The use of non-intrusive user logging to capture engineering rationale, knowledge and intent during the product life cycle

Within the context of Life Cycle Engineering it is important that structured engineering information and knowledge are captured at all phases of the product life cycle for future reference. This is especially the case for long life cycle projects which see a large number of engineering decisions made at the early to mid-stages of a product's life cycle that are needed to inform engineering decisions later on in the process. A key aspect of technology management will be the capturing of knowledge through out the product life cycle. Numerous attempts have been made to apply knowledge capture techniques to formalise engineering decision rationale and processes; however, these tend to be associated with substantial overheads on the engineer and the company through cognitive process interruptions and additional costs/time. Indeed, when life cycle deadlines come closer these capturing techniques are abandoned due the need to produce a final solution. This paper describes work carried out for non-intrusively capturing and formalising product life cycle knowledge by demonstrating the automated capture of engineering processes/rationale using user logging via an immersive virtual reality system for cable harness design and assembly planning. Associated post-experimental analyses are described which demonstrate the formalisation of structured design processes and decision representations in the form of IDEF diagrams and structured engineering change information. Potential future research directions involving more thorough logging of users are also outlined

Automated design analysis, assembly planning and motion study analysis using immersive virtual reality

Previous research work at Heriot-Watt University using immersive virtual reality (VR) for cable harness design showed that VR provided substantial productivity gains over traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems. This follow-on work was aimed at understanding the degree to which aspects of this technology were contributed to these benefits and to determine if engineering design and planning processes could be analysed in detail by nonintrusively monitoring and logging engineering tasks. This involved using a CAD-equivalent VR system for cable harness routing design, harness assembly and installation planning that can be functionally evaluated using a set of creative design-tasks to measure the system and users' performance. A novel design task categorisation scheme was created and formalised which broke down the cable harness design process and associated activities. The system was also used to demonstrate the automatic generation of usable bulkhead connector, cable harness assembly and cable harness installation plans from non-intrusive user logging. Finally, the data generated from the user-logging allowed the automated activity categorisation of the user actions, automated generation of process flow diagrams and chronocyclegraphs

LOMA: A fast method to generate efficient tagged-random primers despite amplification bias of random PCR on pathogens

10.1186/1471-2105-9-368BMC Bioinformatics9BBMI

Ratios of BB and DD Meson Decay Constants in Relativistic Quark Model

We calculate the ratios of $B$ and $D$ meson decay constants by applying the variational method to the relativistic hamiltonian of the heavy meson. We adopt the Gaussian and hydrogen-type trial wave functions, and use six different potentials of the potential model. We obtain reliable results for the ratios, which are similar for different trial wave functions and different potentials. The obtained ratios show the deviation from the nonrelativistic scaling law, and they are in a pretty good agreement with the results of the Lattice calculations.Comment: 13 pages, 1 Postscript figur

Genotype Distribution and Sequence Variation of Hepatitis E Virus, Hong Kong

Most acute cases of infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV) in Hong Kong were autochthonous, sporadic, and occurred in older adults. All except 1 isolate belonged to genotype 4; most were phylogenetically related to swine isolates. The epidemiology is similar to that in industrialized countries, where zoonosis is the major source of HEV infection in humans

Fecal Viral Load and Norovirus-associated Gastroenteritis

We report the median cDNA viral load of norovirus genogroup II is >100-fold higher than that of genogroup I in the fecal specimens of patients with norovirus-associated gastroenteritis. We speculate that increased cDNA viral load accounts for the higher transmissibility of genogroup II strains through the fecal-oral route

A new methodology to evaluate the performance of physics simulation engines in haptic virtual assembly

Purpose – In this study, a new methodology to evaluate the performance of physics simulation engines (PSEs) when used in haptic virtual assembly applications is proposed. This methodology can be used to assess the performance of any physics engine. To prove the feasibility of the proposed methodology, two-third party PSEs – Bullet and PhysXtm – were evaluated. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Eight assembly tests comprising variable geometric and dynamic complexity were conducted. The strengths and weaknesses of each simulation engine for haptic virtual assembly were identified by measuring different parameters such as task completion time, influence of weight perception and force feedback. Findings – The proposed tests have led to the development of a standard methodology by which physics engines can be compared and evaluated. The results have shown that when the assembly comprises complex shapes, Bullet has better performance than PhysX. It was also observed that the assembly time is directly affected by the weight of virtual objects. Research limitations/implications – A more comprehensive study must be carried out in order to evaluate and compare the performance of more PSEs. The influence of collision shape representation algorithms on the performance of haptic assembly must be considered in future analysis. Originality/value – The performance of PSEs in haptic-enabled VR applications had been remained as an unknown issue. The main parameters of physics engines that affect the haptic virtual assembly process have been identified. All the tests performed in this study were carried out with the haptic rendering loop active and the objects manipulated through the haptic device.CONACYT (National Science and Technology Council of Mexico) research grant CB-2010-01-154430 and EPSRC/IMRC grants 113946 and 11243

The combined role of MRI prostate and prostate health index in improving detection of significant prostate cancer in a screening population of Chinese men

Using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer (PCa) screening led to overinvestigation and overdiagnosis of indolent PCa. We aimed to investigate the value of prostate health index (PHI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prostate in an Asian PCa screening program. Men aged 50-75 years were prospectively recruited from a community-based PSA screening program. Men with PSA 4.0-10.0 ng ml -1 had PHI result analyzed. MRI prostate was offered to men with PSA 4.0-50.0 ng ml -1. A systematic prostate biopsy was offered to men with PSA 4.0-9.9 ng ml -1 and PHI ≥35, or PSA 10.0-50.0 ng ml -1. Additional targeted prostate biopsy was offered if they had PI-RADS score ≥3. Clinically significant PCa (csPCa) was defined as the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade group (GG) ≥2 or ISUP GG 1 with involvement of ≥30% of total systematic cores. In total, 12.8% (196/1536) men had PSA ≥4.0 ng ml -1. Among 194 men with PSA 4.0-50.0 ng ml -1, 187 (96.4%) received MRI prostate. Among them, 28.3% (53/187) had PI-RADS ≥3 lesions. Moreover, 7.0% (107/1536) men were indicated for biopsy and 94.4% (101/107) men received biopsy. Among the men received biopsy, PCa, ISUP GG ≥2 PCa, and csPCa was diagnosed in 42 (41.6%), 24 (23.8%), and 34 (33.7%) men, respectively. Compared with PSA/PHI pathway in men with PSA 4.0-50.0 ng ml -1, additional MRI increased diagnoses of PCa, ISUP GG ≥2 PCa, and csPCa by 21.2% (from 33 to 40), 22.2% (from 18 to 22), and 18.5% (from 27 to 32), respectively. The benefit of additional MRI was only observed in PSA 4.0-10.0 ng ml -1, and the number of MRI needed to diagnose one additional ISUP GG ≥2 PCa was 20 in PHI ≥35 and 94 in PHI &lt;35. Among them, 45.4% (89/196) men with PSA ≥4.0 ng ml -1 avoided unnecessary biopsy with the use of PHI and MRI. A screening algorithm with PSA, PHI, and MRI could effectively diagnose csPCa while reducing unnecessary biopsies. The benefit of MRI prostate was mainly observed in PSA 4.0-9.9 ng ml -1 and PHI ≥35 group. PHI was an important risk stratification step for PCa screening.</p

Nonlinear electrodynamics and CMB polarization

Recently WMAP and BOOMERanG experiments have set stringent constraints on the polarization angle of photons propagating in an expanding universe: $\Delta \alpha = (-2.4 \pm 1.9)^\circ$. The polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) is reviewed in the context of nonlinear electrodynamics (NLED). We compute the polarization angle of photons propagating in a cosmological background with planar symmetry. For this purpose, we use the Pagels-Tomboulis (PT) Lagrangian density describing NLED, which has the form $L\sim (X/\Lambda^4)^{\delta - 1}\; X$, where $X=1/4 F_{\alpha\beta} F^{\alpha \beta}$, and $\delta$ the parameter featuring the non-Maxwellian character of the PT nonlinear description of the electromagnetic interaction. After looking at the polarization components in the plane orthogonal to the ($x$)-direction of propagation of the CMB photons, the polarization angle is defined in terms of the eccentricity of the universe, a geometrical property whose evolution on cosmic time (from the last scattering surface to the present) is constrained by the strength of magnetic fields over extragalactic distances.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, minor changes, references adde