Tape Library Research Articles

The Evolution of a Comprehensive Computer Support System for the Television Operation

This article describes the development of a cost-effective computer-based management information and operations support system (MIOSS) for a television operation. Selection of the hardware and software required to meet design objectives, as well as the programming language used, are discussed. The article describes why the final choice was principally OMSI Pascal with critical routines being written in M68000 Assembler. The system can be modified, with minimal special hardware and software design, for such diverse operations as newsrooms, commercial compilation for stations serving several regions, tape and film libraries, and continuity (presentation).

Magnetic tape utilization viewed as an inventory control problem

Magnetic tapes are extensively used to store information. However, their low cost leads to problems in the efficient use of them as a storage media. There exists no scientific method to control the space utilization and the addition of new tapes to a tape library. A method is developed which provides control on the use of tapes, reduces the number of tapes in the library and minimizes the cost of storing information tapes. An inventory model is developed with the unused space on tapes as inventory. Replenishment can be done in one of two steps. The first deletes the expired datasets from the tapes and if the new inventory levels is less than S′, the least order level, a second step adds new tapes tapes to the library bringing the level up to S, the maximum order level. The level of inventory after replenishment can be anywhere between S′ and S′. The inventory model determines (1) When to delete expired datasets. (2) When to add new tapes to the library. No analytical solution is developed for the general cost equation for this model. However, an iterative procedure is offered which can be used to minimize the total cost of having unused space in the tape library.

Evaluation of scheduling algorithms for resources with high set-up time

Tapes and removable disks are considered resources with high set-up time. When dealing with such resources, a simple and apparently appealing heuristics consists of scheduling jobs to minimize the total number of set-up. In this paper, we examine the validity of such approach, developing both a probabilistic and a simulation model. For sake of concreteness, the example considered refers to a system consisting of a tape library and a limited number of drives. The results obtained are discussed and the problem of applying the proposed evaluation technique to computer centers with different library frequency distributions is examined.

A scheme for the classification of language tapes

This article outlines a new classification scheme specifically designed for language tapes and based on a wide review of other systems and consideration of alternatives. Basically designed for the Tape Library of Aberdeen University Language Laboratory which contains over 3,000 titles (7,000 tapes in all), it is capable of expansion and adaptation. The resulting catalogue is recorded on a card index and in printed booklet form, and is also filed in the university computer using the FAMULUS program. The completed catalogue has been in successful operation for a full academic year and has resulted in a considerable increase in the use of the Laboratory's facilities.

Computerized Graphic Display of Physiological Data Collected during Human Stereotactic Surgery

An on-line computerized graphic display has been developed for use during stereotactic operations. This depicts in the form of figurine charts and alph-numeric symbols, appropriately oriented on saggital brain diagrams, the results of serial threshold stimulation of the brain. The display facilitates choice of target sites and the data can be stored in a tape library from which search-and-plot programs can be activated for any type or combination of types of response.

Computer mapping of brain-stem sensory centers in man.

A computer program is described for use on-line with a two--stage stereotaxic technique in man. It has four capabilities. It transposes coordinates between a brain atlas and a stereotaxic frame, simultaneously adjusting for variations in individual brain dimensions. Corrections for electrode trajectories, and for any irregularities of placement of the stereotaxic frame in the head are also made. It plots an operative template that shows electrode trajectories and the sites from which physiological data are collected appropriately oriented upon a sagittal diagram of the brain. It graphically displays physiological data in the form of a Woolsey-type figurine chart that indicates threshold in milliamperes and, through the use of coded symbols, the quality of response and certain other data. It stores all this data in a tape library together with the locations of any lesions made. This makes it possible to replot any individual patient's operative data at any time. It also permits scanning of the stored protocols from all patients for any particular type of data either by itself or in combination with other data. This retrieved information is plotted on appropriate sagittal brain diagrams corrected for individual variations in brain size. Illustrations of the capabilities of the program are presented particularly with reference to the primary afferent pathways of the upper brain stem.

A low cost ECG cassette tape library

Summary An inexpensive technique of ECG recording and playback utilizing a low cost cassette tape recorder is described.

Automated Tape Library

Automated Tape Library

Regenerative Simulation of a Queuing Model of an Automated Tape Library

Recently, techniques have been developed for estimating confidence intervals when simulating stochastic systems having a regenerative structure. These techniques are applied to the simulation of a queuing model of a computer system's automated tape library. Theoretical and practical issues related to the application of these techniques are addressed. An interesting feature of the automated tape library represented in the queuing model is that certain queues have finite capacity; when these queues are filled to capacity certain services are prevented from occurring. The regenerative techniques are used in conjunction with multiple comparison procedures to make statistically valid statements about the effect of the finite queue capacities on performance.

Automated Tape Library

Automated Tape Library

Videotape in the training of medical students in psychiatric aspects of family medicine.

The paper describes a course in family medicine employing the preceptorship method and including patient-centered psychiatric conferences recorded on videotape. Considerations of confidentiality and informed consent are emphasized. A list of equipment and a rough cost estimate are presented. The usefulness of the videotape procedure and the possible applications of a tape library for continuing medical education program are discussed.

Recorded and Braille Textbooks: Everything the Blind Student Needs to Know

Recording for the Blind, Inc., provides tape recorded textbooks to blind high school and college students and others by either making a copy of one of the 23,000 titles already recorded and located in its Master Tape Library or by having it recorded at one of its 23 recording units. Textbooks in braille are prepared by certified volunteer transcribers all over the country. Master copies of over 1,100 textbooks, from which thermoform duplicates can be made, are located in the Braille Book Bank of the National Braille Association. Nearly 200 scientific and mathematical tables in braille are available through the Association's Braille Technical Tables Bank. The Instructional Materials Reference Center maintains a Central Catalog of braille books and their location in various other depositories. Full instructions for the use of these various services are included in this two-part article.

Computer Control of the Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron

The controls of the Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron are being interfaced to a computer system. The initial implementation of the system is designed to reduce the time for setting up the cyclotron between experiments and to closely monitor the operation of the accelerator's power supplies. The system will be expanded to include the monitoring and control of the RF, beam-line, and vacuum systems. Later, diagnostic devices will be interfaced so that beam quality and intensity may be optimized. The operator communicates with the cyclotron via a CRT interactive display and a control console containing reassignable function keys and LED readout devices. The computer is a Modular Computer Systems MCS III/5. Operation data and programs for controlling the cyclotron are stored on disc and magnetic tape libraries.

Source Characteristics of Earthquakes, Explosions and Afterevents

Summary Broad-band seismic data available on the magnetic tape library at Berkeley have been used in a study comparing P, and Rayleigh waves from earthquakes, explosions and explosion afterevents, both collapse and earthquake types. Eighty-one events equidistant from Berkeley at 500-550 km provided the data for wave amplitude and spectra comparisons. Explosions exhibit characteristic low Rayleigh wave (12-s period) generation, for given P,, amplitude, relative to earthquakes as well as explosion afterevents. This discriminant, for events recorded at Berkeley, is well developed down to local magnitude M,, 4.0 or less (m; R 3.6) and shows no indication of convergence, although scatter increases, for smaller events. Rayleigh wave spectra for explosions and collapses are quite similar, the similarity continuing up to frequencies of 0.5 Hz for proximate events. However, they differ significantly from spectra of shallow earthquakes in the same source region. This implies the explosions, including those large ones with appreciable surface faulting, Love wave generation, and aftershock sequences, are sources with small time and space dimensions, relative to shallow earthquakes at the same site. Extensive fault displacements near large explosions is proposed as passive medium response to strong shaking and Love wave generation with Rayleigh wave asymmetry is suggested to occur through processes acting in the relatively small high stress explosive source region.

New Products

The use of audiotapes has brgun to emerge as a promising practice in individualized mathematics programs. In addition to reviewing several sets of commercially prepared tapes, Roger Doucet. Mathematics Chairman of Osseo Junior High School, Osseo. Minnesota, has described a process of implementing a tape library.—Johnson.

Bulk storage requirements in large-scale scientific calculations

The experience and plans of three scientific computing installations with bulk storage are reviewed with respect to capacity requirements, reliability enhancement, and the avoidance of recording delays. The bulk storage requirements of experimental data bases, array storage for large-scale scientific calculations, and large output files are reviewed. Results are presented of a survey of tape libraries in scientific computing installations. From user experience, applications, and the survey results, requirements for two classes of bulk storage devices emerge: dynamic bulk storage devices and archival bulk storage devices. Dynamic bulk storage devices are accessed repeatedly during the calculation, hence the access and bandwidth requirements must be comparable to current large-capacity disks, and capacity should be on the order of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sup> bit. Archival bulk storage devices are used largely at the beginning or at the end of a calculation, so access and bandwidth requirements are somewhat relaxed with respect to dynamic bulk storage, but capacity requirements should be at least 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">12</sup> bit.

Television and film strips. Content, quality, and availability.

Many new audiovisual techniques for surgical education are now available, and many others will be ready for use within two years. Films or video tapes may be of particular benefit to house staff and postgraduate surgeons interested in the continuous details of an operative technique. The cost may be decreased greatly if films and tapes gain wide use and distribution. The sound-on-slide or slide-with-tape recorder techniques currently are among the most economically feasible and practical methods available for student teaching due, in part, to the ease with which they may be updated. National medical video tape and film libraries will most likely play an important role in surgical education at all levels in the future.

Television technics in graduate surgical education

Television technics have tremendous major application in graduate surgical education. We have devised a multimedia display technic which has the advantages of being simple, economical, convenient, and stimulating. By combining the reportorial excellence of 35 mm color slides with the dynamic qualities of television, we have developed a unit which holds the individual's attention and communicates to him forceably. The rapid, inexpensive production of tapes permits building of a multimedia tape library. We are looking for future methods of securing two-way communication between the teacher on the television screen and the student in the television audience. Television technics have tremendous major application in graduate surgical education. We have devised a multimedia display technic which has the advantages of being simple, economical, convenient, and stimulating. By combining the reportorial excellence of 35 mm color slides with the dynamic qualities of television, we have developed a unit which holds the individual's attention and communicates to him forceably. The rapid, inexpensive production of tapes permits building of a multimedia tape library. We are looking for future methods of securing two-way communication between the teacher on the television screen and the student in the television audience.

Change Through Participation (And Vice Versa)

Police officers who are experienced in violent involvements can contribute to police professionalization while undergoing personal change and development. These officers can be enlisted in work aimed at the promotion of more effective and constructive police- civilian contacts. Participation in such efforts produces both indivi dual and organizational change. The Oakland Police Department contains a Violence Prevention Unit, composed of patrolmen and a sergeant. This unit is concerned with research and action programs in training and communication, related to violence. The project started with seven patrolmen, who met (part time) in the summer of 1969. Among the achievements of this group was the creation of a violence tape library, the completion of a critical inci dent survey, and the design of a new training officer program for the department. In the summer of 1970, the 1969 group trained seventeen other officers, who engaged in projects such as family crisis intervention research, and self-analysis interviews.

Videotape applications in training family therapists.

The advent of videotape has opened new avenues of development in therapy, training and research, some of which are described as they have been evolving at the Mental Research Institute. Discussion includes man-machine system considerations, e.g., the intimate relationships between the equipment setup and the people and purposes connected with its use. The videotope uses discussed here relate to training and therapy applications. Training applications presented are as follows: 1) taping prior to particular courses, 2) tape libraries, 3) splitting audio and visual channels. 4) “on line” feedback, 5) self-presentation exercises and 6) comparative analysis of an individual's on- and off-stage performance in order to gain perspective on what constitutes authenticity. Therapy applications presented are as follow: 1) early uses, 2) overt rather than covert use of the video controls, 3) variations in the duration and timing of videotape recording and replay in relation to such purposes as recapturing previous moods and consolidating the participants' grasp of changes achieved in therapy, 4) some examples of what patients learn by watching post-session replays and 5) some generalizations about what the therapist may learn from patients' reactions to themselves. A subtle, yet significant feature implicit in the videotape application described is that the trainees themselves may be exposed to a wide variety of ways of using videotape. Increasingly trainees are given explicit exposure as part of their courses to current staff thinking about the uses of videotape in training and therapy. Paying some attention to this area and opening it up as a worthy topic for discussion and demonstration will add to an understanding of how to use videotape and will better equip and encourage trainees to use this powerful medium for therapy and training in their own work settings.