Administration of library-owned computer files.

Bibliography (p. 153-154)

Computer interpretation of engineering drawings as solid models

Much of the geometrical data relating to engineering components and assemblies is stored in the form of orthographic views, either on paper or computer files. For various engineering applications, however, it is necessary to describe objects in formal geometric modelling terms. The work reported in this thesis is concerned with the development and implementation of concepts and algorithms for the automatic interpretation of orthographic views as solid models. The various rules and conventions associated with engineering drawings are reviewed and several geometric modelling representations are briefly examined. A review of existing techniques for the automatic, and semi-automatic, interpretation of engineering drawings as solid models is given. A new theoretical approach is then presented and discussed. The author shows how the implementation of such an approach for uniform thickness objects may be extended to more general objects by introducing the concept of `approximation models'. Means by which the quality of the transformations is monitored, are also described. Detailed descriptions of the interpretation algorithms and the software package that were developed for this project are given. The process is then illustrated by a number of practical examples. Finally, the thesis concludes that, using the techniques developed, a substantial percentage of drawings of engineering components could be converted into geometric models with a specific degree of accuracy. This degree is indicative of the suitability of the model for a particular application. Further work on important details is required before a commercially acceptable package is produced.

File Control: The Heart Of Business Computer Management

In his study - File Control: The Heart Of Business Computer Management - William G. O'Brien, Assistant Professor, The School of Hospitality Management at Florida International University, initially informs you: “Even though computers are an everyday part of the hospitality industry, many managers lack the knowledge and experience to control and protect the files in these systems. The author offers guidelines which can minimize or prevent damage to the business as a whole.” Our author initially opens this study with some anecdotal instances illustrating the failure of hospitality managers to exercise due caution with regard to computer supported information systems inside their restaurants and hotels. “Of the three components that make up any business computer system (data files, programs, and hard-ware), it is files that are most important, perhaps irreplaceable, to the business,” O’Brien informs you. O’Brien breaks down the noun, files, into two distinct categories. They are, the files of extrinsic value, and its counterpart the files of intrinsic value. An example of extrinsic value files would be a restaurant’s wine inventory. “As sales are made and new shipments are received, the computer updates the file,” says O’Brien. “This information might come directly from a point-of-sale terminal or might be entered manually by an employee,” he further explains. On the intrinsic side of the equation, O’Brien wants you to know that the information itself is the valuable part of this type of file. Its value is over and above the file’s informational purpose as a pragmatic business tool, as it is in inventory control. “The information is money in the legal sense For instance, figures moved about in banking system computers do not represent dollars; they are dollars,” O’Brien explains. “If the record of a dollar amount is erased from all computer files, then that money ceases to exist,” he warns. This type of information can also be bought and sold, such as it is in customer lists to advertisers. Files must be protected O’Brien stresses. “File security requires a systematic approach,” he discloses. O’Brien goes on to explain important elements to consider when evaluating file information. File back-up is also an important factor to think about, along with file storage/safety concerns. “Sooner or later, every property will have its fire, flood, careless mistake, or disgruntled employee,” O’Brien closes. “…good file control can minimize or prevent damage to the business as a whole.”

Managing electronic records.

Shipping list no.: 90-489-P.

A qualitative analysis of the lived experience of nursing staff developers in the process of changing to a new educational model

The purpose of this study was to document and critically analyze the lived experience of selected nursing staff developers in the process of moving toward a new model for hospital nursing education. Eleven respondents were drawn from a nation-wide population of about two hundred individuals involved in nursing staff development. These subjects were responsible for the implementation of the Performance Based Development System (PBDS) in their institutions.^ A purposive, criterion-based sampling technique was used with respondents being selected according to size of hospital, primary responsibility for orchestration of the change, influence over budgetary factors and managerial responsibility for PBDS. Data were gathered by the researcher through both in-person and telephone interviews. A semi-structured interview guide, designed by the researcher was used, and respondents were encouraged to amplify on their recollections as desired. Audiotapes were transcribed and resulting computer files were analyzed using the program "Martin". Answers to interview questions were compiled and reported across cases. The data was then reviewed a second time and interpreted for emerging themes and patterns.^ Two types of verification were used in the study. Internal verification was done through interview transcript review and feedback by respondents. External verification was done through review and feedback on data analysis by readers who were experienced in management of staff development departments.^ All respondents were female, so Gilligan's concept of the "ethic of care" was examined as a decision making strategy. Three levels of caring which influenced decision making were found. They were caring: (a) for the organization, (b) for the employee, and (c) for the patient. The four existentials of the lived experience, relationality, corporeality, temporality and spatiality were also examined to reveal the everydayness of making change. ^

Falcon herramientas de software para el procesamiento aerofotogramétrico

En el área de Aerofotogrametría Digital, el software comercial prevalente para postproceso presenta limitaciones debido a dos factores: (i) las legislaciones de cada país o región requieren diferentes convenciones, y (ii) las necesidades de las empresas son tan cambiantes que no justifican la compra de software de alto rendimiento, que puede quedar sin utilizar debido a un viraje del mercado -- El presente proyecto se ha desarrollado para atender necesidades de procesamiento automático de planos (partición, detección y corrección de errores, etc.), así como módulos de importación – exportación paquete a paquete, trazado de rutas e interacción con GPS -- Este artículo informa de los dos últimos aspectos -- Debido a necesidades de los clientes, los archivos entregados deben llevar un formato comercial (DWG, DXF), pero el procesamiento de los archivos debe ser hecho en paquetes y formatos diversos (DGN) -- Por lo tanto, fue necesario diseñar e implementar un formato acompañante que permitió llevar la información que se pierde al usar filtros comerciales (DGN a DXF/DWG) -- Asimismo se crearon módulos de importación y exportación redundantes, que hicieron efectivos dichos atributos -- En el aspecto de generación de rutas de vuelo, se reportan en este artículo la aplicación de algoritmos tradicionales de barrido (peinado) de áreas 2D, a los cuales se agregaron restricciones geométricas (puntos fijos, offsets, orden de los barridos de acuerdo a coordenadas del sitio de partida, etc.) -- Debido a los altos costos de equipos equivalentes, se decidió desarrollar software para traducción de rutas entre formatos GPS y formatos geográficos locales al país -- Ello permite la eliminación de fuentes de error y además facilita la carga del plan de vuelo, a costos mucho menores a los del hardware / software comercial

Herramientas automáticas de diagnóstico y corrección para aerofotogrametría

En Aerofotogrametría, el proceso de restitución (paso de imagen a formato electrónico vectorizado) es realizado por un operador humano, con asistencia de hardware y Software especializado -- Dicho proceso implica la traducción de accidentes geográficos, detalles topográficos, etc., la cual conlleva errores tanto geométricos (precisión) como topológicos (conectividad) de los datos digitales vectorizados -- Adicionalmente, aun si la vectorizacion es perfecta, los editores en etapas subsecuentes deben realizar tareas repetitivas: formateo, marcado, ajuste de convenciones, etc., que por el tamaño de los archivos de datos se hacen prolongadas y propensas al error -- Tanto los procesos de corrección como de formateo y marcado requieren además la ejecución de entradas / salidas con el usuario en el computador, proceso que es particularmente lento -- Esta investigación presenta el desarrollo de herramientas automáticas de (i) detección y corrección de errores comunes en los planos restituidos, (ii) partición y re-agrupación inteligentes de planos grandes, y (iii) formateo y marcado automático -- El desarrollo de software se hace usando el standard AIS (Application Interface Specification), lo que lo hace portable a los modeladores cuya interface AIS haya sido implementada -- El proyecto se desarrolla para la firma AeroEstudios LTDA de Colombia, la cual lo ha incorporado a sus herramientas de procesamiento de información digital

Interfaz AIS para aplicaciones en CAD/CAM/CG

Los modeladores geométricos más comunes en el mercado ofrecen, además de sus servicios de modelado, una API (Application Programming Interface) que permite la construcción de aplicaciones o software cliente -- Estas aplicaciones aprovechan los servicios básicos del modelador para proveer tareas específicas -- Sin embargo las diferencias entre API´s de distintos modeladores imposibilita el intercambio del software cliente entre ellos -- Application Interface Specification -AIS- es una API genérica para ser usada por aplicaciones cliente de los modeladores geométricos -- Este artículo reporta la implementación de AIS sobre AutoCAD® y MicroStation® y discute aspectos importantes de dicha implementación -- Además presenta una aplicación cliente neutra que habla lenguaje AIS y por lo tanto se ejecuta transparentemente sobre los dos modeladores -- AIS se presenta como una alternativa económica para escribir aplicaciones de CAD/CAM/CG -- Futuros desarrollos incluyen la implementación de AIS para labores gráficas y/o de base de datos

Sanctum

Sanctum is a public art work by James Coupe and Juan Pampin. It uses the persistent flow of people around the Henry Art Gallery as input, extracting narratives from the demographics of passers-by and the patterns of their movement. The flow of people is used as a physical analogue to another type of crowd, the virtual inhabitants of social networks such as Facebook.

Generating Flash files of Your Lectures: Good Practice Strategies Helping Students Engage with Their Learning

Our students come from diverse backgrounds. They need flexibility in their learning. First year students tend to worry when they miss lectures or part of lectures. Having the lecture as an on line resource allows students to miss a lecture without stressing about it and to be more relaxed in the lecture, knowing that anything they may miss will be available later. The resource: The Windows based program from Blueberry Software (not Blackberry!) - BB Flashback - allows the simultaneous recording of the computer screen together with the audio, as well as Webcam recording. Editing capabilities include adding pause buttons, graphics and text to the file before exporting it in a flash file. Any diagrams drawn on the board or shown via visualiser can be photographed and easily incorporated. The audio from the file can be extracted if required to be posted as podcast. Exporting modes other than Flash are also available, allowing vodcasting if you wish. What you will need: - the recording software: it can be installed on the lecture hall computer just prior to lecture if needed - a computer: either the ones in lecture halls, especially if fitted with audio recording, or a laptop (I have used audio recording via Bluetooth for mobility). Feedback from students has been positive and will be presented on the poster.

Dealing with temporal inconsistency in automated computer forensic profiling

Computer profiling is the automated forensic examination of a computer system in order to provide a human investigator with a characterisation of the activities that have taken place on that system. As part of this process, the logical components of the computer system – components such as users, files and applications - are enumerated and the relationships between them discovered and reported. This information is enriched with traces of historical activity drawn from system logs and from evidence of events found in the computer file system. A potential problem with the use of such information is that some of it may be inconsistent and contradictory thus compromising its value. This work examines the impact of temporal inconsistency in such information and discusses two types of temporal inconsistency that may arise – inconsistency arising out of the normal errant behaviour of a computer system, and inconsistency arising out of deliberate tampering by a suspect – and techniques for dealing with inconsistencies of the latter kind. We examine the impact of deliberate tampering through experiments conducted with prototype computer profiling software. Based on the results of these experiments, we discuss techniques which can be employed in computer profiling to deal with such temporal inconsistencies.

A comparative study of multiple attribute tree and inverted file structures for large bibliographic files

A variety of data structures such as inverted file, multi-lists, quad tree, k-d tree, range tree, polygon tree, quintary tree, multidimensional tries, segment tree, doubly chained tree, the grid file, d-fold tree. super B-tree, Multiple Attribute Tree (MAT), etc. have been studied for multidimensional searching and related problems. Physical data base organization, which is an important application of multidimensional searching, is traditionally and mostly handled by employing inverted file. This study proposes MAT data structure for bibliographic file systems, by illustrating the superiority of MAT data structure over inverted file. Both the methods are compared in terms of preprocessing, storage and query costs. Worst-case complexity analysis of both the methods, for a partial match query, is carried out in two cases: (a) when directory resides in main memory, (b) when directory resides in secondary memory. In both cases, MAT data structure is shown to be more efficient than the inverted file method. Arguments are given to illustrate the superiority of MAT data structure in an average case also. An efficient adaptation of MAT data structure, that exploits the special features of MAT structure and bibliographic files, is proposed for bibliographic file systems. In this adaptation, suitable techniques for fixing and ranking of the attributes for MAT data structure are proposed. Conclusions and proposals for future research are presented.

Authority files: Breaking out of the library silo to become signposts for research information

Authority files serve to uniquely identify real world ‘things’ or entities like documents, persons, organisations, and their properties, like relations and features. Already important in the classical library world, authority files are indispensable for adequate information retrieval and analysis in the computer age. This is because, even more than humans, computers are poor at handling ambiguity. Through authority files, people tell computers which terms, names or numbers refer to the same thing or have the same meaning by giving equivalent notions the same identifier. Thus, authority files signpost the internet where these identifiers are interlinked on the basis of relevance. When executing a query, computers are able to navigate from identifier to identifier by following these links and collect the queried information on these so-called ‘crosswalks’. In this context, identifiers also go under the name controlled access points. Identifiers become even more crucial now massive data collections like library catalogues or research datasets are releasing their till-now contained data directly to the internet. This development is coined Open Linked Data. The concatenating name for the internet is Web of Data instead of the classical Web of Documents.

The use of computer simulation for aircraft evacuation certification: a report from the VERRES project

In this paper a methodology for the application of computer simulation to the evacuation certification of aircraft is suggested. The methodology suggested here involves the use of computer simulation, historic certification data, component testing and full-scale certification trials. The proposed methodology sets out a protocol for how computer simulation should be undertaken in a certification environment and draws on experience from both the marine and building industries. Along with the suggested protocol, a phased introduction of computer models to certification is suggested. Given the sceptical nature of the aviation community regarding any certification methodology change in general, this would involve as a first step the use of computer simulation in conjunction with full-scale testing. The computer model would be used to reproduce a probability distribution of likely aircraft performance under current certification conditions and in addition, several other more challenging scenarios could be developed. The combination of full-scale trial, computer simulation (and if necessary component testing) would provide better insight into the actual performance capabilities of the aircraft by generating a performance probability distribution or performance envelope rather than a single datum. Once further confidence in the technique is established, the second step would only involve computer simulation and component testing. This would only be contemplated after sufficient experience and confidence in the use of computer models have been developed. The third step in the adoption of computer simulation for certification would involve the introduction of several scenarios based on for example exit availability instructed by accident analysis. The final step would be the introduction of more realistic accident scenarios into the certification process. This would require the continued development of aircraft evacuation modelling technology to include additional behavioural features common in real accident scenarios.

Computer simulation of VLTA evacuation performance: a report from the VERRES project

This paper reports on research work undertaken for the European Commission funded study GMA2/2000/32039 Very Large Transport Aircraft (VLTA) Emergency Requirements Research Evacuation Study (VERRES). A particular focus was on evacuation issues with a detailed study of evacuation performance using computer models being undertaken as part of Work Package 2. This paper describes this work and investigates the use of internal stairs during evacuation using computer simulation.