Portable and platform‐independent MR pulse sequence programs

Purpose: To introduce a new sequence description format for vendor‐independent MR sequences that include all calculation logic portably. To introduce a new MRI sequence development approach which utilizes flexibly reusable modules. Methods: The proposed sequence description contains a sequence module hierarchy for loop and group logic, which is enhanced by a novel strategy for performing efficient parameter and pulse shape calculation. These calculations are powered by a flow graph structure. By using the flow graph, all calculations are performed with no redundancy and without requiring preprocessing. The generation of this interpretable structure is a separate step that combines MRI techniques while actively considering their context. The driver interface is slim and highly flexible through scripting support. The sequences do not require any vendor‐specific compiling or processing step. A vendor‐independent frontend for sequence configuration can be used. Tests that ensure physical feasibility of the sequence are integrated into the calculation logic. Results: The framework was used to define a set of standard sequences. Resulting images were compared to respective images acquired with sequences provided by the device manufacturer. Images were acquired using a standard commercial MRI system. Conclusions: The approach produces configurable, vendor‐independent sequences, whose configurability enables rapid prototyping. The transparent data structure simplifies the process of sharing reproducible sequences, modules, and techniques

Proliferation of SDDS Support for Various Platforms and Languages

Since Self-Describing Data Sets (SDDS) were first introduced, the source code has been ported to many different operating systems and various languages. SDDS is now available in C, Tcl, Java, Fortran, and Python. All of these versions are supported on Solaris, Linux, and Windows. The C version of SDDS is also supported on VxWorks. With the recent addition of the Java port, SDDS can now be deployed on virtually any operating system. Due to this proliferation, SDDS files serve to link not only a collection of C programs, but programs and scripts in many languages on different operating systems. The platform independent binary feature of SDDS also facilitates portability among operating systems. This paper presents an overview of various benefits of SDDS platform interoperability.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ICALEPCS 200

A Platform-independent Programming Environment for Robot Control

The development of robot control programs is a complex task. Many robots are different in their electrical and mechanical structure which is also reflected in the software. Specific robot software environments support the program development, but are mainly text-based and usually applied by experts in the field with profound knowledge of the target robot. This paper presents a graphical programming environment which aims to ease the development of robot control programs. In contrast to existing graphical robot programming environments, our approach focuses on the composition of parallel action sequences. The developed environment allows to schedule independent robot actions on parallel execution lines and provides mechanism to avoid side-effects of parallel actions. The developed environment is platform-independent and based on the model-driven paradigm. The feasibility of our approach is shown by the application of the sequencer to a simulated service robot and a robot for educational purpose

Need for expanded environmental measurement capabilities in geosynchronous Earth orbit

The proliferation of environmental satellites in low altitude earth orbit (LEO) has demonstrated the usefulness of earth remote sensing from space. As use of the technology grows, the limitations of LEO missions become more apparent. Many inadequacies can be met by remote sensing from geosynchronous earth orbits (GEO) that can provide high temporal resolution, consistent viewing of specific earth targets, long sensing dwell times with varying sun angles, stereoscopic coverage, and correlative measurements with ground and LEO observations. An environmental platform in GEO is being studied by NASA. Small research satellite missions in GEO were studied (1990) at GSFC. Some recent independent assessments of NASA Earth Science Programs recommend accelerating the earlier deployment of smaller missions

Proteomics to go: Proteomatic enables the user-friendly creation of versatile MS/MS data evaluation workflows

We present Proteomatic, an operating system independent and user-friendly platform that enables the construction and execution of MS/MS data evaluation pipelines using free and commercial software. Required external programs such as for peptide identification are downloaded automatically in the case of free software. Due to a strict separation of functionality and presentation, and support for multiple scripting languages, new processing steps can be added easily

Java, Java, Java

Everyone is talking about Java. The driving force for this chatter is Java\u27\u27s simplicity and potential power. Java is programming language, and a language for the intranet and the World Wide Web (WWW). Java is a Write On one platform and Run on Many platforms (WORM) language. For network-friendly, platform-independent applications, Java (originally Oak) is an object oriented programming language. Java source code is compiled into a virtual machine code or bytecode. This makes the Java platform independent. It can be placed on a Web site, and executed on the client side on a PC-Intel, Mac, Motorola or UNIX-Solaris machine without recompiling. Sun Microsystems formally announced Java in May 1995. Java is the first language that has built-in capabilities for networking applications, in particular, creating dynamic Web pages. Java programs that run on the Internet Web pages are called applets. These applets are easily incorporated into Web pages. These applets are executed from homepages on remote Web sites. Java programs run interpretively on the client side. Java reduces development costs and speeds up the learning curve. Traditional client server development tools-such as Delphi, Power-Builder and Visual Basic-are losing ground to Java as a result. By the year-end of 1996, Java had moved ahead in use of both C and C++ and these application development tool