Distributed STEP-Compliant Platform for Multimodal Collaboration in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction

This paper presents an innovative software platform OpenSTEP intended to build advanced distributed integrated systems and to conduct multidisciplinary collaborative projects in both academy and industry. The paper discusses an open system architecture, methodology, component library and CASE toolkit enabling the developers to build a wide range of interoperable applications and systems compliant with STEP and, particularly, with IFC becoming the increasingly important standard for information integration in architecture, engineering and construction

Applying Dynamic Integration as a Software Infrastructure for Context-Aware Computing

Much of the software engineering literature examines techniques and practices that help us to build systems that we have been building for many years already. While there is merit in seeking ways to raise the floor of software engineering practice, we also have an obligation to research software design issues that push the envelope of existing computing technology. One of the features of future interactive computing environments is that they will provide context-aware services that leverage off of knowledge of a person's physical state and surrounding environment. With the proliferation of network-based computing services that are a characteristic of an emerging ubiquitous computing society, there is a real issue with providing a software infrastructure that will support context-aware services. In this paper, we examine software engineering work on component integration and introduce a prototype infrastructure that provides a dynamic and scalable context-aware computing environment. We will describe how we have applied this component infrastructure to build a futuristic personal information management system involving automatic cooperation between desktop, network and mobile services

An Open Simulation System Model for Scientific Applications

A model for a generic and open environment for running multi-code or multi-application simulations - called the open Simulation System Model (OSSM) - is proposed and defined. This model attempts to meet the requirements of complex systems like the Numerical Propulsion Simulator System (NPSS). OSSM places no restrictions on the types of applications that can be integrated at any state of its evolution. This includes applications of different disciplines, fidelities, etc. An implementation strategy is proposed that starts with a basic prototype, and evolves over time to accommodate an increasing number of applications. Potential (standard) software is also identified which may aid in the design and implementation of the system

An agent-based visualisation system.

This thesis explores the concepts of visual supercomputing, where complex distributed systems are used toward interactive visualisation of large datasets. Such complex systems inherently trigger management and optimisation problems; in recent years the concepts of autonomic computing have arisen to address those issues. Distributed visualisation systems are a very challenging area to apply autonomic computing ideas as such systems are both latency and compute sensitive, while most autonomic computing implementations usually concentrate on one or the other but not both concurrently. A major contribution of this thesis is to provide a case study demonstrating the application of autonomic computing concepts to a computation intensive, real-time distributed visualisation system. The first part of the thesis proposes the realisation of a layered multi-agent system to enable autonomic visualisation. The implementation of a generic multi-agent system providing reflective features is described. This architecture is then used to create a flexible distributed graphic pipeline, oriented toward real-time visualisation of volume datasets. Performance evaluation of the pipeline is presented. The second part of the thesis explores the reflective nature of the system and presents high level architectures based on software agents, or visualisation strategies, that take advantage of the flexibility of the system to provide generic features. Autonomic capabilities are presented, with fault recovery and automatic resource configuration. Performance evaluation, simulation and prediction of the system are presented, exploring different use cases and optimisation scenarios. A performance exploration tool, Delphe, is described, which uses real-time data of the system to let users explore its performance

The Origins of the Underline as Visual Representation of the Hyperlink on the Web: A Case Study in Skeuomorphism

This thesis investigates the process by which the underline came to be used as the default signifier of hyperlinks on the World Wide Web. Created in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, the web quickly became the most used hypertext system in the world, and most browsers default to indicating hyperlinks with an underline. To answer the question of why the underline was chosen over competing demarcation techniques, the thesis applies the methods of history of technology and sociology of technology. Before the invention of the web, the underline–also known as the vinculum–was used in many contexts in writing systems; collecting entities together to form a whole and ascribing additional meaning to the content. This early usage made the underline a natural choice, semantically, as a hyperlink signifier. The technological context in which the web was created also played a significant role in the use of the underline. Early computer systems were limited in their display capacities and the interfaces created on them were influenced by these constraints. Specifically, the NeXT computer on which Berners-Lee developed the web made underlining text very simple using its Interface Builder software. The combination of the existing semantic meaning of the underline in written language, coupled with the affordances of contemporary computer systems resulted in the commonplace use of the underline to signify hyperlinks

For everything: Tim Berners-Lee, winner of the 2016 Turing award for having invented… the Web

National audienceWhat could be a common point among getting information about a concert, transferring money from one’s bank account, publishing a genomics database, communicating with one’s children on the other side of the planet, and accessing information about one’s car ? The fact that they can all be done through the Web. It is indeed difficult to think of a human activity that hasn’t been impacted by the Web, and as I write this article in April 2017, the current estimate is that the Web has more than 3 billion direct users throughout the world. In the same month, the British computer scientist Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee was awarded the 2016 Turing prize for having invented the World Wide Web, the first Web browser, and the protocols and algorithms that enabled the passage to the scale of the Web. Sir Tim, as he is called, is a professor at MIT and at Oxford University. This prize is just the latest of a long list of distinctions that he has received. But the Turing prize is considered the Nobel prize of computer science, and this award has been widely expected for his invention of the Web, an invention which has transformed our society since its creation in 1989. This is thus a good occasion to revisit, in this article, the history of his invention, and at the same time try to highlight many of the influences and currents that interacted to bring it about. This will also be an occasion, for us, to deconstruct certain notions and to reintegrate others, in an effort to tie together the numerous influences that weaved the web

Sviluppo di una piattaforma di Realtà Aumentata per iOS

La relazione si articola in quattro sezioni principali. Nella prima si spiega cos'è la Realtà Aumentata e qual è la storia, lo stato attuale e il futuro di questa tecnologia. Inoltre viene presentata l'azienda in cui si è svolto il tirocinio. Nella seconda sezione si descrive come è affrontato il problema della realizzazione di un sistema di Realtà Aumentata in letteratura e quali sensori disponibili sui moderni smartphone possono essere utilizzati per creare una applicazione che utilizza questa tecnologia, con particolare riferimento ai dispositivi Apple. Nella terza parte è analizzato il sistema operativo iOS e le tecnologie a disposizione su questa piattaforma al fine di scegliere, tra le varie implementazioni possibili, la migliore in termini di prestazioni, manutenzione, flessibilità ed espandibilità futura del codice. L'ultima parte descrive il processo che ha portato all'implementazione di una piattaforma di Realtà Aumentata per dispositivi con sistema operativo iOS

A university wide smart card system

Presently, many tertiary educational institutions utilise card technologies for staff and student identification and the support of other related services within the institution. A new type of card technology has been developed known as a Smart Card, where an existing plastic card has an embedded integrated circuit and is capable of expanding the range of applications and services capable within an institution. This thesis will detail the advantages that these new Smart Cards have over existing institution cards, detail other institution\u27s attempts to use Smart Cards and finally, this thesis proposes a suitable system for integrating Smart Cards into an existing tertiary educational institution