Graphics Screen Research Articles

Investigating the seasonal vertical structure of phytoplankton in shelf seas

A 1-dimensional (vertical) physical-biological coupled model is presented. The model is designed for investigations into the link between the vertical turbulent structure of a coastal or shelf sea water column, and the primary production. The physical model employs a turbulence closure scheme to provide the link between local vertical stability (driven by seasonal solar heating) and the vertical turbulent mixing (driven by tidal currents and surface wind stress). The biological component of the model is a simple cell quota, threshold limitation model, with either 1 or 2 taxa/species of phytoplankton growing in response to light and dissolved inorganic nitrogen. The user has control over all model physical and biological driving parameters. Graphical screen output, suitable for basic visualisation and teaching purposes, is generated as the model operates, and more detailed data are written to files for later analysis. In order to demonstrate the model's use in simple hypothesis investigation, an example of the model operation is illustrated. This focuses on the effect that the springs-neaps tidal cycle has on the production within the summer sub-surface biomass maximum, illustrating the fortnightly input of new nitrogen into the thermocline and the subsequent new production.

Evaluating the Layout of Graphical User Interface Screens: Validation of a Numerical Computerized Model

We developed a numerical model for evaluation of graphical user interface (GUI) screens. The model consists of design guidelines concerning screen factors--element size, local density, alignment, and grouping--and produces a complexity score for a given screen. The complexity predictions of the model were examined in a fully factorial experimental design in which GUI screens with all combinations of factors were shown to human users. We measured participants' search times for given elements on all screens, and participants rated their pair-wise preferences of those screens. Overall, very well designed screens resulted in shorter search times and high subjective preference. The combination of poor alignment and poor local density had the strongest adverse effect on search time. Alignment and grouping were found to have more influence on subjective preference. Weights derived from the subjective judgments were introduced into the model and a significant correlation was found between model predictions and search times. We discuss the findings in terms of screen-design implications and in terms of the development and use of numerical models in GUI design and evaluation.

NOLISM: a pc program for the evaluation of parameters describing the non-linear dynamic behavior of soil materials

The program NOLISM utilizes well established equations that describe the behavior of soil materials under dynamic loading. The program, which is written in Visual Basic and operates in the Microsoft Windows environment, greatly facilitates the evaluation of parameters necessary for the description of cyclic soil behavior by either the equivalent-linear or the non-linear inelastic models. The program input includes the values of readily available soil parameters, whose values can be selected following the suggestions included in the paper, or the direct results of dynamic tests. The output of NOLISM includes screen graphics and printouts that facilitate the preparation of input for other commercially available programs of ground seismic response and can be directly incorporated into technical reports. The graphics capabilities of NOLISM make it a valuable educational tool for teaching important aspects of soil behavior under cyclic loading.

An interactive graphics-based linear, integer and goal programme modelling environment

Model development packages have, in recent years, become a standard tool for the development of linear and integer programmes. This can be seen by the popularity of such algebraic modelling languages as GAMS, AMPL etc. Traditionally, they have been designed around text based systems, and therefore offer a formal and structured declarative language for model definition. However, with the onset of graphics-based operating systems, standard graphical screen objects can be utilised to offer a fully interactive and guided model development package. It is noted by Greenberg that providing analysis tools to the modeller offers a form of intelligent computer assistance. Therefore, it is a natural extension to the modelling package to provide an encapsulated environment for the investigation and development of linear, integer and goal programmes. A complete interactive graphics-based environment for the process of developing, solving and analysing linear, integer and goal programmes (named MoGLI) is presented. The specifications of the package are discussed for such an environment. User-interface screens for model definition are introduced and described, together with a formal algebraic modelling language developed primarily for model processing, although model definition can be performed in either mode. The integration of analysis tools such as preprocessing routines and infeasibility analysis routines are also described, together with standard model information screens.

Design of a TLM application program based on an AM/FM/GIS system

This paper introduces the design of a transformer load management (TLM) application program based on an automated mapping/facilities management/geographic information system (AM/FM/GIS). The data required for this application is mainly extracted from the databases of the AM/FM/GIS system and customer information system (CIS) and combined with customer daily load patterns obtained by load surveys over a long-term period. This integration environment including graphic and nongraphic databases enhances the TLM program by taking full advantages of AM/FM/GIS capabilities. The program provides a general system information inspection function as well as a load analysis and inquiry function which allow engineers to examine in detail the distribution system facilities or to perceive the loading conditions of a specified distribution device. In addition, the program provides a load distribution map overview function for easily investigating a feeder-wide load distribution through a full-color graphic screen. This application program can be applied to keep the distribution transformers from being damaged due to overloading or to prevent inefficient operation by reason of very light-loading conditions.

General Purpose Control System for Steel Making Process Control Using VME Bus Based System and OS-9 WINDOWS

In this paper, a general purpose control system was constructed to provide accumulation of the technology in integrated control system design under open architecture environment. The VMEbus system with OS-9 was chosen to simulate a process control system due to the popularity in open market. Interactive screen graphics including system function diagrams, menus, controlled system status and update infonnation are standard in this model. The simulation program was ported on a 32bit MVME147S-1 system and successfully tested.

Virtual Reality and Plastic Surgery

What does the term virtual reality mean and what is its significance in plastic surgery? Brian M. Kinney, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon and ASAPS member practicing in Los Angeles, CA, defines the term “virtual reality” and explores its applications in plastic surgery. The term virtual reality (VR) has become a media buzzword, subject to intense overuse and wide misuse. Accordingly, its meaning is now often misunderstood. The term was coined by Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL Research, in the mid 1980s to highlight the difference between observing simple computer simulations and graphics and the creation of a new world that one could literally enter with the senses. A system must have, at a minimum, the three following attributes to be called VR: three-dimensional real-time visual input, immediate response to the user's actions, and a direct sense of immersion of the senses in and interaction with the virtual environment. One cannot just look at a screen or complex graphics; the user must merge with that world. This is usually accomplished by wearing one of a variety of head-mounted displays (HMDs) that project images in the field of view of the wearer. Often the headgear includes built-in headphones. Current systems fall …

Computer graphics for the blind

This paper presents a tactile hard-copy system which help an "active tactile graphics" for the blind. Here the word "active" means that the blind can make graphics programs and deal with computer graphics by his own efforts. It translates the color graphics on the screen into an embossed dots image on paper. To get a precise embossed dots hard-copy close to the real graphics screen, we adopted a Braille printer plotter. The program stays resident in computer's memory, and a push of COPY key at any time starts to make an embossed hard-copy of the current graphic screen. By this system and computer language like C, the blind can try to make graphics programs and examine the colors and the graphic figures constructing the screen graphics. The system can extract several combinations of colors from the whole graphics selectively and make the hard-copys. This color selective hard-copys help the blind understand the whole graphics as a result, because each hard-copy reduces the complexity of the graphics and tends to be easier to examine by touch.

An Origami Playing Simulator in the Virtual Space

A virtual manipulation system for origami (paper folding) is described. A piece of paper defined in a computer can be deformed interactively by picking and moving a corner vertex of a paper face on a graphic screen using a mouse. Three kinds of folding operations and a curving operation transform the paper into a three-dimensional figure made of flat or curved surfaces. The roundness of the curved surfaces is calculated in real-time by minimizing an elastic energy function. The simulated paper has traditional Japanese decoration applied as a texture to give a more realistic appearance. It is rendered with shading in real-time.

An Origami Playing Simulator in the Virtual Space

A virtual manipulation system for origami (paper folding) is described. A piece of paper defined in a computer can be deformed interactively by picking and moving a corner vertex of a paper face on a graphic screen using a mouse. Three kinds of folding operations and a curving operation transform the paper into a three-dimensional figure made of flat or curved surfaces. The roundness of the curved surfaces is calculated in real-time by minimizing an elastic energy function. The simulated paper has traditional Japanese decoration applied as a texture to give a more realistic appearance. It is rendered with shading in real-time.

System generator for producing manufacturing applications

The Application System Generator (ASG/pc) offers powerful capabilities for integrating the personal computer into problem-solving in manufacturing engineering. Implemented on Pentium™-class personal computers, it provides an easy-to-use, application-building platform for mathematically based solutions to a variety of engineering problems. The ASG/pc provides a master editor for incrementally developing the complete environment of an entire application. Such an application may entail hundreds of programs, most of which are automatically generated. These programs also include color-coded textual and graphic screen interactions, keyboard control, file management, and access to auxiliary equipment. The ASG/pc is designed for use by the application-domain engineer who will also be the end user of the technology. Facilities are provided for the integration of components developed through teamwork. Two applications of the ASG/pc are described: one is in the domain of rapid-response machining; the second is a system for rapid analysis and redesign of the factory floor. The ASG/pc was designed to facilitate an incremental, self-learning process.

Application of geographic information system to distribution information support

This paper states a distribution network information support system (DISS). The system provides an environment for building a distribution database which includes both graphic and alphanumeric data. The database can be used for inventory, facility management, engineering analysis, and map production. Facility data or network models can be retrieved from the database. The retrieved data can then be used by application programs. With a good man-machine interface (MMI), graphic output or text reports can be viewed from the graphic screen online. A good DISS could also produce a practical result for strategic decisions by considering land use, value, zoning, as well as other physical restrictions. These physical restrictions are not easy to quantify, and are awkward to model with mathematics.

感性検索のためのボロノイ図の応用

Textiles used in furniture in a living room as well as for clothes are designed with design pictures of various colors and patterns. A computer aided design system SERENADE was developed to have three major functions ; to build design pictures database, retrieval, and design pictures processing. This study proposes a reasonable user interface system for a designer at the pictures search on a graphics screen of a workstation. Several pairs of adjectives in antonym relation are chosen as retrieval keys such as‘warm-cool’, but the words are not directly used as keywords. An impression scale is proposed ranging from -3 to +3 so that the both terminals have the opposite human impressions corresponding to the adjective pair. Using two of such impression scales, a retrieval area is represented by a two dimensional domain where the pictures in database are plotted. A designer on his workstation can find some of sample pictures by pointing a location on the domain. Two methods of pointing procedures are discussed in the paper.

ABC of Medical Computing: GETTING YOUR THOUGHTS ON PAPER

Word processing is almost always the first facility people use on the computer, and for many people it is the main reason for buying a computer. The tremendous flexibility of even the most basic word processors has ensured that they have almost totally replaced the typewriter. Word processors allow you to create and then amend parts of the document before printing so that you never have to retype the whole document. #### Advantages of word processors Until recently, most business word processing has been done with DOS based programs that use character based screens. These programs load, run, and print quickly even on old computers but have the disadvantage that you cannot see exactly what the page will look like when printed without switching to a preview screen. However, newer programs have moved to graphical screens with a WYSIWYG display (what you see is what you get). This means that you see exactly what the printed page will look like as you type it, which is invaluable with more complex documents. Typing is a keyboard activity, and all word processors allow functions to be selected by pressing various keys. This is both a strength and a weakness. Once you have learnt the key strokes of a particular program most people are reluctant to learn new ones. The Windows environment is starting to introduce uniformity between programs, with the same key strokes performing the same action. The mouse pointing device, which is used with windows and other graphical interfaces, is used to simplify adjustments to the page and to duplicate control of many standard functions. Although it is easier to learn to use, the …

Design and implementation of a database and program for 3D reconstruction from serial sections: A data‐driven approach

This paper describes a structural approach for a standard setup of a computer program for 3D reconstruction from serial sections. Three-dimensional reconstruction as a technique increases in importance as, along with modern immunohistochemical techniques, it is a tool in the understanding of three-dimensional development patterns. In order to apply 3D reconstruction technique in a standard laboratory setup, an attempt was made to streamline the input and the manipulation of the data such that results are obtained easily. One will find a combination of two approaches in this paper: the first is a strict ordering of the complex data, and the second is an ordering of the processes that one wishes to apply on the data (together, these two approaches constitute an information analysis); because it was observed that developmental biologists tend to work from simple lines to describe their observations, the contour model was chosen as the vehicle to build a reconstruction model from. Consequently, the data is ordered in a database that has to be manipulated to get the data out in the desired format. The most important output format is a display of the reconstructed contour stack on a graphical computer screen. Together with the other data manipulation processes, such as the input, the inspection, the revision (correction), and the reconstruction, all processes are described using the reconstruction of an 11 embryonic days (ED) rat embryo as an example. Finally, the merits of the program are illustrated with an example from the development of the human embryonic heart.

Dreidimensionale Rekonstruktion von Serienschnitten in der Lichtmikroskopie

Computer-based three-dimensional reconstruction of serially cut light microscopic sections is being increasingly used in medical and biological research. Compared with conventional two-dimensional evaluation of histological sections, complex histotopographical relationships and structural details are easy to assess and could be imposingly visualized on the graphics screen. Because of the rapid progress in modern computer hardware, uncomplicated and fast reconstruction systems are available on standard personal computers. Therefore, 3D reconstruction is applicable for a wide range of investigations that warrant 3D exploration. Own results are presented and the principles of 3D reconstruction, as well as the problems and difficulties in this new technique, are discussed. The complex ameboid morphology of megakaryocytes in bone marrow of primary (idiopathic) osteomyelofibrosis is examined with this new method in combination with selective immunohistochemical staining procedures. 3D reconstruction can visualize the complexity of cytoplasmic and nuclear formation impressively. Moreover, the models generated permit exact quantitative measurements of cell morphology. The technique presented is a powerful tool for anatomical-morphological investigations and can furthermore increase our comprehension of complex histomorphological objects.

A rule-based expert system for generating control displays at the Advanced Photon Source

The integration of a rule-based expert system for generating screen displays for controlling and monitoring instrumentation under the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is presented. The expert system is implemented using CLIPS, an expert system shell from the Software Technology Branch at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. The user selects the hardware input and output to be displayed and the expert system constructs a graphical control screen appropriate for the data. Such a system provides a method for implementing a common look and feel for displays created by several different users and reduces the amount of time required to create displays for new hardware configurations. Users are able to modify the displays as needed using the EPICS display editor tool.

Visual BASIC for DOS: building scientific and technical applications

The VBDOS language elements of the BASIC language writing subroutines in VBDOS compiling and debugging in VBDOS using Visual BASIC forms in VBDOS other visual controls screen graphics in VBDOS programming the PC's serial port elements of assembly language programming.

Automatic identification of seismic swarms and other spatio-temporal clustering from catalogs

Statistical analysis of seismic catalogs usually requires identification of swarms and foreshocks-main event-aftershocks sequences-a tedious and time-consuming chore. SWaRMSHoW, a simple but versatile QBASIC program for PC, graphically displays on screen catalog epicentral activity, with optional temporal distribution scaling; identifies spatio-temporal hypocentral clusters (SwrSeq) which may be swarms or foreshocks-main event-aftershocks sequences and discriminates between these; and displays SwrSeq locations and limits, and assigns them equivalent magnitudes corresponding to those of single events having seismic energy equal to that of the whole SwrSeq. SWaRMSHoW features optional detailed disk output of swarms and clusters, including origin time, location, constituent events, equivalent magnitudes, and current parameters, that allows easy application of results. Graphic screen display includes optional maps and drawings. Operation can be completely automatic or interactive. Working parameters can be reset at any time during operation. Besides swarm and sequence identification, this program's modeling of the seismicity, scaled in both space and time, is useful for studying many aspects of spatio-temporal seismicity, such as fault activation, migration of activity, quiescence, etc.

Graphic Interactive Input System for High‐Rise Building Structures in CAD

Abstract: A graphic interactive input system developed for use in computer‐aided design (CAD) of high‐rise building structures is presented. In this system, the primitive information is input to computer through graphic display. The input object appears on the screen as an image and is directly visible. With the interactive operation, the designer can carry out the input rapidly and efficiently by moving the cursor on the screen, and the graph that represents the information about the structure can be modified easily.Using multicolor graphics, animated cartoons, multiple windows, and multiple‐level menus, autogeneration and autonumbering of the members are performed, and the geometric and loading information can be input conveniently.In this paper, some basic conceptions and algorithms of graphic input and screen data collection are described.