Interactive product browsing and configuration using remote augmented reality sales services

Real-time remote sales assistance is an underdeveloped component of online sales services. Solutions involving web page text chat, telephony and video support prove problematic when seeking to remotely guide customers in their sales processes, especially with configurations of physically complex artefacts. Recently, there has been great interest in the application of virtual worlds and augmented reality to create synthetic environments for remote sales of physical artefacts. However, there is a lack of analysis and development of appropriate software services to support these processes. We extend our previous work with the detailed design of configuration context services to support the management of an interactive sales session using augmented reality. We detail the context and configuration services required, presenting a novel data service streaming configuration information to the vendor for business analytics. We expect that a fully implemented configuration management service, based on our design, will improve the remote sales experience for both customers and vendors alike via analysis of the streamed information

Prototype system for supporting the incremental modelling of vague geometric configurations

In this paper the need for Intelligent Computer Aided Design (Int.CAD) to jointly support design and learning assistance is introduced. The paper focuses on presenting and exploring the possibility of realizing learning assistance in Int.CAD by introducing a new concept called Shared Learning. Shared Learning is proposed to empower CAD tools with more useful learning capabilities than that currently available and thereby provide a stronger interaction of learning between a designer and a computer. Controlled computational learning is proposed as a means whereby the Shared Learning concept can be realized. The viability of this new concept is explored by using a system called PERSPECT. PERSPECT is a preliminary numerical design tool aimed at supporting the effective utilization of numerical experiential knowledge in design. After a detailed discussion of PERSPECT's numerical design support, the paper presents the results of an evaluation that focuses on PERSPECT's implementation of controlled computational learning and ability to support a designer's need to learn. The paper then discusses PERSPECT's potential as a tool for supporting the Shared Learning concept by explaining how a designer and PERSPECT can jointly learn. There is still much work to be done before the full potential of Shared Learning can be realized. However, the authors do believe that the concept of Shared Learning may hold the key to truly empowering learning in Int.CAD

Sparse cross-products of metadata in scientific simulation management

Managing scientific data is by no means a trivial task even in a single site environment with a small number of researchers involved. We discuss some issues concerned with posing well-specified experiments in terms of parameters or instrument settings and the metadata framework that arises from doing so. We are particularly interested in parallel computer simulation experiments, where very large quantities of warehouse-able data are involved. We consider SQL databases and other framework technologies for manipulating experimental data. Our framework manages the the outputs from parallel runs that arise from large cross-products of parameter combinations. Considerable useful experiment planning and analysis can be done with the sparse metadata without fully expanding the parameter cross-products. Extra value can be obtained from simulation output that can subsequently be data-mined. We have particular interests in running large scale Monte-Carlo physics model simulations. Finding ourselves overwhelmed by the problems of managing data and compute ¿resources, we have built a prototype tool using Java and MySQL that addresses these issues. We use this example to discuss type-space management and other fundamental ideas for implementing a laboratory information management system

Design and analysis of a reconfigurable discrete pin tooling system for molding of three-dimensional free-form objects

This paper presents the design and analysis of a new reconfigurable tooling for the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) free-form objects. The proposed reconfigurable tooling system comprises a set of matrices of a closely stacked discrete elements (i.e., pins) arranged to form a cavity in which a free-form object can be molded. By reconfiguring the pins, a single tool can be used in the place of multiple tools to produce different parts with the involvement of much lesser time and cost. The structural behavior of a reconfigurable mold tool under process conditions of thermoplastic molding is studied using a finite element method (FEM) based methodology. Various factors that would affect the tool behavior are identified and their effects are analyzed to optimally design a reconfigurable mold tool for a given set of process conditions. A prototype, open reconfigurable mold tool is developed to present the feasibility of the proposed tooling system. Several case studies and sample parts are also presented in this paper

DKVF: A Framework for Rapid Prototyping and Evaluating Distributed Key-value Stores

We present our framework DKVF that enables one to quickly prototype and evaluate new protocols for key-value stores and compare them with existing protocols based on selected benchmarks. Due to limitations of CAP theorem, new protocols must be developed that achieve the desired trade-off between consistency and availability for the given application at hand. Hence, both academic and industrial communities focus on developing new protocols that identify a different (and hopefully better in one or more aspect) point on this trade-off curve. While these protocols are often based on a simple intuition, evaluating them to ensure that they indeed provide increased availability, consistency, or performance is a tedious task. Our framework, DKVF, enables one to quickly prototype a new protocol as well as identify how it performs compared to existing protocols for pre-specified benchmarks. Our framework relies on YCSB (Yahoo! Cloud Servicing Benchmark) for benchmarking. We demonstrate DKVF by implementing four existing protocols --eventual consistency, COPS, GentleRain and CausalSpartan-- with it. We compare the performance of these protocols against different loading conditions. We find that the performance is similar to our implementation of these protocols from scratch. And, the comparison of these protocols is consistent with what has been reported in the literature. Moreover, implementation of these protocols was much more natural as we only needed to translate the pseudocode into Java (and add the necessary error handling). Hence, it was possible to achieve this in just 1-2 days per protocol. Finally, our framework is extensible. It is possible to replace individual components in the framework (e.g., the storage component)