Development of a case tool to support decision based software development

A summary of the accomplishments of the research over the past year are presented. Achievements include: made demonstrations with DHC, a prototype supporting decision based software development (DBSD) methodology, for Paramax personnel at ODU; met with Paramax personnel to discuss DBSD issues, the process of integrating DBSD and Refinery and the porting process model; completed and submitted a paper describing DBSD paradigm to IFIP '92; completed and presented a paper describing the approach for software reuse at the Software Reuse Workshop in April 1993; continued to extend DHC with a project agenda, facility necessary for a better project management; completed a primary draft of the re-engineering process model for porting; created a logging form to trace all the activities involved in the process of solving the reengineering problem, and developed a primary chart with the problems involved by the reengineering process

The Eighth Annual NASA/Contractors Conference and 1991 National Symposium on Quality and Productivity: Extending the boundaries of total quality management

The Eighth Annual NASA/Contractors Conference and 1991 National Symposium on Quality and Productivity provided a forum to exchange knowledge and experiences in these areas of continuous improvement. The more than 1,100 attendees from government, industry, academia, community groups, and the international arena had a chance to learn about methods, tools, and strategies for excellence and to discuss continuous improvement strategies, successes, and failures. This event, linked via satellite to concurrent conferences hosted by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Martin Marietta Astronautics Group in Denver, Colorado, also explored extending the boundaries of Total Quality Management to include partnerships for quality within communities and encouraged examination, evaluation, and change to incorporate the principles of continuous improvement

Detection and identification of plasmodium species causing malaria in Malawi using rapid diagnostic tests

Malaria represents one of the oldest documented diseases among humans and even today organisms in the genus Plasmodium kill more people than any other infectious disease, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. The four most common species which infect humans are Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malaria. Of these four species, Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax account for 95 percent of infections globally. Microscopy has been used since early days for the diagnosis of malaria because this method is simple, does not require highly equipped facilities, and in most cases enables differentiation among the species causing malaria in humans when performed by skilled microscopy readers. However, this method has been misleading in identifying parasite species, especially in the case of low level parasitemia, a mixed parasite infection, or modification by drug treatment as well as in placental malaria. Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) have played a major role in malaria management; particularly in providing blood based diagnosis in remote locations where microscopy based diagnosis is unavailable. These diagnostic tests are fast and easy to perform and do not require electricity or specific equipment. As part of strengthening malaria diagnostics in Malawi, the Ministry of Health and Population strongly recommends the use of malaria RDT’s at all levels of the health care delivery system. However, malaria microscopy remains a gold standard test for malaria. All patients (regardless of age) with suspected uncomplicated malaria should have a confirmed diagnosis with malaria RDT before anti-malaria treatment is administered. Based on field performance evaluations that assessed performance, quality control and production capacities of the manufacturing companies of malaria RDT’s, the Ministry of Health and Population recommended two brands of Histidine Rich Protein 2 (HRP-2), RDT’s for use in Malawi. These are SD Bioline malaria Ag Pf and the New Paracheck malaria Ag Pf. All these RDT’s are able to detect only P. falciparum. However, other species have been reported to exist in the country and there is a need to find proper RDT’s which will be able to detect all other species including P. falciparum. The main aim of this study was to evaluate Paramax-3 Pf/Pv/Pan RDT (Zephyr Biomedicals, India), if used in Malawi, could be able to detect and identify the different species of Plasmodium causing malaria in Malawi. The study recruited a total of 250 adult and infants at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Study results showed that the overall sensitivity and specificity of the Paramax-3 RDT used in the study were 100 percent and 83 percent respectively. However, it was observed that the RDT test was not able to identify the P. ovale, and in some cases, the RDT test was positive for P. falciparum when the PCR identified the species as P. ovale. No P. vivax was detected both by RDT and PCR. This study was able to detect and identify the presence of P. malaria and P. ovale in Malawi apart from the P. falciparum. There were no significant differences between microscopy results compared to both the RDT and the PCR, with 94 percent and 98 percent sensitivities of R1 and R2 compared to RDT, as well as 94 percent and 96 percent sensitivities for R1 and R2 compared to PCR respectively. Both R1 and R2 had low specificities for example, R1 had 72 percent and R2 had 80 percent compared to RDT. Comparing R1 and R2 to PCR, the sensitivities were 64.9 percent and 67.2 percent respectively. However, the readers had difficulties differentiating the different species microscopically. The history of anti-malaria treatment had no significant effect on the outcome of the results in both the RDT and PCR

Maintaining computer-based information systems using text-based intelligent systems techniques

In order to incorporate up-to-date quantitative and qualitative information, Computer- Based Information Systems (CBIS) must be able to extract data from unstructured, textual formats such as newspapers and magazines. The process of updating information in a CBIS currently requires large amounts of human effort analyzing and converting data from such sources into formats which information systems can work with. This paper suggests some methods by which the data needs of a CBIS can be handled semi-automatically (Employing both computers and humans) using text-based intelligent systems (TBIS) techniques

Electronic Document Distribution: Design of the Anonymous FTP Langley Technical Report Server

An experimental electronic dissemination project, the Langley Technical Report Server (LTRS), has been undertaken to determine the feasibility of delivering Langley technical reports directly to the desktops of researchers worldwide. During the first six months, over 4700 accesses occurred and over 2400 technical reports were distributed. This usage indicates the high level of interest that researchers have in performing literature searches and retrieving technical reports at their desktops. The initial system was developed with existing resources and technology. The reports are stored as files on an inexpensive UNIX workstation and are accessible over the Internet. This project will serve as a foundation for ongoing projects at other NASA centers that will allow for greater access to NASA technical reports

Management of Knowledge Representation Standards Activities

This report describes the efforts undertaken over the last two years to identify the issues underlying the current difficulties in sharing and reuse, and a community wide initiative to overcome them. First, we discuss four bottlenecks to sharing and reuse, present a vision of a future in which these bottlenecks have been ameliorated, and describe the efforts of the initiative's four working groups to address these bottlenecks. We then address the supporting technology and infrastructure that is critical to enabling the vision of the future. Finally, we consider topics of longer-range interest by reviewing some of the research issues raised by our vision