WorldWideScience

Sample records for source software communities

  1. Epistemic Communities, Situated Learning and Open Source Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Edwards, Kasper

    2001-01-01

    This paper analyses open source software (OSS) development as an epistemic community where each individual project is perceived as a single epistemic community. OSS development is a learning process where the involved parties contribute to, and learn from the community. It is discovered that theory...... of epistemic communities does indeed contribute to the understanding of open source software development. But, the important learning process of open source software development is not readily explained. The paper then introduces situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation as theoretical...

  2. Beyond Open Source: Evaluating the Community Availability of Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bret Davidson

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The Code4Lib community has produced an increasingly impressive collection of open source software over the last decade, but much of this creative work remains out of reach for large portions of the library community. Do the relatively privileged institutions represented by a majority of Code4Lib participants have a professional responsibility to support the adoption of their innovations? Drawing from old and new software packaging and distribution approaches (from freeware to Docker, we propose extending the open source software values of collaboration and transparency to include the wide and affordable distribution of software. We believe this will not only simplify the process of sharing our applications within the library community, but also make it possible for less well-resourced institutions to actually use our software. We identify areas of need, present our experiences with the users of our own open source projects, discuss our attempts to go beyond open source, propose a preliminary set of technology availability performance indicators for evaluating software availability, and make an argument for the internal value of supporting and encouraging a vibrant library software ecosystem.

  3. Learning and Best Practices for Learning in Open-Source Software Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Vandana; Holt, Lila

    2013-01-01

    This research is about participants who use open-source software (OSS) discussion forums for learning. Learning in online communities of education as well as non-education-related online communities has been studied under the lens of social learning theory and situated learning for a long time. In this research, we draw parallels among these two…

  4. BioContainers: an open-source and community-driven framework for software standardization

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Veiga Leprevost, Felipe; Grüning, Björn A.; Alves Aflitos, Saulo; Röst, Hannes L.; Uszkoreit, Julian; Barsnes, Harald; Vaudel, Marc; Moreno, Pablo; Gatto, Laurent; Weber, Jonas; Bai, Mingze; Jimenez, Rafael C.; Sachsenberg, Timo; Pfeuffer, Julianus; Vera Alvarez, Roberto; Griss, Johannes; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I.; Perez-Riverol, Yasset

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Motivation BioContainers (biocontainers.pro) is an open-source and community-driven framework which provides platform independent executable environments for bioinformatics software. BioContainers allows labs of all sizes to easily install bioinformatics software, maintain multiple versions of the same software and combine tools into powerful analysis pipelines. BioContainers is based on popular open-source projects Docker and rkt frameworks, that allow software to be installed and executed under an isolated and controlled environment. Also, it provides infrastructure and basic guidelines to create, manage and distribute bioinformatics containers with a special focus on omics technologies. These containers can be integrated into more comprehensive bioinformatics pipelines and different architectures (local desktop, cloud environments or HPC clusters). Availability and Implementation The software is freely available at github.com/BioContainers/. Contact yperez@ebi.ac.uk PMID:28379341

  5. BioContainers: an open-source and community-driven framework for software standardization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Veiga Leprevost, Felipe; Grüning, Björn A; Alves Aflitos, Saulo; Röst, Hannes L; Uszkoreit, Julian; Barsnes, Harald; Vaudel, Marc; Moreno, Pablo; Gatto, Laurent; Weber, Jonas; Bai, Mingze; Jimenez, Rafael C; Sachsenberg, Timo; Pfeuffer, Julianus; Vera Alvarez, Roberto; Griss, Johannes; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I; Perez-Riverol, Yasset

    2017-08-15

    BioContainers (biocontainers.pro) is an open-source and community-driven framework which provides platform independent executable environments for bioinformatics software. BioContainers allows labs of all sizes to easily install bioinformatics software, maintain multiple versions of the same software and combine tools into powerful analysis pipelines. BioContainers is based on popular open-source projects Docker and rkt frameworks, that allow software to be installed and executed under an isolated and controlled environment. Also, it provides infrastructure and basic guidelines to create, manage and distribute bioinformatics containers with a special focus on omics technologies. These containers can be integrated into more comprehensive bioinformatics pipelines and different architectures (local desktop, cloud environments or HPC clusters). The software is freely available at github.com/BioContainers/. yperez@ebi.ac.uk. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  6. Open Source Software Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    appropriate to refer to FOSS or FLOSS (L for Libre , where the alternative term “ libre software ” has popularity in some parts of the world) in order...Applying Social Network Analysis to Community-Drive Libre Software Projects, Intern. J. Info. Tech. and Web Engineering, 2006, 1(3), 27-28. 17...Open Source Software Development* Walt Scacchi Institute for Software Researcher University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3455 USA Abstract

  7. Open source in Finnish software companies

    OpenAIRE

    Seppä, Arto

    2006-01-01

    This paper explores survey data focusing on open source software supply collected from 170 Finnish software firms using descriptive statistical analysis. The first half of the report contains general data about software companies and the differences between proprietary and open source firms. The second half focuses on open source firms. A subject of analysis are copyrights, products and services supply, the firms’ relationships with the open source community, and their views on opportunities ...

  8. Perspectives on Open Source Software

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Hissam, Scott

    2001-01-01

    Open source software (OSS) is emerging as the software community's next "silver bullet" and appears to be playing a significant role in the acquisition and development plans of the Department of Defense (DoD) and industry...

  9. Software development an open source approach

    CERN Document Server

    Tucker, Allen; de Silva, Chamindra

    2011-01-01

    Overview and Motivation Software Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)Two Case Studies Working with a Project Team Key FOSS Activities Client-Oriented vs. Community-Oriented Projects Working on a Client-Oriented Project Joining a Community-Oriented Project Using Project Tools Collaboration Tools Code Management Tools Run-Time System ConstraintsSoftware Architecture Architectural Patterns Layers, Cohesion, and Coupling Security Concurrency, Race Conditions, and DeadlocksWorking with Code Bad Smells and Metrics Refactoring Testing Debugging Extending the Software for a New ProjectDeveloping the D

  10. A Stigmergy Collaboration Approach in the Open Source Software Developer Community

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cui, Xiaohui [ORNL; Pullum, Laura L [ORNL; Treadwell, Jim N [ORNL; Potok, Thomas E [ORNL

    2009-01-01

    The communication model of some self-organized online communities is significantly different from the traditional social network based community. It is problematic to use social network analysis to analyze the collaboration structure and emergent behaviors in these communities because these communities lack peer-to-peer connections. Stigmergy theory provides an explanation of the collaboration model of these communities. In this research, we present a stigmergy approach for building an agent-based simulation to simulate the collaboration model in the open source software (OSS) developer community. We used a group of actors who collaborate on OSS projects through forums as our frame of reference and investigated how the choices actors make in contributing their work on the projects determines the global status of the whole OSS project. In our simulation, the forum posts serve as the digital pheromone and the modified Pierre-Paul Grasse pheromone model is used for computing the developer agents behavior selection probability.

  11. 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

  12. Fostering successful scientific software communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bangerth, W.; Heister, T.; Hwang, L.; Kellogg, L. H.

    2016-12-01

    Developing sustainable open source software packages for the sciences appears at first to be primarily a technical challenge: How can one create stable and robust algorithms, appropriate software designs, sufficient documentation, quality assurance strategies such as continuous integration and test suites, or backward compatibility approaches that yield high-quality software usable not only by the authors, but also the broader community of scientists? However, our experience from almost two decades of leading the development of the deal.II software library (http://www.dealii.org, a widely-used finite element package) and the ASPECT code (http://aspect.dealii.org, used to simulate convection in the Earth's mantle) has taught us that technical aspects are not the most difficult ones in scientific open source software. Rather, it is the social challenge of building and maintaining a community of users and developers interested in answering questions on user forums, contributing code, and jointly finding solutions to common technical and non-technical challenges. These problems are posed in an environment where project leaders typically have no resources to reward the majority of contributors, where very few people are specifically paid for the work they do on the project, and with frequent turnover of contributors as project members rotate into and out of jobs. In particular, much software work is done by graduate students who may become fluent enough in a software only a year or two before they leave academia. We will discuss strategies we have found do and do not work in maintaining and growing communities around the scientific software projects we lead. Specifically, we will discuss the management style necessary to keep contributors engaged, ways to give credit where credit is due, and structuring documentation to decrease reliance on forums and thereby allow user communities to grow without straining those who answer questions.

  13. Practical open source software for libraries

    CERN Document Server

    Engard, Nicole

    2010-01-01

    Open source refers to an application whose source code is made available for use or modification as users see fit. This means libraries gain more flexibility and freedom than with software purchased with license restrictions. Both the open source community and the library world live by the same rules and principles. Practical Open Source Software for Libraries explains the facts and dispels myths about open source. Chapters introduce librarians to open source and what it means for libraries. The reader is provided with links to a toolbox full of freely available open source products to use in

  14. Open source community organization

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Molefe, Onkgopotse M

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Open Source communities (OSCs), sometimes referred to as virtual or online communities play a significant role in terms of the contribution they continue to make in producing user-friendly Open Source Software (OSS) solutions. Many projects have...

  15. Code Forking, Governance, and Sustainability in Open Source Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juho Lindman

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The right to fork open source code is at the core of open source licensing. All open source licenses grant the right to fork their code, that is to start a new development effort using an existing code as its base. Thus, code forking represents the single greatest tool available for guaranteeing sustainability in open source software. In addition to bolstering program sustainability, code forking directly affects the governance of open source initiatives. Forking, and even the mere possibility of forking code, affects the governance and sustainability of open source initiatives on three distinct levels: software, community, and ecosystem. On the software level, the right to fork makes planned obsolescence, versioning, vendor lock-in, end-of-support issues, and similar initiatives all but impossible to implement. On the community level, forking impacts both sustainability and governance through the power it grants the community to safeguard against unfavourable actions by corporations or project leaders. On the business-ecosystem level forking can serve as a catalyst for innovation while simultaneously promoting better quality software through natural selection. Thus, forking helps keep open source initiatives relevant and presents opportunities for the development and commercialization of current and abandoned programs.

  16. A Stigmergy Approach for Open Source Software Developer Community Simulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cui, Xiaohui [ORNL; Beaver, Justin M [ORNL; Potok, Thomas E [ORNL; Pullum, Laura L [ORNL; Treadwell, Jim N [ORNL

    2009-01-01

    The stigmergy collaboration approach provides a hypothesized explanation about how online groups work together. In this research, we presented a stigmergy approach for building an agent based open source software (OSS) developer community collaboration simulation. We used group of actors who collaborate on OSS projects as our frame of reference and investigated how the choices actors make in contribution their work on the projects determinate the global status of the whole OSS projects. In our simulation, the forum posts and project codes served as the digital pheromone and the modified Pierre-Paul Grasse pheromone model is used for computing developer agent behaviors selection probability.

  17. Free software, Open source software, licenses. A short presentation including a procedure for research software and data dissemination

    OpenAIRE

    Gomez-Diaz , Teresa

    2014-01-01

    4 pages. Spanish version: Software libre, software de código abierto, licencias. Donde se propone un procedimiento de distribución de software y datos de investigación; The main goal of this document is to help the research community to understand the basic concepts of software distribution: Free software, Open source software, licenses. This document also includes a procedure for research software and data dissemination.

  18. Communal Resources in Open Source Software Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spaeth, Sebastian; Haefliger, Stefan; von Krogh, Georg; Renzl, Birgit

    2008-01-01

    Introduction: Virtual communities play an important role in innovation. The paper focuses on the particular form of collective action in virtual communities underlying as Open Source software development projects. Method: Building on resource mobilization theory and private-collective innovation, we propose a theory of collective action in…

  19. What makes computational open source software libraries successful?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bangerth, Wolfgang; Heister, Timo

    2013-01-01

    Software is the backbone of scientific computing. Yet, while we regularly publish detailed accounts about the results of scientific software, and while there is a general sense of which numerical methods work well, our community is largely unaware of best practices in writing the large-scale, open source scientific software upon which our discipline rests. This is particularly apparent in the commonly held view that writing successful software packages is largely the result of simply ‘being a good programmer’ when in fact there are many other factors involved, for example the social skill of community building. In this paper, we consider what we have found to be the necessary ingredients for successful scientific software projects and, in particular, for software libraries upon which the vast majority of scientific codes are built today. In particular, we discuss the roles of code, documentation, communities, project management and licenses. We also briefly comment on the impact on academic careers of engaging in software projects. (paper)

  20. What makes computational open source software libraries successful?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bangerth, Wolfgang; Heister, Timo

    2013-01-01

    Software is the backbone of scientific computing. Yet, while we regularly publish detailed accounts about the results of scientific software, and while there is a general sense of which numerical methods work well, our community is largely unaware of best practices in writing the large-scale, open source scientific software upon which our discipline rests. This is particularly apparent in the commonly held view that writing successful software packages is largely the result of simply ‘being a good programmer’ when in fact there are many other factors involved, for example the social skill of community building. In this paper, we consider what we have found to be the necessary ingredients for successful scientific software projects and, in particular, for software libraries upon which the vast majority of scientific codes are built today. In particular, we discuss the roles of code, documentation, communities, project management and licenses. We also briefly comment on the impact on academic careers of engaging in software projects.

  1. On the Prospects and Concerns of Integrating Open Source Software Environment in Software Engineering Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamthan, Pankaj

    2007-01-01

    Open Source Software (OSS) has introduced a new dimension in software community. As the development and use of OSS becomes prominent, the question of its integration in education arises. In this paper, the following practices fundamental to projects and processes in software engineering are examined from an OSS perspective: project management;…

  2. Open Source Software Success Model for Iran: End-User Satisfaction Viewpoint

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Niknafs

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The open source software development is notable option for software companies. Recent years, many advantages of this software type are cause of move to that in Iran. National security and international restrictions problems and also software and services costs and more other problems intensified importance of use of this software. Users and their viewpoints are the critical success factor in the software plans. But there is not an appropriate model for open source software case in Iran. This research tried to develop a measuring open source software success model for Iran. By use of data gathered from open source users and online survey the model was tested. The results showed that components by positive effect on open source success were user satisfaction, open source community services quality, open source quality, copyright and security.

  3. How Do Open Source Communities Document Software Architecture: An Exploratory Survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ding, W.; Liang, P.; Tang, A.; Van Vliet, H.; Shahin, M.

    2014-01-01

    Software architecture (SA) documentation provides a blueprint of a software-intensive system for the communication between stakeholders about the high-level design of the system. In open source software (OSS) development, a lack of SA documentation may hinder the use and further development of OSS,

  4. How Does a Collaborative Community Affect Diverse Students' Engagement with an Open Source Software Project: A Pedagogical Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Becka S.

    2012-01-01

    Open Source Software (OSS) communities are homogenous and their lack of diversity is of concern to many within this field. This problem is becoming more pronounced as it is the practice of many technology companies to use OSS participation as a factor in the hiring process, disadvantaging those who are not a part of this community. We should…

  5. An Investigation of an Open-Source Software Development Environment in a Software Engineering Graduate Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Xun; Huang, Kun; Dong, Yifei

    2010-01-01

    A semester-long ethnography study was carried out to investigate project-based learning in a graduate software engineering course through the implementation of an Open-Source Software Development (OSSD) learning environment, which featured authentic projects, learning community, cognitive apprenticeship, and technology affordances. The study…

  6. Maintaining Quality and Confidence in Open-Source, Evolving Software: Lessons Learned with PFLOTRAN

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frederick, J. M.; Hammond, G. E.

    2017-12-01

    Software evolution in an open-source framework poses a major challenge to a geoscientific simulator, but when properly managed, the pay-off can be enormous for both the developers and the community at large. Developers must juggle implementing new scientific process models, adopting increasingly efficient numerical methods and programming paradigms, changing funding sources (or total lack of funding), while also ensuring that legacy code remains functional and reported bugs are fixed in a timely manner. With robust software engineering and a plan for long-term maintenance, a simulator can evolve over time incorporating and leveraging many advances in the computational and domain sciences. In this positive light, what practices in software engineering and code maintenance can be employed within open-source development to maximize the positive aspects of software evolution and community contributions while minimizing its negative side effects? This presentation will discusses steps taken in the development of PFLOTRAN (www.pflotran.org), an open source, massively parallel subsurface simulator for multiphase, multicomponent, and multiscale reactive flow and transport processes in porous media. As PFLOTRAN's user base and development team continues to grow, it has become increasingly important to implement strategies which ensure sustainable software development while maintaining software quality and community confidence. In this presentation, we will share our experiences and "lessons learned" within the context of our open-source development framework and community engagement efforts. Topics discussed will include how we've leveraged both standard software engineering principles, such as coding standards, version control, and automated testing, as well unique advantages of object-oriented design in process model coupling, to ensure software quality and confidence. We will also be prepared to discuss the major challenges faced by most open-source software teams, such

  7. Shaping Software Engineering Curricula Using Open Source Communities: A Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowring, James; Burke, Quinn

    2016-01-01

    This paper documents four years of a novel approach to teaching a two-course sequence in software engineering as part of the ABET-accredited computer science curriculum at the College of Charleston. This approach is team-based and centers on learning software engineering in the context of open source software projects. In the first course, teams…

  8. Nurturing reliable and robust open-source scientific software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uieda, L.; Wessel, P.

    2017-12-01

    Scientific results are increasingly the product of software. The reproducibility and validity of published results cannot be ensured without access to the source code of the software used to produce them. Therefore, the code itself is a fundamental part of the methodology and must be published along with the results. With such a reliance on software, it is troubling that most scientists do not receive formal training in software development. Tools such as version control, continuous integration, and automated testing are routinely used in industry to ensure the correctness and robustness of software. However, many scientist do not even know of their existence (although efforts like Software Carpentry are having an impact on this issue; software-carpentry.org). Publishing the source code is only the first step in creating an open-source project. For a project to grow it must provide documentation, participation guidelines, and a welcoming environment for new contributors. Expanding the project community is often more challenging than the technical aspects of software development. Maintainers must invest time to enforce the rules of the project and to onboard new members, which can be difficult to justify in the context of the "publish or perish" mentality. This problem will continue as long as software contributions are not recognized as valid scholarship by hiring and tenure committees. Furthermore, there are still unsolved problems in providing attribution for software contributions. Many journals and metrics of academic productivity do not recognize citations to sources other than traditional publications. Thus, some authors choose to publish an article about the software and use it as a citation marker. One issue with this approach is that updating the reference to include new contributors involves writing and publishing a new article. A better approach would be to cite a permanent archive of individual versions of the source code in services such as Zenodo

  9. ADAPTING OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE FOR ENTERPRISE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdan MICU GHILIC

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Low developed companies do not use ERP solutions for resource management, they don't have CRM systems for tracking customers, online presence is low and consequently they are selling low volumes. Their work does not generate enough capital to buy specialized software and the local community is too small to create open-source software for them.When adapting an open-source enterprise solution, from a certain level of integration, it is necessary to align to the Romanian legislation. For this you need more than a simple translation. For example, in accounting, the Romanian chart of accounts should be used, the local fiscal calendar, the rules of the Romanian legislation and the specific identifiers for Romanian companies. The solution: Open source applications can be localized. A small community cannot create complex system starting from nothing, but they can adapt existing ones already created and used all over the world. Given the individual characteristics of the Romanian market, open source ERP, CM and e-commerce will be integrated by specialized consultancy agency in Romania just as is done in France (Compiere, Spain (Openbravo, Belgium (OpenERP or the United States (Apache oFBiz. This will not generate license costs for the companies, only the expenses for hardware and implementation consultancy. If we can create a common infrastructure, hardware cost will be waived for cloud SaaS offering, in opposition with the on-premise option.

  10. Open Source software and social networks: Disruptive alternatives for medical imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ratib, Osman; Rosset, Antoine; Heuberger, Joris

    2011-01-01

    In recent decades several major changes in computer and communication technology have pushed the limits of imaging informatics and PACS beyond the traditional system architecture providing new perspectives and innovative approach to a traditionally conservative medical community. Disruptive technologies such as the world-wide-web, wireless networking, Open Source software and recent emergence of cyber communities and social networks have imposed an accelerated pace and major quantum leaps in the progress of computer and technology infrastructure applicable to medical imaging applications. Methods: This paper reviews the impact and potential benefits of two major trends in consumer market software development and how they will influence the future of medical imaging informatics. Open Source software is emerging as an attractive and cost effective alternative to traditional commercial software developments and collaborative social networks provide a new model of communication that is better suited to the needs of the medical community. Observations: Evidence shows that successful Open Source software tools have penetrated the medical market and have proven to be more robust and cost effective than their commercial counterparts. Developed by developers that are themselves part of the user community, these tools are usually better adapted to the user's need and are more robust than traditional software programs being developed and tested by a large number of contributing users. This context allows a much faster and more appropriate development and evolution of the software platforms. Similarly, communication technology has opened up to the general public in a way that has changed the social behavior and habits adding a new dimension to the way people communicate and interact with each other. The new paradigms have also slowly penetrated the professional market and ultimately the medical community. Secure social networks allowing groups of people to easily communicate

  11. Open Source software and social networks: Disruptive alternatives for medical imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ratib, Osman, E-mail: osman.ratib@hcuge.ch [Department of Medical Imaging and Information Sciences, University Hospital of Geneva, 24, rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1205 Geneva (Switzerland); Rosset, Antoine; Heuberger, Joris [Department of Medical Imaging and Information Sciences, University Hospital of Geneva, 24, rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1205 Geneva (Switzerland)

    2011-05-15

    In recent decades several major changes in computer and communication technology have pushed the limits of imaging informatics and PACS beyond the traditional system architecture providing new perspectives and innovative approach to a traditionally conservative medical community. Disruptive technologies such as the world-wide-web, wireless networking, Open Source software and recent emergence of cyber communities and social networks have imposed an accelerated pace and major quantum leaps in the progress of computer and technology infrastructure applicable to medical imaging applications. Methods: This paper reviews the impact and potential benefits of two major trends in consumer market software development and how they will influence the future of medical imaging informatics. Open Source software is emerging as an attractive and cost effective alternative to traditional commercial software developments and collaborative social networks provide a new model of communication that is better suited to the needs of the medical community. Observations: Evidence shows that successful Open Source software tools have penetrated the medical market and have proven to be more robust and cost effective than their commercial counterparts. Developed by developers that are themselves part of the user community, these tools are usually better adapted to the user's need and are more robust than traditional software programs being developed and tested by a large number of contributing users. This context allows a much faster and more appropriate development and evolution of the software platforms. Similarly, communication technology has opened up to the general public in a way that has changed the social behavior and habits adding a new dimension to the way people communicate and interact with each other. The new paradigms have also slowly penetrated the professional market and ultimately the medical community. Secure social networks allowing groups of people to easily

  12. Open Source software and social networks: disruptive alternatives for medical imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ratib, Osman; Rosset, Antoine; Heuberger, Joris

    2011-05-01

    In recent decades several major changes in computer and communication technology have pushed the limits of imaging informatics and PACS beyond the traditional system architecture providing new perspectives and innovative approach to a traditionally conservative medical community. Disruptive technologies such as the world-wide-web, wireless networking, Open Source software and recent emergence of cyber communities and social networks have imposed an accelerated pace and major quantum leaps in the progress of computer and technology infrastructure applicable to medical imaging applications. This paper reviews the impact and potential benefits of two major trends in consumer market software development and how they will influence the future of medical imaging informatics. Open Source software is emerging as an attractive and cost effective alternative to traditional commercial software developments and collaborative social networks provide a new model of communication that is better suited to the needs of the medical community. Evidence shows that successful Open Source software tools have penetrated the medical market and have proven to be more robust and cost effective than their commercial counterparts. Developed by developers that are themselves part of the user community, these tools are usually better adapted to the user's need and are more robust than traditional software programs being developed and tested by a large number of contributing users. This context allows a much faster and more appropriate development and evolution of the software platforms. Similarly, communication technology has opened up to the general public in a way that has changed the social behavior and habits adding a new dimension to the way people communicate and interact with each other. The new paradigms have also slowly penetrated the professional market and ultimately the medical community. Secure social networks allowing groups of people to easily communicate and exchange information

  13. 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

  14. Converging free and open source software tools for knowledge sharing in smallholder agricultural communities in Sri Lanka

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chandana Kumara Jayathilake

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In a world where the notion of ‘sharing of knowledge’ has been gained much prominence in the recent past, the importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs to promote sustainable agriculture, especially when combined with mobile and open source software technologies is discussed critically. On this rationale, this study was carried out to explore the applicability of the concept of converging ‘Free and Open Source Software (FOSS’ to promote sustainable knowledge sharing amongst the agricultural communities in Sri Lanka. A multi-stage community consultative process with a set of designated officials (“Sponsors” and a series of semi-structured questionnaire survey with a cross section of smallholder agriculture farmers (n=246, were carried out in the Batticaloa, Kurunegala and Puttalam districts to gather the baseline data. This was followed by a number of field experiments (“Campaigns” with the farmers (n=340 from same geographical areas. The two FOSS, namely: (1 “FrontlineSMS” for ‘Text Messaging’ and (2 “FreedomFone” for ‘Interactive Voice Responses’, were applied to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge sharing within the farming communities. It was found that FOSS intervention increases the ‘Text messaging’ and ‘Voice Call’ usage in day-to-day agricultural communication by 26 and 8 percent, respectively. The demographic factors like age and income level of the farmers has positively influence on the knowledge sharing process. And also the ‘Mobile Telephony’ was the most extensive mode of communication within the communities. The outcome of analysis, as a whole, implies that, with a fitting mechanism in place, this approach can be promoted as a “drive for positive changes” in agriculture-based rural communities in developing countries like Sri Lanka, and those in South and East Asia with similar socio-economic and cultural perspectives.

  15. Dilemmas within Commercial Involvement in Open Source Software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ciesielska, Malgorzata; Westenholz, Ann

    2016-01-01

    to free-riding. There are six levels of commercial involvement in open source communities, and each of them is characterized by a different dilemma. Originality/value – The paper sheds light on the various level of involvement of business in open source movement and emphasize that the popularized “open......Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature about the commercial involvement in open source software, levels of this involvement and consequences of attempting to mix various logics of action. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses the case study approach based...... on mixed methods: literature reviews and news searches, electronic surveys, qualitative interviews and observations. It combines discussions from several research projects as well as previous publications to present the scope of commercial choices within open source software and their consequences...

  16. Open Source Software The Challenge Ahead

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2007-01-01

    The open source community has done amazingly well in terms of challenging the historical epicenter of computing - the supercomputer and data center - and driving change there. Linux now represents a healthy and growing share of infrastructure in large organisations globally. Apache and other infrastructural components have established the new de facto standard for software in the back office: freedom. It would be easy to declare victory. But the real challenge lies ahead - taking free software to the mass market, to your grandparents, to your nieces and nephews, to your friends. This is the next wave, and if we are to be successful we need to articulate the audacious goals clearly and loudly - because that's how the community process works best. Speaker Bio: Mark Shuttleworth founded the Ubuntu Project in early 2004. Ubuntu is an enterprise Linux distribution that is freely available worldwide and has both desktop and enterprise server editions. Mark studied finance and information technology at the Universit...

  17. Governance of Open Source Software Foundations: Who Holds the Power?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ludovico Prattico

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The research reported in this article attempts to discover who holds the power in open source software foundations through the analysis of governance documents. Artificial neural network analysis is used to analyse the content of the bylaws of six open source foundations (Apache, Eclipse, GNOME, Plone, Python, and SPI for the purpose of identifying power structures. Results of the research suggest that: i the actions of an open source software foundation are centered around one of three groups: Members, Chairman/President/Executive Director, and Board of Directors; ii in only one of the six foundations is the Board of Directors responsible for both the community and the product; and iii artificial neural network analysis of the content of bylaws provides unbiased insights of the power structure of open source software foundations. These results may prove useful to those who contribute to open source foundations and use their products and services.

  18. Open source software and libraries

    OpenAIRE

    Randhawa, Sukhwinder

    2008-01-01

    Open source software is, software that users have the ability to run, copy, distribute, study, change, share and improve for any purpose. Open source library software’s does not need the initial cost of commercial software and enables libraries to have greater control over their working environment. Library professionals should be aware of the advantages of open source software and should involve in their development. They should have basic knowledge about the selection, installation and main...

  19. Expanding Human Capabilities through the Adoption and Utilization of Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simpson, James Daniel

    2014-01-01

    Free, libre, and open source software (FLOSS) is software that is collaboratively developed. FLOSS provides end-users with the source code and the freedom to adapt or modify a piece of software to fit their needs (Deek & McHugh, 2008; Stallman, 2010). FLOSS has a 30 year history that dates to the open hacker community at the Massachusetts…

  20. A Systems Thinking Model for Open Source Software Development in Social Media

    OpenAIRE

    Mustaquim, Moyen

    2010-01-01

    In this paper a social media model, based on systems thinking methodology is proposed to understand the behavior of the open source software development community working in social media.The proposed model is focused on relational influences of two different systems- social media and the open source community. This model can be useful for taking decisions which are complicated and where solutions are not apparent.Based on the proposed model, an efficient way of working in open source developm...

  1. The reproduction of difference in the practices of Free/Libre Open Source Software Communities

    OpenAIRE

    Meyer, Silke

    2013-01-01

    Free software is developed and distributed by communities. These communities seek to enable themselves and others to design technologies by and for themselves, rather than accepting technologies as given artefacts. These communities attempt to practise a very open approach towards spreading and sharing knowledge. This thesis analyzes how social power relations are reproduced in the sociotechnological practices of these communities. Based on participant obeservation in Linux User Groups, four ...

  2. Usability in open source software development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, M. S.; Nielsen, H. V.; Schrøder, S. O.

    2006-01-01

    Open Source Software (OSS) development has gained significant importance in the production of soft-ware products. Open Source Software developers have produced systems with a functionality that is competitive with similar proprietary software developed by commercial software organizations. Yet OSS...

  3. Building a world-wide open source community around a software framework: progress, dos, and don'ts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibsen, Jorge; Antognini, Jonathan; Avarias, Jorge; Caproni, Alessandro; Fuessling, Matthias; Gimenez, Guillermo; Verma, Khushbu; Mora, Matias; Schwarz, Joseph; Staig, Tomás.

    2016-08-01

    As we all know too well, building up a collaborative community around a software infrastructure is not easy. Besides recruiting enthusiasts to work as part of it, mostly for free, to succeed you also need to overcome a number of technical, sociological, and, to our surprise, some political hurdles. The ALMA Common Software (ACS) was developed at ESO and partner institutions over the course of more than 10 years. While it was mainly intended for the ALMA Observatory, it was early on thought as a generic distributed control framework. ACS has been periodically released to the public through an LGPL license, which encouraged around a dozen non-ALMA institutions to make use of ACS for both industrial and educational applications. In recent years, the Cherenkov Telescope Array and the LLAMA Observatory have also decided to adopt the framework for their own control systems. The aim of the "ACS Community" is to support independent initiatives in making use of the ACS framework and to further contribute to its development. The Community provides access to a growing network of volunteers eager to develop ACS in areas that are not necessarily in ALMA's interests, and/or were not within the original system scope. Current examples are: support for additional OS platforms, extension of supported hardware interfaces, a public code repository and a build farm. The ACS Community makes use of existing collaborations with Chilean and Brazilian universities, reaching out to promising engineers in the making. At the same time, projects actively using ACS have committed valuable resources to assist the Community's work. Well established training programs like the ACS Workshops are also being continued through the Community's work. This paper aims to give a detailed account of the ongoing (second) journey towards establishing a world-wide open source collaboration around ACS. The ACS Community is growing into a horizontal partnership across a decentralized and diversified group of

  4. The Babel of software development : linguistic diversity in open source

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vasilescu, B.N.; Serebrenik, A.; Brand, van den M.G.J.; Jatowt, A.; Lim, E.-P.; Ding, Y.

    2013-01-01

    Open source software (OSS) development communities are typically very specialised, on the one hand, and experience high turnover, on the other. Combination of specialization and turnover can cause parts of the system implemented in a certain programming language to become unmaintainable, if

  5. Open-source, community-driven microfluidics with Metafluidics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kong, David S; Thorsen, Todd A; Babb, Jonathan; Wick, Scott T; Gam, Jeremy J; Weiss, Ron; Carr, Peter A

    2017-06-07

    Microfluidic devices have the potential to automate and miniaturize biological experiments, but open-source sharing of device designs has lagged behind sharing of other resources such as software. Synthetic biologists have used microfluidics for DNA assembly, cell-free expression, and cell culture, but a combination of expense, device complexity, and reliance on custom set-ups hampers their widespread adoption. We present Metafluidics, an open-source, community-driven repository that hosts digital design files, assembly specifications, and open-source software to enable users to build, configure, and operate a microfluidic device. We use Metafluidics to share designs and fabrication instructions for both a microfluidic ring-mixer device and a 32-channel tabletop microfluidic controller. This device and controller are applied to build genetic circuits using standard DNA assembly methods including ligation, Gateway, Gibson, and Golden Gate. Metafluidics is intended to enable a broad community of engineers, DIY enthusiasts, and other nontraditional participants with limited fabrication skills to contribute to microfluidic research.

  6. When to make proprietary software open source

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Caulkins, J.P.; Feichtinger, G.; Grass, D.; Hartl, R.F.; Kort, P.M.; Seidl, A.

    Software can be distributed closed source (proprietary) or open source (developed collaboratively). While a firm cannot sell open source software, and so loses potential sales revenue, the open source software development process can have a substantial positive impact on the quality of a software,

  7. Free software and open source databases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Napoleon Alexandru SIRITEANU

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The emergence of free/open source software -FS/OSS- enterprises seeks to push software development out of the academic stream into the commercial mainstream, and as a result, end-user applications such as open source database management systems (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Firebird are becoming more popular. Companies like Sybase, Oracle, Sun, IBM are increasingly implementing open source strategies and porting programs/applications into the Linux environment. Open source software is redefining the software industry in general and database development in particular.

  8. Sustaining Open Source Communities through Hackathons - An Example from the ASPECT Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heister, T.; Hwang, L.; Bangerth, W.; Kellogg, L. H.

    2016-12-01

    The ecosystem surrounding a successful scientific open source software package combines both social and technical aspects. Much thought has been given to the technology side of writing sustainable software for large infrastructure projects and software libraries, but less about building the human capacity to perpetuate scientific software used in computational modeling. One effective format for building capacity is regular multi-day hackathons. Scientific hackathons bring together a group of science domain users and scientific software contributors to make progress on a specific software package. Innovation comes through the chance to work with established and new collaborations. Especially in the domain sciences with small communities, hackathons give geographically distributed scientists an opportunity to connect face-to-face. They foster lively discussions amongst scientists with different expertise, promote new collaborations, and increase transparency in both the technical and scientific aspects of code development. ASPECT is an open source, parallel, extensible finite element code to simulate thermal convection, that began development in 2011 under the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics. ASPECT hackathons for the past 3 years have grown the number of authors to >50, training new code maintainers in the process. Hackathons begin with leaders establishing project-specific conventions for development, demonstrating the workflow for code contributions, and reviewing relevant technical skills. Each hackathon expands the developer community. Over 20 scientists add >6,000 lines of code during the >1 week event. Participants grow comfortable contributing to the repository and over half continue to contribute afterwards. A high return rate of participants ensures continuity and stability of the group as well as mentoring for novice members. We hope to build other software communities on this model, but anticipate each to bring their own unique challenges.

  9. Panel: Governance in Open Source Projects and Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolici, Francesco; de Laat, Paul; Ljungberg, Jan; Pontiggia, Andrea; Rossi Lamastra, Cristina

    “Although considerable research has been devoted to the growth and expansion of open source communities and the comparison between the efficiency of corporate structures and community structures in the field of software development, rather less attention has been paid to their governance structures (control, monitoring, supervision)” (Lattemann and Stieglitz 2005).

  10. Note: Tormenta: An open source Python-powered control software for camera based optical microscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barabas, Federico M; Masullo, Luciano A; Stefani, Fernando D

    2016-12-01

    Until recently, PC control and synchronization of scientific instruments was only possible through closed-source expensive frameworks like National Instruments' LabVIEW. Nowadays, efficient cost-free alternatives are available in the context of a continuously growing community of open-source software developers. Here, we report on Tormenta, a modular open-source software for the control of camera-based optical microscopes. Tormenta is built on Python, works on multiple operating systems, and includes some key features for fluorescence nanoscopy based on single molecule localization.

  11. Free for All: Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Karen

    2008-01-01

    Open source software has become a catchword in libraryland. Yet many remain unclear about open source's benefits--or even what it is. So what is open source software (OSS)? It's software that is free in every sense of the word: free to download, free to use, and free to view or modify. Most OSS is distributed on the Web and one doesn't need to…

  12. The role of open-source software in innovation and standardization in radiology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erickson, Bradley J; Langer, Steve; Nagy, Paul

    2005-11-01

    The use of open-source software (OSS), in which developers release the source code to applications they have developed, is popular in the software industry. This is done to allow others to modify and improve software (which may or may not be shared back to the community) and to allow others to learn from the software. Radiology was an early participant in this model, supporting OSS that implemented the ACR-National Electrical Manufacturers Association (now Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard for medical image communications. In radiology and in other fields, OSS has promoted innovation and the adoption of standards. Popular OSS is of high quality because access to source code allows many people to identify and resolve errors. Open-source software is analogous to the peer-review scientific process: one must be able to see and reproduce results to understand and promote what is shared. The authors emphasize that support for OSS need not threaten vendors; most vendors embrace and benefit from standards. Open-source development does not replace vendors but more clearly defines their roles, typically focusing on areas in which proprietary differentiators benefit customers and on professional services such as implementation planning and service. Continued support for OSS is essential for the success of our field.

  13. The SCEC/UseIT Intern Program: Creating Open-Source Visualization Software Using Diverse Resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francoeur, H.; Callaghan, S.; Perry, S.; Jordan, T.

    2004-12-01

    The Southern California Earthquake Center undergraduate IT intern program (SCEC UseIT) conducts IT research to benefit collaborative earth science research. Through this program, interns have developed real-time, interactive, 3D visualization software using open-source tools. Dubbed LA3D, a distribution of this software is now in use by the seismic community. LA3D enables the user to interactively view Southern California datasets and models of importance to earthquake scientists, such as faults, earthquakes, fault blocks, digital elevation models, and seismic hazard maps. LA3D is now being extended to support visualizations anywhere on the planet. The new software, called SCEC-VIDEO (Virtual Interactive Display of Earth Objects), makes use of a modular, plugin-based software architecture which supports easy development and integration of new data sets. Currently SCEC-VIDEO is in beta testing, with a full open-source release slated for the future. Both LA3D and SCEC-VIDEO were developed using a wide variety of software technologies. These, which included relational databases, web services, software management technologies, and 3-D graphics in Java, were necessary to integrate the heterogeneous array of data sources which comprise our software. Currently the interns are working to integrate new technologies and larger data sets to increase software functionality and value. In addition, both LA3D and SCEC-VIDEO allow the user to script and create movies. Thus program interns with computer science backgrounds have been writing software while interns with other interests, such as cinema, geology, and education, have been making movies that have proved of great use in scientific talks, media interviews, and education. Thus, SCEC UseIT incorporates a wide variety of scientific and human resources to create products of value to the scientific and outreach communities. The program plans to continue with its interdisciplinary approach, increasing the relevance of the

  14. 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

  15. Trust in Co-sourced Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schlichter, Bjarne Rerup; Persson, John Stouby

    2014-01-01

    Software development projects are increasingly geographical distributed with offshoring. Co-sourcing is a highly integrative and cohesive approach, seen successful, to software development offshoring. However, research of how dynamic aspects of trust are shaped in co-sourcing activities is limite...... understanding or personal trust relations. The paper suggests how certain work practices among developers and managers can be explained using a dynamic trust lens based on Abstract Systems, especially dis- and re-embedding mechanisms......Software development projects are increasingly geographical distributed with offshoring. Co-sourcing is a highly integrative and cohesive approach, seen successful, to software development offshoring. However, research of how dynamic aspects of trust are shaped in co-sourcing activities is limited...

  16. VALUATION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE: HOW DO YOU PUT A VALUE ON FREE?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús García-García

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study is to assess the financial reporting framework applied to open source software. Open sourcing software developments means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to help eliminate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and support equal access to technology. Therefore, a methodological approach is needed to assess properly the performance and the value generation potential and to put such measure into organizational reports. International financial reporting framework is checked over conditions to allow value recognition of open sourced assets. Linux kernel development value is estimated to reflect worth of open source developments despite absence of book value due to inexistence of a single cost source. Several attempts to estimate a valuation of open source software have been performed previously. However, this study is the first to judge suitability of accounting framework to report on this value. The main finding is that open sourced assets do not fully accomplish conditions to be included in financial reports. We seek to stimulate academic and professional debate about the pursuit of valuation of a large and efficient ecosystem of software innovation, freely available to society.

  17. Technical Evaluation Report 24: Open Source Software: an alternative to costly Learning Management Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jim Depow

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available This is the first in a series of two reports discussing the use of open source software (OSS and free software (FS in online education as an alternative to expensive proprietary software. It details the steps taken in a Canadian community college to download and install the Linux Operating System in order to support an OSS/ FS learning management system (LMS.

  18. Moodle: How we built a community around open source software

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2010-01-01

    Martin will talk about the continuing growth of Moodle from an idea into a worldwide project helping millions of people. He'll talk about the factors that have contributed to Moodle's current success, some that were integrated from the beginning of the project and some that were learned along the way.About the speakerMartin Dougiamas is best known as the founder of Moodle, the popular free course management system used by millions of teachers around the world.As the executive director of Moodle Pty Ltd in Perth, Western Australia, he leads the team of software developers at the heart of the Moodle project and the global network of 54 Moodle Partner service companies that help provide funding for this independent open source software project.Martin has a mixed academic background with post-graduate degrees in Computer Science and Education, and continues to focus on researching how educators approach internet-based education. His major goal for the future is to improve the quality of education by encouraging ...

  19. Using ISO/IEC 12207 to analyze open source software development processes: an E-learning case study

    OpenAIRE

    Krishnamurthy, Aarthy; O'Connor, Rory

    2013-01-01

    peer-reviewed To date, there is no comprehensive study of open source software development process (OSSDP) carried out for open source (OS) e-learning systems. This paper presents the work which objectively analyzes the open source software development (OSSD) practices carried out by e-learning systems development communities and their results are represented using DEMO models. These results are compared using ISO/IEC 12207:2008. The comparison of DEMO models with ISO/IEC...

  20. Co-sourcing in software development offshoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schlichter, Bjarne Rerup; Persson, John Stouby

    2013-01-01

    Software development projects are increasingly geographical distributed with offshoring, which introduce complex risks that can lead to project failure. Co-sourcing is a highly integrative and cohesive approach, seen successful, to software development offshoring. However, research of how co......-sourcing shapes the perception and alleviation of common offshoring risks is limited. We present a case study of how a certified CMMI-level 5 Danish software supplier approaches these risks in offshore co-sourcing. The paper explains how common offshoring risks are perceived and alleviated when adopting the co...

  1. Requirements Specification for Open Source Software Selection

    OpenAIRE

    YANG, YING

    2008-01-01

    Open source software has been widely used. The software world is enjoying the advantages of collaboration and cooperation in software development and use with the advent of open source movement. However, little research is concerned about the practical guidelines of OSS selection. It is hard for an organization to make a decision whether they should use the OSS or not, and to select an appropriate one from a number of OSS candidates. This thesis studies how to select an open source software f...

  2. Anatomy of BioJS, an open source community for the life sciences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yachdav, Guy; Goldberg, Tatyana; Wilzbach, Sebastian; Dao, David; Shih, Iris; Choudhary, Saket; Crouch, Steve; Franz, Max; García, Alexander; García, Leyla J; Grüning, Björn A; Inupakutika, Devasena; Sillitoe, Ian; Thanki, Anil S; Vieira, Bruno; Villaveces, José M; Schneider, Maria V; Lewis, Suzanna; Pettifer, Steve; Rost, Burkhard; Corpas, Manuel

    2015-07-08

    BioJS is an open source software project that develops visualization tools for different types of biological data. Here we report on the factors that influenced the growth of the BioJS user and developer community, and outline our strategy for building on this growth. The lessons we have learned on BioJS may also be relevant to other open source software projects.

  3. What an open source clinical trial community can learn from hackers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Adam G.; Day, Richard O.; Mandl, Kenneth D.; Coiera, Enrico

    2014-01-01

    Summary Open sharing of clinical trial data has been proposed as a way to address the gap between the production of clinical evidence and the decision-making of physicians. Since a similar gap has already been addressed in the software industry by the open source software movement, we examine how the social and technical principles of the movement can be used to guide the growth of an open source clinical trial community. PMID:22553248

  4. Beyond the Business Model: Incentives for Organizations to Publish Software Source Code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindman, Juho; Juutilainen, Juha-Pekka; Rossi, Matti

    The software stack opened under Open Source Software (OSS) licenses is growing rapidly. Commercial actors have released considerable amounts of previously proprietary source code. These actions beg the question why companies choose a strategy based on giving away software assets? Research on outbound OSS approach has tried to answer this question with the concept of the “OSS business model”. When studying the reasons for code release, we have observed that the business model concept is too generic to capture the many incentives organizations have. Conversely, in this paper we investigate empirically what the companies’ incentives are by means of an exploratory case study of three organizations in different stages of their code release. Our results indicate that the companies aim to promote standardization, obtain development resources, gain cost savings, improve the quality of software, increase the trustworthiness of software, or steer OSS communities. We conclude that future research on outbound OSS could benefit from focusing on the heterogeneous incentives for code release rather than on revenue models.

  5. Open Source Communities in Technical Writing: Local Exigence, Global Extensibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conner, Trey; Gresham, Morgan; McCracken, Jill

    2011-01-01

    By offering open-source software (OSS)-based networks as an affordable technology alternative, we partnered with a nonprofit community organization. In this article, we narrate the client-based experiences of this partnership, highlighting the ways in which OSS and open-source culture (OSC) transformed our students' and our own expectations of…

  6. Cost Optimization Through Open Source Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark VonFange

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The cost of information technology (IT as a percentage of overall operating and capital expenditures is growing as companies modernize their operations and as IT becomes an increasingly indispensable part of company resources. The price tag associated with IT infrastructure is a heavy one, and, in today's economy, companies need to look for ways to reduce overhead while maintaining quality operations and staying current with technology. With its advancements in availability, usability, functionality, choice, and power, free/libre open source software (F/LOSS provides a cost-effective means for the modern enterprise to streamline its operations. iXsystems wanted to quantify the benefits associated with the use of open source software at their company headquarters. This article is the outgrowth of our internal analysis of using open source software instead of commercial software in all aspects of company operations.

  7. Analysis of open source GIS software

    OpenAIRE

    Božnis, Andrius

    2006-01-01

    GIS is one of the most perspective information technology sciences sphere. GIS conjuncts the digital image analysis and data base systems. This makes GIS wide applicable and very high skills demanding system. There is a lot of commercial GIS software which is well advertised and which functionality is pretty well known, while open source software is forgotten. In this diploma work is made analysis of available open source GIS software on the Internet, in the scope of different projects interr...

  8. Sustainability of Open-Source Software Organizations as Underpinning for Sustainable Interoperability on Large Scales

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fulker, D. W.; Gallagher, J. H. R.

    2015-12-01

    OPeNDAP's Hyrax data server is an open-source framework fostering interoperability via easily-deployed Web services. Compatible with solutions listed in the (PA001) session description—federation, rigid standards and brokering/mediation—the framework can support tight or loose coupling, even with dependence on community-contributed software. Hyrax is a Web-services framework with a middleware-like design and a handler-style architecture that together reduce the interoperability challenge (for N datatypes and M user contexts) to an O(N+M) problem, similar to brokering. Combined with an open-source ethos, this reduction makes Hyrax a community tool for gaining interoperability. E.g., in its response to the Big Earth Data Initiative (BEDI), NASA references OPeNDAP-based interoperability. Assuming its suitability, the question becomes: how sustainable is OPeNDAP, a small not-for-profit that produces open-source software, i.e., has no software-sales? In other words, if geoscience interoperability depends on OPeNDAP and similar organizations, are those entities in turn sustainable? Jim Collins (in Good to Great) highlights three questions that successful companies can answer (paraphrased here): What is your passion? Where is your world-class excellence? What drives your economic engine? We attempt to shed light on OPeNDAP sustainability by examining these. Passion: OPeNDAP has a focused passion for improving the effectiveness of scientific data sharing and use, as deeply-cooperative community endeavors. Excellence: OPeNDAP has few peers in remote, scientific data access. Skills include computer science with experience in data science, (operational, secure) Web services, and software design (for servers and clients, where the latter vary from Web pages to standalone apps and end-user programs). Economic Engine: OPeNDAP is an engineering services organization more than a product company, despite software being key to OPeNDAP's reputation. In essence, provision of

  9. Selection and Management of Open Source Software in Libraries

    OpenAIRE

    Vimal Kumar, V.

    2007-01-01

    Open source software was a revolutionary concept among computer programmers and users. To a certain extent open source solutions could provide an alternative solution to costly commercial software. Open source software is, software that users have the ability to run, copy, distribute, study, change, share and improve for any purpose. Open source library software’s does not need the initial cost of commercial software and enables libraries to have greater control over their working environmen...

  10. (Automated) software modularization using community detection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Klaus Marius; Manikas, Konstantinos

    2015-01-01

    The modularity of a software system is known to have an effect on, among other, development effort, change impact, and technical debt. Modularizing a specific system and evaluating this modularization is, however, challenging. In this paper, we apply community detection methods to the graph...... of class dependencies in software systems to find optimal modularizations through communities. We evaluate this approach through a study of 111 Java systems contained in the Qualitas Corpus. We found that using the modularity function of Newman with an Erdős-Rényi null-model and using the community...... detection algorithm of Reichardt and Bornholdt improved community quality for all systems, that coupling decreased for 99 of the systems, and that coherence increased for 102 of the systems. Furthermore, the modularity function correlates with existing metrics for coupling and coherence....

  11. Open source projects as incubators of innovation: From niche phenomenon to integral part of the software industry

    OpenAIRE

    Schrape, Jan-Felix

    2017-01-01

    Over the last 20 years, open source development has become an integral part of the software industry and a key component of the innovation strategies of all major IT providers. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to develop a systematic overview of open source communities and their socio-economic contexts. I begin with a reconstruction of the genesis of open source software projects and their changing relation- ships to established IT companies. This is followed by the identification of f...

  12. OpenADR Open Source Toolkit: Developing Open Source Software for the Smart Grid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McParland, Charles

    2011-02-01

    Demand response (DR) is becoming an increasingly important part of power grid planning and operation. The advent of the Smart Grid, which mandates its use, further motivates selection and development of suitable software protocols to enable DR functionality. The OpenADR protocol has been developed and is being standardized to serve this goal. We believe that the development of a distributable, open source implementation of OpenADR will benefit this effort and motivate critical evaluation of its capabilities, by the wider community, for providing wide-scale DR services

  13. Open source software and minority languages: a priceless opportunity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jordi Mas

    2003-04-01

    Full Text Available Open source software is a form of software that gives its users freedom. With the advent of the Internet, open source software has consolidated as a technically viable, financially sustainable alternative to proprietary software. Languages such as Breton, Galician, Gaelic and Catalan have seen very little development in the world of proprietary software because of the limitations imposed. In contrast, in the world of open source software these languages have been developed with notable success. Open source projects of the importance of the Mozilla browser, the GNOME environment and the GNU/Linux system have complete or partial translations in all these languages. Open source software presents an unprecedented opportunity for the development of minority languages, such as Catalan, in new technologies thanks to the freedom that they guarantee us.

  14. Open source EMR software: profiling, insights and hands-on analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiah, M L M; Haiqi, Ahmed; Zaidan, B B; Zaidan, A A

    2014-11-01

    literature landscape more perceivable. Nevertheless, the surveyed articles fall short of fulfilling the targeted objective of providing clear reference to potential implementers. The hands-on study contributed a more detailed comparative guide relative to our set of assessment measures. Overall, no system seems to satisfy an industry-standard measure, particularly in security and interoperability. The systems, as software applications, feel similar from a usability perspective and share a common set of functionality, though they vary considerably in community support and activity. More detailed analysis of popular open source software can benefit the potential implementers of electronic health/medical records systems. The number of examined systems and the measures by which to compare them vary across studies, but still rewarding insights start to emerge. Our work is one step toward that goal. Our overall conclusion is that open source options in the medical field are still far behind the highly acknowledged open source products in other domains, e.g. operating systems market share. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. PROTEINCHALLENGE: Crowd sourcing in proteomics analysis and software development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martin, Sarah F.; Falkenberg, Heiner; Dyrlund, Thomas Franck

    2013-01-01

    , including arguments for community-wide open source software development and “big data” compatible solutions for the future. For the meantime, we have laid out ten top tips for data processing. With these at hand, a first large-scale proteomics analysis hopefully becomes less daunting to navigate.......However there is clearly a real need for robust tools, standard operating procedures and general acceptance of best practises. Thus we submit to the proteomics community a call for a community-wide open set of proteomics analysis challenges—PROTEINCHALLENGE—that directly target and compare data analysis workflows......In large-scale proteomics studies there is a temptation, after months of experimental work, to plug resulting data into a convenient—if poorly implemented—set of tools, which may neither do the data justice nor help answer the scientific question. In this paper we have captured key concerns...

  16. OSIRIX: open source multimodality image navigation software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosset, Antoine; Pysher, Lance; Spadola, Luca; Ratib, Osman

    2005-04-01

    The goal of our project is to develop a completely new software platform that will allow users to efficiently and conveniently navigate through large sets of multidimensional data without the need of high-end expensive hardware or software. We also elected to develop our system on new open source software libraries allowing other institutions and developers to contribute to this project. OsiriX is a free and open-source imaging software designed manipulate and visualize large sets of medical images: http://homepage.mac.com/rossetantoine/osirix/

  17. Web accessibility and open source software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Obrenović, Zeljko

    2009-07-01

    A Web browser provides a uniform user interface to different types of information. Making this interface universally accessible and more interactive is a long-term goal still far from being achieved. Universally accessible browsers require novel interaction modalities and additional functionalities, for which existing browsers tend to provide only partial solutions. Although functionality for Web accessibility can be found as open source and free software components, their reuse and integration is complex because they were developed in diverse implementation environments, following standards and conventions incompatible with the Web. To address these problems, we have started several activities that aim at exploiting the potential of open-source software for Web accessibility. The first of these activities is the development of Adaptable Multi-Interface COmmunicator (AMICO):WEB, an infrastructure that facilitates efficient reuse and integration of open source software components into the Web environment. The main contribution of AMICO:WEB is in enabling the syntactic and semantic interoperability between Web extension mechanisms and a variety of integration mechanisms used by open source and free software components. Its design is based on our experiences in solving practical problems where we have used open source components to improve accessibility of rich media Web applications. The second of our activities involves improving education, where we have used our platform to teach students how to build advanced accessibility solutions from diverse open-source software. We are also partially involved in the recently started Eclipse projects called Accessibility Tools Framework (ACTF), the aim of which is development of extensible infrastructure, upon which developers can build a variety of utilities that help to evaluate and enhance the accessibility of applications and content for people with disabilities. In this article we briefly report on these activities.

  18. 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...

  19. Open source software development : some historical perspectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nuvolari, A.

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we suggest that historical studies of technology can help us to account for some, perplexing (at least for traditional economic reasoning) features of open source software development. From a historical perspective, open source software seems to be a particular case of what Robert C.

  20. Open source software development : some historical perspectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nuvolari, A.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we suggest that historical studies of technology can help us to account for some, perplexing (at least for traditional economic reasoning) features of open source software development. When looked in historical perspective, open source software seems to be a particular case of what

  1. Open Source and Design Thinking at NASA: A Vision for Future Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trimble, Jay

    2017-01-01

    NASA Mission Control Software for the Visualization of data has historically been closed, accessible only to small groups of flight controllers, often bound to a specific mission discipline such as flight dynamics, health and status or mission planning. Open Mission Control Technologies (MCT) provides new capability for NASA mission controllers and, by being fully open source, opens up NASA software for the visualization of mission data to broader communities inside and outside of NASA. Open MCT is the product of a design thinking process within NASA, using participatory design and design sprints to build a product that serves users.

  2. PROTEINCHALLENGE: Crowd sourcing in proteomics analysis and software development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martin, Sarah F.; Falkenberg, Heiner; Dyrlund, Thomas Franck

    2013-01-01

    , including arguments for community-wide open source software development and “big data” compatible solutions for the future. For the meantime, we have laid out ten top tips for data processing. With these at hand, a first large-scale proteomics analysis hopefully becomes less daunting to navigate......, with the aim of setting a community-driven gold standard for data handling, reporting and sharing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: New Horizons and Applications for Proteomics [EuPA 2012].......In large-scale proteomics studies there is a temptation, after months of experimental work, to plug resulting data into a convenient—if poorly implemented—set of tools, which may neither do the data justice nor help answer the scientific question. In this paper we have captured key concerns...

  3. Ebooks without Vendors: Using Open Source Software to Create and Share Meaningful Ebook Collections

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matt Weaver

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The Community Cookbook project began with wondering how to take local cookbooks in the library’s collection and create a recipe database. The final website is both a recipe website and collection of ebook versions of local cookbooks. This article will discuss the use of open source software at every stage in the project, which proves that an open source publishing model is possible for any library.

  4. Producing and supporting sharable software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnstad, H.; Nicholls, J.

    1987-02-01

    A survey is reported that addressed the question of shareable software for the High Energy Physics community. Statistics are compiled for the responses of 54 people attending a conference on the subject of shareable software to a questionnaire which addressed the usefulness of shareable software, preference of programming language, and source management tools. The results are found to reflect a continued need for shareable software in the High Energy Physics community and that this effort be performed in coordination. A strong mandate is also claimed for large facilities to support the community with software and that these facilities should act as distribution points. Considerable interest is expressed in languages other than FORTRAN, and the desire for standards or rules in programming is expressed. A need is identified for source management tools

  5. arXiv HEP Software Foundation Community White Paper Working Group - Software Development, Deployment and Validation

    CERN Document Server

    Couturier, Benjamin; Grasland, Hadrien; Hegner, Benedikt; Jouvin, Michel; Kane, Meghan; Katz, Daniel S.; Kuhr, Thomas; Lange, David; Mendez Lorenzo, Patricia; Ritter, Martin; Stewart, Graeme Andrew; Valassi, Andrea

    The High Energy Phyiscs community has developed and needs to maintain many tens of millions of lines of code and to integrate effectively the work of thousands of developers across large collaborations. Software needs to be built, validated, and deployed across hundreds of sites. Software also has a lifetime of many years, frequently beyond that of the original developer, it must be developed with sustainability in mind. Adequate recognition of software development as a critical task in the HEP community needs to be fostered and an appropriate publication and citation strategy needs to be developed. As part of the HEP Softare Foundation's Community White Paper process a working group on Software Development, Deployment and Validation was formed to examine all of these issues, identify best practice and to formulare recommendations for the next decade. Its report is presented here.

  6. Open Source Software Acquisition

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holck, Jesper; Kühn Pedersen, Mogens; Holm Larsen, Michael

    2005-01-01

    Lately we have seen a growing interest from both public and private organisations to adopt OpenSource Software (OSS), not only for a few, specific applications but also on a more general levelthroughout the organisation. As a consequence, the organisations' decisions on adoption of OSS arebecoming...

  7. Science and Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zelt, C. A.

    2017-12-01

    Earth science attempts to understand how the earth works. This research often depends on software for modeling, processing, inverting or imaging. Freely sharing open-source software is essential to prevent reinventing the wheel and allows software to be improved and applied in ways the original author may never have envisioned. For young scientists, releasing software can increase their name ID when applying for jobs and funding, and create opportunities for collaborations when scientists who collect data want the software's creator to be involved in their project. However, we frequently hear scientists say software is a tool, it's not science. Creating software that implements a new or better way of earth modeling or geophysical processing, inverting or imaging should be viewed as earth science. Creating software for things like data visualization, format conversion, storage, or transmission, or programming to enhance computational performance, may be viewed as computer science. The former, ideally with an application to real data, can be published in earth science journals, the latter possibly in computer science journals. Citations in either case should accurately reflect the impact of the software on the community. Funding agencies need to support more software development and open-source releasing, and the community should give more high-profile awards for developing impactful open-source software. Funding support and community recognition for software development can have far reaching benefits when the software is used in foreseen and unforeseen ways, potentially for years after the original investment in the software development. For funding, an open-source release that is well documented should be required, with example input and output files. Appropriate funding will provide the incentive and time to release user-friendly software, and minimize the need for others to duplicate the effort. All funded software should be available through a single web site

  8. Imprinting Community College Computer Science Education with Software Engineering Principles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hundley, Jacqueline Holliday

    Although the two-year curriculum guide includes coverage of all eight software engineering core topics, the computer science courses taught in Alabama community colleges limit student exposure to the programming, or coding, phase of the software development lifecycle and offer little experience in requirements analysis, design, testing, and maintenance. We proposed that some software engineering principles can be incorporated into the introductory-level of the computer science curriculum. Our vision is to give community college students a broader exposure to the software development lifecycle. For those students who plan to transfer to a baccalaureate program subsequent to their community college education, our vision is to prepare them sufficiently to move seamlessly into mainstream computer science and software engineering degrees. For those students who plan to move from the community college to a programming career, our vision is to equip them with the foundational knowledge and skills required by the software industry. To accomplish our goals, we developed curriculum modules for teaching seven of the software engineering knowledge areas within current computer science introductory-level courses. Each module was designed to be self-supported with suggested learning objectives, teaching outline, software tool support, teaching activities, and other material to assist the instructor in using it.

  9. Middlesex Community College Software Technical Writing Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Middlesex Community Coll., Bedford, MA.

    This document describes the Software Technical Writing Program at Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts). The program is a "hands-on" course designed to develop job-related skills in three major areas: technical writing, software, and professional skills. The program was originally designed in cooperation with the Massachusetts High…

  10. HEP Community White Paper on Software Trigger and Event Reconstruction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Albrecht, Johannes; et al.

    2018-02-23

    Realizing the physics programs of the planned and upgraded high-energy physics (HEP) experiments over the next 10 years will require the HEP community to address a number of challenges in the area of software and computing. For this reason, the HEP software community has engaged in a planning process over the past two years, with the objective of identifying and prioritizing the research and development required to enable the next generation of HEP detectors to fulfill their full physics potential. The aim is to produce a Community White Paper which will describe the community strategy and a roadmap for software and computing research and development in HEP for the 2020s. The topics of event reconstruction and software triggers were considered by a joint working group and are summarized together in this document.

  11. A generic open-source software framework supporting scenario simulations in bioterrorist crises.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Falenski, Alexander; Filter, Matthias; Thöns, Christian; Weiser, Armin A; Wigger, Jan-Frederik; Davis, Matthew; Douglas, Judith V; Edlund, Stefan; Hu, Kun; Kaufman, James H; Appel, Bernd; Käsbohrer, Annemarie

    2013-09-01

    Since the 2001 anthrax attack in the United States, awareness of threats originating from bioterrorism has grown. This led internationally to increased research efforts to improve knowledge of and approaches to protecting human and animal populations against the threat from such attacks. A collaborative effort in this context is the extension of the open-source Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler (STEM) simulation and modeling software for agro- or bioterrorist crisis scenarios. STEM, originally designed to enable community-driven public health disease models and simulations, was extended with new features that enable integration of proprietary data as well as visualization of agent spread along supply and production chains. STEM now provides a fully developed open-source software infrastructure supporting critical modeling tasks such as ad hoc model generation, parameter estimation, simulation of scenario evolution, estimation of effects of mitigation or management measures, and documentation. This open-source software resource can be used free of charge. Additionally, STEM provides critical features like built-in worldwide data on administrative boundaries, transportation networks, or environmental conditions (eg, rainfall, temperature, elevation, vegetation). Users can easily combine their own confidential data with built-in public data to create customized models of desired resolution. STEM also supports collaborative and joint efforts in crisis situations by extended import and export functionalities. In this article we demonstrate specifically those new software features implemented to accomplish STEM application in agro- or bioterrorist crisis scenarios.

  12. Modding a free and open source software video game: "Play testing is hard work"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giacomo Poderi

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Video game modding is a form of fan productivity in contemporary participatory culture. We see modding as an important way in which modders experience and conceptualize their work. By focusing on modding in a free and open source software video game, we analyze the practice of modding and the way it changes modders' relationship with their object of interest. The modders' involvement is not always associated with fun and creativity. Indeed, activities such as play testing often undermine these dimensions of modding. We present a case study of modding that is based on ethnographic research done for The Battle for Wesnoth, a free and open source software strategy video game entirely developed by a community of volunteers.

  13. A Novel Method for Mining SaaS Software Tag via Community Detection in Software Services Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Li; Li, Bing; Pan, Wei-Feng; Peng, Tao

    The number of online software services based on SaaS paradigm is increasing. However, users usually find it hard to get the exact software services they need. At present, tags are widely used to annotate specific software services and also to facilitate the searching of them. Currently these tags are arbitrary and ambiguous since mostly of them are generated manually by service developers. This paper proposes a method for mining tags from the help documents of software services. By extracting terms from the help documents and calculating the similarity between the terms, we construct a software similarity network where nodes represent software services, edges denote the similarity relationship between software services, and the weights of the edges are the similarity degrees. The hierarchical clustering algorithm is used for community detection in this software similarity network. At the final stage, tags are mined for each of the communities and stored as ontology.

  14. Free and Open Source Software for land degradation vulnerability assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Imbrenda, Vito; Calamita, Giuseppe; Coluzzi, Rosa; D'Emilio, Mariagrazia; Lanfredi, Maria Teresa; Perrone, Angela; Ragosta, Maria; Simoniello, Tiziana

    2013-04-01

    Nowadays the role of FOSS software in scientific research is becoming increasingly important. Besides the important issues of reduced costs for licences, legality and security there are many other reasons that make FOSS software attractive. Firstly, making the code opened is a warranty of quality permitting to thousands of developers around the world to check the code and fix bugs rather than rely on vendors claims. FOSS communities are usually enthusiastic about helping other users for solving problems and expand or customize software (flexibility). Most important for this study, the interoperability allows to combine the user-friendly QGIS with the powerful GRASS-GIS and the richness of statistical methods of R in order to process remote sensing data and to perform geo-statistical analysis in one only environment. This study is focused on the land degradation (i.e. the reduction in the capacity of the land to provide ecosystem goods and services and assure its functions) and in particular on the estimation of the vulnerability levels in order to suggest appropriate policy actions to reduce/halt land degradation impacts, using the above mentioned software. The area investigated is the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) where large natural areas are mixed with anthropized areas. To identify different levels of vulnerability we adopted the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) model, based on the combination of indicators related to soil, climate, vegetation and anthropic stress. Such indicators were estimated by using the following data-sources: - Basilicata Region Geoportal to assess soil vulnerability; - DESERTNET2 project to evaluate potential vegetation vulnerability and climate vulnerability; - NDVI-MODIS satellite time series (2000-2010) with 250m resolution, available as 16-day composite from the NASA LP DAAC to characterize the dynamic component of vegetation; - Agricultural Census data 2010, Corine Land Cover 2006 and morphological information to assess

  15. Open Source Seismic Software in NOAA's Next Generation Tsunami Warning System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellman, S. B.; Baker, B. I.; Hagerty, M. T.; Leifer, J. M.; Lisowski, S.; Thies, D. A.; Donnelly, B. K.; Griffith, F. P.

    2014-12-01

    The Tsunami Information technology Modernization (TIM) is a project spearheaded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to update the United States' Tsunami Warning System software currently employed at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (Eva Beach, Hawaii) and the National Tsunami Warning Center (Palmer, Alaska). This entirely open source software project will integrate various seismic processing utilities with the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office's core software, AWIPS2. For the real-time and near real-time seismic processing aspect of this project, NOAA has elected to integrate the open source portions of GFZ's SeisComP 3 (SC3) processing system into AWIPS2. To provide for better tsunami threat assessments we are developing open source tools for magnitude estimations (e.g., moment magnitude, energy magnitude, surface wave magnitude), detection of slow earthquakes with the Theta discriminant, moment tensor inversions (e.g. W-phase and teleseismic body waves), finite fault inversions, and array processing. With our reliance on common data formats such as QuakeML and seismic community standard messaging systems, all new facilities introduced into AWIPS2 and SC3 will be available as stand-alone tools or could be easily integrated into other real time seismic monitoring systems such as Earthworm, Antelope, etc. Additionally, we have developed a template based design paradigm so that the developer or scientist can efficiently create upgrades, replacements, and/or new metrics to the seismic data processing with only a cursory knowledge of the underlying SC3.

  16. Developing an Open Source Option for NASA Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moran, Patrick J.; Parks, John W. (Technical Monitor)

    2003-01-01

    We present arguments in favor of developing an Open Source option for NASA software; in particular we discuss how Open Source is compatible with NASA's mission. We compare and contrast several of the leading Open Source licenses, and propose one - the Mozilla license - for use by NASA. We also address some of the related issues for NASA with respect to Open Source. In particular, we discuss some of the elements in the External Release of NASA Software document (NPG 2210.1A) that will likely have to be changed in order to make Open Source a reality withm the agency.

  17. An Analysis of Open Source Security Software Products Downloads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barta, Brian J.

    2014-01-01

    Despite the continued demand for open source security software, a gap in the identification of success factors related to the success of open source security software persists. There are no studies that accurately assess the extent of this persistent gap, particularly with respect to the strength of the relationships of open source software…

  18. Source Code Vulnerabilities in IoT Software Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saleh Mohamed Alnaeli

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available An empirical study that examines the usage of known vulnerable statements in software systems developed in C/C++ and used for IoT is presented. The study is conducted on 18 open source systems comprised of millions of lines of code and containing thousands of files. Static analysis methods are applied to each system to determine the number of unsafe commands (e.g., strcpy, strcmp, and strlen that are well-known among research communities to cause potential risks and security concerns, thereby decreasing a system’s robustness and quality. These unsafe statements are banned by many companies (e.g., Microsoft. The use of these commands should be avoided from the start when writing code and should be removed from legacy code over time as recommended by new C/C++ language standards. Each system is analyzed and the distribution of the known unsafe commands is presented. Historical trends in the usage of the unsafe commands of 7 of the systems are presented to show how the studied systems evolved over time with respect to the vulnerable code. The results show that the most prevalent unsafe command used for most systems is memcpy, followed by strlen. These results can be used to help train software developers on secure coding practices so that they can write higher quality software systems.

  19. A Review of Predictive Software for the Design of Community Microgrids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mina Rahimian

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses adding a spatial dimension to the design of community microgrid projects in the interest of expanding the existing discourse related to energy performance optimization measures. A multidimensional vision for designing community microgrids with higher energy performance is considered, leveraging urban form (superstructure to understand how it impacts the performance of the system’s distributed energy resources and loads (infrastructure. This vision engages the design sector in the technical conversation of developing community microgrids, leading to energy efficient designs of microgrid-connected communities well before their construction. A new generation of computational modeling and simulation tools that address this interaction are required. In order to position the research, this paper presents a survey of existing software packages, belonging to two distinct categories of modeling, simulation, and evaluation of community microgrids: the energy infrastructure modeling and the urban superstructure energy modeling. Results of this software survey identify a lack in software tools and simulation packages that simultaneously address the necessary interaction between the superstructure and infrastructure of community microgrids, given the importance of its study. Conclusions represent how a proposed experimental software prototype may fill an existing gap in current related software packages.

  20. Co-sourcing in software development offshoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schlichter, Bjarne Rerup; Persson, John Stouby

    2013-01-01

    Software development projects are increasingly geographical distributed with offshoring, which introduce complex risks that can lead to project failure. Co-sourcing is a highly integrative and cohesive approach, seen successful, to software development offshoring. However, research of how co-sour......-taking by high attention to of the closely interrelated structure and technology components in terms of CMMI and the actors’ cohesion and integration in terms of Scrum....

  1. ObsPy: Establishing and maintaining an open-source community package

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krischer, L.; Megies, T.; Barsch, R.

    2017-12-01

    Python's ecosystem evolved into one of the most powerful and productive research environment across disciplines. ObsPy (https://obspy.org) is a fully community driven, open-source project dedicated to provide a bridge for seismology into that ecosystem. It does so by offering Read and write support for essentially every commonly used data format in seismology, Integrated access to the largest data centers, web services, and real-time data streams, A powerful signal processing toolbox tuned to the specific needs of seismologists, and Utility functionality like travel time calculations, geodetic functions, and data visualizations. ObsPy has been in constant unfunded development for more than eight years and is developed and used by scientists around the world with successful applications in all branches of seismology. By now around 70 people directly contributed code to ObsPy and we aim to make it a self-sustaining community project.This contributions focusses on several meta aspects of open-source software in science, in particular how we experienced them. During the panel we would like to discuss obvious questions like long-term sustainability with very limited to no funding, insufficient computer science training in many sciences, and gaining hard scientific credits for software development, but also the following questions: How to best deal with the fact that a lot of scientific software is very specialized thus usually solves a complex problem but at the same time can only ever reach a limited pool of developers and users by virtue of it being so specialized? Therefore the "many eyes on the code" approach to develop and improve open-source software only applies in a limited fashion. An initial publication for a significant new scientific software package is fairly straightforward. How to on-board and motivate potential new contributors when they can no longer be lured by a potential co-authorship? When is spending significant time and effort on reusable

  2. The role of on-line communication in open source software development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vujovic, S.; Ulhøi, John Parm

    2004-01-01

    allow parallel development and dynamic online exchanges during the overall innovation process. In conceptualizing online computer-based innovation process in the form of Open Source Software, the paper will borrow from theory on networks and communities of practice, which take into account social...... the innovation itself and upstream in the value chain to identifying new supporting services. In closing the paper addresses motivations of companies to integrate this alternative and non-proprietary way of product development into their proprietary business model. We do this by presenting an example....

  3. Decision criteria for software component sourcing: steps towards a framework

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kusters, R.J.; Pouwelse, L.; Martin, H.; Trienekens, J.J.M.; Hammoudi, Sl.; Maciaszek, L.; Missikoff, M.M.; Camp, O.; Cordeiro, J.

    2016-01-01

    Software developing organizations nowadays have a wide choice when it comes to sourcing software components. This choice ranges from developing or adapting in-house developed components via buying closed source components to utilizing open source components. This study seeks to determine criteria

  4. Open Source Software and the Intellectual Commons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorman, David

    2002-01-01

    Discusses the Open Source Software method of software development and its relationship to control over information content. Topics include digital library resources; reference services; preservation; the legal and economic status of information; technical standards; access to digital data; control of information use; and copyright and patent laws.…

  5. Falcon: a highly flexible open-source software for closed-loop neuroscience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciliberti, Davide; Kloosterman, Fabian

    2017-08-01

    Closed-loop experiments provide unique insights into brain dynamics and function. To facilitate a wide range of closed-loop experiments, we created an open-source software platform that enables high-performance real-time processing of streaming experimental data. We wrote Falcon, a C++ multi-threaded software in which the user can load and execute an arbitrary processing graph. Each node of a Falcon graph is mapped to a single thread and nodes communicate with each other through thread-safe buffers. The framework allows for easy implementation of new processing nodes and data types. Falcon was tested both on a 32-core and a 4-core workstation. Streaming data was read from either a commercial acquisition system (Neuralynx) or the open-source Open Ephys hardware, while closed-loop TTL pulses were generated with a USB module for digital output. We characterized the round-trip latency of our Falcon-based closed-loop system, as well as the specific latency contribution of the software architecture, by testing processing graphs with up to 32 parallel pipelines and eight serial stages. We finally deployed Falcon in a task of real-time detection of population bursts recorded live from the hippocampus of a freely moving rat. On Neuralynx hardware, round-trip latency was well below 1 ms and stable for at least 1 h, while on Open Ephys hardware latencies were below 15 ms. The latency contribution of the software was below 0.5 ms. Round-trip and software latencies were similar on both 32- and 4-core workstations. Falcon was used successfully to detect population bursts online with ~40 ms average latency. Falcon is a novel open-source software for closed-loop neuroscience. It has sub-millisecond intrinsic latency and gives the experimenter direct control of CPU resources. We envisage Falcon to be a useful tool to the neuroscientific community for implementing a wide variety of closed-loop experiments, including those requiring use of complex data structures and real

  6. Falcon: a highly flexible open-source software for closed-loop neuroscience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciliberti, Davide; Kloosterman, Fabian

    2017-08-01

    Objective. Closed-loop experiments provide unique insights into brain dynamics and function. To facilitate a wide range of closed-loop experiments, we created an open-source software platform that enables high-performance real-time processing of streaming experimental data. Approach. We wrote Falcon, a C++ multi-threaded software in which the user can load and execute an arbitrary processing graph. Each node of a Falcon graph is mapped to a single thread and nodes communicate with each other through thread-safe buffers. The framework allows for easy implementation of new processing nodes and data types. Falcon was tested both on a 32-core and a 4-core workstation. Streaming data was read from either a commercial acquisition system (Neuralynx) or the open-source Open Ephys hardware, while closed-loop TTL pulses were generated with a USB module for digital output. We characterized the round-trip latency of our Falcon-based closed-loop system, as well as the specific latency contribution of the software architecture, by testing processing graphs with up to 32 parallel pipelines and eight serial stages. We finally deployed Falcon in a task of real-time detection of population bursts recorded live from the hippocampus of a freely moving rat. Main results. On Neuralynx hardware, round-trip latency was well below 1 ms and stable for at least 1 h, while on Open Ephys hardware latencies were below 15 ms. The latency contribution of the software was below 0.5 ms. Round-trip and software latencies were similar on both 32- and 4-core workstations. Falcon was used successfully to detect population bursts online with ~40 ms average latency. Significance. Falcon is a novel open-source software for closed-loop neuroscience. It has sub-millisecond intrinsic latency and gives the experimenter direct control of CPU resources. We envisage Falcon to be a useful tool to the neuroscientific community for implementing a wide variety of closed-loop experiments, including those

  7. The case for open-source software in drug discovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeLano, Warren L

    2005-02-01

    Widespread adoption of open-source software for network infrastructure, web servers, code development, and operating systems leads one to ask how far it can go. Will "open source" spread broadly, or will it be restricted to niches frequented by hopeful hobbyists and midnight hackers? Here we identify reasons for the success of open-source software and predict how consumers in drug discovery will benefit from new open-source products that address their needs with increased flexibility and in ways complementary to proprietary options.

  8. ScienceSoft: Open software for open science

    CERN Document Server

    Di Meglio, Alberto

    2012-01-01

    Most of the software developed today by research institutes, university, research projects, etc. is typically stored in local source and binary repositories and available for the duration of a project lifetime only. Finding software based on given functional characteristics is almost impossible and binary packages are mostly available from local university or project repositories rather than the open source community repositories like Fedora/EPEL or Debian. Furthermore general information about who develops, contributes to and most importantly uses a given software program is very difficult to find out and yet the widespread availability of such information would give more visibility and credibility to the software products. The creation of links or relationships not only among pieces of software, but equally among the people interacting with the software across and beyond specific project and communities would foster a more active community and create the conditions for sharing ideas and skills, a ...

  9. Open source IPSEC software in manned and unmanned space missions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Jacob

    Network security is a major topic of research because cyber attackers pose a threat to national security. Securing ground-space communications for NASA missions is important because attackers could endanger mission success and human lives. This thesis describes how an open source IPsec software package was used to create a secure and reliable channel for ground-space communications. A cost efficient, reproducible hardware testbed was also created to simulate ground-space communications. The testbed enables simulation of low-bandwidth and high latency communications links to experiment how the open source IPsec software reacts to these network constraints. Test cases were built that allowed for validation of the testbed and the open source IPsec software. The test cases also simulate using an IPsec connection from mission control ground routers to points of interest in outer space. Tested open source IPsec software did not meet all the requirements. Software changes were suggested to meet requirements.

  10. Integrating open-source software applications to build molecular dynamics systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Bruce M; Predecki, Paul K; Kumosa, Maciej

    2014-04-05

    Three open-source applications, NanoEngineer-1, packmol, and mis2lmp are integrated using an open-source file format to quickly create molecular dynamics (MD) cells for simulation. The three software applications collectively make up the open-source software (OSS) suite known as MD Studio (MDS). The software is validated through software engineering practices and is verified through simulation of the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-a and isophorone diamine (DGEBA/IPD) system. Multiple simulations are run using the MDS software to create MD cells, and the data generated are used to calculate density, bulk modulus, and glass transition temperature of the DGEBA/IPD system. Simulation results compare well with published experimental and numerical results. The MDS software prototype confirms that OSS applications can be analyzed against real-world research requirements and integrated to create a new capability. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Adoption of open source digital library software packages: a survey

    OpenAIRE

    Jose, Sanjo

    2007-01-01

    Open source digital library packages are gaining popularity nowadays. To build a digital library under economical conditions open source software is preferable. This paper tries to identify the extent of adoption of open source digital library software packages in various organizations through an online survey. It lays down the findings from the survey.

  12. A systematic literature review of open source software quality assessment models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adewumi, Adewole; Misra, Sanjay; Omoregbe, Nicholas; Crawford, Broderick; Soto, Ricardo

    2016-01-01

    Many open source software (OSS) quality assessment models are proposed and available in the literature. However, there is little or no adoption of these models in practice. In order to guide the formulation of newer models so they can be acceptable by practitioners, there is need for clear discrimination of the existing models based on their specific properties. Based on this, the aim of this study is to perform a systematic literature review to investigate the properties of the existing OSS quality assessment models by classifying them with respect to their quality characteristics, the methodology they use for assessment, and their domain of application so as to guide the formulation and development of newer models. Searches in IEEE Xplore, ACM, Science Direct, Springer and Google Search is performed so as to retrieve all relevant primary studies in this regard. Journal and conference papers between the year 2003 and 2015 were considered since the first known OSS quality model emerged in 2003. A total of 19 OSS quality assessment model papers were selected. To select these models we have developed assessment criteria to evaluate the quality of the existing studies. Quality assessment models are classified into five categories based on the quality characteristics they possess namely: single-attribute, rounded category, community-only attribute, non-community attribute as well as the non-quality in use models. Our study reflects that software selection based on hierarchical structures is found to be the most popular selection method in the existing OSS quality assessment models. Furthermore, we found that majority (47%) of the existing models do not specify any domain of application. In conclusion, our study will be a valuable contribution to the community and helps the quality assessment model developers in formulating newer models and also to the practitioners (software evaluators) in selecting suitable OSS in the midst of alternatives.

  13. Open-Source as a strategy for operational software - the case of Enki

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kolberg, Sjur; Bruland, Oddbjørn

    2014-05-01

    implications for building and maintaining competence around the source code and the advanced hydrological and statistical routines in Enki. Originally developed by hydrologists, the Enki code is now approaching a state where maintenance requires a background in professional software development. Without the advantage of proprietary source code, both hydrologic improvements and software maintenance depend on donations or development support on a case-to-case basis, a situation well known within the open source community. It remains to see whether these mechanisms suffice to keep Enki at the maintenance level required by the hydropower sector. ENKI is available from www.opensource-enki.org.

  14. HEP Community White Paper on Software Trigger and Event Reconstruction: Executive Summary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Albrecht, Johannes; et al.

    2018-02-23

    Realizing the physics programs of the planned and upgraded high-energy physics (HEP) experiments over the next 10 years will require the HEP community to address a number of challenges in the area of software and computing. For this reason, the HEP software community has engaged in a planning process over the past two years, with the objective of identifying and prioritizing the research and development required to enable the next generation of HEP detectors to fulfill their full physics potential. The aim is to produce a Community White Paper which will describe the community strategy and a roadmap for software and computing research and development in HEP for the 2020s. The topics of event reconstruction and software triggers were considered by a joint working group and are summarized together in this document.

  15. 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.

  16. How Open Source Has Changed the Software Industry: Perspectives from Open Source Entrepreneurs

    OpenAIRE

    Lindman, Juho; Rajala, Risto

    2012-01-01

    The emergence of F/LOSS (free/libre open source software) has triggered several changes in the software industry. F/LOSS has been cited as an archetypal form of open innovation; it consists of the convergence and collaboration of like-minded parties. An increasing number of software firms have taken upon this approach to link outsiders into their service development and product design. Also, software firms have been increasingly grounded their business models on user-centric and service-orien...

  17. Value implications of open source software : an empirical outlook to the open innovation model

    OpenAIRE

    Aksoy-Yurdagül, Dilan

    2016-01-01

    This thesis consists of three essays on open source software (OSS) phenomenon, which constitutes a suitable setting for investigating the open innovation paradigm and the benefits of firm-community collaborations for a firm. The first essay examines the impact of firms’ stocks of intellectual property right endowments on the relationship between firms’ OSS product portfolio and its firm value. The results suggest that firms taking more commercial actions in OSS paradigm enha...

  18. Free Open Source Software: Social Phenomenon, New Management, New Business Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Žilvinas Jančoras

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available In the paper assumptions of free open source software existence, development, financing and competition models are presented. The free software as a social phenomenon and the open source software as the technological and managerial innovation environment are revealed. The social and business interaction processes are analyzed.Article in Lithuanian

  19. Development of Agile Practices in Romanian Software Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduard BUDACU

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Agile Software Development (ASD promotes flexibility to change and emphasis the importance of individuals and interactions in producing software. The study presents the development of agile practices in Romanian software community. A literature review is conducted and the main agile methods are described. The characteristics of Romanian ICT sector is presented in relation with agile methodology. Practices are identified by a survey and an analysis on the groups of interests formed on Meetup website is performed. Future directions and development of agile practices is evaluated.

  20. GIS-Based Noise Simulation Open Source Software: N-GNOIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vijay, Ritesh; Sharma, A.; Kumar, M.; Shende, V.; Chakrabarti, T.; Gupta, Rajesh

    2015-12-01

    Geographical information system (GIS)-based noise simulation software (N-GNOIS) has been developed to simulate the noise scenario due to point and mobile sources considering the impact of geographical features and meteorological parameters. These have been addressed in the software through attenuation modules of atmosphere, vegetation and barrier. N-GNOIS is a user friendly, platform-independent and open geospatial consortia (OGC) compliant software. It has been developed using open source technology (QGIS) and open source language (Python). N-GNOIS has unique features like cumulative impact of point and mobile sources, building structure and honking due to traffic. Honking is the most common phenomenon in developing countries and is frequently observed on any type of roads. N-GNOIS also helps in designing physical barrier and vegetation cover to check the propagation of noise and acts as a decision making tool for planning and management of noise component in environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies.

  1. Software architecture considerations for ion source control systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sinclair, J.W.

    1997-09-01

    General characteristics of distributed control system software tools are examined from the perspective of ion source control system requirements. Emphasis is placed on strategies for building extensible, distributed systems in which the ion source element is one component of a larger system. Vsystem, a commercial software tool kit from Vista Control Systems was utilized extensively in the control system upgrade of the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility. Part of the control system is described and the characteristics of Vsystem are examined and compared with those of EPICS, the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System

  2. Open source software migration: Best practices

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Molefe, Onkgopotse M

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Open source software (OSS) has gained prominence worldwide, largely due to cost savings and security considerations. This has caused a change in the IT sector and has led to the migration of desktops from proprietary to OSS. The problem...

  3. Modern software approaches applied to a Hydrological model: the GEOtop Open-Source Software Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cozzini, Stefano; Endrizzi, Stefano; Cordano, Emanuele; Bertoldi, Giacomo; Dall'Amico, Matteo

    2017-04-01

    The GEOtop hydrological scientific package is an integrated hydrological model that simulates the heat and water budgets at and below the soil surface. It describes the three-dimensional water flow in the soil and the energy exchange with the atmosphere, considering the radiative and turbulent fluxes. Furthermore, it reproduces the highly non-linear interactions between the water and energy balance during soil freezing and thawing, and simulates the temporal evolution of snow cover, soil temperature and moisture. The core components of the package were presented in the 2.0 version (Endrizzi et al, 2014), which was released as Free Software Open-source project. However, despite the high scientific quality of the project, a modern software engineering approach was still missing. Such weakness hindered its scientific potential and its use both as a standalone package and, more importantly, in an integrate way with other hydrological software tools. In this contribution we present our recent software re-engineering efforts to create a robust and stable scientific software package open to the hydrological community, easily usable by researchers and experts, and interoperable with other packages. The activity takes as a starting point the 2.0 version, scientifically tested and published. This version, together with several test cases based on recent published or available GEOtop applications (Cordano and Rigon, 2013, WRR, Kollet et al, 2016, WRR) provides the baseline code and a certain number of referenced results as benchmark. Comparison and scientific validation can then be performed for each software re-engineering activity performed on the package. To keep track of any single change the package is published on its own github repository geotopmodel.github.io/geotop/ under GPL v3.0 license. A Continuous Integration mechanism by means of Travis-CI has been enabled on the github repository on master and main development branches. The usage of CMake configuration tool

  4. A Survey of Usability Practices in Free/Libre/Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Celeste Lyn

    A review of case studies about usability in eight Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects showed that an important issue regarding a usability initiative in the project was the lack of user research. User research is a key component in the user-centered design (UCD) process and a necessary step for creating usable products. Reasons why FLOSS projects suffered from a lack of user research included poor or unclear project leadership, cultural differences between developer and designers, and a lack of usability engineers. By identifying these critical issues, the FLOSS usability community can begin addressing problems in the efficacy of usability activities and work towards creating more usable FLOSS products.

  5. The Systems Biology Research Tool: evolvable open-source software

    OpenAIRE

    Wright, J; Wagner, A

    2008-01-01

    Abstract Background Research in the field of systems biology requires software for a variety of purposes. Software must be used to store, retrieve, analyze, and sometimes even to collect the data obtained from system-level (often high-throughput) experiments. Software must also be used to implement mathematical models and algorithms required for simulation and theoretical predictions on the system-level. Results We introduce a free, easy-to-use, open-source, integrated software platform calle...

  6. The Utility of Open Source Software in Military Systems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Esperon, Agustin I; Munoz, Jose P; Tanneau, Jean M

    2005-01-01

    .... The companies involved were THALES and GMV. The MILOS project aimed to demonstrate benefits of Open Source Software in large software based military systems, by casting off constraints inherent to traditional proprietary COTS and by taking...

  7. How to use Open Source Software for Manage a Library System

    OpenAIRE

    Sumithchandra, Pandula

    2009-01-01

    Open source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to a software's source code. Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided ...

  8. In praise of open software

    CERN Multimedia

    2000-01-01

    Much scientific software is proprietary and beyond the reach of poorer scientific communities. This issue will become critical as companies build bioinformatics tools for genomics. The principal of open-source software needs to be defended by academic research institutions (1/2 p).

  9. Free and open source software for the manipulation of digital images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, Robert W

    2009-06-01

    Free and open source software is a type of software that is nearly as powerful as commercial software but is freely downloadable. This software can do almost everything that the expensive programs can. GIMP (gnu image manipulation program) is the free program that is comparable to Photoshop, and versions are available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. This article briefly describes how GIMP can be installed and used to manipulate radiology images. It is no longer necessary to budget large amounts of money for high-quality software to achieve the goals of image processing and document creation because free and open source software is available for the user to download at will.

  10. 76 FR 75875 - Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement; Open Source Software Public Meeting

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-05

    ... Regulation Supplement; Open Source Software Public Meeting AGENCY: Defense Acquisition Regulations System... initiate a dialogue with industry regarding the use of open source software in DoD contracts. DATES: Public... to the risks to the contractors and the Government associated with using open source software on DoD...

  11. Refurbishment and open source software

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mabuza, S

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available  & Open Source Software Electronic Waste Management Conference 2006 Sibongile Mabuza 2 Presentation Outline  About Meraka Institute Open Source Centre  Background to OSS  Extending life span using OSS  Different choices for different situations  Examples of... = common grazing ground (Sesotho)  Shared space for creative productivity  Emphasise African nature of scope and needs 4 Meraka Open Source Centre  Open Source Centre is part of the Meraka  Institute.  Currently, there are two offices:  CSIR headquarters  Soweto  Set up to amplify the beneficial impact of...

  12. How does a Collaborative Community Affect Diverse Students' Engagement with an Open Source Software Project: A Pedagogical Paradigm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Becka S.

    Open Source Software (OSS) communities are homogenous and their lack of diversity is of concern to many within this field. This problem is becoming more pronounced as it is the practice of many technology companies to use OSS participation as a factor in the hiring process, disadvantaging those who are not a part of this community. We should expect that any field would have a population that reflects the general population given no constraints. The constraints within OSS are documented as being a hostile environment for women and minorities to participate in. Additionally OSS communities rely predominately on volunteers to create and maintain source code, documentation, and user interface as well as the organizational structure of the project. The volunteer nature of OSS projects creates a need for an ongoing pool of participants. This research addresses the lack of diversity along with the continual need for new members by developing a pedagogical paradigm that uses a collaborative environment to promote participation in an OSS project by diverse students. This collaborative environment used a Communities of Practice (CoP) framework to design the course, the indicators of which were used to operationalize the collaboration. The outcomes of this course not only benefit the students by providing them with skills necessary to continue participation and experience for getting a job, but also provide a diverse pool of volunteers for the OSS community. This diverse pool shows promise of creating a more diverse culture within OSS. In the development of this pedagogical paradigm this research looked primarily at student's perception of the importance of their group members and mentors provided to guide their participation in and contribution to an OSS community. These elements were used to facilitate the formation of a CoP. Self-efficacy was also used as a measure; an increase in self-efficacy is associated with the successful formation of a CoP. Finally the intent to

  13. From Open Source Software to Open Source Hardware

    OpenAIRE

    Viseur , Robert

    2012-01-01

    Part 2: Lightning Talks; International audience; The open source software principles progressively give rise to new initiatives for culture (free culture), data (open data) or hardware (open hardware). The open hardware is experiencing a significant growth but the business models and legal aspects are not well known. This paper is dedicated to the economics of open hardware. We define the open hardware concept and determine intellectual property tools we can apply to open hardware, with a str...

  14. Open-source software gets boost at UN

    CERN Multimedia

    Schenker, J L

    2003-01-01

    "A months-long backroom battle led by Brazil, with support from India, South Africa and China, against the United States over open-source software took center stage Wednesday at the UN information summit meeting" (1 page)

  15. Imprinting Community College Computer Science Education with Software Engineering Principles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hundley, Jacqueline Holliday

    2012-01-01

    Although the two-year curriculum guide includes coverage of all eight software engineering core topics, the computer science courses taught in Alabama community colleges limit student exposure to the programming, or coding, phase of the software development lifecycle and offer little experience in requirements analysis, design, testing, and…

  16. osni.info-Using free/libre/open source software to build a virtual international community for open source nursing informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oyri, Karl; Murray, Peter J

    2005-12-01

    Many health informatics organizations seem to be slow to take up the advantages of dynamic, web-based technologies for providing services to, and interaction with, their members; these are often the very technologies they promote for use within healthcare environments. This paper aims to introduce some of the many free/libre/open source (FLOSS) applications that are now available to develop interactive websites and dynamic online communities as part of the structure of health informatics organizations, and to show how the Open Source Nursing Informatics Working Group (OSNI) of the special interest group in nursing informatics of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA-NI) is using some of these tools to develop an online community of nurse informaticians through their website, at . Some background introduction to FLOSS applications is used for the benefit of those less familiar with such tools, and examples of some of the FLOSS content management systems (CMS) being used by OSNI are described. The experiences of the OSNI will facilitate a knowledgeable nursing contribution to the wider discussions on the applications of FLOSS within health and healthcare, and provides a model that many other groups could adopt.

  17. Repositorios digitales y software open source

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doria, María Vanesa

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available En la actualidad las universidades se encuentran en constante evolución, fruto de la transformación generada por la sociedad de la información y el conocimiento, donde la transversalidad son las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC, que tienen como objetivo ampliar el acceso a la información y el conocimiento a través de su herramienta digital más distinguida, Internet. Las universidades retroalimentan su conocimiento e información, mediante las producciones científicasacadémicas, y para promover el acceso a ellas, muchas universidades están inclinándose al movimiento del Acceso Abierto (AA siguiendo la vía verde en el desarrollo de repositorios digitales (RD. Para la creación de RD es necesario analizar los software open source disponibles, dado que estos son las herramientas que facilitan la automatización de los mismos. El presente estudio se centra en el análisis de los software open source existentes en el mercado.

  18. Close connections between open science and open-source software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    YouHua Chen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Open science is increasingly gaining attention in recent years. In this mini-review, we briefly discuss and summarize the reasons of introducing open science into academic publications for scientists. We argue that open-source software (like R and Python software can be the universal and important platforms for doing open science because of their appealing features: open source, easy-reading document, commonly used in various scientific disciplines like statistics, chemistry and biology. At last, the challenges and future perspectives of performing open science are discussed.

  19. The Challenges of Open Source Software in IT Adoption

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm Larsen, Michael; Holck, Jesper; Pedersen, Mogens Kuhn

    2004-01-01

    Abstract: The paper presents an explorative study of Open Source Software (OSS) focusing on the managerial decisions for acquisition of OSS. Based on three case studies we argue that whereas small organizations often may chose adoption of OSS expecting significant cost savings, a major barrier...... for larger organizations' adoption of OSS lies in the organizations' consolidation of the enterprise architectures, in addition to that OSS will not be adopted before satisfactory delivery and procurement models for OSS are established. Keywords: Open Source Software, OSS, Enterprise Architecture, Total Cost...

  20. Auscope: Australian Earth Science Information Infrastructure using Free and Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woodcock, R.; Cox, S. J.; Fraser, R.; Wyborn, L. A.

    2013-12-01

    Since 2005 the Australian Government has supported a series of initiatives providing researchers with access to major research facilities and information networks necessary for world-class research. Starting with the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) the Australian earth science community established an integrated national geoscience infrastructure system called AuScope. AuScope is now in operation, providing a number of components to assist in understanding the structure and evolution of the Australian continent. These include the acquisition of subsurface imaging , earth composition and age analysis, a virtual drill core library, geological process simulation, and a high resolution geospatial reference framework. To draw together information from across the earth science community in academia, industry and government, AuScope includes a nationally distributed information infrastructure. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has been a significant enabler in building the AuScope community and providing a range of interoperable services for accessing data and scientific software. A number of FOSS components have been created, adopted or upgraded to create a coherent, OGC compliant Spatial Information Services Stack (SISS). SISS is now deployed at all Australian Geological Surveys, many Universities and the CSIRO. Comprising a set of OGC catalogue and data services, and augmented with new vocabulary and identifier services, the SISS provides a comprehensive package for organisations to contribute their data to the AuScope network. This packaging and a variety of software testing and documentation activities enabled greater trust and notably reduced barriers to adoption. FOSS selection was important, not only for technical capability and robustness, but also for appropriate licensing and community models to ensure sustainability of the infrastructure in the long term. Government agencies were sensitive to these issues and Au

  1. Improving Data Catalogs with Free and Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schweitzer, R.; Hankin, S.; O'Brien, K.

    2013-12-01

    The Global Earth Observation Integrated Data Environment (GEO-IDE) is NOAA's effort to successfully integrate data and information with partners in the national US-Global Earth Observation System (US-GEO) and the international Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). As part of the GEO-IDE, the Unified Access Framework (UAF) is working to build momentum towards the goal of increased data integration and interoperability. The UAF project is moving towards this goal with an approach that includes leveraging well known and widely used standards, as well as free and open source software. The UAF project shares the widely held conviction that the use of data standards is a key ingredient necessary to achieve interoperability. Many community-based consensus standards fail, though, due to poor compliance. Compliance problems emerge for many reasons: because the standards evolve through versions, because documentation is ambiguous or because individual data providers find the standard inadequate as-is to meet their special needs. In addition, minimalist use of standards will lead to a compliant service, but one which is of low quality. In this presentation, we will be discussing the UAF effort to build a catalog cleaning tool which is designed to crawl THREDDS catalogs, analyze the data available, and then build a 'clean' catalog of data which is standards compliant and has a uniform set of data access services available. These data services include, among others, OPeNDAP, Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS). We will also discuss how we are utilizing free and open source software and services to both crawl, analyze and build the clean data catalog, as well as our efforts to help data providers improve their data catalogs. We'll discuss the use of open source software such as DataNucleus, Thematic Realtime Environmental Distributed Data Services (THREDDS), ncISO and the netCDF Java Common Data Model (CDM). We'll also demonstrate how we are

  2. E-GRANTHALAYA: LIBRARY INFORMATION SCIENCE OPEN SOURCE AUTOMATION SOFTWARE: AN OVERVIEW

    OpenAIRE

    Umaiyorubagam, R.; JohnAnish, R; Jeyapragash, B

    2015-01-01

    The paper describes that Free Library software’s availability on-line. The open source software is available on three categories.They are library automation software, Digital Library software and integrated library packages. The paper discusses these aspect in detail.

  3. The Value of Open Source Software Tools in Qualitative Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenberg, Gary

    2011-01-01

    In an era of global networks, researchers using qualitative methods must consider the impact of any software they use on the sharing of data and findings. In this essay, I identify researchers' main areas of concern regarding the use of qualitative software packages for research. I then examine how open source software tools, wherein the publisher…

  4. Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS): design and first-year review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Arfon M.

    2018-01-01

    JOSS is a free and open-access journal that publishes articles describing research software across all disciplines. It has the dual goals of improving the quality of the software submitted and providing a mechanism for research software developers to receive credit. While designed to work within the current merit system of science, JOSS addresses the dearth of rewards for key contributions to science made in the form of software. JOSS publishes articles that encapsulate scholarship contained in the software itself, and its rigorous peer review targets the software components: functionality, documentation, tests, continuous integration, and the license. A JOSS article contains an abstract describing the purpose and functionality of the software, references, and a link to the software archive. JOSS published more than 100 articles in its first year, many from the scientific python ecosystem (including a number of articles related to astronomy and astrophysics). JOSS is a sponsored project of the nonprofit organization NumFOCUS and is an affiliate of the Open Source Initiative.In this presentation, I'll describes the motivation, design, and progress of the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS) and how it compares to other avenues for publishing research software in astronomy.

  5. Educatie en open-source software: meer dan gratis tools.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bakker, de G.M.

    2008-01-01

    In het onderwijs wordt steeds meer open source software gebruikt, zo merkt ook Gijs de Bakker*. In de regel moet daar niet al te veel achtergezocht worden. 'Het is in de regel niet meer dan een slimme manier om aan gratis en doorgaans kwalitatief goede software te komen'. Wat De Bakker betreft een

  6. BioPortal: An Open-Source Community-Based Ontology Repository

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noy, N.; NCBO Team

    2011-12-01

    Advances in computing power and new computational techniques have changed the way researchers approach science. In many fields, one of the most fruitful approaches has been to use semantically aware software to break down the barriers among disparate domains, systems, data sources, and technologies. Such software facilitates data aggregation, improves search, and ultimately allows the detection of new associations that were previously not detectable. Achieving these analyses requires software systems that take advantage of the semantics and that can intelligently negotiate domains and knowledge sources, identifying commonality across systems that use different and conflicting vocabularies, while understanding apparent differences that may be concealed by the use of superficially similar terms. An ontology, a semantically rich vocabulary for a domain of interest, is the cornerstone of software for bridging systems, domains, and resources. However, as ontologies become the foundation of all semantic technologies in e-science, we must develop an infrastructure for sharing ontologies, finding and evaluating them, integrating and mapping among them, and using ontologies in applications that help scientists process their data. BioPortal [1] is an open-source on-line community-based ontology repository that has been used as a critical component of semantic infrastructure in several domains, including biomedicine and bio-geochemical data. BioPortal, uses the social approaches in the Web 2.0 style to bring structure and order to the collection of biomedical ontologies. It enables users to provide and discuss a wide array of knowledge components, from submitting the ontologies themselves, to commenting on and discussing classes in the ontologies, to reviewing ontologies in the context of their own ontology-based projects, to creating mappings between overlapping ontologies and discussing and critiquing the mappings. Critically, it provides web-service access to all its

  7. Community-Sourcing in Virtual Societies

    OpenAIRE

    Branzov, Todor

    2016-01-01

    The paper studies the approaches to development of goods with active participation of virtual community members. The concept of community-sourcing is presented as an alternative to the open source model and crowdsourcing. On that foundation a conceptual model of resource management system that use some current good practices of the IT industry is proposed. Results obtained in a virtual community implementing the model are presented as a validation attempt. ACM Computing ...

  8. A la Carte Community

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gundelach, Peter; Brincker, Benedikte

    2010-01-01

    and shows that there are high levels of virtual as well as face-to-face interaction among the members. The participants feel that they belong to the community and many also feel that they are recognised as part of the community. However, the members do not share common values neither in relation to software......The exchange of open source software is a phenomenon that is becoming in- creasingly significant to IT users. This article presents the results of a study of the TYPO3 community, a community related to an open source CMS software. The article explores the community, identity and values of TYPO3...... pro- duction nor generally. Instead, they stress that you are free to choose your own values. Against this background, the authors introduce the notion of an ‘a la carte community', i.e. a community where individuals pick and choose their degree of participation and integra- tion into the community...

  9. Code Forking, Governance, and Sustainability in Open Source Software

    OpenAIRE

    Juho Lindman; Linus Nyman

    2013-01-01

    The right to fork open source code is at the core of open source licensing. All open source licenses grant the right to fork their code, that is to start a new development effort using an existing code as its base. Thus, code forking represents the single greatest tool available for guaranteeing sustainability in open source software. In addition to bolstering program sustainability, code forking directly affects the governance of open source initiatives. Forking, and even the mere possibilit...

  10. Open Source Software in Medium Size Organizations: Key Factors for Adoption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solomon, Jerry T.

    2010-01-01

    For-profit organizations are constantly evaluating new technologies to gain competitive advantage. One such technology, application software, has changed significantly over the past 25 years with the introduction of Open Source Software (OSS). In contrast to commercial software that is developed by private companies and sold to organizations, OSS…

  11. Intrinsic Motivation in Open Source Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bitzer, J.; W., Schrettl,; Schröder, Philipp

    2004-01-01

    This papers sheds light on the puzzling evidence that even though open source software (OSS) is a public good, it is developed for free by highly qualified, young and motivated individuals, and evolves at a rapid pace. We show that once OSS development is understood as the private provision...

  12. Real-time software for multi-isotopic source term estimation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goloubenkov, A.; Borodin, R.; Sohier, A.

    1996-01-01

    Consideration is given to development of software for one of crucial components of the RODOS - assessment of the source rate (SR) from indirect measurements. Four components of the software are described in the paper. First component is a GRID system, which allow to prepare stochastic meteorological and radioactivity fields using measured data. Second part is a model of atmospheric transport which can be adapted for emulation of practically any gamma dose/spectrum detectors. The third one is a method which allows space-time and quantitative discrepancies in measured and modelled data to be taken into account simultaneously. It bases on the preference scheme selected by an expert. Last component is a special optimization method for calculation of multi-isotopic SR and its uncertainties. Results of a validation of the software using tracer experiments data and Chernobyl source estimation for main dose-forming isotopes are enclosed in the paper

  13. The Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics: An Example of Software Curation and Citation in the Geodynamics Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, L.; Kellogg, L. H.

    2017-12-01

    Curation of software promotes discoverability and accessibility and works hand in hand with scholarly citation to ascribe value to, and provide recognition for software development. To meet this challenge, the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG) maintains a community repository built on custom and open tools to promote discovery, access, identification, credit, and provenance of research software for the geodynamics community. CIG (geodynamics.org) originated from recognition of the tremendous effort required to develop sound software and the need to reduce duplication of effort and to sustain community codes. CIG curates software across 6 domains and has developed and follows software best practices that include establishing test cases, documentation, and a citable publication for each software package. CIG software landing web pages provide access to current and past releases; many are also accessible through the CIG community repository on github. CIG has now developed abc - attribution builder for citation to enable software users to give credit to software developers. abc uses zenodo as an archive and as the mechanism to obtain a unique identifier (DOI) for scientific software. To assemble the metadata, we searched the software's documentation and research publications and then requested the primary developers to verify. In this process, we have learned that each development community approaches software attribution differently. The metadata gathered is based on guidelines established by groups such as FORCE11 and OntoSoft. The rollout of abc is gradual as developers are forward-looking, rarely willing to go back and archive prior releases in zenodo. Going forward all actively developed packages will utilize the zenodo and github integration to automate the archival process when a new release is issued. How to handle legacy software, multi-authored libraries, and assigning roles to software remain open issues.

  14. Open source clustering software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Hoon, M J L; Imoto, S; Nolan, J; Miyano, S

    2004-06-12

    We have implemented k-means clustering, hierarchical clustering and self-organizing maps in a single multipurpose open-source library of C routines, callable from other C and C++ programs. Using this library, we have created an improved version of Michael Eisen's well-known Cluster program for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux/Unix. In addition, we generated a Python and a Perl interface to the C Clustering Library, thereby combining the flexibility of a scripting language with the speed of C. The C Clustering Library and the corresponding Python C extension module Pycluster were released under the Python License, while the Perl module Algorithm::Cluster was released under the Artistic License. The GUI code Cluster 3.0 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux/Unix, as well as the corresponding command-line program, were released under the same license as the original Cluster code. The complete source code is available at http://bonsai.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/mdehoon/software/cluster. Alternatively, Algorithm::Cluster can be downloaded from CPAN, while Pycluster is also available as part of the Biopython distribution.

  15. Open Source Next Generation Visualization Software for Interplanetary Missions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trimble, Jay; Rinker, George

    2016-01-01

    Mission control is evolving quickly, driven by the requirements of new missions, and enabled by modern computing capabilities. Distributed operations, access to data anywhere, data visualization for spacecraft analysis that spans multiple data sources, flexible reconfiguration to support multiple missions, and operator use cases, are driving the need for new capabilities. NASA's Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System (AMMOS), Ames Research Center (ARC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are collaborating to build a new generation of mission operations software for visualization, to enable mission control anywhere, on the desktop, tablet and phone. The software is built on an open source platform that is open for contributions (http://nasa.github.io/openmct).

  16. Muticriteria decision making model for chosing between open source and non-open source software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edmilson Alves de Moraes

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes the use of a multicriterio method for supporting decision on a problem where the intent is to chose for software given the options of open source and not-open source. The study shows how a method for decison making can be used to provide problem structuration and simplify the decision maker job. The method Analytic Hierarchy Process-AHP is described step-by-step and its benefits and flaws are discussed. Followin the theoretical discussion, a muliple case study is presented, where two companies are to use the decison making method. The analysis was supported by Expert Choice, a software developed based on AHP framework.

  17. Open Source Software and Design-Based Research Symbiosis in Developing 3D Virtual Learning Environments: Examples from the iSocial Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Matthew; Galyen, Krista; Laffey, James; Babiuch, Ryan; Schmidt, Carla

    2014-01-01

    Design-based research (DBR) and open source software are both acknowledged as potentially productive ways for advancing learning technologies. These approaches have practical benefits for the design and development process and for building and leveraging community to augment and sustain design and development. This report presents a case study of…

  18. Software Quality in the Trenches: Two Case Studies of Quality Assurance Practices in Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS)

    OpenAIRE

    Vestbø, Tor Arne

    2007-01-01

    When proponents of open source software are asked to explain the success of their movement they typically point to the quality of the software produced, which is in turn attributed to the rather unconventional development model of releasing unfinished versions of the software and having users look over the code and report and fix bugs. This thesis investigates the open source quality assurance model from a knowledge management perspective based on the assumption that debugging involves a h...

  19. Why develop open-source software? The role of non-pecuniary benefits, monetary rewards, and open-source licence type

    OpenAIRE

    Robert M. Sauer

    2007-01-01

    A review of the basic theory of optimal open-source software contributions points to three key factors affecting the decision to contribute to the open-source development process: nonpecuniary benefits, future expected monetary returns, and open-source licence type. This paper argues that existing large-scale software developer surveys are inadequate for measuring the relative importance of these three factors. Previous econometric studies that collect their own unique datasets also fall shor...

  20. Free/Libre Open Source Software in Health Care: A Review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmuhl, Holger; Demski, Hans

    2014-01-01

    Objectives To assess the current state of the art and the contribution of Free/Libre Open Source Software in health care (FLOSS-HC). Methods The review is based on a narrative review of the scientific literature as well as sources in the context of FLOSS-HC available through the Internet. All relevant available sources have been integrated into the MedFLOSS database and are freely available to the community. Results The literature review reveals that publications about FLOSS-HC are scarce. The largest part of information about FLOSS-HC is available on dedicated websites and not in the academic literature. There are currently FLOSS alternatives available for nearly every specialty in health care. Maturity and quality varies considerably and there is little information available on the percentage of systems that are actually used in health care delivery. Conclusions The global impact of FLOSS-HC is still very limited and no figures on the penetration and usage of FLOSS-HC are available. However, there has been a considerable growth in the last 5 to 10 years. While there where only few systems available a decade ago, in the meantime many systems got available (e.g., more than 300 in the MedFLOSS database). While FLOSS concepts play an important role in most IT related sectors (e.g., telecommunications, embedded devices) the healthcare industry is lagging behind this trend. PMID:24627814

  1. Free/Libre open source software in health care: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karopka, Thomas; Schmuhl, Holger; Demski, Hans

    2014-01-01

    To assess the current state of the art and the contribution of Free/Libre Open Source Software in health care (FLOSS-HC). The review is based on a narrative review of the scientific literature as well as sources in the context of FLOSS-HC available through the Internet. All relevant available sources have been integrated into the MedFLOSS database and are freely available to the community. The literature review reveals that publications about FLOSS-HC are scarce. The largest part of information about FLOSS-HC is available on dedicated websites and not in the academic literature. There are currently FLOSS alternatives available for nearly every specialty in health care. Maturity and quality varies considerably and there is little information available on the percentage of systems that are actually used in health care delivery. The global impact of FLOSS-HC is still very limited and no figures on the penetration and usage of FLOSS-HC are available. However, there has been a considerable growth in the last 5 to 10 years. While there where only few systems available a decade ago, in the meantime many systems got available (e.g., more than 300 in the MedFLOSS database). While FLOSS concepts play an important role in most IT related sectors (e.g., telecommunications, embedded devices) the healthcare industry is lagging behind this trend.

  2. Earth Science Informatics Community Requirements for Improving Sustainable Science Software Practices: User Perspectives and Implications for Organizational Action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downs, R. R.; Lenhardt, W. C.; Robinson, E.

    2014-12-01

    Science software is integral to the scientific process and must be developed and managed in a sustainable manner to ensure future access to scientific data and related resources. Organizations that are part of the scientific enterprise, as well as members of the scientific community who work within these entities, can contribute to the sustainability of science software and to practices that improve scientific community capabilities for science software sustainability. As science becomes increasingly digital and therefore, dependent on software, improving community practices for sustainable science software will contribute to the sustainability of science. Members of the Earth science informatics community, including scientific data producers and distributers, end-user scientists, system and application developers, and data center managers, use science software regularly and face the challenges and the opportunities that science software presents for the sustainability of science. To gain insight on practices needed for the sustainability of science software from the science software experiences of the Earth science informatics community, an interdisciplinary group of 300 community members were asked to engage in simultaneous roundtable discussions and report on their answers to questions about the requirements for improving scientific software sustainability. This paper will present an analysis of the issues reported and the conclusions offered by the participants. These results provide perspectives for science software sustainability practices and have implications for actions that organizations and their leadership can initiate to improve the sustainability of science software.

  3. How Open Source Has Changed the Software Industry: Perspectives from Open Source Entrepreneurs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Risto Rajala

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The emergence of F/LOSS (free/libre open source software has triggered several changes in the software industry. F/LOSS has been cited as an archetypal form of open innovation; it consists of the convergence and collaboration of like-minded parties. An increasing number of software firms have taken upon this approach to link outsiders into their service development and product design. Also, software firms have been increasingly grounded their business models on user-centric and service-oriented operations. This article describes a study that investigates these changes from the perspective of F/LOSS entrepreneurs. The findings are summarized into four issues that are critical in managing an F/LOSS business: i dealing with organizational changes in the innovation process; ii mastering user involvement; iii successfully using resources; and iv designing revenue models.

  4. PySE: Software for extracting sources from radio images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carbone, D.; Garsden, H.; Spreeuw, H.; Swinbank, J. D.; van der Horst, A. J.; Rowlinson, A.; Broderick, J. W.; Rol, E.; Law, C.; Molenaar, G.; Wijers, R. A. M. J.

    2018-04-01

    PySE is a Python software package for finding and measuring sources in radio telescope images. The software was designed to detect sources in the LOFAR telescope images, but can be used with images from other radio telescopes as well. We introduce the LOFAR Telescope, the context within which PySE was developed, the design of PySE, and describe how it is used. Detailed experiments on the validation and testing of PySE are then presented, along with results of performance testing. We discuss some of the current issues with the algorithms implemented in PySE and their interaction with LOFAR images, concluding with the current status of PySE and its future development.

  5. Managerial Perspective on Open Source Collaboration and Networked Innovation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henttonen Maaret Katja

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the managerial perspectives towards open source software and networked innovation. We analysed six software companies who use open source software as a significant part of their product or service offering. The study found notable differences in managerial attitudes, expected benefits and key challenges related to open source software and its role in innovative activities. While all companies were using same pieces of software with open source communities, there were different levels of engagement in the development of the software and information flows between companies and communities. A deeper level of involvement enables the exchange of more than just the code: like ideas, influences, opinions and even innovations or parts of them. The differences in managerial views on open source and networked innovation may be explained by industry domains, value chain position and leadership style

  6. Evaluation and selection of open-source EMR software packages based on integrated AHP and TOPSIS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaidan, A A; Zaidan, B B; Al-Haiqi, Ahmed; Kiah, M L M; Hussain, Muzammil; Abdulnabi, Mohamed

    2015-02-01

    Evaluating and selecting software packages that meet the requirements of an organization are difficult aspects of software engineering process. Selecting the wrong open-source EMR software package can be costly and may adversely affect business processes and functioning of the organization. This study aims to evaluate and select open-source EMR software packages based on multi-criteria decision-making. A hands-on study was performed and a set of open-source EMR software packages were implemented locally on separate virtual machines to examine the systems more closely. Several measures as evaluation basis were specified, and the systems were selected based a set of metric outcomes using Integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS. The experimental results showed that GNUmed and OpenEMR software can provide better basis on ranking score records than other open-source EMR software packages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Open Source Software Development with Your Mother Language : Intercultural Collaboration Experiment 2002

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nomura, Saeko; Ishida, Saeko; Jensen, Mika Yasuoka

    2002-01-01

    ”Open Source Software Development with Your Mother Language: Intercultural Collaboration Experiment 2002,” 10th International Conference on Human – Computer Interaction (HCII2003), June 2003, Crete, Greece.......”Open Source Software Development with Your Mother Language: Intercultural Collaboration Experiment 2002,” 10th International Conference on Human – Computer Interaction (HCII2003), June 2003, Crete, Greece....

  8. Mining the Geophysical Research Abstracts Corpus: Mapping the impact of Free and Open Source Software on the EGU Divisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Löwe, Peter; Klump, Jens; Robertson, Jesse

    2015-04-01

    Text mining is commonly employed as a tool in data science to investigate and chart emergent information from corpora of research abstracts, such as the Geophysical Research Abstracts (GRA) published by Copernicus. In this context current standards, such as persistent identifiers like DOI and ORCID, allow us to trace, cite and map links between journal publications, the underlying research data and scientific software. This network can be expressed as a directed graph which enables us to chart networks of cooperation and innovation, thematic foci and the locations of research communities in time and space. However, this approach of data science, focusing on the research process in a self-referential manner, rather than the topical work, is still in a developing stage. Scientific work presented at the EGU General Assembly is often the first step towards new approaches and innovative ideas to the geospatial community. It represents a rich, deep and heterogeneous source of geoscientific thought. This corpus is a significant data source for data science, which has not been analysed on this scale previously. In this work, the corpus of the Geophysical Research Abstracts is used for the first time as a data base for analyses of topical text mining. For this, we used a sturdy and customizable software framework, based on the work of Schmitt et al. [1]. For the analysis we used the High Performance Computing infrastructure of the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ in Potsdam, Germany. Here, we report on the first results from the analysis of the continuous spreading the of use of Free and Open Source Software Tools (FOSS) within the EGU communities, mapping the general increase of FOSS-themed GRA articles in the last decade and the developing spatial patterns of involved parties and FOSS topics. References: [1] Schmitt, L. M., Christianson, K.T, Gupta R..: Linguistic Computing with UNIX Tools, in Kao, A., Poteet S.R. (Eds.): Natural Language processing and Text

  9. The Growth of open source: A look at how companies are utilizing open source software in their business models

    OpenAIRE

    Feare, David

    2009-01-01

    This paper examines how open source software is being incorporated into the business models of companies in the software industry. The goal is to answer the question of whether the open source model can help sustain economic growth. While some companies are able to maintain a "pure" open source approach with their business model, the reality is that most companies are relying on proprietary add-on value in order to generate revenue because open source itself is simply not big business. Ultima...

  10. The Astrophysics Source Code Library: Supporting software publication and citation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Alice; Teuben, Peter

    2018-01-01

    The Astrophysics Source Code Library (ASCL, ascl.net), established in 1999, is a free online registry for source codes used in research that has appeared in, or been submitted to, peer-reviewed publications. The ASCL is indexed by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) and Web of Science and is citable by using the unique ascl ID assigned to each code. In addition to registering codes, the ASCL can house archive files for download and assign them DOIs. The ASCL advocations for software citation on par with article citation, participates in multidiscipinary events such as Force11, OpenCon, and the annual Workshop on Sustainable Software for Science, works with journal publishers, and organizes Special Sessions and Birds of a Feather meetings at national and international conferences such as Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS), European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, and AAS meetings. In this presentation, I will discuss some of the challenges of gathering credit for publishing software and ideas and efforts from other disciplines that may be useful to astronomy.

  11. Common characteristics of open source software development and applicability for drug discovery: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ardal, Christine; Alstadsæter, Annette; Røttingen, John-Arne

    2011-09-28

    Innovation through an open source model has proven to be successful for software development. This success has led many to speculate if open source can be applied to other industries with similar success. We attempt to provide an understanding of open source software development characteristics for researchers, business leaders and government officials who may be interested in utilizing open source innovation in other contexts and with an emphasis on drug discovery. A systematic review was performed by searching relevant, multidisciplinary databases to extract empirical research regarding the common characteristics and barriers of initiating and maintaining an open source software development project. Common characteristics to open source software development pertinent to open source drug discovery were extracted. The characteristics were then grouped into the areas of participant attraction, management of volunteers, control mechanisms, legal framework and physical constraints. Lastly, their applicability to drug discovery was examined. We believe that the open source model is viable for drug discovery, although it is unlikely that it will exactly follow the form used in software development. Hybrids will likely develop that suit the unique characteristics of drug discovery. We suggest potential motivations for organizations to join an open source drug discovery project. We also examine specific differences between software and medicines, specifically how the need for laboratories and physical goods will impact the model as well as the effect of patents.

  12. Bug-Fixing and Code-Writing: The Private Provision of Open Source Software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bitzer, Jürgen; Schröder, Philipp

    2002-01-01

    Open source software (OSS) is a public good. A self-interested individual would consider providing such software, if the benefits he gained from having it justified the cost of programming. Nevertheless each agent is tempted to free ride and wait for others to develop the software instead...

  13. The Impact of Software Culture on the Management of Community Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, J. A.; Pulsifer, P. L.; Sheffield, E.; Lewis, S.; Oldenburg, J.

    2013-12-01

    The Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), a program hosted at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), supports the collection, curation, and distribution of Local and Traditional Knowledge (LTK) data, as well as some quantitative data products. Investigations involving LTK data often involve community participation, and therefore require flexible and robust user interfaces to support a reliable process of data collection and management. Often, investigators focused on LTK and community-based monitoring choose to use ELOKA's data services based on our ability to provide rapid proof-of-concepts and economical delivery of a usable product. To satisfy these two overarching criteria, ELOKA is experimenting with modifications to its software development culture both in terms of how the software applications are developed as well as the kind of software applications (or components) being developed. Over the past several years, NSIDC has shifted its software development culture from one of assigning individual scientific programmers to support particular principal investigators or projects, to an Agile Software Methodology implementation using Scrum practices. ELOKA has participated in this process by working with other product owners to schedule and prioritize development work which is then implemented by a team of application developers. Scrum, along with practices such as Test Driven Development (TDD) and paired programming, improves the quality of the software product delivered to the user community. To meet the need for rapid prototyping and to maximize product development and support with limited developer input, our software development efforts are now focused on creating a platform of application modules that can be quickly customized to suit the needs of a variety of LTK projects. This approach is in contrast to the strategy of delivering custom applications for individual projects. To date, we have integrated components of

  14. Managerial Perspective on Open Source Collaboration and Networked Innovation

    OpenAIRE

    Henttonen Maaret Katja; Pasi Pussinen; Timo Koivumäki

    2012-01-01

    This study explores the managerial perspectives towards open source software and networked innovation. We analysed six software companies who use open source software as a significant part of their product or service offering. The study found notable differences in managerial attitudes, expected benefits and key challenges related to open source software and its role in innovative activities. While all companies were using same pieces of software with open source communities, there were diffe...

  15. A community Q&A for HEP Software and Computing ?

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2016-01-01

    How often do you use StackOverflow or ServerFault to find information in your daily work? Would you be interested in a community Q&A site for HEP Software and Computing, for instance a dedicated StackExchange site? I looked into this question...

  16. Exploring Coordination Structures in Open Source Software Development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hillegersberg, Jos; Harmsen, Frank; Hegeman, J.H.; Amrit, Chintan Amrit; Geisberger, Eva; Keil, Patrick; Kuhrmann, Marco

    2007-01-01

    Coordination is difficult to achieve in a large globally distributed project setting. The problem is multiplied in open source software development projects, where most of the traditional means of coordination such as plans, system-level designs, schedules and defined process are not used. In order

  17. Defining an Open Source Strategy for NASA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattmann, C. A.; Crichton, D. J.; Lindsay, F.; Berrick, S. W.; Marshall, J. J.; Downs, R. R.

    2011-12-01

    Over the course of the past year, we have worked to help frame a strategy for NASA and open source software. This includes defining information processes to understand open source licensing, attribution, commerciality, redistribution, communities, architectures, and interactions within the agency. Specifically we held a training session at the NASA Earth Science Data Systems Working Group meeting in Open Source software as it relates to the NASA Earth Science data systems enterprise, including EOSDIS, the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), ACCESS proposals, and the MEASURES communities, and efforts to understand how open source software can be both consumed and produced within that ecosystem. In addition, we presented at the 1st NASA Open Source Summit (OSS) and helped to define an agency-level strategy, a set of recommendations and paths forward for how to identify healthy open source communities, how to deal with issues such as contributions originating from other agencies, and how to search out talent with the right skills to develop software for NASA in the modern age. This talk will review our current recommendations for open source at NASA, and will cover the set of thirteen recommendations output from the NASA Open Source Summit and discuss some of their implications for the agency.

  18. Database Organisation in a Web-Enabled Free and Open-Source Software (foss) Environment for Spatio-Temporal Landslide Modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, I.; Oberai, K.; Sarathi Roy, P.

    2012-07-01

    Landslides exhibit themselves in different mass movement processes and are considered among the most complex natural hazards occurring on the earth surface. Making landslide database available online via WWW (World Wide Web) promotes the spreading and reaching out of the landslide information to all the stakeholders. The aim of this research is to present a comprehensive database for generating landslide hazard scenario with the help of available historic records of landslides and geo-environmental factors and make them available over the Web using geospatial Free & Open Source Software (FOSS). FOSS reduces the cost of the project drastically as proprietary software's are very costly. Landslide data generated for the period 1982 to 2009 were compiled along the national highway road corridor in Indian Himalayas. All the geo-environmental datasets along with the landslide susceptibility map were served through WEBGIS client interface. Open source University of Minnesota (UMN) mapserver was used as GIS server software for developing web enabled landslide geospatial database. PHP/Mapscript server-side application serve as a front-end application and PostgreSQL with PostGIS extension serve as a backend application for the web enabled landslide spatio-temporal databases. This dynamic virtual visualization process through a web platform brings an insight into the understanding of the landslides and the resulting damage closer to the affected people and user community. The landslide susceptibility dataset is also made available as an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Feature Service (WFS) which can be accessed through any OGC compliant open source or proprietary GIS Software.

  19. Biogem: an effective tool based approach for scaling up open source software development in bioinformatics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bonnal, R.J.P.; Smant, G.; Prins, J.C.P.

    2012-01-01

    Biogem provides a software development environment for the Ruby programming language, which encourages community-based software development for bioinformatics while lowering the barrier to entry and encouraging best practices. Biogem, with its targeted modular and decentralized approach, software

  20. Observation of Online Communities: A Discussion of Online and Offline Observer Roles in Studying Development, Cooperation and Coordination in an Open Source Software Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sladjana V. Nørskov

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the application of observation to online settings with a special focus on observer roles. It draws on a study of online observation of a virtual community, i.e. an open source software (OSS community. The paper examines general and specific advantages and disadvantages of the observer roles in online settings by relating these roles to the same roles assumed in offline settings. The study suggests that under the right circumstances online and offline observation may benefit from being combined as they complement each other well. Quality issues and factors important to elicit trustworthy observational data from online study settings, such as OSS communities, are discussed. A proposition is made concerning how threats to credibility and transferability in relation to online observation (i.e. lack of richness and detail, risk of misunderstandings can be diminished, while maintaining the level of dependability (which is potentially high due to a greater degree of anonymity and "isolation" in online settings. The paper thus suggests that the less participative the researcher's online observer role is, the more s/he should consider introducing offline data collection techniques rather than adopting a more participative role in the observed online setting. This methodological discussion forms the basis for making a well-considered choice of online observer role rather than passively sliding into a role assigned by the setting. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs110358

  1. Building Energy Management Open Source Software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2017-06-20

    This is the repository for Building Energy Management Open Source Software (BEMOSS), which is an open source operating system that is engineered to improve sensing and control of equipment in small- and medium-sized commercial buildings. BEMOSS offers the following key features: (1) Open source, open architecture – BEMOSS is an open source operating system that is built upon VOLTTRON – a distributed agent platform developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). BEMOSS was designed to make it easy for hardware manufacturers to seamlessly interface their devices with BEMOSS. Software developers can also contribute to adding additional BEMOSS functionalities and applications. (2) Plug & play – BEMOSS was designed to automatically discover supported load controllers (including smart thermostats, VAV/RTUs, lighting load controllers and plug load controllers) in commercial buildings. (3) Interoperability – BEMOSS was designed to work with load control devices form different manufacturers that operate on different communication technologies and data exchange protocols. (4) Cost effectiveness – Implementation of BEMOSS deemed to be cost-effective as it was built upon a robust open source platform that can operate on a low-cost single-board computer, such as Odroid. This feature could contribute to its rapid deployment in small- or medium-sized commercial buildings. (5) Scalability and ease of deployment – With its multi-node architecture, BEMOSS provides a distributed architecture where load controllers in a multi-floor and high occupancy building could be monitored and controlled by multiple single-board computers hosting BEMOSS. This makes it possible for a building engineer to deploy BEMOSS in one zone of a building, be comfortable with its operation, and later on expand the deployment to the entire building to make it more energy efficient. (6) Ability to provide local and remote monitoring – BEMOSS provides both local and remote monitoring

  2. Open-Source Software in Computational Research: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sreekanth Pannala

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available A case study of open-source (OS development of the computational research software MFIX, used for multiphase computational fluid dynamics simulations, is presented here. The verification and validation steps required for constructing modern computational software and the advantages of OS development in those steps are discussed. The infrastructure used for enabling the OS development of MFIX is described. The impact of OS development on computational research and education in gas-solids flow, as well as the dissemination of information to other areas such as geophysical and volcanology research, is demonstrated. This study shows that the advantages of OS development were realized in the case of MFIX: verification by many users, which enhances software quality; the use of software as a means for accumulating and exchanging information; the facilitation of peer review of the results of computational research.

  3. Curious exceptions? : open source software and "open" technology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nuvolari, A.; Rullani, F.; St. Amant, Kirk; Still, Brian

    2007-01-01

    The aim of thts chapter is to explore the differences and commonalities between open source software and other cases of open technology. The concept of open technology is used here to indicate various models of innovation based on the participation of a wide range of different actors who freely

  4. Sources of funding for community schemes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-11-01

    There is an increasing level of interest amongst community groups in the UK to become involved in the development of renewable energy schemes. Often however these community groups have only limited funds of their own, so any additional funds that can be identified to help fund their renewable energy scheme can be very useful. There are a range of funding sources available that provide grants or loans for which community groups are eligible to apply. Few of these funding sources are targeted towards renewable energy specifically, nevertheless the funds may be applicable to renewable energy schemes under appropriate circumstances. To date, however, few of these funds have been accessed by community groups for renewable energy initiatives. One of the reasons for this low take-up of funds on offer could be that the funding sources may be difficult and time-consuming to identify, especially where the energy component of the fund is not readily apparent. This directory draws together details about many of the principal funding sources available in the UK that may consider providing funds to community groups wanting to develop a renewable energy scheme. (author)

  5. SeisCode: A seismological software repository for discovery and collaboration

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2012-12-01

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

  6. 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

  7. The Utility of Open Source Software in Military Systems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Esperon, Agustin I; Munoz, Jose P; Tanneau, Jean M

    2005-01-01

    The MILOS (Military Systems based on Open-source Software) project was a European research program in the Eurofinder framework, attached to the CEPA 6 and co-financed by the Ministry of Defence of France and Spain...

  8. SIMULATION OF THE SYSTEMS WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES USING HOMER SOFTWARE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FIRINCĂ S.D.

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper simulates by using the Homer software, distributed energy systems with capacity below 1 MW. Among the renewable energy sources are used wind and solar energy. For photovoltaic panels, we are considering two situations: fixed panels, oriented at 45 ° and panels with tracking system with two axis. Simulation results contain information regarding operation hours of the system throughout the year, energy produced from the renewable energy sources, energy consumption for the load, and excess of electrical energy. The Homer software also allows an economic analysis of these systems.

  9. An Organizational-Technical Concept to Deal with Open Source Software License Terms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergius Dyck

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Open source software (OSS released under various license terms is widely used as third party libraries in today's software projects. To ensure open source compliance within an organization, a strategic approach to OSS management is needed. As basis for such an approach, we introduce an organizational-technical concept for dealing with the various OSS licenses by using procedural instructions and build automation software. The concept includes the careful consideration of OSS license conditions. The results obtained from this consideration and additional necessary commitments are documented in a so-called license playbook. We introduce procedure instructions enabling a consistent approach for software development using OSS libraries. The procedure instructions are described in a way such that they can be implemented for example for Java projects using the popular build automation tool Apache Maven and the software repository tool Nexus. We give guidance on how to realize such an implementation on basis of automation tools in practice.

  10. Open Crowdsourcing: Leveraging Community Software Developers for IT Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phair, Derek

    2012-01-01

    This qualitative exploratory single-case study was designed to examine and understand the use of volunteer community participants as software developers and other project related roles, such as testers, in completing a web-based application project by a non-profit organization. This study analyzed the strategic decision to engage crowd…

  11. The Systems Biology Research Tool: evolvable open-source software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wright Jeremiah

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Research in the field of systems biology requires software for a variety of purposes. Software must be used to store, retrieve, analyze, and sometimes even to collect the data obtained from system-level (often high-throughput experiments. Software must also be used to implement mathematical models and algorithms required for simulation and theoretical predictions on the system-level. Results We introduce a free, easy-to-use, open-source, integrated software platform called the Systems Biology Research Tool (SBRT to facilitate the computational aspects of systems biology. The SBRT currently performs 35 methods for analyzing stoichiometric networks and 16 methods from fields such as graph theory, geometry, algebra, and combinatorics. New computational techniques can be added to the SBRT via process plug-ins, providing a high degree of evolvability and a unifying framework for software development in systems biology. Conclusion The Systems Biology Research Tool represents a technological advance for systems biology. This software can be used to make sophisticated computational techniques accessible to everyone (including those with no programming ability, to facilitate cooperation among researchers, and to expedite progress in the field of systems biology.

  12. The Software Engineering Community at DLR: How we got where we are

    OpenAIRE

    Haupt, Carina; Schlauch, Tobias

    2017-01-01

    Sustainable software and reproducible results become vital in research. Awareness for the topic as well as the required knowledge cannot be taken for granted. We show, how scientists at DLR are encouraged to form a self-reliant software engineering community and how we supported this by providing information resources and opportunities for collaboration and exchange.

  13. Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS: design and first-year review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arfon M. Smith

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This article describes the motivation, design, and progress of the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS. JOSS is a free and open-access journal that publishes articles describing research software. It has the dual goals of improving the quality of the software submitted and providing a mechanism for research software developers to receive credit. While designed to work within the current merit system of science, JOSS addresses the dearth of rewards for key contributions to science made in the form of software. JOSS publishes articles that encapsulate scholarship contained in the software itself, and its rigorous peer review targets the software components: functionality, documentation, tests, continuous integration, and the license. A JOSS article contains an abstract describing the purpose and functionality of the software, references, and a link to the software archive. The article is the entry point of a JOSS submission, which encompasses the full set of software artifacts. Submission and review proceed in the open, on GitHub. Editors, reviewers, and authors work collaboratively and openly. Unlike other journals, JOSS does not reject articles requiring major revision; while not yet accepted, articles remain visible and under review until the authors make adequate changes (or withdraw, if unable to meet requirements. Once an article is accepted, JOSS gives it a digital object identifier (DOI, deposits its metadata in Crossref, and the article can begin collecting citations on indexers like Google Scholar and other services. Authors retain copyright of their JOSS article, releasing it under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. In its first year, starting in May 2016, JOSS published 111 articles, with more than 40 additional articles under review. JOSS is a sponsored project of the nonprofit organization NumFOCUS and is an affiliate of the Open Source Initiative (OSI.

  14. An open-source thermodynamic software library

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ritschel, Tobias Kasper Skovborg; Gaspar, Jozsef; Capolei, Andrea

    This is a technical report which accompanies the article ”An open-source thermodynamic software library” which describes an efficient Matlab and C implementation for evaluation of thermodynamic properties. In this technical report we present the model equations, that are also presented in the paper......, together with a full set of first and second order derivatives with respect to temperature and pressure, and in cases where applicable, also with respect to mole numbers. The library is based on parameters and correlations from the DIPPR database and the Peng-Robinson and the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equations...

  15. Integrating HCI Specialists into Open Source Software Development Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedberg, Henrik; Iivari, Netta

    Typical open source software (OSS) development projects are organized around technically talented developers, whose communication is based on technical aspects and source code. Decision-making power is gained through proven competence and activity in the project, and non-technical end-user opinions are too many times neglected. In addition, also human-computer interaction (HCI) specialists have encountered difficulties in trying to participate in OSS projects, because there seems to be no clear authority and responsibility for them. In this paper, based on HCI and OSS literature, we introduce an extended OSS development project organization model that adds a new level of communication and roles for attending human aspects of software. The proposed model makes the existence of HCI specialists visible in the projects, and promotes interaction between developers and the HCI specialists in the course of a project.

  16. Digital Preservation in Open-Source Digital Library Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madalli, Devika P.; Barve, Sunita; Amin, Saiful

    2012-01-01

    Digital archives and digital library projects are being initiated all over the world for materials of different formats and domains. To organize, store, and retrieve digital content, many libraries as well as archiving centers are using either proprietary or open-source software. While it is accepted that print media can survive for centuries with…

  17. Core Community Specifications for Electron Microprobe Operating Systems: Software, Quality Control, and Data Management Issues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fournelle, John; Carpenter, Paul

    2006-01-01

    Modem electron microprobe systems have become increasingly sophisticated. These systems utilize either UNIX or PC computer systems for measurement, automation, and data reduction. These systems have undergone major improvements in processing, storage, display, and communications, due to increased capabilities of hardware and software. Instrument specifications are typically utilized at the time of purchase and concentrate on hardware performance. The microanalysis community includes analysts, researchers, software developers, and manufacturers, who could benefit from exchange of ideas and the ultimate development of core community specifications (CCS) for hardware and software components of microprobe instrumentation and operating systems.

  18. WormGender - Open-Source Software for Automatic Caenorhabditis elegans Sex Ratio Measurement.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta K Labocha

    Full Text Available Fast and quantitative analysis of animal phenotypes is one of the major challenges of current biology. Here we report the WormGender open-source software, which is designed for accurate quantification of sex ratio in Caenorhabditis elegans. The software functions include, i automatic recognition and counting of adult hermaphrodites and males, ii a manual inspection feature that enables manual correction of errors, and iii flexibility to use new training images to optimize the software for different imaging conditions. We evaluated the performance of our software by comparing manual and automated assessment of sex ratio. Our data showed that the WormGender software provided overall accurate sex ratio measurements. We further demonstrated the usage of WormGender by quantifying the high incidence of male (him phenotype in 27 mutant strains. Mutants of nine genes (brc-1, C30G12.6, cep-1, coh-3, him-3, him-5, him-8, skr-1, unc-86 showed significant him phenotype. The WormGender is written in Java and can be installed and run on both Windows and Mac platforms. The source code is freely available together with a user manual and sample data at http://www.QuantWorm.org/. The source code and sample data are also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1541248.

  19. Survivability as a Tool for Evaluating Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-06-01

    tremendously successful in certain applications such as the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the Apache web server [10]. Open source software is often...source versions (such as Internet Explorer compared to Mozilla Firefox ), which typically conclude that vulnerabilities are, in fact, much more...for radios M. Smith ACS ACS ROS autonomous functionality (none) ACS PX4 Firmware PX4 FMU driver BSD 3-clause ACS PX4 Nuttx real time OS BSD ACS

  20. Open source software and crowdsourcing for energy analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bazilian, Morgan; Rice, Andrew; Rotich, Juliana; Howells, Mark; DeCarolis, Joseph; Macmillan, Stuart; Brooks, Cameron; Bauer, Florian; Liebreich, Michael

    2012-01-01

    Informed energy decision making requires effective software, high-quality input data, and a suitably trained user community. Developing these resources can be expensive and time consuming. Even when data and tools are intended for public re-use they often come with technical, legal, economic and social barriers that make them difficult to adopt, adapt and combine for use in new contexts. We focus on the promise of open, publically accessible software and data as well as crowdsourcing techniques to develop robust energy analysis tools that can deliver crucial, policy-relevant insight, particularly in developing countries, where planning resources are highly constrained—and the need to adapt these resources and methods to the local context is high. We survey existing research, which argues that these techniques can produce high-quality results, and also explore the potential role that linked, open data can play in both supporting the modelling process and in enhancing public engagement with energy issues. - Highlights: ► We focus on the promise of open, publicly accessible software and data. ► These emerging techniques can produce high-quality results for energy analysis. ► Developing economies require new techniques for energy planning.

  1. Building a Snow Data Management System using Open Source Software (and IDL)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodale, C. E.; Mattmann, C. A.; Ramirez, P.; Hart, A. F.; Painter, T.; Zimdars, P. A.; Bryant, A.; Brodzik, M.; Skiles, M.; Seidel, F. C.; Rittger, K. E.

    2012-12-01

    At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory free and open source software is used everyday to support a wide range of projects, from planetary to climate to research and development. In this abstract I will discuss the key role that open source software has played in building a robust science data processing pipeline for snow hydrology research, and how the system is also able to leverage programs written in IDL, making JPL's Snow Data System a hybrid of open source and proprietary software. Main Points: - The Design of the Snow Data System (illustrate how the collection of sub-systems are combined to create a complete data processing pipeline) - Discuss the Challenges of moving from a single algorithm on a laptop, to running 100's of parallel algorithms on a cluster of servers (lesson's learned) - Code changes - Software license related challenges - Storage Requirements - System Evolution (from data archiving, to data processing, to data on a map, to near-real-time products and maps) - Road map for the next 6 months (including how easily we re-used the snowDS code base to support the Airborne Snow Observatory Mission) Software in Use and their Software Licenses: IDL - Used for pre and post processing of data. Licensed under a proprietary software license held by Excelis. Apache OODT - Used for data management and workflow processing. Licensed under the Apache License Version 2. GDAL - Geospatial Data processing library used for data re-projection currently. Licensed under the X/MIT license. GeoServer - WMS Server. Licensed under the General Public License Version 2.0 Leaflet.js - Javascript web mapping library. Licensed under the Berkeley Software Distribution License. Python - Glue code and miscellaneous data processing support. Licensed under the Python Software Foundation License. Perl - Script wrapper for running the SCAG algorithm. Licensed under the General Public License Version 3. PHP - Front-end web application programming. Licensed under the PHP License Version

  2. ABCD, an Open Source Software for Modern Libraries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangeeta Namdev Dhamdhere

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, librarians are using various kinds of open source software for different purposes such as library automation, digitization, institutional repository, content management. ABCD, acronym for Automatisación de Bibliotécas y Centros de Documentación, is one of such software. It caters to almost all present needs of modern libraries of any sizes. It offers a solution to library automation with ISBD as well as local formats. It has excellent indexing and retrieval features based on UNESCO’s ISIS technology, a web OPAC, and a library Portal with integrated meta-search and content management system to manage online as well as offline digital resources and physical documents and media.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2014-12-01

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

  4. Human aspects, gamification, and social media in collaborative software engineering

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vasilescu, B.N.

    2014-01-01

    Software engineering is inherently a collaborative venture. In open-source software (OSS) development, such collaborations almost always span geographies and cultures. Because of the decentralised and self-directed nature of OSS as well as the social diversity inherent to OSS communities, the

  5. Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial in the field of planetary science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frigeri, A.

    2012-12-01

    Information technology applied to geospatial analyses has spread quickly in the last ten years. The availability of OpenData and data from collaborative mapping projects increased the interest on tools, procedures and methods to handle spatially-related information. Free Open Source Software projects devoted to geospatial data handling are gaining a good success as the use of interoperable formats and protocols allow the user to choose what pipeline of tools and libraries is needed to solve a particular task, adapting the software scene to his specific problem. In particular, the Free Open Source model of development mimics the scientific method very well, and researchers should be naturally encouraged to take part to the development process of these software projects, as this represent a very agile way to interact among several institutions. When it comes to planetary sciences, geospatial Free Open Source Software is gaining a key role in projects that commonly involve different subjects in an international scenario. Very popular software suites for processing scientific mission data (for example, ISIS) and for navigation/planning (SPICE) are being distributed along with the source code and the interaction between user and developer is often very strict, creating a continuum between these two figures. A very widely spread library for handling geospatial data (GDAL) has started to support planetary data from the Planetary Data System, and recent contributions enabled the support to other popular data formats used in planetary science, as the Vicar one. The use of Geographic Information System in planetary science is now diffused, and Free Open Source GIS, open GIS formats and network protocols allow to extend existing tools and methods developed to solve Earth based problems, also to the case of the study of solar system bodies. A day in the working life of a researcher using Free Open Source Software for geospatial will be presented, as well as benefits and

  6. The potential role of open source software in overcoming digital poverty

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Kinyondo, J

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available literature analysis, document analysis as well as observations of open source community activities were conducted to identify the ICT acceptance challenges and to formulate questions for a survey instrument and for interviews. Four open source communities...

  7. Closing gaps between open software and public data in a hackathon setting: User-centered software prototyping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busby, Ben; Lesko, Matthew; Federer, Lisa

    2016-01-01

    In genomics, bioinformatics and other areas of data science, gaps exist between extant public datasets and the open-source software tools built by the community to analyze similar data types.  The purpose of biological data science hackathons is to assemble groups of genomics or bioinformatics professionals and software developers to rapidly prototype software to address these gaps.  The only two rules for the NCBI-assisted hackathons run so far are that 1) data either must be housed in public data repositories or be deposited to such repositories shortly after the hackathon's conclusion, and 2) all software comprising the final pipeline must be open-source or open-use.  Proposed topics, as well as suggested tools and approaches, are distributed to participants at the beginning of each hackathon and refined during the event.  Software, scripts, and pipelines are developed and published on GitHub, a web service providing publicly available, free-usage tiers for collaborative software development. The code resulting from each hackathon is published at https://github.com/NCBI-Hackathons/ with separate directories or repositories for each team.

  8. The Economics of Open Source Software Development: An Introduction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Bitzer, Jürgen

    2006-01-01

    This chapter introduces the fundamentals of Open Source Software, its nature, the central economic aspects and the key mechanisms of its development. Furthermore, we present the themes of the book and provide a first overview for the reader by giving short summaries of its chapters....

  9. Open source hardware and software platform for robotics and artificial intelligence applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, S. Ng; Tan, K. O.; Lai Clement, T. H.; Ng, S. K.; Mohammed, A. H. Ali; Mailah, Musa; Azhar Yussof, Wan; Hamedon, Zamzuri; Yussof, Zulkifli

    2016-02-01

    Recent developments in open source hardware and software platforms (Android, Arduino, Linux, OpenCV etc.) have enabled rapid development of previously expensive and sophisticated system within a lower budget and flatter learning curves for developers. Using these platform, we designed and developed a Java-based 3D robotic simulation system, with graph database, which is integrated in online and offline modes with an Android-Arduino based rubbish picking remote control car. The combination of the open source hardware and software system created a flexible and expandable platform for further developments in the future, both in the software and hardware areas, in particular in combination with graph database for artificial intelligence, as well as more sophisticated hardware, such as legged or humanoid robots.

  10. Open source hardware and software platform for robotics and artificial intelligence applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liang, S Ng; Tan, K O; Clement, T H Lai; Ng, S K; Mohammed, A H Ali; Mailah, Musa; Yussof, Wan Azhar; Hamedon, Zamzuri; Yussof, Zulkifli

    2016-01-01

    Recent developments in open source hardware and software platforms (Android, Arduino, Linux, OpenCV etc.) have enabled rapid development of previously expensive and sophisticated system within a lower budget and flatter learning curves for developers. Using these platform, we designed and developed a Java-based 3D robotic simulation system, with graph database, which is integrated in online and offline modes with an Android-Arduino based rubbish picking remote control car. The combination of the open source hardware and software system created a flexible and expandable platform for further developments in the future, both in the software and hardware areas, in particular in combination with graph database for artificial intelligence, as well as more sophisticated hardware, such as legged or humanoid robots. (paper)

  11. ggCyto: Next Generation Open-Source Visualization Software for Cytometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van, Phu; Jiang, Wenxin; Gottardo, Raphael; Finak, Greg

    2018-06-01

    Open source software for computational cytometry has gained in popularity over the past few years. Efforts such as FlowCAP, the Lyoplate and Euroflow projects have highlighted the importance of efforts to standardize both experimental and computational aspects of cytometry data analysis. The R/BioConductor platform hosts the largest collection of open source cytometry software covering all aspects of data analysis and providing infrastructure to represent and analyze cytometry data with all relevant experimental, gating, and cell population annotations enabling fully reproducible data analysis. Data visualization frameworks to support this infrastructure have lagged behind. ggCyto is a new open-source BioConductor software package for cytometry data visualization built on ggplot2 that enables ggplot-like functionality with the core BioConductor flow cytometry data structures. Amongst its features are the ability to transform data and axes on-the-fly using cytometry-specific transformations, plot faceting by experimental meta-data variables, and partial matching of channel, marker and cell populations names to the contents of the BioConductor cytometry data structures. We demonstrate the salient features of the package using publicly available cytometry data with complete reproducible examples in a supplementary material vignette. https://bioconductor.org/packages/devel/bioc/html/ggcyto.html. gfinak@fredhutch.org. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online and at http://rglab.org/ggcyto/.

  12. Sustainability in Open Source Software Commons: Lessons Learned from an Empirical Study of SourceForge Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles M. Schweik

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we summarize a five-year US National Science Foundation funded study designed to investigate the factors that lead some open source projects to ongoing collaborative success while many others become abandoned. Our primary interest was to conduct a study that was closely representative of the population of open source software projects in the world, rather than focus on the more-often studied, high-profile successful cases. After building a large database of projects (n=174,333 and implementing a major survey of open source developers (n=1403, we were able to conduct statistical analyses to investigate over forty theoretically-based testable hypotheses. Our data firmly support what we call the conventional theory of open source software, showing that projects start small, and, in successful cases, grow slightly larger in terms of team size. We describe the “virtuous circle” supporting conventional wisdom of open source collaboration that comes out of this analysis, and we discuss two other interesting findings related to developer motivations and how team members find each other. Each of these findings is related to the sustainability of these projects.

  13. A catedral, o bazar e o condomínio: um ensaio sobre o modelo de negócio do software livre The cathedral, the bazaar and the condominium: an essay on a business model of free open source software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guilherme Finkelfarb Lichand

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Este ensaio tem como objetivo apresentar o software livre como objeto viável de estratégia de comercialização no mercado de software. A partir da análise de seus efeitos sobre as receitas e o market share das firmas dominantes, o F/LOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software emerge como alternativa de modelo de negócio nos segmentos em que o software livre apresenta vantagens competitivas sobre o software proprietário. Descrevemos as potencialidades e limitações, os aspectos tecnológicos, econômicos e sociológicos da organização da produção de empresas que comercializam produtos ou serviços relacionados ao F/LOSS. Utilizando-se a perspectiva da Economia dos Custos de Transação e da Economia da Informação, apresenta-se o modelo híbrido de desenvolvimento do F/LOSS nos mesmos moldes de um condomínio - em que a administração central coordena a ação coletiva, enquanto a comunidade, ao mesmo tempo em que integra o processo, monitora as ações da direção centralizada -, como estratégia competitiva alternativa aos modelos de desenvolvimento aberto (Bazar e proprietário (Catedral.Free Open Source Software is described as viable software for commercialization. Considering the revenues and market shares of the dominant suppliers, this software emerges as an alternative business model for segments in which open source software presents competitive advantages over the traditional model. Potentials, limitations and technological, economic and sociological aspects of organizational structures of companies that produce products and services related to Free Open Source Software are described. From the transaction cost and information economy perspectives, a hybrid model to develop Free Open Source Software is presented which is structured according to the concept of a condominium. That is, a central administration coordinates collective action, while the community works and monitors the action of the central direction. This model may

  14. Building Software, Building Community: Lessons from the Ropensci Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boettiger, C.

    2014-12-01

    rOpenSci is a developer collective originally formed in 2011 by graduate students and post-docs from ecology and evolutionary biology to collaborate on building software tools to facilitate a more open and synthetic approach in the face of transformative rise of large and heterogeneous data. Born on the internet (the collective only began through chance discussions over social media), we have grown into a widely recognized effort that supports an ecosystem of some 45software packages, engages scores of collaborators, has taught dozens of workshops around the world, and has secured over $480,000 in grant support. As young scientists working in an academic context largely without direct support for our efforts, we have first hand experience with most of the the technical and social challenges in developing sustainable scientific software. I will summarize our experiences, the challenges we have faced, and describe our approach and success in building an effective and diverse community around the rOpenSci project.

  15. Study of the Release Process of Open Source Software: Case Study

    OpenAIRE

    Eide, Tor Erik

    2007-01-01

    This report presents the results of a case study focusing on the release process of open source projects initiated with commercial motives. The purpose of the study is to gain an increased understanding of the release process, how a community can be attracted to the project, and how the interaction with the community evolves in commercial open source initiatives. Data has been gathered from four distinct sources to form the basis of this thesis. A thorough review of the open source literatu...

  16. Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE 2010)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dittrich, Yvonne; De Souza, Cleidson; Korpela, Mikko

    2010-01-01

    Software is created by people---software engineers---working in varied environments, under various conditions. Thus understanding cooperative and human aspect of software development is crucial to comprehend how methods and tools are used, and thereby improving the creation and maintenance...... research on human and cooperative aspects of software engineering. We aim at providing both a meeting place for the growing community and the possibility for researchers interested in joining the field to present their work in progress and get an overview over the field....... of software. Inspired by the hosting country's concept of co-responsibility -- ubuntu -- we especially invited contributions that address community-based development like open source development and sustainability of ICT eco-systems. The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum for discussing high quality...

  17. A Business Case Study of Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-07-01

    include cost or price, availability or multiple distribution sources, and popularity or brand /reputation. While both the commercial and government...availability, quality, security, management, scalability, brand /reputation, and service and support. 1 2 3 4 5 Pr ice Re lia bil ity Pe rfo rm an ce Av ail...source community. Open source, and Linux in particular, is often regarded as the heroic underdog . Linux has been touted as a “Windows killer.”44 Over

  18. OpenTURNS, an open source uncertainty engineering software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Popelin, A.L.; Dufoy, A.

    2013-01-01

    The needs to assess robust performances for complex systems have lead to the emergence of a new industrial simulation challenge: to take into account uncertainties when dealing with complex numerical simulation frameworks. EDF has taken part in the development of an Open Source software platform dedicated to uncertainty propagation by probabilistic methods, named OpenTURNS for Open source Treatment of Uncertainty, Risk and Statistics. OpenTURNS includes a large variety of qualified algorithms in order to manage uncertainties in industrial studies, from the uncertainty quantification step (with possibilities to model stochastic dependence thanks to the copula theory and stochastic processes), to the uncertainty propagation step (with some innovative simulation algorithms as the ziggurat method for normal variables) and the sensitivity analysis one (with some sensitivity index based on the evaluation of means conditioned to the realization of a particular event). It also enables to build some response surfaces that can include the stochastic modeling (with the chaos polynomial method for example). Generic wrappers to link OpenTURNS to the modeling software are proposed. At last, OpenTURNS is largely documented to provide rules to help use and contribution

  19. A Case Study about Open Source Internet Software in the eThekwini ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper describes the use of open source software applications on the web sites of the large eThekwini municipality in Durban, South Africa. The implementation of open source was both a response to the 2003 South African Government approval of open source solutions in government departments and because open ...

  20. Comparison of 3D reconstruction of mandible for pre-operative planning using commercial and open-source software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdullah, Johari Yap; Omar, Marzuki; Pritam, Helmi Mohd Hadi; Husein, Adam; Rajion, Zainul Ahmad

    2016-12-01

    3D printing of mandible is important for pre-operative planning, diagnostic purposes, as well as for education and training. Currently, the processing of CT data is routinely performed with commercial software which increases the cost of operation and patient management for a small clinical setting. Usage of open-source software as an alternative to commercial software for 3D reconstruction of the mandible from CT data is scarce. The aim of this study is to compare two methods of 3D reconstruction of the mandible using commercial Materialise Mimics software and open-source Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit (MITK) software. Head CT images with a slice thickness of 1 mm and a matrix of 512x512 pixels each were retrieved from the server located at the Radiology Department of Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. The CT data were analysed and the 3D models of mandible were reconstructed using both commercial Materialise Mimics and open-source MITK software. Both virtual 3D models were saved in STL format and exported to 3matic and MeshLab software for morphometric and image analyses. Both models were compared using Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Hausdorff Distance. No significant differences were obtained between the 3D models of the mandible produced using Mimics and MITK software. The 3D model of the mandible produced using MITK open-source software is comparable to the commercial MIMICS software. Therefore, open-source software could be used in clinical setting for pre-operative planning to minimise the operational cost.

  1. 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

  2. Development and Evaluation of an Open-Source Software Package “CGITA” for Quantifying Tumor Heterogeneity with Molecular Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu-Hua Dean Fang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. The quantification of tumor heterogeneity with molecular images, by analyzing the local or global variation in the spatial arrangements of pixel intensity with texture analysis, possesses a great clinical potential for treatment planning and prognosis. To address the lack of available software for computing the tumor heterogeneity on the public domain, we develop a software package, namely, Chang-Gung Image Texture Analysis (CGITA toolbox, and provide it to the research community as a free, open-source project. Methods. With a user-friendly graphical interface, CGITA provides users with an easy way to compute more than seventy heterogeneity indices. To test and demonstrate the usefulness of CGITA, we used a small cohort of eighteen locally advanced oral cavity (ORC cancer patients treated with definitive radiotherapies. Results. In our case study of ORC data, we found that more than ten of the current implemented heterogeneity indices outperformed SUVmean for outcome prediction in the ROC analysis with a higher area under curve (AUC. Heterogeneity indices provide a better area under the curve up to 0.9 than the SUVmean and TLG (0.6 and 0.52, resp.. Conclusions. CGITA is a free and open-source software package to quantify tumor heterogeneity from molecular images. CGITA is available for free for academic use at http://code.google.com/p/cgita.

  3. Intrinsic Motivation versus Signaling in Open Source Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bitzer, J; Schrettl, W; Schröder, P

    This papers sheds light on the puzzling fact that even though open source software (OSS) is a public good, it is developed for free by highly qualified, young, motivated individuals, and evolves at a rapid pace. We show that when OSS development is understood as the private provision of a public...

  4. Develop Direct Geo-referencing System Based on Open Source Software and Hardware Platform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H. S. Liu

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Direct geo-referencing system uses the technology of remote sensing to quickly grasp images, GPS tracks, and camera position. These data allows the construction of large volumes of images with geographic coordinates. So that users can be measured directly on the images. In order to properly calculate positioning, all the sensor signals must be synchronized. Traditional aerial photography use Position and Orientation System (POS to integrate image, coordinates and camera position. However, it is very expensive. And users could not use the result immediately because the position information does not embed into image. To considerations of economy and efficiency, this study aims to develop a direct geo-referencing system based on open source software and hardware platform. After using Arduino microcontroller board to integrate the signals, we then can calculate positioning with open source software OpenCV. In the end, we use open source panorama browser, panini, and integrate all these to open source GIS software, Quantum GIS. A wholesome collection of data – a data processing system could be constructed.

  5. Develop Direct Geo-referencing System Based on Open Source Software and Hardware Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, H. S.; Liao, H. M.

    2015-08-01

    Direct geo-referencing system uses the technology of remote sensing to quickly grasp images, GPS tracks, and camera position. These data allows the construction of large volumes of images with geographic coordinates. So that users can be measured directly on the images. In order to properly calculate positioning, all the sensor signals must be synchronized. Traditional aerial photography use Position and Orientation System (POS) to integrate image, coordinates and camera position. However, it is very expensive. And users could not use the result immediately because the position information does not embed into image. To considerations of economy and efficiency, this study aims to develop a direct geo-referencing system based on open source software and hardware platform. After using Arduino microcontroller board to integrate the signals, we then can calculate positioning with open source software OpenCV. In the end, we use open source panorama browser, panini, and integrate all these to open source GIS software, Quantum GIS. A wholesome collection of data - a data processing system could be constructed.

  6. The Particle-in-Cell and Kinetic Simulation Software Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mori, W. B.; Decyk, V. K.; Tableman, A.; Fonseca, R. A.; Tsung, F. S.; Hu, Q.; Winjum, B. J.; An, W.; Dalichaouch, T. N.; Davidson, A.; Hildebrand, L.; Joglekar, A.; May, J.; Miller, K.; Touati, M.; Xu, X. L.

    2017-10-01

    The UCLA Particle-in-Cell and Kinetic Simulation Software Center (PICKSC) aims to support an international community of PIC and plasma kinetic software developers, users, and educators; to increase the use of this software for accelerating the rate of scientific discovery; and to be a repository of knowledge and history for PIC. We discuss progress towards making available and documenting illustrative open-source software programs and distinct production programs; developing and comparing different PIC algorithms; coordinating the development of resources for the educational use of kinetic software; and the outcomes of our first sponsored OSIRIS users workshop. We also welcome input and discussion from anyone interested in using or developing kinetic software, in obtaining access to our codes, in collaborating, in sharing their own software, or in commenting on how PICKSC can better serve the DPP community. Supported by NSF under Grant ACI-1339893 and by the UCLA Institute for Digital Research and Education.

  7. The 2016 Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Nomi L; Cock, Peter J A; Chapman, Brad; Fields, Christopher J; Hokamp, Karsten; Lapp, Hilmar; Muñoz-Torres, Monica; Wiencko, Heather

    2016-01-01

    Message from the ISCB: The Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC) is a yearly meeting organized by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), a non-profit group dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of Open Source software development and Open Science within the biological research community. BOSC has been run since 2000 as a two-day Special Interest Group (SIG) before the annual ISMB conference. The 17th annual BOSC ( http://www.open-bio.org/wiki/BOSC_2016) took place in Orlando, Florida in July 2016. As in previous years, the conference was preceded by a two-day collaborative coding event open to the bioinformatics community. The conference brought together nearly 100 bioinformatics researchers, developers and users of open source software to interact and share ideas about standards, bioinformatics software development, and open and reproducible science.

  8. Discovering Software License Constraints : Identifying a Binary’s Sources by Tracing Build Processes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van der Burg, S.; Davies, J.; Dolstra, E.; German, D.M.; Hemel, A.

    2012-01-01

    With the current proliferation of open source software components, intellectual property in general, and copyright law in particular, has become a critical non-functional requirement for software systems. A key problem in license compliance engineering is that the legal constraints on a product

  9. An Organizational Perspective on Free and Open Source Software Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vujovic, Sladjana; Ulhøi, John Parm

    2006-01-01

    The traditional model of innovation, the restricted/close source (R/CS) model, is based on proprietary knowledge and private model of production. A fundamental different one, the open source model is based on non-proprietary knowledge and non-economic motives. Moreover, between the two......, there are various combinations or hybrids, in the following referred to as free/open source-based (F/OS-based) agency. In the discussions, practical examples from software production are included. In conclusion, the paper identifies avenues for future research as well as important managerial and policy implications....

  10. Instrumentino: An Open-Source Software for Scientific Instruments

    OpenAIRE

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

    2015-01-01

    Scientists often need to build dedicated computer-controlled experimental systems. For this purpose, it is becoming common to employ open-source microcontroller platforms, such as the Arduino. These boards and associated integrated software development environments provide affordable yet powerful solutions for the implementation of hardware control of transducers and acquisition of signals from detectors and sensors. It is, however, a challenge to write programs that allow interactive use of ...

  11. An Enterprise Perspective on Customer Value Propositions for Open Source Software

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aparna Shanker

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Research on open source software (OSS has examined value creation primarily from the perspective of the individuals and suppliers that create the software. The perspective of enterprise users who use and pay for OSS has been largely neglected so far. Understanding what paying customers want and how to create products and services they value is the cornerstone of any business model. Therefore, research on what enterprise users value in OSS is of paramount importance to OSS solution suppliers; it can be used to create a new customer base and sustain an existing one. This study examines the value of OSS as perceived by enterprise customers. Through an analysis of three literature streams (firm participation in open source software, business models, and customer value, a model on customer value creation was developed. Interviews were conducted with nine decision makers from enterprises that use OSS in operational projects. The key findings of this research are that: i the maturity of the software determines the degree to which customers value their relationship with the supplier; ii customers value differentiating functionality and costs savings; and iii switching costs with OSS depend on the size, complexity, and dependencies of the software itself. This research identifies the points of value that the suppliers of OSS should focus on, and it points to the need for marketing strategies that can demonstrate this value to enterprise customers.

  12. Developer Initiation and Social Interactions in OSS: A Case Study of the Apache Software Foundation

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-08-01

    pp. 201–215, 2003. 2. K. Crowston, K. Wei, J. Howison, and A. Wiggins, “Free/ libre open-source software devel- opment: What we know and what we do not...Understanding the process of participating in open source communities,” in International Workshop on Emerging Trends in Free/ Libre /Open Source Software ...Noname manuscript No. (will be inserted by the editor) Developer Initiation and Social Interactions in OSS: A Case Study of the Apache Software

  13. The community-driven BiG CZ software system for integration and analysis of bio- and geoscience data in the critical zone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Mayorga, E.; Horsburgh, J. S.; Lehnert, K. A.; Zaslavsky, I.; Valentine, D. W., Jr.; Richard, S. M.; Cheetham, R.; Meyer, F.; Henry, C.; Berg-Cross, G.; Packman, A. I.; Aronson, E. L.

    2014-12-01

    metadata catalog. The entire BiG CZ Software system is being developed on public repositories as a modular suite of open source software projects. It will be built around a new Observations Data Model Version 2.0 (ODM2) that has been developed by members of the BiG CZ project team, with community input, under separate funding.

  14. The Impact of Entry and Competition by Open Source Software on Innovation Activity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Bitzer, Jürgen

    2006-01-01

    This chapter presents the stylized facts of open source software innovation and provides empirical evidence on the impact of increased competition by OSS on the innovative activity in the software industry. Furthermore, we introduce a simple formal model that captures the innovation impact of OSS...

  15. For fun and profit a history of the free and open source software revolution

    CERN Document Server

    Tozzi, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    In the 1980s, there was a revolution with far-reaching consequences -- a revolution to restore software freedom. In the early 1980s, after decades of making source code available with programs, most programmers ceased sharing code freely. A band of revolutionaries, self-described "hackers," challenged this new norm by building operating systems with source code that could be freely shared. In For Fun and Profit, Christopher Tozzi offers an account of the free and open source software (FOSS) revolution, from its origins as an obscure, marginal effort by a small group of programmers to the widespread commercial use of open source software today. Tozzi explains FOSS's historical trajectory, shaped by eccentric personalities -- including Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds -- and driven both by ideology and pragmatism, by fun and profit. Tozzi examines hacker culture and its influence on the Unix operating system, the reaction to Unix's commercialization, and the history of early Linux development. He describes ...

  16. OptFlux: an open-source software platform for in silico metabolic engineering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rocha, Isabel; Maia, Paulo; Evangelista, Pedro; Vilaça, Paulo; Soares, Simão; Pinto, José P; Nielsen, Jens; Patil, Kiran R; Ferreira, Eugénio C; Rocha, Miguel

    2010-04-19

    Over the last few years a number of methods have been proposed for the phenotype simulation of microorganisms under different environmental and genetic conditions. These have been used as the basis to support the discovery of successful genetic modifications of the microbial metabolism to address industrial goals. However, the use of these methods has been restricted to bioinformaticians or other expert researchers. The main aim of this work is, therefore, to provide a user-friendly computational tool for Metabolic Engineering applications. OptFlux is an open-source and modular software aimed at being the reference computational application in the field. It is the first tool to incorporate strain optimization tasks, i.e., the identification of Metabolic Engineering targets, using Evolutionary Algorithms/Simulated Annealing metaheuristics or the previously proposed OptKnock algorithm. It also allows the use of stoichiometric metabolic models for (i) phenotype simulation of both wild-type and mutant organisms, using the methods of Flux Balance Analysis, Minimization of Metabolic Adjustment or Regulatory on/off Minimization of Metabolic flux changes, (ii) Metabolic Flux Analysis, computing the admissible flux space given a set of measured fluxes, and (iii) pathway analysis through the calculation of Elementary Flux Modes. OptFlux also contemplates several methods for model simplification and other pre-processing operations aimed at reducing the search space for optimization algorithms. The software supports importing/exporting to several flat file formats and it is compatible with the SBML standard. OptFlux has a visualization module that allows the analysis of the model structure that is compatible with the layout information of Cell Designer, allowing the superimposition of simulation results with the model graph. The OptFlux software is freely available, together with documentation and other resources, thus bridging the gap from research in strain optimization

  17. Simulation of neutron multiplicity measurements using Geant4. Open source software for nuclear arms control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuett, Moritz

    2016-07-07

    Nuclear arms control, including nuclear safeguards and verification technologies for nuclear disarmament typically use software as part of many different technological applications. This thesis proposes to use three open source criteria for such software, allowing users and developers to have free access to a program, have access to the full source code and be able to publish modifications for the program. This proposition is presented and analyzed in detail, together with the description of the development of ''Open Neutron Multiplicity Simulation'', an open source software tool to simulate neutron multiplicity measurements. The description includes physical background of the method, details of the developed program and a comprehensive set of validation calculations.

  18. Leveraging Open Source Software to Create Technical Animations of Scientific Data

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Vines, John M

    2006-01-01

    .... Army Research Laboratory spends tens of thousands of dollars annually for software licenses for packages such as Maya, Houdini, and 3D Studio Max, while in many instances, an open source package...

  19. Challenges of Implementing Free and Open Source Software (FOSS): Evidence from the Indian Educational Setting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thankachan, Briju; Moore, David Richard

    2017-01-01

    The use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), a subset of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), can reduce the cost of purchasing software. Despite the benefit in the initial purchase price of software, deploying software requires total cost that goes beyond the initial purchase price. Total cost is a silent issue of FOSS and can only…

  20. Efficient radiologic reading environment by using an open-source macro program as connection software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Young Han

    2012-01-01

    The objectives are (1) to introduce an easy open-source macro program as connection software and (2) to illustrate the practical usages in radiologic reading environment by simulating the radiologic reading process. The simulation is a set of radiologic reading process to do a practical task in the radiologic reading room. The principal processes are: (1) to view radiologic images on the Picture Archiving and Communicating System (PACS), (2) to connect the HIS/EMR (Hospital Information System/Electronic Medical Record) system, (3) to make an automatic radiologic reporting system, and (4) to record and recall information of interesting cases. This simulation environment was designed by using open-source macro program as connection software. The simulation performed well on the Window-based PACS workstation. Radiologists practiced the steps of the simulation comfortably by utilizing the macro-powered radiologic environment. This macro program could automate several manual cumbersome steps in the radiologic reading process. This program successfully acts as connection software for the PACS software, EMR/HIS, spreadsheet, and other various input devices in the radiologic reading environment. A user-friendly efficient radiologic reading environment could be established by utilizing open-source macro program as connection software. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Efficient radiologic reading environment by using an open-source macro program as connection software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Young Han

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The objectives are (1) to introduce an easy open-source macro program as connection software and (2) to illustrate the practical usages in radiologic reading environment by simulating the radiologic reading process. Materials and methods: The simulation is a set of radiologic reading process to do a practical task in the radiologic reading room. The principal processes are: (1) to view radiologic images on the Picture Archiving and Communicating System (PACS), (2) to connect the HIS/EMR (Hospital Information System/Electronic Medical Record) system, (3) to make an automatic radiologic reporting system, and (4) to record and recall information of interesting cases. This simulation environment was designed by using open-source macro program as connection software. Results: The simulation performed well on the Window-based PACS workstation. Radiologists practiced the steps of the simulation comfortably by utilizing the macro-powered radiologic environment. This macro program could automate several manual cumbersome steps in the radiologic reading process. This program successfully acts as connection software for the PACS software, EMR/HIS, spreadsheet, and other various input devices in the radiologic reading environment. Conclusion: A user-friendly efficient radiologic reading environment could be established by utilizing open-source macro program as connection software.

  2. FieldTrip: Open source software for advanced analysis of MEG, EEG, and invasive electrophysiological data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oostenveld, Robert; Fries, Pascal; Maris, Eric; Schoffelen, Jan-Mathijs

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes FieldTrip, an open source software package that we developed for the analysis of MEG, EEG, and other electrophysiological data. The software is implemented as a MATLAB toolbox and includes a complete set of consistent and user-friendly high-level functions that allow experimental neuroscientists to analyze experimental data. It includes algorithms for simple and advanced analysis, such as time-frequency analysis using multitapers, source reconstruction using dipoles, distributed sources and beamformers, connectivity analysis, and nonparametric statistical permutation tests at the channel and source level. The implementation as toolbox allows the user to perform elaborate and structured analyses of large data sets using the MATLAB command line and batch scripting. Furthermore, users and developers can easily extend the functionality and implement new algorithms. The modular design facilitates the reuse in other software packages.

  3. Software engineering turning theory into practice

    CERN Document Server

    Jones, Robert

    1996-01-01

    The term 'Software Engineering' was coined in the mid 1960s, it is said, as a challenge to the software community to start rationalising the software production process. Software engineering is a very young discipline and this challenge still eludes LHC demands software production on a scale far beyond that previously addressed in HEP and we are relying on software engineering to allow a significant number of people address this problem collectively. This series of lectures presents the basics of software engineering from the developer's point of view. The aim is to show how individual developers can improve the quality of the software they produce while avoiding the conflict between the creative process of designing software and the organisational needs of large projects.The Laser Interferometer Gravitanional Wave Observatory (LIGO) is being constructed with a goal to detect these waves and then to use them as a new tool to explore and study The sources of gravitanional waves and techniques for detection wil...

  4. Social.Water--Open Source Citizen Science Software for CrowdHydrology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fienen, M. N.; Lowry, C.

    2013-12-01

    CrowdHydrology is a crowd-sourced citizen science project in which passersby near streams are encouraged to read a gage and send an SMS (text) message with the water level to a number indicated on a sign. The project was initially started using free services such as Google Voice, Gmail, and Google Maps to acquire and present the data on the internet. Social.Water is open-source software, using Python and JavaScript, that automates the acquisition, categorization, and presentation of the data. Open-source objectives pervade both the project and the software as the code is hosted at Github, only free scripting codes are used, and any person or organization can install a gage and join the CrowdHydrology network. In the first year, 10 sites were deployed in upstate New York, USA. In the second year, expansion to 44 sites throughout the upper Midwest USA was achieved. Comparison with official USGS and academic measurements have shown low error rates. Citizen participation varies greatly from site to site, so surveys or other social information is sought for insight into why some sites experience higher rates of participation than others.

  5. Enhancing Software Engineering Education through Open Source Projects: Four Years of Students' Perspectives

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Papadopoulos, P.M.; Stamelos, I.G.; Meiszner, A.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents the results after four years of running of an instructional method that utilizes free/libre open source software (FLOSS) projects as tools for teaching software engineering in formal education. In the last four academic years, a total of 408 juniors majoring in Informatics (in a

  6. SU-G-BRB-02: An Open-Source Software Analysis Library for Linear Accelerator Quality Assurance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kerns, J; Yaldo, D

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Routine linac quality assurance (QA) tests have become complex enough to require automation of most test analyses. A new data analysis software library was built that allows physicists to automate routine linear accelerator quality assurance tests. The package is open source, code tested, and benchmarked. Methods: Images and data were generated on a TrueBeam linac for the following routine QA tests: VMAT, starshot, CBCT, machine logs, Winston Lutz, and picket fence. The analysis library was built using the general programming language Python. Each test was analyzed with the library algorithms and compared to manual measurements taken at the time of acquisition. Results: VMAT QA results agreed within 0.1% between the library and manual measurements. Machine logs (dynalogs & trajectory logs) were successfully parsed; mechanical axis positions were verified for accuracy and MLC fluence agreed well with EPID measurements. CBCT QA measurements were within 10 HU and 0.2mm where applicable. Winston Lutz isocenter size measurements were within 0.2mm of TrueBeam’s Machine Performance Check. Starshot analysis was within 0.2mm of the Winston Lutz results for the same conditions. Picket fence images with and without a known error showed that the library was capable of detecting MLC offsets within 0.02mm. Conclusion: A new routine QA software library has been benchmarked and is available for use by the community. The library is open-source and extensible for use in larger systems.

  7. SU-G-BRB-02: An Open-Source Software Analysis Library for Linear Accelerator Quality Assurance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kerns, J [UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States); Yaldo, D [Advocate Health Care, Park Ridge, IL (United States)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: Routine linac quality assurance (QA) tests have become complex enough to require automation of most test analyses. A new data analysis software library was built that allows physicists to automate routine linear accelerator quality assurance tests. The package is open source, code tested, and benchmarked. Methods: Images and data were generated on a TrueBeam linac for the following routine QA tests: VMAT, starshot, CBCT, machine logs, Winston Lutz, and picket fence. The analysis library was built using the general programming language Python. Each test was analyzed with the library algorithms and compared to manual measurements taken at the time of acquisition. Results: VMAT QA results agreed within 0.1% between the library and manual measurements. Machine logs (dynalogs & trajectory logs) were successfully parsed; mechanical axis positions were verified for accuracy and MLC fluence agreed well with EPID measurements. CBCT QA measurements were within 10 HU and 0.2mm where applicable. Winston Lutz isocenter size measurements were within 0.2mm of TrueBeam’s Machine Performance Check. Starshot analysis was within 0.2mm of the Winston Lutz results for the same conditions. Picket fence images with and without a known error showed that the library was capable of detecting MLC offsets within 0.02mm. Conclusion: A new routine QA software library has been benchmarked and is available for use by the community. The library is open-source and extensible for use in larger systems.

  8. An Empirical Verification of a-priori Learning Models on Mailing Archives in the Context of Online Learning Activities of Participants in Free\\Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukala, Patrick; Cerone, Antonio; Turini, Franco

    2017-01-01

    Free\\Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) environments are increasingly dubbed as learning environments where practical software engineering skills can be acquired. Numerous studies have extensively investigated how knowledge is acquired in these environments through a collaborative learning model that define a learning process. Such a learning…

  9. The SCEC Unified Community Velocity Model (UCVM) Software Framework for Distributing and Querying Seismic Velocity Models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maechling, P. J.; Taborda, R.; Callaghan, S.; Shaw, J. H.; Plesch, A.; Olsen, K. B.; Jordan, T. H.; Goulet, C. A.

    2017-12-01

    Crustal seismic velocity models and datasets play a key role in regional three-dimensional numerical earthquake ground-motion simulation, full waveform tomography, modern physics-based probabilistic earthquake hazard analysis, as well as in other related fields including geophysics, seismology, and earthquake engineering. The standard material properties provided by a seismic velocity model are P- and S-wave velocities and density for any arbitrary point within the geographic volume for which the model is defined. Many seismic velocity models and datasets are constructed by synthesizing information from multiple sources and the resulting models are delivered to users in multiple file formats, such as text files, binary files, HDF-5 files, structured and unstructured grids, and through computer applications that allow for interactive querying of material properties. The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) has developed the Unified Community Velocity Model (UCVM) software framework to facilitate the registration and distribution of existing and future seismic velocity models to the SCEC community. The UCVM software framework is designed to provide a standard query interface to multiple, alternative velocity models, even if the underlying velocity models are defined in different formats or use different geographic projections. The UCVM framework provides a comprehensive set of open-source tools for querying seismic velocity model properties, combining regional 3D models and 1D background models, visualizing 3D models, and generating computational models in the form of regular grids or unstructured meshes that can be used as inputs for ground-motion simulations. The UCVM framework helps researchers compare seismic velocity models and build equivalent simulation meshes from alternative velocity models. These capabilities enable researchers to evaluate the impact of alternative velocity models in ground-motion simulations and seismic hazard analysis applications

  10. Investigating the effects of different factors on development of open source enterprise resources planning software packages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Ghorbaninia

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the effects of different factors on development of open source enterprise resources planning software packages. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 210 experts in the field of open source software package development. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.93, which is well above the minimum acceptable level. Using Pearson correlation as well as stepwise regression analysis, the study determines three most important factors including fundamental issues, during and after implementation of open source software development. The study also determines a positive and strong relationship between fundamental factors and after implementation factors (r=0.9006, Sig. = 0.000.

  11. PyPedal, an open source software package for pedigree analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    The open source software package PyPedal (http://pypedal.sourceforge.net/) was first released in 2002, and provided users with a set of simple tools for manipulating pedigrees. Its flexibility has been demonstrated by its used in a number of settings for large and small populations. After substantia...

  12. Free/open source software: a study of some applications for scientific data analysis of nuclear experiments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menezes, Mario Olimpio de [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)]. E-mail: mario@ipen.br; mo.menezes@gmail.com

    2005-07-01

    Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) has been used in science long before the formal social movement known as 'Free Software/Open Source Software' came in to existence. After the Personal Computer (PC) boom in the 80s, commercial closed source software became widely available to scientists for data analysis in this platform. In this paper, we study some high quality FOSS, available also for free, that can be used for complex data analysis tasks. We show the results and data analysis process, aiming to expose the high quality and highly productive ways of both results and processes, while highlighting the different approach used in some of the FOSS. We show that scientists have today in FOSS a viable, high quality alternative to commercial closed source software which, besides being ready to use, also offer the possibility of great customization or extension to fit very particular needs of many fields of scientific data analysis. Among the FOSS, we study in this paper GNU Octave and SCILAB - free alternatives to MATLAB; Gnuplot - free alternative to ORIGIN-like software. We also show that scientists have invaluable resources in modern FOSS programming languages such as Python, and Perl, that can be used both to do data analysis and manipulation, allowing very complex tasks to be done automatically after some few lines of easy programming. (author)

  13. Free/open source software: a study of some applications for scientific data analysis of nuclear experiments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menezes, Mario Olimpio de

    2005-01-01

    Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) has been used in science long before the formal social movement known as 'Free Software/Open Source Software' came in to existence. After the Personal Computer (PC) boom in the 80s, commercial closed source software became widely available to scientists for data analysis in this platform. In this paper, we study some high quality FOSS, available also for free, that can be used for complex data analysis tasks. We show the results and data analysis process, aiming to expose the high quality and highly productive ways of both results and processes, while highlighting the different approach used in some of the FOSS. We show that scientists have today in FOSS a viable, high quality alternative to commercial closed source software which, besides being ready to use, also offer the possibility of great customization or extension to fit very particular needs of many fields of scientific data analysis. Among the FOSS, we study in this paper GNU Octave and SCILAB - free alternatives to MATLAB; Gnuplot - free alternative to ORIGIN-like software. We also show that scientists have invaluable resources in modern FOSS programming languages such as Python, and Perl, that can be used both to do data analysis and manipulation, allowing very complex tasks to be done automatically after some few lines of easy programming. (author)

  14. Hudební software - aplikace open source a freeware na hudební vzdělávání

    OpenAIRE

    Kyjovský, Jan

    2012-01-01

    The bachelor's thesis Music software - application of open source and freeware in music education deals with that kind of software, which could be in some way used in music education and it is free of charge. In the first, theoretical part, the software itself is defined together with the most common free software licenses and the philosophy of Open source movement and Free Software Foundation. Just for orientation, there is a classification of music software; author compiles also a brief voc...

  15. Sustainability in Open Source Software Commons: Lessons Learned from an Empirical Study of SourceForge Projects

    OpenAIRE

    Charles M. Schweik

    2013-01-01

    In this article, we summarize a five-year US National Science Foundation funded study designed to investigate the factors that lead some open source projects to ongoing collaborative success while many others become abandoned. Our primary interest was to conduct a study that was closely representative of the population of open source software projects in the world, rather than focus on the more-often studied, high-profile successful cases. After building a large database of projects (n=174,33...

  16. Sources of Financing for Community Colleges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, Steve; Anderson, Duane

    1985-01-01

    Reports on a nationwide survey of community college funding sources to determine the level of overall college budgets, the percentages of funds received from various sources for operating and capital expenses, the funding role of college foundations, administrator responsibilities, and fund-raising methods used by two-year colleges. (DMM)

  17. PLUME–FEATHER, Referencing and Finding Software for Research and Education

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoffmann, Dirk; Romier, Geneviève

    2012-01-01

    PLUME-FEATHER is a non-profit project created to Promote economicaL, Useful and Maintained softwarE For the Higher Education And THE Research communities. The site references software, mainly Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) from French universities and national research organisations, (CNRS, INRA…), laboratories or departments as well as other FLOSS software used and evaluated by users within these institutions. Each software is represented by a reference card, which describes origin, aim, installation, cost (if applicable) and user experience from the point of view of an academic user for academic users. Presently over 1000 programs are referenced on PLUME. Although the server is maintained by a french institution, it is completely open to international contributions in the academic domainb. All contained and validated contents are visible to anonymous public, whereas registered users can contribute, starting with comments on single software reference cards up to help with the organisation and presentation of the referenced software products. This first presentation is call for (further) contributions from the HEP community.

  18. Learning from hackers: open-source clinical trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Adam G; Day, Richard O; Mandl, Kenneth D; Coiera, Enrico

    2012-05-02

    Open sharing of clinical trial data has been proposed as a way to address the gap between the production of clinical evidence and the decision-making of physicians. A similar gap was addressed in the software industry by their open-source software movement. Here, we examine how the social and technical principles of the movement can guide the growth of an open-source clinical trial community.

  19. Open Source Projects in Software Engineering Education: A Mapping Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nascimento, Debora M. C.; Almeida Bittencourt, Roberto; Chavez, Christina

    2015-01-01

    Context: It is common practice in academia to have students work with "toy" projects in software engineering (SE) courses. One way to make such courses more realistic and reduce the gap between academic courses and industry needs is getting students involved in open source projects (OSP) with faculty supervision. Objective: This study…

  20. The potential role of open source software in overcoming digital poverty

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Kinyondo, J

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Developing countries, such as Tanzania, are characterized by digital poverty and a lack of information and communication technology (ICT) acceptance. The use of open source software (OSS) has been proposed as a potential strategy for addressing ICT...

  1. Understanding How the "Open" of Open Source Software (OSS) Will Improve Global Health Security.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hahn, Erin; Blazes, David; Lewis, Sheri

    2016-01-01

    Improving global health security will require bold action in all corners of the world, particularly in developing settings, where poverty often contributes to an increase in emerging infectious diseases. In order to mitigate the impact of emerging pandemic threats, enhanced disease surveillance is needed to improve early detection and rapid response to outbreaks. However, the technology to facilitate this surveillance is often unattainable because of high costs, software and hardware maintenance needs, limited technical competence among public health officials, and internet connectivity challenges experienced in the field. One potential solution is to leverage open source software, a concept that is unfortunately often misunderstood. This article describes the principles and characteristics of open source software and how it may be applied to solve global health security challenges.

  2. 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

  3. Two-step web-mining approach to study geology/geophysics-related open-source software projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behrends, Knut; Conze, Ronald

    2013-04-01

    Geology/geophysics is a highly interdisciplinary science, overlapping with, for instance, physics, biology and chemistry. In today's software-intensive work environments, geoscientists often encounter new open-source software from scientific fields that are only remotely related to the own field of expertise. We show how web-mining techniques can help to carry out systematic discovery and evaluation of such software. In a first step, we downloaded ~500 abstracts (each consisting of ~1 kb UTF-8 text) from agu-fm12.abstractcentral.com. This web site hosts the abstracts of all publications presented at AGU Fall Meeting 2012, the world's largest annual geology/geophysics conference. All abstracts belonged to the category "Earth and Space Science Informatics", an interdisciplinary label cross-cutting many disciplines such as "deep biosphere", "atmospheric research", and "mineral physics". Each publication was represented by a highly structured record with ~20 short data attributes, the largest authorship-record being the unstructured "abstract" field. We processed texts of the abstracts with the statistics software "R" to calculate a corpus and a term-document matrix. Using R package "tm", we applied text-mining techniques to filter data and develop hypotheses about software-development activities happening in various geology/geophysics fields. Analyzing the term-document matrix with basic techniques (e.g., word frequencies, co-occurences, weighting) as well as more complex methods (clustering, classification) several key pieces of information were extracted. For example, text-mining can be used to identify scientists who are also developers of open-source scientific software, and the names of their programming projects and codes can also be identified. In a second step, based on the intermediate results found by processing the conference-abstracts, any new hypotheses can be tested in another webmining subproject: by merging the dataset with open data from github

  4. Embracing Open Source for NASA's Earth Science Data Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baynes, Katie; Pilone, Dan; Boller, Ryan; Meyer, David; Murphy, Kevin

    2017-01-01

    The overarching purpose of NASAs Earth Science program is to develop a scientific understanding of Earth as a system. Scientific knowledge is most robust and actionable when resulting from transparent, traceable, and reproducible methods. Reproducibility includes open access to the data as well as the software used to arrive at results. Additionally, software that is custom-developed for NASA should be open to the greatest degree possible, to enable re-use across Federal agencies, reduce overall costs to the government, remove barriers to innovation, and promote consistency through the use of uniform standards. Finally, Open Source Software (OSS) practices facilitate collaboration between agencies and the private sector. To best meet these ends, NASAs Earth Science Division promotes the full and open sharing of not only all data, metadata, products, information, documentation, models, images, and research results but also the source code used to generate, manipulate and analyze them. This talk focuses on the challenges to open sourcing NASA developed software within ESD and the growing pains associated with establishing policies running the gamut of tracking issues, properly documenting build processes, engaging the open source community, maintaining internal compliance, and accepting contributions from external sources. This talk also covers the adoption of existing open source technologies and standards to enhance our custom solutions and our contributions back to the community. Finally, we will be introducing the most recent OSS contributions from NASA Earth Science program and promoting these projects for wider community review and adoption.

  5. BYMUR software: a free and open source tool for quantifying and visualizing multi-risk analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonini, Roberto; Selva, Jacopo

    2013-04-01

    The BYMUR software aims to provide an easy-to-use open source tool for both computing multi-risk and managing/visualizing/comparing all the inputs (e.g. hazard, fragilities and exposure) as well as the corresponding results (e.g. risk curves, risk indexes). For all inputs, a complete management of inter-model epistemic uncertainty is considered. The BYMUR software will be one of the final products provided by the homonymous ByMuR project (http://bymur.bo.ingv.it/) funded by Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR), focused to (i) provide a quantitative and objective general method for a comprehensive long-term multi-risk analysis in a given area, accounting for inter-model epistemic uncertainty through Bayesian methodologies, and (ii) apply the methodology to seismic, volcanic and tsunami risks in Naples (Italy). More specifically, the BYMUR software will be able to separately account for the probabilistic hazard assessment of different kind of hazardous phenomena, the relative (time-dependent/independent) vulnerabilities and exposure data, and their possible (predefined) interactions: the software will analyze these inputs and will use them to estimate both single- and multi- risk associated to a specific target area. In addition, it will be possible to connect the software to further tools (e.g., a full hazard analysis), allowing a dynamic I/O of results. The use of Python programming language guarantees that the final software will be open source and platform independent. Moreover, thanks to the integration of some most popular and rich-featured Python scientific modules (Numpy, Matplotlib, Scipy) with the wxPython graphical user toolkit, the final tool will be equipped with a comprehensive Graphical User Interface (GUI) able to control and visualize (in the form of tables, maps and/or plots) any stage of the multi-risk analysis. The additional features of importing/exporting data in MySQL databases and/or standard XML formats (for

  6. The Commercial Open Source Business Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riehle, Dirk

    Commercial open source software projects are open source software projects that are owned by a single firm that derives a direct and significant revenue stream from the software. Commercial open source at first glance represents an economic paradox: How can a firm earn money if it is making its product available for free as open source? This paper presents the core properties of com mercial open source business models and discusses how they work. Using a commercial open source approach, firms can get to market faster with a superior product at lower cost than possible for traditional competitors. The paper shows how these benefits accrue from an engaged and self-supporting user community. Lacking any prior comprehensive reference, this paper is based on an analysis of public statements by practitioners of commercial open source. It forges the various anecdotes into a coherent description of revenue generation strategies and relevant business functions.

  7. Conceptual Architecture of Building Energy Management Open Source Software (BEMOSS)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khamphanchai, Warodom; Saha, Avijit; Rathinavel, Kruthika; Kuzlu, Murat; Pipattanasomporn, Manisa; Rahman, Saifur; Akyol, Bora A.; Haack, Jereme N.

    2014-12-01

    The objective of this paper is to present a conceptual architecture of a Building Energy Management Open Source Software (BEMOSS) platform. The proposed BEMOSS platform is expected to improve sensing and control of equipment in small- and medium-sized buildings, reduce energy consumption and help implement demand response (DR). It aims to offer: scalability, robustness, plug and play, open protocol, interoperability, cost-effectiveness, as well as local and remote monitoring. In this paper, four essential layers of BEMOSS software architecture -- namely User Interface, Application and Data Management, Operating System and Framework, and Connectivity layers -- are presented. A laboratory test bed to demonstrate the functionality of BEMOSS located at the Advanced Research Institute of Virginia Tech is also briefly described.

  8. Best practices for International eSourcing of Software Products and Services

    OpenAIRE

    Käkölä, Timo

    2008-01-01

    This paper analyzes how the information and communications technology-supported international eSourcing of software products and services (IeS) can be effectively executed. The extant literature falls short of providing a systematic and detailed enough set of best practices to guide IeS. This paper presents best practices for IeS to facilitate further research, and to help managers and other stakeholders to understand, execute, and proactively improve and manage international eSourcing. The p...

  9. Web-based spatial analysis with the ILWIS open source GIS software and satellite images from GEONETCast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemmens, R.; Maathuis, B.; Mannaerts, C.; Foerster, T.; Schaeffer, B.; Wytzisk, A.

    2009-12-01

    This paper involves easy accessible integrated web-based analysis of satellite images with a plug-in based open source software. The paper is targeted to both users and developers of geospatial software. Guided by a use case scenario, we describe the ILWIS software and its toolbox to access satellite images through the GEONETCast broadcasting system. The last two decades have shown a major shift from stand-alone software systems to networked ones, often client/server applications using distributed geo-(web-)services. This allows organisations to combine without much effort their own data with remotely available data and processing functionality. Key to this integrated spatial data analysis is a low-cost access to data from within a user-friendly and flexible software. Web-based open source software solutions are more often a powerful option for developing countries. The Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS) is a PC-based GIS & Remote Sensing software, comprising a complete package of image processing, spatial analysis and digital mapping and was developed as commercial software from the early nineties onwards. Recent project efforts have migrated ILWIS into a modular, plug-in-based open source software, and provide web-service support for OGC-based web mapping and processing. The core objective of the ILWIS Open source project is to provide a maintainable framework for researchers and software developers to implement training components, scientific toolboxes and (web-) services. The latest plug-ins have been developed for multi-criteria decision making, water resources analysis and spatial statistics analysis. The development of this framework is done since 2007 in the context of 52°North, which is an open initiative that advances the development of cutting edge open source geospatial software, using the GPL license. GEONETCast, as part of the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), puts essential environmental data at the

  10. Entrepreneurial model based technology creative industries sector software through the use of free open source software for Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasan, B.; Hasbullah; Purnama, W.; Hery, A.

    2016-04-01

    Creative industry development areas of software by using Free Open Source Software (FOSS) is expected to be one of the solutions to foster new entrepreneurs of the students who can open job opportunities and contribute to economic development in Indonesia. This study aims to create entrepreneurial coaching model based on the creative industries by utilizing FOSS software field as well as provide understanding and fostering entrepreneurial creative industries based field software for students of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. This activity phase begins with identifying entrepreneurs or business software technology that will be developed, training and mentoring, apprenticeship process at industrial partners, creation of business plans and monitoring and evaluation. This activity involves 30 UPI student which has the motivation to self-employment and have competence in the field of information technology. The results and outcomes expected from these activities is the birth of a number of new entrepreneurs from the students engaged in the software industry both software in the world of commerce (e-commerce) and education/learning (e-learning/LMS) and games.

  11. Tamil Open-Source Landscape - Opportunities and Challenges

    OpenAIRE

    Annamalai, Muthiah; Shrinivasan, T

    2018-01-01

    We report in this paper, Tamil open-source software community is a vibrant place with software developers, font designers, translators, voice-over artists, and general user testers, who come together for love of their language, and promotion of critical thinking, and modern language usage in Tamil. We identify a need for institutional support at various stages from grooming software developers in Tamil, to marketing platform for Tamil software. There is bright future for tamil software if we ...

  12. Free and open-source software application for the evaluation of coronary computed tomography angiography images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadlich, Marcelo Souza; Oliveira, Gláucia Maria Moraes; Feijóo, Raúl A; Azevedo, Clerio F; Tura, Bernardo Rangel; Ziemer, Paulo Gustavo Portela; Blanco, Pablo Javier; Pina, Gustavo; Meira, Márcio; Souza e Silva, Nelson Albuquerque de

    2012-10-01

    The standardization of images used in Medicine in 1993 was performed using the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard. Several tests use this standard and it is increasingly necessary to design software applications capable of handling this type of image; however, these software applications are not usually free and open-source, and this fact hinders their adjustment to most diverse interests. To develop and validate a free and open-source software application capable of handling DICOM coronary computed tomography angiography images. We developed and tested the ImageLab software in the evaluation of 100 tests randomly selected from a database. We carried out 600 tests divided between two observers using ImageLab and another software sold with Philips Brilliance computed tomography appliances in the evaluation of coronary lesions and plaques around the left main coronary artery (LMCA) and the anterior descending artery (ADA). To evaluate intraobserver, interobserver and intersoftware agreements, we used simple and kappa statistics agreements. The agreements observed between software applications were generally classified as substantial or almost perfect in most comparisons. The ImageLab software agreed with the Philips software in the evaluation of coronary computed tomography angiography tests, especially in patients without lesions, with lesions 70% in the ADA was lower, but this is also observed when the anatomical reference standard is used.

  13. Building Energy Management Open Source Software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rahman, Saifur [Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)

    2017-08-25

    Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy in November 2013, a Building Energy Management Open Source Software (BEMOSS) platform was engineered to improve sensing and control of equipment in small- and medium-sized commercial buildings. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), small- (5,000 square feet or smaller) and medium-sized (between 5,001 to 50,000 square feet) commercial buildings constitute about 95% of all commercial buildings in the U.S. These buildings typically do not have Building Automation Systems (BAS) to monitor and control building operation. While commercial BAS solutions exist, including those from Siemens, Honeywell, Johnsons Controls and many more, they are not cost effective in the context of small- and medium-sized commercial buildings, and typically work with specific controller products from the same company. BEMOSS targets small and medium-sized commercial buildings to address this gap.

  14. Review: Niels C. Taubert (2006. Produktive Anarchie? Netzwerke freier Softwareentwicklung [Productive Anarchy? Networks of Open Source Software Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias Groß

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Open source software is software designed to allow anyone to use and make changes in the software. This practice often renders the product superior to more centralized models such as those used in commercial software companies. How is such a phenomenon possible in a time where nothing seems to be acquirable save by purchase? Niels C. TAUBERT's book Productive Anarchy? Networks of Open Source Software Development aims at a sociological understanding of the prerequisites and conditions for the success of open source software. One of the conclusions of TAUBERT's book is that the process of open software development needs to be understood as adaptive and experimental. A continuous feedback between the context of production and the context of application is the basis for robust and successful software production. One of the surprising results of the book is that the most important requirement for this feedback process is a set of norms—neutrality, communism, disinterestedness, and universalism—norms that Robert MERTON associated with academic science in the 1940s. If TAUBERT is right that these norms are to be found outside the world of institutional science in open source software development projects today, then his case study can be seen as an indicator for a new form of knowledge production in the 21st century, where the social relevance and responsibility of a research process are keys to successful innovation. With this book, which deserves a wide readership, TAUBERT makes an important contribution to our understanding of the successful organization of technology development. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0701109

  15. The ATLAS Data Management Software Engineering Process

    CERN Document Server

    Lassnig, M; The ATLAS collaboration; Stewart, G A; Barisits, M; Beermann, T; Vigne, R; Serfon, C; Goossens, L; Nairz, A; Molfetas, A

    2014-01-01

    Rucio is the next-generation data management system of the ATLAS experiment. The software engineering process to develop Rucio is fundamentally different to existing software development approaches in the ATLAS distributed computing community. Based on a conceptual design document, development takes place using peer-reviewed code in a test-driven environment. The main objectives are to ensure that every engineer understands the details of the full project, even components usually not touched by them, that the design and architecture are coherent, that temporary contributors can be productive without delay, that programming mistakes are prevented before being committed to the source code, and that the source is always in a fully functioning state. This contribution will illustrate the workflows and products used, and demonstrate the typical development cycle of a component from inception to deployment within this software engineering process. Next to the technological advantages, this contribution will also hi...

  16. The ATLAS Data Management Software Engineering Process

    CERN Document Server

    Lassnig, M; The ATLAS collaboration; Stewart, G A; Barisits, M; Beermann, T; Vigne, R; Serfon, C; Goossens, L; Nairz, A

    2013-01-01

    Rucio is the next-generation data management system of the ATLAS experiment. The software engineering process to develop Rucio is fundamentally different to existing software development approaches in the ATLAS distributed computing community. Based on a conceptual design document, development takes place using peer-reviewed code in a test-driven environment. The main objectives are to ensure that every engineer understands the details of the full project, even components usually not touched by them, that the design and architecture are coherent, that temporary contributors can be productive without delay, that programming mistakes are prevented before being committed to the source code, and that the source is always in a fully functioning state. This contribution will illustrate the workflows and products used, and demonstrate the typical development cycle of a component from inception to deployment within this software engineering process. Next to the technological advantages, this contribution will also hi...

  17. Images of innovation in discourses of free and open source software

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dafermos, G.; Van Eeten, M.J.G.

    2014-01-01

    In this study, we examine the relationship between innovation and free/open source software (FOSS) based on the views of contributors to FOSS projects, using Q methodology as a method of discourse analysis to make visible the positions held by FOSS contributors and identify the discourses

  18. Open Polar Server (OPS—An Open Source Infrastructure for the Cryosphere Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weibo Liu

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS at the University of Kansas has collected approximately 1000 terabytes (TB of radar depth sounding data over the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets since 1993 in an effort to map the thickness of the ice sheets and ultimately understand the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. In addition to data collection, the storage, management, and public distribution of the dataset are also primary roles of the CReSIS. The Open Polar Server (OPS project developed a free and open source infrastructure to store, manage, analyze, and distribute the data collected by CReSIS in an effort to replace its current data storage and distribution approach. The OPS infrastructure includes a spatial database management system (DBMS, map and web server, JavaScript geoportal, and MATLAB application programming interface (API for the inclusion of data created by the cryosphere community. Open source software including GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, OpenLayers, ExtJS, GeoEXT and others are used to build a system that modernizes the CReSIS data distribution for the entire cryosphere community and creates a flexible platform for future development. Usability analysis demonstrates the OPS infrastructure provides an improved end user experience. In addition, interpolating glacier topography is provided as an application example of the system.

  19. ZebrafishMiner: an open source software for interactive evaluation of domain-specific fluorescence in zebrafish

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reischl Markus

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available High-throughput microscopy makes it possible to observe the morphology of zebrafish on large scale to quantify genetic, toxic or drug effects. The image acquisition is done by automated microscopy, images are evaluated automatically by image processing pipelines, tailored specifically to the requirements of the scientific question. The transfer of such algorithms to other projects, however, is complex due to missing guidelines and lack of mathematical or programming knowledge. In this work, we implement an image processing pipeline for automatic fluorescence quantification in user-defined domains of zebrafish embryos and larvae of different age. The pipeline is capable of detecting embryos and larvae in image stacks and quantifying domain activity. To make this protocol available to the community, we developed an open source software package called „ZebrafishMiner“ which guides the user through all steps of the processing pipeline and makes the algorithms available and easy to handle. We implemented all routines in an MATLAB-based graphical user interface (GUI that gives the user control over all image processing parameters. The software is shipped with a manual of 30 pages and three tutorial datasets, which guide the user through the manual step by step. It can be downloaded at https://sourceforge.net/projects/scixminer/.

  20. Removing a barrier to computer-based outbreak and disease surveillance--the RODS Open Source Project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Espino, Jeremy U; Wagner, M; Szczepaniak, C; Tsui, F C; Su, H; Olszewski, R; Liu, Z; Chapman, W; Zeng, X; Ma, L; Lu, Z; Dara, J

    2004-09-24

    Computer-based outbreak and disease surveillance requires high-quality software that is well-supported and affordable. Developing software in an open-source framework, which entails free distribution and use of software and continuous, community-based software development, can produce software with such characteristics, and can do so rapidly. The objective of the Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (RODS) Open Source Project is to accelerate the deployment of computer-based outbreak and disease surveillance systems by writing software and catalyzing the formation of a community of users, developers, consultants, and scientists who support its use. The University of Pittsburgh seeded the Open Source Project by releasing the RODS software under the GNU General Public License. An infrastructure was created, consisting of a website, mailing lists for developers and users, designated software developers, and shared code-development tools. These resources are intended to encourage growth of the Open Source Project community. Progress is measured by assessing website usage, number of software downloads, number of inquiries, number of system deployments, and number of new features or modules added to the code base. During September--November 2003, users generated 5,370 page views of the project website, 59 software downloads, 20 inquiries, one new deployment, and addition of four features. Thus far, health departments and companies have been more interested in using the software as is than in customizing or developing new features. The RODS laboratory anticipates that after initial installation has been completed, health departments and companies will begin to customize the software and contribute their enhancements to the public code base.

  1. Software sourcing in the age of open leveraging the unknown workforce

    CERN Document Server

    Ågerfalk, Pär J; Stol, Klaas-Jan

    2015-01-01

    This SpringerBrief discusses multiple forms of open-source-inspired outsourcing: opensourcing, innersourcing and crowdsourcing. It uses a framework-based comparison to explain the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. By pointing out characteristics along with benefits and pitfalls of each approach, the authors provide nuanced and research-based advice to managers and developers facing software sourcing decisions. The differences and commonalities of these three emerging approaches are carefully analyzed. Chapters explore the primary challenges of reliability, efficiency and robustness in

  2. Measuring Modularity in Open Source Code Bases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Milev

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Modularity of an open source software code base has been associated with growth of the software development community, the incentives for voluntary code contribution, and a reduction in the number of users who take code without contributing back to the community. As a theoretical construct, modularity links OSS to other domains of research, including organization theory, the economics of industry structure, and new product development. However, measuring the modularity of an OSS design has proven difficult, especially for large and complex systems. In this article, we describe some preliminary results of recent research at Carleton University that examines the evolving modularity of large-scale software systems. We describe a measurement method and a new modularity metric for comparing code bases of different size, introduce an open source toolkit that implements this method and metric, and provide an analysis of the evolution of the Apache Tomcat application server as an illustrative example of the insights gained from this approach. Although these results are preliminary, they open the door to further cross-discipline research that quantitatively links the concerns of business managers, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and open source software developers.

  3. The Role of Free/Libre and Open Source Software in Learning Health Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paton, C; Karopka, T

    2017-08-01

    Objective: To give an overview of the role of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in the context of secondary use of patient data to enable Learning Health Systems (LHSs). Methods: We conducted an environmental scan of the academic and grey literature utilising the MedFLOSS database of open source systems in healthcare to inform a discussion of the role of open source in developing LHSs that reuse patient data for research and quality improvement. Results: A wide range of FLOSS is identified that contributes to the information technology (IT) infrastructure of LHSs including operating systems, databases, frameworks, interoperability software, and mobile and web apps. The recent literature around the development and use of key clinical data management tools is also reviewed. Conclusions: FLOSS already plays a critical role in modern health IT infrastructure for the collection, storage, and analysis of patient data. The nature of FLOSS systems to be collaborative, modular, and modifiable may make open source approaches appropriate for building the digital infrastructure for a LHS. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.

  4. Software Attribution for Geoscience Applications in the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, L.; Dumit, J.; Fish, A.; Soito, L.; Kellogg, L. H.; Smith, M.

    2015-12-01

    Scientific software is largely developed by individual scientists and represents a significant intellectual contribution to the field. As the scientific culture and funding agencies move towards an expectation that software be open-source, there is a corresponding need for mechanisms to cite software, both to provide credit and recognition to developers, and to aid in discoverability of software and scientific reproducibility. We assess the geodynamic modeling community's current citation practices by examining more than 300 predominantly self-reported publications utilizing scientific software in the past 5 years that is available through the Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG). Preliminary results indicate that authors cite and attribute software either through citing (in rank order) peer-reviewed scientific publications, a user's manual, and/or a paper describing the software code. Attributions maybe found directly in the text, in acknowledgements, in figure captions, or in footnotes. What is considered citable varies widely. Citations predominantly lack software version numbers or persistent identifiers to find the software package. Versioning may be implied through reference to a versioned user manual. Authors sometimes report code features used and whether they have modified the code. As an open-source community, CIG requests that researchers contribute their modifications to the repository. However, such modifications may not be contributed back to a repository code branch, decreasing the chances of discoverability and reproducibility. Survey results through CIG's Software Attribution for Geoscience Applications (SAGA) project suggest that lack of knowledge, tools, and workflows to cite codes are barriers to effectively implement the emerging citation norms. Generated on-demand attributions on software landing pages and a prototype extensible plug-in to automatically generate attributions in codes are the first steps towards reproducibility.

  5. MSiReader v1.0: Evolving Open-Source Mass Spectrometry Imaging Software for Targeted and Untargeted Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bokhart, Mark T.; Nazari, Milad; Garrard, Kenneth P.; Muddiman, David C.

    2018-01-01

    A major update to the mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) software MSiReader is presented, offering a multitude of newly added features critical to MSI analyses. MSiReader is a free, open-source, and vendor-neutral software written in the MATLAB platform and is capable of analyzing most common MSI data formats. A standalone version of the software, which does not require a MATLAB license, is also distributed. The newly incorporated data analysis features expand the utility of MSiReader beyond simple visualization of molecular distributions. The MSiQuantification tool allows researchers to calculate absolute concentrations from quantification MSI experiments exclusively through MSiReader software, significantly reducing data analysis time. An image overlay feature allows the incorporation of complementary imaging modalities to be displayed with the MSI data. A polarity filter has also been incorporated into the data loading step, allowing the facile analysis of polarity switching experiments without the need for data parsing prior to loading the data file into MSiReader. A quality assurance feature to generate a mass measurement accuracy (MMA) heatmap for an analyte of interest has also been added to allow for the investigation of MMA across the imaging experiment. Most importantly, as new features have been added performance has not degraded, in fact it has been dramatically improved. These new tools and the improvements to the performance in MSiReader v1.0 enable the MSI community to evaluate their data in greater depth and in less time. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

  6. Data format standard for sharing light source measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory, G. Groot; Ashdown, Ian; Brandenburg, Willi; Chabaud, Dominique; Dross, Oliver; Gangadhara, Sanjay; Garcia, Kevin; Gauvin, Michael; Hansen, Dirk; Haraguchi, Kei; Hasna, Günther; Jiao, Jianzhong; Kelley, Ryan; Koshel, John; Muschaweck, Julius

    2013-09-01

    Optical design requires accurate characterization of light sources for computer aided design (CAD) software. Various methods have been used to model sources, from accurate physical models to measurement of light output. It has become common practice for designers to include measured source data for design simulations. Typically, a measured source will contain rays which sample the output distribution of the source. The ray data must then be exported to various formats suitable for import into optical analysis or design software. Source manufacturers are also making measurements of their products and supplying CAD models along with ray data sets for designers. The increasing availability of data has been beneficial to the design community but has caused a large expansion in storage needs for the source manufacturers since each software program uses a unique format to describe the source distribution. In 2012, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) formed a working group to understand the data requirements for ray data and recommend a standard file format. The working group included representatives from software companies supplying the analysis and design tools, source measurement companies providing metrology, source manufacturers creating the data and users from the design community. Within one year the working group proposed a file format which was recently approved by the IES for publication as TM-25. This paper will discuss the process used to define the proposed format, highlight some of the significant decisions leading to the format and list the data to be included in the first version of the standard.

  7. Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A: Guidelines for an Ethnographic Protocol. Book cover Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A: Guidelines for an Ethnographic. Auteur(s) : L. Blum, P.J. Pelto, G.H. Pelto, and H.V. Kuhnlein. Maison(s) d'édition : INFDC, IDRC. 1 janvier 1997.

  8. Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    1 janv. 1997 ... Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A : Guidelines for an Ethnographic Protocol. Couverture du livre Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A : Guidelines for an. Auteur(s):. L. Blum, P.J. Pelto, G.H. Pelto et H.V. Kuhnlein. Maison(s) d'édition: INFDC, CRDI.

  9. FieldTrip: Open source software for advanced analysis of MEG, EEG, and invasive electrophysiological data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oostenveld, R.; Fries, P.; Maris, E.G.G.; Schoffelen, J.M.

    2011-01-01

    This paper describes FieldTrip, an open source software package that we developed for the analysis of MEG, EEG, and other electrophysiological data. The software is implemented as a MATLAB toolbox and includes a complete set of consistent and user-friendly high-level functions that allow

  10. WannierTools: An open-source software package for novel topological materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, QuanSheng; Zhang, ShengNan; Song, Hai-Feng; Troyer, Matthias; Soluyanov, Alexey A.

    2018-03-01

    We present an open-source software package WannierTools, a tool for investigation of novel topological materials. This code works in the tight-binding framework, which can be generated by another software package Wannier90 (Mostofi et al., 2008). It can help to classify the topological phase of a given material by calculating the Wilson loop, and can get the surface state spectrum, which is detected by angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) and in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments. It also identifies positions of Weyl/Dirac points and nodal line structures, calculates the Berry phase around a closed momentum loop and Berry curvature in a part of the Brillouin zone (BZ).

  11. Automated Source Code Analysis to Identify and Remove Software Security Vulnerabilities: Case Studies on Java Programs

    OpenAIRE

    Natarajan Meghanathan

    2013-01-01

    The high-level contribution of this paper is to illustrate the development of generic solution strategies to remove software security vulnerabilities that could be identified using automated tools for source code analysis on software programs (developed in Java). We use the Source Code Analyzer and Audit Workbench automated tools, developed by HP Fortify Inc., for our testing purposes. We present case studies involving a file writer program embedded with features for password validation, and ...

  12. The 2015 Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC 2015).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Nomi L; Cock, Peter J A; Lapp, Hilmar; Chapman, Brad; Davey, Rob; Fields, Christopher; Hokamp, Karsten; Munoz-Torres, Monica

    2016-02-01

    The Bioinformatics Open Source Conference (BOSC) is organized by the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of open source software development and open science within the biological research community. Since its inception in 2000, BOSC has provided bioinformatics developers with a forum for communicating the results of their latest efforts to the wider research community. BOSC offers a focused environment for developers and users to interact and share ideas about standards; software development practices; practical techniques for solving bioinformatics problems; and approaches that promote open science and sharing of data, results, and software. BOSC is run as a two-day special interest group (SIG) before the annual Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference. BOSC 2015 took place in Dublin, Ireland, and was attended by over 125 people, about half of whom were first-time attendees. Session topics included "Data Science;" "Standards and Interoperability;" "Open Science and Reproducibility;" "Translational Bioinformatics;" "Visualization;" and "Bioinformatics Open Source Project Updates". In addition to two keynote talks and dozens of shorter talks chosen from submitted abstracts, BOSC 2015 included a panel, titled "Open Source, Open Door: Increasing Diversity in the Bioinformatics Open Source Community," that provided an opportunity for open discussion about ways to increase the diversity of participants in BOSC in particular, and in open source bioinformatics in general. The complete program of BOSC 2015 is available online at http://www.open-bio.org/wiki/BOSC_2015_Schedule.

  13. The ATLAS data management software engineering process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lassnig, M; Garonne, V; Stewart, G A; Barisits, M; Serfon, C; Goossens, L; Nairz, A; Beermann, T; Vigne, R; Molfetas, A

    2014-01-01

    Rucio is the next-generation data management system of the ATLAS experiment. The software engineering process to develop Rucio is fundamentally different to existing software development approaches in the ATLAS distributed computing community. Based on a conceptual design document, development takes place using peer-reviewed code in a test-driven environment. The main objectives are to ensure that every engineer understands the details of the full project, even components usually not touched by them, that the design and architecture are coherent, that temporary contributors can be productive without delay, that programming mistakes are prevented before being committed to the source code, and that the source is always in a fully functioning state. This contribution will illustrate the workflows and products used, and demonstrate the typical development cycle of a component from inception to deployment within this software engineering process. Next to the technological advantages, this contribution will also highlight the social aspects of an environment where every action is subject to detailed scrutiny.

  14. The ATLAS data management software engineering process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lassnig, M.; Garonne, V.; Stewart, G. A.; Barisits, M.; Beermann, T.; Vigne, R.; Serfon, C.; Goossens, L.; Nairz, A.; Molfetas, A.; Atlas Collaboration

    2014-06-01

    Rucio is the next-generation data management system of the ATLAS experiment. The software engineering process to develop Rucio is fundamentally different to existing software development approaches in the ATLAS distributed computing community. Based on a conceptual design document, development takes place using peer-reviewed code in a test-driven environment. The main objectives are to ensure that every engineer understands the details of the full project, even components usually not touched by them, that the design and architecture are coherent, that temporary contributors can be productive without delay, that programming mistakes are prevented before being committed to the source code, and that the source is always in a fully functioning state. This contribution will illustrate the workflows and products used, and demonstrate the typical development cycle of a component from inception to deployment within this software engineering process. Next to the technological advantages, this contribution will also highlight the social aspects of an environment where every action is subject to detailed scrutiny.

  15. Open Source Service Agent (OSSA) in the intelligence community's Open Source Architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiene, Bruce F.

    1994-01-01

    The Community Open Source Program Office (COSPO) has developed an architecture for the intelligence community's new Open Source Information System (OSIS). The architecture is a multi-phased program featuring connectivity, interoperability, and functionality. OSIS is based on a distributed architecture concept. The system is designed to function as a virtual entity. OSIS will be a restricted (non-public), user configured network employing Internet communications. Privacy and authentication will be provided through firewall protection. Connection to OSIS can be made through any server on the Internet or through dial-up modems provided the appropriate firewall authentication system is installed on the client.

  16. PLUME-FEATHER, Referencing and Finding Software for Research and Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bénassy, O.; Caron, C.; Ferret-Canape, C.; Cheylus, A.; Courcelle, E.; Dantec, C.; Dayre, P.; Dostes, T.; Durand, A.; Facq, A.; Gambini, G.; Geahchan, E.; Helft, C.; Hoffmann, D.; Ingarao, M.; Joly, P.; Kieffer, J.; Larré, J.-M.; Libes, M.; Morris, F.; Parmentier, H.; Pérochon, L.; Porte, O.; Romier, G.; Rousse, D.; Tournoy, R.; Valeins, H.

    2014-06-01

    PLUME-FEATHER is a non-profit project created to Promote economicaL, Useful and Maintained softwarEFor theHigher Education And THE Research communities. The site references software, mainly Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) from French universities and national research organisations, (CNRS, INRA...), laboratories or departments as well as other FLOSS software used and evaluated by users within these institutions. Each software is represented by a reference card, which describes origin, aim, installation, cost (if applicable) and user experience from the point of view of an academic user for academic users. Presently over 1000 programs are referenced on PLUME by more than 900 contributors. Although the server is maintained by a French institution, it is open to international contributions in the academic domain. All contained and validated contents are visible to anonymous public, whereas (presently more than 2000) registered users can contribute, starting with comments on single software reference cards up to help with the organisation and presentation of the referenced software products. The project has been presented to the HEP community in 2012 for the first time [1]. This is an update of the status and a call for (further) contributions.

  17. PLUME-FEATHER, referencing and finding software for research and education

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bénassy, O; Caron, C; Ferret-Canape, C; Cheylus, A; Courcelle, E; Dantec, C; Dayre, P; Dostes, T; Durand, A; Facq, A; Gambini, G; Morris, F; Geahchan, E; Helft, C; Hoffmann, D; Ingarao, M; Joly, P; Kieffer, J; Larré, J-M; Libes, M

    2014-01-01

    PLUME-FEATHER is a non-profit project created to Promote economicaL, Useful and Maintained softwarEFor theHigher Education And THE Research communities. The site references software, mainly Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) from French universities and national research organisations, (CNRS, INRA...), laboratories or departments as well as other FLOSS software used and evaluated by users within these institutions. Each software is represented by a reference card, which describes origin, aim, installation, cost (if applicable) and user experience from the point of view of an academic user for academic users. Presently over 1000 programs are referenced on PLUME by more than 900 contributors. Although the server is maintained by a French institution, it is open to international contributions in the academic domain. All contained and validated contents are visible to anonymous public, whereas (presently more than 2000) registered users can contribute, starting with comments on single software reference cards up to help with the organisation and presentation of the referenced software products. The project has been presented to the HEP community in 2012 for the first time [1]. This is an update of the status and a call for (further) contributions.

  18. Laser scanner data processing and 3D modeling using a free and open source software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gabriele, Fatuzzo; Michele, Mangiameli; Giuseppe, Mussumeci; Salvatore, Zito

    2015-01-01

    The laser scanning is a technology that allows in a short time to run the relief geometric objects with a high level of detail and completeness, based on the signal emitted by the laser and the corresponding return signal. When the incident laser radiation hits the object to detect, then the radiation is reflected. The purpose is to build a three-dimensional digital model that allows to reconstruct the reality of the object and to conduct studies regarding the design, restoration and/or conservation. When the laser scanner is equipped with a digital camera, the result of the measurement process is a set of points in XYZ coordinates showing a high density and accuracy with radiometric and RGB tones. In this case, the set of measured points is called “point cloud” and allows the reconstruction of the Digital Surface Model. Even the post-processing is usually performed by closed source software, which is characterized by Copyright restricting the free use, free and open source software can increase the performance by far. Indeed, this latter can be freely used providing the possibility to display and even custom the source code. The experience started at the Faculty of Engineering in Catania is aimed at finding a valuable free and open source tool, MeshLab (Italian Software for data processing), to be compared with a reference closed source software for data processing, i.e. RapidForm. In this work, we compare the results obtained with MeshLab and Rapidform through the planning of the survey and the acquisition of the point cloud of a morphologically complex statue

  19. Laser scanner data processing and 3D modeling using a free and open source software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gabriele, Fatuzzo [Dept. of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, University of Catania (Italy); Michele, Mangiameli, E-mail: amichele.mangiameli@dica.unict.it; Giuseppe, Mussumeci; Salvatore, Zito [Dept. of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Catania (Italy)

    2015-03-10

    The laser scanning is a technology that allows in a short time to run the relief geometric objects with a high level of detail and completeness, based on the signal emitted by the laser and the corresponding return signal. When the incident laser radiation hits the object to detect, then the radiation is reflected. The purpose is to build a three-dimensional digital model that allows to reconstruct the reality of the object and to conduct studies regarding the design, restoration and/or conservation. When the laser scanner is equipped with a digital camera, the result of the measurement process is a set of points in XYZ coordinates showing a high density and accuracy with radiometric and RGB tones. In this case, the set of measured points is called “point cloud” and allows the reconstruction of the Digital Surface Model. Even the post-processing is usually performed by closed source software, which is characterized by Copyright restricting the free use, free and open source software can increase the performance by far. Indeed, this latter can be freely used providing the possibility to display and even custom the source code. The experience started at the Faculty of Engineering in Catania is aimed at finding a valuable free and open source tool, MeshLab (Italian Software for data processing), to be compared with a reference closed source software for data processing, i.e. RapidForm. In this work, we compare the results obtained with MeshLab and Rapidform through the planning of the survey and the acquisition of the point cloud of a morphologically complex statue.

  20. Free/Libre Open Source Software Implementation in Schools: Evidence from the Field and Implications for the Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yu-Wei; Zini, Enrico

    2008-01-01

    This empirical paper shows how free/libre open source software (FLOSS) contributes to mutual and collaborative learning in an educational environment. Unlike proprietary software, FLOSS allows extensive customisation of software to support the needs of local users better. This also allows users to participate more proactively in the development…

  1. SCT: Spinal Cord Toolbox, an open-source software for processing spinal cord MRI data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Leener, Benjamin; Lévy, Simon; Dupont, Sara M; Fonov, Vladimir S; Stikov, Nikola; Louis Collins, D; Callot, Virginie; Cohen-Adad, Julien

    2017-01-15

    For the past 25 years, the field of neuroimaging has witnessed the development of several software packages for processing multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) to study the brain. These software packages are now routinely used by researchers and clinicians, and have contributed to important breakthroughs for the understanding of brain anatomy and function. However, no software package exists to process mpMRI data of the spinal cord. Despite the numerous clinical needs for such advanced mpMRI protocols (multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, cervical spondylotic myelopathy, etc.), researchers have been developing specific tools that, while necessary, do not provide an integrative framework that is compatible with most usages and that is capable of reaching the community at large. This hinders cross-validation and the possibility to perform multi-center studies. In this study we introduce the Spinal Cord Toolbox (SCT), a comprehensive software dedicated to the processing of spinal cord MRI data. SCT builds on previously-validated methods and includes state-of-the-art MRI templates and atlases of the spinal cord, algorithms to segment and register new data to the templates, and motion correction methods for diffusion and functional time series. SCT is tailored towards standardization and automation of the processing pipeline, versatility, modularity, and it follows guidelines of software development and distribution. Preliminary applications of SCT cover a variety of studies, from cross-sectional area measures in large databases of patients, to the precise quantification of mpMRI metrics in specific spinal pathways. We anticipate that SCT will bring together the spinal cord neuroimaging community by establishing standard templates and analysis procedures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Insights on a Feminist Ethnography of the Free Software Community in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Pérez Bustos

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the ethnographic insights of a woman researcher that investigates the role of a group of women inside the Free Software community in Colombia. Particularly the article questions how the ethnographic practice, from a feminist perspective, contributes to the (reconstruction of gender as an analytical category on the social realities it studies.

  3. A Flexible Method for Producing F.E.M. Analysis of Bone Using Open-Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boppana, Abhishektha; Sefcik, Ryan; Meyers, Jerry G.; Lewandowski, Beth E.

    2016-01-01

    This project, performed in support of the NASA GRC Space Academy summer program, sought to develop an open-source workflow methodology that segmented medical image data, created a 3D model from the segmented data, and prepared the model for finite-element analysis. In an initial step, a technological survey evaluated the performance of various existing open-source software that claim to perform these tasks. However, the survey concluded that no single software exhibited the wide array of functionality required for the potential NASA application in the area of bone, muscle and bio fluidic studies. As a result, development of a series of Python scripts provided the bridging mechanism to address the shortcomings of the available open source tools. The implementation of the VTK library provided the most quick and effective means of segmenting regions of interest from the medical images; it allowed for the export of a 3D model by using the marching cubes algorithm to build a surface mesh. To facilitate the development of the model domain from this extracted information required a surface mesh to be processed in the open-source software packages Blender and Gmsh. The Preview program of the FEBio suite proved to be sufficient for volume filling the model with an unstructured mesh and preparing boundaries specifications for finite element analysis. To fully allow FEM modeling, an in house developed Python script allowed assignment of material properties on an element by element basis by performing a weighted interpolation of voxel intensity of the parent medical image correlated to published information of image intensity to material properties, such as ash density. A graphical user interface combined the Python scripts and other software into a user friendly interface. The work using Python scripts provides a potential alternative to expensive commercial software and inadequate, limited open-source freeware programs for the creation of 3D computational models. More work

  4. Vertical Interaction in Open Software Engineering Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-03-01

    FIRMS: BUSINESS COLLABORATION THROUGH OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS the Application Lifecycle Framework (ALF) and several sub-project streams in the SOA Tools...to 1This chapter is substantially based on a paper in progress with Jim Herbsleb and Robert Kraut. 86 CHAPTER 4. FIRMS AND INDIVIDUALS: THE IMPACT OF...involved in the community[44]. For exam - ple, the GNOME project, a successful desktop environment for Linux and Unix systems, has a website called

  5. Free and Open Source Software underpinning the European Forest Data Centre

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez Aseretto, Dario; Di Leo, Margherita; de Rigo, Daniele; Corti, Paolo; McInerney, Daniel; Camia, Andrea; San-Miguel-Ayanz, Jesús

    2013-04-01

    Worldwide, governments are growingly focusing [1] on free and open source software (FOSS) as a move toward transparency and the freedom to run, copy, study, change and improve the software [2]. The European Commission (EC) is also supporting the development of FOSS (see e.g., [3]). In addition to the financial savings, FOSS contributes to scientific knowledge freedom in computational science (CS) [4] and is increasingly rewarded in the science-policy interface within the emerging paradigm of open science [5-8]. Since complex computational science applications may be affected by software uncertainty [4,9-11], FOSS may help to mitigate part of the impact of software errors by CS community-driven open review, correction and evolution of scientific code [10,12-15]. The continental scale of EC science-based policy support implies wide networks of scientific collaboration. Thematic information systems also may benefit from this approach within reproducible [16] integrated modelling [4]. This is supported by the EC strategy on FOSS: "for the development of new information systems, where deployment is foreseen by parties outside of the EC infrastructure, [F]OSS will be the preferred choice and in any case used whenever possible" [17]. The aim of this contribution is to highlight how a continental scale information system may exploit and integrate FOSS technologies within the transdisciplinary research underpinning such a complex system. A European example is discussed where FOSS innervates both the structure of the information system itself and the inherent transdisciplinary research for modelling the data and information which constitute the system content. The information system. The European Forest Data Centre (EFDAC, http://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/efdac/) has been established at the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) as the focal point for forest data and information in Europe to supply European decision-makers with processed, quality checked and timely policy relevant

  6. Hardware and Software of a Bipolar Current Source Controlled by PC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirjana Rajčić-Vujasinović

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a realization of a bipolar current source developed by the paper's authors. The source is intended for use in galvanic and other industrial plants, where a pulse-reverse current supply (with the desired shape in time is required. A prototype of the device, which provides the outcome current intensity up to ± 50 A, has been constructed. The hardware of the source consists of a Pentium IV PC, a commercial ADDA converter, an interface of authors’ original construction as well as a current regulator. The application software is developed using a commercial packet LabView as the basis.

  7. ProjectQ: An Open Source Software Framework for Quantum Computing

    OpenAIRE

    Steiger, Damian S.; Häner, Thomas; Troyer, Matthias

    2016-01-01

    We introduce ProjectQ, an open source software effort for quantum computing. The first release features a compiler framework capable of targeting various types of hardware, a high-performance simulator with emulation capabilities, and compiler plug-ins for circuit drawing and resource estimation. We introduce our Python-embedded domain-specific language, present the features, and provide example implementations for quantum algorithms. The framework allows testing of quantum algorithms through...

  8. Getting Open Source Right for Big Data Analytics: Software Sharing, Governance, Collaboration and Most of All, Fun!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mattmann, C. A.

    2013-12-01

    A wave of open source big data analytic infrastructure is currently shaping government, private sector, and academia. Projects are consuming, adapting, and contributing back to various ecosystems of software e.g., the Apache Hadoop project and its ecosystem of related efforts including Hive, HBase, Pig, Oozie, Ambari, Knox, Tez and Yarn, to name a few; the Berkeley AMPLab stack which includes Spark, Shark, Mesos, Tachyon, BlinkDB, MLBase, and other emerging efforts; MapR and its related stack of technologies, offerings from commercial companies building products around these tools e.g., Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP), Cloudera's CDH project, etc. Though the technologies all offer different capabilities including low latency support/in-memory, versus record oriented file I/O, high availability, support for the Map Reduce programming paradigm or other dataflow/workflow constructs, there is a common thread that binds these products - they are all released under an open source license e.g., Apache2, MIT, BSD, GPL/LGPL, etc.; all thrive in various ecosystems, such as Apache, or Berkeley AMPLab; all are developed collaboratively, and all technologies provide plug in architecture models and methodologies for allowing others to contribute, and participate via various community models. This talk will cover the open source aspects and governance aspects of the aforementioned Big Data ecosystems and point out the differences, subtleties, and implications of those differences. The discussion will be by example, using several national deployments and Big Data initiatives stemming from the Administration including DARPA's XDATA program; NASA's CMAC program; NSF's EarthCube and geosciences BigData projects. Lessons learned from these efforts in terms of the open source aspects of these technologies will help guide the AGU community in their use, deployment and understanding.

  9. Delay Bounded Multi-Source Multicast in Software-Defined Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thabo Semong

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Software-Defined Networking (SDN is the next generation network architecture with exciting application prospects. The control function in SDN is decoupled from the data forwarding plane, hence it provides a new centralized architecture with flexible network resource management. Although SDN is attracting much attention from both industry and research, its advantage over the traditional networks has not been fully utilized. Multicast is designed to deliver content to multiple destinations. The current traffic engineering in SDN focuses mainly on unicast, however, multicast can effectively reduce network resource consumption by serving multiple clients. This paper studies a novel delay-bounded multi-source multicast SDN problem, in which among the set of potential sources, we select a source to build the multicast-tree, under the constraint that the transmission delay for every destination is bounded. This problem is more difficult than the traditional Steiner minimum tree (SMT problem, since it needs to find a source from the set of all potential sources. We model the problem as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP and prove its NP-Hardness. To solve the problem, a delay bounded multi-source (DBMS scheme is proposed, which includes a DBMS algorithm to build a minimum delay cost DBMS-Forest. Through a MATLAB experiment, we demonstrate that DBMS is significantly more efficient and outperforms other existing algorithms in the literature.

  10. Design and Implementation of Software for the ROV Neptunus

    OpenAIRE

    Munz, Jostein

    2015-01-01

    There has been an increased interest in researching and developing technical solutions for underwater vehicles the last years. In most cases, underwater vehicles are expensive and not affordable to private individuals. Development of low cost ROVs has lately been increasing supported by an active Do-It-Yourself (DIY) community. The OpenROV project has contributed to this community by producing cheap ROVs with open source software, encouraging users to develop their own plugins. Development of...

  11. ImagePy: an open-source, Python-based and platform-independent software package for boimage analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Anliang; Yan, Xiaolong; Wei, Zhijun

    2018-04-27

    This note presents the design of a scalable software package named ImagePy for analysing biological images. Our contribution is concentrated on facilitating extensibility and interoperability of the software through decoupling the data model from the user interface. Especially with assistance from the Python ecosystem, this software framework makes modern computer algorithms easier to be applied in bioimage analysis. ImagePy is free and open source software, with documentation and code available at https://github.com/Image-Py/imagepy under the BSD license. It has been tested on the Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. wzjdlut@dlut.edu.cn or yxdragon@imagepy.org.

  12. cPath: open source software for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathways

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gross Benjamin E

    2006-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Biological pathways, including metabolic pathways, protein interaction networks, signal transduction pathways, and gene regulatory networks, are currently represented in over 220 diverse databases. These data are crucial for the study of specific biological processes, including human diseases. Standard exchange formats for pathway information, such as BioPAX, CellML, SBML and PSI-MI, enable convenient collection of this data for biological research, but mechanisms for common storage and communication are required. Results We have developed cPath, an open source database and web application for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathway data. cPath makes it easy to aggregate custom pathway data sets available in standard exchange formats from multiple databases, present pathway data to biologists via a customizable web interface, and export pathway data via a web service to third-party software, such as Cytoscape, for visualization and analysis. cPath is software only, and does not include new pathway information. Key features include: a built-in identifier mapping service for linking identical interactors and linking to external resources; built-in support for PSI-MI and BioPAX standard pathway exchange formats; a web service interface for searching and retrieving pathway data sets; and thorough documentation. The cPath software is freely available under the LGPL open source license for academic and commercial use. Conclusion cPath is a robust, scalable, modular, professional-grade software platform for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathways. It can serve as the core data handling component in information systems for pathway visualization, analysis and modeling.

  13. OsiriX: an open-source software for navigating in multidimensional DICOM images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosset, Antoine; Spadola, Luca; Ratib, Osman

    2004-09-01

    A multidimensional image navigation and display software was designed for display and interpretation of large sets of multidimensional and multimodality images such as combined PET-CT studies. The software is developed in Objective-C on a Macintosh platform under the MacOS X operating system using the GNUstep development environment. It also benefits from the extremely fast and optimized 3D graphic capabilities of the OpenGL graphic standard widely used for computer games optimized for taking advantage of any hardware graphic accelerator boards available. In the design of the software special attention was given to adapt the user interface to the specific and complex tasks of navigating through large sets of image data. An interactive jog-wheel device widely used in the video and movie industry was implemented to allow users to navigate in the different dimensions of an image set much faster than with a traditional mouse or on-screen cursors and sliders. The program can easily be adapted for very specific tasks that require a limited number of functions, by adding and removing tools from the program's toolbar and avoiding an overwhelming number of unnecessary tools and functions. The processing and image rendering tools of the software are based on the open-source libraries ITK and VTK. This ensures that all new developments in image processing that could emerge from other academic institutions using these libraries can be directly ported to the OsiriX program. OsiriX is provided free of charge under the GNU open-source licensing agreement at http://homepage.mac.com/rossetantoine/osirix.

  14. HEP Software Foundation Community White Paper Working Group - Detector Simulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Apostolakis, J; et al.

    2018-03-12

    A working group on detector simulation was formed as part of the high-energy physics (HEP) Software Foundation's initiative to prepare a Community White Paper that describes the main software challenges and opportunities to be faced in the HEP field over the next decade. The working group met over a period of several months in order to review the current status of the Full and Fast simulation applications of HEP experiments and the improvements that will need to be made in order to meet the goals of future HEP experimental programmes. The scope of the topics covered includes the main components of a HEP simulation application, such as MC truth handling, geometry modeling, particle propagation in materials and fields, physics modeling of the interactions of particles with matter, the treatment of pileup and other backgrounds, as well as signal processing and digitisation. The resulting work programme described in this document focuses on the need to improve both the software performance and the physics of detector simulation. The goals are to increase the accuracy of the physics models and expand their applicability to future physics programmes, while achieving large factors in computing performance gains consistent with projections on available computing resources.

  15. An Open-Source Sandbox for Increasing the Accessibility of Functional Programming to the Bioinformatics and Scientific Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenwick, Matthew; Sesanker, Colbert; Schiller, Martin R; Ellis, Heidi Jc; Hinman, M Lee; Vyas, Jay; Gryk, Michael R

    2012-01-01

    Scientists are continually faced with the need to express complex mathematical notions in code. The renaissance of functional languages such as LISP and Haskell is often credited to their ability to implement complex data operations and mathematical constructs in an expressive and natural idiom. The slow adoption of functional computing in the scientific community does not, however, reflect the congeniality of these fields. Unfortunately, the learning curve for adoption of functional programming techniques is steeper than that for more traditional languages in the scientific community, such as Python and Java, and this is partially due to the relative sparseness of available learning resources. To fill this gap, we demonstrate and provide applied, scientifically substantial examples of functional programming, We present a multi-language source-code repository for software integration and algorithm development, which generally focuses on the fields of machine learning, data processing, bioinformatics. We encourage scientists who are interested in learning the basics of functional programming to adopt, reuse, and learn from these examples. The source code is available at: https://github.com/CONNJUR/CONNJUR-Sandbox (see also http://www.connjur.org).

  16. The state and profile of open source software projects in health and medical informatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janamanchi, Balaji; Katsamakas, Evangelos; Raghupathi, Wullianallur; Gao, Wei

    2009-07-01

    Little has been published about the application profiles and development patterns of open source software (OSS) in health and medical informatics. This study explores these issues with an analysis of health and medical informatics related OSS projects on SourceForge, a large repository of open source projects. A search was conducted on the SourceForge website during the period from May 1 to 15, 2007, to identify health and medical informatics OSS projects. This search resulted in a sample of 174 projects. A Java-based parser was written to extract data for several of the key variables of each project. Several visually descriptive statistics were generated to analyze the profiles of the OSS projects. Many of the projects have sponsors, implying a growing interest in OSS among organizations. Sponsorship, we discovered, has a significant impact on project success metrics. Nearly two-thirds of the projects have a restrictive license type. Restrictive licensing may indicate tighter control over the development process. Our sample includes a wide range of projects that are at various stages of development (status). Projects targeted towards the advanced end user are primarily focused on bio-informatics, data formats, database and medical science applications. We conclude that there exists an active and thriving OSS development community that is focusing on health and medical informatics. A wide range of OSS applications are in development, from bio-informatics to hospital information systems. A profile of OSS in health and medical informatics emerges that is distinct and unique to the health care field. Future research can focus on OSS acceptance and diffusion and impact on cost, efficiency and quality of health care.

  17. An Open Source Software and Web-GIS Based Platform for Airborne SAR Remote Sensing Data Management, Distribution and Sharing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Changyong, Dou; Huadong, Guo; Chunming, Han; Ming, Liu

    2014-03-01

    With more and more Earth observation data available to the community, how to manage and sharing these valuable remote sensing datasets is becoming an urgent issue to be solved. The web based Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology provides a convenient way for the users in different locations to share and make use of the same dataset. In order to efficiently use the airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing data acquired in the Airborne Remote Sensing Center of the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a Web-GIS based platform for airborne SAR data management, distribution and sharing was designed and developed. The major features of the system include map based navigation search interface, full resolution imagery shown overlaid the map, and all the software adopted in the platform are Open Source Software (OSS). The functions of the platform include browsing the imagery on the map navigation based interface, ordering and downloading data online, image dataset and user management, etc. At present, the system is under testing in RADI and will come to regular operation soon.

  18. Metronome LKM: An open source virtual keyboard driver to measure experiment software latencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garaizar, Pablo; Vadillo, Miguel A

    2017-10-01

    Experiment software is often used to measure reaction times gathered with keyboards or other input devices. In previous studies, the accuracy and precision of time stamps has been assessed through several means: (a) generating accurate square wave signals from an external device connected to the parallel port of the computer running the experiment software, (b) triggering the typematic repeat feature of some keyboards to get an evenly separated series of keypress events, or (c) using a solenoid handled by a microcontroller to press the input device (keyboard, mouse button, touch screen) that will be used in the experimental setup. Despite the advantages of these approaches in some contexts, none of them can isolate the measurement error caused by the experiment software itself. Metronome LKM provides a virtual keyboard to assess an experiment's software. Using this open source driver, researchers can generate keypress events using high-resolution timers and compare the time stamps collected by the experiment software with those gathered by Metronome LKM (with nanosecond resolution). Our software is highly configurable (in terms of keys pressed, intervals, SysRq activation) and runs on 2.6-4.8 Linux kernels.

  19. An open-source software tool for the generation of relaxation time maps in magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Messroghli, Daniel R; Rudolph, Andre; Abdel-Aty, Hassan; Wassmuth, Ralf; Kühne, Titus; Dietz, Rainer; Schulz-Menger, Jeanette

    2010-01-01

    In magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, T1, T2 and T2* relaxation times represent characteristic tissue properties that can be quantified with the help of specific imaging strategies. While there are basic software tools for specific pulse sequences, until now there is no universal software program available to automate pixel-wise mapping of relaxation times from various types of images or MR systems. Such a software program would allow researchers to test and compare new imaging strategies and thus would significantly facilitate research in the area of quantitative tissue characterization. After defining requirements for a universal MR mapping tool, a software program named MRmap was created using a high-level graphics language. Additional features include a manual registration tool for source images with motion artifacts and a tabular DICOM viewer to examine pulse sequence parameters. MRmap was successfully tested on three different computer platforms with image data from three different MR system manufacturers and five different sorts of pulse sequences: multi-image inversion recovery T1; Look-Locker/TOMROP T1; modified Look-Locker (MOLLI) T1; single-echo T2/T2*; and multi-echo T2/T2*. Computing times varied between 2 and 113 seconds. Estimates of relaxation times compared favorably to those obtained from non-automated curve fitting. Completed maps were exported in DICOM format and could be read in standard software packages used for analysis of clinical and research MR data. MRmap is a flexible cross-platform research tool that enables accurate mapping of relaxation times from various pulse sequences. The software allows researchers to optimize quantitative MR strategies in a manufacturer-independent fashion. The program and its source code were made available as open-source software on the internet

  20. An open-source software tool for the generation of relaxation time maps in magnetic resonance imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kühne Titus

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In magnetic resonance (MR imaging, T1, T2 and T2* relaxation times represent characteristic tissue properties that can be quantified with the help of specific imaging strategies. While there are basic software tools for specific pulse sequences, until now there is no universal software program available to automate pixel-wise mapping of relaxation times from various types of images or MR systems. Such a software program would allow researchers to test and compare new imaging strategies and thus would significantly facilitate research in the area of quantitative tissue characterization. Results After defining requirements for a universal MR mapping tool, a software program named MRmap was created using a high-level graphics language. Additional features include a manual registration tool for source images with motion artifacts and a tabular DICOM viewer to examine pulse sequence parameters. MRmap was successfully tested on three different computer platforms with image data from three different MR system manufacturers and five different sorts of pulse sequences: multi-image inversion recovery T1; Look-Locker/TOMROP T1; modified Look-Locker (MOLLI T1; single-echo T2/T2*; and multi-echo T2/T2*. Computing times varied between 2 and 113 seconds. Estimates of relaxation times compared favorably to those obtained from non-automated curve fitting. Completed maps were exported in DICOM format and could be read in standard software packages used for analysis of clinical and research MR data. Conclusions MRmap is a flexible cross-platform research tool that enables accurate mapping of relaxation times from various pulse sequences. The software allows researchers to optimize quantitative MR strategies in a manufacturer-independent fashion. The program and its source code were made available as open-source software on the internet.

  1. An economic perspective on software licenses--open source, maintainers and user-developers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Edwards, Kasper

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents a model for understanding behaviour of agents using and/or contributing to open source software. The model illustrates behaviour of agents under three licenses regimes: 1) The GPL, The BSD and 3) The Microsoft EULA. The latter license is not an open source license...... licenses induce different incentives and dynamics for maintainer and user-developer and the paper explains, from an economic standpoint, the mechanisms that ensure programs are developed and maintained under the three license regimes....

  2. BioSig: the free and open source software library for biomedical signal processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidaurre, Carmen; Sander, Tilmann H; Schlögl, Alois

    2011-01-01

    BioSig is an open source software library for biomedical signal processing. The aim of the BioSig project is to foster research in biomedical signal processing by providing free and open source software tools for many different application areas. Some of the areas where BioSig can be employed are neuroinformatics, brain-computer interfaces, neurophysiology, psychology, cardiovascular systems, and sleep research. Moreover, the analysis of biosignals such as the electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocorticogram (ECoG), electrocardiogram (ECG), electrooculogram (EOG), electromyogram (EMG), or respiration signals is a very relevant element of the BioSig project. Specifically, BioSig provides solutions for data acquisition, artifact processing, quality control, feature extraction, classification, modeling, and data visualization, to name a few. In this paper, we highlight several methods to help students and researchers to work more efficiently with biomedical signals.

  3. Improving Software Sustainability: Lessons Learned from Profiles in Science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher, Marie E

    2013-01-01

    The Profiles in Science® digital library features digitized surrogates of historical items selected from the archival collections of the U.S. National Library of Medicine as well as collaborating institutions. In addition, it contains a database of descriptive, technical and administrative metadata. It also contains various software components that allow creation of the metadata, management of the digital items, and access to the items and metadata through the Profiles in Science Web site [1]. The choices made building the digital library were designed to maximize the sustainability and long-term survival of all of the components of the digital library [2]. For example, selecting standard and open digital file formats rather than proprietary formats increases the sustainability of the digital files [3]. Correspondingly, using non-proprietary software may improve the sustainability of the software--either through in-house expertise or through the open source community. Limiting our digital library software exclusively to open source software or to software developed in-house has not been feasible. For example, we have used proprietary operating systems, scanning software, a search engine, and office productivity software. We did this when either lack of essential capabilities or the cost-benefit trade-off favored using proprietary software. We also did so knowing that in the future we would need to replace or upgrade some of our proprietary software, analogous to migrating from an obsolete digital file format to a new format as the technological landscape changes. Since our digital library's start in 1998, all of its software has been upgraded or replaced, but the digitized items have not yet required migration to other formats. Technological changes that compelled us to replace proprietary software included the cost of product licensing, product support, incompatibility with other software, prohibited use due to evolving security policies, and product abandonment

  4. CERN Web Application Detection. Refactoring and release as open source software

    CERN Document Server

    Lizonczyk, Piotr

    2015-01-01

    This paper covers my work during my assignment as participant of CERN Summer Students 2015 programme. The project was aimed at refactoring and publication of the Web Application Detection tool, which was developed at CERN and priorly used internally by the Computer Security team. The range of tasks performed include initial refactoring of code, which was developed like a script rather than a Python package, through extracting components that were not specific to CERN usage, the subsequent final release of the source code on GitHub and the integration with third-party software i.e. the w3af tool. Ultimately, Web Application Detection software received positive responses, being downloaded ca. 1500 times at the time of writing this report.

  5. Hyperspectral Soil Mapper (HYSOMA) software interface: Review and future plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chabrillat, Sabine; Guillaso, Stephane; Eisele, Andreas; Rogass, Christian

    2014-05-01

    With the upcoming launch of the next generation of hyperspectral satellites that will routinely deliver high spectral resolution images for the entire globe (e.g. EnMAP, HISUI, HyspIRI, HypXIM, PRISMA), an increasing demand for the availability/accessibility of hyperspectral soil products is coming from the geoscience community. Indeed, many robust methods for the prediction of soil properties based on imaging spectroscopy already exist and have been successfully used for a wide range of soil mapping airborne applications. Nevertheless, these methods require expert know-how and fine-tuning, which makes them used sparingly. More developments are needed toward easy-to-access soil toolboxes as a major step toward the operational use of hyperspectral soil products for Earth's surface processes monitoring and modelling, to allow non-experienced users to obtain new information based on non-expensive software packages where repeatability of the results is an important prerequisite. In this frame, based on the EU-FP7 EUFAR (European Facility for Airborne Research) project and EnMAP satellite science program, higher performing soil algorithms were developed at the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences as demonstrators for end-to-end processing chains with harmonized quality measures. The algorithms were built-in into the HYSOMA (Hyperspectral SOil MApper) software interface, providing an experimental platform for soil mapping applications of hyperspectral imagery that gives the choice of multiple algorithms for each soil parameter. The software interface focuses on fully automatic generation of semi-quantitative soil maps such as soil moisture, soil organic matter, iron oxide, clay content, and carbonate content. Additionally, a field calibration option calculates fully quantitative soil maps provided ground truth soil data are available. Implemented soil algorithms have been tested and validated using extensive in-situ ground truth data sets. The source of the HYSOMA

  6. Decon2LS: An open-source software package for automated processing and visualization of high resolution mass spectrometry data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaitly, Navdeep; Mayampurath, Anoop; Littlefield, Kyle; Adkins, Joshua N; Anderson, Gordon A; Smith, Richard D

    2009-03-17

    biological sample. Decon2LS is an efficient software package for discovering and visualizing features in proteomics studies that require automated interpretation of mass spectra. Besides being easy to use, fast, and reliable, Decon2LS is also open-source, which allows developers in the proteomics and bioinformatics communities to reuse and refine the algorithms to meet individual needs.Decon2LS source code, installer, and tutorials may be downloaded free of charge at http://http:/ncrr.pnl.gov/software/.

  7. Investigating interoperability of the LSST data management software stack with Astropy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenness, Tim; Bosch, James; Owen, Russell; Parejko, John; Sick, Jonathan; Swinbank, John; de Val-Borro, Miguel; Dubois-Felsmann, Gregory; Lim, K.-T.; Lupton, Robert H.; Schellart, Pim; Krughoff, K. S.; Tollerud, Erik J.

    2016-07-01

    The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be an 8.4m optical survey telescope sited in Chile and capable of imaging the entire sky twice a week. The data rate of approximately 15TB per night and the requirements to both issue alerts on transient sources within 60 seconds of observing and create annual data releases means that automated data management systems and data processing pipelines are a key deliverable of the LSST construction project. The LSST data management software has been in development since 2004 and is based on a C++ core with a Python control layer. The software consists of nearly a quarter of a million lines of code covering the system from fundamental WCS and table libraries to pipeline environments and distributed process execution. The Astropy project began in 2011 as an attempt to bring together disparate open source Python projects and build a core standard infrastructure that can be used and built upon by the astronomy community. This project has been phenomenally successful in the years since it has begun and has grown to be the de facto standard for Python software in astronomy. Astropy brings with it considerable expectations from the community on how astronomy Python software should be developed and it is clear that by the time LSST is fully operational in the 2020s many of the prospective users of the LSST software stack will expect it to be fully interoperable with Astropy. In this paper we describe the overlap between the LSST science pipeline software and Astropy software and investigate areas where the LSST software provides new functionality. We also discuss the possibilities of re-engineering the LSST science pipeline software to build upon Astropy, including the option of contributing affliated packages.

  8. Technical Evaluation Report 25: Open Source Software: Two learning management systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jim Depow

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available This report is the second in a two-part series about open source (OSS and free software (FS systems in online education. These are rapidly emerging as alternatives to costly proprietary learning management systems (LMS and content management systems (CMS. This report reviews two LMS systems and one CMS system, all developed on the OSS/ FS principle and available to users free of charge.

  9. Open Source Software and Open Content: Interview met Jan Hylén

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lambert Berenbroek

    2005-01-01

    Jan Hylén also attending the Surf Education Days 2005, held a presentation about Open Source Software and Open Content (such as the MIT Open Courseware project and the Open Access initiative). Jan Hylén is working at the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of the Organization of

  10. Tracing catchment fine sediment sources using the new SIFT (SedIment Fingerprinting Tool) open source software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulley, S; Collins, A L

    2018-09-01

    The mitigation of diffuse sediment pollution requires reliable provenance information so that measures can be targeted. Sediment source fingerprinting represents one approach for supporting these needs, but recent methodological developments have resulted in an increasing complexity of data processing methods rendering the approach less accessible to non-specialists. A comprehensive new software programme (SIFT; SedIment Fingerprinting Tool) has therefore been developed which guides the user through critical data analysis decisions and automates all calculations. Multiple source group configurations and composite fingerprints are identified and tested using multiple methods of uncertainty analysis. This aims to explore the sediment provenance information provided by the tracers more comprehensively than a single model, and allows for model configurations with high uncertainties to be rejected. This paper provides an overview of its application to an agricultural catchment in the UK to determine if the approach used can provide a reduction in uncertainty and increase in precision. Five source group classifications were used; three formed using a k-means cluster analysis containing 2, 3 and 4 clusters, and two a-priori groups based upon catchment geology. Three different composite fingerprints were used for each classification and bi-plots, range tests, tracer variability ratios and virtual mixtures tested the reliability of each model configuration. Some model configurations performed poorly when apportioning the composition of virtual mixtures, and different model configurations could produce different sediment provenance results despite using composite fingerprints able to discriminate robustly between the source groups. Despite this uncertainty, dominant sediment sources were identified, and those in close proximity to each sediment sampling location were found to be of greatest importance. This new software, by integrating recent methodological developments in

  11. Evidence synthesis software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Sophie Elizabeth; Thomas, James

    2018-06-07

    It can be challenging to decide which evidence synthesis software to choose when doing a systematic review. This article discusses some of the important questions to consider in relation to the chosen method and synthesis approach. Software can support researchers in a range of ways. Here, a range of review conditions and software solutions. For example, facilitating contemporaneous collaboration across time and geographical space; in-built bias assessment tools; and line-by-line coding for qualitative textual analysis. EPPI-Reviewer is a review software for research synthesis managed by the EPPI-centre, UCL Institute of Education. EPPI-Reviewer has text mining automation technologies. Version 5 supports data sharing and re-use across the systematic review community. Open source software will soon be released. EPPI-Centre will continue to offer the software as a cloud-based service. The software is offered via a subscription with a one-month (extendible) trial available and volume discounts for 'site licences'. It is free to use for Cochrane and Campbell reviews. The next EPPI-Reviewer version is being built in collaboration with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence using 'surveillance' of newly published research to support 'living' iterative reviews. This is achieved using a combination of machine learning and traditional information retrieval technologies to identify the type of research each new publication describes and determine its relevance for a particular review, domain or guideline. While the amount of available knowledge and research is constantly increasing, the ways in which software can support the focus and relevance of data identification are also developing fast. Software advances are maximising the opportunities for the production of relevant and timely reviews. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise

  12. The HEP Software and Computing Knowledge Base

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wenaus, T.

    2017-10-01

    HEP software today is a rich and diverse domain in itself and exists within the mushrooming world of open source software. As HEP software developers and users we can be more productive and effective if our work and our choices are informed by a good knowledge of what others in our community have created or found useful. The HEP Software and Computing Knowledge Base, hepsoftware.org, was created to facilitate this by serving as a collection point and information exchange on software projects and products, services, training, computing facilities, and relating them to the projects, experiments, organizations and science domains that offer them or use them. It was created as a contribution to the HEP Software Foundation, for which a HEP S&C knowledge base was a much requested early deliverable. This contribution will motivate and describe the system, what it offers, its content and contributions both existing and needed, and its implementation (node.js based web service and javascript client app) which has emphasized ease of use for both users and contributors.

  13. ProteoWizard: open source software for rapid proteomics tools development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kessner, Darren; Chambers, Matt; Burke, Robert; Agus, David; Mallick, Parag

    2008-11-01

    The ProteoWizard software project provides a modular and extensible set of open-source, cross-platform tools and libraries. The tools perform proteomics data analyses; the libraries enable rapid tool creation by providing a robust, pluggable development framework that simplifies and unifies data file access, and performs standard proteomics and LCMS dataset computations. The library contains readers and writers of the mzML data format, which has been written using modern C++ techniques and design principles and supports a variety of platforms with native compilers. The software has been specifically released under the Apache v2 license to ensure it can be used in both academic and commercial projects. In addition to the library, we also introduce a rapidly growing set of companion tools whose implementation helps to illustrate the simplicity of developing applications on top of the ProteoWizard library. Cross-platform software that compiles using native compilers (i.e. GCC on Linux, MSVC on Windows and XCode on OSX) is available for download free of charge, at http://proteowizard.sourceforge.net. This website also provides code examples, and documentation. It is our hope the ProteoWizard project will become a standard platform for proteomics development; consequently, code use, contribution and further development are strongly encouraged.

  14. Continuous integration and quality control for scientific software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neidhardt, A.; Ettl, M.; Brisken, W.; Dassing, R.

    2013-08-01

    Modern software has to be stable, portable, fast and reliable. This is going to be also more and more important for scientific software. But this requires a sophisticated way to inspect, check and evaluate the quality of source code with a suitable, automated infrastructure. A centralized server with a software repository and a version control system is one essential part, to manage the code basis and to control the different development versions. While each project can be compiled separately, the whole code basis can also be compiled with one central “Makefile”. This is used to create automated, nightly builds. Additionally all sources are inspected automatically with static code analysis and inspection tools, which check well-none error situations, memory and resource leaks, performance issues, or style issues. In combination with an automatic documentation generator it is possible to create the developer documentation directly from the code and the inline comments. All reports and generated information are presented as HTML page on a Web server. Because this environment increased the stability and quality of the software of the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell tremendously, it is now also available for scientific communities. One regular customer is already the developer group of the DiFX software correlator project.

  15. Clinical records anonymisation and text extraction (CRATE): an open-source software system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cardinal, Rudolf N

    2017-04-26

    Electronic medical records contain information of value for research, but contain identifiable and often highly sensitive confidential information. Patient-identifiable information cannot in general be shared outside clinical care teams without explicit consent, but anonymisation/de-identification allows research uses of clinical data without explicit consent. This article presents CRATE (Clinical Records Anonymisation and Text Extraction), an open-source software system with separable functions: (1) it anonymises or de-identifies arbitrary relational databases, with sensitivity and precision similar to previous comparable systems; (2) it uses public secure cryptographic methods to map patient identifiers to research identifiers (pseudonyms); (3) it connects relational databases to external tools for natural language processing; (4) it provides a web front end for research and administrative functions; and (5) it supports a specific model through which patients may consent to be contacted about research. Creation and management of a research database from sensitive clinical records with secure pseudonym generation, full-text indexing, and a consent-to-contact process is possible and practical using entirely free and open-source software.

  16. The Art of Community Building the New Age of Participation

    CERN Document Server

    Bacon, Jono

    2009-01-01

    Online communities offer a wide range of opportunities today, whether you're supporting a cause, marketing a product or service, or developing open source software. The Art of Community will help you develop the broad range of talents you need to recruit members to your community, motivate and manage them, and help them become active participants. Author Jono Bacon offers a collection of experiences and observations from his decade-long involvement in building and managing communities, including his current position as manager for Ubuntu, arguably the largest community in open source softwa

  17. Commissioning software tools at the Advanced Photon Source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Emery, L.

    1995-01-01

    A software tool-oriented approach has been adopted in the commissioning of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory, particularly in the commissioning of the Positron Accumulator Ring (PAR). The general philosophy is to decompose a complicated procedure involving measurement, data processing, and control into a series of simpler steps, each accomplished by a generic toolkit program. The implementation is greatly facilitated by adopting the SDDS (self-describing data set protocol), which comes with its own toolkit. The combined toolkit has made accelerator physics measurements easier. For instance, the measurement of the optical functions of the PAR and the beamlines connected to it have been largely automated. Complicated measurements are feasible with a combination of tools running independently

  18. Final Report. Center for Scalable Application Development Software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mellor-Crummey, John [Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States)

    2014-10-26

    The Center for Scalable Application Development Software (CScADS) was established as a part- nership between Rice University, Argonne National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and University of Wisconsin – Madison. CScADS pursued an integrated set of activities with the aim of increasing the productivity of DOE computational scientists by catalyzing the development of systems software, libraries, compilers, and tools for leadership computing platforms. Principal Center activities were workshops to engage the research community in the challenges of leadership computing, research and development of open-source software, and work with computational scientists to help them develop codes for leadership computing platforms. This final report summarizes CScADS activities at Rice University in these areas.

  19. Evaluating Open Source Software for Use in Library Initiatives: A Case Study Involving Electronic Publishing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuels, Ruth Gallegos; Griffy, Henry

    2012-01-01

    This article discusses best practices for evaluating open source software for use in library projects, based on the authors' experience evaluating electronic publishing solutions. First, it presents a brief review of the literature, emphasizing the need to evaluate open source solutions carefully in order to minimize Total Cost of Ownership. Next,…

  20. CosmoQuest Transient Tracker: Opensource Photometry & Astrometry software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Joseph L.; Lehan, Cory; Gay, Pamela; Richardson, Matthew; CosmoQuest Team

    2018-01-01

    CosmoQuest is moving from online citizen science, to observational astronomy with the creation of Transient Trackers. This open source software is designed to identify asteroids and other transient/variable objects in image sets. Transient Tracker’s features in final form will include: astrometric and photometric solutions, identification of moving/transient objects, identification of variable objects, and lightcurve analysis. In this poster we present our initial, v0.1 release and seek community input.This software builds on the existing NIH funded ImageJ libraries. Creation of this suite of opensource image manipulation routines is lead by Wayne Rasband and is released primarily under the MIT license. In this release, we are building on these libraries to add source identification for point / point-like sources, and to do astrometry. Our materials released under the Apache 2.0 license on github (http://github.com/CosmoQuestTeam) and documentation can be found at http://cosmoquest.org/TransientTracker.

  1. A proposed metamodel for the implementation of object oriented software through the automatic generation of source code

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CARVALHO, J. S. C.

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available During the development of software one of the most visible risks and perhaps the biggest implementation obstacle relates to the time management. All delivery deadlines software versions must be followed, but it is not always possible, sometimes due to delay in coding. This paper presents a metamodel for software implementation, which will rise to a development tool for automatic generation of source code, in order to make any development pattern transparent to the programmer, significantly reducing the time spent in coding artifacts that make up the software.

  2. Development of a web application for water resources based on open source software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delipetrev, Blagoj; Jonoski, Andreja; Solomatine, Dimitri P.

    2014-01-01

    This article presents research and development of a prototype web application for water resources using latest advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), open source software and web GIS. The web application has three web services for: (1) managing, presenting and storing of geospatial data, (2) support of water resources modeling and (3) water resources optimization. The web application is developed using several programming languages (PhP, Ajax, JavaScript, Java), libraries (OpenLayers, JQuery) and open source software components (GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS). The presented web application has several main advantages: it is available all the time, it is accessible from everywhere, it creates a real time multi-user collaboration platform, the programing languages code and components are interoperable and designed to work in a distributed computer environment, it is flexible for adding additional components and services and, it is scalable depending on the workload. The application was successfully tested on a case study with concurrent multi-users access.

  3. An Open-Source Sandbox for Increasing the Accessibility of Functional Programming to the Bioinformatics and Scientific Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenwick, Matthew; Sesanker, Colbert; Schiller, Martin R.; Ellis, Heidi JC; Hinman, M. Lee; Vyas, Jay; Gryk, Michael R.

    2012-01-01

    Scientists are continually faced with the need to express complex mathematical notions in code. The renaissance of functional languages such as LISP and Haskell is often credited to their ability to implement complex data operations and mathematical constructs in an expressive and natural idiom. The slow adoption of functional computing in the scientific community does not, however, reflect the congeniality of these fields. Unfortunately, the learning curve for adoption of functional programming techniques is steeper than that for more traditional languages in the scientific community, such as Python and Java, and this is partially due to the relative sparseness of available learning resources. To fill this gap, we demonstrate and provide applied, scientifically substantial examples of functional programming, We present a multi-language source-code repository for software integration and algorithm development, which generally focuses on the fields of machine learning, data processing, bioinformatics. We encourage scientists who are interested in learning the basics of functional programming to adopt, reuse, and learn from these examples. The source code is available at: https://github.com/CONNJUR/CONNJUR-Sandbox (see also http://www.connjur.org). PMID:25328913

  4. Open Source Vulnerability Database Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jake Kouns

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available This article introduces the Open Source Vulnerability Database (OSVDB project which manages a global collection of computer security vulnerabilities, available for free use by the information security community. This collection contains information on known security weaknesses in operating systems, software products, protocols, hardware devices, and other infrastructure elements of information technology. The OSVDB project is intended to be the centralized global open source vulnerability collection on the Internet.

  5. Campus and community micro grids integration of building integrated photovoltaic renewable energy sources: Case study of Split 3 area, Croatia - part A

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gašparović Goran

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Micro grids interconnect loads and distributed energy resources as a single controllable entity. New installations of renewable energy sources (RES in urban areas, such as Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV, provide opportunities to increase energy independence and diversify energy sources in the energy system. This paper explores the integration of RES into two case study communities in an urban agglomeration to provide optimal conditions to meet a share of the electrical loads. Energy planning case studies for decentralized generation of renewable energy are conducted in H2RES energy planning software for hourly energy balances. The results indicate that BIPV and PV in the case study communities can cover about 17% of the recorded electrical demand of both areas. On a yearly basis, there will be a 0.025 GWh surplus of PV production with a maximum value of 1.25 MWh in one hour of operation unless grid storage is used. This amounts to a total investment cost of 13.36 million EUR. The results are useful for proposing future directions for the various case study communities targeting sustainable development.

  6. An Open-Source Tool Set Enabling Analog-Digital-Software Co-Design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michelle Collins

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an analog-digital hardware-software co-design environment for simulating and programming reconfigurable systems. The tool simulates, designs, as well as enables experimental measurements after compiling to configurable systems in the same integrated design tool framework. High level software in Scilab/Xcos (open-source programs similar to MATLAB/Simulink that converts the high-level block description by the user to blif format (sci2blif, which acts as an input to the modified VPR tool, including the code v p r 2 s w c s , encoding the specific platform through specific architecture files, resulting in a targetable switch list on the resulting configurable analog–digital system. The resulting tool uses an analog and mixed-signal library of components, enabling users and future researchers access to the basic analog operations/computations that are possible.

  7. Editorial: Humanitarian Open Source (December 2010

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leslie Hawthorn

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, our increasingly connected world has provided us with a greater understanding of the needs of our fellow global citizens. The devastating worldwide impact of natural disasters, disease, and poverty has been raised in our collective awareness and our ability to collectively alleviate this suffering has been brought to the fore. While many of us are familiar with donating our funds to better the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves, it is often easy to overlook a core component of facing these global challenges: information technology. The humanitarian open source movement seeks to ameliorate these sufferings through the creation of IT infrastructure to support a wide array of goals for the public good, such as providing effective healthcare or microloans to the poorest of the poor. Achieving these goals requires a sophisticated set of software and hardware tools, all of which work to save and improve lives in some of the most difficult of situations where the availability of electricity, data, IT knowledge, etc. may be low or lacking altogether. It should come as no surprise that the humanitarian open source domain attracts a great deal of attention from software developers, engineers, and others who find that they are able to both solve intense technical challenges while helping to improve the lives of others. However, to support ongoing humanitarian needs, the communities who produce humanitarian free and open source software (HFOSS and hardware have increasingly identified the need for business models to support their efforts. While the lower cost of using open source software and hardware solutions means that more funds can be directed to aid and comfort those in need, the goodwill of developer communities and the funds of grantees alone cannot grow the ecosystem sufficiently to meet ever-growing global needs. To face these challenges - poverty, global health crises, disaster relief, etc. - humanitarian open source

  8. Dimensional Error in Rapid Prototyping with Open Source Software and Low-cost 3D-printer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rendón-Medina, Marco A; Andrade-Delgado, Laura; Telich-Tarriba, Jose E; Fuente-Del-Campo, Antonio; Altamirano-Arcos, Carlos A

    2018-01-01

    Rapid prototyping models (RPMs) had been extensively used in craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery, especially in areas such as orthognathic surgery, posttraumatic or oncological reconstructions, and implantology. Economic limitations are higher in developing countries such as Mexico, where resources dedicated to health care are limited, therefore limiting the use of RPM to few selected centers. This article aims to determine the dimensional error of a low-cost fused deposition modeling 3D printer (Tronxy P802MA, Shenzhen, Tronxy Technology Co), with Open source software. An ordinary dry human mandible was scanned with a computed tomography device. The data were processed with open software to build a rapid prototype with a fused deposition machine. Linear measurements were performed to find the mean absolute and relative difference. The mean absolute and relative difference was 0.65 mm and 1.96%, respectively ( P = 0.96). Low-cost FDM machines and Open Source Software are excellent options to manufacture RPM, with the benefit of low cost and a similar relative error than other more expensive technologies.

  9. Dimensional Error in Rapid Prototyping with Open Source Software and Low-cost 3D-printer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco A. Rendón-Medina

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Summary:. Rapid prototyping models (RPMs had been extensively used in craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery, especially in areas such as orthognathic surgery, posttraumatic or oncological reconstructions, and implantology. Economic limitations are higher in developing countries such as Mexico, where resources dedicated to health care are limited, therefore limiting the use of RPM to few selected centers. This article aims to determine the dimensional error of a low-cost fused deposition modeling 3D printer (Tronxy P802MA, Shenzhen, Tronxy Technology Co, with Open source software. An ordinary dry human mandible was scanned with a computed tomography device. The data were processed with open software to build a rapid prototype with a fused deposition machine. Linear measurements were performed to find the mean absolute and relative difference. The mean absolute and relative difference was 0.65 mm and 1.96%, respectively (P = 0.96. Low-cost FDM machines and Open Source Software are excellent options to manufacture RPM, with the benefit of low cost and a similar relative error than other more expensive technologies.

  10. Open source software and low cost sensors for teaching UAV science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kefauver, S. C.; Sanchez-Bragado, R.; El-Haddad, G.; Araus, J. L.

    2016-12-01

    Drones, also known as UASs (unmanned aerial systems), UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or RPAS (Remotely piloted aircraft systems), are both useful advanced scientific platforms and recreational toys that are appealing to younger generations. As such, they can make for excellent education tools as well as low-cost scientific research project alternatives. However, the process of taking pretty pictures to remote sensing science can be daunting if one is presented with only expensive software and sensor options. There are a number of open-source tools and low cost platform and sensor options available that can provide excellent scientific research results, and, by often requiring more user-involvement than commercial software and sensors, provide even greater educational benefits. Scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm implementations, such as the Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE), which can create quality 2D image mosaics with some motion and terrain adjustments and VisualSFM (Structure from Motion), which can provide full image mosaicking with movement and orthorectification capacities. RGB image quantification using alternate color space transforms, such as the BreedPix indices, can be calculated via plugins in the open-source software Fiji (http://fiji.sc/Fiji; http://github.com/george-haddad/CIMMYT). Recent analyses of aerial images from UAVs over different vegetation types and environments have shown RGB metrics can outperform more costly commercial sensors. Specifically, Hue-based pixel counts, the Triangle Greenness Index (TGI), and the Normalized Green Red Difference Index (NGRDI) consistently outperformed NDVI in estimating abiotic and biotic stress impacts on crop health. Also, simple kits are available for NDVI camera conversions. Furthermore, suggestions for multivariate analyses of the different RGB indices in the "R program for statistical computing", such as classification and regression trees can allow for a more approachable

  11. The Use of Open Source Software for Open Architecture System on CNC Milling Machine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dalmasius Ganjar Subagio

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Computer numerical control (CNC milling machine system cannot be separated from the software required to follow the provisions of the Open Architecture capabilities that have portability, extend ability, interoperability, and scalability. When a prescribed period of a CNC milling machine has passed and the manufacturer decided to discontinue it, then the user will have problems for maintaining the performance of the machine. This paper aims to show that the using of open source software (OSS is the way out to maintain engine performance. With the use of OSS, users no longer depend on the software built by the manufacturer because OSS is open and can be developed independently. In this paper, USBCNC V.3.42 is used as an alternative OSS. The test result shows that the work piece is in match with the desired pattern. The test result shows that the performance of machines using OSS has similar performance with the machine using software from the manufacturer. 

  12. Using open source music software to teach live electronics in pre-college music education

    OpenAIRE

    Roels, Hans

    2010-01-01

    A basic course of live electronics is needed in pre- college music education to teach children how to perform on a digital musical instrument. This paper describes the basic components of such a live electronics course, examines whether open source music software is suited to realize these components and finally presents Abunch, a library in Pure Data created by the author, as a solution for the potential educational disadvantages of open source music softw...

  13. Sleep: An Open-Source Python Software for Visualization, Analysis, and Staging of Sleep Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Combrisson, Etienne; Vallat, Raphael; Eichenlaub, Jean-Baptiste; O'Reilly, Christian; Lajnef, Tarek; Guillot, Aymeric; Ruby, Perrine M; Jerbi, Karim

    2017-01-01

    We introduce Sleep, a new Python open-source graphical user interface (GUI) dedicated to visualization, scoring and analyses of sleep data. Among its most prominent features are: (1) Dynamic display of polysomnographic data, spectrogram, hypnogram and topographic maps with several customizable parameters, (2) Implementation of several automatic detection of sleep features such as spindles, K-complexes, slow waves, and rapid eye movements (REM), (3) Implementation of practical signal processing tools such as re-referencing or filtering, and (4) Display of main descriptive statistics including publication-ready tables and figures. The software package supports loading and reading raw EEG data from standard file formats such as European Data Format, in addition to a range of commercial data formats. Most importantly, Sleep is built on top of the VisPy library, which provides GPU-based fast and high-level visualization. As a result, it is capable of efficiently handling and displaying large sleep datasets. Sleep is freely available (http://visbrain.org/sleep) and comes with sample datasets and an extensive documentation. Novel functionalities will continue to be added and open-science community efforts are expected to enhance the capacities of this module.

  14. Sleep: An Open-Source Python Software for Visualization, Analysis, and Staging of Sleep Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Etienne Combrisson

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available We introduce Sleep, a new Python open-source graphical user interface (GUI dedicated to visualization, scoring and analyses of sleep data. Among its most prominent features are: (1 Dynamic display of polysomnographic data, spectrogram, hypnogram and topographic maps with several customizable parameters, (2 Implementation of several automatic detection of sleep features such as spindles, K-complexes, slow waves, and rapid eye movements (REM, (3 Implementation of practical signal processing tools such as re-referencing or filtering, and (4 Display of main descriptive statistics including publication-ready tables and figures. The software package supports loading and reading raw EEG data from standard file formats such as European Data Format, in addition to a range of commercial data formats. Most importantly, Sleep is built on top of the VisPy library, which provides GPU-based fast and high-level visualization. As a result, it is capable of efficiently handling and displaying large sleep datasets. Sleep is freely available (http://visbrain.org/sleep and comes with sample datasets and an extensive documentation. Novel functionalities will continue to be added and open-science community efforts are expected to enhance the capacities of this module.

  15. Open Science: Open source licenses in scientific research

    OpenAIRE

    Guadamuz, Andres

    2006-01-01

    The article examines the validity of OSS (open source software) licenses for scientific, as opposed to creative works. It draws on examples of OSS licenses to consider their suitability for the scientific community and scientific research.

  16. BEANS - a software package for distributed Big Data analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hypki, Arkadiusz

    2018-03-01

    BEANS software is a web based, easy to install and maintain, new tool to store and analyse in a distributed way a massive amount of data. It provides a clear interface for querying, filtering, aggregating, and plotting data from an arbitrary number of datasets. Its main purpose is to simplify the process of storing, examining and finding new relations in huge datasets. The software is an answer to a growing need of the astronomical community to have a versatile tool to store, analyse and compare the complex astrophysical numerical simulations with observations (e.g. simulations of the Galaxy or star clusters with the Gaia archive). However, this software was built in a general form and it is ready to use in any other research field. It can be used as a building block for other open source software too.

  17. Decon2LS: An open-source software package for automated processing and visualization of high resolution mass spectrometry data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anderson Gordon A

    2009-03-01

    identify and quantify peptides in the biological sample. Conclusion Decon2LS is an efficient software package for discovering and visualizing features in proteomics studies that require automated interpretation of mass spectra. Besides being easy to use, fast, and reliable, Decon2LS is also open-source, which allows developers in the proteomics and bioinformatics communities to reuse and refine the algorithms to meet individual needs. Decon2LS source code, installer, and tutorials may be downloaded free of charge at http://http:/ncrr.pnl.gov/software/.

  18. Software usage in unsupervised digital doorway computing environments in disadvantaged South African communities: Focusing on youthful users

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Gush, K

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Digital Doorways provide computing infrastructure in low-income communities in South Africa. The unsupervised DD terminals offer various software applications, from entertainment through educational resources to research material, encouraging...

  19. Neurophysiological analytics for all! Free open-source software tools for documenting, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing using electronic notebooks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenberg, David M; Horn, Charles C

    2016-08-01

    Neurophysiology requires an extensive workflow of information analysis routines, which often includes incompatible proprietary software, introducing limitations based on financial costs, transfer of data between platforms, and the ability to share. An ecosystem of free open-source software exists to fill these gaps, including thousands of analysis and plotting packages written in Python and R, which can be implemented in a sharable and reproducible format, such as the Jupyter electronic notebook. This tool chain can largely replace current routines by importing data, producing analyses, and generating publication-quality graphics. An electronic notebook like Jupyter allows these analyses, along with documentation of procedures, to display locally or remotely in an internet browser, which can be saved as an HTML, PDF, or other file format for sharing with team members and the scientific community. The present report illustrates these methods using data from electrophysiological recordings of the musk shrew vagus-a model system to investigate gut-brain communication, for example, in cancer chemotherapy-induced emesis. We show methods for spike sorting (including statistical validation), spike train analysis, and analysis of compound action potentials in notebooks. Raw data and code are available from notebooks in data supplements or from an executable online version, which replicates all analyses without installing software-an implementation of reproducible research. This demonstrates the promise of combining disparate analyses into one platform, along with the ease of sharing this work. In an age of diverse, high-throughput computational workflows, this methodology can increase efficiency, transparency, and the collaborative potential of neurophysiological research. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  20. Atmospheric data access for the geospatial user community

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Vegte, John; Som de Cerff, Wim-Jan; van den Oord, Gijsbertus H. J.; Sluiter, Raymond; van der Neut, Ian A.; Plieger, Maarten; van Hees, Richard M.; de Jeu, Richard A. M.; Schaepman, Michael E.; Hoogerwerf, Marc R.; Groot, Nikée E.; Domenico, Ben; Nativi, Stefano; Wilhelmi, Olga V.

    2007-10-01

    Historically the atmospheric and meteorological communities are separate worlds with their own data formats and tools for data handling making sharing of data difficult and cumbersome. On the other hand, these information sources are becoming increasingly of interest outside these communities because of the continuously improving spatial and temporal resolution of e.g. model and satellite data and the interest in historical datasets. New user communities that use geographically based datasets in a cross-domain manner are emerging. This development is supported by the progress made in Geographical Information System (GIS) software. The current GIS software is not yet ready for the wealth of atmospheric data, although the faint outlines of new generation software are already visible: support of HDF, NetCDF and an increasing understanding of temporal issues are only a few of the hints.

  1. DA+ data acquisition and analysis software at the Swiss Light Source macromolecular crystallography beamlines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wojdyla, Justyna Aleksandra; Kaminski, Jakub W; Panepucci, Ezequiel; Ebner, Simon; Wang, Xiaoqiang; Gabadinho, Jose; Wang, Meitian

    2018-01-01

    Data acquisition software is an essential component of modern macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines, enabling efficient use of beam time at synchrotron facilities. Developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute, the DA+ data acquisition software is implemented at all three Swiss Light Source (SLS) MX beamlines. DA+ consists of distributed services and components written in Python and Java, which communicate via messaging and streaming technologies. The major components of DA+ are the user interface, acquisition engine, online processing and database. Immediate data quality feedback is achieved with distributed automatic data analysis routines. The software architecture enables exploration of the full potential of the latest instrumentation at the SLS MX beamlines, such as the SmarGon goniometer and the EIGER X 16M detector, and development of new data collection methods.

  2. Core software security security at the source

    CERN Document Server

    Ransome, James

    2013-01-01

    First and foremost, Ransome and Misra have made an engaging book that will empower readers in both large and small software development and engineering organizations to build security into their products. This book clarifies to executives the decisions to be made on software security and then provides guidance to managers and developers on process and procedure. Readers are armed with firm solutions for the fight against cyber threats.-Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis. Carnegie Mellon UniversityIn the wake of cloud computing and mobile apps, the issue of software security has never been more importan

  3. Mahotas: Open source software for scriptable computer vision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Pedro Coelho

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Mahotas is a computer vision library for Python. It contains traditional image processing functionality such as filtering and morphological operations as well as more modern computer vision functions for feature computation, including interest point detection and local descriptors. The interface is in Python, a dynamic programming language, which is appropriate for fast development, but the algorithms are implemented in C++ and are tuned for speed. The library is designed to fit in with the scientific software ecosystem in this language and can leverage the existing infrastructure developed in that language. Mahotas is released under a liberal open source license (MIT License and is available from http://github.com/luispedro/mahotas and from the Python Package Index (http://pypi.python.org/pypi/mahotas. Tutorials and full API documentation are available online at http://mahotas.readthedocs.org/.

  4. Learning from open source software projects to improve scientific review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Satrajit S; Klein, Arno; Avants, Brian; Millman, K Jarrod

    2012-01-01

    Peer-reviewed publications are the primary mechanism for sharing scientific results. The current peer-review process is, however, fraught with many problems that undermine the pace, validity, and credibility of science. We highlight five salient problems: (1) reviewers are expected to have comprehensive expertise; (2) reviewers do not have sufficient access to methods and materials to evaluate a study; (3) reviewers are neither identified nor acknowledged; (4) there is no measure of the quality of a review; and (5) reviews take a lot of time, and once submitted cannot evolve. We propose that these problems can be resolved by making the following changes to the review process. Distributing reviews to many reviewers would allow each reviewer to focus on portions of the article that reflect the reviewer's specialty or area of interest and place less of a burden on any one reviewer. Providing reviewers materials and methods to perform comprehensive evaluation would facilitate transparency, greater scrutiny, and replication of results. Acknowledging reviewers makes it possible to quantitatively assess reviewer contributions, which could be used to establish the impact of the reviewer in the scientific community. Quantifying review quality could help establish the importance of individual reviews and reviewers as well as the submitted article. Finally, we recommend expediting post-publication reviews and allowing for the dialog to continue and flourish in a dynamic and interactive manner. We argue that these solutions can be implemented by adapting existing features from open-source software management and social networking technologies. We propose a model of an open, interactive review system that quantifies the significance of articles, the quality of reviews, and the reputation of reviewers.

  5. A Systematic Literature Review on relationship between agile methods and Open Source Software Development methodology

    OpenAIRE

    Gandomani, Taghi Javdani; Zulzalil, Hazura; Ghani, Abdul Azim Abdul; Sultan, Abu Bakar Md

    2013-01-01

    Agile software development methods (ASD) and open source software development methods (OSSD) are two different approaches which were introduced in last decade and both of them have their fanatical advocators. Yet, it seems that relation and interface between ASD and OSSD is a fertile area and few rigorous studies have been done in this matter. Major goal of this study was assessment of the relation and integration of ASD and OSSD. Analyzing of collected data shows that ASD and OSSD are able t...

  6. A Proposal for an Antifragile Software Manifesto

    OpenAIRE

    Russo, Daniel; Ciancarini, Paolo

    2016-01-01

    The disruptive nature of the antifragile approach for open and complex systems is of greatest importance and needs to be systematized, especially for software systems. In fact, antifragile software design is becoming a research issue in the software engineering community. We got inspired by the Agile Manifesto which set an important reference point to the software community, addressing primarily innovation in the software development process. We propose a similar approach to Antifragility,...

  7. Integrating Free and Open Source Solutions into Geospatial Science Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vaclav Petras

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available While free and open source software becomes increasingly important in geospatial research and industry, open science perspectives are generally less reflected in universities’ educational programs. We present an example of how free and open source software can be incorporated into geospatial education to promote open and reproducible science. Since 2008 graduate students at North Carolina State University have the opportunity to take a course on geospatial modeling and analysis that is taught with both proprietary and free and open source software. In this course, students perform geospatial tasks simultaneously in the proprietary package ArcGIS and the free and open source package GRASS GIS. By ensuring that students learn to distinguish between geospatial concepts and software specifics, students become more flexible and stronger spatial thinkers when choosing solutions for their independent work in the future. We also discuss ways to continually update and improve our publicly available teaching materials for reuse by teachers, self-learners and other members of the GIS community. Only when free and open source software is fully integrated into geospatial education, we will be able to encourage a culture of openness and, thus, enable greater reproducibility in research and development applications.

  8. The Core Flight System (cFS) Community: Providing Low Cost Solutions for Small Spacecraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    McComas, David; Wilmot, Jonathan; Cudmore, Alan

    2016-01-01

    In February 2015 the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) completed the open source release of the entire Core Flight Software (cFS) suite. After the open source release a multi-NASA center Configuration Control Board (CCB) was established that has managed multiple cFS product releases. The cFS was developed and is being maintained in compliance with the NASA Class B software development process requirements and the open source release includes all Class B artifacts. The cFS is currently running on three operational science spacecraft and is being used on multiple spacecraft and instrument development efforts. While the cFS itself is a viable flight software (FSW) solution, we have discovered that the cFS community is a continuous source of innovation and growth that provides products and tools that serve the entire FSW lifecycle and future mission needs. This paper summarizes the current state of the cFS community, the key FSW technologies being pursued, the development/verification tools and opportunities for the small satellite community to become engaged. The cFS is a proven high quality and cost-effective solution for small satellites with constrained budgets.

  9. Towards the Application of Open Source Software in Developing National Electronic Health Record-Narrative Review Article.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aminpour, Farzaneh; Sadoughi, Farahnaz; Ahmadi, Maryam

    2013-12-01

    Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a repository of patient health information shared among multiple authorized users. As a modern method of storing and processing health information, it is a solution for improving quality, safety and efficiency of patient care and health system. However, establishment of EHR requires a significant investment of time and money. While many of healthcare providers have very limited capital, application of open source software would be considered as a solution in developing national electronic health record especially in countries with low income. The evidence showed that financial limitation is one of the obstacles to implement electronic health records in developing countries. Therefore, establishment of an open source EHR system capable of modifications according to the national requirements seems to be inevitable in Iran. The present study identifies the impact of application of open source software in developing national electronic health record in Iran.

  10. STARS 2.0: 2nd-generation open-source archiving and query software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winegar, Tom

    2008-07-01

    The Subaru Telescope is in process of developing an open-source alternative to the 1st-generation software and databases (STARS 1) used for archiving and query. For STARS 2, we have chosen PHP and Python for scripting and MySQL as the database software. We have collected feedback from staff and observers, and used this feedback to significantly improve the design and functionality of our future archiving and query software. Archiving - We identified two weaknesses in 1st-generation STARS archiving software: a complex and inflexible table structure and uncoordinated system administration for our business model: taking pictures from the summit and archiving them in both Hawaii and Japan. We adopted a simplified and normalized table structure with passive keyword collection, and we are designing an archive-to-archive file transfer system that automatically reports real-time status and error conditions and permits error recovery. Query - We identified several weaknesses in 1st-generation STARS query software: inflexible query tools, poor sharing of calibration data, and no automatic file transfer mechanisms to observers. We are developing improved query tools and sharing of calibration data, and multi-protocol unassisted file transfer mechanisms for observers. In the process, we have redefined a 'query': from an invisible search result that can only transfer once in-house right now, with little status and error reporting and no error recovery - to a stored search result that can be monitored, transferred to different locations with multiple protocols, reporting status and error conditions and permitting recovery from errors.

  11. Data Science: History repeated? - The heritage of the Free and Open Source GIS community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Löwe, Peter; Neteler, Markus

    2014-05-01

    Data Science is described as the process of knowledge extraction from large data sets by means of scientific methods. The discipline draws heavily from techniques and theories from many fields, which are jointly used to furthermore develop information retrieval on structured or unstructured very large datasets. While the term Data Science was already coined in 1960, the current perception of this field places is still in the first section of the hype cycle according to Gartner, being well en route from the technology trigger stage to the peak of inflated expectations. In our view the future development of Data Science could benefit from the analysis of experiences from related evolutionary processes. One predecessor is the area of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The intrinsic scope of GIS is the integration and storage of spatial information from often heterogeneous sources, data analysis, sharing of reconstructed or aggregated results in visual form or via data transfer. GIS is successfully applied to process and analyse spatially referenced content in a wide and still expanding range of science areas, spanning from human and social sciences like archeology, politics and architecture to environmental and geoscientific applications, even including planetology. This paper presents proven patterns for innovation and organisation derived from the evolution of GIS, which can be ported to Data Science. Within the GIS landscape, three strategic interacting tiers can be denoted: i) Standardisation, ii) applications based on closed-source software, without the option of access to and analysis of the implemented algorithms, and iii) Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) based on freely accessible program code enabling analysis, education and ,improvement by everyone. This paper focuses on patterns gained from the synthesis of three decades of FOSS development. We identified best-practices which evolved from long term FOSS projects, describe the role of community

  12. Inequalities in Open Source Software Development: Analysis of Contributor's Commits in Apache Software Foundation Projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chełkowski, Tadeusz; Gloor, Peter; Jemielniak, Dariusz

    2016-01-01

    While researchers are becoming increasingly interested in studying OSS phenomenon, there is still a small number of studies analyzing larger samples of projects investigating the structure of activities among OSS developers. The significant amount of information that has been gathered in the publicly available open-source software repositories and mailing-list archives offers an opportunity to analyze projects structures and participant involvement. In this article, using on commits data from 263 Apache projects repositories (nearly all), we show that although OSS development is often described as collaborative, but it in fact predominantly relies on radically solitary input and individual, non-collaborative contributions. We also show, in the first published study of this magnitude, that the engagement of contributors is based on a power-law distribution.

  13. Scientific Software - the role of best practices and recommendations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritzsch, Bernadette; Bernstein, Erik; Castell, Wolfgang zu; Diesmann, Markus; Haas, Holger; Hammitzsch, Martin; Konrad, Uwe; Lähnemann, David; McHardy, Alice; Pampel, Heinz; Scheliga, Kaja; Schreiber, Andreas; Steglich, Dirk

    2017-04-01

    In Geosciences - like in most other communities - scientific work strongly depends on software. For big data analysis, existing (closed or open source) program packages are often mixed with newly developed codes. Different versions of software components and varying configurations can influence the result of data analysis. This often makes reproducibility of results and reuse of codes very difficult. Policies for publication and documentation of used and newly developed software, along with best practices, can help tackle this problem. Within the Helmholtz Association a Task Group "Access to and Re-use of scientific software" was implemented by the Open Science Working Group in 2016. The aim of the Task Group is to foster the discussion about scientific software in the Open Science context and to formulate recommendations for the production and publication of scientific software, ensuring open access to it. As a first step, a workshop gathered interested scientists from institutions across Germany. The workshop brought together various existing initiatives from different scientific communities to analyse current problems, share established best practices and come up with possible solutions. The subjects in the working groups covered a broad range of themes, including technical infrastructures, standards and quality assurance, citation of software and reproducibility. Initial recommendations are presented and discussed in the talk. They are the foundation for further discussions in the Helmholtz Association and the Priority Initiative "Digital Information" of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany. The talk aims to inform about the activities and to link with other initiatives on the national or international level.

  14. Reproducibility and Practical Adoption of GEOBIA with Open-Source Software in Docker Containers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Knoth

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA mostly uses proprietary software,but the interest in Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS for GEOBIA is growing. This interest stems not only from cost savings, but also from benefits concerning reproducibility and collaboration. Technical challenges hamper practical reproducibility, especially when multiple software packages are required to conduct an analysis. In this study, we use containerization to package a GEOBIA workflow in a well-defined FOSS environment. We explore the approach using two software stacks to perform an exemplary analysis detecting destruction of buildings in bi-temporal images of a conflict area. The analysis combines feature extraction techniques with segmentation and object-based analysis to detect changes using automatically-defined local reference values and to distinguish disappeared buildings from non-target structures. The resulting workflow is published as FOSS comprising both the model and data in a ready to use Docker image and a user interface for interaction with the containerized workflow. The presented solution advances GEOBIA in the following aspects: higher transparency of methodology; easier reuse and adaption of workflows; better transferability between operating systems; complete description of the software environment; and easy application of workflows by image analysis experts and non-experts. As a result, it promotes not only the reproducibility of GEOBIA, but also its practical adoption.

  15. Madagascar: open-source software project for multidimensional data analysis and reproducible computational experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey Fomel

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The Madagascar software package is designed for analysis of large-scale multidimensional data, such as those occurring in exploration geophysics. Madagascar provides a framework for reproducible research. By “reproducible research” we refer to the discipline of attaching software codes and data to computational results reported in publications. The package contains a collection of (a computational modules, (b data-processing scripts, and (c research papers. Madagascar is distributed on SourceForge under a GPL v2 license https://sourceforge.net/projects/rsf/. By October 2013, more than 70 people from different organizations around the world have contributed to the project, with increasing year-to-year activity. The Madagascar website is http://www.ahay.org/.

  16. Open source communities: an integrally informed approach to organizational transformation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Millar-Schijf, Carla C.J.M.; Choi, C.J.; Russell, E.T.; Kim, J.-B.

    2005-01-01

    Purpose - To reframe analysis of the open source software (OSS) phenomenon from an AQAL perspectiveDesign/methodology/approach - The approach is a review of current research thinking and application of the AQAL framework to suggest resolution of polarizations.Findings - The authors find that AQAL is

  17. Supporting global software development in open source ecosystems: a role for actability in the Pragmatic Web

    OpenAIRE

    Agerfalk, Par J.

    2006-01-01

    peer-reviewed New forms of collaboration between organizations based on open source principles are rapidly emerging. The collaboration is typically done in a spirit of co-opetition whereby companies, often SMEs, share cost and risk by developing software jointly and openly. The paper elaborates how this emerging phenomenon of open source ecosystems can be understood from the perspective of actability and the Pragmatic Web. The concept of open source ecosystems as a form o...

  18. Fiji: an open-source platform for biological-image analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schindelin, Johannes; Arganda-Carreras, Ignacio; Frise, Erwin; Kaynig, Verena; Longair, Mark; Pietzsch, Tobias; Preibisch, Stephan; Rueden, Curtis; Saalfeld, Stephan; Schmid, Benjamin; Tinevez, Jean-Yves; White, Daniel James; Hartenstein, Volker; Eliceiri, Kevin; Tomancak, Pavel; Cardona, Albert

    2012-06-28

    Fiji is a distribution of the popular open-source software ImageJ focused on biological-image analysis. Fiji uses modern software engineering practices to combine powerful software libraries with a broad range of scripting languages to enable rapid prototyping of image-processing algorithms. Fiji facilitates the transformation of new algorithms into ImageJ plugins that can be shared with end users through an integrated update system. We propose Fiji as a platform for productive collaboration between computer science and biology research communities.

  19. 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

  20. Identifying Business Barriers and Enablers for the Adoption of Open Source Software

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holck, Jesper; Holm Larsen, Michael; Pedersen, Mogens Kuhn

    2004-01-01

    The main research interest in Open Source Software (OSS) has been in answering the questions of why individuals and organizations without economic compensation contribute to OSS projects and how these projects are organized. In this paper we instead focus on managerial decisions for acquisition...... models for these relationships is an important challenge, which we will deal with in a research project, of which this paper should be seen as a first step....

  1. Big Software for Big Data: Scaling Up Photometry for LSST (Abstract)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawls, M.

    2017-06-01

    (Abstract only) The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will capture mosaics of the sky every few nights, each containing more data than your computer's hard drive can store. As a result, the software to process these images is as critical to the science as the telescope and the camera. I discuss the algorithms and software being developed by the LSST Data Management team to handle such a large volume of data. All of our work is open source and available to the community. Once LSST comes online, our software will produce catalogs of objects and a stream of alerts. These will bring exciting new opportunities for follow-up observations and collaborations with LSST scientists.

  2. Informed-Proteomics: open-source software package for top-down proteomics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, Jungkap; Piehowski, Paul D.; Wilkins, Christopher; Zhou, Mowei; Mendoza, Joshua; Fujimoto, Grant M.; Gibbons, Bryson C.; Shaw, Jared B.; Shen, Yufeng; Shukla, Anil K.; Moore, Ronald J.; Liu, Tao; Petyuk, Vladislav A.; Tolić, Nikola; Paša-Tolić, Ljiljana; Smith, Richard D.; Payne, Samuel H.; Kim, Sangtae

    2017-08-07

    Top-down proteomics involves the analysis of intact proteins. This approach is very attractive as it allows for analyzing proteins in their endogenous form without proteolysis, preserving valuable information about post-translation modifications, isoforms, proteolytic processing or their combinations collectively called proteoforms. Moreover, the quality of the top-down LC-MS/MS datasets is rapidly increasing due to advances in the liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry instrumentation and sample processing protocols. However, the top-down mass spectra are substantially more complex compare to the more conventional bottom-up data. To take full advantage of the increasing quality of the top-down LC-MS/MS datasets there is an urgent need to develop algorithms and software tools for confident proteoform identification and quantification. In this study we present a new open source software suite for top-down proteomics analysis consisting of an LC-MS feature finding algorithm, a database search algorithm, and an interactive results viewer. The presented tool along with several other popular tools were evaluated using human-in-mouse xenograft luminal and basal breast tumor samples that are known to have significant differences in protein abundance based on bottom-up analysis.

  3. Exploring the impact of socio-technical core-periphery structures in open source software development

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Amrit, Chintan Amrit; van Hillegersberg, Jos

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we apply the social network concept of core-periphery structure to the socio-technical structure of a software development team. We propose a socio-technical pattern that can be used to locate emerging coordination problems in Open Source projects. With the help of our tool and method

  4. Open Source Software Development Experiences on the Students' Resumes: Do They Count?--Insights from the Employers' Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Ju

    2009-01-01

    Open Source Software (OSS) is a major force in today's Information Technology (IT) landscape. Companies are increasingly using OSS in mission-critical applications. The transparency of the OSS technology itself with openly available source codes makes it ideal for students to participate in the OSS project development. OSS can provide unique…

  5. Adopting Open-Source Software Applications in U. S. Higher Education: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Rooij, Shahron Williams

    2009-01-01

    Higher Education institutions in the United States are considering Open Source software applications such as the Moodle and Sakai course management systems and the Kuali financial system to build integrated learning environments that serve both academic and administrative needs. Open Source is presumed to be more flexible and less costly than…

  6. Evaluation of the free, open source software WordPress as electronic portfolio system in undergraduate medical education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avila, Javier; Sostmann, Kai; Breckwoldt, Jan; Peters, Harm

    2016-06-03

    Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are used to document and support learning activities. E-portfolios with mobile capabilities allow even more flexibility. However, the development or acquisition of ePortfolio software is often costly, and at the same time, commercially available systems may not sufficiently fit the institution's needs. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate an ePortfolio system with mobile capabilities using a commercially free and open source software solution. We created an online ePortfolio environment using the blogging software WordPress based on reported capability features of such software by a qualitative weight and sum method. Technical implementation and usability were evaluated by 25 medical students during their clinical training by quantitative and qualitative means using online questionnaires and focus groups. The WordPress ePortfolio environment allowed students a broad spectrum of activities - often documented via mobile devices - like collection of multimedia evidences, posting reflections, messaging, web publishing, ePortfolio searches, collaborative learning, knowledge management in a content management system including a wiki and RSS feeds, and the use of aid tools for studying. The students' experience with WordPress revealed a few technical problems, and this report provides workarounds. The WordPress ePortfolio was rated positively by the students as a content management system (67 % of the students), for exchange with other students (74 %), as a note pad for reflections (53 %) and for its potential as an information source for assessment (48 %) and exchange with a mentor (68 %). On the negative side, 74 % of the students in this pilot study did not find it easy to get started with the system, and 63 % rated the ePortfolio as not being user-friendly. Qualitative analysis indicated a need for more introductory information and training. It is possible to build an advanced ePortfolio system with mobile

  7. Coordination Implications of Software Coupling in Open Source Projects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Amrit, Chintan Amrit; van Hillegersberg, Jos; Ågerfalk, Pär

    2010-01-01

    The effect of software coupling on the quality of software has been studied quite widely since the seminal paper on software modularity by Parnas [1]. However, the effect of the increase in software coupling on the coordination of the developers has not been researched as much. In commercial

  8. Open source Modeling and optimization tools for Planning

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Peles, S. [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

    2017-02-10

    Open source modeling and optimization tools for planning The existing tools and software used for planning and analysis in California are either expensive, difficult to use, or not generally accessible to a large number of participants. These limitations restrict the availability of participants for larger scale energy and grid studies in the state. The proposed initiative would build upon federal and state investments in open source software, and create and improve open source tools for use in the state planning and analysis activities. Computational analysis and simulation frameworks in development at national labs and universities can be brought forward to complement existing tools. An open source platform would provide a path for novel techniques and strategies to be brought into the larger community and reviewed by a broad set of stakeholders.

  9. Towards easing the configuration and new team member accommodation for open source software based portals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, L.; West, P.; Zednik, S.; Fox, P. A.

    2013-12-01

    For simple portals such as vocabulary based services, which contain small amounts of data and require only hyper-textual representation, it is often an overkill to adopt the whole software stack of database, middleware and front end, or to use a general Web development framework as the starting point of development. Directly combining open source software is a much more favorable approach. However, our experience with the Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Vocabulary (CMSPV) service portal shows that there are still issues such as system configuration and accommodating a new team member that need to be handled carefully. In this contribution, we share our experience in the context of the CMSPV portal, and focus on the tools and mechanisms we've developed to ease the configuration job and the incorporation process of new project members. We discuss the configuration issues that arise when we don't have complete control over how the software in use is configured and need to follow existing configuration styles that may not be well documented, especially when multiple pieces of such software need to work together as a combined system. As for the CMSPV portal, it is built on two pieces of open source software that are still under rapid development: a Fuseki data server and Epimorphics Linked Data API (ELDA) front end. Both lack mature documentation and tutorials. We developed comparison and labeling tools to ease the problem of system configuration. Another problem that slowed down the project is that project members came and went during the development process, so new members needed to start with a partially configured system and incomplete documentation left by old members. We developed documentation/tutorial maintenance mechanisms based on our comparison and labeling tools to make it easier for the new members to be incorporated into the project. These tools and mechanisms also provided benefit to other projects that reused the software components from the CMSPV

  10. Facilitating Constructive Alignment in Power Systems Engineering Education Using Free and Open-Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanfretti, L.; Milano, F.

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes how the use of free and open-source software (FOSS) can facilitate the application of constructive alignment theory in power systems engineering education by enabling the deep learning approach in power system analysis courses. With this aim, this paper describes the authors' approach in using the Power System Analysis Toolbox…

  11. The Open Source DataTurbine Initiative: Streaming Data Middleware for Environmental Observing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fountain T.; Tilak, S.; Shin, P.; Hubbard, P.; Freudinger, L.

    2009-01-01

    The Open Source DataTurbine Initiative is an international community of scientists and engineers sharing a common interest in real-time streaming data middleware and applications. The technology base of the OSDT Initiative is the DataTurbine open source middleware. Key applications of DataTurbine include coral reef monitoring, lake monitoring and limnology, biodiversity and animal tracking, structural health monitoring and earthquake engineering, airborne environmental monitoring, and environmental sustainability. DataTurbine software emerged as a commercial product in the 1990 s from collaborations between NASA and private industry. In October 2007, a grant from the USA National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure allowed us to transition DataTurbine from a proprietary software product into an open source software initiative. This paper describes the DataTurbine software and highlights key applications in environmental monitoring.

  12. The Application Of Open-Source And Free Photogrammetric Software For The Purposes Of Cultural Heritage Documentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bartoš Karol

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The documentation of cultural heritage is an essential part of appropriate care of historical monuments, representing a part of our history. At present, it represents the current issue, for which considerable funds are being spent, as well as for the documentation of immovable historical monuments in a form of castle ruins, among the others. Non-contact surveying technologies - terrestrial laser scanning and digital photogrammetry belong to the most commonly used technologies, by which suitable documentation can be obtained, however their use may be very costly. In recent years, various types of software products and web services based on the SfM (or MVS method and developed as open-source software, or as a freely available and free service, relying on the basic principles of photogrammetry and computer vision, have started to get into the spotlight. By using the services and software, acquired digital images of a given object can be processed into a point cloud, serving directly as a final output or as a basis for further processing. The aim of this paper, based on images of various objects of the Slanec castle ruins obtained by the DSLR Pentax K5, is to assess the suitability of different types of open-source and free software and free web services and their reliability in terms of surface reconstruction and photo-texture quality for the purposes of castle ruins documentation.

  13. The SCEC Broadband Platform: Open-Source Software for Strong Ground Motion Simulation and Validation

    Science.gov (United States)

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

    2016-12-01

    The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) Broadband Platform (BBP) is a carefully integrated collection of open-source scientific software programs that can simulate broadband (0-100 Hz) ground motions for earthquakes at regional scales. The BBP can run earthquake rupture and wave propagation modeling software to simulate ground motions for well-observed historical earthquakes and to quantify how well the simulated broadband seismograms match the observed seismograms. The BBP can also run simulations for hypothetical earthquakes. In this case, users input an earthquake location and magnitude description, a list of station locations, and a 1D velocity model for the region of interest, and the BBP software then calculates ground motions for the specified stations. The BBP scientific software modules implement kinematic rupture generation, low- and high-frequency seismogram synthesis using wave propagation through 1D layered velocity structures, several ground motion intensity measure calculations, and various ground motion goodness-of-fit tools. These modules are integrated into a software system that provides user-defined, repeatable, calculation of ground-motion seismograms, using multiple alternative ground motion simulation methods, and software utilities to generate tables, plots, and maps. The BBP has been developed over the last five years in a collaborative project involving geoscientists, earthquake engineers, graduate students, and SCEC scientific software developers. The SCEC BBP software released in 2016 can be compiled and run on recent Linux and Mac OS X systems with GNU compilers. It includes five simulation methods, seven simulation regions covering California, Japan, and Eastern North America, and the ability to compare simulation results against empirical ground motion models (aka GMPEs). The latest version includes updated ground motion simulation methods, a suite of new validation metrics and a simplified command line user interface.

  14. The State of Open Source Electronic Health Record Projects: A Software Anthropology Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alsaffar, Mona; Yellowlees, Peter; Odor, Alberto; Hogarth, Michael

    2017-02-24

    Electronic health records (EHR) are a key tool in managing and storing patients' information. Currently, there are over 50 open source EHR systems available. Functionality and usability are important factors for determining the success of any system. These factors are often a direct reflection of the domain knowledge and developers' motivations. However, few published studies have focused on the characteristics of free and open source software (F/OSS) EHR systems and none to date have discussed the motivation, knowledge background, and demographic characteristics of the developers involved in open source EHR projects. This study analyzed the characteristics of prevailing F/OSS EHR systems and aimed to provide an understanding of the motivation, knowledge background, and characteristics of the developers. This study identified F/OSS EHR projects on SourceForge and other websites from May to July 2014. Projects were classified and characterized by license type, downloads, programming languages, spoken languages, project age, development status, supporting materials, top downloads by country, and whether they were "certified" EHRs. Health care F/OSS developers were also surveyed using an online survey. At the time of the assessment, we uncovered 54 open source EHR projects, but only four of them had been successfully certified under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC Health IT) Certification Program. In the majority of cases, the open source EHR software was downloaded by users in the United States (64.07%, 148,666/232,034), underscoring that there is a significant interest in EHR open source applications in the United States. A survey of EHR open source developers was conducted and a total of 103 developers responded to the online questionnaire. The majority of EHR F/OSS developers (65.3%, 66/101) are participating in F/OSS projects as part of a paid activity and only 25.7% (26/101) of EHR F/OSS developers are, or have been

  15. Inequalities in Open Source Software Development: Analysis of Contributor’s Commits in Apache Software Foundation Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    While researchers are becoming increasingly interested in studying OSS phenomenon, there is still a small number of studies analyzing larger samples of projects investigating the structure of activities among OSS developers. The significant amount of information that has been gathered in the publicly available open-source software repositories and mailing-list archives offers an opportunity to analyze projects structures and participant involvement. In this article, using on commits data from 263 Apache projects repositories (nearly all), we show that although OSS development is often described as collaborative, but it in fact predominantly relies on radically solitary input and individual, non-collaborative contributions. We also show, in the first published study of this magnitude, that the engagement of contributors is based on a power-law distribution. PMID:27096157

  16. Reflections on Software Engineering Education

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Vliet, H.

    2006-01-01

    In recent years, the software engineering community has focused on organizing its existing knowledge and finding opportunities to transform that knowledge into a university curriculum. SWEBOK (the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge) and Software Engineering 2004 are two initiatives

  17. Distance education course on spatial multi-hazard risk assessment, using Open Source software

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Westen, C. J.; Frigerio, S.

    2009-04-01

    As part of the capacity building activities of the United Nations University - ITC School on Disaster Geo-Information Management (UNU-ITC DGIM) the International Institute for Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC) has developed a distance education course on the application of Geographic Information Systems for multi-hazard risk assessment. This course is designed for academic staff, as well as for professionals working in (non-) governmental organizations where knowledge of disaster risk management is essential. The course guides the participants through the entire process of risk assessment, on the basis of a case study of a city exposed to multiple hazards, in a developing country. The courses consists of eight modules, each with a guide book explaining the theoretical background, and guiding the participants through spatial data requirements for risk assessment, hazard assessment procedures, generation of elements at risk databases, vulnerability assessment, qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methods, risk evaluation and risk reduction. Linked to the theory is a large set of exercises, with exercise descriptions, answer sheets, demos and GIS data. The exercises deal with four different types of hazards: earthquakes, flooding, technological hazards, and landslides. One important consideration in designing the course is that people from developing countries should not be restricted in using it due to financial burdens for software acquisition. Therefore the aim was to use Open Source software as a basis. The GIS exercises are written for the ILWIS software. All exercises have also been integrated into a WebGIS, using the Open source software CartoWeb (based on GNU License). It is modular and customizable thanks to its object-oriented architecture and based on a hierarchical structure (to manage and organize every package of information of every step required in risk assessment). Different switches for every component of the risk assessment

  18. SOFTWARE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT: AWARENESS, USE, AND BENEFITS IN CANADIAN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT FIRMS

    OpenAIRE

    CHEVERS, DELROY

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Since 1982, the software development community has been concerned with the delivery of quality systems. Software process improvement (SPI) is an initiative to avoid the delivery of low quality systems. However, the awareness and adoption of SPI is low. Thus, this study examines the rate of awareness, use, and benefits of SPI initiatives in Canadian software development firms. Using SPSS as the analytical tool, this study found that 59% of Canadian software development firms are aware...

  19. Energy Spectral Behaviors of Communication Networks of Open-Source Communities.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianmei Yang

    Full Text Available Large-scale online collaborative production activities in open-source communities must be accompanied by large-scale communication activities. Nowadays, the production activities of open-source communities, especially their communication activities, have been more and more concerned. Take CodePlex C # community for example, this paper constructs the complex network models of 12 periods of communication structures of the community based on real data; then discusses the basic concepts of quantum mapping of complex networks, and points out that the purpose of the mapping is to study the structures of complex networks according to the idea of quantum mechanism in studying the structures of large molecules; finally, according to this idea, analyzes and compares the fractal features of the spectra in different quantum mappings of the networks, and concludes that there are multiple self-similarity and criticality in the communication structures of the community. In addition, this paper discusses the insights and application conditions of different quantum mappings in revealing the characteristics of the structures. The proposed quantum mapping method can also be applied to the structural studies of other large-scale organizations.

  20. Validation of the Open Source Code_Aster Software Used in the Modal Analysis of the Fluid-filled Cylindrical Shell

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B D. Kashfutdinov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with a modal analysis of the elastic cylindrical shell with a clamped bottom partially filled with fluid in open source Code_Aster software using the finite element method. Natural frequencies and modes obtained in Code_Aster are compared to experimental and theoretical data. The aim of this paper is to prove that Code_Aster has all necessary tools for solving fluid structure interaction problems. Also, Code_Aster can be used in the industrial projects as an alternative to commercial software. The available free pre- and post-processors with a graphical user interface that is compatible with Code_Aster allow creating complex models and processing the results.The paper presents new validation results of open source Code_Aster software used to calculate small natural modes of the cylindrical shell partially filled with non-viscous compressible barotropic fluid under gravity field.The displacement of the middle surface of thin shell and the displacement of the fluid relative to the equilibrium position are described by coupled hydro-elasticity problem. The fluid flow is considered to be potential. The finite element method (FEM is used. The features of computational model are described. The resolution equation has symmetrical block matrices. To compare the results, is discussed the well-known modal analysis problem of cylindrical shell with flat non-deformable bottom, filled with a compressible fluid. The numerical parameters of the scheme were chosen in accordance with well-known experimental and analytical data. Three cases were taken into account: an empty, a partially filled and a full-filled cylindrical shell.The frequencies of Code_Aster are in good agreement with those, obtained in experiment, analytical solution, as well as with results obtained by FEM in other software. The difference between experiment and analytical solution in software is approximately the same. The obtained results extend a set of validation tests for

  1. FIMTrack: An open source tracking and locomotion analysis software for small animals.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin Risse

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Imaging and analyzing the locomotion behavior of small animals such as Drosophila larvae or C. elegans worms has become an integral subject of biological research. In the past we have introduced FIM, a novel imaging system feasible to extract high contrast images. This system in combination with the associated tracking software FIMTrack is already used by many groups all over the world. However, so far there has not been an in-depth discussion of the technical aspects. Here we elaborate on the implementation details of FIMTrack and give an in-depth explanation of the used algorithms. Among others, the software offers several tracking strategies to cover a wide range of different model organisms, locomotion types, and camera properties. Furthermore, the software facilitates stimuli-based analysis in combination with built-in manual tracking and correction functionalities. All features are integrated in an easy-to-use graphical user interface. To demonstrate the potential of FIMTrack we provide an evaluation of its accuracy using manually labeled data. The source code is available under the GNU GPLv3 at https://github.com/i-git/FIMTrack and pre-compiled binaries for Windows and Mac are available at http://fim.uni-muenster.de.

  2. The social disutility of software ownership.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, David M

    2011-09-01

    Software ownership allows the owner to restrict the distribution of software and to prevent others from reading the software's source code and building upon it. However, free software is released to users under software licenses that give them the right to read the source code, modify it, reuse it, and distribute the software to others. Proponents of free software such as Richard M. Stallman and Eben Moglen argue that the social disutility of software ownership is a sufficient justification for prohibiting it. This social disutility includes the social instability of disregarding laws and agreements covering software use and distribution, inequality of software access, and the inability to help others by sharing software with them. Here I consider these and other social disutility claims against withholding specific software rights from users, in particular, the rights to read the source code, duplicate, distribute, modify, imitate, and reuse portions of the software within new programs. I find that generally while withholding these rights from software users does cause some degree of social disutility, only the rights to duplicate, modify and imitate cannot legitimately be denied to users on this basis. The social disutility of withholding the rights to distribute the software, read its source code and reuse portions of it in new programs is insufficient to prohibit software owners from denying them to users. A compromise between the software owner and user can minimise the social disutility of withholding these particular rights from users. However, the social disutility caused by software patents is sufficient for rejecting such patents as they restrict the methods of reducing social disutility possible with other forms of software ownership.

  3. BENEFITS AND SUCCESS FACTORS OF OPEN-SOURCE WEB SERVICES DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS FOR SMALL SOFTWARE HOUSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valter de Assis Moreno Jr.

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available It is usually difficult for companies to keep up with the development of new information technologies and adapt to them in face of the opportunities and threats their advances may represent. This is especially true for small and medium enterprises (SME in emerging economies, where resources tend to be scarce and markets more volatile. This paper describes an action research conducted in a small Brazilian software house that adopted an open-source Web Services development platform in order to improve its software development process. Data analysis revealed critical success factors (CSF in the adoption process, as well as specific benefits and barriers prone to be faced by small software houses in their adoption efforts. In the process of overcoming such barriers, SME may acquire intellectual capital that represents an essential resource to ensure their competitiveness and survival in emerging economies.

  4. Dynamic robustness of knowledge collaboration network of open source product development community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hong-Li; Zhang, Xiao-Dong

    2018-01-01

    As an emergent innovative design style, open source product development communities are characterized by a self-organizing, mass collaborative, networked structure. The robustness of the community is critical to its performance. Using the complex network modeling method, the knowledge collaboration network of the community is formulated, and the robustness of the network is systematically and dynamically studied. The characteristics of the network along the development period determine that its robustness should be studied from three time stages: the start-up, development and mature stages of the network. Five kinds of user-loss pattern are designed, to assess the network's robustness under different situations in each of these three time stages. Two indexes - the largest connected component and the network efficiency - are used to evaluate the robustness of the community. The proposed approach is applied in an existing open source car design community. The results indicate that the knowledge collaboration networks show different levels of robustness in different stages and different user loss patterns. Such analysis can be applied to provide protection strategies for the key users involved in knowledge dissemination and knowledge contribution at different stages of the network, thereby promoting the sustainable and stable development of the open source community.

  5. Strengthening Software Authentication with the ROSE Software Suite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, G

    2006-01-01

    Many recent nonproliferation and arms control software projects include a software authentication regime. These include U.S. Government-sponsored projects both in the United States and in the Russian Federation (RF). This trend toward requiring software authentication is only accelerating. Demonstrating assurance that software performs as expected without hidden ''backdoors'' is crucial to a project's success. In this context, ''authentication'' is defined as determining that a software package performs only its intended purpose and performs said purpose correctly and reliably over the planned duration of an agreement. In addition to visual inspections by knowledgeable computer scientists, automated tools are needed to highlight suspicious code constructs, both to aid visual inspection and to guide program development. While many commercial tools are available for portions of the authentication task, they are proprietary and not extensible. An open-source, extensible tool can be customized to the unique needs of each project (projects can have both common and custom rules to detect flaws and security holes). Any such extensible tool has to be based on a complete language compiler. ROSE is precisely such a compiler infrastructure developed within the Department of Energy (DOE) and targeted at the optimization of scientific applications and user-defined libraries within large-scale applications (typically applications of a million lines of code). ROSE is a robust, source-to-source analysis and optimization infrastructure currently addressing large, million-line DOE applications in C and C++ (handling the full C, C99, C++ languages and with current collaborations to support Fortran90). We propose to extend ROSE to address a number of security-specific requirements, and apply it to software authentication for nonproliferation and arms control projects

  6. Current status and future direction of the MONK software package

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, Nigel; Armishaw, Malcolm; Cooper, Andrew

    2003-01-01

    The current status of the MONK criticality software package is summarized in terms of recent and current developments and envisaged directions for the future. The areas of the discussion are physics modeling, geometry modeling, source modeling, nuclear data, validation, supporting tools and customer services. In future development plan, MONK continues to be focused on meeting the short and long-term needs of the code user community. (J.P.N.)

  7. VMStools: Open-source software for the processing, analysis and visualisation of fisheries logbook and VMS data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hintzen, N.T.; Bastardie, F.; Beare, D.J.; Piet, G.J.; Ulrich, C.; Deporte, N.; Egekvist, J.; Degel, H.

    2012-01-01

    VMStools is a package of open-source software, build using the freeware environment R, specifically developed for the processing, analysis and visualisation of landings (logbooks) and vessel location data (VMS) from commercial fisheries. Analyses start with standardized data formats for logbook

  8. 2006 XSD Scientific Software Workshop report.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Evans, K., Jr.; De Carlo, F.; Jemian, P.; Lang, J.; Lienert, U.; Maclean, J.; Newville, M.; Tieman, B.; Toby, B.; van Veenendaal, B.; Univ. of Chicago

    2006-01-22

    In May of 2006, a committee was formed to assess the fundamental needs and opportunities in scientific software for x-ray data reduction, analysis, modeling, and simulation. This committee held a series of discussions throughout the summer, conducted a poll of the members of the x-ray community, and held a workshop. This report details the findings and recommendations of the committee. Each experiment performed at the APS requires three crucial ingredients: the powerful x-ray source, an optimized instrument to perform measurements, and computer software to acquire, visualize, and analyze the experimental observations. While the APS has invested significant resources in the accelerator, investment in other areas such as scientific software for data analysis and visualization has lagged behind. This has led to the adoption of a wide variety of software with variable levels of usability. In order to maximize the scientific output of the APS, it is essential to support the broad development of real-time analysis and data visualization software. As scientists attack problems of increasing sophistication and deal with larger and more complex data sets, software is playing an ever more important role. Furthermore, our need for excellent and flexible scientific software can only be expected to increase, as the upgrade of the APS facility and the implementation of advanced detectors create a host of new measurement capabilities. New software analysis tools must be developed to take full advantage of these capabilities. It is critical that the APS take the lead in software development and the implementation of theory to software to ensure the continued success of this facility. The topics described in this report are relevant to the APS today and critical for the APS upgrade plan. Implementing these recommendations will have a positive impact on the scientific productivity of the APS today and will be even more critical in the future.

  9. Development of a gamma ray spectrometry software for neutron activation analysis using the open source concept

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lucia, Silvio Rogerio de; Maihara, Vera Akiko; Menezes, Mario O. de

    2009-01-01

    In this work, a new software - SAANI (Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis Software) was developed and used for gamma ray spectra analysis in the Neutron Activation Laboratory (LAN) of the Nuclear and Energetic Research Institute (IPEN-CNEN/SP). The software was developed to completely replace the old one - VISPECT. Besides the visual improvement in the user interface, the new software will allow the standardization of several procedures which are done nowadays in several different ways by each researcher, avoiding intermediate steps in the calculations. By using a modern programming language - Python, together with the graphical library Qt (by Trolltech), both multi-platform, the new software is able to run in Windows, Linux and other platforms. In addition to this, the new software has being designed to be extensible through plug-ins. In order to achieve the proposed initial scope, that is, completely replace the old software, SAANI has undergone several and different kinds of tests, using spectra from certified reference materials, standards and common spectra already analyzed by other software or that were used in international inter-comparisons. The results obtained by SAANI in all tests were considered very good. Some small discrepancies were found and after careful search and analysis, their source was identified as being an accuracy bug in the old software. Usability and robustness tests were conducted by installing SAANI in several laboratory computers and following them during daily utilization. The results of these tests also indicated that SAANI was ready to be used by all researchers in the LAN-IPEN. (author)

  10. The empowerment potential of public sector software (PSS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pradip Ninan Thomas

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Investigations into the potential for public sector software (PSS to empower citizens are at a very nascent stage. This article explores the theoretical basis for, and practical advantages of, PSS, in the making of an informed and pro-active citizenry. Using the example of the emerging PSS movement in India and in particular the ICT literacy movement in Kerala, South India, it argues, that access to and use of software based on the principles of free and open source has the potential to contribute to an empowered citizenry. However the very concept of PSS is contested by major private software companies given that they stand to lose from public investments that are based on open standards. The article argues that PSS can contribute to the making of an ‘information commons’ and that the need of the hour is for innovative and creative solutions to the information deficits faced by communities in India and elsewhere.

  11. Building Spaces of Exclusivity: An Ethnographic Approach to Indian and Colombian Women’s Role and Experience in Local Free Software Communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Pérez-Bustos

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to account for the ways women integrating the free software community in two countries from the global South negotiate with feminizing paradigms imposed to them by the collectives interested in popularizating free technologies. Through an ethnographic approach to vital experiences of women in the Indian collective Linux-Chix, and holding a dialog with the experiences of non-organized women in the free software community in Colombia, this paper suggests these negotiations are going to be materialized primarily in the constitution of survival strategies from which certain civilizing projects are particularly vindicated, some of which seem to promote a Western paradigm of female subjectivity.

  12. Reflexiones sobre una etnografía feminista del Software Libre en Colombia Insights on a feminist ethnography of the Free Software community in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tania Pérez Bustos

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available El presente artículo muestra las reflexiones etnográficas de una investigadora que indaga sobre el rol de un grupo de mujeres dentro de la comunidad del Software Libre en Colombia. Particularmente se problematizan las maneras en que la práctica etnográfica, desde las perspectivas feministas, contribuye en la (reconstrucción del género como una categoría analítica en las realidades sociales que estudia.The article presents the ethnographic insights of a woman researcher that investigates the role of a group of women inside the Free Software community in Colombia. Particularly the article questions how the ethnographic practice, from a feminist perspective, contributes to the (reconstruction of gender as an analytical category on the social realities it studies.

  13. Implementation of an OAIS Repository Using Free, Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flathers, E.; Gessler, P. E.; Seamon, E.

    2015-12-01

    The Northwest Knowledge Network (NKN) is a regional data repository located at the University of Idaho that focuses on the collection, curation, and distribution of research data. To support our home institution and others in the region, we offer services to researchers at all stages of the data lifecycle—from grant application and data management planning to data distribution and archive. In this role, we recognize the need to work closely with other data management efforts at partner institutions and agencies, as well as with larger aggregation efforts such as our state geospatial data clearinghouses, data.gov, DataONE, and others. In the past, one of our challenges with monolithic, prepackaged data management solutions is that customization can be difficult to implement and maintain, especially as new versions of the software are released that are incompatible with our local codebase. Our solution is to break the monolith up into its constituent parts, which offers us several advantages. First, any customizations that we make are likely to fall into areas that can be accessed through Application Program Interfaces (API) that are likely to remain stable over time, so our code stays compatible. Second, as components become obsolete or insufficient to meet new demands that arise, we can replace the individual components with minimal effect on the rest of the infrastructure, causing less disruption to operations. Other advantages include increased system reliability, staggered rollout of new features, enhanced compatibility with legacy systems, reduced dependence on a single software company as a point of failure, and the separation of development into manageable tasks. In this presentation, we describe our application of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design paradigm to assemble a data repository that conforms to the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model primarily using a collection of free and open-source software. We detail the design

  14. ProjectQ: an open source software framework for quantum computing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Damian S. Steiger

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We introduce ProjectQ, an open source software effort for quantum computing. The first release features a compiler framework capable of targeting various types of hardware, a high-performance simulator with emulation capabilities, and compiler plug-ins for circuit drawing and resource estimation. We introduce our Python-embedded domain-specific language, present the features, and provide example implementations for quantum algorithms. The framework allows testing of quantum algorithms through simulation and enables running them on actual quantum hardware using a back-end connecting to the IBM Quantum Experience cloud service. Through extension mechanisms, users can provide back-ends to further quantum hardware, and scientists working on quantum compilation can provide plug-ins for additional compilation, optimization, gate synthesis, and layout strategies.

  15. A spin-off company helps to unlock the full potential of Invenio software

    CERN Multimedia

    Andrew Purcell

    2015-01-01

    In recent years, the success of Invenio meant that the team of software developers based in the CERN IT Department were receiving more and more requests to assist organisations in creating new Invenio installations, as well as providing support for them. The large number of support requests required a new solution. CERN therefore decided to help a team of budding young entrepreneurs to set up a company to provide specialist Invenio support.   The TIND team visits the CERN Data Centre. Image: Martin Fürbach. What do the CERN Document Server, the CERN Open Data Portal, EUDAT’s B2SHARE, INSPIRE and Zenodo all have in common? Easy, they all run using the open-source software Invenio. The Invenio software suite is designed to support online digital libraries and document repositories. On the CERN Document Server, for instance, it manages around 1.5 million bibliographic records. Since its launch in 2002, a highly active open-source community has grown around Invenio...

  16. OptFlux: an open-source software platform for in silico metabolic engineering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rocha, I.; Maia, P.; Evangelista, P.

    2010-01-01

    to address industrial goals. However, the use of these methods has been restricted to bioinformaticians or other expert researchers. The main aim of this work is, therefore, to provide a user-friendly computational tool for Metabolic Engineering applications. Results: OptFlux is an open-source and modular...... available a number of useful tools. Its open-source nature invites contributions by all those interested in making their methods available for the community. Given its plug-in based architecture it can be extended with new functionalities. Currently, several plug-ins are being developed, including network...

  17. No free lunch for software after all

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rutkowski, Anne-Francoise; van Genugten, Michiel; Hatton, L.

    Software's lack of reproduction costs provides benefits to not just legitimate developers but also people who want to use software for criminal purposes. The software community must address this issue or risk disenfranchising the users on whom the software industry depends.

  18. High Resolution Topography of Polar Regions from Commercial Satellite Imagery, Petascale Computing and Open Source Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morin, Paul; Porter, Claire; Cloutier, Michael; Howat, Ian; Noh, Myoung-Jong; Willis, Michael; Kramer, WIlliam; Bauer, Greg; Bates, Brian; Williamson, Cathleen

    2017-04-01

    Surface topography is among the most fundamental data sets for geosciences, essential for disciplines ranging from glaciology to geodynamics. Two new projects are using sub-meter, commercial imagery licensed by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and open source photogrammetry software to produce a time-tagged 2m posting elevation model of the Arctic and an 8m posting reference elevation model for the Antarctic. When complete, this publically available data will be at higher resolution than any elevation models that cover the entirety of the Western United States. These two polar projects are made possible due to three equally important factors: 1) open-source photogrammetry software, 2) petascale computing, and 3) sub-meter imagery licensed to the United States Government. Our talk will detail the technical challenges of using automated photogrammetry software; the rapid workflow evolution to allow DEM production; the task of deploying the workflow on one of the world's largest supercomputers; the trials of moving massive amounts of data, and the management strategies the team needed to solve in order to meet deadlines. Finally, we will discuss the implications of this type of collaboration for future multi-team use of leadership-class systems such as Blue Waters, and for further elevation mapping.

  19. Building a cooperative digital libary with open source software - the case of CLACSO in Latin America

    OpenAIRE

    Babini, Dominique

    2006-01-01

    Description of why and how the Latin American Social Science Council (CLACSO-Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales) has developed a cooperative digital library with open source Greenstone software, to build digital collections for its member institutes in 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean

  20. Portal for Families Overcoming Neurodevelopmental Disorders (PFOND): Implementation of a Software Framework for Facilitated Community Website Creation by Nontechnical Volunteers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ye, Xin Cynthia; Ng, Isaiah; Seid-Karbasi, Puya; Imam, Tuhina; Lee, Cheryl E; Chen, Shirley Yu; Herman, Adam; Sharma, Balraj; Johal, Gurinder; Gu, Bobby; Wasserman, Wyeth W

    2013-08-06

    The Portal for Families Overcoming Neurodevelopmental Disorders (PFOND) provides a structured Internet interface for the sharing of information with individuals struggling with the consequences of rare developmental disorders. Large disease-impacted communities can support fundraising organizations that disseminate Web-based information through elegant websites run by professional staff. Such quality resources for families challenged by rare disorders are infrequently produced and, when available, are often dependent upon the continued efforts of a single individual. The project endeavors to create an intuitive Web-based software system that allows a volunteer with limited technical computer skills to produce a useful rare disease website in a short time period. Such a system should provide access to emerging news and research findings, facilitate community participation, present summary information about the disorder, and allow for transient management by volunteers who are likely to change periodically. The prototype portal was implemented using the WordPress software system with both existing and customized supplementary plug-in software modules. Gamification scoring features were implemented in a module, allowing editors to measure progress. The system was installed on a Linux-based computer server, accessible across the Internet through standard Web browsers. A prototype PFOND system was implemented and tested. The prototype system features a structured organization with distinct partitions for background information, recent publications, and community discussions. The software design allows volunteer editors to create a themed website, implement a limited set of topic pages, and connect the software to dynamic RSS feeds providing information about recent news or advances. The prototype was assessed by a fraction of the disease sites developed (8 out of 27), including Aarskog-Scott syndrome, Aniridia, Adams-Oliver syndrome, Cat Eye syndrome, Kabuki syndrome

  1. OSGeo - Open Source Geospatial Foundation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margherita Di Leo

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available L'esigenza nata verso la fine del 2005 di selezionare ed organizzare più di 200 progetti FOSS4G porta alla nascita nel Febbraio2006 di OSGeo (the Open Source Geospatial Foundation, organizzazione internazionale la cui mission è promuovere lo sviluppo collaborativo di software libero focalizzato sull'informazione geografica (FOSS4G.Open   Source   Geospatial   Foundation (OSGeoThe Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo  is  a  not-for-profit  organization, created  in  early  2006  to  the  aim  at  sup-porting   the   collaborative   development of  geospatial  open  source  software,  and promote its widespread use. The founda-tion provides financial, organizational and legal support to the broader open source geospatial community. It also serves as an independent  legal  entity  to  which  com-munity  members  can  contribute  code, funding  and  other  resources,  secure  in the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit. OSGeo also  serves  as  an  outreach  and  advocacy organization for the open source geospa-tial  community,  and  provides  a  common forum  and  shared  infrastructure  for  im-proving  cross-project  collaboration.  The foundation's projects are all freely available and  useable  under  an  OSI-certified  open source license. The Italian OSGeo local chapter is named GFOSS.it     (Associazione     Italiana     per l'informazione Geografica Libera.

  2. Open-source implementation of an ad-hoc IEEE802.11a/g/p software-defined radio on low-power and low-cost general purpose processors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Ciccia

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This work proposes a low-cost and low-power software-defined radio open-source platform with IEEE 802.11 a/g/p wireless communication capability. A state-of-the-art version of the IEEE 802.11 a/g/p software for GNU Radio (a free and open-source software development framework is available online, but we show here that its computational complexity prevents operations in low-power general purpose processors, even at throughputs below the standard. We therefore propose an evolution of this software that achieves a faster and lighter IEEE 802.11 a/g/p transmitter and receiver, suitable for low-power general purpose processors, for which GNU Radio provides very limited support; we discuss and describe the software radio processing structuring that is necessary to achieve the goal, providing a review of signal processing techniques. In particular, we emphasize the advanced reduced-instruction set (RISC machine (ARM study case, for which we also optimize some of the processing libraries. The presented software will remain open-source.

  3. Celeris: A GPU-accelerated open source software with a Boussinesq-type wave solver for real-time interactive simulation and visualization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavakkol, Sasan; Lynett, Patrick

    2017-08-01

    In this paper, we introduce an interactive coastal wave simulation and visualization software, called Celeris. Celeris is an open source software which needs minimum preparation to run on a Windows machine. The software solves the extended Boussinesq equations using a hybrid finite volume-finite difference method and supports moving shoreline boundaries. The simulation and visualization are performed on the GPU using Direct3D libraries, which enables the software to run faster than real-time. Celeris provides a first-of-its-kind interactive modeling platform for coastal wave applications and it supports simultaneous visualization with both photorealistic and colormapped rendering capabilities. We validate our software through comparison with three standard benchmarks for non-breaking and breaking waves.

  4. CDApps: integrated software for experimental planning and data processing at beamline B23, Diamond Light Source.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hussain, Rohanah; Benning, Kristian; Javorfi, Tamas; Longo, Edoardo; Rudd, Timothy R; Pulford, Bill; Siligardi, Giuliano

    2015-03-01

    The B23 Circular Dichroism beamline at Diamond Light Source has been operational since 2009 and has seen visits from more than 200 user groups, who have generated large amounts of data. Based on the experience of overseeing the users' progress at B23, four key areas requiring the most assistance are identified: planning of experiments and note-keeping; designing titration experiments; processing and analysis of the collected data; and production of experimental reports. To streamline these processes an integrated software package has been developed and made available for the users. The subsequent article summarizes the main features of the software.

  5. Community Assessment of Natural Food Sources of Vitamin A ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    1997-01-01

    Jan 1, 1997 ... This manual presents a practical step-by-step guide for assessing various aspects of natural food sources of vitamin A within a community and is essential for any research program involved in alleviating vitamin A deficiency.

  6. The Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics as a Community of Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, L.; Kellogg, L. H.

    2016-12-01

    Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG), geodynamics.org, originated in 2005 out of community recognition that the efforts of individual or small groups of researchers to develop scientifically-sound software is impossible to sustain, duplicates effort, and makes it difficult for scientists to adopt state-of-the art computational methods that promote new discovery. As a community of practice, participants in CIG share an interest in computational modeling in geodynamics and work together on open source software to build the capacity to support complex, extensible, scalable, interoperable, reliable, and reusable software in an effort to increase the return on investment in scientific software development and increase the quality of the resulting software. The group interacts regularly to learn from each other and better their practices formally through webinar series, workshops, and tutorials and informally through listservs and hackathons. Over the past decade, we have learned that successful scientific software development requires at a minimum: collaboration between domain-expert researchers, software developers and computational scientists; clearly identified and committed lead developer(s); well-defined scientific and computational goals that are regularly evaluated and updated; well-defined benchmarks and testing throughout development; attention throughout development to usability and extensibility; understanding and evaluation of the complexity of dependent libraries; and managed user expectations through education, training, and support. CIG's code donation standards provide the basis for recently formalized best practices in software development (geodynamics.org/cig/dev/best-practices/). Best practices include use of version control; widely used, open source software libraries; extensive test suites; portable configuration and build systems; extensive documentation internal and external to the code; and structured, human readable input formats.

  7. Application of Open Source Software by the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramirez, P.; Goodale, C. E.; Bui, B.; Chang, G.; Kim, R. M.; Law, E.; Malhotra, S.; Rodriguez, L.; Sadaqathullah, S.; Mattmann, C. A.; Crichton, D. J.

    2011-12-01

    The Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project (LMMP), led by the Marshall Space Flight center (MSFC), is responsible for the development of an information system to support lunar exploration, decision analysis, and release of lunar data to the public. The data available through the lunar portal is predominantly derived from present lunar missions (e.g., the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)) and from historical missions (e.g., Apollo). This project has created a gold source of data, models, and tools for lunar explorers to exercise and incorporate into their activities. At Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), we focused on engineering and building the infrastructure to support cataloging, archiving, accessing, and delivery of lunar data. We decided to use a RESTful service-oriented architecture to enable us to abstract from the underlying technology choices and focus on interfaces to be used internally and externally. This decision allowed us to leverage several open source software components and integrate them by either writing a thin REST service layer or relying on the API they provided; the approach chosen was dependent on the targeted consumer of a given interface. We will discuss our varying experience using open source products; namely Apache OODT, Oracle Berkley DB XML, Apache Solr, and Oracle OpenSSO (now named OpenAM). Apache OODT, developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and recently migrated over to Apache, provided the means for ingestion and cataloguing of products within the infrastructure. Its usage was based upon team experience with the project and past benefit received on other projects internal and external to JPL. Berkeley DB XML, distributed by Oracle for both commercial and open source use, was the storage technology chosen for our metadata. This decision was in part based on our use Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Metadata, which is expressed in XML, and the desire to keep it in its native form and exploit other technologies built on

  8. WE-D-9A-06: Open Source Monitor Calibration and Quality Control Software for Enterprise Display Management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bevins, N; Vanderhoek, M; Lang, S; Flynn, M [Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States)

    2014-06-15

    Purpose: Medical display monitor calibration and quality control present challenges to medical physicists. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate and share experiences with an open source package that allows for both initial monitor setup and routine performance evaluation. Methods: A software package, pacsDisplay, has been developed over the last decade to aid in the calibration of all monitors within the radiology group in our health system. The software is used to calibrate monitors to follow the DICOM Grayscale Standard Display Function (GSDF) via lookup tables installed on the workstation. Additional functionality facilitates periodic evaluations of both primary and secondary medical monitors to ensure satisfactory performance. This software is installed on all radiology workstations, and can also be run as a stand-alone tool from a USB disk. Recently, a database has been developed to store and centralize the monitor performance data and to provide long-term trends for compliance with internal standards and various accrediting organizations. Results: Implementation and utilization of pacsDisplay has resulted in improved monitor performance across the health system. Monitor testing is now performed at regular intervals and the software is being used across multiple imaging modalities. Monitor performance characteristics such as maximum and minimum luminance, ambient luminance and illuminance, color tracking, and GSDF conformity are loaded into a centralized database for system performance comparisons. Compliance reports for organizations such as MQSA, ACR, and TJC are generated automatically and stored in the same database. Conclusion: An open source software solution has simplified and improved the standardization of displays within our health system. This work serves as an example method for calibrating and testing monitors within an enterprise health system.

  9. WE-D-9A-06: Open Source Monitor Calibration and Quality Control Software for Enterprise Display Management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bevins, N; Vanderhoek, M; Lang, S; Flynn, M

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Medical display monitor calibration and quality control present challenges to medical physicists. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate and share experiences with an open source package that allows for both initial monitor setup and routine performance evaluation. Methods: A software package, pacsDisplay, has been developed over the last decade to aid in the calibration of all monitors within the radiology group in our health system. The software is used to calibrate monitors to follow the DICOM Grayscale Standard Display Function (GSDF) via lookup tables installed on the workstation. Additional functionality facilitates periodic evaluations of both primary and secondary medical monitors to ensure satisfactory performance. This software is installed on all radiology workstations, and can also be run as a stand-alone tool from a USB disk. Recently, a database has been developed to store and centralize the monitor performance data and to provide long-term trends for compliance with internal standards and various accrediting organizations. Results: Implementation and utilization of pacsDisplay has resulted in improved monitor performance across the health system. Monitor testing is now performed at regular intervals and the software is being used across multiple imaging modalities. Monitor performance characteristics such as maximum and minimum luminance, ambient luminance and illuminance, color tracking, and GSDF conformity are loaded into a centralized database for system performance comparisons. Compliance reports for organizations such as MQSA, ACR, and TJC are generated automatically and stored in the same database. Conclusion: An open source software solution has simplified and improved the standardization of displays within our health system. This work serves as an example method for calibrating and testing monitors within an enterprise health system

  10. PASSIM – an open source software system for managing information in biomedical studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neogi Sudeshna

    2007-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background One of the crucial aspects of day-to-day laboratory information management is collection, storage and retrieval of information about research subjects and biomedical samples. An efficient link between sample data and experiment results is absolutely imperative for a successful outcome of a biomedical study. Currently available software solutions are largely limited to large-scale, expensive commercial Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS. Acquiring such LIMS indeed can bring laboratory information management to a higher level, but often implies sufficient investment of time, effort and funds, which are not always available. There is a clear need for lightweight open source systems for patient and sample information management. Results We present a web-based tool for submission, management and retrieval of sample and research subject data. The system secures confidentiality by separating anonymized sample information from individuals' records. It is simple and generic, and can be customised for various biomedical studies. Information can be both entered and accessed using the same web interface. User groups and their privileges can be defined. The system is open-source and is supplied with an on-line tutorial and necessary documentation. It has proven to be successful in a large international collaborative project. Conclusion The presented system closes the gap between the need and the availability of lightweight software solutions for managing information in biomedical studies involving human research subjects.

  11. CACTI: free, open-source software for the sequential coding of behavioral interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glynn, Lisa H; Hallgren, Kevin A; Houck, Jon M; Moyers, Theresa B

    2012-01-01

    The sequential analysis of client and clinician speech in psychotherapy sessions can help to identify and characterize potential mechanisms of treatment and behavior change. Previous studies required coding systems that were time-consuming, expensive, and error-prone. Existing software can be expensive and inflexible, and furthermore, no single package allows for pre-parsing, sequential coding, and assignment of global ratings. We developed a free, open-source, and adaptable program to meet these needs: The CASAA Application for Coding Treatment Interactions (CACTI). Without transcripts, CACTI facilitates the real-time sequential coding of behavioral interactions using WAV-format audio files. Most elements of the interface are user-modifiable through a simple XML file, and can be further adapted using Java through the terms of the GNU Public License. Coding with this software yields interrater reliabilities comparable to previous methods, but at greatly reduced time and expense. CACTI is a flexible research tool that can simplify psychotherapy process research, and has the potential to contribute to the improvement of treatment content and delivery.

  12. Network Distributed Data Acquisition, Storage, and Graphical Live Display Software for a Laser Ion Source at CERN

    CERN Document Server

    Rossel, Ralf Erik; Rothe, Sebastian

    2014-01-01

    This project documentation outlines the requirements and implementation details for the measurement data recording software currently in development for the Resonance Ionisation Laser Ion Source (RILIS) at CERN. The software is capable of acquiring data from multiple laser parameter monitoring devices and associating the gathered values to represent qualitative and quantitative measurements. The measurement data is displayed graphically within the program and recorded to files for later analysis. The main application of the software is the acquisition coordination and recording of measurement data during spectroscopy experiments performed by RILIS and collaborating experiments. This document describes the design concept and detailed program implementation status at the end of July 2014 and provides an outlook to future developments in RILIS spectroscopy data acquisition.

  13. Freedom as in a Self-Sustainable Community: The Free Software Movement and Its Challenge to Copyright Law

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shun-Ling

    2006-01-01

    Copyright law, together with the market logic it carries, penetrates deeply into our daily life. The copyright regime is so restrictive that it turns a normal learning process into a series of potential copyright violations. The Free Software Movement (FSM) represents a substantial community effort to counter this trend. It seeks to supersede the…

  14. nanoHUB.org: Experiences and Challenges in Software Sustainability for a Large Scientific Community

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lynn Zentner

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The science gateway nanoHUB.org, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF, serves a large scientific community dedicated to research and education in nanotechnology with community-contributed simulation codes as well as a vast repository of other materials such as recorded presentations, teaching materials, and workshops and courses. Nearly 330,000 users annually access over 4400 items of content on nanoHUB, including 343 simulation tools. Arguably the largest nanotechnology facility in the world, nanoHUB has led the way not only in providing open access to scientific code in the nanotechnology community, but also in lowering barriers to the use of that code, by providing a platform where developers are able to easily and quickly deploy code written in a variety of languages with user-friendly graphical user interfaces and where users can run the latest versions of codes transparently on the grid or other powerful resources without ever having to download or update code. Being a leader in open access code deployment provides nanoHUB with opportunities and challenges as it meets the current and future needs of its community. This paper discusses the experiences of nanoHUB in addressing and adapting to the changing landscape of scientific software in ways that best serve its community and meet the needs of the largest portion of its user base.

  15. Problem-formulation and problem-solving in self-organized communities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Nicolai J.; Frederiksen, Lars; Rullani, Francesco

    2016-01-01

    Building on the problem-solving perspective, we study behaviors related to projects and the communication-based antecedents of such behaviors in the free open-source software (FOSS) community. We examine two kinds of problem/project-behaviors: Individuals can set up projects around the formulation...

  16. Towards synergy between the open source and the research multimedia communities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.S. Cesar Garcia (Pablo Santiago); W.T. Ooi (Wei Tsang); B. Moskowitz; Z. Babin; D.C.A. Bulterman (Dick); R. Lienhart; R. Richter

    2011-01-01

    htmlabstractThis panel extends current efforts from the ACM Multimedia 2011 Organization Committee in taking an important step towards open source projects. The panelists include speakers who are among the leading figures from the open source community. The goal is to provide a shared space for

  17. Pro Linux system administration learn to build systems for your business using free and open source software

    CERN Document Server

    Matotek, Dennis; Lieverdink, Peter

    2017-01-01

    This book aims to ease the entry of businesses to the world of zero-cost software running on Linux. It takes a layered, component-based approach to open source business systems, while training system administrators as the builders of business infrastructure.

  18. Open cyberGIS software for geospatial research and education in the big data era

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shaowen; Liu, Yan; Padmanabhan, Anand

    CyberGIS represents an interdisciplinary field combining advanced cyberinfrastructure, geographic information science and systems (GIS), spatial analysis and modeling, and a number of geospatial domains to improve research productivity and enable scientific breakthroughs. It has emerged as new-generation GIS that enable unprecedented advances in data-driven knowledge discovery, visualization and visual analytics, and collaborative problem solving and decision-making. This paper describes three open software strategies-open access, source, and integration-to serve various research and education purposes of diverse geospatial communities. These strategies have been implemented in a leading-edge cyberGIS software environment through three corresponding software modalities: CyberGIS Gateway, Toolkit, and Middleware, and achieved broad and significant impacts.

  19. Open cyberGIS software for geospatial research and education in the big data era

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaowen Wang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available CyberGIS represents an interdisciplinary field combining advanced cyberinfrastructure, geographic information science and systems (GIS, spatial analysis and modeling, and a number of geospatial domains to improve research productivity and enable scientific breakthroughs. It has emerged as new-generation GIS that enable unprecedented advances in data-driven knowledge discovery, visualization and visual analytics, and collaborative problem solving and decision-making. This paper describes three open software strategies–open access, source, and integration–to serve various research and education purposes of diverse geospatial communities. These strategies have been implemented in a leading-edge cyberGIS software environment through three corresponding software modalities: CyberGIS Gateway, Toolkit, and Middleware, and achieved broad and significant impacts.

  20. Your Personal Analysis Toolkit - An Open Source Solution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, T.

    2009-12-01

    Open source software is commonly known for its web browsers, word processors and programming languages. However, there is a vast array of open source software focused on geographic information management and geospatial application building in general. As geo-professionals, having easy access to tools for our jobs is crucial. Open source software provides the opportunity to add a tool to your tool belt and carry it with you for your entire career - with no license fees, a supportive community and the opportunity to test, adopt and upgrade at your own pace. OSGeo is a US registered non-profit representing more than a dozen mature geospatial data management applications and programming resources. Tools cover areas such as desktop GIS, web-based mapping frameworks, metadata cataloging, spatial database analysis, image processing and more. Learn about some of these tools as they apply to AGU members, as well as how you can join OSGeo and its members in getting the job done with powerful open source tools. If you haven't heard of OSSIM, MapServer, OpenLayers, PostGIS, GRASS GIS or the many other projects under our umbrella - then you need to hear this talk. Invest in yourself - use open source!

  1. Multiple uses for an old ibm-pc 486 in nuclear medicine using open source software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anselmi, C.E.; Anselmi, O.E.

    2002-01-01

    Multiple uses for an old ibm-pc 486 in nuclear medicine using open source software. Aim: To use a low budget platform to: 1 - send patient's images from processing workstation to the nuclear medicine information system; 2 - backup data files from acquisition in DICOM format in cd-rom; 3 - move data across different hospitals allowing remote processing and reading of studies. Both nuclear medicine systems in the two hospitals are Siemens Icon workstations. Material and methods: The computer used is an ibm-pc 486, which sells for about US dollar 70. The operating system installed is Red Hat Linux 6.2. The sending of the patient's images to the information system is performed through AppleTalk and Samba. The backup of acquisition files is performed by the communication from the workstation through DICOM to the Storage Class Provider (Office Dicom Toolkit) running in the 486, and the files are later burned on cd-rom. A similar configuration is present in another hospital, with minor differences in processor type. Data from any of the hospitals can be sent to the other one through the remote synchronization performed by Rsync. The connection between both Linux computers is encrypted through Secure Shell (open SSH). All software installed in the 486 was downloaded from the internet at no cost. No software was installed in the workstations. Results: The whole system is recognized transparently by the workstation's system as a local storage disk, such as the acquisition cameras or the other workstations. The transfer of images from the workstation to the information system or to a remote hospital is done the same way as copying data from the acquisition cameras in the vendor's software. When transferring large files across hospitals, the synchronization may take 1 to 3 minutes through broad band internet. The backup in DICOM format in cd-rom allows review of patient data in any computer equipped with a DICOM viewing software, as well as the re-processing of that

  2. Semantic integration of gene expression analysis tools and data sources using software connectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background The study and analysis of gene expression measurements is the primary focus of functional genomics. Once expression data is available, biologists are faced with the task of extracting (new) knowledge associated to the underlying biological phenomenon. Most often, in order to perform this task, biologists execute a number of analysis activities on the available gene expression dataset rather than a single analysis activity. The integration of heteregeneous tools and data sources to create an integrated analysis environment represents a challenging and error-prone task. Semantic integration enables the assignment of unambiguous meanings to data shared among different applications in an integrated environment, allowing the exchange of data in a semantically consistent and meaningful way. This work aims at developing an ontology-based methodology for the semantic integration of gene expression analysis tools and data sources. The proposed methodology relies on software connectors to support not only the access to heterogeneous data sources but also the definition of transformation rules on exchanged data. Results We have studied the different challenges involved in the integration of computer systems and the role software connectors play in this task. We have also studied a number of gene expression technologies, analysis tools and related ontologies in order to devise basic integration scenarios and propose a reference ontology for the gene expression domain. Then, we have defined a number of activities and associated guidelines to prescribe how the development of connectors should be carried out. Finally, we have applied the proposed methodology in the construction of three different integration scenarios involving the use of different tools for the analysis of different types of gene expression data. Conclusions The proposed methodology facilitates the development of connectors capable of semantically integrating different gene expression analysis tools

  3. Use of the 3D surgical modelling technique with open-source software for mandibular fibula free flap reconstruction and its surgical guides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganry, L; Hersant, B; Quilichini, J; Leyder, P; Meningaud, J P

    2017-06-01

    Tridimensional (3D) surgical modelling is a necessary step to create 3D-printed surgical tools, and expensive professional software is generally needed. Open-source software are functional, reliable, updated, may be downloaded for free and used to produce 3D models. Few surgical teams have used free solutions for mastering 3D surgical modelling for reconstructive surgery with osseous free flaps. We described an Open-source software 3D surgical modelling protocol to perform a fast and nearly free mandibular reconstruction with microvascular fibula free flap and its surgical guides, with no need for engineering support. Four successive specialised Open-source software were used to perform our 3D modelling: OsiriX ® , Meshlab ® , Netfabb ® and Blender ® . Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) data on patient skull and fibula, obtained with a computerised tomography (CT) scan, were needed. The 3D modelling of the reconstructed mandible and its surgical guides were created. This new strategy may improve surgical management in Oral and Craniomaxillofacial surgery. Further clinical studies are needed to demonstrate the feasibility, reproducibility, transfer of know how and benefits of this technique. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  4. Developing a Successful Open Source Training Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belinda Lopez

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Training programs for open source software provide a tangible, and sellable, product. A successful training program not only builds revenue, it also adds to the overall body of knowledge available for the open source project. By gathering best practices and taking advantage of the collective expertise within a community, it may be possible for a business to partner with an open source project to build a curriculum that promotes the project and supports the needs of the company's training customers. This article describes the initial approach used by Canonical, the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu Linux operating system, to engage the community in the creation of its training offerings. We then discuss alternate curriculum creation models and some of the conditions that are necessary for successful collaboration between creators of existing documentation and commercial training providers.

  5. FluxPyt: a Python-based free and open-source software for 13C-metabolic flux analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desai, Trunil S; Srivastava, Shireesh

    2018-01-01

    13 C-Metabolic flux analysis (MFA) is a powerful approach to estimate intracellular reaction rates which could be used in strain analysis and design. Processing and analysis of labeling data for calculation of fluxes and associated statistics is an essential part of MFA. However, various software currently available for data analysis employ proprietary platforms and thus limit accessibility. We developed FluxPyt, a Python-based truly open-source software package for conducting stationary 13 C-MFA data analysis. The software is based on the efficient elementary metabolite unit framework. The standard deviations in the calculated fluxes are estimated using the Monte-Carlo analysis. FluxPyt also automatically creates flux maps based on a template for visualization of the MFA results. The flux distributions calculated by FluxPyt for two separate models: a small tricarboxylic acid cycle model and a larger Corynebacterium glutamicum model, were found to be in good agreement with those calculated by a previously published software. FluxPyt was tested in Microsoft™ Windows 7 and 10, as well as in Linux Mint 18.2. The availability of a free and open 13 C-MFA software that works in various operating systems will enable more researchers to perform 13 C-MFA and to further modify and develop the package.

  6. AROSICS: An Automated and Robust Open-Source Image Co-Registration Software for Multi-Sensor Satellite Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Scheffler

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Geospatial co-registration is a mandatory prerequisite when dealing with remote sensing data. Inter- or intra-sensoral misregistration will negatively affect any subsequent image analysis, specifically when processing multi-sensoral or multi-temporal data. In recent decades, many algorithms have been developed to enable manual, semi- or fully automatic displacement correction. Especially in the context of big data processing and the development of automated processing chains that aim to be applicable to different remote sensing systems, there is a strong need for efficient, accurate and generally usable co-registration. Here, we present AROSICS (Automated and Robust Open-Source Image Co-Registration Software, a Python-based open-source software including an easy-to-use user interface for automatic detection and correction of sub-pixel misalignments between various remote sensing datasets. It is independent of spatial or spectral characteristics and robust against high degrees of cloud coverage and spectral and temporal land cover dynamics. The co-registration is based on phase correlation for sub-pixel shift estimation in the frequency domain utilizing the Fourier shift theorem in a moving-window manner. A dense grid of spatial shift vectors can be created and automatically filtered by combining various validation and quality estimation metrics. Additionally, the software supports the masking of, e.g., clouds and cloud shadows to exclude such areas from spatial shift detection. The software has been tested on more than 9000 satellite images acquired by different sensors. The results are evaluated exemplarily for two inter-sensoral and two intra-sensoral use cases and show registration results in the sub-pixel range with root mean square error fits around 0.3 pixels and better.

  7. A historical dataset of software engineering conferences

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vasilescu, B.N.; Serebrenik, A.; Mens, T.

    2013-01-01

    The Mining Software Repositories community typically focuses on data from software configuration management tools, mailing lists, and bug tracking repositories to uncover interesting and actionable information about the evolution of software systems. However, the techniques employed and the

  8. Un uso sostenibile delle risorse idriche con dati telerilevati e software Open Source

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pasquale Nino

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable agricultural water use by means of open source decision support systems and Earth Observation data.The PLEIADeS project (funded by European VI Framework Program addresses the improvement of water use and management in agriculture through innovative Information Technologies and the most recent Earth Observation (EO methodologies. Within this framework a tool, based on Open Source software, which aims at helping water managers to optimize the water consumption, has been realized. One of the key features of the system is the delivering of a near real-time irrigation schedule to farmers produced through the integration of EO-derived product and fi eld data inside a GIS environment that provides a reliable crop requirement estimation at farm level.

  9. Un uso sostenibile delle risorse idriche con dati telerilevati e software Open Source

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pasquale Nino

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available Sustainable agricultural water use by means of open source decision support systems and Earth Observation data. The PLEIADeS project (funded by European VI Framework Program addresses the improvement of water use and management in agriculture through innovative Information Technologies and the most recent Earth Observation (EO methodologies. Within this framework a tool, based on Open Source software, which aims at helping water managers to optimize the water consumption, has been realized. One of the key features of the system is the delivering of a near real-time irrigation schedule to farmers produced through the integration of EO-derived product and fi eld data inside a GIS environment that provides a reliable crop requirement estimation at farm level.

  10. Semantic Web technologies in software engineering

    OpenAIRE

    Gall, H C; Reif, G

    2008-01-01

    Over the years, the software engineering community has developed various tools to support the specification, development, and maintainance of software. Many of these tools use proprietary data formats to store artifacts which hamper interoperability. However, the Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. Ontologies are used define the concepts in the domain of discourse and their relationships an...

  11. Guiding health promotion efforts with urban Inuit: a community-specific perspective on health information sources and dissemination strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McShane, Kelly E; Smylie, Janet K; Hastings, Paul D; Martin, Carmel M

    2006-01-01

    To develop a community-specific perspective of health information sources and dissemination strategies of urban Inuit to better guide health promotion efforts. Through a collaborative partnership with the Tungasuvvingat Inuit Family Resource Centre, a series of key informant interviews and focus groups were conducted to gather information on specific sources of health information, strategies of health information dissemination, and overall themes in health information processes. Distinct patterns of health information sources and dissemination strategies emerged from the data. Major themes included: the importance of visual learning, community Elders, and cultural interpreters; community cohesion; and the Inuit and non-Inuit distinction. The core sources of health information are family members and sources from within the Inuit community. The principal dissemination strategy for health information was direct communication, either through one-on-one interactions or in groups. This community-specific perspective of health information sources and dissemination strategies shows substantial differences from current mainstream models of health promotion and knowledge translation. Health promotion efforts need to acknowledge the distinct health information processes of this community, and should strive to integrate existing health information sources and strategies of dissemination with those of the community.

  12. SiGN-SSM: open source parallel software for estimating gene networks with state space models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamada, Yoshinori; Yamaguchi, Rui; Imoto, Seiya; Hirose, Osamu; Yoshida, Ryo; Nagasaki, Masao; Miyano, Satoru

    2011-04-15

    SiGN-SSM is an open-source gene network estimation software able to run in parallel on PCs and massively parallel supercomputers. The software estimates a state space model (SSM), that is a statistical dynamic model suitable for analyzing short time and/or replicated time series gene expression profiles. SiGN-SSM implements a novel parameter constraint effective to stabilize the estimated models. Also, by using a supercomputer, it is able to determine the gene network structure by a statistical permutation test in a practical time. SiGN-SSM is applicable not only to analyzing temporal regulatory dependencies between genes, but also to extracting the differentially regulated genes from time series expression profiles. SiGN-SSM is distributed under GNU Affero General Public Licence (GNU AGPL) version 3 and can be downloaded at http://sign.hgc.jp/signssm/. The pre-compiled binaries for some architectures are available in addition to the source code. The pre-installed binaries are also available on the Human Genome Center supercomputer system. The online manual and the supplementary information of SiGN-SSM is available on our web site. tamada@ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp.

  13. Openness of Innovation in Services and Software - Essays on Service Innovations, Open Source, and Hybrid Licensing Models

    OpenAIRE

    Riepula, Mikko

    2015-01-01

    Open Innovation—and Open Source as its particular manifestation in the software industry—have recently been touted as cornerstones of competitiveness for firms in the new service economy and of value added by public institutions involved in the gathering, processing and publishing of information. Although the basic concepts are by no means new, a considerable surge in research literature has occurred over the past decade around the keywords of open source, open innovation, value co-creation a...

  14. Development and validation of open-source software for DNA mixture interpretation based on a quantitative continuous model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manabe, Sho; Morimoto, Chie; Hamano, Yuya; Fujimoto, Shuntaro; Tamaki, Keiji

    2017-01-01

    In criminal investigations, forensic scientists need to evaluate DNA mixtures. The estimation of the number of contributors and evaluation of the contribution of a person of interest (POI) from these samples are challenging. In this study, we developed a new open-source software "Kongoh" for interpreting DNA mixture based on a quantitative continuous model. The model uses quantitative information of peak heights in the DNA profile and considers the effect of artifacts and allelic drop-out. By using this software, the likelihoods of 1-4 persons' contributions are calculated, and the most optimal number of contributors is automatically determined; this differs from other open-source software. Therefore, we can eliminate the need to manually determine the number of contributors before the analysis. Kongoh also considers allele- or locus-specific effects of biological parameters based on the experimental data. We then validated Kongoh by calculating the likelihood ratio (LR) of a POI's contribution in true contributors and non-contributors by using 2-4 person mixtures analyzed through a 15 short tandem repeat typing system. Most LR values obtained from Kongoh during true-contributor testing strongly supported the POI's contribution even for small amounts or degraded DNA samples. Kongoh correctly rejected a false hypothesis in the non-contributor testing, generated reproducible LR values, and demonstrated higher accuracy of the estimated number of contributors than another software based on the quantitative continuous model. Therefore, Kongoh is useful in accurately interpreting DNA evidence like mixtures and small amounts or degraded DNA samples.

  15. Development and validation of open-source software for DNA mixture interpretation based on a quantitative continuous model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sho Manabe

    Full Text Available In criminal investigations, forensic scientists need to evaluate DNA mixtures. The estimation of the number of contributors and evaluation of the contribution of a person of interest (POI from these samples are challenging. In this study, we developed a new open-source software "Kongoh" for interpreting DNA mixture based on a quantitative continuous model. The model uses quantitative information of peak heights in the DNA profile and considers the effect of artifacts and allelic drop-out. By using this software, the likelihoods of 1-4 persons' contributions are calculated, and the most optimal number of contributors is automatically determined; this differs from other open-source software. Therefore, we can eliminate the need to manually determine the number of contributors before the analysis. Kongoh also considers allele- or locus-specific effects of biological parameters based on the experimental data. We then validated Kongoh by calculating the likelihood ratio (LR of a POI's contribution in true contributors and non-contributors by using 2-4 person mixtures analyzed through a 15 short tandem repeat typing system. Most LR values obtained from Kongoh during true-contributor testing strongly supported the POI's contribution even for small amounts or degraded DNA samples. Kongoh correctly rejected a false hypothesis in the non-contributor testing, generated reproducible LR values, and demonstrated higher accuracy of the estimated number of contributors than another software based on the quantitative continuous model. Therefore, Kongoh is useful in accurately interpreting DNA evidence like mixtures and small amounts or degraded DNA samples.

  16. Software Application Profile: Opal and Mica: open-source software solutions for epidemiological data management, harmonization and dissemination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doiron, Dany; Marcon, Yannick; Fortier, Isabel; Burton, Paul; Ferretti, Vincent

    2017-10-01

    Improving the dissemination of information on existing epidemiological studies and facilitating the interoperability of study databases are essential to maximizing the use of resources and accelerating improvements in health. To address this, Maelstrom Research proposes Opal and Mica, two inter-operable open-source software packages providing out-of-the-box solutions for epidemiological data management, harmonization and dissemination. Opal and Mica are two standalone but inter-operable web applications written in Java, JavaScript and PHP. They provide web services and modern user interfaces to access them. Opal allows users to import, manage, annotate and harmonize study data. Mica is used to build searchable web portals disseminating study and variable metadata. When used conjointly, Mica users can securely query and retrieve summary statistics on geographically dispersed Opal servers in real-time. Integration with the DataSHIELD approach allows conducting more complex federated analyses involving statistical models. Opal and Mica are open-source and freely available at [www.obiba.org] under a General Public License (GPL) version 3, and the metadata models and taxonomies that accompany them are available under a Creative Commons licence. © The Author 2017; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association

  17. Sources and Information: Development and Fundraising within Community Colleges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Edward Francis

    2003-01-01

    Faced with significant budget constraints, state governments and local municipalities have been reducing the financial support they provide to public colleges and universities. To deal with these funding shortfalls, community colleges have begun searching for alternate sources of funding. Rather than raise tuition, which would limit access for…

  18. Agile software development

    CERN Document Server

    Dingsoyr, Torgeir; Moe, Nils Brede

    2010-01-01

    Agile software development has become an umbrella term for a number of changes in how software developers plan and coordinate their work, how they communicate with customers and external stakeholders, and how software development is organized in small, medium, and large companies, from the telecom and healthcare sectors to games and interactive media. Still, after a decade of research, agile software development is the source of continued debate due to its multifaceted nature and insufficient synthesis of research results. Dingsoyr, Dyba, and Moe now present a comprehensive snapshot of the kno

  19. Software and the future of programming languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aho, Alfred V

    2004-02-27

    Although software is the key enabler of the global information infrastructure, the amount and extent of software in use in the world today are not widely understood, nor are the programming languages and paradigms that have been used to create the software. The vast size of the embedded base of existing software and the increasing costs of software maintenance, poor security, and limited functionality are posing significant challenges for the software R&D community.

  20. A Collaboration Model for Community-Based Software Development with Social Machines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dave Murray-Rust

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Crowdsourcing is generally used for tasks with minimal coordination, providing limited support for dynamic reconfiguration. Modern systems, exemplified by social ma chines, are subject to continual flux in both the client and development communities and their needs. To support crowdsourcing of open-ended development, systems must dynamically integrate human creativity with machine support. While workflows can be u sed to handle structured, predictable processes, they are less suitable for social machine development and its attendant uncertainty. We present models and techniques for coordination of human workers in crowdsourced software development environments. We combine the Social Compute Unit—a model of ad-hoc human worker teams—with versatile coordination protocols expressed in the Lightweight Social Calculus. This allows us to combine coordination and quality constraints with dynamic assessments of end-user desires, dynamically discovering and applying development protocols.

  1. APERO, AN OPEN SOURCE BUNDLE ADJUSMENT SOFTWARE FOR AUTOMATIC CALIBRATION AND ORIENTATION OF SET OF IMAGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Pierrot Deseilligny

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available IGN has developed a set of photogrammetric tools, APERO and MICMAC, for computing 3D models from set of images. This software, developed initially for its internal needs are now delivered as open source code. This paper focuses on the presentation of APERO the orientation software. Compared to some other free software initiatives, it is probably more complex but also more complete, its targeted user is rather professionals (architects, archaeologist, geomophologist than people. APERO uses both computer vision approach for estimation of initial solution and photogrammetry for a rigorous compensation of the total error; it has a large library of parametric model of distortion allowing a precise modelization of all the kind of pinhole camera we know, including several model of fish-eye; there is also several tools for geo-referencing the result. The results are illustrated on various application, including the data-set of 3D-Arch workshop.

  2. Terra Harvest software architecture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humeniuk, Dave; Klawon, Kevin

    2012-06-01

    Under the Terra Harvest Program, the DIA has the objective of developing a universal Controller for the Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) community. The mission is to define, implement, and thoroughly document an open architecture that universally supports UGS missions, integrating disparate systems, peripherals, etc. The Controller's inherent interoperability with numerous systems enables the integration of both legacy and future UGS System (UGSS) components, while the design's open architecture supports rapid third-party development to ensure operational readiness. The successful accomplishment of these objectives by the program's Phase 3b contractors is demonstrated via integration of the companies' respective plug-'n'-play contributions that include controllers, various peripherals, such as sensors, cameras, etc., and their associated software drivers. In order to independently validate the Terra Harvest architecture, L-3 Nova Engineering, along with its partner, the University of Dayton Research Institute, is developing the Terra Harvest Open Source Environment (THOSE), a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) running on an embedded Linux Operating System. The Use Cases on which the software is developed support the full range of UGS operational scenarios such as remote sensor triggering, image capture, and data exfiltration. The Team is additionally developing an ARM microprocessor-based evaluation platform that is both energy-efficient and operationally flexible. The paper describes the overall THOSE architecture, as well as the design decisions for some of the key software components. Development process for THOSE is discussed as well.

  3. An open-source software program for performing Bonferroni and related corrections for multiple comparisons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyle Lesack

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Increased type I error resulting from multiple statistical comparisons remains a common problem in the scientific literature. This may result in the reporting and promulgation of spurious findings. One approach to this problem is to correct groups of P-values for "family-wide significance" using a Bonferroni correction or the less conservative Bonferroni-Holm correction or to correct for the "false discovery rate" with a Benjamini-Hochberg correction. Although several solutions are available for performing this correction through commercially available software there are no widely available easy to use open source programs to perform these calculations. In this paper we present an open source program written in Python 3.2 that performs calculations for standard Bonferroni, Bonferroni-Holm and Benjamini-Hochberg corrections.

  4. Software ecosystems analyzing and managing business networks in the software industry

    CERN Document Server

    Jansen, S; Cusumano, MA

    2013-01-01

    This book describes the state-of-the-art of software ecosystems. It constitutes a fundamental step towards an empirically based, nuanced understanding of the implications for management, governance, and control of software ecosystems. This is the first book of its kind dedicated to this emerging field and offers guidelines on how to analyze software ecosystems; methods for managing and growing; methods on transitioning from a closed software organization to an open one; and instruments for dealing with open source, licensing issues, product management and app stores. It is unique in bringing t

  5. Malware Propagation and Prevention Model for Time-Varying Community Networks within Software Defined Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lan Liu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available As the adoption of Software Defined Networks (SDNs grows, the security of SDN still has several unaddressed limitations. A key network security research area is in the study of malware propagation across the SDN-enabled networks. To analyze the spreading processes of network malware (e.g., viruses in SDN, we propose a dynamic model with a time-varying community network, inspired by research models on the spread of epidemics in complex networks across communities. We assume subnets of the network as communities and links that are dense in subnets but sparse between subnets. Using numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, we find that the efficiency of network malware propagation in this model depends on the mobility rate q of the nodes between subnets. We also find that there exists a mobility rate threshold qc. The network malware will spread in the SDN when the mobility rate q>qc. The malware will survive when q>qc and perish when q

  6. Use of Docker for deployment and testing of astronomy software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, D.; Voutsinas, S.; Hambly, N. C.; Mann, R. G.

    2017-07-01

    We describe preliminary investigations of using Docker for the deployment and testing of astronomy software. Docker is a relatively new containerization technology that is developing rapidly and being adopted across a range of domains. It is based upon virtualization at operating system level, which presents many advantages in comparison to the more traditional hardware virtualization that underpins most cloud computing infrastructure today. A particular strength of Docker is its simple format for describing and managing software containers, which has benefits for software developers, system administrators and end users. We report on our experiences from two projects - a simple activity to demonstrate how Docker works, and a more elaborate set of services that demonstrates more of its capabilities and what they can achieve within an astronomical context - and include an account of how we solved problems through interaction with Docker's very active open source development community, which is currently the key to the most effective use of this rapidly-changing technology.

  7. Adoption of open source software in library management: an ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This literature and practical knowledge based opinion paper explored Koha software, bringing to limelight its applicability in the library. The various modules contained in the software (Circulation, Patrons, Advanced Search/OPAC, Cataloguing, Serials, Acquisition, Report and Tools) and the various specific services that ...

  8. Toward Intelligent Software Defect Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, Markland J.

    2011-01-01

    Source code level software defect detection has gone from state of the art to a software engineering best practice. Automated code analysis tools streamline many of the aspects of formal code inspections but have the drawback of being difficult to construct and either prone to false positives or severely limited in the set of defects that can be detected. Machine learning technology provides the promise of learning software defects by example, easing construction of detectors and broadening the range of defects that can be found. Pinpointing software defects with the same level of granularity as prominent source code analysis tools distinguishes this research from past efforts, which focused on analyzing software engineering metrics data with granularity limited to that of a particular function rather than a line of code.

  9. Music Software and Emerging Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peters, G. David

    1992-01-01

    Traces the history of instructional computing in music education. Describes the development of music software and hardware. Discusses potential benefits of using the newly developed software in the classroom. Suggests that educators and musicians interact with the publishing community to help define their needs in music education. (DK)

  10. SUPRA: open-source software-defined ultrasound processing for real-time applications : A 2D and 3D pipeline from beamforming to B-mode.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Göbl, Rüdiger; Navab, Nassir; Hennersperger, Christoph

    2018-06-01

    Research in ultrasound imaging is limited in reproducibility by two factors: First, many existing ultrasound pipelines are protected by intellectual property, rendering exchange of code difficult. Second, most pipelines are implemented in special hardware, resulting in limited flexibility of implemented processing steps on such platforms. With SUPRA, we propose an open-source pipeline for fully software-defined ultrasound processing for real-time applications to alleviate these problems. Covering all steps from beamforming to output of B-mode images, SUPRA can help improve the reproducibility of results and make modifications to the image acquisition mode accessible to the research community. We evaluate the pipeline qualitatively, quantitatively, and regarding its run time. The pipeline shows image quality comparable to a clinical system and backed by point spread function measurements a comparable resolution. Including all processing stages of a usual ultrasound pipeline, the run-time analysis shows that it can be executed in 2D and 3D on consumer GPUs in real time. Our software ultrasound pipeline opens up the research in image acquisition. Given access to ultrasound data from early stages (raw channel data, radiofrequency data), it simplifies the development in imaging. Furthermore, it tackles the reproducibility of research results, as code can be shared easily and even be executed without dedicated ultrasound hardware.

  11. A survey of quality assurance practices in biomedical open source software projects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koru, Günes; El Emam, Khaled; Neisa, Angelica; Umarji, Medha

    2007-05-07

    Open source (OS) software is continuously gaining recognition and use in the biomedical domain, for example, in health informatics and bioinformatics. Given the mission critical nature of applications in this domain and their potential impact on patient safety, it is important to understand to what degree and how effectively biomedical OS developers perform standard quality assurance (QA) activities such as peer reviews and testing. This would allow the users of biomedical OS software to better understand the quality risks, if any, and the developers to identify process improvement opportunities to produce higher quality software. A survey of developers working on biomedical OS projects was conducted to examine the QA activities that are performed. We took a descriptive approach to summarize the implementation of QA activities and then examined some of the factors that may be related to the implementation of such practices. Our descriptive results show that 63% (95% CI, 54-72) of projects did not include peer reviews in their development process, while 82% (95% CI, 75-89) did include testing. Approximately 74% (95% CI, 67-81) of developers did not have a background in computing, 80% (95% CI, 74-87) were paid for their contributions to the project, and 52% (95% CI, 43-60) had PhDs. A multivariate logistic regression model to predict the implementation of peer reviews was not significant (likelihood ratio test = 16.86, 9 df, P = .051) and neither was a model to predict the implementation of testing (likelihood ratio test = 3.34, 9 df, P = .95). Less attention is paid to peer review than testing. However, the former is a complementary, and necessary, QA practice rather than an alternative. Therefore, one can argue that there are quality risks, at least at this point in time, in transitioning biomedical OS software into any critical settings that may have operational, financial, or safety implications. Developers of biomedical OS applications should invest more effort

  12. An engineering context for software engineering

    OpenAIRE

    Riehle, Richard D.

    2008-01-01

    New engineering disciplines are emerging in the late Twentieth and early Twenty-first Century. One such emerging discipline is software engineering. The engineering community at large has long harbored a sense of skepticism about the validity of the term software engineering. During most of the fifty-plus years of software practice, that skepticism was probably justified. Professional education of software developers often fell short of the standard expected for conventional engineers; so...

  13. Archival standards, in archival open access software And offer appropriate software for internal archival centers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdolreza Izadi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is Study of Descriptive Metadata Standards in Archival open source software, to determine the most appropriate descriptive metadata standard (s and also Encoder Software support of these standards. The approach of present study is combination and library methods, Delphi and descriptive survey are used. Data gathering in library study is fiche, in the Delphi method is questionnaire and in descriptive survey is checklist. Statistical population contains 5 Archival open source software. The findings suggest that 5 metadata standards, consist of EAD, ISAD, EAC-CPF, ISAAR & ISDF, diagnosed appropriate by Delphi Panel members as the most appropriate descriptive metadata standards to use for archival software. Moreover, ICA-ATOM and Archivist toolkit in terms of support for standards that were suitable, diagnosed as the most appropriate archival software.

  14. Metric for Measuring Software Power | Akwukwuma | Journal of the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The term “power” has been used to describe Software in Software community especially Software vendors. However, there has been no formal definition of Software power, nor has there been any scientific method of determining Software power. It is therefore the objective of this paper to examine the attributes of Software ...

  15. Software libre, software de código abierto, licencias. Donde se propone un procedimiento de distribución de software y datos de investigación

    OpenAIRE

    Gomez-Diaz, Teresa

    2015-01-01

    English version: Free software, Open source software, licenses. A short presentation including a procedure for research software and data dissemination; El objetivo de este documento es ayudar a la comunidad de investigación a entender los conceptos básicos de la distribución de software: software libre, software de código abierto, licencias. Este documento incluye igualmente un procedimiento para la distribución de datos y software de investigación.

  16. UCVM: An Open Source Framework for 3D Velocity Model Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gill, D.; Maechling, P. J.; Jordan, T. H.; Plesch, A.; Taborda, R.; Callaghan, S.; Small, P.

    2013-12-01

    Three-dimensional (3D) seismic velocity models provide fundamental input data to ground motion simulations, in the form of structured or unstructured meshes or grids. Numerous models are available for California, as well as for other parts of the United States and Europe, but models do not share a common interface. Being able to interact with these models in a standardized way is critical in order to configure and run 3D ground motion simulations. The Unified Community Velocity Model (UCVM) software, developed by researchers at the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), is an open source framework designed to provide a cohesive way to interact with seismic velocity models. We describe the several ways in which we have improved the UCVM software over the last year. We have simplified the UCVM installation process by automating the installation of various community codebases, improving the ease of use.. We discuss how UCVM software was used to build velocity meshes for high-frequency (4Hz) deterministic 3D wave propagation simulations, and how the UCVM framework interacts with other open source resources, such as NetCDF file formats for visualization. The UCVM software uses a layered software architecture that transparently converts geographic coordinates to the coordinate systems used by the underlying velocity models and supports inclusion of a configurable near-surface geotechnical layer, while interacting with the velocity model codes through their existing software interfaces. No changes to the velocity model codes are required. Our recent UCVM installation improvements bundle UCVM with a setup script, written in Python, which guides users through the process that installs the UCVM software along with all the user-selectable velocity models. Each velocity model is converted into a standardized (configure, make, make install) format that is easily downloaded and installed via the script. UCVM is often run in specialized high performance computing (HPC

  17. Open Source in Higher Education: Towards an Understanding of Networked Universities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quint-Rapoport, Mia

    2012-01-01

    This article addresses the question of understanding more about networked universities by looking at open source software developers working in academic contexts. It sketches their identities and work as an emerging professional community that both relies upon and develops digitally mediated networks and contributes to the progress of academic…

  18. Methodology and Toolset for Model Verification, Hardware/Software co-simulation, Performance Optimisation and Customisable Source-code generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Berger, Michael Stübert; Soler, José; Yu, Hao

    2013-01-01

    The MODUS project aims to provide a pragmatic and viable solution that will allow SMEs to substantially improve their positioning in the embedded-systems development market. The MODUS tool will provide a model verification and Hardware/Software co-simulation tool (TRIAL) and a performance...... optimisation and customisable source-code generation tool (TUNE). The concept is depicted in automated modelling and optimisation of embedded-systems development. The tool will enable model verification by guiding the selection of existing open-source model verification engines, based on the automated analysis...

  19. Simulation of Coulomb interaction effects in electron sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rouse, John; Zhu Xieqing; Liu Haoning; Munro, Eric

    2011-01-01

    Over many years, we have developed electron source simulation software that has been used widely in the electron optics community to aid the development of rotationally symmetric electron and ion guns. The simulation includes the modelling of cathode emission and the effects of volumetric space charge. In the present paper we describe the existing software and explain how we have extended this software to include the effects of discrete Coulomb interactions between the electrons as they travel from the cathode surface to the exit of the gun. In the paper, we will describe the numerical models we have employed, the techniques we have used to maximize the speed of the Coulomb force computation and present several illustrative examples of cases analyzed using the new software, including thermal field emitters, LaB 6 guns and flat dispenser-type cathodes.

  20. Free and Open Source Chemistry Software in Research of Quantitative Structure-Toxicity Relationship of Pesticides

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rastija Vesna

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Pesticides are toxic chemicals aimed for the destroying pest on crops. Numerous data evidence about toxicity of pesticides on aquatic organisms. Since pesticides with similar properties tend to have similar biological activities, toxicity may be predicted from structure. Their structure feature and properties are encoded my means of molecular descriptors. Molecular descriptors can capture quite simple two-dimensional (2D chemical structures to highly complex three-dimensional (3D chemical structures. Quantitative structure-toxicity relationship (QSTR method uses linear regression analyses for correlation toxicity of chemical with their structural feature using molecular descriptors. Molecular descriptors were calculated using open source software PaDEL and in-house built PyMOL plugin (PyDescriptor. PyDescriptor is a new script implemented with the commonly used visualization software PyMOL for calculation of a large and diverse set of easily interpretable molecular descriptors encoding pharmacophoric patterns and atomic fragments. PyDescriptor has several advantages like free and open source, can work on all major platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS. QSTR method allows prediction of toxicity of pesticides without experimental assay. In the present work, QSTR analysis for toxicity of a dataset of mixtures of 5 classes of pesticides comprising has been performed.

  1. Dedicated software for diffractive optics design and simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Firsov, A; Brzhezinskaya, M; Erko, A; Firsov, A; Svintsov, A

    2013-01-01

    An efficient software package for the structure design and simulation of imaging properties of diffraction optical elements has been developed. It operates with point source and consists of: the ZON software, to calculate the structure of an optical element in transmission and reflection; the KRGF software, to simulate the diffraction properties of an ideal optical element with point source; the DS software, to calculate the diffraction properties by taking into consideration material and shadowing effects. Optional software allows simulation with a real non-point source. Zone plate thickness profile, source shape as well as substrate curvature are considered in this calculation. This is especially important for the diffractive focusing elements and gratings at a total external reflection, given that the lateral size of the structure can be up to 1 m. The program package can be used in combination with the Nanomaker software to prepare data for ion and e-beam surface modifications and corrections.

  2. 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.

  3. Open source software in a practical approach for post processing of radiologic images.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valeri, Gianluca; Mazza, Francesco Antonino; Maggi, Stefania; Aramini, Daniele; La Riccia, Luigi; Mazzoni, Giovanni; Giovagnoni, Andrea

    2015-03-01

    The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use of open source software (OSS) to process DICOM images. We selected 23 programs for Windows and 20 programs for Mac from 150 possible OSS programs including DICOM viewers and various tools (converters, DICOM header editors, etc.). The programs selected all meet the basic requirements such as free availability, stand-alone application, presence of graphical user interface, ease of installation and advanced features beyond simple display monitor. Capabilities of data import, data export, metadata, 2D viewer, 3D viewer, support platform and usability of each selected program were evaluated on a scale ranging from 1 to 10 points. Twelve programs received a score higher than or equal to eight. Among them, five obtained a score of 9: 3D Slicer, MedINRIA, MITK 3M3, VolView, VR Render; while OsiriX received 10. OsiriX appears to be the only program able to perform all the operations taken into consideration, similar to a workstation equipped with proprietary software, allowing the analysis and interpretation of images in a simple and intuitive way. OsiriX is a DICOM PACS workstation for medical imaging and software for image processing for medical research, functional imaging, 3D imaging, confocal microscopy and molecular imaging. This application is also a good tool for teaching activities because it facilitates the attainment of learning objectives among students and other specialists.

  4. An open source cryostage and software analysis method for detection of antifreeze activity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lørup Buch, Johannes; Ramløv, H

    2016-01-01

    AFP could reliably be told apart from controls after only two minutes of recrystallisation. The goal of providing a fast, cheap and easy method for detecting antifreeze proteins in solution was met, and further development of the system can be followed at https://github.com/pechano/cryostage.......The aim of this study is to provide the reader with a simple setup that can detect antifreeze proteins (AFP) by inhibition of ice recrystallisation in very small sample sizes. This includes an open source cryostage, a method for preparing and loading samples as well as a software analysis method...

  5. Craniux: a LabVIEW-based modular software framework for brain-machine interface research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Degenhart, Alan D; Kelly, John W; Ashmore, Robin C; Collinger, Jennifer L; Tyler-Kabara, Elizabeth C; Weber, Douglas J; Wang, Wei

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents "Craniux," an open-access, open-source software framework for brain-machine interface (BMI) research. Developed in LabVIEW, a high-level graphical programming environment, Craniux offers both out-of-the-box functionality and a modular BMI software framework that is easily extendable. Specifically, it allows researchers to take advantage of multiple features inherent to the LabVIEW environment for on-the-fly data visualization, parallel processing, multithreading, and data saving. This paper introduces the basic features and system architecture of Craniux and describes the validation of the system under real-time BMI operation using simulated and real electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals. Our results indicate that Craniux is able to operate consistently in real time, enabling a seamless work flow to achieve brain control of cursor movement. The Craniux software framework is made available to the scientific research community to provide a LabVIEW-based BMI software platform for future BMI research and development.

  6. Craniux: A LabVIEW-Based Modular Software Framework for Brain-Machine Interface Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan D. Degenhart

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents “Craniux,” an open-access, open-source software framework for brain-machine interface (BMI research. Developed in LabVIEW, a high-level graphical programming environment, Craniux offers both out-of-the-box functionality and a modular BMI software framework that is easily extendable. Specifically, it allows researchers to take advantage of multiple features inherent to the LabVIEW environment for on-the-fly data visualization, parallel processing, multithreading, and data saving. This paper introduces the basic features and system architecture of Craniux and describes the validation of the system under real-time BMI operation using simulated and real electrocorticographic (ECoG signals. Our results indicate that Craniux is able to operate consistently in real time, enabling a seamless work flow to achieve brain control of cursor movement. The Craniux software framework is made available to the scientific research community to provide a LabVIEW-based BMI software platform for future BMI research and development.

  7. LIQUID: an-open source software for identifying lipids in LC-MS/MS-based lipidomics data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kyle, Jennifer E.; Crowell, Kevin L.; Casey, Cameron P.; Fujimoto, Grant M.; Kim, Sangtae; Dautel, Sydney E.; Smith, Richard D.; Payne, Samuel H.; Metz, Thomas O.

    2017-01-31

    We introduce an open-source software, LIQUID, for semi-automated processing and visualization of LC-MS/MS based lipidomics data. LIQUID provides users with the capability to process high throughput data and contains a customizable target library and scoring model per project needs. The graphical user interface provides visualization of multiple lines of spectral evidence for each lipid identification, allowing rapid examination of data for making confident identifications of lipid molecular species.

  8. Python Open source Waveform ExtractoR (POWER): an open source, Python package to monitor and post-process numerical relativity simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Daniel; Huerta, E. A.; Haas, Roland

    2018-01-01

    Numerical simulations of Einstein’s field equations provide unique insights into the physics of compact objects moving at relativistic speeds, and which are driven by strong gravitational interactions. Numerical relativity has played a key role to firmly establish gravitational wave astrophysics as a new field of research, and it is now paving the way to establish whether gravitational wave radiation emitted from compact binary mergers is accompanied by electromagnetic and astro-particle counterparts. As numerical relativity continues to blend in with routine gravitational wave data analyses to validate the discovery of gravitational wave events, it is essential to develop open source tools to streamline these studies. Motivated by our own experience as users and developers of the open source, community software, the Einstein Toolkit, we present an open source, Python package that is ideally suited to monitor and post-process the data products of numerical relativity simulations, and compute the gravitational wave strain at future null infinity in high performance environments. We showcase the application of this new package to post-process a large numerical relativity catalog and extract higher-order waveform modes from numerical relativity simulations of eccentric binary black hole mergers and neutron star mergers. This new software fills a critical void in the arsenal of tools provided by the Einstein Toolkit consortium to the numerical relativity community.

  9. GBIS (Geodetic Bayesian Inversion Software): Rapid Inversion of InSAR and GNSS Data to Estimate Surface Deformation Source Parameters and Uncertainties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagnardi, M.; Hooper, A. J.

    2017-12-01

    Inversions of geodetic observational data, such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements, are often performed to obtain information about the source of surface displacements. Inverse problem theory has been applied to study magmatic processes, the earthquake cycle, and other phenomena that cause deformation of the Earth's interior and of its surface. Together with increasing improvements in data resolution, both spatial and temporal, new satellite missions (e.g., European Commission's Sentinel-1 satellites) are providing the unprecedented opportunity to access space-geodetic data within hours from their acquisition. To truly take advantage of these opportunities we must become able to interpret geodetic data in a rapid and robust manner. Here we present the open-source Geodetic Bayesian Inversion Software (GBIS; available for download at http://comet.nerc.ac.uk/gbis). GBIS is written in Matlab and offers a series of user-friendly and interactive pre- and post-processing tools. For example, an interactive function has been developed to estimate the characteristics of noise in InSAR data by calculating the experimental semi-variogram. The inversion software uses a Markov-chain Monte Carlo algorithm, incorporating the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm with adaptive step size, to efficiently sample the posterior probability distribution of the different source parameters. The probabilistic Bayesian approach allows the user to retrieve estimates of the optimal (best-fitting) deformation source parameters together with the associated uncertainties produced by errors in the data (and by scaling, errors in the model). The current version of GBIS (V1.0) includes fast analytical forward models for magmatic sources of different geometry (e.g., point source, finite spherical source, prolate spheroid source, penny-shaped sill-like source, and dipping-dike with uniform opening) and for dipping faults with uniform

  10. BIOGAS AS AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCE TO PROMOTE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos SABORÍO VÍQUEZ

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The key areas that determine the food and nutrition security are: availability, access, consumption and biological utilization. For this reason it is necessary to promote the health of vulnerable groups, in this case, indigenous communities, protecting and establishing conditions to ensure the human right to food. The initial plan focuses ondeveloping facilities for small swine and poultry farms, familiar, non-commercial. The main objective of the pigs raised at the site will be the production of animal waste in order to implement digesters for the production of biogas as an alternative energy source, the production of meat stays in the background, thinking only about the community consumption and helping to ensure their food source, from this perspective, the technologies applied to rural and indigenous progress are environmentally friendly, socially just, economically viable and culturally acceptable. The theme of rural and indigenous Development is focused on their food security and the use of alternative energies, considering that energy is a key element in achieving sustainable development in all sectors, therefore sought from a broad perspective solidarity and actively promote greater and more rational use of energy and the environment in remote communities, through diversification of supply sources and efficient use, thereby contributing toenvironmental conservation and reduction of health problems through the use of appropriate technologies.

  11. Software engineering knowledge at your fingertips: Experiences with a software engineering-portal

    OpenAIRE

    Punter, T.; Kalmar, R.

    2003-01-01

    In order to keep up the pace with technology development, knowledge on Software Engineering (SE) methods, techniques, and tools is required. For an effective and efficient knowledge transfer, especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) might benefit from Software Engineering Portals (SE-Portals). This paper provides an analysis of SE-Portals by distinguishing two types: 1) the Knowledge Portal and 2) the Knowledge & Community Portal. On behalf of the analysis we conclude that most SE...

  12. Open source posturography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rey-Martinez, Jorge; Pérez-Fernández, Nicolás

    2016-12-01

    The proposed validation goal of 0.9 in intra-class correlation coefficient was reached with the results of this study. With the obtained results we consider that the developed software (RombergLab) is a validated balance assessment software. The reliability of this software is dependent of the used force platform technical specifications. Develop and validate a posturography software and share its source code in open source terms. Prospective non-randomized validation study: 20 consecutive adults underwent two balance assessment tests, six condition posturography was performed using a clinical approved software and force platform and the same conditions were measured using the new developed open source software using a low cost force platform. Intra-class correlation index of the sway area obtained from the center of pressure variations in both devices for the six conditions was the main variable used for validation. Excellent concordance between RombergLab and clinical approved force platform was obtained (intra-class correlation coefficient =0.94). A Bland and Altman graphic concordance plot was also obtained. The source code used to develop RombergLab was published in open source terms.

  13. Adapting astronomical source detection software to help detect animals in thermal images obtained by unmanned aerial systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Longmore, S. N.; Collins, R. P.; Pfeifer, S.; Fox, S. E.; Mulero-Pazmany, M.; Bezombes, F.; Goodwind, A.; de Juan Ovelar, M.; Knapen, J. H.; Wich, S. A.

    2017-02-01

    In this paper we describe an unmanned aerial system equipped with a thermal-infrared camera and software pipeline that we have developed to monitor animal populations for conservation purposes. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to tackle this problem, we use freely available astronomical source detection software and the associated expertise of astronomers, to efficiently and reliably detect humans and animals in aerial thermal-infrared footage. Combining this astronomical detection software with existing machine learning algorithms into a single, automated, end-to-end pipeline, we test the software using aerial video footage taken in a controlled, field-like environment. We demonstrate that the pipeline works reliably and describe how it can be used to estimate the completeness of different observational datasets to objects of a given type as a function of height, observing conditions etc. - a crucial step in converting video footage to scientifically useful information such as the spatial distribution and density of different animal species. Finally, having demonstrated the potential utility of the system, we describe the steps we are taking to adapt the system for work in the field, in particular systematic monitoring of endangered species at National Parks around the world.

  14. Rapid Open Source GPS software development for modern embedded systems:using the GPSTk with the Gumstix

    OpenAIRE

    Salazar Hernández, Dagoberto José; Hernández Pajares, Manuel; Juan Zornoza, José Miguel; Sanz Subirana, Jaume

    2006-01-01

    This work shows how the combination of GPS Open Source Software (GOSS) and advanced full function miniature computers (FFMC) allows rapid development, implementation and testing of advanced embedded GNSS data processing applications in a flexible way. In this regard, our tools of choice are the “GPS Toolkit” (GPSTk), and a modern, high power embedded platform such as the “Gumstix” computer boards. Peer Reviewed

  15. Observation of online communities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørskov, Sladjana V.; Rask, Morten

    2011-01-01

    This paper addresses the application of observation to online settings with a special focus on observer roles. It draws on a study of online observation of a virtual community, i.e. an open source software (OSS) community. The paper examines general and specific advantages and disadvantages...... of the observer roles in online settings by relating these roles to the same roles assumed in offline settings. The study suggests that under the right circumstances online and offline observation may benefit from being combined as they complement each other well. Quality issues and factors important to elicit...... trustworthy observational data from online study settings, such as OSS communities, are discussed. A proposition is made concerning how threats to credibility and transferability in relation to online observation (i.e. lack of richness and detail, risk of misunderstandings) can be diminished, while...

  16. OPTiM: Optical projection tomography integrated microscope using open-source hardware and software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Thomas; Andrews, Natalie; Davis, Samuel; Bugeon, Laurence; Dallman, Margaret D; McGinty, James

    2017-01-01

    We describe the implementation of an OPT plate to perform optical projection tomography (OPT) on a commercial wide-field inverted microscope, using our open-source hardware and software. The OPT plate includes a tilt adjustment for alignment and a stepper motor for sample rotation as required by standard projection tomography. Depending on magnification requirements, three methods of performing OPT are detailed using this adaptor plate: a conventional direct OPT method requiring only the addition of a limiting aperture behind the objective lens; an external optical-relay method allowing conventional OPT to be performed at magnifications >4x; a remote focal scanning and region-of-interest method for improved spatial resolution OPT (up to ~1.6 μm). All three methods use the microscope's existing incoherent light source (i.e. arc-lamp) and all of its inherent functionality is maintained for day-to-day use. OPT acquisitions are performed on in vivo zebrafish embryos to demonstrate the implementations' viability.

  17. Software Communications Architecture (SCA) Compliant Software Defined Radio Design for IEEE 802.16 Wirelessman-OFDMTM Transceiver

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Kian, Low W

    2006-01-01

    .... Several SDR software architectures have been developed during the last few years. One implementation of the Software Communications Architecture is the Open Source SCA Implementation::Embedded (OSSIE...

  18. Methodology of decreasing software complexity using ontology

    Science.gov (United States)

    DÄ browska-Kubik, Katarzyna

    2015-09-01

    In this paper a model of web application`s source code, based on the OSD ontology (Ontology for Software Development), is proposed. This model is applied to implementation and maintenance phase of software development process through the DevOntoCreator tool [5]. The aim of this solution is decreasing software complexity of that source code, using many different maintenance techniques, like creation of documentation, elimination dead code, cloned code or bugs, which were known before [1][2]. Due to this approach saving on software maintenance costs of web applications will be possible.

  19. Design and validation of Segment - freely available software for cardiovascular image analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heiberg, Einar; Sjögren, Jane; Ugander, Martin; Carlsson, Marcus; Engblom, Henrik; Arheden, Håkan

    2010-01-01

    Commercially available software for cardiovascular image analysis often has limited functionality and frequently lacks the careful validation that is required for clinical studies. We have already implemented a cardiovascular image analysis software package and released it as freeware for the research community. However, it was distributed as a stand-alone application and other researchers could not extend it by writing their own custom image analysis algorithms. We believe that the work required to make a clinically applicable prototype can be reduced by making the software extensible, so that researchers can develop their own modules or improvements. Such an initiative might then serve as a bridge between image analysis research and cardiovascular research. The aim of this article is therefore to present the design and validation of a cardiovascular image analysis software package (Segment) and to announce its release in a source code format. Segment can be used for image analysis in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). Some of its main features include loading of DICOM images from all major scanner vendors, simultaneous display of multiple image stacks and plane intersections, automated segmentation of the left ventricle, quantification of MRI flow, tools for manual and general object segmentation, quantitative regional wall motion analysis, myocardial viability analysis and image fusion tools. Here we present an overview of the validation results and validation procedures for the functionality of the software. We describe a technique to ensure continued accuracy and validity of the software by implementing and using a test script that tests the functionality of the software and validates the output. The software has been made freely available for research purposes in a source code format on the project home page (http://segment.heiberg.se). Segment

  20. Evaluating Sustainability Models for Interoperability through Brokering Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearlman, Jay; Benedict, Karl; Best, Mairi; Fyfe, Sue; Jacobs, Cliff; Michener, William; Nativi, Stefano; Powers, Lindsay; Turner, Andrew

    2016-04-01

    Sustainability of software and research support systems is an element of innovation that is not often discussed. Yet, sustainment is essential if we expect research communities to make the time investment to learn and adopt new technologies. As the Research Data Alliance (RDA) is developing new approaches to interoperability, the question of uptake and sustainability is important. Brokering software sustainability is one of the areas that is being addressed in RDA. The Business Models Team of the Research Data Alliance Brokering Governance Working Group examined several support models proposed to promote the long-term sustainability of brokering middleware. The business model analysis includes examination of funding source, implementation frameworks and challenges, and policy and legal considerations. Results of this comprehensive analysis highlight advantages and disadvantages of the various models with respect to the specific requirements for brokering services. We offer recommendations based on the outcomes of this analysis that suggest that hybrid funding models present the most likely avenue to long term sustainability.