE Game Software Components Repository for Supporting Applied Game Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Krassen Stefanov

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the architecture of the RAGE repository, which is a unique and dedicated infrastructure that provides access to a wide variety of advanced technology components for applied game development. The RAGE project, which is the principal Horizon2020 research and innovation project on applied gaming, develops up to three dozens of software components (RAGE software assets that are reusable across a wide diversity of game engines, game platforms and programming languages. The RAGE repository provides storage space for assets and their artefacts and is designed as an asset life-cycle management system for defining, publishing, updating, searching and packaging for distribution of these assets. It will be embedded in a social platform for asset developers and other users. A dedicated Asset Repository Manager provides the main functionality of the repository and its integration with other systems. Tools supporting the Asset Manager are presented and discussed. When the RAGE repository is in full operation, applied game developers will be able to easily enhance the quality of their games by including selected advanced game software assets. Making available the RAGE repository system and its variety of software assets aims to enhance the coherence and decisiveness of the applied game industry.

  8. Development and flight test of metal-lined CFRP cryogenic tank for reusable rocket

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higuchi, Ken; Takeuchi, Shinsuke; Sato, Eiichi; Naruo, Yoshihiro; Inatani, Yoshifumi; Namiki, Fumiharu; Tanaka, Kohtaro; Watabe, Yoko

    2005-07-01

    A cryogenic tank made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) shell with aluminum thin liner has been designed as a liquid hydrogen (LH2) tank for an ISAS reusable launch vehicle, and the function of it has been proven by repeated flights onboard the test vehicle called reusable vehicle testing (RVT) in October 2003. The liquid hydrogen tank has to be a pressure vessel, because the fuel of the engine of the test vehicle is supplied by fuel pressure. The pressure vessel of a combination of the outer shell of CFRP for strength element at a cryogenic temperature and the inner liner of aluminum for gas barrier has shown excellent weight merit for this purpose. Interfaces such as tank outline shape, bulk capacity, maximum expected operating pressure (MEOP), thermal insulation, pipe arrangement, and measurement of data are also designed to be ready onboard. This research has many aims, not only development of reusable cryogenic composite tank but also the demonstration of repeated operation including thermal cycle and stress cycle, familiarization with test techniques of operation of cryogenic composite tanks, and the accumulation of data for future design of tanks, vehicle structures, safety evaluation, and total operation systems.

  9. A reusable OSL-film for 2D radiotherapy dosimetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wouter, Crijns; Dirk, Vandenbroucke; Paul, Leblans; Tom, Depuydt

    2017-11-01

    Optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) combines reusability, sub-mm resolution, and a linear dose response in a single radiation detection technology. Such a combination is currently lacking in radiotherapy dosimetry. But OSL-films have a strong energy dependent response to keV photons due to a relative high effective atomic number (Z eff). The current work studied the applicability of a 2D OSL-film with a reduced Z eff as (IMRT/VMAT) dosimeter. Based on their commercial OSL-film experience, Agfa Healthcare N.V. produced a new experimental OSL-film for RT dosimetry. This film had a lower effective atomic number compared to the films used in radiology. Typical 2D dosimeter requirements such as uniformity, dose response, signal stability with time, and angular dependence were evaluated. Additionally, the impact of a possible residual energy dependence was assessed for the infield as well as the out-of-field region of both static beams and standard intensity modulated patterns (chair and pyramid). The OSL-film’s reusable nature allowed for a film specific absolute and linear calibration including a flood-field uniformity correction. The OSL-film was scanned with a CR-15X engine based reader using a strict timing (i.e. 4 min after ‘beam on’ or as soon as possible) to account for spontaneous recombination. The OSL-film had good basic response properties: non-uniformities  ⩽2.6%, a linear dose response (0-32 Gy), a linear signal decay (0.5% min-1) over the 20 min measured, and limited angular dependence  ⩽2.6%. Due to variations of the energy spectrum, larger dose differences were noted outside the central region of the homogenous phantom and outside both static and IMRT fields. However, the OSL-film’s measured dose differences of the IMRT patterns were lower than those of Gafchromic EBT measurements ([-1.6%, 2.1%] versus [-2.9%, 3.6%]). The current OSL-film could be used as a reusable high resolution dosimeter with read-out immediately after

  10. Analyser Framework to Verify Software Components

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rolf Andreas Rasenack

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Today, it is important for software companies to build software systems in a short time-interval, to reduce costs and to have a good market position. Therefore well organized and systematic development approaches are required. Reusing software components, which are well tested, can be a good solution to develop software applications in effective manner. The reuse of software components is less expensive and less time consuming than a development from scratch. But it is dangerous to think that software components can be match together without any problems. Software components itself are well tested, of course, but even if they composed together problems occur. Most problems are based on interaction respectively communication. Avoiding such errors a framework has to be developed for analysing software components. That framework determines the compatibility of corresponding software components. The promising approach discussed here, presents a novel technique for analysing software components by applying an Abstract Syntax Language Tree (ASLT. A supportive environment will be designed that checks the compatibility of black-box software components. This article is concerned to the question how can be coupled software components verified by using an analyzer framework and determines the usage of the ASLT. Black-box Software Components and Abstract Syntax Language Tree are the basis for developing the proposed framework and are discussed here to provide the background knowledge. The practical implementation of this framework is discussed and shows the result by using a test environment.

  11. Russian aluminum-lithium alloys for advanced reusable spacecraft

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charette, Ray O.; Leonard, Bruce G.; Bozich, William F.; Deamer, David A.

    1998-01-01

    Cryotanks that are cost-affordable, robust, fuel-compatible, and lighter weight than current aluminum design are needed to support next-generation launch system performance and operability goals. The Boeing (McDonnell Douglas Aerospace-MDA) and NASA's Delta Clipper-Experimental Program (DC-XA) flight demonstrator test bed vehicle provided the opportunity for technology transfer of Russia's extensive experience base with weight-efficient, highly weldable aluminum-lithium (Al-Li) alloys for cryogenic tank usage. As part of NASA's overall reusable launch vehicle (RLV) program to help provide technology and operations data for use in advanced RLVs, MDA contracted with the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS/IMASH) for design, test, and delivery of 1460 Al-Li alloy liquid oxygen (LO 2 ) cryotanks: one for development, one for ground tests, and one for DC-XA flight tests. This paper describes the development of Al-Li 1460 alloy for reusable LO 2 tanks, including alloy composition tailoring, mechanical properties database, forming, welding, chemical milling, dissimilar metal joining, corrosion protection, completed tanks proof, and qualification testing. Mechanical properties of the parent and welded materials exceeded expectations, particularly the fracture toughness, which promise excellent reuse potential. The LO 2 cryotank was successfully demonstrated in DC-XA flight tests

  12. Experiences with Reusable E-Learning Objects: From Theory to Practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muzio, Jeanette A.; Heins, Tanya; Mundell, Roger

    2002-01-01

    Explains reusable electronic learning objects (ELOs) that are stored in a database and discusses the practical application of creating and reusing ELOs at Royal Roads University (Canada). Highlights include ELOs and the instructional design of online courses; and examples of using templates to develop interactive ELOs. (Author/LRW)

  13. Composing the Curriculum: Teacher Identity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lewis, Rebecca

    2012-01-01

    What is composing and how is it valued? What does a good education in composing look like; what constraints hinder it and is it possible to overcome such constraints? Can composing be a personal, creative and valuable activity for the school student? What role does the teacher play in all of this? These are questions that I discuss in this…

  14. An architectural model for software reliability quantification: sources of data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smidts, C.; Sova, D.

    1999-01-01

    Software reliability assessment models in use today treat software as a monolithic block. An aversion towards 'atomic' models seems to exist. These models appear to add complexity to the modeling, to the data collection and seem intrinsically difficult to generalize. In 1997, we introduced an architecturally based software reliability model called FASRE. The model is based on an architecture derived from the requirements which captures both functional and nonfunctional requirements and on a generic classification of functions, attributes and failure modes. The model focuses on evaluation of failure mode probabilities and uses a Bayesian quantification framework. Failure mode probabilities of functions and attributes are propagated to the system level using fault trees. It can incorporate any type of prior information such as results of developers' testing, historical information on a specific functionality and its attributes, and, is ideally suited for reusable software. By building an architecture and deriving its potential failure modes, the model forces early appraisal and understanding of the weaknesses of the software, allows reliability analysis of the structure of the system, provides assessments at a functional level as well as at a systems' level. In order to quantify the probability of failure (or the probability of success) of a specific element of our architecture, data are needed. The term element of the architecture is used here in its broadest sense to mean a single failure mode or a higher level of abstraction such as a function. The paper surveys the potential sources of software reliability data available during software development. Next the mechanisms for incorporating these sources of relevant data to the FASRE model are identified

  15. Project of Ariane 5 LV family advancement by use of reusable fly-back boosters (named “Bargouzine”)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sumin, Yu.; Bonnal, Ch.; Kostromin, S.; Panichkin, N.

    2007-12-01

    The paper concerns possible concept variants of a partially reusable Heavy-Lift Launch Vehicle derived from the advanced basic launcher (Ariane-2010) by means of substitution of the EAP Solid Rocket Boosters for a Reusable Starting Stage consisting two Liquid-propellant Reusable Fly-Back Boosters called "Bargouzin". This paper describes the status of the presently studied RFBB concepts during its three phases. The first project phase was dedicated to feasibility expertise of liquid-rocket reusable fly-back boosters ("Baikal" type) utilization for heavy-lift space launch vehicle. The design features and main conclusions are presented. The second phase has been performed with the purpose of selection of preferable concept among the alternative ones for the future Ariane LV modernization by using RFBB instead of EAP Boosters. The main requirements, logic of work, possible configuration and conclusion are presented. Initial aerodynamic, ballistic, thermoloading, dynamic loading, trade-off and comparison analysis have been performed on these concepts. The third phase consists in performing a more detailed expertise of the chosen LV concept. This part summarizes some of the more detailed results related to flight performance, system mass, thermoprotection system, aspects of technologies, ground complex modification, comparison analyses and conclusion.

  16. Reusable Client-Side JavaScript Modules for Immersive Web-Based Real-Time Collaborative Neuroimage Visualization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernal-Rusiel, Jorge L; Rannou, Nicolas; Gollub, Randy L; Pieper, Steve; Murphy, Shawn; Robertson, Richard; Grant, Patricia E; Pienaar, Rudolph

    2017-01-01

    In this paper we present a web-based software solution to the problem of implementing real-time collaborative neuroimage visualization. In both clinical and research settings, simple and powerful access to imaging technologies across multiple devices is becoming increasingly useful. Prior technical solutions have used a server-side rendering and push-to-client model wherein only the server has the full image dataset. We propose a rich client solution in which each client has all the data and uses the Google Drive Realtime API for state synchronization. We have developed a small set of reusable client-side object-oriented JavaScript modules that make use of the XTK toolkit, a popular open-source JavaScript library also developed by our team, for the in-browser rendering and visualization of brain image volumes. Efficient realtime communication among the remote instances is achieved by using just a small JSON object, comprising a representation of the XTK image renderers' state, as the Google Drive Realtime collaborative data model. The developed open-source JavaScript modules have already been instantiated in a web-app called MedView , a distributed collaborative neuroimage visualization application that is delivered to the users over the web without requiring the installation of any extra software or browser plugin. This responsive application allows multiple physically distant physicians or researchers to cooperate in real time to reach a diagnosis or scientific conclusion. It also serves as a proof of concept for the capabilities of the presented technological solution.

  17. Autocommander: A Supervisory Controller for Integrated Guidance and Control for the 2nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, J. E.; Lawrence, D. A.; Zhu, J. J.; Jackson, Scott (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    This paper presents a hierarchical architecture for integrated guidance and control that achieves risk and cost reduction for NASA's 2d generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV). Guidance, attitude control, and control allocation subsystems that heretofore operated independently will now work cooperatively under the coordination of a top-level autocommander. In addition to delivering improved performance from a flight mechanics perspective, the autocommander is intended to provide an autonomous supervisory control capability for traditional mission management under nominal conditions, G&C reconfiguration in response to effector saturation, and abort mode decision-making upon vehicle malfunction. This high-level functionality is to be implemented through the development of a relational database that is populated with the broad range of vehicle and mission specific data and translated into a discrete event system model for analysis, simulation, and onboard implementation. A Stateflow Autocoder software tool that translates the database into the Stateflow component of a Matlab/Simulink simulation is also presented.

  18. Enhanced Flexibility and Reusability through State Machine-Based Architectures for Multisensor Intelligent Robotics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Héctor Herrero

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a state machine-based architecture, which enhances the flexibility and reusability of industrial robots, more concretely dual-arm multisensor robots. The proposed architecture, in addition to allowing absolute control of the execution, eases the programming of new applications by increasing the reusability of the developed modules. Through an easy-to-use graphical user interface, operators are able to create, modify, reuse and maintain industrial processes, increasing the flexibility of the cell. Moreover, the proposed approach is applied in a real use case in order to demonstrate its capabilities and feasibility in industrial environments. A comparative analysis is presented for evaluating the presented approach versus traditional robot programming techniques.

  19. Evolving software reengineering technology for the emerging innovative-competitive era

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Phillip Q.; Lock, Evan; Prywes, Noah

    1994-01-01

    This paper reports on a multi-tool commercial/military environment combining software Domain Analysis techniques with Reusable Software and Reengineering of Legacy Software. It is based on the development of a military version for the Department of Defense (DOD). The integrated tools in the military version are: Software Specification Assistant (SSA) and Software Reengineering Environment (SRE), developed by Computer Command and Control Company (CCCC) for Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and Joint Logistics Commanders (JLC), and the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) STARS Software Engineering Environment (SEE) developed by Boeing for NAVAIR PMA 205. The paper describes transitioning these integrated tools to commercial use. There is a critical need for the transition for the following reasons: First, to date, 70 percent of programmers' time is applied to software maintenance. The work of these users has not been facilitated by existing tools. The addition of Software Reengineering will also facilitate software maintenance and upgrading. In fact, the integrated tools will support the entire software life cycle. Second, the integrated tools are essential to Business Process Reengineering, which seeks radical process innovations to achieve breakthrough results. Done well, process reengineering delivers extraordinary gains in process speed, productivity and profitability. Most importantly, it discovers new opportunities for products and services in collaboration with other organizations. Legacy computer software must be changed rapidly to support innovative business processes. The integrated tools will provide commercial organizations important competitive advantages. This, in turn, will increase employment by creating new business opportunities. Third, the integrated system will produce much higher quality software than use of the tools separately. The reason for this is that producing or upgrading software requires keen understanding of extremely complex

  20. Reusability Performance of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Degradation of POME

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarifah Zainuri, Nur; Hanis Hayati Hairom, Nur; Abu Bakar Sidik, Dilaelyana; Misdan, Nurasyikin; Yusof, Norhaniza; Wahab Mohammad, Abdul

    2018-03-01

    Performance and reusability of different zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-PVP and ZnO-PEG) for photocatalytic degradation of palm-mill oil effluent (POME) has been studied. The nanoparticles properties were characterised with fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM results show that ZnO-PEG nanoparticles exhibit the smaller size than ZnO-PVP with less agglomeration. It was found that ZnO-PEG shows better effectiveness than ZnO-PVP in reducing turbidity, colour and increasing the dissolved oxygen (DO). By using two types of reusability methods: (a) oven drying (b) hot water rinsing, the oven drying method portrayed the most efficient route for POME treatment. This research would be a solution to the palm oil industry for photocatalyst recovering as well as reduction of the chemical usage in order to meet the development of advanced and greener technologies.

  1. Proceedings of the Workshop on software tools for distributed intelligent control systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herget, C.J. (ed.)

    1990-09-01

    The Workshop on Software Tools for Distributed Intelligent Control Systems was organized by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the United States Army Headquarters Training and Doctrine Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The goals of the workshop were to the identify the current state of the art in tools which support control systems engineering design and implementation, identify research issues associated with writing software tools which would provide a design environment to assist engineers in multidisciplinary control design and implementation, formulate a potential investment strategy to resolve the research issues and develop public domain code which can form the core of more powerful engineering design tools, and recommend test cases to focus the software development process and test associated performance metrics. Recognizing that the development of software tools for distributed intelligent control systems will require a multidisciplinary effort, experts in systems engineering, control systems engineering, and compute science were invited to participate in the workshop. In particular, experts who could address the following topics were selected: operating systems, engineering data representation and manipulation, emerging standards for manufacturing data, mathematical foundations, coupling of symbolic and numerical computation, user interface, system identification, system representation at different levels of abstraction, system specification, system design, verification and validation, automatic code generation, and integration of modular, reusable code.

  2. High Efficiency, Transparent, Reusable, and Active PM2.5 Filters by Hierarchical Ag Nanowire Percolation Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Seongmin; Cho, Hyunmin; Han, Seonggeun; Won, Phillip; Lee, Habeom; Hong, Sukjoon; Yeo, Junyeob; Kwon, Jinhyeong; Ko, Seung Hwan

    2017-07-12

    Air quality has become a major public health issue in Asia including China, Korea, and India. Particulate matters are the major concern in air quality. We present the first environmental application demonstration of Ag nanowire percolation network for a novel, electrical type transparent, reusable, and active PM2.5 air filter although the Ag nanowire percolation network has been studied as a very promising transparent conductor in optoelectronics. Compared with previous particulate matter air filter study using relatively weaker short-range intermolecular force in polar polymeric nanofiber, Ag nanowire percolation network filters use stronger long-range electrostatic force to capture PM2.5, and they are highly efficient (>99.99%), transparent, working on an active mode, low power consumption, antibacterial, and reusable after simple washing. The proposed new particulate matter filter can be applied for a highly efficient, reusable, active and energy efficient filter for wearable electronics application.

  3. Reusable Electronics and Adaptable Communication as Implemented in the Odin Modular Robot

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garcia, Ricardo Franco Mendoza; Lyder, Andreas; Christensen, David Johan

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes the electronics and communication system of Odin, a novel heterogeneous modular robot made of links and joints. The electronics is divided into two printed circuit boards: a General board with reusable components and a Specific board with non-reusable components. While...... electrical signals. The implementations of actuator and power links show that splitting the electronics into General and Specific boards allows rapid development of different types of modules, and an analysis of performance indicates that the communication system is simple, fast and flexible....... As the electronic design reuses approx. 50% of components between two different types of modules, we find it convenient for heterogeneous modular robots where production costs demand a small set of parts. In addition, as the features of the communication system are desirable in modular robots, we think...

  4. Facility arrangements and the environmental performance of disposable and reusable cups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Potting, José; Harst-Wintraecken, van der Eugenie

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: This paper integrates two complementary life cycle assessment (LCA) studies with the aim to advice facility managers on the sustainable use of cups, either disposable or reusable. Study 1 compares three disposable cups, i.e., made from fossil-based polystyrene (PS), biobased and

  5. Sandia National Laboratories Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) software quality plan. Part 1 : ASC software quality engineering practices version 1.0.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Minana, Molly A.; Sturtevant, Judith E.; Heaphy, Robert; Hodges, Ann Louise; Boucheron, Edward A.; Drake, Richard Roy; Forsythe, Christi A.; Schofield, Joseph Richard, Jr.; Pavlakos, Constantine James; Williamson, Charles Michael; Edwards, Harold Carter

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of the Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) Software Quality Plan is to clearly identify the practices that are the basis for continually improving the quality of ASC software products. Quality is defined in DOE/AL Quality Criteria (QC-1) as conformance to customer requirements and expectations. This quality plan defines the ASC program software quality practices and provides mappings of these practices to the SNL Corporate Process Requirements (CPR 1.3.2 and CPR 1.3.6) and the Department of Energy (DOE) document, ASCI Software Quality Engineering: Goals, Principles, and Guidelines (GP&G). This quality plan identifies ASC management and software project teams' responsibilities for cost-effective software engineering quality practices. The SNL ASC Software Quality Plan establishes the signatories commitment to improving software products by applying cost-effective software engineering quality practices. This document explains the project teams opportunities for tailoring and implementing the practices; enumerates the practices that compose the development of SNL ASC's software products; and includes a sample assessment checklist that was developed based upon the practices in this document.

  6. Sound absorption of low-temperature reusable surface insulation candidate materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnston, J. D.

    1974-01-01

    Sound absorption data from tests of four candidate low-temperature reusable surface insulation materials are presented. Limitations on the use of the data are discussed, conclusions concerning the effective absorption of the materials are drawn, and the relative significance to Vibration and Acoustic Test Facility test planning of the absorption of each material is assessed.

  7. Functional modelling for integration of human-software-hardware in complex physical systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Modarres, M.

    1996-01-01

    A framework describing the properties of complex physical systems composed of human-software-hardware interactions in terms of their functions is described. It is argued that such a framework is domain-general, so that functional primitives present a language that is more general than most other modeling methods such as mathematical simulation. The characteristics and types of functional models are described. Examples of uses of the framework in modeling physical systems composed of human-software-hardware (hereby we refer to them as only physical systems) are presented. It is concluded that a function-centered model of a physical system provides a capability for generating a high-level simulation of the system for intelligent diagnostic, control or other similar applications

  8. Sustaining an Online, Shared Community Resource for Models, Robust Open source Software Tools and Data for Volcanology - the Vhub Experience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patra, A. K.; Valentine, G. A.; Bursik, M. I.; Connor, C.; Connor, L.; Jones, M.; Simakov, N.; Aghakhani, H.; Jones-Ivey, R.; Kosar, T.; Zhang, B.

    2015-12-01

    Over the last 5 years we have created a community collaboratory Vhub.org [Palma et al, J. App. Volc. 3:2 doi:10.1186/2191-5040-3-2] as a place to find volcanology-related resources, and a venue for users to disseminate tools, teaching resources, data, and an online platform to support collaborative efforts. As the community (current active users > 6000 from an estimated community of comparable size) embeds the tools in the collaboratory into educational and research workflows it became imperative to: a) redesign tools into robust, open source reusable software for online and offline usage/enhancement; b) share large datasets with remote collaborators and other users seamlessly with security; c) support complex workflows for uncertainty analysis, validation and verification and data assimilation with large data. The focus on tool development/redevelopment has been twofold - firstly to use best practices in software engineering and new hardware like multi-core and graphic processing units. Secondly we wish to enhance capabilities to support inverse modeling, uncertainty quantification using large ensembles and design of experiments, calibration, validation. Among software engineering practices we practice are open source facilitating community contributions, modularity and reusability. Our initial targets are four popular tools on Vhub - TITAN2D, TEPHRA2, PUFF and LAVA. Use of tools like these requires many observation driven data sets e.g. digital elevation models of topography, satellite imagery, field observations on deposits etc. These data are often maintained in private repositories that are privately shared by "sneaker-net". As a partial solution to this we tested mechanisms using irods software for online sharing of private data with public metadata and access limits. Finally, we adapted use of workflow engines (e.g. Pegasus) to support the complex data and computing workflows needed for usage like uncertainty quantification for hazard analysis using physical

  9. Formaldehyde in reusable protective gloves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pontén, Ann

    2006-05-01

    Due to the clinical findings in a single patient's case, formaldehyde was suspected to be present in clinically relevant levels in reusable protective gloves. Therefore, 9 types of gloves were investigated with the semi-quantitative chromotropic acid method. It was found that 6/9 gloves emitted some formaldehyde and that 4/9 gloves emitted > or =40 microg of formaldehyde. Most of the formaldehyde was found on the inside of the gloves. To get an indication of the clinical relevance, a comparison with a protective cream declared to contain the formaldehyde-releasing agent diazolidinyl urea was performed by comparing areas of gloves with areas of cream layers with thickness 1-2 mg/cm(2). It was found that the amounts of formaldehyde emitted from the gloves might be in the same range as emitted from a layer of cream.

  10. Simple and reusable fibre-to-chip interconnect with adjustable coupling eficiency

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heideman, Rene; Lambeck, Paul; Parriaux, Olivier M.; Kley, Ernst-Bernhard

    1997-01-01

    A simple, efficient and reusable fiber-to-chip interconnect is presented. The interconnect is based on a V-groove (wet- chemically etched) in silicon, combined with a loose-mode Si3N4-channel waveguide. The loose-mode waveguide is adiabatically tapered to the integrated optical (sensor) circuitry.

  11. A Diagnostic Approach to Increase Reusable Dinnerware Selection in a Cafeteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manuel, Jennifer C.; Sunseri, Mary Anne; Olson, Ryan; Scolari, Miranda

    2007-01-01

    The current project tested a diagnostic approach to selecting interventions to increase patron selection of reusable dinnerware in a cafeteria. An assessment survey, completed by a sample of 43 patrons, suggested that the primary causes of wasteful behavior were (a) environmental arrangement of dinnerware options and (b) competing motivational…

  12. Weight Analysis of Two-Stage-To-Orbit Reusable Launch Vehicles for Military Applications

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Caldwell, Richard A

    2005-01-01

    In response to Department of Defense (DoD) requirements for responsive and low-cost space access, this design study provides an objective empty weight analysis of potential reusable launch vehicle (RLV) configurations...

  13. Nano-Fe 3 O 4 /O 2 : Green, Magnetic and Reusable Catalytic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    , efficient, heterogeneous and reusable catalytic system for the synthesis of benzimidazoles via the reactions of o-phenylenediamine (1 eq) with aryl aldehydes (1 eq) in excellentyields (85–97 %) and short reaction times (30–100 min) with a ...

  14. The Walk-Man Robot Software Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirko Ferrati

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available A software and control architecture for a humanoid robot is a complex and large project, which involves a team of developers/researchers to be coordinated and requires many hard design choices. If such project has to be done in a very limited time, i.e., less than 1 year, more constraints are added and concepts, such as modular design, code reusability, and API definition, need to be used as much as possible. In this work, we describe the software architecture developed for Walk-Man, a robot participant at the Darpa Robotics Challenge. The challenge required the robot to execute many different tasks, such as walking, driving a car, and manipulating objects. These tasks need to be solved by robotics specialists in their corresponding research field, such as humanoid walking, motion planning, or object manipulation. The proposed architecture was developed in 10 months, provided boilerplate code for most of the functionalities required to control a humanoid robot and allowed robotics researchers to produce their control modules for DRC tasks in a short time. Additional capabilities of the architecture include firmware and hardware management, mixing of different middlewares, unreliable network management, and operator control station GUI. All the source code related to the architecture and some control modules have been released as open source projects.

  15. Common software for controlling and monitoring the upgraded CMS Level-1 trigger

    CERN Document Server

    Codispoti, Giuseppe

    2017-01-01

    The Large Hadron Collider restarted in 2015 with a higher centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The instantaneous luminosity is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. An upgraded Level-1 trigger system was deployed in the CMS experiment in order to maintain the same efficiencies for searches and precision measurements as those achieved in 2012. This system must be controlled and monitored coherently through software, with high operational efficiency.The legacy system was composed of a large number of custom data processor boards; correspondingly, only a small fraction of the software was common between the different subsystems. The upgraded system is composed of a set of general purpose boards, that follow the MicroTCA specification, and transmit data over optical links, resulting in a more homogeneous system. The associated software is based on generic components corresponding to the firmware blocks that are shared across different cards, regardless of the role that the card plays in the system. ...

  16. Reusable LH2 tank technology demonstration through ground test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bianca, C.; Greenberg, H. S.; Johnson, S. E.

    1995-01-01

    The paper presents the project plan to demonstrate, by March 1997, the reusability of an integrated composite LH2 tank structure, cryogenic insulation, and thermal protection system (TPS). The plan includes establishment of design requirements and a comprehensive trade study to select the most suitable Reusable Hydrogen Composite Tank system (RHCTS) within the most suitable of 4 candidate structural configurations. The 4 vehicles are winged body with the capability to deliver 25,000 lbs of payload to a circular 220 nm, 51.6 degree inclined orbit (also 40,000 lbs to a 28.5 inclined 150 nm orbit). A prototype design of the selected RHCTS is established to identify the construction, fabrication, and stress simulation and test requirements necessary in an 8 foot diameter tank structure/insulation/TPS test article. A comprehensive development test program supports the 8 foot test article development and involves the composite tank itself, cryogenic insulation, and integrated tank/insulation/TPS designs. The 8 foot diameter tank will contain the integrated cryogenic insulation and TPS designs resulting from this development and that of the concurrent lightweight durable TPS program. Tank ground testing will include 330 cycles of LH2 filling, pressurization, body loading, depressurization, draining, and entry heating.

  17. Software design for the EBT-P data acquisition and control system R and D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyd, R.A.

    1983-01-01

    The instrumentation and control system for the EBT-P device is composed of a hierarchy of programmable logic controllers, microprocessor-based data acquisition computers, and a large minicomputer-based facility computer system. The software being developed to support this data acquisition and control system is necessarily quite complex due to several requirements imposed upon the EBT-P overall design criteria. These requirements, which include such considerations as overall reliability, operator interface, real-time display, interprocessor communication, and minimum cost to build, operate, and maintain, dictate that the software be developed in a well structured and controlled manner. To this end, structured software engineering practices are being applied to the design and development of the EBT-P data acquistion and control software. The design process began with the production of a software Requirements Document which describes the hardware and software environment in which the software development takes place. It identifies the major deliverable software items to be produced and describes the practices to be used to design and develop the software. The software design is split into three components: the facility computer software, the microcomputer software, and the PLC software. Within these physical boundaries, the following five functions are defined: data acquisition, display, communication, storage, and control. The software design is further detailed in a Structured Specification Document for each of the three physical components. Each specification describes the software in detailed terms so that a programmer can directly write the required software. Each specification is composed of: data flow diagrams, a data dictionary, structure diagrams, and program design language mini-specifications. Examples of the design issues exposed and addressed during the structured decomposition of EBT-P software processes are discussed in detail

  18. A Reusable, Oxidizer-Cooled, Hybrid Aerospike Rocket Motor for Flight Test, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed innovation is to use the refrigerant capabilities of nitrous oxide (N2O) to provide the cooling required for reusable operation of an aerospike nozzle...

  19. Reusable Nanocomposite Membranes for the Selective Recovery of Nutrients in Space, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Through the STTR program, NanoSonic and Virginia Tech will create low-cost, reusable membranes that selectively capture and recycle nutrients (e.g., N, P, K) from...

  20. Reusable Client-Side JavaScript Modules for Immersive Web-Based Real-Time Collaborative Neuroimage Visualization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge L. Bernal-Rusiel

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we present a web-based software solution to the problem of implementing real-time collaborative neuroimage visualization. In both clinical and research settings, simple and powerful access to imaging technologies across multiple devices is becoming increasingly useful. Prior technical solutions have used a server-side rendering and push-to-client model wherein only the server has the full image dataset. We propose a rich client solution in which each client has all the data and uses the Google Drive Realtime API for state synchronization. We have developed a small set of reusable client-side object-oriented JavaScript modules that make use of the XTK toolkit, a popular open-source JavaScript library also developed by our team, for the in-browser rendering and visualization of brain image volumes. Efficient realtime communication among the remote instances is achieved by using just a small JSON object, comprising a representation of the XTK image renderers' state, as the Google Drive Realtime collaborative data model. The developed open-source JavaScript modules have already been instantiated in a web-app called MedView, a distributed collaborative neuroimage visualization application that is delivered to the users over the web without requiring the installation of any extra software or browser plugin. This responsive application allows multiple physically distant physicians or researchers to cooperate in real time to reach a diagnosis or scientific conclusion. It also serves as a proof of concept for the capabilities of the presented technological solution.

  1. Reusable, tamper-indicating seal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, M.J.

    1978-01-01

    A reusable, tamper-indicating seal is comprised of a drum confined within a fixed body and rotatable in one direction therewithin, the top of the drum constituting a tray carrying a large number of small balls of several different colors. The fixed body contains parallel holes for looping a seal wire therethrough. The base of the drums carries cams adapted to coact with cam followers to lock the wire within the seal at one angular position of the drum. A channel in the fixed body, visible from outside the seal, adjacent the tray constitutes a segregated location for a small plurality of the colored balls. A spring in the tray forces colored balls into the segregated location at one angular position of the drum, further rotation securing the balls in position and the wires in the seal. A wedge-shaped plough removes the balls from the segregated location, at a different angular position of the drum, the wire being unlocked at the same postion. A new pattern of colored balls will appear in the segregated location when the seal is relocked

  2. Software for airborne radiation monitoring system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheinfeld, M.; Kadmon, Y.; Tirosh, D.; Elhanany, I.; Gabovitch, A.; Barak, D.

    1997-01-01

    The Airborne Radiation Monitoring System monitors radioactive contamination in the air or on the ground. The contamination source can be a radioactive plume or an area contaminated with radionuclides. This system is composed of two major parts: Airborne Unit carried by a helicopter, and Ground Station carried by a truck. The Airborne software is intended to be the core of a computerized airborne station. The software is written in C++ under MS-Windows with object-oriented methodology. It has been designed to be user-friendly: function keys and other accelerators are used for vital operations, a help file and help subjects are available, the Human-Machine-Interface is plain and obvious. (authors)

  3. Summary of the First Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel S Katz

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Challenges related to development, deployment, and maintenance of reusable software for science are becoming a growing concern. Many scientists’ research increasingly depends on the quality and availability of software upon which their works are built. To highlight some of these issues and share experiences, the First Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science: Practice and Experiences (WSSSPE1 was held in November 2013 in conjunction with the SC13 Conference. The workshop featured keynote presentations and a large number (54 of solicited extended abstracts that were grouped into three themes and presented via panels. A set of collaborative notes of the presentations and discussion was taken during the workshop. Unique perspectives were captured about issues such as comprehensive documentation, development and deployment practices, software licenses and career paths for developers. Attribution systems that account for evidence of software contribution and impact were also discussed. These include mechanisms such as Digital Object Identifiers, publication of “software papers”, and the use of online systems, for example source code repositories like GitHub. This paper summarizes the issues and shared experiences that were discussed, including cross-cutting issues and use cases. It joins a nascent literature seeking to understand what drives software work in science, and how it is impacted by the reward systems of science. These incentives can determine the extent to which developers are motivated to build software for the long-term, for the use of others, and whether to work collaboratively or separately. It also explores community building, leadership, and dynamics in relation to successful scientific software.

  4. Software for MUF evaluating in item nuclear material accounting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Dong; Zhang Quanhu; He Bin; Wang Hua; Yang Daojun

    2009-01-01

    Nuclear material accounting is a key measure for nuclear safeguard. Software for MUF evaluation in item nuclear material accounting was worked out in this paper. It is composed of several models, including input model, data processing model, data inquiring model, data print model, system setting model etc. It could be used to check the variance of the measurement and estimate the confidence interval according to the MUF value. To insure security of the data multi-user management function was applied in the software. (authors)

  5. Better software, better research: the challenge of preserving your research and your reputation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chue Hong, N.

    2017-12-01

    Software is fundamental to research. From short, thrown-together temporary scripts, through an abundance of complex spreadsheets analysing collected data, to the hundreds of software engineers and millions of lines of code behind international efforts such as the Large Hadron Collider and the Square Kilometre Array, software has made an invaluable contribution to advancing our research knowledge. Within the earth and space sciences, data is being generated, collected, processed and analysed in ever greater amounts and detail. However the pace of this improvement leads to challenges around the persistence of research outputs and artefacts. A specific challenge in this field is that often experiments and measurements cannot be repeated, yet the infrastructure used to manage, store and process this data must be continually updated and developed: constant change just to stay still. The UK-based Software Sustainability Institute (SSI) aims to improve research software sustainability, working with researchers, funders, research software engineers, managers, and other stakeholders across the research spectrum. In this talk, I will present lessons learned and good practice based on the work of the Institute and its collaborators. I will summarise some of the work that is being done to improve the integration of infrastructure for managing research outputs, including around software citation and reward, extending data management plans, and improving researcher skills: "better software, better research". Ultimately, being a modern researcher in the geosciences requires you to efficiently balance the pursuit of new knowledge with making your work reusable and reproducible. And as scientists are placed under greater scrutiny about whether others can trust their results, the preservation of your artefacts has a key role in the preservation of your reputation.

  6. Experimental analysis of specification language diversity impact on NPP software diversity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Chang Sik

    1999-02-01

    In order to increase computer system reliability, software fault tolerance methods have been adopted to some safety critical systems including NPP. Prevention of software common mode failure is very crucial problem in software fault tolerance, but the effective method for this problem is not found yet. In our research, to find out an effective method for prevention of software common mode failure, the impact of specification language diversity on NPP software diversity was examined experimentally. Three specification languages were used to compose three requirements specifications, and programmers made twelve product codes from the specifications. From the product codes analysis, using fault diversity criteria, we concluded that diverse specification language method would enhance program diversity through diversification of requirements specification imperfections

  7. Software safety analysis on the model specified by NuSCR and SMV input language at requirements phase of software development life cycle using SMV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koh, Kwang Yong; Seong, Poong Hyun

    2005-01-01

    Safety-critical software process is composed of development process, verification and validation (V and V) process and safety analysis process. Safety analysis process has been often treated as an additional process and not found in a conventional software process. But software safety analysis (SSA) is required if software is applied to a safety system, and the SSA shall be performed independently for the safety software through software development life cycle (SDLC). Of all the phases in software development, requirements engineering is generally considered to play the most critical role in determining the overall software quality. NASA data demonstrate that nearly 75% of failures found in operational software were caused by errors in the requirements. The verification process in requirements phase checks the correctness of software requirements specification, and the safety analysis process analyzes the safety-related properties in detail. In this paper, the method for safety analysis at requirements phase of software development life cycle using symbolic model verifier (SMV) is proposed. Hazard is discovered by hazard analysis and in other to use SMV for the safety analysis, the safety-related properties are expressed by computation tree logic (CTL)

  8. Embracing the Importance of FAIR Research Products - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stall, S.

    2017-12-01

    Integrity and transparency within research is solidified by a complete set of research products that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. In other words, they follow the FAIR Guidelines developed by FORCE11.org. Your datasets, images, video, software, scripts, models, physical samples, and other tools and technology are an integral part of the narrative you tell about your research. These research products increasingly are being captured through workflow tools and preserved and connected through persistent identifiers across multiple repositories that keep them safe. They help secure, with your publications, the supporting evidence and integrity of the scientific record. This is the direction that Earth and space science as well as other disciplines is moving. Within our community, some science domains are further along, and others are taking more measured steps. AGU as a publisher is working to support the full scientific record with peer reviewed publications. Working with our community and all the Earth and space science journals, AGU is developing new policies to encourage researchers to plan for proper data preservation and provide data citations along with their research submission and to encourage adoption of best practices throughout the research workflow and data life cycle. Providing incentives, community standards, and easy-to-use tools are some important factors for helping researchers embrace the FAIR Guidelines and support transparency and integrity.

  9. The Development of Reusable Luggage Tag with the Internet of Things for Mobile Tracking and Environmental Sustainability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugene Y. C. Wong

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available With more than two billion passengers worldwide travelling by air each year, vast amounts of lost luggage and disposable paper adhesive luggage tags are pushing the aviation industry to improve luggage tracking and reduce the one-off adhesive luggage paper tags. This paper reviews the current application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID in the luggage handling system and proposes the Internet of Things’ (IoT development of the reusable luggage tag to facilitate aviation luggage handling, the tracking process and environmental conservation. A framework of IoT and its RFID components for the proposed reusable tag are presented. An integrated cyber-physical system, including a database management system and mobile app, for the reusable luggage tag is developed. Future studies will enhance the methodology of integrating the retail system, luggage tag, airport check-in counter, luggage handling system, aircraft, and the destination airport through the use of the tag, readers, antenna, and mobile devices.

  10. The art and ‘science’ of opera: composing, staging & designing new forms of interactive theatrical performance

    OpenAIRE

    Chamberlain, Alan; Kallionpää, Maria; Benford, Steve

    2017-01-01

    New technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR), Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are steadily having an impact upon the world of opera. The evolving use of performance-based software such as Ableton Live and Max/MSP has created new and exciting compositional techniques that intertwine theatrical and musical performance. This poster presents some initial work on the development of an opera using such technologies that is being composed by Kallionpää and Chamberlain.

  11. Combined protein construct and synthetic gene engineering for heterologous protein expression and crystallization using Gene Composer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walchli John

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background With the goal of improving yield and success rates of heterologous protein production for structural studies we have developed the database and algorithm software package Gene Composer. This freely available electronic tool facilitates the information-rich design of protein constructs and their engineered synthetic gene sequences, as detailed in the accompanying manuscript. Results In this report, we compare heterologous protein expression levels from native sequences to that of codon engineered synthetic gene constructs designed by Gene Composer. A test set of proteins including a human kinase (P38α, viral polymerase (HCV NS5B, and bacterial structural protein (FtsZ were expressed in both E. coli and a cell-free wheat germ translation system. We also compare the protein expression levels in E. coli for a set of 11 different proteins with greatly varied G:C content and codon bias. Conclusion The results consistently demonstrate that protein yields from codon engineered Gene Composer designs are as good as or better than those achieved from the synonymous native genes. Moreover, structure guided N- and C-terminal deletion constructs designed with the aid of Gene Composer can lead to greater success in gene to structure work as exemplified by the X-ray crystallographic structure determination of FtsZ from Bacillus subtilis. These results validate the Gene Composer algorithms, and suggest that using a combination of synthetic gene and protein construct engineering tools can improve the economics of gene to structure research.

  12. Command and Data Handling Flight Software test framework: A Radiation Belt Storm Probes practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, T. A.; Reid, W. M.; Wortman, K. A.

    During the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission, a test framework was developed by the Embedded Applications Group in the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). The test framework is implemented for verification of the Command and Data Handling (C& DH) Flight Software. The RBSP C& DH Flight Software consists of applications developed for use with Goddard Space Flight Center's core Flight Executive (cFE) architecture. The test framework's initial concept originated with tests developed for verification of the Autonomy rules that execute with the Autonomy Engine application of the RBSP C& DH Flight Software. The test framework was adopted and expanded for system and requirements verification of the RBSP C& DH Flight Software. During the evolution of the RBSP C& DH Flight Software test framework design, a set of script conventions and a script library were developed. The script conventions and library eased integration of system and requirements verification tests into a comprehensive automated test suite. The comprehensive test suite is currently being used to verify releases of the RBSP C& DH Flight Software. In addition to providing the details and benefits of the test framework, the discussion will include several lessons learned throughout the verification process of RBSP C& DH Flight Software. Our next mission, Solar Probe Plus (SPP), will use the cFE architecture for the C& DH Flight Software. SPP also plans to use the same ground system as RBSP. Many of the RBSP C& DH Flight Software applications are reusable on the SPP mission, therefore there is potential for test design and test framework reuse for system and requirements verification.

  13. Poorly processed reusable surface disinfection tissue dispensers may be a source of infection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kampf, Günter; Degenhardt, Stina; Lackner, Sibylle; Jesse, Katrin; von Baum, Heike; Ostermeyer, Christiane

    2014-01-21

    Reusable surface disinfectant tissue dispensers are used in hospitals in many countries because they allow immediate access to pre-soaked tissues for targeted surface decontamination. On the other hand disinfectant solutions with some active ingredients may get contaminated and cause outbreaks. We determined the frequency of contaminated surface disinfectant solutions in reusable dispensers and the ability of isolates to multiply in different formulations. Reusable tissue dispensers with different surface disinfectants were randomly collected from healthcare facilities. Solutions were investigated for bacterial contamination. The efficacy of two surface disinfectants was determined in suspension tests against two isolated species directly from a contaminated solution or after 5 passages without selection pressure in triplicate. Freshly prepared use solutions were contaminated to determine survival of isolates. 66 dispensers containing disinfectant solutions with surface-active ingredients were collected in 15 healthcare facilities. 28 dispensers from nine healthcare facilities were contaminated with approximately 107 cells per mL of Achromobacter species 3 (9 hospitals), Achromobacter xylosoxidans or Serratia marcescens (1 hospital each). In none of the hospitals dispenser processing had been adequately performed. Isolates regained susceptibility to the disinfectants after five passages without selection pressure but were still able to multiply in different formulations from different manufacturers at room temperature within 7 days. Neglecting adequate processing of surface disinfectant dispensers has contributed to frequent and heavy contamination of use-solutions based on surface active ingredients. Tissue dispenser processing should be taken seriously in clinical practice.

  14. The Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program and the X-33 Advanced Technology Demonstrator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, Stephen A.

    1995-01-01

    The goal of the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology program is formulated, and the primary objectives of RLV are listed. RLV technology program implementation phases are outlined. X-33 advanced technology demonstrator is described. Program management is addressed.

  15. Reusable Areas of Clinically Used Ventilators Carry Low Numbers of Aerobic Bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Anne Gonzalez

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP remains a serious problem for critically ill patients. We swabbed nine reusable areas on 20 clinically-used ventilators from a VA Hospital shortly after they had been removed from patients and identified bacterial isolates. No bacteria were isolated from most of the samples and of the samples that did grow bacteria, the majority of those had fewer than 10 colonies. The bacteria that were isolated were primarily non-pathogenic Gram-positive skin flora. Of the 20 ventilators swabbed, only one cultured bacteria associated with nosocomial infections: methicillin-resistant S.aureus. The most commonly contaminated areas were those most likely to be touched by healthcare professionals: the power button and the screen. The areas in closest proximity to the patients, the inspiratory and expiratory ports were the least often contaminated areas. Overall, very few bacteria were transferred to the reusable areas of the ventilators following clinical use.

  16. Reusable Areas of Clinically Used Ventilators Carry Low Numbers of Aerobic Bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Anne Gonzalez

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP remains a serious problem for critically ill patients. We swabbed nine reusable areas on 20 clinically-used ventilators from a VA Hospital shortly after they had been removed from patients and identified bacterial isolates. No bacteria were isolated from most of the samples and of the samples that did grow bacteria, the majority of those had fewer than 10 colonies. The bacteria that were isolated were primarily non-pathogenic Gram-positive skin flora. Of the 20 ventilators swabbed, only one cultured bacteria associated with nosocomial infections: methicillin-resistant S.aureus. The most commonly contaminated areas were those most likely to be touched by healthcare professionals: the power button and the screen. The areas in closest proximity to the patients, the inspiratory and expiratory ports were the least often contaminated areas. Overall, very few bacteria were transferred to the reusable areas of the ventilators following clinical use.

  17. Heat Transfer Measurement and Modeling in Rigid High-Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation Tiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daryabeigi, Kamran; Knutson, Jeffrey R.; Cunnington, George R.

    2011-01-01

    Heat transfer in rigid reusable surface insulations was investigated. Steady-state thermal conductivity measurements in a vacuum were used to determine the combined contribution of radiation and solid conduction components of heat transfer. Thermal conductivity measurements at higher pressures were then used to estimate the effective insulation characteristic length for gas conduction modeling. The thermal conductivity of the insulation can then be estimated at any temperature and pressure in any gaseous media. The methodology was validated by comparing estimated thermal conductivities with published data on a rigid high-temperature silica reusable surface insulation tile. The methodology was also applied to the alumina enhanced thermal barrier tiles. Thermal contact resistance for thermal conductivity measurements on rigid tiles was also investigated. A technique was developed to effectively eliminate thermal contact resistance on the rigid tile s cold-side surface for the thermal conductivity measurements.

  18. Testing methodology of embedded software in digital plant protection system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seong, Ah Young; Choi, Bong Joo; Lee, Na Young; Hwang, Il Soon

    2001-01-01

    It is necessary to assure the reliability of software in order to digitalize RPS(Reactor Protection System). Since RPS causes fatal damage on accidental cases, it is classified as Safety 1E class. Therefore we propose the effective testing methodology to assure the reliability of embedded software in the DPPS(Digital Plant Protection System). To test the embedded software effectively in DPPS, our methodology consists of two steps. The first is the re-engineering step that extracts classes from structural source program, and the second is the level of testing step which is composed of unit testing, Integration Testing and System Testing. On each testing step we test the embedded software with selected test cases after the test item identification step. If we use this testing methodology, we can test the embedded software effectively by reducing the cost and the time

  19. Mining dynamic noteworthy functions in software execution sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Bing; Huang, Guoyan; Wang, Yuqian; He, Haitao; Ren, Jiadong

    2017-01-01

    As the quality of crucial entities can directly affect that of software, their identification and protection become an important premise for effective software development, management, maintenance and testing, which thus contribute to improving the software quality and its attack-defending ability. Most analysis and evaluation on important entities like codes-based static structure analysis are on the destruction of the actual software running. In this paper, from the perspective of software execution process, we proposed an approach to mine dynamic noteworthy functions (DNFM)in software execution sequences. First, according to software decompiling and tracking stack changes, the execution traces composed of a series of function addresses were acquired. Then these traces were modeled as execution sequences and then simplified so as to get simplified sequences (SFS), followed by the extraction of patterns through pattern extraction (PE) algorithm from SFS. After that, evaluating indicators inner-importance and inter-importance were designed to measure the noteworthiness of functions in DNFM algorithm. Finally, these functions were sorted by their noteworthiness. Comparison and contrast were conducted on the experiment results from two traditional complex network-based node mining methods, namely PageRank and DegreeRank. The results show that the DNFM method can mine noteworthy functions in software effectively and precisely.

  20. Formulation of price strategies in the software sector: outsourcing of development and maintenance software product case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Cezar Bornia

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this article is to discuss the formulation of price strategies in the software sector. In the intention of reaching the proposed goal, strategies models of prices are introduced along with the procedure to the formulation of price strategies, composed by five stages: external and internal analyses, consolidation, positioning, price strategy formalization and market attendance. As for the methodology, the study is classified as qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, documental, of field and case study, according to the approach of Vergara (1998. In the case study, the model to the formulation of price strategies is applied in a company’s software sector, being analyzed the outsourcing of development and maintenance software product. As main contributions, it is highlighted the price procedure application that emphasizes strategic price logic and prices strategies formulations, with base in the analysis of five main factors: quality, comparison with the competition, company life cycle, product life cycle and characteristics of the segment-objective. Based on the analyzed factors, a possible strategy to be adopted considering the characteristics of the product and the company is the price strategy and superior value. Key-words: Pricing Strategies. Price Formulation. Software Enterprises.

  1. REUSABILITY OF BOND ELUT CERTIFY COLUMNS FOR THE EXTRACTION OF DRUGS FROM PLASMA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    CHEN, XH; FRANKE, JP; WIJSBEEK, J; DEZEEUW, RA

    1993-01-01

    The reusability of Bond Elut Certify columns for the extraction of toxicologically relevant drugs from plasma has been evaluated. Pentobarbital, hexobarbital, mepivacaine, trimipramine and clonazepam were selected as test drugs to represent various classes of drugs. The columns were regenerated

  2. Towards a DNA Nanoprocessor: Reusable Tile-Integrated DNA Circuits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerasimova, Yulia V; Kolpashchikov, Dmitry M

    2016-08-22

    Modern electronic microprocessors use semiconductor logic gates organized on a silicon chip to enable efficient inter-gate communication. Here, arrays of communicating DNA logic gates integrated on a single DNA tile were designed and used to process nucleic acid inputs in a reusable format. Our results lay the foundation for the development of a DNA nanoprocessor, a small and biocompatible device capable of performing complex analyses of DNA and RNA inputs. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Reusable locking tube in a reconstitutable fuel assembly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shallenberger, J.M.; Ferlan, S.J.

    1987-01-01

    This patent describes a reconstitutable fuel assembly including a top nozzle with an adapter plate having an interior wall forming at least one passageway, at least one guide thimble with an upper end portion, and an attaching structure having an outer socket formed by a circumferential groove defined in the adapter plate passageway wall and opening into the passageway and an inner socket formed by a circumferential bulge and at least one longitudinal slot defined in the upper end portion of the guide thimble. The circumferential bulge is capable of seating within the circumferential groove, an improved reusable tube for releasably locking the inner socket of the guide thimble upper end portion in locking engagement within the outer socket of the adapter plate passageway when the circumferential bulge is seated within the circumferential groove. The reusable tube comprises: (a) an elongated hollow tubular body capable of insertion within the adapter plate passageway and guide thimble upper end portion to a locking position therein such that the circumferential bulge of the inner socket is maintained seated in the locking engagement with the circumferential groove of the outer socket; and (b) at least a pair of dimples performed on the exterior of the tubular body prior to insertion of the body in the guide thimble upper end portion and to the locking position, the dimples being performed and configured to increase the thickness of the tubular body in relation to the remainder of the tubular body. The dimples are substantially resisting resilient yielding in relation to the remainder of the tubular body

  4. Macroeconomic Benefits of Low-Cost Reusable Launch Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Eric J.; Greenberg, Joel

    1998-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated its Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Technology Program to provide information on the technical and commercial feasibility of single-stage to orbit (SSTO), fully-reusable launchers. Because RLVs would not depend on expendable hardware to achieve orbit, they could take better advantage of economies of scale than expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) that discard costly hardware on ascent. The X-33 experimental vehicle, a sub-orbital, 60%-scale prototype of Lockheed Martin's VentureStar SSTO RLV concept, is being built by Skunk Works for a 1999 first flight. If RLVs achieve prices to low-earth orbit of less than $1000 US per pound, they could hold promise for eliciting an elastic response from the launch services market. As opposed to the capture of existing market, this elastic market would represent new space-based industry businesses. These new opportunities would be created from the next tier of business concepts, such as space manufacturing and satellite servicing, that cannot earn a profit at today's launch prices but could when enabled by lower launch costs. New business creation contributes benefits to the US Government (USG) and the US economy through increases in tax revenues and employment. Assumptions about the costs and revenues of these new ventures, based on existing space-based and aeronautics sector businesses, can be used to estimate the macroeconomic benefits provided by new businesses. This paper examines these benefits and the flight prices and rates that may be required to enable these new space industries.

  5. Multi-Agent Based Beam Search for Real-Time Production Scheduling and Control Method, Software and Industrial Application

    CERN Document Server

    Kang, Shu Gang

    2013-01-01

    The Multi-Agent Based Beam Search (MABBS) method systematically integrates four major requirements of manufacturing production - representation capability, solution quality, computation efficiency, and implementation difficulty - within a unified framework to deal with the many challenges of complex real-world production planning and scheduling problems. Multi-agent Based Beam Search for Real-time Production Scheduling and Control introduces this method, together with its software implementation and industrial applications.  This book connects academic research with industrial practice, and develops a practical solution to production planning and scheduling problems. To simplify implementation, a reusable software platform is developed to build the MABBS method into a generic computation engine.  This engine is integrated with a script language, called the Embedded Extensible Application Script Language (EXASL), to provide a flexible and straightforward approach to representing complex real-world problems. ...

  6. The Five 'R's' for Developing Trusted Software Frameworks to increase confidence in, and maximise reuse of, Open Source Software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, Ryan; Gross, Lutz; Wyborn, Lesley; Evans, Ben; Klump, Jens

    2015-04-01

    Recent investments in HPC, cloud and Petascale data stores, have dramatically increased the scale and resolution that earth science challenges can now be tackled. These new infrastructures are highly parallelised and to fully utilise them and access the large volumes of earth science data now available, a new approach to software stack engineering needs to be developed. The size, complexity and cost of the new infrastructures mean any software deployed has to be reliable, trusted and reusable. Increasingly software is available via open source repositories, but these usually only enable code to be discovered and downloaded. As a user it is hard for a scientist to judge the suitability and quality of individual codes: rarely is there information on how and where codes can be run, what the critical dependencies are, and in particular, on the version requirements and licensing of the underlying software stack. A trusted software framework is proposed to enable reliable software to be discovered, accessed and then deployed on multiple hardware environments. More specifically, this framework will enable those who generate the software, and those who fund the development of software, to gain credit for the effort, IP, time and dollars spent, and facilitate quantification of the impact of individual codes. For scientific users, the framework delivers reviewed and benchmarked scientific software with mechanisms to reproduce results. The trusted framework will have five separate, but connected components: Register, Review, Reference, Run, and Repeat. 1) The Register component will facilitate discovery of relevant software from multiple open source code repositories. The registration process of the code should include information about licensing, hardware environments it can be run on, define appropriate validation (testing) procedures and list the critical dependencies. 2) The Review component is targeting on the verification of the software typically against a set of

  7. Operational Issues in the Development of a Cost-Effective Reusable LOX/LH2 Engine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballard, Richard O.

    2003-01-01

    The NASA Space Launch Initiative (SLI) was initiated in early 2001 to conduct technology development and to reduce the business and technical risk associated with developing the next-generation reusable launch system. In the field of main propulsion, two LOXLH2 rocket engine systems, the Pratt & Whitney / Aerojet Joint Venture (JV) COBRA and the Rocketdyne RS-83, were funded to develop a safe, economical, and reusable propulsion system. Given that a large-thrust reusable rocket engine program had not been started in the U.S. since 1971, with the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), this provided an opportunity to build on the experience developed on the SSME system, while exploiting advances in technology that had occurred in the intervening 30 years. One facet of engine development that was identified as being especially vital in order to produce an optimal system was in the areas of operability and maintainability. In order to achieve the high levels of performance required by the Space Shuttle, the SSME system is highly complex with very tight tolerances and detailed requirements. Over the lifetime of the SSME program, the engine has required a high level of manpower to support the performance of inspections, maintenance (scheduled and unscheduled) and operations (prelaunch and post-flight). As a consequence, the labor- intensive needs of the SSME provide a significant impact to the overall cost efficiency of the Space Transportation System (STS). One of the strategic goals of the SLI is to reduce cost by requiring the engine(s) to be easier (Le. less expensive) to operate and maintain. The most effective means of accomplishing this goal is to infuse the operability and maintainability features into the engine design from the start. This paper discusses some of the operational issues relevant to a reusable LOx/LH2 main engine, and the means by which their impact is mitigated in the design phase.

  8. Commercial aspects of semi-reusable launch systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obersteiner, M. H.; Müller, H.; Spies, H.

    2003-07-01

    This paper presents a business planning model for a commercial space launch system. The financing model is based on market analyses and projections combined with market capture models. An operations model is used to derive the annual cash income. Parametric cost modeling, development and production schedules are used for quantifying the annual expenditures, the internal rate of return, break even point of positive cash flow and the respective prices per launch. Alternative consortia structures, cash flow methods, capture rates and launch prices are used to examine the sensitivity of the model. Then the model is applied for a promising semi-reusable launcher concept, showing the general achievability of the commercial approach and the necessary pre-conditions.

  9. EFOM 12C software: general overview. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jadot, P; Fuchsova, J; Vankelecom, E; Van der Voort, E; Thonet, C

    1981-01-01

    A logic manual defining the general philosophy of the EC-12C software is presented. The guidelines used to develop the Energy Data Base and the programs of the energy flow models are: within the frame of some basic conventions, the data base structure and software should be as independent as possible from the energy system representation; utilization of the models should be user-friendly; as data has to be collected and manipulated by various national expert teams, extensive data consistency checks and appropriate error messages should be included in the software to support the data validation process; the various energy flow models should be integrated; the outputs of the programs should be user-controlled; and the scope of the study is under user's control. As a result of those guidelines, an integrated set of software composed of DAMOCLES (Data Base Management System); SIML (simulation program suitable for data analysis and description study); and ORESTE EDISON (LP matrix generator and report writer) was developed. These are described.

  10. Design and fabrication of a magnetically actuated non-invasive reusable drug delivery device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dsa, Joyline; Goswami, Manish; Singh, B R; Bhatt, Nidhi; Sharma, Pankaj; Chauhan, Meenakshi K

    2018-07-01

    We present a novel approach of designing and fabricating a noninvasive drug delivery device which is capable of delivering the drug to the target site in a controlled manner. The device utilizes a reservoir which can be reused once the drug has completely diffused from it. This micro-reservoir based fabricated device has been successfully tested using niosomes of insulin drug filled in, which was then sealed with a magnetic membrane of 20 µm thick and was actuated by applying magnetic field. The deflection of the membrane on application of magnetic field results in the drug release from the reservoir. The discharge of the drug solution and the release rates was controlled by external magnetic field. The simulation of the membrane deflection using COMSOL software was carried out to optimize the concentration of the ferrous nanopowder in PDMS matrix. The characterization of the devices was implemented in-vitro on water and in-vivo on Wistar rats. It was also validated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) by observing characteristic peak of insulin. The blood samples showed the retention time of 2.79 min at λ max of 280 nm which further authenticated the effectiveness of the proposed work. This noninvasive fabricated device provides reusability, precise control and can enable the patient or a physician to actively administrate the drug when required.

  11. Technology development for metallic hot structures in aerodynamic control surfaces of reusable launchers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sudmeijer, K.J.; Wentzel, C.; Lefeber, B.M.; Kloosterman, A.

    2002-01-01

    In this paper a summary is presented of the technology development in the Netherlands focussed on the design and development of a metallic aerodynamic control surface for the future European reusable launcher. The applied materials are mainly Oxide Dispersion Strengthened (ODS) alloys produced by

  12. Active Mirror Predictive and Requirements Verification Software (AMP-ReVS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Basinger, Scott A.

    2012-01-01

    This software is designed to predict large active mirror performance at various stages in the fabrication lifecycle of the mirror. It was developed for 1-meter class powered mirrors for astronomical purposes, but is extensible to other geometries. The package accepts finite element model (FEM) inputs and laboratory measured data for large optical-quality mirrors with active figure control. It computes phenomenological contributions to the surface figure error using several built-in optimization techniques. These phenomena include stresses induced in the mirror by the manufacturing process and the support structure, the test procedure, high spatial frequency errors introduced by the polishing process, and other process-dependent deleterious effects due to light-weighting of the mirror. Then, depending on the maturity of the mirror, it either predicts the best surface figure error that the mirror will attain, or it verifies that the requirements for the error sources have been met once the best surface figure error has been measured. The unique feature of this software is that it ties together physical phenomenology with wavefront sensing and control techniques and various optimization methods including convex optimization, Kalman filtering, and quadratic programming to both generate predictive models and to do requirements verification. This software combines three distinct disciplines: wavefront control, predictive models based on FEM, and requirements verification using measured data in a robust, reusable code that is applicable to any large optics for ground and space telescopes. The software also includes state-of-the-art wavefront control algorithms that allow closed-loop performance to be computed. It allows for quantitative trade studies to be performed for optical systems engineering, including computing the best surface figure error under various testing and operating conditions. After the mirror manufacturing process and testing have been completed, the

  13. Modelling informally collected quantities of bulky waste and reusable items in Austria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramusch, R.; Pertl, A.; Scherhaufer, S.; Schmied, E.; Obersteiner, G.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Informal collectors from Hungary collect bulky waste and reusable items in Austria. • Two methodologies were applied to estimate the informally collected quantities. • Both approaches lead to an estimation of roughly 100,000 t p.a. informally collected. • The formal Austrian system collects 72 kg/cap/yr of bulky waste, WEE & scrap metal. • Informal collection amounts to approx. 12 kg/cap/yr. - Abstract: Disparities in earnings between Western and Eastern European countries are the reason for a well-established informal sector actively involved in collection and transboundary shipment activities from Austria to Hungary. The preferred objects are reusable items and wastes within the categories bulky waste, WEEE and metals, intended to be sold on flea markets. Despite leading to a loss of recyclable resources for Austrian waste management, these informal activities may contribute to the extension of the lifetime of certain goods when they are reused in Hungary; nevertheless they are discussed rather controversially. The aim of this paper is to provide objective data on the quantities informally collected and transhipped. The unique activities of informal collectors required the development and implementation of a new set of methodologies. The concept of triangulation was used to verify results obtained by field visits, interviews and a traffic counting campaign. Both approaches lead to an estimation of approx. 100,000 t per year of reusable items informally collected in Austria. This means that in addition to the approx. 72 kg/cap/yr formally collected bulky waste, bulky waste wood, household scrap (excluding packaging) and WEEE, up to a further 12 kg/cap/yr might, in the case that informal collection is abandoned, end up as waste or in the second-hand sector

  14. Modelling informally collected quantities of bulky waste and reusable items in Austria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramusch, R., E-mail: roland.ramusch@boku.ac.at; Pertl, A.; Scherhaufer, S.; Schmied, E.; Obersteiner, G.

    2015-10-15

    Highlights: • Informal collectors from Hungary collect bulky waste and reusable items in Austria. • Two methodologies were applied to estimate the informally collected quantities. • Both approaches lead to an estimation of roughly 100,000 t p.a. informally collected. • The formal Austrian system collects 72 kg/cap/yr of bulky waste, WEE & scrap metal. • Informal collection amounts to approx. 12 kg/cap/yr. - Abstract: Disparities in earnings between Western and Eastern European countries are the reason for a well-established informal sector actively involved in collection and transboundary shipment activities from Austria to Hungary. The preferred objects are reusable items and wastes within the categories bulky waste, WEEE and metals, intended to be sold on flea markets. Despite leading to a loss of recyclable resources for Austrian waste management, these informal activities may contribute to the extension of the lifetime of certain goods when they are reused in Hungary; nevertheless they are discussed rather controversially. The aim of this paper is to provide objective data on the quantities informally collected and transhipped. The unique activities of informal collectors required the development and implementation of a new set of methodologies. The concept of triangulation was used to verify results obtained by field visits, interviews and a traffic counting campaign. Both approaches lead to an estimation of approx. 100,000 t per year of reusable items informally collected in Austria. This means that in addition to the approx. 72 kg/cap/yr formally collected bulky waste, bulky waste wood, household scrap (excluding packaging) and WEEE, up to a further 12 kg/cap/yr might, in the case that informal collection is abandoned, end up as waste or in the second-hand sector.

  15. Interconnection blocks: a method for providing reusable, rapid, multiple, aligned and planar microfluidic interconnections

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sabourin, David; Snakenborg, Detlef; Dufva, Hans Martin

    2009-01-01

    In this paper a method is presented for creating 'interconnection blocks' that are re-usable and provide multiple, aligned and planar microfluidic interconnections. Interconnection blocks made from polydimethylsiloxane allow rapid testing of microfluidic chips and unobstructed microfluidic observ...

  16. RPD: Reusable Pseudo-Id Distribution for a Secure and Privacy Preserving VANET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sulaiman Ashraph

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available In any VANET, security and privacy are the two fundamental issues. Obtaining efficient security in vehicular communication is essential without compromising privacy-preserving mechanisms. Designing a suitable protocol for VANET by having these two issues in mind is challenging because efficiency, unlinkablity and traceability are the three qualities having contradictions between them. In this paper, we introduce an efficient Reusable Pseudo-id Distribution (RPD scheme. The Trusted Authority (TA designating the Road Side Units (RSUs to generate n reusable pseudo ids and distribute them to the On Board Units (OBUs on request characterizes the proposed protocol. RSUs issue the aggregated hashes of all its valid pseudo-ids along with a symmetric shared key and a particular pseudo-id to each vehicle that enters into its coverage range. Through this the certificates attached to the messages can be eliminated and thus resulting in a significantly reduced packet size. The same anonymous keys can then be re-distributed by the RSUs episodically to other vehicles. We analyze the proposed protocol extensively to demonstrate its merits and efficiency.

  17. Aspect-Oriented Model-Driven Software Product Line Engineering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groher, Iris; Voelter, Markus

    Software product line engineering aims to reduce development time, effort, cost, and complexity by taking advantage of the commonality within a portfolio of similar products. The effectiveness of a software product line approach directly depends on how well feature variability within the portfolio is implemented and managed throughout the development lifecycle, from early analysis through maintenance and evolution. This article presents an approach that facilitates variability implementation, management, and tracing by integrating model-driven and aspect-oriented software development. Features are separated in models and composed of aspect-oriented composition techniques on model level. Model transformations support the transition from problem to solution space models. Aspect-oriented techniques enable the explicit expression and modularization of variability on model, template, and code level. The presented concepts are illustrated with a case study of a home automation system.

  18. Improving learning of anatomy with reusable learning objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P Rad

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The use of modern educational technologies is useful for learning, durability, sociability, and upgrading professionalism. The aim of this study was evaluating the effect of reusable learning objects on improving learning of anatomy. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. Fourteen (reusable learning objects RLO from different parts of anatomy of human body including thorax, abdomen, and pelvis were prepared for medical student in Yasuj University of Medical Sciences in 2009. The length of the time for RLO was between 11-22 min. Because their capacities were low, so they were easy to use with cell phone or MP4. These materials were available to the students before the classes. The mean scores of students in anatomy of human body group were compared to the medical students who were not used this method and entered the university in 2008. A questionnaire was designed by the researcher to evaluate the effect of RLO and on, content, interest and motivation, participation, preparation and attitude. Result: The mean scores of anatomy of human body of medical student who were entered the university in 2009 have been increased compare to the students in 2008, but this difference was not significant. Based on the questionnaire data, it was shown that the RLO had a positive effect on improving learning anatomy of human body (75.5% and the effective relationship (60.6%. The students were interested in using RLO (74.6%, some students (54.2% believed that this method should be replaced by lecture. Conclusion: The use of RLO could promote interests and effective communication among the students and led to increasing self-learning motivation.

  19. A reusable suture anchor for arthroscopy psychomotor skills training.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillett, Edward D; Rogers, Rainie; Nyland, John

    2003-03-01

    For residents to adequately develop the early arthroscopy psychomotor skills required to better learn how to manage the improvisational situations they will encounter during actual patient cases, they need to experience sufficient practice repetitions within a contextually relevant environment. Unfortunately, the cost of suture anchors can be a practice repetition-limiting factor in learning arthroscopic knot-tying techniques. We describe a technique for creating inexpensive reusable suture anchors and provide an example of their application to repair the anterior glenoid labrum during an arthroscopy psychomotor skills laboratory training session.

  20. The Implementation of Satellite Control System Software Using Object Oriented Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Mark O.; Reid, Mark; Drury, Derek; Hansell, William; Phillips, Tom

    1998-01-01

    NASA established the Small Explorer (SMEX) program in 1988 to provide frequent opportunities for highly focused and relatively inexpensive space science missions that can be launched into low earth orbit by small expendable vehicles. The development schedule for each SMEX spacecraft was three years from start to launch. The SMEX program has produced five satellites; Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST), Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS), Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) and Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE). SAMPEX and FAST are on-orbit, TRACE is scheduled to be launched in April of 1998, WIRE is scheduled to be launched in September of 1998, and SWAS is scheduled to be launched in January of 1999. In each of these missions, the Attitude Control System (ACS) software was written using a modular procedural design. Current program goals require complete spacecraft development within 18 months. This requirement has increased pressure to write reusable flight software. Object-Oriented Design (OOD) offers the constructs for developing an application that only needs modification for mission unique requirements. This paper describes the OOD that was used to develop the SMEX-Lite ACS software. The SMEX-Lite ACS is three-axis controlled, momentum stabilized, and is capable of performing sub-arc-minute pointing. The paper first describes the high level requirements which governed the architecture of the SMEX-Lite ACS software. Next, the context in which the software resides is explained. The paper describes the benefits of encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism with respect to the implementation of an ACS software system. This paper will discuss the design of several software components that comprise the ACS software. Specifically, Object-Oriented designs are presented for sensor data processing, attitude control, attitude determination and failure detection. The paper addresses

  1. An Engineer-To-Order Mass Customization Development Framework

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bossen, Jacob; Hansson, Michael Natapon; Madsen, Ole

    2014-01-01

    competitiveness and revenue, in which Engineer-To-Order companies may benefit from adopting Mass Customization concepts. As automated manufacturing systems tends to be software intensive, it become equally important to enable reusability for physical components and for software related artefacts. In parallel...... to Mass Customization, Software Product Line Engineering has emerged as a way for software developers to manage variability and reusability. This paper seeks to combine the concepts of Mass Customization and Software Product Line Engineering, by introducing a development framework applicable for Engineer...

  2. Reusable Solid Rocket Motor - Accomplishments, Lessons, and a Culture of Success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Dennis R.; Phelps, Willie J.

    2011-01-01

    The Reusable Solid Rocket Motor represents the largest solid rocket motor ever flown and the only human rated solid motor. Each Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) provides approximately 3-million lb of thrust to lift the integrated Space Shuttle vehicle from the launch pad. The motors burn out approximately 2 minutes later, separate from the vehicle and are recovered and refurbished. The size of the motor and the need for high reliability were challenges. Thrust shaping, via shaping of the propellant grain, was needed to limit structural loads during ascent. The motor design evolved through several block upgrades to increase performance and to increase safety and reliability. A major redesign occurred after STS-51L with the Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor. Significant improvements in the joint sealing systems were added. Design improvements continued throughout the Program via block changes with a number of innovations including development of low temperature o-ring materials and incorporation of a unique carbon fiber rope thermal barrier material. Recovery of the motors and post flight inspection improved understanding of hardware performance, and led to key design improvements. Because of the multidecade program duration material obsolescence was addressed, and requalification of materials and vendors was sometimes needed. Thermal protection systems and ablatives were used to protect the motor cases and nozzle structures. Significant understanding of design and manufacturing features of the ablatives was developed during the program resulting in optimization of design features and processing parameters. The project advanced technology in eliminating ozone-depleting materials in manufacturing processes and the development of an asbestos-free case insulation. Manufacturing processes for the large motor components were unique and safety in the manufacturing environment was a special concern. Transportation and handling approaches were also needed for the large

  3. Development of the software dead time methodology for the 4πβ-γ software coincidence system analysis program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toledo, Fabio de; Brancaccio, Franco; Dias, Mauro da Silva

    2009-01-01

    The Laboratorio de Metrologia Nuclear - LMN, Nuclear Metrology Laboratory -, at IPEN-CNEN/SP, Sao Paulo, Brazil, developed a new Software Coincidence System (SCS) for 4πβ-γ radioisotope standardization. SCS is composed by the data acquisition hardware, for the coincidence data recording, and the coincidence data analysis program that performs the radioactive activity calculation for the target sample. Due to hardware intrinsic signal sampling characteristics, multiple undesired data recording occurs from a single saturated pulse. Also pulse pileup leads to bad data recording. As the beta counting rates are much greater than the gamma ones, due to the high 4π geometry beta detecting efficiencies, the beta counting significantly increases because of multiple pulse recordings, resulting in a respective increasing in the calculated activity value. In order to minimize such bad recordings effect, a software dead time value was introduced in the coincidence analysis program, under development at LMN, discarding multiple recordings, due to pulse pileup or saturation. This work presents the methodology developed to determine the optimal software dead time data value, for better accuracy results attaining, and discusses the results, pointing to software improvement possibilities. (author)

  4. A Concept of Two-Stage-To-Orbit Reusable Launch Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yong; Wang, Xiaojun; Tang, Yihua

    2002-01-01

    Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) has a capability of delivering a wide rang of payload to earth orbit with greater reliability, lower cost, more flexibility and operability than any of today's launch vehicles. It is the goal of future space transportation systems. Past experience on single stage to orbit (SSTO) RLVs, such as NASA's NASP project, which aims at developing an rocket-based combined-cycle (RBCC) airplane and X-33, which aims at developing a rocket RLV, indicates that SSTO RLV can not be realized in the next few years based on the state-of-the-art technologies. This paper presents a concept of all rocket two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) reusable launch vehicle. The TSTO RLV comprises an orbiter and a booster stage. The orbiter is mounted on the top of the booster stage. The TSTO RLV takes off vertically. At the altitude about 50km the booster stage is separated from the orbiter, returns and lands by parachutes and airbags, or lands horizontally by means of its own propulsion system. The orbiter continues its ascent flight and delivers the payload into LEO orbit. After completing orbit mission, the orbiter will reenter into the atmosphere, automatically fly to the ground base and finally horizontally land on the runway. TSTO RLV has less technology difficulties and risk than SSTO, and maybe the practical approach to the RLV in the near future.

  5. Technical and Economical study of New Technologies and Reusable Space Vehicles promoting Space Tourism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srivastav, Deepanshu; Malhotra, Sahil

    2012-07-01

    For many of us space tourism is an extremely fascinating and attractive idea. But in order for these to start we need vehicles that will take us to orbit and bring us back. Current space vehicles clearly cannot. Only the Space Shuttle survives past one use, and that's only if we ignore the various parts that fall off on the way up. So we need reusable launch vehicles. Launch of these vehicles to orbit requires accelerating to Mach 26, and therefore it uses a lot of propellant - about 10 tons per passenger. But there is no technical reason why reusable launch vehicles couldn't come to be operated routinely, just like aircraft. The main problem about space is how much it costs to get there, it's too expensive. And that's mainly because launch vehicles are expendable - either entirely, like satellite launchers, or partly, like the space shuttle. The trouble is that these will not only reduce the cost of launch - they'll also put the makers out of business, unless there's more to launch than just a few satellites a year, as there are today. Fortunately there's a market that will generate far more launch business than satellites ever well - passenger travel. This paper assesses this emerging market as well as technology that will make space tourism feasible. The main conclusion is that space vehicles can reduce the cost of human transport to orbit sufficiently for large new commercial markets to develop. Combining the reusability of space vehicles with the high traffic levels of space tourism offers the prospect of a thousandfold reduction in the cost per seat to orbit. The result will be airline operations to orbit involving dozens of space vehicles, each capable of more than one flight per day. These low costs will make possible a rapid expansion of space science and exploration. Luckily research aimed at developing low-cost reusable launch vehicles has increased recently. Already there are various projects like Spaceshipone, Spaceshiptwo, Spacebus, X-33 NASA etc. The

  6. Component Provider’s and Tool Developer’s Handbook. Central Archive for Reusable Defense Software (CARDS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-03-25

    metrics [DISA93b]. " The Software Engineering Institute (SET) has developed a domain analysis process (Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis - FODA ) and is...and expresses the range of variability of these decisions. 3.2.2.3 Feature Oriented Domain Analysis Feature Oriented Domain Analysis ( FODA ) is a domain...documents created in this phase. From a purely profit-oriented business point of view, a company may develop its own analysis of a government or commercial

  7. Supporting Development of Satellite's Guidance Navigation and Control Software: A Product Line Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    McComas, David; Stark, Michael; Leake, Stephen; White, Michael; Morisio, Maurizio; Travassos, Guilherme H.; Powers, Edward I. (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Flight Software Branch (FSB) is developing a Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Flight Software (FSW) product line. The demand for increasingly more complex flight software in less time while maintaining the same level of quality has motivated us to look for better FSW development strategies. The GNC FSW product line has been planned to address the core GNC FSW functionality very similar on many recent low/near Earth missions in the last ten years. Unfortunately these missions have not accomplished significant drops in development cost since a systematic approach towards reuse has not been adopted. In addition, new demands are continually being placed upon the FSW which means the FSB must become more adept at providing GNC FSW functionality's core so it can accommodate additional requirements. These domain features together with engineering concepts are influencing the specification, description and evaluation of FSW product line. Domain engineering is the foundation for emerging product line software development approaches. A product line is 'A family of products designed to take advantage of their common aspects and predicted variabilities'. In our product line approach, domain engineering includes the engineering activities needed to produce reusable artifacts for a domain. Application engineering refers to developing an application in the domain starting from reusable artifacts. The focus of this paper is regarding the software process, lessons learned and on how the GNC FSW product line manages variability. Existing domain engineering approaches do not enforce any specific notation for domain analysis or commonality and variability analysis. Usually, natural language text is the preferred tool. The advantage is the flexibility and adapt ability of natural language. However, one has to be ready to accept also its well-known drawbacks, such as ambiguity, inconsistency, and contradictions. While most domain analysis

  8. Children Composing and the Tonal Idiom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roels, Johanna Maria; Van Petegem, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Existing studies have demonstrated how children compose, experiment and use their imagination within the conventions of the tonal idiom with functional harmony. However, one area of research that has hardly been explored is how tonality emerges in the compositions of children who compose by transforming their own non-musical ideas, such as their…

  9. Adolescents' Dialogic Composing with Mobile Phones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warner, Julie

    2016-01-01

    This 14-month study examined the phone-based composing practice of three adolescents. Given the centrality of mobile phones to youth culture, the researcher sought to create a description of the participants' composing practices with these devices. Focal participants were users of Twitter and Instagram, two social media platforms that are usually…

  10. Educational Modelling Language and Learning Design: new challenges for instructional re-usability and personalized learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hummel, Hans; Manderveld, Jocelyn; Tattersall, Colin; Koper, Rob

    2003-01-01

    Published: Hummel, H. G. K., Manderveld, J. M., Tattersall, C.,& Koper, E. J. R. (2004). Educational Modelling Language: new challenges for instructional re-usability and personalized learning. International Journal of Learning Technology, 1, 1, 110-111.

  11. Universally composable protocols with relaxed set-up assumptions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barak, Boaz; Canetti, Ran; Nielsen, Jesper Buus

    2004-01-01

    A desirable goal for cryptographic protocols is to guarantee security when the protocol is composed with other protocol instances. Universally composable (UC) protocols provide this guarantee in a strong sense: A protocol remains secure even when composed concurrently with an unbounded number of ...

  12. High-Glass-Transition-Temperature Polyimides Developed for Reusable Launch Vehicle Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chuang, Kathy; Ardent, Cory P.

    2002-01-01

    Polyimide composites have been traditionally used for high-temperature applications in aircraft engines at temperatures up to 550 F (288 C) for thousands of hours. However, as NASA shifts its focus toward the development of advanced reusable launch vehicles, there is an urgent need for lightweight polymer composites that can sustain 600 to 800 F (315 to 427 C) for short excursions (hundreds of hours). To meet critical vehicle weight targets, it is essential that one use lightweight, high-temperature polymer matrix composites in propulsion components such as turbopump housings, ducts, engine supports, and struts. Composite materials in reusable launch vehicle components will heat quickly during launch and reentry. Conventional composites, consisting of layers of fabric or fiber-reinforced lamina, would either blister or encounter catastrophic delamination under high heating rates above 300 C. This blistering and delamination are the result of a sudden volume expansion within the composite due to the release of absorbed moisture and gases generated by the degradation of the polymer matrix. Researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center and the Boeing Company (Long Beach, CA) recently demonstrated a successful approach for preventing this delamination--the use of three-dimensional stitched composites fabricated by resin infusion.

  13. An Approach for On-Board Software Building Blocks Cooperation and Interfaces Definition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pascucci, Dario; Campolo, Giovanni; Candia, Sante; Lisio, Giovanni

    2010-08-01

    This paper provides an insight on the Avionic SW architecture developed by Thales Alenia Space Italy (TAS-I) to achieve structuring of the OBSW as a set of self-standing and re-usable building blocks. It is initially described the underlying framework for building blocks cooperation, which is based on ECSSE-70 packets forwarding (for services request to a building block) and standard parameters exchange for data communication. Subsequently it is discussed the high level of flexibility and scalability of the resulting architecture, reporting as example an implementation of the Failure Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) function which exploits the proposed architecture. The presented approach evolves from avionic SW architecture developed in the scope of the project PRIMA (Mult-Purpose Italian Re-configurable Platform) and has been adopted for the Sentinel-1 Avionic Software (ASW).

  14. SSTO RLVs: More Global Reach? A Study of the Use of Single Stage to Orbit Reusable Launch Vehicles as Airlift Platforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-11-01

    Orbit ( SSTO ) Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs) are currently under cooperative development by NASA, the Air Force, and the aerospace industry in the pursuit...exploit these rapid transit technologies to advance ’Global Reach for America.’ The SSTO RLV is a single stage rocket that will be completely reusable...investigated to assess the projected capabilities and costs of the SSTO system. This paper reviews the proposed capabilities of the SSTO system, discusses

  15. An Analysis of the Advantages of Reusable Plastic Containers in Strawberry Logistics : A Case Study of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative YOICHI

    OpenAIRE

    尾碕, 亨; 樋元, 淳一

    2014-01-01

    This article undertook a comparative analysis of cardboard boxes and reusable plastic containers and their impact on production logistics costs and the receipt prices of producers. The results showed that reusable plastic containers shortened logistical working hours, reduced production logistics costs and increased the receipt prices of the producer. However, exchange-value cannot realized if the quality of the farm product is not maintained, even if it is transported in superior packing con...

  16. Performance of Single-Use FlexorVue vs Reusable BoaVision Ureteroscope for Visualization of Calices and Stone Extraction in an Artificial Kidney Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlager, Daniel; Hein, Simon; Obaid, Moaaz Abdulghani; Wilhelm, Konrad; Miernik, Arkadiusz; Schoenthaler, Martin

    2017-11-01

    To evaluate and compare Flexor ® Vue™, a semidisposable endoscopic deflection system with disposable ureteral sheath and reusable visualization source, and a nondisposable fiber optic ureteroscope in a standard in vitro setting. FlexorVue and a reusable fiber optic flexible ureteroscope were each tested in an artificial kidney model. The experimental setup included the visualization of colored pearls and the extraction of calculi with two different extraction devices (NCircle ® and NGage ® ). The procedures were performed by six experienced surgeons. Visualization time, access to calices, successful stone retraction, and time required were recorded. In addition, the surgeons' workload and subjective performance were determined according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-task load index (NASA-TLX). We referred to the Likert scale to assess maneuverability, handling, and image quality. Nearly all calices (99%) were correctly identified using the reusable scope, indicating full kidney access, whereas 74% of the calices were visualized using FlexorVue, of which 81% were correctly identified. Access to the lower poles of the kidney model was significantly less likely with the disposable device, and time to completion was significantly longer (755 s vs 153 s, p NASA-TLX scores were significantly higher using FlexorVue. The conventional reusable device also demonstrated superior maneuverability, handling, and image quality. FlexorVue offers a semidisposable deflecting endoscopic system allowing basic ureteroscopic and cystoscopic procedures. For its use as an addition or replacement for current reusable scopes, it requires substantial technical improvements.

  17. What If Annotations Were Reusable: A Preliminary Discussion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manouselis, Nikos; Vuorikari, Riina

    This paper discusses the rationale for the representation of user feedback in a structured and reusable format so that it can be reused by different recommender systems. We emphasize how information about the context can be included in such a representation. This work-in-progress takes place in the context of two large European initiatives that set up collections of digital educational resources in distributed repositories to serve the needs of different user communities, and to collect user feedback such as ratings, bookmarks and tags related to the resources. The overall aim is to facilitate the exchange and reuse of their data sets in order to support recommendation of appropriate resources to the end users.

  18. Global atmospheric response to emissions from a proposed reusable space launch system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Erik J. L.; Portmann, Robert W.; Rosenlof, Karen H.; Fahey, David W.; Daniel, John S.; Ross, Martin N.

    2017-01-01

    Modern reusable launch vehicle technology may allow high flight rate space transportation at low cost. Emissions associated with a hydrogen fueled reusable rocket system are modeled based on the launch requirements of developing a space-based solar power system that generates present-day global electric energy demand. Flight rates from 104 to 106 per year are simulated and sustained to a quasisteady state. For the assumed rocket engine, H2O and NOX are the primary emission products; this also includes NOX produced during reentry heating. For a base case of 105 flights per year, global stratospheric and mesospheric water vapor increase by approximately 10 and 100%, respectively. As a result, high-latitude cloudiness increases in the lower stratosphere and near the mesopause by as much as 20%. Increased water vapor also results in global effective radiative forcing of about 0.03 W/m2. NOX produced during reentry exceeds meteoritic production by more than an order of magnitude, and along with in situ stratospheric emissions, results in a 0.5% loss of the globally averaged ozone column, with column losses in the polar regions exceeding 2%.

  19. Essential Features for a Scholarly Journal Content Management and Peer Review Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatima Sheikh Shoaie

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available   The present study investigates the software used in scientific journals for content management and peer review, in order to identify the essential features. These softwares are analyzed and presented in tabular format. A questionnaire was prepared and submitted to a panel composed of 15 referees, editor in chief, software designers and researchers. The essential features for a software managing the review process were divided into three groups with populations of 10-15, 5-10 and 0-5 respectively. The majority of peer review process software features, in view of panelists, fell into a group of features with a population of 10-15. Finally it should be said that the features represented by the first group must be taken into account when designing or purchasing a peer review software. The second tier features (with population of 5-10 are recommended given journal's status and capabilities. The third tier features were altogether discounted due to low population

  20. The Global Climate Dashboard: a Software Interface to Stream Comprehensive Climate Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardiner, N.; Phillips, M.; NOAA Climate Portal Dashboard

    2011-12-01

    The Global Climate Dashboard is an integral component of NOAA's web portal to climate data, services, and value-added content for decision-makers, teachers, and the science-attentive public (www.clmate.gov). The dashboard provides a rapid view of observational data that demonstrate climate change and variability, as well as outputs from the Climate Model Intercomparison Project version 3, which was built to support the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fourth assessment. The data shown in the dashboard therefore span a range of climate science disciplines with applications that serve audiences with diverse needs. The dashboard is designed with reusable software components that allow it to be implemented incrementally on a wide range of platforms including desktops, tablet devices, and mobile phones. The underlying software components support live streaming of data and provide a way of encapsulating graph sytles and other presentation details into a device-independent standard format that results in a common visual look and feel across all platforms. Here we describe the pedagogical objectives, technical implementation, and the deployment of the dashboard through climate.gov and partner web sites and describe plans to develop a mobile application using the same framework.

  1. [Development of a Software for Automatically Generated Contours in Eclipse TPS].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Zhao; Hu, Jinyou; Zou, Lian; Zhang, Weisha; Zou, Yuxin; Luo, Kelin; Liu, Xiangxiang; Yu, Luxin

    2015-03-01

    The automatic generation of planning targets and auxiliary contours have achieved in Eclipse TPS 11.0. The scripting language autohotkey was used to develop a software for automatically generated contours in Eclipse TPS. This software is named Contour Auto Margin (CAM), which is composed of operational functions of contours, script generated visualization and script file operations. RESULTS Ten cases in different cancers have separately selected, in Eclipse TPS 11.0 scripts generated by the software could not only automatically generate contours but also do contour post-processing. For different cancers, there was no difference between automatically generated contours and manually created contours. The CAM is a user-friendly and powerful software, and can automatically generated contours fast in Eclipse TPS 11.0. With the help of CAM, it greatly save plan preparation time and improve working efficiency of radiation therapy physicists.

  2. A Reusable PZT Transducer for Monitoring Initial Hydration and Structural Health of Concrete

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaowen Yang

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available During the construction of a concrete structure, strength monitoring is important to ensure the safety of both personnel and the structure. Furthermore, to increase the efficiency of in situ casting or precast of concrete, determining the optimal time of demolding is important for concrete suppliers. Surface bonded lead zirconate titanate (PZT transducers have been used for damage detection and parameter identification for various engineering structures over the last two decades. In this work, a reusable PZT transducer setup for monitoring initial hydration of concrete and structural health is developed, where a piece of PZT is bonded to an enclosure with two bolts tightened inside the holes drilled in the enclosure. An impedance analyzer is used to acquire the admittance signatures of the PZT. Root mean square deviation (RMSD is employed to associate the change in concrete strength with changes in the PZT admittance signatures. The results show that the reusable setup is able to effectively monitor the initial hydration of concrete and the structural health. It can also be detached from the concrete for future re-use.

  3. A Reusable PZT Transducer for Monitoring Initial Hydration and Structural Health of Concrete

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yaowen; Divsholi, Bahador Sabet; Soh, Chee Kiong

    2010-01-01

    During the construction of a concrete structure, strength monitoring is important to ensure the safety of both personnel and the structure. Furthermore, to increase the efficiency of in situ casting or precast of concrete, determining the optimal time of demolding is important for concrete suppliers. Surface bonded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers have been used for damage detection and parameter identification for various engineering structures over the last two decades. In this work, a reusable PZT transducer setup for monitoring initial hydration of concrete and structural health is developed, where a piece of PZT is bonded to an enclosure with two bolts tightened inside the holes drilled in the enclosure. An impedance analyzer is used to acquire the admittance signatures of the PZT. Root mean square deviation (RMSD) is employed to associate the change in concrete strength with changes in the PZT admittance signatures. The results show that the reusable setup is able to effectively monitor the initial hydration of concrete and the structural health. It can also be detached from the concrete for future re-use. PMID:22399929

  4. A reusable PZT transducer for monitoring initial hydration and structural health of concrete.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yaowen; Divsholi, Bahador Sabet; Soh, Chee Kiong

    2010-01-01

    During the construction of a concrete structure, strength monitoring is important to ensure the safety of both personnel and the structure. Furthermore, to increase the efficiency of in situ casting or precast of concrete, determining the optimal time of demolding is important for concrete suppliers. Surface bonded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers have been used for damage detection and parameter identification for various engineering structures over the last two decades. In this work, a reusable PZT transducer setup for monitoring initial hydration of concrete and structural health is developed, where a piece of PZT is bonded to an enclosure with two bolts tightened inside the holes drilled in the enclosure. An impedance analyzer is used to acquire the admittance signatures of the PZT. Root mean square deviation (RMSD) is employed to associate the change in concrete strength with changes in the PZT admittance signatures. The results show that the reusable setup is able to effectively monitor the initial hydration of concrete and the structural health. It can also be detached from the concrete for future re-use.

  5. Music and emotion-a composer's perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douek, Joel

    2013-01-01

    This article takes an experiential and anecdotal look at the daily lives and work of film composers as creators of music. It endeavors to work backwards from what practitioners of the art and craft of music do instinctively or unconsciously, and try to shine a light on it as a conscious process. It examines the role of the film composer in his task to convey an often complex set of emotions, and communicate with an immediacy and universality that often sit outside of common language. Through the experiences of the author, as well as interviews with composer colleagues, this explores both concrete and abstract ways in which music can bring meaning and magic to words and images, and as an underscore to our daily lives.

  6. Reusability of photocatalytic TiO{sub 2} and ZnO nanoparticles immobilized in poly(vinylidene difluoride)-co-trifluoroethylene

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Teixeira, Sara, E-mail: sara.teixeira@nano.tu-dresden.de [Institute for Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Martins, P.M. [Centro/Departamento de Física da Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal); Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal); Lanceros-Méndez, S. [Centro/Departamento de Física da Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal); BCMaterials, Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Bizkaia, 48160 Derio (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao (Spain); Kühn, Klaus [Institute for Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Cuniberti, Gianaurelio [Institute for Materials Science and Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials, TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Dresden Center for Computational Materials Science (DCCMS), TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany); Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden, TU Dresden, 01062 Dresden (Germany)

    2016-10-30

    Highlights: • Performance of immobilized TiO{sub 2} and ZnO nanoparticles in P(VDF-TrFE) membranes. • Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under UV radiation. • Assessment of the reusability of the nanocomposites. • Ecofriendly and cost-effective process for water treatment. - Abstract: Pollutants present in water are increasingly becoming an important public health issue. After their transportation across the sewer network they can pass through the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) mostly unchanged because WWTPs are not designed to remove pollutants present at trace levels. Conventional treatments are therefore ineffective. Immobilized photocatalytic systems are thus an advantage for the treatment of contaminated water, because they are ecofriendly, cost-effective and allow reusability. This work reports on TiO{sub 2} and ZnO commercial nanoparticles immobilized in poly(vinylidene difluoride)-co-trifluoroethylene (P(VDF-TrFE)). Nanocomposites of P(VDF-TrFE) with different concentrations of TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles (5, 10, and 15 wt.%) and ZnO nanoparticles (15 wt.%) were produced by solvent casting and tested on the degradation of methylene blue, a model organic dye. Each nanocomposite was tested three times to assess its reusability. It is shown that increasing the photocatalyst concentration results in higher photocatalytic efficiencies; the degradation rates of 15% of TiO{sub 2} and ZnO are similar; and the photoactivity decreases 6%, 16%, 13%, and 11% after three utilizations, for TiO{sub 2} 5%, TiO{sub 2} 10%, TiO{sub 2} 15%, and ZnO 15%, respectively. Thus, the low decrease in the photocatalytic activity after three uses makes the nanocomposites suitable for applications in which reusability is an important key factor.

  7. Designing a Signal Conditioning System with Software Calibration for Resistor-feedback Patch Clamp Amplifier.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Gang; Zhu, Quanhui; Qu, Anlian

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, a programmable signal conditioning system based on software calibration for resistor-feedback patch clamp amplifier (PCA) has been described, this system is mainly composed of frequency correction, programmable gain and filter whose parameters are configured by software automatically to minimize the errors, A lab-designed data acquisition system (DAQ) is used to implement data collections and communications with PC. The laboratory test results show good agreement with design specifications.

  8. Improved Re-Configurable Sliding Mode Controller for Reusable Launch Vehicle of Second Generation Addressing Aerodynamic Surface Failures and Thrust Deficiencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shtessel, Yuri B.

    2002-01-01

    In this report we present a time-varying sliding mode control (TV-SMC) technique for reusable launch vehicle (RLV) attitude control in ascent and entry flight phases. In ascent flight the guidance commands Euler roll, pitch and yaw angles, and in entry flight it commands the aerodynamic angles of bank, attack and sideslip. The controller employs a body rate inner loop and the attitude outer loop, which are separated in time-scale by the singular perturbation principle. The novelty of the TVSMC is that both the sliding surface and the boundary layer dynamics can be varied in real time using the PD-eigenvalue assignment technique. This salient feature is used to cope with control command saturation and integrator windup in the presence of severe disturbance or control effector failure, which enhances the robustness and fault tolerance of the controller. The TV-SMC is developed and tuned up for the X-33 sub-orbital technology demonstration vehicle in launch and re-entry modes. A variety of nominal, dispersion and failure scenarios have tested via high fidelity 6DOF simulations using MAVERIC/SLIM simulation software.

  9. Evolvable Neural Software System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curtis, Steven A.

    2009-01-01

    The Evolvable Neural Software System (ENSS) is composed of sets of Neural Basis Functions (NBFs), which can be totally autonomously created and removed according to the changing needs and requirements of the software system. The resulting structure is both hierarchical and self-similar in that a given set of NBFs may have a ruler NBF, which in turn communicates with other sets of NBFs. These sets of NBFs may function as nodes to a ruler node, which are also NBF constructs. In this manner, the synthetic neural system can exhibit the complexity, three-dimensional connectivity, and adaptability of biological neural systems. An added advantage of ENSS over a natural neural system is its ability to modify its core genetic code in response to environmental changes as reflected in needs and requirements. The neural system is fully adaptive and evolvable and is trainable before release. It continues to rewire itself while on the job. The NBF is a unique, bilevel intelligence neural system composed of a higher-level heuristic neural system (HNS) and a lower-level, autonomic neural system (ANS). Taken together, the HNS and the ANS give each NBF the complete capabilities of a biological neural system to match sensory inputs to actions. Another feature of the NBF is the Evolvable Neural Interface (ENI), which links the HNS and ANS. The ENI solves the interface problem between these two systems by actively adapting and evolving from a primitive initial state (a Neural Thread) to a complicated, operational ENI and successfully adapting to a training sequence of sensory input. This simulates the adaptation of a biological neural system in a developmental phase. Within the greater multi-NBF and multi-node ENSS, self-similar ENI s provide the basis for inter-NBF and inter-node connectivity.

  10. TMT approach to observatory software development process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buur, Hanne; Subramaniam, Annapurni; Gillies, Kim; Dumas, Christophe; Bhatia, Ravinder

    2016-07-01

    The purpose of the Observatory Software System (OSW) is to integrate all software and hardware components of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to enable observations and data capture; thus it is a complex software system that is defined by four principal software subsystems: Common Software (CSW), Executive Software (ESW), Data Management System (DMS) and Science Operations Support System (SOSS), all of which have interdependencies with the observatory control systems and data acquisition systems. Therefore, the software development process and plan must consider dependencies to other subsystems, manage architecture, interfaces and design, manage software scope and complexity, and standardize and optimize use of resources and tools. Additionally, the TMT Observatory Software will largely be developed in India through TMT's workshare relationship with the India TMT Coordination Centre (ITCC) and use of Indian software industry vendors, which adds complexity and challenges to the software development process, communication and coordination of activities and priorities as well as measuring performance and managing quality and risk. The software project management challenge for the TMT OSW is thus a multi-faceted technical, managerial, communications and interpersonal relations challenge. The approach TMT is using to manage this multifaceted challenge is a combination of establishing an effective geographically distributed software team (Integrated Product Team) with strong project management and technical leadership provided by the TMT Project Office (PO) and the ITCC partner to manage plans, process, performance, risk and quality, and to facilitate effective communications; establishing an effective cross-functional software management team composed of stakeholders, OSW leadership and ITCC leadership to manage dependencies and software release plans, technical complexities and change to approved interfaces, architecture, design and tool set, and to facilitate

  11. Changes and challenges in the Software Engineering Laboratory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pajerski, Rose

    1994-01-01

    Since 1976, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has been dedicated to understanding and improving the way in which one NASA organization, the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD), develops, maintains, and manages complex flight dynamics systems. The SEL is composed of three member organizations: NASA/GSFC, the University of Maryland, and Computer Sciences Corporation. During the past 18 years, the SEL's overall goal has remained the same: to improve the FDD's software products and processes in a measured manner. This requires that each development and maintenance effort be viewed, in part, as a SEL experiment which examines a specific technology or builds a model of interest for use on subsequent efforts. The SEL has undertaken many technology studies while developing operational support systems for numerous NASA spacecraft missions.

  12. Software System for the Calibration of X-Ray Measuring Instruments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaytan-Gallardo, E.; Tovar-Munoz, V. M.; Cruz-Estrada, P.; Vergara-Martinez, F. J.; Rivero-Gutierrez, T.

    2006-01-01

    A software system that facilities the calibration of X-ray measuring instruments used in medical applications is presented. The Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) of the Nuclear Research National Institute in Mexico (ININ in Spanish), supports activities concerning with ionizing radiations in medical area. One of these activities is the calibration of X-ray measuring instruments, in terms of air kerma or exposure by substitution method in an X-ray beam at a point where the rate has been determined by means of a standard ionization chamber. To automatize this process, a software system has been developed, the calibration system is composed by an X-ray unit, a Dynalizer IIIU X-ray meter by RADCAL, a commercial data acquisition card, the software system and the units to be tested and calibrated. A quality control plan has been applied in the development of the software system, ensuring that quality assurance procedures and standards are being followed

  13. A microfluidic control system with re-usable micropump/valve actuator and injection moulded disposable polymer lab-on-a-slide

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bu, Minqiang; Perch-Nielsen, Ivan R.; Yi, Sun

    2011-01-01

    A microfluidic control system consisting of micropump/valves with a re-usable pneumatic actuator and a disposable polymer lab-on-a-slide is presented. The lab-on-a-slide was fabricated using low cost methods, such as injection moulding of TOPAS® cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) slide, lamination...... of different layers of polymer, and ultrasonic welding of TOPAS® lid to the slide. The re-usable pneumatic actuator not only simplifies the design of the lab-on-a-slide and reduces the fabrication cost, but also reduces the possibility of cross contamination during replacement of the disposable lab...

  14. Composer: Authoring Tool for iTV Programs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R.L. Guimarães (Rodrigo); R.M.R. Costa; L.F.G. Soares

    2008-01-01

    htmlabstractThis paper presents Composer, an authoring tool to help creating interactive TV programs for the Brazilian Terrestrial Digital TV System. In Composer, several abstractions are defined creating different document views (structural, temporal, layout and textual). One of these views, the

  15. Silica Sulfuric Acid: An Eco-Friendly and Reusable Catalyst for Synthesis of Benzimidazole Derivatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bahareh Sadeghi

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Silica sulfuric acid (SiO2-OSO3H as an eco-friendly, readily available, and reusable catalyst is applied to benzimidazole derivatives synthesis under reflux in ethanol. The procedure is very simple and the products are isolated with an easy workup in good-to-excellent yields.

  16. Modern architectures for intelligent systems: reusable ontologies and problem-solving methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musen, M A

    1998-01-01

    When interest in intelligent systems for clinical medicine soared in the 1970s, workers in medical informatics became particularly attracted to rule-based systems. Although many successful rule-based applications were constructed, development and maintenance of large rule bases remained quite problematic. In the 1980s, an entire industry dedicated to the marketing of tools for creating rule-based systems rose and fell, as workers in medical informatics began to appreciate deeply why knowledge acquisition and maintenance for such systems are difficult problems. During this time period, investigators began to explore alternative programming abstractions that could be used to develop intelligent systems. The notions of "generic tasks" and of reusable problem-solving methods became extremely influential. By the 1990s, academic centers were experimenting with architectures for intelligent systems based on two classes of reusable components: (1) domain-independent problem-solving methods-standard algorithms for automating stereotypical tasks--and (2) domain ontologies that captured the essential concepts (and relationships among those concepts) in particular application areas. This paper will highlight how intelligent systems for diverse tasks can be efficiently automated using these kinds of building blocks. The creation of domain ontologies and problem-solving methods is the fundamental end product of basic research in medical informatics. Consequently, these concepts need more attention by our scientific community.

  17. Self-Healing Nanocomposites for Reusable Composite Cryotanks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eberly, Daniel; Ou, Runqing; Karcz, Adam; Skandan, Ganesh

    2013-01-01

    Composite cryotanks, or composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs), offer advantages over currently used aluminum-lithium cryotanks, particularly with respect to weight savings. Future NASA missions are expected to use COPVs in spaceflight propellant tanks to store fuels, oxidizers, and other liquids for launch and space exploration vehicles. However, reliability, reparability, and reusability of the COPVs are still being addressed, especially in cryogenic temperature applications; this has limited the adoption of COPVs in reusable vehicle designs. The major problem with composites is the inherent brittleness of the epoxy matrix, which is prone to microcrack formation, either from exposure to cryogenic conditions or from impact from different sources. If not prevented, the microcracks increase gas permeation and leakage. Accordingly, materials innovations are needed to mitigate microcrack damage, and prevent damage in the first place, in composite cryotanks. The self-healing technology being developed is capable of healing the microcracks through the use of a novel engineered nanocomposite, where a uniquely designed nanoparticle additive is incorporated into the epoxy matrix. In particular, this results in an enhancement in the burst pressure after cryogenic cycling of the nanocomposite COPVs, relative to the control COPVs. Incorporating a novel, self-healing, epoxy-based resin into the manufacture of COPVs allows repeatable self-healing of microcracks to be performed through the simple application of a low-temperature heat source. This permits COPVs to be reparable and reusable with a high degree of reliability, as microcracks will be remediated. The unique phase-separated morphology that was imparted during COPV manufacture allows for multiple self-healing cycles. Unlike single-target approaches where one material property is often improved at the expense of another, robustness has been introduced to a COPV by a combination of a modified resin and

  18. Affective evolutionary music composition with MetaCompose

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scirea, Marco; Togelius, Julian; Eklund, Peter

    2017-01-01

    This paper describes the MetaCompose music generator, a compositional, extensible framework for affective music composition. In this context ‘affective’ refers to the music generator’s ability to express emotional information. The main purpose of MetaCompose is to create music in real-time that can...

  19. Lessons learned from the development and manufacture of ceramic reusable surface insulation materials for the space shuttle orbiters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banas, R. P.; Elgin, D. R.; Cordia, E. R.; Nickel, K. N.; Gzowski, E. R.; Aguiler, L.

    1983-01-01

    Three ceramic, reusable surface insulation materials and two borosilicate glass coatings were used in the fabrication of tiles for the Space Shuttle orbiters. Approximately 77,000 tiles were made from these materials for the first three orbiters, Columbia, Challenger, and Discovery. Lessons learned in the development, scale up to production and manufacturing phases of these materials will benefit future production of ceramic reusable surface insulation materials. Processing of raw materials into tile blanks and coating slurries; programming and machining of tiles using numerical controlled milling machines; preparing and spraying tiles with the two coatings; and controlling material shrinkage during the high temperature (2100-2275 F) coating glazing cycles are among the topics discussed.

  20. Neurosyphilis in Anglo-American Composers and Jazz Musicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breitenfeld, Darko; Kust, Davor; Breitenfeld, Tomislav; Prpić, Marin; Lucijanić, Marko; Zibar, Davor; Hostić, Vedran; Franceschi, Maja; Bolanča, Ante

    2017-09-01

    Syphilis is a sexually transmitted, systemic disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum. The most common mechanism of transmission is sexual intercourse. Although there are several hypotheses, the exact origin of the disease remains unknown. Newly published evidence suggests that the hypothesis supporting the theory of the American origin of the disease is the valid one. Among 1500 analyzed pathographies of composers and musicians, data on ten Anglo-American composers and jazz musicians having suffered from neurosyphilis (tertiary stage of the disease) were extracted for this report. In this group of Anglo-American composers and musicians, most of them died from progressive paralysis while still in the creative phase of life. Additionally, diagnoses of eleven other famous neurosyphilitic composers, as well as basic biographic data on ten less known composers that died from neurosyphilis-progressive paralysis are also briefly mentioned. In conclusion, neurosyphilis can cause serious neurological damage, as well as permanent disability or death, preventing further work and skill improvement.

  1. FeelSound : Collaborative Composing of Acoustic Music

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fikkert, Wim; Hakvoort, Michiel; van der Vet, Paul; Nijholt, Anton

    2009-01-01

    FeelSound is a multi-user application for collaboratively composing music in an entertaining way. Up to four composers can jointly create acoustic music on a top-projection multitouch sensitive table. The notes of an acoustic instrument are represented on a harmonic table and, by drawing shapes on

  2. Composing Interfering Abstract Protocols

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-04-01

    Tecnologia , Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal. This document is a companion technical report of the paper, “Composing Interfering Abstract...a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program under grant SFRH / BD / 33765

  3. Examining the Use of Web-Based Reusable Learning Objects by Animal and Veterinary Nursing Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman-Waterhouse, Emily; Silva-Fletcher, Ayona; Whittlestone, Kim David

    2016-01-01

    This intervention study examined the interaction of animal and veterinary nursing students with reusable learning objects (RLO) in the context of preparing for summative assessment. Data was collected from 199 undergraduates using quantitative and qualitative methods. Students accessed RLO via personal devices in order to reinforce taught…

  4. Comparison of single-use and reusable metal laryngoscope blades for orotracheal intubation during rapid sequence induction of anesthesia: a multicenter cluster randomized study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amour, Julien; Le Manach, Yannick Le; Borel, Marie; Lenfant, François; Nicolas-Robin, Armelle; Carillion, Aude; Ripart, Jacques; Riou, Bruno; Langeron, Olivier

    2010-02-01

    Single-use metal laryngoscope blades are cheaper and carry a lower risk of infection than reusable metal blades. The authors compared single-use and reusable metal blades during rapid sequence induction of anesthesia in a multicenter cluster randomized trial. One thousand seventy-two adult patients undergoing general anesthesia under emergency conditions and requiring rapid sequence induction were randomly assigned on a weekly basis to either single-use or reusable metal blades (cluster randomization). After induction, a 60-s period was allowed to complete intubation. In the case of failed intubation, a second attempt was performed using the opposite type of blade. The primary endpoint was the rate of failed intubation, and the secondary endpoints were the incidence of complications (oxygen desaturation, lung aspiration, and/or oropharynx trauma) and the Cormack and Lehane score. Both groups were similar in their main characteristics, including the risk factors for difficult intubation. The rate of failed intubation was significantly decreased with single-use metal blades at the first attempt compared with reusable blades (2.8 vs. 5.4%, P < 0.05). In addition, the proportion of grades III and IV in Cormack and Lehane score were also significantly decreased with single-use metal blades (6 vs. 10%, P < 0.05). The global complication rate did not reach statistical significance, although the same trend was noted (6.8% vs. 11.5%, P = not significant). An investigator survey and a measure of illumination pointed that illumination might have been responsible for this result. The single-use metal blade was more efficient than a reusable metal blade in rapid sequence induction of anesthesia.

  5. The COMPOSE Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balletta, P.; Biagini, M.; Gallinaro, G.; Vernucci, A.

    2003-07-01

    This paper provides an overview of the on-going project COMPOSE, an EC co-funded project aiming to define, specify and validate an innovative mobile-services scenario in support of travellers, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new proposed location-based value-added services. COMPOSE is supported by organisations belonging to numerous categories covering, as a whole, the entire value-chain of infomobility services provision to the final user. The project team comprises, in addition to the affiliations of the authors, also Teleatlas (NL), ARS T&TT (NL), Alcatel-Bell Space (B), Skysoft (P), Hitech Marketing (A) and MobileGis (IR). The paper describes the services that will be offered to users, encompassing both the pre-trip and the on-trip framework, presents the overall hybrid system architecture also including a via-satellite component based upon the Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) technique adopted in UMTS, discusses the access solutions envisaged for that component permitting multiple feeder-link stations to share the CDMA multiplex capacity by directly transmitting their codes to the satellite, and illustrates the results of some computer simulations intended to assess the performance of said access solutions, with regard to the effects of the inevitable up- link frequency errors and transponder non-linearity.

  6. Fabrication and Optimization of Stable, Optically Transparent, and Reusable pH-Responsive Silk Membranes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andreas Toytziaridis

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The fabrication of silk-based membranes that are stable, optically transparent and reusable is yet to be achieved. To address this bottleneck we have developed a method to produce transparent chromogenic silk patches that are optically responsive to pH. The patches were produced by blending regenerated silk fibroin (RSF, Laponite RD (nano clay and the organic dyes neutral red and Thionine acetate. The Laponite RD played a central role in the patch mechanical integrity and prevention of dye leaching. The process was optimized using a factorial design to maximize the patch response to pH by UV absorbance and fluorescence emission. New patches of the optimized protocol, made from solutions containing 125 μM neutral red or 250 μM of Thionine and 15 mg/mL silk, were further tested for operational stability over several cycles of pH altering. Stability, performance, and reusability were achieved over the tested cycles. The approach could be extended to other reporting molecules or enzymes able to bind to Laponite.

  7. A Time-Composable Operating System for the Patmos Processor

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ziccardi, Marco; Schoeberl, Martin; Vardanega, Tullio

    2015-01-01

    -composable operating system, on top of a time-composable processor, facilitates incremental development, which is highly desirable for industry. This paper makes a twofold contribution. First, we present enhancements to the Patmos processor to allow achieving time composability at the operating system level. Second......, we extend an existing time-composable operating system, TiCOS, to make best use of advanced Patmos hardware features in the pursuit of time composability.......In the last couple of decades we have witnessed a steady growth in the complexity and widespread of real-time systems. In order to master the rising complexity in the timing behaviour of those systems, rightful attention has been given to the development of time-predictable computer architectures...

  8. Exploración de repositorios de software y análisis de potenciales extensiones a aspectos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Graciela Beatriz Vidal

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Tanto el Desarrollo basado en Componentes como el Desarrollo de Software orientado a Aspectos son enfoque propuestos para abordar diversos problemas que surgen en el proceso de desarrollo de aplicaciones. Ambos enfoques tienen como objetivo el reuso de software, ante esta situación surge la necesidad de que componentes y aspectos compartan un espacio común en el cual puedan ser publicados, recuperados y reutilizados. Los repositorios actuales parecen no proveer aspectos de manera explícita, en ocasiones los aspectos son utilizados para especificar el componente, pero no son reusables. La tarea de publicar y recuperar componentes es muy compleja, existen diversos métodos de publicación y recuperación a tal fin. En este trabajo se exploraron diferentes repositorios analizando criterios al igual que se exponen los métodos de publicación y recuperación con el fin de determinar si es posible la adaptación o extensión de los repositorios a aspectos.

  9. Comment on 'Quantum secret sharing based on reusable Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states as secure carriers'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gao Fei; Guo Fenzhuo; Wen Qiaoyan; Zhu Fuchen

    2005-01-01

    In a recent paper [S. Bagherinezhad and V. Karimipour, Phys. Rev. A 67, 044302 (2003)], a quantum secret sharing protocol based on reusable Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states was proposed. However, in this Comment, it is shown that this protocol is insecure if Eve employs a special strategy to attack

  10. Reusable Solid Rocket Motor - Accomplishment, Lessons, and a Culture of Success

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, D. R.; Phelps, W. J.

    2011-01-01

    The Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) represents the largest solid rocket motor (SRM) ever flown and the only human-rated solid motor. High reliability of the RSRM has been the result of challenges addressed and lessons learned. Advancements have resulted by applying attention to process control, testing, and postflight through timely and thorough communication in dealing with all issues. A structured and disciplined approach was taken to identify and disposition all concerns. Careful consideration and application of alternate opinions was embraced. Focus was placed on process control, ground test programs, and postflight assessment. Process control is mandatory for an SRM, because an acceptance test of the delivered product is not feasible. The RSRM maintained both full-scale and subscale test articles, which enabled continuous improvement of design and evaluation of process control and material behavior. Additionally RSRM reliability was achieved through attention to detail in post flight assessment to observe any shift in performance. The postflight analysis and inspections provided invaluable reliability data as it enables observation of actual flight performance, most of which would not be available if the motors were not recovered. RSRM reusability offered unique opportunities to learn about the hardware. NASA is moving forward with the Space Launch System that incorporates propulsion systems that takes advantage of the heritage Shuttle and Ares solid motor programs. These unique challenges, features of the RSRM, materials and manufacturing issues, and design improvements will be discussed in the paper.

  11. Data as a service a framework for providing reusable enterprise data services

    CERN Document Server

    Sarkar, Pushpak

    2015-01-01

    Data as a Service shows how organizations can leverage "data as a service" by providing real-life case studies on the various and innovative architectures and related patterns. Comprehensive approach to introducing data as a service in any organization. A re-usable and flexible SOA based architecture framework. Roadmap to introduce 'big data as a service' for potential clients. Presents a thorough description of each component in the DaaS reference architecture so readers can implement solutions.

  12. The Effect of Software Reusability on Information Theory Based Software Metrics

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-01-01

    of plans across programming languages and application areas, only a brief abstract treatment of non-contiguous "program parts" is mentioned in the...info->num = linenum; CA6 if(*info->text) W. if(find(linenum)) C.8 patchup(linenum, 1); /*fix up old line numbers*/ 107 C.9 if(*info->text) C-10 start

  13. Elective gastropexy with a reusable single-incision laparoscopic surgery port in dogs: 14 cases (2012-2013).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stiles, Mandy; Case, J Brad; Coisman, James

    2016-08-01

    OBJECTIVE To describe the technique, clinical findings, and short-term outcome in dogs undergoing laparoscopic-assisted incisional gastropexy with a reusable single-incision surgery port. DESIGN Retrospective case series. ANIMALS 14 client-owned dogs. PROCEDURES Medical records of dogs referred for elective laparoscopic gastropexy between June 2012 and August 2013 were reviewed. History, signalment, results of physical examination and preoperative laboratory testing, surgical procedure, duration of surgery, postoperative complications, duration of hospital stay, and short-term outcome were recorded. All patients underwent general anesthesia and were positioned in dorsal recumbency. After an initial limited laparoscopic exploration, single-incision laparoscopic-assisted gastropexy was performed extracorporeally in all dogs via a conical port placed in a right paramedian location. Concurrent procedures included laparoscopic ovariectomy (n = 4), gastric biopsy (2), and castration (7). Short-term outcome was evaluated. RESULTS Median duration of surgery was 76 minutes (range, 40 to 90 minutes). Intraoperative complications were minor and consisted of loss of pneumoperitoneum in 2 of 14 dogs. A postoperative surgical site infection occurred in 1 dog and resolved with standard treatment. Median duration of follow-up was 371 days (range, 2 weeks to 1.5 years). No dogs developed gastric dilation-volvulus during the follow-up period, and all owners were satisfied with the outcome. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results suggested that single-incision laparoscopic-assisted gastropexy with a reusable conical port was feasible and effective in appropriately selected cases. Investigation of the potential benefits of this reusable port versus single-use devices for elective gastropexy in dogs is warranted.

  14. Two-dimensional arbitrarily shaped acoustic cloaks composed of homogeneous parts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qi; Vipperman, Jeffrey S.

    2017-10-01

    Acoustic cloaking is an important application of acoustic metamaterials. Although the topic has received much attention, there are a number of areas where contributions are needed. In this paper, a design method for producing acoustic cloaks with arbitrary shapes that are composed of homogeneous parts is presented. The cloak is divided into sections, each of which, in turn, is further divided into two parts, followed by the application of transformation acoustics to derive the required properties for cloaking. With the proposed mapping relations, the properties of each part of the cloak are anisotropic but homogeneous, which can be realized using two alternating layers of homogeneous and isotropic materials. A hexagonal and an irregular cloak are presented as design examples. The full wave simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software show that the cloaks function well at reducing reflections and shadows. The variation of the cloak properties is investigated as a function of three important geometric parameters used in the transformations. A balance can be found between cloaking performance and materials properties that are physically realizable.

  15. The Ulster Cycle: Cultural Significance for Irish Composers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela Goff

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available For more than three hundred years, Irish composers have engaged with tales from early Irish saga-literature which comprises four main series: Mythological, Ulster and Fenian cycles as well as the Cycle of Kings. This literary corpus dates from 600–1200 CE and is amongst the oldest in Europe. The fragmented history of the literature reveals a continuity of tradition in that the ancient sagas evolved from the oral Irish tradition, were gradually recorded in Irish, and kept alive in modern times through translation into the English language. The timelessness and social impact of these sagas, centuries after they were documented, resonate with Irish composers through the identification of local features and/or universal themes of redemption, triumph or tragedy depicted in the literature. The focus here is on sagas from the Ulster Cycle as they have been most celebrated by Irish composers; the majority of which have been composed since Thomas Kinsella’s successful translation of the Táin Bó Cuailnge in 1969. How the composers chose to embrace the Irish past lies in each composer’s execution of the peculiar local and universal themes exhibited in the sagas. The aim of this article is to initiate an interdisciplinary discussion of the cultural significance of this literary corpus for Irish composers by exploring an area of Irish musicological discourse that has not been hitherto documented. A brief literary background to the Ulster Cycle leads to a discussion of what prompted the composers to engage with Ulster Cycle themes at a particular time in their respective careers. An exploration of the various stylistic features employed in selected works sheds light on the cultural ideologies that prevailed in Ireland at the time of their respective composition.

  16. Modelling informally collected quantities of bulky waste and reusable items in Austria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramusch, R; Pertl, A; Scherhaufer, S; Schmied, E; Obersteiner, G

    2015-10-01

    Disparities in earnings between Western and Eastern European countries are the reason for a well-established informal sector actively involved in collection and transboundary shipment activities from Austria to Hungary. The preferred objects are reusable items and wastes within the categories bulky waste, WEEE and metals, intended to be sold on flea markets. Despite leading to a loss of recyclable resources for Austrian waste management, these informal activities may contribute to the extension of the lifetime of certain goods when they are reused in Hungary; nevertheless they are discussed rather controversially. The aim of this paper is to provide objective data on the quantities informally collected and transhipped. The unique activities of informal collectors required the development and implementation of a new set of methodologies. The concept of triangulation was used to verify results obtained by field visits, interviews and a traffic counting campaign. Both approaches lead to an estimation of approx. 100,000 t per year of reusable items informally collected in Austria. This means that in addition to the approx. 72 kg/cap/yr formally collected bulky waste, bulky waste wood, household scrap (excluding packaging) and WEEE, up to a further 12 kg/cap/yr might, in the case that informal collection is abandoned, end up as waste or in the second-hand sector. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Making the Case for Reusable Booster Systems: The Operations Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapata, Edgar

    2012-01-01

    Presentation to the Aeronautics Space Engineering Board National Research Council Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment Committee. Addresses: the criteria and assumptions used in the formulation of current RBS plans; the methodologies used in the current cost estimates for RBS; the modeling methodology used to frame the business case for an RBS capability including: the data used in the analysis, the models' robustness if new data become available, and the impact of unclassified government data that was previously unavailable and which will be supplied by the USAF; the technical maturity of key elements critical to RBS implementation and the ability of current technology development plans to meet technical readiness milestones.

  18. A component-based groupware development methodology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guareis de farias, Cléver; Ferreira Pires, Luis; van Sinderen, Marten J.

    2000-01-01

    Software development in general and groupware applications in particular can greatly benefit from the reusability and interoperability aspects associated with software components. Component-based software development enables the construction of software artefacts by assembling prefabricated,

  19. GoldenBraid: An Iterative Cloning System for Standardized Assembly of Reusable Genetic Modules

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarrion-Perdigones, Alejandro; Falconi, Erica Elvira; Zandalinas, Sara I.; Juárez, Paloma; Fernández-del-Carmen, Asun; Granell, Antonio; Orzaez, Diego

    2011-01-01

    Synthetic Biology requires efficient and versatile DNA assembly systems to facilitate the building of new genetic modules/pathways from basic DNA parts in a standardized way. Here we present GoldenBraid (GB), a standardized assembly system based on type IIS restriction enzymes that allows the indefinite growth of reusable gene modules made of standardized DNA pieces. The GB system consists of a set of four destination plasmids (pDGBs) designed to incorporate multipartite assemblies made of standard DNA parts and to combine them binarily to build increasingly complex multigene constructs. The relative position of type IIS restriction sites inside pDGB vectors introduces a double loop (“braid”) topology in the cloning strategy that allows the indefinite growth of composite parts through the succession of iterative assembling steps, while the overall simplicity of the system is maintained. We propose the use of GoldenBraid as an assembly standard for Plant Synthetic Biology. For this purpose we have GB-adapted a set of binary plasmids for A. tumefaciens-mediated plant transformation. Fast GB-engineering of several multigene T-DNAs, including two alternative modules made of five reusable devices each, and comprising a total of 19 basic parts are also described. PMID:21750718

  20. Optically transparent super-hydrophobic thin film fabricated by reusable polyurethane-acrylate (PUA) mold

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, J.-S.; Park, J.-H.; Lee, D.-W.

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, we describe a simple manufacturing method for producing an optically transparent super-hydrophobic polymer thin film using a reusable photo-curable polymer mold. Soluble photoresist (PR) molds were prepared with under-exposed and under-baked processes, which created unique hierarchical micro/nano structures. The reverse phase of the PR mold was replicated on the surface of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates. The unique patterns on the replicated PDMS molds were successfully transferred back to the UV curable polyurethane-acrylate (PUA) using a laboratory-made UV exposure system. Continuous production of the super-hydrophobic PDMS thin film was demonstrated using the reusable PUA mold. In addition, hydrophobic nano-silica powder was sprayed onto the micro/nano structured PDMS surfaces to further improve hydrophobicity. The fabricated PDMS thin films with hierarchical surface texturing showed a water contact angle  ⩾150°. Excellent optical transmittance within the range of visible light of wavelengths between 400-800 nm was experimentally confirmed using a spectrophotometer. High efficiency of the super-hydrophobic PDMS film in optical transparency was also confirmed using solar panels. The fabricated PUA molds are very suitable for use in roll-to-roll or roll-to-plate systems which allow continuous production of super-hydrophobic thin films with an excellent optical transparency.

  1. Technical report on the surface reconstruction of stacked contours by using the commercial software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Dong Sun; Chung, Min Suk; Hwang, Sung Bae; Park, Jin Seo

    2007-03-01

    After drawing and stacking contours of a structure, which is identified in the serially sectioned images, three-dimensional (3D) image can be made by surface reconstruction. Usually, software is composed for the surface reconstruction. In order to compose the software, medical doctors have to acquire the help of computer engineers. So in this research, surface reconstruction of stacked contours was tried by using commercial software. The purpose of this research is to enable medical doctors to perform surface reconstruction to make 3D images by themselves. The materials of this research were 996 anatomic images (1 mm intervals) of left lower limb, which were made by serial sectioning of a cadaver. On the Adobe Photoshop, contours of 114 anatomic structures were drawn, which were exported to Adobe Illustrator files. On the Maya, contours of each anatomic structure were stacked. On the Rhino, superoinferior lines were drawn along all stacked contours to fill quadrangular surfaces between contours. On the Maya, the contours were deleted. 3D images of 114 anatomic structures were assembled with their original locations preserved. With the surface reconstruction technique, developed in this research, medical doctors themselves could make 3D images of the serially sectioned images such as CTs and MRIs.

  2. Casting metal microstructures from a flexible and reusable mold

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cannon, Andrew H; King, William P

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes casting-based microfabrication of metal microstructures and nanostructures. The metal was cast into flexible silicone molds which were themselves cast from microfabricated silicon templates. Microcasting is demonstrated in two metal alloys of melting temperature 70 °C or 138 °C. Many structures were successfully cast into the metal with excellent replication fidelity, including ridges with periodicity 400 nm and holes or pillars with diameter in the range 10–100 µm and aspect ratio up to 2:1. The flexibility of the silicone mold permits casting of curved surfaces, which we demonstrate by fabricating a cylindrical metal roller of diameter 8 mm covered with microstructures. The metal microstructures can be in turn used as a reusable molding tool

  3. Application of database management software to probabilistic risk assessment calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wyss, G.D.

    1993-01-01

    Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) calculations require the management and processing of large amounts of information. This data normally falls into two general categories. For example, a commercial nuclear power plant PRA study makes use of plant blueprints and system schematics, formal plant safety analysis reports, incident reports, letters, memos, handwritten notes from plant visits, and even the analyst's ''engineering judgment''. This information must be documented and cross-referenced in order to properly execute and substantiate the models used in a PRA study. The first category is composed of raw data that is accumulated from equipment testing and operational experiences. These data describe the equipment, its service or testing conditions, its failure mode, and its performance history. The second category is composed of statistical distributions. These distributions can represent probabilities, frequencies, or values of important parameters that are not time-related. Probability and frequency distributions are often obtained by fitting raw data to an appropriate statistical distribution. Database management software is used to store both types of data so that it can be readily queried, manipulated, and archived. This paper provides an overview of the information models used for storing PRA data and illustrates the implementation of these models using examples from current PRA software packages

  4. The composing technique of fast and large scale nuclear data acquisition and control system with single chip microcomputers and PC computers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Zurun; Wu Shiying; Liu Haitao; Yao Yangsen; Wang Yingguan; Yang Chaowen

    1998-01-01

    The technique of employing single-chip microcomputers and PC computers to compose a fast and large scale nuclear data acquisition and control system was discussed in detail. The optimum composition mode of this kind of system, the acquisition and control circuit unit based on single-chip microcomputers, the real-time communication methods and the software composition under the Windows 3.2 were also described. One, two and three dimensional spectra measured by this system were demonstrated

  5. The composing technique of fast and large scale nuclear data acquisition and control system with single chip microcomputers and PC computers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Zurun; Wu Shiying; Liu Haitao; Yao Yangsen; Wang Yingguan; Yang Chaowen

    1997-01-01

    The technique of employing single-chip microcomputers and PC computers to compose a fast and large scale nuclear data acquisition and control system was discussed in detail. The optimum composition mode of this kind of system, the acquisition and control circuit unit based on single-chip microcomputers, the real-time communication methods and the software composition under the Windows 3.2 were also described. One, two and three dimensional spectra measured by this system were demonstrated

  6. A dependability modeling of software under memory faults for digital system in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, J. G.; Seong, P. H.

    1997-01-01

    In this work, an analytic approach to the dependability of software in the operational phase is suggested with special attention to the hardware fault effects on the software behavior : The hardware faults considered are memory faults and the dependability measure in question is the reliability. The model is based on the simple reliability theory and the graph theory which represents the software with graph composed of nodes and arcs. Through proper transformation, the graph can be reduced to a simple two-node graph and the software reliability is derived from this graph. Using this model, we predict the reliability of an application software in the digital system (ILS) in the nuclear power plant and show the sensitivity of the software reliability to the major physical parameters which affect the software failure in the normal operation phase. We also found that the effects of the hardware faults on the software failure should be considered for predicting the software dependability accurately in operation phase, especially for the software which is executed frequently. This modeling method is particularly attractive for the medium size programs such as the microprocessor-based nuclear safety logic program. (author)

  7. An Area Efficient Composed CORDIC Architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AGUIRRE-RAMOS, F.

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available This article presents a composed architecture for the CORDIC algorithm. CORDIC is a widely used technique to calculate basic trigonometric functions using only additions and shifts. This composed architecture combines an initial coarse stage to approximate sine and cosine functions, and a second stage to finely tune those values while CORDIC operates on rotation mode. Both stages contribute to shorten the algorithmic steps required to fully execute the CORDIC algorithm. For comparison purposes, the Xilinx CORDIC logiCORE IP and previously reported research are used. The proposed architecture aims at reducing hardware resources usage as its key objective.

  8. Knowledge Uncertainty and Composed Classifier

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Klimešová, Dana; Ocelíková, E.

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 1, č. 2 (2007), s. 101-105 ISSN 1998-0140 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Boosting architecture * contextual modelling * composed classifier * knowledge management, * knowledge * uncertainty Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science

  9. Building of Reusable Reverse Logistics Model and its Optimization Considering the Decision of Backorder or Next Arrival of Goods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jeong-Eun; Gen, Mitsuo; Rhee, Kyong-Gu; Lee, Hee-Hyol

    This paper deals with the building of the reusable reverse logistics model considering the decision of the backorder or the next arrival of goods. The optimization method to minimize the transportation cost and to minimize the volume of the backorder or the next arrival of goods occurred by the Just in Time delivery of the final delivery stage between the manufacturer and the processing center is proposed. Through the optimization algorithms using the priority-based genetic algorithm and the hybrid genetic algorithm, the sub-optimal delivery routes are determined. Based on the case study of a distilling and sale company in Busan in Korea, the new model of the reusable reverse logistics of empty bottles is built and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified.

  10. QuantWorm: a comprehensive software package for Caenorhabditis elegans phenotypic assays.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sang-Kyu Jung

    Full Text Available Phenotypic assays are crucial in genetics; however, traditional methods that rely on human observation are unsuitable for quantitative, large-scale experiments. Furthermore, there is an increasing need for comprehensive analyses of multiple phenotypes to provide multidimensional information. Here we developed an automated, high-throughput computer imaging system for quantifying multiple Caenorhabditis elegans phenotypes. Our imaging system is composed of a microscope equipped with a digital camera and a motorized stage connected to a computer running the QuantWorm software package. Currently, the software package contains one data acquisition module and four image analysis programs: WormLifespan, WormLocomotion, WormLength, and WormEgg. The data acquisition module collects images and videos. The WormLifespan software counts the number of moving worms by using two time-lapse images; the WormLocomotion software computes the velocity of moving worms; the WormLength software measures worm body size; and the WormEgg software counts the number of eggs. To evaluate the performance of our software, we compared the results of our software with manual measurements. We then demonstrated the application of the QuantWorm software in a drug assay and a genetic assay. Overall, the QuantWorm software provided accurate measurements at a high speed. Software source code, executable programs, and sample images are available at www.quantworm.org. Our software package has several advantages over current imaging systems for C. elegans. It is an all-in-one package for quantifying multiple phenotypes. The QuantWorm software is written in Java and its source code is freely available, so it does not require use of commercial software or libraries. It can be run on multiple platforms and easily customized to cope with new methods and requirements.

  11. A green, reusable SERS film with high sensitivity for in-situ detection of thiram in apple juice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Hongbao; Liu, Hai; Wu, Yiyong

    2017-09-01

    We report a green and reusable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) film based on PMMA/Ag NPs/graphene. By using this Raman substrate, the SERS signals of R6G were significantly enhanced reaching a minimum detectable concentration of 5 × 10-8 M, due to having lots of hot spots adhered backside to the exposed graphene. The SERS film can be used for in-situ monitoring of trace thiram in apple juice with a detection limit of 1 × 10-6 M (0.24 ppm), which is below the maximal residue limit (MRL) of 7 ppm in fruit prescribed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Furthermore, reusability studies show that the SERS film can be used repeatedly. In addition, the graphene-enhanced SERS technique shows great potential applications for the in-situ detection and identification of pesticide residues in environmental water, fruits and vegetables.

  12. A META-COMPOSITE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH FOR TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadasivam, Rajani S.; Tanik, Murat M.

    2013-01-01

    Translational researchers conduct research in a highly data-intensive and continuously changing environment and need to use multiple, disparate tools to achieve their goals. These researchers would greatly benefit from meta-composite software development or the ability to continuously compose and recompose tools together in response to their ever-changing needs. However, the available tools are largely disconnected, and current software approaches are inefficient and ineffective in their support for meta-composite software development. Building on the composite services development approach, the de facto standard for developing integrated software systems, we propose a concept-map and agent-based meta-composite software development approach. A crucial step in composite services development is the modeling of users’ needs as processes, which can then be specified in an executable format for system composition. We have two key innovations. First, our approach allows researchers (who understand their needs best) instead of technicians to take a leadership role in the development of process models, reducing inefficiencies and errors. A second innovation is that our approach also allows for modeling of complex user interactions as part of the process, overcoming the technical limitations of current tools. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach using a real-world translational research use case. We also present results of usability studies evaluating our approach for future refinements. PMID:23504436

  13. A meta-composite software development approach for translational research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadasivam, Rajani S; Tanik, Murat M

    2013-06-01

    Translational researchers conduct research in a highly data-intensive and continuously changing environment and need to use multiple, disparate tools to achieve their goals. These researchers would greatly benefit from meta-composite software development or the ability to continuously compose and recompose tools together in response to their ever-changing needs. However, the available tools are largely disconnected, and current software approaches are inefficient and ineffective in their support for meta-composite software development. Building on the composite services development approach, the de facto standard for developing integrated software systems, we propose a concept-map and agent-based meta-composite software development approach. A crucial step in composite services development is the modeling of users' needs as processes, which can then be specified in an executable format for system composition. We have two key innovations. First, our approach allows researchers (who understand their needs best) instead of technicians to take a leadership role in the development of process models, reducing inefficiencies and errors. A second innovation is that our approach also allows for modeling of complex user interactions as part of the process, overcoming the technical limitations of current tools. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach using a real-world translational research use case. We also present results of usability studies evaluating our approach for future refinements.

  14. Propuesta de un proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje para la asignatura Diseño de Software como proceso de software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lund, María Inés

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available La cátedra Diseño de Software se dicta actualmente en 4º año de las carreras del Departamento de Informática de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (FCEFN de la Universidad Nacional de San Juan (UNSJ. Esta materia se enfoca principalmente al Diseño Orientado a Objetos (DOO, brindando conceptos y conocimientos desarrollados en forma teórica y con un fuerte componente práctico, de todos los diagramas de modelado de software que provee el Lenguaje de Modelado Unificado (UML, con el fin de comprender acabadamente el objetivo que se persigue con cada uno de ellos y en qué casos es conveniente o útil aplicarlos. El presente trabajo se sustenta de la experiencia adquirida en la práctica aplicada para la enseñanza de DOO, utilizando UML para el modelado, donde las actividades prácticas abarcan desde el análisis hasta llegar a una propuesta de diseño de implementación. Se presenta un modelo de proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje, como proceso de software, y los artefactos utilizados para guiar al alumno en la resolución de un problema de desarrollo de software específico, utilizando para su especificación el lenguaje de metamodelado de procesos SPEM 2.0 y para generar el modelado del proceso de software la herramienta Eclipse Process Framework Composer (EPFC.

  15. SU-E-T-353: Effects of Time and Temperature On a Potential Reusable 3D Dosimeter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Juang, T; Miles, D; Crockett, E [Medical Physics Graduate Program, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States); Adamovics, J [Rider University, Skillman, NJ (United States); Oldham, M [Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States)

    2015-06-15

    Purpose: Preliminary studies of a novel, optically-clearing PRESAGE 3D dosimeter formulation (Presage-RU) demonstrated potential reusability. This study investigates the effects of time and temperature on the accuracy and reusability of Presage-RU, and reports on progress toward developing a reusable 3D dosimeter. Methods: Presage-RU was cast as small volume samples (1×1×4.5cm). The effect of dose response sensitivity with reirradiation and time was evaluated by irradiating samples from 0–10Gy, measuring change in optical density (ΔOD), clearing at room temperature (RT) (5–7 days to fully clear), and then repeating for a total of 5 irradiations. Effects of heating on clearing rate were investigated by irradiating samples to 8Gy, then tracking measurements with samples held at RT, 35°C, and 45°C. Two cylindrical dosimeters (11cm diameter, 9.5cm length) were evaluated for dosimetric accuracy when stored at RT and −3°C prior to irradiation. Plans delivered were 2 overlapping AP fields (RT) and VMAT (-3°C). Results: Heating the dosimeters reduced the clearing half-life from 16.3h at RT to 5.8h (35°C) and 5.1h (45°C), but also increased background ΔOD by 1.7x (35°C) and 2.3x (45°C). Reductions in dose response were more closely linked to age than reirradiation, and storage at RT showed pronounced desensitization from dosimeter edges. These results suggest desensitization from oxygen diffusion. It should be noted that atmospheric diffusion into the dosimeter is not seen in standard, single-use PRESAGE, and is likely caused by differences in the Presage-RU polyurethane matrix. The dosimeter kept in cold storage, however, showed no evidence of desensitization and exhibited accuracy on par with standard PRESAGE with a 3%/3mm 3D gamma passing rate of 98.1%. Conclusions: Presage-RU is sensitive to storage temperatures and time, both of which affect oxygen diffusion and subsequent desensitization. Development shows promising progress with further formulation

  16. Multidisciplinary Optimization Branch Experience Using iSIGHT Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padula, S. L.; Korte, J. J.; Dunn, H. J.; Salas, A. O.

    1999-01-01

    The Multidisciplinary Optimization (MDO) Branch at NASA Langley is investigating frameworks for supporting multidisciplinary analysis and optimization research. A framework provides software and system services to integrate computational tasks and allows the researcher to concentrate more on the application and less on the programming details. A framework also provides a common working environment and a full range of optimization tools, and so increases the productivity of multidisciplinary research teams. Finally, a framework enables staff members to develop applications for use by disciplinary experts in other organizations. This year, the MDO Branch has gained experience with the iSIGHT framework. This paper describes experiences with four aerospace applications, including: (1) reusable launch vehicle sizing, (2) aerospike nozzle design, (3) low-noise rotorcraft trajectories, and (4) acoustic liner design. Brief overviews of each problem are provided, including the number and type of disciplinary codes and computation time estimates. In addition, the optimization methods, objective functions, design variables, and constraints are described for each problem. For each case, discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of using the iSIGHT framework are provided as well as notes on the ease of use of various advanced features and suggestions for areas of improvement.

  17. SOFTWARE OPEN SOURCE, SOFTWARE GRATIS?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nur Aini Rakhmawati

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Berlakunya Undang – undang Hak Atas Kekayaan Intelektual (HAKI, memunculkan suatu alternatif baru untuk menggunakan software open source. Penggunaan software open source menyebar seiring dengan isu global pada Information Communication Technology (ICT saat ini. Beberapa organisasi dan perusahaan mulai menjadikan software open source sebagai pertimbangan. Banyak konsep mengenai software open source ini. Mulai dari software yang gratis sampai software tidak berlisensi. Tidak sepenuhnya isu software open source benar, untuk itu perlu dikenalkan konsep software open source mulai dari sejarah, lisensi dan bagaimana cara memilih lisensi, serta pertimbangan dalam memilih software open source yang ada. Kata kunci :Lisensi, Open Source, HAKI

  18. Small Composers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holgersen, Sven-Erik; Bruun, Peter; Tjagvad, Mette

    2018-01-01

    the study: What expectations do the class teacher and the professional musicians have to the creative practice, i.e. to the collaboration and to the musical outcome? To which extent do the collaborating partners share a common understanding of the aim, content and method of the workshop? How do the roles......The present chapter discusses roles and responsibilities of the collaborating partners in a creative music workshop called Small Composers. The aim is to be attentive to a number of potential alterations implicated by the collaborating partners’ different backgrounds. The following questions guided...... and responsibilities of the collaborating partners become visible through the practice? How do the professional identities of the teacher and the musicians become visible and what are the implications for the workshop as a musical community of practice?...

  19. Software structure for tritium-in-air monitoring in classified locations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ionete, Eusebiu Ilarian; Benchea, Dumitru

    2009-01-01

    Full text: In the working areas of heavy water detritiation facilities, were hydrogen gas is generated, the risk of air-hydrogen explosive mixture production is present. This paper gives the description of a software architecture solution for a fixed area tritium-in-air monitoring system suitable to be used in such hazardous locations. Tritium-in-air monitoring system was designed as a distributed system containing a number of fixed tritium in air monitoring units, each of them being composed of an ionisation chamber flow-through type and a fix sampling unit with a number of sample lines and one additional blow line. For each unit, software and hardware architecture structure enable independent performance with a fail-safe concept, remote control operation and data storage in a DCS-DCU module. This software architecture secures the setting possibility of alarm levels for tritium concentration, graphical visualisation and acoustic alarm in the case of level overtaking. The afferent software architecture contains applications in connection with hardware architecture and with a hydrogen detection system: RU-1 software application for control sampling; RU-2 software application for measured values display; RU-3 software application for remote data display; RU-4 software application for SQL conversion server; RU-5 software application for OPC standard conversion. The interconnection of all hardware components, between each PLC and each display unit, between tritium-in-air monitoring units and PLC sampling units will be internally carried out using interfaces. The interconnection between PLCs and tritium-in-air monitoring DCU will be made using a communication network, for instance Ethernet Profibus or RS 485. (authors)

  20. PlantCV v2: Image analysis software for high-throughput plant phenotyping

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malia A. Gehan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Systems for collecting image data in conjunction with computer vision techniques are a powerful tool for increasing the temporal resolution at which plant phenotypes can be measured non-destructively. Computational tools that are flexible and extendable are needed to address the diversity of plant phenotyping problems. We previously described the Plant Computer Vision (PlantCV software package, which is an image processing toolkit for plant phenotyping analysis. The goal of the PlantCV project is to develop a set of modular, reusable, and repurposable tools for plant image analysis that are open-source and community-developed. Here we present the details and rationale for major developments in the second major release of PlantCV. In addition to overall improvements in the organization of the PlantCV project, new functionality includes a set of new image processing and normalization tools, support for analyzing images that include multiple plants, leaf segmentation, landmark identification tools for morphometrics, and modules for machine learning.

  1. Composing chaotic music from the letter m

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotiropoulos, Anastasios D.

    Chaotic music is composed from a proposed iterative map depicting the letter m, relating the pitch, duration and loudness of successive steps. Each of the two curves of the letter m is based on the classical logistic map. Thus, the generating map is xn+1 = r xn(1/2 - xn) for xn between 0 and 1/2 defining the first curve, and xn+1 = r (xn - 1/2)(1 - xn) for xn between 1/2 and 1 representing the second curve. The parameter r which determines the height(s) of the letter m varies from 2 to 16, the latter value ensuring fully developed chaotic solutions for the whole letter m; r = 8 yielding full chaotic solutions only for its first curve. The m-model yields fixed points, bifurcation points and chaotic regions for each separate curve, as well as values of the parameter r greater than 8 which produce inter-fixed points, inter-bifurcation points and inter-chaotic regions from the interplay of the two curves. Based on this, music is composed from mapping the m- recurrence model solutions onto actual notes. The resulting musical score strongly depends on the sequence of notes chosen by the composer to define the musical range corresponding to the range of the chaotic mathematical solutions x from 0 to 1. Here, two musical ranges are used; one is the middle chromatic scale and the other is the seven- octaves range. At the composer's will and, for aesthetics, within the same composition, notes can be the outcome of different values of r and/or shifted in any octave. Compositions with endings of non-repeating note patterns result from values of r in the m-model that do not produce bifurcations. Scores of chaotic music composed from the m-model and the classical logistic model are presented.

  2. 16 CFR 303.24 - Pile fabrics and products composed thereof.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Pile fabrics and products composed thereof... CONGRESS RULES AND REGULATIONS UNDER THE TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCTS IDENTIFICATION ACT § 303.24 Pile fabrics and products composed thereof. The fiber content of pile fabrics or products composed thereof may be...

  3. Grammar for College Writing: A Sentence-Composing Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Killgallon, Don; Killgallon, Jenny

    2010-01-01

    Across America, in thousands of classrooms, from elementary school to high school, the time-tested sentence-composing approach has given students tools to become better writers. Now the authors present a much anticipated sentence-composing grammar worktext for college writing. This book presents a new and easier way to understand grammar: (1) Noun…

  4. Moving-Map Composer Facility

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — FUNCTION: Develops, tests, and transitions software and algorithms to perform database design, data compression, change detection, data fusion, archival, retrieval,...

  5. Managing Scientific Software Complexity with Bocca and CCA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin A. Allan

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In high-performance scientific software development, the emphasis is often on short time to first solution. Even when the development of new components mostly reuses existing components or libraries and only small amounts of new code must be created, dealing with the component glue code and software build processes to obtain complete applications is still tedious and error-prone. Component-based software meant to reduce complexity at the application level increases complexity to the extent that the user must learn and remember the interfaces and conventions of the component model itself. To address these needs, we introduce Bocca, the first tool to enable application developers to perform rapid component prototyping while maintaining robust software-engineering practices suitable to HPC environments. Bocca provides project management and a comprehensive build environment for creating and managing applications composed of Common Component Architecture components. Of critical importance for high-performance computing (HPC applications, Bocca is designed to operate in a language-agnostic way, simultaneously handling components written in any of the languages commonly used in scientific applications: C, C++, Fortran, Python and Java. Bocca automates the tasks related to the component glue code, freeing the user to focus on the scientific aspects of the application. Bocca embraces the philosophy pioneered by Ruby on Rails for web applications: start with something that works, and evolve it to the user's purpose.

  6. Birth Location, Migration and Clustering of Important Composers: Historical Patterns

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borowiecki, Karol; O’Hagan, John

    2010-01-01

    and 1899. This information is compiled from the large, Grove Music Online (2009) encyclopedia. There is also some discussion of the biases evident in choosing “significant” composers. The data show a marked level ofmigration of important composers going back many centuries suggesting that the phenomenon......This article examines the 522 most important composers in the last 800 years, as identified by Charles Murray (2003), in terms of their birth location and migration. It also examines detailed patterns of migration and tendencies to cluster in certain cities for those composers born between 1750...

  7. Development of Safety-Critical Software for Nuclear Power Plant using a CASE Tool

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Chang Ho; Oh, Do Young; Kim, Koh Eun; Choi, Woong Seock; Sohn, Se Do; Kim, Jae Hack; Kim, Hang Bae [KEPCO E and C, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2011-08-15

    The Integrated SOftware Development Environment (ISODE) is developed to provide the major S/W life cycle processes that are composed of development process, V/V process, requirements traceability process, and automated document generation process and target importing process to Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) platform. This provides critical safety software developers with a certified, domain optimized, model-based development environment, and the associated services to reduce time and efforts to develop software such as debugging, simulation, code generation and document generation. This also provides critical safety software verifiers with integrated V/V features of each phase of the software life cycle using appropriate tools such as model test coverage, formal verification, and automated report generation. In addition to development and verification, the ISODE gives a complete traceability solution from the SW design phase to the testing phase. Using this information, the coverage and impact analysis can be done easily whenever software modification is necessary. The final source codes of ISODE are imported into the newly developed PLC environment, as a module based after automatically converted into the format required by PLC. Additional tests for module and unit level are performed on the target platform.

  8. Development of Safety-Critical Software for Nuclear Power Plant using a CASE Tool

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Chang Ho; Oh, Do Young; Kim, Koh Eun; Choi, Woong Seock; Sohn, Se Do; Kim, Jae Hack; Kim, Hang Bae

    2011-01-01

    The Integrated SOftware Development Environment (ISODE) is developed to provide the major S/W life cycle processes that are composed of development process, V/V process, requirements traceability process, and automated document generation process and target importing process to Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) platform. This provides critical safety software developers with a certified, domain optimized, model-based development environment, and the associated services to reduce time and efforts to develop software such as debugging, simulation, code generation and document generation. This also provides critical safety software verifiers with integrated V/V features of each phase of the software life cycle using appropriate tools such as model test coverage, formal verification, and automated report generation. In addition to development and verification, the ISODE gives a complete traceability solution from the SW design phase to the testing phase. Using this information, the coverage and impact analysis can be done easily whenever software modification is necessary. The final source codes of ISODE are imported into the newly developed PLC environment, as a module based after automatically converted into the format required by PLC. Additional tests for module and unit level are performed on the target platform

  9. Composing art songs based on Igbo traditional music:concept and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Composing modern African art music from the African stock has drawn the attention of many African and non-African composers and scholars alike in recent times. The common interest to decipher the creative concept and process of the new works emerging from the attempts of African composers at creative continuum of ...

  10. Composers on stage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Groth, Sanne Krogh

    A trend on the scene of contemporary music is composers going on stage, performing their pieces themselves. Within a discourse of popular music, this is more the rule than exception, but when it comes to the context of contemporary scored music, the historical and aesthetic context differs......, and something quite different is undergoing. This paper intends to discuss three examples of performances in which the composer’s appearance on stage was an important part of the piece, - both when it came to the role as a performer and as an individual person – as representer and presenter. The paper intends...

  11. An integrated environment for developing object-oriented CAE tools

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hofmann, P.; Ryba, M.; Baitinger, U.G. [Integrated System Engeneering, Stuttgart (Germany)

    1996-12-31

    This paper presents how object oriented techniques can applied to improve the development of CAE tools. For the design of modular and reusable software systems we use predefined and well tested building blocks. These building blocks are reusable software components based on object-oriented technology which allows the assembling of software systems. Today CAE tools are typically very complex and computation extensive. Therefore we need a concept, that join the advantages of the object-oriented paradigm with the advantages of parallel and distributed programming. So we present a design environment for the development of concurrent-object oriented CAE tools called CoDO.

  12. Note: reliable and reusable ultrahigh vacuum optical viewports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arora, P; Sen Gupta, A

    2012-04-01

    We report a simple technique for the realization of ultrahigh vacuum optical viewports. The technique relies on using specially designed thin copper knife-edges and using a thin layer of Vacseal(®) on tip of the knife-edges between the optical flat and the ConFlat(®) (CF) flange. The design of the windows is such that it gives uniform pressure on the flat without breaking it. The assembled window is a complete unit, which can be mounted directly onto a CF flange of the vacuum chamber. It can be removed and reused without breaking the window seal. The design is reliable as more than a dozen such windows have survived several bake out and cooling cycles and have been leak tested up to 10(-11) Torr l/s level with a commercial Helium leak detector. The advantages of this technique are ease of assembly and leak proof sealing that survives multiple temperature cycling making the windows reliable and reusable. © 2012 American Institute of Physics

  13. The jABC Approach to Rigorous Collaborative Development of SCM Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hörmann, Martina; Margaria, Tiziana; Mender, Thomas; Nagel, Ralf; Steffen, Bernhard; Trinh, Hong

    Our approach to the model-driven collaborative design of IKEA's P3 Delivery Management Process uses the jABC [9] for model driven mediation and choreography to complement a RUP-based (Rational Unified Process) development process. jABC is a framework for service development based on Lightweight Process Coordination. Users (product developers and system/software designers) easily develop services and applications by composing reusable building-blocks into (flow-) graph structures that can be animated, analyzed, simulated, verified, executed, and compiled. This way of handling the collaborative design of complex embedded systems has proven to be effective and adequate for the cooperation of non-programmers and non-technical people, which is the focus of this contribution, and it is now being rolled out in the operative practice.

  14. Comparison of Software Technologies for Vectorization and Parallelization

    CERN Document Server

    Lazzaro, Alfio; Nowak, Andrzej; Valsan, Liviu

    2012-01-01

    This paper demonstrates how modern software development methodologies can be used to give an existing sequential application a considerable performance speed-up on modern x86 server systems. Whereas, in the past, speed-up was directly linked to the increase in clock frequency when moving to a more modern system, current x86 servers present a plethora of “performance dimensions” that need to be harnessed with great care. The application we used is a real-life data analysis example in C++ analyzing High Energy Physics data. The key software methods used are OpenMP, Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB), Intel Cilk Plus, and the auto-vectorization capability of the Intel compiler (Composer XE). Somewhat surprisingly, the Message Passing Interface (MPI) is successfully added, although our focus is on single-node rather than multi-node performance optimization. The paper underlines the importance of algorithmic redesign in order to optimize each performance dimension and links this to close control of the memo...

  15. Reusable rocket engine preventive maintenance scheduling using genetic algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Tao; Li, Jiawen; Jin, Ping; Cai, Guobiao

    2013-01-01

    This paper deals with the preventive maintenance (PM) scheduling problem of reusable rocket engine (RRE), which is different from the ordinary repairable systems, by genetic algorithm. Three types of PM activities for RRE are considered and modeled by introducing the concept of effective age. The impacts of PM on all subsystems' aging processes are evaluated based on improvement factor model. Then the reliability of engine is formulated by considering the accumulated time effect. After that, optimization model subjected to reliability constraint is developed for RRE PM scheduling at fixed interval. The optimal PM combination is obtained by minimizing the total cost in the whole life cycle for a supposed engine. Numerical investigations indicate that the subsystem's intrinsic reliability characteristic and the improvement factor of maintain operations are the most important parameters in RRE's PM scheduling management

  16. Dimensions of the Composing Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freedman, Aviva

    As a by-product of a study concerning how university level writers develop new genres of discourse, a study was undertaken to examine what factors or dimensions affect the composing process of university writers. Six undergraduate students at Carleton University in Ottawa participated, making available to researchers information about how they…

  17. Reusability of coded data in the primary care electronic medical record : A dynamic cohort study concerning cancer diagnoses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sollie, Annet; Sijmons, Rolf H.; Helsper, Charles W.; Numans, Mattijs E.

    Objectives: To assess quality and reusability of coded cancer diagnoses in routine primary care data. To identify factors that influence data quality and areas for improvement. Methods: A dynamic cohort study in a Dutch network database containing 250,000 anonymized electronic medical records (EMRs)

  18. Engineering of Data Acquiring Mobile Software and Sustainable End-User Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Benton T.

    2013-01-01

    The criteria for which data acquiring software and its supporting infrastructure should be designed should take the following two points into account: the reusability and organization of stored online and remote data and content, and an assessment on whether abandoning a platform optimized design in favor for a multi-platform solution significantly reduces the performance of an end-user application. Furthermore, in-house applications that control or process instrument acquired data for end-users should be designed with a communication and control interface such that the application's modules can be reused as plug-in modular components in greater software systems. The application of the above mentioned is applied using two loosely related projects: a mobile application, and a website containing live and simulated data. For the intelligent devices mobile application AIDM, the end-user interface have a platform and data type optimized design, while the database and back-end applications store this information in an organized manner and manage access to that data to only to authorized user end application(s). Finally, the content for the website was derived from a database such that the content can be included and uniform to all applications accessing the content. With these projects being ongoing, I have concluded from my research that the applicable methods presented are feasible for both projects, and that a multi-platform design for the mobile application only marginally drop the performance of the mobile application.

  19. Immobilization in polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel enhances yeast storage stability and reusability of recombinant laccase-producing S-cerevisiae

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Herkommerová, Klára; Zemančíková, Jana; Sychrová, Hana; Antošová, Zuzana

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 40, č. 2 (2018), s. 405-411 ISSN 0141-5492 R&D Projects: GA TA ČR(CZ) TA01011461 Institutional support: RVO:67985823 Keywords : immobilization * laccase * LentiKats * polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel * reusability * storage stability * yeasts Subject RIV: EI - Biotechnology ; Bionics OBOR OECD: Industrial biotechnology Impact factor: 1.730, year: 2016

  20. Support interoperability and reusability of emerging forms of assessment: Some issues on integrating IMS LD with IMS QTI

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Miao, Yongwu; Boon, Jo; Van der Klink, Marcel; Sloep, Peter; Koper, Rob

    2009-01-01

    Miao, Y., Boon, J., Van der Klink, M., Sloep, P. B., & Koper, R. (2011). Support interoperability and reusability of emerging forms of assessment: Some issues on integrating IMS LD with IMS QTI. In F. Lazarinis, S. Green, & E. Pearson (Eds.), E-Learning Standards and Interoperability: Frameworks

  1. Composability-Centered Convolutional Neural Network Pruning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shen, Xipeng [North Carolina State University; Guan, Hui [North Carolina State University; Lim, Seung-Hwan [ORNL; Patton, Robert M. [ORNL

    2018-02-01

    This work studies the composability of the building blocks ofstructural CNN models (e.g., GoogleLeNet and Residual Networks) in thecontext of network pruning. We empirically validate that a networkcomposed of pre-trained building blocks (e.g. residual blocks andInception modules) not only gives a better initial setting fortraining, but also allows the training process to converge at asignificantly higher accuracy in much less time. Based on thatinsight, we propose a {\\em composability-centered} design for CNNnetwork pruning. Experiments show that this new scheme shortens theconfiguration process in CNN network pruning by up to 186.8X forResNet-50 and up to 30.2X for Inception-V3, and meanwhile, the modelsit finds that meet the accuracy requirement are significantly morecompact than those found by default schemes.

  2. Facile screening of potential xenoestrogens by an estrogen receptor-based reusable optical biosensor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lanhua; Zhou, Xiaohong; Lu, Yun; Shan, Didi; Xu, Bi; He, Miao; Shi, Hanchang; Qian, Yi

    2017-11-15

    The apparent increase in hormone-induced cancers and disorders of the reproductive tract has led to a growing demand for new technologies capable of screening xenoestrogens. We reported an estrogen receptor (ER)-based reusable fiber biosensor for facile screening estrogenic compounds in environment. The bioassay is based on the competition of xenoestrogens with 17β-estradiol (E 2 ) for binding to the recombinant receptor of human estrogen receptor α (hERα) protein, leaving E 2 free to bind to fluorophore-labeled anti-E 2 monoclonal antibody. Unbound anti-E 2 antibody then binds to the immobilized E 2 -protein conjugate on the fiber surface, and is detected by fluorescence emission induced by evanescent field. As expected, the stronger estrogenic activity of xenoestrogen would result in the weaker fluorescent signal. Three estrogen-agonist compounds, diethylstilbestrol (DES), 4-n-nonylphenol (NP) and 4-n-octylphenol (OP), were chosen as a paradigm for validation of this assay. The rank order of estrogenic potency determined by this biosensor was DES>OP>NP, which were consistent with the published results in numerous studies. Moreover, the E 2 -protein conjugate modified optical fiber was robust enough for over 300 sensing cycles with the signal recoveries ranging from 90% to 100%. In conclusion, the biosensor is reusable, reliable, portable and amenable to on-line operation, providing a facile, efficient and economical alternative to screen potential xenoestrogens in environment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Embracing Open Software Development in Solar Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughitt, V. K.; Ireland, J.; Christe, S.; Mueller, D.

    2012-12-01

    We discuss two ongoing software projects in solar physics that have adopted best practices of the open source software community. The first, the Helioviewer Project, is a powerful data visualization tool which includes online and Java interfaces inspired by Google Maps (tm). This effort allows users to find solar features and events of interest, and download the corresponding data. Having found data of interest, the user now has to analyze it. The dominant solar data analysis platform is an open-source library called SolarSoft (SSW). Although SSW itself is open-source, the programming language used is IDL, a proprietary language with licensing costs that are prohibative for many institutions and individuals. SSW is composed of a collection of related scripts written by missions and individuals for solar data processing and analysis, without any consistent data structures or common interfaces. Further, at the time when SSW was initially developed, many of the best software development processes of today (mirrored and distributed version control, unit testing, continuous integration, etc.) were not standard, and have not since been adopted. The challenges inherent in developing SolarSoft led to a second software project known as SunPy. SunPy is an open-source Python-based library which seeks to create a unified solar data analysis environment including a number of core datatypes such as Maps, Lightcurves, and Spectra which have consistent interfaces and behaviors. By taking advantage of the large and sophisticated body of scientific software already available in Python (e.g. SciPy, NumPy, Matplotlib), and by adopting many of the best practices refined in open-source software development, SunPy has been able to develop at a very rapid pace while still ensuring a high level of reliability. The Helioviewer Project and SunPy represent two pioneering technologies in solar physics - simple yet flexible data visualization and a powerful, new data analysis environment. We

  4. Reusable frame greenhouse that saves money and erection time and reduces waste generation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greenhalgh, W.O.; Ott, D.T.

    1977-01-01

    An improved greenhouse design has been proposed and tested for use at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory for containing radioactive materials during decontamination, maintenance, and remodeling operations in nuclear facilities. The advantages of the greenhouse design include a reusable frame that is free standing and self-supporting and a plastic enclosure that is easily erected and attached to the frame. Manpower requirements appear to be about half that of the conventional greenhouse, the construction costs are approximately 20 to 40% lower, and the waste generated from the greenhouse is approximately 60% lower

  5. Investigation of Reusable Crucibles on Uranium Casting by Injection Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Song, Hoon; Kim, Jong-Hwan; Ko, Young-Mo; Woo, Yoon-Myung; Kim, Ki-Hwan; Lee, Chan-Bock

    2014-01-01

    Slurry applied coatings must be recoated after every batch. Thermal plasma-sprayed coatings of refractory materials can be applied to develop a re-usable crucible coating for metallic fuel. Plasma-sprayed coating can provide a crucible with a denser, more durable, coating layer, compared with the more friable coating layer formed by slurry-coating. Plasma-sprayed coatings are consolidated by mechanical interlocking of the molten particles impacting on the substrate and are dense from the heat applied by the plasma. Although the protective layer is more difficult in a dense coating than in a porous coating, the increased coating density is advantageous because it should not require frequent recoating or U-Zr melt penetration. In this study, we used a Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS) method, which is suitable to prevent oxidization and has a number of advantages such as low defect density and excellent adhesion of the coating layer, to investigate permanent coatings for re-usable crucibles for melting and casting of metallic fuel. After coatings, interaction studies between molten U-Zr alloys and the plasma sprayed coatings were also carried out. We summarized the results of the coating methods. All coated samples maintained good coating integrity in a U-Zr melt, but most of the coating method samples did not maintain integrity in the U-Zr-RE melt because of the cracks or microcracks of the coating layer, presumably formed from the thermal expansion difference. Only the TaC(100)-Y 2 O 3 (100) DL VPS coated rod survived the 2 cycles dipping test of U-Zr-RE melt. This is likely caused by good adhesion of the TaC coating onto the niobium rod and the chemical inertness of Y 2 O 3 coating material in the U-Zr-RE melt. Based on the results from the interactions with U-10Zr and U-10Zr-5RE melt, TaC(100)-Y 2 O 3 (100) plasma-sprayed coating methods have been applied to real graphite crucibles

  6. The Road from the NASA Access to Space Study to a Reusable Launch Vehicle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Richard W.; Cook, Stephen A.; Lockwood, Mary Kae

    1998-01-01

    NASA is cooperating with the aerospace industry to develop a space transportation system that provides reliable access-to-space at a much lower cost than is possible with today's launch vehicles. While this quest has been on-going for many years it received a major impetus when the U.S. Congress mandated as part of the 1993 NASA appropriations bill that: "In view of budget difficulties, present and future..., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall ... recommend improvements in space transportation." NASA, working with other organizations, including the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Defense identified three major transportation architecture options that were to be evaluated in the areas of reliability, operability and cost. These architectural options were: (1) retain and upgrade the Space Shuttle and the current expendable launch vehicles; (2) develop new expendable launch vehicles using conventional technologies and transition to these new vehicles beginning in 2005; and (3) develop new reusable vehicles using advanced technology, and transition to these vehicles beginning in 2008. The launch needs mission model was based on 1993 projections of civil, defense, and commercial payload requirements. This "Access to Space" study concluded that the option that provided the greatest potential for meeting the cost, operability, and reliability goals was a rocket-powered single-stage-to-orbit fully reusable launch vehicle (RLV) fleet designed with advanced technologies.

  7. Are Composers Different? Historical Evidence on Conflict-induced Migration (1816-1997)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borowiecki, Karol

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we explore whether, and to what extent, the incidence of war affects the migration intensity of 164 prominent classical composers born after 1800. We model the aggregate stock of composers in a country and find that periods of war correspond negatively with the number of artists. We...... also find that conflict-induced migration intensity is considerably higher for composers than for the overall population and demonstrate that the share of composers in the overall population drops due to the incidence of war. We further find that the observed outmigration substantially diminishes...

  8. Interconnection blocks: a method for providing reusable, rapid, multiple, aligned and planar microfluidic interconnections

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sabourin, D; Snakenborg, D; Dufva, M

    2009-01-01

    In this paper a method is presented for creating 'interconnection blocks' that are re-usable and provide multiple, aligned and planar microfluidic interconnections. Interconnection blocks made from polydimethylsiloxane allow rapid testing of microfluidic chips and unobstructed microfluidic observation. The interconnection block method is scalable, flexible and supports high interconnection density. The average pressure limit of the interconnection block was near 5.5 bar and all individual results were well above the 2 bar threshold considered applicable to most microfluidic applications

  9. VisComposer: A Visual Programmable Composition Environment for Information Visualization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Honghui Mei

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available As the amount of data being collected has increased, the need for tools that can enable the visual exploration of data has also grown. This has led to the development of a variety of widely used programming frameworks for information visualization. Unfortunately, such frameworks demand comprehensive visualization and coding skills and require users to develop visualization from scratch. An alternative is to create interactive visualization design environments that require little to no programming. However, these tools only supports a small portion of visual forms.We present a programmable integrated development environment (IDE, VisComposer, that supports the development of expressive visualization using a drag-and-drop visual interface. VisComposer exposes the programmability by customizing desired components within a modularized visualization composition pipeline, effectively balancing the capability gap between expert coders and visualization artists. The implemented system empowers users to compose comprehensive visualizations with real-time preview and optimization features, and supports prototyping, sharing and reuse of the effects by means of an intuitive visual composer. Visual programming and textual programming integrated in our system allow users to compose more complex visual effects while retaining the simplicity of use. We demonstrate the performance of VisComposer with a variety of examples and an informal user evaluation. Keywords: Information Visualization, Visualization authoring, Interactive development environment

  10. Zirconyl (IV Nitrate as Efficient and Reusable Solid Lewis Acid Catalyst for the Synthesis of Benzimidazole Derivatives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pratapsinha B. Gorepatil

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The present paper introduces a simple and efficient method for the synthesis of substituted benzimidazoles by heterocyclization of different o-phenylenediamines and substituted aromatic carboxylic acid/aldehyde in the presence of zirconyl nitrate as catalyst in ethanol under reflux, which produced excellent yield of corresponding benzimidazoles in a short reaction time with reusability of catalyst.

  11. Global Software Engineering: A Software Process Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Ita; Casey, Valentine; Burton, John; McCaffery, Fergal

    Our research has shown that many companies are struggling with the successful implementation of global software engineering, due to temporal, cultural and geographical distance, which causes a range of factors to come into play. For example, cultural, project managementproject management and communication difficulties continually cause problems for software engineers and project managers. While the implementation of efficient software processes can be used to improve the quality of the software product, published software process models do not cater explicitly for the recent growth in global software engineering. Our thesis is that global software engineering factors should be included in software process models to ensure their continued usefulness in global organisations. Based on extensive global software engineering research, we have developed a software process, Global Teaming, which includes specific practices and sub-practices. The purpose is to ensure that requirements for successful global software engineering are stipulated so that organisations can ensure successful implementation of global software engineering.

  12. Selective and reusable iron(II)-based molecular sensor for the vapor-phase detection of alcohols.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naik, Anil D; Robeyns, Koen; Meunier, Christophe F; Léonard, Alexandre F; Rotaru, Aurelian; Tinant, Bernard; Filinchuk, Yaroslav; Su, Bao Lian; Garcia, Yann

    2014-02-03

    A mononuclear iron(II) neutral complex (1) is screened for sensing abilities for a wide spectrum of chemicals and to evaluate the response function toward physical perturbation like temperature and mechanical stress. Interestingly, 1 precisely detects methanol among an alcohol series. The sensing process is visually detectable, fatigue-resistant, highly selective, and reusable. The sensing ability is attributed to molecular sieving and subsequent spin-state change of iron centers, after a crystal-to-crystal transformation.

  13. A simple technique for direct growth of Au into a nanoporous alumina layer on conductive glass as a reusable SERS substrate

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Jiajie [Chemicobiology and Functional Materials Institute, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094 (China); Shen, Muzhong [School of Engineering, AnHui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036 (China); Liu, Siyu; Li, Feng [Chemicobiology and Functional Materials Institute, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094 (China); Sun, Dongping, E-mail: sundpe301@163.com [School of Engineering, AnHui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036 (China); Wang, Tianhe, E-mail: thwang56@126.com [Chemicobiology and Functional Materials Institute, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094 (China)

    2017-06-01

    Graphical abstract: A simple technique for direct growth of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) into a nanostructured porous alumina layer on conductive glass slide (PAOCG). Gold was uniformly distributed in porous alumina layer. Au/PAOCG can serve as a portable, durable and reusable SERS substrate. - Highlights: • A simple method of producing nanoporous alumina layer on conductive glasses. • A facile technique for direct growth of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) into PAOCG. • It presents a general protocol for preparation of (MNPs) on conductive glasses. • Au/PAOCG exhibits high SERS sensitivity and excellent reusability. - Abstract: In this paper, we describe a simple technique for direct growth of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) into a nanostructured porous alumina layer on conductive glass slide (PAOCG). PAOCG was attached firmly with a small piece of steel and was then immersed in a HAuCl{sub 4} solution. Electro-induced electrons from steel were employed to reduce AuCl{sub 4}{sup −} on PAOCG. The galvanic replacement reaction (GRR) was adopted as the fundamental mechanism for reducing metal precursors. This mechanism was further studied by open circuit potential-time (OCP-t) experiment and the result demonstrated that steel induced the continuous proceeding of this reaction. This strategy presents a simple and general protocol for preparation of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) on conductive glass substrates. The SERS properties of Au/PAOCG were investigated using aqueous crystal violet (CV) and 4-mercaptopyridine (4-Mpy) as probe molecules. Au/PAOCG allowed as low as 10{sup −9} M CV and 10{sup −8} M 4-Mpy to be detected. The reusability of this substrate was achieved by measuring the SERS spectrum of the probe molecules followed with a 400 °C heat treatment for 10 min to remove the residuals. This substrate could be reused for at least ten cycles without any significantly reduced SERS performance. Therefore, this surface can serve as a portable, durable and reusable SERS

  14. Stroke, music, and creative output: Alfred Schnittke and other composers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zagvazdin, Yuri

    2015-01-01

    Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998), a celebrated Russian composer of the twentieth century, suffered from several strokes which affected his left cerebral hemisphere. The disease, however, did not diminish his musical talent. Moreover, he stated that his illness in a way facilitated his work. The composer showed amazingly high productivity after his first and second injuries of the central nervous system. The main topic of this chapter is the effect of strokes on Schnittke's output, creativity, and style of music. A brief biography of the composer with the chronology of his brain hemorrhages is included. In addition, the influence of cerebrovascular lesions on creative potential of other prominent composers such as Benjamin Britten, Jean Langlais, Vissarion Shebalin, Igor Stravinsky, and Ira Randall Thompson is discussed. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Studies in Composing Hydrogen Atom Wavefunctions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Putnam, Lance Jonathan; Kuchera-Morin, JoAnn; Peliti, Luca

    2015-01-01

    We present our studies in composing elementary wavefunctions of a hydrogen-like atom and identify several relationships between physical phenomena and musical composition that helped guide the process. The hydrogen-like atom accurately describes some of the fundamental quantum mechanical phenomen...

  16. Spiked proteomic standard dataset for testing label-free quantitative software and statistical methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claire Ramus

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This data article describes a controlled, spiked proteomic dataset for which the “ground truth” of variant proteins is known. It is based on the LC-MS analysis of samples composed of a fixed background of yeast lysate and different spiked amounts of the UPS1 mixture of 48 recombinant proteins. It can be used to objectively evaluate bioinformatic pipelines for label-free quantitative analysis, and their ability to detect variant proteins with good sensitivity and low false discovery rate in large-scale proteomic studies. More specifically, it can be useful for tuning software tools parameters, but also testing new algorithms for label-free quantitative analysis, or for evaluation of downstream statistical methods. The raw MS files can be downloaded from ProteomeXchange with identifier http://www.ebi.ac.uk/pride/archive/projects/PXD001819. Starting from some raw files of this dataset, we also provide here some processed data obtained through various bioinformatics tools (including MaxQuant, Skyline, MFPaQ, IRMa-hEIDI and Scaffold in different workflows, to exemplify the use of such data in the context of software benchmarking, as discussed in details in the accompanying manuscript [1]. The experimental design used here for data processing takes advantage of the different spike levels introduced in the samples composing the dataset, and processed data are merged in a single file to facilitate the evaluation and illustration of software tools results for the detection of variant proteins with different absolute expression levels and fold change values.

  17. Designing a reusable system based on nanodiamonds for biochemical determination of urea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ronzhin, N O; Baron, A V; Bondar, V S; Gitelson, I I

    2015-01-01

    A reusable system including urease covalently bound to the surface of modified nanodiamonds (MNDs) has been developed for the multiple determination of urea. The immobilized enzyme exhibits functional activity and catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to yield ammonia. The presence of ammonia is confirmed by the formation of a colored product after the addition of chemical reagents. It was shown that the MNDs-urease complex can function in a wide range of temperatures and pH as well as in deionized water. The complex provides a linear yield of the product at low analyte concentrations and allows the multiple determination of urea in vitro.

  18. Software engineering architecture-driven software development

    CERN Document Server

    Schmidt, Richard F

    2013-01-01

    Software Engineering: Architecture-driven Software Development is the first comprehensive guide to the underlying skills embodied in the IEEE's Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) standard. Standards expert Richard Schmidt explains the traditional software engineering practices recognized for developing projects for government or corporate systems. Software engineering education often lacks standardization, with many institutions focusing on implementation rather than design as it impacts product architecture. Many graduates join the workforce with incomplete skil

  19. Reusable self-healing hydrogels realized via in situ polymerization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vivek, Balachandran; Prasad, Edamana

    2015-04-09

    In this work, a self-healing hydrogel has been prepared using in situ polymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide in the presence of glycogen. The hydrogel was characterized using NMR, SEM, FT-IR, rheology, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) studies. The developed hydrogel exhibits self-healing properties at neutral pH, high swelling ability, high elasticity, and excellent mechanical strength. The hydrogel exhibits modulus values (G', G″) as high as 10(6) Pa and shows an exceptionally high degree of swelling ratio (∼3.5 × 10(3)). Further, the polymer based hydrogel adsorbs toxic metal ions (Cd(2+), Pb(2+), and Hg(2+)) and organic dyes (methylene blue and methyl orange) from contaminated water with remarkable efficiency (90-98%). The mechanistic analysis indicated the presence of pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics. The reusability of the hydrogel has been demonstrated by repeating the adsorption-desorption process over five cycles with identical results in the adsorption efficiency.

  20. Composers on Stage: Ambiguous Authorship in Contemporary Music Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Groth, Sanne Krogh

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, workflows within the field of contemporary classical music have changed drastically. Increasingly, composers are active in the process of creating and co-creating performances, not only the auditory dimensions but also the visual design and theatrical staging. The practice has...... but involving themselves in other ways. The article explores the ambivalent authorship at stake in these performances, arguing that they appear to be projects that reveal the processes of musical performance in ways that undermine the Romantic idea of the composer while concurrently celebrating that very same...... idea through their exposition and staging of the composer. The examples used to illustrate my argument are analyses of All the Time (Hodkinson, 2001), Buenos Aires (Steen-Andersen 2014) and Ord for Ord (Rønsholdt, 2014)...

  1. Software FMEA analysis for safety-related application software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Gee-Yong; Kim, Dong Hoon; Lee, Dong Young

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • We develop a modified FMEA analysis suited for applying to software architecture. • A template for failure modes on a specific software language is established. • A detailed-level software FMEA analysis on nuclear safety software is presented. - Abstract: A method of a software safety analysis is described in this paper for safety-related application software. The target software system is a software code installed at an Automatic Test and Interface Processor (ATIP) in a digital reactor protection system (DRPS). For the ATIP software safety analysis, at first, an overall safety or hazard analysis is performed over the software architecture and modules, and then a detailed safety analysis based on the software FMEA (Failure Modes and Effect Analysis) method is applied to the ATIP program. For an efficient analysis, the software FMEA analysis is carried out based on the so-called failure-mode template extracted from the function blocks used in the function block diagram (FBD) for the ATIP software. The software safety analysis by the software FMEA analysis, being applied to the ATIP software code, which has been integrated and passed through a very rigorous system test procedure, is proven to be able to provide very valuable results (i.e., software defects) that could not be identified during various system tests

  2. Catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins using a recoverable and reusable OsO(4)2- in ionic liquid [bmim][PF6].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Branco, Luís C; Afonso, Carlos A M

    2002-12-21

    The use of the solvent systems water/ionic liquid or water/ionic liquid/tert-butanol provides a recoverable, reusable, robust and simple system for the asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins, based on the immobilization of the osmium-ligand catalyst in the ionic liquid phase.

  3. Amberlyst-15: An Efficient and reusable heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of β-amino carbonyl compounds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pathakota Venkata Ramana

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available A simple and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of β-amino carbonyl compounds from aromatic ketones, aldehydes and amines by Mannich reaction in the presence of amberlyst-15 as a reusable heterogeneous catalyst at room temperature under solvent-free conditions. The noteworthy advantages of the present method are short reaction times, good product yields, simple procedures and use of non-toxic catalyst.

  4. Reusable launch vehicle model uncertainties impact analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jiaye; Mu, Rongjun; Zhang, Xin; Deng, Yanpeng

    2018-03-01

    Reusable launch vehicle(RLV) has the typical characteristics of complex aerodynamic shape and propulsion system coupling, and the flight environment is highly complicated and intensely changeable. So its model has large uncertainty, which makes the nominal system quite different from the real system. Therefore, studying the influences caused by the uncertainties on the stability of the control system is of great significance for the controller design. In order to improve the performance of RLV, this paper proposes the approach of analyzing the influence of the model uncertainties. According to the typical RLV, the coupling dynamic and kinematics models are built. Then different factors that cause uncertainties during building the model are analyzed and summed up. After that, the model uncertainties are expressed according to the additive uncertainty model. Choosing the uncertainties matrix's maximum singular values as the boundary model, and selecting the uncertainties matrix's norm to show t how much the uncertainty factors influence is on the stability of the control system . The simulation results illustrate that the inertial factors have the largest influence on the stability of the system, and it is necessary and important to take the model uncertainties into consideration before the designing the controller of this kind of aircraft( like RLV, etc).

  5. PRISM Software: Processing and Review Interface for Strong‐Motion Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Jeanne M.; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher D.; Ng, Peter

    2017-01-01

    A continually increasing number of high‐quality digital strong‐motion records from stations of the National Strong Motion Project (NSMP) of the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as data from regional seismic networks within the United States, calls for automated processing of strong‐motion records with human review limited to selected significant or flagged records. The NSMP has developed the Processing and Review Interface for Strong Motion data (PRISM) software to meet this need. In combination with the Advanced National Seismic System Quake Monitoring System (AQMS), PRISM automates the processing of strong‐motion records. When used without AQMS, PRISM provides batch‐processing capabilities. The PRISM software is platform independent (coded in Java), open source, and does not depend on any closed‐source or proprietary software. The software consists of two major components: a record processing engine composed of modules for each processing step, and a review tool, which is a graphical user interface for manual review, edit, and processing. To facilitate use by non‐NSMP earthquake engineers and scientists, PRISM (both its processing engine and review tool) is easy to install and run as a stand‐alone system on common operating systems such as Linux, OS X, and Windows. PRISM was designed to be flexible and extensible to accommodate implementation of new processing techniques. All the computing features have been thoroughly tested.

  6. Methods of software V and V for a programmable logic controller in NPPs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jang Yeol; Lee, Young Jun; Cha, Kyung Ho; Cheon, Se Woo; Son, Han Seong; Lee, Jang Soo; Kwon, Kee Choon

    2004-01-01

    This paper addresses the Verification and Validation (V and V) process and methodology for embedded real time software of a safety-grade Programmable Logic Controller(PLC). This safety-grade PLC is being developed in the Korea Nuclear Instrumentation and Control System (KNICS) projects. KNICS projects are developing a Reactor Protection System(RPS) and an Engineered Safety Feature-Component Control System (ESF-CCS) as well as safety-grade PLC. Safety-grade PLC will be a major component that composes the RPS systems and ESF-CCS systems as nuclear instruments and control equipments. This paper describes the V and V guidelines and procedure, V and V environment, V and V process and methodology, and the V and V tools by the KNICS projects. Specially, it describes the real-time operating system V and V experience which corresponds to the requirement analysis phase of the software development life cycle. Main activities of the real-time operating system Software Requirement Specification(SRS) V and V of the PLC are the technical evaluation, licensing suitability evaluation, inspection and traceability analysis, formal verification, software safety analysis, and software configuration management. The proposed V and V methodology satisfies the Standard Review Plan(SRP)/Branch Technical Position(BTP)-14(MOST-KSRG 7/Appendix 15 in Korea will be issued soon) criteria for the safety software in nuclear power plants. The proposed V and V methodology is going to verify the upcoming software life cycle in the KNICS projects. (author)

  7. Reusable launch vehicles, enabling technology for the development of advanced upper stages and payloads

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Metzger, John D.

    1998-01-01

    In the near future there will be classes of upper stages and payloads that will require initial operation at a high-earth orbit to reduce the probability of an inadvertent reentry that could result in a detrimental impact on humans and the biosphere. A nuclear propulsion system, such as was being developed under the Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) Program, is an example of such a potential payload. This paper uses the results of a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) study to demonstrate the potential importance of a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) to test and implement an advanced upper stage (AUS) or payload in a safe orbit and in a cost effective and reliable manner. The RLV is a horizontal takeoff and horizontal landing (HTHL), two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) vehicle. The results of the study shows that an HTHL is cost effective because it implements airplane-like operation, infrastructure, and flight operations. The first stage of the TSTO is powered by Rocket-Based-Combined-Cycle (RBCC) engines, the second stage is powered by a LOX/LH rocket engine. The TSTO is used since it most effectively utilizes the capability of the RBCC engine. The analysis uses the NASA code POST (Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories) to determine trajectories and weight in high-earth orbit for AUS/advanced payloads. Cost and reliability of an RLV versus current generation expandable launch vehicles are presented

  8. PEMANFAATAN REFERENCE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE (RMS UNTUK PENYUSUNAN KARYA ILMIAH DI PERGURUAN TINGGI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    mufid mufid

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Reference management software (RMS is useful application for  researchers,  lecturers  and  students  helping  them  to  compose scientifc paper. This software has  fuctioned to search online scientifc information, to save search results, and to write bibliography, includes making  citation  and  references  automatically,  to  facilitate  to  share references  with  other  users  and  to  sincron  references  web  based  on desktop or mobile phone.This  article  tries  to  introduce  RMS. Using  RMS,  error  on  writing citation  and  references  can  be  avoided,  publishing  of  scientifc works would be increased and more qualifed.

  9. Software solutions manage the definition, operation, maintenance and configuration control of the National Ignition Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dobson, Darwin; Churby, Al; Krieger, Ed; Maloy, Donna; White, Kevin

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► NIF is a complex experimental facility composed of ∼4 million components. ► We describe business tools to define, build, operate, and maintain all components. ► CAD tools generate virtual models and assemblies under configuration control. ► Items requiring preventive, reactive, and/or calibration maintenance are tracked. ► Radiological or hazardous materials undergo additional controls. - Abstract: The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world's largest laser composed of millions of individual parts brought together to form one massive assembly. Maintaining control of the physical definition, status and configuration of this structure is a monumental undertaking yet critical to the validity of experimental data and the safe operation of the facility. A major programmatic challenge is to deploy software solutions to effectively manage the definition, build, operation, and maintenance, and configuration control of all components of NIF. The strategy for meeting this challenge involves deploying and integrating an enterprise application suite of solutions consisting of both Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products and custom developed software.This paper describes how this strategy has been implemented along with a discussion on the successes realized and the ongoing challenges associated with this approach.

  10. Mechanical desorption of immobilized proteins using carbon dioxide aerosols for reusable biosensors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, Renu; Hong, Seongkyeol; Jang, Jaesung

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Immobilized proteins were removed using carbon dioxide aerosols. • We observed high removal efficiencies due to the aerosol treatment. • We confirmed the removal with FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. • This CO 2 aerosol treatment did not undermine re-functionalization. • This technique is a fast and damage-free method to reuse a sensor surface. - Abstract: Reusability of a biosensor has recently received considerable attention, and it is closely related with the effective desorption of probe molecules. We present a novel mechanical desorption technique to reuse biosensors by using periodic jets of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) aerosols (a mixture of solid and gaseous CO 2 ), and demonstrate its feasibility by removing physically adsorbed and covalently bonded fluorescent proteins i.e., Escherichia coli fluorescein isothiocyanate antibody and bovine serum albumin (E. coli FITC–Ab and FITC–BSA) from silicon chips. The proteins on the chip surfaces were measured by fluorescent images before and after applying the aerosols. The removal efficiency of the aerosol treatment was measured for various concentrations (1–20 μg mL −1 ) of E. coli FITC–Ab and FITC–BSA with two different removal cycles (5 and 11 cycles; each cycle: 8 s). We observed high removal efficiencies (>93.5% for physically adsorbed Ab and >84.6% for covalently bonded Ab) at 11 cycle aerosol treatment. This CO 2 aerosol treatment did not undermine re-functionalization, which was confirmed by the fluorescent images of FITC–Abs for fresh and reused chips. Desorption of the immobilized layers was validated by Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analyses. We also conducted an experiment on the regeneration of E. coli sensing chips using this aerosol treatment, and the chips were re-used 5 times successfully. This mechanical desorption technique is a highly effective and novel strategy for reusable biosensors

  11. The Pandora Software Development Kit for Particle Flow Calorimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marshall, J S; Thomson, M A

    2012-01-01

    Pandora is a robust and efficient framework for developing and running pattern-recognition algorithms. It was designed to perform particle flow calorimetry, which requires many complex pattern-recognition techniques to reconstruct the paths of individual particles through fine granularity detectors. The Pandora C++ software development kit (SDK) consists of a single library and a number of carefully designed application programming interfaces (APIs). A client application can use the Pandora APIs to pass details of tracks and hits/cells to the Pandora framework, which then creates and manages named lists of self-describing objects. These objects can be accessed by Pandora algorithms, which perform the pattern-recognition reconstruction. Development with the Pandora SDK promotes the creation of small, re-usable algorithms containing just the kernel of a specific operation. The algorithms are configured via XML and can be nested to perform complex reconstruction tasks. As the algorithms only access the Pandora objects in a controlled manner, via the APIs, the framework can perform most book-keeping and memory-management operations. The Pandora SDK has been fully exploited in the implementation of PandoraPFA, which uses over 60 algorithms to provide the state of the art in particle flow calorimetry for ILC and CLIC.

  12. Guidelines for the development of applicative software for supervising and remote electric power substations; Diretrizes de desenvolvimento de softwares aplicativos para as estacoes supervisoras e remotas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ribeiro, Guilherme Moutinho; Soares, Wellington Zakhia; Morais, Arnoldo Magela [Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais (CEMIG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil)

    1995-12-31

    The increasing application of remote control supervision systems composed of regional operation centers (COR) and remote terminal units (UTR) creates the adequate conditions for the development and implementation of operational engineering functions in electric power substations (SE). In order to provide the necessary elements for such qualitative improvement, this work presents guidelines for the development of applicative soft-wares for the local control and supervision to be installed in CORs and UTRS, based in CEMIG`s, the electric power company of Minas Gerais State - Southeast Brazil, experience 4 refs.

  13. Sandia software guidelines: Software quality planning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1987-08-01

    This volume is one in a series of Sandia Software Guidelines intended for use in producing quality software within Sandia National Laboratories. In consonance with the IEEE Standard for Software Quality Assurance Plans, this volume identifies procedures to follow in producing a Software Quality Assurance Plan for an organization or a project, and provides an example project SQA plan. 2 figs., 4 tabs.

  14. ELISA, a demonstrator environment for information systems architecture design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panem, Chantal

    1994-01-01

    This paper describes an approach of reusability of software engineering technology in the area of ground space system design. System engineers have lots of needs similar to software developers: sharing of a common data base, capitalization of knowledge, definition of a common design process, communication between different technical domains. Moreover system designers need to simulate dynamically their system as early as possible. Software development environments, methods and tools now become operational and widely used. Their architecture is based on a unique object base, a set of common management services and they host a family of tools for each life cycle activity. In late '92, CNES decided to develop a demonstrative software environment supporting some system activities. The design of ground space data processing systems was chosen as the application domain. ELISA (Integrated Software Environment for Architectures Specification) was specified as a 'demonstrator', i.e. a sufficient basis for demonstrations, evaluation and future operational enhancements. A process with three phases was implemented: system requirements definition, design of system architectures models, and selection of physical architectures. Each phase is composed of several activities that can be performed in parallel, with the provision of Commercial Off the Shelves Tools. ELISA has been delivered to CNES in January 94, currently used for demonstrations and evaluations on real projects (e.g. SPOT4 Satellite Control Center). It is on the way of new evolutions.

  15. William Byrd: Political and Recusant Composer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ariel Foshay Bacon

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Amidst the pendulum of political and religious upheaval that pervaded England throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century, William Byrd stands as one of the best loved and lauded composers. Byrd succeeded in the secular and sacred realms, contributing great works to the Anglican Church, popularizing the English madrigal and producing prolific amounts of sacred music. However, in a time where one’s religious beliefs were often linked with political loyalty, Byrd defied his monarch’s established and enforced Protestant religion, composing politically charged music for recusant use in clandestine Catholic Church services. His themes were aligned with the Jesuit mission and his texts were often drawn from the lips of martyred Catholics at the gallows; their last words forever immortalized by Byrd for the furthering of the Jesuit cause and the Counter-Reformation. The examination of sources by prominent Byrd scholars, an analyses of Byrd’s ‘political’ compositions and a study of the social and historical background are used to place Byrd within the appropriate context, prove his recusant and political leanings, and analyze his precarious relationship with the English monarch, Elizabeth I. It is shown that Byrd could not have proceeded with his recusant practices, personally or musically, had it not been for his status as a composer, as well as Byrd’s shrewdness in procuring diplomatic relationships with high persons at court and with Queen Elizabeth I through the Chapel Royal. Finally, Byrd’s success at writing for the Anglican Church service and popular secular music showcased his ability to take a moderate stance in situations that benefitted his status with the crown

  16. Software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Macedo, R.; Budd, G.; Ross, E.; Wells, P.

    2010-07-15

    The software section of this journal presented new software programs that have been developed to help in the exploration and development of hydrocarbon resources. Software provider IHS Inc. has made additions to its geological and engineering analysis software tool, IHS PETRA, a product used by geoscientists and engineers to visualize, analyze and manage well production, well log, drilling, reservoir, seismic and other related information. IHS PETRA also includes a directional well module and a decline curve analysis module to improve analysis capabilities in unconventional reservoirs. Petris Technology Inc. has developed a software to help manage the large volumes of data. PetrisWinds Enterprise (PWE) helps users find and manage wellbore data, including conventional wireline and MWD core data; analysis core photos and images; waveforms and NMR; and external files documentation. Ottawa-based Ambercore Software Inc. has been collaborating with Nexen on the Petroleum iQ software for steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) producers. Petroleum iQ integrates geology and geophysics data with engineering data in 3D and 4D. Calgary-based Envirosoft Corporation has developed a software that reduces the costly and time-consuming effort required to comply with Directive 39 of the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board. The product includes an emissions modelling software. Houston-based Seismic Micro-Technology (SMT) has developed the Kingdom software that features the latest in seismic interpretation. Holland-based Joa Oil and Gas and Calgary-based Computer Modelling Group have both supplied the petroleum industry with advanced reservoir simulation software that enables reservoir interpretation. The 2010 software survey included a guide to new software applications designed to facilitate petroleum exploration, drilling and production activities. Oil and gas producers can use the products for a range of functions, including reservoir characterization and accounting. In

  17. Multidisciplinary Modeling Software for Analysis, Design, and Optimization of HRRLS Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spradley, Lawrence W.; Lohner, Rainald; Hunt, James L.

    2011-01-01

    The concept for Highly Reliable Reusable Launch Systems (HRRLS) under the NASA Hypersonics project is a two-stage-to-orbit, horizontal-take-off / horizontal-landing, (HTHL) architecture with an air-breathing first stage. The first stage vehicle is a slender body with an air-breathing propulsion system that is highly integrated with the airframe. The light weight slender body will deflect significantly during flight. This global deflection affects the flow over the vehicle and into the engine and thus the loads and moments on the vehicle. High-fidelity multi-disciplinary analyses that accounts for these fluid-structures-thermal interactions are required to accurately predict the vehicle loads and resultant response. These predictions of vehicle response to multi physics loads, calculated with fluid-structural-thermal interaction, are required in order to optimize the vehicle design over its full operating range. This contract with ResearchSouth addresses one of the primary objectives of the Vehicle Technology Integration (VTI) discipline: the development of high-fidelity multi-disciplinary analysis and optimization methods and tools for HRRLS vehicles. The primary goal of this effort is the development of an integrated software system that can be used for full-vehicle optimization. This goal was accomplished by: 1) integrating the master code, FEMAP, into the multidiscipline software network to direct the coupling to assure accurate fluid-structure-thermal interaction solutions; 2) loosely-coupling the Euler flow solver FEFLO to the available and proven aeroelasticity and large deformation (FEAP) code; 3) providing a coupled Euler-boundary layer capability for rapid viscous flow simulation; 4) developing and implementing improved Euler/RANS algorithms into the FEFLO CFD code to provide accurate shock capturing, skin friction, and heat-transfer predictions for HRRLS vehicles in hypersonic flow, 5) performing a Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computation on an HRRLS

  18. The Movement of Air, the Breath of Meaning: Aurality and Multimodal Composing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Selfe, Cynthia L.

    2009-01-01

    Rhetoric and composition's increasing attention to multimodal composing involves challenges that go beyond issues of access to digital technologies and electronic composing environments. As a specific case study, this article explores the history of aural composing modalities (speech, music, sound) and examines how they have been understood and…

  19. Low cost fabrication and assembly process for re-usable 3D polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic networks

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Land, K

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available and assembly process for re-usable 3D polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic networks Kevin J. Land, Mesuli B. Mbanjwa, Klariska Govindasamy, and Jan G. Korvink Citation: Biomicrofluidics 5, 036502 (2011); doi: 10.1063/1.3641859 View online: http... polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic networks Kevin J. Land,1,2,a) Mesuli B. Mbanjwa,1,3 Klariska Govindasamy,1 and Jan G. Korvink2,4 1Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa 2University of Freiburg, Department...

  20. What do you mean you can't sterilize it? The reusable medical device matrix.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, Anne; Assang, AnnMarie

    2010-12-01

    Health Canada recommends that hospitals should have procedures in place to ensure Reusable Medical Devices (RMD) are cleaned, disinfected and sterilized according to the manufacturer's instructions. For the purpose of this paper, reusable medical devices will be referred to as RMDs and include all instrumentation and devices that the Central Processing Department (CPD) resterilizes for use in the hospital. Patient safety in surgery begins in CPD. Manufacturer recommendations for the decontamination and sterilization of surgical instrumentation are of utmost importance to Operating Room (OR) and CPD staff. With recommendations that are unclear, nonspecific or unattainable there was a need to define what it means institutionally to meet standards and provide safe patient care while continuing to support the advancement of surgical technology. The purpose of this paper is to describe the challenges faced by one multisite organization (The University Health Network) in managing the sterilization of surgical instrumentation. The development of The Guidance Matrix by the network's inter-professional Reusable Medical Device (RMD) Committee, will be discussed along with information about the elements of this tool and an illustration of how it is used. The key benefits of The Guidance Matrix, including how its use has facilitated transparent decision-making, communication and collaboration regarding sterilization issues across the sites, will be described. Sterilization processes in Central Processing Departments (CPD) include chemical indicators, dated load indicators, and tamperproof locks and filters. The lack of an indicator of sterilization can be a frustrating experience for an OR Nurse. But do we really understand the critical importance of all these indicators? The foundation of sterilizing reusable medical devices (RMDs) begins with proper processes, standards and subsequent scientific validation from the vendors. According to AORN, patient safety is vital and it

  1. Subscale Winged Rocket Development and Application to Future Reusable Space Transportation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koichi YONEMOTO

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Kyushu Institute of Technology has been studying unmanned suborbital winged rocket called WIRES (WInged REusable Sounding rocket and its research subjects concerning aerodynamics, NGC (Navigation, Guidance and Control, cryogenic composite tanks etc., and conducting flight demonstration of small winged rocket since 2005. WIRES employs the original aerodynamic shape of HIMES (HIghly Maneuverable Experimental Sounding rocket studied by ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in 1980s. This paper presents the preliminary design of subscale non-winged and winged rockets called WIRES#013 and WIRES#015, respectively, that are developed in collaboration with JAXA, USC (University of Southern California, UTEP (University of Texas at El Paso and Japanese industries. WIRES#013 is a conventional pre-test rocket propelled by two IPA-LOX (Isopropyl Alcohol and Liquid Oxygen engines under development by USC. It has the total length of 4.6m, and the weight of 1000kg to reach the altitude of about 6km. The flight objective is validation of the telemetry and ground communication system, recovery parachute system, and launch operation of liquid engine. WIRES#015, which has the same length of WIRES#013 and the weight of 1000kg, is a NGC technology demonstrator propelled by a fully expander-cycle LOX-Methane engine designed and developed by JAXA to reach the altitude more than 6km. The flight tests of both WIRES#013 and WIRES#015 will be conducted at the launch facility of FAR (Friends of Amateur Rocketry, Inc., which is located at Mojave Desert of California in United States of America, in May 2018 and March 2019 respectively. After completion of WIRES#015 flight tests, the suborbital demonstrator called WIRES-X will be developed and its first flight test well be performed in 2020. Its application to future fully reusable space transportation systems, such as suborbital space tour vehicles and two

  2. The Composer's Program Note for Newly Written Classical Music: Content and Intentions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blom, Diana M; Bennett, Dawn; Stevenson, Ian

    2016-01-01

    In concerts of western classical music the provision of a program note is a widespread practice dating back to the 18th century and still commonly in use. Program notes tend to inform listeners and performers about historical context, composer biographical details, and compositional thinking. However, the scant program note research conducted to date reveals that program notes may not foster understanding or enhance listener enjoyment as previously assumed. In the case of canonic works, performers and listeners may already be familiar with much of the program note information. This is not so in the case of newly composed works, which formed the basis of the exploratory study reported here. This article reports the views of 17 living contemporary composers on their writing of program notes for their own works. In particular, the study sought to understand the intended recipient, role and the content of composer-written program notes. Participating composers identified three main roles for their program notes: to shape a performer's interpretation of the work; to guide, engage or direct the listener and/or performer; and as collaborative mode of communication between the composer, performer, and listener. For some composers, this collaboration was intended to result in "performative listening" in which listeners were actively engaged in bringing each composition to life. This was also described as a form of empathy that results in the co-construction of the musical experience. Overall, composers avoided giving too much personal information and they provided performers with more structural information. However, composers did not agree on whether the same information should be provided to both performers and listeners. Composers' responses problematize the view of a program note as a simple statement from writer to recipient, indicating instead a more complex set of relations at play between composer, performer, listener, and the work itself. These relations are

  3. 16 CFR 300.26 - Pile fabrics and products composed thereof.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Pile fabrics and products composed thereof... CONGRESS RULES AND REGULATIONS UNDER THE WOOL PRODUCTS LABELING ACT OF 1939 Labeling § 300.26 Pile fabrics and products composed thereof. The fiber content of pile fabrics or products made thereof may be...

  4. The TSO Logic and G2 Software Product

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Derrick D.

    2014-01-01

    own operating system. The first group is comprised of Ubuntus Debian -based Linux the second group is windows 7 Professional and the third group ran Red Hat Linux. The highlight of this portion of the assignment is to compose documentation expressing the overall impression of the software and its capabilities.

  5. Examining software complexity and quality for scientific software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelly, D.; Shepard, T.

    2005-01-01

    Research has not found a simple relationship between software complexity and software quality, and particularly no relationship between commonly used software complexity metrics and the occurrence of software faults. A study with an example of scientific software from the nuclear power industry illustrates the importance of addressing cognitive complexity, the complexity related to understanding the intellectual content of the software. Simple practices such as aptly-named variables contributes more to high quality software than limiting code sizes. This paper examines the research into complexity and quality and reports on a longitudinal study using the example of nuclear software. (author)

  6. Research and Measurement of Software Complexity Based on Wuli, Shili, Renli (WSR and Information Entropy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rong Jiang

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Complexity is an important factor throughout the software life cycle. It is increasingly difficult to guarantee software quality, cost and development progress with the increase in complexity. Excessive complexity is one of the main reasons for the failure of software projects, so effective recognition, measurement and control of complexity becomes the key of project management. At first, this paper analyzes the current research situation of software complexity systematically and points out existing problems in current research. Then, it proposes a WSR framework of software complexity, which divides the complexity of software into three levels of Wuli (WL, Shili (SL and Renli (RL, so that the staff in different roles may have a better understanding of complexity. Man is the main source of complexity, but the current research focuses on WL complexity, and the research of RL complexity is extremely scarce, so this paper emphasizes the research of RL complexity of software projects. This paper not only analyzes the composing factors of RL complexity, but also provides the definition of RL complexity. Moreover, it puts forward a quantitative measurement method of the complexity of personnel organization hierarchy and the complexity of personnel communication information based on information entropy first and analyzes and validates the scientificity and rationality of this measurement method through a large number of cases.

  7. Product-oriented Software Certification Process for Software Synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Stacy; Fischer, Bernd; Denney, Ewen; Schumann, Johann; Richardson, Julian; Oh, Phil

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this document is to propose a product-oriented software certification process to facilitate use of software synthesis and formal methods. Why is such a process needed? Currently, software is tested until deemed bug-free rather than proving that certain software properties exist. This approach has worked well in most cases, but unfortunately, deaths still occur due to software failure. Using formal methods (techniques from logic and discrete mathematics like set theory, automata theory and formal logic as opposed to continuous mathematics like calculus) and software synthesis, it is possible to reduce this risk by proving certain software properties. Additionally, software synthesis makes it possible to automate some phases of the traditional software development life cycle resulting in a more streamlined and accurate development process.

  8. The Links between Handwriting and Composing for Y6 Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medwell, Jane; Strand, Steve; Wray, David

    2009-01-01

    Although handwriting is often considered a matter of presentation, a substantial body of international research suggests that the role of handwriting in children's composing has been neglected. Automaticity in handwriting is now seen as of key importance in composing but this proposition is relatively untested in the UK and the assumption has been…

  9. A concept of software testing for SMART MMIS software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seo, Yong Seok; Seong, Seung Hwan; Park, Keun Ok; Hur, Sub; Kim, Dong Hoon

    2001-01-01

    In order to achieve high quality of SMART MMIS software, the well-constructed software testing concept shall be required. This paper established software testing concept which is to be applied to SMART MMIS software, in terms of software testing organization, documentation. procedure, and methods. The software testing methods are classified into source code static analysis and dynamic testing. The software dynamic testing methods are discussed with two aspects: white-box and black-box testing. As software testing concept introduced in this paper is applied to the SMART MMIS software. the high quality of the software will be produced. In the future, software failure data will be collected through the construction of SMART MMIS prototyping facility which the software testing concept of this paper is applied to

  10. A qualitative understanding of the effects of reusable sanitary pads and puberty education: implications for future research and practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hennegan, Julie; Dolan, Catherine; Steinfield, Laurel; Montgomery, Paul

    2017-06-27

    The management of menstruation has come to the fore as a barrier to girls' education attainment in low income contexts. Interventions have been proposed and piloted, but the emerging nature of the field means limited evidence is available to understand their pathways of effect. This study describes and compares schoolgirls' experiences of menstruation in rural Uganda at the conclusion of a controlled trial of puberty education and sanitary pad provision to elucidate pathways of effect in the interventions. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with schoolgirls who participated in the Menstruation and the Cycle of Poverty trial concurrent with the final set of quantitative surveys. A framework approach and cross-case analysis were employed to describe and compare the experiences of 27 menstruating girls across the four intervention conditions; education (n = 8), reusable sanitary pads (n = 8), education with reusable sanitary pads (n = 6), and control (n = 5). Themes included: menstrual hygiene, soiling, irritation and infection, physical experience, knowledge of menstruation, psychological, social and cultural factors, and support from others. Those receiving reusable pads experienced improvements in comfort and reliability. This translated into reduced fears around garment soiling and related school absenteeism. Other menstrual hygiene challenges of washing, drying and privacy remained prominent. Puberty education improved girls' confidence to discuss menstruation and prompted additional support from teachers and peers. Findings have important implications for the development and evaluation of future interventions. Results suggest the provision of menstrual absorbents addresses one core barrier to menstrual health, but that interventions addressing broader needs such as privacy may improve effectiveness. Puberty education sessions should increase attention to body awareness and include strategies to address a wider range of practical menstrual challenges

  11. New software tools for enhanced precision in robot-assisted laser phonomicrosurgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dagnino, Giulio; Mattos, Leonardo S; Caldwell, Darwin G

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes a new software package created to enhance precision during robot-assisted laser phonomicrosurgery procedures. The new software is composed of three tools for camera calibration, automatic tumor segmentation, and laser tracking. These were designed and developed to improve the outcome of this demanding microsurgical technique, and were tested herein to produce quantitative performance data. The experimental setup was based on the motorized laser micromanipulator created by Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and the experimental protocols followed are fully described in this paper. The results show the new tools are robust and effective: The camera calibration tool reduced residual errors (RMSE) to 0.009 ± 0.002 mm under 40× microscope magnification; the automatic tumor segmentation tool resulted in deep lesion segmentations comparable to manual segmentations (RMSE= 0.160 ± 0.028 mm under 40× magnification); and the laser tracker tool proved to be reliable even during cutting procedures (RMSE= 0.073 ± 0.023 mm under 40× magnification). These results demonstrate the new software package can provide excellent improvements to the previous microsurgical system, leading to important enhancements in surgical outcome.

  12. Scalable software architectures for decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musen, M A

    1999-12-01

    Interest in decision-support programs for clinical medicine soared in the 1970s. Since that time, workers in medical informatics have been particularly attracted to rule-based systems as a means of providing clinical decision support. Although developers have built many successful applications using production rules, they also have discovered that creation and maintenance of large rule bases is quite problematic. In the 1980s, several groups of investigators began to explore alternative programming abstractions that can be used to build decision-support systems. As a result, the notions of "generic tasks" and of reusable problem-solving methods became extremely influential. By the 1990s, academic centers were experimenting with architectures for intelligent systems based on two classes of reusable components: (1) problem-solving methods--domain-independent algorithms for automating stereotypical tasks--and (2) domain ontologies that captured the essential concepts (and relationships among those concepts) in particular application areas. This paper highlights how developers can construct large, maintainable decision-support systems using these kinds of building blocks. The creation of domain ontologies and problem-solving methods is the fundamental end product of basic research in medical informatics. Consequently, these concepts need more attention by our scientific community.

  13. Space-Based Reconfigurable Software Defined Radio Test Bed Aboard International Space Station

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reinhart, Richard C.; Lux, James P.

    2014-01-01

    The National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) recently launched a new software defined radio research test bed to the International Space Station. The test bed, sponsored by the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Office within NASA is referred to as the SCaN Testbed. The SCaN Testbed is a highly capable communications system, composed of three software defined radios, integrated into a flight system, and mounted to the truss of the International Space Station. Software defined radios offer the future promise of in-flight reconfigurability, autonomy, and eventually cognitive operation. The adoption of software defined radios offers space missions a new way to develop and operate space transceivers for communications and navigation. Reconfigurable or software defined radios with communications and navigation functions implemented in software or VHDL (Very High Speed Hardware Description Language) provide the capability to change the functionality of the radio during development or after launch. The ability to change the operating characteristics of a radio through software once deployed to space offers the flexibility to adapt to new science opportunities, recover from anomalies within the science payload or communication system, and potentially reduce development cost and risk by adapting generic space platforms to meet specific mission requirements. The software defined radios on the SCaN Testbed are each compliant to NASA's Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Architecture. The STRS Architecture is an open, non-proprietary architecture that defines interfaces for the connections between radio components. It provides an operating environment to abstract the communication waveform application from the underlying platform specific hardware such as digital-to-analog converters, analog-to-digital converters, oscillators, RF attenuators, automatic gain control circuits, FPGAs, general-purpose processors, etc. and the interconnections among

  14. Host-Guest Recognition-Assisted Electrochemical Release: Its Reusable Sensing Application Based on DNA Cross Configuration-Fueled Target Cycling and Strand Displacement Reaction Amplification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yuanyuan; Zhuo, Ying; Chai, Yaqin; Yuan, Ruo

    2017-08-15

    In this work, an elegantly designed host-guest recognition-assisted electrochemical release was established and applied in a reusable electrochemical biosensor for the detection of microRNA-182-5p (miRNA-182-5p), a prostate cancer biomarker in prostate cancer, based on the DNA cross configuration-fueled target cycling and strand displacement reaction (SDR) amplification. With such a design, the single target miRNA input could be converted to large numbers of single-stranded DNA (S1-Trp and S2-Trp) output, which could be trapped by cucurbit[8]uril methyl viologen (CB-8-MV 2+ ) based on the host-guest recognition, significantly enhancing the sensitivity for miRNA detection. Moreover, the nucleic acids products obtained from the process of cycling amplification could be utilized sufficiently, avoiding the waste and saving the experiment cost. Impressively, by resetting a settled voltage, the proposed biosensor could release S1-Trp and S2-Trp from the electrode surface, attributing that the guest ion methyl viologen (MV 2+ ) was reduced to MV +· under this settled voltage and formed a more-stable CB-8-MV +· -MV +· complex. Once O 2 was introduced in this system, MV +· could be oxidized to MV 2+ , generating the complex of CB-8-MV 2+ for capturing S1-Trp and S2-Trp again in only 5 min. As a result, the simple and fast regeneration of biosensor for target detection was realized on the base of electrochemical redox-driven assembly and release, overcoming the challenges of time-consuming, burdensome operations and expensive experimental cost in traditional reusable biosensors and updating the construction method for a reusable bisensor. Furthermore, the biosensor could be reused for more than 10 times with a regeneration rate of 93.20%-102.24%. After all, the conception of this work provides a novel thought for the construction of effective reusable biosensor to detect miRNA and other biomarkers and has great potential application in the area requiring the release of

  15. Lockheed Martin approach to a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elvin, John D.

    1996-03-01

    This paper discusses Lockheed Martin's perspective on the development of a cost effective Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV). Critical to a successful Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) program are; an economic development plan sensitive to fiscal constraints; a vehicle concept satisfying present and future US launch needs; and an operations concept commensurate with a market driven program. Participation in the economic plan by government, industry, and the commercial sector is a key element of integrating our development plan and funding profile. The RLV baseline concept design, development evolution and several critical trade studies illustrate the superior performance achieved by our innovative approach to the problem of SSTO. Findings from initial aerodynamic and aerothermodynamic wind tunnel tests and trajectory analyses on this concept confirm the superior characteristics of the lifting body shape combined with the Linear Aerospike rocket engine. This Aero Ballistic Rocket (ABR) concept captures the essence of The Skunk Works approach to SSTO RLV technology integration and system engineering. These programmatic and concept development topics chronicle the key elements to implementing an innovative market driven next generation RLV.

  16. Space shuttle orbit maneuvering engine reusable thrust chamber program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senneff, J. M.

    1975-01-01

    Reusable thrust chamber and injector concepts were evaluated for the space shuttle orbit maneuvering engine (OME). Parametric engine calculations were carried out by computer program for N2O4/amine, LOX/amine and LOX/hydrocarbon propellant combinations for engines incorporating regenerative cooled and insulated columbium thrust chambers. The calculation methods are described including the fuel vortex film cooling method of combustion gas temperature control, and performance prediction. A method of acceptance of a regeneratively cooled heat rejection reduction using a silicone oil additive was also demonstrated by heated tube heat transfer testing. Regeneratively cooled thrust chamber operation was also demonstrated where the injector was characterized for the OME application with a channel wall regenerative thrust chamber. Bomb stability testing of the demonstration chambers/injectors demonstrated recovery for the nominal design of acoustic cavities. Cavity geometry changes were also evaluated to assess their damping margin. Performance and combustion stability was demonstrated of the originally developed 10 inch diameter combustion pattern operating in an 8 inch diameter thrust chamber.

  17. Software Maintenance and Evolution: The Implication for Software ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Software Maintenance and Evolution: The Implication for Software Development. ... Software maintenance is the process of modifying existing operational software by correcting errors, ... EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT

  18. Effective reprocessing of reusable dispensers for surface disinfection tissues – the devil is in the details

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kampf, Günter; Degenhardt, Stina; Lackner, Sibylle; Ostermeyer, Christiane

    2014-01-01

    Background: It has recently been reported that reusable dispensers for surface disinfection tissues may be contaminated, especially with adapted Achromobacter species 3, when products based on surface-active ingredients are used. Fresh solution may quickly become recontaminated if dispensers are not processed adequately. Methods: We evaluated the abilities of six manual and three automatic processes for processing contaminated dispensers to prevent recolonisation of a freshly-prepared disinfectant solution (Mikrobac forte 0.5%). Dispensers were left at room temperature for 28 days. Samples of the disinfectant solution were taken every 7 days and assessed quantitatively for bacterial contamination. Results: All automatic procedures prevented recolonisation of the disinfectant solution when a temperature of 60–70°C was ensured for at least 5 min, with or without the addition of chemical cleaning agents. Manual procedures prevented recontamination of the disinfectant solution when rinsing with hot water or a thorough cleaning step was performed before treating all surfaces with an alcohol-based disinfectant or an oxygen-releaser. Other cleaning and disinfection procedures, including the use of an alcohol-based disinfectant, did not prevent recolonisation. Conclusions: These results indicate that not all processes are effective for processing reusable dispensers for surface-disinfectant tissues, and that a high temperature during the cleaning step or use of a biofilm-active cleaning agent are essential. PMID:24653973

  19. Effective reprocessing of reusable dispensers for surface disinfection tissues – the devil is in the details

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kampf, Günter

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available [english] Background: It has recently been reported that reusable dispensers for surface disinfection tissues may be contaminated, especially with adapted , when products based on surface-active ingredients are used. Fresh solution may quickly become recontaminated if dispensers are not processed adequately. Methods: We evaluated the abilities of six manual and three automatic processes for processing contaminated dispensers to prevent recolonisation of a freshly-prepared disinfectant solution (Mikrobac forte 0.5%. Dispensers were left at room temperature for 28 days. Samples of the disinfectant solution were taken every 7 days and assessed quantitatively for bacterial contamination. Results: All automatic procedures prevented recolonisation of the disinfectant solution when a temperature of 60–70°C was ensured for at least 5 min, with or without the addition of chemical cleaning agents. Manual procedures prevented recontamination of the disinfectant solution when rinsing with hot water or a thorough cleaning step was performed before treating all surfaces with an alcohol-based disinfectant or an oxygen-releaser. Other cleaning and disinfection procedures, including the use of an alcohol-based disinfectant, did not prevent recolonisation.Conclusions: These results indicate that not all processes are effective for processing reusable dispensers for surface-disinfectant tissues, and that a high temperature during the cleaning step or use of a biofilm-active cleaning agent are essential.

  20. A Technique of Software Safety Analysis in the Design Phase for PLC Based Safety-Critical Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koo, Seo-Ryong; Kim, Chang-Hwoi

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of safety analysis, which is a method of identifying portions of a system that have the potential for unacceptable hazards, is firstly to encourage design changes that will reduce or eliminate hazards and, secondly, to conduct special analyses and tests that can provide increased confidence in especially vulnerable portions of the system. For the design and implementation phase of the PLC based systems, we proposed a technique for software design specification and analysis, and this technique enables us to generate software design specifications (SDSs) in nuclear fields. For the safety analysis in the design phase, we used architecture design blocks of NuFDS to represent the architecture of the software. On the basis of the architecture design specification, we can directly generate the fault tree and then use the fault tree for qualitative analysis. Therefore, we proposed a technique of fault tree synthesis, along with a universal fault tree template for the architecture modules of nuclear software. Through our proposed fault tree synthesis in this work, users can use the architecture specification of the NuFDS approach to intuitively compose fault trees that help analyze the safety design features of software.

  1. XVII CENTURY TURKISH DIVAN POETS WHOSE WORKS HAVE BEEN COMPOSED

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Nuri PARMAKSIZ

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Classical Turkish poetry and classical Turkish music have been inseparable art branches for centuries. The best examples of music and poems created in the same periods have been the most prominent proof of this. One of these periods without doubt have been 17th century. It has been observed that composers demand divan poetry of 17thand 18thcentury greatly. Mystical poems constitute most of the poems composed in these centuries. Almost all of the poems in the divans of some mystic divan poets have been composed. In this study, the poets in the mentioned century have been determined and then the poems in the new and previous repertoires of these poets have been tried to reveal with screening and comparasion methods .

  2. Mobile Authoring of Open Educational Resources as Reusable Learning Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr Kinshuk

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available E-learning technologies have allowed authoring and playback of standardized reusable learning objects (RLO for several years. Effective mobile learning requires similar functionality at both design time and runtime. Mobile devices can play RLO using applications like SMILE, mobile access to a learning management system (LMS, or other systems which deploy content to mobile learners (Castillo & Ayala, 2008; Chu, Hwang, & Tseng, 2010; Hsu & Chen, 2010; Nakabayashi, 2009; Zualkernan, Nikkhah, & Al-Sabah, 2009. However, implementations which author content in a mobile context do not typically permit reuse across multiple contexts due to a lack of standardization. Standards based (IMS and SCORM authoring implementations exist for non-mobile platforms (Gonzalez-Barbone & Anido-Rifon, 2008; Griffiths, Beauvoir, Liber, & Barrett-Baxendale, 2009; Téllez, 2010; Yang, Chiu, Tsai, & Wu, 2004. However, this paradigm precludes capturing learning where and when it occurs. Consequently, RLO authored for e-learning lack learner generated content, especially with timely, relevant, and location aware examples.

  3. Software Engineering Program: Software Process Improvement Guidebook

    Science.gov (United States)

    1996-01-01

    The purpose of this document is to provide experience-based guidance in implementing a software process improvement program in any NASA software development or maintenance community. This guidebook details how to define, operate, and implement a working software process improvement program. It describes the concept of the software process improvement program and its basic organizational components. It then describes the structure, organization, and operation of the software process improvement program, illustrating all these concepts with specific NASA examples. The information presented in the document is derived from the experiences of several NASA software organizations, including the SEL, the SEAL, and the SORCE. Their experiences reflect many of the elements of software process improvement within NASA. This guidebook presents lessons learned in a form usable by anyone considering establishing a software process improvement program within his or her own environment. This guidebook attempts to balance general and detailed information. It provides material general enough to be usable by NASA organizations whose characteristics do not directly match those of the sources of the information and models presented herein. It also keeps the ideas sufficiently close to the sources of the practical experiences that have generated the models and information.

  4. Quantifying Functional Reuse from Object Oriented Requirements Specifications

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Condori-Fernandez, Nelly; Condori-Fernández, N.; Pastor, O; Daneva, Maia; Abran, A.; Castro, J.; Quer, C.; Carvallo, J. B.; Fernandes da Silva, L.

    2008-01-01

    Software reuse is essential in improving efficiency and productivity in the software development process. This paper analyses reuse within requirements engineering phase by taking and adapting a standard functional size measurement method, COSMIC FFP. Our proposal attempts to quantify reusability

  5. Franchise Plan. Central Archive for Reusable Defense Software (CARDS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-02-28

    domain could result in minimal benefits in comparison to the cost). b. Chose a domain analysis method that can take advantage of the well understood...agreement with CARDS that enumer- ates the range and level of services to be provided by CARDS and obtained from the franchisee . 3. shares a model-based

  6. Novel Ultrathin Membranes Composed of Organic Ions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chaban, Vitaly V.; Verspeek, Bram; Khandelia, Himanshu

    2013-01-01

    of artificial bilayers composed of long-chained organic ions, such as dodecyltrimethylammonium (DMA(+)) and perfluorooctaonate (PFO-). Various ratios of DMA/PFO surfactants result in bilayers of different stability, thickness, area per molecule, and density profiles. In our quest for water filtration, we...

  7. A Framework For Efficient Homomorphic Universally Composable Commitments

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    David, Bernardo Machado

    primitives and protocols while retaining security guarantees. Moreover, commitments with homomorphic properties enable significantly more efficient constructions of protocols for applications such as zero knowledge proofs, two-party computation through garbled circuits and multiparty computation. However......, achieving universal composability for commitment schemes often sacrifices both concrete and asymptotic efficiency, specially if homomorphic properties are required. In this thesis we bridge the gap between stand alone and universally composable commitment schemes, for which we achieve optimal efficiency...... related to a statistical security parameter as a setup. The rest of our constructions leverage secret sharing and coding theory techniques, including a novel method for verifying that a large number of strings are codewords of a given linear code with linear complexity....

  8. Software quality assurance plans for safety-critical software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liddle, P.

    2006-01-01

    Application software is defined as safety-critical if a fault in the software could prevent the system components from performing their nuclear-safety functions. Therefore, for nuclear-safety systems, the AREVA TELEPERM R XS (TXS) system is classified 1E, as defined in the Inst. of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Std 603-1998. The application software is classified as Software Integrity Level (SIL)-4, as defined in IEEE Std 7-4.3.2-2003. The AREVA NP Inc. Software Program Manual (SPM) describes the measures taken to ensure that the TELEPERM XS application software attains a level of quality commensurate with its importance to safety. The manual also describes how TELEPERM XS correctly performs the required safety functions and conforms to established technical and documentation requirements, conventions, rules, and standards. The program manual covers the requirements definition, detailed design, integration, and test phases for the TELEPERM XS application software, and supporting software created by AREVA NP Inc. The SPM is required for all safety-related TELEPERM XS system applications. The program comprises several basic plans and practices: 1. A Software Quality-Assurance Plan (SQAP) that describes the processes necessary to ensure that the software attains a level of quality commensurate with its importance to safety function. 2. A Software Safety Plan (SSP) that identifies the process to reasonably ensure that safety-critical software performs as intended during all abnormal conditions and events, and does not introduce any new hazards that could jeopardize the health and safety of the public. 3. A Software Verification and Validation (V and V) Plan that describes the method of ensuring the software is in accordance with the requirements. 4. A Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) that describes the method of maintaining the software in an identifiable state at all times. 5. A Software Operations and Maintenance Plan (SO and MP) that

  9. Application of Ceramic Bond Coating for Reusable Melting Crucible of Metallic Fuel Slugs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Ki-Hwan; Song, Hoon; Ko, Young-Mo; Park, Jeong-Yong; Lee, Chan-Bock [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Hong, Ki-Won [Chungnam National University, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    Metal fuel slugs of the driver fuel assembly have been fabricated by injection casting of the fuel alloys under a vacuum state or an inert atmosphere. Traditionally, metal fuel such as a U-Zr alloy system for SFR has been melted in slurry-coated graphite crucibles and cast in slurry-coated quartz tube molds to prevent melt/material interactions. Reactive coatings and porous coatings can be a source of melt contaminations, and fuel losses, respectively. Ceramic Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}, TiC, and TaC coating materials showed no penetration in the protective layer after a melt dipping test. However, the ceramic coating materials showed separations in the coating interface between the substrate and coating layer, or between the coating layer and fuel melt after the dipping test. All plasma-spray coated methods maintained a sound coating state after a dipping test with U-10wt.%Zr melt. A single coating Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}(150) layer and double coating layer of TaC(50)-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}(100), showed a sound state or little penetration in the protective layer after a dipping test with U-10wt.%Zr-5wt.%RE melt. Injection casting experiments of U-10wt.%Zr and U-10wt.%Zr-5wt.%RE fuel slugs have been performed to investigate the feasibility of a reusable crucible of the metal fuel slugs. U–10wt.%Zr and U–10wt.%Zr–5wt.%RE fuel slugs have been soundly fabricated without significant interactions of the graphite crucibles. Thus, the ceramic plasma-spray coatings are thought to be promising candidate coating methods for a reusable graphite crucible to fabricate metal fuel slugs.

  10. System and Software Design for the Plant Protection System for Shin-Hanul Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hwang, In Seok; Kim, Young Geul; Choi, Woong Seock; Sohn, Se Do

    2015-01-01

    The Reactor Protection System(RPS) protects the core fuel design limits and reactor coolant system pressure boundary for Anticipated Operational Occurrences (AOOs), and provides assistance in mitigating the consequences of Postulated Accidents (PAs). The ESFAS sends the initiation signals to Engineered Safety Feature - Component Control System (ESF-CCS) to mitigate consequences of design basis events. The Common Q platform Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) was used for Shin-Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 and Shin-Kori Nuclear Power Plant Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 since Digital Plant Protection System (DPPS) based on Common Q PLC was applied for Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant Units 5 and 6. The PPS for Shin-Hanul Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 (SHN 1 and 2) was developed using POSAFE-Q PLC for the first time for the PPS. The SHN1 and 2 PPS was delivered to the sites after completion of Man Machine Interface System Integrated System Test (MMIS-IST). The SHN1 and 2 PPS was developed to have the redundancy in each channel and to use the benefits of POSAFE-Q PLC, such as diagnostic and data communication. The PPS application software was developed using ISODE to minimize development time and human errors, and to improve software quality, productivity, and reusability

  11. System and Software Design for the Plant Protection System for Shin-Hanul Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hwang, In Seok; Kim, Young Geul; Choi, Woong Seock; Sohn, Se Do [KEPCO EnC, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-10-15

    The Reactor Protection System(RPS) protects the core fuel design limits and reactor coolant system pressure boundary for Anticipated Operational Occurrences (AOOs), and provides assistance in mitigating the consequences of Postulated Accidents (PAs). The ESFAS sends the initiation signals to Engineered Safety Feature - Component Control System (ESF-CCS) to mitigate consequences of design basis events. The Common Q platform Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) was used for Shin-Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 and Shin-Kori Nuclear Power Plant Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 since Digital Plant Protection System (DPPS) based on Common Q PLC was applied for Ulchin Nuclear Power Plant Units 5 and 6. The PPS for Shin-Hanul Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2 (SHN 1 and 2) was developed using POSAFE-Q PLC for the first time for the PPS. The SHN1 and 2 PPS was delivered to the sites after completion of Man Machine Interface System Integrated System Test (MMIS-IST). The SHN1 and 2 PPS was developed to have the redundancy in each channel and to use the benefits of POSAFE-Q PLC, such as diagnostic and data communication. The PPS application software was developed using ISODE to minimize development time and human errors, and to improve software quality, productivity, and reusability.

  12. Composable local memory organisation for streaming applications on embedded MPSoCs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ambrose, J.; Molnos, A.; Nelson, A.; Cotofana, S.; Goossens, K.G.W.; Juurlink, B.

    2011-01-01

    Multi-Processor Systems on a Chip (MPSoCs) are suitable platforms for the implementation of complex embedded applications. An MPSoC is composable if the functional and temporal behaviour of each application is independent of the absence or presence of other applications. Composability is required

  13. Construction of new operation interface for the LABIHS simulator using the ELIPSE E3 studio software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Augusto, Silas C.; Oliveira, Mauro V.

    2011-01-01

    The Human-System Interface Laboratory (LABIHS), located at the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN), has a compact simulator that simulate the processes of a pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant of 930 MWe of power. This simulator is composed by a HP-UX workstation computer, where the simulation software runs, and a set of computer stations, that represent an advanced control room, where the simulator is operated by software control panels that represent several systems of the simulated nuclear power plant. The current HSIs for the LABIHS simulator was built using iLog software tool. The development of new human-system interfaces (HSIs) for the simulator is one of the research fields of LABIHS. This paper presents the screen components development process for a new HSI for the LABIHS simulator, using the software Elipse TM E3 Studio. These new components developed using the E3 Studio are similar to the ones used in the current simulator interface. The article shows some comparisons between the component and screen development with Elipse TM E3 Studio processes and using iLog Studio. (author)

  14. Intellectual Property Protection of Software – At the Crossroads of Software Patents and Open Source Software

    OpenAIRE

    Tantarimäki, Maria

    2018-01-01

    The thesis considers the intellectual property protection of software in Europe and in the US, which is increasingly important subject as the world is globalizing and digitalizing. The special nature of software has challenges the intellectual property rights. The current protection of software is based on copyright protection but in this thesis, two other options are considered: software patents and open source software. Software patents provide strong protection for software whereas the pur...

  15. The EGSE science software of the IBIS instrument on-board INTEGRAL satellite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    La Rosa, Giovanni; Fazio, Giacomo; Segreto, Alberto; Gianotti, Fulvio; Stephen, John; Trifoglio, Massimo

    2000-01-01

    IBIS (Imager on Board INTEGRAL Satellite) is one of the key instrument on-board the INTEGRAL satellite, the follow up mission of the high energy missions CGRO and Granat. The EGSE of IBIS is composed by a Satellite Interface Simulator, a Control Station and a Science Station. Here are described the solutions adopted for the architectural design of the software running on the Science Station. Some preliminary results are used to show the science functionality, that allowed to understand the instrument behavior, all along the test and calibration campaigns of the Engineering Model of IBIS

  16. Software Quality Assurance in Software Projects: A Study of Pakistan

    OpenAIRE

    Faisal Shafique Butt; Sundus Shaukat; M. Wasif Nisar; Ehsan Ullah Munir; Muhammad Waseem; Kashif Ayyub

    2013-01-01

    Software quality is specific property which tells what kind of standard software should have. In a software project, quality is the key factor of success and decline of software related organization. Many researches have been done regarding software quality. Software related organization follows standards introduced by Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) to achieve good quality software. Quality is divided into three main layers which are Software Quality Assurance (SQA), Software Qu...

  17. Conflict-induced Migration of Composers: An Individual-level Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borowiecki, Karol Jan

    2013-01-01

    Research on the causes of conflict-induced migration is hindered by the lack of adequately disaggregated data. The underlying study overcomes this problem by employment of historical data on 164 prominent classical composers born after 1800. We analyze the impact of war on the probability to emig...... responses to war based on individual’s quality. While the better composers are more likely to emigrate in times of peace, it is not so anymore if a war breaks out. In times of war, all artists are affected by war and are prone to emigrate....

  18. A software engineering process for safety-critical software application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Byung Heon; Kim, Hang Bae; Chang, Hoon Seon; Jeon, Jong Sun

    1995-01-01

    Application of computer software to safety-critical systems in on the increase. To be successful, the software must be designed and constructed to meet the functional and performance requirements of the system. For safety reason, the software must be demonstrated not only to meet these requirements, but also to operate safely as a component within the system. For longer-term cost consideration, the software must be designed and structured to ease future maintenance and modifications. This paper presents a software engineering process for the production of safety-critical software for a nuclear power plant. The presentation is expository in nature of a viable high quality safety-critical software development. It is based on the ideas of a rational design process and on the experience of the adaptation of such process in the production of the safety-critical software for the shutdown system number two of Wolsung 2, 3 and 4 nuclear power generation plants. This process is significantly different from a conventional process in terms of rigorous software development phases and software design techniques, The process covers documentation, design, verification and testing using mathematically precise notations and highly reviewable tabular format to specify software requirements and software requirements and software requirements and code against software design using static analysis. The software engineering process described in this paper applies the principle of information-hiding decomposition in software design using a modular design technique so that when a change is required or an error is detected, the affected scope can be readily and confidently located. it also facilitates a sense of high degree of confidence in the 'correctness' of the software production, and provides a relatively simple and straightforward code implementation effort. 1 figs., 10 refs. (Author)

  19. Software architecture analysis tool : software architecture metrics collection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muskens, J.; Chaudron, M.R.V.; Westgeest, R.

    2002-01-01

    The Software Engineering discipline lacks the ability to evaluate software architectures. Here we describe a tool for software architecture analysis that is based on metrics. Metrics can be used to detect possible problems and bottlenecks in software architectures. Even though metrics do not give a

  20. Hybrid environment for software sensors design applied to the petrochemical industry problems; Ambiente hibrido para a concepcao de sensores de software aplicados aos problemas da industria petroquimica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Costa, Bruno X.; Ramalho, Leonardo S.G.; Rodrigues, Igor O.; Martins, Daniel L.; Doria Neto, Adriao D.; Melo, Jorge D.; Oliveira, Luiz A.H.G.G. [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal, RN (Brazil)

    2008-07-01

    This article will show a hybrid environment for the conception of software sensors in Foundation Fieldbus (FF) industrial network. These sensors are focused on the measurement and control problems in the petroleum industry, more specifically in oil and gas refining, contributing for the efficiency increase and operation costs decrease of a refining process. The software sensors are based on intelligent algorithms, as neural networks, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms. These algorithms need input data, in this case the historical variables data associated to industrial petrochemical plant. One option allowed by the environment is the data acquisition from a simulated process by the FF network. Then, the environment presents a hybrid feature, since it is composed by a real (the industrial network) and a simulated (the process) part, with the use of real control and measurements signals. The environment is flexible, allowing typical dynamics of industrial process reproduction without necessity of the physical network amendment and enabling the creation of several situations from a real industrial environment. (author)

  1. Customer Interaction in Software Development: A Comparison of Software Methodologies Deployed in Namibian Software Firms

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Iyawa, GE

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available within the Namibian context. An implication for software project managers and software developers is that customer interaction should be properly managed to ensure that the software methodologies for improving software development processes...

  2. Systems and Methods for Composable Analytics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-04-29

    simplistic module that performs a mathematical operation on two numbers. The most important method is the Execute() method. This will get called when it is...addition, an input control is also specified in the example below. In this example, the mathematical operator can only be chosen from a preconfigured...approaches. Some of the industries that could benefit from Composable Analytics include pharmaceuticals, health care, insurance, actuaries , and

  3. Q&A: The AI composer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spinney, Laura

    2017-09-01

    Computer scientist Luc Steels uses artificial intelligence to explore the origins and evolution of language. He is best known for his 1999-2001 Talking Heads Experiment, in which robots had to construct a language from scratch to communicate with each other. Now Steels, who works at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), has composed an opera based on the legend of Faust, with a twenty-first-century twist. He talks about Mozart as a nascent computer programmer, how music maps onto language, and the blurred boundaries of a digitized world.

  4. Orbiting Depot and Reusable Lander for Lunar Transportation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petro, Andrew

    2009-01-01

    A document describes a conceptual transportation system that would support exploratory visits by humans to locations dispersed across the surface of the Moon and provide transport of humans and cargo to sustain one or more permanent Lunar outpost. The system architecture reflects requirements to (1) minimize the amount of vehicle hardware that must be expended while maintaining high performance margins and (2) take advantage of emerging capabilities to produce propellants on the Moon while also enabling efficient operation using propellants transported from Earth. The system would include reusable single- stage lander spacecraft and a depot in a low orbit around the Moon. Each lander would have descent, landing, and ascent capabilities. A crew-taxi version of the lander would carry a pressurized crew module; a cargo version could carry a variety of cargo containers. The depot would serve as a facility for storage and for refueling with propellants delivered from Earth or propellants produced on the Moon. The depot could receive propellants and cargo sent from Earth on a variety of spacecraft. The depot could provide power and orbit maintenance for crew vehicles from Earth and could serve as a safe haven for lunar crews pending transport back to Earth.

  5. A SOFTWARE RELIABILITY ESTIMATION METHOD TO NUCLEAR SAFETY SOFTWARE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GEE-YONG PARK

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available A method for estimating software reliability for nuclear safety software is proposed in this paper. This method is based on the software reliability growth model (SRGM, where the behavior of software failure is assumed to follow a non-homogeneous Poisson process. Two types of modeling schemes based on a particular underlying method are proposed in order to more precisely estimate and predict the number of software defects based on very rare software failure data. The Bayesian statistical inference is employed to estimate the model parameters by incorporating software test cases as a covariate into the model. It was identified that these models are capable of reasonably estimating the remaining number of software defects which directly affects the reactor trip functions. The software reliability might be estimated from these modeling equations, and one approach of obtaining software reliability value is proposed in this paper.

  6. Mechanical desorption of immobilized proteins using carbon dioxide aerosols for reusable biosensors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Singh, Renu; Hong, Seongkyeol [School of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of); Jang, Jaesung, E-mail: jjang@unist.ac.kr [School of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of); School of Materials Science and Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 689-798 (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Immobilized proteins were removed using carbon dioxide aerosols. • We observed high removal efficiencies due to the aerosol treatment. • We confirmed the removal with FTIR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. • This CO{sub 2} aerosol treatment did not undermine re-functionalization. • This technique is a fast and damage-free method to reuse a sensor surface. - Abstract: Reusability of a biosensor has recently received considerable attention, and it is closely related with the effective desorption of probe molecules. We present a novel mechanical desorption technique to reuse biosensors by using periodic jets of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) aerosols (a mixture of solid and gaseous CO{sub 2}), and demonstrate its feasibility by removing physically adsorbed and covalently bonded fluorescent proteins i.e., Escherichia coli fluorescein isothiocyanate antibody and bovine serum albumin (E. coli FITC–Ab and FITC–BSA) from silicon chips. The proteins on the chip surfaces were measured by fluorescent images before and after applying the aerosols. The removal efficiency of the aerosol treatment was measured for various concentrations (1–20 μg mL{sup −1}) of E. coli FITC–Ab and FITC–BSA with two different removal cycles (5 and 11 cycles; each cycle: 8 s). We observed high removal efficiencies (>93.5% for physically adsorbed Ab and >84.6% for covalently bonded Ab) at 11 cycle aerosol treatment. This CO{sub 2} aerosol treatment did not undermine re-functionalization, which was confirmed by the fluorescent images of FITC–Abs for fresh and reused chips. Desorption of the immobilized layers was validated by Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analyses. We also conducted an experiment on the regeneration of E. coli sensing chips using this aerosol treatment, and the chips were re-used 5 times successfully. This mechanical desorption technique is a highly effective and novel strategy for reusable biosensors.

  7. Space Flight Software Development Software for Intelligent System Health Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trevino, Luis C.; Crumbley, Tim

    2004-01-01

    The slide presentation examines the Marshall Space Flight Center Flight Software Branch, including software development projects, mission critical space flight software development, software technical insight, advanced software development technologies, and continuous improvement in the software development processes and methods.

  8. Software attribute visualization for high integrity software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pollock, G.M.

    1998-03-01

    This report documents a prototype tool developed to investigate the use of visualization and virtual reality technologies for improving software surety confidence. The tool is utilized within the execution phase of the software life cycle. It provides a capability to monitor an executing program against prespecified requirements constraints provided in a program written in the requirements specification language SAGE. The resulting Software Attribute Visual Analysis Tool (SAVAnT) also provides a technique to assess the completeness of a software specification.

  9. Software cost/resource modeling: Software quality tradeoff measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lawler, R. W.

    1980-01-01

    A conceptual framework for treating software quality from a total system perspective is developed. Examples are given to show how system quality objectives may be allocated to hardware and software; to illustrate trades among quality factors, both hardware and software, to achieve system performance objectives; and to illustrate the impact of certain design choices on software functionality.

  10. Preparation and photocatalytic properties of hybrid core–shell reusable CoFe2O4–ZnO nanospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, A.; Mishra, S.R.; Gupta, R.; Ghosh, K.

    2012-01-01

    Magnetically separable and reusable core–shell CoFe 2 O 4 –ZnO photocatalyst nanospheres were prepared by the hydrothermal synthesis technique using glucose derived carbon nanospheres as the template. The morphology and the phase of core–shell hybrid structure of CoFe 2 O 4 –ZnO were assessed via TEM, SEM and XRD. The magnetic composite showed high UV photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue in water. The photocatalytic activity was found to be ZnO shell thickness dependent. Thicker ZnO shells lead to higher rate of photocatalytic activity. Hybrid nanospheres recovered using an external magnetic field demonstrated good repeatability of photocatalytic activity. These results promise the reusability of the hybrid nanospheres for photocatalytic activity. - Highlights: ► Synthesis of novel hybrid magnetic-ZnO core–shell composite nanospheres. ► High photocatalytic activity of hybrid nanospheres was noted as compared to that of pure ZnO nanoparticles. ► The hybrid nanospheres could be easily retrieved using an external magnet for repeated use. ► Repeated use of hybrid nanospheres did not show any degradation in the photocatalytic activity. ► The photocatalysis rate was observed to be ZnO shell thickness dependent.

  11. Reliable clinical serum analysis with reusable electrochemical sensor: Toward point-of-care measurement of the antipsychotic medication clozapine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Mijeong; Kim, Eunkyoung; Winkler, Thomas E; Banis, George; Liu, Yi; Kitchen, Christopher A; Kelly, Deanna L; Ghodssi, Reza; Payne, Gregory F

    2017-09-15

    Clozapine is one of the most promising medications for managing schizophrenia but it is under-utilized because of the challenges of maintaining serum levels in a safe therapeutic range (1-3μM). Timely measurement of serum clozapine levels has been identified as a barrier to the broader use of clozapine, which is however challenging due to the complexity of serum samples. We demonstrate a robust and reusable electrochemical sensor with graphene-chitosan composite for rapidly measuring serum levels of clozapine. Our electrochemical measurements in clinical serum from clozapine-treated and clozapine-untreated schizophrenia groups are well correlated to centralized laboratory analysis for the readily detected uric acid and for the clozapine which is present at 100-fold lower concentration. The benefits of our electrochemical measurement approach for serum clozapine monitoring are: (i) rapid measurement (≈20min) without serum pretreatment; (ii) appropriate selectivity and sensitivity (limit of detection 0.7μM); (iii) reusability of an electrode over several weeks; and (iv) rapid reliability testing to detect common error-causing problems. This simple and rapid electrochemical approach for serum clozapine measurements should provide clinicians with the timely point-of-care information required to adjust dosages and personalize the management of schizophrenia. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Guidelines for the verification and validation of expert system software and conventional software: Rationale and description of V ampersand V guideline packages and procedures. Volume 5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirsky, S.M.; Hayes, J.E.; Miller, L.A.

    1995-03-01

    This report is the fifth volume in a series of reports describing the results of the Expert System Verification C, and Validation (V ampersand V) project which is jointly funded by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Electric Power Research Institute toward the objective of formulating Guidelines for the V ampersand V of expert systems for use in nuclear power applications. This report provides the rationale for and description of those guidelines. The actual guidelines themselves are presented in Volume 7, open-quotes User's Manual.close quotes Three factors determine what V ampersand V is needed: (1) the stage of the development life cycle (requirements, design, or implementation); (2) whether the overall system or a specialized component needs to be tested (knowledge base component, inference engine or other highly reusable element, or a component involving conventional software); and (3) the stringency of V ampersand V that is needed (as judged from an assessment of the system's complexity and the requirement for its integrity to form three Classes). A V ampersand V Guideline package is provided for each of the combinations of these three variables. The package specifies the V ampersand V methods recommended and the order in which they should be administered, the assurances each method provides, the qualifications needed by the V ampersand V team to employ each particular method, the degree to which the methods should be applied, the performance measures that should be taken, and the decision criteria for accepting, conditionally accepting, or rejecting an evaluated system. In addition to the Guideline packages, highly detailed step-by-step procedures are provided for 11 of the more important methods, to ensure that they can be implemented correctly. The Guidelines can apply to conventional procedural software systems as well as all kinds of Al systems

  13. Synthesis of Reusable Silica Nanosphere-Supported Pt(IV Complex for Formation of Disulfide Bonds in Peptides

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaonan Hou

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Some peptide-based drugs, including oxytocin, vasopressin, ziconotide, pramlintide, nesiritide, and octreotide, contain one intramolecular disulfide bond. A novel and reusable monodispersed silica nanosphere-supported Pt(IV complex (SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV; TPEA: N-[3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl]ethylenediamine was synthesized via a four-step procedure and was used for the formation of intramolecular disulfide bonds in peptides. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM and chemical mapping results for the Pt(II intermediates and for SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV show that the silica nanospheres possess a monodisperse spherical structure and contain uniformly-distributed Si, O, C, N, Cl, and Pt. The valence state of Pt on the silica nanospheres was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS. The Pt(IV loaded on SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV was 0.15 mmol/g, as determined by UV-VIS spectrometry. The formation of intramolecular disulfides in six dithiol-containing peptides of variable lengths by the use of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV was investigated, and the relative oxidation yields were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC. In addition, peptide 1 (Ac-CPFC-NH2 was utilized to study the reusability of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV. No significant decrease in the relative oxidation yield was observed after ten reaction cycles. Moreover, the structure of SiO2@TPEA@Pt(IV after being used for ten cycles was determined to be similar to its initial one, demonstrating the cycling stability of the complex.

  14. Composing Networks: Writing Practices on Mobile Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swarts, Jason

    2016-01-01

    This article is an investigation of composing practices through which people create networks with mobile phones. By looking through the lens of actor-network theory, the author portrays the networking activity of mobile phone users as translation, what Latour describes as an infralanguage to which different disciplinary perspectives can be…

  15. Software architecture for time-constrained machine vision applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Usamentiaga, Rubén; Molleda, Julio; García, Daniel F.; Bulnes, Francisco G.

    2013-01-01

    Real-time image and video processing applications require skilled architects, and recent trends in the hardware platform make the design and implementation of these applications increasingly complex. Many frameworks and libraries have been proposed or commercialized to simplify the design and tuning of real-time image processing applications. However, they tend to lack flexibility, because they are normally oriented toward particular types of applications, or they impose specific data processing models such as the pipeline. Other issues include large memory footprints, difficulty for reuse, and inefficient execution on multicore processors. We present a novel software architecture for time-constrained machine vision applications that addresses these issues. The architecture is divided into three layers. The platform abstraction layer provides a high-level application programming interface for the rest of the architecture. The messaging layer provides a message-passing interface based on a dynamic publish/subscribe pattern. A topic-based filtering in which messages are published to topics is used to route the messages from the publishers to the subscribers interested in a particular type of message. The application layer provides a repository for reusable application modules designed for machine vision applications. These modules, which include acquisition, visualization, communication, user interface, and data processing, take advantage of the power of well-known libraries such as OpenCV, Intel IPP, or CUDA. Finally, the proposed architecture is applied to a real machine vision application: a jam detector for steel pickling lines.

  16. Calculation Software versus Illustration Software for Teaching Statistics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Peter Stendahl; Boyle, Robin G.

    1999-01-01

    As personal computers have become more and more powerful, so have the software packages available to us for teaching statistics. This paper investigates what software packages are currently being used by progressive statistics instructors at university level, examines some of the deficiencies...... of such software, and indicates features that statistics instructors wish to have incorporated in software in the future. The basis of the paper is a survey of participants at ICOTS-5 (the Fifth International Conference on Teaching Statistics). These survey results, combined with the software based papers...

  17. The RAGE Advanced Game Technologies Repository for Supporting Applied Game Development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Georgiev, Atanas; Grigorov, Alexander; Bontchev, Boyan; Boytchev, Pavel; Stefanov, Krassen; Westera, Wim; Prada, Rui; Hollins, Paul; Moreno Ger, Pablo

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes the structural architecture of the RAGE repository, which is a unique and dedicated infrastructure that provides access to a wide variety of advanced technologies (RAGE software assets) for applied game development. These software assets are reusable across a wide diversity of

  18. Software system safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uber, James G.

    1988-01-01

    Software itself is not hazardous, but since software and hardware share common interfaces there is an opportunity for software to create hazards. Further, these software systems are complex, and proven methods for the design, analysis, and measurement of software safety are not yet available. Some past software failures, future NASA software trends, software engineering methods, and tools and techniques for various software safety analyses are reviewed. Recommendations to NASA are made based on this review.

  19. Making Judgements: Investigating the Process of Composing and Receiving Peer Feedback

    Science.gov (United States)

    McConlogue, Teresa

    2015-01-01

    Recent studies have argued that tutor feedback is failing to support students' progression. The potential for peer feedback, i.e. feedback composed by peer assessors, to support learning has been under researched. The aim of this paper was to explore a case study of a peer assessor composing and receiving peer feedback. The paper reports a case…

  20. 进化作曲研究%Research on evolutionary music composer system

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    汪镭; 郑晓妹; 申林

    2014-01-01

    Algorithmic composition is the most attractive research area in computer music and genetic algorithm-based evolution-ary music composer system has become a hot spot in the algorithmic composition.This paper gives a structure of evolutionary mu-sic composer system,analyzes different goals of music composer systems,and then discusses two types of evolutionary music com-poser system from the aspect of fitness function design.Finally,several instances of evolutionary music composer system are ana-lyzed.%算法作曲是计算机音乐中最具吸引力的研究领域,而基于遗传算法的进化作曲系统已成为算法作曲中的热点。给出了进化作曲系统的结构,分析了系统不同的作曲目标,从适应度函数的设计讨论了两类作曲系统。最后给出了几个作曲系统实例分析。