Emerging from the MIST: A Connector Tool for Supporting Programming by Non-programmers

Software development is an iterative process. As user re-quirements emerge software applications must be extended to support the new requirements. Typically, a programmer will add new code to an existing code base of an application to provide a new functionality. Previous research has shown that such extensions are easier when application logic is clearly separated from the user interface logic. Assuming that a programmer is already familiar with the existing code base, the task of writing the new code can be considered to be split into two sub-tasks: writing code for the application logic; that is, the actual functionality of the application; and writing code for the user interface that will expose the functionality to the end user. The goal of this research is to reduce the effort required to create a user interface once the application logic has been created, toward supporting scientists with minimal pro-gramming knowledge to be able to create and modify pro-grams. Using a Model View Controller based architecture, various model components which contain the application logic can be built and extended. The process of creating and extending the views (user interfaces) on these model components is simplified through the use of our Malleable Interactive Software Toolkit (MIST), a tool set an infrastructure intended to simplify the design and extension of dynamically reconfigurable interfaces. This paper focuses on one tool in the MIST suite, a connec-tor tool that enables the programmer to evolve the user interface as the application logic evolves by connecting related pieces of code together; either through simple drag-and-drop interactions or through the authoring of Python code. The connector tool exemplifies the types of tools in the MIST suite, which we expect will encourage collabora-tive development of applications by allowing users to inte-grate various components and minimizing the cost of de-veloping new user interfaces for the combined compo-nents

Scientists in the MIST: Simplifying Interface Design for End Users

We are building a Malleable Interactive Software Toolkit (MIST), a tool set and infrastructure to simplify the design and construction of dynamically-reconfigurable (malleable) interactive software. Malleable software offers the end-user powerful tools to reshape their interactive environment on the fly. We aim to make the construction of such software straightforward, and to make reconfiguration of the resulting systems approachable and manageable to an educated, but non-specialist, user. To do so, we draw on a diverse body of existing research on alternative approaches to user interface (UI) and interactive software construction, including declarative UI languages, constraint-based programming and UI management, reflection and data-driven programming, and visual programming techniques

Einsatz molekularer Marker zur Analyse der genetischen Diversität unterschiedlicher Populationen der Blutlauszehrwespe, Aphelinus mali (Haldeman) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

Die Blutlaus Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) wurde Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts nach Europa eingeschleppt. E. lanigerum ist ein Schädling des Apfels, wobei es durch die Saugtätigkeit der Aphiden zu Wuchshemmungen (Blutlauskrebs, Blutlausgallen) infolge von Stoffwechselstörungen, zu irreversiblen Trieb- und Knospenschäden bis hin zum Absterben des Baumes kommen kann. Durch ihre versteckte Lebensweise unter den Rindenschuppen des Baumes sowie auf Grund von flüssigkeitsabweisenden Wachsausscheidungen sind die Tiere sehr gut gegen chemische Bekämpfungsmaßnahmen geschützt. Alternativ kann eine biologische Bekämpfung über den natürlichen Gegenspieler der Blutlaus, die Blutlauszehrwespe Aphelinus mali (HALDEN), erfolgen. Zwar kann sich diese Zehrwespe in wärmeren Gebieten sehr gut vermehren, bei niedrigen Frühjahrstemperaturen kann die Populationsdichte aber stark minimiert werden oder ganz einbrechen. Auch feuchte Witterung wird von A. mali nicht gut vertragen und schmälert die Parasitierungsraten. Die Blutlauszehrwespe hat einen Entwicklungsnullpunkt bei 8,3 bis 9,0°C, während die Blutlaus erst bei ca. 5°C ihre Entwicklung einstellt. Damit ergibt sich die Frage, ob es Biotypen dieser Schlupfwespe gibt, die möglicherweise besser an die vor Ort herrschenden Klimabedingungen angepasst sind. Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchungen war es daher, das Ausmaß der genetischen Diversität zwischen einzelnen Populationen zu erfassen und somit Aussagen über eventuell auftretende Biotypen der Wespe treffen zu können.The endoparasitoid Aphelinus mali (HALDEMAN) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) has been introduced from its native home North America to Europe in 1920 as a biological control agent for the woolly apple aphid Eriosoma lanigerum (HAUSMANN). When A. mali appears early in spring with the temperatures being relatively low at this time, the rate of parasitism and consequently the effectivity of the parasite is quite low. Thus, an identification and a subsequent release of A. mali biotypes which might be better adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions could result in higher parasitisation rates by this parasitoid. As a first step towards the identification of A. mali biotypes we examined the extent of genetic diversity in A. mali field populations and in individuals from a laboratory rearing A. mali was collected from different regions such as Germany (BBA Dossenheim, Lake Constance, Altes Land, Stuttgart-Mühlhausen, Ahrweiler), Canada, France, Italy and the Netherlands and genomic DNA was analysed using the AFLP-Technique (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) as well as amplification and sequence analysis of the ITS-2 (Internally Transcribed Spacer) region

Measurement of W Polarisation at LEP

The three different helicity states of W bosons produced in the reaction e+ e- -> W+ W- -> l nu q q~ at LEP are studied using leptonic and hadronic W decays. Data at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt s = 183-209 GeV are used to measure the polarisation of W bosons, and its dependence on the W boson production angle. The fraction of longitudinally polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.218 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.016 where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation

Search for Anomalous Couplings in the Higgs Sector at LEP

Anomalous couplings of the Higgs boson are searched for through the processes e^+ e^- -> H gamma, e^+ e^- -> e^+ e^- H and e^+ e^- -> HZ. The mass range 70 GeV < m_H < 190 GeV is explored using 602 pb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the L3 detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies sqrt(s)=189-209 GeV. The Higgs decay channels H -> ffbar, H -> gamma gamma, H -> Z\gamma and H -> WW^(*) are considered and no evidence is found for anomalous Higgs production or decay. Limits on the anomalous couplings d, db, Delta(g1z), Delta(kappa_gamma) and xi^2 are derived as well as limits on the H -> gamma gamma and H -> Z gamma decay rates

Measurement of W Polarisation at LEP

The three different helicity states of W bosons produced in the reaction e+ e- -> W+ W- -> l nu q q~ at LEP are studied using leptonic and hadronic W decays. Data at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt s = 183-209 GeV are used to measure the polarisation of W bosons, and its dependence on the W boson production angle. The fraction of longitudinally polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.218 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.016 where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation