Agilent
ATI
Avaya
Bureau of Land Management #1
Bureau of Land Management #2
Colorado Performance Academy
CSM #1 Calc III Challenge
CSM #2 Tech Camp
CSM #3 CDE I and II
ESE Today
Medtronic
Quantum PM
Rhythm and Hues #1
Rhythm and Hues #3
Thomas White Photography
ToBee
Toilers
USGS
Agilent
Agilent Technologies’ SP50 high-speed solder paste inspection system
currently performs process characterization and defect prevention of
the solder paste process. A need has been identified to calculate,
record, and output important process statistics in an organized and
efficient manner. Our group has been tasked with the mission of
developing a GUI application, using the C# language, which will display
important process flow data. The program will collect information from
the operator and computer generated rep files to perform desired
operations. There will be both a real time operational mode, which will
record and display important statistics while the machine is running,
and an offline operational mode that will allow the user to gather
important statistics for past sets of processes. The operator will also
be able to input a set of alarm parameters that provide a warning when
the current data represents an error type situation. This program will
be easy to use along with presenting data in a clean and organized
fashion.
ATI
ATI is looking to create its own graphical performance framework for
both the Linux and Windows environments. This performance benchmarking
software will add and subtract benchmark applications (such as
SPECviewperf) to a queue, use a scheduler to run those benchmarks,
locate and use the outputs created by those applications to display a
basic set of graphs, and display that data to allow the user to
configure the graphics card for optimum performance. The group's task
is to create the framework within the Red Hat Linux environment, using
the Ant tool to allow easy porting between operating systems. This
should include use of Tcl/Tk (or a similar tool) and use the HP
Performance Suite as an example of the end product. If there is time
remaining, the group will also create a sample Viewset for SPECviewperf
to demonstrate what the framework does.
Avaya
Usability Assets Repository (UAR)
Avaya has a significant number of desktop, client-server, and web-based
application development projects underway. This poses a challenge for
developers to provide a consistent look and feel to the end users. The
Usability Assets Repository (UAR) will serve as a user-friendly
web-based repository for uploading and downloading icons that Avaya
application developers use for common functions. Icons will be
collected from a number of existing Avaya sites and posted onto the
repository. The icons will be indexed
so that they can be categorized and searched with ease. UAR provides
developers with a centralized process to find icons.
The core functionality of UAR will consists of the following:
- Viewing icons by category
- Searching icons
- Administrative privileges to manage icons
- User registration
- Integrated help functionality
- Emailing questions and requesting new icons
If time persists, we will implement the following desirable features:
- Extending application to other GUI assets (buttons, style sheets,
etc)
- User submission of icons for approval/feedback
- Icon demos via application screenshot
- Commenting/Feedback functionality
- Viewing recently downloaded icons
BLM #1
The CSMM (CASHE and Safety Management Module) website used by the BLM
(Bureau of Land Management) will provide employees with the ability to
see information based on the standards set by CASHE (Comprehensive
Assessment for Society, Health, and the Environment). CASHE is a
government program used to inspect government land sites, rather than
public land sites.
The website created will be used internally by the BLM employees to
view violations that have yet to be fixed, in order to insure fast and
appropriate corrective action. Also, this website will be used for
storing documents on training information, application and user
documentation, and executive summaries. When an employee has finished
viewing the website, a feedback form will be available to that
employee, for the purpose of grading the BLM website as a whole, the
CSMM website specifically, and management of websites connected
directly to the CSMM website. The website will be designed using HTML,
XHTML, Adobe Photoshop, and possibly JavaScript. It will implement the
writing to a database, potentially using the PERL or PHP languages.
BLM #2
The Lands and Realty Group is responsible for the development,
implementation and monitoring of legislation, regulation, policy and
technical guidance for many Bureau programs. Some of these
programs include the Alaska Land Transfer, Appraisal, Hydropower
issues, and Military Coordination. These programs deal mostly
with the disposal and acquisition of land. The website for The
Lands and Realty Group is currently an intranet site that must be
redesigned.
Project Abstract
The redesigned website must meet
certain criteria. It must be simple to use with a consistent look
and feel. It must meet federal requirements for 508 compliance and
be accessible to people with disabilities. It must also contain the
standard DOI/BLM disclaimers, privacy statements, etc. Finally, the
website must contain all information from the original website with
modifications made by the Washington Office.
Colorado Performance Academy
Colorado Performance Academy is developing a website to assist personal
trainers with managing all aspects of trainees' regiments. The current
prototype site has minimum functionality and needs major graphical
modifications as well as a new database schema before release. The site
must be capable of tracking an individual's workout components and
status, and adjusting workouts according to trainees' performance.
Administrative functionality must be built in to allow trainers to
manage exercise lists, exercise areas, and other attributes.
The prototype site is currently using PHP and MySQL, and we will
continue development using these technologies. In order to avoid
excessive difficulty, the project's scope will be limited to a single
platform rather than trying to construct a universal cross-platform
solution. The final project will be a fully functional and installable
website, and will be delivered in six weeks.
CSM #1 Calc III Challenge
CSM #2
Our goal for the Tech Camp 101 is to educate primarily minority and
female middle school students in various areas of computer technology.
We will deliver lesson plans that create fun interactive ways to learn
new skills in computer science. We will also implement a creative way
to assess the students' progress during the week long camp.
The camp focuses on teaching students three different interactive
programs that enhance computer learning in the areas of robotics, movie
making, and video game development. We will be monitoring and teaching
the students the basics of Alice, Games Factory, and Lego Mindstorm.
CSM #3 CDE I and II
The Colorado Department of Education and the National Science Foundation has
set up with Colorado School of Mines a continuing education program for middle
school education and the proliferation of mathematics and science. One of the
key components of the continuing education program is a group of workshops
designed for middle school teachers to advance and enrich mathematics and
science in a classroom environment. These workshops are called Colorado
Department of Education (CDE) I and CDE II. CDE I is an initial course of
instruction for middle school teachers. CDE II is being taught for the first
time this summer as a continuation course to CDE I. The workshops are
developed and taught by graduate students, the graduate fellows. This project
will help the graduate fellows with the construction and instruction of CDE I
and CDE II. Current lesson plans will be modified for CDE I to improve
accuracy and presentation of content. New lesson plans will be created for CDE
II. The primary goals for instruction are to assist the teachers in passing
the Colorado Department of Education standardization test and to give the
teachers new and exciting ways to teach mathematics and science.
ESE Today
MattSoft Publishing Incorporated (MPI)
produces, publishes, and distributes the journal Explosives Science
and Engineering Today (ESEToday). MPI offers short courses for
training workers who use explosives. Currently all the course
material must be printed and distributed in class. MPI would like to
provide the course materials online. MPI would like to develop an
online-course environment similar to eCollege or Blackboard.
We will program a course-creation
wizard that helps instructors setup courses (upload course materials,
generate quizzes, and create certification vouchers). The wizard
will take the information entered by the instructor and create the
course. It will format courses into a pre-determined structure. The
wizard is only the first step towards the online-course environment,
if time permits, we will program:
- a login function to distinguish
between students, instructors, and administrators
- a student access environment
allowing students to view the course material and take the quizzes
- a function that will scan through
digitized course material and pull out tagged information.
Medtronic
Medtronic is looking for help for its managers with project scheduling.
We would accept user-defined tasks, precedence of those tasks, and
various times associated with the tasks (optimistic, estimated,
pessimistic, etc.). Then, using a network structure, find the critical
path of the network (that is, the longest path through the network).
This will allow the managers to know which projects are important to
work on now, and which (due to the constraints of the system) allow for
time delays without delaying the project itself.
We would implement this using a graphical user interface, probably
employing Visual C++ or Java. It would also allow for changing the
parameters to analyze the system for any of the various task times.
Quantum PM
QuantumPM (QPM) is a
project management professional
services company. QPM provides both software products and consulting
services
in the field of project management. As part of the continuous company
growth,
QPM would like to provide their employees with a mechanism for
improvement and
feedback.
As part of the Field
Session at CSM, QPM has requested
Field Session team to design a Professional Growth Assessment (PGA)
System. The
goal of the system is to provide all QPM employees with a system that
supports
anonymous feedback about how they work that is specific, constructive,
and
actionable. The purpose of the system is not to validate job retention
or
salary decisions in any way, and is meant to be a non-threatening way
to
provide input by one’s peers that can be used for personal and
professional growth.
QPM has also provided
the Field Session team with a
measure of success statement: “Build a system that facilitates all QPM
personnel to evaluate their peers in constructive manner.” A number of
actionable items have been composed to identify the definition of done
for the PGA
System:
- All QPM personnel must
be able to fill out and submit
peer evaluations
- Constructive feedback is provided to the Evaluee
- A distribution list
facilitates evaluation requests
- A central database is used to store the encrypted evaluations
- Outstanding evaluation
requests and submitted
evaluations are reported to a
designated
employee, known as the Anonymous
Collector of Information (ACI)
The technology
requested by QuantumPM is to use InfoPath
for user interface and evaluation forms. InfoPath is an XML-based
application that allows easy development and deployment of rich forms.
InfoPath
will also
be integrated with an encrypted MS SQL Server database that will
provide
central storage and access to the evaluations. The
ACI will review the
evaluations to remove any non-constructive feedback. The ACI will
then
forward the evaluations to the evaluee and will also send comments to
the
evaluator on the quality of the feedback they provided.
Rhythm and Hues 1
We will be writing a program that will be used to simulate muscle and
skin. This is accomplished by taking a three dimensional solid and
building a tetrahedral mesh of the interior. Specifically the program
will read in points that represent a three dimensional, closed surface,
containing no holes and will produce the tetrahedral mesh inside. The
code will be able to read in model input file formats and translate
them into format we need. We will use the Delaunay triangulation
algorithm and its mesh refinement algorithms to build the tetrahedral
mesh with tetrahedrons that will have good angles. By good angles we
mean that the ratio of the edges will be close to prevent having
tetrahedrons with sharp angles or that form small slivers.
The program will be written in C++ and will ultimately be used on
Linux platform. The program will be written so that you can visualize
the final tetrahedral mesh using GLUT. We will integrate the Tetgen
environment into our own program’s environment to accomplish this task.
The final product will take a model input and output a tetrahedral
structure that would fit inside of the model. If the program is simple
and effective it may be used in the movie Garfield or Superman, and
ultimately the next step in the graphics world.
Rhythm and Hues 3
Thomas White Photography
Before digital cameras came into play, photographers would take the
pictures that they liked and scan them onto their computers as a
digital format of some kind. As a result, a photographer may take a
thousand pictures, but only scan fifty of them. As the digital camera
becomes more popular, we see a drastic increase in pictures stored on
the computer. Those thousand pictures that a photographer may take
might now be easily stored on the computer. With this influx of digital
images stored on machines, it is necessary to organize these pictures
using metadata, which is data about an object, such as a picture.
With the use of metadata and digital cameras, it is now more convenient
for a photographer to use templates to fill in the information
contained in a picture. In many cases, a photographer will want to
prepare these templates before a shoot. For instance, a photographer
knows that he will be shooting a basketball game between team A and
team B on a certain date. He can fill in that information ahead of
time, and apply it to all pictures when he downloads them to his
machine.
Our job is to provide the client with tools that will help
photographers to manage custom templates. Our first goal is to make it
easier for photographers to apply specific parts of a template to
pictures. Other optional goals include template management and easier
custom metadata creation.
ToBee
Toilers
The Toilers research group does wireless networking research and
simulations, particularly using the NS2 protocol, which is designed
specifically for wireless connectivity between mobile devices. Toilers
has developed a tool called iNSpect to assist with visualizing wireless
network simulation data. The program iNSpect takes the output data from
an existing simulation and creates a graphical representation of the
ad- hoc network that is easy to understand and analyze visually.
While functional in its current form for one time analysis, iNSpect
does not currently have the capability to save screen captures or
movies of the wireless network simulation. We have been assigned the
task of adding this functionality to the program so that simulations
can be more easily demonstrated on platforms that are incompatible with
iNSpect or where the program itself is not available to run the
simulation (i.e. the Toilers webpage). Our specific guidance on this
task is to provide a user interface in the form of an additional tab on
the main window that will allow a user to specify what kind of captured
output to create. The options for this output will include whether to
output to still frame or movie and what the frame rate of the capture
will be. Toilers lists these two features as high-priority for iNSpect,
and so it is this group's goal to design and implement both needed
features into iNSpect, while maintaining both the quality and
effectiveness that iNSpect has already achieved.
Coincident with this task is the secondary objective that we develop
documentation for iNspect in the absence of any standardized or
organized documentation on the program. Since we will need an intimate
knowledge of iNSpect to add the functionality that has been requested,
we will be able to develop the user manual as we go. The program
Doxygen has been recommended for this task and will assist us greatly
in generating the necessary pieces for the complete documentation of
the program.
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has implemented a system
called Earthquake Notification System (ENS). This system informs the
registrants when their selected area of the world has experienced an
earthquake. The USGS's current system allows a user to specify the
portion of the globe either by using a predefined zone, or by selecting
their own zone by one of several tools. The user can choose between a
rectangle/square, circle, or an n-sided polygon to encompass their area
of interest. For this project, we have been tasked with improving the
region selection tools, to allow an easier and more efficient method of
choosing regions.
As secondary objectives (i.e., not critical to project success), we are
allowed to modify the user interface, along with other functionality of
the program, to better the user's experience and improve underlying
system operation. In regards to functionality, the current ENS contains
several bugs (like incorrectly representing/ storing a selected
region), that should be fixed to make the ENS more robust.