Physiological system modelling

Computer graphics has a major impact in our day-to-day life. It is used in diverse areas such as displaying the results of engineering and scientific computations and visualization, producing television commercials and feature films, simulation and analysis of real world problems, computer aided design, graphical user interfaces that increases the communication bandwidth between humans and machines, etc Scientific visualization is a well-established method for analysis of data, originating from scientific computations, simulations or measurements. The development and implementation of the 3Dgen software was developed by the author using OpenGL and C language was presented in this report 3Dgen was used to visualize threedimensional cylindrical models such as pipes and also for limited usage in virtual endoscopy. Using the developed software a model was created using the centreline data input by the user or from the output of some other program, stored in a normal text file. The model was constructed by drawing surface polygons between two adjacent centreline points. The software allows the user to view the internal and external surfaces of the model. The software was designed in such a way that it runs in more than one operating systems with minimal installation procedures Since the size of the software is very small it can be stored in a 1 44 Megabyte floppy diskette. Depending on the processing speed of the PC the software can generate models of any length and size Compared to other packages, 3Dgen has minimal input procedures was able to generate models with smooth bends. It has both modelling and virtual exploration features. For models with sharp bends the software generates an overshoot

Extending Hardware Based Mandatory Access Controls to Multicore Architectures

Memory based vulnerabilities have plagued the computer industry since the release of the Morris worm twenty years ago. In addition to buffer overflow attacks like the Morris worm, format strings, ret-libC, and heap double free() viruses have been able to take advantage of pervasive programming errors. A recent example is the unspecified buffer overflow vulnerability present in Mozilla Firefox 3.0. From the past one can learn that these coding mistakes are not waning. A solution is needed that can close off these security shortcomings while still being of minimal impact to the user. Antivirus software makers continuously overestimate the lengths that the everyday user is willing to go to in order to protect his or her system. The ideal protection scheme will be of little or no inconvenience to the user. A technique that fits this niche is one that is built into the hardware. Typical users will never know of the added protection they\u27re receiving because they are getting it by default. Unlike the NX bit technology in modern x86 machines, the correct solution should be mandatory and uncircumventable by user programs. The idea of marking memory as non-executable is maintained but in this case the granularity is refined to the byte level. The standard memory model is extended by one bit per byte to indicate whether the data stored there is trusted or not. While this design is not unique in the architecture field, the issues that arise from multiple processing units in a single system causes complications. Therefore, the purpose of this work is to investigate hardware based mandatory access control mechanisms that work in the multicore paradigm. As a proof of concept, a buffer overflow style attack has been crafted that results in an escalation of privileges for a nonroot user. While effective against a standard processor, a CPU modified to include byte level tainting successfully repels the attack with minimal performance overhead

IM-sgi an interface model for shape grammar implementations

This research arises from the interest in computing as offering new paradigms in the design practice. Information technologies are the driving force for progress in the processes of design, enabling new forms of creativity. The increasing sophistication of computer applications, their easier access, and lower cost have had a significant impact on design practices and can be regarded as a paradigm shift. The invention and creativity are thus seen as knowledge processing activities and can, at least partially, be carried out with the support of computer applications. In this context Shape Grammars (SG) as production systems of designs through rules have the potential to create designs with variable user input and the ability to evaluate a large number of alternatives that may lead to innovative designs. Most architects and designers use computers on their daily practice as a representation tool for their projects, but not as a facilitator or increaser of the creative process. SG computational implementations have the potential to enhance creativity with the test of a wide range of design options, helping the appearance of new solutions, either through the emergence of new shapes or by stimulating the designer’s creativity with the possibilities presented. As Architects and Designers haven't adopted existing SG computational implementations, that take advantage of computation to facilitate and enhance their work, could the problem be on the communication between the applications and the user? If the interface of the SG implementation does not allow the user to understand how to use it or how to control and make use of its results, it can’t be successfully used. With interest in SG implementations as creative partners in the creative process, our research starts with the analysis of existing SG implementations, trying to understand if they had the potential to be adopted by architects and designers in their practice and, if not, what could be done to lead to that objective. User Interface Inspection Methods were used to perform this analysis and allowed us to understand that there are interactions and communication issues that need to be addressed for SG implementations to be adopted by designers. Taking this direction, we understood that models of interaction between the user and SG implementations have already been developed. The present research proposal started from the analysis of the interaction model of Scott Chase, where he defines the different levels of interaction between the user and SG implementation, with more or less input from the user, establishing different ways to combine synergies to obtain new creative solutions. Taking this interaction model as a starting point, next, we must assure the correct communication between user and implementation occurs. The means of communication between these two agents is the computational interface. Understanding the importance of the interface to allow the user to know how to use the computational implementation and be able to produce results, our research presents the development of an interface model for SG implementations to help to take a step towards the adoption of SG for creative projects. For this, we used methods from Human-Computer Interaction discipline, and we also took Bastien & Scapin's "List of Ergonomic Criteria Guidelines" as guiding lines to define the Criteria of our interface model, called IM-sgi, Interface Model for Shape Grammar Implementations. Thus, IM-sgi, an interface model for SG Implementations, has the purpose of helping SG implementations developers to address the interface on the right path to a correct communication with the particular type of user that architects and designers are. Interface prototypes following IM-sgi criteria are finally developed and presented to test the suitability of the IM-sgi Model to SG implementations and validate the objectives we propose.A presente pesquisa surge do interesse na computação por oferecer novos paradigmas na prática do design. As tecnologias da informação são a força motriz para o progresso nos processos de design, permitindo novas formas de criatividade. A crescente sofisticação das aplicações computacionais, o acesso mais fácil às mesmas e menor custo associado tiveram um grande impacto nas práticas de projeto e podemos considerar estar perante uma mudança de paradigma. A invenção e a criatividade são, portanto, vistas como atividades de processamento de conhecimento e podem, pelo menos parcialmente, ser realizadas com o suporte do computador. Nesse contexto, As Gramáticas de Forma, como sistemas de produção de designs através de regras, têm o potencial de criar projetos com entradas com níveis variáveis de intervenção do utilizador e apresentam a capacidade de avaliar um grande número de alternativas que podem levar a designs inovadores. A maioria dos arquitetos e designers usa o computador na sua prática diária como uma ferramenta de representação para seus projetos, mas não como um facilitador ou potenciador do processo criativo. As implementações computacionais de Gramáticas de Forma têm o potencial de aumentar a criatividade com o teste de uma ampla gama de opções de design, ajudando no surgimento de novas soluções, seja pela emergência de novas formas ou estimulando a criatividade do designer com as opções desenvolvidas. Uma vez que as implementações computacionais de Gramáticas de Forma existentes não foram adotadas por Arquitetos e Designers, que claramente tiram proveito de aplicações computacionais para facilitar e aperfeiçoar o seu trabalho, poderá o problema estar na comunicação entre as implementações e o utilizador? Se a interface da implementação não permitir que o utilizador entenda como usá-la ou como controlar e utilizar os seus resultados, ela não poderá ser utilizada com sucesso. Com interesse nas implementações de Gramáticas de Forma como parceiros criativos no processo criativo, a nossa investigação começa com a análise das implementações de Gramáticas de Forma existentes, tentando entender se estas têm potencial para ser adotadas pelos criativos na sua prática e, se não, o que poderia ser feito para chegar a este objetivo. Foram usados métodos de inspeção para realizar esta análise para nos permitir compreender que há interações e problemas de comunicação que precisam de ser resolvidos para que as implementações de Gramáticas de Forma sejam adotadas pelos projetistas. Seguindo essa direção de investigação, percebemos que foram já desenvolvidos modelos de interação entre o utilizador e as implementações de Gramáticas de Forma. A presente proposta de pesquisa surgiu a partir da análise do modelo de interação de Scott Chase, onde este define os diferentes níveis de interação entre utilizador e implementação de Gramáticas de Forma, com maior ou menor input do utilizador, estabelecendo diferentes formas de combinar sinergias para obter novas soluções criativas. Tomando esse modelo de interação como ponto de partida, devemos assegurar que a comunicação correta entre o utilizador e a implementação ocorra. O meio de comunicação desses dois agentes é o interface computacional. Entendendo a importância do interface para permitir que o utilizador entenda como usar a implementação computacional e seja capaz de produzir resultados, a nossa pesquisa apresenta o desenvolvimento de um modelo de interface para implementações de Gramáticas de Forma para ajudar a dar um passo na direção da adoção das Gramáticas de Forma para projetos criativos. Deste modo, aplicámos métodos da disciplina de HCI e também adotámos a Lista de Diretrizes e Critérios Ergonómicos de Bastien & Scapin como linhas de orientação para definir os Critérios do nosso modelo de interface, denominado IM-sgi. O IM-sgi, um modelo de interface para Implementações de Gramática de Forma, tem a finalidade de ajudar programadores de implementações de Gramáticas de Forma a endereçar a interface no sentido de atingir uma comunicação correta com o tipo particular de utilizador que são os arquitetos e designers. Protótipos de interface seguindo os critérios IM-sgi são finalmente desenvolvidos e apresentados para testar a adequação do modelo IM-sgi e validar os objetivos que propomos

Distance support in-service engineering for the high energy laser

The U.S. Navy anticipates moving to a shipboard high-energy laser program of record in the fiscal year 2018 and achieving an initial operational capability by 2020. The design of a distance support capability within the high-energy laser system was expected to assist the Navy in reaching this goal. This capstone project explored the current Navy architecture for distance support and applied system engineering methodologies to develop a conceptual distance support framework with application to the high-energy laser system. A model and simulation of distance support functions were developed and used to analyze the feasibility in terms of performance, cost, and risk. Results of this capstone study showed that the implementation of distance support for the high-energy laser system is feasible and would reduce the total ownership cost over the life of the program. Furthermore, the capstone shows that moving toward the team’s recommended distance support framework will address current gaps in the Navy distance support architecture and will provide a methodology tailored to modern enterprise naval systems.http://archive.org/details/distancesupporti1094545248Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Using Infrastructure as Code for Web Application Disaster Recovery

Legacy, industry established disaster recovery approaches are known for impeding a relatively high additional expenditure, thus limiting the usage of such mechanisms only to the most business-critical IT systems and applications. However, with the emergence of Infrastructure-as-Code practices, this paradigm can now be challenged. The objective of this thesis is to design and implement a novel disaster recovery tool, that can be used for the recovery of a web application. By following the design science methodology, this thesis proposes a primary-fallback oriented disaster recovery model, where the fallback site of the infrastructure is an empty cloud service account, into which a near duplicate copy of the primary site is recreated in the event of a disaster. The proposed recovery process consists of two phases, where the 2nd phase stateful application data recovery procedure is kept as an add-on functionality to the 1st phase stateless infrastructure management practices. For switching from primary to fallback site, the design proposes a DNS failover mechanism, whereby modifying the DNS A-record associations of the Public IP address during the start of the recovery process, traffic can be directed to the recovered site with a minimal delay. Based on the insights and data gathered during and after the evaluation phase of the proposed design, the tool created with Ansible and Terraform was found to be functional, performant and cost efficient within the known limits and expectations set by legacy disaster recovery practices

Analysis of Visualisation and Interaction Tools Authors

This document provides an in-depth analysis of visualization and interaction tools employed in the context of Virtual Museum. This analysis is required to identify and design the tools and the different components that will be part of the Common Implementation Framework (CIF). The CIF will be the base of the web-based services and tools to support the development of Virtual Museums with particular attention to online Virtual Museum.The main goal is to provide to the stakeholders and developers an useful platform to support and help them in the development of their projects, despite the nature of the project itself. The design of the Common Implementation Framework (CIF) is based on an analysis of the typical workflow ofthe V-MUST partners and their perceived limitations of current technologies. This document is based also on the results of the V-MUST technical questionnaire (presented in the Deliverable 4.1). Based on these two source of information, we have selected some important tools (mainly visualization tools) and services and we elaborate some first guidelines and ideas for the design and development of the CIF, that shall provide a technological foundation for the V-MUST Platform, together with the V-MUST repository/repositories and the additional services defined in the WP4. Two state of the art reports, one about user interface design and another one about visualization technologies have been also provided in this document

Qt set-up for texas instruments AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 using linux application for an industrial scale

[EN] In recent years, there has been a large increase of ARM based consumer products. This surge has been motivated by the efficiency and low cost of these processors, which make them appropriate for low power devices and applications that are not CPU intensive. This work examines the viability of implementing a graphical touchscreen application for an industrial scale on a Texas Instruments AM335x ARM Cortex-A development board as opposed to x86 based systems. This work also intends to serve as a general reference for implementing cross-platform applications with the Qt framework targeted to an embedded Linux system running on an AM335x based hardware. Specifically, the application to be developed is an intuitive graphical touchscreen application that interacts with a Microgram IE21 industrial scale from Microgram Instruments Española S.A. over RS-232 and a SQLite relational database for bulk product commerce by weight. Product and sales information is retrieved and stored in the database.Cholbi Alenda, P. (2014). Qt set-up for texas instruments AM335x ARM Cortex-A8 using linux application for an industrial scale. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/181599Archivo delegad

Fidelity optimization in distributed virtual environments

In virtual environment systems, the ultimate goal is delivery of the highest-fidelity user experience possible. This dissertation shows that is possible to increase the scalability of distributed virtual environments (DVEs), in a tractable fashion, through a novel application of optimization techniques. Fidelity is maximized by utilizing the given display and network capacity in an optimal fashion, individually tuned for multiple users, in a manner most appropriate to a specific DVE application. This optimization is accomplished using the QUICK framework for managing the display and request of representations for virtual objects. Ratings of representation Quality, object Importance, and representation Cost are included in model descriptions as special annotations. The QUICK optimization computes the fidelity contribution of a representation by combining these annotations with specifications of user task and platform capability. This dissertation contributes the QUICK optimization algorithms; a software framework for experimentation; and associated general purpose formats for codifying Quality, Importance, Cost, task, and platform capability. Experimentation with the QUICK framework has shown overwhelming advantages in comparison with standard resource management techniqueshttp://www.archive.org/details/fidelityoptimiza00cappCivilian author.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited