1,469 research outputs found
Report of the user requirements and web based access for eResearch workshops
The User Requirements and Web Based Access for eResearch Workshop, organized jointly by NeSC and NCeSS, was held on 19 May 2006. The aim was to identify lessons learned from e-Science projects that would contribute to our capacity to make Grid infrastructures and tools usable and accessible for diverse user communities. Its focus was on providing an opportunity for a pragmatic discussion between e-Science end users
and tool builders in order to understand usability challenges, technological options, community-specific content and needs, and methodologies for design and development. We invited members of six UK e-Science projects and one US project, trying as far as
possible to pair a user and developer from each project in order to discuss their contrasting perspectives and experiences. Three breakout group sessions covered the
topics of user-developer relations, commodification, and functionality. There was also extensive post-meeting discussion, summarized here.
Additional information on the workshop, including the agenda, participant list, and talk slides, can be found online at http://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/events/685/
Reference: NeSC report UKeS-2006-07 available from http://www.nesc.ac.uk/technical_papers/UKeS-2006-07.pd
Improving Utility of GPU in Accelerating Industrial Applications with User-centred Automatic Code Translation
SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises), particularly those whose business is focused on developing innovative produces, are limited by a major bottleneck on the speed of computation in many applications. The recent developments in GPUs have been the marked increase in their versatility in many computational areas. But due to the lack of specialist GPU (Graphics processing units) programming skills, the explosion of GPU power has not been fully utilized in general SME applications by inexperienced users. Also, existing automatic CPU-to-GPU code translators are mainly designed for research purposes with poor user interface design and hard-to-use. Little attentions have been paid to the applicability, usability and learnability of these tools for normal users. In this paper, we present an online automated CPU-to-GPU source translation system, (GPSME) for inexperienced users to utilize GPU capability in accelerating general SME applications. This system designs and implements a directive programming model with new kernel generation scheme and memory management hierarchy to optimize its performance. A web-service based interface is designed for inexperienced users to easily and flexibly invoke the automatic resource translator. Our experiments with non-expert GPU users in 4 SMEs reflect that GPSME system can efficiently accelerate real-world applications with at least 4x and have a better applicability, usability and learnability than existing automatic CPU-to-GPU source translators
Model-Driven Development of Interactive Multimedia Applications
The development of highly interactive multimedia applications is still a challenging and complex task. In addition to the application logic, multimedia applications typically provide a sophisticated user interface with integrated media objects. As a consequence, the development process involves different experts for software design, user interface design, and media design. There is still a lack of concepts for a systematic development which integrates these aspects.
This thesis provides a model-driven development approach addressing this problem. Therefore it introduces the Multimedia Modeling Language (MML), a visual modeling language supporting a design phase in multimedia application development. The language is oriented on well-established software engineering concepts, like UML 2, and integrates concepts from the areas of multimedia development and model-based user interface development.
MML allows the generation of code skeletons from the models. Thereby, the core idea is to generate code skeletons which can be directly processed in multimedia authoring tools. In this way, the strengths of both are combined: Authoring tools are used to perform the creative development tasks while models are used to design the overall application structure and to enable a well-coordinated development process. This is demonstrated using the professional authoring tool Adobe Flash.
MML is supported by modeling and code generation tools which have been used to validate the approach over several years in various student projects and teaching courses. Additional prototypes have been developed to demonstrate, e.g., the ability to generate code for different target platforms. Finally, it is discussed how models can contribute in general to a better integration of well-structured software development and creative visual design
Examination and Assessment of Commercial Anatomical E-Learning Tools: Software Usability, Dual-Task Paradigms and Learning
Technological innovation is changing the landscape of higher education, and the competing interests and responsibilities of todayâs learners have propelled the movement of post-secondary courses into the online environment. In the anatomical sciences, commercialized e-learning tools have become a critical component for teaching the intricacies of the human body when physical classroom space and cadaveric resources are limited. This dissertation comparatively assessed the impact of two commercial anatomical e-learning tools (1) a simple 2-dimensional e-learning tool (A.D.A.M. Interactive Anatomy) and (2) a complex tool that allows for a 3-dimensional perspective (Netterâs 3D Interactive Anatomy). The comparison was then extended to include a traditional visual-kinesthetic method of studying anatomy (i.e. a physical skeleton). Applying cognitive load theory and working memory limitations as guiding principles, a dual-task assessment with cross over design was used to evaluate cognitive load. Students were assessed using baseline knowledge tests, observation task reaction times (a measure of cognitive load), mental rotation test scores (a measure of spatial ability) and anatomy post-tests (a measure of knowledge recall).
Results from experiments carried out in this thesis suggest that the value of commercial anatomical e-learning tools cannot be assessed adequately on the basis of an educatorâs, or a software developerâs, intuition alone. Despite the delivery benefits offered by e-learning tools and the positive feedback they often receive, this research demonstrates that neither commercial e-learning tool conferred any instructional advantage over textbook images. In fact, later results showed that the visual-kinesthetic experience of physically manipulating a skeleton yielded major positive impacts on knowledge recall that A.D.A.M. Interactive Anatomy, as a visual only tool, failed to deliver. The results of this dissertation also suggest that the design of e-learning tools can differentially influence students based on their spatial ability. Moreover our results suggest that learners with low spatial ability may also struggle to relate anatomical knowledge if they are examined on contralateral images.
By objectively assessing commercial anatomical e-learning tools against traditional, visual-kinesthetic modalities, educators can be confident that the learning tool they select will give their students the best chance to acquire an understanding of human anatomy
GSWO: A Programming Model for GPU-enabled Parallelization of Sliding Window Operations in Image Processing
Sliding Window Operations (SWOs) are widely used in image processing applications. They often have to be performed repeatedly across the target image, which can demand significant computing resources when processing large images with large windows. In applications in which real-time performance is essential, running these filters on a CPU often fails to deliver results within an acceptable timeframe. The emergence of sophisticated graphic processing units (GPUs) presents an opportunity to address this challenge. However, GPU programming requires a steep learning curve and is error-prone for novices, so the availability of a tool that can produce a GPU implementation automatically from the original CPU source code can provide an attractive means by which the GPU power can be harnessed effectively. This paper presents a GPUenabled programming model, called GSWO, which can assist GPU novices by converting their SWO-based image processing applications from the original C/C++ source code to CUDA code in a highly automated manner. This model includes a new set of simple SWO pragmas to generate GPU kernels and to support effective GPU memory management. We have implemented this programming model based on a CPU-to-GPU translator (C2GPU). Evaluations have been performed on a number of typical SWO image filters and applications. The experimental results show that the GSWO model is capable of efficiently accelerating these applications, with improved applicability and a speed-up of performance compared to several leading CPU-to- GPU source-to-source translators
Leveraging Ada 2012 and SPARK 2014 for assessing generated code from AADL models
Modeling of Distributed Real-time Embedded systems using Architecture Description Language provides the foundations for various levels of analysis: scheduling, reliability, consis- tency, etc.; but also allows for automatic code generation. A challenge is to demonstrate that generated code matches quality required for safety-critical systems. In the scope of the AADL, the Ocarina toolchain proposes code generation towards the Ada Ravenscar profile with restrictions for High- Integrity. It has been extensively used in the space domain as part of the TASTE project within the European Space Agency. In this paper, we illustrate how the combined use of Ada 2012 and SPARK 2014 significantly increases code quality and exhibits absence of run-time errors at both run-time and generated code levels
How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRRâs Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers
Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a âtotal approach to rehabilitationâ, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970âs, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program
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